Tyler Niccum Has Character!

Creating a Layout Without Borders
by Tyler Niccum

First of all, in this story, Discover by Tyler Niccum, I write down the script on a piece of paper. Mainly just getting all the words that I will use in the story. I rarely describe the scenes because in my head I have the scenes played out and I like to let it go naturally and flowing. Some people use thumbnails, but for some reason I like to work them out all in my head.

Once I have the words played out, I then take reference photographs of my characters in action:

Using the layout I have in mind, I then draw out in blue-lined pencils on a sheet of Bristol Board. After an hour of trial and error, I’m happy with my layout design and how the images flow.

Then I go in using my Pentel Brush Pen to create the inks over my pencils. Mind you, I’ve already scanned in the pencils to preserve the original image in case I screw up on the inks, which is often. I’m not Scott Williams.

Then, I scan that page into my computer. Once I have that, I take a piece of tracing paper, placing it over the inked page. This way I can see the page easier with the blacks than using the blue lined pencils. Using my Pentel Brush Pen, I brush the black shapes over certain parts of the Inked page that I will want to turn into a grey blot of shadows. I do this because it is going to help bring out the black and white later on, which you will see. Then I scan in the tracing paper, at 300dpi greyscale. Once on Photoshop, I then take the Magic Wand tool, unclick “Contiguous” button to get all the black on the page. Inverse select by pressing “Command+Shift+I” (Mac platform). Delete the white parts of the page, leaving behind the Blacks only. Once you have that, re-select the blacks only and click on the “Move Tool” to drag the blacks onto the original scanned image of the Inked page. Once I have matched up the black blots with the Inked page, on a different layer I make the black blots 50% grey. This way I will have black, white, and grey portions of the page.

Now I do the text bubbles and caption boxes. Then voila’, I’m done. Enjoy!

Creating a Layout Without Borders by Tyler Niccum

Creating a Layout Without Borders
by Tyler Niccum