So, I have a new webcomic, it's called Orange Sky, and I was looking for some feedback on my artwork. I tried to do this before and made a mistake, so I'm going to be very careful this time and not even provide my website's URL. Here is the first strip and title page:
Hey there Evergreen, you are going to love this forum if you stick around long enough, so welcome to the forum !
Now for the real thing.
You are doing these on paper, scanning them and colouring them on the PC ?
I wont go into any specifics yet, but you are being lazy setting up your scanned images for colouring, example in the third and fourth panel, the "white parts", and the line of the guys jaw, those details have little to do with drawing and more with being patient and careful. Then, if you want we can discuss the characters, colouring, etc.
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
Thanks, I noticed that too. I'm trying to do better on the page I'm working on right now, and it's definitely taking a bit longer. Are there any tricks to make it easier, or does it just take a while?
Well, it depends on what program you are using for fixing the scans and for colouring. I just use OpenCanvas, wich has all layers set as multiply by default, so I never have that kind of problem. You could try duplicating your linework layer, and setting the layer to multiply and putting it on top of the colour layer.... or something along those lines.
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
Are you absolutely sure that the page NEEDS 12 panels evenly placed? I would only use something like that if I was trying to show... 12 mugshots of diferent characters, there HAS to be a way that you can break up that page in two pages, and that you can maybe substract a couple of panels from each of the new pages. Try looking at some comic book pages online, to check how the shape of the panels can work hand in hand with the storytelling. Or maybe for future pages, since panels are usually made in the earliest part of page design.
Also, for the odd white spots when colouring, in the one coloured panel I dont see any problems.
Now, there are a lot of things to improve, and I am anxious to just write pages and pages of advice, but I dont want to rush you.
So, besides panel layout, all I will say is that you could really use some anatomy studies, and I dont mean taking classes, even for stylized drawing, knowing some basic anatomy goes a long way, I see you use some guidelines, I havent been able to identify if you use those guidelines for the whole body or just the head, but that is a good thing, guidelines.
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Is there anything I'm doing right, or at least getting close? Also, the guy's neck is meant to be long. I don't know, maybe it just looks stupid.
Why it's meant to be long is irrelevant. What is relevant is that there are ways of giving him a noticeably long neck without it looking silly, and you can discover those ways by practising. Anatomy practise will help you with that as well.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Is there anything I'm doing right, or at least getting close? Also, the guy's neck is meant to be long. I don't know, maybe it just looks stupid.
Well, you ARE drawing, and you are wanting to improve, I would say that is as right as it gets.
About the quality of the ilustration, you have a long way to go, but luckily for you, its a VERY fun road, and you will be able to see noticeable improvement fast, without exhausting practice. (it does get tougher and tougher the better you get)
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
Why it's meant to be long is irrelevant. What is relevant is that there are ways of giving him a noticeably long neck without it looking silly, and you can discover those ways by practising. Anatomy practise will help you with that as well.
While it may be irrelevant to you, I'm curious about his reasoning for a long neck. I'd appreciate if you didn't undermine other people's questions because you feel that your viewpoint is the most important one to express.
I guess I was kind of sketching him, and I accidentally gave him a long neck, and I thought it looked cool? But then it didn't. The offending sketches are here:
...that guys mask... it looks like balls over his face...
if no one else sees it I will feel so bad about myself
PS: And yes, doesnt look like a really compelling reason to keep a neck that long... not that your comic has become part of some executive board that makes decisions for you, but, you know, a suggesstion.
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
Grifter is correct. For example, the castle in the fourth panel is very flat. Instead of being built out of cubes, it has been built out of rectangles.
Comics are more complex than they seem. There are some benifits to drawing them while you are learning the basics, mostly that demands that you are skilled in multiple areas. Scott McCloud covers alot of the narrative and mechanics of it (such as why you might put a panel somewhere, and how big it should be) I would recommend his books to any artist getting started with comics.
there are a ton of online resources as well, I would check out the links in the questions/tutorials thread at the top of the board, and start reading and practicing based on what you can find.
Everyone else has given you great advice in here, so I'll just mention something specific.
Look in a mirror, then take your fingers and run them along your jaw, from your chin back on up until your fingers rest under your earlobe. Notice how the ear sits in relation to the jaw.
In your first panel and the third panel, the ears aren't sitting on any kind of real structure, they are floating somewhere on the side of their heads.
Something that helped me with people drawing was going to a figure drawing class. Not sure how comfortable you are with live naked people, but figure drawing really forces you to become familiar with the human body. This might seem unrelated when it comes to cartoons because they're usually exaggerated versions of realistic bodies, but it will definitely help with things like human shapes, weight distribution, and proportion in general.
Another bit of advice I have for you is to take your time. Comics are deceptively complicated. What seems like a simple panel that someone whipped out in a manner of minutes could have taken them hours. Practice being patient and thorough, especially with your colors. I noticed that the lines looked much better in the incomplete scan you posted than in the colored page in your original post. Both your lines and your colors need to be crisp to form a really solid comic. There are tons of color tutorials out there if you need inspiration or direction.
Build your visual library.
-Read books. Draw the things the books describe.
-Observe Nature. Pay attention to how things are actually put together
-Look at your environment. Observe scale.
Compare your comic to successful comics:
-What are they doing that you are not?
-Why is there's better then yours?
-Familiarize yourself with comic strip standards
Im a bit disapointed that no changes were made whatsoever.
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
its drawn on paper, its not a tatoo, and its not such a quality work that its impossible to replicate, you could easy try to remake some (if not all) of those panels in diferent pages, using what you have learned from practicing and the advice given, and then you can digitally replace the old panel with the new one, or even better, separate ALL panels and give your panel placement HALF a minute though. I just cant belive that ALL those panels need to be in the SAME page, and that they all have the exact same importance and weight.
No matter what changes you make, you can only improve it if you have practiced. But you probably already know all this and say "I already drew the page" because drawing something twice... you know.... effort. But guess what, drawing takes studying, and studies are repeating the same stuff many times untill you "get it". and only THEN, you set to make a real "piece".
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
I'm sorry, mate, but this is looking pretty lazy. Your last post was on July 26th. Today is August 14th. You've managed to colour one panel in that time. I'd say that's not bad if you were doing a complicated colour job but you're doing pretty basic, flat fills.
Fantomas has some good points. Your comic wasn't chiselled out of a piece of granite. You have the ability to redraw panels, adjust the panel layout and any number of other items of improvement.
If you really want to improve, you need to put in the time and effort. If you're just doing this for something to pass the time while you're day dreaming in class then that's cool. Just don't expect anyone else to care a whole lot about it.
Have you been spending time trying to find free tutorials online? Have you studied how other comic creators, who are successful, do their panel layouts? It just feels like you had some very valid critiques from your last post and instead of making an effort to utilise the information provided, you've continued along the same path that you were following before you posted here.
What are you looking to accomplish by posting on this forum? I'm not trying to discourage you at all. Please, continue to work on your art and strive for improvements. We as a community just need to try to understand what's going on here so that we can provide help where needed.
All right, I can redo the page. I'll try to do something different with the panels. I guess I am being a bit lazy, but I have been drawing some other things in that time period. I also borrowed this book from my library: http://www.amazon.com/Bridgmans-Complete-Guide-Drawing-From/dp/0806930152. I guess I didn't want to waste the work I'd already done, but I might be able to do better. I care about my art, but I'm not that great at it, and I also need to write the thing. That's something I feel like I'm better at, so it's something I do more often. I need to push myself to do things that are more difficult for me, though.
If you enjoy the writing more and want to share that work you're welcome to post it over at the Writer's Block in these forums. There are some gifted writers over there who I'm sure would be willing to give you a hand with some script development.
If you've been drawing other stuff then by all means post it here so we can see what you've been working on since you last posted your comic. With time you'll see improvement as long as you keep on practising and studying. Some people have natural talent and some people have to work hard at things. If you really enjoy something, though, you should keep on working at it.
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Evergreen, in the tutorials thread there are links to PDFs of many texts that will help you as much as Bridgemans (if not more), without any time limits on using them like with the library. Check them out!
No go on the scanning, but I took pictures of a few sketches I did with my phone:
It's not great, but I think I'm a bit closer to getting the proportions and such right? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Im not being able to load the last 3 pics, is it me or is it you ?
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
Posts
Now for the real thing.
You are doing these on paper, scanning them and colouring them on the PC ?
I wont go into any specifics yet, but you are being lazy setting up your scanned images for colouring, example in the third and fourth panel, the "white parts", and the line of the guys jaw, those details have little to do with drawing and more with being patient and careful. Then, if you want we can discuss the characters, colouring, etc.
I still have to scan in the last three panels, and there is text but no word bubbles. I tried to be more careful with the coloring I've done so far.
Also, for the odd white spots when colouring, in the one coloured panel I dont see any problems.
Now, there are a lot of things to improve, and I am anxious to just write pages and pages of advice, but I dont want to rush you.
So, besides panel layout, all I will say is that you could really use some anatomy studies, and I dont mean taking classes, even for stylized drawing, knowing some basic anatomy goes a long way, I see you use some guidelines, I havent been able to identify if you use those guidelines for the whole body or just the head, but that is a good thing, guidelines.
Well, you ARE drawing, and you are wanting to improve, I would say that is as right as it gets.
About the quality of the ilustration, you have a long way to go, but luckily for you, its a VERY fun road, and you will be able to see noticeable improvement fast, without exhausting practice. (it does get tougher and tougher the better you get)
While it may be irrelevant to you, I'm curious about his reasoning for a long neck. I'd appreciate if you didn't undermine other people's questions because you feel that your viewpoint is the most important one to express.
if no one else sees it I will feel so bad about myself
PS: And yes, doesnt look like a really compelling reason to keep a neck that long... not that your comic has become part of some executive board that makes decisions for you, but, you know, a suggesstion.
As far as the figures go: http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-Invention-Michael-Hampton/dp/0615272819
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-The-Invisible-Art/dp/006097625X
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Comics-Storytelling-Secrets-Graphic/dp/0060780940/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
Comics are more complex than they seem. There are some benifits to drawing them while you are learning the basics, mostly that demands that you are skilled in multiple areas. Scott McCloud covers alot of the narrative and mechanics of it (such as why you might put a panel somewhere, and how big it should be) I would recommend his books to any artist getting started with comics.
there are a ton of online resources as well, I would check out the links in the questions/tutorials thread at the top of the board, and start reading and practicing based on what you can find.
Look in a mirror, then take your fingers and run them along your jaw, from your chin back on up until your fingers rest under your earlobe. Notice how the ear sits in relation to the jaw.
In your first panel and the third panel, the ears aren't sitting on any kind of real structure, they are floating somewhere on the side of their heads.
Something that helped me with people drawing was going to a figure drawing class. Not sure how comfortable you are with live naked people, but figure drawing really forces you to become familiar with the human body. This might seem unrelated when it comes to cartoons because they're usually exaggerated versions of realistic bodies, but it will definitely help with things like human shapes, weight distribution, and proportion in general.
Another bit of advice I have for you is to take your time. Comics are deceptively complicated. What seems like a simple panel that someone whipped out in a manner of minutes could have taken them hours. Practice being patient and thorough, especially with your colors. I noticed that the lines looked much better in the incomplete scan you posted than in the colored page in your original post. Both your lines and your colors need to be crisp to form a really solid comic. There are tons of color tutorials out there if you need inspiration or direction.
Keep practicing, and don't stop!
-Carrie
Build your visual library.
-Read books. Draw the things the books describe.
-Observe Nature. Pay attention to how things are actually put together
-Look at your environment. Observe scale.
Compare your comic to successful comics:
-What are they doing that you are not?
-Why is there's better then yours?
-Familiarize yourself with comic strip standards
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
No matter what changes you make, you can only improve it if you have practiced. But you probably already know all this and say "I already drew the page" because drawing something twice... you know.... effort. But guess what, drawing takes studying, and studies are repeating the same stuff many times untill you "get it". and only THEN, you set to make a real "piece".
Fantomas has some good points. Your comic wasn't chiselled out of a piece of granite. You have the ability to redraw panels, adjust the panel layout and any number of other items of improvement.
If you really want to improve, you need to put in the time and effort. If you're just doing this for something to pass the time while you're day dreaming in class then that's cool. Just don't expect anyone else to care a whole lot about it.
Have you been spending time trying to find free tutorials online? Have you studied how other comic creators, who are successful, do their panel layouts? It just feels like you had some very valid critiques from your last post and instead of making an effort to utilise the information provided, you've continued along the same path that you were following before you posted here.
What are you looking to accomplish by posting on this forum? I'm not trying to discourage you at all. Please, continue to work on your art and strive for improvements. We as a community just need to try to understand what's going on here so that we can provide help where needed.
If you've been drawing other stuff then by all means post it here so we can see what you've been working on since you last posted your comic. With time you'll see improvement as long as you keep on practising and studying. Some people have natural talent and some people have to work hard at things. If you really enjoy something, though, you should keep on working at it.
It's not great, but I think I'm a bit closer to getting the proportions and such right? Correct me if I'm wrong.
They're rough, and for the most part just pencil.