We are a loose collective of friends who make comics together! Here, we are sharing past experiences, tips and tricks, and general LLH news. The entries can get very long, good luck! Learn more about us.
A few methods I use to visualize imposition/page layouts when I plan my books and comics. (Note this is not about actually imposing pages for print; it’s more to help you plan your content.)I usually employ all three depending on where I’m at or what information I need to figure out.
left and right folio: left-hand page or right hand page
OFC, IFC, IBC, OBC: outside front cover, inside front cover, inside back cover, outside back cover.
Imposition is essentially the art of page layout. It’s about figuring out how pages of a book will be positioned on a sheet to get them to where they need to be when the entire book is finally printed and assembled. It can help you figure out where spreads are, where sections start, etc.
This can be very helpful for both plotting/pacing your work and print production. It allows you to see, for example, whether something will start on left hand or right hand page, or where a spread will fall – whether the spread is actually running across one sheet of paper, or if it’s being split up across two and there’s a chance for some misalignment. You can also have a sense of how long or short of a book you want (depending on your time/patience/budget etc.), and fill pages accordingly.
This is part two of three, recapping the workshop with Eiji Otsuka, manga writer and Kobe Design University professor. Held at Otaku Lounge, Otsuka-sensei and his student Chiharu Nakashima (a professional mangaka in her own right) gave us a two-day crash course on manga storytelling.
Where we left off: Otsuka-sensei had gone through a super-condensed lesson about cinematography devices in manga-storytelling. He then assigned us some homework…
DAY TWO: Homework Assignment Correction, Common Mistakes in Manga Layouting
Last weekend, I was very lucky to be able to attend and participate in an inspiring two-day workshop led by manga writer and Kobe Design University professor Eiji Otsuka, of MPD Psycho and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery fame. Held at Otaku Lounge, Otsuka-sensei and his student Chiharu Nakashima (a professional mangaka in her own right) gave us a crash course on manga storytelling that entirely blew my mind.
I really felt like this is the type of thing Love Love Hill tends to be really interested in, so I wanted to write a bit of a recap of my experience and share some of the lesson here :D
I’ve broken it down into the two days and then one more entry about my own thoughts and what I synthesized most out of it. I am probably not going to delve too deeply into individual points in the actual lesson, because the presentation was so dense and to be honest I am not really sure how to do it without mass hand gesturing and visual aids, lol. I can only try my best to explain it in words here, I’m sorry. Maybe for another time.
DAY ONE: An Introduction to the Usage of Cinematographic Language in the Art of Manga
Back in January, I was asked by En Masse to take part in a little side-gig for the Quebec clothing company Simons, drawing a mural for their DJAB Men’s line. My own photos off my phone of the progress was pretty terrible, but you can see me in action in the video above ~~ and the backdrop in use at Simon’s website here!
The TamaGotCheese anthology was an original comic anthology, (mainly) about owners and their beloved Tamagotchi! The design this time was 100000% inspired by the original North American packaging/brand. I wanted to recreate that scratchy look that emulated the feel of wax crayons. Everything had to look a bit ghetto/scraggly/unkept.
