Max Riffner

The Parlor

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Insecurity Blanket

Whenever I start on drawing someone else’s script, I freak out for a few days. I start to question if I’m the right person for the job and whether or not my style is appropriate for the book. I also seem to approach how I actually produce the book differently than I do when it is my script.

For instance, with Quick Step I drew every page in my sketchbook (roughly), scanned the pages in and finished the page in Adobe Illustrator (details here). For some reason with this new script, I’ve felt I’ve had to draw all the roughs in Illustrator. Everything looks awkward and out of place, not how I’d normally compose a page, and my figures have no life to them. So by the end of the night, I end up having not accomplished much but a page of crap with my head on the desk, moaning to myself that the writer needs to find someone else. If you’ve been at that dark place, you know what I mean. I basically feel like I’m not good enough.

This is the third writer I’ve done this with, so at least I can recognize the pattern of insecurity. This weekend, I’m going to start fresh and stick with the process I know works for me. Sketching the panels out first in a sketchbook gives me a greater degree of both control and good spontaneity that I love.

On the plus side, I laid down my word balloons last night and they are slick. My lettering keeps getting better and better. Last night I used a new dialogue font which uses lowercase instead of all caps, and I finally learned how to square my balloons to fit the type better. If it wasn’t for that revalation, I would have been completely miserable as I climbed into bed.

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