Character designs for Web Comic

[cartoonMike]

Hi all, haven't posted in ages, thought I'd share some stuff I'm currently working on. These are pencil drawings that I'll be inking soon (both analog and digital). They're characters for a web comic that I'll be calling "Jagged Synaptic Fire."

More as I do stuff!

comments, crititism, super delegate commitments all welcomed!

[-ash-]

Nice sketches, though the perspective on the first one looks a little off to me.

What will you be using for the inking?

[cartoonMike]

Thanks for the comments, Tony.

I'll double check the perspective on the first pix, I think it may have something to do with the (as we face it) right arm and hand of the female character. Maybe if a floor pattern is added will make the figures and such look like they belong on the same page, so to speak.

As far as inking goes, the original pencils were done on standard smooth 2 ply bristol board.

On the analog paper, I'll probably ink with a Hunt quill 102 dip pen for the finer details and a Windsor Newton series 7 #2 brush for outlines and such.

Digitally, I've scanned in the pencils at 600dpi, greyscale and imported them into Manga Studio 3 (which has an update that fixes problems with Leopard --Mac OS X 10.5 -- yea!) and will ink them using a modified pen (with settings thanks to Frenden [ www.frenden.com ] ).

Once I have a digital and analog inked version, I'm going to decide which way I'm going to ink the series in.

A few things in Digital Inking's favor is that the eye-strain for detailed work doesn't happen. I hold the wacom stylus differently than the dip-pen and much less tight of an grip, so the hand, wrist and elbow don't complain after a few hours of work. And the fact that I don't have to worry about smudging/smearing wet ink and that correcting mistakes and doing some special effects don't involve using white-out.

But then, I do like the feel of the dip-pen/brush on paper. Less things between me and my art, iykwim.

I'll probably do color flats in Manga Studio and finish the coloring in Painter. And lettering may not be done in Manga Studio, I want to experiment with Comic Life Magiq (www.plasq.com) and see how it goes. Comic Life will allow me to create Styles for things such as Balloon Text and color fills, captions, panels and pages. With Manga Studio, I have to either remember what settings I used or copy and paste the text, then change the text.

[-ash-]

Originally Posted by cartoonMike

T
But then, I do like the feel of the dip-pen/brush on paper. Less things between me and my art, iykwim.

Aahh, traditional. I've been digital so long now (both at work and home) I've forgotten what it's like.

Though I don't miss the mess of paint, cleaning palettes, constant sharpening of pencils, etc. and I do love my new Intuos 3. Couldn't believe how much nicer it is than the old Intuos 1 I'd been using since 2000.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing the next stage.

[cartoonMike]

Here's a page I inked in using Manga Studio today. I used Comic Life Magiq (Mac OS 10.5 only) to add the lettering. I really like how it looks like it was done with pen and paper.

This is for a different story,but just a proof of concept, that is, I can ink with Manga Studio.

welcome any/all feedback.

[Odessey]

I like the third sketch it reminds me of some of the posters i had back in the early 70s .

[-ash-]

Originally Posted by Odessey

I like the third sketch it reminds me of some of the posters i had back in the early 70s .

Rodney Mathews posters, by any chance? I am still a big fan of his work.

[Odessey]

Originally Posted by -ash-

Rodney Mathews posters, by any chance? I am still a big fan of his work.

Didn't he also used to do posters visualizing rock concerts back in the 60s and 70s such as a Wood-stock theme with wild mushrooms, rainbows , majestic mountain ranges all with vivid colors and strange creatures hiding behind rocks , all as black light themed posters, kind of huka pipe induce stuff ! I think i saw a couple of his works in a few issues of " MAD" magazine back in the day of all places

Michael.

[cartoonMike]

Ash -- I googled Mathews and was very impressed with what I saw.

Odessey -- because you liked it, I started the digital inks with the third pix. the Wasp Character is Ryzalene and she's the big bad in the first set of stories. I just have her and one of her Zombies inked in right now. I'm using some techniques I picked up from an artist named Ray Frenden (Mentioned him in my first post) and some other inking techniques from Joe Weems and Tom Nguyen (I have both their DVDs).

I am continuing to work on the backgrounds for this one and thinking up a color scheme. I want to see how much of this one I can do exclusively in Manga Studio.

Since this is a digital inked piece, I can go back and redo it, so don't be shy about any C&C.

Thanks for looking,

Mike

[Notez]

very nice!!! you handled the detailing properly,the inked one is very disturbing as i can not tell if its digital or analog so my hat is off to you!!!! i really like your style and it does remind me of those 70s rock posters and whatnots,like the art on that movie detroit rock city (with KISS)

keep up the good work!

~Notez~

[rickei]

that last post looks great Mike!

my only crit would be that her antenna's are not very smooth, and one of them doesn't seem to fit in the socket on her head.

[cartoonMike]

Thanks for the comments everybody!

@ Notez -- Your comments mean a lot, I'm working real hard on making my "dInking" :P look like regular analog inks. I got a few inking tutorial DVDs and am applying the lessons from them to my work in Manga Studio. Thanks again!

@ rickei: Good call on the antenna. When I'm coloring it, I'll fix them. For me it was important that I just finish inking the piece and move on.

Attached to this post is the "Final" inks (aside from the fixes that y'all brought up). I'll be doing the coloring entirely in Manga Studio (if you're not a MS user, well think of having every color being a solid spot color and must exist on its own layer and you're there) after i ink in the other two drawings.

As I'm working on this story, an idea being considered is to use these character sheets as reference to be used on making 3D models and eventually having the story being either as an animated 3d 'toon or as a 3D rendered comic. Still thinking about that one. But, I'll have to finish up the story details before any decisions like that are made.

Hope ya like, comments welcome as always, it's the best way to grow as an artist.

[Notez]

anytime mike!
and i must say this looks like it has come a very long way!
i had to reply on this version cuz its so sick . . .keep it up,I'd be interested in checking out the finished no matter if its static or animated!

peace