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Comic Creators Thread: Ways to Stay Motivated, Creative, and Productive?

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  • herojoeherojoe IndianapolisRegistered User regular
    Ha ha I might try that.

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  • SaintElmosWireSaintElmosWire Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    Just starting work on a comic inspired by old bird on a wire comics. It's about games (As everything must be) but also film and other media. It's very early days but I think it will help me get my art rolling again. Here's the first three for your consideration.

    0HZnW.jpg

    eOYHo.jpg

    n1MAc.jpg

    SaintElmosWire on
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  • liquiddarkliquiddark Odd magpie St. John's, NLRegistered User regular
    I'm just gonna go ahead and say it: A strip where you make the Holocaust an achievement is in bad taste, and it doesn't fit with the others you've slid in there. You may want to rethink your approach.

    Current project: Contension, a realtime tactics game for mobile
    @oldmanhero .programming .web comic .everything
  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    Here's a thing I drew, while scanning my comic pages.

    1-23-12.jpg

    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.

  • The Lovely BastardThe Lovely Bastard Registered User regular
    munch that doesn't look like a chupacabra detective

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  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    Me too, Munch. Troll didn't need a furkini.

    That said, your version is adorable. Can I steal it to use as an avatar?

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  • WiseManTobesWiseManTobes Registered User regular
    I was always hoping Troll would just show up on occasion wearing the skin of something new and random, but not a furkini!

    Imagine it tho!
    What the hell Troll, is that a Moloid? where did you even find a Moloid!

    Steam! Battlenet:Wisemantobes#1508
  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    munch that doesn't look like a chupacabra detective

    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.

    KookaburraKO5.png
    Arivia wrote:
    Me too, Munch. Troll didn't need a furkini.

    That said, your version is adorable. Can I steal it to use as an avatar?

    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.

    Munch on
  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    edit: argh

    Munch on
  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    fine Munch draw me Mystique

    but until then I am going to steal Troll the next time I have access to OS X Preview

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  • AriviaArivia I Like A Challenge Earth-1Registered User regular
    @Munch

    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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  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    I'm fond of, "Troll not Viking God. Not Asgard wench. Troll... Troll."

  • herojoeherojoe IndianapolisRegistered User regular
    If you want to draw me something for those newfangled facebook covers with Animal Man, John Constantine, and Swamp Thing, that would be flippin sweet.

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  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    I'll see what I can do, herojoe. I greatly enjoy drawing Swamp Thing, so that should be fun.

    Also, I'm not sure these screen tones are working the way I'd like them to.

    KookKO1.png

    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.

  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited February 2012
    When I have this comic printed to hand out at FCBD, I'm going to have to pay extra for color, for a single panel.

    KKO3.png

    Worth it.

    Munch on
  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Munch wrote:
    Worth it.

    Definitely!

  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    I'm beginning to regret going with grey-tone for these pages. It's become a bigger pain than just coloring them would have been. I feel like I have a better grip on it now than before, but now I need to go back and adjust the previous pages, to make them look more uniform.

    graaagh

    KKO5.png

    On the plus side, I really like how those middle three panels came out.

  • HenslerHensler Registered User regular
    Some great stuff, Munch - I remember when you first started posting stuff on here, and you've really improved with the arting.

  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    Thanks, Hensler. I appreciate that.

    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.

  • The Lovely BastardThe Lovely Bastard Registered User regular
    munch that is coming along nice

    now finish it already and do the thing that actually matters

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  • herojoeherojoe IndianapolisRegistered User regular
    Whenever I ask my artist to fix something I feel like such a giant asshole. Luckily those times are few and far between, but I still feel like such a douche when I do it.

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  • liquiddarkliquiddark Odd magpie St. John's, NLRegistered User regular
    The question is, what are you asking them to fix? If it's important enough to ask, then it's important enough for them to spend the time. If it happens often enough to worry about, it's time to consider looking at the work much earlier. If it's a conflict of aesthetics, unless the artist is doing work for hire you probably need to swallow it.

    Current project: Contension, a realtime tactics game for mobile
    @oldmanhero .programming .web comic .everything
  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    Well. There's stuff an artist just won't see without outside criticism. Everyone can get a little tunnel vision going on, especially if it's something that they think they know exactly what the image should be. That's the easiest situation to suddenly have forshortening issues, compositional entanglements, or proportion trouble. I know exactly what this scene calls for. ...Yeah. It's real easy to be sure of what you're doing and lead yourself astray at the same time. If nothing else, your partner should appreciate the feedback if you're good about it, and it also shows that you give a damn.

  • herojoeherojoe IndianapolisRegistered User regular
    I've never done anything as horrible as asking for a page to be redrawn. The issue I have right now is I called for a black panel in the script and when the page came in it was just a thick black line across the page and I asked then for it to be changed and now the colored page still has it except it's slightly bigger and fades in to the next panels which I'm not down with either.

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  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    You work with this artist in person, or is it only online? Sounds like a simple enough fix from over here, what you're asking for is more just tweaking what's already there than changing anything.

  • herojoeherojoe IndianapolisRegistered User regular
    Yeah it's online. It would kind of screw up the way she drew it since she made it a small line instead of a legitimate panel so if she made it bigger she'd probably have to make the other panels a lot smaller.

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  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    herojoe wrote:
    Yeah it's online. It would kind of screw up the way she drew it since she made it a small line instead of a legitimate panel so if she made it bigger she'd probably have to make the other panels a lot smaller.

    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?

  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    I am writing a thing. Sweet. I have set a goal for myself of developing different voices for different characters, and making my default main character (the psychic cyborg who broke up the super sentai band/PMC) a co-protagonist rather than just setting him against a bunch of obstacles.

    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.

  • herojoeherojoe IndianapolisRegistered User regular
    herojoe wrote:
    Yeah it's online. It would kind of screw up the way she drew it since she made it a small line instead of a legitimate panel so if she made it bigger she'd probably have to make the other panels a lot smaller.

    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 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.

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  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited February 2012
    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 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.

    Munch on
  • liquiddarkliquiddark Odd magpie St. John's, NLRegistered User regular
    If you haven't read it, Jeff Parker's got a good article and, more importantly, great comments, on collaboration here. It's mostly about splitting ownership and money, but there's a fair amount about being fair to one another and about developing a project too. And he knows what he's talking about.

    Current project: Contension, a realtime tactics game for mobile
    @oldmanhero .programming .web comic .everything
  • Tidus53Tidus53 Registered User regular
    Hiya guys, my name is... well it's pretty personal, so just call me Tidus or whatever. Anyway, I want to be a game designer once I'm out of High school and right now I'm in my junior year. To get ready for this I started getting into to comic book style art, Western style not Manga(never manga). So I started taking western-realism style of drawing more seriously and improved over the past year. Any-dang-way, I'm trying to right a really good comic but one thing I want to do is make it Western style. I know it sounds close-minded but it seems that everyone I know is taking up the easy Eastern way instead of the Western way. What I want to know is what are the key differences between a manga and a comic book. Not in production but in terms of writing and paneling. Stuff like that. I've got a good idea but I just need to know where to get going. Thanks guys!

  • Linespider5Linespider5 ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGER Registered User regular
    Isn't the difference mainly the physical format? As in, page size and general story length?

  • Tidus53Tidus53 Registered User regular
    Isn't the difference mainly the physical format? As in, page size and general story length?


    I always thought it was in terms of perspective in panels and storytelling maybe even structure.

  • HenslerHensler Registered User regular
    Tidus53 wrote:
    Hiya guys, my name is... well it's pretty personal, so just call me Tidus or whatever. Anyway, I want to be a game designer once I'm out of High school and right now I'm in my junior year. To get ready for this I started getting into to comic book style art, Western style not Manga(never manga). So I started taking western-realism style of drawing more seriously and improved over the past year. Any-dang-way, I'm trying to right a really good comic but one thing I want to do is make it Western style. I know it sounds close-minded but it seems that everyone I know is taking up the easy Eastern way instead of the Western way. What I want to know is what are the key differences between a manga and a comic book. Not in production but in terms of writing and paneling. Stuff like that. I've got a good idea but I just need to know where to get going. Thanks guys!

    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.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Well I am no Manga expert, and beyond that no artist either, but there is a clear distinction in general art style of American style comics and Manga I think.

    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.

  • Tidus53Tidus53 Registered User regular
    Hensler wrote:
    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.

    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.

  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    You're over-thinking the divide between Eastern and Western comics. Here's the only difference; some are made by people in the West, and some are made by people in the East. I'd get into how both are incredibly diverse when you stop looking at the "mainstream" stuff, but it should be a given. Yotsuba!, Blade of the Immortal, Dominion, Gunsmith Cats, Lupin III, Monster, Astro Boy, and Bleach all come from the same place, and they couldn't be less similar.

    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.

  • Tidus53Tidus53 Registered User regular
    Munch wrote:
    You're over-thinking the divide between Eastern and Western comics. Here's the only difference; some are made by people in the West, and some are made by people in the East. I'd get into how both are incredibly diverse when you stop looking at the "mainstream" stuff, but it should be a given. Yotsuba!, Blade of the Immortal, Dominion, Gunsmith Cats, Lupin III, Monster, Astro Boy, and Bleach all come from the same place, and they couldn't be less similar.

    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.

    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?

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