Nearly two years ago, comiXology announced “Adora and the Distance,” a new all-ages OGN by television writer Marc Bernadin (Star Trek: Piccard, Castle Rock) and artist Ariela Kristantina (“InSeXts,” “Deep State”). In preparation of the book’s release next week, we have the privilege of unveiling some exclusive process artwork by Kristantina, showing us how page eight of the book went from script to final product.
Written by Marc Bernadin
Illustrated by Ariela Kristantina
Colored by Bryan Valenza
Lettered by Bernardo BriceAdora and the Distance is a YA fantasy graphic novel following the epic adventures of Adora, a brave young woman of color who lives in a fantastical world with underground pirates, ghosts, and a mysterious force called “The Distance” which threatens to destroy it all.
Marc Bernardin is a WGA Award-winning television writer-producer who has worked on Star Trek: Picard, Carnival Row, Treadstone, Castle Rock, Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina, Masters of the Universe: Revelations, and Alphas. In an earlier life, he was a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Playboy, and Entertainment Weekly. In comics, he’s an Inkpot-winning writer of Genius, The Highwaymen, and Monster Attack Network.
He’s joined in telling this deeply personal story by Ariela Kristantina, an artist from Jakarta, Indonesia. Since her debut in 2014, she’s best known for her work on Insexts, Mata Hari, Deep State, and The Logan Legacy. She has contributed covers and illustrations to a range of companies including Image, DC Comics, Top Cow, Vault and more. In 2021, Ariela co-created Chain with Scott Snyder.
Rounding out the creative team are colorist Bryan Valenza, letterer Bernardo Brice, and award-winning editor Will Dennis, who shepherded Y: The Last Man, 100 Bullets, and Scalped, among others.
SCRIPT
Ariela Kristantina: For “Adora” (and all my previous projects), I don’t use many digital techniques at all. I print out a physical script from the writer and make notes and little sketches in the margins on the print outs as I read through it.
THUMBNAILS
My thumbnail process takes longer than you might expect, due to this detailed work while reading the script. There’s plenty going on before I even flesh out to this drawing you see on this stage. It’s a lot of work to get it right, even if it’s only a panel that appears once. I don’t think writers always fully realize how much goes into the process. They put “harbor” and think I’ll just draw a few ships (Note: Marc was great at giving me enough references to start with. I usually need more than just 2-3 images of ONE item). Meanwhile, I’m automatically thinking about how the ships/sails/rigging should look like, what activities happen in that particular harbor and in that era, from where I can get references for said items I want to draw on that panel, and so on. From there, I jotted them down or circled the keywords on the script so I can use Google and populate references for later use (for instance: tall ships, sails, harbors, Ottoman harbor, harbor master, grand bazaars, Istanbul, etc). I’ll need the references even before drawing the thumbnails and they will also be helpful for my colorist, Bryan Valenza.
For this page I was searching for standard references but also at paintings of Ottoman and Rome era harbors to get the “feel” and palette. I combined what I needed based on those paintings and other references I could find. During the thumbnails process, I’m working out camera angles, character poses, different perspectives, etc, on the printouts (I don’t usually scan them) before I ever transfer the ones I think make sense to full thumb nails. But as you can see from the outlines (found below), even then I can make big changes!
Dialogue placement is also a factor at this stage for me. It helps with the flow of the overall page. I have to be mindful of the space a letterer will need, rhythm of the conversations to avoid tails crossing or just bad placement of the characters in the space; “blocking” as you would say in stage play. I indicate it with black balloons that I’m guesstimating the size of. This is also the stage where I send stuff to my writer and editor for approval. In the end, I can still make some changes for a variety of reasons even when the thumbnails are approved. It’s not unusual for me to do that but I try to avoid it once I have the approval.
Continued belowOUTLINES
While the finished page still looks like it has a lot going on, I purposely changed the perspective here because my thumbnail would have meant even more work. I would have had to draw the decks of the ships and all sorts of stuff that is irrelevant to the story. The panel only showed once and I know that we don’t need to revisit the harbor. As much as it’s important to set up the world or beauty and prosperity that Adora lives in and is about to leave, at the same time, I could still do that with what the readers are seeing in the final outlines. This approach still conveys the crowded feel of the harbor, its glory and business. I wanted it to feel cramped and claustrophobic, like a bustling port with lots of life and activity. My initial thumbnail felt a lot more chill and open. In addition, this revised outline allows me to frame the two main characters in the foreground but, as you will see in the inks later, I’m still able to emphasize the harbor.
This is the point that all the painstaking research I did pays off: I can draw the sails, the rigging, the clothes, cargo, the faraway boats, the people, etc in details. I’ve gathered references for all of that and use it here. I add as many details as I want at this stage. It’s very meticulous, the next most time-consuming stage of the whole process.
Since I abandoned the initial thumbnails, for this one I’ve basically started from scratch on a blank paper. Unfortunately, I don’t usually scan my rough pencil before “inking” the outline. It’s an old school drawing –it’s very rare that anyone sees my rough pencils.
Tools: 0.3 mm 2B mechanical Pentel and 0.1 mm Rotring Isograph. I ink over my rough pencils, scan them, clean them up in Photoshop, print them in blue/red lines on a new paper and ink them all over again. This stage is basically a retracing stage without the conventional light box.
INKS
Imagine inking as the stage to present the overall tone and depth of the page. I can direct the eye of the readers with the black placement (and inkwash too). Here, the main characters of Adora and Esperanza are pushed back a little to emphasize their view of the harbor so that the middle and background becomes the focal point for the readers. However, because they’re in the foreground, we don’t immediately “lose” them. This is what the characters are seeing and that’s what I want the reader to experience through the eyes of our heroes without the “over the shoulder” angle that’s too tight. This isometric perspective is the angle used in third person video games that also influence me.
It is also the point that I need to start thinking about the coloring — how I want the page to feel in color and what approach Bryan should take. I don’t want to tell him what colors to use but he should be able to see the choices I’m making in the inks (and the script directions) and make his colors additive to the process.
Tools: Raphael 8404 No. 1 and 2, Isabey 6234 No. 2/0, 2, and 5, G pen, maru pen, Sumi drawing ink, Black India Ultradraw, Strathmore 500 series semi smooth bristol board. Inked pages then get scanned. After that, I make some adjustments (level, curves, etc) in Photoshop, add the panel borders, generally clean up the page, fix the page size to ready print size, and pass them to the colorist.
COLORS
I leave it mostly to Bryan. I pass him the references I’ve assembled but unless it’s very much needed, I don’t usually give specific notes before the coloring, especially if the script is detailed and self-explanatory. I will give notes after I see the initial colors when needed. “Adora” is special as in Adora’s world is a fantasy world that started in a location that Marc heavily based on a real place. The rest of it should have a different set of colors and tone. I planned out the change of palette in general in my mind and approached the inks according to that plan. In some pages I go very dark and other parts, very open and light. However I’ve been working with Bryan for many years (6 years and going) and I trust his process — he knows my inks and together we make a good team!
Continued belowThanks to Ariela for the commentary and look inside her process and comiXology for making this happen. Make sure to pick up “Adora and the Distance” on June 15 via comiXology!
You can also check out a couple of process videos on Ariela’s Instagram page (@arielakris). Here’s one of her drawing eyes, and another of her inking a page.
