Drawing Hands #6: From Script Into Page (with gestures)
How I turned a page of script into a two page comic
Frequently in my writing I’m confronted with a page or tow that is mostly dialogue, and I have to figure out how to make sure that it isn’t just talking heads. Of course on of the ways to do this is to have your characters DOING something. But as I’ve talked about in the previous posts in this series, I like to use hands to add some liveliness to the discussion.
Of course, since I’m also the writer of my material, I’m doing this to myself. I might ask myself why I didn’t make the script more action packed. But for Checkups, Shots, and Robots, which is a graphic novel about the history of medicine, I have a lot of people looking through microscopes and finding cures, not running around punching people.
And before I get to the script, Checkups, Shots, and Robots is available for preorder! Go to my website to order it from the bookseller of your choice and you’ll get it on November 12th.
And now back to the script. This is about Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who you probably learned about in high school. If you forget who he is, just read on! Here’s the script:
[Stephen! Come quick!]
[Yeah? What?]
[Take a look at this!]
[What the . . . ? Eww . . . gross! There are tiny wriggling things in this water!]
[Where did you get this water?]
[From the well by your house!]
[Aack! I’ve been drinking animals!]
[Wait! There’s more!]
[Page 29]
[I’ve seen these small animals—I call them “animacules”—inside me, as well.]
[I took some samples of my spit and my poop and guess what?] [You’re a disgusting person?]
[There are animacules in my mouth! And my intestines! Probably my armpits too!]
[Man! I’m glad I’m not you!]
[They’re inside you too!]
[Auggh! I can feel them crawling around inside me!]
[There’s a whole zoo inside of us!]
Now I’ll show you what I did to add gestures to this conversation. Pay attention to the way that I’m using hands to emphasize what people are saying. What could have been a static scene becomes livelier with the addition of gestures and expressive hands.
In the next post, I’ll discuss the hand poses that I use all the time.