Design Stuff

I've bumped into a few of you already on campus now and have spoken about expectations for next class, but I want to put it down here for folks to refer to before Tuesday.

Don't worry so much about expanding your script into a full storyboard. We will be going over that in-class. Pacing issues and some practical considerations of bookbuilding will be important (stuff like front matter, which is handled differently for traditional storybooks and graphic novels).

Instead, use this time to fully develop your character designs and settings. By next time you should have detailed color references for each each character and location. This should come after doing the research and trying out difference ideas. Don't commit too soon to any particular design, play with it and think about WHY stuff will look the way it does. Use reference for any details! Along with using the internet, which I know is easy, find stuff with your own eyes that you can use. A tour of the MFA can help you with this, because there are good examples of how to to render different materials, lighting situations, settings, etc. Also this might give you some ideas for costuming. If you are setting your narrative in a more modern era, go window shopping and see how fashions and such actually hang on the body.

You will have had two weeks to do all this kind of process by next class. There should be evidence of this work informing your design choices. Ideally, when you finish this stage, you should be able to hand your designs to any other artist who could create your look using what you came up with. It should be that complete.

A really good example of this kind of process work is looking at any of the "Art of..." books for the Star Wars franchise. Check them out in any bookstore.