Steve McNiven pencils Captain America

[Wachusay]

Is "penciling" basically most of the art? Like creating the concept design for what the writer wants and just drawing everything out?

-Or

Is there a ready-made image/characters that the "pencil-er" draws into poses and actions?

[samtung]

@Wachusay

It depends. Spider-Man and Captain America have been around for ages; they were designed by artists (Ditko and Kirby, I think) way before Steve McNiven. But if a penciller gets a new series, it will be up to him or her to design the characters, too. It's also up to the penciller to draw everything in the script; to tell the story in pictures. So yeah, a lot of the art is pencilling.

[Wachusay]

@samtung

Right about the first part.

but Damn, that technically means the penciler does the most "art" work. I know the inkers get to make corrections and other imporrtant decisions, but the pencilers have most power. Did he do the pencils for Nemesis?

[samtung]

@Wachusay

Yeah, he did the pencils for Nemesis. Pencillers definitely have the most "power," as far as the storytelling goes, but that also means there's the most "blame" on them if it's not clear what's going on in the panel or story.

I do think colorists are undersung heroes, though. They can really impact the tone or sense of reality of the book.

[Wachusay]

@samtung Oh wow.

And yeah colorists have a lot of skill. I would see the pages in pencils and ink in the end of the comics and be amazed by the details, but after i see the pages colored, they use colors i didnt even imagine.

[poison91666]

!!!!!!!!!!