Artwork from new webcomic--The Continentals

TheDeeMan

Hi guys. Here's some artwork from my new webcomic "The Continentals" that just came out. It's for folks who like a little murder, mystery, and adventure with their steampunky webcomics. Here are the pix::

Page 3


Page 4


Page 5


Page 6



Let me know what you think.

Dee

rts

I like the concept and approach. But the execution in places is rather uncomfortable. It can be difficult to read the text or see what is going on in some of the panels because they are so busy.

Your drapery on the characters also leaves a lot to be desired. It looks like a lot of it is referenced right out of Hogarth but to be perfectly honest Hogarth probably isn't the person you want to be studying for drapery...because his looks ridiculous and not in a good way. Pick up Bridgman's drapery book when you can, and study a lot of real drapery. Maybe hit up this link as well which has some good drapery information.

'Page 3' (the first page) is incredible. And there are some really great panels mixed into the other pages so I think this has a ton of potential. But right now you lose your viewer in places because it can be a headache to look at, or just awkward.

Guy Bell

Really nice work. The inking style fits well to the story. Nice balance of black and white.

earthwormadam

Mmm yeah the first page really shines here, but as I read downward I found the other pages to be less appealing. I think you handle the stillness of detailed scenery better than the action of characters. The characters are rendered very well, but I think it is more an issue of storyboarding and panel layout that could use more thought. The bottom of page six for example, it's just not working for me. The corpses look awesome but something about how the last two panels just doesn't look optimal. (the top right of the second to last panel seems like wasted space, and the hatching seems a bit sloppier than elsewhere in your pages)

For example in the last panel of page 4, the dude looks like a cardboard cutout because of the white line you have bordering his outline. Obviously it would be hard to see where his body ends and the darkness of the background begins without it, but there are other ways to work around that without leaving white lines that are there just to define shape and not actual light source. The hat comes of looking a bit strange because of it. I actually do this a lot, and it's a hard habit to break, but it does need to be broken, or at least toned down. You can trick the eye into establishing lines and shapes where there are none, without actually showing it all and not letting the readers brains do some of the work.

I would also try to put more shadows underneath your characters in the wide angle shots because they look a little disconnected from the environment. Like on page 4 panel 1 the carriage looks like it's not actually on the ground and in the next panel the dog looks like he's floating. At the same time however, your less detailed panels such as these also are easier on the eyes because they're not over packed with details, as some of the other pages seem to be, so take it with a grain of salt.

Really nice clean linework though, I definitely commend you on that, even though the comic itself seems to trudge down a slightly unoriginal path. I'm interested in reading more though, so keep postin.

March_Hare

just a written correction: Where he goes to/Where's he go to... can't be Where's he Goes to. You might want to say that it's an attribute of the character (hoodlums don;t speak in correct English either) but if this is a period piece then a grammatical mistake like that would have been drilled out of him at school

Kendeathwalker

man I always find that the drapery exercise go to far with pusing the concept of "this is cloth wrapping around a 3d form". Turns into this ridiculous looking crazy pattern that people end up copying thinking it happens every time.. some times all you need is one or two folds. Simplify..


Other than the giant football eyes I quite like it. Some times its better not to ink out the entire structure of the eye and to just suggest it.. Group the blacks in that area a bit more for a stronger read.

TheDeeMan

Wow. Thanks for all he comments, guys. A lot to take in. Glad I posted though.

Dee

Mustang

I don't like crtiquing comics, mainly because I don't know what I'm talking about, which is a pretty damn good reason not to. However, I like this, I like the concept and I would consider reading it.

TheDeeMan

Oh don't just cnsider reading it--Please do! LOL!

Dee

Æthelred

You know that towns/cities don't have the "shire" suffix, right?

TheDeeMan

I didn't 2 years ago when I first got the idea for The Continentals and started writing it. I was only made aware of it recently when I started showing previews to some friends and some british friends brought it up as well as some british readers mentioned it too when we debuted.

If I'd known then I would have chsen a more appropriate name for the city. But it's too late now because after 2 years of writing the story, and a least 3 planned sequel adventures, I'm kinda married to the name Mansfordshire at this point. And I really do like the name.

Dee