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[Art] Program For Making Comics
Mordredd
Member #5,291
December 2004
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Does anybody know where I can find programs that can give comics a professional look? A friend of mine wanted me to draw a comic for him that is about a young samurai that has so much bad luck but always finds a way to get out. I called him Yin and had a first try:

http://www.jray.de/yin_title.jpg

But that does not look so clean like comics usually do...

edit
Don't be too hard on commenting it, it is my first attempt to draw a comic...

spellcaster
Member #1,493
September 2001
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Well, you don't need a program for that :)

Just plan the layout of your panels first. The problem here is, that he just drew what he had in mind.

There are lots of good books in German that teach you that. PM me with your email and I'll give you a list of the books I have on that topic (which are quite a lot) :)

You could also try amazon.de, just make sure that you don't get anything form Christopher Hart ;)

There're also some booklets on Mangas that are quite good and give a lot of tips on panel layouting.

Hm.. but if it's just panel layouting, I should be able to give you a short summery (with example layouts)

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There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
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That, and a more sophisticated stroke. You have sort of a wild, free-roaming stroke, which is ok for the stuff you usually do (according to your web site), but for good comic/cartoon work, you will want something more refined. Also, try a real black pen, somethink like an inkpen or felt pen or similar. Then a good ole' paint brush for coloring, or scan the inkpen drawing for further cleaning and coloring. You may want to work on your handwriting, too.

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Me make music: Triofobie
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"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

spellcaster
Member #1,493
September 2001
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Try this:

{"name":"panel.gif","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/0\/1\/0159451885d518d55530cfec746935bc.gif","w":817,"h":500,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/0\/1\/0159451885d518d55530cfec746935bc"}panel.gif

Also, the layout of the images needs some work. Centering stuff looks boring. In the first panel, if the walker is more on the left, it would show more how much way is before him and that he has just started the travel, etc.

--
There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.

ReyBrujo
Moderator
January 2001
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Hmm... there is a program that converts your pics into a comic... Comic Life by Plasq, but it is for Mac only.

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RB
光子「あたしただ…奪う側に回ろうと思っただけよ」
Mitsuko's last words, Battle Royale

Niunio
Member #1,975
March 2002
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A program that can give comics a professional look? That is the most secret of John Romita Jr., Todd McFarlane, Masakazu Katsura, Iván Sarnago Jr. and all we professional drawers... If I told you I should kill you then... ;D

Ok, serious: try to find any book about how to draw comic books. Christopher Hart has some nice ones. Since it is the story of a samuray, try to find "Hetappi-Manga Kenkyujo" (may be "Manga Workshop") by Akira Toriyama.

A program that can give comics a professional look... Just live to read this... ::)

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Current projects: Allegro.pas | MinGRo

Jonny Cook
Member #4,055
November 2003

Samuray? Is that some kind of insult?

The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.

Rampage
Member #3,035
December 2002
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I want to add to the great recommendations in this thread:

Comics are drawn 1.5 or 2 times bigger than their intended publishing size, to allow more detail.

You should always use a pencil layout to minimize errors, and never ink over the pencils directly. Some professional drawers scan their pencils, change them to blue with Photoshop and print the blue layout for inking. That way, when the inks are ready, they scan the whole drawing again and drop the blue layer, effectively erasing all the traces of pencil.

Inking must be done with India ink. Most professional artists prefer to use a brush, but for beginners it might be hard to control, a crow quill pen is better in those cases. Inking is quite difficult, because you need to learn to spot blacks correctly and give value to the lines.

Most professional drawers recommend to layout the dialogs first and then align the drawings around. That's why you should have a full script of every page before doing any drawing. The dialogs will help you plan the number of panels and their positions.

Remember to use diferent kinds of shots in your panels; using the same shot over and over again makes your pages look boring.

I recommend reading We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly to get a grasp on how powerful can be an original use of panels an shots. A comic is a story told in drawings, the reader must understand what's happening with little help from the text.

-R

spellcaster
Member #1,493
September 2001
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What ever you do: Stay away from all Christopher Hart books. Really. They are evil.

The ealier ones are ok (not good, but ok), but the more recent ones are just horrible.
If you need something to get you started, get "Drawing comics the marvel way". I'm not a big fan of their crowded panels, but a lot of people are.

The "How to draw Manga" series by Dunn/ Perry is pretty good. It's not pure manga but an amalgam of american comics and manga. I've most of the series and it's really nice. Both draw well, and they have a good feeling for interesting angles and page layouts.

There are also a lot of other "How to draw Manga" books - but I'd say you should be able to get the main ideas simply by taking a look at a comic book you like.

Or: Get a Frannk Miller comic. He really is one of the industry giants.

--
There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.

Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
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You might also look for very early comic strips done by current "masters" such as Charles Shultz. Even the greatest had to improve over many years. I guess this reply isn't "how to make it better now" but rather a recommendation to lighten up on yourself.
Unless you've already been drawing every day for 10 - 15 years, of course :)

Uh, yeah I know Shultz passed on a few years ago. IIRC he specified that no more Peanuts cartoons should appear in newspapers, somebody got around that somehow.

They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas.

Mordredd
Member #5,291
December 2004
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Ok, my second try. Not finished, but I would like too hear if it is worth continuing it (that way):

http://www.jray.de/yinyang.jpg

ngiacomelli
Member #5,114
October 2004

Some artists digitally 'ink' their scans in Photoshop - there are lots of tutorials on this and it can be done to great effect.

Mordredd
Member #5,291
December 2004
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I draw directly with ink ( without making a sketch first ). So that would be no option to me.

edit

Finished:

http://www.jray.de/yinpage1.jpg

Ok, not much action, but hey =)

Simon Parzer
Member #3,330
March 2003
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I always draw my comics with a black pen, then I scan them to the computer using the black/white option (1 bit color depth).
After that I color the images (GIMP2), then I scale down the whole comic.

Look at this: http://oncer2.on.funpic.de/comicviewer.php?id=6&page=1
Yeah, it's a few years old, and I'm not very talented in drawing, but you can see that the technique I described actually works.

Simon Parzer

Pedro Avelar Gontijo
Member #5,372
January 2005
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As the amateur comic-drawer I am, I would reccomend that, which is a simple and classic style:
1st: plan your story, consider the space you intend to use and divide it accordingly to your guessed scene space needs (like, intro pages 1-3, battle pages 4-6, and so on)
2nd: write the dialogs, always trying to fit the space you've just defined
3rd: layout all your pictures in a very-sketchy drawing, just to have some ideas of the character's poses and expressions, and of course the layout
4th: draw it by pencil, using the roughest paper you find (you may find Canson, which is very good, but that depends on where you live), and remember, draw only in one face of the sheet, except if you have a really tough paper :D
5th: ink it, I reccommend using a pen (I don't know how to call this in english ;D, but it is like this) with a feather-like tip, because with one of those you can use the widht of the trace you like. Then you just rub it with a common rubber.
That's a very basic system, and often used by most of the drawers I know. I may assure you it gives good result ;D
And for giving it a professional look, nothing better than professional tools :) You could use Photoshop, but for this application I reccommend Paint Shop (Pro);)

Quote:

Since it is the story of a samuray, try to find "Hetappi-Manga Kenkyujo" (may be "Manga Workshop") by Akira Toriyama.

I have that book ;D

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