Hello Reader,

I've seen a lot of advice for comic artists saying that the best way to draw comics faster is to get to the inking as quickly as possible by skipping some of the earlier steps. The problem with that advice is that it's wrong.

Unless you're a 10 year veteran with several titles under your belt, that advice will actually slow you down, not speed you up. And the reason is simple; you're going to tense up! It's like trying to ride a bike for the first time without stabilisers.

The real way to draw your comic faster is to draw less and think more.

People don't spend enough time thumbnailing and/or they thumbnail the wrong way. Thumbnails are much more than drawing rough ideas quickly before you get onto the pencilling stage.

The main point about thumbnailing is about figuring out what the entire panel will look like! You need to consider composition, shape language, silhouette and where the word balloons are going to go among many other things.

Once you get to the pencilling stage, you're not thinking about those things anymore. You're thinking about getting the perspective and anatomy correct before you move onto the inking stage.

So if you gloss over thumbnails then you're risking creating bad panels that don't work, leaving you with 2 options:

1. You re-draw the panels
2. You're stuck with a comic that could've been better.
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So, whether you're looking to create your first comic or you're halfway through your epic webcomic, take some time and really plan those thumbnails. Get the ideas to as close to 100% as you can before you start pencilling. If you do that, the rest of the process is surprisingly easy.

Here are some key things to consider during the thumbnail phase:

1. Where the camera is looking
2. The body language of your characters (think of them as shapes rather than as 'people')
3. The word balloons - get these down as soon as possible and consider how we read (either left to right or right to left if it's a manga)

Figure this out and you'll be more relaxed, your lines are more fluid and you'll end up getting better pages out faster by the time you're ready to ink.

Have a great week!

Comic Panel of the Week

This is my favourite comic panel I've drawn this week (I drew this last week but haven't inked anything this week yet, but I really wanna talk about this one!)

The reason I really like this panel is because there's nothing else going on. There will be word balloons, of course, but that's it and I really like it because I feel like it achieves what I want it to. Our character is alone and in a strange, dark place. She has no context or information and I want the reader to feel that, too, so I've given them no information, either. It can help build empathy with the character.

Making comics is about achieving more with less.