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Post by Nixie on Apr 1, 2010 2:17:43 GMT -5
Alright, here's the promo page for my new webcomic. It's basically about the wild space adventures of the motherly Captain Cheng, hair-trigger pilot Mr. Rexley, and the queer Sir Boris. The main comic- anthronauts.katbox.net/ - can be found on the prestigious Katbox! katbox.net/Attachments:
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Post by Kristal Rose on Apr 1, 2010 11:45:46 GMT -5
Wow. Very good. This page has a completeness I never would have figured as yours. Very nice look too. One one can settle into and still expect to tell wierd stories. Minimal, and yet complete feeling. Panda gal kind of reminds me of Alice and her naga companion. What does 'frag' mean? The planet storyboard and geometry is all nicely integrated here.
This seems to have a new dimension I never could have put my finger on to coach you towards. Story, resolution, punchline, cliffhanger, all in one. Yay, yet a new text bubble invention. Very nice. I had forgotten you do that sort of thing. Wood floor in space. Nice touch.
How long has this been in the works. I'm always amazed, (come to expect the initial griping) how quickly you respond to my advice and take things up to a new level in your own way.
I suppose black framing isn't ideal for a paper comic, but doable and well worth it, especially for web format.
I'd be inclined to criticize center and left panels of panda gal as being a poor persona choice for carrying stories, but panel on right indicates that's not a problem. You left her open as motherly, both self absorbed and caring, but capable of becoming even a dominatrix if you wanted.
I think this is at the very edge of the plastic style limit. Plastic is probably better leeking than plain flat though. I can imagine it working very well alternatively in an entirely different texture, for instance doing that purple cushion in Edwardian intaglio cross-hatching.
Not for the fist time I notice something is lacking in where distant floors meet walls. Some sort of soft or crosshatched shadow sliver where they meet which imparts a distant scale might help, otherwise that wall just wants to pop out too much. Like the last time I saw a wood (I think) floor, I'm thinking an exaggerated one point perspective on the grain would help. I don't know if you're drawing grains to fit, or pulling from a library, but either way, add more wide-angle-lens vanishing point to floor tiles/grains. Either that, or apply some thinning or blurring gradated filter into the background.
The ball rocket design is awesome. I hope you didn't have to borrow it too closely to get it. I can easily imagine it already existing, and someone else relying on it for a signature look.
I don't see a signature. A diamond heiroglyph rune branding watermark on a space background would fit in well (originally I was thinking of a counterpoint cursive sprawl, but decided one couldn't fit).
Overall this page has a leisurely adventure feel to it. You might be zeroing in on a audience frequency there.
I was just thinking that one last little detail this page could use is some graphic object detail whose presence could go by unnoticed yet is humorous. Presuming that's a beach ball, you quite hit the spot with that. Absolutely perfect. Humorous, playful, but even makes sense. It's blue panel needs to be just a hint darker, or swapping the yellov and skyblue out for orange-yellow and a chartreusish apple green would do it, and help balance color a tad. The maps were a nice find too.
The crew expressions show an a asian influence, and border on being ripe for taking on all those insipid cliché expression I disdain in asian animé. I could handle them as rare abstract-expressionist highlights, but would sure prefer serious drama faces to a constant slapstick look.
I think the name could use a makeover too before you're stuck with it. Anthropologists/anthropomorphic astronauts, seems stuffy, doesn't roll off tongue well, has no jovial bite. The 'nauts' part feels right, lending a cheesy leisurely adventure feel, but the PBS/Discovery edu show feel of Anthro waters that down without adding much of it's own. Purgonauts (don't ask me, just off the top of my head) has a better ring.
This comic comes with a lot of latitude. I can see you taking it to both manga and strip.
Not sure that the Xenophobix bubble was the right choice. A strip with indents at both ends might hold together the look of the other two, and still stand alone as a scroll response.
I see now that that green thing is an eyepiece. A little line of black could help where it's first introduced, even though the soft green might look better and work perfectly well once we all know the char. White glare which crosses over brow might work better to convey monocle without detracting from existing black line-art of eye & brow.
It suddenly downs on me that the Anthro really is meant to tie in with the armchair Edwardian arm-chair anthropologist motif, and wasn't some academic abstraction pulled out of nowhere. Perhaps a name with some latin it, like Incidencis Astronauticus. (or just the latter).
Anyhow, the whole thing sure took me by surprise.
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Jeez. The title bar just sunk in as existing. No wonder I was so overwhelmed with a sense of fresh completeness, and the look of a running site.
'The beginning'? That might be the font for a signature there, if not what subconsiously inspired my suggestions in the first place.
Is panda gal a toddler mom? That's a twist I've never seen. It would kind of put you in an audience niche, but one well worth existing, and possibly attracting more audience than it loses.
I can't believe I'm so slow to absorb all this. I was wondering why you didn't name any of them, when in fact you've introduced all of them. I guess I just naturally tune out names for some reason. Boris could work as a russian englishman. I love the name Mr. Rexley.
With the {captain}, {captain cheng} bubbles, you could add a smaller empty bubble in the upper left. It would lend a lonely space beacon [earth] [earth calling Dr. Cheng] feel, that goes well with tea absorbtion, outer space, and an ignored character. Anyhow, way more promising than a jogging with power-card angels comic. This one page does more for me that that other whole set. This format is far more sustainable for slow delivery. With the other one I'd be too bored to go back to reread pages and recall the context for each new page. This one interests me in waiting for the next page. I love that anticipation of a planet of xenophobes, and space grocery shopping for chocolate. That's that sort of humorous juxtaposition of concerns you are so good at understating, which make for a great lifestyle philosophical content feel.
The character framing is a bit too perfect, even with Cheng on frame border foregrounds. A touch of side-weight balanced against empty space would add some destabilizing anti-gravity force to the sense of action. It would be a slight trade of at-home comfort for alien perspective too.
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Three things to say about the latest news panel. A photo of you would do better than trying to create some nixie character as author on top of all this. If you're going to give us intimacy with the author, give us the real thing, not a layer of hype. Although saying something on your mind is good, this humble 'created the comic by accident' tale isn't something anyone wants to hear. They want to think they are given a hard earned gift with a lot of effort, which ultimately has been the case. This 'they want to write the story for me' suggests you are a searching girl, not a professional artist. This is more material for a candid interview than what you should be putting out there. I'm not sure what that is though. Polished or honest, but not honest about being happy go lucky about it. What ever it is, it should contribute to user immersion experience, or probably doesn't need to be said. Don't go milking the audience for more attention. It takes away from the experience. I'd rather you said "Liked the comic? Want more? Then go buy popcorn at @@ and mention who sent you." Don't drag them into clueless hope, or expect them to share your adventure of becoming a cartoonist, at least not directly in your product context. If you really do want to do something like that, than go back and refine your one panel artist blulbs, but as a comic itself. (kind of like that guy who had his drawing table and comments in the lower of his weekly panel). Throw your happy dances and disgruntlements into a comic window for your fans, but beyond that, don't blur genuine insight into your personal sentiments with content. It comes off as neither. What you're doing now is a bit like the ring master of Barnum Bailey working up the audience with himself as the next act. The attempt at sweet and sharing borders on pathetic and egotistical. You've already sold yourself in the main content in a way which feeds the audience. Don't come off as needy on top of it. If you could stick to a refreshing detached "I'd love comments", that would be fine, or briefly exposit what you went through, that's fine too, but don't ask them to be your suffering and adventure partners while enjoying your comics. Save that for your personal life for those who choose additionally to sign on with you on that. Don't blur the boundaries. It wears people down.
This Nixie thing might be fun, but I think it's a bit of convincing yourself that you're having a vivacious life by painting yourself as a character who does. Just post a photo of you waving from your drawing table, being yourself, good or bad, and you're no longer obligated to maintain a website persona for yourself and others.
Imagine it were the author of Foamy. He might be a nerd or a military guy. Knowing which might give you further insight into his comics, but if you like his comics, do you really care? If you do, it's because it's of interest in who a real person behind a comic is, and if he were to create some disco animé persona of himself to comment on his own Foamy cartoons, you'd be cheated. We see more of his real deeper self in his Foamy cartoons than in some sidelines self portrayal he's invented for us. A picture of him though, that would be honestly refreshing no matter who he was, otherwise I can get more honesty from his comic instead. Life is too short for soap opera characters not invented enough to be solid entertainment, nor real enough to feel you've made a connection with someone. Pour everything into your comics. That's enough. Share your actual life with the people who want to know 'you'.
A job well done.
To summarize details, if you find them worthy of incorporating into an edit: Shadow where floor meets wall. Stronger beach-ball colors. Experiment with Edwardian intaglio cross-hatch textures, esp. on fabrics. White runic signature. Punchier name beginning.
One more creative look though. A color shift on the shadows would give a feel of more interesting lighting than flourescent fixtures.
Fabulous, very satisfying.
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Post by Nixie on Apr 1, 2010 12:51:50 GMT -5
I actually finished this page on the 8th of March, but it took a while for the Katbox crew to work out including extra comics into the site. A lot of the advice you've been giving me was retroactive. Frag: Army and Marine Corps Slang. To kill, wound, or assault (esp. an unpopular or overzealous superior) with a fragmentation grenade. If you were familiar with the term, that would've been a small insight into Mr. Rexley's character. Oh jeez, figures that after about 18 hours of work I'd forget to sign the thing... *bangs head on desk* "The characters want to write the story for me." What I meant by that is that after only one page, the characters relationships and personalities are already so well defined that a character-driven plot could already be launched. I've found that the more defined my characters are, the more their personalities sway the comic. It can be a good thing or a bad thing. In Atlantis U, Roana's dark personality eradicated any chance of the comic becoming a romance like I'd originally planned. She wanted to turn it into a tragedy. In this case, however, the interactions between these characters would be humorous and all kinds of fun things can happen. In the middle of an arc, if I haven't planned it down to the word, Mr. Rexley might decide to hit on an alien queen and cause all kinds of unforseen problems for the rest of the crew. The oddball Boris might wander into a battle against an alien monster and decide he wants to keep the thing as a pet. Cheng is the voice of reason, the one who would try to drag Mr. Rexley away from an alien queen or bar Boris from bringing monsters aboard their little ship. I didn't format the Katbox or create the website. There are now 14 comics on that site and they all use the same format designed by Happy Punk Panda Studios. Take a look at the other comics on there and you'll see; they also use a cartoon self to announce the updates, and the people on the Katbox forum already know me as Nixie. Cross-hatching makes coloring ten times harder. Simpler lines make for easier coloring and shading and thus, faster production. The "beach ball" isn't a beach ball. Have you ever seen a maritime compass? That's a modification of one designed to navigate the cosmos. Here, look. www.robinsdocksideshop.com/Binnacle_brass.jpg
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Post by Tenjen on Apr 1, 2010 13:51:02 GMT -5
Its lovely :3
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Post by Kristal Rose on Apr 1, 2010 21:36:03 GMT -5
Retroactive advice. Meaning I had been suggesting things you had jst recently learned? Happens to me all the time. I figure something out, pass it on to someone, then hear a deeper structured lecture on the subject.
I know what it means that the characters write themselves. I'm just saying that your readers don't need in on that tidbit unless they choose to read an interview on the subject.
Well, if everyone there has an animé author persona, roll with it I guess.
Maybe you could try cross-hatching as a separate post layer, not in with the pencil.
Nice compass image. The thing in the comic still looks like a beach ball to me.
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Post by Nixie on Apr 2, 2010 1:36:10 GMT -5
... While what I've said about the content and art is true...
This comic was originally created as an April Fools Day joke. I might actually continue it, but I only prepared one page and the next couple weeks will be rather busy, so if there are future pages released, it won't be for a while.
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Post by Kristal Rose on Apr 2, 2010 1:58:14 GMT -5
Well that makes sense, the none more soon part.
Why would you post a comic as an April Fools joke, especially a cool promising one?
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Post by Nixie on Apr 2, 2010 2:03:29 GMT -5
Posting it here was a side-thing. I was asked by Nekonny, an artist of the Katbox, to participate in a group comic-starting prank. The Katbox is a pretty major furry webcomic site, with one of the artists actually earning enough money from donations to live off of. This was mostly a publicity stunt, and I got a lot of watchers on my other art sites today from it.
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Post by Kristal Rose on Apr 2, 2010 2:12:22 GMT -5
Yeah well, often accidents, or quick effortless projects, turn out to be one's better stuff. Too much effort and stress can cripple projects sometimes. My tarot deck was done as a side-thing for a school assignment. I intended to make a real deck, but would have probably turned doing so into a major project that never would have been finished. Making that tarot deck is still on my (back of my head) ToDo list actually (though so bumped in priority that it doesn't even get written in anywhere anymore).
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Post by Tenjen on Apr 5, 2010 3:51:43 GMT -5
i was very suprised and amused by seeing your work in the honey comb of webcomics : D
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Post by Kristal Rose on Apr 5, 2010 17:53:28 GMT -5
In the 'honeycomb' of web comics. Well gee, if that's the place, then that's where it belongs.
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Post by Tenjen on Apr 6, 2010 3:07:39 GMT -5
on the april fools page the webcomics were arranged together like honey combs.
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Post by Kristal Rose on Apr 6, 2010 6:28:19 GMT -5
Ah.
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Post by Nixie on Apr 8, 2010 22:46:49 GMT -5
The message for discontinuing the comic was thus... "I regret to announce that I cannot continue Anthronauts. According to the Xenophobian Ambassador, the fate of Cheng and her crew is highly classified and if I do not cease production of this comic immediately, Xenophobix will declare war on Earth. So, for the sake of intergalactic peace, please report to your local brainwashing center to have this comic removed from your brain. Thank you for understanding! In the future, I will be releasing some not-so-classified comics; you can watch me on DeviantArt (http://ceilidhofone.deviantart.com) or FurAffinity (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ceilidhofone/) to hear more details as they come. ~ XOXO, Nixie
P.S- This webpage will self destruct in 3... 2... 1..."
HOWEVER, I'm running a comic pitch by SoulKat of the Katbox, hoping to be able to continue the comic there. Even if that falls through, I might just continue the comic on another site. Crossing my fingers... I would LOVE to be an official Katbox artist!
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Post by Kristal Rose on Apr 9, 2010 0:19:10 GMT -5
That would be good.
On the other hand, like a labor union, it's no good for the best artists to perpetuate a system of free content delivery. Not only do you ruit it for yourself, you ruin it for all other aspiring career artists as well. I'm not sure what the answer is, but everyone vying to be best of the free artists is not it.
An internet graphics union actually isn't a bad idea, if you actually had some paid outlet. Sure, other artists would want to get their name known without the union by giving free art, but if you were to demand that pay sites only accept paid artists, otherwise the union would cut them off, and also require that an artist be in the union a year before posting on such sites, you could control both sides, content and delivery. The only competiton then would be content and delivery combos which were non-union. Only losers (of both parts) would go for that.
If the best stuff is union, that's where both providers and deliverers will want to be.
If something like that doesn't happen, graphic artists are pretty much going to have to write off the internet as a career locale (or embed advertising in everything). It might already be too late, and 2D static formats might just be a freebie area for those waiting to hire on with animation studios. But if it continues, animated content will eventually be a freebie area too.
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