onezumi.com : Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos

First I open Photoshop and go to File > Open and I then open up one of my comic mat templates that I have prepared in advance and filed in a folder that I call "Work Resources". I keep a copy of my Work Resources on every computer that I use and I also have a backup saved off.

Hold up. What are "Work Resources"?

My Work Resources folder is my all. Here I keep my Photoshop action files, custom brushes, all of my fonts, comic mats, backgrounds, and most importantly I keep my swatch list. The comic cannot happen without the swatch list. My swatch list is a PSD file of swatches of all of the colors used in the comic so that no matter what monitor I am working on, I know I've got the right color. I also have all of the T Shirt designs that the characters wear and some props and things in this file. I learned my lesson when my laptop died at Otakon 2004 and I had to struggle with my friend's laptop which had none of my stuff on it. Now, if my computer dies, I can just load a copy of this folder onto any machine and I am up and running in minutes.

This is what my swatch list (which is inside my Work Resources folder) looks like:

Ok, how do I make my own comic mat templates?

Comic mat templates are simple to make. They are just 300 DPI, 8 x 10 pages which have a border around them (I use black), a comic font where the title goes, and copyright / URL info down in the lower right. I have both a horizontal and vertical one. I always start here and I expand or collapse the canvas as necessary.

Hit CTRL-N (CMD-N on the Mac) to start a new file. Make your file 8 x 10 and 300 DPI. Make sure to check off "transparent" in the dialogue box as pictured.

Make a new layer by hitting CTRL-Shift-N (CMD-Shift-N on the Mac) . On this layer I just take a brush (B) at something like 100 pixels wide and I draw back and forth a few times while holding shift to make a straight thick line. Adjust this thick line to be on the top of the canvas. Duplicate the layer and adjust the duplicate to be on the bottom of the canvas. You should have something that looks like this:

Repeat this process for the left and right sides of the canvas. You should now have a solid border around the canvas. It doesn't completely matter what measurement you do this to, just as long as you keep it consistent. This is not your final comic - this is just a starting point. Merge your black lines down onto one layer and label it "base mat". This is your base mat which you will build off of. It looks like this:

Label the layer underneath the mat, "sketch". This is where you will eventually do your preliminary sketch.

Tablet-less: If you don't have a tablet, this is the layer where you will paste your newly scanned sketch. Reference this tutorial if you don't understand.

If you don't have this layer, create one CTRL-Shift-N (CMD-Shift-N on the Mac) . The layers pallette should look like this so far:

Create a 2 new layer sets by clicking on the following button 2 times. This button is located in the layers palette:

Label the top layer set, "head". This is where your comic title and copyright info will be stored. Label the lower layer set, "mat". This is where your base mat is stored and where you'll create additional layers above your base mat to draw dividers and fill in areas of black. The dividers will create smaller boxes over your base mat. Drag the base mat layer into the layer set named "mat". It should look like this when you are done:

Click on the layer set named "head". Make a new layer inside this layer set CTRL-Shift-N (CMD-Shift-N on the Mac). Make sure your foreground color is set to white like this:

Select the text tool (T) and select the font you'd like to use for your comic's title. I use ITC Kabel with bold caps. Click the text tool in the black area in the upper left of the canvas and type, "Comic Font". Adjust the font size to your liking. This is your placeholder for the title. Click again on the lower right of the canvas and do the same for your copyright information and URL.

Note: If you are using a PC, you can create a copyright symbol by holding Alt while typing 0169. You must type the numbers on the number pad on the right of your keyboard and not the ones on the top of the keyboard. If this method does not work, try CTRL+Alt+C. If that doesn't work, just copy and paste this one into your text: ©

If you are using a Mac, you have it easy. Just hit Option+G. It should look like this:

Now you have a comic mat template. Load it up as I said in the first paragraph, and we're ready to start sketching out our comic!

Next tutorial: C. Sketch Your Guidelines

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Drawing Comics, Onezumi Style

B. The Work Resources Folder and the Comic Mat