Greetings and salutations, Chandra here. We’re about ready to go over my very odd, and very rough way I write and make a comic page for The God Machine! [coming out this October 28th, from Archaia.]

When it comes to writing I have a very specific process in which I do it- Since I’m an artist foremost, I work from a pure visual standpoint and work with dialog at the same time. I tend to work from a rough concept of what I want to happen in the issue. I keep it loose so I have plenty of room to improvise and change things on the fly. This leads to keeping the material fresh and organic every time I return to it. I combine both my visuals and words to make the rough draft...

As you can see from my rough draft I’m focused on the character’s emotions, and basic dialog. I get a feel for what will be said in what panels, but without figuring out the page layout just yet. (That comes later.) Much will change from this, but the idea is to just write and draw as the words and images come to me. It’s very similar to what they tell you about writing- just write! No matter if it’s flawed, includes grammar errors, makes no sense, etc. just getting the ideas on paper is the important part.

Now onto the script phase! Taking all of what I wrote in the rough draft, I bring it into a word file. I dump out ideas that don’t work, refine others, and construct things to work in a more logical manner that works with the plot. Also I start to figure out panels, and approximate how many panels will fit on a page. (I do this by grouping dialog into one section, and put a space between the next grouping of dialog.) After that, I’ll print out the script, do edits, and have others look over it for errors. It’s not finished just yet, but it’s probably going to be close to what the final will be. This is important since now we want to take that and figure out our basic layout for a page.

(Note: My script formatting is usually just for myself so I tend to leave out 'some' action because I usually understand this intrinsically.)

Before we can dive into a page I need to figure out some basic stuff like costume changes. I like to have my characters dressed in different clothes to keep that sense of reality and personality for each character, regardless if they wear clothing that’s similar to what they wore before. I don’t need much in the way of detail, just a basic idea to take to final. (Note: Now if the scene required backgrounds, I’d also do those as rough sketches, but for this page, we don’t need any real background elements.)

Now we’re ready to start our actual comic page. I use Blue Line brand comic pages to help me approximate where my bleeds are and where to put my word bubbles within the right areas. Much like the thumbnail, I do a rough sketch of the entire page. Putting down elements, and figuring out how to use the space effectively. I also approximate how big the bubbles need to be for the text based on my script as well, though they don’t have to be spot on due to the magic of Photoshop. (Note:You can re-size the bubbles later, or adjust the text to fit within the bubbles.)

Now, I try to retain some energy in my sketches, keeping things fresh and lively. (Note: that I don’t bring in rulers for this process. I figure things out intuitively. I don’t recommend this process, in fact I’m pretty sure it’s deemed “crazy” in some circles.)

So we’ve gone through our rough pencils, it’s now time to flesh them out.

I made changes throughout, refining where I want things, and putting in expressions. Again, for these pencils, I didn’t need a ruler. I was going for a look that the whole page works as one giant puzzle, with shapes interlocking.
With a lil’ erasing, and tightening of the pencils it’s ready to be scanned in.

(Note: I do not do inks. I’m not the best at inking [plus it takes me forever to do], and I enjoy the look of my pencils so much more.)

After scanning, I take out artifacts (eraser shavings, dots, etc.), remove the blue marks from the comic page [Photoshop: replace color], and adjust the levels/contrast/brightness (Note: This is how we get a darker and stronger line, much like inks!) Also I go in with white to thin some lines (last minute line weighting), clean up lines, and whatever needs adjusting. I sometimes redraw things in Photoshop as well.

In this particular page, i’ve used the “transform” option for my character Good God in the upper left hand corner, and made her face bigger. This helps make the panel bigger which adjusts the balance of the page, making the upper corner top heavy. This helps direct your eye to the first panel on the page. I’ve also done the same to the lower right hand corner panel to help balance the weighting. Remember kids, Photoshop is your friend!

After I have my line work, it’s time to pull the lines away from the page. Now, my husband made me a VERY useful Photoshop action that does exactly that. It’s full of magic- magic that I couldn’t explain, but it’s rather cool. Under this line art, I lay down my texture[s] and base color scheme I want to come through all of the page. I function as a painter when it comes to my pages- my goal is to have that uniformity in color that lends it’s self to the general mood of the the scene and page composition.

I lay down base colors to get a feel for what I want for my characters color scheme- plus some shading. (Note: I’m rather sporadic when it comes to this. I tend to go for skin tones and hair first. It’s usually what I find most interesting.)

I further add colors and now some detail work and just build up on the colors, getting a feel for mood and what the situations of the characters are going through. I work under the line art layer, and vaguely on top of it at this point.

Of course I refine the image, adding more details on top of the line art area, and still working under that for a more complete look to the page, all while maintaining a very painterly look, with flares of digital. (Note: A page for me will probably have anywhere between 30-80 layers in Photoshop. I try to have closer to 40 if I can help it, but sometimes a project gets to be rather intense.)

Ta-da! Almost finished page!

Now it’s time to tie everything together.

I tighten up the script, get my friends to edit my latest draft of it, get others to edit that draft, then make sure it all makes sense, and then I can finally bring it into Photoshop and letter my pages. (Note: Not shown.)

That’s essentially “kinda” how I make a God Machine comic page. Sometimes my process varies based on page, or how I’m feeling that day. -I know, it’s a little crazy, but this process works best for me, and keeps things interesting!

I hope you guys out there found this useful!

-Chandra Free

P.S. Don't forget, The God Machine: Special Preview Edition comes out this October 28th! It's the full first chapter of the epic tale! It even includes some bonus bio pages. This is just a little treat before we get to the graphic novel which comes out the first quarter of 2010! (Published by Archaia)

Be sure you pre-order yourself a copy! Just print out this: http://spookychan.com/archaia/TGM_Previews_advert.jpg
and take it to your local comic shop!

Or pre-order it online: http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/God-Machine-Preview-Book___351195

You have til August 31st to Pre-order it!

Comment on the making of The God Machine.