Advice and tips?

sivios 2016-05-27 17:56:03 UTC #1

I would like some feedback on my webcomic, the artwork for it, is there anything to improve? I mean, I know there is a lot to improve on but I don't know where to start! :/

Here is the latest page, warning! There is a lot of blood :')
https://tapastic.com/episode/361803

AmberRose 2016-05-27 20:00:42 UTC #2

The character anatomy and backgrounds do need work, but artwork will improve over time, . You could look up tutorials and videos online to help with improvement which is what I did for years and still doing.

I can always handle anyone artwork however, one thing that will throw me off a story is Layout.
Anything that can pull a reader out of a story long enough when try and figure what next often loses them.

Your panels are a space out too often and I had a hard time keeping up with what panel was next in line.

I've added some tutorials that helped me when i was lost on paneling. So hopefully it helps.

I found this persons tutorials really handy.

Good Luck!

apurviance 2016-05-27 22:12:45 UTC #3

Whatever you do never stop practicing. The best skill you have is your drive to make stuff and try new things. Stay curious.

One quick trick would be to add shadow and highlights; give your scenes more depth.
There are many ways to do this, this is just one approach.

Original Panel:

Shadows & highlights:

I used the lasso and gradient fill tools so this is pretty sloppy, but might give you ideas. Shading is a lot like sculpture. Some people do the shadows before color flats. Again, this was a quick-and-dirty pass. You can also paint in shadows and highlights for a more realistic look.

I like to script scenes for a specific time of day or night to get dramatic lighting for important scenes.

Some other things to consider:

Since you've got a painterly style maybe play around with color variety. Grass is never just green, the sky is never uniform blue. This is something I struggle with, anyway. I don't have my tablet with me, so I couldn't do an example on your panel.
Try a variety of line weights. Thicker where there might be a shadow, thinner or even no line where there are highlights. Maybe even colored lines.
Use references until you don't need them. Objects don't have to be realistic, but everything has a core set of attributes that you discover after drawing it way too many times.
Take a comic page you like and try to recreate it in your style with your characters. I've learned a lot doing this.
There is no such thing as "cheating".
Keep practicing.

ToonDoctor 2016-05-29 01:43:29 UTC #4

Check you action-reaction shots. In many of your sequences, the characters flip positions in the panels randomly. If they are having a conversation within one sequence, try having them occupy the same area of the panel consistently. It will help your readers and the characters won't look like they are jumping all over the place.

jeffanime1 2016-05-29 02:27:03 UTC #5

Yeah I'd say look up some tutorials on youtube. Like anatomy, shading or even composition.

sarrowsmith10 2016-05-29 04:15:59 UTC #6

I think everyone touched on your art, so I won't bother. Improving your drawing skills will take time, nothing that you can do overnight, just with lots of practice. However there are things you can do immediately. Some things I found:

*Your pages are very wordy. Reduce some of the dialogue. Rule of thumb- if it isn't absolutely necessary to 1. Further the plot or 2. establish the character, it probably doesn't need to be there.

*The dimensions of the comic are rather large, and it takes some shrinking on my phone to visually see the whole page (or whole top of the page). 500-600px wide, will fit most of even the smaller screens. (Draw your comic big and then shrink it for web viewing)

Keep up the good work!