As the final pages of the concluding chapter of the Eagle award winning (sorry, I will let that go…) How to Date a Girl in 10 Days slowly get finished, I thought I’d offer you an exclusive chance to see the first page and a look at how it came together…

The third issue is all plotted out and planned, with notes, dialogue and page layouts scribbled in various notebooks. So the first stage of tackling each page involves a quick thumbnail drawing to work out pacing, beats and basic composition:

Then, I’ll draw a rough version of the page in pencils, with basic shading and lettering:

At which point I can start inking, lettering and putting simple shading washes in. I started cross-hatching any shading with issue 1 but have since made a decision to experiment with this. In issue 2 I relied on scratching Letratone into the pages, with Issue 3 I’m trying a mix of grey brush pens, Letratone, and a little computer interference. Here is what I have by the time I scan the page in:

And here’s the final image:

The rest of the issue will follow soon. Would be good to find out what people think of the new look. Hopefully it remains consistent with the previous issues of How to Date but also shows an aesthetic progression…