Webcomic Above You VI - DISCUSSION THREAD

[Forsakenstars]

WOW! AND GROSS! I had a feeling something like that was going down, but maybe a silhouette from the side might have been better to illustrate the guy being impaled by his own arm. Man, just saying it sounds horrendously cool. But I'm a horror fan. Anyway, thanks for being a good sport about the review. I've learned a lot from joining a writer's group, and I hope I was able to give a well rounded critique and let you know what I liked and didn't like about Thirteenth Child. I guess what I'm most bummed about is that there isn't more to review! Too bad for your readers that you've got a 60 hour work week taking up your time, because I can't wait to read more!

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

The WAY thread has come to a period of silence. I realize that I, too, am to blame for its stagnation. O, for the days that I could stay up past midnight and be productive. I think I'm aging DOWN instead of up...

[McDuffies]

Let's all gang up on someone again!

[Dutch!]

I'm with the very cuddly person. I still haven't managed to find a half hour to sit down and write out my response. I have read Serge's strip though, so I've done the leg work at least!

Tomorrow is the last day before winter holidays, so I won't have to worry about teaching and working for a while now. I'm hoping to get it up by the end of the weekend.

Not sure if that's going to help the thread unstagnate, but it'll give Serge something to read!

[RobboAKAscooby]

Let's all gang up on someone again!

Ooh ooh! Me! Me....waitasec...oh...

...

...

We need a good old drama-maker - like that dog/furry-pornographer from a few months back - to get everyone back in action.

[Warren]

Tomorrow is the last day before winter holidays, so I won't have to worry about teaching and working for a while now. I'm hoping to get it up by the end of the weekend.

Heh. Southern-hemisphere-er's.

[Dutch!]

Finally found the time to sit down and give Thirteenth Child the time it deserved.

So, Serge? There's a response for you in the main thread now.

[Dutch!]

Just wondering... is this thread and it's partner thread still operational?

I keep wandering back to see all the reviews still to come, but it's died.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

I still have two reviews I need to work on, yours and AD's. I've been unusually busy for this time of year, which is reducing the time I can usually allot to these ventures But I haven't forgotten about it and hope to make some considerable headway within the near future.

[RobboAKAscooby]

Being in the process of moving house has cut my involvement in anything.

But I think I've done my part - just need to update the list as it goes.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

Just finished Dutch!'s! (that was fun to punctuate) Now onto AD's.

[Adorabledesolation]

Just finished Dutch!'s! (that was fun to punctuate) Now onto AD's.

I don't mind waiting- I was just afraid I missed it!

[Dutch!]

Thank you, Cuddly, I enjoyed reading your words on School Spirit. I'm glad you appreciated the body of work, and it seems you clearly recognised pretty well just what I've intended the strip to be. Was a nice little warm feeling, reading through that. Thank you very much, and I'm glad you're enjoying reading it. Sorry there wasn't more... I should have worked harder, eh?

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

I expect double the archive by tomorrow! You've clearly been slacking

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

Aaaand here is AdorableDesolation's review: http://forums.comicgenesis.com/viewtopi ... 8#p1566478

UGUYS I FINISHED ALL THE REVIEWS I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO

now i have to get to work on all of my promised fan art

[Dutch!]

You promised fan art?

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

Lol, I did, wayyyyy back in May when we had the Mr & Ms ComicGenesis contest. Although at this point I've promised so many I might as well just make one for everyone who posts at this board anymore. That's what, three people?

[Adorabledesolation]

I appreciate VeryCuddlyCornpone's opinion very much!

Adorable Desolation Review.
I like the characters. I particularly like Leasel and think she is the most well-rounded. She's funny and assertive without being cliche

Thank you for liking my characters! I hate when I read things and there's nobody likable, nothing makes me abandon a story faster than not liking anybody. Thank you in particular, for not hating Leasel, originally she was kind of a bitch, but when I tried to draw her that way she refused to cooperate.

The art is very fluid and full of emotion. You definitely get a sense of movement when looking at the characters- there is no rigidity or flatness to them which is nice to see. Body language is used to convey things outside of the text.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU! This is really one of the nicest specific things anyone's ever has ever said about my drawing

My issues, though, lie mostly with the art. The beginning of the comic is particularly sloppy, as most comics are wont to be, but improves over a matter of a few pages for the most part. The coloring toward the beginning of the comic is a bit messy- there's a lot of gray between the lines and the color within them. Again, this does improve.
One other problem I have with the art is character consistency. I don't have trouble telling characters apart, as their designs are varied enough, but sometimes I have trouble knowing that the same character is being pictured multiple times. Facial features don't seem to be set in a firm manner and change from page to page and even from panel to panel. So try to work on character consistency and hone what you want their designs to be.

I think part of the problem is that I never decided on a particular style. I'm thinking a character sheet would help. Unfortunately whenever I try to make any permanent decisions (particularly about Leasel's hair!), I panic and stop updating, but I really do need to settle on a style and some character designs and be consistent about it.

Lastly, anatomy is irregular as well. As I said before, you really get a sense of motion out of the comic, unfortunately there are lots of anatomical errors that can't really be ignored given the semi-realistic style of the art. If you don't do this already, you may find it is helpful to sketch out sort of a skeleton figure before you put down your official lines. If you already do this, then I give the general advice "work on anatomy." Practice proportions and shapes of human figures, but also try to maintain the movement your comic already has, because it would really be a shame for you to lose that.

I just downloaded Daz3d - I'm going to try posing some of the models for practice with the anatomy and for my perspective problems. I hope that will help some without making everything stiff and posed looking.

Adorable Desolation is a cute little comic. I prefer stories that are mundane, so once magic started getting introduced more prominently I lost a bit of interest, but this would not be off putting to most readers as most people I've talked to seem to like fantasy at the very least more than I do Good on you for making as much improvement as you already have, and I hope that my review will help you find new ways to better your work.

Again, thanks for the review and I'm genuinely glad I signed on for this. It's very helpful to hear what other people think. I find friends tend to pussyfoot around any actual helpful criticism.

SOOO...
Anybody around here use a posing program? Is Daz3d any good or should I try something else?

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

I'm so glad you found my review to be helpful! I was worried I was coming across too negatively.

Regarding picking a specific style, remember that the style you pick now isn't one that you have to stay with forever- styles evolve naturally as anything else You can always make changes as you go along. It's not bad to be inconsistent from chapter to chapter, say, but it's the page-to-page and panel-to-panel transitions where things need to be pretty consistent.

[RobboAKAscooby]

I'm so glad you found my review to be helpful! I was worried I was coming across too negatively.

Too negative? There's no too negative in W.A.Y. *evil laugh*

Regarding picking a specific style, remember that the style you pick now isn't one that you have to stay with forever- styles evolve naturally as anything else You can always make changes as you go along. It's not bad to be inconsistent from chapter to chapter, say, but it's the page-to-page and panel-to-panel transitions where things need to be pretty consistent.

This is true.
I tend to experiment with changes outside the current chapter and if they work put them in at the start of the next but keep (mostly) consistent with the style throughout.
So that would be the advice I add, if you want to keep tweaking your style experiment off page and introduce changes when you've got something new you like.