This week YA Author Balazs Lorinczi took over our Twitter as a part of our weekly Thursday Twitter Takeover. Balazs Lorinczi is the author of Doughnuts and Doom (See YEM’s interview of Balazs Lorinczi here.) See highlights from the takeover below.
Hi everyone! I'm Balazs Lorinczi, author of the YA graphic novel Doughnuts and Doom and I'm going to be in control of this account for the next 2 hours ☺️ #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/4LZUgWhEki
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
If you are interested in purchasing the book or following me on social media here are a buncha links compiled for you. Also feel free to ask any questions.#YAauthorTakeoverhttps://t.co/Y1sqxEvAoJ
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
The story is about a young witch, Margot, who accidentally curses a doughnut during an argument, that gets eaten by the aspiring rock musician, Elena. It has magic, music, friendship (or more?) and a cute snake!#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/CTZLDV3FZ6
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
The story was inspired by my real life experience of working at a fast food joint. Elena works at a doughnut shop that's basically just my ex workplace but with doughnuts instead of burgers. Then I've just added a witch to the mix.#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/7hnsJ3XPtz
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
As much as I disliked working in fastfood, it was good inspiration for the book. Writing about something I already knew, also giving one of my main characters the same struggles I had: do this job to earn money and try to make my dream come true on the side.#YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
Basically I've finished writing the full story (in my head) while doing the dishes, then drag myself home and drew until it was bed time. That was my life for almost a year but in the end it paid off thankfully.#YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
That said I don't recommend working yourself into the ground because it can lead to some health issues in the long run. A good work- life balance is essential and one of these days I will manage to have one myself too 😅#YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
The other thing that can help to create a complete comic book (be it 12 pages or 120) is going in with a "production plan". Everyone has their own methods but I find a consistent way of drawing makes it easier to do it physically and mentally too.#YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
But what do I mean by "production plan" exactly? Well the best way to explain it is to describe how I've made Doughnuts and doom. It's not the only way to make a comic but it's the way that worked for me and might help someone else if I share it.#YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
First is the story. You can have pretty drawings but if you don't have an engaging story your readers will zone out after a few pages.
Also it helps if you create a story+ characters you want to spend time with yourself cause you'll be drawing it for a while.#YAauthorTakeover— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
For me writing is my least favourite part of the process. I tend to write a full story outline with all the most important beats, then break it down to 10-20 page chapters and work out all the details + dialogues with rough sketches to see how everything flows.#YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
Here is an example: I write the dialogue on the page with some very rough sketches to see how much space the text takes up and what shots and panels will I use to tell the story. Doing this 10-20 pages at a time helps to preserve my sanity 😂#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/pzN7N9y4Db
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
After I've done a chapter with rough sketches and dialogue, including finished word bubbles, I start rendering them. I like putting the bubbles in first because that way I know which parts of the page I won't have to draw. Saves time. Here is the pencil stage:#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/k0eKuGCuL3
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 8, 2022
Here's a closer look. Some of my pencils are rougher especially with more detailed panels and then I finalize them when I do the inking. Also I turn the layer red before I put on the black inks. Most artists use blue though not sure why I do it red 🤷#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/y88WqxVv1E
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
After the pencils comes the inking (these are all terms from traditional pen and paper art, but I use the same method digitally). I know a lot of artists hate doing linework but it's hard for me to wrap my head around doing things without it. #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/TyZCpTxxUu
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
Lastly, the colours. I've decided to go with a limited palette because I'm a one man show, and as much as I like doing full colour illustrations, making a full book in full colour would've drained me of my youth. #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/MFDji5tkvZ
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
There are other things you have to consider as well: lettering, speech bubbles, panel border style, sound FX etc etc
Making comics is a lot of work so try to make it easy for yourself wherever you can. Work smart not hard, it's hard enough already as it is.#YAauthorTakeover— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
Here's another page breakdown from roughs to finished. I didn't get to cover up much on this page with the bubbles so I had to draw all those people. It's a bit demanding but very satisfying when it's done.#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/0xH41nKMxa
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
After the full story is done I go back to page one and correct whatever I don't like. Dodgy drawings, awkward dialogue, continuity errors etc.
Like here I've decided later to give Margot the star tattoos on her shoulder so had to adjust some of the pages.#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/xdASuk9Rvs— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
One last important part of my process is the feedback from beta readers (or editor). Having an extra set of eyes pointing out some of your missteps or missed opportunities can be invaluable!
I owe my forever gratitude to the people who pre-read my books.
# YAauthorTakeover— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
After all the hard work it's crucial to let your brain relax a bit. My preferred way is to watch some animation. I do like live action too but animation is the best fuel for my soul.#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/8rPygcxg0i
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
While Kiki's delivery service is one of my favorite movies ever and Doughnuts and doom certainly has some similarities with it, I was actually already around 50-60 pages deep into drawing the book when I first watched Kiki.#YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
Weirdly enough my main animated inspirations for Doughnuts and doom are She-ra and the princesses of power and the music of Yuki Hayashi (My hero academia, Haikyu) and the Radwimps.
it's hard to explain but without them my book probably wouldn't exist as it is.#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/0srImXuruZ— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
It's almost 1am here in Scotland but before I retire for the night I wanted to mention that I have a second graphic novel coming out in 2024 from Top shelf, called Wolfpitch. If you enjoyed Doughnuts and doom I think you will like this one too 😉#YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/M6MpuQ0apA
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
Thanks for having me over here for this #YAauthorTakeover. Hopefully it wasn't too incoherent! If anything I said peeked your interest be sure to check out my book Doughnuts and doom or my personal Twitter @Balakin01 .
Here is a little wintery Margot to say goodbye! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/XwYqjlueBn— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 9, 2022
