NEW COMIC PAGE! Here's what I started with - I ended up putting a bit of color in it & rearranging the bottom panel. Looking at it again I think I actually like it better as black and white - I haven't gotten the hang of color yet maybe I should stop trying and work on developing my other skills first.
I think I need to use more detail in the larger panels and in general (around the center of the page) - use a greater number (and smaller) panels. I don't really read superhero style comics- I really like Mike Mignola's work with large simple frames that don't distract the eyes or manipulate the story too much. Of course my art work is nowhere near Mignola's and I don't have the incredible Dave Stewart as a colorist so I don't know but I get the feeling that it just makes my stuff end up looking more like an American trying to do Manga.
In the next few pages I'm going to start trying to work on creating more complex backgrounds - soon they'll be traveling back in time (yay!) or maybe even forward? We'll see - but as soon as they're out of the Church I'll try to put them in more visually intricate places. What do you think- color or no color? To the right, here is what I ended up posting. As always I could definitely have edited it more and made it much better but I get tired, bored, and past my (personal) deadline- I get to where I just want to post it already! [and I do ... even though it may or may not be entirely done].
I feel like this bottom panel here was really working well- if only I had though to cut off part of the one above it and include a head- or else to place a shadow on his shoulders from the panel overlapping it ... I Gaussian Blurred the Dalek to the right- can you tell?
I'll have to find my sketch book & see - I think I've already marked my panels for the next page ... If I haven't I'm going to try to move away from solidly traced and rigidly defined borders. I really like Black gutters but I think I need to work on making those smaller and thinner too (but in general I think I need) - more detail, to work on shadows, type (don't write) my captions, take my time & try not to make all my edits in a single afternoon, more panels on some pages, fewer (more intricate) ones on others, less rigid structure and more depth to the background - beyond just the white wall of the church... which is fine occasionally but I think I'm relying on it too much at this point. . . I was thinking of maybe making some of the panels have more text not a ton- just a paragraph or a few sentences - making it like a cross between a short story and a comic - it would be less drawing and I'd have a bit more control over the way my story is portrayed. Putting the "novel" in "graphic novel" :) - What do you think? Would you read it or just gloss right over it?
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