How would you handle your comic developing hate-readers/angry critiques? How shouldn't you handle it? Alt Q: What do you think are some unwritten rules for webcomics and your wc/author presence?
Don't just post an image, let us know what your comic's called, and link us to it!
Sorry, having a "me word good" moment due to the heat.
Presence as in how and where to post, what topics to avoid in your webcomic, what you should and shouldn't talk about (or get in twitter slap fights) as a comic creator. Sort of posting and clique etiquette stuff. I'm not really sure how else to word it. I can try again when it gets below 90°F
I know some cartoonists basically have a white board with a lists of terrible cliches to avoid. I'll probably do the same. I'm still learning how to draw, but for me definitely a hard yike is: >using too many words, exposition and spelling things out in general >portraying enemies with different views as a strawman >letting people interfere in your creative process too much, fans or outrage mob alike.
Camden Ross
I'm stuck on drawing frontal hair. Is there any good hairstyles library?
Aiden Rivera
Magazines at hair salons
Ethan Edwards
How can I show a girl is feminine without drawing large boobs?
Chase Ortiz
give her a thin neck or just a girly outfit
Brandon King
Accentuate her figure without giving her giant tits, that is pretty easy.
Aaron Ward
Woof, I try not to think about this stuff. Love that gameboy styles. we should all do gameboy pixels of our characters
Cameron Moore
pointy chin hair that accentuates the roundness of the top of the head, has 'hips' at the bottom rather than 'shoulders' at the top/front, and has bangs that droop like curtains hourglass figure and/or nice hips
Jackson Lopez
As fare a hate readers I just ignore them. Critiques on the other hand I try to take what they say into consideration. They wouldn't just give critique if they didn't wanna see you improve. also a new page is up! >tapas.io/episode/1468654
she's plenty feminine hands are tricky, but the way you did cheeks here is good.
Blake Fisher
>How would you handle your comic developing hate-readers/angry critiques? How shouldn't you handle it? I would take a break before reading thoroughly to see what point they want to make, especially if they actually want to help you out. Whether I change according to the critique depends on whether it'll be useful though.
>>portraying enemies with different views as a strawman It's probably not the same thing, but I genuinely enjoy writing characters who are more morally grey with fluctuating ideas. And they are just so much more interesting to read about, too. It's just so much better than the stock hero=always good; villain=always bad.
Aiden Bailey
Eerily lovely update #20 I've resurrected with a new chapter
All ok! I prefer to write less and faster and go directly to the drawings, let's say that the script is the sketch, and I comment on the side that happens and the dialogues et c
Joshua Davis
what is this i love it I love it so much what is this user what is this
>Anyone know what type of pen this person is using? I don't recognize it, but it's a mechanical pencil not a pen. The only part I could read on it in the video was 0.9 lead, and it has a metal end cap to it so likely an expensive one. Possibly a drafting mechanical pencil but not guaranteed. Japanese video, so it's possible that pencil isn't widely available.
Why? Looking for new tools to buy?
Adrian Wright
>Why? Looking for new tools to buy? Yeah, that would be nice.
Dominic Wright
No story as of yet, but I'll give you the run down so far:
Main character's (MC) left hand is a portal to the netherworld. She can call various monsters from that world to fight, but the only body part of the monster that comes through is their left hand.
MC's cat hat ears allows her to hear from a distance.
MC's best friend is invisible, who is a product of a cloned soul. At some point, the clone soul is able to manifest itself, causing complete darkness to surround the circumference of its body - think a white silhouette with black vibrating energy surrounding its body. Also, the dark energy kills whatever it touches.
There's also deep philosophical stuff as well. For example, the MC has a conversation with a roller derby zombie about the afterlife.
James Garcia
That's a fucking cool and unique power. Holy shit the potential I didn't realize the 2nd picture was supposed to be the same girl not gonna lie. ears and hair and face looked totally different, figured it was a male of her people so what's the spiky mummy about? Is that just a metaphorical thing relating to her arm portal? or is that the invisible friend when I read your description I imagined a hand coming OUT of someone's hand, which would be cool looking but also restrict the sizes you could have, so I'm glad you went with arm-transformation instead.
Carson Scott
In regards to the first pic, yeah, it's just a metaphorical image that ties her left hand directly to the monster(s).
The character looks different in pic 2 because I'm still honing down her look.
Eli Gomez
oh okay. Well if you're workshopping it, I like the third one best. and and and I love this. and I want to see any other works of yours.
Elijah Smith
Any traditional tools you would recommend?
Blake King
This may sound weird, but I'm not an artist.
>That doesn't make sense
I draw but I don't consider myself an artist who makes a living off of that particular skill set.
I'm actually trying to get my film made.
If this "thing" even gets past its brainstorming phase, I doubt it'll ever become a real comic of any sort.
Jack Wilson
so this is concept art. Well good luck man, we need more films like this. Realistically, you'd be more likely to get a netflix series I think.
Hudson Carter
consider storyboarding
Ian Campbell
Bump
Thomas Kelly
Can you tell Dee's personality easily?
Leo Morales
Taken as individual parts, this shows promise. That said, I don't particularly care for how hard you're slamming us from one setting to another without explanation.
Adrian Price
Late night infomercials can get trippy. I remember watching this dude at 4am trying to sell a book on how to bend reality so you're always lucky.
Angel Jenkins
I like to draw 'em busty, but I'd say that getting body language right and as someone else mentioned, facial construction and attitude can convey femininity far more than just "big boobs."
Jeremiah Walker
What do you mean by "this shows promise"?
>from one setting to another without explanation. That was the first thing I thought of to showcase magic >Taken as individual parts, this shows promise I didn't write anything else yet
Zachary Walker
What scripts should I read that's similar to this or which ones for scene transitions? I just read a snippet of the incredibles for this.
Carter Bennett
Hair in a can isn't weird though, it's just static-charged fibers you can spray to cling to your hair and fill it out a bit. it's been around for at least 30 years.
Cooper Lewis
That sounds wild. I'd like to see that infomercial, haha
So that's how it works! I had no idea!
Ian Cooper
This thread is slower than usual
Lincoln Roberts
Yeah, it seems particularly slow today. Guess I'll post this little thing I finished earlier tonight.
Explain me 300 dpi meme. Should i switch to 300 or stay on 96?
Anthony Wood
its just entirely for printing your comic are you going to print? 300 then
Mason Turner
I thought it makes lines more smoother.
Jose White
It certainly doesn't make lines jagged and pixelly when printed, which is what happens when scaling up from 96dpi.
There's more to making comics for print than just the 300 dpi "meme" as you put it. As well as working at print resolution you'll need to understand margins, safe areas and bleeds.
Comics drawn for print will still look good when scaled down for the web. Comics produced solely for the web won't look good when scaled up for print, without doing a lot of reconstruction up to and including redrawing them entirely from scratch.
Cameron Robinson
Pretty much this. Its easier to fudge bleed and trim areas though, than it is to try and upscale low DPI images. Bleed/Live/Trim area also kind of depends on how big you plan on printing. Like, if you plan on printing standard American-size comics, or smaller manga size, etc.
It just means that some parts of the page will be cut off for binding and stuff, and other areas are at risk of not being seen.
Its best to just start at a higher DPI. 300 is the generally advised, but some people go 600 or even higher. Its not really necessary to go higher because there's a point where there's a loss on the return, and all you end up with are ballooned file sizes. Working at a higher DPI also makes the image look smother and kind of evens out some imperfections and stuff once you scale it down to be published to the internet.
Samuel Stewart
I don't really do traditional much anymore but when I do I usually prefer either bic mechanical pencils (those generic ones you can buy in bulk) in either .7 or .9, or my staedtler lead holder (2.0mm) for sketching. I'm a bit heavy handed some days so those break the least for me. I use grips I slide on to make my hands hurt less. I also have some color leads for both that I sometimes use, but they aren't better or worse than regular leads. Inking I either do nibs, g-pen or school nib, or brushes, generic round or script/liners. The squirrel hair ones might be my favorite but the synthetic does allright. I just use what works for me, cheap or not. I guess that's the best recommendation I can give.
Parker Lopez
>regular leads. I forgot to mention that I have those general-use HB leads, but I also have some lead packs with different hardnesses. I stick between 4h and 2b in the range, but the HB ones get the most use. I use those bulk bic pencils for those and just label which leads are in each pencil and switch the whole pencil as needed.
Lincoln Gomez
>No ideas How do you get your ideas for comics? My mind is completely blank, and I've been trying to brew up even a small concept for years.
I also have trouble brainstorming ideas and would love some tips or ideas on how to improve.
Jackson Hernandez
I don't know what to make out from "blaa blaa aqaaaaahghgha hayuryhah jajks9"
Leo Parker
Have you tried writing your personal experiences? Or write a story based on multiple stories you like?
Kevin Turner
Personal... experiences?
Brandon Morris
>having so many ideas it's driving me insane to the point that I started drawing Get on my level
Nicholas Parker
Why use different hardness levels if you’re just going to ink everything?
Robert Mitchell
Oh I would pay money to get to that level.
Angel Lopez
I *don't* ink everything. I realized a while back that one of the things holding me back was trying to make every drawing I did need to be "finished", it's a lot less stressful to draw after realizing not everything had to be that way.
Sometimes I sketch just to sketch, and I need to switch hardness to see what I'm sketching without erasing or digging the pencil into the paper. Or I sketch to plan, where only one out of ten drawings is to eventually be inked. Or I just do full pencil drawings and need to change leads to shade. Also some leads, like the H ones, are better for my bad-hand days while the softer ones on the B side are better for days like today where the humidity is at 100% and my paper is so waterlogged that the graphite just won't stick to the mushy paper.
A late update, but worth it. Maestro, Velasco, and the Rightful Path finally make their debut in this, the third to last update for the Concord Initiative Chapter 1.
I wish I could see how your art looks in your head.
Ian Green
In 30 words or less: Young, troubled king tries to stop decline of Early Modern Empire with state sponsored, propagandized spec ops team. He pulls talent from lawmen and criminals. The situation degenerates.
I'm trying to remember a comic that was posted in these webcomic threads. Featured a demon type doll fighting against a robot doll with cards.
Evan Moore
My heart is happy. Completely adorable. Maybe doesn't make a lot of sense yet, looking forward to more. Bonus! man you are good at art. Dat sneaker detail..
Wyatt Turner
You're talking to a troll, user. the art style is fine. the art quality is bad, but you're learning what I don't get is what's with what appears to be toothless gums at the top of her mouth?
Leo Evans
badly dawn lipstick
Gabriel Parker
Right? I bet it's amazing. dollfever.net/ hasnt updated in ages. Makes me think about that hilarious cat ghost comic that just disappeared on us
Parker Cook
Good enough.
Landon Hall
Ah I see. best to be consistent with that, and learn how lips work first, trust me. I still haven't and mine look terrible whenever I try that.
Carson Myers
Always a shame when a comic stops getting updated. Thanks for the link, I've been wanting to reread it.
Anthony Flores
Fuck i can't google a hairstyle i want and it's driving me insane. I can see it in my head but i can't draw it.
Jack Cruz
that's tough man. why dont you try working in a 3d medium briefly, or just imagining you are? doesnt have to be pretty, even cutting out some paper and gluing it to cardboard.
>How would you handle your comic developing hate-readers/angry critiques? Pretty straightforward: If you feel the criticism is correct, then say you agree and that you will do better. If you don't agree with said criticism, respectfully say you disagree and explain why you think what you did was right. Always try to appear as agreeable as possible to the people who actually offered some criticism, even if said people said it in a disrespectful manner. No point in calling someone a faggot back. Just focus solely on the criticism.
If someone just says "it sucks", "looks like shit lol", you just ignore them.
Always take the high road no matter what.
>How shouldn't you handle it? Doing the opposite of what I just said.
>Alt Q: What do you think are some unwritten rules for webcomics and your wc/author presence? Comic is first, author is second. In other words, don't try to turn into an e-celeb. Keep your personal life to yourself. You are webcomics guy, you draw webcomics. People aren't following you because they want to know your opinion on cheeto man or because they want to see your new Nintendo Switch or because they want to see a picture of your cat taking a shit on the carpet. Unless your webcomic is somehow related to those things, I guess.
I have no idea my dude. I'm doing new drawing and i can't finish it until i figure it out. It's basically a ponytail and shorter front hair partially hides forehead. I have problem dividing front hair into smaller locks of hair.
Ah, well it helps to think about the hairline and the direction of the hair growth. In this case, it's all swept from one side to the other, but what's going on on the other side? is it just cut short? Think about the top to bottom layers of the hair, for example what's happening to the hair at the very front of the hairline right now? It looks like it's the source of the lock that reaches furthest to our left. Just keep stuff like that in mind, and remember locks are never going to go around each other or under one and out from under it on the other side, unless you do something deliberate and weird. Look at the top for example and you'll see a lock from the middle off to one side seems to be in front of one from the back, which is lifted up higher. Just think in three dimensions and you'll be fine. And remember there's gotta be hair leading into the ponytail.
>How would you handle your comic developing hate-readers/angry critiques? Can't really control how people think so there's no point trying to engage them. Comments like 'this sucks' and all that mostly are just meant to egg a response out of you. I'll be honest it will have me taking a look back at my work or try to see what they didn't like about it. Some of the best feedback I got was from Yea Forums on a storytime where someone when into a 3 paragraph long critique of Tom N Artie #1. I'm still glad that user did cause it said everything I felt shaky about in Issue 1 so I've been trying to improve ever since.
>What do you think are some unwritten rules for webcomics and your wc/author presence?
Keep your real life and your creator life separate online. Communicate with fans through accounts for your comic and all real life stuff is kept separate. People will judge you for the most trivial things these days so best not to give them ammo.
Don't ever air your personal grievances online but only in those that you absolutely trust.
>How would you handle your comic developing hate-readers/angry critiques? How shouldn't you handle it? Id be amazed anyone cares that much.
>What do you think are some unwritten rules for webcomics and your wc/author presence? Too new to think about it. But I think fanart is always acceptable.
Have a bumping Azu sketch I just did. My comic returns from hiatus the incoming week.
I would generally ignore hate-readers but if someone was giving constructive critique, even if angry, I would pay attention to & consider it, & if I found that it had merit I would try to improve my comic as well as acknowledging the valuable feedback of the critics.
Bentley Wright
oooh, i remember your character. Link to your comic?
Elijah Jackson
i don't have a blog or anything, but i'm gonna make a book eventually once the whole thing is done i post the pages here, as well as other things i make patreon.com/dickbenis its just a dump for all my stuff
Adam Hughes
This is a huge longshot, but does anyone recognize this character? I drew it for someone years ago on Yea Forums. I vaguely remember it getting some porn fanart because of course it did. I just found the original sketch while organizing my art stuff and wanted to know if the person I made it for ever got a story going and if so if I could read it anywhere. Also I’m sorry in advance if this uploads sideways. I’m still surrounded by shit I need to organize so I’m posting from my phone.
nope I know how you feel too, I was doing concept art for someone and I haven't heard from them in ages. I realize it's hard to get money together, but it's been like a month and a half.
Zachary Green
I'll take the character off your hands
Carter Thomas
It was never my character. I just drew a visual for the person. Sorry, user!
Oh this was a free request. I was just curious about the story. I don't normally take requests but whenever I do it's because I actually really like the character/story, so I was just trying to see if there's a new comic out there for me to read or something.
Luis Watson
already took it
Robert Brown
Sorry for the bad quality. Floors are not proper drawing spots.
Admiral pizza the ARCADE GAME. Coming soon to your local arcade, Mall, and video store! You will be pumping your meager allowance into this baby HARDCORE. Choose from 4 pizza power fighters to save pizza from across time and space!
Cardinal Junction update (sorta.) Just filler art (also an example of my style with screen tones) for this week and next week. I'm preparing for a comic convention. Comic updates will continue August 4th.
What, does no one look in the header? youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g I'm still reading through the storytelling pdf, every time I remember it it's too late in the day to properly think
Should stories by character-driven or plot-driven? >Plot-driven means main focus is on the story and almost any character can be plopped into it and it'll stay the same >Character-driven means that the story will play out differently if you switch them out
Easton Wright
Yep. It's a local comic convention, and I'm preparing a buncha zines for print and plan to network with other artists and professionals there, hopefully with publishers too.
David Gutierrez
i'm tore since i suck at writing both plot and characters but honestly like a slight mix of both leaning towards character driven. that way the characters have more agency while still retaining a cohesive plot.
Wyatt King
Means that I liked what was contained in the individual scenes, but I didn't like how you (or I suppose you didn't) chained them together. I understood that you were doing /something/ with magic, and from that I inferred you were transporting us from one location to another, but it just didn't feel like that. If you're going to do this, I suggest drawing greater attention to the magic use so that we can more readily follow the story's internal logic. Basically, you can't just have us slamming from one location to another without deliberating showing us how/why that's happening.
Joseph Allen
Read books.
Nicholas Ward
short, or long if you give her longer boots to go with (and longer gloves maybe)
also she's got some kinda unusual proportions eh? the exaggerated upper body is something I'd expect to see in later Zeldas.
Samuel Rivera
it's the jacket mostly though ye the hands, face, and feet could use some work but i can fix it with the final design.
Jaxon Clark
Looks great.
It's just a top with padded shoulders, you can see her actual physiology sketched out underneath it.
>it's the jacket mostly nah I mean, her knees would barely go up to her tits if she curled up, with half her torso left to spare. Of course I realize not everyone is Barbie with legs that never quit
Plot driven. The characters must serve the plot, not the other way around. There is a focus these days on characters thanks to fan-fiction, fan-culture, and the culture war, but I think that's a temporary thing. It's stories that last, and it's stories that shape the way we deal with reality. A good story will organically demand good characters--and they will be seamless and essential--but characters without a controlling story very easily become tyrants.
Always be asking what the STORY demands, not what any given character demands.
Really tough question. If there is an objective metric for judging whether a story is good or not, it has to be longevity. The older the story, the more valuable it is/the better it is. That's the only objective marker that I can think of. So what makes a story last thousands of years?
If we set aside our cynicism for a moment, we can assume, for the sake of argument at least, that a story survives on its own merits as opposed to being propped up for century after century. Why does a story survive?
In the interest of not rambling on, i'll say that a story needs timeless, universal truths to confront. It has to be eternally relevant. Everything changes, except human nature. A story that survives is one that reckons with the quintessential nature of being while being entertaining. Entertainment is subjective. Human nature is not. The older a story is, the more likely it is that humanity has judged it to be important.
Easton Murphy
So, I should only study old stories?
Aiden Carter
I'd tell them to piss off and do it my way
Grayson Myers
I would argue that you should prioritize the classical canon, yes. There are lists of stories in books and film that are, for all practical purposes, universally considered The Greats. That wasn't arbitrary, and it shouldn't be taken lightly. There are MANY great newer stories, but they have not been tested by time and change as the classics have.
Easton Wilson
So, people like Dr. Seuss or the Grimm Brothers are actually good at writing and it's not just shit people made up?
Kayden James
That's actually the best examples I can think of I wasn't with this user at first with this 'old stories are better' idea.. they've lasted because they had no competition but that stuff? those guys know their stuff. they actually studied and paid attention to how to write best. They had goals.
Henry Garcia
>How would you handle your comic developing hate-readers/angry critiques? How shouldn't you handle it?
Probably just ignore it. If they have honest criticisms, then yeah, I'll take it into consideration, but if it's just comments meant to piss me off or try to hurt my feelings, it is better to ignore them and not respond. The last thing I want to do is get into a heated discussion on the internet of all things.
Sneak peek of a future panel for Merchant & Pike. I really should be posting panels that are going to be uploaded in the next update, but I've already been uploading these more recent panels anyways. Oh well! I guess you guys will see this in 50 pages. My buffer stays strong!
> those guys know their stuff. they actually studied and paid attention to how to write best. I do not understand what you mean. You just said they had no competition
Evan Thomas
Some older stories are definitely worth looking into, but the idea that older stories are objectively and inherently better than newer ones is some of the most boomer shit I've heard in a long time
Austin Green
Dr. Seuss and the Grimm Bros have told stories that we still know now, decades and centuries later. In fact, their stories are considered cultural institutions. You could call all of human civilization "shit people made up." What one would call "made up" could be called "interpreted." Stories are how we as human beings make sense of things. Culture is how we make our attempts at understanding manifest. It's a sacred thing.
"Good" or "better" would definitely be the wrong word, I retract that. But I would stand by the appraisal of value. Old stories that survive generations of change are surely more valuable than those that have not. I am not dissing new stories. I love new stories, and I think the older a story is, the more likely it is that it is extremely valuable and true to life. The two statements are not contradictory.
Samuel Stewart
Exactly. So instead of thinking "how do I beat that guy?" they were thinking "how do I write a good story?" Seuss for example wrote a specific line of kids' books purely for kids who wanted to read but couldn't yet, and were easily bored by the mind-numing intro-level books about soft bunnies and shit.
Ayden Bailey
They're both different types of stories you can tell, and either are good. You just need to pick one over the other, even if it's a mix of the two, otherwise your story overall has less focus. Developing your characters will weaken the plot or pacing, developing your plot will take time out of rounding out your characters.
I have always been on the side of character driven. I believe well thought out characters simply doing what would be natural for them to do moves the plot along much better than a rigid plot structure. I often like to use the phrase "the story writes itself" because i have had to change planned plot points because it didnt feel right that a character would do what i had intended them to do. I think solid character driven writing will create a solid plot line on its own provided characters motivations are used to their fullest extent. On my comic, i had originally written out this big heroic sacrifice ending with Tad. I had this ending idea bumping around in my head forever, and when i finally put pen to paper, it just felt wrong. No matter what, Tad is a selfish asshole and would never sacrifice himself. So i completely rewrote it to something not only more in character, but a lot funnier and more satisfying.
Liam Green
long
Andrew Hughes
Connection error still?
Jacob Phillips
Are there any good cartoony artists like Bruce Timm that are DC comics?
Andrew Barnes
Let me help you out real quick. It seems you need a starting point. First I would recommend to keep a pocket size notebook, your "idea book". In this book you should collect anything that piques your interest. Be it a scene in a movie, an impression of a landscape, a conversation or just some random thought. These days we're constantly bombarded with information, so take your time to very consciously take a walk, read a book or watch a movie. Shower thoughts are a thing because it's a relaxing environment where you are not overstimulated.
Now that you have a bunch of thoughts, it's essential to sort them out. Personally I like to take a more analytical approach, but you can honestly just slap together what you consider interesting or cool. It's very important that you tell something that moves you. If you don't care about your story, who will?
(cont.)
Camden Long
(cont.)
By now you should have an idea that falls under one of the following categories:
1. Characters You have an idea for your protagonist/s. Explore their relationships, (inner) conflict, goals and build a plot around them. Setting and theme are in tone with your character (18th century Gentleman) or contrast it (NYC Ghetto Gentleman). If you have relatable or intriguing characters, you will reach a lot of reader!
2. Premise/ Plot You have an idea for a plot. Think what cast of characters would be needed to act out the story in a natural way. Try to go through options: How would the story change, if that other character would be the protagonist? How would it change in another setting? If you write a plot driven story, you are the mastermind putting all the pieces together to fit the most entertaining narrative. A good plot will make the reader binge through your series, they just need to know how it will end!
3. Setting If you are more the world building type, your first idea may be a setting. A setting can not only be time and place, but can also be an idea ("... in a world where..."). To explore your setting it helps to focus on a specific aspect and ask yourself how your unique world would influence those who live there. Let the reader journey through a world of wonder (and/or despair?)!
4. Theme Most people don't think about theme. It comes natural and is a product of the author's natural storytelling. Sometimes, however, people are driven by a message. If you have a theme that's dear to your heart, this might actually be the best way to create your story around it, since theme connects all of the above mentioned elements. And while every story has all of those elements, a story with a deliberate and strong theme can master all of them. Choose your characters, setting and plot to bring your message home.
Hope that gave you some inspiration.
Robert Ortiz
Didn't you just admit stories are driven by exploring the human nature? Isn't that exactly what character driven stories do?
As for , I just read this question now and if you ask me, both is very much possible. Funnily enough I already talked about these concept to the "finding ideas" question, so my answer is this post, I guess Oh, and sorry for the tripple post. Just stumbled across this thread and thought it was interesting.
Gabriel Baker
>mfw i done all those things but i'm still learning how to draw I will be sitting on this idea for at least 4-6 month before i can start
Summarize your entire story in a sentence. If you can't, it's too convoluted. Cut it down to size.
Then expand that sentence into a paragraph. Then a page. Then five pages.
If you struggle at any point during this process, honestly assess whether or not what you're writing works or whether you're just having trouble articulating it. Remember: It makes sense in your head, but it might not in others'. It helps to be able to bounce ideas off of someone who isn't incentivized to be nice to you or isn't going to be super callous about it.
The nice thing about writing backward is that at least in the beginning it's impossible to fail to complete it. Give it a try.
William Morris
>not what you're writing works or whether you're just having trouble articulating it. this is my biggest problem
Evan Kelly
I'll give you an example.
"Steve is framed for murder and goes to prison. Steve's friends must prove his innocence and get him out, before prisoners with an axe to grind with Steve kill him." That's not a great sentence, but you get what's happening.
Details can be added as you work backwards from a simple idea. Note that none of your lore or bells and whistles are included, here.
Levi Sullivan
>It's very important that you tell something that moves you. This is my biggest problem, I'm a fucking coldhearted autismo with no feelings, nothing moves or interests me in a way that I'd want to share it with the world. >Make a story of something you criticise or you think is wrong I don't have these things, I could care less about the world.
Jack Clark
"Admit" is a strange and aggressive word to use.
Regardless, what I said they are driven by value derived from relevance that defies any one time period. Part of the issue of this question is that it seems an unnecessary distinction to make between character driven and story driven. A great story necessitates great characters. However, if we are going to draw a distinction, it should be one of who is controlling who.
I think the focus on characters is driven by two things: marketing and ease. It is definitely much easier to market characters rather than stories, and it is easier in general to write an interesting or at least relevant character than it is to write a compelling and meaningful narrative. For my money, focusing on the character is focusing on the temporary.
Interestingly enough, i think Sherlock Holmes and James Bond epitomize the character driven end of things. None of their stories are particularly memorable to the broader public, but those characters--especially Bond--are cultural institutions that justify all of the other components: Bond movies have Bond villains, Bond girls, Bond songs, Bond gadgets, Bond puns, and so on. On the one hand,
I love Bond and Holmes, but I don't have the same desire to watch or read their stories as I do something like Les Miserables. Les Mis has fantastic characters, but the world and larger story they propel forward is vastly more compelling and inspiring than any one character. I love Javert and Fantine, and they both are eternally relevant characters, but they are bound to the story's confrontation of suffering and hope, not to their own personal, individual brand.
Grayson Foster
You normally don't. The outline is the structure of your comic. It sets clear waypoints and has boundaries, so you generally don't expand on it by adding stuff, but by going in depth. Personally I like to have a clear outline, where I know when what has to happen, but I decide on the details more spontaneously. Writing is hard and the only way to figure out what works best is to puzzle a bit. That's why I'm always flexible with the order of presentation and adjusting smaller details until the final page layout. More often I have to cut out unecessary stuff from my draft, than add to it. You don't add to it, unleas something is lacking.
I agree with you on that and, like mentiones in that earlier poat, believe a good story needs both. It's more how you approach it, and imo it's as legit to build your story around a character as to create your characters for a plot.
Sherlock Holmes and James Bond are iconic characters, btw. The stories themself are plot driven. Iconic characters have no character arc of their own, but change the world and characters around them. These stories are plot driven and generally not tied to the main character*
Les Mis is build around a strong theme, btw. It drives its plot by the characters, who again are formed by their setting, all united under a coherent story.
You strike me as the type to use a toolkit of characters, set pieces and so on. Like a stage, you set everything up. You carefully place each element to tell your story. This approach is as functional as any other, but it's not the only one. In the end every story has plot and characters and you can go both ways. So yeah, depending on your focus, the work will read differently, but not be better or worse. Suspense and Mystery are more often build around plot, while Drama and Comedy are build around characters. SciFi and Fantasy can be build around a setting.
*newer iterations of those characters do not apply (example: Daniel Craig movies)
Carter Scott
If you have nothing to tell, don't write. Why do you want to tell a story? (Honest question)
Josiah Bennett
>Why do you want to tell a story? I'm a manchild and like when superman punches a dude into a star.
Angel Turner
Then either be happy to be a consumer, write a story no one cares about or start your own journey and write about that. A comic from your unique perspective as an autist could actually be really intriguing.
Idk what to say other than it sounds like you like the idea of writing, but - actually no, that would be an "idea guy". You literally seem to have no drive at all to write.
If you want to get into comics, maybe get into another field like inking, coloring or lettering. Or, if you see yourself more on the writers side still, you could edit stories. An analytical mind could and a love for cape comics could be a good way to get into that.
Liam Wright
>You literally seem to have no drive at all to write. I want to make stories and have epic characters do epic things, but all the hidden agendas and opinions and satire and art and blah blah tires me. I don't like it at all. I like when Aragorn slices an Orcs head right off, I give no shits about what the hell Mordor actually represents or is there a christian lining to all of it. To me writers just make straight forward stories, but there's always something in the back that I can't see but others see and it makes the stories so much better. And that is why my writing sucks dick, it's honest, straight and bland.
Brayden Barnes
>To me writers just make straight forward stories, but there's always something in the back that I can't see but others see and it makes the stories so much better. You're thinking of a "theme," and themes usually come together during the planning/outlining stage. "I want the story to be X happening to Y. Huh, it sounds like the theme of this story is 'morally gray v.s. morally grey.'"
>And that is why my writing sucks dick, it's honest, straight and bland. I know people will shit on me for saying this, but go read an author like Hemingway. Find a minimalist writer that you like. Study their work. And yeah, I know, I'm telling you to read an actual book.
Aaron Sanchez
>And yeah, I know, I'm telling you to read an actual book. Books? Yuck. Just kidding, I read (fantasy)books from time to time.
Angel Torres
>Just kidding, I read (fantasy)books from time to time. That might be part of your problem. Fantasy books are sort of known for being bloated and convoluted. That's sort of their thing.
Gabriel King
Go into storyboarding/ animation and focus on visuals. Seriously, there are stories that just live from ridiculous over-the-top action. It's just something that is better explored by drawings than words. Do you draw?
William Perez
They have the good action and nice settings I like though. But I ordered a couple of Hemingway's now, I'll check him out.
Cooper Kelly
>Do you draw? Yes occasionally, but I'm not that good. I'm in the awful hole, where you notice all your mistakes but fixing them takes a looooong time.
Anthony Perry
Also forgot to mention: Seems like you found your interest. When I said it should move you, I never meant it to be high literature level. If you love action, write action. Think about great characters for action (Batman? James Bond? Judge Dredd?). Think about great settings (Mad Max? The Matrix? WH40K?). What do you want to see in an action scene? Then build around that. If your focus is action, make is the heart of your story. brace it.
Jose Collins
Drawing and writing both take a lot of practice. I'd go with what you enjoy more. If I sound harsh, it's not because I want you to quit, but to find something that you genuinely enjoy.
I want people to be react with the same kind of emotion and meaning that will make their life somewhat better or at the least have them remember the story and experience some kind of emotion when reading/watching it
Gavin Perry
Writing from an outline is very common user
Alexander Parker
Drawing is much easier to practice and the end product always feels like a victory, but I get so mad when shit really goes south. Writing is just a mess, but when everything is smooth then it's pretty fun. I get more ideas to draw though than to write.
Isaiah Gray
I think that's just because you haven't been practicing writing as often as you draw
Leo Ortiz
just get a writer and draw then
Eli Fisher
Drawing doesn’t take any practice if you’re young enough
Isaiah Turner
>>Batman in Wh40k Oh man, can I talk about the greatest autistic crossover ever? Batman in Silent Hill. I think there's like 2 fan fics with this premise but I haven't read them because I'm gonna be heartbroken if its shit
The people and characters that inspired this here beat up old fuck are walt from gran torino, willem defoe, dante from dmc, and a little bit of handsome jack from Borderlands, and a hefty dose of film noir and blacksad.
I'd say he should be hunched, just a tiny bit. But the face is there, add more shading and tufts of fur for more exaggeration
Wyatt Martinez
Just go watchmen route. Write a story about NOT Batman in NOT Warhammer 40k
Easton Scott
he looks like he's in his prime, not like an old man
Parker Phillips
I don't recalled ever receiving any significant hate on the comic, so I don't know how I will handle it. Although occasionally I do see people come to me to argue and some of them makes interest points, if I have the time and the mental capacity I might talk to them about it.
I could be very wrong but it reminds me to a character I saw in a screenshot. It was about a girl helping a middle age man to date women. She puts make make up and practices a date with him. Does anybody has te screenshot?
Austin Davis
discordservers com/server/ 307213144059674625
Gavin Hill
>Does he look like a tired angry old man? At most a grumpy middle-aged dude. Old age I'd expect the face to be more wrinkled. If not wrinkles, then the fur/hair to be more gray and unruly.
You could always ask the writer to explain it. It's their fault for not making it clear and thinking you can imagine exactly what they're thinking. Fuck writers.
I'm back. Haven't finished fully linework and shading. Decided to post it now, because i'll be sitting here all night like a dumbass. Idea behind the design is terrible 80s fashion. Suit supposed to look messy and ill fitting. Still don't know how to draw tits visible through suit silhouette though. And not sure about some proportions. So far 3 out of 4 main characters somehow ready.
>Jano smiles and slides backwards through the door, Mario 64-style. Assuming the video's right, Jano flies back but not under his own power. He activated something. >MC is kind of sucked along with him. Get the writer to clarify the nature/physics of the sucking. "alien tractor beam" and "air whirlpool" are drawn differently. >They emerge in the streets. The color has gone and its black and white once again, drawn in high resolution >drawn in high resolution This means "crisp" or "stark", but you have the script. You 'd have a better idea of why the quality changed. I'd just say ignore this panel and draw the rest until the author clarifies, unless you think a different version of "MC is kind of sucked along with him" might screw up the panel count.
Actually I've been meaning to ask, writing a script for a comic feels weird. It feels like it would be better explained by drawing the comic shittily and putting notes on the side explaining what important details have to be. Would it be weird if someone gave you an outline like that?
You were that guy who had a picture of a medic with an SMG, right? What's your comic actually about?
Liam Gonzalez
Yes. It's about a group of assholes doing mercenary business in 80s, doing all sorts of jobs for private individuals and us government. Cold War, robocop level technologies, spying, cool gadgets and shit. Team fortress 2 is my main inspiration. So far i'm learning to draw. Anyway i'm going to sleep.
Michael Stewart
Going off him I assumed Vietnam war, was wondering
Hudson Rodriguez
Some people do exactly that, they draw a quick shitty comic and give it to an artist to draw-better
Dominic Hughes
Thankfully your bodies need way less work than your faces did, and you're really good at cloth folds (I assume you had a reference for those but even so, very nice) Just remember where the ribcage ends, and that that's where the elbow goes. The bent arm seems to be a bit long, as if bending elongated both ends of the joint. Remember it's a hinge, and the hinge is on the outside, so if anything you LOSE a little effective arm length when you bend your arm. Like if you imagine a measuring tape attached to your shoulder and held in your hand, if you bent your arm, the tape would bunch up. but if it was attached to the back of your arm, no problem (might tighten a bit)
Elijah Lee
>writing a script for a comic feels weird. it's not like it's weirder than having a script for a movie. in fact, it's frowned on for script writers to attempt to give shot choices and such in the script, since that isn't their job.
if it's important though, the artist probably would appreciate extra reference.
no you don't. or anatomy. but you're trying! Proportions are good at least. As usual, I'd like to see you do a construction phase where everything's made of even geometric shapes
Isaiah Barnes
I always appreciate anything with mechs because so few people are willing to give them a try. Especially in the West.
Jacob Flores
Moore used to do that until he was explicitly told not to do that by a few collaborators. There are also a few interviews with people being asked that same question and it often seems that not too many artists care for it while others find it perfectly acceptable because it means you fucked up, and they didn't if something goes wrong.
Joseph Smith
I tried to do exaggeration instead of precise anatomy
Nolan Foster
>in fact, it's frowned on for script writers to attempt to give shot choices and such in the script, since that isn't their job
Who told you that? It's up to the script writer if they want to cede control of the shot, but it absolutely not frowned on to put in what sort of shot you want. In genuine published scripts for Marvel and DC that I've read, I can only think of a handful of dudes who don't at least describe the sort of shot they want if they don't put it in the header for the panel. In fact, Denis O'Neill's book has a whole chapter dedicated to using shots in your script.
Elijah Morales
how badly did I mess up on the perspective part
Leo Hall
Thanks!
You think so? You mean specifically in the comic scene right? I thought mech, or mech-like design, stuff such as power armors are still pretty popular generally, as far as sci-fi stuff are concerned. Anyway, they are just fun to me to do like mindless doodles on, because it is one of those things that doesn't really have a "wrong look" to them, so you can add random junk mindlessly and make sense of it in later drafts.
Yeah, in comics it is pretty hard to find someone who knows what they are doing with Mechs. A lot of artists I've talked to just won't go near them in general.
Isaiah Price
honey no, you can totally do mech shit wrong. you're doing it right. and apparently, by barely trying.
Anthony Hill
I love drawing mecha but a comic requires so much work, drawing shit over and over, different angles..
Jose Garcia
I can appreciate that, but I find it pretty disheartening since it's just a whole genre and its myriad of subgenres being shuttered cause it's hard to find someone who can actually draw Mechs. I'd love to read more western Mecha stories.
Benjamin Martin
Just finished a new page.
I guess you should always expect some people to dislike your content, but it’s still good to read through what they have to say and why they dislike it especially if it’s a critique it could be valuable.
if it became easier to transform drawings into CG and then easily pose those as quickly as one would a model kit.. i can't spend a ton of time reposing a 3d model for every shot..
Luke Brown
That's a start! Now instead of doing one shape for the ribcage and one for the tummy, try doing one for the ribcage and one for the pelvis, then connect those two, and have the legs coming out of the pelvis part. That way your thighs won't be way too long (right now they're pulling extra duty)
Gabriel Walker
In the first pose, the body is turned. Would drawing a shape for the ribcage and pelvis still work in that situation?
Owen Carter
Yep! The great thing about construction is the shapes stay the same no matter what the pose is. You just move them around. Like you had an actual posedoll in front of you Sometimes it helps to put spheres in for the shoulders and knees, I know I do. I also like to make big spheres for the buttcheeks and have the thighs connected to those. And squares for the palms. Keeps everything nice and lined up.
Zachary Peterson
Are the gestures okay?
Caleb Flores
They're cute! I'm not a great judge of gesturedom.
Thomas James
NEW MINTGREEN mintgreen-adventures.com
I just got back from comic con yesterday, probably gonna make a comic about my experience there. Some funny stuff happened. Also, i'm working on maybe printing a zine of my comic's first chapter, if it comes out good i might put a few up for sale.
I'm going so slow I feel like I'll never finish the layouts for the first issue, so I can start to actually draw the page on-model. I know where I want to go, but the trip is the hard part.
Is tonight's Saffron and Sage a bit of a rip-off of Dungeon Meshi? Yes. Is posting a preview image of Cassette on twitter and putting a content warning for a topless bath shot dishonest? Yes. Can you read the rest of the comic at SaffronComic.com? You sure can! Can you see updates early by going to patreon.com/danielkelly and subscribing? Ya damn right! Are you actually gonna? Obviously not, no. You call them steamed hams despite the fact that they are obviously grilled? Well I....uh....y'see.....excuse me a minute
Is it okay to study artists that are way beyond your current skill level and is hard to replicate?
Justin Parker
You have to be studying or is already an engineer if you want to build a car. You can't just want to build a car without any knowledge of how to do it.
Owen Bell
Well, he was there. >Thankfully your bodies need way less work than your faces did I'm not out of the woods yet, i have no idea how muscle structure works. >The bent arm seems to be a bit long, as if bending elongated both ends of the joint. Remember it's a hinge, and the hinge is on the outside, so if anything you LOSE a little effective arm length when you bend your arm. Thanks for the feedback. I'll probably do extreme posse next.
John Scott
Get a writer.
Jordan Lee
It's like she's the patriotic themed heroine of a country that doesn't exist.
