Week One at Periscope

It is Sunday now and I am reflecting back on my first week at Periscope. Personally I think it was great and I learned a lot just from looking at the work of the studio members aside from the conversations. Everyone there has been kind and forthcoming about their process and assisting me with my own. I was a little shy at first but they seem to think I'm okay. So far I've met and Gotten advice from the following awesome people; Steve Lieber, Johnathan Case, Ron Randall, Colleen Coover, Jeff Parker, Ron Chan, Dylan Meconis, Dustin Weaver, Paul Tobin, David Hahn, Cat Ellis, Rich Ellis, Terri Nelson and a few other Friends of the studio including a very nice girl named Erica. I will try to recount a few tidbits of what I've learned so far:

Steve said that a panel should almost function like telling a joke-if you start by saying "a guy walks into a bar" and then go on to describe the bar in detail including when it was built, materials involved and its' color scheme then you've lost track of the point you're trying to get across. Similarly a panel should describe the thing you want to express and if there is too much information surrounding that subject your reader's focus will get thrown off.

Colleen Coover has been really helpful and inspiring in that regard-She is great at reducing the components of a panel down to their essentials. Her storytelling is nice and clear. Her drawings are concise and readable. Steve Lieber described it aptly when he said that "Colleen can't put down a line without charming the world." She showed me how she does her thumbnails: First she uses a big brush to block in the basic drama of the composition-big back forms against white forms or vice versa. then she converts that to a lighter grey in photoshop and does quick linear elements over the top to flesh out some details. At that point she light boxes what she has and refines the lines. I like this because she is going for bold strokes instead of getting mixed up in how a doorknob looks or how many hairs are on the poodle she just drew. Watching her work even a little has made me see that I can be kind of 'cart before the horse' in my own approach.

I've also seen how Steve Lieber and Ron Randall work and it involves a nice balance between technology and traditional hand techniques. Both of them are master storytellers and each of them expressed to me that the computer is just another tool used toward the end of creating something entertaining and expressive. I don't know the name of it but Steve showed me a grid system that he will sometimes layer under his panels to use instead of tedious nature of measuring out all the lines by hand. It might be a photoshop component. He does do all his lettering digitally but draws panel boarders and word bubbles by hand. I got to do some of that and it was nerve wracking! I didn't want to mess up his pages. From watching how he works I am trying to reduce the overdrawing that my insecurities tend to encourage.

They showed me this program called Sketch Pro (I think) and it blew my mind. You should check it out because it is amazing. The few times I saw a studio member use it on a page it was not in lieu of drawing skill but a sort of prompt for consistency's sake. It amazed me though. I had no idea something like that existed. Sometimes it's like these people live in the future. They do have cool computers and Wacom tablets and seemingly everyone there knows how to use all the stuff with a varied range of skill levels-I would be at the bottom of that roster.

They have told me that I'm going to be doing some digital coloring which is nice.

I've learned about some great new tools and seen a bunch of great art. I've also now seen what it looks like when professional people have fun and work at the same time. All the people I've met are badass and I'm glad to amongst them getting to draw and learn the real business of comics illustration.

Thanks to Ron Chan, Matthew Clark, Dylan Meconis, and Ron Randall for the use of your drawing desks. Also I'd like to thank Steve Lieber for giving me the chance to get to know everyone and all those people who approached me in conversation not knowing if it would be worth it. Hooray for Periscope and it's great crew of fine people.

-Ben