How the Sausage Gets Made PT.2

Have you ever wanted to see how a comic gets made? Well here's your chance to see the process from script to page. Part due.

In Part 1, I showed the process of the script to art, which involved dialogue, and the story was driven by the speaking portions of the character.

But what about a story that has no words and the artist has to rely on the sequentials, their art, to tell the bulk of the story?

Comics, while a visual medium, are also very driven by the written word, what a character is saying to the other.

In this 8-page short, I wanted to tell a story visually to get across the idea of Ikigai, a Japanese philosophy of, in a nutshell, your “reason for being,” the thing that you wake up every day for.

Since this short was in a wrestling anthology, I wanted to create a story around the idea that most of the time, this really has to be the thing that is your purpose. It’s not glamorous day to day. It’s a grind. It’s demanding. It’s repetitive. You sacrifice, bleed, and ache in the monotony, many times for very little.

But it’s your reason for being.

I felt to best express this philosophy, it had to be done through the art, not words, but seeing and feeling.

And just a side note, I am a giant dweeb and nerd, and I love dropping references in dialogue or for the art. Even worse, I am a giant martial arts nerd, which is a niche in a niche.

I may have really spammed that anime and martial arts nerd reference button on this too.

Enjoy reader:

Kayfabe Vol.3 

Title: 生きがい - Ikigai 

8 Page Script

Script:

Numbering for PANELS within PAGES is indicated by the Numbered List Bulleting. Notes regarding each panel or page are shown accordingly. If you have questions, please comment or address them.

For easy navigation in the Google Doc, turn on outline to skip to pages.

A lot of the pages in this short story are going to be repeat actions, presenting a sort of monotony and “9-5 clocking” element but, extremely taxing on the body. The goal of this short story is to capture the aspect of “grind to glory”. 

There are also going to be a lot of panel-filled pages, simply to show a lot of the actions that one would through throughout a typical day to day, again trying to capture a routine and a grind. The last page is where the art can shine on a full page. 

Any scenes not specified on clothing style or look are your call. I was trying to go with wrestling related designs or homages in the clothing. 

Page Specs-
7.25" x 10.25" Bleed
7" x 10" Trim
6.5" x 9.5" Safe Area
CMYK coloring
300 dpi minimum
600 dpi maximum

Note: To be legally safe, we are using made-up wrestlers. No WWE, ROH, TNA, NJPW, Indy, or any other real-life wrestlers. 

Notice anything similar? Sometimes there’s a cross-over in my formatting—no reason to do it over and over every script.

In the future, I’ll do the same with other comics, and you can see how it differs in those because there are changes.

We’ve got the concepts from Brad Seymour:

And onto the script and finished pages:

Page 1.

Page one begins with a horizontal sequence across the top page in panels 1-3, before loosening up to your choice of panel style for 4-6.

Panel 1: Panel one opens the story with our protagonist here after titled WRESTLER. His eyes are wide open staring at his alarm clock. The clock says 5:57 AM. His face presents an almost an emotionless tire. 

Wrestler is based off a combination of Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuchika Okada. The only note I have on looks outside of a combination of those two, is that Wrestler has bleach blonde hair. 

1. Textbox: Seven days out from The Main Event.

Panel 2: Eyes still wide open still, the alarm clock begins buzzing. Clock says 5:59 AM. His face still presents an almost an emotionless tire. 

Panel 3: Wrestler is sitting up in his bed now. Clock says 6:00 AM. His face still an almost an emotionless tire and drain while he looks to a championship belt, that is hanging in his room. It’s your call on the best location of this belt visually. 

1. Textbox [Title]: Ikigai 

2. Textbox [Kanji directly below]: 生きがい

3. Team Credits

Panel 4: Wrestler is in the gym doing squats on a smith machine, facing the reader like this photo. Only note that he is wearing this shirt. 

His face is straining. 

Panel 5: Wrestler is pounding down his dinner, which is a combination of eggs, protein shake, noodles and some kind of meat. 

I was thinking an anime-esque scene like this, but, less anime unrealistic and in the realm of reality. I would like it to be a notable homage to large scale anime eating.

Wrestler lives in an apartment and his room sizes should reflect this. It’s basically a studio with the bed, bathroom, and kitchen all in one place. Have some fun with the layout and what’s inside it.

Panel 6: Wrestler is laying in his bed asleep. Clock says 9:39 PM. This could be a smaller panel to give 4 and 5 some space and room to breathe.

Page 2.

Page two begins another day of training routine, with Wrestler showing little to no emotion. This is about a day to day grind. 

Wrestler only shows intense emotions during intense physical activities like wrestling or lifting. 

Panel 1: The alarm clock is buzzing and Wrestler is sitting up in his bed. Clock says 5:59 AM. He looks full of melancholy and tire. 

1. Textbox: Six days out from The Main Event.

Panel 2: Wrestler is training his freestyle, folk wrestling. The following panels resemble a hard wrestling training session like in this video. 

Panels 2-4 should all display hard slams and dunks from wrestling being performed on Wrestler, he’s taking the brunt force and pain of training. 

Here is a link to videos on Sakuraba and his wrestling training for visual examples and looks that might help, link. Your call on the exact action that will fit and that you think will look best. 

He’s wearing this shirt and Wrestler can express extreme emotions of physical pain and strain in the action shots. 

1. Textbox: Ikigai - A Japanese word that derives from two kanji, iki 生き, meaning life.

Panel 3: Panel 3, continues with the wrestling training montage from Panel 2. Another video example here and here.

Panel 4: The last panel should show a wrestling neck crank being applied to Wrestler, example shown here.

Really focusing on the pain and crank of the cross face.

Panel 5: Wrestler is pounding down his dinner, again.

However, this time he is visibly a little beat up and has an ice pack on his neck and an ice wrap on his shoulder. His elbow is wrapped in tape and he has some lite bruising on his face. He looks extremely drained and tired. 

Panel 6: Wrestler is shown running down a road, sun setting, large Beat By Dre style headphones underneath his hood. 

Wrestler is wearing a hood and this hood is up. His hoodie is designed after this.

Panel 7: Wrestler is laying in his bed asleep. Clock says 10:17 PM.