Squidbunny's stupid thread again (help me do a crappy cover really fast)

Spectre-x

I thought the first one was perfectly fine, but comparing the two now this is a definite improvement. Although there's no rouge or whatever where her eye used to be in the new one so there's a kinda weird, very abrupt cut-off there. But I expect you were going to touch that up anyway so eh.

Also, holy fucking shit, those colours are incredible. And the folds are fucking mind-blowing. Ugh. So jealous.

rts

squidbunny wrote:

I must admit I am not as big a fan of the folds as spectre. Perhaps it's because he was totp and I read his post before seeing your image, but they jumped out at me right away. I think that is probably a check in the negative column. Maybe consider playing them down a bit so she draws a bit more of the focus. But like I said, my perspective could be skewed.

squidbunny

I don't think your perspective's skewed really at all; there's a bunch of contrast in all them folds, even at the bottom back where I probably need them to recede more into the dark and GTFO of the way. When I go in and try to refine I'll tone them down some. Thanks Cake!

Thanks also Spex -- I am gonna fix that cut-off, yeah. Everything's still pretty chunky on it.

Mustang

squidbunny wrote:

Thanks a bunch Mustang! I publish all my own stuff pretty much apart from that anthology Toji and I are in. The only publisher that's ever wanted me was sort of a bum deal (50% IP ownership) and I declined to work with!

Sold!

Nightslyr

I stumbled onto this thread purely by happenstance. I'm glad I did. I'm now in love with NTO.

squidbunny

D'awww! Thanks, Night.

@Mustang & potentially others: this is really whorish to be discussing here and I feel like an instadouche but if any of you dudes outside the US want to buy the books and don't want to pay IndyPlanet's outrageous international ship rates you can contact me directly and I can hook you up from my personal inventory.

Mustang

Too late. That's okay though, I'm used to get screwed on shipping, but I'll keep it in mind for the next issue.

NibCrom

Squids, your stuff is too good to have "crap" in the title of your thread.

squidbunny

Hey guys! Sorry to more or less blow off all your crits (I'm becoming that guy) but I haven't had a chance to really work on that thing at all. Here's a token update, though, to prove I haven't done anything much more with it!



(Oh and in response to something said a billion years ago that I just forgot to respond to: I am gonna do more with gold in the background, which isn't in yet.)

ANYWAY! I am posting because I have to color an NTO-related thing on a projector in front of dudes so I need a coolish drawing to start with and I just sketched this:



Is it cool enough? How can I make it cooler? (The final's gonna be a way taller canvas with a big fire thing happening but it seemed like a waste of space to post in that form).

Thanks guys!

PROX

The pose is very stiff. Try and get looser and more gestural even with very simple poses.

earthwormadam

When I look at the top half, I envision the legs doing something very different.

Mustang

I don't have a problem with the pose, but the thighs seem too trim to me. Almost to the point where they look 2 dimensional.

squidbunny

Fair enough, gents. Addressing the PROX/EWA issue and sidestepping Mustang's altogether (I do see what you mean; I have a problem with pushing style unevenly sometimes and things look weird as a result); also suggesting composition so you know where I'm going with this:



EDIT: made a near-immediate change to the pictar and re-uploaded.

Wassermelone

His legs still look very disconnected

Its like his body is here: |
But his legs are here: /

Spectre-x

I agree that the legs don't look like they're attached to the rest of his body. I like their angle, but I suggest moving them forward a bit so they more obviously line up with his torso.

As for the rest of the pose, it's still looking a bit stiff, for which I blame the head. I'd maybe move it back a bit or tilt it up or down a bit more. As it is now it kind of looks like he can't really turn his head for some reason, like he's wearing a neck brace or the Michael Keaton bat-suit. It just doesn't really follow the main line of motion or whatever you want to call it as much as it you'd normally expect in a pose like that. Does that make any sense at all?

squidbunny

All right; is this better?



Does anyone share Spex's head issue or can I just write off his opinions as bizarre and alien like I always do? I really don't want to make Hunter look any more ice-dancey in this than he already does; my initial thought on this whole pose was that is was more controlled and less swooshy but I dunno; it's gotten away from that.

(Also the watch is random-levitatey by design)

NibCrom

I think the head looks okay, but I imagined the legs to look more spread out and powerful, like this: (warning, crappy mouse drawing ahead)

squidbunny

Yeah, I appreciate the drawover Nib but I specifically don't want those kinds of legs. I was going for dancerly and airy to go with the upward float of the eventual fire, not grounded and powerful, especially now that I've built in some suggestion of a twirl.

Wassermelone

I can see what you are going for, but the legs and torso still just don't line up in a way that looks at all possible. This is what I see:


A suggestion:

squidbunny

Haha. Okay there's a weird optical thing happening with the way I've got the coat.

This is drawn over the iteration I just posted:



Even if I don't do exactly what you suggested with the feet, Wasser, I think your handling of the coat is way better and I'll definitely incorporate that. Thanks so much for the drawover.

... what did you think of the initial pose, OOC? Before the twirl? I've been pushing the arc of him (and as a result, pushing his legs/feet back in response to the stiffness thing, but now they're actually placed less far back than in the original. Hmmm.

squidbunny

Ungh.

This?



And, not to be argumentative but because I am legitimately confounded by this whole thing and have lost objectivity and I dunno:



???

Also, Wasser & everyone critting the redux.... Is the swooshy coat twisting around in front of & obscuring his legs even in any way preferable to what I originally had, where you could see everything?

Spectre-x

I think the previous version looked a bit more dramatic and dynamic, to be honest, but this is acceptable. And the coat twisting around and such looks better in my opinion. You see people with their coat blown open by the wind all the time in fiction. Having it twist around him makes it look a bit more unique and makes it look like the wind is really twisting around him in a vortex or some shit and that is cool. Also it twisting around him makes it look less like he farted really hard.

I'm sorry, I'm tired.

I still think his head and neck look a bit stiff, though. It's not a very comfortable pose, but maybe I'm just horribly out of shape. It takes quite a bit of effort to keep your head at that angle in that pose. Maybe I'm thrown off by the fact that it's hard to see where he's looking, exactly, though. I suspect it'll stop bothering me once we get to see more of the complte composition.

squidbunny

God. This has been way overworked, now, for such a simple drawing, and I apologize if anyone feels like I'm ignoring their input; I'm really neurotic over this whole event I'm going to and this week is crazy and nnnnnh. I kind of feel like I've forgotten/become really insecure about starting something I want to put a fair amount of polish on because I'm so conditioned now to the good-enough-move-on-no-time mentality of the comic? ????

So I've inverted my direction with this; now I'm ignoring everyone but @Mustang.

Wassermelone

Thats looking a lot better squid!

squidbunny

Thanks, Wass. Always appreciate you taking the time out for feedback & paintovers.

Oh and Spex. I forgot to say: in all seriousness I do see your issue with his head; I'm just choosing not to sweat it because basically the whole pose is awkward for an actual human being and I want to keep his face fairly visible.

Spectre-x

squidbunny wrote:

Thanks, Wass. Always appreciate you taking the time out for feedback & paintovers.

Oh and Spex. I forgot to say: in all seriousness I do see your issue with his head; I'm just choosing not to sweat it because basically the whole pose is awkward for an actual human being and I want to keep his face fairly visible.

And that's why you're way more productive than me.

But now I miss the twirly coat. It looked so cool.

DarkMecha

I just wanted to pop in and say your art and comic are awesome. Bookmarked your comic site, plan to read more later.

squidbunny

Thank you so much, DM!

Golem

I am highly impressed with the work, you are currently beyond my level of art. I wouldn't normally post since I have no useful critics however I was just wondering if you drew any inspiration from Calamity Jane or Briso County Jr.

squidbunny

Thanks for the kind words!

I only ever saw a few episodes of Brisco; I guess it might've been a subconscious influence? If by Calamity Jane you mean the 90s cartoon then no; I actually only became aware that ever existed a couple weeks ago. It didn't really see much airtime in the US.

I realize NTO's late to the steampunk western party but even so I've always been more inspired by straight-up westerns: Sergio Leone's films, Clint Eastwood, etc..

Golem

squidbunny wrote:

Thanks for the kind words!

I only ever saw a few episodes of Brisco; I guess it might've been a subconscious influence? If by Calamity Jane you mean the 90s cartoon then no; I actually only became aware that ever existed a couple weeks ago. It didn't really see much airtime in the US.

I realize NTO's late to the steampunk western party but even so I've always been more inspired by straight-up westerns: Sergio Leone's films, Clint Eastwood, etc..

Wasn't trying to say you were late to the party, I am in love with your style, artwork, and story. I was just interested on seeing what influences might have towards your art.

Faded_Sneakers

Always been a fan of your work, but what I find most endearing about this thread is the emotion you display over being frustrated over trying to get a grasp on your vision for an image.

Its refreshing to hear an artist struggle and watch them change things back and forth to get the most dynamic position etc.

Your efforts inspire me.

squidbunny wrote:

I mean this in absolutely no critical way, but I still cant help seeing the clockwork as a big ol' bong or hookah. And this amuses me to no end. Lovely fire btw.


Also ... how did the "dudes" like your coloring with the projector? Did you save a copy to post?

squidbunny

Ha. Thanks, Sneakers.

I do have the version I started coloring at the library event but I didn't ultimately get too close to done with it; I spent more time drawing on a whiteboard and answering questions. I'd like to finish it up here, though, time-permitting, and then I'll be sure to post it.

squidbunny

Okay so I'm necromancing this thread, and, coincidentally, semi-cannibalizing the last image in it since I never really did much else with it. If you're curious it got this far and then I never revisited it due to time/disinterest/weh:

Spoiler:

Wanting to do some cheap-to-print but semi-stylish NTO shirts and I'm basically a terrible designer so I thought I'd grab some guidance right from the get-go.

Roughly sketched out these two basic ideas (I want to do a shirt for both principals):



I'm aware that there's currently a semi-unreadable area in the second; I intend to fix that up if I start polishing that basic design. Thanks, gents!

earthwormadam

YOW

I really like the right one! Left one aint bad neithah!

squidbunny

Thanks, EWA.

I worked minimally on the one, and actually moved away from the lineart. I wanted it to be simple but now I think it's tipped into plain. Hmm.

tapeslinger

Needs a little splash of something - - either the grey light tone could come up a little lighter or you might want to try introducing a contrast color (I realize you are using as few colors as possible on purpose!) as is, I have a little trouble reading the details because the tones are so similar.

FANTOMAS

what tapeslinger said.

Edit: by the way, what is going to be the shirt (cloth) colour, and how do you plan to integrate that with the image ?

squidbunny

The background charcoal is the cloth color; I'm trying to keep the design to two colors.

Will play with a lightening the lighter value further, thanks!

tynic

I don't think you want it more complex than that, not for a t-shirt - but I do agree it needs either more contrast or a coloured element