Some odds and ends from Keith

For this week's update, I thought I'd hit you guys with a few different tidbits, various production stuff, as well as some train of thought behind this whole mess. So...first up? A bit of my writing process:

So basically, every time I write a new project, I buy a new notebook for it. Over the course of producing that project, said notebook gets filled with various scribblings, doodles, and assorted chicken scratches that eventually congeal into the script. So what you're looking at here are some thumbnails as I work out the pacing for a scene (I'm not worried about spoilers here because I can barely even ready my own handwriting. Plus, it's a comic book. If you figure it out ahead of time, it's not like the world is going to stop spinning.)

Anyway, as I work out a scene, I'll break it down in terms of panel count per page and just enough of a description to remind myself what I was thinking at the time. The step after this is to draw a rough layout to block the scene and make sure it all works. And after that, when all the problems are solved, I'll sit down and type it out.

Do I do this 100% of the time? Nope. Sometimes I just sit down at the keyboard and wing it. But I find that when I have the luxury of time, a little thought goes a long way in avoiding problems down the stretch.

Moving on...

This is a rough character design for GREASETRAP (the blob of grease that walks like a man). It's a member of Murderer's Row. In terms of design, it's just enough for Tom to work from without hamstringing him and, hopefully, the five minutes I took to rough it out saves him a couple of hours of figuring out what I'm looking for. Teamwork for the win!

So yeah, corpulent, greasy, disgusting and full of air bubbles. That's our guy.

I gave it perfect, clean tighty whiteys just to amuse myself.

And look! It's a crappy cell phone pic/sneak peek of Tom's pencils/inks from page one!

This week, I officially started lettering the book. More like I've started TRYING to letter the book. It's a pretty slow process right now because I have no idea how to letter in Illustrator. So I go back and forth from my computer to my reference books and slowly muddle it out. I think about five pages from now, I'll have a much better idea how to use the software and the speed will pick up.I have a bit of anxiety about lettering right now but it'll all work out. Once the balloons and dialogue are slapped down, I'll flat color this page in Photoshop and send it back to Tom for finished color.

And that's your look at the glamorous, behind-the-scenes production of The Switch for this week. I wonder what Tom will surprise us with next Friday? Not even I know, let's all find out together!

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!
Keith