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At 12/20/09 05:48 AM, daryl2158 wrote: 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.

Thank you,

Yes, they assume without knowing anything of my work. Bit ironic that my first issue deals with assuming things about others and stuff.

I just don't understand it, I have been drawing actual characters since I was 3 years of age. I thought I was an alright artist, until coming on here. It sucks that Alucard of Hellsing is alright to have noodle arms and One Piece kid, but not my work. Japanese anime is more care free, I guess on rules of body structure.

I will keep practicing.

Exaggeration in cartoons and anime are perfectly fine, but there's a difference between exaggerated anatomy and none at all. You can still exaggerate anatomy, but only if you know what it is you're exaggerating, and as such, you still have to know where to place the joints and limbs, and what they look like. That's why people have been suggesting real life drawings. Once you can do those, you can do cartoons too. Cartoons aren't any easier than realism despite appearances; you still need experience from life drawings.
Do not weigh too heavily on your own perception of your artwork. It will change as you get better and see more artwork. It is normal to view most average or below average artworks as having acceptable quality, but when you get better, it starts to get hideous; you start to see the errors in anatomy or the coloring. That's why most artwork doesn't impress me much anymore; I can see the errors.

Did you not read my last post!? Work on THOSE things, mmkay?

At 12/20/09 02:20 PM, Angelus-Mortis wrote: Exaggeration in cartoons and anime are perfectly fine, but there's a difference between exaggerated anatomy and none at all. You can still exaggerate anatomy, but only if you know what it is you're exaggerating, and as such, you still have to know where to place the joints and limbs, and what they look like. That's why people have been suggesting real life drawings. Once you can do those, you can do cartoons too. Cartoons aren't any easier than realism despite appearances; you still need experience from life drawings.
Do not weigh too heavily on your own perception of your artwork. It will change as you get better and see more artwork. It is normal to view most average or below average artworks as having acceptable quality, but when you get better, it starts to get hideous; you start to see the errors in anatomy or the coloring. That's why most artwork doesn't impress me much anymore; I can see the errors.

People here will then get po'd over my use of making a dwarf a giant when angry or emotional then.

I know how it is, most movies now are difficult to watch for myself, I have gone through media for my AAS in multiproductions. I can see how they did what they did and nearly every failure in keeping each shot right.

At 12/20/09 02:46 PM, gmanthesandwhichking wrote: Did you not read my last post!? Work on THOSE things, mmkay?

I use pro paper, idian ink, and standard pencil. I use photoshop for coloring.

Not a problem for my artwork.

Independent publishers are the ones I have been contacting. Nothing.

Corrected the "noodle arms" and shadowed the throat.

At 12/20/09 04:16 PM, wesmeadow wrote: I use pro paper, idian ink, and standard pencil. I use photoshop for coloring.
Not a problem for my artwork.
Independent publishers are the ones I have been contacting. Nothing.

I get the impression you just ignore any useful advice and don't want to look at this objectively... And yet.. I still have a response.

Is this a finished comic? You should start contacting publishers after you've completed at least a full first issue, ready to be looked over and hopefully put to print after any minor adjustments. I CANNOT imagine a scenario where someone would look at any of these examples and see them as something they could sell as is. I'm sorry. You really need to work on your drawing skills. I'm not trying to cut you down, you just need to learn to draw and understand the basics in visual communication.

It would help for you to do research on how to get into the comic industry too, if that is really where you want this to go. As for the artwork, look up tutorials online on how to draw, colour/shade, and how to lay out panels. If you don't have a graphics tablet, then you're gonna have to go old school with pencils, then pen and ink and a lightbox, and then import to do flats in Photoshop, and THEN do details and shading and lighting. Just.. this.. this takes time dude. Don't rush it - start at the beginning and work from there after reading up on techniques and applications. *sigh*

I get the impression you just ignore any useful advice and don't want to look at this objectively... And yet.. I still have a response.

Is this a finished comic? You should start contacting publishers after you've completed at least a full first issue, ready to be looked over and hopefully put to print after any minor adjustments. I CANNOT imagine a scenario where someone would look at any of these examples and see them as something they could sell as is. I'm sorry. You really need to work on your drawing skills. I'm not trying to cut you down, you just need to learn to draw and understand the basics in visual communication.

I have half completed and the other half still to scan in and photoshop color for the first issue.

If I was ignoring people, I would not of done the redo.

All you did was thicken up his arm but it is still disproportionate. I know you've put a lot of work into this but the general consensus here is that it doesn't have the appearance of a professional published work. The perspective is off, the anatomy is all wrong and the coloring looks like you just slabbed in some colors you liked, used the burn/dodge tool and smudged it around carelessly. I know that you are trying because you put a lot of detail into the background but you need to practice drawing. And once you've improved drawing then you can carefully plan out your comic page by page and make it good, like everyone's said don't jump the gun if you really want to put your ideas on paper.

At 12/20/09 02:01 PM, wesmeadow wrote: I just don't understand it, I have been drawing actual characters since I was 3 years of age.

That isn't very impressive most children draw, it's not about when you start, it's when you stop.

I thought I was an alright artist, until coming on here.

These are the criticisms of the art world, if you can't handle them, this is not the field for you.

It sucks that Alucard of Hellsing is alright to have noodle arms and One Piece kid, but not my work. Japanese anime is more care free, I guess on rules of body structure.

Now you're just speaking out of your ass, anime is so focused on detail it's not even funny. Specifally, alucard and Luffy both have consistant anatomy, no matter how stretchy they are (alucard is stretchy/noodley?) The difference being is that the artists on those shows/mangas keep the proportions in line, no 2 drawings you've shown here have the eyes in the same place, mouth, hands, arms the same length, feet, the list goes on.
The fact is the human body just does not work the way you are drawing it, cartoons have anatomy, period. Cartoons are loose, yes, but using that as an excuse to not have anatomy is lazy. No one in the art world, has gotten themselves to where they got, by taking shortcuts.
Learn your anatomy, learn to shade, and THAN and only than, think about producing a comic book.

The whole anatomy also goes for characters like Johnny C. form JTHM. All of the anatomy goes with the character, even thoough it is EXTREMELY skinny. Work on proportioning man.

okay did you read my full reply?

those arms don't look very corrected. like i said, pose yourself in that position, take a photo, upload it to your computer, overlay it on your image, and tell me what's wrong with those arms. The shadow added is a little too harsh and you need to show the adam's apple. and elbow crease!

And seriously, I think if you 'came' anywhere else, no pun intended, people wouldn't say it's very alright art. Unless it's a children's forum, really. In fact, everyone thinks they're an alright artist at some point. Myself included. But when I do a new piece and look at my old pieces, I'd be like 'wtf? that sucks!'

practice. improve. see how 'good' you really are. repeat.

sorry I'm a little harsh here.

Oh and anime may not look like it is, but they do spend a shitload of time and effort on anatomy. Why? Because they admit it's a ridiculously unrealistic style at times, so getting it to look right enough to not warrant a 'wtf is this' from our collective subconscious means they have to work on anatomy.

Of course they flout the rules at times for aesthetic reasons, or plotline stuff. Like rubber arms.

Or the boob size > head size unless you're a little-kid-wearing-glasses-but-we-insist -you're-18 rule in anime.

i promised myself not to spend more than 5 minutes on this...since I'm on my netbook right now, the edits are really really rough and horrible, because I'm using a trackpad (Yes I know there are some great artists who can use a trackpad like a mouse but not me)

Basically, your title looks really shoddy. It's a bad choice of title, and the handwritten font doesn't look professional at all. I tried to give it the same feel you've done, but uhm...yea that's not going to cut it either. Oh and look! some new spiffy borders!

as for the character, well. I pretty much placed some shadows so you can see for yourself where you need to look out for in my opinion. Of course I don't have a shadow reference at this time, but you should use a model and light it. Or light yourself and take a photo.

I can't fix the arm without a proper reference, sorry.

yea just my 5 mins' worth

sorry for triple posting, but eh I realised you DON'T HAVE A BROW BONE AT ALL. while i was editing, of course, since there needs to be a shadow there. his eyes are bulging out of a flat face. O.O.

@All

Isn't there an edit button on this thing to avoid double/triple posting?

At 12/20/09 10:24 PM, daryl2158 wrote: Isn't there an edit button on this thing to avoid double/triple posting?

Nope, once you submit, you cant go back, you have to deal with what you said.

so think before you type!

At 12/20/09 10:23 PM, daryl2158 wrote: i promised myself not to spend more than 5 minutes on this...since I'm on my netbook right now, the edits are really really rough and horrible, because I'm using a trackpad (Yes I know there are some great artists who can use a trackpad like a mouse but not me)

Basically, your title looks really shoddy. It's a bad choice of title, and the handwritten font doesn't look professional at all. I tried to give it the same feel you've done, but uhm...yea that's not going to cut it either. Oh and look! some new spiffy borders!

as for the character, well. I pretty much placed some shadows so you can see for yourself where you need to look out for in my opinion. Of course I don't have a shadow reference at this time, but you should use a model and light it. Or light yourself and take a photo.

I can't fix the arm without a proper reference, sorry.

yea just my 5 mins' worth

I know you are trying to help and I will not let that 5 min you spared go to waste, just letting you know though that it is no longer my character. I see a typical vampire now, which is hardly my character. I will take from it how to do other evil vampires for shadowing though and how to structure others in shadowing and form. I have taken figure drawing classes in the past and past the classes. Be it bad habit or whatever, clearly I have forgotten the structure taught.

So did you do any figure drawings? Can't you refer back to them? Can we see them?

At 12/21/09 01:59 AM, Angelus-Mortis wrote: So did you do any figure drawings? Can't you refer back to them? Can we see them?

I did, but these drawings was large size that my scanner can not do. Sorry.

Make matters worst I tried scaling back the max size of my next comic page and it will not post (too big). Not that it really matters as my visuals is sub-par to most in here.

Least I show what my character is about and what style I am doing with it.

At 12/21/09 03:35 AM, JackDGreatest wrote: Okay I'll be honest every now and again I'd view this thread read over it, and I still can't figure out exactly what "Vamping Good Times" is, All the pictures you have shown have been just weird and have given me an uncomfortable feeling. That and they're all random and in no way fit together other than in title and weird vampire looking guy(?) What's the point? what exactly is going on? one pic he's taking Kittens home to eat, then he's rubbing up against a werewolf? WTF is going on?

Glad to see my front cover worked. I was looking for something cute yet disturbing that would have the viewer questioning if the vampire was going to eat the fluff balls or not. The other cover is a tribute to the old "copper tone baby" (cute girl at beach trying to keep little dog from pulling down her swim trunks) It is I think skin care or something like that.

The other one with the crotch is first page of my first issue.

All other artwork is really just to show that I am not only doing comics and actually have a long range of styles such as this...JACK BLACK!

I know it is not detailed to look like him, but I did it for someone as a holiday gift.

Alright guys it is getting late here tonight at 1:44 AM in the morning, so I will make some things clear about my comic book.

1. What is my comic book about? It is about outcasts. No not stereo typical outcasts of Goths who actually have a huge following clic. No I'm talking about the small group of soical misfits that have quirks about them to be between the rock and the hard spot to a grind. Sitting in the hallways of school eating lunch alone. Damn if you do...damn if you don't, yet still able to get off scott free with style. Hated by all. Refreshing the old into something completely NEW! What's that? Hero fights off the bad war lords army and rescues the princess? Nope! More like taking a dead dragon on a huge ass make shift launcher, go flying through the air on it, bricking the pants of the scared warlords who run away, and walking in "Relax honey, I'm here to rescue you. I won't bite... much!"

THAT IS WHAT MY COMIC IS ABOUT! Epic impossible being done fun.

2. "vamping" has not been found in the dictionary as being the sexual term, although I will not deny it as not being a word out there, it is NOT the term in use here. The actual term in use is RE-vamping: to take a material and redo new. I am taking like "Looney Toons" and giving it a touch of wicked to it. Finding that my vampire at times will be like Bugs Bunny and the dwarf like Fudd. I simple find that Revamping has no ring to it as much as "vamping" does.

3. I really do not care what people think of my alterations of the vampire, that if Blade can get away with it on a cop out reason of being mere half vampire, then I can literally plead INSANITY for my character's case. See it weak or not I don't care. Going by social rules of vampire society is thrown out the window to my chaotic vampire.

4. My comic WILL get better as yes I will try to improve my shadow and body form, YET I will not be willing to give up the spirit of my character. I have been willing to adjust my pictures to meet demands, but not at the cost of the character's true self. Sad day when the creator can not recognize his own creation anymore.

Have a good night and happy drawing!

honestly man, if it were me drawing that first front cover i'd just redo the whole thing, referencing anatomy and whatnot, since theres so much work needs doing it you might as well just redo it

At 12/21/09 04:15 AM, JackDGreatest wrote: Okay well I don't find the picture cute or disturbing, its the color use and inconsistency/choppiness that makes me uncomfortable. and I still fail to see how any of that cold fit into a coherent narrative.

The assumption is that the vampire will eat the pets, without knowing him people judge him. Without knowing anything about the strory plot, people here was judging that my story must be as bad as my figure drawing. The first issue deals with meeting new people and about trying new things. I have the vampire later team up with the dwarf against an enemy and the vampire says he will buy the dwarf a drink, but the drink is tea and dwarfs drink ale not tea, so they start fighting over it and starting an all out bar fight over tea.

This one I did for a film I was working on, that was going to be a mix of real time and animation. I had no backers, so the movie was never made. :(

Oh and no this is not my vampire, but an actual female normal-ish woman name Banks.

Another picture of mine from a film that was never made.

Reaper was the best though, he had a dark demented voice and uses blackerberry bush vines and his own cut off arm as a weapon.

The body work can not be that bad on these ones, right?

At 12/22/09 10:04 PM, wesmeadow wrote: Oh and no this is not my vampire, but an actual female normal-ish woman name Banks.

Aww, that's a pity. I actually prefer Banks to uhm..what's-his-name

I read your little page from your comic, I was just wondering, do you even do storyboards along with page and word construction? PLZ ANSWER THIS!

At 12/23/09 01:28 PM, gmanthesandwhichking wrote: I read your little page from your comic, I was just wondering, do you even do storyboards along with page and word construction? PLZ ANSWER THIS!

No. I have done storyboards til I was sick of it with my film and that never got any where. I am just getting the job done.

At 12/23/09 10:30 PM, wesmeadow wrote:

At 12/23/09 01:28 PM, gmanthesandwhichking wrote: I read your little page from your comic, I was just wondering, do you even do storyboards along with page and word construction? PLZ ANSWER THIS!

No. I have done storyboards til I was sick of it with my film and that never got any where. I am just getting the job done.

I know stryboards are tedious but they will really help you out when making your final product. Also, do speech layouts so you know where all of the text goes so your pages don't look so cramped.