Comic Opportunity

DC are putting together a comic artist workshop. Those who can take part must seen a cover letter, a series of images as part of its selection criteria, a letter of recommendation and a CV. The applications are open at the beginning of April.

Case Study: Far Side Gallery 2

Case Study 2: The Far Side Gallery 2

Garry Larson’s the Far Side Gallery (1989) is a series of single panel short comics which focuses on surreal humour.

Characters
The subject differ depending on the joke and scenario of the panel. Some of these include animals, tribal, scientists, situation comedies, cavemen and so forth (Wicklin 2011). The captions can represent the character’s dialogue or it can provide context to the illustration. Sometimes these are necessary to convey the jokes whereas other times, they are not needed. This study will analyse a few of these comic strips which use visuals to tell or reinforce their conveyed jokes. Sometimes they are used to reflect a figure of speech or derivatives of such a case.

Colour
Overall the main colours are grayscale but there are occasions where many of the panels have been repainted with traditional materials. The choice for no colour appears to be a cost efficiency purpose. The colouring style varies as it includes tones and this is applied in various ways for characters and backgrounds. There is always a sense of location in these panels and the tone reflect that. Various tone help suggest the presence of colours

Figure 1. (Larson 1989 P. 46)

Figure 1 features a cowboy is holding up a large branding iron. The lettering on the iron is flipped but it spells “This cow belongs to Jones so hands off.”

Most branding irons are small but the exaggerated iron is used to an unnecessarily large branding label is comical. It is enhanced with the cowboy’s grin. The five cows in the background look wide eyed in fear. From this context we can come to the conclusion that to the cows, the pain will be extremely severe. This is an example where the text and lettering which does reinforce an idea that is being conveyed and is part of the illustration. Anticipation although the panels are restricted sometimes through closure we can jump to a conclusion of what will happen. There is a present of curved liens to suggest that he iron is emitting steam. The cowboys eyes help direct us to the branding iron’s message.

Figure 2. (Larson 1989 p. 57)

Figure 2’s context of this panel is the siege of try with the iconic wooden horse which houses the Athenian army. An outhouse labelled “men” is placed just outside the horse. And we see the army pour out of the horse and into the outhouse with wide eyes, suggesting based on the visuals, that they are desperately needing the toilet. It could be suggested that they are about to make their attack but they need to use the rest room before doing so. A darkened overlay is used to indicate that it is night time. 

Figure 3. (Larson 1989 P. 56)

Figure 3 features a man at a podium labelled “Bob’s Gallery” with a series of paintings in the corner of a room. There are several props placed to reinforce that this is a gallery such as a barrier. Our first focus is on the centre of the picture which features a tilted landscape painting. All the paintings are tilted and one of the thing that comes to mind is why they are like that. The answer is visually clear as the man at the podium has his head tilted as well. Therefore form his perspective he sees the paintings as straight. The perspective of the room also helps draw the reader’s attention to the centre focal point of the panel.

Figure 4. (Larson 1989 p. 75)

Figure 4 depicts panel a cow and man are on a life raft out at sea. Both have thought bubbles of what they perceive each other as the food. The man perceives the cows as a steak and the cow perceives him as someone covered in grass. The thought bubbles help provide insight into their thoughts base on the situation. The humour comes for the fact that a cow is a food source but there is also the unexpected element where the man could be considered as well. We are given the impression that they are out a sea based on the curve lines that suggested waves and the white highlights to indicate white horses. The man also has a bear which can suggest the duration of the two of them being in the lifeboat.

Figure 5. (Larson 1989 p. 75)

A couple of anthropomorphic dogs are in a double bed. One is sleeping whereas the other is wide awake reading a book entitled “the mail man carried mace”. Based on the context of how dogs hate people who approach their homes, is funny to see that the postman carrying mace is see as a fear for dogs. The white light helps act as a focal point and directs to what the dog is reading.

Facial Expressions
The character of Larson’s Far Side palette of emotions is no expressive. However they do show wide eyes with pupils despite a majority of his characters wear glasses. Some of his illustrations exclude facial features such as mouths and eyes. The presence of a mouth on a charter which is open can helped determine who is speaking in the panel.

Word and picture Combinations
These panels feature various forms of verbal and non-verbal narratives between comics. In some scenarios, there are a mixture of pictorial text and speech bubbles whereas other times captions underneath the panels consist of a signal sentence or a segment of dialogue which provides additional clarity to the picture depicted in the comic.

Background
The style of backgrounds vary between the panel’s contexts. White areas determines the light source including the time of day. Therefore ab lack background with white dots represents the starry sky. According to Punofthday.com, Larson was fascinated by biology and there has been some throwbacks to this such as the reference to science in some jokes and even the study of insects.

Conclusion
The Far Side Gallery 2 has a grand mixture of narration. Larson’s art style is simplistic, providing enough clarity to communicate the jokes conveyed through the visuals. However in order to understand the humour, the reader may need to commence external research.
Stephen King’s forewords mentions how “You can’t tell a cartoon” (Larson 1992 p.5), which helps highlight the importance of visual storytelling, especially in the genre of comedy.

Reference
Punoftheday.com. 1996. Gary Larson - Biography - Pun of the Day. [online] Available at: http://www.punoftheday.com/gary-larson.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016].

Larson, G. 1989. The Far Side Gallery 2. 7th ed. London: Warner Books.

Wicklin, R. 2011. An analysis of subjects in The Far Side cartoons. [online] The DO Loop. Available at: http://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2011/03/18/an-analysis-of-subjects-in-the-far-side-cartoons.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016].

Week 12: Summary

With the Easter Holidays, I have taken the opportunity to revisit my dissertation and clean up certain areas to it.

Monday - I spent the entire day, overlooking my pages. I added n a German rowing boat with multiple soldiers on board. I looked at some 1914 boarding parties to get some inspiration of how the boat could be designed. I decided to keep it simple and in the distance. I also took some time and looked over. I use the remainder of  the day to look over my Dissertation and correct it.

Modified Page 2

In addition to putting together a PDF. I was successful in implementing page 6 into the pdf with no abnormalities in its presentation.

Tuesday - The aim for Tuesday was to go through my blog posts. Instead I focused on sending away a copy of one of my case studies to be checked over. I am starting to think that I may run out of time to write a case study about Creepy which is a foreign comic which was going to be analysed to see how to can tell a story when  the dialogue is not being told in the English language. I finished up a case study about Gary Larsons's the Far Side and looked into how he conveyed jokes through visuals. Although his single panels were minimal, they provided really good humour.

Wednesday - I started sketching out a new page to replace to Page 20's layout. This one features a panel where the protagonist opens his eyes and we see an image of the fish creature silhouette in his eye. I also included a large panel of him surrounded by three of the Dagon creatures with his hands on his head with a high camera angle to signify his vulnerability and weakened state.
I used blues and purple because the creature, Father Dagon is affiliated with coldness, the ocean and mystery.  used the shadow colour scheme of purple and yellow to provide consistency.
I chose to apply different panels shapes in this page. The last panel's gestalt form is to suggest that he is descend into a state of madness with the panel's bottom edges meeting at one point.The panel's pattern was intended to slightly resemble the head of Father Dagon or suggest some demonic connotations.

Thursday - This morning I was informed by Brian that the meeting will not be on today. However I decided to come into Dundee to discuss one of my case studies with my NAS Adviser who has been helpful in  checking over my Dissertation's grammar. In addition, I have been inside my home in Kirkcaldy or the last few days so I am quite happy to go into Dundee. I spoke to my adviser and she was kind to give me a copy of my case study I sent where with some corrections needed.

Friday - I took the time to work on improving the Monolith design.
I took my improved design ad applied it to the model sheet.

Before 

After

I found it easier for me to make changes to it by creating and clearing grid lines. I also took some time to work on setting up my portfolio. I hope to publish it and seek feedback from my peers.

Saturday - I took some time off to rest and play games. For an hour, I modified my poster and dissertation.

Brian's Feedback and Week 11 Summary

I showed the introduction for my dissertation to Brian. He suggested that I should include a paragraph which discusses the relationship between the themes and explain how they are relate to each other. On Thursday, we also discussed some alternative ideas for one of the comic pages that I was trying to convey. I was intending to convey the following text;

"So now I am to end it all, having written a full account for the information or the contemptuous amusement of my fellow-men. Often I ask myself if it could not all have been a pure phantasm—a mere freak of fever as I lay sun-stricken and raving in the open boat after my escape from the German man-of-war. This I ask myself, but ever does there come before me a hideously vivid vision in reply." (Lovecraft p.23–29)
However after some consideration, I decided to allow myself some creative freedom when I was  depicting this part of the story.  I have been staying true to the one of the story and have been able to include some new material without drifting away from its original intention. The meeting sessions allowed for further critique such as the praise of areas which  helped me improve the aspect of storytelling in the comic but also highlighting the flaws of these pages.
I feel that this may be changed to show that the morphine does not make the vision go away but instead make it temporary or enhances the hallucinations. I have be trying to maintain  my number of pages to allow them to be told in the way it should be presented.
I updated the background of page 18. Brian really liked how the inclusion of the doctor helped provide some further concept of the protagonist' state. However Brian was still not happy with the layout of the final panel. I did make some changes such as removing the specific title of the professor off the office door. The protagonist is speaking to. It became apparent that it would have been a lot better if it showed the protagonist walking away from the hospital and provide visual cues to suggest hat his is the beginning of his problems. I also took the opportunity to build up my portfolio including my word from second year to help highlight the experience that I have gained during three years at Abertay. I also decided to look at adding in a boarding party boat in page 2.

References

Lovecraft, H. 1919. Dagon. W. Paul Cook. p.23-29.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXE83d9MC5uraQRDzZFlMZ7Em8TljJ1-LdIU8zM3P1UOz2NWnjP4iau5WGY_VLKRdI2G5NfHDsEuzpf-UMuSqt6PpL6kcnTWSYASzVV17FksyGBNKPPEZIzR9rm5Z9WqOQ8tmB6fH0GY/s1600/1114rnboarding.jpg

Week 11: Practical Work

After my meeting with the printing service at Dundee University, I found out for the printing service that:

• I just need to to submit a pdf of the entire comic.
• The price for one copy is £ 7 coloured.
• It would take a day when it is not busy.
• The layout just needs top be one single page layout.

I worked on some adjusting some comic pages based off yesterday's feedback from Brian.

Page 16 Before Modification

Some of the issues with this page was the protagonist and the level of depth. Brian's advice was to try and bring him closer with a darker silhouette.

Page 17 Before Modification

 

Page 17 After Modification

The extra panels help provide additional clarity and the last set of panels does help suggest the idea of  disorientation and ambiguity as we have no idea what is approaching the protagonist.

Page 18 Before Modification

Page 18 After Modification

Here, I replaced the sea captain's position with the doctor but I kept him in the background to suggest that he helped rescue the protagonist.

Page 19 Before Modification

Page 19 After modification

I altered the perspective of the monolith and in doing so I actually made the perspective of the scene look greater.

Page 22 Before Modification

Page 22 After Modification

This layout for Page 22 features all the familiar elements from the original version is more angular,suggesting more dynamic movement. There is a triangular composition. However this composition is a lot more cluttered compared to my previous iteration. It is likely that I will stick with my original piece.

Formatting Process

Today, I managed to put together a PDF of my Comic. On Tuesday, I will visit Dundee Printing service and I will ask them a few questions about the production of a comic issue.

• Are there any templates available for magazine size comics?
• What are the prices for this particular size, specifically in colour?
• How long would it take to produce a single issue consisting of 28 pages?
• Do the back, front and insider covers require their own PDF?
• How should the Indesign document be laid out in order to feature the front, back and inside covers?

I followed a few links and tutorial about how to assemble a .PDF using Adobe Indesign.

http://webcomicalliance.com/business/indesign-101-part-one/

http://fantasycomicportal.com/forum/index.php?topic=258.0

In addition, I created a rough prototype of how the comic should look like. I was successful in creating a PDF However page 5's top half was rendered fine but the lower half was not there. I am still looking into how this technical issue can be resolved.

Revisited Model Sheets: Father Dagon

I made some changes to my original Dagon designs so I had to modify the model to reflect these changes.

Before 

After

To provide a reference to the uncanny valley, I decided to add the two eyes at both sides with the addition of a gill at the front in the shape of a mouth. This would help with the idea of symmetry but it also shows the deception of this creature. It could be argued that people who saw this creature mistook it's front gill as a mouth . The funnels on its shoulders can be used as a defense mechanism where it can blind its prey, or pride additional means to gain acceleration when swimming. However I think I will need to modify the front view's head a bi to make it look like it is looking straight. The front profile of Father Dagon did not look straight on so I decided to fix that.

Revised Model sheet

Case Study: Rich Werner's The Quest

Rich Werner is the artist behind Plants vs Zombies, the award winning multi-platform computer games. He left Popcap Games in 2012 to set up his own studio and they in turn made a series of indie games as a self employed artist.
In connection with sequential art with little to no dialogue. He has worked on a comic entry for an anthology called Monsterpedia 2014. Whirl it is mainly wordless, There is the exception of captions for sound effects and even writing text such as the lettering on the text. However. This is limited. There are only three out of forty nine panels with the written text. I think this can still be be helpful as text are Static images themselves.

“The Quest” is a nine page silent comic, illustrated by Rich Werner as part of an entry for a 2014 collection of short comics called Monsterpedia.
The main story is about a boy who finds a note about a kidnapped princess who is being held in a fortified castle. He dashes off to rescue her. He encounters a creature which turns out to be his friend and they continue on their quest. They arrive at a site where he obtains a sword and shield. They arrive at a cave and discover a dragon. He holds up his sword and the dragon becomes friendly and obedient. On the back of the dragon, our heroes fly towards the castle, evading its defenses. They break into the dungeon and slay the villain only to discover that the princess being held was in fact a trickster in disguise. They defeat the beast only to find another letter attached to an arrow pointing out that their damsel is in another castle.

Figure 1. The Quest Page 1 (Werner 2014)

Figure 2. The Quest Page 2 (Werner 2014)

Figure 3. The Quest Page 4 (Werner 2014)

Figure 4. The Quest Page 6 (Werner 2014)

Figure 5. The Quest Page 7 (Werner 2014)

Figure 6. The Quest Page 9 (Werner 2014)

Words and picture Combinations.

The words and picture combinations were kept to a minimum, making it into a silent comic. There was a speech bubble which was used to imply that the protagonist was whistling. The way the wording and sound effects are applied makes the story feel like a montage combination. They appear as integrated elements of the picture rather than an additional element overlaying the page. The idea of pictorial words being used in this way is still an area that is needing to be explored (McCloud 2006). Some of them exist with 3D on the page which helps illusion. In figure 4, one sound affects appears behind the villain but in the front of the hero. The words follow the same direction as the action and one example merges into the borders and assists with the flow of a page.
Words are present in this comic but are kept at a minimum level. The words on the scroll suggest the end of the story but also suggest that it may continue.
The pictorial text of the creature’s roar is black just like the gutter, making it feel like part of the illustration itself rather than text being placed over it.
Based on the story, it can be suggested the creature that was defeated was not the princess but an imposter and the real princess is somewhere else. Also the line “Your princess is in another castle” can be implied to be a reference to ““Thank You Mario, But Our Princess is in Another Castle” from Super Mario Bros (1985). The other reference made, “you’re my only hope” is a reference to Star Wars (1977). The last page, figure 6 features additional minimum text including a caption in a square box suggesting if the story will continue or just end. Here it is left undecided and ambiguous insuring the story is left open with the potential to continue.

Shapes and Lines
Throughout the story, the main visual consists of a strong use of light and silhouettes. The protagonist of this short comic is a nameless figure who shares the head proportions of three to four heads. The character is drawn in a suitable style to appeal to a younger audience. The main characters have no facial features except his eyes. The protagonist’s simple featureless appearance actually allows him to be relatable to the audience enabling them to project themselves onto him. Speed lines help suggest the movement of objects through the space of the comic panels (McCloud 1994).The gutters are coloured black, not straight but they do connect with the childish style and tone. The black silhouettes of the characters stand out strongly. The backgrounds are painted and have a sense of depth and distance to them. The silhouettes are not restricted to the characters. They are also used for props e.g. the words are highlighted black. They also appear to merge with the gutters. The presence of highlights help make the characters stand out and help distinguish each character whenever they overlap. Implied lines are present in this comic depending on how the characters and objects are staged. There is a strong use of arcs and curves especially in the dragon’s anatomy which helps make it look dynamic and suggest agile movement as it flies. In the first panel of figure 6, we see an implied line from the protagonist, his friend, the sword, the dragon and the sword again. Their eyes help direct us to the sword which represents the point of interest.

Body Language

The characters show a strong use of body language and use of expression to an exaggerated standard. In figure 2, we see the two characters fist bump each other which helps indicate that they share a friendship. The boy communicates to his friend through hand gestures. Through closure, it is implied that he is communicating about the message he received and that he’s embarking on a journey. The two head off together suggesting that the hero was inviting his friend to come and help him rescue the princess. Although the creature in figure 2 is large and bigger than the protagonist, he is not hostile towards him and appears gentle even though he possesses horns. In terms of hand gesture the princess, before we see her as an imposter, stretches her hand to grab on the protagonist’s. However, her palm is facing down which could imply and foreshadow her betrayal of the protagonists’ trust.

Comic Layout
Each page has a varied arrangement of panels but each page balances out appropriately with space and colour. The panels are varying sizes for effect but also suggest length and duration depending on the type of shots used. Each page acts as a story beat. In figure 3, the long panel can suggest the duration of the dragons roar. The lighting works well as it helps clearly convey where the light source is positioned in this comic. The use of scale and elevation is also used. The creature takes up two thirds of the panel whereas the boy and his friend take up only a small fraction. The action in this comic is short and simple.

Colours
The antagonist has a red glow emitting from his eyes and mouth. The mixture of red and black suggests a menacing character which reflects his menacing and devious personality (Scott-Kemmis 2009). In figure 4, the onomatopoeia featured on the page presents a sense of depth. This is implied through staging, as it appears to be obstructed by the antagonist, and also the desaturated colour, which helps make it look a bit distant. The white helps with focal points such as the female character who glows brightly and provides a framework around certain elements such as the boy, his friend and the dragon. However, in connection with the twist that is revealed, it can also suggest caution.

Pink suggests a sense of love, which in this case ITV can suggest the love from the princess. However, the reddish hints can reflect the aggressive and resentful mood established when the princess is discovered to be a fraud. The red eyes and mouth also help make the antagonist appear closer than he already is. Purple is used when the two characters encounter a dragon. This colour is beneficial as purple reflects the fantasy element in the story but also creates a sense of mystery. The use of yellow helps suggest the necessity for reassurance. Since they have defeated the fake princess, they wonder what has happened to the real princess. They are not sure what has happened to the princess. The inclusion of yellow in the first and last panel emphasises the introduction of new ideas such as the desire to go and rescue the princess (Scott-Kemmis 2009). When they learn the princess is in another castle, this introduces a new goal for them.

In figure 5, when the princess turns into a monster, her white colour is still present to help show this connection. In the previous panel, the boy is holding onto her and in the next panel we see a huge monster attacking him.

Environment

The environments of this story are minimalist, hand painting with one or two colour overlay and the environment keeps changing in every page. The establishing shot in figure 1, featuring the protagonist outside his home with a pitchfork, gave the impression that although he is a boy, he could be a home owner. The buildings materials suggest that he is a figure who lacks currency to live at a certain standard or could be someone who is environmentally efficient. Some panels feature no background detail and instead a coloured gradient to allow us to focus on the character and their actions.

Conclusion

In summary, the quest is a simple “hero rescues princess” concept with a twist. The minimum colours used along with the high value and lighting help establish a unique style. The character’s body language and actions are clear and you can understand what’s happening in each panel. This comic included strong silhouettes with readable body language. The protagonist’s eyes also suggest facial expressions and emotions. curves and line work used in this comic flow across the page.
There are moments where we see strong expression in body language such as the scene with the false princess revealing her true form. The emotion is conveyed through his gestures and actions. It is not visually confirmed that there is a princess all that is shown is a message stating that a princess is being captured. The artwork and style manages to convey complex emotions and suspense with minimal words and expressions. This illustrates the power of images to tell a story clearly and appeal to an audience.

References

• McCloud, S. 1994. Understanding comics. New York: HarperPerennial. 
• Scott-Kemmis, J. 2009. The Color Purple and The Color Violet. [online] Available at: http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-purple.html [Accessed 28 Mar. 2016]. 
• Scott-Kemmis, J. 2009. The Color Yellow. [online] Available at: http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-yellow.html [Accessed 28 Mar. 2016]. 
• Scott-Kemmis, J. 2009. The Color White. [online] Empowered By Color. Available at: http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-white.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016]. 
• Scott-Kemmis, J. 2009. The Color Red. [online] Empowered By Color. Available at: http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-red.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016]. 
• Scott-Kemmis, J. 2009. The Color Black. [online] Empowered By Color. Available at: http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-black.html [Accessed 29 Mar. 2016]. 
• Star Wars. 1977. [film]. Directed by George Lucas. San Francisco: Lucasfilm 
• Super Mario Bros. 1985. [computer game]. NES. Nintendo. 
• Werner, R. 2014. Rich_01. [image] Available at: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5688444d1c1210fead013295/568a0491a128e63c0adf2084/569010251c12105f19190af0/1452281939510/Rich_01.jpg?format=1000w [Accessed 28 Mar. 2016]. 
• Werner, R. 2014. Rich_02. [image] Available at: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5688444d1c1210fead013295/568a0491a128e63c0adf2084/569010259cadb6feaa167c6f/1452281919473/Rich_02.jpg?format=500w [Accessed 28 Mar. 2016]. 
• Werner, R. 2014. Rich_04. [image] Available at: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5688444d1c1210fead013295/568a0491a128e63c0adf2084/5690104d9cadb6feaa167e39/1452281958305/Rich_04.jpg?format=500w [Accessed 28 Mar. 2016]. 
• Werner, R. 2014. Rich_06. [image] Available at: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5688444d1c1210fead013295/568a0491a128e63c0adf2084/5690105d9cadb6feaa167ef3/1452281989491/Rich_06.jpg?format=500w [Accessed 28 Mar. 2016]. 
• Werner, R. 2014. Rich_07. [image] Available at: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5688444d1c1210fead013295/568a0491a128e63c0adf2084/569010661c12105f19190e02/1452281992080/Rich_07.jpg?format=500w [Accessed 28 Mar. 2016]. 
• Werner, R. 2014. Rich_09. [image] Available at: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5688444d1c1210fead013295/568a0491a128e63c0adf2084/569010851c12105f19190f61/1452282011811/Rich_09.jpg?format=500w [Accessed 28 Mar. 2016].

Comic Page Production Process

Each comic artist follows their own ways to make comics. While some go for the digital approach, some still use the traditional means when producing comic pages. It can also depend on the chosen style of what materials will be used. Here is my pipeline I have chosen to follow.

Stage 1: Sketches and Thumbnails

I usually begin with sketching out a brief layout of the comic page. Sometimes it is good to work on the smallest scale so that you can determine if it is can be read visually from a distance. Once a preliminary sketch has been made. I would revisit it later to apply further detail to it.
For the environments, I used screenshots of low poly 3D models created in Maya to suggest a three dimensional space. However I drew over these to make it look as if it it were drawn traditionally.

Stage 2: Lined Artwork

Here I  go over the refined sketches in cleaner lines. During this stage, I import the lined work over to Adobe Illustrator and basically, further refining it by "live tracing" the illustration. This approach makes the lines appear more smooth with cleaner edges.

Stage 3: Flat Colouring

Once the lines have been established, I would then apply colour to the illustration. I start off with flat colours to act as a base and then add extra layers to colour certain parts of the figure.To reduce the file size of my PSD files I would often merge these coloured layers into one. When it come to colouring characters, I usually give each one their own base layer so that I can colour the characters and backgrounds separately.

Stage 4: Lighting and Additional effects

Here I added an opaque layer and have it overlaying the main flat colour layer. Here I erased spots on the layer to suggest where the light is hitting.

Stage 5: Visual Style

Here I could include a  series of additional effects such as opaque layers of white colour to suggest atmospheric perspective. I decided to apply unique visual styles to the comic to suggest the past, present and future as shown below.

Past Flashback

I used a paper texture to suggest that these panels are being told in the protagonist's written account. In additional, I applied the panel borders with a cloudy bright brush to suggest that these panels are fragments of the protagonist's memories. 

Present

In this one, I have used cool and warm colours to establish a clear but atmospheric environment

Vision of the Future

I used hellish colours such as a red overlay to suggest what horrific events could happen in the future.

Problems

Pixelated Line Work

I have encountered a few issues when importing line work. Sometimes I would need to resize the line work to fit into the page .This can result in pixelated line work. Fortunately, this can be fixed by going over those points or by bringing the lines back into Adobe Illustrator and then reimporting it into Adobe Photoshop but keep it in its imported state without rasterizing the layer. This can lead to an iterative process.

Week 10 Progress and Meeting

I spent this week modifying comic pages based on my feedback. This week, I have been thinking about how I can add additional panels to help clearly explain how the protagonist climbs down the hummock and returns to his boat. In existing adaptations, this scene has been represented of him waking away from the hummock whereas others such as her adaptation has a starry background with the protagonist's silhouettes to suggest that he running across the empty plane. That was my original attempt but with the inclusion of storm clouds to build up to the point where it begins to rain. The significance of this in the story is to help cover up the location of the mysterious location. That would explain why the captain knew nothing out his black mire as it was flooded by the time that the got there. However it does feel a bit strange how rain could flood volcanic upheaval. On the other hand, it could be that the land began to sink underneath the ocean just as the storm erupts around the protagonists. I revised my older pages to make sure that the characters had a consistence colour scheme.

What I have so far for the page where the hero returns to the boat is the following:

Panel 1: the protagonist is making his decent down the the hummock and he makes one last glance at the drop , just to be sure that he is not being followed by the creature.
Panel 2: He is running along a familiar landmark from page 8,which in this case is the giant skeleton of a long dead sea creature.
Panel 3: he runs along a flat plane running underneath the moon slowly being engulfed by stormy clouds.
Panel 4: He pushes the boat onto its underbelly and packs all the essentials into it.
Panel 5: The shelters underneath the boat cover as the environment around him begins to flood.
Panel 6: It is a clear night sky the boat is out at sea and is spotted by a boat with a spotlight.

Rough Thumbnail of Page

I also took the opportunity to work on my dissertation. So this Saturday I spent my time working on it. I took Brian's suggestion on how to improve my introduction. So I included a paragraph discussing the problems and issue of my project and what I will need to include in order to to convey a story visually. With his help, I managed to reduce the amount of words for my introduction.

Developed Final Characters: Sea Captain and Ethnologist

I was unsatisfied with my development for the characters which I produced for this comic last semester. Although I was happy with the designs I made for the comic, they felt more like throwaway characters since they only appeared in one page.

Sea Captain and Professor Mood Board

To begin with I researched university professors from america including sea captains from the 1910s to get an understanding of their attire. This mood board also features images which inspired the final German sailor uniforms.

Ethnologist and Sea Captain Sketch

Ethnologist and Sea Captain Line work

Ethnologist and Sea Captain Line work Coloured

Ethnologist and Sea Captain with Grayscale 

For the characters, I wanted to have an appropriate contrast as the sea captain will have blue colours to reflect his affiliation with the sea.I used an orange hue for his turtleneck to show his warm and comfort ans he was kind to rescue the protagonist from the ocean.I applied some traits of a sea caption such as the use of a jacket and a cap. I also included a pipe that he would puff on. The final character was depicted without his hat but he wore his jacket when he visits the protagonist in the hospital. I altered some of the values to allow stronger focus on the pints of interest on the character. I also used a gradient to help with this.

Early Designs

I showed the designs to my supervisor, Brian. He suggested that I altered the ethnologist figure to look like his suit is more fitting for the 1910s era. In addition, his right should was lower than his right shoulder. In the following image, I made the changes to the character.

Altered version of characters

 References

Referenced on 26/11

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/saint-simons-island-sea-captain-2-yoo-choong-yeul.jpg

http://www.pallant.org.uk/images/the_blind_sea_captain_0.jpg

http://plimmerton.org.nz/assets/History/CaptainHooper1914.jpg

http://www.thepirateslair.com/images/german-kriegsmarine/1917-inspection-ditty-box.jpg

http://s400910952.websitehome.co.uk/germancolonialuniforms/militaria/photos/marine3.jpg

http://www.thehistorybunker.co.uk/acatalog/German_Uniforms_for_hire.html

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~innwigs/ImageArchive/VU/Faculty/VU-John_H_Cloud-PhysicsProfessor-1914-SS.jpg

http://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt7sf7664q86_3243_1

http://static-content.springer.com/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12210-015-0444-z/MediaObjects/12210_2015_444_Fig1_HTML.jpg

Inside Cover Development

In several comics I've looked at ,they include an additional page with credits at the beginning. So I chose to apply a similar approach with my comic. I wanted to continue with the use of teh textured visual style,which has been applied for the flash back sequences.

This is one of the earliest attempts of this was the image below.

Attempt 1

Attempt 2

I liked the strong silhouettes in the second attempt. However It appears to be too flat. After looking at This 2.5 dimensional panning from this showcase.

Dark Forest Assets video

Current Attempt

This latest attempt shows a greater improvement in the depth through the use of atmospheric perspective. Its needing a few more tweeks but it it still looks better than before. I managed to put together a double page spread to use for the inside pages for the comic.

Double Page Spread

Week 9: Meeting with Brian

The Feedback from Brian was really helpful today. He took a look over my comic pages and made some suggestions to make them work better. One of these suggestions included the removal of the human character which caused some continuity confusion. Brian mistook the victim as the protagonist as they wore the same uniform. Some of the criticisms was that the layout of the printouts I brought along had a incorrect flow which was a printing error. He suggested that I improve the comic page with the dynamic dutch angle by adding some splashes to help emphasis the creature's emergence as well as remove some colour which distract teh eye for the monster.

Brian and my peer, Kemal suggested that in the comic page where the protagonist observes the monolith, alert the panels the page where the protagonist observes the monolith and conveys his fear of the depicted creatures. Brian suggested that they could be placed through the use of gestalt to resemble teeth of a mouth. At the time, I assumed that my layout with the panels being tilted an slightly out of place would be enough. However it looks like it will need to make it a bit more exaggerated, I also decided to look further into the principles of Gestalt which would be helpful when I am producing my panels and how they can help the flow of the comic.
http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm

The other page which I received rich feedback on was my page where the protagonist rushes back to the boat. However I only had a shot of him running across the wasteland. One suggestion could be that we include additional panels to show the protagonist, running past land marks we established in previous pages. I can also include another panel where he looks back while climbing down the hummock to make sure that he was not allowed by the creature. However the idea behind this is that the creature is still pursuing him but in a different form such as the protagonist's mind.

Week Progress 9

With Dunfermline Comic Con taken place on Saturday, I managed to take some time to rest on the Sunday.

On the Monday, I worked on revisiting my front and back cover. I was not happy with the visuals for the framework. So I applied highlights to it and cleaned up the line work to make it less cluttered. I also added a few additional shadows to allow extra depth to the frame. 

Before Revision

After Revision

Some of the changes made to this were the depth of the frame to help add some three dimensional space to the illustration. However for the elements such as the tentacles, I'll need to add some extra shading to help give them a sense of depth. The other changes I've made was reduced the size of the boat to help make the protagonist look more vulnerable. I also adjusted the placement of the horizon to improve the illustration's overall composition.

Here is the design of how I planned to design the back cover. However I decided to adjust the size of the portrait and make it smaller. 

Page 11 Revisited

I looked at the sketch of the protagonist making his descent down  the cliff edge. However I decided that the way it looked did not appear effective as I intended. I applied the idle of using hidden lines found in the shapes of the environment to help the reader's eye flow through the comic.

Before

I was not very happy with how the page turned out. the first panel was meant to show the viewer the height of the chasm from the protagonist's perceptive. The next panel was to show his descent. However I liked the idea of presenting a panel where he looks over his shoulder at something and we are left on a cliff hanger until the next page. The way that he protagonist climbs down the cliff face did not look right. Therefore I decided that this scene would be require a reiteration.

After

Sketch

 Fleshed out Page

Rendered page with visual style applied.

I included a hint of the glow in the second panel which builds up to the final panel. I also like the height of the panel as it can suggest the duration and height of the descent. My main concern for this is  how dark will it look on printed paper. It may be that I will need to go through additional adjustments of the lighting in order to make it visually clear when printed.