Making Comics Progression: Script to Final

Want to see how a comic is made? Here’s a step-by-step progression of the process using a two-page spread from WAYWARD #4 as an example:

Script:
Jim writes the story for Wayward, guiding the team through the major moments and visual beats along with dialogue, sound effects and other text.
wayward04-page12-13script

Page Rough:
Steven roughs out the overall composition, checking positioning and making sure all the important visual information is conveyed. On pages with a lot more text he’ll also double check that there’s enough room for that text along with the visuals.
wayward04-12_13-rough

Pencils:
In the case of Wayward, the line art is scanned in straight from Steven’s pencils.
wayward04-12-raw

Final Linework:
Jim resizes the art for the final page format, digitally darkens the lines, cleans up any smudges or dirt from the scan and blocks in large areas of black indicated in the pencils.
wayward04-12_13-lineart

Colors and Final Lettering:
Tamra digitally adds mood, texture, and light and shadow to finalize the page art.
Marshall adds word balloons, captions, and sound effects as needed and sends back a final print-ready file.
wayward04-12_13-colors

Want to read the full issue and see how it fits into the story? It’s included in WAYWARD Vol. 1: String Theory, available from your favorite local comic shop, Amazon, or available digitally on comiXology.

  1. thank you and more of this please! i just bought the last 2 volumes this year and i’m excited to read them before the holidays!

Leave a Comment


NOTE - You can use these HTML tags and attributes:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>