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Concept and Comic Art: Alex Salter
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Notes and eval
Something made abundantly clear in the brief was its emphasis on realistic drawing style. This is something I think should benefit me, however I want to push myself further in this project and go for more of a linework focused style, and branch away from the more painterly workflow I've grown accustomed to. Phil explained that we should become more used to working in other styles than our own and so I feel inclined to focus on a key area in drawing that I feel is my weakest.
The main focus of the brief was to emphasize realism drawing style. This is something I think should somewhat benefit me, however I will need to push my style and rendering a lot further as I do have a tendencay
From analyzing my previous comic, there are three major things I personally want to improve on as well as the briefs realism style. The first is to improve on the contrast and value. Comics are renowned for having a heavier black and white contrast and this is something I feel I need to grow accustomed to if I want to succeed in the comics industry. The second is to think more carefully on composition and not simply boxing in every drawing. Carefully considering which drawings to put in a box and which to perhaps blend with other panels or put emphasis on. Guiding the eye around the page and drawings without using simple lines/boxes will certainly be a challenge. An important aspect to this I feel is controlling white space - using shape design to guide the eye and focus on areas. Finally, my last goal for this project is to improve text and positioning of the text bubbles. Perhaps experimenting and playing around with how this could impact composition and placement of other key areas. A trend I’ve noticed is the speech bubbles are always inside the panel box. If I remove the panels, what will happen? These are some things I need to consider. Another additional key area is to have fun and experiment - utilising the digital tools, one idea I have is to have a sharp black and white and use galaxy textures with a PS blending overlay, replacing the white or black with a coloured texture. Will need a LOT of playing around to get right but could be very effective. Something that is partially inspired by Jocks comic series; Wytches. Which adds watercolour splashes over the top of the already coloured drawings.
One thing I found when making comics the first time was that I had a tendency to noodle at the drawings, which I felt lost a lot of the character and gesture to begin with. Making the drawings feel a lot more stiff and lifeless - something I am constantly trying to emphasis in the drawings - although, the brief states realism, I want to almost over exaggerate some of the features, using elements of caricature drawings - this is something I personally feel is integral to a good comic.
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Here are some tests and playing around with composition.
The first was what I felt was finished after doing, but after consideration felt it still needed a lot further work. The second was my attempt at adjusting areas and inverting the values. I preferred this a lot more, however the actual composition needed more work.
On the third (the main villain wasnt my drawing and pasted from an image i felt did what I needed in my composition) was meant as a quick test to see if worked. I felt this was a lot stronger composition and was a much better way of controlling the space. The white silhouette was strong and guided your eye to the right, then down - enabling space for speech bubbles and to allow for it to look like a conversation between the two.
My iterations were done and each step was improved through a lot of research. Both in comics and design. One key artist I looked at was Mike Mignolia; creator of Hellboy, who i feel controls white space and shape design best. His style is a lot more simplistic, and I feel could be a challenge to utilise elements of his in a realistic sense, but proved to be extremely beneficial when looking into solid comic composition. Another reference was Frank Frazetta. Although he primarily known for his paintings, is a personal art god, and a master of composition - applies to his comics as well. Using key things (although often the perceived threats) in a harshly contrasting black. Often using rule of thirds. His compositions describe the events without having to read the text.
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Comic First draft
These are the first drafts for the four pages
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Vanity Brown
For concepting characters I usually start with the face for a couple of reasons; the first is simply that we tend to look at it first, but it also helps me concept and imagine the personality based on their face and shapes used. For example design 1 I tried using a more squared face shape. 2 Using more triangular shapes and 3 with rounder. I also tried using some references of ‘french’ faces, trying to make the character look as close to movies and pop culture associations, without being disrespectful. Going forward I feel number three best suits the description, however will need a bit of work - i think the anatomy of the drawing a bit off, however the essence of the character and main vision I have is there.
So I did some further iterations and refinements. I still feel that (in this case no. 1) is the best fit for the description. Utilisng a lot of rounder shapes, I think the shorter hair works in this case - indicating not a ‘full circle’, so allowing the twist of her coming out of her shell a bit more. And while the ponytail I think adds to the characters lack of confidence, it doesnt suit the face shape, the same applies to the last test as well.
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WEEK 1 BLOG
Something made abundantly clear in the brief was its emphasis on realistic drawing style. This is something I think should benefit me, however I want to push myself further in this project and go for more of a linework focused style, and branch away from the more painterly workflow I've grown accustomed to. Phil explained that we should become more used to working in other styles than our own and so I feel inclined to focus on a key area in drawing that I feel is my weakest.
From analyzing my previous comic, there are three major things I personally want to improve on as well as the briefs realism style. The first is to improve on the contrast and value. Comics are renowned for having a heavier black and white contrast and this is something I feel I need to grow accustomed to if I want to succeed in the comics industry. The second is to think more carefully on composition and not simply boxing in every drawing. Carefully considering which drawings to put in a box and which to perhaps blend with other panels or put emphasis on. Guiding the eye around the page and drawings without using simple lines/boxes will certainly be a challenge. An important aspect to this I feel is controlling white space - using shape design to guide the eye and focus on areas. Finally, my last goal for this project is to improve text and positioning of the text bubbles. Perhaps experimenting and playing around with how this could impact composition and placement of other key areas. A trend I’ve noticed is the speech bubbles are always inside the panel box. If I remove the panels, what will happen? These are some things I need to consider. Another additional key area is to have fun and experiment - utilising the digital tools, one idea I have is to have a sharp black and white and use galaxy textures with a PS blending overlay, replacing the white or black with a coloured texture. Will need a LOT of playing around to get right but could be very effective. Something that is partially inspired by Jocks comic series; Wytches. Which adds watercolour splashes over the top of the already coloured drawings.
One thing I found when making comics the first time was that I had a tendency to noodle at the drawings, which I felt lost a lot of the character and gesture to begin with. Making the drawings feel a lot more stiff and lifeless - something I am constantly trying to emphasis in the drawings - although, the brief states realism, I want to almost over exaggerate some of the features, using elements of caricature drawings - this is something I personally feel is integral to a good comic.
--
Here are some tests and playing around with composition.
The first was what I felt was finished after doing, but after consideration felt it still needed a lot further work. The second was my attempt at adjusting areas and inverting the values. I preferred this a lot more, however the actual composition needed more work.
On the third (the main villain wasnt my drawing and pasted from an image i felt did what I needed in my composition) was meant as a quick test to see if worked. I felt this was a lot stronger composition and was a much better way of controlling the space. The white silhouette was strong and guided your eye to the right, then down - enabling space for speech bubbles and to allow for it to look like a conversation between the two.
My iterations were done and each step was improved through a lot of research. Both in comics and design. One key artist I looked at was Mike Mignolia; creator of Hellboy, who i feel controls white space and shape design best. His style is a lot more simplistic, and I feel could be a challenge to utilise elements of his in a realistic sense, but proved to be extremely beneficial when looking into solid comic composition. Another reference was Frank Frazetta. Although he primarily known for his paintings, is a personal art god, and a master of composition - applies to his comics as well. Using key things (although often the perceived threats) in a harshly contrasting black. Often using rule of thirds. His compositions describe the events without having to read the text.
0 notes
