ANIMAL COMICS Demo: “Black Bear”

Here’s a demo project I’m working on as part of a residency @ the Well School (Peterborough, NH). I’ll update this post with each stage of the project, so you can follow along in the creative process.

(A big thanks to my students & co-creators for their feedback & help as we all make “Animal Comics” together!)

JUMP TO: Template | Research | Pencil (Draft #1) + Feedback |
Pencil (Draft #2) | Pencils + Inks (Draft #3) | Final Mini!

START: The “Animal Comics” Template:

Here’s the basic template we’re all using to create 1-Sheet mini-comics about our chosen local wildlife:

RESEARCH: “Black Bears”

PENCILING PAGES / DRAFT #1:

Here are my penciled p.1 (front cover) and p.2-3 (habitat + food)…

Now I’m looking for READER FEEDBACK before I can ink these pages… Please feel free to comment.

• What do you notice?
• What’s confusing (or unclear or missing)?
• What decisions do you think the artist made, and why?

READER FEEDBACK / DRAFT #1:

PENCILING PAGES / DRAFT #2:

Here’s my penciled Draft #2, taking into account some of the feedback above… My artwork is still pretty messy, but I’ll clean it up when it comes time to INK.

The cover (p.1) stays the same:

I took the DEN out of p.3, to focus on HABITAT & FOOD only:

p.4 = Den (partial hibernation) / p.5 = cubs!

p.6 = range (from a map @ bear.org >>)
p.7 = territory (a lone he-bear enjoying the sunset?):

p.8 = This ended up being fun-facts… (from BLACK BEAR FAQs >>)

(Q) Is that 1784 fact too grim as an ending?
(READER FEEDBACK: Whoa, yes.)

PENCILING & INKING / DRAFT #3:

Revising & starting to ink, we now have that back cover with an “Author’s Note”:

The revised & inked p.2-3 spread:

P.4-5 = inking in progress:

NEXT UP: More edits & inking!

WORK IN PROGRESS ~ Stay ‘tooned…