As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Webcomic in Progress

13

Posts

  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Actually, shape dynamics was turned off, with just a 3px round brush with 85% hardness, using a small wacom tablet.
    I don't use pencil for drawing much (lefty = smudge central), so I'm used to ballpoint pen for doodling. That's why the shape of the line looked okay to me, as that's what I've always had with the pen.

    slydon on
  • Michael VoxMichael Vox Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Squid: Oh sweet lord I love that link! I've been trying to learn from this book but I can't get enough of Tracy's energy. The faces just pop right off the page! Oh, and I'm totally guilty of overusing the smart brow. I will stop that immediately.

    Michael Vox on
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Happy Present's Day! Doing a simple comic this week, so I can focus on faces and expressions, and start sketching out backgrounds for next week etc :)

    slydon on
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    President's Day (damn you autocorrect!)

    slydon on
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Urk. helps if I actually post the comic :P

    #111 - Bet Now He's Thinking Of Another “B” Word
    111.png
    ...................................................................................^ this also be a link

    slydon on
  • bwaniebwanie Posting into the void Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    i just went to your website and read the mouseover on the previous comic.

    is that supposed to clear up the joke or is it there ironically?

    because i still have no idea what i'm suppsed to take away from that one.

    bwanie on
    Yh6tI4T.jpg
  • melting_dollmelting_doll Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Are you still not taking AoB's advice for basic construction? Going by the process you posted on page 3, unless it was done before he made that paint over, it's obvious you haven't.
    It actually seems like you are responding in replies with everyone's criticism, but it doesn't seem like you are applying ANY of it to your work.

    melting_doll on
  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    How are you laying out your hair? Right now it seems very stiff and jagged next to the rather real proportions of the rest of your characters. Do you draw flow lines (like with fabric, etc) before you do your final line work on them?

    Right now the hair kinda looks like lego-people clip-ons. It just kinda sits there without much natural flow, at least to my eye anyhow (which isn't worth a whole lot, admittedly).

    Edit: Also, why are the lines for your clothing so much more jagged than those of your body parts? You have confidant curves for your chins and arms, but crazy-wobbles for a tee shirt.

    Enc on
  • WillethWilleth Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    bwanie wrote: »
    i just went to your website and read the mouseover on the previous comic.

    is that supposed to clear up the joke or is it there ironically?

    because i still have no idea what i'm suppsed to take away from that one.

    I think that's so people with text-to-speech software can have the image explained.

    Willeth on
    @vgreminders - Don't miss out on timed events in gaming!
    @gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Eric> Usually with clothes I don't smooth my lines, except for things with harder lines like sneakers, so, that's just my natural caffeinated state. Hair is kind of in between. With Sydney (the brunette) I make a lot of small strokes, and with Mia (the redhead) I don't smooth (like the clothes). great now I see lego too LOL what should I try to make it more "flowy"?

    Melty doll> You're wrong, I'm doing what any normal person would do with nearly 100 posts of constructive criticism and a schedule, I'm merely putting emphasis on the things that strike me as big priorities: facial expression, variety in color/lighting. Less LIEK SAFTY MANUAL. Next backgrounds, then shape dynamics.

    I'm not going to master every technique that each person tells me to do within a week or two. I've been practicing using Bacon's method for construction, but it's not nearly to the point of being able to use in a final comic yet (It looks like Pinocchio when I do it). Same with the shape dynamics. It's not there yet, so yes, it still looks like ball-point pen because right now, the alternative looks much much worse.

    I posted in detail only so things that were wrong with my process could better be analyzed. and I had started it the same day as Bacon's post, but not sure if I started that particular comic before I read it.


    Bwanie/Willeth> yes, its just descriptive text for screen readers. :)

    slydon on
  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited February 2011
    I recommend posting your studies, we can help you if we can see whats going on. If you post the same stuff you will get the same crits, amazingly enough.

    Iruka on
  • bwaniebwanie Posting into the void Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Willeth wrote: »
    bwanie wrote: »
    i just went to your website and read the mouseover on the previous comic.

    is that supposed to clear up the joke or is it there ironically?

    because i still have no idea what i'm suppsed to take away from that one.

    I think that's so people with text-to-speech software can have the image explained.

    that's what i thought at first, but i didn't see it on other comics.

    bwanie on
    Yh6tI4T.jpg
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Bwanie > yeah, I've been promising to add alt text since January. Lots of comics to describe. :D

    slydon on
  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    slydon wrote: »
    Eric> Usually with clothes I don't smooth my lines, except for things with harder lines like sneakers, so, that's just my natural caffeinated state. Hair is kind of in between. With Sydney (the brunette) I make a lot of small strokes, and with Mia (the redhead) I don't smooth (like the clothes). great now I see lego too LOL what should I try to make it more "flowy"?

    The way I was told, for both clothes and hair you draw lines indicating the flow of motion. Hair and clothes fall, tug, and pull changing the overall form. I'm not sure this is the best way to go about making more realistic hair, but what i've read you do something like this:

    111.jpg

    The hairs pile up after the part due to he volume of all of those locks bending. They tug towards the ears if they are gathered, or cling to the neck and chin depending on how the hair is cut. Of course, I'm a novice too so I'm sure theres a better way to do it somehow. This has worked for me, though.

    Enc on
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Am currently sucking at controlling shape dynamics.. an example of the horror
    wooden.png

    slydon on
  • amateurhouramateurhour One day I'll be professionalhour The woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    It looks like you just made two or three lines at a small width and the rest at a much larger width...

    What kind of tablet are you using, and are you inking in photoshop? (I believe you said you were, but I was just double checking)

    Maybe your pressure sensitivity isn't turned on or set right. Download the latest set of drivers from Wacom, go into the manager and try setting the firmness to the maximum level on the slider (all the way to the right)

    Then go into photoshop and turn on shape dynamics and lightly press down, almost barely touching the pad, and make a line, gradually pressing down harder on the tablet. The issue could be with the force that you put on the tablet. Are you naturally a heavy line maker?

    amateurhour on
    are YOU on the beer list?
  • squidbunnysquidbunny Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Use a thinner brush. Or don't press so hard. In any case, inking with a tablet is kind of like inking with a loaded brush, and it takes awhile to get used to. It's all practice.

    squidbunny on
    header_image_sm.jpg
  • amateurhouramateurhour One day I'll be professionalhour The woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I like the puppets though... Just to compliment that sketch. They look pretty awesome/scary at the same time

    amateurhour on
    are YOU on the beer list?
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    A slightly better version...
    112.png

    and finally the real comic...
    113.png

    slydon on
  • WillethWilleth Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I think you're progressing really well. The only thing that strikes me immediately is in the last panel - rather than relying on explicit sound effects, it should be clear that this guy is unbalanced. Take away the effects and he just looks like he's looking at his hand - as much as looking at weight distribution and so forth is useful for making characters seem naturally posed, it's just as important when they aren't.

    Willeth on
    @vgreminders - Don't miss out on timed events in gaming!
    @gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Not to be a debby downer but I'm not seeing the progress.

    Obviously things don't just 180 overnight, but I'm seeing numerous remaining problems that have been beaten to death throughout the thread.

    Bacon suggested trying to construct things from simple shapes, and I'm not really seeing it. I mean, they do look better than the initial strips posted, but I think you could be trying a little harder. Don't be so attached to your ways of putting together a comic.

    People have posted about not getting some of the comics, and I really don't understand the previous comic. It's not really a good thing when someone reads a comic and doesn't get it. I tried to read it a second time to gain understanding, and still nothing. It's kinda like a bunch of random panels, I get no sense of a flowing conversation or clear series of events unfolding. It seems like a problem in storyboarding. What are you trying to convey, and why are you trying to convey it?

    The characters are suffering from a distinct lack of character. How many comics does it take to make someone feel emotion/dislike/love/anything for a character? 5 comics, 1 comic, 20 comics? They're suffering from the same blandness that the art is. As DMAC said on page one, the characters "all look like the same model with different hair/clothing. The basic face seems to be the same on all 3 characters, male and female." After all these comics this problem remains. If you switched their hair and clothes around, which character would be who? Are their personalities enough to stand out?

    The light source is still all over the place. Iruka showed you how if proper attention is payed to lighting, how much more convincing your shapes can be, but I'm not seeing any progress on that front either. The way the shadows are falling on the image of the characters strung up like marionettes doesn't make a lick of sense. Look at that drawing and tell me where the light is coming from. Some of the highlights suggest it could be the top, but then again there are random highlights on the right of the characters too. And a drop shadow behind them makes it appear the light is coming straight from the viewers gaze. Which one is it?

    The gradients look awful. Like really really bad. Sure the figures still appear pretty lifeless, and there aren't any backgrounds, but those gradients make me want to tear out my eyeballs. The gradients are worse than the photo-backdrops you were pasting in before. Things have to be pretty bad when the backgrounds have me wishing for the photo backdrops to come back. Seriously. Gradients like that are tacky as fuck. I'm not saying I'm the god of webcomics, and rainbow gradients are not allowed to be used under any circumstances, but you're using them way too much, and your using them to avoid drawing environments. Practice some backgrounds.

    The only one single thing I can see that definitely appears to improve from the first comic is that you no longer appear to be wasting your time rendering props in 3D and tracing in around them. The beer bottle for example from the last comic looks like it actually belongs with the characters, and not like a copy/pasted object from another source. This is a good thing. Everything within a single comic should belong. The objects/characters/backgrounds should be one.

    I haven't followed the thread very closely since you haven't seemed to take much of the criticism seriously. I would suggest trying to do something drastically different, because whats there isn't working, and maybe you just need to try to get out of the box that you've put yourself in. Comics don't have to look great to be effective, but right now it doesn't really have much of either going for it at the moment. It seems like there's no shortage of solid advice being tossed around, just not very much implementation of it.

    earthwormadam on
  • MustangMustang Arbiter of Unpopular Opinions Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I think probably a big thing to work on right now is varying your line thickness, it's still reading like an emergency pamphlet on a plane. It has all the charm of a cold cement block.

    I post this link all the time, but it explains so much.

    Inking tutorial

    Even though it's about inking the same rules still apply to digital.

    Mustang on
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Thanks Mustang. That link perfectly illustrates the problem I have with shape dynamics but not the solution. the problem I have is that the line width seems to vary on lines that I want to keep at a certain size.

    for example, if I were drawing the shape of an ear, the line would taper out to nothing midstroke instead of the ends where I would want it. that's the exact opposite of what I was trying to do

    It's something I was to be able to do to get background right as much as anything, because my only (albeit lame) weapon against flatness so far has been the gaussian depth of field effect, which I think is ok when there's something really close, like panel 1, but i can't use for general scenes where nothing is in CU. I need to get this for background elements to work.

    Adam, the puppet one was obviously self-deprecatingly bad. But reading the thread is important because you spent a collassal amount of time regurgitating things other people have posted. It's redundant copypasta.

    Willeth, you're right. I didn't want to make him look too lumbering, because with that O_O expression, he'd look like a zombie. I just wanted to make him look a little spacey. Trying to make him look awkward somehow made him look less awkward, because the last time I did that was in #63 and the effect looked, frankly, goofy. Which is okay on her, but doesn't fit him as well.

    slydon on
  • WillethWilleth Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    slydon wrote: »
    Adam, the puppet one was obviously self-deprecatingly bad. But reading the thread is important because you spent a collassal amount of time regurgitating things other people have posted. It's redundant copypasta.

    It's not redundant if you're not taking the time to learn what you're reading. If you post something, are given criticism, there's no evidence of an attempt to improve after a few more posts, and then someone posts the same criticism of the new one, who's to blame? Furthermore, just because a crit is repeated, doesn't make it less valid - if anything, it makes it moreso. Remember we're not here to judge you unnecessarily - it's help.

    As for line-width, you need to relearn drawing styles with different materials - it's the same with different brushes on a tablet. Trying drawing with your arm instead of your wrist, and making everything that doesn't have a hard angle one smooth line.

    Willeth on
    @vgreminders - Don't miss out on timed events in gaming!
    @gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I'm all for constructive crit.
    I'm having difficulty with using shape dynamics, something I never even touched before this month, and openly admitting it. Mustang's trying to help, and I thanked him for that.
    But someone says they didn't read, and then spews 9 paragraphs of "lemme count the ways in which I hate"; I apologize if I don't interpret that as constructive.

    Making a smooth line with shape dynamics... how do you keep any one line consistent, when the width seems to change constantly? I've found it akin to drawing with a pen that changes size midstroke.

    slydon on
  • WillethWilleth Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    slydon wrote: »
    I'm all for constructive crit.
    I'm having difficulty with using shape dynamics, something I never even touched before this month, and openly admitting it. Mustang's trying to help, and I thanked him for that.
    But someone says they didn't read, and then spews 9 paragraphs of "lemme count the ways in which I hate"; I apologize if I don't interpret that as constructive.

    Making a smooth line with shape dynamics... how do you keep any one line consistent, when the width seems to change constantly? I've found it akin to drawing with a pen that changes size midstroke.

    Are you using a tablet, mouse, what?

    Willeth on
    @vgreminders - Don't miss out on timed events in gaming!
    @gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
  • KochikensKochikens Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    That someone who hasn't read the thread is making the exact same evaluation of your art as someone on page one did means you haven't taken away anything from the critiques you're recieving.

    His critique was incredibly constructive. That you are only looking for help on extremely technical nitpicky things and rejecting Adam's in depth critique on your method just goes to prove that you're ignoring us.

    Kochikens on
  • melting_dollmelting_doll Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Panel 1 of the latest comic:

    The shading on his head...heads are pretty round...the shadow wouldn't cut straight across at a diagonal like that I don't think...

    melting_doll on
  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited March 2011
    You are at a place where you have two options.

    One is do you're comic and make very small incremental steps towards improvement because you'd rather not radically change your comic until you feel confident. In this option you are displaying some postive things for webcomicing, the ability to keep a schedule, consistency, and just a little window for continuing growth.

    The other is sack up and be way more experimental. Take a risk and lose some of the comics nature to work on skills but update regularly and try and sorta tie it in.

    The problem with option one is that its only really great if you are already cranking out close to top dollar stuff and just want to fine tune things. If you have a lot of basic issues, like lines and color theory, It wont help you to change 0.5 of the problem week to week, You need to bite off a lot more.

    Option two is scary because people jump into them and think of them as forever comics with loyal fans that need to stay consistent and unchanging so that people know what to expect. But scroll through any major comics archive that has art at the focus and you'll either see A) Very slow growth or B)Big experiments and style changes where the artist plays around. Because Of the format you aren't going to get done with a chapter and think "hey, I can switch it up for the next one" but in reality, you have that opportunity for every strip.

    If you don't have time to both study and do the comic, study while doing your comic. You don't have enough of an audience to justify being rigid. Do a strip in graphite, no one will complain. Do a strip with out lines, no one will complain.

    Iruka on
  • squidbunnysquidbunny Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Whether you're using a tablet or a mouse has been asked several times but I'm not seeing the answer. Sorry if I'm missing it.

    If you're using a tablet with pressure sensitivity your line width shouldn't be as random and janky as you're complaining it is; it's just a matter of getting used to the necessary pressure, and there is totally a learning curve.

    But, are your settings all straight? They should sort of look like this:

    brushes1.jpg

    No size jitter, etc.. Also, another thing that can cause some notchiness that's frequently less obvious is spacing, under brush tip shape. But the problems you're having don't necessary sound like that.

    squidbunny on
    header_image_sm.jpg
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Iruka.. you're absolutely right. I'm not married to the comic as it is, why not have some fun and learn from it all.

    slydon on
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I've been adjusting the pen size manually (just [ and ]) while drawing until I can get the feel of dynamics, making details from .5 to 1.5px), so things are looking more like this 114a.png


    Then adding backgrounds (this is all original p'shop, the image material I used was a picture of a ship during the day. The clouds, moon, lighting and ocean water above and below were done using clouds, gradients and good old plastic wrap)

    I apologize for the large image size, but png is so worth it's non-lossy compression in gold. ^_^

    #114 - Measured in Kilohertz
    114.png
    ...................................................................................^ this also be a link

    slydon on
  • acadiaacadia Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Man. It still totally feels like you're tracing over posed 3d models of people.

    Also, not really seeing the line width variation there. The 1px width difference is almost invisible to me. Might want to give yourself some more breathing room in that area. I'm still not clear on whether or not you're using a tablet. You shouldn't have to change your line-width manually if you've got a pressure sensitive pen to apply those settings that squidbunny (edit: was not Iruka) so kindly (painstakingly) showed you.

    acadia on
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I used squidbunny's settings for my sketches. A problem I have is that I tend to draw point-to-point when I clean up my lines and I run into the same problems I think any heavy-handed person would.
    The ocean was based on this tutorial. The underwater effect I learned from a tutorial I saw maybe 5 years ago and don't remember the url offhand. I wanted to put more into the backgrounds after this one, and I'd just had an ultrasound on the 8th, and it gave me the idea (apparently, my innards look like an old fish tank.)
    Also, my apologies for being cranky that day.

    slydon on
  • JLM-AWPJLM-AWP Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I'm going to throw in my two cents in here after lurking on this thread, and say that it seems like you are doing your best to avoid doing what you REALLY need to do in this comic to make a big leap in improving it instead of polishing already over-polished or un-polishable things.

    Even after acadia's post, you still haven't specified your tablet/drawing situation. It seems more and more like there is a reason you aren't outright saying what you use. I'm a novice when it comes to drawing (I can lend advice for comic concept and the like, plus I like learning about art by coming here), but even I can tell that there was no noticeable difference in line eight in the last sketch. I've learned that is can and will make all the difference in the world when used effectively. Are you maybe not on the same page as these guys when they suggest more variance in line width?

    Since Angel of Bacon's mini-tutorial on using basic shapes to create your drawings, which will help you at a base level, I really haven't seen any attempt to mimic or even TRY that technique. How long would it take you try, really? My guess is not very long. You have read a tutorial on drawing oceans/underwater effects - something you'll almost never do - but won't take the time to sit and learn something that will improve EVERY COMIC you make from here on out? Seems like you don't really care about improving in that department. It's cool if you don't, but if you do care, I would suggest at least attempting what the people on here suggest, ESPECIALLY Bacon.

    JLM-AWP on
  • WillethWilleth Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Despite asking several times, why are we still not clear what input method you're using? Squidbunny's settigs are only helpful if you're using a pressure-sensitive tablet.

    If you want constructive feedback, you're being fantastically difficult about allowing people to give it to you, and when it is given you aren't following it.

    This forum is a place to help you to grow as an artist. When you're in Artist's Corner, I've found that the best way of operating is to assume that everyone here is better than you are and to take advice with that in mind. Even if it's not true, trying something new can help even if you're not pleased with the result.

    Yes, you can draw. But you can always learn something that'll help and it's always worth trying something new even if it fails and even if it makes you uncomfortable. Failure is part of learning and even if you post the worst stuff possible you won't get called out on it, you'll get tips on where you can correct any errors and advice on style when you have the basics.

    I am by no means a great artist. I've fallen into the same trap as so many other people when they set out to create a webcomic and nothing else and everything becomes formulaic, slapping facial features on a flat face and static poses. And because that's what you know, you practice that, and because you practice that, that's what gets better, and you delude yourself into thinking that's your 'style' without questioning why. Then when it becomes time to branch out you look for a quick way out of it because you've realise what you have is starting to get stale but you're under pressure to do work quickly.

    Photoshop tutorials on creating a water effect will never be a substitute for learning the basics of how light works with water. If you know that, you won't need the tutorial necessarily. Using 3D models to pose will never be as good as the advice on construction that everyone is giving, because if you know how to construct a human shape, you'll not need the poser and you'll be able to subtly alter poses during the process to make them better express what you're trying to do. These tutorials and posing aids are great help, but they're not a substitute for basic art skills.

    These links have been posted in this thread and elsewhere. Look them over and figure out why they work:

    These expressions aren't drawn on afterward. They form the face, instead of the expressions being squeezed on afterward. Remember, the face is made of muscles, and placement of the parts of the face conform to certain rules when the face is relaxed, but when any expression comes into play, these alter. A simple curved line isn't enough to sell a smile.

    Take a look at this, too, especially the naked test (NSFW), and note the point about your characters being recognisable by silhouette and without costume (or even hair). This is one of the reasons people are wondering if you use a posing program - because without the clothing and hair, there's almost no difference between your two female characters. They have the same body type and face shape - why is this? Think about your characters - one of them is blind. Does your real-life blind friend have any qualities that distinguish herself from other people (for example, does she tend to lean forward while walking), and can you incoporate that in her stance in the comic? Observing how people are will make you a better artist.

    Sorry if this has seemed like a bit of a rant, and I know I'm assuming a lot and repeating a lot of what's been said before, but you really seem to be picking the advice you're taking. If you address some of the points that people are repeating then you WILL make progress in making your characters more believable and mroe able to sell a punchline or emotion, but if you only selectively choose criticism then you'll fall into that trap I mentioned before of improving a lot in one area but being woefully lax in others.

    Willeth on
    @vgreminders - Don't miss out on timed events in gaming!
    @gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I've been thinking a lot about this comic and have read through this thread a bunch of times. This is what I am consistently seeing:

    slydon1.gif

    Especially as shaky portions of the lines are anywhere not in direct silhouette (such as the hands of the blind girl in that same image). What I think I'm seeing here as a reader are poser models made into white silhouettes and then framed with a 1 to 2 pixel stroke in photoshop. This may not be what you are doing, but that is what it appears like to me.

    This is fine, if that's what you want to do for your comic. But it wont help improve your ability to draw, and your clothes, hair, and settings will continue to look as if they are either poorly drawn or very impressively cheated in some fashion.

    Again, I may be entirely wrong on this. But it seems too clean and too rough for it to be otherwise from my perspective.

    Enc on
  • slydonslydon Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I don't smooth the lines on cloth as much, that's all. I draw point to point, so usually my lines are pretty clean. You can see where I screwed up on the shoulder where it isn't as curved as it should be.
    I learned using ballpoint pens, so I have to unlearn a lot about line width. Part of my problem is that they might be too clean.

    Yes, I'm tracing, but I'm tracing my own drawing. The earlier drafts are much more "wobbly" and I just zoom in and go over it until I have a clean line I'm happy with, usually about 3 renditions, give or take. If you guys actually like the sloppier lines better, and just adding the pressure brush it would save me tons of time.

    I thought I drew subtle differences between the two :/ Redhead's arms are thinner, longer face, more muted expressions. The brunette is more rounded and boyish, rounded nose, bigger mouth. It couldn't hurt to distinguish them more :)

    I never dreamed I would get so much negative (but constructive, still) feedback. If I were only 20 comics in, I would have killed it already under the weight. I don't want people to feel I'm not taking it to heart. It's hard to completely reinvent your drawing style completely over the course of a few weeks on the nights insomnia kicks in.

    At least I'm not getting the flight safety comments as much anymore.

    slydon on
  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I just don't see that as possible, Slydon. Even incredibly talented artists with years and years under their belts don't get perfect limbs with the exact proportions you are getting consistently every comic. You have the 3d modeling background, and making a model for each of your characters would explain how you get the similar proportions each time, so it's not as if the theory isn't plausible.

    I mean this:
    data.jpg

    and this:
    bully.jpg

    that I pulled from your website, seem pretty close to what I would expect your work from everything but your naked models, and it's not bad! They have room to grow and whatnot, but they are certainly better than a lot of things I've generated. They also show where you can improve your work, should you take the time to do so.

    The point here is what you are getting isn't negative criticism, but constructive criticism with increasingly negative rebuffs for 1) not following the suggestions and 2) not providing the information needed to help you improve. If you have drafts of how you get from wobbly to those perfect forms each time, I would love to see them. Especially as it takes me hours just to get a single roughly-appropriate line for an arm, much less something for a finished product. The more talented folk here could then tell you where you are making missteps and go on from there.

    Enc on
  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited March 2011
    The reason people are being so negative is you are sorta defying logic. Do you have a camera or a scanner? Buy a brush and some ink.

    I dont really know what "drawing point to point" means, but to be frank: Fuck how you draw. Its not easy to completely erase a style over night, but it is pretty easy to make a stroke of a brush. Purchase brush, purchase ink, find paper, make stroke. Simple. You should be able to do that with your tablet.
    slylines.jpg

    The strokes on the left are one stroke. They aren't the crowning jewels of smooth strokes, but they display some weight. Unless you have a mouse, or an unfeeling rock for a hand, this is pretty easy to accomplish. Are you holding your pen in a clenched fist, perhaps? Even if you cant do a weighted stroke in one stroke, you can go over a stroke to build up a line. On the right there is some weight but my bush was too small for the shape dynamics to have an effect, so I added and subtracted to get the lines.

    Spend 20 minutes just attempting to make a smooth wavy line that has different weights, and maybe people will be able to see that any of these words are sinking in.

    Iruka on
Sign In or Register to comment.