Breakdowns

[s-man]

When a book notes an artist doing the "breakdowns" what exactly does this mean the artist did on the book?

[Anfield Fox]

Good question. It varies from finishing off the artwork, doing backgrounds and stuff like that as far as i'm aware.

[Zonker]

Breakdowns are less than full pencils. In the traditional pencil/ink division of labor, there can still be a wide variation in how much detail the penciller puts in, as well as how closely the inker follows those pencils. My understanding is that full pencils generally could be sufficient to illustrate the -script-- you'd know who the characters were, for instance. With breakdowns, the artist is pretty much just arranging the panel layout on the page and the position of the characters within the panels. If you saw only the breakdowns, you'd be unlikely to follow the story: you'd see the characters only as outlines, for instance.

 

I've occasionally read of inkers complaining about their pencillers who were paid by the company for a full pencil job, but only delivered something like breakdowns to the inker. Then the inker had to do the more complicated "finishing" job, rather than the inking job he was paid for.

 

All this is just my layman's understanding. PM rob_react for the exact scoop.

[rob_react]

Breakdowns are less than full pencils. In the traditional pencil/ink division of labor, there can still be a wide variation in how much detail the penciller puts in, as well as how closely the inker follows those pencils. My understanding is that full pencils generally could be sufficient to illustrate the -script-- you'd know who the characters were, for instance. With breakdowns, the artist is pretty much just arranging the panel layout on the page and the position of the characters within the panels. If you saw only the breakdowns, you'd be unlikely to follow the story: you'd see the characters only as outlines, for instance.

 

I've occasionally read of inkers complaining about their pencillers who were paid by the company for a full pencil job, but only delivered something like breakdowns to the inker. Then the inker had to do the more complicated "finishing" job, rather than the inking job he was paid for.

 

All this is just my layman's understanding. PM rob_react for the exact scoop.

 

No need That's a pretty good breakdown of breakdowns (har)

[s-man]

Breakdowns are less than full pencils. In the traditional pencil/ink division of labor, there can still be a wide variation in how much detail the penciller puts in, as well as how closely the inker follows those pencils. My understanding is that full pencils generally could be sufficient to illustrate the -script-- you'd know who the characters were, for instance. With breakdowns, the artist is pretty much just arranging the panel layout on the page and the position of the characters within the panels. If you saw only the breakdowns, you'd be unlikely to follow the story: you'd see the characters only as outlines, for instance.

 

I've occasionally read of inkers complaining about their pencillers who were paid by the company for a full pencil job, but only delivered something like breakdowns to the inker. Then the inker had to do the more complicated "finishing" job, rather than the inking job he was paid for.

 

All this is just my layman's understanding. PM rob_react for the exact scoop.

 

Thanks for clearing up the picture for me!