Hello all,I am looking for some technical advice on producing a comic book. Is online or print the best way to go or how can one reconcile both worlds. To be quick, I am a Design/Print Manger where I work. I have access to digital presses, cutters and bindery(family-owned business, so using the facillities is all good). I have experience in 4 color print(bleeds and separations) and can produce files that can be taken right to press in a digital format. Well versed in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.Should I produce the files as such in the digital world, or do "old school" where you draw it out on 11" x 17" , ink, color. and letter for future possible publication possibilities (if that were to happen?). Which way in today's technology works the best.Also, I have web design experience , so I might be putting up my own site. (funny how the Lord throws all this experience at one and then starts pulling all the threads together)Which is the best way to proceed that accomodates print and digital? Thank you for your comments in advance and GBU all!Zilla
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Hi Zilla,
I'm just the writer for our Spirit Knight comic book but I know that my artist, Troy Gustafson does it in this order:
Sketches, Inks, Scans and then uses Adobe Photoshop to color and then Illustrator to add the dialogue (I could have that mixed up, but it should be close). In terms of doing a physical drawing board...most places want the digital format of the individual pages and not a board.
Personally, it's great to have the digital format because you can use your artwork in so many different ways including websites, t-shirts, wallpaper, etc. So I don't think your losing anything by going exclusively digital (after sketching and inking of course).
Btw, would your family owned printing company be able to print 200 comics books at a decent price? I'd rather give my business to a fellow Christian if I had the chance. Let me know!
Your information on what your artist is doing is pretty much what I was thinking. execpt I'd might use Adobe InDesign to assemble the project as it handles multiple pages a bit better and has a wonderful prefilght function for checking color/font/print elements and packaging them for print in a nice clean PDF format. Offset printers in our area seem to like getting the final files from InDesign. Thank you very much for the confirmation and it puts my mind at ease that I can proceed on my current path.
For the printing, at this time our niche is more postcard and self mailer printing in a variable/personalized data format. Our presses are not set up with finsher units to do booklets. So even for myself, I could print the pages/covers, but would have to do alot of hand assembly to complete the project. So I don't know if that would be cost effective for you.
I can tell you that the finisher units on these digital presses are pretty slick and maybe contacting a Canon or Xerox dealer in your area could hook you up with someone locally who has these units and might be able to make a smaller digital run happen for you.
Wish I could be more help, but gotta be honest concerning the print and apppreciate the thought for the business. But if you have questions about pre-press process, file prep, software or formats, I'd be more than willing to share the knowledge.
I'll help anyway I can...we've used 3 different printers so far, one for each issue...we sent off PDF files each time and each printing looked great. Troy is always worried about the colors and the difference between what he would see on his MAC screen and what comes out at the end. He always thought things would be too dark but they printed just fine. But I would suggest you request or buy a sample of who is going to do your printing...it will usually show you the print quality.
Let me now if you have any other questions...can't wait to see your work...website or whatever else your working on. I'm in the SF Bay Area so not too far from Reno...you should think about coming to WonderCon next February.
Replies
I'm just the writer for our Spirit Knight comic book but I know that my artist, Troy Gustafson does it in this order:
Sketches, Inks, Scans and then uses Adobe Photoshop to color and then Illustrator to add the dialogue (I could have that mixed up, but it should be close). In terms of doing a physical drawing board...most places want the digital format of the individual pages and not a board.
Personally, it's great to have the digital format because you can use your artwork in so many different ways including websites, t-shirts, wallpaper, etc. So I don't think your losing anything by going exclusively digital (after sketching and inking of course).
Btw, would your family owned printing company be able to print 200 comics books at a decent price? I'd rather give my business to a fellow Christian if I had the chance. Let me know!
-bryan
Your information on what your artist is doing is pretty much what I was thinking. execpt I'd might use Adobe InDesign to assemble the project as it handles multiple pages a bit better and has a wonderful prefilght function for checking color/font/print elements and packaging them for print in a nice clean PDF format. Offset printers in our area seem to like getting the final files from InDesign. Thank you very much for the confirmation and it puts my mind at ease that I can proceed on my current path.
For the printing, at this time our niche is more postcard and self mailer printing in a variable/personalized data format. Our presses are not set up with finsher units to do booklets. So even for myself, I could print the pages/covers, but would have to do alot of hand assembly to complete the project. So I don't know if that would be cost effective for you.
I can tell you that the finisher units on these digital presses are pretty slick and maybe contacting a Canon or Xerox dealer in your area could hook you up with someone locally who has these units and might be able to make a smaller digital run happen for you.
Wish I could be more help, but gotta be honest concerning the print and apppreciate the thought for the business. But if you have questions about pre-press process, file prep, software or formats, I'd be more than willing to share the knowledge.
GBU
Zilla
Let me now if you have any other questions...can't wait to see your work...website or whatever else your working on. I'm in the SF Bay Area so not too far from Reno...you should think about coming to WonderCon next February.
b.
I'll keep the wondercon in mind as I usually don't use all my vacation and are looking for something worthwhile to spend a couple of days on.
As, always, appreciate your advice and keep up the good work.
GBU
Zilla