I know this has already been asked a hundred times...but do you have a tentative release date on this project? The art thus far is pretty slick, and I'd love to have it all in one place when the book hits the stands.
Hi everybody,
Here is Rash page 7...
Pat
I know this has already been asked a hundred times...but do you have a tentative release date on this project? The art thus far is pretty slick, and I'd love to have it all in one place when the book hits the stands.
I really like the work you've done on these Rash pages! It's pretty awesome indeed. You mind if I attempt to colour this one? PM me.
Still needs blacks to add depth, regardless of whether or not the colorist will create contrast or depth in the coloring. The story is only as good as the art carrying it.
Pika!
Thx for the comments,
Pikachu... sorry for you, but if blackspots are the only way for you to define depth and contrast, you've got lots of thing to learn on art...
Pat
First off, I like your style, but you need to act like a pro. if you're going to accept critiques from pros. That said, even though you haven't shown any maturity, I will give you a real critique... take it or leave it.
You style is cartoony, and has an animate feel. This is good, but your story telling is week. You need to be able to pull in the audience and control the eye. Your camera angles flop a lot, and you're breaking the 180 degree rule constantly. This only confuses the reader. Also, your transitions need work, such as in this page. When you use the five panel or less rule, you need to be extra careful in how you convey information via image to the reader. As with most of your pages, it's hard to get any flow going and smooth out some of your pacing. Some readers may think like you, but you can't bet that all of them will.
Look at how you start with the group of soldiers standing around, then in panel 2 you zoom in tight on their beat up faces (it shows skill when you move from a medium shot to a close up), but in panel 3 you pull way out and flip the camera all the way around. The reader gets a little shaken up, and even if this was intentional, I think you could have pulled it off better.
As for putting down blacks, it's a necassary skill all artists need to know. It comes with the basics of drawing, and understanding how to control a light source. I haven't seen any of that. So far all of your art looks flat, and that's a fact. You perspective skills are good, but they won't show you any depth no matter how dynamic they are. It will still look like a 2-D drawing. Use a straight edge when you ink. By looking at the windows it looks like you had a wobbly hand, and your lines become too fluid and uncontroled. This may work for organic figures, but when drawing building, machinery, etc. the technical side conflicts with how the reader interperates reality and if you're trying to convince the audience, then you need to take your time and make it look good. Right now it could pass as sloppy at best.
You have shown potential, but that's all you have shown. As a professional comic book writer I know what I want from my artists, and I know what to look for. As a team, it's a matter of working together closely. Many writers start off as artists too, so don't automatically assume that we don't know what we are talking about. Also, 4 years of graphic design and art history don't make me a ignorant slob. All I've tried to do is to point out certain areas you can improve, as a critique it's advice you can take or leave it, but considering that you keep posting I thought you would like to improve -a real artist is always seeking how to better his art. However, with the attitude you have shown, I'm not convinced you're ready to take any of this seriously. And I seriously doubt any major league editor will take you serious either.
I don't know your work load, or schedule, but perhaps you have a deadline... just be sure to always come back to your pages when you've had a decent break, and you can catch these smaller amature mistakes on your own. I think you will grow further as an artist, good luck!
Pika!
«First off, I like your style, but you need to act like a pro. if you're going to accept critiques from pros.»
You did not make a critic, you made a statement on the fact that wathever the colorist, it takes blackspot to make depth and contrast on a drawing...if you were the 1/10 of the pro you think you are, you would never make a statement of that kind...because it's wrong; it is not a necessity, depending on the process until the final art.
And I made it clear why there was no blackspot in previous post where someone made me a real critic (not a statement based on nothing) on the blackspot absence.
You don't know the need of the editor, you don't know the look he wants, you don't the colorist...in fact you know nothing of the project.
I accept critiques, not some pseudo-non-professional-statement like:
«Still needs blacks to add depth, regardless of whether or not the colorist will create contrast or depth in the coloring. The story is only as good as the art carrying it.»
Analyze what you said with some intelligence, and you'll see that the non-pro here is you...
I know what an artist has to know on blackspot...but if the editor says no blackspot, it's no blackspot; as if an editor ask you to draw spiderman with his black costume, don't draw him with the traditionnal one....
As for the critics on my storytelling...let's just my little 8 years old nephew knew exactly what was happening (maybe it's because he took the time to look at the other page before and he was not frustrated....). And just to be honest with you, the first critique I've got from my editor, fellow American artist, fellow European artist (and I don't think Régis Loisel is a bad ref), fellow storyboarder and fans is that my storytelling is some good stuff.
Panel one is a good dynamic general shot where we see every body. The munitions show you that we're seeing the soldiers from page 6 (and it's a «champs contre champs» from last panel of the same page 6), we see the mysterious cloaked guy from previous pages, the same truck from previous pages is another element that is showing us where and who we are with...everything tell us here what the reader needs to know.
Panel 2 is a fast zoom on the same guy (the placement, the distance, the soldiers...everything show us it's the same guy). A fast zoom because we want some drama here, a fast zoom because a slower zoom is generally used when you need to establish some smooth continuity...
Panel 3 is a «champs contre champs» from panel 1....good because we see the result of the circumstance with the cloaked guy...the important element of panel 3.
Sure there are other ways to tell a story..lots of ways, and it seems I'm aware of this, not you.
I'm the guy who accept critiques...you're the guy who don't accept his mistake on the fact you did not come first with critics but statement...
Don't get the wrong idea to think I see myself as an artist who takes himself for a god of storytelling...I've got weakness...but you don't seem pro enough to see them...
Ho! And when you're a pro, be ready to be critiqued on your own critics...and after what I read, you need to practice critics a lot...
Pat
Interesting style...sort of a Ryan Ottley-meets-Huberto Ramos thing going on.
mcwolf wrote:
Wow, that's completely off-base, and an opinion that has no basis of knowledge in art at all. Pikachu was only trying to help, I'm sure, and you reacted like a child scorned. Not professional at all, and extremely uncalled for.Pikachu... sorry for you, but if blackspots are the only way for you to define depth and contrast, you've got lots of thing to learn on art...
Second, I agree. Line depth is a HUGE tool in comic art, as with ANY form of art. There's simply no excuse for laziness. No amount of good colors can "fix" what shouldn't have needed fixing to begin with. Line depth line depth line depth. It's an ageless tool used to help the eye process the images before it.
I've seen many artists that try to preach the same thing, many calling upon the "style" debate to explain their lack of depth, but it's not about style, it's about SUBSTANCE. You can have style all day long... but without substance you're lost.
J
(EDIT: Let me just say as well that I like your style, but as with ANY artist, it could use some work. If you really drop your guard and listen to critiques, you can go far.)
Wow, mcwolf, I'm shocked at how few people really understand art and visual storytelling.
Ignore the naysayers. Your art and storytelling are flawless, given the style you are embracing. Middleton, bengal, and numerous others employ the exact same approach, with wonderous results. Those moaning about spotted blacks need to seriously expand their knowledge of illustrative storytelling beyond the traditional approach.
My only complaint is how long you're making us wait to see a fully realized page. Sheesh. What a tease.
Keep up the good work.
Later,
Chip
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