For those of you that frequent my web-bursts via this site or Twitter, you know that I postponed drawing full-sized pages of Payday in order to try doing thumbnail layouts. And you know that I have said on more than one occasion that I really, really, really didn’t like doing them.

In case you haven’t heard that before, here it is: I hated doing thumbnail layouts.

It’s not that they weren’t productive, overall. My last, full, penciled page of the book was page 19 (which didn’t get posted; I posted page 18 if you care to look). When doing the thumbnails, I laid out pages 20-52. That’s right, I got to page 52 in layouts.

The problem is, I lost my feel for drawing the main character, it wasn’t fun, and I didn’t sit down to draw the thumbnails in a consistent manner. The work was sporadic. So, while I don’t have to think as hard about what to draw for the next 33 pages, I still feel like I’m behind.

Actually, I don’t have to think too hard about the next 32 pages, because page 20 is penciled:

My general method for making comics is that I write a script for myself, then I go directly to full pencils, laying out the pages as I go along, often two at a time to make sure everything is visually cohesive. Since Payday isn’t a scripted comic, I’m making things up as I go along according to the story in my head. Doing layouts for this sort of comic was like a) writing a script, but not as fast, and b) an extra step.

On one hand, I’m glad that 52 pages of comic are solid and that there are only a few more pages to go after that. Using my thumbnails I should – should – be able to pencil through them quickly. On the other hand, the thumbails weren’t that fun to do, and it was a bit of a demotivator.

Time to brush it off, suck it up, and move forward. Page 21, here I come.