Drawing Comics on an iPad

As some of you know, I used to be a comic artist. I had already decided in the mid-90s to draw comics, but my path led me to study computer science and from there into game development, where I worked for many years also as a graphic artist. Since I love comics, I later drew comics independently, which I owe especially to the former Marvel editor Jim Salicrup, for whose new company Papercutz I was able to draw stories for Tales from the Crypt. These days I work as a game developer and write comics on the side, which appear in Germany as graphic novels at SPLITTER-Verlag (MAYA and DARK ZERO). Since I still have the urge to tell stories with drawings myself, a few months ago I started using the remaining time of the day, which I normally spend with my wife on the couch in front of the TV, to try out whether you can draw comics on the iPad from the couch. Here are a few of the pages that were created. The last double page is not finally finished with grayscales and thus incomplete. One page per evening. It works... but it's not really relaxing ;)

More info about my upcoming comic pitch...

In my spare time (of which I unfortunately have far too little as an indie game developer), I work on my own comics, mainly as a writer. My two series, MAYA and DARK ZERO, are currently published by Splitter Verlag and are available in every good comic shop, on Amazon, or directly through Splitter.

Recently, I began working on a new comic series and have been searching for a style that allows me to work on the comic pages conveniently—on my iPad with Clip Studio Paint—while relaxing on the couch with my wife in the evenings. In the video, you can see the style I’m using for this comic: rough blue-line sketches directly followed by inking.

My aim is to achieve a somewhat sketchier, rougher look, as sketches often have a more appealing, dynamic feel than fully refined drawings that focus heavily on details. Ultimately, a comic is primarily about the story! Popular series like Something Is Killing the Children and The Walking Dead show how effective this approach can be.

So here’s LUNA, the main character of my new story, which I’ll be pitching to a publisher in 2025. While I’m keeping the plot under wraps for now, I can share that it’s a sci-fi horror story set in a Bavarian village in Germany.

For more updates and sneak peeks at my projects, feel free to join my Discord channel, where I often share “secret” previews, or follow me on Instagram and other platforms. And lastly, don’t forget to check out my Splitter comics, and please like and subscribe to the YouTube channel. ;)