Episode 37 Production Report (part 1)
Table of Contents
- A new style research
- Aftermath of a realistic shading period
- Problem in production
- The style research
- Concept-art
- Comparison with previous renderings
- Analysis of a not so much reproducible workflow
- Reverse engineering my style
- Early results
- An upcoming refactoring
A new style research
Here is a stylisation research for "Pepper the traveler in incognito mode" for episode 37. But why a stylisation research now?
A model sheet, on left Pepper stands up, on right: two expression sheet.
Aftermath of a realistic shading period
Recently, I was really into bringing more realism and advanced shading to my painting technique. You probably saw it already, but here is a reminder. (click to enlarge)
Problem in production
But when I started episode 37 production with this workflow...well... I disliked the early WIP result: bad and static facial expression and tons of slow paint-over process in prevision to fix all of that.
A sample from a page with (unfinished) 'blocky' direct painting workflow
A sample from a page with (unfinished) 'blocky' direct painting workflow
The style research
Concept-art
So, after a (long) review on what made Pepper&Carrot joyful, expressive and fun, I decided to discontinue realism and I came back to stylisation: simplier shapes, line-art, less advanced shading.
I painted this concept-art with a 'paint-over a sketch' technic, a slow one, but one very flexible to reach the rendering I had in mind first. And it resulted into this first proof of concept:
Comparison with previous renderings
After comparison with the 36 episodes and 250 pages, the result was close to the style I achieve on the covers for the books of the series. I then decided to make that my art-direction goal for the future comic style and rendering as well (click to enlarge).
book cover: Pepper&Carrot 1
book cover: Pepper&Carrot 2
book cover: Pepper&Carrot 3
book cover: Pepper&Carrot 4
Analysis of a not so much reproducible workflow
Unfortunately, I never found an efficient process to reproduce this style with its painterly soft line-art. As you can see under; I always start 'meh' then later put a ton of make-up paint-over until it looks good.
A too long and uncontrollable process for painting a comic this way, and I have experience about it because I already tried to make episode this way...
Analysis of three book cover at various production steps
Reverse engineering my style
I then decided to 'reverse engineer' that style and find how to produce upfront the soft line-art of these covers. Something I could draw immediately well without having to paint over the line later: the right opacity, the right thickness, someting that would emulate the inking that appears on the four book covers.
The idea sounds simple, but finding the right brush preset and skill for making a line-art that look like that took me a lot of training, failures and researches. But I pushed it, because I was convinced this was the right path.
A compilation of sketches of research (click to enlarge)
Early results
But it paid off: after weeks, I found a close-enough combination that could emulate the rendering of the covers (and my concept-art) while using a simplier 'colored line-art workflow', easier to manage and time saving for a webcomic.
The main issue: will I be able to draw this way and maintain that? Will the rendering in comic panel will look as I expect and up to the quality of the paint-over?
Two expression sheet: break down, from line-art to flat, to shading
An upcoming refactoring
So, I'll refactor episode 37 in this direction now. It will cost me time to redo what was already done, but it's still better than just restarting from scratch. At least, I can turn my direct painting into black&white, low opacity and trace my new line-art on the top of it.
I'm all motivated about it because the comparison with my direct painting rendering feels already rewarding to me and I want the best I can do for Pepper&Carrot.
Let me know if you like it.💛
Top: the result of my stylistic research, bottom a previous direct painting stylistic research.
