Step 1: Preplanning The process for making a page for Spirit-1 is different than the one for SpaceHunter_X – it's actually a lot simpler. First I draw a little thumbnail of the page, so that I can plan out how the page will look. I used to only do this with SH_X, but I found it to be so helpful that I've taken to doing it with Spirit-1 as well. Like SH_X, I don't have any script written up for the pages ahead of time, I just have a general idea of what I want. It's harder to do this with Spirit-1 than it is with SH_X, because while I know where I'm headed with SH_X, I rarely have any idea of what's going to happen with Spirit-1. It says on the character bio page that Vicky is "The only one who knows The Plot. Currently withholding this information from the author." It may sound funny, but I'm actually not making that up – it's very true (unfortunately)!
click to view larger version of page	Step 2: Pencil work Spirit-1 pages were originally supposed to be 5"x7". For some strange and unknown reason, they ended up being 5"x7.25". I used to do all pages in a 9"x12" Strathmore sketchbook, dividing each page in half, so that I could get two pages of Spirit-1 for every one page of sketchbook. I would draw them 6"x8.5" since that was the size of half a sketchbook page (the spiral binding would take up half an inch, thus the 8.5" height rather than a 9" height). However, I recently bought a new, smaller sketchbook for carrying around school. This book is 5.5"x8.5", so I'm working with actual 5"x7.25" pages. I use the extra space that I end up having on the bottom of the page to draw my thumbnails, it works out quite well ^_^ I get a lot of pages drawn during some of classes (whoever said college couldn't be productive?). I usually like my pencils better than my inked pages because I'm liable to make mistakes while inking. Because my pencilwork is so messy, I'll have several lines in one place, and a lot of the time I choose to ink the wrong line, so stuff ends up kind of lopsided :P ...Tyben's eyebrows are evil. I swear, they just don't like me.
click to view larger version of page	Step 3: Inking, part 1 Inking is evil, it's just one of those universal truths. I would do away with inking entirely if I could – there are other online manga-ka that don't ink, and they do fabulous jobs if it – but my pencil work is just too messy for me to get away with it. When inking, I use Sakura Micron pens (I think that a lot of people who do online comics also use these), and the sizes range from 005 to 07. I like these pens because when I erase the pencil, I don't erase some of the pen as well (something that I've encountered with cheaper pens). I actually didn't bother to erase the pencil before scanning this page in. If you look closely, you may be able to see some of the darker pencil lines -.-;;
click to view larger version of page	Step 4: Inking, part 2 Step 4 is where Spirit-1 is a lot different from SpaceHunter_X. Where I shade on the computer with SH_X, I use markers to shade in Spirit-1. While I realize that I could just use cheap markers (such as off-brand Crayola rip-offs) and just scan the pages in Greyscale, I'd rather not (i.e., I didn't think of it until I'd already bought the markers that I use now, and I'm too lazy to start a new system). I started off inking Spirit-1 with two different shades of Warm Grey Prismacolor markers (30% and 60%), and today I use both those as well as three more (20%, 50%, and 70%). I like the warm grey markers because I think they give better tone than the cool grey ones (if that makes any sense to you). Each character has at least two different shades that are used on them, with the exception of Plick, who only uses one (well, most of the time it's one. It's obviously a lot more when she's dressed in her priestess outfit). Characters that appeared earlier in the comic, such as Leaf and Vicky, only use two shades, because that's all I had when I started. Later characters, like Tyben, have more variety, since I had more shades of marker when I decided how to ink them (the real problems start when I forget how each person is shaded). I use Sharpie markers for large black areas because they give me the best black. I've found that other black markers tend to have either a greenish or bluish tint.
click to view larger version of page	Step 5: Computer editing After scanning in a page, I separate the image portion of the page from the white part. I do this by command-clicking the "Grey" level under "Channels". This selects all the white parts of the page. Then I invert the selection using command-I, so that only the inked lines and areas colored with markers are selected. Next I create a new layer in which I fill in the selected area with black. Finally, I delete the original, non-transparent page. By getting rid of the white part, I can easily add things (like screen tones) to the page. I occasionally add "screen tones" with the computer, such as the night sky throughout the entire "divining" sequence. To do this, I create a new layer under the line art layer. In this new layer, I use the polygon lasso to select the area I want the tone to cover. Once this area is selected, I fill it in using the pattern fill. The pattern used here, that of the night sky, is actually a screen shot I did ages ago to use as a background on the Xork page of my old web site, Mandy's Grotto ^.^ I sometimes move characters around within a panel in this step as well. This is usually done in order to make more space for the speech bubbles that I'll have to put in for the next, final step. When I'm all done editing the basic layout of the page, I merge all the screen tone layers with the line art layer in order to create a basic "page" layer. If you want, you can try putting in your own dialog with this page. If you do, please send it to me when you're done, I'd love to read it! ^_^
click to view larger version of page	Step 6: Text and speech bubbles This part isn't any different from what I do with SpaceHunter_X. First I type up the text. I find that I often have to cut down character's speeches because not all of what I want to say will fit into the panel. Occasionally I let the text overlap the picture, but I really hate doing this. Once all the text is finished and in place, I merge all the text layers to create a single text layer above the picture layer. When I first started drawing Spirit-1, I drew the speech bubbles on the page before I scanned it in. I stopped doing this because I found that often what a character said would no longer fit in the bubble once I'd typed it up. Nowadays I use a white square with rounded corners that I've made. By putting a drop shadow with a distance of zero behind the square, I get a black outline. I copy this square all over the page, than resize each one to fit its corresponding text. Since the square is solid white, if the text has to go over the picture (such as in the such as in the second panel here), I don't have to worry about erasing the picture in order to keep it from obscuring the text. Occasionally a character will only say a short phrase. When this happens I use the elliptical marquee to create an oval bubble. After the bubbles are in place, I use the polygon lasso to create the little triangles pointing to each character indicating who's saying what. Once this is done, I merge all the bubble layers to create a single bubble layer between the text and picture layers. The only thing that's left to prepare the page for posting on the internet is shrinking the page down to 72 dpi (I work at anything from 100 to 200 dpi for Spirit-1) and saving as a JPEG file. And then I'm done ^__^