From Script to Strip

Drawing to discipline the writing

In his 1973 Comic Media interview, O’Donnell describes learning to supply rough layouts as well as dialogue. He did not claim to be an accomplished artist. Drawing simple figures helped him judge whether the words would leave room for the action. A panel could not show two incompatible viewpoints just because a writer wanted both.

This is a practical insight into a small storytelling space. A rough drawing can expose an overcrowded balloon or an impossible composition before the finished artwork is made. It is a planning tool, not an attempt to replace the artist.

Sources: [1]

A collaboration across distance

The Evening Standard’s farewell feature from April 2001 describes a later workflow: O’Donnell’s roughs and typed instructions went to Romero in Barcelona, with the scripts translated into Spanish. The finished drawings then went to Hove, where Gerry Lip supplied lettering and colour, before O’Donnell reviewed the completed material.

The feature places the writer’s rough for the final daily strip beside the finished version, numbered 10183. It is a particularly clear example of a sequence passing through several hands. The account describes that late production process; it should not be assumed to describe every year of the strip.

Sources: [2]

Read the space between panels

When looking at a collected strip, try following the pictures before reading the balloons. Notice where a glance, a doorway or a change in viewpoint carries information. Then read the dialogue and consider what it adds. This makes the division of work easier to appreciate: the script establishes the scene, while the artist gives it movement, timing and a convincing physical world.