P.O.W.! Challenge 1--Getting Even (Deadline extended)

[Ilaekae]

http://photos.imageevent.com/aljmary/conceptarts/CA-POWexLOGO.jpg


P.O.W.! Challenge 1
Deadline: January 29, 2008, 11:59 pm anywhere in the world.

(Deadline extended to February 2)

Topic: Getting Even.

Interpret any way you wish. Any media. B&W or Color.
You will present your solution as a minimum of three to a maximum of four pages which adhere to standard comic specs as below...

Standard Comic Book Size:

--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4"
--Live art area: 6" x 9"
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions)

This thread will be the place you ask questions on this challenge, trash talk, post WIPs and your final art. See the READ THIS FIRST thread for all specs.

Good luck.

P.O.W.! Challenge 2 will be posted before Tuesday Midnight, January 22, 2008.

[Grief]

well i guess i've set the bar.
and set it pretty damn far low i have.

[update] huzzah the epic conclusion!

for fullscale poor-quality the 300dpi version:
Page 1 (https://www.wou.edu/~jsmith6/POW/POW_week_1_pg1.jpg)
Page 2 (https://www.wou.edu/~jsmith6/POW/POW_week_1_pg2.jpg)
Page 3 (https://www.wou.edu/~jsmith6/POW/POW_week_1_pg3.jpg)

[Ilaekae]

I guess I should post some advice for those of you who normally don't do this kind of thing...

With only 3-4 pages, you obviously aren't going to produce one of the great opuses (opae?) of the modern age. Don't waste time explaining all that nitty-gritty stuff like "Why we're here...who we are (detailed explanation on my mother's side...)...where we're going on any future pages..." that kind of thing. YOU DON'T have the space for that! We are dealing here with a short story arc that could make sense within a much more involved and complex larger story arc, but if it doesn't, we're not going to worry about it. Just have it make some minimal logical sense so we get a feel for a beginning, middle and end...WHICH could be part of a much larger piece.

Understand?

And I am stressing here that this is W I D E open as far as interpretation is concerned, even more so than the other Challenges posted so ably by our noble peers...If you can't get the mob excited here with your ideas and art, it's your fault, not the fault of limitations that you have to contend with. This is big time, this is not grade school, and you bastards have been thrown to the wolves. Make us proud... :P

[Jacob Kobryn]

Wow. I'm currently reading Brom's The Plucker. The top fits that book excellently...
I might try it. I've never made a comic before.

[Rist]

I might try this, never ever created something like this before. I do have a stupid question; could you explain in more detail these?


Standard Comic Book Size:

--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4" The part that gets cut in post-production.
--Live art area: 6" x 9" Must be the area in which the artwork encompasses.
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions) The paper colour area that you see on a comic.

[FlipMcgee]

Hi res versions available upon request.

.

[Whyatt Thrash]

--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4"
--Live art area: 6" x 9"
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions)

Just a teeny, tiny request... Could those measurements be translated into centimetres, for those of us accustomed to calculating sizes in decimals and multiples of 10? The numbers above are complete gibberish to me... Thanks. :)

[Arish]

Um... another stupid question... I'm wondering if we could see the measurements in a diagram or something? It'd help me visualize things a lot better... thanks! :)

Really looking forward to this!

[arttorney]

I get
6 5/8" = 16.8275cm
10 1/4" = 26.035cm
6" = 15.24cm
9" = 22.86cm
6 7/8" = 17.4625cm
10 1/2" = 26.67cm
1/8" = 0.3175cm

What's wrong with calculating in twelves? That's how many toes we have isn't it?

[xenos]

Just a teeny, tiny request... Could those measurements be translated into centimetres, for those of us accustomed to calculating sizes in decimals and multiples of 10? The numbers above are complete gibberish to me... Thanks. :)

i had the same problem, but then i remembered you can calculate with google. just enter the numbers in and hit enter and you'll have the answer :teeth:

1/8 = 0.125
5/8 = 0.625
7/8 = 0.875

[Rist]

I'm glad I wasn't alone with bad mathematics :D

Thanks for the calculations guys.

[Zeitwolf]

3-4 pages is strict, isn't it? What about 1-pager to 4-pager?

[Ilaekae]

"I might try this, never ever created something like this before. I do have a stupid question; could you explain in more detail these?

Standard Comic Book Size:

--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4" The part that gets cut in post-production.
--Live art area: 6" x 9" Must be the area in which the artwork encompasses.
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions) The paper colour area that you see on a comic."

For people who are so gung-ho for making comics, you all know surprisingly little about how they're produced. That was an observation, for the record, not an insult.

Let's see if I can resolve this once and for all...

MOST IMPORTANT MEASUREMENT! TRIM SIZE. This is the actual size that your comic will be when the printer is all done with it and it's ready for sale or lining the bird cage. On artwork, this is usually indicated by crop marks at the corner, which serve the purpose they sound like they do--crop/cut/chop/chew here. If you screw up the trim size, you screw up everything. There is no salvation. There is no hope. You get to live in the outhouse for the rest of your miserable life.

LIVE AREA: This is an archaic term. It is NOT a critical thing to worry about all that much when you are doing a book or pamphlet of less than--say, 36 pages or so. It becomes a major thing to worry about with huge multi-page books that are cheaply produced, like paperbacks and "pulps" or large mangas. It is simply an indication of where you should keep everything that is IMPORTANT (like COPY that has to be read), if you don't want it cut off when things get sloppy at the printing end. On large page-count books, the amount of "bounce" or "drift" of your live area can be as much as 1/4", so obviously, if you have text closer than 1/4" to the edge, you could lose it.

You can create any live area that makes sense to you. For example, if you like really big margins, make your live area smaller in relation to the Trim Size. This DOES NOT mean you have to put all your art and stuff inside that area. You can put it anywhere you want, whether it makes sense or not. You ARE in charge, after all. It simply gives you a consistent "grid" area that gives the entire comic a bit of polish rather than having EVERYTHING just tossed willy-nilly everywhere.

BLEED INDICATION or BLEED SIZE: This exists because printing is a sloppy process. The press can bounce around a bit, the paper trimmer can be a slight bit off calibration, and the two gum-chewing assholes running both machines can be reading Playboy while your comic is being mutilated. They don't care. And i know at least one printer whose parents are sister and brother, so let's not even go down THAT road...

To allow for this, we have to have some "play" built into the art. Let's say your hero has his foot off the page at the right. You can't just end the art at the trim size, because the trim may drift a bit left or right. If the trim knife drifts to the right, you'll have a silly-looking little white sliver showing at the edge of the page where your art ended. To prevent this, we extend the art a bit in all directions where necessary to allow for this drifting. After the comic is done and printed, most of what you have showing in the BLEED AREA will be missing, because it got cut off.

Does that make things any clearer?


You can all thank Zeitwolf for just guaranteeing that Challenge 2 will be a minimum of 250 pages. :P


In the READ THIS FIRST thread, I just posted a URL for a FORMAT PAGE that you can download. This page also has the sizes in US, Metric, and Decimal, and can be downloaded as a tiff or jpeg in either 96ppi or 300ppi.

Anyone wanting it in their own language or in a prettier color can bite me. :P

[Zeitwolf]

I wish publishers would agree on one page format worldwide... :/ But even German manga publishers are diverting...
Thanks for making things clearer, at least for this Activity.

A propos language... it doesn't say anywhere that the panels should speak english, does it?

... =_=
250 pages in one week, eh? Possible, if you're unemployed :P
I'm a friend of whole-page panels anyway XD

[arttorney]

"There is no salvation. There is no hope. You get to live in the outhouse for the rest of your miserable life."

I call dibs on this line to use in my panels (which obviously will concern The Chronicles of Ilaekae)! (I'm not sure if these will be opuses or opae, but I will try to stay away from the opioids.)

[Darasen]

Somewhat off topic but having been trained in graphic design and having to learn to set pieces for printing manually (Pre-press / Mechanicals and color separations) then working at a printer for while this post was hysterical.

[llothcat]

woot! I'm actually gonna hafta change how I've been doing comics for this one. Will be submitting something, anyway:D

Oh, and the mentoring project, too. Still hafta find my refs now that my LMS entry is in.

[Ilaekae]

Your age is showing, Darasen. I was a HAND typesetter (character by character), printer (offset), stripper, platemaker, mechanicals/production artist, and did Ruby/Amber overlays for color breaks in 10% screen increments for nearly 15 years. I...DO...NOT...MISS...THE...OLD...DAYS...!

Zeitwolf, it would probably be unfair to force someone to write a comic in something that's not their own language, so I wouldn't be against it. Could you at least attach a rough translation so that your efforts don't suffer in the competition stage, because most of the voters will be English-speaking to some degree?

[Ryuartyi]

I have to admit, this is pretty challenging so far. It's hard right now to think of something outside the box on this topic. I don't want to do the typical, "Oh, you hurt me in some way, so I'll hurt you in a similar way," type scenario.

Even though it's hard doesn't mean I'm not having fun doing it. I expected a challenge, and I got one. Just one question: Do you need to any type of coloring? I don't have a tablet at the moment, so I can only use pen.

[Ilaekae]

The rules state that you can do it as black and white (line alone or with gray scales) or in color. Just to make sure everyone understands, if you decide to color, you can paint it like an illustration, or use flat areas of color only like a modern Sunday newspaper comic, or just use black (or another color) plus a second color. Anything that turns you on.

You can execute your art in...

Pen and ink
Computer (as a bitmap)
Colored inks, etc.
Watercolor
Computer (as a gray-scale drawing)
Computer (as a CYMK or RGB color--just remember that you have to convert the final post version to RGB from CMYK or we won't be able to see it)
Pastel, charcoal, colored pencils, crayons, fingers dipped in paint, Sumi, collage, frottage, pencil, oils (suuuuuure...), acrylics...whatever.

AS LONG AS IT QUALIFIES as finished art that most professionals would accept in comic form as finished art. If you think you can pull it off, you can do it with only typography (Good luck!).


On the topic/subject...

"Getting even" has many meanings. Revenge--which can range from childish to friendly to deadly serious to battle-of-the-sexes kind of thing, arranging things evenly, lining things up, and could probably be stretched (through slang if it exists) to mean something nautical(?) like "even-keeled." (Not sure about that last thought...) Try googling "Getting Even" to see what happens...

Remember, you have an open menu as far as characters are concerned. The don't have to be human...or even real. The same goes for time periods, environments and time/space coordinates...

[Mirana]

Would it be acceptable to do a "strip" style comic so long as it fell within the same amount of work/size as a "print sized" one? IE 3 strips=1 print page?

[DIMAGYAN]

great. thanks Ilaekae for the clarification on the topic.(sadly when i googling appear: The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even...I learn somenthing new about revenge. anyway this is offtopic)

let's see if i can submit something

thanks to those who make this section posible.

[daestwen]

Innnnteresting. I might try this one, if my work doesn't swamp me in the meantime. :)

[Ilaekae]

Mirana, are you referring to something about 6" x 3" three times on a page, or do you literally mean something that qualifies as a news strip, which if memory serves, is a much longer proportion? Is there a reason you want to do it in that proportion?

If it helps, we WILL be doing sequential strips as part of the challenges as we all get settled in. We may even alternate the formats if everyone likes the idea, but they're not really compatible with comic BOOK format.

[Ilaekae]

Dimagyan, I googled, too, out of curiosity and came up with the "as in equivalent salaries" sense.

[Renegade89]

Awesome.
Thanks for all the clarifications you been doing ilaekae, i had a couple similar doubts too.
I think give it a try with the time i have :).

I googled too, still reading the Balangiga massacre story, interesting, in other hand photobucket provides different results...
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k265/jdbeck_01/Gun%20Humor/a380.jpg

[DIMAGYAN]

Ilaekae: looking in the dictionary(great help for me) i read something in the line of equivalency or like find some nivel, equilibrium. also same value. and revenge as you said before.

this open topic system could be really interesting.


Mirana: if you still want to use the strip format, look for some page of tintin from herge. he divide the page in four horizontal strips and then every strip in frames. so you can make "strips" inside of the entire oficial page of this event as frames, i think. just an idea

[FlipMcgee]

great. thanks Ilaekae for the clarification on the topic.(sadly when i googling appear: The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even...I learn somenthing new about revenge. anyway this is offtopic)

William Stout actually wrote and drew a comic adaptation of this event. First and last pages below.

.

[DIMAGYAN]

thanks for the information and samples FlipMcgee.i will search for more info on this.

[Whyatt Thrash]

In the READ THIS FIRST thread, I just posted a URL for a FORMAT PAGE that you can download. This page also has the sizes in US, Metric, and Decimal, and can be downloaded as a tiff or jpeg in either 96ppi or 300ppi.

Anyone wanting it in their own language or in a prettier color can bite me. :P

You the man, Ilaekae! I'll still bite you, but just for the taste. Mmmmmmmmmmmm... :assspank:


Mirana: if you still want to use the strip format, look for some page of tintin from herge. he divide the page in four horizontal strips and then every strip in frames. so you can make "strips" inside of the entire oficial page of this event as frames, i think. just an idea

The original "Phantom" and "Tarzan" comics were made the same way, IIRC... Just a useless fact...

[Ilaekae]

Glad to help, 'Trash...

Grief, you're gonna make me hurt you before this is over, aren't you? :P

[Rist]

Thanks for the info Ilaekae. I had no clue because I have never tried making a comic before. Will be fun!

[JonZ_]

I will try to come up with something this weekend. I'm kind of busy lately but I have not forgoten!!


Can we in this thread ask for tips for particuliar situation or references about a specific object that we hardly can find?

[Ilaekae]

Yep...

[Mrianna]

hehe, I have an idea now! Now i just have to sneak around work and putit down on paper before I forget it... >.>;;;

This sounds like much fun and right up the alley of what I want to be learning right now! :D

[Stephan_R]

I'm ignorant to the technical comic terms....

So does this mean 4 pages (that you'd physically turn in a comic book) or 4 panels that could occupy the same page? It seems like a lot to have 4 whole pages for a short challenge.

[Ryuartyi]

Four pages filled with panels.

[Diphallia]

Can I have the size in centimeters?
That stupid inch standard wrecks my mind.

[arttorney]

Diphallia- Ilaekae has supplied that information in detail in the "Read this First" thread. Don't make him mad or he will take away all the folding chairs. I'm too old to have to stand up for a long time.

Stephan R- three pages is OK. It's hard all right. Otherwise it wouldn't be a challenge.

[Diphallia]

arttorney: Guess I've should have read that.

[xenos]

good one Grief :asspat:

me? im still trying to think of a good idea :(

[Gwenevere]

It seems like a lot to have 4 whole pages for a short challenge.

Er, actually, I'm having trouble thinking of a scenario that will be SHORT enough to fit in three pages... It's not easy. Not for me, anyway.

Me, I have a teensy problem with plot sprawl... I just did another challenge where I ended up with 45 pages. I was aiming for 25. So this will be good for me, I guess - need to learn to trim...

If you're the type who can come up with nice short snappy scenarios, well, kudos to you! I guess just come up with something in your own way and then spreeead it out to fit three pages... Maybe three nice and airy pages (or is that the equivalent of triple-spacing a term paper to up the page count?)... (:

[Ilaekae]

You were aiming for 25 and came up with 45? Damn, Girl! You bring new meaning to the term "chatty female..." :P

[Ilaekae]

Actually, I couldn't find a solution I liked at first either. Then I did what I always do...come up with an excuse to draw somebody naked, and BINGO! It all fell into place... :P

[Mrianna]

Maybe three nice and airy pages (or is that the equivalent of triple-spacing a term paper to up the page count?)... (:

Triple spacing? No... but extra large panels sure! :D

[idoru]

Aaaah, so excited, I even have an idea! Hopefully I can make it short enough. Good practice though!

[DIMAGYAN]

Gwenevere: a good way to make a short story or anyone really, is think the end first, then the beginning and the rest for the last part.
after have all the parts, start to unite the chain: begin-end-development
begin-development-end, end-development-begin, development-begin-end, etc.

write every part as short sentences, and in the last part of the work develop the dialogues and all.
work with the panels at the same time is another way to stay in the limits you want. anyway just a couple of ideas. hope you don't take in a bad way

[Ilaekae]

i start with "why." Then I walk around talking to myself in different voices trying out different character interactions that could explain the why. Doesn't work for everybody, but does it for me.

In this case, I tried to imagine why somebody would want to get even. For what? (Preferably the more outrageous reason, the better.) That allows me to come up with approp characters that would make sense of the possible scenario.

One of the things we should all do is after we get our first idea is stretch each part of the idea and each character that's part of it to the extreme. This alone can get you going in an entirely new direction that's even better than your first idea. then do it again. the trick is to have TOO many choices, rather than NO choices. Once you have the scaenario in mind, the dialogue should just fall into place.

[Gwenevere]

The trick is coming up with an idea that doesn't require a ruddy epic with a cast of thousands... ^^ Ah, I'll think of something. If I just put my brain on autopilot for a few days, something usually crops up. Have some vague hazy notions right now but I'm sure something else will come along... probably at the last minute.

Thinking of the end first is a good idea... But it's awfully fun to do the reverse, too. Throw a character (or two... or three...) into a nearly impossible situation and then try to figure out how to extricate them. (And figure out how they got into the situation in the first place, of course. But extricating them is where it starts to get really entertaining...)

Ilaekae, I would loooove to see you walking around talking in funny voices. Does your household start giving you strange looks and avoiding you...? :P

[Ilaekae]

"Does your household start giving you strange looks and avoiding you...?"

The entire damn county has been doing THAT for over 40 years... :P

[Ilaekae]

Some additional clarification here, just to make sure we're all talkin' about the same thing...

SHEET: A piece of unfolded (flat) paper of any size that always has two sides or PAGES.

PAGE: One surface or side, usually with four edges, or three cut edges and a gutter fold. It's one side of a sheet of unfolded paper.

SPREAD: Two pages next to each other. Art may or may not extend across the gutter. In advertising lingo, when an advertisement covers an entire spread, it's sometimes called a DOUBLE TRUCK AD. ...and, no, I don't know why.

GUTTER: The part of a book where the folded parts of the sheets of paper are stapled or glued together. When you open a book, the gutter is that thing right down the middle.

SIGNATURE: It's a collection of pages, almost always in multiples of four. If you fold a piece of paper in half, you have a four-page signature. If you make two of these and put one inside the other, you have an eight-page signature, and so on and so on...

Big presses can print many pages at once, all placed properly on the sheet of huge paper so that they can be folded down before being trimmed, forming a signature of a given number of pages. For example, a standard 8.5" x 11" book is usually printed so that there are eight pages on each side of the sheet of paper, giving us a total of 16 pages at one time.

Hope that helped and didn't confuse further...


ADD: I just checked to see where DOUBLE TRUCK came from. It's from the days when newspaper pages were set in lead type, which obviously made a single page too heavy to carry, so a special kind of dolly called a TRUCK was used. If you sold a massive ad across two pages (which was expensive for the advertiser), you celebrated because you had a DOUBLE TRUCK ad in, meaning one ad needed two dollies. I am just a fuckin' fount of information, ain't I? :P

[HunterKiller_]

apologies in advance to all users who may be featured in this comic.

Nice one dude! Ahahahha!

[Whyatt Thrash]

I found it hard to come up with an idea for "getting even" that's not horribly cliche... How loose an interpretation of getting even will be allowed? Ilaekae, could I pitch the idea by you and see if it's acceptable?

[Fozzybar]

congrats on the start Ilaekae!

I wish you patience....and...errr....patience and patience again :D I know what you're going through :perv:

[nicolas]

First of all, great idea!!! comics rule!!!


IMO, the P.O.W would be "better" if the goal was to tell the story without words/text. Visual storytelling instead of creative writing... this will help your illustrative qualities (by this I mean communicating through pictures to the reader what you intend). 3-4 pages are ample amount of space to tell tell a story with just pictures, I realize comics is a mix of both, but a better practice would be without.

:medusachow:

[Zeitwolf]

IMO, the P.O.W would be "better" if the goal was to tell the story without words/text. Visual storytelling instead of creative writing... this will help your illustrative qualities (by this I mean communicating through pictures to the reader what you intend). 3-4 pages are ample amount of space to tell tell a story with just pictures, I realize comics is a mix of both, but a better practice would be without.


Maybe there will be extra POWs without words - would be interesting indeed!

Actually - I'd prefer a little diversion in the requirements of technique and content in future POWs.

[JonZ_]

Gwenevere: a good way to make a short story or anyone really, is think the end first, then the beginning and the rest for the last part.
after have all the parts, start to unite the chain: begin-end-development
begin-development-end, end-development-begin, development-begin-end, etc.

write every part as short sentences, and in the last part of the work develop the dialogues and all.
work with the panels at the same time is another way to stay in the limits you want. anyway just a couple of ideas. hope you don't take in a bad way

I actually prefer the Michael Bay method. Put the action first then try to fit a story in the time frame after lol.

[Ilaekae]

Fozzy', if you had any humanity at all, you'd shoot me as soon as possible. I was told once that artists literally didn't need to know how to read, but always believed (hoped) that that was a joke... :P

Whyatt Thrash, I'm very lenient on interpretation...within reason. If you're worried, send me a PM with your idea.

[yoitisi]

Ilaekae: I think all the numbers and maths you're throwing around confuse them more than the reading :D Those requirements are much more difficult to understand than any other activity. Still, would be great if the outcome of all this is being printed so it's worth the trouble.

Wish a day had more than 24 hours so I could get in the action here myself. Bleh.

[Ilaekae]

Yoitisi, I expected confusion on this at first, but it can't be helped. This IS the ONLY challenge that has ever been attempted that is actually based on extremely strict professional pre-existing requirements. If anyone wants to do comics for a living, this is just a very small part of the sometimes overwhelming technical crap that you will have to contend with.

The sizes may vary from country to country, and from genre to genre, but the underlying restrictions are the same. This is hardcore. This is dirty pro. This is something that is important AND boring that you have to know to allow you to be creative WITHIN the pre-existing formats. This is where the Graphic Design world meets the world of the Concept Artist and Illustrator/cartoonist. Our intent here is, over time, to make sure that meeting is productive...and not a massive train wreck. :P

It gets easier. Trust me. In 2 or three months, you guys will be turning out professional level work without thinking about it. At that point, it all becomes worth it...

[DIMAGYAN]

thanks ilaekae for the info and sample pages. it is allow to post wips and notes in here? if not im sorry, i will take down the posts.

ok some notes, rough dialogues, structure and sketches.
probably fourth pages are too much for this story, at any case i have to review every panel to leave only the necesary.

283911

283912

283913

283914

283915

283910

284664

principal character face test
ok this is the last attachment before the finals(i don't want to pollute the entire thread)

thanks for watching and c&c are welcome

[Zeitwolf]

@ Dimagyan

do you always do these things as pre-work to comic pages? It looks so professional. Are your sketch page templates according to the sizes we were given for the final pages?
Sorry for asking, I'm just interested.

[Grief]

you guys are getting tripped up on the mental aspect of the process too much, save the headache for the completion aspect, as it's far more tedious.

i suppose its interesting just to see how people work in different methods, i just let it grow as i go, knowing that the act of creating will flesh out the finer details, instead of trying to resolve them all before diving the project.

i did sketch out the pages in advance, only because i wasn't near a computer when i had the initial idea and wanted to get a grasp of the pacing and closure of the panels.

here's the sketch for the first page... it's really nothing fancy, i'd post the other two... but i don't want to give away any surprises.

[my wireless internet is down, so i gotta hoof it 3 blocks to campus just to upload this stuff. i should have the 2nd page finished tonight, and the final page by the end of the weekend]

[Oni Rem]

ok it is confusing, but can anyone show one that is actually done with the right requirment and stuff. Like an example, cause i have ideas but :wtf: i'm getting confuse...i'm i thinking to much or something....

[Renegade89]

Dimagyan: The method looks pretty good, pretty organized, im far more messy and random.
I begin with ideas on the visuals (setting, design, props, expressions), and then work my way around the writting to justify the elements i choosed. If it works? cant say really, probably not,but doesnt hurt experimenting.

I was thinking, your main character could use just a couple more phrases, could sound as cliche but maybe a little of inner dialog during the beating scene. sort of emoish, just a though ;), you can milk out a lot of interest with his expression, will be cool to see your final design.

[arttorney]

Oni Rem. I am pretty sure you can get away with having all the art work fit inside the 6x9 live art area. Doing that will result in a printed page having a white margin all the way around the panels, which is a little bit old school, but at least it can be done. Dimagyan's wip is done that way. Notice how everything that counts is inside the innermost rectangle which is the live art area. The bleed area and especially the trim area become very important considerations if you want to have "special effects" such as open panels where the background environment runs clear off the page or something. You can keep doing the art out into there, but the closer you get to that trim mark the more likely something gets chopped off by a print cutting machine. After you cross the trim area and are out in the bleed area, you are just drawing stuff that will appear if the machine screws up and cuts outside the trim mark.

If you are scanning traditional drawings and your scanner tries to crop for you like mine does, then color in the margin with black. That way the scanner won't decide to crop that area because the stupid thing thinks having nothing there means that area is supposed to be cropped.

[DIMAGYAN]

zeitwolf: well not always, i have made more spontaneus pages, but i prefer work all the ideas and sketches before the final work.
the size are the one posted by ilaekae, in fact is the same sample page shrinked just to post in here.

Oni Rem: what is your confussion exactly? if it is the page size, in the read first thread ilaekae post a guide and also a sample with the details.

grief:there is many ways of creating comics. i like to think in the narration and composition, panels and story before, because i like to play with that elements in the preliminar stage.also is the fun part for me
but as you say is good to see how others work

Renegade89:thanks. well i have to review everything.right now is just a quick sketches to play with the idea. it could be inner toughts for the character...i will se how to show his reactions.
personally i don't like to justify things with the story, i like more add things in order to make the story. but if it work for you then go for it. everyone have a method, as long you have fun and entusiasm, i think

[Gwenevere]

Oni Rem. I am pretty sure you can get away with having all the art work fit inside the 6x9 live art area. Doing that will result in a printed page having a white margin all the way around the panels, which is a little bit old school, but at least it can be done.......

If you are scanning traditional drawings and your scanner tries to crop for you like mine does, then color in the margin with black. That way the scanner won't decide to crop that area because the stupid thing thinks having nothing there means that area is supposed to be cropped.

So what's wrong with margins, 'ey? I LIKE margins! ("Old school", grumble grumble...) Er, and what kind of scanner are you using, there? Sounds like a pretty annoying model, might want to get hold of a better one if/when possible... (I've been using a Mikrotek scanner and it's been very good to me so far, and is reasonably affordable.)

But yeah... Oni Rem, it doesn't need to be too confusing. Don't fuss about the measurements too much, just download the handy-dandy template linked in the "Read This First" thread, slap that behind your work, and make sure that everything that MUST be visible stays inside the innermost 6x9 rectangle.

If you work on paper first, and you work up in size, just make sure the important part of your drawing can fit within a ratio of 6x9 (so, if I have my maths right, 6x9", or 9x13.5", or 12x18", or 15x22.5". Just draw a box the size you want, as a general guide.) Then when you prep the digital page, put the template on a layer behind your drawing and then adjust the size and position of the drawing as necessary until all the important parts fit inside the innermost 6x9 rectangle.

By the way, a quick-and-dirty way to find the ratio of something is, make a file in Photoshop of the size that you need to scale up or down from (so, make a file that's 6x9 inches, for instance.) Then in "image size", scale it the percentage you want using "percent" (150%, 200%, whatever) and then see what the resulting measurements are.

That's also a great way to see what the decimal measurements would be, too. Make a file using inch measurements, then switch the dropdown to show centimeters and see what it says.

Yeah, maths for artists... XD

[Stephan_R]

I'm all for the pictures without words idea :) I thought it was such a good one to mention again... but i understand the training involved as well.

I have a story in mind that I've been wanting to storyboard for a long time :)

[arttorney]

Ha ha. I knew I could get a rise out of somebody.

Yeah. I got a Lexmark x75. Its software knows better than me about where to crop, and the lame ass little roller thing (I think there's only one) is for shit at pulling paper through when I print. Strangely though, that's my favorite software for resizing images other than a freeware I once had about ten years ago.

[Oni Rem]

i never done comic professionaly so hell i don't know where to start, so i should follow how DIMIGYAN does his format???

[JonZ_]

If the format confuses you, you can shop to art stores, they might selling already formated comic bristols with non-reproductible guides printed on it. Blue Line Pro is one of the brands who makes it, you can even buy some online :www.bluelinepro.com. If you are like me and erase often, they are to be avoid meh.

[DIMAGYAN]

i never done comic professionaly so hell i don't know where to start, so i should follow how DIMIGYAN does his format???

not really. the only requirement is the format of the page. in the read first thread there is a link with the page samples made by ilaekae.
what Gwenevere said is a good idea(using the sample behind and put the panels inside the live area.)

i used the sample page, and made all the panels inside the live area.
just take the precaution of follow the size of the sample.

[Mrianna]

I've got my story pretty well worked out... I just need to figure out my panels now! :D I'm liking everyones work so far! Will be some good stories! :D

[arttorney]

Oni Rem- you could look at some comics or graphic novels to see how they arrange panels, but I think you know enough already to do a fine job. Part of what is nice about these challenges is that there is planned improvement over time. As we do them and crits get traded about, you can learn the subtle things like "for this kind of story make the panels flow like that. Therefore such and such emotional response is generated, and for that kind of story you need more close ups" etc. etc.

[Qitsune]

I did a PS template you ppl can use, I didn't write on it the measures but the colors should be self-explanatory. Save it because I'm not going to post it in each thread!

[Ryuartyi]

Well, I'm having a little trouble with the human face at a distance. I always seem to over complicate things when details aren't needed. When I put almost no details in, how would I make it look right. The panel to the right would show the woman shocked, but I don't know how to do it. Can anyone help?

(Sorry about the background on panel 2, I still need a LOT of work on environments. -.-;)

[Ilaekae]

Ryuartyi, maybe this will help a bit. It's VERY simplified, so I'm not saying to do this specifically, but it shows how you get an expression across with minimal line work. You're working in a very small space, and simplification is almost a requirement, no matter how realistic you're working. My examples are a bit cartoonish, but the same can be done with a realistic approach.

Think "Fewest lines necessary" and exaggeration and you're on the right track.

[guggemmaneuver]

thanks ilaekae!

I happen to be REALLY stoked about the opportunity to work in this activity! Format issues aside, one question i have is about developing a comics workflow. If P.O.W. is biweekly, is there some way that we should be trying to develop the concept... i.e.... 1 week of roughs, 2 days of reproducing layouts, 4 days of pencilling / inking the finished product? Reason i ask is that i've been producing my own comic (http://riceontheother.com) for a year now and it seems like for every mini story i do i end up doing it differently. the one thing that doesn't change is having to get my mind wrapped around how difficult it can be to get this all setup. anyway, just wondering. What is the best way to preliminarily plan a page?

And a side note: Even though the size requirements here are not consistent with the wacky-ass-slightly-more-squarish-aspect-ratio i publish in Rice on the other (http://riceontheother.com), i'd LOVE to put some of the better entries that come out of this activity into the winter edition of Rice on the Other. There'd be a little white (ahhhh) or black (you emo ne'er do wells) space on either side of your art, but we can deal with that as the chips fall. For your trouble, I will send you a complimentary copy of one of the extremely limited edition of 100, hand-numbered, hand-assembled and gorgeous books. I send these to art directors, magazines, friends, and cool arts-oriented people all over the world, so it'd be a good way to get published in what essentially amounts to a quarterly anthology. And i do expect quality work since this is my rice-puddin-baby.

anyways, looking forward to taking part! if anyone has questions about RØTØ (http://riceontheother.com) please don't hesitate to contact me.

chee,
rs
(3m@il me @rotosapien((((at))))gmail(...)com, or PM me here on ca)

[grenogs]

ryuartyi you may also want to concider hand gestures, and body position. for example, often when a woman looks suprised or shocked, she will often raise both her hands around head hight, often with one or sometimes two hands covering her mouth slightly, or another example is rage or anger, would have someone with clenched fists and clenched teeth or just a tight jaw. Type suprised or shocked in google images and see what comes up. or even look in a mirror and act out the role of being shocked to see the results.

[Ilaekae]

"If P.O.W. is biweekly, is there some way that we should be trying to develop the concept... i.e.... 1 week of roughs, 2 days of reproducing layouts, 4 days of pencilling / inking the finished product? Reason i ask is that i've been producing my own comic for a year now and it seems like for every mini story i do i end up doing it differently. the one thing that doesn't change is having to get my mind wrapped around how difficult it can be to get this all setup. anyway, just wondering. What is the best way to preliminarily plan a page?"

Good question, Guggy. We built the overlap in to allow people to basically "think" about the second challenge while they actually executed the second one. This pretty much fits your scenario above. Everybody has different working habits, so the flow of specific steps may be different for everyone. I like to hassle in my mind with something for at least a couple days to a week before i put anything down on paper. Then it's mechanical from that point on because I have a good solid 90% idea of where I should be going.

For some people, hassling out the pencils stage is going to be the problem because they may have problems with basic layout skills, but inking it is a snap because they don't see that end as a problem. For others, the reverse might be true. Some just haven't learned how to think "literaturally" because they never had to do it before, but some are actually better writers than they are artists (not an uncommon problem in the cartooning world... :P )

I'm thinking what will happen is that if we can stick with it through the various ways of approaching this entire mess, we'll gradually work out our own rhythm for producing a few pages that is exactly what WE need, and that will take time.

I like your offer of publishing. The different formats will give you 3/4" to an inch along the edge... Any chance you have some pithy copy or dirty poems that can be run up the side at 90°?

[arttorney]

"(you emo ne'er do wells) "

My belt is black, not white. That means I'm a goth. :batgirl:

[Ryuartyi]

Alright, I have my first page done. I'm new to this, so I'm wondering if I can get some feedback early so the rest of the comic turns out better. I know I have glaring anatomy problems, but I'm studying to get the fixed. If there's any way I can get the story across better, please let me know (I just hope I don't have to explain anything except for dialouge, that would just make me a bad artist.)

I know it's not the best, or good, but I just hope I can get the professional help on here to make my comics become exponentially better.

[Gwenevere]

Ryuartyi: Is this the final rough or the FINAL final page? I'll know better what to crit if I know that for starters (don't want to nitpick about finish if this is a rough)...

Some quick comments off the bat, though - I think I can tell pretty well what's going on (although I'm not sure if the little floating thing to the left of the building in the first panel is something important - a bit hard to tell what it is.) However, in the panel where the rope is dropping down, you should probably either have it higher than the lady, or have it cut across her somewhere in the middle. Right now it looks like it's perched on top of her head, which is awkward...

Also, perhaps it would be more dynamic if the guy outside the window in the last panel is seen at slightly closer range, and/or at an angle and off-center, or even show the whole view in that panel at an angle?

[Gwenevere]

Dimagyan: Like your progress so far (eheh, you're further along than me, that's for sure!) Nice to see how you're working everything out so thoroughly... Love the character sketches - if I have a preference, I kind of like the face immediately to the left of the notes, and the face right below the notes.

If you don't mind my taking liberties, here's some suggested grammar corrections for the dialogue and title - feel free to ignore them if the characters are supposed to sound less grammatical and more slangy!

"He doesn't need this now..."
"What happened?... Did you forget something?"
"The Flight of a Bird"

[DIMAGYAN]

Gwenevere: thanks!. yes i have the same preference, the "casting" selection is now between those two faces.i want to make some sort of innocence kind of face, or ingenuous.

thanks a lot for the dialogue suggestions!...the bad grammar and little know of english makes my words almost robotic! ,so much apreciated.

post what you have so far, is nice to see how everybody works their ideas.

[Gwenevere]

post what you have so far, is nice to see how everybody works their ideas.

I would, but it's all in my head! :D

I usually play with the story a lot in my head first, until it reaches a point where it all comes together and I HAVE to get it down on paper - after that, everything happens in a mad, mad rush...

With any luck I'll have WIP's to post soon, though - and when I do, I'll post them for sure...

[Ryuartyi]

Ryuartyi: Is this the final rough or the FINAL final page? I'll know better what to crit if I know that for starters (don't want to nitpick about finish if this is a rough)...

Some quick comments off the bat, though - I think I can tell pretty well what's going on (although I'm not sure if the little floating thing to the left of the building in the first panel is something important - a bit hard to tell what it is.) However, in the panel where the rope is dropping down, you should probably either have it higher than the lady, or have it cut across her somewhere in the middle. Right now it looks like it's perched on top of her head, which is awkward...

Also, perhaps it would be more dynamic if the guy outside the window in the last panel is seen at slightly closer range, and/or at an angle and off-center, or even show the whole view in that panel at an angle?

I haven't inked yet, and haven't added text, so this is the rough first page. The floating is a helicopter that's heading in. That's where the guy is coming in from. I have a hard time right now with dynamic poses, so I don't know how it'll turn out in the last panel. I don't see the part where it's perched on her head, but you're looking inside the building (I don't know how to make glass with pencil, and the rope is on the helicopter (I should probably show that.) outside the building. I tried a dynamic pose before, but it looked very wonky.

Thanks for the help.

[Gwenevere]

I don't see the part where it's perched on her head, but you're looking inside the building (I don't know how to make glass with pencil, and the rope is on the helicopter (I should probably show that.) outside the building.

I understood that we're looking in through the window OK, what makes it look weird is that the edge of the rope is exactly touching the top of her head. If you move the rope up a bit, or down a lot, it should be fine. Just so there's space between the rope and the lady's head. (This is the third panel, where the rope is kind of in a spiral...)

If we can see the helicopter more clearly in the first panel, you might not absolutely need to show the rope coming from it, unless you really think it would be an improvement. If we see a helicopter first, and then a rope falling in front of the window, we should be able to make the mental connection, I think...

[arttorney]

Apologies in advance if expressionist hockey comics are cliche.
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[guggemmaneuver]

...pithy bits of poetic esoterica...

well ... actually... in the one case that i've done with this situation (aspect ratio adjustment to rice sized page) the artist (bowlin from this site) provided a decorative border and we split the difference. so instead of (*grabs ruler and does some quick measurements... ) ... uhh ... 1" to spare on one side, it's more like .5(1/2") - .625" (5/8") on either one. and in this case it complimented the story quite well.

rthythm—>
yeah i see what you mean: keep participating in the activity and get better wtih practice. develop a flow that feels natural to the respective artist.

spelling grammar—>
yeah it's a big deal ... i know it's tedious to fix after the page is done but really it is a huge blow to the end product for theres bein wordz misspelttz N the end product. one of the cool things about comics is how everything can be a little more poetic and rely on the images. I've had to contact folks re: text too small or words misspelt. of course, there is such thing as artistic license and that has to be considered. maybe the character actually talks that way. or that's part of the flaiir of the story. i.e. Will Eisner's stuff... lots of drunk rumblings in there . hehe. best bet is to make damn sure it reads like you want it to.

thanks, looking forward to this... i even has an idea for it. NONFICTION EVEN!

wootles

gugg
j

[DIMAGYAN]

Ryuartyi: work the dialogues boxes at the same time than the rest of the page.
is good for the composition and the narration.
gwenevere made some good suggestions, try many pages before to do the finals to see what works(make some sketches in another piece of paper, and then put it together with the rest of the page to try different compositions)

keep going

gwenevere:he, yes i know what you mean about working the story in the head.cheers

[arttorney]

Page 2 WIP.
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Page 3 WIP.
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[Melonby]

Got some rough pencils and dialogue down. Thought I'd go for a more literal interpretation of the topic.
I will change the composition a little in the final so that none of the panels cut directly across the middle of the page but I'm rather liking it so far. Not sure about the dialogue, but the character in my head is definitely the sweary type. Thoughts?

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i41/melonby/scan0001.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i41/melonby/scan0002.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i41/melonby/scan0003-1.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i41/melonby/scan0004.jpg

[Ilaekae]

Arttorney, I can't wait to see where you're takin' this...

Melonby, NICE take on the topic...I like the way your mind works.

[Melonby]

Woo pencillin time!
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i41/melonby/scan0005.jpg

[arttorney]

Arttorney, I can't wait to see where you're takin' this...

Melonby, NICE take on the topic...I like the way your mind works.

Thanks. I know these WIPs are rough, but I wanted to put up something to show people they don't have to feel constrained by rules. There's plenty of room to be unusual in this format.

Melonby is thinking outside of the box in terms of the story, whereas I am mainly thinking outside the box in terms of the boxes.
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[xenos]

my rough sketch/layout/color thingy..
Edit: worked on the text a bit. here's (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/puppeli/pow/POW-01-sktch.jpg) the old text, if anybody is interested
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/puppeli/pow/POW-01-sktch-c.jpg

[llothcat]

damn..i'd better get crackin'

[Hideyoshi]

Here's my little short story. "Cure"

Please don't take to poll!

http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/page1_small.JPG


http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net/images/page2_small.jpghttp://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/page2_small.JPG


http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/page3_small.JPG


http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/page4_small.JPG

http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net/images/page3_small.jpg

http://www.hideyoshi-ruwwe.net/images/page4_small.jpg

[Zeitwolf]

Argh, Hide. You rock my undies! And had a similar idea to mine T_T

why not take to poll?

[JonZ_]

'That bastard was going to pay'

hah, I have that exact phrase on my comic I am doing. Nice looking thought :)

[xenos]

worked on the colors for the first page. I decided i wanted some moody colors at least, as there will no action scenes my story. You know, so it wont be too boring..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/puppeli/pow/POW-01-p1a.jpg
did i overdo the first panel with all the colors?
I wanted to show him dreaming of his past, like the good old days. When he still could kill vampires and such :P

[Saturns Gate]

well i guess i've set the bar.
and set it pretty damn far low i have.


Buuuullshit! Your 1st Page had me in stitches man!! :D

Someone hire this man to do this weekly! Fuck! :)

[Farvus]

Fantastic comic Hideyoshi!

By the way. I just found some manga halftone patterns for Photoshop - http://wwwusic.net/design/2007/12/wwwusic_manga_screentone.php (there should be download button)
For gradient halftone it would propably easier to use clone-stamp tool on seperate bitmap image.

I might be a bit pointless but I find that flat grey color looks too sterile and plastic together with hairy ink lines :).

[Gwenevere]

Hideyoshi: good story - I love the twist at the end, and it's well-paced... The tones are looking all rough and moire-patterned, though, which kind of interferes with the line drawing. Was this a bitmap toned at a bigger size and shrunk down?

xenos: Well, I like the story - hey, it's got vampires, that's good enough for me! One thing, though, the last page suddenly feels kind of simple and cartoony in mood compared to the preceding pages. Not sure how to explain, but I think it could have more dramatic camera angles, less bright lighting, more subtle pacing somehow...? It just feels like such a break in the mood. Especially the side-on view of the coffin with the lid popping off...

If you're actually going for a total break in mood, then never mind me!

As for the colors, the only thing that feels like it MIGHT be overkill to me is maybe the spirally bit - at first I thought it was a filter (had to look twice before I saw it wasn't, but by that time I couldn't get the idea of tacky filters out of my head...) But that could be completely subjective, of course.

Arttorney: Looks interesting so far, can't wait to see what you'll do with it - I'm a big fan of wild and crazy layouts, myself - keep going!

Melonby: Hahaaa, cute take on the brief! I would never have thought of that, but it's so devious, I love it. Re: dialogue, go ahead and cuss, it fits the mood! ("Purple guys"? I don't know why, but that amuses me...)

Anyway, here's where I'm at so far: Character designs and very messy roughs. Yeah, OK, it's a totally slapstick plot! But I'm having fun with it so far. Doing the blue-penciling now, then on to tight penciling...
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[Hideyoshi]

thanks a lot, everyone! :)

Farvus and Gwenevere: yeah, the ever paining moiré effects. :/
Actually, I believe the moiré got especially worse for the simple reason that photobucket resized the images. I will upload again to my own server.

I have been experimenting quite a bit with how to achieve the best screentones in Photoshop in the past. What I do nowadays is color in the panels with greyshades using the lasso tool with clean fills or gradients (just like standard screentones). Then I copy the whole greyshade layer into a new document (with exact same size as the original) where I convert to bitmap with 'halftone screen' as option. You need to play with the settings here. It also always depends on what kind of resolution your comic has got. The value for the 'angle' should be something like 45° or 90° unless you want tilted screentones. Working at a resolution of 400 dpi, I set the 'frequency' value to 50 which worked ok. Set the shape to 'dot'.
Then copy back this bitmap file into your actual comic page, delete the original greyshade layer and position. Then I do some erasing (for highlights etc.) just like you would do with real screentone scraping of the dots.

If you want to print the page, convert the whole page to a bitmap using '50% threshold' as option and you get a clean 1Bit image for printing. Screentones will look great on paper then, especially if you have a laser printer. :)

Gwenevere: I get a little amused over the fact that female comic artists always tend to do unconventional and somewhat hard-to follow page layouts... But I like the sketches, looking promising! :)

Xenos: that's a cool story, looking forward to seeing it finished!

[Gwenevere]

Gwenevere: I get a little amused over the fact that female comic artists always tend to do unconventional and somewhat hard-to follow page layouts...

Eheh... *cough* that's because most of us read too much shoujo manga...

Yeah, the layouts tend to get kinda out of control. I'm hoping it'll get a bit clearer as I clean it up, still getting the hang of it all...

What the hey, can't be more confusing than CLAMP manga, anyway! I'll just throw a lot of feathers and flowers all over the page and we'll be all set! :D

And the toning method you describe sounds similar to one I've seen some other artists using lately - I haven't really tried much toning yet, but if I do, I'll probably try that method. Sounds like a good, simple method to me, no fiddling around with separate screens...

Though I have no idea how you'd avoid distortion/patterns when you resize it. Always a problem. Probably the ideal thing would be to resize it before you turn the gradients into screentones, and convert the tones of the big and small copies into screens separately, but that wouldn't be practical if you want to erase bits of the screen for highlights and things because you'd have to do it twice...

[JonZ_]

I think the composition of your panel is fine. Just unconventionnal. Most American comic books are that way anyway. The way you designed it is like you force the eyes to follow the path of the panels to go to the next one by overlapping the frame or a visual element on each panel. Plus, it create tension, or add dramatic which traditionnal square panel don't.

[JonZ_]

Here's my WIP.

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2284/pagebreakdown01cm3.jpghttp://img167.imageshack.us/img167/6361/pagebreakdown02zn3.jpg
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7523/pagebreakdown03uj0.jpghttp://img210.imageshack.us/img210/9985/pagebreakdown04tp6.jpg

Don't look at the horrible grammar for the moment. I have it handled by someone at this moment.

Time is running short unfortunately for me, I'll do my best to finish that one, at least in B&W.

[Zeitwolf]

*sitting on my first panel*

JonZ, I love your cliché policemen lol

[Hideyoshi]

I'll just throw a lot of feathers and flowers all over the page and we'll be all set! :D


o_O Tell me that was ironic! Ugh, mass shoujo manga flood is burying the earth! :xpld:


And the toning method you describe sounds similar to one I've seen some other artists using lately - I haven't really tried much toning yet, but if I do, I'll probably try that method. Sounds like a good, simple method to me, no fiddling around with separate screens...

Though I have no idea how you'd avoid distortion/patterns when you resize it. Always a problem. Probably the ideal thing would be to resize it before you turn the gradients into screentones, and convert the tones of the big and small copies into screens separately, but that wouldn't be practical if you want to erase bits of the screen for highlights and things because you'd have to do it twice...

Yeah, that seems like a way to get around it. You could also do the erasing on the flat shaded layer first and do the screentone convertion afterwards varying the frequency. :P
I was only concerned with how the pages would look in print I guess. :/

Jon: looking good, love all the car action!
Zeitwolf: yay! :)

[Renegade89]

First of all, i think everyone is doing a really cool job on their panels, cant wait to get a look at the final stuff the 29, is going really well. Gonna be lots of fun :D.

Well, ill post my preliminar stuff as well, but i warn you, dangerous levels of cheesiness ahead, be prepared. I am going to get giggles and get POWned!

I had 3 ideas for the subject (i share them if anyone cares) , i went with my last one, which is a very simple plot, i have been restricted on schedule so the final pages are still really unfinished, could only work on and off on small periods of time, another reason that i didnt choose one of the other 2 ideas, in fact all of these sketches were made in my uni, in printer paper that i carry around. Im going to work my ass off tomorrow and monday to try to deliver, is unlikely though :(, but im having lots of fun with it.There is a 4th page, but spilled cofee on it :(, is just all the warriors getting killed :)

My 2 main characters reference, the samurai/shaman goth girl who summons spirits with her sword, and the misogynistic generic berserk viking, who seems to be posing for playgirl in that picture. I choosed a not so complicated location, using as a reference the church/fort of "San Nicolas of Portomarin" (type on google images). I wanted a big gothic cathedral but that was being too ambitious with my timeframe :/.

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[Gwenevere]

o_O Tell me that was ironic! Ugh, mass shoujo manga flood is burying the earth!

Of course that was ironic! ;) Most of that stuff annoys me pretty quickly, too... You'd know if I was doing cliche shoujo, the guys would all look like girls and would be smothered in masses of flowers...

JonZ: This looks like it's going to be fun! Yea, car chases! I love how the cars are up in the air half the time... And the donut-munching cops, gotta have some of those! :D I envy you your facility in drawing cars, it's one thing I've always been really bad at, I always end up drawing some ungodly lump and then have to go look out the window to remind myself what cars really look like...

Renegade89: Oh dear, talking of cliches... I think you've covered every barbarian cliche in the book, there. Eh, why not, if you push the cheesy campiness of it all to the max, could be fun... too bad about the 4th page, though, it's kind of left hanging without it (the fourth page is JUST "all the warriors getting killed"??) And every comic heroine needs a "boobies" t-shirt! *snerk*

[JonZ_]

damnit, I spent too much time on page 1, especially Panel 1 lol :(

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/273/page1finallx1.jpg

Page 2 in progress...http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/2116/page2finaluk6.jpg

[Renegade89]

Renegade89: Oh dear, talking of cliches... I think you've covered every barbarian cliche in the book, there. Eh, why not, if you push the cheesy campiness of it all to the max, could be fun... too bad about the 4th page, though, it's kind of left hanging without it (the fourth page is JUST "all the warriors getting killed"??) And every comic heroine needs a "boobies" t-shirt! *snerk*

hahaha, lets call it my particular sense of humor ;). I let the 13 yr old conan fan in me write this one out. I even added the historically unnacurate horns and made him shirtless, though is chilling cold and snowing outside... i might add him pointy nipples in my final design :D.
Hey, i though the boobies shirt was a cute touch :) :heart:

Really like were you are going with your paneling, looks quite dynamic,i dont think is hard to read just a bit out of the regular, which is good.
lol feathers and flowers :D hehe and ill put my main character saying "i will never forgive you!" :anime:

Jonz: Looking great man, lots of action going on there, indeed you are doing a really good job on that car chase.

[Stoat]

Awwww...shoot, you guys. I'm too slow. I'm never going to make it for tomorrow.

Eh. Here's Panel1 WIP. I'm trying for all old-school and noir, but this is way out of my line. Also, I'm the shit at following instructions...I put a WIP in here as a placeholder...?

[Grief]

BLARGH! COMIC SANS!
(most comics that use comic sans use it in all-caps, the one noteworthy thing about its use being that the capital "I" is usually replaced by a lowercase "L" to get rid of the serifs and make the typeface more streamlined and compact.)

stoat other than my issues of being a picky typography snob its looking great .

jonz_ your comic is coming along amazing as well, the work is really inspiring me to not suck next week.

Hideyoshi: love the use of halftone. it made me go out and read some tutorials on how i can make good screen patterns for future comics.

HURRY UP CHUMPS ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT

[Zeitwolf]

I don't think, I'm going to make it.
first page halfway 'penciled' =_='

[Stoat]

I know, I know...I wanted to hand letter. Not to mention clean up some of the anatomy. But it's going to be Mama's little miracle if I finish at all.

[FlipMcgee]

Update post #6 (http://conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1609299&postcount=6) with initial thumbs.

[adamsimons]

this challenge has stretched art muscles i didn't know i had, but i am nowhere near finishing :^^;: .
i will put the results of this challenge in my yet to be made sketchbook and get to work on the next one.:mod:

[JonZ_]

are there any rule that we have to update our WIP posts and Final at the same # of posting? (like Flip just did above) I don't see any. I try to keep my original posting to minimal to avoid polluting but I don't see rules that prevent me to post finals in the same post :)

[Ilaekae]

No such rule. Flip does it because he never remembers where he leaves things...

Are we gonna have anything for the deadline?


Now...some serious questions...

1. How many of you had real trouble with the deadline (and how much of it was your own fault to a degree)? Is the two-week span okay, assuming we all get used to the rules pretty fast, or should we rethink it?

2. Should we do something other than just leaving you with an open-ended topic or statement? I personally like it because I hate being restrained, but that's me...

3. Obviously, I can't submit anything for the poll, since I'm the one picking the topics (which gives me an inadvertent edge). My plan instead was to do the weekly assignments myself one week behind schedule and post mine after the judging in the hope that it might help someone. Does any one have a problem with that?

[Renegade89]

1- I am indeed having troubles with the deadline, but thats due to my particular duties and then my own fault. Im pretty sure by now that i wont finish it by tomorrow but i have no problem with the 2 week deadline,is a reasonable timeframe imo, you just have to get the most out of it, instead of doing everything rushed on the last weekend -_-.

2- The open topic like this is great, everyone has it different take, is fun. I Share your though.

3- Nope, not at all

[FlipMcgee]

1. How many of you had real trouble with the deadline (and how much of it was your own fault to a degree)? Is the two-week span okay, assuming we all get used to the rules pretty fast, or should we rethink it?

I'm in trouble (I blame inexperience and not enough free time like da studentz). Any chance of an extension til Saturday at least for this first one? 3-4 polished pages of art with pre-set dimensions is something I'm not yet accustomed to, forum activity-wise.


No such rule. Flip does it because he never remembers where he leaves things

I keep it clean. It's the PRO way :^^:

[arttorney]

I am having trouble this week because this last weekend was shot driving back to my house to get all my reasonably movable art junk. I was going to try to finish up tonight but my brain is fried from something awful (and yet simultaneously stupid) that happened at work today that was really not my fault but which necessitates me doing a day worth of work all over again>:{ Ahhh!!!! Ahhh!!!!

Like, er, um, I can try to fix up what I got tomorrow morning before work, but in a few hours I doubt if I will do a great job. If you make good on your statement of not closing until the end of the 29th somewhere in the world I can do some evening work and maybe produce something actually passable. All in all, I don't think you are being all that unreasonable about how you have set this activity up. Probably several people, including me, have to get a lot more realistic in our understanding of how much time we have to set aside to make sure this gets done.

I only return to my house about every three weeks or so now that I got my brother watching it for me. In the future I should be OK. The driving blows about 7 hours each way, not counting lame driving because of rain or snow storms (or LA rush hour conditions). My brother has so much stuff moved into my house there's no place to do anything while I am there. (Ahhh!!! Ahhh!!!)

About your own participation, I wish you would. You could put yourself in the poll as far as I'm concerned.

All right, I'm going to go move art junk out of my truck into my apartment now. It's mindless and that should feel kind of good about now.

[JonZ_]

yeah, having a tight deadline is killing me. I don't know as much is my fault but motivation or getting on task was a troublesome at first, but once I got my page breakdown done, I was all set. The problem is I started like last Friday.

The planning phase has for me killed the process, took me like 2 days to gathers the infos, references from movies and google, and 2-3 evening to plan where the panels will go, and 2-3 days to readjust layouts, plus the faulty perspectives and all... I took much days for planing because my script was not realisticaly fitting into 4 pages, so I had to spend a lot of time to compress and dumb down the story. I could have done just a very simple story, but the self challenge of myself was to get real professionnal work with a lot of searching and planning, which I usually skip because I am so willing to draw the instant I want :)

Plus the working days and my intensive gym sessions that rather put me on bed rather than drawing.

I can maybe finish my boards, but will meet the 3 pages minimum by speed brushing the remaining job, not including the 4th as I planned.

[guggemmaneuver]

the first-time go on a comic production is a real mind-f***... either way i'm cool.

[DIMAGYAN]

1- im not gonna make it, but was primarly my fault. i start a little late, and then my work keep me busy. but was my fault indeed. two weeks is very reasonable for the amount of pages, i think.

2-i think that the topic system is very good

3-not a problem at all

nice work everyone

[Ilaekae]

Alright...I'm going to do something we will NEVER do again (barring holidays and CA problems)...

The deadline is extended to Saturday February 2, 11:59 pm anywhere in the world.

This is probably going to screw us with the Second Challenge, so I'm moving the deadline for that one to the 12th of February. This means I will NOT post a third Challenge until next week. This is because I really do believe many of you would have and did have problems with this at first because of all the strange limitations and rules you had to adhere to. Here's hoping this helps a bit. Those of you jumping in last minute, the Second Challenge is obviously within your grasp, and if you're fast, even the first is still a possibility.

I'm being nice here. I won't let it happen again. :P


ADD: Just to prove this can be done...I'm going to submit a comic each week also, BUT it will not be in competition. I may miss a few here and there due to constraints from the Classroom and Mentoring, but I should be able to pull off at least something. In addition, I'm going to go out of my way to do each of my entries in a totally different "style" to act as a kind of jog to some of you who are a little tentative. Not being in competition, it doesn't matter if I fail at one particular approach or not, so it will be kind of a learning process all around...

[FlipMcgee]

Big thanks!

[JonZ_]

Hey thanks. Maybe, if you don't mind suggestion, next POW should have a lesser minimum page requirement?

3 pages is perhaps too many for people (not me, I'm allright with that), I would say 2 pages is fine to allow more people to get in? The way I see it, many students or workers don't simply have time to get themselves involved in such a big involvement, either because they oversee the process involved or just think they don't have time at all. I believe you when you say it can be done in 2 weeks, but in the perspective that CA is a learning place, maybe for many it overkill.

I was a member/collaborator of a college fanzine running across our province of Quebec, and I assure that only 2 pages is a lot of implication already, and that is the MAX allowable per students. The fanzine is of course is a bit more extended in time because we have workshops and such attached to it, but we have a lot of participant who gave up on the way because the works or studies just make it too exaustive and ending up to be more a burden.

We start up with 30-40 students and we always end up with a dozen ready to publish comic pages, and we do this for a decade now and it still the same story everytime, no matter how much insistant/helping/caring and so on.

We could do like 1 or 2-panels per page if we want just to stay in the 3-4 pages requirement, some people are comfortable to do this that way, or it simply in their style. It just for some people/like me, find it just ruin the flow the storytelling on what we have to tell, or it simply dosn't apply to the style of narration we are giving.

that was my suggestion or, take it as a grain of salt if you wish :)

Oh hey Iklaeka, when you mean 11:59PM anywhere around the world? You mean GST? right?

[llothcat]

Normally i wouldn't be doing this, since i like keeping my word and all. but I just can't make the deadline tomorrow. I got one hell of a wonky schedule at work, and it's been throwing me off. That, and a house hunt. I getting mighty annoyed at the house hunt. RL just takes precendent right now.:P

[llothcat]

oh...duh...got to read whole thread.....

thanks for the extention!

[Gwenevere]

1. How many of you had real trouble with the deadline (and how much of it was your own fault to a degree)? Is the two-week span okay, assuming we all get used to the rules pretty fast, or should we rethink it?

2. Should we do something other than just leaving you with an open-ended topic or statement? I personally like it because I hate being restrained, but that's me...

3. ...My plan instead was to do the weekly assignments myself one week behind schedule and post mine after the judging in the hope that it might help someone. Does any one have a problem with that?

1. I think two weeks is just fine - I'm pretty sure I could still make the original deadline. Though maybe now I'll take advantage of the extension to try and finish my submission for CHOW... (Sunk myself in waaay deep on THAT one...) Though, given the range of skill levels/real-life interference, maybe the two-page minimum that was suggested wouldn't be a bad idea...?

(I'll probably still do 3 - 4 pages, 'cause I'm incapable of plotting in two pages. I just tried on another silly project, could only get down to 3...)

2. No no... I LIKE the open-ended topics! More room for interpretation, there's no telling what craziness will come out of the mix... I've already thought of something supremely silly for the next one.

3. I got no problem with that! Do what you wanna do...

[Zeitwolf]

Thanks for extending the deadline, Ilaekae!

I blame my inexperience on my delay. I thought, two weeks should be enough, but it took me 8 days already, to outline the story to fit it into four pages...

I totally agree, on how the topic is given to us. I just wish for some variety; like we already have it here within two topics, one with a rough theme, the other with a given quote.

[Hideyoshi]

First of, deadline was not a problem for me, plenty of time imo...
You guys need to adjust to working on a tight schedule, that's what the biz expects from you.

Second, I wouldn'd mind if the page count wasn't restricted to a limit. Like, 3 pages minimum (or 2) and as many as you like as maximum. I understand that the challenge also lies in creating a scene that fits into a given frame, but being able to extend the story isn't too bad either...

JonZ: looking wicked already!
Zeitwolf: ah, love the cinematic narration! :)

[FlipMcgee]

Wips updated (http://conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1609299&postcount=6).

[skorpi]

More time? Thats perfect, I saw the thread two days ago thought there's not enogh time left to take part.

[Stoat]

Shoot! You extended the deadline! Now I can't just write it off :)

My own timing problems are entirely personal (I'm getting a house ready to sell on the US market! Woohoo! Shoot me! Right now!).

Still, I'd be interested in seeing a maximum page count but not a minimum one. How many old comics had complete stories told on the back page, or a two page spread? I'm going to have to make one panel stretch to a whole page to fill. I mean, it works...but...

[Whyatt Thrash]

1. Definetily a problem, but yeah, it's personal stuff. And that I switched themes halfway through, my original idea was too vaguely related to the topic. Personally I don't mind missing the deadline, I'll still finish it. And post it posthumously, if that's possible...

2. Perfect. Just the right amount of info for my tastes. :)

[arttorney]

I think the three page thing reflects good sized chunks of sequential art for portfolio purposes and I suspect that may have been part of the reason that size was selected. I think Ilaekae means 11:59 PM on the east side of the International Date Line.

[DIMAGYAN]

Gwenevere:very nice. i like a lot the characters and poses.
the first and third pages layout are the best of the four, i think.

in the other pages i can't follow quite well the story (but of course could be just me). in any case the idea of the story is clear, and the action too.
i want to see it finished.

renegade89: se entiende bien que es lo que sucede. de todas formas alternar mas los planos no le haria mal. por ejemplo en la primer pagina, esencialmente
tenes tres planos medios seguidos(hay fondos, es cierto pero es lo que se percibe por las figuras) y en la pagina tres tenes dos primeros planos juntos y despues dos planos enteros o generales tambien juntos. no se prueba a combinar mas para que haya masa fluidez.

jonz: nice work. as a constructive comment: i don't know if the second page is finish,if not ignore my comment. in the second panel, the white area around the young police don't work too well(in my opinion). i think that fill the space with black and putting white on the cap can work.hope you don't offend by my comment.

stoat:nice narrative and atmosphere.

xenos:the spiral color is a bit distracting. maybe work the entire colours of the page to find the mood?

Hideyoshi:very nice. i like the story and the planes.good work on the composition also. you are rigth about the deadline

thanks ilaekae for the deadline extention.

i don't make much progress. i can't make a decent drawing and is detroying my initial sketches...

291318

third panel of first page

[xenos]

uh huh, a this is a bit embarrassing. I promise I'll do better in the next entry
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/puppeli/pow/POW-01.jpg

[xenos]

oh and Ilaekae, the one week deadline is fine with me. If it was any longer, i think i would just waste the extra time procrastinating.

[JonZ_]

Yeah I know, the whole panel is rushed because I wanted to finish the whole work tonight. And since I use a lot of black, police uniform are black and car is black, and the shadows in the car well... I just coulnd't figure how to fill the area with black by still letting the evidence the cop wear a dark uniform. And I also put the cop caps black, which is a logical error from me since it supposed to be same color of the uniform. Letting the uniforms white and cap white will looks to meweird, unless it is on purpose of coloring, which is not my goal here :)

No sweat for the comment, I appreciate it. It just a side effect of doing things on the rush, and I can't tell you how miserable I feel about the young cop hands holding the donut on the 3rd panel :)

I can't heartfully agree with deadline argument of Hideyoshi when I look in his submission. It some great work and I like all the story and all, but his method implies a lot of shortcuts, like mostly closeups and partial characters views on the 4 pages when other people like me love to do a much complex storytelling with more complex and panned view that doesn't need support of copies, balloons or caps.

I don't mean his method don't work, I mean it doesn't work for all people who don't adopt this style, especially for people who have to deal with work/studies and of course life, which is why I bringed up the 2 minimum page theory that appears to me a good compromise for people who tend to draw much complex panels but don't feel they can try and compete and.... complete.


alright.... enough talk, more cars!

Anyone working with Painter here? I am giving this program a shot since I always been a PS user. I'm slowly getting the hang of it, but I find the crowquill medium too sharp :) I want the edges to be smooter like in photoshop:

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4126/jaggieslo5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I just can't find the place where too smooth edges of a medium.


WIP: Page3
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/4307/page3wipzp3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Sinix]

Jonz, try using the "scratchboard tool" pen for those lines. I think that the sharpness is part of that crowquill. I'm sure you can also edit how it behaves in the brush editor, but I think the scratchboard tool might be good enough.

Btw: I am just finishing up page 2... the 2 week deadline wasn't overly bad... but it took awhile to grow accustomed to the comic format. I should have mine done by the new deadline.

[skorpi]

My scribbels and characterdesigns and a lot of work left

[FlipMcgee]

Updated with one page wip (http://conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1609299&postcount=6).

[mahir]

1. How many of you had real trouble with the deadline (and how much of it was your own fault to a degree)? Is the two-week span okay, assuming we all get used to the rules pretty fast, or should we rethink it?

2. Should we do something other than just leaving you with an open-ended topic or statement? I personally like it because I hate being restrained, but that's me...

3. Obviously, I can't submit anything for the poll, since I'm the one picking the topics (which gives me an inadvertent edge). My plan instead was to do the weekly assignments myself one week behind schedule and post mine after the judging in the hope that it might help someone. Does any one have a problem with that?

1. I think the 2-week thing is doable. I'm guilty of not participating so far even though I really wanted to. I'm swamped with doing some pages of comic art right now (doing it with a friend so can't put it off) which will hopefully be completed early Feb. So I'm hoping to either enter the 2nd challenge or the 3rd one.

2. I love the open-endedness of the titles. However I do think setting a minimum of 2 pages might make it a little easier on the entrant.

3. No problem with it whatsoever.

[llothcat]

wip....!


onemorepagelefttopencil......


mechanical pencils are a wonder. What did i do w/o 'em?

[funfetus]

uh huh, a this is a bit embarrassing. I promise I'll do better in the next entry
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/puppeli/pow/POW-01.jpg

Nice work -- I just have one little crit. In the 3rd panel of the 3rd page, the word balloons kinda read backward. (I'm assuming that "I can finally pay you back" comes before "for all the times...") Even though the first one is on the left, the second one is higher, and it also flows directly from the balloon right above it. I find it almost impossible to read the correct balloon first.

[Arish]

Oh my gosh... everyone's comics look amazing... can't wait to see the final product! Xenos: I really like yours but have to agree with funfetus about the placing of the word balloon... but I love the artwork and the concept! Fix that and the rest is smooth sailing :)

Ilaekae:

1 - A two-week deadline is reasonable IMO, tho if you lowered the minimum # of pages to 2 instead of 3, I wouldn't complain... :) I was hoping to participate this week but I've been working crazy overtime and haven't even had a chance to finish my art school applications, and those take priority over POW, sadly. Which is too bad because I had an idea and layout for this one, but no time to finish it. (My fault not yours.)

2 - I like open-ended, it's so much fun!

3 - Don't see why anyone would have a problem with this... personally I'd love to see your take on things. If you really wanted to be hardcore, you could finish the comic at the same time as everyone else, wait a week and then submit it, purely as an honour system thing. But just doing the comic itself would be awesome, no matter when it's completed.

[FlipMcgee]

Updated with re-written and roughed out page 4 (http://conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1609299&postcount=6). (Inverted to not easily spoil the ending).

Ilaekae, I'll be posting finished versions late Saturday night. Girlfriend-iancee demands some quality time (or else!) next coupla days.

Good stuff that's up, everyone!

[Ilaekae]

It looks like things are coming together as we head into the home stretch...

arish, you're right. I don't know if I have time to start and finish the first Challenge on time because I'd have to start today and finish tomorrow, but I think I can make it by Monday or Tuesday. I should have the second Challenge done way in advance of the deadline because my solution is a simpler concept to execute.

We'll use my pitiful attempts as an unofficial double Challenge when we get the third challenge up and from there on... I am notorious for being an incredibly sloooooowww worker for the last few years, so I'll participate in the same challenge at the same time as everyone else. That way, if I CAN DO IT (...if...), then anyone CAN do it. My entries won't be in the poll, but it sure would be embarrassing for all you speed freaks out there with all your fancy-schmancy equipment and finely honed skills if I consistently get something in on time, wouldn't it? :P:P:P:P:P

...and for those of you who mentioned it, I'll lower the minimum to two pages from three for the third Challenge (and thereafter) and maybe raise the max to 5 or 6 pages if anyone wants to go that route, just to give you a bit more flexibility.

[JonZ_]

Hey Iklaekie, is the 11:59PM is in GST?

Because that's like 28 hours left for me if so...

Not saying that I will be late thought! Just to make sure I don't miss the deadline!


Thanks :)

[Ilaekae]

If there is a guy floating on a raft in the Pacific on the International Date Line and his clock says it's legitimately 11:59 pm with the right date, you ain't late until he says it's midnight... :P

[JonZ_]

ok, thanks for the clarification :).

I might fly to Hawai tonight to get more time.


lol...

[Ilaekae]

I'd head for Samoa, myself. I've been there figuratively so many times with deadlines that i should buy a damn condo... :P

ADD: Made bonehead mistake...corrected...

[arttorney]

Let's see how this one looks.
293433
I could stand to clean it up a bit more I suppose.

[Sinix]

So, will the finals go in this thread or into a new one? I've got 3 out of 4 pages done. One more day. :o

[Melonby]

Blargh, due to various things going on right now, I'm not going to finish. There's always next time!

[Stoat]

Hm. You sure about 10" at 96 dpi for the finals? I make that 960 pixels each...awfully hard to see and judge on a monitor.

[Zeitwolf]

293954
293955
293956
293957

At the moment I have problems to fit these panels into the template that was given to us. It just looks stupid, wenn it only fills the live area, because the black around it is so huge... Help? Somebody?
EDIT: Resized to trim size (6,875"x10,5"), hope that's ok, pleas tell me if not.

[Stoat]

Hm. Well. I sort of follow it, Zeitwolf. I mean, I'm not bothered that I have no idea why the alien thingie is unkillable and wears an eyeball around his neck.

But...both men have trophy eyeball necklaces? And if Guy #2 scared off the alien, why does Guy #1 get the resulting eyeball?

And why does this conversation not seem all that strange to me?

[Renegade89]

As for the subject, i guess you choose to do it as if this was a scene from a bigger story rather than a 4 page individual storyline, dont have much objections on that aspect.

When did the alien loosed the eyeball? where did he went? after getting shot the guy enter the wagon and the alien says "ksss" and then? or am i reading it wrong? thats the little part that seems confusing to me. :shrug:

[Stoat]

Hm. Okay. I'm probably kidding myself that this will get much better if I spend more time on it, so here goes.

I'm disappointed in my artwork, but I like my nasty little story. It's loosely based on one by John Dunning, a very low-rent pulpy true crime writer of the 70's. Wish I had the book, but it's packed. He's a fun writer but not a hugely trustworthy source, so the story is probably true. Ish. It's the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the topic.

I particularly wish I did a better job on the hands. I'm usually pretty good at hands, so I made them a big part of the story...and then really struggled with them. I just can't get the hang of linework with the tablet, but all my ink and pens and stuff are packed, too.

Anyhoo, consider this my final...unless somebody has some suggestions. Or Ilaekae objects to the posted size. I have a huge version, but these are only 6.5" at 96 dpi. I didn't mean to blow off instructions, but it was so hard to parse my panels at 10". Which probably means I designed it for the screen and it wouldn't look good printed. Oh, well. This is my first attempt at panels since I was, like, fourteen or something.

[Zeitwolf]

As for the subject, i guess you choose to do it as if this was a scene from a bigger story rather than a 4 page individual storyline, dont have much objections on that aspect.

When did the alien loosed the eyeball? where did he went? after getting shot the guy enter the wagon and the alien says "ksss" and then? or am i reading it wrong? thats the little part that seems confusing to me. :shrug:

Ah, thank you for the questions. I'll keep in mind to plot my next comic without leaving open questions. Though I really find it hard.

the monster looses it's eyeball by the swordstrike of the hero (well, a quarter of his head is cut off, but at least there was and eyeball in it). Then the second guy enters the wagon, after the train stops and shoots the monster.
After being shot the monster leaves the wagon while the door is already closing (there's shoe in the door - seems, I didn't depict it very clearly, sorry).

[arttorney]

Sinix- Finals go in here. Write your nickname, activity number and page number on each page.

[skorpi]

My entry :)

I used the challenge to test "Manga Studio", I had some problems to save the pages :^^;:
But finally it works, I hope it's all right like that.

[Stoat]

Wait...what the heck? Have I had too many adult beverages?

My panel two has now floated up away and appeared in the middle of Zeitwolf's post. I demand a...uhhhh...sobriety check!

[arttorney]

I hope these don't look bad enough to hurt anyone's eyes.
FINAL PAGE 1
293980
FINAL PAGE 2
294035
FINAL PAGE 3
294050

[Stoat]

Yaaaahhhhr! Seriously! flappida-flappida-flappida! Something is badly wrong on the thread! One of my panels drifted off and appeared in somebody else's post. To be replaced by a frowny on my post! WTF?!?

[arttorney]

I still see your three panels in post 168 the way they looked to me earlier in the day. This sounds like something to report in the squash forum bugs thread over in Support.

(Hopefully I will be able to update above by adding/subtracting images OK).

[Stoat]

Thanks, AT. I'll stand down now. It's still screwed up on my machine, but I'll assume it's a local fault.

[Ilaekae]

Stoat, what ppi did you do your original at (or scan it at)? I don't think I understand why you're having a problem with the 10"...

As for your floating art problem, try clearing your cache and re-entering the thread.

ADD: ...and you.ve got some faulty math here...

"You sure about 10" at 96 dpi for the finals? I make that 960 pixels each...awfully hard to see and judge on a monitor."

It's 96 dpi times 10 TIMES 7(approximately) which is NOT 960 pixels. You forgot that the art extends in two dimensions, not just vertically.

[Sinix]

Forgot the page numbering part, but maybe I'll add those later or something. My friend wrote this for the challenge, and I made the art. The style is definitely a nod to Ashley Wood, probably try to change the style up each round.

http://www.sinixdesign.com/images/junk/sinixPOW1aFsmall.jpg

http://www.sinixdesign.com/images/junk/sinixPOW1bFsmall.jpg

http://www.sinixdesign.com/images/junk/sinixPOW1cFsmall.jpg

http://www.sinixdesign.com/images/junk/sinixPOW1dFsmall.jpg

[Joe A]

Hi everyone. I'm new around here, actually this would be my first post on CA. There are some real amazing artists around here.

Anyway, I saw Hideyoshi's entry on his Deviant page and decided to give this challenge a shot. Nice job btw, 'yoshi.

Sorry for no WIP, but I wasn't sure if I'd get done in time because I found out late. Thanks for the extension. Also, I posted these at the trim size. There was extra art for the bleed if necessary though. Hope you enjoy.

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/2916/pow1xq5.jpg

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/9326/pow2bq4.jpg

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7863/pow3sc5.jpg

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/166/pow4xv7.jpg

[JonZ_]

My Finals. Heh, 15mins before midnight :)

Wish I had time for colors.

[Stoat]

It's 96 dpi times 10 TIMES 7(approximately) which is NOT 960 pixels. You forgot that the art extends in two dimensions, not just vertically.

I was talking about the vertical dimension, because I'm concerned about fitting a whole panel on a single screen. A 9.5" high panel at 600 dpi is 3900 pixels high. Make that a 10" panel at 96 dpi and it's 960 pixels high. You'd have to scroll around to see a panel 960 pixels high on most people's rig, is all I'm saying.

[Gwenevere]

Ugh, I don't suppose it's still midnight in Samoa...? Stupidity has occurred - Mine's all drawn and inked and shiny and everything, but I'm still scanning... Because like a chump I thought I could go out to the Draw-a-Thon last night and scan when I got home in the wee hours of the morning, and like a chump I zonked out instantly as soon as I got home and woke up, well, today. Yeah. So now I'm scanning.

Probably missed all possible deadlines, but I'll post it anyway, for laughs. Guess I'll just post 'em as I scan 'em, here, scanner is being super slow and finicky... EDIT: Pages 1 and 2 up. I'm going out to play now while it's nice out, back in a couple hours to post the other two...

EDIT 2: Had my walk, sketched some Peking Opera. Okay, then. Page 3 is up, cobbling together the scans for page 4 now...

EDIT 3: Aaaaand... page 4 is up. Done!

[Ilaekae]

Stoat, I think I understand where you're coming from now. There's still no problem. Basically, the 10" number is the max that the attachment process here allows. The other problem we have is that we want the comics at as close to actual size as possible so they can be read. This almost guarantees that EVERYONE will have to scroll to some degree, at least vertically.

We're doing comics, afterall, and not one shot illustrations for viewing. If the comic art is too small, we lose the ability to see the comic as it should be.

Gwenevere, I'll be starting to assemble the poll later this afternoon (in about 4-5 hours) so do what you can to get what you have in and I'll include it unless it comes in sometime next month... :P

Everyone, I will assume that your last entry is the final post for you unless you tell me otherwise.

[Gwenevere]

Gwenevere, I'll be starting to assemble the poll later this afternoon (in about 4-5 hours) so do what you can to get what you have in and I'll include it unless it comes in sometime next month... :P

I think I can manage that, at least, despite crashing after every scan (Rargh!)... Murphy's law in action, when you need to scan in a hurry, scanner gets temperamental... Probably doesn't help that I'm trying to scan 11x14 sheets on a scanner that barely takes 9x12, either... ;)

Yup, I'm a chump.

Oh wait a minute - I see everyone's showing just the live area, apparently... (?) Are we supposed to just show the live area? I've been including the whole margin, out to the bleed area...

[Renegade89]

Hey, you know something funny, in my city due to time zone differences the deadline date would be in about about a month or so... :/

Well, my entry went to hell, my first and 4 page are not drawn and the other 2 are only rough and not inked, this week turned out to be very important for me, is sad that i didnt finish but loosing my pow and doing my real life duties was worth it completely.
Im working up in size, so i guess i can render with pencils a few panels and call it "illustrations" or i can be a weasel and add "well work on the details later" somewhere in my cheesy dialogs and get extra time... nah, im feeling lazy ;)

Anyways, hope i do finish one of this eventually, though is going to be a while until i get to join a challenge here. Great job everyone on those pages, hope the POW keeps on going and get larger and better each time.
The 2 page minimun and extended maximun is a good idea :)

Skorpi: Keep and eye for those moire patterns in your toning, otherwise good job.

Stoat: Loving the dark mood in the pictures, something like a classic black and white suspense movie, looks great.

Jonz: Those car wrecks look awesome :D great pages.

Xenos: Cool work, a little nitpick, in the first panel you added color reflections in the vampire, i guess you could have added some of those in the jacket guy as well, was a nice detail imo.

[Ilaekae]

Gwenevere, it should be at least to the trim size so we get an idea of how it looks "printed."

[arttorney]

Great job everyone. I'm glad to see this get off the ground with so many solid entries (and then there's mine).

Gwenevere, you want to borrow my Lexmark? I just painted all over Ilaekae's template and then saved it for here at the trim size (so theoretically I used an extra small live art area I guess).

Grief. You got even more nerve than I do. Use it wisely.

[adamsimons]

I am going to post mine, but it won't be done till at least tuesday :s

[llothcat]

gah...! blew it again.

too much drama at work:P

Was busy looking for another job over the past week.

[Ilaekae]

I lost most of the day with the super bowl and trying to get a cat out from under the refrigerator, so I'm just now downloading your entries so i can post a poll in the morning. I'll check here first in case anyone comes in late...

Damn...you're turning into a better role model than I am, Debra... :P

[llothcat]

I'm too much of a straight shooter actually.

I managed to make 3 people look really bad (two of 'em are supervisors) at work because I found some faked time recorded on the time sheet and I actually went and reported it. Now...I KNOW I'm not going to be too popular at work, and no matter what the home office says, they CAN'T protect me from harassment over it, so, hence, the emergency job search.:P

It be time to get a better grown up job anyways.

[llothcat]

i seriously hating being the last poster.....














damn....

[Ilaekae]

Allow me...I'm used to killing threads... sigh...

[adamsimons]

plenty of things could be redone,
but i am going to leave it as it is and make the most of what i have learned on the next comic.:mod:
i think if i stick with it, this is the sort of challenge that will take me from n00b to pro(which is pretty exciting/scary).

[arttorney]

This is cool Adam. Basically, you are telling your story without dialog. It's understandable, though. Next time We have a specific piece of dialog that goes in. I hope you have given some thought about how to work it in. You misspelled "roast" so I would suggest running your words through a spell checker or looking to the dictionary before you leave the pencil stage.

Depending on whether you prefer hatching or stippling, I would use one of those to begin filling in shadows on your figures and stuff so it looks more three dimensional. Shading with gray tones is where you are more likely to get into trouble if you get hooked up with a really old school printer who is using woodcuts or something. I think you are on your way though. I hope you can meet the Feb. 12 deadline and get into poll next time.

[Stoat]

Hahaha, Adam. Darkest France! Hee!

[adamsimons]

thanks to both for commenting.
@arttorney
the next one will have dialog which i will type up and run through a spellcheck:bashful:
i want to do more with shading and screentone on #2 so i may be late again.

[arttorney]

"Toasted" and "tournament" are a little wonky too. I want to make sure you get attention for your efforts.

I know as weird as my entry was it might not look like it, but I still think everyone should be able to get feedback and improve in this activity. Getting in your entry on time will get you crits from people less, er, experimental shall we say, than I am.

Your imagination is cool, and I can see those sense of humor things that Stoat has picked up on.

[llothcat]

heck..i sloooooowwwwwly inking mine. Digitally. It's a new process for me.

[Stoat]

Luck to you, llothcat. I could NOT get a good feel for digital inking. I can't tell you how much I drew lines and erased bits of them, trying to get the line quality I wanted.

[funfetus]

I strongly recommend you guys check out Manga Studio (http://www.e-frontier.com/go/mangastudio). It's by far the best app for digital inking -- better than Painter, which is already far better than Photoshop. It's also all about making comics. It's what I'm using for my entries.

If it's just an issue of not feeling comfortable with the Wacom pen or whatever, though, can't help you. :)

[Stoat]

Hm. That looks pretty interesting, ff. Does the $50 package have enough of the necessary features, or does it take the $300 version?

[idoru]

The $50 version is utter tripe by comparison to the $300 version. If you're just looking to ink, that's fine, but if you have any intention of using the tones... The cheap version not only has fewer of them, but you can't scale them.

[Hideyoshi]

If you wanna go for free completely, you could simply go with Open Canvas 1
You can achieve really good line quality with the pens. Feels a lot better than PS for example. Also, you can adjust a curve to your line width parameters for really nice accentuating brush strokes/calligraphy look.

And yes, drawing digitally is all about adjusting to the awkward hand-eye coordination with your tablet and monitor. But that's simply a matter of practice. Cintiqs are the expensive work-around...

[Stoat]

Thanks for the suggestions. Some kinds of linework I'm having no problem with. For example, I can get the scratchy crowquill hatching thing, like in my avatar. It's the classic cartoon "clean outline" look that I couldn't reproduce. My lines didn't convey information; they were clumsy and awkward. I couldn't make them do what I wanted.

[JonZ_]

The only thing with Open Canvas is it overide the Wacom area mapping settings. I work with Triple monitors and it disproportionate horribly the Wacom emplacement strokes, canceling the ease of use.

[mickeymao]

you can adjust a curve to your line width parameters for really nice accentuating brush strokes/calligraphy look.

Can you explain what you mean by this, Hideyoshi? I've been messing around with OC on my new tablet, but haven't got very far into it. I do really like the controls for the pen stroke.

[funfetus]

Hm. That looks pretty interesting, ff. Does the $50 package have enough of the necessary features, or does it take the $300 version?

Like Idoru said -- if you just want it for the inking, the cheap one's fine. It doesn't have the one feature that the expensive one has that completely convinced me, though -- the perspective rulers. You just position your vanishing points, and then it automatically detects which vanishing point you're drawing toward, and gives you a straight line toward it. It's amazing. I don't know why Painter doesn't have a feature like that.

[Stoat]

Woah! What a great idea!

It looks like if you buy the cheap one, you can upgrade to the expensive one later and have the price knocked off by that amount. I don't have any justification to buy the expensive one; this is just for fun. I can't imagine I'll get work doing linework.

[funfetus]

Oh yeah -- you can download 30-day demos on the site if you want to check it out before making your decision.

[llothcat]

behold....my work is now completely micron-less!

I sooooo hate microns.


anyhow, the digital inking wasn't as painful as i was fearing. It's about the same quality..ahem...that I do get when i do this irl. Except for that magical "undo" button.....

[arttorney]

Oh great! You got my "true love" idea.

(Not really) I think this is cool. I've been a bit of a fan since your "Fish in Front of a Metal Structure" drawing. Why is there a robot in there instead of a motorcycle? Is it a Transformer?

[llothcat]

yep...basically, it's a security feature of his bike...and he forgot the passcode(or something)

I think of it as a Gobot:D