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.