Finally creating the complete draft of Séance Tea Party! (Gonna log my progress using #ghosttea)

The coolest part of writing a comic is being able to weave in better dialogue, moments, visual chekhov’s guns, etc knowing now how everything plays out

HAPPY THANKS!! The entire script/story for Seance Tea Party is FINITO!! I hope it reads pretty good #ghosttea

Other than a couple rewrites towards the end...SEANCE TEA PARTY is ready for thumbnails!!
This is my Comics Development notebook. An unassuming moleskine to sketch out concepts and thumbnails for my comic projects during the past 3 years. All of TCM is inside! #ghosttea

Rewrote the ending & epilogue and boy howdy thanks @WhitLeopard for being a savvy editor. The book finally has the bittersweet ending I crave that also completely represents the message of the story. (Prior, it was 70-80% )

OK FOR REAL, with the edits, Seance feels like it’s properly, truly done. HYPE!! Can’t wait to make the good, heartwrenching, healing stuff for kids

Here are the character sheets from the pitch! Meet Lora Xi, a fan of all things spoopy, and her ghost gal pal, Alexa.

Here’s an esoteric glimpse at how I thumbnail and plan layouts for my comics.
I’ve the (fully-written) script in front of me.
I prep the thumbnails by drawing rectangles, “spreads”. It’s easier for me to think bout page turns this way. It affects pacing a lot.

Being filled up. I’m kinda vague atm about how this opening montage is laid out but at least I’ve figured out what details and images I want.

A full page of 16 thumbnails. It’s a mess lmao, of thoughts and ideas. But I’m getting a stronger grip on what I want this book’s artistic philosophy to be

It’s been a while! But I am nearly 3/8 of the way there with the thumbs. I’ve never thumbed a full GN w/ a page limit (200 pages) before, so I’ve been rather conservative with the panelling. BUT once I see how many pages I end up with I can’t wait to go WILDDDD

Gotta remember the main goal of the process is to establish page turns and where dialogue/action is approx. laid out!! And that has been the plan.
Still wanna be madcap though. And I miss my relaxed style of pacing.

A lil more than halfway through the thumbnails. Some interesting layouts being planned. A few that need some workshopping.

THUMBNAILS ARE DONE!! YEAHHH!! Now for the fun part. Refining the layouts.

Grateful for the ipad for allowing me to do sketches on the couch. And yeah!! I am fleshing these layouts already.

Title drop

Turning a script into a comics page. Or well, the sketch that will later become art. I draw the boxes and plan where text goes (so I can either fix the composition, or know how much art I should draw so the details don't get eaten). Mostly they are for pacing.

Chap 5 of 8 right now. It’s moving a lil slower than I expected, mainly due to the fact the script+thumbs are changing with stuff being added/cut, as words metamorphise into comics.
(This is the most fun if draining part of being a comics author)

Finalised designs of the main characters.

Lordy lordy

250 PAGES!! THE PENCILS ARE DONE!!!

So this is how long Procreate has timed my roughs. 153 hours and 35 mins to make 250 pages.

Working on the colours!! https://twitter.com/rhkidsgraphic/status/1118577615005052928?s=21

Also!! Look at what we have here! This is the spread where I was really warming up and establishing Seance’s style, as well as its mood. https://twitter.com/rhkidsgraphic/status/1119240734773784577?s=21

Flatting. Enjoy the chalkiness of the brush.

Wow it's been a month since my last update!
- I've coloured 76 pages (3 chapters). 5 more to go!
- it's a lot of the same old. I've basically turned colouring into a pipeline, but I'm realising this style with this specific brush, while pretty, is bad for my hand.

Deciding not to carry on this style into another book is fine with me! It fits the way I operate as a comics creator. I'm happy to be able to use this style as an opportunity to experiment, especially with whimsical lighting and colour choices. Here are some pages!!

Flatting process for this comic

5 months until Halloween

https://twitter.com/reimenayee/status/1137757004028497920?s=21

Tfw you wanna share previews (esp of the layouts you think are cool) but everything is narratively relevant aka spoilers
147/250 pages

It’s only spoilers cos I’m experimenting with the interaction between diegetic and non-diegetic elements in the comic; so things like composition and panel borders change following the story/characters @-@

182/248 pages (screaming) ONE MONTH ONE MONTH ONE MONTH

Character design!!!

PAGE 200!!
198/248 (I left behind an empty spread, unsketched)

Been so busy I haven’t had time to appreciate the art. Or realise I’ve been making this since mid October??? What. How. (Don’t do a 250 paged comic in less than a year)

25 pages to go!! Thanks S-DCC for distracting my editor and putting my publisher on leave so I can like, chill out. (This week is also my party week)
The freedom!! Is so near!!

Getting to the point in the process when you draw/colour a character within the narrative for the last time is a trip. Aaaa!!

OCTOBER 2018 - JULY 2019
50 script pages, 7800 words, 250 drawn and coloured pages
I AM DONE WITH MY GRAPHIC NOVEL!!!
(I still have to letter some pages but whatever I don’t have to draw any more comics this year)

Now that all my pages are done, it’s time for (slaps my brain to gear) the edits and feedback stage.

Finally sitting down to read all of Seance properly before I send the final manuscript off to my publisher. This is one of the most daunting parts of the process. I’ve been so stuck in I’ve actually never read my book.

Spotted some things to tweak, other than that...I hope kids who are afraid of growing up find Seance comforting. So far it’s relatable to beta readers my age (early 20s) who are going through the same fear about adulthood. Which is good?? I hope. Can’t say. Time to send it over.

The fun work (my favourite part of the process): making a cover illustration!

Colours for the cover

Back after a month of “distancing aka recovering from making this book” — reviewing proofreading notes! This is like learning a new language...

Day 2 of proofread review.

Quickly putting together these processes for the back of the book

sneak peek of a special announcement in a few hours

I realised I haven't updated this thread, but it's fine cos I'm meant to promote it soon anyway! Look out for future updates - we get to see the life of a comic in post-production ~

Here is the official cover reveal tweet from February! https://twitter.com/reimenayee/status/1227947345976819713