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Here we have a fairly obvious side-by-side of the evolution of a project.
On the right, how it started in 2009 (I think) and on the left, the brand-new version. Over 15 pages I was constantly going back and forth to the early pages. Every time I learnt a new technique or used a new style I had to go back and (within reason) change the old pages to match.
This is a fairly stark contrast, honestly, if I was to post *all* the changed pages there'd be like 50 revisions to show, each with minor improvements.
Comics are hard.
>Hey lets capitalise all the letters like they do in comics. While I'm at it, I'll make the sound effects like they do in comics.
> Hey lets redo the shadows.
> I've an idea, lets add a narrator to make it clearer wtf is happening.
This isn't the full sized version of the first page - but another bloody teaser. I should be able to start posting in the next few days (or earlier, depending on feedback ;p )
Comments and questions on photoshop welcome! I feel justifiably 'okay' enough at art to start posting tutorials and suggestions as well as my usual constructive criticism.
Photoshop is a great help. It really makes a big difference, especially if you do not have a super gifted drawing hand. I know that from my own experience.
Needless to say, the new version looks pretty awesome. Thumbs up for you. ^^
And it also gave Praile enough time to recover from motion sickness! But I kid. It can take hundreds of hours to improve, and there's no shortcut for it. I'm far too lazy to do it myself, so congrats on sticking to it, mate. Are said tips applicable to GIMP as well?
Respect, Rob. Anyone taking on a comic has a lot of patience.
Is it just me, or is there a touch of Battle Of The Planets' Princess about E'Lane? Even as I say that I can see she looks very different from that character - can't quite put my finger on what it is!
Can definitely see how you've improved this since the original version. It's much cleaner and bolder, and altogether more - well, comic-like. Oh, and Throooom! is an excellent noise for a spaceship to be making.
My own personal photoshop skills are rarely used and not rilly a lot to brag about. Kudos to you for being brave enough to work in layers and to master the block lettering technique. If I may give some advise, try experimenting with filters within selected areas.
Just select an easily controlled spot, like a wall, and chose a filter like Mosaic Tiles. (Make sure that you have at least 2 easily differentiated colors already on your wall...a basic color and a shadow, it'll help trust me)
Just fool around, I used to do this a lot when I was utilizing photoshop quite a bit in the past. It may get frustrating at times, but you'll be surprised at the results you can get with a little persistence.
@ CM_Zero; thanks mate! Photoshop is definately a help with covering up my poor hand-drawing skills~
@ Dr. Weird; She really does look a little dizzy, doesn't she. Her hair also seems to have shocked itself a new colour somehow~ Said tips should be applicable to GIMP, most of what I've gotten good at is using layers, tools and effects to bring up the technical quality. GIMP copies them fairly faithfully. As you say, actually getting good, is a matter of hundreds of hours using pencils to get the basics etc~
@ Aprion; Soooon. I've got pags 1-7 perfectly ready for release, the rest are just days away... I just don't know when to release, this site is often dead on fridays so I dun't want apathy...
@ Willy; I think its the cape that reminds you. She's supposed to be more of a scout/forest ranger, so she's got the whole cloak thing going on.
Thank you for the praise, 'bolder' is definately a term I like to use, more dark colours on the characters... my next step is darker backgrounds too - they're too bright.
@ Weaver; a technique I picked up for a little later in the comic. The Eldar ships are fairly crystaline and plasticy, so I made their surfaces are smooth and unchanging, the imperial buildings and stuff has good old fashioned green-and-white soviet-bloc colouring rendered in nice different shaded components.
