Here, not shown to the world yet, is the rough design for the front cover of Findlay Macbeth that I did on Saturday afternoon (Dec 7). Just helping me to start getting the characters visualised in my head, this is the first drawing of any type I've done apart from biro roughs of the script and biro scribbles of a couple of characters. Just to help me keep an eye on progress, here's a rough work diary so far.
Friday 29th - first mention on the blog and Facebook that I was writing a project, which mean that in the week commencing Monday 25th November I started writing it. We were in Kibworth on that day, overseeing the boiler service and the house clearance, so possibly I started writing that night when I got home.
On Weds Nov 27th we watched Abigail's Party on DVD, the obvious reference point for the characters of Findlay and Linda Macbeth. I'd long had this connection in mind, and was delighted to find we had the DVD, that had come free with The Observer a few years ago, still in the collection. It is fantastic and stands the test of time incredibly. Just how closely I'll stick to Laurence and Beverly in my depictions we'll have to see. When I showed Vince (Stadon) the front cover rough on Saturday night, his very first comment was "it's very Abigail's Party". So I may have to rein that back a bit.
Tuesday Dec 3rd, posted rough character designs on Facebook. Wednesday Dec 4, took this photo of the completed script breakdown, having paced the completed script as 120 pages:
So, 120 pages of script takes me approximately 9 days.
Then begins the most boring task of one of my comic productions, laying out all the pages. In the manner of EC comics, I lay out the pages complete with all the lettered voice bubbles in Photoshop, before I do any actual drawings. So I've calculated in the script what will be in each picture, often I've doodled that already, then I set the dialogue in place and draw the finished art to fit.
Weds Dec 4 I begin laying out voice bubbles in blank pages. At time of writing, Monday morning Dec 9, I have so far only laid out page 35 (which ends with frame 135 out of a total of 474). This stage is only marginally creative and, interrupted as it has been by school visits on the 2nd and the 5th, a dinner party on the 6th, Vince's birthday party on the 7th, and sundry trips to tips, storage units, shops and the like, means I'm currently laying out these pages at the rate of 6 pages a day. At which speed I won't be ready to start drawing anything until New Year's Eve. I think I'll have to work a little faster.
22:15 Mon 9th, driven to hotel in Angmering, laid out page 49. Current rate now 8.16 pages per day. Getting there.
Tues 10th, school in Angmering then home, no work on FM.
Weds 11th, laid out up to page 90. That's 41 pages today (or, over the week, a rate of 11.25 pages a day), with just 30 pages to go. Getting there.
Thurs 12th, morning spent voting then laying out pages 91 and 92, the Wally Wood pages. (I think they're works of genius, have no idea what anyone else will think).
4:50pm Thurs 12th - all 120 pages laid out! Whoopee.
And taking out school days and busy weekends, I really did that over 5 working days, so 24 pages a day is how long my text layouts take. Script 9 days, layout 5 days. And that's the easy part.
By bed time Thurs 12th, all 120 pages collated into double page spreads, assembled as a 60 page PDF and printed out ready for pencil layouts.
Fri Dec 13th - Character designs sketched (for Moira, Shona & Jeannie; Donald, Malcolm and first unsuccessful attempt at Banquo) and first 11 pages laid out as pencil roughs (which will make the script readable by third parties, rather than just words floating in mid air).
Mon 16 Dec - Pencil layouts up to page 32.
Tues 17 Dec - Pencil layouts up to page 47 (in am, then drive to Kings Lynn).
+ Pencil layouts up to page 51 (in hotel room).
Thurs 19 Dec - Pencil layouts up to page 85.
Friday 20th December 2019 - ALL LAID OUT! 120 pages laid out in pencil. Hooray!
So in less than a month I've got a 120 page book scripted and laid out in pencil. That may well turn out to have been the easiest bit. It's certainly been the most fun, and getting it finished is satisfying you can't believe. Here's a couple of pages as a taster.
Script = 9 days
Layout (words and borders) = 5 days
Layout (pencil roughs) = 5 days
Further progress in blog, still to come...
Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here.
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