InDesign World: The Link Panel

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The little yellow trangles mean that the source images have changed and the links need to be updated

I’ve been jumping between InDesign, Clip Studio Paint EX, and Acrobat Reader as I fix errors in CSP, export all of the images as PNG files to InDesign, then export all of the images as a PDF for viewing in Acrobat Reader. I’ve been through this cycle dozens of times over that last week. Each time I go through the cycle I fix the errors and repeat the process. Errors include typos, images needing to expanded to the bleed line, and new errors that I create when I fix old errors. Once I’m able to achievea clean copy with no visible errors, I can proceed to publishing the book. I keep reminding myself that Friday, October 30 is my deadline.

Working on the Storyboard

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book-2-page-8.jpg Clip Studio Paint, making comics, storyboarding

I’m seeking an efficient work flow. I have a ton of pages to create and I don’t want to get bogged down, as I did with the first book Yet, as much as I yearn for speed, finding the way to produce a lot of successful pages has been as elusive as tracking down the Holy Grail. Just as I think I’ve found The Way, I realize that I’m dealing with a mirage that vanishes when I try to grasp it. I’ve tried the iPad, traditional media (which I love), and Photoshop. But I haven’t clicked with them.

Yesterday I put away my Wacom tablet and took my Huion 22 inch pen display out of mothballs. Working with the tablet is good, but I’m slow. I wanted to see if I can work more efficiently with a pen display. The answer is Yes. Today I worked with the pen display and Clip Studio Paint and was able to work smoothly for hours generating pages with the proper bleed lines (a critical time saving feature). I’m using the Pro version of CPS (Clip Studio Paint). Creating one image at a time creates a directory full of files. I’m considering the CPS Ex version — it generate and organize all of the pages the entire book and export all of the images as a PDF, much like InDesign. Clip Studio Paint has awesome features for generating comics and surpasses Photoshop and Procreate in that respect. Looks good.

Bettina is a new character. She’s friendly, loyal, strong, and cheerful, and she’s on her way to Mexico, too.

Wrapping up the Storyboard

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storyboard2-3_blog.png storyboard, rough sketches, work flow, children's picture book

Today I finished the storyboard. It’s a first draft, but I think it captures the storyline well enough to move on to the next step, which is starting to draw each cell. I scanned the storyboard pages and imported them into Photoshop. From there, I’ll extract each page and import the rough sketch into an 8x8 page for detailed work.

I’m more organized this time around. I created a _book2 directory, into which i’m collecting all of the files for this book. I created folders for the rgb and cmyk files, and one folder for all of the pages. There will be a lot of pages and, no doubt, some chaos with all of those files floating around. I’m searching for software that can organize the pages. Clip Studio Paint Ex looks like a good candidate. It’s an awesome drawing program with time-saving features that can speed production. It can also manage multiple pages as a project and export the project as a Kindle ebook or as an ePub. Sounds too good to be true! With all of those features, there’s got to be a steep learning curve. :)

This image shows pages two and three of my storyboard.


Inking the final images, part one

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77/365

I inked three of the six final pictures today. As I was splattering away I realized that I have two pictures that pretty much tell the same story (1 and 2 below), which means that I will eventually decide which one goes in the book.

I had time to scan these three images, but not enough time to clean them up. So be it. Tomorrow I’ll airdrop these three into Sketchbook on my iPad and massage them a little.

Here’s a description of my artistic day. I get off work about 5 pm and chill with my family (my partner and our two dogs) until about 6 pm. From there we all go about our evening activities until 7:30 pm. I use those 90 minutes to sketch, draw, ink, scan, and run the drawings through Photoshop. After that I quickly write the daily blog post. I blog using Squarespace. At 8 pm we all gather together again and end our day with another hour of family time. Then to bed at 9 pm or so. It’s a wonderful life.