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Comic Creators Thread: Ways to Stay Motivated, Creative, and Productive?
Posts
@oldmanhero tumblr
I love Troll, from Jeff Parker's Thunderbolts. But man, I'm kinda bummed that she wound up in a fur-kini last issue.
Incidentally, after scanning, trimming, and futzing with the contrast on those comic pages, the file somehow became corrupted, and wouldn't export to any other kind of file.
So, y'know.
That was fun.
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That said, your version is adorable. Can I steal it to use as an avatar?
Imagine it tho!
I had a whole smartass thing here before I triple-posted and deleted it.
But, the gist is, it's on the agenda. In the meantime, people can go here and look at the raw inks for my Kookaburra comic. Some of the pages are showing their age/my less developed ability, but I think it'll be a cool little story, when I'm done. Which will hopefully be tomorrow, but more likely be sometime this weekend.
Absolutely!
And my offer to draw sigs and avatars for GV posters is always open. Just PM me if you have a request, and I'll find the time to draw it. I'm ramping up my art production again (see: daily posts at my blog), so I don't mind doing stuff for folks around here.
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but until then I am going to steal Troll the next time I have access to OS X Preview
Done! If anyone has a suggestion for a good Troll line for the title, pass it along - I'm away from my issues and just bad at remembering her wonderful little bits of pithy.
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Also, I'm not sure these screen tones are working the way I'd like them to.
Mainly, I failed to consider the implications of doing a comic with an all black cast, in black and white. My normal trick is to make the subject of a drawing white, and surround it with darker shades, to draw the eye. Conversely, you can do a black object, in a largely white field, for the same effect.
But, when all the characters and backgrounds are various shades of grey, it starts to look a little washed out.
I dunno, maybe I'm over-thinking it. I just read Old City Blues today, which has fantastic use of screen tones, and it may be making me more neurotic than usual.
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Worth it.
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Definitely!
graaagh
On the plus side, I really like how those middle three panels came out.
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I'm always trying to teach myself how to do new stuff. The downside of that is that I always feel uncomfortable and unsure about what I'm doing.
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now finish it already and do the thing that actually matters
@oldmanhero tumblr
See...yeah. I'd be confused by this statement too, if I was your artist. No disrespect.
This is actually a good point for collaborating in general: Are there people on this forum that work on stuff with others online only, without meeting their partners ever in person? How do you guys make it work, and avoid miscommunication? It's hard enough to discuss visual designs without standing over the process together, how do people in these parts try to make it less of a headache?
I am trying to script a psychic fight, this is fun. I am trying to represent it as a real fight, but inside characters' minds.
I didn't think a black panel was that insane of an idea. :-s
We skype chat when we can. Like I said I usually never have a problem with trying to get my ideas across that can't be solved by rewrites or emails.
I dunno, me and The Lovely Bastard just sort of toss things back and forth. He tells me what he wants, and I draw a thing, then send it over to him. Then he either likes it or doesn't, and I keep it or don't. If he doesn't like it, but I feel particularly strong about it, I might fight to keep it as I drew it. And vice versa. Sometimes he writes something that I don't like, and I'll challenge him on it.
Mostly, I think we both just realize that we're not always going to get 100% of what we want, and that's okay. I may not be able to draw something exactly as it exists in his head, but I can do an approximation. And he may not write something as I would, but if it works, it works.
I think way too many people get too attached to their ideas, and can't handle it when their collaborator suggests even a minor change.
I mean, if people are completely at odds, that's one thing. But most people should be able to compromise on minor issues, if it means making their collaborator happy.
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@oldmanhero tumblr
I always thought it was in terms of perspective in panels and storytelling maybe even structure.
Check out the books on the first page of this thread, especially the Scott McCloud ones. Or just start reading Western comic books, figure out what you like and what you don't. Most importantly, just start writing - there is no right way to make a comic book or tell a story.
Manga has those over-exaggerated facial features, I don't really know how to describe it, but you know what I mean. Superhero art tends to be less stylised in that sense, people's faces are a closer approximation of actual faces. You don't get the over-sized eyes, tiny noses, angular faces and so on.
One thing that I think is definitely different is body shape. Manga characters, as far as I can see, tend to have kind of stylised bodies but more common body types, edging towards the slim and lean, whereas Superheroes tend to be more realistic but at the same time generally have idealised forms, with sculpted, easily visible muscles in the case of men, and smooth, athletic bodies for women. Little to no body fat in both cases (unless you are talking about Ms Marvel, ho ho ho).
Writing wise, I have never really read any Manga so I couldn't tell you. There are some things that traditional superheroes tend to emphasis on over other forms and genres of media, I think, but it's a very wide base and in comparison to Manga, well, I can't really help you.
Sounds solid, I've got a birthday coming so I figure might as well get it. It's just that I want other stuff too and I don't want to waste my "points" on books. Feels kinda nerdy y'know? There's nothing wrong with it it's just like... I don't know how to put it. And I know how to write, how to tell a good story (I've got flippin' ADHD that's one of the benefits of this learning "disability" try power up man) that's my thing. Writing crazy stories, and I know there is no wrong way with art, but it's just a way I want to do it. I want do it in the typical Western style is for lots of reasons, they mostly tie in with the fact that when my friends began teaching my how to draw, it was based off of Manga and anime and I wanted to do it differently, so I went back...to the...old ways... That's...crazy? I dunno, I've just always liked Comics more than manga, mainly the writing and action.
The main reason I prefer comics to manga is that in a comic book universe, in terms of us vs them, its more about politics. You could side with Prof. X and be the good guy and try and help the world even though they can't stand you or side with Magneto and the fact that your labelled as Homo Superior in terms of your species and try to get payback on the world for hating you. Both sides have their point and reasoning behind it, I've thought of it both ways: I'd think about helping the world and than I'd think about repeating Columbine with eye beams. While in Manga it's (usually) always the good guys against the bad guys and that's all you get to run with. No explanation for why the baddies did what they did, they did now you gotta fight 'em. That's kinda close-minded, that doesn't make me think.
Before anyone quotes me again and says,"Not all animes are so black and white,", I know. To this day Ghost in the Shell stands out as one of my few favorite animes and ranks fairly well on my top 30 cartoons to watch. Because there is no one bad guy, it's multiple terrorists. There's politics, history, a culture affected by prostheses and robo-body and minds; it's essential a perfect example of Asimov's third type of sci-fi: societal.
And the action is Western comics feel scaled to where it makes sense. The things they do, within reason. But when I see a 10-year old kid jump 5 stories high, chuck a boulder at a dude, or fire an energy beam at some 70-ft high monster I just begin to lose a sense of scaling. I know this sounds like DBZ and it does do these things, but it worked. It's just that if your gonna tear out a lamp post and use it as a bat on some mutated elephant-sized Komodo dragon, you better be tall and ripped. That's just me.
Don't worry about what kind of comic you're making. Do worry about if your characters are three-dimensional, if your story has a beginning, middle, and end, and if there's emotional resonance to it.
Worry about writing a comic that's put together well, and that you would like to read. That's the goal, and everything else is just noise.
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Woah, woah, woah! Gunsmith Cats? My optimistic side is hoping it's set in some type of world similar to Sly Cooper or SWAT Kats, only with more guns and lot more explosions, please, please let that be the right idea instead of the on I'm thinking of!
But what if the story... begins AFTER the end? I'm actually working on a comic that's sort of a long epilogue for a superhero, the big,"what happens next?" Could that work? It's where he's saved the town and now that he's in his Senior year he's fixated on everything else (PM if you'd like to know more I love criticism)I want to pull off the ,"how he became the hero that he is," but I think that would require In Medias Res and I don't know how to pull it off, any tips?