Comic art advice please! -panel composition

[Beckycarsonart]

So I've been struggling with composition and color dynamics and but trying my hardest to improve on my environmental design but MY CHARACTERS ALWAYS GET SUCKED IN!

or at least seem to...so I hope if I could get advice on what I could do to fix my panel. (its not entirely done yet , but would like to get the bugs out first before I go crazy with it, lol)

[Wezboy]

Hello there!! Well, I've been reading all kind of comics, and I think the panel it not bad. You just need to clean that little think coming out ( even though you said it's not done yet ), but besides that, from my point of view, I like the painting, and I think the character fits very well on the image! I don't really have anything to say, since it's not done yet, but share it again when it's done!!

[Down_the_Rabbithole]

Hmm, I think it'd help if you cast some of the character's shadow on the building. That'd help them stand out more.

[nicholasblack]

Hi, there. A few tutorials about 'value' would help solve your issue. YouTube is full of them, so take your pick. Those made for photographers are ok, too. Also, I highly recommend "Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers" by Marcos Mateu-Mestre. Additionally, look for Sycra on YouTube, watch some of his critiques, he touches upon this stuff.
And absolutely watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om0YA3WbXyo [at least from halfway to the end].

For a few quick tips:
- draw/paint the panel in grayscale, if it's readable like that, add color.
- keep strongest contrast on the focal point; background should have less details, less contrast. As an example, horse dude should be allowed to have black and white and strong lineart, while background should be grayish, no blacks and whites in it, less architectural details on the building.
- thicker lineart on the thing you want in focus, thin lineart on the unimportant stuff.
- strong colors on the focal point, muted colors on the unimportant stuff [like the grass].
- breathing space around the focal point [your horse]. Fade out the lines of the background before they touch the horse.
- do some value studies, they'll help. [Look for Istebrak on YouTube]
- color for mood. Sure, grass is green, but depending on the lighting conditions, it can appear yellowish, gray, dark blue, reddish, and so on. Watch this at 5:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj1FK8n7WgY

Sorry for the wall of text, I tend to get carried away sometimes, but I hope it will help you.

[Beckycarsonart]

Oh! I just ordered Framed Ink!! So it really must be a good book!

Thank you so much for your help and for the references! And I heard of the shifting to black and white but I hadnt thought about trying it. Thank you so much!!

[Beckycarsonart]

Thank you! And sure! Will do!

[Beckycarsonart]

I'll give it a try, thank you!

[DMBrigman]

As others have suggested, think about adding thicker lineart to the character, increasing the contrasts, and cutting back on details in the background.

For example, I would take out the cross hatching in the windows, It is making your character's face hard to read, and a viewer's eye is drawn to things with more detail, which really shouldn't be the windows. You can even fill them in with black or a dark color, and it will help your character's head stand out more.

Next I would pay attention to tangents, your character's head gets lost a bit because the window frame lines up with its chin, and a bit with the shoulders.

Think contrasts. A viewer's eye is also drawn to the areas with the most contrast, be that black on white, red on green, saturated on unsaturated, detailed on simple, etc. What you can do is change the color of the door so the horse tail stands out, maybe make it a green brown so it doesn't stand out, do the same for the wood around the windows, you can darken the building just a bit, but no the gray stone around the door, as it is a nice framing device for your character, desaturate the greens a bit, and thicken the lineart and darken the shadow coming from your character.

[Beckycarsonart]

The Tome of Kilkris :: Chap 1 - pg 4 | Tapas

Here's the finished product if you're still interested!

[Wezboy]

Oh, nice! I love it!!

[raparaparuru]

hummmm.. I watched your wonderful comics well. I will talk about what I think is lacking.

• Your drawing skills are excellent. Don't think it's not enough.
• I want you to concentrate on the story that is contained in one cut. It feels that the hero and the background fight each other.(in chap1-pg 4) The central tree in the third cut was better all black. Don't describe too much.
• Your drawing is rough. very individual. good drawing!! but the color broke your lovely drawing. I think black and white would be much better. I would like to add a little noise to the color so that color and drawing do not fight. A little noise can be easily inserted in Photoshop, making the colors richer but not appear flat.
  I'll cheer you up and watch you. happy new year!! goooood luck!!!

[Beckycarsonart]

Thank you so much! Reading your repky made my day! Thank you for yourself help!! I've been working since this page but coloring still seems to be an Achilles heel. Happy New Year to you as well!