Gatillos

I want to create two comics, one is LIFE/interior and the other is so far called ‘3-panel comic’. The first one should receive weekly updates, while the second will be more random.

In order to have two comics I thought the site needed some changes, or else I would have to have two sites. I’ve never liked the navigation, but what I came up with is not that much better.

When adding text that is narrated, I usually add a rectangular box and put it hanging around. It’s not like a balloon but maybe I should do like everybody else and put the box on top of the panel when it’s supposed to be read before whatever is happening in the panel.

Like in this example from the upcoming page:

Also, I might reduce the size of the drawings, I tend to do them too big. I’m hesitant though, because if you’ve got a nice big monitor they look much better. Maybe I should play with different resolutions.

Just a quick note to record how upgrading from Wordpress 2.x and Webcomic 2.x went for me. I waited quite a while until most people stopped complaining about upgrade problems before trying it.

First, I saved posts with the export tool (which doesn’t give that much peace of mind because it doesn’t include images). Then I did a full backup of the whole site and a dump of the mysql database. I do that regularly with a small script so that was easy.

Well I have what could be considered a full page but since I’m trying to make the comic easier to follow and read, I think I’m going to finish the minisequence before publishing it.

In the meanwhile, how’s that for little girl Ana:

It feels much better to draw happy things :). (more...)

Well the dreaded moment where I need to actually draw a recurring female character is finally here. Let’s see if I’m learning anything. From the male protagonist I’ve learned that I need to have some very clear traits that I can easily reproduce otherwise drawing it in different angles becomes really cumbersome. Also, I like much more this style, a bit more like a cartoon.

So… how’s this for a face? She should be kind of cute and very simply outlined…

Just some words, not even a drawing.

This LIFE/interior thing is far from dead, I know lack of updates seems to point strongly to a looming future –but that’s not it! It’s only the usual spiral of unwanted events that keep conspiring against it, diseases mix with happy moments and stress mixes with relief, and between all of that there seems to be no space for little things like a continuing story.

Well the title is intentionally a reference to Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”, which I’m reading these days. The book is an essay (in comic form) about comics, but from a very uncommon point of view. He talks about sequence, about the cognitive process involved when reading a comic, the difference between painting, literature and comics and much more I haven’t read yet. Everything there is wonderfully illustrated with examples as he explores the different approaches authors take and all the great opportunities that this kind of media has.

Creating a composition for a panel is a very nice exercise and lots of fun. I usually do some doodling then try it a few more times, then do something a bit more serious, then when it looks about ok I start all the rest.

There is another approach, which is basically ripping off from a friend that has a great sense of composition but works in another area, like, let’s say, photography :). Today I decided to steal another photo from a friend, in this case the photo is not that great from a technical point of view, after all it was one of the very first ones he took as a learning exercise, but the composition was there and fits very nicely with the one I had in mind. What I did is very simple and not that difficult: 1) find a nice photo, 2) either sketch it maintaining the composition or as I did with this one, actually copy the main proportions, 3) forget about the photo, concentrate on the drawing itself.

Today I decided to try and put a little more effort into coloring and shadows. Up to this point shadows are most of the time drawn on a separate layer on top of everything, with a filter of type ‘darken’. That works great for some shadows, but it doesn’t play well with other objects, as it needs to be on top of everything. It’s essentially like drawing with a brush over the finished drawings.

Hiya. Well time continues to fly but my little webcomic hasn’t received an update for about two weeks. Thing is, I’m still working on it, it just takes time and it’s hard to concentrate when there is this bright sun everywhere trying to drag you out to the streets.

I’ll try to keep this a bit more interesting by posting again some drafts and then compare those to whatever they come out to be. Usually I redraw things so much they barely resemble the original sketch, so this makes for an interesting test.