Comic production

It is rare for a comic strip or book to spring out fully formed, composed in perfect panel order. Comics are both written and designed, and a sure sense of totality has to exist before even a rough version sits securely on the paper (or the screen). The elements of the universe of the page may be very complex, no matter how small in scale.

Mike Saenz, 1985

While it is possible for a single panel to move from sketchbook to print with little alteration, the composition of a sequence introduces a separation of task and labour, even if only one person is doing it all.

Over time, since the 1930s, the mainstream comics industry has separated and industrialized a series of numerous tasks into an assembly line, even partitioning the development of story ideas before there are any visuals. With the rapid introduction of computers into the making and publishing of comics, different people are often called upon to replicate the traditional manufacture, but on electronic files rather than pasted boards.

		Ephemeral landscapes: of the page, fundaments . . . Comic production
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`back to the beginning of COMIC FUNDAMENTS` `Production` `Self-consciousness` `Exercices de style` `Realism` `Surrealism in words and images` `Sound` `Motion` `onward to STORYTELLING`		It is rare for a comic strip or book to spring out fully formed, composed in perfect panel order. Comics are both written and designed, and a sure sense of totality has to exist before even a rough version sits securely on the paper (or the screen). The elements of the universe of the page may be very complex, no matter how small in scale. While it is possible for a single panel to move from sketchbook to print with little alteration, the composition of a sequence introduces a separation of task and labour, even if only one person is doing it all. Over time, since the 1930s, the mainstream comics industry has separated and industrialized a series of numerous tasks into an assembly line, even partitioning the development of story ideas before there are any visuals. With the rapid introduction of computers into the making and publishing of comics, different people are often called upon to replicate the traditional manufacture, but on electronic files rather than pasted boards. It's remarkable how well comic artists draw themselves. . . .
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