Hello to all, doing the obligatory "I just got here and I'm a n00b" post. I've really enjoyed reading the insights you folks have on various issues. I'd like to think this'll make me better prepared should something happen in the future.
I've been drawing all of my life. No formal schooling (AKA- no classes after high school) but I thoroughly enjoy it. I'm also a big fan of comic books and had been tossing around the thought of making one of my own for years. Up until recently I really lacked a good story line and didn't want to go the superhero route. The result of that is my current effort, Zombie-Nation. I've been working on it since I quit my job in disgust in late May. It's rough, but I'm looking forward to honing it in the future.
If anybody would like to take the time to critique or give me a few pointers, it's visible at www.zombie-nation.us . And before it is said, yes the fonts in the first few are just crazy. I wanted to have a certain visual 'feel' to how the characters spoke with each other and it took me a few tries to find something that was legible. I'll be going back to redo those in the very near future.
Thanks to everybody that takes the time to give this a read, and additional thanks to any who give feedback. I look forward to chatting and learning from everyone here.
Red
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Re: New to the site, greetings and request for feedback!
Looks good! I'm definately looking forward to seeing how it progresses. I'm a big fan of the most recent strips, too. The idea of Heather walking into Steve the zombie's apartment and helping herself to his tea is great. I especially like how exasperated Steve got when she first let herself in.
www.webcomicsnation.com/thetricksterking/livingwithtoys
www.webcomicsnation.com/thetricksterking/livingwithtoys
Feeding Cartoons
I think your comic has a charming quality to it. I would set your priorities at creating more. I want to see more of what is going on, and I think through that your drawings will develop. Your writing has a natural style. Don't worry about what you "should" do. Don't worry about rules, just get your ideas out there.
-Nils
OVER.
Re: Feeding Cartoons
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~Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form~ excerpt from the Heart Sutra
http://www.zombie-nation.us -Because zombies have something to do with oranges.
Re: New to the site, greetings and request for feedback!
I agree with Xerexes, in that you're showing signs if improvement, across the board really.
good call on a D+D joke too.
Visit The Flowfield Unity - www.flowfieldunity.transplantcomics.com
Re: New to the site, greetings and request for feedback!
Thanks. There will be more D&D and gaming jokes in the future. Finding a way to work them in where it's not forced has been the trick thus far.
I completely revamped how I draw the comic. Instead of having rough sketches that I clean up inside photoshop I have the whole thing down exactly as I want it before I hit the scanner. Then I'm just "inking" over it with my digital pad and coloring it in.
This is allowing me to throw in things like background elements, which are missing in a lot of the stuff I've been drawing because I wasn't really able to size it properly previous.
Thus far it is faster, cleaner, and I am enjoying it a lot more.
For my next trick I am going to figure out how to replace my "sketched" shadows with different shading. The characters look too much like the flat comics you read in the Sunday paper to me.
All of your thoughts have been very helpful, and thank you for the kind words that I am at least improving!
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~Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form~ excerpt from the Heart Sutra
http://www.zombie-nation.us -Because zombies have something to do with oranges.
Re: New to the site, greetings and request for feedback!
Well some quick reactions although I don't have time right now to read all of it staight through:
Yep the art is primitive and has problems. The good news is looking at your archives you're already show bits of improvement. Practice makes you better... A couple of things to try right now while making more comics:
1. Pick a legible font (NOT COMIC SAN for the love of...!!!) and a legible font size for your format and stick with it. Blambot.com has tons of good and effective comic fonts. I don't like the font you used last and it's set too small.
2. Work on your anatomy in your drawings, especially facial expression. I'm not saying you have to be realistic - in fact this advice makes sense even for the more cartoon-like styles but you do have to practice until you have a consistent sense of anatomy for your style and characters. This is also going to help you in designing individual characters and drawing their visual design consistently over time. Your characters right now are way too simple in their design and you have to work on more tools to show emotion through facial expression and body positioning.
3. I think your work is going to look better on the screen if you drop the sketchy aspect - sketch it out in blue pencil and then ink it (or go over it with reg. pencil) so you get a cleaner line when you scan it in.
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Xaviar Xerexes
Oh yeah... this place is called ComixTalk now.
Re: New to the site, greetings and request for feedback!
Thank you for the feedback. My previous experience is with acrylic and watercolor paints and sketch pencils, and very little of that related to the human figure. (It was more sci-fi/fantasy related) I intend to sit down and work those out now that i've got some time again. Thus far, though, I'm having a devil of a time transfering from the "sketchy" look that I'm familiar with from my charcoals over to a digital pad.
Also, I believe I'm probably doing something wrong. I will draw the panels separately, scan them in, ink them, and then piece them together. This has resulted in the sketches often getting distorted when trying to cut and paste so they'll fit in to a certain sized area. Would you recommend having everything spaced and ready to go before it hits the scanner? I've seen people barely sketch it, throw it in and then arrange it afterwards and I have also seen (and worked with) sketching it out in blue first, then going over it with a micro pen or a dark graphite. I wasn't sure which would result in the better look.
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~Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form~ excerpt from the Heart Sutra
http://www.zombie-nation.us -Because zombies have something to do with oranges.
Re: New to the site, greetings and request for feedback!
It's been quiet in August here (I just got back from vacation myself) so it might be slow for a bit. I"ll try to grab a look at your site soon though!
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Xaviar Xerexes
Oh yeah... this place is called ComixTalk now.
Re: New to the site, greetings and request for feedback!
I appreciate it. Thus far the only feedback I'd received elsewhere was someone telling me my work was sloppy and bland... with no comments on how I might fix that. So ANYTHING (and I do mean anything, negative or otherwise) is welcome!
Thanks so much!
Red
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~Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form~ excerpt from the Heart Sutra
http://www.zombie-nation.us -Because zombies have something to do with oranges.