I’ve been doing comics for almost a decade and a half now, and there’s a lot of little mistakes I keep noticing a lot of artist keep doing. Not art or technique mistakes. That’s all subjective and it might not even be a mistake at all. (Though to be honest, you should never use the excuse “it’s my style” for anything you may or may not have done wrong. If you did it right the first time, most people with an untrained eye will know.) These mistakes are technical mistakes that could be avoided easily. And I do a lot of lettering and occasional coloring on the side and I constantly see these mistakes pop up, and it’s kinda frustrating. You see, just about all of the time, it’s never anything malicious… But because the artist just didn’t know better, because no one ever told them. So I thought I’d give off a quick short list-off of how to best deliver your pages to the rest of your team for production. Now it doesn’t matter if you’re doing a web comic, print comic, manga, Professional, album cover, underground porno furry comic… Whatever. These are generally universal rules. Sure, it might not be as strict if you’re doing everything by your lonesome, but you’ll still have to follow these rules for yourself in some way, just to make production easier on yourself. Now it’ll sound like I’m picking on the artists here, and please understand, I see technical errors on all sides of the playing field here. But I’m mainly talking to the artists here, because this is an art community. Simple as that. And before we go any farther, I’m not trying to be a jerk here. I’m pointing this stuff out, because I’ve been just as guilty of it myself. And I still see it going on with others. So if I can help just one person learn from my mistakes, then quite frankly, that’s all I care about.

So let’s start:

PAGE DIMENSIONS: This is the big one. We should all know it before we even start a page. The standard American comic page size is 6.88 x 10.5 inches, and just about everything scales up or down from that dimension. It doesn’t matter what size of paper you draw it on, because everyone does it at different sizes. That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that when you scan and send your pages to your teammate, that they are at that proper size. If you do not know what the proper size is? Ask. Some print-on-demand places like Ka-Blam has their page dimensions at 7x10.5 inches, but ask yourself… Are you always going to be printing through them? Are you going to change printers or hook up with a publisher? Manga sizes are a lot smaller, but even they work in a format that’s roughly scaled down from 6.88 x 10.5. Now when it’s web-related stuff, the dimensions take a different approach, but if you’re planning on it ever going to print, you need to think ahead. Make sure you’re working in a proper size for any printing you wish to have done in the future. If you’re not sure, 6.88 x 10.5 is a safe standard to go with. It’s always easier to adjust FROM that size than it is to adjust TO that size.

DPI: This varies from company to company to company. Once again, it’s best to ask what DPI they’ll need it at. Most printers go off 300 DPI, but you might be drawing for one that has a higher DPI output. (I know the former Dreamwave company seemed to have been fond of 400 DPI.) So like dimensions, you need to find out what the colorist is going to need. If he doesn’t say, then 300 DPI for the lineart is a safe standard to go by. Scan it in at a higher DPI (like 400-600) and then reduce it. You’ll retain higher definition, and it’ll just look nicer. If you’re drawing and scanning at 11x17 inches, then 300 is fine, because you’ll be reducing it in size anyway. If it’s for the web, and if it’ll eventually be in print, then you follow the printing standards. But if you’re not bothering with printing, then once again, find out what your colorist would prefer.

WORD PLACEMENT: This is a big one. Some might say this is due to writers who ramble off too much at the mouth, but that is a issue for another time. This is the one thing that gets every letterer’s goat more than anything. When you draw a page, look at the script. Make sure you have left enough room for the word balloons. A good way to test this, is to roughly jot it down on the page when you’re drawing it. (When scaled down, the typical font size will be roughly your average handwriting, unless you write really big or really small.) I recently lettered a page, and the artist drew this beautiful picture of two characters… But there was so much text on that panel, I had to cover half of one of the bodies with a word balloon. Now, yes… Maybe the writer was asking for too much into too little of a panel. It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. But as an artist, you gotta make it work. You have look at that panel and say “There’s a lot of words here. I probably don’t need to draw as much in there as I would like, since it’ll be covered up with a balloon.” And that’s the trick… Sometimes, you don’t have to draw stuff in the background. You don’t have to fill every single little white area up with lineart. Yes, a good letterer will always try to work around and not cover up your artwork…But sometimes, you don’t always leave them a choice. So look at the script, and look how much dialogue is going to be in the panel you’re about to draw and make sure you leave room for it.

PERSONALITY GOES A LONG WAY: Honestly, sometimes what we draw is just for the money. Though we’re not really hardcore fans of something, or we’re just unfamiliar with it, we’re occasionally asked to draw something we have no idea what it is. Not long ago, I was asked to draw the characters from W.I.T.C.H. I have never seen a single episode of that show in my life, but for the commission, I watched an episode or two on YouTube and figured out who the hell was who. Sure I could have just looked on Google and got an image of that character and drew them however… But the way you draw someone conveys the personality of that character. Unless he’s the crazy 60’s Adam West, Batman doesn’t smile. You got to make sure the personalities match up with the art. It makes sense that Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy would be hanging over each other in a Sapphic manner… But it’s totally out of character to have Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain be doing the same thing, no matter what the pedo-shippers say. So have a rough idea of who and what the personality of that character is, so you don’t make them look out of character.

STAY ON TARGET: Now, let’s take Arcee the Autobot for example. I was looking at a UK Transformers comic the other day, which was set in the movie universe, and Arcee changed model sheets between stories (and sometimes pages) looking like the Energon toy repaint to looking like the one from the first movie and back and forth. Now I don’t really blame them, because there’s like three or four movie Arcee toys, and they all look differently and mistakes happen. But as an artist, you have to know which version you’re drawing. This may be the fault of the editor or the writer for not being clearer… But you’re going to get the criticism for it, whether it’s justified or not. That’s the nature of the beast. So just cover your butt and you’ll be okay.

I’m sure there’s other things. But these are the things I keep noticing over and over again. (I won’t get into ethical stuff like scheduling and treatments. Just sticking to the technical stuff.) So hopefully this helps out some, and in the end, makes it a better and more enjoyable project for all involved.

Later!