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A penciller (or penciler) The penciller is the first step in rendering the story in visual form and may require several steps of feedback with the writer. These artists are concerned with layout (positions and vantages on scenes) to showcase steps in the plot. In earlier generations it was more common for artists to use a loose pencilling approach, in which the penciller does not take much care to reduce the vagaries of the pencil art, leaving it to the inker to interpret the penciller's intent and render the art in a more finished state.
Because a penciller does not usually create finished art, the extent to which the pencilled pages resemble the final, inked version varies depending on the artist.
Most pencillers develop a preference for the work of certain inkers and vice versa. Some penciller/inker teams have enjoyed long and celebrated collaborations when their styles mesh particularly well. In less successful cases, an inker's style may not complement that of the penciller, or the inker's own style may be so prominent that in effect it buries the work of the penciller.
In earlier generations it was more common for artists to use a loose pencilling approach, in which the penciller does not take much care to reduce the vagaries of the pencil art, leaving it to the inker to interpret the penciller's intent. Today many pencillers prefer to create very meticulously detailed pages, where every nuance that they expect to see in the inked art is indicated in pencil. This is known as tight pencilling. Jim Lee is an artist who exemplifies this approach.
A comic book penciller usually works closely with the comic book's editor, who commissions a script from the writer and sends it to the penciller.
Comic book scripts can take a variety of forms. Some writers, such as Alan Moore, produce complete, elaborate, and lengthy outlines of each page. Others send the artist only a plot outline consisting of no more than a short overview of key scenes with little or no dialogue. Stan Lee, the founder of Marvel Comics, was known to prefer this latter form, and thus it came to be known as the Marvel Method.
Sometimes a writer or another artist (such as an art director) will include basic layouts, called breakdowns, to assist the penciller in scene composition. If no breakdowns are included, then it falls to the penciller to determine the layout of each page, including the number of panels, their shapes and their positions. Even when these visual details are indicated by a script, a penciller may feel when drawing the scene that there is a different way of composing the scene, and may disregard the script, usually following consultation with the editor and/or writer.
Tools and materials
A penciller works in pencil. Beyond this basic description, however, different artists choose to use a wide variety of different tools. While many artists use traditional wood pencils, others prefer mechanical pencils or drafting leads. Pencillers may use any lead hardness they wish, although many artists use a harder lead (like a 2H) to make light lines for initial sketches, then turn to a slightly softer lead for finishing phases of the drawing. Still other artists do their initial layouts using a light blue colored pencil because that color tends to disappear during photocopying.
Most comic book pages are drawn oversized on large sheets of paper, usually Bristol board. The customary size of comic book pages in the mainstream American comics industry is 11 by 17 inches. The inker usually works directly over the penciller's pencil marks, though occasionally pages are inked on translucent paper, such as drafting vellum, preserving the original pencils. The artwork is later photographically reduced in size during the printing process.