Right now I am working on my comic book series, "Vamping Good Times", hope to get it published some day. I also do other forms of artwork.

At 12/19/09 02:42 AM, wesmeadow wrote: Right now I am working on my comic book series, "Vamping Good Times", hope to get it published some day. I also do other forms of artwork.

looks rather a messy style of art you got there... also whats with the white block *bottom left*... got any "inside" pages so that we can get an idea what your style is?...

At 12/19/09 02:45 AM, LegolaSS wrote:

At 12/19/09 02:42 AM, wesmeadow wrote: Right now I am working on my comic book series, "Vamping Good Times", hope to get it published some day. I also do other forms of artwork.

looks rather a messy style of art you got there... also whats with the white block *bottom left*... got any "inside" pages so that we can get an idea what your style is?...

Thank you for taking interest in my messy comic :)

The white on the bottom left is for the bar code, the white for the top left is for publisher logo like Marvel or DC.

I have other styles and forms of art work in my profile and a link to my myspace group that has half the comic on it.

Keep it real

At 12/19/09 02:42 AM, wesmeadow wrote: , hope to get it published some day.

keep dreaming..

If you want a comic book published some day you're going to have to work really hard on your perspective, coloring and human proportions.

At 12/19/09 02:42 AM, wesmeadow wrote: Right now I am working on my comic book series, "Vamping Good Times", hope to get it published some day. I also do other forms of artwork.

Alright
The anatomy really bugs me, especially on the guy in front, he has elbow pasta arms and the proportion especially on the face are way off.

Shading, the shading is bad. Some parts have it, some don't, and some parts, like on the vampires shirt, makes no sense. Some things are flat, some aren't, the background has absolutely no perspective.

The character himself, looks ridiculous. A common mistake is to make a character so over the top, that people will remember it and think its original, a character is memorable his or her personality.
Look at vampires in mythology, they were very subtle and you couldn't tell them from other people except that they were pale and only out at night. Which brings me to my next point, he is clearly out during the day, no NO, BAD! Don't throw out ages of mythology, cause you feel like it. Back to the character himself, no comment really other than his hair is impossible and theres a bit too much white going on.

The title.......Ummmm I get where you're coming from, but uhhh, vamp/vamping means something you probably aren't going for with your comic.

At 12/19/09 04:10 PM, M-Vero wrote:

At 12/19/09 02:42 AM, wesmeadow wrote: Right now I am working on my comic book series, "Vamping Good Times", hope to get it published some day. I also do other forms of artwork.

Alright
The anatomy really bugs me, especially on the guy in front, he has elbow pasta arms and the proportion especially on the face are way off.

Shading, the shading is bad. Some parts have it, some don't, and some parts, like on the vampires shirt, makes no sense. Some things are flat, some aren't, the background has absolutely no perspective.

The character himself, looks ridiculous. A common mistake is to make a character so over the top, that people will remember it and think its original, a character is memorable his or her personality.
Look at vampires in mythology, they were very subtle and you couldn't tell them from other people except that they were pale and only out at night. Which brings me to my next point, he is clearly out during the day, no NO, BAD! Don't throw out ages of mythology, cause you feel like it. Back to the character himself, no comment really other than his hair is impossible and theres a bit too much white going on.

The title.......Ummmm I get where you're coming from, but uhhh, vamp/vamping means something you probably aren't going for with your comic.

The hair is out there as to be a connection to his snapped personality. Kane king of vampires literally slaughtered his whole family in front of him and forced him to hold the chain to his sister's cage over boiling hot water (knowing the little kid could not hold it for long). It was to show his insanity as well as to show it like the form of a bat.

Yes a vampire will burn in day light, IF they do not have the spiffy magical sun pendant, which Kane was looking to take from the family home.

At 12/19/09 06:15 PM, wesmeadow wrote: Yes a vampire will burn in day light, IF they do not have the spiffy magical sun pendant, which Kane was looking to take from the family home.

That's almost a stupid as the Twilight vampires. I'm sorry, but I hate when vampires are twisted to serve the author's purpose. I read Dracula, and I hate when people fuck around with vampire mythology.

End rant

The title.......Ummmm I get where you're coming from, but uhhh, vamp/vamping means something you probably aren't going for with your comic.

Vamping enough for you? (see picture)

At 12/19/09 06:25 PM, big-jonny-13 wrote:

At 12/19/09 06:15 PM, wesmeadow wrote: Yes a vampire will burn in day light, IF they do not have the spiffy magical sun pendant, which Kane was looking to take from the family home.

That's almost a stupid as the Twilight vampires. I'm sorry, but I hate when vampires are twisted to serve the author's purpose. I read Dracula, and I hate when people fuck around with vampire mythology.

End rant

You'd have to have a really, really, really good reason why they're vampires, and not simply just humans. I mean if it's satire and you're making fun of their weaknesses or something, then I guess it's alright--but I still contend it would have to be done really well.

At 12/19/09 10:03 PM, wesmeadow wrote: Vamping enough for you? (see picture)
I dont know, and I dont want to know

Is that a chick with a dudes head? or a dude in general? Either way, Creepy.
Also, the dude/chick as i call it isnt colored in at all, it looks like pencil that was plastered onto something that was colored in photoshop. why not color in the guy/girl?

At 12/19/09 10:40 PM, Snowman wrote:

At 12/19/09 10:03 PM, wesmeadow wrote: Vamping enough for you? (see picture)
I dont know, and I dont want to know

Is that a chick with a dudes head? or a dude in general? Either way, Creepy.
Also, the dude/chick as i call it isnt colored in at all, it looks like pencil that was plastered onto something that was colored in photoshop. why not color in the guy/girl?

Yea I agree with Snowman. My art teacher once told me to not leave any white spots on the paper (although sometimes its ok to but it depends) If you want him to be pale then make it really light but not completely light. Also the clothing he has on him doesn't really fit to me.

I think the confusion comes from it being not drawn very well, and the fact that he's wearing magenta. Of course, it can be done (see Miles Edgeworth), but then at least Edgeworth is drawn well enough in the game that it's obvious he's a guy.

I think he meant to draw a vampire with pale complexion, but even with pale complexion, there should be shading.

As someone who is currently working on getting comics published, here is some advise. First off: work on your pespective. Second: Don't make your art style so messy and 2-D, publishers don't like stuff like that. Third: Either use high quality pencils, copic markers, or ink your comic. ( that way it doesn't look ametuerish, no offense.) Fourth: Don't go with a big publisher like Marvel of DC because chances are nobody will look at your stuff because of all the BIG superheroes they have. Go with an independant publisher or self publish and give it to local comic book stores for them to sell.

If you have any questions, just PM me.

That's almost a stupid as the Twilight vampires. I'm sorry, but I hate when vampires are twisted to serve the author's purpose. I read Dracula, and I hate when people fuck around with vampire mythology.

End rant

Where the hell were you when "Blade" came out? A good vampire with a katana going after other vampires. There you go a movie that alters against the original mythology YET people love it! Bet you went to see it or even have the film in your home collection! If not then clearly you are not down with present time and must be back in the dark ages.

People was telling the author of Dracula how they hate it, to think what would have happened if the author listened to them and gave up on the book.

Don't make me put the vampire singing choir in church, while standing in holy water, while munching on garlic.

YOU KNOW I WILL DO IT!

End of Better Rant!

At 12/19/09 11:41 PM, wesmeadow wrote:

That's almost a stupid as the Twilight vampires. I'm sorry, but I hate when vampires are twisted to serve the author's purpose. I read Dracula, and I hate when people fuck around with vampire mythology.

End rant

Where the hell were you when "Blade" came out? A good vampire with a katana going after other vampires. There you go a movie that alters against the original mythology YET people love it! Bet you went to see it or even have the film in your home collection! If not then clearly you are not down with present time and must be back in the dark ages.

Rottentomatoes gave it 55%, compared with Twilight's 49%. Not too much different, I'd think.

And Castlevania is way better anyways.

At 12/19/09 10:49 PM, Angelus-Mortis wrote: I think the confusion comes from it being not drawn very well, and the fact that he's wearing magenta. Of course, it can be done (see Miles Edgeworth), but then at least Edgeworth is drawn well enough in the game that it's obvious he's a guy.

I think he meant to draw a vampire with pale complexion, but even with pale complexion, there should be shading.

Shading is not my strong point clearly and adding tone just does not lookgood for my MALE character. If you want to see tone color then here is the only time I ever added it.

At 12/19/09 11:57 PM, wesmeadow wrote:

At 12/19/09 10:49 PM, Angelus-Mortis wrote: I think the confusion comes from it being not drawn very well, and the fact that he's wearing magenta. Of course, it can be done (see Miles Edgeworth), but then at least Edgeworth is drawn well enough in the game that it's obvious he's a guy.

I think he meant to draw a vampire with pale complexion, but even with pale complexion, there should be shading.

Shading is not my strong point clearly and adding tone just does not lookgood for my MALE character. If you want to see tone color then here is the only time I ever added it.

That's not quite what I meant; I meant that you should use more than one tone for the skin, just like how you shaded the clothes. It needs some shadows.

I have other styles of artwork in my gallery. Apparently people hate my comic artwork.

My bar scene

At 12/19/09 11:41 PM, wesmeadow wrote: Where the hell were you when "Blade" came out? A good vampire with a katana going after other vampires. There you go a movie that alters against the original mythology YET people love it! Bet you went to see it or even have the film in your home collection! If not then clearly you are not down with present time and must be back in the dark ages.

Yeah I saw Blade, and yeah I liked it. Why? Because of the action in it. The movies themselves weren't great or anything, but they still abided by basic vampire law about sunlight and garlic. Blade was immune to that stuff only because he was half-vampire.

The problem with your comic work is that it makes it obvious you don't know that much about anatomy, and that you did not use reference. Yes, comics don't necessarily represent realism so much, but at the very least, characters drawn in a comic style can and should still display proper anatomy. Trust me, people can tell the difference.

Here is shadowing for you, it looks like crap.

The text is a parody off of South park creator's old film "Cannibal the musical" song.

Yeah I saw Blade, and yeah I liked it. Why? Because of the action in it. The movies themselves weren't great or anything, but they still abided by basic vampire law about sunlight and garlic. Blade was immune to that stuff only because he was half-vampire.

I stand by my point that you are accepting altered work from one source, while being a hypocrite on not accepting another source. When did Dracula ever take out his katana or gun to take on his enemies?

ANSWER: NEVER!

okay here's my 2 cents worth.

Firstly, I think it's okay what OP wants his character to be. He doesn't have to remain faithful to mythology and I certainly think it's alright to twist 'traditional' characters to serve the author's purpose. After all, aren't we all using tools to serve our purpose?

Rule of cool states that well, as long as it's cool, anything goes :).

So since we haven't seen the whole comic, I think we shouldn't be too quick to judge OP on his character.

Artwork

I think the artwork is in need of serious help, unfortunately. I really don't like criticising other people's work but if you're looking to have it published, there's going to be a lot of work involved. (I don't think Marvel or DC would do it with your style of art and the uhm...title, perhaps a smaller publisher might if you clean up the art).

To add on to what the other posters were trying to say, the reason why your characters have 'pasta elbow' arms and other odd deformities is probably not because you understand anatomy really horribly. It's the tone that's missing. Tone = shading.

When light falls on any object in real life, there is no line to define it. It is the shadows cast by the light which show the shape of an object. If you were to have an object and surround it with spotlights 360 degrees to eliminate all shadows, it would look like a shapeless 2D object. Which is what we're looking at right now.

I can see you understand some anatomy from the lines you drew for the second (kinda gay, actually. unless you meant it, sorry) cover for the muscles and the like. that is some evidence of tone, but it needs to be expanded further. shadows don't just appear and end abruptly. The transition from shadow to highlight (white parts) have to be seamless. The intensity of the shadow decreases slowly until it becomes white. That's why most pictures have no white areas. The shadows under natural light usually occur throughout the whole object.

That's not to say you can't use pure white for a comic character, by all means do, but sacrifice it for tone if you can.

As an example, if you added tone to define the indentation of the elbow for the first cover, that might get the perspective much better so the audience will understand the kind of 'shape' you have in mind for the arms. You can't just expect them to fill it in from the way he's carrying the box.

Character's face

As for the face, a character's face is the most important part of making them recognizable. A poster commented that the hair is impossible. I say go for it. Hair is very characteristic, who cares if it's impossible. However, the hair looks like a giant helmet. A bad case of 'helmet hair', as it seems. You have to understand that hair exists in strands, so individual strands must be seen in some areas. If you look at other comics you will notice perhaps they have a classic helmet hair, and some strands drawn in for lighter-coloured hair. That makes all the difference, and it's simple to do!

For dark hair, I've encountered this problem especially for the asian characters I draw. You can't really add shadow, so add highlights instead! go wild! and in those highlights, add your strands in a comic book style. I've attached a drawing I've done (it's of a totally different style, but perhaps you could learn how I made the hair appear more real).

As for the rest of the face, proper anatomy is essential. take photos of yourself and draw the character over it from many angles. Keep this collection of pictures at different angles with you at all times when drawing the character. it will be very useful to ensure that the character looks the same at that angle all the time. consistency. Feel free to dress up as the character even, so you can get the clothes right too.

you'll notice things like the eyes being too large (might be acceptable in a comic) and too near to each other. usually eyes in a human are far enough apart to accomodate a 3rd eye in the middle. your character is also missing cheekbones (very important). you might go for sunken cheeks for your vamp, i suppose. Just add shadow to the areas of the face that show the cheekbone. (Quick tip, suck in your cheeks, and take a photo of that. That's where you need to add the shadow. Go crazy! :D)

I think he'd look better with red/pink lips actually.

For your sample page on adding tone, I noticed all you did was add a darker colour around the edges of every object. Okay I can see why you say you're bad at shading, but don't worry, that's exactly what I did the first time around I started drawing. I'll attach a scan of my very first drawing to show how it's very similar to your style of drawing later. Remember, decide on a light source in the picture, and draw all tones to reflect that light source's shadows. don't just cover the edges with it. That wouldn't work and isn't shading. Just...'bordering' i suppose.

Other Artwork

I think you just raped your works with too many Photoshop filters. It is ...quite a bad thing to do. Yea, tone down on the filters. People can tell, and people don't like filters.

Last Words

Okay my suggestions for where you should start is still tracing. Trace photos of yourself to understand your anatomy. Decide which details you can sacrifice for a comic, and which define the whole object (like an elbow crease is essential for an elbow) and emphasize that. You can exaggerate, it's a comic yea.

Once you understand enough of your own anatomy, you can drop tracing and go on to just modelling. Even good artists have models. Some use Stikfas figures, some use mannequins. I personally use a Barbie doll (this model happens to have a lot of joints). shine a light on it and note the shadows the light casts. It's simpler than visualising it in your head, since the model does all the work for you. It also shows you the extent you can twist your object's limbs. Going beyond that would look really really odd. Unless you're drawing Mr Fantastic. Or someone with broken limbs. (Nice...)

Also, you might want to try doing everything in black and white first. This allows you to get away from the trap of using colour. Colour can easily mark out borders in a drawing, and can be great if used to accentuate an artwork. However, it can also be used as a really cheap cop-out. For example, Instead of showing the border between a character's arm and the background using tone, I can simply colour the background and the arm differently. ta-da, instant border and no ugly black lines needed.

Sometimes there will be areas without tone and the background and the object has no border. Don't worry when drawing in black and white then, since you know you can fill it in.

For me, I draw in black and white, with all the tones already there. Then I go over it with photoshop to colour. I can use just one solid colour, and if my tones were draw correctly, I don't even have to use another colour to emphasize the shadows.

Also, work in parts. perfect your character's face. Get it appraised by the community. Then go on to full-figure drawing. Don't rush into everything all at once. I can see you've put in a lot of effort in the comic, but then when you realise that the art is substandard, it's really disheartening to redo everything. So do your best in one part, get it approved, then go on to the next. For your case, do the main character's face, then the body, then the backgrounds for the covers, then sub-characters, then go on to do the storyline.

It's a long process in learning, but don't be afraid if you have the passion for it! You're certainly capable of putting in effort.

P.S: I learnt all my drawing myself, from online websites and free tutorials,, and even Youtube videos. You might want to check them out. Remember, understanding your subject is essential to creating a good piece of work! And understanding = a crapload of references. Photos, images, blah. Look at other pictures of vampires and see what you want to incorporate. Check out poses and such.

I'm running out of characters here, so yea. That's all :D Hope I don't come across as preachy...I don't even consider myself an artist, so yea. Pinch of salt, ye great artistes

The above drawing was an old one I did pretty quickly. Not much effort put into it, but I just want to draw your attention to the hair. The highlights bring out the borders in the partings of the hair, and throwing in a few strands here and there help bring the hair to life and not make it really plasticky. Don't go crazy with the individual strands either, or it will end up looking like hay.

For comics, go look at comics to see how they do it. I'm not too sure. You don't always have to put so much effort into hair. I can see how you leave out minor characters' eyes at a distance, and that's all well, so yea, you can choose to include more strands in close ups and less at distances or action scenes.

As promised, here's my first drawing ever. There's a lot of 'white space' if you notice, like your drawings. Note how everything looks less defined than the other drawing. it just doesn't cut it. the hair looks like hay too because each strand is drawn in one constant stroke. there is no gradient or transition from shadow to light, like I mentioned. Now I use different pressures in one stroke to make it look more realistic.

The tones I used were also very haphazard, simply adding a constant shade without transitional gradients at obvious parts of the anatomy', and leaving the subtle parts (like cheekbones) out completely. I'm pretty much doing the 'bordering' technique too in this drawing, just drawing tones for the sake of drawing tones. (I actually did this WITHOUT any tones as well, my work was largely criticized, so I added the tone for the sake of trying to appease my critics. Boy was I wrong)

The other drawing was only my 5th ever, so you can improve by a lot with every drawing. Always try to improve on the last by experimenting with what you think would have made it look better. I've had a few failed experiments, but it's all about the learning.

That's all I have for you. If you hate me, then okay. I understand I come across as condescending to some people (got ranted at for critiquing someone's art too much because he just wanted to follow his 'style). Also my style of drawing is totally different from yours. But I really do hope I've helped in some way. If you need more help, there are always other forum members around. Or you can PM me. I'll be more than happy to share my learning journey so far.

That's a long response!

Uhg this is getting silly.

there are 2 things I see wrong going on in this thread.
1 you are trying to appease us by showing us shading, thats good, but we should not be the excuse for you to practice shading, this is what you should be doing normally, to improve as an artist. If you want to get published, you need solid work: consistent anatomy, a good understanding of shading and color theory, and a good story with good characters. The story and characters I know nothing about, but the other 2 I have yet to see.

2 you're using Blade as an excuse for your character, but for the most part, Blade followed the old mythology, he just has a fucking sword and a gun. Its modern day, we have those things. The fact of the matter is, swords and guns do not ruin the mythology, changing their weakness due to a pendent because you feel like it, DOES.

Well, perhaps he could still pull it off with a decent backstory...

Oh, holy crap. Unfortunately, this is how shit goes:

Either you are blessed by some miracle to draw without any practice or training or have a style that is sooo incredibly awesome that people will ignore how fucked up it looks - OR - you learn to f'ing draw.

I would strongly urge you to take some drawing classes, and further develop your story while you work on the skills to illustrate it. Don't put the cart before the horse.