Templates! Who Needs'em and Why do I Need Them!

Welcome to TEMPLATES, J-style. I see a big problem that no one seems to be trying to fix. If you work for DC, Marvel or any other large company, odds are they are going to give you boards* to work on. This is assuming your are working in the typical pencil and ink comic medium/media. There is a reason. Comics are making them money. They can't sit back and let each individual artist decide how they are going to tackle each book. They need to stream-line the process. Let's face it, we all do comics because we love them, but money has to be made. Working in indis, I've encountered numerous artists that seem to have never heard of boards. Guys, get with the program. If you don't like using boards, you should at least take the time to use proper dimensions on your prefered paper. Now, it is your choice if you want to do comics part-time or if you want to make a living. There are jus certain things you'll have to accept if this is you choice, however, that is a different topic all together, so let's talk about templates.

We'll be talking about the standard comic book size that I use when I print through Quebecor*. A comic book page is 6.625" x 10.25. That measurement signifies the edge of a non-bleed book. If you were to create artwork for a non-bleed book you would need to make sure your art is no where near that edge. If you were to get to close to that edge, you risk registration problems and possible clipping issues.

Bleed books require artwork that reaches outside the trim area*. In this case, you want your artwork to fall off the page and outside of the trim area thus creating the illusion that the art is bleeding off the page. Currently I don't allow my artwork to bleed off the page. I do use it to have my black borders bleed off as if the panels were drawn on black paper. When I become more comfortable with the process I may decide to venture into that area, but if you are a newbie to comic creation I suggest you follow my lead and learn the basics first.

I have created two templates to get you started. The first are similar to artboards you might purchase from Blueline or Eon. It is a PDF containing an 11x17 page area with guides marking bleed, trim and copysafe areas. I have also color coded them for clarity. This will allow you to print onto any type of paper you choose and use it for standard comic book drawing. Be sure to print it at 100%. You should be able to take it to your local copy store and request it printed as 30% blue on a color copier. Some places won't let you use your own paper, but I suggest you give it a try.

I like to use the 11x17 template printed at 100% on my light table. I place my favorite paper over the template and trace away.

I have also enclosed a standard comic sized page with guides. Why you ask? This will give you an idea of what size your final page will be. You can see exactly how much will be cut off on the bleed and what size typical gutter guides are in the final product. Maybe you will decide they are too large for you. You can even sketch on it to see how you want to do layout and then work up the larger scale drawings on your final board. In any event, I find these two templates very valuable.

When you use these guides and create every page in a project within the same structure it makes life easier for the scanner, letterer and colorist. It may not help some of them in the production aspect, but it won't hold things up in the production line if they already have matching templates in their respective software, not to mention how much faster the scans will go. Who wants to scan each page differently and then have to mess around with each one in photoshop to get them the same size?

Now that you have these templates, you can create your artwork in an organized and professional manner. Below are a few terms from my ranting and raving and also some suggestions for stock.

*BOARDS - the bristol board 11x17 paper with pre-printed non-repro-blue markings usually provided by the company you are working for. Also available at your local comic shops or Blue Line Pro.com. I like the Strathmore Blue Line for good inks. Read each carefully and maybe I'll have a 'Board Article" with more suggestions. UPDATE: Here's some other boards which have had good reviews, Proboards

*QUEBECOR - A large printing company in Canada. I use them with my company SUMM Publications. Marvel, DC and Image use them as well. I'm pretty sure that is an accurate statement, but if I am incorrect, please let me know in my 'comments section.'

*TRIM AREA - Say goodbye to anything within .125" of any side of a standard sized comic page. This only pertains to bleed book art which is originally 6.875" x 10.50" and cut down to 6.625" x 10.25"

I'm not a writer, so please bare with me if my words are terrible.