cd55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Chuck Dobrovolny) (07/23/85)
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This question is for anyone who feels like addressing it. I hope to get
some good responses either by mail or followup article.
What is the difference between pencils, layouts, and breakdowns?
I usually see pencils accompanied by inks, and layouts and breakdowns
with finishes or embellishing. If the distinction is trivial, why is the
distinction made regularly? As a fan I'm very interested in this. Maybe
Henry Vogel, JMB, or Moriarty can shed some light on my question....
Thanks in advance--I hope to hear some good replies!
Chuckmoriarty@fluke.UUCP (Henry Vogel) (07/30/85)
In article <1000@ihuxk.UUCP> cd55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Chuck Dobrovolny) writes: >What is the difference between pencils, layouts, and breakdowns? > >I usually see pencils accompanied by inks, and layouts and breakdowns >with finishes or embellishing. If the distinction is trivial, why is the >distinction made regularly? Recently, Chuck Dobrovolny asked what the difference was between pencils, breakdowns, and layouts. Jeff and Jerry may answer too, but having seen all three, I feel I ought to toss my two cents in. Pencils most closely resemble what you see in the finished story. The charac- ters are completely drawn and the backgrounds are usually there - if not complete (many times, inkers will complete backgrounds for a book although the penciller should have SOME backgrounds already there). This is the most time-consuming method of pencilling but is also, in my opinion, the best. More on that later. Breakdowns could also be called partial pencils. The forms of the characters are there but are no where near complete - many times you can't tell for sure which character is which because there is no face drawn in. The only background would be things like buildings which form a MAJOR backdrop to the panel. Finishes (did you ask about them, Chuck) are done over breakdowns. Since the art is in no way finished, the inker must finish it as he inks. This involves much more than inking, so is called finishing (since that is what they are doing - finishing the art). Layouts mainly involve setting up the way a page looks - placing panels on the page and most likely indicating with stick figures who should go where in a panel. I'm haziest on this one because I've seen very little of it. However, a layout would then go to a penciller to fill in the actual characters. Some writers have been known to do layouts to make sure they get what they're looking for. (I'm not one of them, though. I'll go into extreme detail in the plot to make sure there is no way the penciller can mistake what I'm looking for, but I leave layouts to those who have a feel for them.) What is the difference in the long run? I prefer full pencils because I then know exactly what will appear when the page is completed (except for some backgrounds and, as a writer, I see most background area only as a great place to put balloons). The biggest problem with breakdowns is scripting a page assuming that a figure is a certain character and then finding out it was someone else! Also, you can find yourself thinking something is in a panel when it is nowhere to be seen. (In our first issue, we have Kristin - our bullet-proof character although she didn't know it at the time - chasing a crook who was supposed to be pointing a gun at her. She yells, "Don't point that thing at me!" just before getting shot (and discovering that she is bullet-proof). Unfortunately, there was no gun in the finished art. She got shot, but we didn't see the gun until it went off.) I hope this answered your question. If you have more questions, just let me know and I'll see if I can answer them (or clarify these). Henry Vogel henry%clemson.csnet@csnet-relay