So here are the inks and then colours for the last two pages of the project. Page 1 of project 2 had to be scrapped due to lack of time and competence in drawing guns at proper angles. Damn them.
and, hey presto-chango!
—–
things to improve: More shadows in the BG to make the characters and props pop out more. Also, in the last panel on page 2, I’m going to put some more colour around that word bubble in the BG. That’ll look nice.
So, it has finally come to pass! There was a group review of Project 1 last night and I gotta say I really enjoyed seeing what other people in the class had come up with to fit the project criteria. My own critiques of my work remains the same: Work on the hands, bee-yatch! Mittens and rubber gloves is what they look like. Also, slight continuity error in the mohawk’s costume. He goes from a onesie in panel 4 to a top/bottom combo in panel 5 on page 1. I’ll fix it in post-production. ^_^
Actually, I may fix a lot of this in post to keep the continuity between this and project 2(seen further down this post). It had been so long since I’d seen this, I had forgotten some design elements that I had popped in there, last minute. So the doors and some costume elements are different in project 2. Who knows which ones I’ll keep!
So, without further ado, here’s project 1:
Page1:
-
Page2:
-
So that’s project 1. Done in pencils. To keep continuity and feel, page 1 and part of page 2 for Project 2 will be in pencils. Right now it’s still in the non-repro blue while I fiddle with the layouts.
Project 2:
Page1:
Going to fix the angle of her gun in panel 2, the reflection in panel 3, the smile in panel 4 and I’m going to move the gun away from the camera in panel 6 so we can see the finger on the trigger. Badass. BLAM!
-
Page2:
Panel 1 will have a “Beeeoo-p!!” sorta sound effect as the program turns off. Panel 2 is going to be pencils for everything seen through the visor(being pushed up to reveal unhappy scientist) and inks/watercolour for things outside the visor. The splash panel will be fully inked and coloured as well. Drab colours. It’s a dank laboratory. Concrete and watermarks. And rubber gloves on scientist hands. Dammit. Fix it in post!
-
Page3:
Panel 4, I may fix the headset. The angle is wrong. Panel 5, I’m going to redo her mouth and perhaps the entire face. Not happy with it. Also, the thin ankle may need beefing up. * shrug* I may change the eyes around on her in panel 8, but aside from that, I’m happy with it.
-
Letters on bond paper:
Using layout bond and a lettering guide, I mapped out what the dialogue boxes will be like. Easy peasy! Using the lettering guide almost feels like cheating compared to what I used to do: ruler and a t-square. Measure and mark a line, measure and mark, measure and mark, etc, etc…
-
So there’s some shite to look at! If you want to see anything in higher-def, just post a comment and I’ll upload one.
I’ve stopped having these linked to much higher res copies as I think I’m the only one who likes seeing the nitty-gritty and lines up close. ^_^ If you want a high-res copy online, just make a comment on a pic. your email will not be displayed and it doesn’t even need to be real. Just needs to be something email-like in nature in that field.
So! Here’s some progress on the continuing project.
This is an early doodle of the VR bed thing the girl is in.
——
Sketches for page 3 and some dialogue notes.
——
Page 1 layout.
——
Page 2 layout.
——
Page 3 layout.
not pictured is redoing of the lower two panels, split into three. you see it in the bigger layouts.
——
Page 1 redone layout. Things to change: panel 1 needs more to frame the standoff. Panel 2 needs to be tighter together. Panel 3 I’m going to have a bit of reflection fromt he door behind the guy. Panel 4 maybe reflection as well. Panel 6 I’m going to change the angle of the gun to maybe show it pointed towards the dude. The BLAM stays because it’s awesome.
——
Page 2 redone layout. I’m going to redo the splash panel at the bottom. I don’t like how static she is and her head is too big for her body. Alas. I’ve refined the face of the scientist fairly well, now I need to know exactly how I do hers. Also, I didn’t put in her hand on the 2nd panel yet. But I’m happy with the “beoooop” old-television-turning-off look of panel 1. going to be black and white.
——
Page 3 redone layout. I like this one a lot, but I need to fix how her head is sitting on her neck.
——
I’ll have the preceeding project back next week after the review. The idea is to have those two pages link up with these three to make a nice set of five to fill out my portfolio.
So I took a trip to Bermuda. That was good. I’ll post pics at some point(there are a lot to sift through). Anyway! On to bits and pieces!
The final project from Cartooning III was returned!
Also pictured: my awesome pajamas.
—–
A touched-up zombie illustration. shaded a bit differently. whatever.
—–
Okay, here’s a quick concept doodle that went unused. Idea was that some sort of doppelganger was kidnapping the scientist dude.
—–
Here’s the first doodle that was designed to be the final piece before I said, “screw it! Illustration Board is better!”
—–
Doodles for the final frames on Page 2. The cliffhanger!
—–
Aaaand, ideas for Art of the Comic Book Project 2. I’m going to continue this storyline and end the class with a good stretch of comic book to show for it.
—–
I should have the finished pages from Project 1 back at next Tuesday’s class. Pictures will follow! Comments are welcomed!
Okay, so there’s a buncha stuff going into this post and not all of it is related to the AofCB project. So I’ll get those out of the way first.
Shariya is now a cartoon(again)!
————————————————–
omfg, it’s Darth Maul! Doodled this up for a friend’s birthday card(she’s got a hard-on for Maul).
————————————————–
Next are some doodles of tattoo/piercing ideas. Dots on her chest are dermal implants. Dots on his arms/neck are dermals as well, with some blackwork-style lines linking them up.
————————————————–
Trains!
————————————————–
So here is a revised pic of the un-named female protagonist. She’s going to be packing a lot of hardware for the two-page project.
————————————————–
These are panel layout ideas for page 1 of the project. I eventually went with the top-right one.
————————————————–
Okay, so the setting has to be something old and decrepit, so I chose to do a theatre. For added awesomeness, I’m doing it in an art deco style. Well, trying to, at least. Top pic is based off of the Revue Cinema(before their Marquee took a nose-dive to the pavement). Lower pic is exterior. It’s raining, etc. It’s the basis for Page 1 Panel 1.
————————————————–
Here’s a more fleshed out idea for Panel 1. More people, etc.
————————————————–
Okay, here’s some ideas for Page 1Panel 2. She enters the building with minimal resistance(see lower picture).
————————————————–
Page 1 Panel 3 shows a reaction shot of the protagonist as she recognizes our friend, the Scientist, in peril. In this pic, the idea is that she’s looking past us, at him, but we can see him int he reflection on the glass of the door behind her. It’ll look better finished. ^_^;
————————————————–
Page 1 Panel 4. Guy with gun to the scientist’s head is friendly and waves a hello to our protagonist. The epitome of politeness!
————————————————–
Page 1 Panel 5. Things begin happening very quickly. Our heroine tosses what looks like a grenade at her friend and the antagonist. People react, expressions of surprise, etc. Note she’s tossing with her right, lunging forward and reaching for a weapon with her left. Multitasking!
————————————————–
Page 2 Layout and Panels 1 and 2.
Antagonist slaps grenade thing back at our protagonist. Panel 2, it goes off and we see that it was a flashbang. FWASH or something might accompany this panel.
————————————————–
Page 2 Panel 3 and 4. Top is panel 3. I’ve since decided on a different angle for this shot, but you get the idea. They beat a hasty retreat out the doors. Scientist still has his hands bound and the protagonist stumbles out after him. Inside, we can see the antagonist with his hands over his eyes, presumably he took a lot of the flashbang as well. Lower pic is first idea of panel 4. Discarded for better ideas seen lower down on the page.
————————————————–
Page 2 Panel 4 and 5. Top and bottom are revised panel 4s. Looking over the shoulder of the antagonist as he fires willy-nilly after our heroes. Of course, being still somewhat shocked from the flashbang, the wanker hits some innocent bystander. Middle is some shot ideas for panel 5(I did those before the bottom revisions of panel 4).
————————————————–
Page 2 Panel 5 and 6. The last two panels are going to be the same except for some slight differences. The antagonist will be standing there, laughing like a maniac and saying something to the effect of, “hah! lookit what you made me do!”. Our protagonist will be focusing on the hurt bystander in panel 5, then panel 6 will be the same shot, but she’ll be emptying her gun into the antagonist. Justice? The angles have been reworked since, but I like the deadpool moment in panel 6. “Shhhh. ^_^”
————————————————–
Okay, these are the original layouts on top, and then the revised ones on the bottom.
————————————————–
That’s it for now. More after next week when I’m back from holidays(pictures, sketches, etc to follow).
So this summer semester I’ll be doing The Art of the Comic Book at GBC. I’ve got a bunch of sketches for the first assignment, but I’m too busy doodling them to take pictures just yet. I’ll try to post in the next day or so some progress of thumbnails and character sketches. At this point, I think I’ll continue using the girl/scientist characters because I’m enjoying developing them.
This project will also give me an opportunity to show off the girl for what she was originally intended– a street samurai. Or something. Basically, she might be dumb/crazy enough to push a big, shiny button that heralds the end of the world, but she can handle her own when the hoards of post-apocalyptic half-dead zombies come for her sweet brainmeat. Brainmeat, that’s right.
So, here it is:
I really like the kanji and the “grass” tests on the scratch pad.
So there it is. I altered it slightly when I got to class. I darkened the stained bits of the zombie arm in the foreground. Darkened the ripped opening as well. I was of a mind to add some white gouache or something to it and some grass as highlights, but ended up deciding that the composition worked well with this arm reaching into darkness and coming from darkness, etc. I just needed to add some depth in the right places to make it “pop” more.
I love this look. The farmer/gardener guy standing there, silhouetted in the moonlight with zombies shambling around him. I did the grass in this sumi-e kinda look to give it a kinetic feel. Like it was a windy night in the middle of this field, shreds of clothing flap in tatters, hanging loose from the body. Hair tussled, but he stands and waits with a steely resolve. The soft, slow shuffle and cries of the hungry lost with the shifting noises of the grass in the wind. Etc.
And, again, zombie. I liked this one the best, I think.
So I definitely want a do-over on this one as it stands. Tried to add some stuff to make it look better and I made it too busy. I’ll post more pics and a completer review later. In the meantime, have some zombie.
Some quick ideas.
Redoing the layout slightly, perhaps. Here’s the original idea:
It’s two zombies approaching the lone figure. It’s going to be at night, so he’s got the moon behind him, casting harsh shadows, but making it very striking. It looks like there are two zombies on the right because I drew it too far off the page the first time, so I just moved his outline in a bit. Layout-wise, I like this one more. It’s got more stuff going on.
Then, I doodled this at the bottom of that page:
I loved the extreme angle. It’s like you’re seeing him from the perspective of the fatass zombie(who fights against hate) from the pic above. I figured I’d try up a version with a more extreme angle, see how it works.
The result:
Now, there’s less happening in this one, so it’s not as interesting layout-wise, but I still like it. Time is running out. I’ll choose tonight. (the x’s on the sky just mean I’ll be filling solid black there.)
A quick update.
Here’s the inky bits of the final layout.
——————–
Here’s a slight redo in the girl’s wardrobe. Simplified. I’m going to keep her left kneepad, however. The Watchmen reference is too much fun to just cut out.
NIPPLE. <ahem>
——————–
This is a study of her removing her jacket. The spindly non-boobed body on the right is mine. Drawn from myself in a mirror posin’ all sexy with my jacket.
——————–
And, for no reason in particular– Lobster Johnson.
