Topic: Ok, need encouragement/ideas (Read 35124 times)

Xyclone · « **on:** 18 Mar 2006, 20:17 »

Hey guys, new to the forum, but no where near new to QC ( think i started reading on 20th comic or so? and havent stopped since ) so first I'de thought I would give a hearty oi to Jeph and you all!

anyways... been pondering starting my own comic for quite awhile and looking for (as the thread states) ideas/encouragement. So here's what Ive got so far: ideas developing are something more story based, not day to day humor, although I think there could be room for it sometimes obviously.... so along the lines of QC structure, but maybe less comedic influence. Had a semi Mad Max-esk, post-apocolypse idea floating around, so did some concept sketching.

So maybe loaner with crotch rocket traveling round wasteland meeting characters and developing story from there? or someting along those lines
(ignore the oddly shaped wheels, still havent gotten used to drawing circles with my new tablet)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/adamspn/bike.jpg" >

another render (i like the oversized helmet covering his eyes... makes him more mysterious ;-P )

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/adamspn/char2.jpg">

so now looking for ideas for basic story premis and or plot lines? I'm about to graduate from college in 6 weeks and with the less than stellar job outlook for this electronics engineer, i may have alot of free time on my hands until i get something paying more than minimum wage....

any boo's or yay's are more than encouraged, dont want to jump into this if my drawing orstory ideas suck lol

l8r
Pete

Kai · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Mar 2006, 21:46 »

Quote from: Xyclone

So maybe loaner with crotch rocket traveling round wasteland meeting characters and developing story from there? or someting along those lines
(ignore the oddly shaped wheels, still havent gotten used to drawing circles with my new tablet)

So it's kinda like Kino's Journey (Albiet probably alot less serious)?

Sounds fancy. Go with it. And check out Kino's Journey. It wins.

mrtuesday42 · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Mar 2006, 14:02 »

now THAT is some kickass art...tablet you say? what size? anyways...u need a story! dont do what i did and make a website and teach urself to draw in 3 weeks! without a story! ok so i settled on my own life...but anyways...sounds like u could take it somewhere good luck!
i also taught myself dreamweaver...hooray foe me

GebStar · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 04:27 »

Dude awesome drawing. They're fantastic. Cleaned up and coloured, or even monochromed, they'll be fucking awesome. You reckon it'll be something serious with a bit of comedy, cause the guy looks comical at moments, especially the second panel.
Shit just keep thinking, I SO want to keep an eye on this.

Sean C · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 07:16 »

Good art, though the character design really reminds me of Beetle Bailey; it doesn't give the aura of mystery. If you wanted to achieve that, the art should have more complicated shadows. It's perfect for a humor comic, though. I wouldn't go with the crotch-rocket idea; there's a strange kind of funny, and a strange kind of funny that's stupid and tasteless, and a crotch-rocket falls into the latter category.

If you've seen the Y2K episode of Family Guy, you know that the end of the world scenario can indeed be funny. Make it a story of how the world gets put back together, from the perspective of your drifter main character. There's serious potential for humor, since people have the ability to govern with extreme idiocy. Play with that. Have a core cast, though, of survivors. I wouldn't limit myself to just one, unless he's a vehicle for social commentary.

akd · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 13:30 »

Working on the no-crotch-rocket idea, a bus? A van? Something chunky where he can pick up multiple characters if you want to weave a storyline out of a few characters for a while.

I mean, when people say post-apocalptic-wasteland, I think of a VW Beetle

gmcalpin · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 13:46 »

Quote from: akd

I mean, when people say post-apocalptic-wasteland, I think of a VW Beetle

That actually makes sense to me. Why does that make sense to me?

minignome · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 14:03 »

funny would be instead of a new beetle one of those older ones that somebody converted into a convertable

Xyclone · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 14:31 »

heh, well its funny you guys should talk about Vw's and using them in the story, because I myself am a VW mechanic/restorer (the old ones) I personally own 3 buses, and 4 bugs, which isnt even the tip of the ieberg as far as the entire bunch me and my family have collected. I was seriously considering encorporating them into the story..... and the cruising around in a bus might be jsut what I need... hmmmm Ill try some more concept sketches at the end of the week and subit them to your humble eyes.

As far as the tablet question, its a simple $50 4x5 Wacom, I'm trully astonished at how easy it was to pick up and use... anyone who doesnt have a tablet, Ill even give you a link (if its still active) of the sale I got mine from, cause you will be amazed at the results and how fun it makes doing shit like this

gmcalpin · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 14:35 »

Quote from: Xyclone

heh, well its funny you guys should talk about Vw's and using them in the story, because I myself am a VW mechanic/restorer (the old ones) I personally own 3 buses, and 4 bugs, which isnt even the tip of the ieberg as far as the entire bunch me and my family have collected. I was seriously considering encorporating them into the story.....

You TOTALLY should! And just think -- you'll have all the reference you need.

Xyclone · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 14:37 »

here's the link for the tablet http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/tech4less/sqlresults?id=pA3I8DPy&mv_pc=1

gives ya 10 bucks off, came from an email add or something

cheers

Xyclone · « **Reply #11 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 08:16 »

so something i did on my lunch break real quick along the new lines, maybe do some others tonight if i dont go to the bar

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/adamspn/bus1.jpg" >

mrtuesday42 · « **Reply #12 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 08:30 »

looks good...cept he looks like hes almost entirely haning out the window...jus teh perspective there...other than that looks great...it doesnt look like u do it on a tablet/photoshop..how DO u do it?

Verergoca · « **Reply #13 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 09:14 »

Oh, looks rather nice

Dont give up on it!

*sits down and waits for the next nice pic*

Xyclone · « **Reply #14 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 09:18 »

yeah i thought the perspective looked kinda weird too, but he is supposed to be hanging out the window

thats how i drive mine on hot days lol

as far as doing it on the tablet, for the bus i just draw some base sketch lines then use the pen tool and go over the base lines to make the actual straight lines and curves ( one thing that i find hard to do on the tablet ), then do a new layer of the guy over that using just all tablet... other than that nothing else really, I think my brush size is like 9 w/ opacity at about 70% and flow to about 50%

mrtuesday42 · « **Reply #15 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 10:30 »

for the guy/perspective...he would be on top of his elbow if his head was out the window as well as a more oustretched arm for driving...the perspective is just a lil off...im good with perspective just not people! haha

Xyclone · « **Reply #16 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 11:14 »

true true, got another coming with alittle more time put in and a less flat look

akd · « **Reply #17 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 11:44 »

gmcalpin wrote:

Quote

akd wrote:
I mean, when people say post-apocalptic-wasteland, I think of a VW Beetle

That actually makes sense to me. Why does that make sense to me?

because beetles are AWESOME 0_o

Xyclone · « **Reply #18 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 12:23 »

ugh, well took some time to make a new one and even added some quick color, but once i added color, realized he was too small lol, oh well, here's what i came up with for the moment, the sketch kinda looks better than the colored and inked version, thinking maybe sticking with the monochrome, but we will see

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/adamspn/bus2color.jpg">

akd · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 13:18 »

nice, but should be more rugger lookin' (i know its an early draft), it could have, like odd coloured siding in some places where hes made patch repairs etc

mrtuesday42 · « **Reply #20 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 13:27 »

i personally prefer teh sketchy black and white look...and yeah hes too small his hips should be rite at teh bottom of window...but it does look much less flat! looking good!
my art is very flat...so yeah not much of a critique i guess

Xyclone · « **Reply #21 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 13:53 »

yeah, i prefer the sketchy look too, ill see what i can do, and i think color is out

and repairs and stuff are definetly going to be incorporated, butim gonna have to make a compromise between finding things that really make it look rugid and things that will make it so it would take hours just to draw the bus for one frame

ElRodente · « **Reply #22 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 13:54 »

what did you do the colouring and inking in?

looks like flash or illustrator to me

if so, try drawing freehand with the brush tool in flash, or right click on the pen tool in illustrator and play with the settings

edit: on second thought, might be the GIMP even

Xyclone · « **Reply #23 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 14:38 »

its all in photoshop, just pen tool the outlines and fill, then shadows with pen tool again

akd · « **Reply #24 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 14:44 »

For the rugger 'n' repair look, you could just colour one of the doors a different colour or something, make it look a bit battered and crappy

minignome · « **Reply #25 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 15:00 »

or you could get rid of the VW hood ornament thing and replace it with something else, something that you could name the bus after

Xyclone · « **Reply #26 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 17:04 »

yeah i was trying to think of some sort of logo or name for the comic, had the idea of "Lookin' For 5th" a name, which anyone who's familiar with VW's knows there are only 4 gears, kinda an inside joke, since I have personally seen people try and get one into the mysteriously missing 5th gear

akd · « **Reply #27 on:** 22 Mar 2006, 23:13 »

Maybe some chunky funky tires, to help in dem desert plains

minignome · « **Reply #28 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 05:42 »

Good call akd, he could be driving around with those big ass tanklike tires that can drive over anything... or maybe he just eventually finds em. Could make for a fun look.

Sean C · « **Reply #29 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 09:35 »

I think you should stick with the sketchy style - it looks more appropriate for the post-apocalyptic concept. It also just looks more visually appealing than the color versions, which seem to be too vibrant.

I'd love to see this drawn by hand and inked. I think it would look so much stronger.

akd · « **Reply #30 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 10:43 »

or even a 3 or 4 colour only thing. just blacks, whites greys and reds or browns maybe? giv it a rustic look

Xyclone · « **Reply #31 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 11:59 »

well one thing i was playing with was maybe a sin city sort of things, like you said, maybe mostly monocrome, but then something like his helmet being green and other "important things"

akd · « **Reply #32 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 12:27 »

Sounds good. Seems you have the art down. How you doing for story ideas?

ElRodente · « **Reply #33 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 14:09 »

maybe instead of using the bucket to colour, draw it on with a big brush,

get a big hard round one, and just draw, you can change the opacity with 1~0 and the size with [&]

Xyclone · « **Reply #34 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 16:21 »

how bout something like this?

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/adamspn/Dave1.jpg" >

Kai · « **Reply #35 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 16:37 »

That's pretty awesome.

akd · « **Reply #36 on:** 23 Mar 2006, 23:08 »

Looks pretty tits

Inlander · « **Reply #37 on:** 24 Mar 2006, 05:16 »

I prefer the black & white sketches you've shown so far to the coloured ones. I think black & white really suits the atmosphere of the world you're talking about - same goes for the sketchy, kinda rough look. The fully coloured picture you posted looked too smooth by half - but then, that's just my particular impression of what you've described as the setting for your comic. If you're going to colour it, I think the colours should be really faded and washed out. The colours you've done so far seem very jaunty to me.

mrtuesday42 · « **Reply #38 on:** 24 Mar 2006, 09:28 »

the black and white looks REALLY good...i think if u want to color it the coloring should be VERY faint...color...colour...hmmm

ElRodente · « **Reply #39 on:** 24 Mar 2006, 09:41 »

looks great

i suggested the hand colouring as a way to colour it but keep the feel roughly the same as the B&w sketches, i think it worked, but i would

try using bigger brushes and filling in the whole thing maybe

don't be afraid to overlap, you can always fix it after, plus it might look cool

Xyclone · « **Reply #40 on:** 24 Mar 2006, 11:14 »

ok heres some color samples, gimme some feedback on which ones you guys like the best

http://photobucket.com" target="_blank">

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/adamspn/colortest.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket">

Kirbo · « **Reply #41 on:** 24 Mar 2006, 11:20 »

May I suggest stubble. I liked the first skecth with it, made it look more port-apocalyptic.

Also, of the four pics, the left side looks the best to me, but they're all good.

Xyclone · « **Reply #42 on:** 24 Mar 2006, 11:33 »

ask and you shall recieve, although not as extreme as the first one, varying levels of unshaven-ness> I really like how the two top ones turned out, the washed out one on the right especially.... the subtle color really adds to it, i think anyways

http://photobucket.com" target="_blank">

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/adamspn/stuble.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket">

jibjib · « **Reply #43 on:** 26 Mar 2006, 08:33 »

the lower-left one reminds me of my dad...creepy
(not that the resemblance is strange, my dad is just a creepy-looking guy)
anyway, i like either that one or the upper-right one.

It's amazing to look at this thread for the first time today, since it seems like you've improved you art even since the first post. great progress

Kai · « **Reply #44 on:** 26 Mar 2006, 10:26 »

I think the bottom left one fits the best, if you're going to do it in color.

Kirbo · « **Reply #45 on:** 26 Mar 2006, 10:26 »

I like the stubble alot, I think it adds the ruggedness that he would probably have.

That said, my personal choice would be the lower left face, on the lower right's body with the lower right's helmet.

Xyclone · « **Reply #46 on:** 26 Mar 2006, 16:57 »

Quote from: jibjib

the lower-left one reminds me of my dad...creepy
(not that the resemblance is strange, my dad is just a creepy-looking guy)
anyway, i like either that one or the upper-right one.

It's amazing to look at this thread for the first time today, since it seems like you've improved you art even since the first post. great progress

heh, yeah i see what you mean about the art, i dont know, its like sometimes stuff comes out awsome, othertimes I cant draw a damn circle, its almost like it comes and goes

by the way, a test strip is coming along, I have a few frames done, should be done in a day or so

Erik the Hack · « **Reply #47 on:** 28 Mar 2006, 22:07 »

I think your pencils are fantastic, but those inks were way too clean and static (him in the van). You lost a lot of the "life" in the work when you inked it. I used to have that same problem myself (*still* have it); keeping a dynamic, alive feel is always a challenge when the inking is done digitally. Continue playing with different pens/brushes. I think your artwork has the potential to be something really extraordinary. Look forward to seeing more!

Luke C · « **Reply #48 on:** 29 Mar 2006, 11:37 »

He's looking pretty good. The ones on the left with stuble look most awesome.

spectrumsa-z · « **Reply #49 on:** 29 Mar 2006, 11:48 »

I kind of like the messy look of the bottom right guy. You could definitely make that work, and I just really love the feel of it.
This is great work all around! I definitely see this going places.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Ok, need encouragement/ideas (Read 35124 times)

Xyclone

mrtuesday42

Sean C

akd

gmcalpin

minignome

Xyclone

gmcalpin

Xyclone

Xyclone

mrtuesday42

Xyclone

mrtuesday42

Xyclone

akd

Xyclone

akd

mrtuesday42

Xyclone

Xyclone

akd

minignome

Xyclone

akd

minignome

Sean C

akd

Xyclone

akd

Xyclone

akd

mrtuesday42

Xyclone

Xyclone

jibjib

Xyclone

Erik the Hack

spectrumsa-z