Sample Comic Pages

Will Eisner Sample

Vertical Panels

Strict Panel Layout

Splash Page 2

Splash Page

Many Panels

9 Panels Unusual

3 Panels - Neal Adams Style

How to Create a Character

http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Create-a-Fictional-Character-from-Scratch&printable=yes

How to Come Up With a Story Outline

1. Introduce a character with a problem, or someone who faces a change in his/her life, or the world as a whole.

2. How does the character take action?

3. Introduce a complication or new character.

4. Make it look as if the main character might fail in a major goal.

5. Resolve the conflict – either either with a victory, failure, bittersweet ending, or an open-ending.The actual comic panels may be numerous for each step, so factor that in accordingly.

Homework:Watch all these videos by Friday.

Begin coming up with a character and story.

1. Overview: How to Make a Comic Book Basic step-by-step in planning. This technique is not necessarily what we would use in class, but it gives you the general idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNUdDFUJAig

2. Comic book page process This process involves drawing on a page, then scanning that page into Illustrator and working on it from there.



3. Comic Book Character Sketch This Deals with how to draw a cartoony figure from scratch on Illustrator



4. Coloring in a character How to color a drawn, b&w figure.



5. Comic Book Effect Photoshop This involves turning a photo into a cartoon using Photoshop.



6. One-minute Comic Cover Be ready to get scared. (Yours doesn’t have to look this good.)

Comic Book Final Project - Due Date: Friday, May 8

Project Description:

Produce a 6-page comic book utilizing a combination of the programs we have studied this semester, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

The comic book should have a uniform style and tell a complete and comprehensible story. Action and dialogue is to be presented clearly and dramatically, and show both imagination and skill at utilizing the individual “tools” of each program (ie: lasso, clone-stamp, text tool, resizing, pen tool, etc.).

Recommendations, each page follow logically from the last, but show variety. For example, the top page should be a cover page, or splash page, interior pages should show ingenuity in panel layout from the traditional 9-panel page to more dynamic, Will-Eisner –or-Neal-Adams style layouts. Photographs may be imported into the pages, and drawings may be made “from scratch” by Illustrator.

The projects most deserving of A grades show care and time put into them, and do not look rushed, sloppy, or unimaginative. Only those that “go the extra mile” and that at least appear to be a labor of love will stand out enough to earn top marks. Those that are fewer pages will be penalized severely and will risk failure, especially if the pages that are completed seem hastily assembled, and the project is submitted late.

Final projects should be converted to a .PDF and burned onto a CD so they are ready to submit as part of your resume to prospective employers. The comic books themselves should be printed up using a color printer. Finally, save the original InDesign folder into the T: drive drop box allocated for it. REMEMBER: each time you save the document, be sure to include intact links to all of your elements (such as fonts and .jpgs) and remember to save the item as a “package” whenever you do to preserve print quality and keep it publishable.

Due Date: Friday, May 8

Assignment #4: Due Monday 3/23/2009 at the end of the class

Road Signs

To complete assignment #4 and receive a full mark you will need to submit five best road signs out of the ten you have created to the Blog in JPG format. In addition you will need to submit ten Illustrator .ai files to the Assignment 4 Drop Box on the T drive. Grade marks will be determined on the effort and creativity with the shapes tool, pen tool and the overall design presentation.

Keep in mind that the road signs you are making are designed to be even and the shape you draw should be straight and proportional. Curves should be nice and smooth. Utilize the Grid, Rulers and Guide options.

There will be no REDO option for this assignment. Late assignments will not be accepted.

Pen Tool

Basic Drawing with Adobe Illustrator's Paths & Pen tool

Illustrator Paths & Pen Tool Attributes

In Adobe Illustrator CS, drawing line-art can best be done via the Illustrator Pen tool (P). The Pen tool is one of the most useful tools in the Illustrator tool pallet, but it can also be one of the most frustrating tools to master for the Illustrator newcomer. Once you become comfortable with this powerful tool you will rarely use the Line tool again.

The Illustrator Pen tool can create straight lines (paths) by clicking point to point or by constraining its movement with the shift key. It can also create graceful bends, curves, and other PostScript shapes that are referred to as Bézier Curves (named after French mathematician and engineer Pierre Bézier).

The Illustrator Pen tool has four attributes (A, B, C, and D shown in Fig. 1). The main Pen tool A is the tool that you will use most of the time. The "Plus" Pen tool B is used to add new anchor points to a path or stroke. The "Minus" Pen tool C is used to remove existing anchor points from a path or stroke. Tools B and C are almost useless because you can easily access their features via keyboard commands while in the Pen tool A mode. Pen tool D can change a hard corner anchor point into a Bézier curve anchor point as well as change a Bézier curve anchor point back to a hard corner point.

The Illustrator Pen tool's "Fill" and "Stroke" features are accessed in the "Tool" pallet (Fig. 2). The term "Stroke" or refers to the actual line that the Pen creates with the "Path". The term "Fill" denotes the background color that will fill in the area within any shape that you create. When creating line-art for technical illustration you would generally leave the "fill" area empty (as shown in Fig. 2 - white box with diagonal red line). In our Fig. 2 sample we are showing the "stroke" color as solid black.

The Pen tool's line thickness (or stroke weight) is controlled by the "Stroke" pallet shown in Fig. 3

Drawing Paths with the Pen Tool

Using Illustrator's Pen tool to create a straight line is as easy as clicking from point A to point B (Fig. 4). To constrain the line to a horizantal, vertical, or 45º diagonal line you would hold the shift key while you click point B. You will notice that the active anchor point is a solid box (point B) and the inactive anchor point (A) is an empty box.

To create the arc path shown in (Fig. 5) you would click and drag point A upward while holding the shift key to constrain the motion vertically. This will create a "Control Line" with a Control Handle". Next you will click point B dragging the Control Handle to the left. Holding the shift key will constrain the dragging motion in a horizontal plane.

Now we will distort the arc's path (Fig. 6) by clicking on one of the Control Handles and dragging it toward the upper-right. The active anchor point (B) is solid and the inactive anchor point (A) is an empty box. When you release your dragging motion the new shape will appear.

Technical Note: If the stoke or path is not active you can re-activate it while in the Pen tool mode by holding the Command key while clicking anywhere along the stroke.

We will now add a third anchor point (C) to our diagonal line path in Fig. 7. By clicking this cursor along the path you will create a new anchor point. When we add a third anchor point to Fig. 8 you will see Control Lines and Handles appear (D). These new Control Lines and Handles assume the correct positioning to follow our arc as it was before this addition. Now we will drag Control Handle D downward and to the left Fig. 8. The Control Handle acts like a magnet, pulling the arc in the same direction as your dragging motion.

Technical Note: When you position the cursor over an active path while in the Pen mode a "plus" sign will appear next to the cursor. When you position the cursor over an existing anchor point while in the Pen mode, a "minus" sign will appear next to the cursor. If you click on the existing anchor point it will remove it from the path.

Conclusion

This is a very basic lesson in the use of the Illustrator Pen tool and its ability to create shapes and curves. Using the techniques discussed in this tutorial there is no limit to the complexity of the shapes you can create with Illustrator Paths. In future tutorials we will explore the multitude of keyboard commands that control Pen Tool behavior as well as attempting to trace very complex subject matter.

Adobe Illustrator - Palettes

Illustrator makes extensive use of floating palettes - there are 31 main palettes and several more containing libraries of brushes and styles. Thirty-one palettes would clog even the largest monitor, so understanding how to manipulate the palettes is essential to working smoothly in Illustrator.

If you loose your pallets accidently by closing them, you can always bring it back by going to “Window” menu and selecting the missing palette.

If you have to many paletts unordered all over the screen, you can always reset the default workspace by going to
“Window->Workspace->Default” menu.



Using Palettes