catharsis development session 4: the script

i'm going to start this post with the structuring of the script. this is the first time i have made a script so detailed. let me post a couple of screenshots of drawing a blank's second draft and fresh meat's script.

(a likely familiar portion of fresh meat's script.you can see that there is little description of the setting, tone, or actions of the characters, although i would put bracket actions when i felt they were very important details, or impossible to intuit. there are no reference images in the document and references to pacing and beats was VERY rare. some of the scenes had literally no script at all, only lengthy descriptions of what happens in the scene, delivered in a single wall of text.
the scene description there is colored light gray because i wanted to be able to skim the document for the next scene easily -- every scene completed, i lightened the scene description.)

(less familiar scenes from drawing a blank. in this type of scripting, i tried working with my unwillingness to tackle big walls of text in order to draw pages by highlighting the purpose of each scene in an aesthetically appealing way. the secondary goal of listing scene purposes was to make sure every scene was important enough to have multiple purposes in the story.
in addition to this, but not pictured here, i highlighted how scenes affected the pacing in specific colors to keep an eye on how fast or slow the story was moving.
there is otherwise no change in the level of detail. the highlighting was time-consuming, although fun to scroll through; it didn't curb my impulse to skim and refuse to read carefully off of adderall, though. i did not continue trying to highlight or bold text rhythmically to get myself to read all of it in this script. if it didn't work, it was just wasting my time.)

there were several issues with writing scripts this way:
-details could be lost easily as i made them on impulse while drawing, rather than deliberately with multiple reviews while looking at the script. a great way to fabricate continuity errors.
-it took more time to get the ball rolling for a page because i needed to scrounge around for references myself as i while i was already tasked with drawing a page. undoubtedly, i'll still have to look up visual references while drawing, but this will ease the process, especially with more troubling and complex visual concepts.
-i ended up changing the dialogue frequently and drastically because the text did not have a strong voice or sense of pacing, nor any jokes to make me Feel Clever (TM). this could accidentally remove vital exposition that's relied upon later, or add contradictory information
-i could only really review what the characters said and where they were while trying to improve the script in my free time

i have tried thumbnailing before to better prepare myself for a comic as well, and i've hated it. absolutely despised it. it felt like a waste of my time. i would change the pacing if i wanted to by the time i drew the actual comic anyway, and having to work so small stressed me and my hand out (i had to force myself to sketch at 300px wide to make sure i didn't make them too detailed).
i could still see that, while i was scripting, there were just some visuals i couldn't describe, but really wanted to include, and knew i'd forget. to compensate for the positives of both methods, i just started to thumbnail any particular expressions, movements, compositions, etc. that i felt weren't adequately described in the text, or that i wanted drawn a very specific way, with no need to thumbnail the rest.
this was somewhat easy, because i came at this script knowing that more detail-oriented scripting would require me to actively challenge myself while writing to visualize, not just the setting in the summary, but panel counts. frequently i will describe the amount of beats and panels for described actions and dialogue in this script, and i will think about how many panels different scenes will take, if they seem like they'll be cut off mid-page -- more important now that pages have a max of 8 panels. i also describe shot choices more (probably not as much as i should).
images as references and thumbnails would break up the text and create recognizable landmarks to navigate the it quickly instead of highlighting, and completely removing the short summaries at the top of scenes would prevent me from using that to draw a page instead of reading the actual scripting (or vice versa). i tried to select segments that demonstrate the versatility of the reference images and thumbnails and how they function with the text, but these aren't all of the thumbnails i've done. i will probably, after i'm done with the script, go back and add more thumbs and refs.
additionally, i've used much more humor while writing this to keep myself entertained. i knew that catharsis would be more lighthearted, but i think that i will use the humorous descriptions that no one but me will really see to get across parts of the visuals even in serious scripts. i've also taken to just writing out internal motivations of characters when they don't seem obvious, because it hadn't really occurred to me that i could do that in writing that's largely only meant for me to see.
with my hand the way it is now, not thumbnailing every single bit of script will also save me a lot of pain.

aside from snips of the script, included in this is yudzuki's design reference, and straightening out vincent's design and proportions, along with his treehouse in-world. he challenges me with his chin... there's no room for a mouth down there, and i'm used to the mouth on a muzzle being almost the bottom of the face. also, i made his shirt orange, because that's His Color.
following those are some images i drew of saga are experimenting with his hairline, because i just can't accept that much of his expressions being covered up by bangs. i'm still contemplating experimenting more to get it like... goku or ash ketchum kind of hair.
i also established felix's profile, which continues to use the same oval shape as their head-on model. i still struggle to replicate those proportions, so i need more practice. i wanted for their profile to be shaped like an acknowledgement to their previously more visible aquiline nose structure.
and i tweaked romeo's design, which i should really finish tweaking, but he isn't integral to the story, so i haven't gotten to it... i need to finish izzi's ref just as much.
the last minute is a slightly altered felix reference, where he's a little chubbier, his biceps are larger because he lifts weights, and most prominently, he has a different eye shape so that he is less similar to kim's eyes. subsequently, every alter with eyes reflecting the body had to also be given the new eye shape.
and, i didn't include them in the other development posts, so the reworked designs of the alters who've gotten them. i REALLY agonized about whether to let felix's inner world design have patterns, but it felt overall like it REALLY elevated him. it will hurt to draw, though.

let me just say, this has been a REALLY hard transition. i've said it before, but when i wrote drop-out, i was NOT financially supporting myself. i had few responsibilities, and a lot of time to think and feel anything my brain wanted to entertain. i could write basically whenever spontaneous inspiration struck me, and that's my natural rhythm. still, even with nothing else to do, drop-out took a couple of months to script.
by the time fresh meat rolled around, this was my job, and i didn't really have much time to explore thoughts outside of what i needed to be thinking about to do it. no longer moving in my own rhythm, i needed medication to motivate me and get me to actually focus, and that medication at the time was adderall. most of fresh meat's core script was developed in a few separate nights on adderall, then being scripted more thoroughly over time, mostly as i worked on earlier scenes of the comic itself.
i have more responsibilities now, even just aside from work, which i used to get to focus on exclusively most of the time. it was of the utmost importance that i was given space to work because my medication only worked for a limited amount of time.
now i'm on non-stimulants, and i work much more slowly and frequently feel foggy. they've instilled a desire to be more precise and focus on details in my art -- i started strattera at the beginning of this year, and it's probably obvious that my lineart became cleaner, and my backgrounds became more detailed around the end of january '21. i had enough focus to work on my art, but none of the emotional reward like a stimulant to actually quickly punch it out without nitpicking. part of this new relationship with art is actually what ultimately ended up injuring my hand this year -- a lot of work at once + a lot of minute movements you can't use your whole arm to draw = bad time for your hand muscles.
the other exacerbating factor of this medication is that without the mental clarity of a stimulant, i don't visualize as much or as vividly, and i have to sketch most of my panels now, whereas not sketching was a vital element of my style and how i saved time when drawing. this essentially doubled the workload of the most hand-intensive part of the drawing process for every image i made.
i really hate the foggy feeling, and i hate not being able to make art at the pace i made it before, so it leaves me surprised that i have positive things to show for it -- more consistent updates because there's no burnout, no meltdowns or ragequitting art some days because my fight/flight button isn't being hammered, fewer impulsive decisions in the artistic process, and a lot more patience with more detailed projects. i didn't make as many folie a dupe strips as i did in 2019 this year, but i did make some of my largest ones.
honestly, i don't think stimulants could fix what troubles my work consistency now because they aren't painkillers anyway, but it's hard to feel appreciative of a medication that simply doesn't give you the euphoric rush of motivation and clarity you're used to. i'm still unsure how to advance my relationship with art and work, and my mind, at this point, all things considered, but i enjoy the fruits of a calmer, slower work ethic, like this scripting style.

i think in the next development post, i can write about decisions i made during the writing process about the actual content of the story, like what happens and what's said and why things look a certain way. i try my best to explain on-stream as i work, but a lot of it feels based on intuitive gut feelings.
after that, i'd probably like to do one more development post about making the comic's initial pages and update buffer. for now i think that's all the commentary i have. glad to finally update this little segment, it's been so long. also, these development posts will be retroactively tagged with "catharsis" -- i'm not sure why i didn't do it earlier.