The Boondocks comic strips

    I have seen The Boondocks TV series before and I actually like how well it is done. I don't know a lot of the story, but the animation is great. The show can be a bit racy, but I do find most of it to be funny. It's definitely a show kids shouldn't be watching, though I'm sure they still do. I actually find one of the characters to be very smart and educational also in a way. I think the character's name is Huey. Riley, Huey's brother I believe, tends to be more the thug/gangster "wanna-be" and acts as if he's a big shot. Anyway, I didn't know there was a comic strip for The Boondocks and decided to check it out and see if it was as good as the animation.
     The character designs are not as detailed or "smooth" looking as the animation. I found it to be a bit more boxy or edgier, not sure if those are the correct words I want to use but will do for now. Though like every other comic strip, I'm sure they were drawn this way to simplify them and redraw them over and over. Also like most comic strips, the longer ones are in color. Which I really like to see both colored, and black and white strips.

The Magdalena: Origins vol. 2

    I bought The Magdalena a while ago and just forgot I had it. I got it mainly because I really like the artwork and style. Both the backgrounds and characters are detailed. This is the art style I still would like to do, but I also prefer to make things simple and not worry so much on the amount of detail that is added on every page. It seems very time consuming, but I'm sure it could be well worth it in the end. I still need a lot more practice and especially more with color if I plan to do some of my work in color later in the future. I will be sticking to black and white for a good while since it is still what I prefer at the moment.
    I really like the character designs and the proportions seem to be done right, even though they may be a bit exaggerated like most comics. Still works for me. The only thing I don't like as much is how the female lips are outlined. It just sticks out to me and bothers me for some reason. I looked at how the lips of the male was done and wish the same was done with the females. They seem more realistic (not sure if that's the right word to use) on the male characters than the females. Now I can't say I would do a better job since I avoid doing the lips when I draw female characters. I tend to do simple lines, but can make the character a bit less feminine. The lips on the female character on the second image below bothered me the most. They looked more exaggerated than any of the other, but I don't know exactly what could help to make it better. Maybe less or no outline around the lips would have worked best. The color and shading perhaps would have been enough.
    Other than that, everything else is amazing. The panel layout is a bit everywhere, having different sizes and positioned differently on every page, but it makes it exciting and keeps me interesting. Though I wonder if it may confuse some readers and make it harder to follow. I also really like the perspective like the fourth image below, which is another reason I got the book. Good for referencing. But my favorite part of the book was the last pages were there was some concept art. I really love seeing the different designs they thought of and considered using.

Derelict

    I was looking at a comic done by Ben Fleuter called Derelict and I was just very impressed by the artwork. There is a lot of detail in almost every area and I feel that most of the objects look realistic. The shading, color, rust (on some areas), the water, and the sky just looks right too me. I don't know how else to explain it.

In this story there is very little text. There was no text for about the first 10 pages, not including the text for "sound effects". When there was text, it was still like there was no text. The main character would talk very little. This comic seems to be more about following the panels and looking at the actions going on to follow the story. 

As far as the character design goes, it was good, but I feel like it could have been better. Especially after seeing how detailed and realist everything else looks. Though I can only imagine how difficult and time consuming it would be to draw the character with the same amount of detail in every panel that the character is in. Plus it helps the character stand out to have the readers perhaps look at the character and not just the background.

El Goonish Shive

 

I found this online comic strip series called El Goonish Shive done by Dan Shive and when I first looked at it I was thinking of just skipping it. I wanted to skip it at first mainly because I have been used to looking at other comics that have been done with more detail. But this is the style I tend to mostly do (in a way) and the amount of detail I put in. So I was still interested and I'm glad I kept reading it. It's a daily comic strip, but with a story which I believe it is important to read from the beginning or else one would probably just lose interest in it.

The thing that got me interested in it the most was how the comic started. Even though it was just simple drawings, the way the characters interacted with the readers and introduced "their" first comic was funny to me and I just wanted to keep reading.

    The first panel on the image above was one of my favorite. It was just funny to me the way they pointed out how the school was "possibly" drawn on. I still haven't figured out why some are in color. I thought the first few were just in black and white and the rest would start being in color, but after going back and forth through some of the ones I have already read, I notice the 3 to 4 panel ones are in black and white and the bigger paged with more panels, like the one above, are in color. Also, like most comic strips, the backgrounds are mostly blank unless the characters are in certain areas and background is needed to show the readers know where they are (the characters, not us. Of course we know where we are... Unless you don't... Then something may be wrong... Anyway...).

    I'm really glad I found this comic strip series and I believe others would enjoy reading them as well. The style is simple, but still entertaining. I think this comic was cleverly done and I'm sure it isn't the first time this has been done. 

Carciphona: vol. 1

    I came across Carciphona, done by Shilin Huang, and I just was very impressed by the cover art. Main reason why I like it is probably because I really like the manga art style. What I really also enjoyed was how the color and shading was done. I've colored in one of drawings before and it was difficult to get the shading and details done right but I still liked how it came out. This is something I wish I could do.

    When I went to the first and second page, the page was still in color and it read from right to left just like most manga. But because of the lack of panels and word bubbles, it was a bit hard to follow the text at first. but the art was still just as amazing. 

    I really thought the rest of this manga was going to be in color and just as detailed as the first two pages. I was a bit disappointed to see the the rest was in black and white but I am used to black and white more and still prefer over color at times. Plus I can see that it would be too much work and more funding needed to do the whole manga in color. 

    I still really enjoyed looking at the black and white pages. They were still really detailed. The shading and toning was well done. Since I still prefer to do my drawings in black and white, this is the way I wish I could tone and shade my drawings. When I was working on my comic, I found it difficult to tone it the way I wanted it to look. But I still liked how it came out and hope to get better at it.

    I really like how the panels were also done, especially with the thick lines making some panels pop out more. These type of panels make the comic/manga a bit more interesting to look at, but can be hard to follow at times depending on the size, angle, and positions of the panels. The panels on my comic were simple and boring, but I also didn't wan't to complex things for myself and wanted it to be read straight forward. There is also a lot of variation of thin and thick lines on the characters, and objects/buildings which I thought was great.

Making comic strips

     The main thing I think about a comic strip is that it has to be funny. I know that it doesn't have to be, but when I look at them and if a series of comic strips are not funny, I most likely wont ever bother reading them again or look for them for that matter. Unless of course it had a story, which most probably do, and is interesting. But I find it difficult to even think of something that could be funny without copying someone else. I know something can come from life experiences and of course there has to be funny that has happen to us or others, but a lot of the times some of those moments are either hard to explain and need a lot of detail, or just something you had to be there for. Also, a lot of jokes can be inside jokes and only found funny by those who were involved before.

     And then there is the case in which you need to limit yourself when it comes to certain jokes in order not to offend someone. I guess I have being trying too hard to think of something funny for a comic strip even though I know it doesn't HAVE to be. I am no comedian, but I like to make people laugh so I guess that is why I have been trying to think of something funny. I could also try to come up with a comic strip that had a good message or teach a lesson of some sort.

      I still really like how simplistic comic strips can be. And yet I still go and try adding more detail than there has to be or end up drawing a character more comic or manga style than cartoon. When we were working on the the comics we made up during class, I just couldn't come up of a style I wanted the characters to look like and just drew what I was used to and I just hated it. Especially after we had to pass them around to work on another page, I just liked how everyone else's characters were drawn and then wish I could have changed mine completely. But oh well, I know a bit better for next time hopefully.

AME-COMI Girls 4

    When I first looked at the cover for this comic, it just caught my attention right away. It might have been because of all the colors, but mainly the look of the characters. They had this really cartoon feel to it and I wasn't sure why at first. When I opened it up and looked through it, I noticed that the characters' outlines were thick and figured that is why I got that cartoon feel to it.

     There is a variation of thin and thick lines, but I notice more solid lines and especially the outline around the characters. I'm sure that it's not just in this comic. I figure I am just noticing the lines more since we have been working on inking our own comics.

    Like in the image above, the lines are thicker when the characters are closer/larger. This is probably one of my favorite pages from this comic. I really liked the noticeably thick and thin lines. The lines seem to be more bolder than what I have seen before. That or I am just noticing it in this one and just never payed much attention to the inking in the other comics.

    There are occasions where the lines are more solid around the characters and have to transition of thin to thick lines, but I actually like that as well just as much. After I went through the comics I went back to the first page and notice the names of the Writers (Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray) as well as the Artists (Eduardo Francisco and Derec Donovan). What I didn't know was that the first half of the comic was done by Francisco and the second half by Donovan. I didn't notice any difference in the art at first nor even after going back to see if I can spot anything. There might be something different, but I wouldn't probably notice it until someone pointed it out. The difference I did easily see was the look of the characters in the cover compared to the pages inside. (Cover done by Jonboy Meyers). Though the character look slightly different, I really like the style and probably would have enjoyed the comic more if were to have been drawn the same as the cover.

      The color (done by Wes Hartman and Randy Mayor) and shading was also done well. I notice some comics just have to much dark areas even when it's not a dark scene, and I just don't care for that since I like seeing the details of the whole character. It just hides a lot of parts when there is a lot of black, but I sure it must be necessary.   

Comic Strips

Betty

Luann

Luann

Pickles

Michael Turner's Fathom: Kiani

     I have been wondering what kind of drawing style I want to be doing and it's been hard to decide. I know I don't have to chose only one, but I prefer to stick to one style for now so that I can practice and hopefully get better. Then maybe I can draw other styles a bit more easily. I was looking at one of the comics I have and I really like the realist style. But the problem with that for me would be the attention needed on detail and I need to refrain from doing that just until I get better.

    I have really been into the more realist look all of a sudden. It might be because I am taking Life Drawing class and have been focusing on anatomy.  Though I still prefer cartoons, it would still be nice to draw some realism. So I have been also looking into Marvel and DC more than usual.

    I really like the attention to detail in this comic. I notice the hair is always well done in these types of comics and always looks appealing to me. When it comes to hair I like adding detail like this, but I almost always mess it up in some way. Either I add too many strands of hair and/or don't position some parts of the hair correctly. Also, the armor is nicely done. I've always liked how armor is done, especially with the details on it, but I actually have not attempted to draw armor yet. Not sure why. (maybe since I already know how difficult it may be for me). I will practice it eventually.

    I also want to work on drawing different angles like the bird and worms eye view. There is still a lot for me to learn and need to take it one step at a time. I tend to work on multiple things and it just messes me up and stresses me out. I'll get the hang of it eventually.

DC Superman Action Comics

    When I started reading comics again, I was getting more into the idea of maybe doing my own comics later on. But now after working on the comics in class, I have been getting discourage little by little. Mainly because I just feel like I'm doing horrible on the ones we are working on. Of course I shouldn't have expected to be great at it since I don't have any experience doing them; that and I still need a lot more work on my drawings. The inking process isn't going well for me. I'm still unsteady and sloppy with the brush pen for one. Though I know I still need practice with inking, I just know that inking is something that I am not interested in doing. As great as the artwork looks after it has been inked, I still prefer my drawings to be in pencil. For now anyway.

    

     As I was looking through one of the comics I have, I was paying more attention to the lines on the characters and objects. I never really ever payed close attention to it before, but I noticed the variations of thin and thick lines. Though they are not as noticeable, I really like how subtle the lines are drawn in certain areas, especially on the face to bring out the details a bit more. When I draw, I tend to have a bad habit of scribbling certain areas just because I just don't know how to do details and how they should look. 

     

     Another thing I also need to work on is shading. Even though I know which way the light is coming from, I still do horrible with shading certain areas, especially around the face. For example, the face in the second panel from the page above looks very well done to me. Though it may not be 100% correct (which I wouldn't know anyway), it looks great and I can read were the the two different light directions. Though of course color also is big help on that part, I can still imagine how it would be in black and white and would still be able to read it. 

    I realize now much more I need to learn, but not just because of Storyboard class. It also has to do with my other classes like Life Drawing and Computer Art. I see what others can do and I feel like I don't belong. But looking at these comics and seeing good animation shows make me want to better myself in drawing so that I can draw characters with ease. At this point all I want to do is better my drawing skills. I'm trying to just working with basics and also realize I may need to learn some anatomy. I use to hate looking at "How to draw" books and it showing to start off with lines and circles or whatever other shapes. I wish I hate started that way long time ago instead of jumping straight to the finished picture.

    

Daniel Clowes Exhibition

     I finally got to go to The Museum of Contemporary Art to see the exhibition of Daniel Clowes. As I was walking around looking and reading his comics that were on the wall, I wasn't sure if most comics there were just short stories or only a page of a story. Most of what I was reading just did not make sense to me. Either that or I just didn't get the joke (if there was one). After reading a few and seeing that I was just clueless on what was going on in the comic, I just began to focus more on the art work. But it was difficult not to read them since many of the comics of his has a lot of text in them and then I also want to know what's going on. I couldn't follow what was going on with the images alone. From what I saw, most of his comics probably rely on telling the story more through text than images. Don't get me wrong, the images do help also. I just felt like some had a bit too much text. But I'm sure it must have been necessary in order to know the whole story.

     Now I hate to say this, but I just didn't really like most of these comics mainly because of the character style. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I found most of the characters a bit disturbing to look at. It might have been that some characters had a bit too much detail on their faces, like too many lines for wrinkles or the body proportions were just awkward. It just made the character look way much older than he/she probably is. I thought I took a picture of one at least, but I must have just lost interest in the comic right away and moved to the next. Now, I didn't say all were weird looking. There were still quite a few that I still enjoyed to look at. The inking in all of them was very well done as well. I payed more attention to that than I normally would since we are going to work on inking our comics soon. When I was practicing with the pens, I felt like I would over think of what I am about to ink. I felt i had to be super careful. I see it as if one mistake is done, it all has to be redone. Though hopefully that is not the case. Perhaps there is a more simple way to fix it rather than to do the whole page again. Anyway, I found two short comics of Daniel's that I really liked. (mainly because I thought they were really funny)

The first one is Wilson, "Cute Dog". I really like how simple this one is. There isn't a lot going on in the background but just enough to know that they are not in the exact same spot. The second one is Wilson, "Ocean". Just like the first one, the background is simple. Though it isn't detailed either, there is still enough to see where the character is at. I'm not sure why I get more into looking at the simple comics, but it might be that I would rather do simple drawings like these. Yet, I still don't think I can put something like this without references. I still have a lot to work on.

Gaia

     As I was looking through some comics online, I have been paying a bit more attention to the backgrounds to see what there is. For example, if there are buildings around, if there are trees, or if the characters are in a room, how does the room look and what is in the room. Some have more detail than others and some just don't really have backgrounds at all. I came across a comic called Gaia done by Powree and Oliver Knorzer and I was basically drawn to it by the cover.

 

I really like the character design as well as the simple background. The sky in the back with the faded mountains just looks neat to me and I really love how the grass and the two rocks on each side were done. Sadly I still wouldn't be able to do this. I'm pretty bad when it comes to backgrounds and surroundings. When I try to think of a background to do, I over think it and tend to make things complicated for myself. I end up wanting to jump into drawing detailed backgrounds even though I have no idea where to start. I do realize that I should take a few steps back (maybe a lot more steps back) and start with simple and less details.

     When I went to the next page I didn't expect to see this: 

      I am just really impressed with how that whole image in that one panel came out. And here I thought this comic wasn't going to have this much going on with backgrounds and surroundings. The perspective is well done. I'm still trying to get the whole perspective down, but it is still difficult for me and I just don't really have the patience for it. I have a lot more respect to those who do this kind of work all the time. As much as I hate having to work with perspective, I know it's something very important to know in order for my own drawings to be accurate and more interesting. I can't always rely on someone else doing backgrounds for me all the time (as nice as that may be). 

Garfield

     As I was looking for some comics online, I came across Garfield comic strips by Jim Davis. I use to love reading these comics in the newspaper when I was in high school. Instead of doing some homework during study hall, I would grab the newspaper that would be in the class room and just read the comic strips in it.

   

     The ones in the newspaper were in black in white of course. What I really like about these is that they are so simple. Yes, they can be rather boring. Especially if you are used to reading longer and action packed comics, but these are mainly for humor. Some of course are funnier than others and also some are a few panels longer as well. Like this one:

     In these Garfield comics I noticed that there isn't much background going on and the characters are almost always in the same spot from panel to panel. I assume that there isn't much of a background because 1) the main focus is on the characters and 2) a Garfield comic strip comes out everyday so the artist's time is spent more on the characters and wouldn't have to worry so much about doing backgrounds all the time. There are a few that the scenery changes once in a while depending on what the characters are doing. So it's nice to see a change in scenery from time to time. But for the most part almost all of the Garfield comic strips have a blank background.

DC comic contest

    When I first read the original DC submission request page, I really didn't think much about what they were asking for. I just figured they want to see what art works they get and who's good at portraying what they want. But after reading Jezebel's article and what others thought of the contest, I can see why the contest is bothersome. The whole suicide thing is bad as it is, but putting a popular or favorite character to commit it, or try to, can be disturbing to many. I get that the purpose of the contest is to see what talent people have and hire someone new to work for them, but they could have easily have the content for the panels be completely different. It just seems now to me that they have a different purpose other than giving someone the chance to work for them, though I have no clue to what that could be. I still don't personally care so much of what the art content is since I see it as not being real, but to someone else it may be and that does bother me. It would worry me to see that type of art work hurt someone emotionally or even bring someone out to do those acts. Especially if they may be having those types of thoughts. The contest is a great idea, but they should really consider how people may react having to draw or even just see that type of content.

Unsounded

I found this graphic novel online done by Ashley Cope and the first things that grabbed my attention was the art style and color. This has a manga feel to it but still has a touch a cartoon feel as well. The color was very well done. It seems like things just pop out more using these sets of warm and cool colors rather than hiding things like detail in other comics/graphic novels when they are more dark colored.

The main thing I like about this graphic novel was the detail in landscape and background. Don't get me wrong, the characters were nicely done as well, which also has the art style I tend to enjoy more (anime/manga). You can see the detail worked on in almost every page. There is a dark colored scenario where one of the characters is "eaten" by a giant plant like creature and shows the character inside. What I really liked was how even in this dark scenario, detail was still consistent.
I mentioned before that I prefer graphic novels done in black and white, mainly because I prefer having my own drawings in black and white, but with out color here, it would be a bit harder to see the detail and appreciate it as well. As far as why most graphic novels tend to be in black and white, I believe it has to do with how long it may take to color the work in and also how much have it would cost to publish it. Especially since most graphic novels are longer than most comics.