Recently I was able to create the visual script for the remaining 16 or so pages of the fifth chapter of my in-progress graphic memoir.  Thought I'd share a few images.

In this first one you can see the underlying grid I use on all my pages.  It has two layers.  One is the six-panel grid which is the basic design spine for my book.  Of course, I do not follow it on every page, but it is the rhythm that underlies it all.  The other layer you are seeing is grid that breaks the page up into 12 even sections horizontally and vertically, with gutters.  This helps me to divide the pages away from the six-panel grid in an even way (I can easily find halves, quarters, thirds, sixths...).  And it helps guide me in drawing straight lines.

Anyhow, you see me roughly placing the words, which have already been written and edited a bit in a Scrivener document which is words only.   Anything could change at this point, but what I'm aiming for is a sort of movement from the upper left down toward the right.

Next is a different page, but one step further along in the process.  I have drawn in what I think are likely to be the panels. In my book, the narrator's vioce is external to and above the panels (totally cribbed that from Fun Home).

This next one (also a different page) is almost done but not quite.   That middle block of words is being said by a friend to me in the past (roughly 2003 or so), and though she is pictured on the page, she is pictured in 1996, so I don't quite know how to "balloon" that dialogue, or where to point it.  She is depicted in 2003 on the previous page, so maybe it will read clearly, or maybe I can point a tail in that general direction but I'm not sure yet.  I will have to look at the spread to see.

Plus, this is the sort of page that makes my head spin with nerves and my heart jump with joy.  The images in the first and second and start of third tiers are from 1996.  The dialogue is from roughly 2003), and the very last panel is from 2005 or so.    THIS is why comics is, I think, such a miraculous form for memoir!!!!!  You can't do time like that in purely prose (of course, I'm not sure I can coherently do it in comics, but I think it can be done...)

I also like the verbal and visual rhythm of "no" on this page's draft.  :-)

And there you have it... a glimpse into my drafting process.  NONE of this is final art, of course.  I'm just getting the story together and practicing various visual styles as I go.

Current Workspace

I'm hard at work on the second complete draft of my graphic memoir.  So I thought I'd share a little about my work process for this stage of the practice.

The first full draft of the project exists on notecards.  I used a drafting technique I learned at The Center for Cartoon Studies during the wonderful graphic novel workshop taught in the summers by Paul Karasik.  Basically each index card is a thumbnail of a page.  It includes brief, very rough layout sketches, and a list at the bottom of what each tier of comics on that page will convey.  It is a fast and complete way to work through the story without committing too much time to script or art that might just get tossed.  I completed a 320 page rough draft version in about six weeks.

This second full draft is much slower (I've been working since the first of November, I have about 200 pages sketched in six months), but still rough and faster than a final version would be.  I am spending more time working out sketches.  And I am writing the script.

To keep things moving quickly, I am doing it all digitally.  And since I'm most comfortable and experienced as a writer, I am creating my script in my trusty tool, Scrivener, on my computer, while creating the page drafts on my ipad in Procreate.

As each page is drafted, I print it out, and put it in a giant binder, which I then use for continuity reference as I go.  Plus, it's just cool to see your project growing!

When I finish, I will have a script draft that matches the rough draft of the comic.  And then I'll see what seems like the best way for me to move along to the next draft. 

I know that the way I write involves many drafts of things, and I already have a long list of changes I will need to make in draft three.

I keep noticing how similar the process is to when I wrote my mystery novels.  And, of course, how different the process is, since I'm working in a completely different medium.

More on Visual Scripting, And Scrivener Too!

Years ago I discovered the writing software Scrivener, and it changed my life.

from the Scrivener website, link below

Seriously.

Changed it so much that I require my novel writing students to buy it and use it.  And while at first they balk a bit (it does have a learning curve) within in week or two they are asking why the college doesn't require it of all students because "it would have changed my writing in all of my classes for the last four years!"

So imagine my joy when I discovered Jessica Abel's post about using Scrivener in combination with Visual Scripting (which I wrote about in my two previous posts).

Check out her post here.

You can learn more about Scrivener from many You Tube videos and from the developer's website here.