Here's the finished colors. You can see I added the star map console behind General Grimm and made some adjustments to Bale's expression in panel 3 to reflect the "subtle shock" described in the script.
I still believe that doing sequentials is easier when doing it digitally. If for no other reason, it's easier to just draw everything on a layer rather than scanning in inks and having to fill in the lines on the "canvas."
I'm pretty sure it'll save a few trees working entirely in digital too.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Star Stream: Page 15 Preview
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Star Stream: 1st Sequential Promo
The image title of this is 1st penciled page promo, which just means it's the first promo featuring sequential pencils. In the actual story, it's page 15 (when counting the 6 page "prelude")
It's also the first time I've ever done a fully sequentialed (pencil, ink, color and letters) digitally. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Actually, I think I prefer digital to pencil and paper, although I admit there are still some areas where I still need the traditional medium like ships. For some reason, doing ships on the tablet doesn't work.
For anybody that might be curious, the hypothetical script (meaning I never actually wrote one) for this page would go something like this:
Panel 1. Establishing shot - Bale and Korbo are trekking through a dense forest in search of an alleged enemy base.
BALE: ...so the captain looks up at him with a serious look on his face and says "If I had a tranciever I wouldn't be hiding in a damn Graylax den, would I?"
KORBO: Harg!
Panel 2. Close up of General Grimm (on the bridge of his ship)
GRIMM: That's enough fooling around, Calistas. You should be coming up on the Braigon Base.
Panel 3. Bale looks up in shock (subtle) at the base.
BALE: Yeah I see it. Doesn't look very accessible though.
Panel 4. Korbo and Bale duck behind a knocked over tree log as they spy on the base. The base sits in the middle of a small open area surrounded by tree-lines.
KORBO: Transmission and sensor arrays. Looks like a radar outpost.
BALE: Could mean there's a bigger facility in a near-by system.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Star Stream: Characters
I added their mechanical wing harness in this one. I may still make some changes to the design.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Digital Sketch: Deadpool
Still trying to get the hang of doing sketches on a tablet.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Star Stream: Ship Designs
Some of the ship designs I'm working on for Star Stream. Probably not gonna use the one on the bottom though - looks a little too much like Lone Star's Winnebago.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
One Year Aniversary
This blog is one year old today. Not that significant, but I wanted to point it out anyway.
Read More......Star Stream: Character Designs
Another race from Star Stream. Of the designs I've posted so far, this one is the most likely to be changed. I'll probably shorten the heads a little.
The guy in the middle is the early combat design. I'm not in love with it right now. Fortunately, it'll be a while before these guys are introduced so I've got plenty of time to tweak the design.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Star Stream: Characters
Storm-Runner crew
Updated: Added colors and background.
From left to right: Jintuan, Calinda, Captain Slade, Soradus, LoBock, Lyla
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Star Stream Characters: Storm-Runner Crew
These guys are the crew of a ship called the Storm-Runner. From left to right - Jintuan, Calinda, Captain Slade, Soradus, LoBock, Lyla.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Star Stream Characters: General Grimm
Another character design for Star Stream. This guy is General Grimm. He's a legendary general in his home galaxy before devastating circumstances lead him to join an Alliance where he meets Bale Calistas
Review: Splitting Atoms (Zuda)
Splitting Atoms
A story about the first dysfunctional family of science and how one woman tries to hold it together while facing all sorts of bizarre sci-fi threats.
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One of the most common arguments about genre comics is that superhero comics have no real place in indie comics (and by extension, webcomics) The reason for that is a) it's all pretty much been done before, and b) Marvel and DC pretty much dominate the superhero genre. That doesn't mean it can't be done, it just means it's an almost futile effort.
This comic pretty much proves that line of thinking. It's a fantastic webcomic with an interesting story and absolutely incredible art. But it's a superhero webcomic so it's kinda like a fish out of water.
The story revolves around Grace Atom. The first few pages explain how her father created her giving her super-intelligence and a few super abilities (strength, agility etc) If that's not cliche enough, the story jumps ahead to what we're told is Grace's 153rd time saving the day... by destroying a giant robot attacking New York.
The most interesting part of the story comes at the end when it's revealed that Grace's sister has written a tell-all book exposing Grace's secret. (that she's an experimental creation)
The art is maybe the best I've ever seen in a Zuda comic. It's maybe even good enough for the Big 2. That is, aside from the flawed panel breaks and page layouts. A few pages feature floating panels (just the characters in front of a plain white background with no outlines) and a few panel breaks on others that get you twisted around and confused before realizing you're reading it out of order.
Overall I think I've found the comic I'm voting for in this one. Despite the fact that I generally prefer my superheroes to have 50+ years of name recognition, the art is too amazing not to vote for it.
Read More......
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Review: 'Ninjas from Ibiza' (Zuda)
Ninjas from Ibiza: Clubbin' to Death
The island of Ibiza is the homeland of electro-dance-party lifestyle, but it is also a place of the most important schools for assassins in the world, steeped with a century-long history of training the deadliest and most invincible of killers.
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There's something to be said about a gang leader wearing a pink leather vest... I just don't know what it is.
Ninjas from Ibiza is action packed and the plot seems like it could be interesting, but the dialogue loses nearly everything in the translation. It's confusing and distracting. It makes it hard to understand exactly what's going on but you get the general idea... something bad is about to happen and the good guys showed up just in time.
The art is phenomenal. The action sequences are dynamic and colorful and really draw you into the moment. If there's any negative about the art it's that it feels a little too bright. The main villain sports handlebar sideburns and wears pink leather.
On the other hand, the design of the two heroes are awesome - a guy with blue skin and a weapon I wouldn't even know how to begin describing, and a second character that never says anything, sports a helmet that looks like a cross between an arrow and a hammerhead. I'd especially like to see more of the second guy... the design is just that intriguing.
Overall it's pure eye-candy. The dialogue makes the story a little difficult to follow but the art goes a long way toward making up for that.
Read More......
Monday, February 9, 2009
Review: The Hammer (Zuda)
The Hammer
Calvin School's family saw something they shouldn't have. Bones Charlie sent his dogs to clean up the mess. But School is a mess that don't clean easy. When he catches up with Bones Charlie, we'll see just why they call him...The Hammer.
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When I saw the thumbnail for this comic (pink bunny) I was expecting a crime story set in an animal world... but aside from the main character being the Easter Bunny, everyone is human. It strikes me as weird. That's all I can really say.
The dialogue is an over-the-top Brooklyn thug style that takes a little getting used to considering it's coming from a giant talking pink bunny.
Apparently he's trying to save his nephew who was kidnapped sometime before we join the story. I almost want this one to win if only to amuse my curiosity as to weather or not Calvin's family are bunnies too.
I liked the art for the most part, although it does seem a little two-dimensional at times. Calvin's mannerisms are nicely done and often amusing... nearly as amusing as a giant talking pink bunny.
Overall it's a lot of fun to read. It doesn't try to be too deep and for the most part avoids being to camp. I wouldn't mind if this one won this month's competition. (I think)
Read More......
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Star Stream: My Newest Webcomic
If you follow my webcomics you've probably noticed that I haven't posted any new stuff on WebcomicsNation.com in over a month... That's mostly because I've been busy working on some new stuff.
The image above is the first (of hopefully many) promo for my next series Star Stream The plan is to get enough done in advance that I can update daily for a while before settling into a more comfortable schedule.
For now all I can say is that it's a Space Epic that follows the adventures of 8-10 primary characters as they come together to save the entire Universe... One of those characters is Bale Colistas (pictured above) - That's all you get for now :)
Check back daily for more information (it could come at any time) or to read more of my Zuda comics reviews. (I've got a few more of those to go for this month's competition!)
Read More......
Review: Indie (Zuda)
Indie
Somewhere in Middle America, a group of childhood friends turn their hometown into the hottest indie music scene in the country.
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It seems like every month there's one comic on Zuda that I really dislike more than the rest. Looking back, I think I was a little harder on 'Lifespan' than it deserves (although I still think it is a bad premise) But this month is different. I don't dislike any of them... but I fucking hated this piece of shit more than just about any webcomic I've ever read, and believe me... there are some really fucking stupid webcomics out there.
It felt like I was reading a slide show with subtitles. Stupid, boring, emo subtitles.
It looked like those ridiculous "special effects" photos people put in their "artistic" folder of their MySpace page.
This dude is whining about his childhood "indie" band or some shit...
Then he starts whining about making it big... I thought that was the fucking point! INDIE isn't a fucking genre - it's what you are before you become successful.
The ending seriously reminded me of the episode of 'Saved By The Bell' where they form a band and Zack goes solo... don't act like you don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.
Overall... Please! If any of you are thinking about starting a new webcomic, PLEASE! Don't do anything even vaguely similar to this god-aweful atrocity, I'm begging you!
Read More......
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Review: Fire and Water (Zuda)
Fire and Water
The story is a metaphor of an inner journey. The human beings live inside the mountains over an Earth covered by toxic clouds, since the Big Fire destroyed all the lands. Skarlett decides to leave, looking for...
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I'm not against poetry webcomics... but I'm not for them either. I'm just not that into them. So when I started reading this I knew I wasn't gonna like it.
That doesn't change the fact that it's a good webcomic. It's just poetic enough to be a poem, but not so poetic that all you wanna do is grab the writer by the neck and shake the shit out of them until they "stop being pretentious and just spit it out already!!"
Actually, only the first half of this is a "poetry" comic before settling in to an actual story. That part didn't really grab me either but like I've always said about the Zuda format - you don't really get enough to make a solid decision on weather or not you want this single webcomic to be the one you get to keep reading in just 8 pages... and because of the nature of this comic, that's more like 4 pages.
The main character seems cool, but I'd love to know a little more about what's going on in this world before voting for it.
The art is fantastic. For those of you who've read Clinical Assassin", the graphic novel I wrote, or my political webcomic strip Untelevised, you've probably noticed I love to use grayscale (When J.C. offered to do the art on Clinical Assassin in grayscale I couldn't say no) with only a few pieces of color (ie Untelevised)
It was cool to see something similar in this comic. When Scarlett is collecting fire and water, the subtle use of color for the two elements adds a whole new... element (sorry) to the art. It would've been nice to see those colors standing out on a grayscale canvas instead of the plain looking inked line-art. But don't think I'm criticizing the art because I'm not. I really did love it.
Overall this one does a good job of mixing poetry with art. If you're in to that kinda thing you might like this.
Read More......
Friday, February 6, 2009
Review: Doctor Immortalis (Zuda)
Doctor Immortalis
The World is in jeopardy! And the only man who can save us is Dr. Jeffery Clark Attis, known the world over as DOC IMMORTALIS! A gentleman science adventurer, inspired by Pulp novels, H P Lovecraft, and bizarre conspiracy theories beyond imagining!
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The minute I saw the first page of this webcomic it immediately reminded me of an internet movie trailer I saw a few years ago. In case you haven't heard of Iron Sky, you should click the link and watch the tailer. After watching that and reading this webcomic, the similarities should be obvious.
Immortalis finds himself investigating what looks like an abandoned moonbase (as in "it's on the fucking moon!") When he stumbles upon a stasis chamber full of "sleeping" Nazis just moments after unknowingly activating their reanimation. From this point on the story is pure action.
The gritty art isn't unusual for a Sci-Fi webcomic but it mixes well with the futuristic (from a 1942 perspective) feel of the technology seen in the first 8 pages. The designs kinda reminded me of one of those advanced but not as advanced as us planets in the Stargate shows.Which, considering it's a Nazi moonbase, is a good thing.
Overall, I'd say it's a great old-school Sci-Fi adventure that, (if it wins) should be a lot of fun to follow for the next year or so.
Read More......
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Review: 'Azz's Inferno' (Zuda)
Azz's Inferno
Mr. B. Azz Lebub, the unacknowledged architect of Hell, has toiled for centuries in Lucifer’s shadow. But when that shadow is suddenly lifted, Azz discovers that the spotlight can burn.
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Ever wanted to read the origin story of Hell? This is it! At least one version (a comical one) of how the Hellion Empire came to be.
The story follows Lucifer's "right hand man" as he narrates the coming to pass of Lucifer's perfect vision of what Hell could be. I know it sounds ludicrous but if you have a sense of humor you'll enjoy it. (I know I did)
The art is good, maybe not the best webcomic art, but good. The use of gradient backdrops fit the story's setting and help sell the mood. The character designs are a little "cute" but their expressions add to the comedic atmosphere of the story.
Overall it's a fun stab at the afterlife with a tempered South Park style of story telling that unless you're a religious fanatic or just don't have a sense of humor, you should enjoy.
Read More......
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