Okay, so today I’m gonna walk you through this little project I messed around with – making some “jab comicz”. Don’t expect anything fancy, it’s more of a “learn as you go” kind of deal.
First off, the idea hit me when I was bored. Like, seriously bored. I was scrolling through some old comics and thought, “Hey, I could probably do something kinda like that, but, you know, worse.” So, I fired up my ancient drawing tablet. Thing’s older than my car, I swear.
Then came the software. I didn’t want to drop a ton of cash on some fancy Adobe stuff, so I went with Krita. It’s free, it’s decent, and it gets the job done… eventually. Spent a good hour just figuring out the brushes.
The hardest part? Figuring out what to actually draw. I spent way too long staring at a blank canvas. Finally, I decided to go with something simple: stick figures. Can’t mess those up too badly, right? (Spoiler alert: I still messed them up.)
- Step 1: Sketching. I sketched out a basic panel layout. Nothing groundbreaking, just squares and rectangles. Then, I roughed in the stick figures and speech bubbles. My initial sketches looked like a kindergartener’s art project.
- Step 2: Inking. This is where I tried to make things look a little less terrible. I went over the sketches with a thinner brush to create some actual lines. My hand kept shaking, so the lines were all wobbly. Good times.
- Step 3: Lettering. I used Krita’s text tool to add the dialogue. Choosing a font took longer than it should have. I went with something cartoony, but still readable. (Mostly readable, anyway.)
- Step 4: Coloring. This is where I really started to lose it. I’m terrible at coloring. I tried to keep it simple with flat colors and minimal shading. Let’s just say the color palette was… questionable.
After struggling with the first comic strip panel for what felt like an eternity, I moved on to the next. The second one actually went a little faster. I started to get the hang of the software, and my stick figures looked slightly less deranged.
Repeat steps 1-4 a couple more times, and boom – a “jab comicz” was born! I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, but it was something I made. It’s kinda funny, kinda dumb, but hey, it kept me entertained for a few hours.
The whole process was a bit of a mess, but I learned a few things:
- Drawing tablets are hard to get used to.
- Krita is pretty cool, but it has a learning curve.
- I need to practice my coloring skills… a lot.
- Stick figures are harder to draw than they look.
So, yeah, that’s my “jab comicz” adventure. It was a fun little side project, and who knows, maybe I’ll even make another one someday. Probably not, but maybe. Don’t hold your breath.
Final thoughts? Just mess around and have fun. Don’t worry about being perfect, just create something. Even if it’s terrible, at least you made something!
