How I Make "Actus Reus"
(AKA "How to Make a Photocomic in 13 Deceptively Easy Steps!")

TOOLS
First and foremost, seeing as how Actus Reus is a photocomic, a CAMERA.
This particular model is very old (Sony DSC-S75, 3.3 Megapixels) and will be replaced soon.

Next, a decent computer is indispendable. This is "SHELOB," a Compaq Presario SR1917CL with
an AMD Athlon 64 and 1.5 GB of RAM (recently upgraded from 512 MB). Also, Photoshop.


The next item is horrendously useful: a greenscreen.

EXAMPLE OF GREENSCREENING:

^^^THIS^^^ BECOMES THIS:

And last, but definitely not least: PROPS. They make or break anything involving
film, photography or anything trying to represent real life.

PROCESS
 Step One: STORYBOARD
 Yeah, this is what it sounds like, and I'm not as vigilant at doing this as I should.
Write your comic's lines out so you know what the hell you're doing when you hit step two.

Step Two: SHOOT
 Take the pictures you're gonna use. Way harder and more time-consuming than it sounds.

Step Three: MOVE PICTURES TO COMPUTER
 Yeah, the camera should be digital. Please don't try doing a comic with 35mm.

Step Four: START PHOTO EDITOR
 Boot up your computer, start Photoshop or whatever else you use. Create the image it'll end up being.

Step Five: BACKGROUND
 My background is black, to better blend into the rest of the site. The general idea is that it's hard to
tell where the comic image ends and the site background begins. BACK UP THE FILE.

 Step Six: OPEN AND RESIZE PICTURES
 The pictures are NEVER the right size. Resize them, crop them, make them fit.
Do this for every picture.

(Sidenote: If anyone ever wants to see one of the original pictures that were used
in one of the comics or character sheets, etc., E-Mail me)

Step Seven: COPY PICTURES INTO MAIN COMIC FILE
 Select All, Copy, and Paste. Don't close your source file in case something happens. BACK UP.

Step Eight: GET BASIC LAYOUT SET UP
 Put the pictures where you want them, then get them the shape you want them.
Me, I trim the corners of mine at 45 degrees to make them more visually interesting,
then I set them up to try to convey the flow of events. The more chaotic the things
happening on the page are, the more chaotic the page is.
HOWEVER, the reader still needs to be able to tell the order of the comics with no help.

Step Nine: TEXT BUBBLES
 Remember that storyboard? Use it. In Photoshop, I use a standard ellipse, then a 3-sided polygon,
then I transform them to what I need, merge those two together, and put the appropriate stroke color around it.
Thought bubbles are at 70% transparency, but with the same idea.
I keep text and text bubbles separated, for editing purposes. BACK UP.

 Step Ten: ADD TEXT
 Simple, right? Add text and any special effects. BACK UP.

 Step Eleven: ADD SOUND EFFECTS
 What? Sound effects? In a COMIC? Yep, use that vocabulary. Use appropriate fonts. BACK UP.

 Step Twelve: ADD SPECIAL EFFECTS
 PLEASE, make it interesting! Add special effects as needed.
Don't know how? Experiment, or find a tutorial. BACK UP.

 Step Thirteen: SAVE
 Those backups'll come in handy if you butcher something (I speak from experience).
Save a few different versions of the file along the way. Photoshop can only Undo so many things.
Save the file now, after it's finished, in a completely new file. Trust me, it's a good idea.
Now save the comic as the .jpg, .gif, or other image file it'll end up being.

If you need a comic host, try ComicGenesis!

To see the finished comic I used for this way-too-short tutorial, go HERE.
Total time spent on this particular comic: 4 hours.

 

Feedback is always welcome! The Sphix is listening...

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