Creative Process
For this Meth: The Call piece I wanted to convey a sense of dark-
ness hinging on insanity, which is a strong theme throughout the
rest of the Meth stories. I wanted the look of a pencil sketch, very
loose and messy, but also wanted to capture the feel of a downward
spiral in the background photo for the piece. In the finished version I
attempted to make these elements blend
together so the finish would have a pol-
ished look with an off-balance feel. I
enjoy negative space as a presence
throughout my stories and use it to
hold my words, so even they
make a point with the imag-
ery instead of just being what
somebody says. The Call is
pencils that were prepped and
finished in Paint Shop Pro.
This was created on Strathmore 140 lb. cold press watercolor
paper with Rexel Derwent watercolor pencils and washes of Winsor
& Newton paints mixed with black coffee. Each of the characters
was prepped with a different color watercolor pencil, which is how I
create the different colorcasts of their skin. The photo of the lightning
was hardly altered in this piece. The lost souls below were added in
digitally, as was the mask above and the black swirl background.
The Goodbye was inspired by Dante’s Inferno, the first part of
Dante’s Divine Comedy, “Dante Alighieri,” which has inspired many
artists before me and is about Dante’s descent into
hell. It was my intent to create an image that became more horrifying
the longer it was viewed and to use strong jewel-toned colors to
evoke specific emotional
responses as the eye flowed through the piece. This image will be
the cover for the complete collection of Meth’s short stories and will
eventually be available as a limited release through Atlas Unleashed.
Title: Meth: A Matter of Faith, p. 6
Client: Atlas Unleashed
© Shawnti Therrien
S
hawnti Therrien is the creator of Am I Immortal and
Meth (with Atlas Unleashed), the creative director
for the CAG manga anthology With Honor, and the
author of many other dark tales. She lovingly crafts each
tale herself, weaving the written word and creating the art,
layouts, and even lettering. Therrien wears many hats: cre-
ative director, editor, letterer, artist, and writer. Whenever the
opportunity has arisen, she has mentored fellow artists and
worked with other creators, expanding her repertoire.
Meth: The Call was written, created, illustrated, and
finalized by Therrien for future release by Atlas Unleashed.
Therrien’s interests are not limited simply to comics, but
extend throughout all forms of artistic expression. In her rural
Connecticut home, she works with her husband to create
music and independent film. She also works with a local
sculptor to make her 2-D artistic creations come to life. Her
attention to detail is fueled by her drive to touch her audience
on a very base level, as she puts soul into each of her pieces.
She likes to work with any media she can get her hands on,
but almost always chooses illustrated prose and comics as
the ultimate way to capture her intent.
Shawnti Therrien
160
Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics
#175 P DTP:204 Page:161
(RAY)
120-176_19413.indd 161 5/26/10 9:04:6 AM
(Text)
This was created on Strathmore 140 lb. cold press watercolor
paper with Rexel Derwent watercolor pencils and washes of Winsor
& Newton paints mixed with black coffee. Each of the characters
was prepped with a different color watercolor pencil, which is how I
create the different colorcasts of their skin. The photo of the lightning
was hardly altered in this piece. The lost souls below were added in
digitally, as was the mask above and the black swirl background.
The Goodbye was inspired by Dante’s Inferno, the first part of
Dante’s Divine Comedy, “Dante Alighieri,” which has inspired many
artists before me and is about Dante’s descent into
hell. It was my intent to create an image that became more horrifying
the longer it was viewed and to use strong jewel-toned colors to
evoke specific emotional
responses as the eye flowed through the piece. This image will be
the cover for the complete collection of Meth’s short stories and will
eventually be available as a limited release through Atlas Unleashed.
Title: Meth: A Matter of Faith, p. 6
Client: Atlas Unleashed
© Shawnti Therrien
Meth: The Call was written, created, illustrated, and
finalized by Therrien for future release by Atlas Unleashed.
Therrien’s interests are not limited simply to comics, but
extend throughout all forms of artistic expression. In her rural
Connecticut home, she works with her husband to create
music and independent film. She also works with a local
sculptor to make her 2-D artistic creations come to life. Her
attention to detail is fueled by her drive to touch her audience
on a very base level, as she puts soul into each of her pieces.
She likes to work with any media she can get her hands on,
but almost always chooses illustrated prose and comics as
the ultimate way to capture her intent.
Shawnti Therrien
161
Shawnti Therrien
Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics
#175 P DTP:204 Page:161
(RAY)
120-176_19413.indd 161 5/26/10 8:56:46 AM
Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics
#175 P DTP:204 Page:162
(RAY)
120-176_19413.indd 162 5/26/10 9:04:12 AM
(Text)
Title: Meth: The Goodbye
Client: Atlas Unleashed
© Shawnti Therrien
Step Two: The second step involves fleshing out
the character, or key points of interest, within the panel.
At this time, I focus on adding light and shadow to the
image to give it depth. I add the grays in layers, working
from the lightest shadows to the darkest. I keep the lay-
ers separate until the grays are completed and set each
layer up to darken over what is underneath so the line
work isn’t lost. In this panel the line work has been re-
added as a top layer, which is also a darken layer, and
the contrast on it has been boosted so that some parts
of the line work will appear harsher when compared to
other parts. This is a good technique when working with
pencils because oftentimes the lines can become lost
because they are not true black. This gives me the ability
to erase areas that I don’t want to be as dark or solid as
the overcontrasted line work may be, but also assures
that in the darker areas, the line work isn’t lost. For this I
use Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.
162
Creating Comics
Shawnti Therrien
Step One: The first part of my process involves
scanning in a sketched or inked image and formatting
it to be worked. At this time I move any panels that are
out of place into their final positions (the place they will
be when the piece is completed), clean up any stray
lines or discrepancies from the scanner, and add in a
black border to define the edges of the panel. I make
my panel borders the topmost layer throughout the
entire process to ensure my borders will stay absolute
true black when they are printed, no matter how the
subject or background is altered. For the cleanup and
panel borders I use either Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. I
work on Borden & Riley Bristol with a mechanical pencil.
In this panel of Meth you see a sample of my pencils,
which I will bring to finish without ink.
STEP-BY-STEP
Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics
#175 P DTP:204 Page:162
(RAY)
120-176_19413.indd 162 5/26/10 8:56:46 AM
Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics
#175 P DTP:204 Page:163
(RAY)
120-176_19413.indd 163 5/26/10 9:04:16 AM
(Text)
Step four: The final steps involve a lot of fine
detail. At this time I create two layers over the top of
the existing layers that I have in place. The bottom layer
should be a darken layer and the one above it should
be a lighten layer. With the darken layer, I add back
some of the true blacks to areas of the photo that may
have needed to be lightened up to go with the subject.
I do this sparingly and only to areas where the photo
has started to get a muddy look to it. That muddy look
happens when an image starts to lose detail because it
has been made much lighter or darker than its original
exposure. By re-adding in these small dark details, it
gives the same feel of a line work that exists in the sub-
ject of the piece, so it becomes less jarring to go from a
photo to an illustration. Next, I move to the lighten layer
above and add the highlights to the background. This
creates smooth, soft-looking areas and can also help
define a new light source if the photo is not quite from
the same time of day that I had in mind for my finished
piece. All the areas where light and darkness are added
are going to draw the eye of potential viewers, so I use
it sparingly and poignantly for effect. Lastly, I add in any
lettering or word effects over the top of all the layers. I
don’t feel constrained by the limitations of the panel for
word effects. I use them to carry the viewer’s eye from
one panel to the next. This panel of Meth is a small part
of a larger page, and you can see that the words run out
of the panel’s border.
Step Three: Now I add in the background im-
age and manipulate it around the character or subject of
the piece. I make the photo gray scale and then start to
use a paintbrush effect on it, allowing the photo to have
some of the same feel as the subject. I isolate which
part of the photo will solicit the correct response from
potential viewers and what will best show off the subject
imagery in the piece. Then I alter the transparency of
the layer the photo is on so that it does not overtake or
fight with the subject image. If it is made too light it will
look washed out and muddy when compared with the
subject image, but if it is too dark, the subject will be
lost. It is a good idea to take a step back and address
the image as a whole to make sure that the lighting
looks consistent and alter the gray layers on the subject
as needed. The photo is a darken layer placed over the
top of the existing layers in the piece so that it can be
erased down to the subject’s exterior line work.
163
Shawnti Therrien
Shawnti Therrien
STEP-BY-STEP
Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics
#175 P DTP:204 Page:163
(RAY)
120-176_19413.indd 163 5/26/10 8:56:46 AM
The subjects of each of the panels are watercolor created
on Strathmore 90 lb. cold press watercolor paper with Rexel
Derwent watercolor pencils and washes of Winsor & Newton
paints mixed with black coffee. The background photos were
all taken at around 6 p.m. during the summer and have been
heavily altered to create a nighttime feel and eliminate excess
shadows that would not be present in a moonlit or lamp-lit
environment. I utilized negative effects and luminance layers
to create a false night in each of the photos, and erased down
through these layers to give the accents I needed in the places
that would be well lit by lamplight. Layers were used over both
the subjects and the backgrounds to create a consistent
low-light look throughout the panels, with the silhouettes
remaining pure black to draw the eye and slow the pace of
the reader through the page. The speech was intended to flow
through the page without impeding the natural flow, the path
of the eye through the images. Meth: A Matter of Faith will be
printed in the Meth Collection with Atlas Unleashed, and is the
introduction.
Title: Meth: A Matter of Faith, p. 6
Client: Atlas Unleashed
© Shawnti Therrien
Creating Comics
164
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.