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davidfoxfire β SPI Remix Teaser
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Published: 2008-02-26 08:35:28 +0000 UTC; Views: 4146; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 25
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For a moment, I thought I've sent this pic here, but it somehow slipped my mind.My next project could be what my New Year's Resolution needed; a chance to get the fire back in the belly as well as to go back through the strips and make a better story (with better artwork) out of it. It'll be published by Lulu and have a bit of a Wizard of Oz feel: Jim's world is in Anime-style screentones thanks to a bunch of textures and brushes from here in DA, and Scarlet's world will be in technicolor.
All of the strips I'm reusing for the Remix version will be inked as well, and I'm going to order a Pilot Disposable fountain pen just for the occasion. [link]
Since Screentones obviously don't shrink very well, posts on pages here will be very limited. But then again, I am making this comic with the intent on publishing it, am I?
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Comments: 16
So what's the hold up with theΒ Scarlet PI Remix?
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You might say that say for what's the hold up with everything in Deviant ART.
I just gave it all up.
The place has become too toxic for me to continue here.Β I moved on to making RPG content and other things.
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Screen tones can be difficult to work with!Β Waiting for the reissue!
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Hmmm. Always improve yourself, good law for life.
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I've been wondering why you never seem to shade and highlight you're colored art....
I think it'd look better with shading and highlights, it adds more dimension, especially when you want to contrast two types of coloring as you seem to do here.
Also, I've been wondering. I use Photoshop myself so I'm all into layers and using Multiply to color my lineart. Does Gimp have layers too? I think you could benefit from something like that.
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Hmm. Good question. It's probably caused by a lack of a tablet, needed time, and (I suspect this is the official reason) laziness. I'll be sure to work with the shade and highlight in the comic pages. (Unless I can find a decent colorer, of course.)
And yes Gimp does have layers, something I've been working with with the colored pages. I just hope I can find the patience and time I need to put in the dimensions.
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Hey! Layers are the most wonderful things ever invented by man. If you screw the shades just erase the layer and start all over again. Man if Gimp has layers the world is yours, they are perfect for shading and highlighting. They are also pretty good for preserving your lineart. How do you start coloring? do you use the fill bucket or do you duplicate the lineart layer and then use Multiply to make it transparent and color UNDER it?
Also, for the lineart, to make it look less jarring and also to preserve details and pencil or ink shading I usually scan it in Greyscale and never in black and white and use the Adjust Levels tool to get rid of the excess grey or darken my blacks. It's insanely useful.
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I used to use the fill bucket, but I'm beginning to make my line art "black over transparent" so I can put a second transparent lineart underneath so I can get to those "Hard to Bucket Fill" layers easier. I figure with the Remix comic, I'll do this with the pages:
Top layer "Lineart"
Then a copy of the top for the coloring,
A third blank one for nitpicks
A fourth for the backgrounds
and finally a fifth that's white for a base color.
What say you?
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Transparent top layer lineart is the best. But I never usually put all the coloring in one layer. I usually pick the basic color and then make additional layers to do shading and then highlighting. If I don't like the shading I erase the layer and start over, if I want a higher contrast for the skin of a character but not for his clothing then I just select the skin layer and tweak that without worrying about the rest of the coloring. Keeping colors and sections separated helps experiment.
And if you're coloring under the transparent layer, one color at the time you can be as messy as you like and that helps when deciding things like where the light source is, what textures you want... Something like this [link]
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One thing I've noticed about the quality of your work is that you often leave alot of static around your lines (look at how rough they are, this is unprofessional). If you want to sell it, or even have it taken seriously, I'd say you need to simply take these images, trace them, and color the tracings.
But you don't have a tablet do you? You should get one if you are serious about your art, its an indispensible investment. Also, what program do you use to color and ink your work?
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I use Gimp for my picture editing, especially with the coloring duties. I usually ink by hand.
Maybe it's the low dimensions I have to work with using the web comic format. If there's anyone who's willing to donate a tablet for commissions, or even pay some commissions for me to get the money to buy one, I greatly appreciate it. I'd get one if i had the money. It's the usual complaint from me.
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Well you don't need a tablet to make pictures really. It just helps. I don't think anyone is going to give you their tablet, I'm sorry, you might just have to save up and buy it with your own hard-earned money. I got mine for my birthday, so enlisting the help of a relative might not be a bad idea.
And I see, so you up the contrast until its pure black and white? A very common technique, but you can't just stop there. Again, the lines look rough and unfinished. Make a new layer and trace over the original picture, then color it. It will look better.
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There's also a technique I've just heard about, where you take a illustration program (Illustrator/Inkscape/Draw Plus) and convert the lineart to vector lines. I'll be using that technique in the remix pages.
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You seem to go back and restart stories over and over. How often do you finish the race rather than just stopping partway through and walking back to the starting blocks?
I'd suggest outlining the story you want to tell on paper, following major plot points, and then tell that without getting bogged down in details that eventually bog the stories down.
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Yeah. It's a major problem of mine. Fortunately, I did the outline of both books I've published so far and managed to finish both of them. But I fear that I haven't been able to effectively do the same for comic strips. I guess I can chalk this under "Lesions to learn."
I'll be sure to do that not only with SPIR, but with the current strip I have right now.
(Besides, I pretty much have the outline for SPIR more or less already. I just needed to fill in the missing gaps.)
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