Here’s my basic process for how I make a page of O Human Star.

Every chapter starts with me drafting a rough outline. With some chapters, I already know ahead of time pretty much every action that needs to take place (Chapter 2, for example, was extremely easy to write), while with others, I only know what the emotional trajectory of the chapter needs to be. Because OHS is a story about relationships, each chapter must track how Al, Brendan, and Sulla’s interactions change, improve, or deteriorate, and I write scenes to follow that trajectory.

Mmm, schematics. The goal of this most recent scene is for Sulla to start trusting Al more, and for Al to realize how much she needs someone for guidance. They’re both put in a situation where Al feels the need to “help” her.

From there, I start thumbnailing pages (Yes, they’re very messy). By this point, I know what images I want in certain scenes, so I will just draw them in a sketchbook. Not trying to figure out how they fit on a page, just figuring out what images I want, which to cut, and which to make more detailed. Only then do I start making them fit into pages, making sure that each page has a purpose. (Is there a new piece of information given? A change in setting? A shift in mood? Does the page have its own mini-conclusion/punchline, or leave an unanswered question to be picked up on the next page?) A good page can stand on its own as well as in a two-page spread.

Thumbnails finished! Now I’ll drag one into a Photoshop template and start drawing panels and gutters to match the ones I sketched out. Before I draw anything else, I’ll also add in the page’s dialogue. That way, I can actually see how much room is taken up by text, and how the art will be affected by moving text around. I will often edit my dialogue a bit here and trim it down.

Time to “pencil.” I will begin sketching in Photoshop, allowing myself loose lines that will get tightened up later. If there is a detailed room or a difficult angle, I will use reference or map it in one of the Google Sketchup files I use, and sketch over a screenshot. (I have a file for the workshop, and one for the Pinsky house.) I’ll then make the lines transparent and light blue and start putting down finished lines - “inks.” Inks for characters and for backgrounds are on different layers.

On to color! I’ll make a layer just for characters’ colors, fill them all with a single color, then flat tones, then highlights/shadows. Ditto for backgrounds. It’s the backgrounds that make all the difference for how long a page takes - lineart and colors for a page that’s nothing but talking heads may take only two days, but add a complex background (or several) and the time needed can double. My increased focus on well-rendered backgrounds is partly why the last month of updates had been so down to the wire, but I like how I’ve been improving.