34 / 119
Jun 2015

Oooohh errr.....my comic got a review even though I did not contributed anything to this thread! O.o
I got some free time (FINALLY!) So let's get this review started!!
(DISCLAIMER:I am only a amateur artist,please take my review as my opinion and view.)

@anakarenina Haytham
Art:The Fantasy world is really well done,with background scene of every panel Clearly shows where the characters are.
Every character is drawn distinct,so you won't find any same face here!
But the colors...oh yess if the story doesn't interest you, @anakarenina GORGEOUS coloring will make you stick around!
The quality in this is what you will usually find in sold graphic novel!

Plot:Just from the first episode,things go down bad quick!But after that,the pacing of the plot is slowed down a bit,with characters explaining on what happen,reason's,ect:Here's where the Creator nailed it,every episode is end just at the right note,with plot hook.You can relate to the protagonist feeling's,How one day your Dearest to you just did something outraging,and leave without explaining anything.

Rate:8/10 #have a look you wont waste time

@Blacksanz The Ninth Circle2

Art:As this is a Fantasy Action comic,you will find many action scene,which is done well,panel with action perspective,
Armies fighting armies,Bloody scene,Monster slaying and the occasional zoom at my face because im angry panel!
The character's dresses according to the setting,I have the Conan the barbarian vibe as i look thru the pages,
And The Characters,while some of it looks generic,some of them looks really BADASS!!
The backgrounds are well drawn,and while most pages uses grey shading,some of the colored pages is Stunning!

Plot:The Comic started out as a good vs evil,with the evil on the winning side,as the story progresses each characters is fleshed out with their own chapters....and up to this point there is more question than answers given so i can't say anything else about the plot smile

Rate:7/10 #action scene galore go read it

@muhdreams Mediocre At Best1

Art:Simple Stick man with expression,but is more than enough to tell a joke smile....

Plot:Its a Gag panel strip....BUT!!Every episode i read (so far only 12 smile ) punchline make me chuckle!

well i uh...dont know what else to say....so...

RATE!!:5/10....its....MEDIOCRE AT BEST!!....Dont let the rating get to you.You have a good sense of witty humor there,keep doing more!
#take a look for a good chuckle or two

PHEW!This took longer than i thought!!Heres mine comic IMAGICA=verse1

I..guess the the next in line is The Ninth Circle2,Mediocre At Best1 and IMAGICA=verse1.

Got a question though,what happens if people that has participate before want to participate again?
I mean...not many people even participate in this thread....a shame but,i can understand given the time to read thru and write...STAY AWESOME GUYS!

Thanks for the reviews Zannen00!
Looks like you had one for free earlier on!

If you wanna jump back in, I guess you would need to have some more content or another series to show.
I think its best if everyone get a shot at this at least once!

Yes,i was like O.o...then decided as soon i got some free time I'll get to reviewing!
smile
And yes I'll need to have more content lol we are going to need a few more contributor in order for us to participate again....i hope sweat_smile

Thanks @muhdreams and @Zannen00 !!! I found your reviews very fair and helpful (and it is true that right now there are more questions than answers given -_-U)

let's see if moaar people wants reviews XD

Glad I could help!
We'll definitely get reviews quicker in this current topic...
The power of the crowd!

LOL I sure hope so! :wink:

I meant no offense @WintreKitty !
Please don't take this the wrong way!
It is more feedback here than actual full length reviews.
It can't compare to the work you are putting in!

No worries! I'm not offended, I actually laughed out loud reading that comment because it's true! It takes a while to write a detailed review that I am content with. smile

That's a good thing!
I am always impressed by the quality and the details in each of your reviews!
That's an art by itself.
Too bad there not that many in webcomics!

The Ninth Circle3 by @Blacksanz

If I had to use one word to describe this comic, it would be "expressive." Kyros is a very expressive character, and I love how you bring out that aspect of him with facial expressions + body languages, all accentuated by the composition. Your action shots are very energetic as well. Never a dull moment in this comic -- even the calmer scenes (such as this episode1) feel like the calm before the storm. Or rather, between the storms.

I also really appreciate that you don't draw the same face on every character. Their eyes and brows are different. Their noses are different. Their expressions are different when they're expressing roughly the same emotion. You could push their differences even further, but what you've got right now is good stuff!

My main complaint is the speech bubble placement. The default order is left, then right, then down. This order is often violated; for example, at the bottom of this episode4, the first text is at the bottom left. Then my eyes have to move UP to read the next text. In that episode, it's not a huge deal because there's not a lot of text to make things confusing, but in episode 1, I was honestly unsure whether the comic was meant to be read left to right or right to left. "Never make your readers wonder 'do I go up-right or down-left?'" -- I'm a fervent proponent of that philosophy! In that school of thought, "left to right" and "downward" should never compete against each other. The two directions need to work together.

Mediocre At Best1 by @muhdreams

Gag a day strips aren't my thing, but I have to say, I LOL'd at some of these. Especially the Hair Stylin'. That was unexpected.
I realize you're intentionally going for a "lo-fi" art style, but I think there's... too much white space. It makes the comic seem unfinished. Cyanide and Happiness has a similar style, but they use colors to make their strips seem like a finished product. xkcd uses an even simpler art style, but they use a good amount of black to make the art look complete. Something to think about. Sometimes there's a beauty in unfinished-looking art styles, but here it just looks unfinished.

IMAGICA=verse1 by @Zannen00

You know how sometimes, a story has a magicky setting, but after four chapters in, you're STILL not sure just how common magic is. Is it a closely guarded, super esoteric secret shared only among the few? Or is it used in everyday lives of average Joes and Janes? What is the public attitude toward the use of magic? etc. That sort of stuff needs to be made clear ASAP, which your story does. You have no idea how much I appreciate that. XD

Pacing-wise, I think you're doing great, introducing the world quickly and then the character's predicament. I do have to wonder though: in chapter 31, the main character just airs her family's dirty laundry in front of strangers whom she should be trying to impress?? I realize she's young, and probably more trusting than cynical old me, but 1) that still seemed like too much, and 2) none of the other characters seemed to think much of it. No "wow, did this girl just tell us all that about her family?", no "yep, another sob story case", no nothing...?

One other thing I want to mention is THE LETTERING! Please pick one font size and stick to it. The only cases where you would use a smaller or a bigger font size is to indicate an actual change in volume: shouting, whispers, distant murmurs, etc. There are also punctuation issues throughout, so perhaps find a proofreader?

For the next person:

please review Mediocre At Best1, IMAGICA=verse,1 and Heart of Keol1. Thank you!

(OvO) wooowww...detailed review!!THIS IS SO AWESOME! smiley

ERRRR....eheheh.....I,uh....come to think of it...I need to rectify that in the coming chapters frowning

And I will fix the lettering size...once I get used to the text type in Manga Studio
(I SWEAR the settings has a mind of ITS OWN!!)...And uh....punctuation?Example?

All in all,Keii4ii,THANKS SO MUCH for taking your time to write a review about my comic!
You have just make me realize something I would never have thought of before!
I need to look more into how I tell my stories.. :3

Mediocre at Best @muhdreams
First things first, I love all the visual and verbal puns in your comic. Since their puns, they're actually quite original. I see a lot of Gag Strips are just "relatable events" or overused tropes that you may-or-may-not have seen on the internet before. Even the dark jokes you throw in there make it stand out(in a good way), and make it a more unique Gag-A-Day.
The only tip I have for improvement, though, would have to do with the lineart! You're going for a simple style, and I like that, but there is a such thing as too simple. It just seems "unfinished" in a way. Now, I'm no proffessional, but adding variety in line thickness(or thinness) would really add to it all. And(unless its part of the style you're going for) go for neater/smoother lines? 6/10!

IMAGICA=verse @Zannen00
Your story/plot is good and interesting. I took it as a more modern take on "Magical Girls" or any variant of it. The characters have a variety in looks and personalities, which makes them interesting and fun to look at! Many of the characters are also very relatable. The main girl, Val, is absolutely adorable and I really feel for the mother.
The main criticism I have is that the font(s) don't really match the tone of the story. They just seem out of place, and font can be really important for setting the tone! You can use http://www.dafont.com/ to find a variety of nice texts. The only other thing would be to tone it down a little with the "airbrush" tool. 7/10

Heart of Keol @keii4ii
Tbh, I can't think of a lot of stuff to critique for yours, so sorry if this ones a little short :o
Your art is amazing. The coloring, the expressions, the backgrounds, just everything is so great! The only thing that I can notice, though, is that in some panels it's difficult to tell what's going on. It rarely happens, and it's just a little thing, but I just thought I'd point that out. Aside from that, you have a really high quality comic! 9/10

For the next person:
I'm pretty sure you get IMAGICA=verse3, Heart of Keol2, and Destiny Awaits2. Correct me if I'm wrong, though!

Hello. I make RAWR! Dinosaur Friends2 and am looking for feedback. I don't enjoy #/10 ratings so I will make do with something different but hopefully still entertaining. Further reviewers should not feel obligated to hand me any numbers at all.

IMAGICA=verse @Zannen00
ART:
Nice line quality on your drawings. Lots of good width variations, I can clearly see the characters. As the comic progresses it seems like you get more confident drawing. Good. Keep that up.

Some things you might look into doing are value studies of light and shadow, and anatomy studies of human beings. They might be difficult to draw but that's the point.

WRITING:
I was able to follow the story, which is 2/3rds of the battle. It's a fun, breezy story. The concept of there being too many magical girls and competition between them is charming and unique. I'm not the best at writing, but as a reader I feel like you should continue to stay away from gutting your reader too much emotionally and instead carry on with fun action sequences, neat clothes, and interesting monsters. The drama you have is enough to carry the character's purposes and any more I fear would make the comic less enjoyable for me.

DESIGN:
I'm enjoying your clothing choices a lot. They wear a lot of cute stuff, and you're not scared of getting away from pants/jackets like a lot of comic artists tend to get stuck on.

Some of the characters are difficult to distinguish from each other on a face-by-face basis (like the girl and her mom in the most recent chapter). Look into ways to differentiate facial silhouettes more, whether it's eye shape, cheek bones, chins, or brows. Also, you can make people look older by adding lines to their faces in the creases of their lips and eyelids.

I give your comic gigantic T-rex in the first page good job/10.

Heart of Keol @keii4ii
ART:
Well that's just eye candy. Nice. For the sake of anyone reading along to find good examples of what to do with a comic, Heart of Keol employs volumetric lineart, clear body expressions, contrast between foreground and background, and a painterly color style that seems to be expressive of the author's personal style and taste.

I think the only thing I would hesitantly suggest is the use of different sizes of brushes on some of the shading and highlights. Sometimes the smaller brush size gets too busy/sketchy and distracts from the lineart, or adds textures that don't seem appropriate for smooth surfaces.

WRITING:
I enjoyed the main character's attempt to speak Korean and how his life was set up. The conversations seem natural and characters have their own voices. The art compliments the writing well and the expressive cues that followed the mysterious girl's mention of 'a better place' were particularly well done. The explanatory page about Korean vs. English was also adorable and well-done.

DESIGN:
I dislike the all-caps, kinda standard writing-ish looking font but that's kind of a personal preference.

I definitely dig the brush strokes around the speech bubbles, and I'm able to differentiate the characters well. I liked how you gave the main character's face a chin indentation because I'm kind of bored with perfectly pretty boy characters.

I give this comic plant-magician being startled by a comet/10.

Destiny Awaits @rainbowolfe
ART:
The animation is a brave choice and one worth exploring. Definitely continue to experiment with it because not everybody can do that with their comic. The characters would benefit from some real-life studies of anatomy, but you're doing a good job with their silhouettes and making sure their limbs are visible and communicating (which sounds kinda simple but isn't actually).

I think if you're going to rely this heavily on color, some color theory studies would benefit you greatly. I don't mean go by-the-books only do 'appropriate' color schemes, but really investigate how color effects mood and story comprehension. There's a lot of room for emotional color schemes and stuff that doesn't make sense, or is very deliberately tacky.

WRITING:
I'm a little confused in terms of where all the characters exist on different planes, so I'm glad you've incorporated a familiar story of four souls banding together to save the world. A lot of people don't get that their comic can have some familiar elements in order to present unfamiliar ones, and still be creative, and still keep the user engaged.

The opening prologue reads a little top-heavy, though it's very creative. This comic seems to contain a lot of self-expression, which is super important. You should keep writing and experimenting with wild abandon.

DESIGN:
I feel like panels aren't being utilized as well as they could be, with some odd choices in white space, and there's a bit too many fonts that could use some more love and attention (in particular a lot of the sound-effects). However, I was able to follow the story by glancing through the comic.

I give your comic eleventy billion multiverses with demons/10

Next person:
Review Heart of Keol1, Destiny Awaits1, and RAWR! Dinosaur Friends2. YAY!

thank you @muhdreams for your review! I am going through and revising some of the older pages in the prologue. When you say the speech bubbles are messy, what do you mean exactly? Is it the shape, the way they're laid out on the page (order), or something else? I want to make it better (especially since I've learned a lot since I began Reus...=▽='). Your advice has been very helpful! I'll definitely use less onomatopoeias in the future (and probably go take out some of the non-essential ones in the old pages too). Above all, thank you for taking the time to read and review Reus! It really means a lot to me!! \TT▽TT>

@Blacksanz thank you for your kind words and tips for improvement. Sorry I took so long to reply; I was (literally) out in the desert and off the grid for a bit on vacation. but I digress. I'm glad you enjoyed the story. I said it to muhdreams, and I'll say it again: I'll use less onomatopoeias from now on. I never knew people had such strong opinions on them. I always thought they were kind of funny, but in any case you're right, there are too many in my comic. I guess I got carried away (•﹏•) as for drawing older folks, to be honest I had never really tried before I drew the commissioner. I'll work on drawing old people. Thank you again for your review! It was very constructive and helpful.

thanks for the review @keii4ii !
I found it very fair and helpful, you are quite right, even I have problems with my speech bubbles when reading my own comic again, it's so URGGGGGGGHJJ!! So, I am taking it seriously and I will try to arrange better speech bubble placement. Thanks <3

and @Cielle, you are most welcome, I am glad my tips helped you somehow smiley

Hey no worries! As for speech bubbles, personally I found it to be a little messy. I'm gonna use 'prologue part 2' to hopefully try to explain my reasoning at least:

  • Since this chapter focuses a lot on the talking, the impression I get at least is that you show them talking and moving to move the plot forward and do a bit of world-building as well. For example with the panel where the two commissioners are talking and going up the stairs, the speech bubbles looks like it covers 60% of panel, and so for me personally it think at least the layout of speech bubbles needs to be improved so its easier to follow along too.
  • More on that though, the speech tail bubbles look silly. Especially the really long ones. This kinda also goes back on my point that layout needs to be improved cause the long speech bubble tails always wrap around the characters. Which isn't to say that its bad, cause it means to me at least is that you want to characters/art to shine! So really to summarize, work on the layout of your panels so it'll be easier to follow along!
  • I'll comment on the onomatopoeia too lols: its not that bad, but it blends into the art that I don't even notice it. Back to the prologue, there was that one panel were someone was looking at the city, and there was those 'zaa' in the background. Did not even see it. Same for the 'splash' in the next panel where someone walked in a puddle. Some of them were fine. Like when that one dude slammed the door at the end, that one was okay, cause for humour and whatnot, but yeah. A few of them kinda just blended in the background.

Phew! A little long but hopefully that clears up what I was saying. If not lemme know, and I'll try again (haha). Most of my criticisms comes from my really poor eyesight, so yeah...

I'm glad to see so many detailed reviews poping up!
Hope this keeps going!