You don't use it you lose it, gonna try to get it back.

[JFierce]

Page turned, but anyways, been working on Comics up until now. Mostly crap so far but hopefully I'm improving a little as I go. It's fun either way.

Ordered my first Wacom, so don't want to work on my comic anymore right now until I get to mess around with that. So the quality doesn't jump too drastically if I find myself using it instead.

But anyways some sketches. First one was a quickie I did, second one was trying to use some knowledge from some basic perspective studies and is a work in progress.

[JFierce]

Some more experimentation, call it that mainly because I have 0 experience and little knowledge on any form of serious painting so it's more so fiddling around in the dark for now and this was originally just practice for perspective. But I kinda wanna mess around with actually semi painting it. Changed it to night because pretty sure I remember an artist saying in a video I saw, you don't want to make something seem bright by making everything white but instead making the things around it dark so it doesn't bleach things out and lose detail etc so I made the scene night to experiment with this......... and yes that's supposed to be water in the works. It's grabbing too much attention anyways.

Trying to ditch the overwhelming feel of the line art beneath for once but it's a pain doing all this with a mouse. Still fun though that's what matters.





Edit: Worked a little more but this is where I'm calling it quits. There's underlying flaws rampant in the line work that I realize the further into it. Ironically dealing a lot with the line quality I couldn't vary up enough.
But anyways don't want to make a new post for something this small so just editing it into my original.

[JFierce]

Never painted before and finally got my tablet, but I see people draw fruit to start. So I drew a quick Apple, bitches love Apples.




P.S. didn't draw the setting but there was a shadow cast on the front of the apple if you can't tell.


Edit: Did one for fun as well.

[-D_art-]

the comic pages on the previous page are really nice!! i also like the apple ;P keep it up!

[JFierce]

D_Art: Thanks! Will probably pick up the comic again later, though I don't know whats going to happen after changing the method I use.


Well testing out the Wacom Tablet is fun. Tried to pick a challenging little still life to try. I like to every now and then go in over my head and see the results. It's my second attempt at painting something but I think I picked one a bit too hard. Drawing a metal can in a very shadow casting spot near a lamp was really really hard. Learned a bit, but it was still a lot harder than fruit and doesn't look quite right. A bit muddy as well. Should have simplified it more but it's like 3:30 in the morning so thats enough for now.

But I'm determined to do some actual drawings from life mixed in with the experimentation for fun.

[JFierce]

Welp, today I re-learned a very important issue with comics. I was trying to draw a forest type environment. Went crazy on the paintbrushes without any underlying drawing. Then tried to add it later, but that made it impossible to do the panels after in the same way. And ridiculously hard to add any actual characters since mixing a pure painting type scene with darkish line work it doesn't work that well. (at least not for me)

Comic essential #1: Consistency. Learn a set method that is simple but effective, then use it.


But anyways this was my first panel which I just turned it into a picture, Though it's supposed to be much smaller since it was just a fraction of a page.

[AllyAlbon]

Great comic books, and your shadow work is really coming on.

[JFierce]

AllyAlbon: Thanks!

Today I was trying to figure out which is better with these free programs to draw in. Gimp or Artweaver. Gimp to me has better line control by far but there is no flow like in photoshop and I read flow is fairly important to blending/rendering. I tried to do some makeshift blending but it didn't feel right. Then I tried to export it to Artweaver (painter clone) and I guess for just black and white lines it worked ok. But having issues. But anyways.....



WIP experimentation. Rendered a bit too much on the left side but I wanted to see if I could figure out how to get a sort of rusty or old metally or stone surface from imagination.

But now I'm stumped on getting the character rendered out to fit. It's driving me nuts.

[JFierce]

A bit more on the WIP.

I went a bit overboard rendering some of the clothing then I realized I didn't even fill in anything basic for the background. Probably will go back over the clothing again, if not from scratch (Also learned I need to take some of my clothes and do some a still life .... or several because I realized I can't even pretend to know how to paint cloth).

Anyways, so I began working on the background and what originally was going to be like a junkyard or something is starting to scribble into something else. Though I need to fix the odd perspective it's taking on which I didn't even think about.

[JFierce]

A little more on the WIP for today. Kind of experimenting with what I can do with 2-3 colors in the background. Was pretty fun.

Opened up this little perspective grid though in the program and noticed with the ledges angle The horizon line is much lower than I thought. So trying to make up for that. Though I don't know if the character fits with the perspective or not. I kind of the like the character but who knows. I'm not really all that against taking him out completely and adding something different. This whole thing is just experimenting so why not.

[JFierce]

A bit more on the WIP. Pretty much my little pet project to relax when I have a chance at night lol.
But anyways, biiiig change with the background. Realized the background was kind of chaotic. Couldn't really decipher any of the forms and it drew a lot of attention.

So some more experimenting and came up with this so far. Thinking of ditching the bridge. Though the whole scene is sort of developing into a sky based scene, no ground lol.

[JFierce]

Random dump.
I guess first a bit more on the WIP though that was pretty much halted by some experimentation with a webtoon comic format. Which is just a reaaaaally long comic vertically.




Then some random little screens of bits and pieces I captured mid-process for once.




Then here's my first little page experimenting with this webtoon long comic format.




Yerp, but thats about it for now. This new format I've found the hardest thing is keeping it consistent but at the same time I keep trying to push things further. But if I push certain aspects further then it doesn't look like the rest of the comic. So trying to simplify things (hopefully without appearing overly anime'ish) so I can work in color more without losing consistency, because thats fun and I've never done it.

[JFierce]

Nothing too big. Just a little joke with text capture from a segment of the next page WIP. The more you do comics the more you realize how long it's going to take to get even a sliver of your story out.

There's a trifecta for comics I'm starting to realize. Story, Art, Layout.
Get too caught up in just getting the story out the art and layout sucks
Get too caught up in the art you forget about the story and layout
Get too caught up in the layout you forget how hard it is to make the art and how things make sense with the story.






Also the more I do the more it bugs me about using too much outline. I don't want it to be too cartoony, but at the same time want things consistent.

[Kuddlekins]

Your comics are paced really well! I know that lots of comic artists have that pitfall, so it's good to see you've overcome it.

I would recommend more life studies. From what I've seen, you're already doing them, just do more! Interiors, cars, fruits, people, pretty much anything you think you'll be drawing often, study.

And by the way your comic just sucks me in. Can't stop reading. Must read more.

Keep it coming!

[JFierce]

@Kuddlekins - Thanks! Actually I did need a kick to do more life drawings, got caught up with only the comic that didn't want to spend time on other stuff. But I did some anyways. Going to try to add some with every page I do.



But anyways feel like I learned a bit in the time it's took to finish this page. It's ironic because I had to add spacing and add and remove panels for this one to keep the transitions making sense. Hopefully worked. Though it's funny how different some of the panels are. Hopefully they register ok though.


Before that though some doodles and captures.





Then a couple of household items.
This bowl was rather hard as it was in a very dark room with a lamp in the distance. Never dealt with values that dark before.

The shoe, that was an experience. Those laces were ridiculous to try to get right. Had to stop at that point because the sun was going down and the lighting was changing completely. The original lighting was also new to me since there was a window behind me cracked and a window fully open to the left I believe. Was difficult because this was the opposite in that it was white dirty shoes and capturing light values the right way was also hard.






Then finally my 2nd page.




Welp that's it for now.

[AllyAlbon]

Hey hey, comic is looking good! My only suggestion is to upload it slightly smaller, so we can see it in a more "complete" view, as you would a comic. Other than that, looking great.

[JFierce]

@AllyAlbon

Just wanted to say Thaaaank youuuu!
The sizing was one thing that was bugging me a lot. I'm on a decently high resolution screen so it's not that big to me. But I basically snatched another webtoons size format. So I didn't even think about how they draw the content in the comic itself compared to me which they draw a lot of smaller panels.


Resized my pages by about 200 pixels in width. Which affected the height a bit. Hopefully it's not too big right now.


I don't like making a post without new art to show. But at the very least I came across earlier today old drawings of mine before I came to CA.org years ago. Even had an old comic page I did ages ago ironically.

Before CA.org






It's always fun to show comparison from just starting out to recent stuff.

[Swamp Thing]

About the outlines:
Most of the time outlines stay when shading can't clearly define the drawing. I did try drawing a long time with outlines, making them more appealing by switching their color and make the render fitting with the outlines. However as soon as your render is as intensive and interacting with your outlines, you know that you don't need them anymore.
What I try to say is, outlines (the visual outlines you're not going to remove) only needed as long as you're not going to render the scene, or use them as render by themself (like in american comics like the dark tower). For any other use, they're not existing to leave you with less work, but more like an ornament.

[JFierce]

@SwampThing

Yeah, outlines are the current thing I'm trying to phase out and not rely on as much as I can. But it depends on the panel. Close ups I try to have little outline recently. But getting rid of outlines for a comic entirely is not likely and yeah they'll be I guess ornamental in a sense lol.

------------------------------------------------------


Well tried some new stuff here and there on this page. Some results I like
Others not so much. I think the panel that bugs me the most is the eyes.
I got some rendering in parts right but didn't get to stress the exagerration
without making it cartoony. But not going to freak over every imperfection or I won't make it anywhere with this comic.


Anyways, grabbed a bunch of screencaptures of mid process figure I'll throw them in there for the heck of it. Trying to use a grid and such to get perspective right now, then build up as I go. Then realized the big importance of highlights and using them sparingly in some panels.

Also trying to figure out how to get skin tone a bit more than just 2 peachy colors blended. Thats when I came across something Coro's teacher told him. Which is you paint in value, color isn't as high on priority. So trying to check by making it grayscale when in the middle of something to check.




















--------------------------------------------------------




Then the actual page I guess.
It was pretty fun, despite this page being part of the boring background setup jazz. But necessary in my opinion.

[JFierce]

Realized how long it took me to compile and post everything last time with all the files and junk. Figure I'll post little studies and such I do every here and there instead of stacking a ton up and it taking god knows how long to upload.


The eyes in my last page bugged me a lot, and despite trying to make them exaggerated on purpose it didn't turn out right.

So when you find something not up to par, do a study. The colors were a complete bitch to figure out. But fun I guess.

[Swamp Thing]

THat eye looks great. The pupil is too small though - not sure if that's on purpose, but I think it is overall drawn too realistic in order to make the pupil look like it is supposed to be unfitting. As for the eyeball you should think more of a sphere behind the lids when shading it.

[Black Spot]

I liked your comic before the tablet. Now I want to know what Grandpa is chasing.

[JFierce]

Once again don't like to post without a picture so I'll just add a little panel (though it's a lot smaller than this) as an excuse because this has actually be bugging me since you bring it up BlackSpot.

This pictures perspective was bugging me though, was trying to make it dynamic with a curvy perspective but realized I have no clue how to do that. So not sure how it looks, but anyways....


@SwampThing
Thanks! Yeah what's weird is I actually did enlarge the eye once, but it wasn't enough, I think the lower lid was open wider than the reference. Thanks for pointing it out though will try to fix it in my spare time

@Black Spot

First off thanks
But I have to ask, and I'll be honest is my new comic worse or better?
Because this is one thing that's bugged me while doing this.


I have this stigma that I see a lot of people's sketchbooks where they use their tablet
and they end up lowering their skills. This new comic originally
was just an experiment but I liked the way it was going and thought I could push it
further and actually learn more from it basically.

The biggest issue is that it's unorthodox.

The old comic was standard. Big focus on outlines, black and white just value, set square panels. This new one however I was learning to basically use the tablet and I wanted to take a different approach because I figured I would learn the most from heading out of my comfort zone.

Basically:

Old comic style
- Focus on outlines
- Black and White, just Values
- Set Square work space
- Pretty standard for comics.

New Comic Style
- Trying to not focus on outlines
- Not just Value, first time working with Hue, Saturation, Chroma etc
- Open work space, very weird layout not just square boxes
- Not standard at all for comics haha.

Though I do feel like this new one while experimenting to learn I've lost the focus of a set method because of the experimentation, one set of panels is very different from another lol. Before I had a set of squares, text bubbles I printed it out, used a pencil to draw it, focused solely on the outlines first then focused on adding simple values instead of the opposite.


I'm conflicted, go back to the set format which was probably better for a regular comic or keep pushing with the new one and hope for improvement and make something a bit unique. (New one is more fun though.)

[JFierce]

Took some time to do an analysis of what I want to do and what most comics I enjoy do. It seems most of the comics I like have a outline along the outside of most characters, they then leave the inside to render using minimum line and then add high contrast with area's of dark value

Going to try to work on that.



Also finally discovered Alchemy which is realllly fun to doodle in. Not for anything serious but it's fun not having undo or erase, layers etc then just building something up and seeing what it becomes.

Messing around with all sorts of settings and just seeing what comes out.

[Swamp Thing]

This thread has been raped a lot for the curved perspective discussion - http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=235053 if you didn't find it already. Curves aren't that complex as long as you understand the basics of 1,2 and 3 point perspective. Basically (and I hope lennon wont find this post lol) I'm still pretty sure that the key for succesful curve perspectives are the combination of 2 different perspectives (and smoothing the path from one to the other with a curve), or in some cases (especially 1 point) - focused perspective versus every direction around it (so unlimited amount of perspectives in rotating your view slightly up, down, left, right and the betweens, the pivot point being yourself).

[towy]

NICE! good style for one comic book

[YihyoungLi]

The comic is awesome! I'm excited to see what happens nexttt. I really like the compositions in some of the panels.

[JFierce]

@ Swamp Thing.
I saw a bit of that thread, looked into it again and yeah I get the gist of it I guess I should apply it to more to see if I can do it. The one in the upcoming page was more or less quick freehand which I didn't even plan for it to be curved until I noticed this little curvy extreme foreshortening made it pretty dynamic looking which my panels have been lacking to me. But it's more so warped than anything and not true to the perspective.

@towy & YihyoungLi
Thanks! Glad I'm not the only one who finds vertical interesting, and thanks about the compositions. I try to vary it up when I can but it's this weird state of mind where the order of the frames has to make sense when transitioning to explain what's going on lol.


-------------------------



Ok, this post didn't have anything to do with my comic, I put that on hold while working on this. This was basically..... well..... a big personal challenge. I was watching Spartacus Vengeance on my computer when I saw this one scene and this one frame exactly that I said. "I want to try to paint that, it's way over my head. I've barely done an apple, bowl and a can of coke but I want to try it".


So I did. Took ages, was listening to sad music for god knows to stay in a mind state. It's not from life but I still learned a bunch, but it was hard. Shadows I realize are very colorful.

Recorded a gif of the process for once as well you can see the unorganized mess and scribbling. But anyways. lol After I was done I looked back to my comic and thought "Oh great now people will expect every panel to be like this."


The gif is here -----> http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/WiseJ/test.gif
Not making it appear on screen because it's too big and don't know how to resize it properly.



Ugh I'm having issues with the gamma on my computers. Dual booted, so my mac partition had it's gamma up too high in comparison to windows which I paint everything on. So my mind was playing tricks on me in that when I went to Mac mode my picture seemed fine, but in Windows it was too dark.

So Windows was right I THINK. So I lighted up the levels a bit.
Hopefully it's not too bright, and not too dark to the point the hair and such is really hard to distinguish from the background and such.
-_-

[JFierce]

Still can't get in the mood to work on the comic.
So doing some doodles while watching TV, just putting something down trying to get the gist of shiny armor.
Alchemy is pretty fun, trying to work on "blocking in" while painting to help work from the bottom up. So Alchemy not allowing undo or layers seems to serve the purpose.

[Rain Walker]

dude i will trade my oil skills for your imagination and ur digital skills.. and maybe ur wacom as well .. u blow my mind...