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Covok posted:I find it very weird how often this place gets shitposted. Depends. If you are doing it to explore being creative and have a project that you really want to see come to life then it's very much worth it. Just have fun with it and enjoy the process. Don't even bother reading the rest of my post, just go out and make the thing. If you mean worth it as in using it purely as a money making opportunity then I'd say absolutely not. If you want more info then that: The market is more discerning now (because of the sheer volume of comics out there) but you used to be able to make a comic with decent writing and terrible art and still get an audience. Mind you even with good art and writing it can take years to build up a readership. The true 1000 fans rule works but getting there requires a lot of years of "firing off into the dark". 10 years isn't an off the wall estimate. There are exceptions but if you look into the background of any comic artist that seems to appear out of the blue and be successful, you'll see tons of past projects, work, etc that they made while off the radar. It just takes a long time of constantly working to make it. If you are a decent writer, and want to give it a shot, then work on making a few small, self-contained projects. Go for short comics that are complete stories. For the art, you can hire an artist and pay them to draw your pages for you. Those comics could also serve as portfolio pieces for you if you wanted to get a comic writing job for print. If you aren't a decent writer, then learn that first before trying comics. I'd say short fiction is a great place to start and you can practice in places like our very own Thunderdrome thread for free: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3845416 (beware, they hold nothing back in critiques). Steven King's On Writing is a pretty decent book to get you started on writing basics without too much nonsense. Yes writing for comics is different but you'll still need a strong grasp of writing fundamentals and short fiction can teach you those. And don't mind the shitposts, it's just how artists say hello.
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Apr 3, 2018 23:50
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Av does not shitpost. She makes art your puny mortal minds just can’t comprehend. 
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Apr 4, 2018 00:26
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readingatwork posted:Av does not shitpost. She makes art your puny mortal minds just can’t comprehend. Au contraire my friend. Posting the greatest works of art anyone will ever witness in all of their miserable lives in a thread such as this one is the most powerful shitpost of them all. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Apr 4, 2018 |
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Apr 4, 2018 00:30
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So I was wondering if there were any comprehensive guides on coloring or even just some tips and tricks. For reference here’s an almost completed page of a thing I’m doing.  I like the idea of not using local colors 100% of the time, but also want to keep the palette a bit closer to the realistic side. There’s probably a good middle ground between the stylized and the realistic right?
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Apr 5, 2018 16:25
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A lot of people do things differently and there are people with very strong ideas. Generally speaking in comics it's gonna be a trade off between how nice you want it to look and how much time you have to put into it. Overall that page looks good to me, but I think you'd benefit from thicker gutters. You might wanna try painting on some light from the sunset on a hard light layer.
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Apr 5, 2018 16:44
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Covok posted:I find it very weird how often this place gets shitposted. what's your idea, and how will you do it TheHan posted:So I was wondering if there were any comprehensive guides on coloring or even just some tips and tricks. For reference here’s an almost completed page of a thing I’m doing. start painting and painting from observation, and when you're not doing anything but looking just look at all the frankly insane ways color interacts in the space of the real world. Things are almost never what they look like just at first glance and usually contain all kinds of notes of color you're not immediately apprehending, and your eyes are constantly adjusting based on changes in lighting conditions which changes the colors you see. There's almost no such thing as a local color. FunkyAl fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Apr 5, 2018 |
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Apr 5, 2018 16:54
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TheHan posted:So I was wondering if there were any comprehensive guides on coloring or even just some tips and tricks. For reference here’s an almost completed page of a thing I’m doing. Minor gripe: You have two wildly different color schemes happening on the same page. They don’t conflict with each other per se but they don’t feel like they’re working together either. In future pages consider bringing at least some colors from one scheme into the other to give more of a sense of unity (for example, having the sunset be pink or the plates be blue). If anyone has any video/book recommendations on choosing color palettes I’d also be interested btw. I’ve been struggling with this stuff lately myself. readingatwork fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Apr 5, 2018 |
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Apr 5, 2018 17:20
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readingatwork posted:Minor gripe: You have two wildly different color schemes happening on the same page. They don’t conflict with each other per se but they don’t feel like they’re working together either. In future pages consider bringing at least some colors from one scheme into the other to give more of a sense of unity (for example, having the sunset be pink or the plates be blue). I don't agree with this at all. It's clear the two colour schemes are used to distinguish between the indoor scene and the outdoor scene.
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Apr 5, 2018 17:42
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Coloring- a book I recommend- "Starting with Watercolor" by Rowland Hilder. Even if you're not planning to use watercolor as a medium, it really helped me understand color in a practical way that I could apply to my art, instead of just theories that i always had a hard time really making use of. just plain advice- It helped me to think about color in comics as being less about what something "looks" like than what it "feels" like. Pick colors not to just represent an objct but to represent the time of day or year, the location, the relationship of multiple objects in a scene. For example- if you're drawing two characters sitting together having coffee on a porch, your palette should be really different if it's during wintertime, summer, sunset, night, etc. This might be an exercise you would find valuable- taking the same lineart and coloring it using several different palettes and noticing what changes about how the image "feels." another recommended exercise- Pick something to draw for fun, then pick your palette deliberately. You may want to limit yourself by omitting a few colors you know would locally actually be present in the scene. Try to go by the feel you want to evoke. One example is to avoid neutrals in the palette for this exercise. Breaking away from local color really helped me enjoy the act of coloring a lot more as it felt more like an expression than an obligation when I wasn't worried about whether something "looked authentic." I hope you'll find this to be true also .
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Apr 5, 2018 22:12
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It's up to you to find what works, there's lots of ways to approach color. Experimentation is definitely the key, and don't be afraid to try lots of things. As far as the discussion on schemes go, I think both are fair points. On the one hand the shift does indicate a change in scene but its so drastic that mentally I can see them being read as completely different scenes that have nothing to do with each other as opposed to being shown a close up and then an interior of the same city. Like here's a good example of using color to show a transition in scene:  You can see that peridot is coming from a different location with completely different lighting, but her panel still has some pink in her skin/clothing that makes it not out of place with the rest of the panels.If you are going for stylized and bold colors, GigiDigi is one of the best artists to study. She has coloring tutorials out there that might give you some useful ideas of how to tackle some of these issues. edited cause I found a better example:  Second panel here really helps with the transition. Also a lot of purple in the shadows to tie it to the color outside as well. In your comic, you did a great job making the blue buildings less saturated as they got closer to the horizon. For me a bigger issue are the line weights. It looks like the buildings in the back are transparent instead of just being faded due to atmospheric perspective. I would soften the line edges especially the ones facing the light as you go back, and even remove some edges entirely. Also with the way the back buildings are lit, it makes me think the sun is still in the sky though very low so the back sides of the buildings here should be much darker than the rest of the sides if that's the case. A little rim lighting in the right areas and I think that would really sell the sunset. But really the best thing to do would be to study artists and study life and then come up with your own ideas on color based on what you've seen. James Gurney's Color and Light book is very useful but certainly not the only source. Gigi as mentioned above is really good and can also study painters like Thomas Moran who were really focused on light and color and great at creating moody landscapes. Even if you dont go for the same level of detail, a lot of the same principles of light/color will be just as useful to you as it was for them. Again though lots of ways to approach it so I hope at least some of this ends up being useful. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Apr 5, 2018 |
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Apr 5, 2018 22:26
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Thanks for the tips everyone! Looking at it I can see how the color schemes create kind of a disconnect, and those Gigi pages are extremely my jam so I'm gonna do some practice pieces and work with making the color palette flow as well as those do (Eventually). The points about the line art (and gutters) make sense too, I usually take most of the edges off of foreground characters and objects to draw more attention to them and leave the lines in the background, but I can see how the weights muck things up a bit.
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Apr 6, 2018 02:01
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every time I post rough practice art here I get cold feet
Digamma-F-Wau fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Apr 12, 2018 |
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Apr 11, 2018 23:27
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i have been working on my loving comic for so long with no return on my investment whatsoever i hate this thing it's consumed a decade of my life and what do i have to show for it? absolutely nothing. but it demands my time. nothing else can get through, nothing else can hold my attention, if i try to focus on another project my stupid loving comic barges in and says LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, PAY ATTENTION TO ME stupid loving comic bitch
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Apr 12, 2018 11:58
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i hate this making GBS threads turd of an rear end and i don't even know what dark reaches of my psyche it stems from that it exerts such hold over my brain but if i ever manage to produce a book i'm going to print out a million of them and make a giant bonfire and poo poo onto it from a helicopter, because gently caress this stupid thing, i hate it, i hate all these people, these miserable people, gently caress them and their issues
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Apr 12, 2018 12:00
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what the hell just happened to my avatar
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Apr 12, 2018 12:00
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TRASH
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Apr 12, 2018 12:01
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Covok posted:Anyway, is it worth it to do webcomics if you can't do art to save your life? The answer is "always" if you find it personally fulfilling, either as a means of creative expression or a way of practicing your artwork. If you're asking about whether you'll get people actually reading it, that depends entirely on how creative you are at writing and how good you are at personal marketing. The most popular example of this is probably One-Punch Man, which started life as a terribly drawn webcomic but was so gosh-darned funny and heartfelt that it gained a massive amount of eyes and subsequently blew up in a big way. A less popular (but still notable) example is Øyvind Thorsby, who's been drawing in the same cut-and-paste MSPaint style for over four years, but still retains a cult following due to how creatively madcap his scenarios and worlds become. The most important thing when doing art - even "bad" art - is to have a consistency of style. If your work states upfront, "This is how things are going to look," your audience will start to overlook far more mistakes or oddities than if the art style jumps around greatly in quality or style.
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Apr 12, 2018 12:27
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i legitimately want to marry oyvey thorsby
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Apr 12, 2018 12:39
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My somewhat cynical answer to that sort of question is: "if you are asking the question, the answer is no." My experience is that your commitment to a long project like webcomics is only going to diminish as things proceed and you run into obstacles. If you are not sure about starting, do something else that you really want to.
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Apr 12, 2018 12:42
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i don't even like drawing
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Apr 12, 2018 13:29
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loving do your poo poo or else I will kick your rear end
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Apr 12, 2018 13:31
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Please
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Apr 12, 2018 13:31
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Neon Noodle posted:loving do your poo poo or else I will kick your rear end
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Apr 12, 2018 13:32
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this broken hill posted:can't get past the storyboarding stage bitch fart skip the storyboarding stage and jump right into making comics like you normally would and abandon over half of them. it is the "true way"
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Apr 12, 2018 18:48
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So I've been doing a gently caress-tonne of writing as of late but have found myself seriously lacking on the drawing end of things. It's mostly just a case where I feel like I'm not getting the same level of enjoyment out of drawing that I used to, which somewhat upsets me because I used to love drawing. Anyone had a similar experience and have any tips on how I could rekindle my passion for the art side of things? 'Cause this project isn't really a comic without the visual portion of it...
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Apr 13, 2018 02:08
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I don't draw for fun anymore because art is work now, and when I'm not working I want to do other things for fun. Young artists get really freaked out when you tell them this, that when drawing becomes a job it sometimes isn't a leisure activity anymore.
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Apr 13, 2018 07:17
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I still find art fun. But I've never earned money from it. Swings and roundabouts.
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Apr 13, 2018 09:26
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I’ve never had fun in my life and I’m sure as hell not gonna start now But honestly I believe you can approach drawing with a mindset toward making it more fun the same way you might sit down to draw with the goal of improving your perspective or your line work or any other aspect. I’ve gotten a lot of benefit out of the concept of “Psycho-cybernetics” (a very old and weird self-help book), which describes all learning as a wandering feedback/reinforcement process. You try stuff, remain open and playful without a strong mental grip on what’s happening, but with a sensitive perception of how it feels and how you steer yourself slightly toward what feels better. That steering process reinforces itself gradually until you can just think about where you want to “go” and go there without having to force it. To me this idea is connected with Taoism and the allowance for the “life force” to flow into the directions it goes. Non-forcing is key. It’s possible to gently intend to try something without white-knuckling. There’s another self-help book called The Relaxation Response that talks about the mental attitude for meditation, and the author describes it as something like a passive curiosity about whatever happens. I’ve relied a ton on this philosophical stuff because of struggling with anxiety and other brain monsters. Make having fun the goal of your next drawing?  
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Apr 13, 2018 12:13
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I've always had a harder time motivating myself to do the drawing part, but back in 2010 and the next few years I was still really productive art-wise. In 2015 I had some mental health issues crop up big time and ever since then it's been really hard to motivate myself to draw. I find that if I can get myself to sit down and just do it, I enjoy it as much as I used to. But I have to prioritize work, sleep, and physical exercise over drawing, so it tends to get dropped from my day to day schedule. I had moderate success relatively a while ago by aiming to do 15 minutes of drawing a day. I would earn a star on the calendar, like a first grader remembering to do chores, if I drew for at least 15 minutes. That star was surprisingly motivating but there were still many, many days i just couldn't fit in that 15 minutes. I don't know when you were in your best stride art-wise in terms of productivity but that may relate. For me, as a teenager and in my early 20s it was easier to just sit back and enjoy drawing and see it all as just good fun and spend hours on it- but it was also easier to do that with other hobbies, too. I don't know if it's practicality or just a getting older thing but I've noticed a decrease in interest (in terms of amount of time I'm mentally able to devote to them) with all my older hobbies.
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Apr 13, 2018 12:27
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This is the thing that worries me about having kids. (Im gonna have them anyway.) I love art and drawing. And have finally let go of the need to get better at it (I still do, but I don't judge my drawings so harshly anymore because I don't need to get better.) But I don't do this as a job. So I have to make time for it. And it's hard to justify to myself and others spending a lot of time doing this stuff, when there is work and relationships and all these other needs and responsibilities that supersede my want to draw. Add kids to that and will there be anytime left? So while I might still enjoy art more than Reiley, (debatable) she will always be able to justify doing it, because its her job. I on the other hand may be forced by lack of time to put it to the way side. What I'm saying is life will strip any happiness from you, just give up now! (Don't really. This is a joke.)
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Apr 13, 2018 12:55
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Wow, I picked a super-motivating moment to read this thread!  My current project is doing a new short-story comic each month, and my motivation is mostly 'grim-faced determination'. I've only just started making comics (making a whole comic is super intimidating!) so I figure 'hey, the first bunch I make will be cack, so I'll do one a month so I can make mistakes fast, and improve each time!' Coming up with a totally fresh idea each month is a hell I didn't expect. The art I knew would be hard. I somehow didn't realise that writing would be a major part of it.  A huge thing keeping me going is how wide a range of stuff comic-making involves. If I don't want to work on one part, there's always something else to switch to.
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Apr 13, 2018 19:29
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king kalamari i would suggest trying a new medium/picking up an old one and try to illustrate some scenes from your comic. oil pastels or watercolor or something else loose. like, if youve been doing disproportionately more writing, that's okay! maybe your project is a book. maybe try thinking of drawing like illustrations!
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Apr 13, 2018 20:17
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this broken hill posted:i hate this making GBS threads turd of an rear end and i don't even know what dark reaches of my psyche it stems from that it exerts such hold over my brain but if i ever manage to produce a book i'm going to print out a million of them and make a giant bonfire and poo poo onto it from a helicopter, because gently caress this stupid thing, i hate it, i hate all these people, these miserable people, gently caress them and their issues Don't go the pictures for sad children route. Reiley posted:I don't draw for fun anymore because art is work now, and when I'm not working I want to do other things for fun. Young artists get really freaked out when you tell them this, that when drawing becomes a job it sometimes isn't a leisure activity anymore. Yeah, I'm an animator and I took up writing as a hobby. Can't do the same thing for 8-9 hours per day for pay and then the same exact thing when you get home. I do know some people who have kids who need to supplement their income with freelance, so they work at a studio for 8 hours and then work on freelance from 7-12 after dinner. Ccs fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Apr 14, 2018 |
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Apr 14, 2018 15:49
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lofi posted:Wow, I picked a super-motivating moment to read this thread! I liked it. I thought it was pretty good. I think you did a good job of telling a story without saying it. Like, yeah, you said it, but if you took away the text you still get the general idea. My complaint is there isn't too much going on. The art is nice and it looks cool, but I does need some direction. Overall, that was nice so far. Keep it going.
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Apr 15, 2018 02:03
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Thanks! Yeah, I've realised I'm doing that a fair bit, setting up a scene/world and not actually doing much with it. I'm working on my writing skills, and that's definitely where my focus is going to be.
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Apr 15, 2018 02:15
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I'm doing the usual expat-english-teacher schtick in Korea, and one of the activities I do with my 6th graders is have them make comics using the lesson's vocabulary/expressions. I just finished the this page and I'm pretty proud of the layout, so here we are. The lesson's theme is about describing someone's appearance. With the amount of homework / afterschool crap that they're expected to do, my students don't have a lot of time, so I try to make something that pretty clearly sets up the joke and format, but leaves the punchline / creativity squarely in their hands.  Of course, I scan and upload all of their work on this Blog, in case anyone wants to see what they've come up with in the past. Some of them are genuine gold. McKilligan fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Apr 16, 2018 |
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Apr 16, 2018 08:09
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A bunch of drawing tutorials (and some writing ones) that people might find useful.McKilligan posted:
I thought my favorite was the anime horn patient, but it’s definitely the mouse one. Mouse ↘️
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Apr 16, 2018 15:47
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what the gently caress these are so good and i've never heard about them before thank you, friend
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Apr 17, 2018 01:02
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Apr 17, 2018 01:41
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I know this is going to vary a lot from person to person, but how long do you guys spend on a page? This little fucker took me 7h, not including thumbnailing. I guess that'll speed up as I get more used to a working process. I hope it does.  Trad pencils/inks, digital colour.
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Apr 19, 2018 00:09
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