Consistency and Continuity

I recently posted the above image (click through to see the whole thing) as an extra in my comic. I drew it for myself after I realized something: I kept forgetting the details.

The positioning and style of furniture are trickiest for me. There were a few scenarios where I had to flip back a few pages to check, say, the location of a table, only to realize I hadn’t been drawing it consistently. I had drawn a loose top-down plan of each floor some time ago, but in classic Hippie Van style it seems to have been lost to the depths of my room.

I took the opportunity to make a better, more detailed version. In the illustration above I did my best to establish the positioning, style, and colour of all the furniture so that when I draw Dee’s ship I can refer back to it. No more mysterious table replacements!

I’m thinking I may also want to create a reference image for some of the main characters. I find it really difficult not to forget details like a character having a nametag or elbow pads.

There are other options, of course. One is not to care so much. I imagine few of my readers are flipping three pages back like “hang on, weren’t her shoes blue before?” The other is to simplify! If something is causing you trouble in your comic, you always have to ask whether it’s worth the trouble. Is that particular troublesome detail really adding anything, other than aggravation? If it is, cool! If not, you’re free to toss it! For main characters, in particular, it’s probably a good idea to keep the character design relatively simple.


Do you keep drawings to refer back to for settings and characters? Or do you have another way of keeping track of the details? Is it all in your head?


I also wanted to add a quick thank you to kawaii here, who switched newsposts with me this week when I lost my cat and didn't feel up to it. <3

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