BCR is about to embark on a new group project. This will be a process-oriented exercise designed to involve as many members as possible. We’ll create as many 3-pager comics as we can, breaking the work down into assembly-line-type steps, each produced by a different creative team. We’ll try to approximate the “Marvel method,” where the dialogue is written after the story is penciled. Anyone can take multiple roles, but not on the same team.
Below is the proposed breakdown for how each comic will be created.
1. Idea person: pitch/proposal for 3 pages of comics (1-2 paragraphs). It can be a self-contained story, or the opening of something longer, or even 3 pages from the middle or end of a story (which doesn’t have to exist in full).
2. Character designer: draw character designs for the characters in step 1’s outline.
3. Plotter: write up a “Marvel style” page-by-page breakdown of the outline. Descriptions without dialogue.
4. Penciller: pencil 3 pages. Leave room for word balloons!
5. Dialoguer: write dialog/captions for art after the fact, Marvel-style
6. Inker: inks the previous artist’s pencils (either over originals or, photocopied onto fresh Bristol or ink digitally)
7. Letterer: hand or digital.
8. Colorist/graytoner: add tones or color.
There should be a reasonable amount of flexibility as we go along, depending on how people tackle each step. This should be more about process than product, and having fun. There’s obviously still a lot to be worked out/figured out as we go along.
We’ll organize this via the BCR Google Group, so watch for messages there!
For updated status of the project, see this page: http://bostoncomics.com/assembly-line-comics/
