Comics Coming Soon...

Soon, I will post some screen grabs of my work flow with Manga Studio EX 4 which I received as a Christmas present from a relative. Yes, true believers. I will start posting several web comics next year. This is a much needed software to speed up production of my graphic stories. Previously, I would have used Flash to ink my comic art but, now Manga Studio EX 4 will be my app of choice to bring to graphical life my imaginings of comic proportions. EXCELSIOR! (Any Stan "The Man" Lee fans oughta know what I'm talkin' 'bout.)

Where or when I'll post these comics I'm not sure. Unfortunately, most of them are only in idea form and not fully fleshed out. Although, there is a comic I'd like to work on sooner than most of the others but, I haven't nailed down a style for the characters or the full story. One thing is for certain, I don't want to use an "anime" or, "manga" style of cartooning for it. Rather, I'd like to give it a nineties indie film aesthetic with some cool cinematography. I plan on this being a multi volume story that takes place during the span of several years in the lives of the main characters. If you know me you'd know that I'm mostly a sci-fi freak who's into anime, bande designee, and manga. (I asked my best friend to buy Scott Pilgrim the first volume for me as a Christmas present. I read the first chapter of it online and it seems pretty good so, I'm looking forward to reading it. On another note, I still haven't read 'Koko Be Good' by Jen Wang nor, 'Bone' by Jeff Smith. "If you don't know what bande disignee is... oh well.") You konw I will still use Flash to create some illos of somethings like photo-realistic images and some inked art to paint within Photoshop 7. Also, there's a blog with print ready color pallets you can use within Flash. In addition to this functionality, there's also a NTSC safe version as well. I'll post the links later. I'll check for a PAL version for those of you who may need it.
Until later, ciao. :)

Colossal: An Art and Design Blog

My sister just turned me onto a new design blog which she found a link to on Adobe.com's website. I've only seen the first page and it's absolutely stunning. Check it out for yourself. Here's the link. http://www.thisiscolossal.com/ The post that instantly caught eye is about Mattias Adolfsson. http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/12/inside-the-sketchbooks-of-mattias-adolfsson/ If I'm not mistaken he worked as a concept artist on an unproduced version of Superman that never made it theaters. I'll have to check on that and get back with you on it in a new post or an edit of this one.

To any of my DA friends who've followed the white rabbit and have seen how far the rabbit whole goes then you've now come to this destination and soon you will experience some pretty cool graphics from your's truly. :) Those of you I owe artwork should have it shortly after I finish it. For now, I'll get back to one of my favorite past-times, surfing the web.

Happy Holidays. :D

Preparations for Inking in Flash MX

This is something I've learned a short while ago and would like to share with anyone who reads this blog. If you've been following my work here you already know I use Flash MX & Flash 8 Pro to ink my art. What you didn't know are my Flash settings for creating the comic book pages I use. Here they are for both versions of this software.
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Go to File > Export Image. Name the image file with whatever your desired naming convention is. For example, "whatever_Name.png." After pressing Enter the Export Png dialogue box opens and gives you several options. (It is important to save your digital inks as .png files. The choice will become very clear once you take the inked lines into Adobe Photoshop. There's no white background. It's just black lines or whatever color you've inked your art with. That's the reason for the 24 bit alpha channel.)

Width: 3300, Height: 5100 pixels Resolution: 300 dpi (Do NOT Match Screen!)
Include: Full Document Size Colors: 24 Bit with Alpha Channel
Filter: None Interlaced:Unchecked Smooth: Checked
Dither Solid Colors: Unchecked

Lastly, Save as a Template.
Name ----- Comicbook Page 300 dpi
Category--- COMICS
Discription-- 3300 x 5100 pix, PRINT READY Rez
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Unfortunately, Flash will not save a file at 600 dpi. I've tried. And, Flash 8 Pro can not save a 3300 x 5100 pixels at 300 dpi file. Therefore you have to use a work around. And, here it is:

In Flash 8 Pro you will need to create a file with the following dimensions.

Width: 2643 Height: 4080 This approximates the ratio of an 11x17 in. comic book page.
Resolution: 300 dpi (Do NOT Match Screen!)
Include: Full Document Size Quality: 100
Options: Progressive Display > Unchecked
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Perils in Nude Modeling is a GREAT Short Film

If you're a visual artist and haven't seen "Perils in Nude Modeling" go watch it now. Even if you're a storyboard artist, cinematographer or, film art director this movie is for you. Each scene cuts on action. The lighting is moody. Yeah, I'm geeking out. I don't care. :) This is one of my favorite short films. This is right up there with Bladerunner. It's that good. To view the film check out this link: http://vimeo.com/7032260 And, IndiPix Films has an exclusive interview with Scott Rice, the writer and director of "Perils in Nude Modeling. You can listen to him talk shop and read more about him at the following link. http://www.indiepixfilms.com/promo/interview/scottrice.html

Perils in Nude Modeling from Scott Rice on Vimeo.

The Anime I Couldn't Think Of Yesterday Is...

Mind Game directed by Masaaki Yasa. Check out this link and read about him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaaki_Yuasa

And, here's the link for you to read about the film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Game_%28film%29

You may want to check Youtube to view some clips of this anime.

WARNING: It's not for kids.

More Art I've Been Working On Recently

Black Friday was an eventful day indeed. I bought a white DS Lite to augment the black one given to me for Christmas in 2007. Anyhoo, in a previous post I showed a screen shot of a picture I worked on Macromedia Flash MX. Since then, I've given Flash 8 Pro a try and I've learned that even though I can't export an 11x17 in image from this version of Flash I can use it to export a smaller image in the same ratio. That's what I've done. In a later post I'll explain my work flow. For now, I'll show you a little of what I'm doing with this. Oh yeah, I'm using the object drawing mode. :)

Some Art I've Been Working On Recently

Here's the sketch I drew a few days ago and inks & colors added in Flash MX. Why use such an old version of Flash? Well, the most recent one I have on my computer is Flash 8 Pro. For some reason, that one does not publish images at 11 inches by 17 inches. Flash MX does. I'll upload a couple screen shots of the color version. Although, I'm not happy with the inked lines; it's digital and I will change them as needed. What's more I'm sure the colors are out of gamut so, I'll have to take it into PS to make them printable. Using the brush tool in Flash MX to ink this is an experience in itself. The tool is very responsive and I have to be very careful not to make mistakes which I do quite often. I'm using a Wacom Graphite CTE 430. And, anyone who has used one of these will know it's like drawing on a piece of slick plastic using a plastic tipped pen. I got a Bamboo tablet for Christmas last year that I haven't hooked up, yet. I plan to use that with my laptop after I get new software. Before attempting to ink with Flash, I looked for online tutorials about inking this way and I didn't find much on the subject. Although, I did come across some really great artists using other Flash tools to create really amazing graphics.

Here's a Little Sketch I've Been Working On

Erica, this is a painting I've been working on for an online friend of mine. The theme she gave me was 'kittens.' My computer crashed sometime ago and I lost the custom brush I used to paint this. As a result, I haven't started back on this for a while. This is not one of the concept pieces I'll give her. Instead, the painting will favor the kittens and not the secondary characters as in this painting. Later, I'll finish this.

Erica, I Plan To Post Art By This Thursday

Recently, I've been checking out The Chiu Stream on Youtube hosted by Bobby Chiu. He talks about drawing with enthusiasm, getting intense and, "getting crazy with it." I haven't done that in a long while. Although, I hope to get back into the groove now that I have some time to be creative this week. Here's the link if you're interested. http://www.youtube.com/user/digitalbobert I use Adobe Photoshop and a Wacom tablet to digitally paint onto my computer. When I'm not using that I like to use a program written for the Nintendo DS Lite called Colors DS.

Also, I plan to continue learning Inkscape. It's a vector graphics software I downloaded from Inkscape.org. It's a European software and it's not set up like any of Adobe's software at all. So there's a bit of a learning curve I've got to deal with. I intend to use it to design logos and images. I may sketch something and post it this Wednesday. Then, on Thursday start the actual painting of the pencil sketch. If so, I'll post the stages of the development of the image here. Send me an email. Let me know what you think. :)

Cool Art Will Be Posted Soon.

I'll post some art by this Wednesday. :)

Just Purchased A Couple of Graphic Novels

I bought "Koko Be Good" by Jen Wang and, "Bone" by Jeff Smith recently. And, I must admit I'm in the mood to create a graphic novel of my own. If you don't know who Jen Wang is just check out this little interview on MTV's website. http://www.mtv.com/videos/interview/576693/jen-wang-studio-tour.jhtml She's my new hero. I like comics and graphic novels so I'm really excited about reading these little gems. Koko clocks in at mild 300 pages while Bone is a staggering 1332 pages. Yes, that's one thousand three hundred and thirty two pages. Bone won 10 Eisner awards and 11 Harvey awards. I've got the complete cartoon epic in one volume. Hopefully, this the original and not the one marketed to kids. Now, I can read my old favorites like "The Whisperer Mystery" by Daniel Torres right along with these two graphic novels. After I finish reading them I'll post my recommendations. :)