The Chase: Sequentials - 70s Noir

[black_fish]

Here are 4 pages I did as sequential test for myself, to try some new pencilling style as well as some new coloring techniques. I did everything on this ('story'/layouts/pencils/inks/colors). I worked pretty fast (at least one fully completed page a day).
Tell me what you think.

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/9907/jmringuetthechasepage01io6.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8590/jmringuetthechasepage02hm7.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1747/jmringuetthechasepage03bo5.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5735/jmringuetthechasepage04hy8.jpg

[voraz]

You've done a nice work for such a fast job, I think it's looking good, but I have some critiques/suggestions. The colours are all very similar, a little more variations would make it more interesting, also the pattern you used in the background may be different but feels the same in all the scenes: for the floor, for the skies, the buildings... I think those factors make it a little boring grafically.
About the story, i think some parts are not very believable, like when the guy gets shot, he must be about 3 meters from the other guy and he has time to duck, pick up a stick, leap to the other guy and hit him... the guy with the gun would have time to shot him again and surelly wouldn't miss at that distance.
Again in the car he is at 3-4 m from the guy shooting and he doesn't get a bullet, those guys are really bad...
Anyway, I hope this helps, nice work nonetheless...
cheers

[black_fish]

Actually it was the whole idea with colors and textures: to keep them very consistent to create mood for a specific scene. A different scene would have a different dominant color and different textures. Just experimenting with it.

The 'story' is maybe a little too unbelievable but I think it still works if you don;t look at it too close :) I understand what you say though.

[stoph]

forgive me if im wrong.. but isnt noir supposed to be predominantly black and white..?

[sourgasm]

this feels more like 70s pimp flick than 70s noir to me :P

i like the consistent color scheme. to me, it read the same as you explained it in your response. nice job. especially so damn fast.

[Shamagim]

Nice!, seems GTAish for some reason :)

[black_fish]

Damn! I don't know the meaning of Noir :)

Sorry for the misunderstanding then, my reference were late 60s early 70s crime movies like Bullit, French Connection or Superfly. And yeah maybe a little GTAish.... they should do a 60s version of GTA anyway...

Thanks for the comments about colors and such.

I tried to work fast on those pages because for me comics are about immediacy, about putting an idea on the page with the fewest lines (as Jim Steranko said), if you don't do it fast, it won't read fast, and comics are things that you have to read fast to enjoy them (Sin City for me is the perfect example of that).
Now I think it would be interesting to hear other people takes on that, people who likes Geoff Darrow art (and I do to), who like to pour on one pannel for several minutes or who think that a nice comic page is like a beautiful illustration.

[DrKilljoy]

That was pretty good, I'm assuming that there are others ones already here then? Time to find 'em!
*starts lookin*

[sleep]

actually, black_fish... stoph was wrong, you're right {i think},

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe Hollywood crime dramas that set their protagonists in a world perceived as inherently corrupt and unsympathetic.from wikipedia.

it's associated with black&white but black&white is not a prerequisite... your scene looks like film noir to me

by the way, it looks rather nice.. quite gta, yes..

[carnalizer]

very nice!

[Burp_Sanchez]

Agreed! very nice and very good.

[black_fish]

Thank you sirs! :tihi:

Now I wonder how many people would buy a book drawn like that? :)

[Banshax]

I got a small suggestion concerning the second page. The second row, last two images. In both the iron bar is in the same direction diagonally. This reads quite weak.

Imagine the guy would pick up the bar, raise it and then smack it down. a direct downhand smackdown is quite weak and even confusing?

A solution to both distance and diagonals could be the following:
Cut straight from the overview to the head of the thrower. Show him with a throwing acting of the pipe and then cut to the last picture.

just a thought, sequentials are so amusing cause theyre not far from storyboards. and storyboards demand a certain visual logic. anyway, just thinking outloud here. Im loving the overal look n characters.

[Mr. Visions]

I like the style and overall the exectution, I'm really bothered by the lack of versatility in the angles. You lose alot of the dynamic in the action because most of the shots where the action is taking place is level. I would suggest moving that camera of yours around and take some risks, especially when you want to get the viewer's blood pumping. Style is effective, now you just gotta drive the impact of your comic to us.

Could you elaborate on your coloring technique?

- Visions

[black_fish]

Voraz: it's a good point. Some people told me the same thing. I think I got too involved in doing creative framing for each panel, so maybe the storytelling i suffering from it.

Mr Visions: yeah that's a very interesting advice, and I'm actually going to do more of that on the pages I'm working now - without going too crazy about it though, I want to keep a 70s movie style look and not a MTV video look ;)

Thanks for the very helpful comments all.

[chris chUa]

this is cool, man. I dig the textures. pretty impressive that you can do each page in a day.

[black_fish]

Actually I spent about 1 hour to 1 1/2 pencilling, less than an hour inking and maybe 1 1/2 coloring in Photoshop. The lettering (which is weak) takes me less than 30 minutes.
My goal would be 2 finished pages a day but I'm still noodling and hesitating too much :) I think I can shave some time from inking and maybe even coloring, to make more detailed pencils.

[carnalizer]

You were wondering how many would buy such a book. I wouldn't know about that but I think it stylistically looks right at home in Heavy Metal. At least with how HM looked when I was buying it years ago.. :)

[charger]

nice car....

[black_fish]

Hahaha, yeah Charger.... it's a .... 69 Charger :)

[charger]

and you think i didnt know that lol my aim name is cool69rtcharger lol

but it is missing some stuff lol
side (http://www.moparsunlimited.com/member_pics/69_Charger_Jim_Gaines.jpg)
hood (http://www.hobbylinc.com/gr/rmx/rmx852546.jpg) yes i know its a model but its the first one i saw where you can see it lol

[black_fish]

Yes I removed some elements for the sake of simplicity but maybe I should have included them now that I think about it. I'm a big fan of all of the late sixties muscle, but I always had problems drawing cars in the past. I'm glad this one came out good enough to be identified, especially by you ;)
Thanks for the comments.

[g.owen]

About the story, i think some parts are not very believable, like when the guy gets shot, he must be about 3 meters from the other guy and he has time to duck, pick up a stick, leap to the other guy and hit him... the guy with the gun would have time to shot him again and surelly wouldn't miss at that distance.
Again in the car he is at 3-4 m from the guy shooting and he doesn't get a bullet, those guys are really bad...
Anyway, I hope this helps, nice work nonetheless...
cheers


Voraz is wrong. He watches too much TV. I am a law enforcement officer and know that it is not as easy as it looks to shoot somebody.

Anyway, I noticed early in the story that there was a "click". I don't know why. Maybe his gun wasn't fully loaded - it is a revolver. That whole scene there could be made more realistic if you simply add another "click" sound on the second or third panel of the second page (it would be like the chamber was empty, or the gun malfunctioned -- that sort of think happens alot in real life).

And maybe the blond guy that looks like Daryle Hall (80's music) is just a bad shot. Not everybody can shoot like me.:muscle:

What program do you use to color with? I have noticed that good color jobs look like that now a days. The color is loaded with textures. HOW DO you do that?