The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Another style attempt!
Singasong
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
*waves* its me...again! Trying another style (and comic idea) and would love to hear some opinions on it! 
This time, instead of mouses, its cats (hehe). This first one is just some of the backstory (and the main story would be the city later....and the main character a magic cat...so kind of like a town full of cat witches / wizards....kinda).
Anywayyy, the style would be much the same (grayscale...because...its easy to do and i still suck at coloring lol). Kinda simple and cartoony...(i could shoot for some more detail...but im kind of limited in my drawing ability ><)
and here is a little different one with the center figure colored in a little... i think i could do little bits of color like that to practice and i think it livens things up a bit too
This time, instead of mouses, its cats (hehe). This first one is just some of the backstory (and the main story would be the city later....and the main character a magic cat...so kind of like a town full of cat witches / wizards....kinda).
Anywayyy, the style would be much the same (grayscale...because...its easy to do and i still suck at coloring lol). Kinda simple and cartoony...(i could shoot for some more detail...but im kind of limited in my drawing ability ><)
and here is a little different one with the center figure colored in a little... i think i could do little bits of color like that to practice and i think it livens things up a bit too
Singasong on
0
Posts
EDIT: What made you start a new thread? I think you should use your old thread so that people can see how your ideas/skills have improved.
The problem with using color is the time it takes (because i have to do each color alone.... instead of just using B&W for everything). Its ok for some things... but for the majority i couldnt do it in color without spending wayyy too much time on each picture). So its either this style...or i could drop the entire shading thing all together and go for crosshatching type thing. Hehe the main thing is trying to find a good balance between quality and time.
I made the new thread because the other one was for squeaksy... but i decided to give up on that (it was too boring and the characters leg-lessness seemed to bug people hehe). This one has a lot better characters i think (they have legs, and clothes, and a more thought out story...kinda). Tomorrow ill make the next one for this, that should give a better idea of the style as i try to do the actual main character and those things.
Mostly, it's the way you're shading everything. Soft brush with uneven strokes. Take a look at the cat's head in the upper right panel, for instance - messy shading there! Areas are darker than others in the *part of the same shadow*, that's supposed to be the same tone all-around.
To give you an idea of how your shading isn't really contributing much to your comic - delete the linework layer. I guarantee you it will be VERY hard to read with just the shading layer.
I'd suggest moving to a hard-edged brush, and coloring everything that way.......and MAYBE using a TINY bit of the soft brush, but don't go overboard. A successful way of coloring, I've found, typically involves the use of a hard AND soft brush, even if you're making something as apparently fluffy as clouds. Clouds have sharp edges too, ya know! Making everything soft like this is just making everything a bit harder to read visually, for me.
Also, if your going to apply tiny bits of color in a monochromatic setting, then you may wanna deviate from greyscale (try blues, or darker shades of green - whatever fits the mood best is important) and apply the color subtly and sparingly in points of interest (like blood splatter for example). Maintaining balance may be your biggest obstacle here, as what you have now just really detracts my attention from everything else and is somewhat visually unpleasant.
"I was born; six gun in my hand; behind the gun; I make my final stand"~Bad Company
Yeah, i can imagine it would take a while to colour each frame. But the more you do it, the faster you'll get
I want to try and keep it fuzzy-ish because of the upcoming cuteness of the comic (so it seems more relaxing). But i dont want it to be too fuzzy to be sloppy moosh (which happens when i go too fast hehe)
And, just for fun, here it was without lines (i like the middle figures head without lines...the ears most! It would just take too much time to totally kill off the lineart and go just shade-painting.
Why do you keep talking about how long processes take? Do you have a dead line?
Also, coloring can be alot easier and quicker than you think. Alot of digital artists today start out in greyscale and use overlay layers to add color and then tighten it up a bit with a normal layer. It can take you less than a minute to do a decent color job if you know what your doing. However, to color in this method would require you have a strong sense of values so you can apply color accordingly, so while your learning all that keep this mind. Color/Overlay layers - change color based off values, Screen/soft layers layers help you colorize and lighten, Multiply layer will allow you add color and darken - all of these layers will allow you to preserve your line work. Experiment and practice and you'll get it eventually.
"I was born; six gun in my hand; behind the gun; I make my final stand"~Bad Company
Here is the next page (without words) i tried a different way of doing this one and just shaded over the sketch (instead of trying to go over it again with cleaner line-art and then shading under everything). It takes a little bit longer...but its not too bad. (woops, looks like i missed some of the edges hehe)
yeah I actually like that alot too. The only thing I would say is there are a couple issues. The first is in panel 1, when I first read it it seemed like we were looking down on the little frog thing instead of looking up at him, and I think this is because the ceiling doesn't obviously read as a ceiling and not as a wooden floor. If you added a light fixture or something that clearly marked it as the ceiling it might help. The second one is the clock, if appears that we are looking at it directly from the side based on the numbers, but the clock itself (and the perspective of the desk or w/e it's sitting on) look as if we were looking down and from the side on it.
I may not have expressed it clearly myself, so in a nutshell: it does not look finished. I can't critique or advise beyond that, but that's a comment from a reader's perspective.
Can I make a suggestion? Update it every *third* day, or twice a week...and spend all that extra time perfecting the comic.
THe reason being - if you make the comic look better, people will want to read it MORE than a comic that updates every other day, or even EVERY day, and isn't drawn well (if, for both cases, the writing is of the same quality).
Seriously. Spending that extra day finishing everything will really, really benefit you.
Oh, and here's a quick paintover to show you what I was thinking as far as "smoothing" out your shading:
Big "?" in the 3rd panel, as I have no idea what's going on, aside from the fact that there's a brick wall that's been broken.
I used a hard-edged brush for the *edges* of the objects, and a soft brush for the INNER parts of objects. The reason why your work is so hard to read is because you "color outside of the lines". You can still keep the "soft" look without making it confusing - this is a good way of doing that.
Also, for places like on her dress...it's pretty clear what direction your strokes go in. I smoothed that out with the smudge tool, set to around 45% strength with a soft brush, and went over the marks horizontally (whichever direction "crosses" the marks).
I dont really plan them much... i think it will make a lot more sense when i put in the text hehe. I just dont have much practice with background or scenery things ...so.... i gotta work a lot more on that i think o.O