Technique Tuesday August 14: Stretching

Remember your stretches!

Sunday Revue July 29: Romantically Apocalyptic

Pull Yourself Together And Get Ready For

After you meet Mr. Snippy, you'll never look at a bad day the same way again. His bad days include:

*Homicidal houses

*Insane travelling companions

*Getting tied up in a pink wig, while sober

and oh, yeah. Living through a nuclear winter. Or trying, anyway.
Some days are bad, and some days are Romantically Apocalyptic.

The brain-child of Vitaly S Alexius, the website tells us 'Romantically Apocalyptic was first conceptualized in 2005 as a series of post-apocalyptic paintings on deviantart by Vitaly S Alexius. It was developed into an online graphic novel in 2010 and grew into a surreal, collaborative, multimedia art project that includes: poetry, prose, photography, digital art, music and film.'

The current creative team is:

Art Director:

Vitaly S Alexius

Phototography:

Vitaly S, Oggy B, Chico G, Mabi.

Journal writers:

Vitaly S Alexius, Kaitlin Gossett.

Contributor Artists:

Mabi, Allyssa N / Hatsie, IIDanmrak, Andrey F, Christine Z, Ivan Yakushev, Malin Falch, Caroline H

UK Events Organisers:

Clare Cook, Oggy B

Chief Music Editor:

Oggy B

Ze Intern:

Tina Hoffman

Romantically Apocalyptic can be read at this link  and purchased at this one. Oh, and by the way, this comic's animated. It's definitely a work that takes your brain for a spin.

The Rating

A Topsy Turvy Tour De Force!

The Raves

To begin with, this thing is gorgeous. With its grasp of artistic conventions and its offbeat sense of humor, RA takes you through a cracked looking glass and into some of your weirder dreams. 

Then there's the world building. Tech advanced and human nature did not. Eventually, the inevitable occured: our species decimated itself and the planet. Now the handful of survivors scrounge in the rubble, fight creatures mutated to survive so much better than they can in the wastes, use the bits of tech they're left to scrape a living and dream of other things. But you don't have to look so glum about it!

The characterization is a fascinating and fun exploration of altered states of consciousness and mental process. If Mad Max had sung kids' songs or if Bruce Willis had been on bad Prozac while creating his dire futuristic movies, they would have been a bit like RA. It's a trippy ride through the comforts of delusional thought, gallows humor and friendship in the grimmest of grimdark situations. 

The Captain and Pilot have gone so far down into their own dreams that reality can no longer hurt them.  They set up Christmas parties with skeletons and hold conversations with billboards. To keep the readers in their mindset, the realistic art is regularly broken up with chibi scribbles.

Funnily enough, in their situation this kind of dissociation isn't a terrible idea. If they didn't reinvent the world into something they enjoy living in, they probably wouldn't survive long.

Unfortunately for their 'friend' Charles Snippy, he's still sane. He's relying on sheer stubbornness and weary survival instinct. And he's getting really sick of these nutcases. The contrast between Snippy's dogged and nihilistic sanity and the rosy madness of his companions is disturbing, intriguing, and downright laugh-out-loud funny.

Surreal, silly and terrifying by turns, this is a story worth following.

The Razzes

Er...correction. This is a story worth following when you can. While I enjoy the explorations of altered states of consciousness, at times the story wanders so far into the surreal that it becomes incoherent. This is especially true in the primarily textual sections, which read at times like a narrative and at times like pages from a psych patient's diary. That's interesting for a paragraph, maybe, but it palls very quickly. As a reader I found myself scrolling past these sections, not invested enough to parse them for meaning. But there would be a picture that drew me back into the flow. That's the problem with experimental writing: some experiments blow up.

The Revue

Get some shots or a bowl and give it a read. You'll be glad you did. Allonsy!

Sunday Revue June 24: Witchy

You Are Opening The Door To New Worlds...Brace Yourself And Tie Back Your Hair For

Power is a double edged blade. It can give you the life you dream of...or take it away. And you have no choice in the matter.

....or do you?

This is the question in Hyalin, where power in moderation is a blessing, and immoderate power a deadly curse. In this deadly world, one teenager refuses to accept the choices she is allowed, and makes her own way. This is the story of Nyneve: coward, hero, rebel, runaway. What you see depends on where you stand.

The creation of Ariel Ries, Witchy can be read at this link.

The Rating

Superb magical abilities

The Raves

With an art style reminiscent of Secret of Kells, the first thing Witchy will catch is your eye.

The color scheme is well-chosen and vibrant, capturing the feel of times and places in an almost impressionistic fashion. Stylistically reminiscent of watercolor and animation both, it's a well-crafted treat for the eye. The world building is gorgeously done: you feel you could walk into the crowd scenes. 

The second thing Witchy will attract is your curiosity. We are dropped right into the thick of a world riven with strifes and prejudices of its own creation, formed through its own history. Well paced and nicely laid out, the story draws you into the pathos of events: characters torn between loyalty to country and devotion to family, between personal safety and personal autonomy, between hopes for the future and wounds of the past. The comic dances nimbly past many pitfalls of trope and stereotype, never quite giving you what you expected but always showing you a character who you can relate to on some level (including a few characters who you shudder to find yourself understanding.)

And then Witchy will capture your heart. This is a story of stubborn hope in the face of overwhelming odds. It's a story of devotion to your loved ones and integrity in the face of all the world's demands to conform.  Witchy manages to explore themes of personal strength, identity, autonomy and personal decision perfectly: without preaching or creating situations that feel forced, it creates storylines that lets us see the many facets of characters' identities and truly explore the idea that diversity is a culture's strength. The weakness in one member of a society should complement the strength in another. When we laud only some strengths and only some ways of being, we soon become dangerously out of balance. The issue of how to be authentic in an unbalanced society is explored in beautiful detail here.

The Razzes

I have only one complaint. Ariel, please stop apologizing every time you have to take a break on Witchy! Reading your comments, I rather feel like giving you a hug. You have nothing to apologize for. Your readers understand: this work is time consuming and life is busy. Nobody can fault you for taking breaks! Take care of yourself and the art will be better for it. 

The Revue

This is a must read, for all ages. It's one you'll visit again and again.

Monthly Matinee June: So you Wanna Print a Comic? (Part One)

So, you've been working on your magnum opus for a while now. You've got some pages under your belt, and the response is good. Then comes the first well-meaning fan asking “So, will we ever see this in print?” Your head spins, thoughts of fame and glory as a published author flash through your mind. You dedicate yourself to the mission – printing your first comic.

Now what?

There's a lot of things to think about when considering printing a comic. From the layouts to the finish, to funding and distribution. I'm here to parse through some of the concerns of printing, and give advice to newbies and comic veterans alike!

For the first part of this we will talk about considerations for before you start writing and drawing

What? I have to start thinking about printing that early?! Well, it doesn't hurt! If you already have your art done, you should still review these suggestions, your work may already be following industry guidelines.

Size and bleed

This is the size you will be working at. Usually, it is informed by industry standards. American comics usually print at 6.63"x10.24  and it is common to draw them on 11”x17” boards. European Bande Dessinee are usually 8.4"x11.6" and made on slightly larger paper. Manga is often 5.04"x7.17" but sometimes larger... so many sizes to choose from!

In general, working to one of these common sizes makes printing cheaper, and gives you more options of printers. However, many printers can also trim to other sizes at no additional costs! I've seen great comics printed square, printed to the size of a 45” record, printed in long scrolls, and even printed on a large sheet and folded up into the finished size. Don't let yourself get too tied down!

Templates

More Templates

Manga Template

Pre-printed paper

Even More Paper

The other consideration of size, is bleed. A lot of modern comics use bleed to make full use of the paper. I've attached a handful of good guideline templates, you will notice that many of them have two bleed marks - “safe area” and “full bleed”. When the printer is working there's an acceptable wiggle room in the registration, and each page may not be perfectly centered. Thus, the safe area is the space which will never get cut off. All your word bubbles and important action need to remain in that space! The full bleed is the area which needs to be colored in, so that while trimming there are no slivers of unprinted space.

That white strip at the top? In my first book I failed to account for bleed on the chapter covers.

To be clear – the bleed is ADDED to the page, the safe area is SMALLER than the page area. It's common to buy bond pages with bleed/safe guidelines printed on them in no-photo blue. If you are working entirely within the page, with gutters the whole way around, you only need to be concerned with safe areas. Even then, there should be plenty of margin to prevent anything that's within those panels getting cut off.

Layout for printing

(image of page plan)

You've got your page size decided, time to thumbnail! Whole articles would be written about thumb-nailing, but here's what's important for print.

You are looking at pages as two page spreads. Our eyes often take in the entire spread before focusing in on the upper left to begin to read. If you want to build suspense, or have an interesting reveal – make it on a page turn.

My thumbnails - two pages side by side, just like they will be in the book!

Also, if you are making a two page spread, with or without outer bleeds, you have to consider the inner bleed – the part of the page which descends into the fold of the paper. Just like outer bleeds, you will want to have the image reach all the way to the possible edge of the paper, and have important bits within the safe area. It's no good for people to be breaking the spine just the read that word bubble! When designing a two-page spread it's a good idea to have some repetitive boring business in the middle, just to fill it up.

This image from an InDesign file actually cuts the bleeds out of the middle, lots of extra room for safety!

Color processes

Doing black and white? Too bad! You still need to consider file types and color profiles!

Printing uses CMYK color. This is an additive color process, with the inks layering and mixing to achieve the correct colors. A CMYK file splits into four images, with the necessary amount of each color kept separate.

All screens use RBG color. It's subtractive color (kind of, there's some interesting physics going on which you can read more on HERE). It splits down into three parts.

Almost all digital artist will work in an RBG color file. It just makes sense. However, prior to printing it needs to be converted to CMYK. This is best done when individual pages are separate files, rather than converting an entire finished PDF. Mostly, to ensure the color is still as intended! For scanned files (colored analog, then digitized) there are rarely problems with this conversion. In fact, many scanners can scan in CMYK if the image is going to be sent directly to printing and not used online first.

BUT, for digital artist, that conversion can cause strange things to happen to the colors. There are certain parts of the spectrum that are unavailable in RBG, and others that are difficult to reproduce in CMYK. Obviously, reviewing it on a screen is imperfect, but it usually reveals color problems, and allows them to be fixed!

(This is from a great article!)

Even if you are working in black and white, you will still need files that are the correct output, and CMYK is fine.

Rich Blacks

It is not uncommon for people to convert the blacks of a comic to Rich Blacks for printing. This is particularly important for very dark comics! If a black is coded as just being the “K” part of CMYK, then it's actually only getting one layer of ink. If there's anything being printed underneath it, even just “artifacts” that are covered by it in the finished image, they may show through. Rich Black is the layering of all four colors of ink to make the darkest black (just like your art teacher made you do in 1020...)This is recommended for all lettering and bubbles, to make them very legible over the art.

(I'm not going to go over the technical details of doing this, but here's some tutorials!)

In Conclusion - taking a moment to consider printing guidelines before you even start writing, drawing, and producing your comic will save you a lot of trouble in the long run! 

In the next segment I'll talk about the language of printers, pricing your book, and funding. Stay tuned!

Note from the MC: this article is written courtesy of Pink Pitcher, Author of Root And Branch, which is currently on its third published volume. A tip of the hat to you Pink! 

Sunday Revue May 27- Nimprod

Yeehaw!

Hang Onto Your Stetsons, 'Cause Here Comes

Nimprod!

A real rip-snorter out of the Wild West, Nimprod blends classic style with modern grit for a fun and fast paced race through the West. In this one the bad guys wear black hats, the good guys wear red hats...and sometimes not much else. With characters like Snake the desert queen and Bang Bang Lucita, it's the perfect blend of spaghetti western and spirited spitfire storytelling. The creation of  

Nimesh Morarji, Nimprod can be found at this link.

The Rating

She's a handsome filly an' no mistake!

The Raves

To begin with, this story is a beaut. I mean, look at this splash page above. Just look at it. Feast your eyes.
And the art isn't carrying all the weight in the story, either. The writing is tightly wound, fast pace and fun, without an excess word or unnecessary idea to be seen. Crisp storytelling, a great sense of composition and space create a page turner of a story. The color palette is done in rust hued tones, rich and warm as the Rio Grande valley and perfectly suited to the material.

Nimprod feels like the best of the classic Western movies, with a twist: the most powerful characters in the story are all women. A refreshing and fun take on the tropes of the Old West, to be sure. 

The character development is clean and direct: Snake and her new friend Lucita don't have time for anything wishy-washy, but you get enough story to go along with and the ladies play well with a bit of mystique. I'll admit, I fell in love with Snake just a little bit. Finding a powerful female character who is simply herself and needs no explanation is delightful.

The simplicity of storytelling allows it to move at a lively pace, with plenty of action and banditos to rassle (yes dear readers I will make you suffer through my attempts at ol' Western vernacularation for my amusement). The antagonists in this story are pretty much stock Western Bad Guy, but for the purposes of the story they don't need to be anything else. All in all this is a fun, flashy tale which lets you relax into a little nostalgia without feeling your IQ points drop, which is a rare find.

The Razzes

I do have one complaint as a lady reader. Um...ever had a sunburn on your midriff? It HURTS. A LOT. Oh, and so does riding a horse without wearing a bra. Imagine tiny hooks in your skin pulling it this way and that for a few hours straight. And by the way, there's cholla in the West. Ever met a cholla cactus?  Let's just say anybody living anywhere near this beastie wears protection. But our lovely ladies of the gun are either demigoddesses, or....a little unprepared, shall we say?
I know this is a point that others will disagree on, but as a reader and an artist I favor functionality over style. If I look at a costume and think 'no, no way you lived there wearing that, unh-unh.' the spell of the story is somewhat broken. All I could think when I viewed this page was 'oh, the sunburn...oh...the chafing...ow...'

Beyond the stylistic quibble, I'd like to see the word bubbles get a little more breathing room. The words often feel slightly crammed into their bubbles, and their square layout detracts slightly from the overall appeal. I'd much prefer to see a diamond layout to the words that allowed for more rounded bubbles.

The Revue

A real rip-snorter of a story. Mosey on over and ask Snake what she's been up to, why doncha?

Technique Tuesday May 8: Food In Comics

Today, the Etherington Brothers give us a guide on food in comics.