Thesis: For Just A Penny More

This section is for the process on my thesis. It is the first three pages of a webcomic about a queer love story set in Philadelphia.

I have had these characters in my mind for a long time. I attempted this comic a few years ago but the way it came out wasn’t making me happy. I thought my thesis would be a great way to reignite my spark for this comic. My professor wasn’t very satisfied with my first rendition of these characters so I spent the first couple weeks redesigning them and upgrading their features. Although I will admit that I re-designed them for the rough draft in a bit of a hurry.

FJaPM (Thesis): Image

I focus a lot more on faces than I do on bodies so I made a lot of busts while exploring the designs of these two characters. I made a Pinterest board specifically for this project so I could see how other people construct their characters. It’s important to realize how much inspiration is out there. My professor also gave me the challenge of drawing characters in other artists’ styles, which was an interesting way to explore my own style and what I could add to it.

FJaPM (Thesis): Welcome

Sometimes it helps me to draw as loose as possible for warming up. I know I can’t be afraid to make a bad drawing because that’s only a few steps away from making a better drawing. I have drawn these characters a lot in the past and decided I wanted to explore cartoonists who had a more loose style, I thought it might lead me to relax with my own.

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FJaPM (Thesis): Gallery

After a while of refining my designs, I made refined thumbnails. Refining thumbnails, that aren’t going to be the final sketch is an interesting process. Again, this gave me time to feel good about how far I had come with making these characters look the way I wanted them too. It was also a way for me to consider backgrounds based in Philadelphia, which is something I lacked a bit in the first draft.

FJaPM (Thesis): Gallery

In the last week, when I wasn’t stressed out about the quarantine I laid down the flat colors for the first two pages. I had decided a while ago that I wanted to ink these traditionally, though I did end up editing some of the lines in Procreate after scanning. I tried to go with a more neutral palette this time around because I wanted the characters to stick out the most and have the background serve as exactly what it was, a background. I’m currently in the process of deciding what fonts I’d like to use for the wording. When I originally started this series I switched over to hand lettering but I’m not sure I want to do that this time around.

FJaPM (Thesis): Gallery