Archive for ‘comic’
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Page subtitle: Takin’ care of business!
Heya, gang! Welcome back for lucky page 13! Like I said, the action from here on out gets pretty relentless!
I do love that in-costume Don doesn’t recognize Cally at all, but DOES remember her from Page 2 of Issue 1! It is kinda remarkable to think that it’s been that long since these two have faced off in Superhero-mode.
And, yeah, if you’re wondering why Don doesn’t recognize Cally– I’m going with the Reverse Superman theory: Superman = Clark Kent without glasses– While in the Spy6teen U: Glasses ON means you’re in Superhero mode and no one recognizes you.
Anyhow, pretty fun action page, so let’s jump right into:
PROCESS!
* The 3rd panel line “I’m ready to start handing out black eyes” is a callback to Cally and Don’s fight at the start of issue 1! The fight that started it all!
* It’s hard to tell in the web version, but the eventual print version’s layout of this and the last page should look pretty cool when stacked against each other. If you’ll notice, DJ reverses the angle of this page’s first panel from the angle on the last panel.
That something you won’t really notice when reading page to page, but in print:
You can see that reversing the perspective creates a greater sense of movement/action.
* Lisa did some cool stuff with her Cel-Style coloring on this page. I always love her colors when Cally is in costume– and man, that 3rd panel is gonna be cut out and used in ads/banners REAL soon!
One cool thing I noticed Lisa did this week is in Panel 1: Where there is no definite light source, she created one off the “Action Hit” of Cally’s leg contacting with Don.
You can also see it in Panel 2– where the room lightens up around Don’s body crashing into the floor.
* Little fun Brant/DJ-ism in Panel 2:
In the original Line Art, DJ indicated a ? on Sears–
Which Brant went in and “lettered”:
That was totally unscripted– just a little awesome flourish from the guys!
WRAP UP!
Kind of a quick process page this week– Before we go, I thought I’d show off a few shots from editor DJ Kirkbride’s Titmouse Gallery Show that we mentioned last week:
Quite the turnout!
Jim Mahfood, Mr. Kirkbride, and Gabe Swarr
If you’re interested in picking up the book, but couldn’t make it to the show, we’ve got ya covered! You can order it directly from Titmouse ($5 off the cover to boot!) here.
Ok, kind of quick write up this week– but hopefully the action-tastic page makes up for it!
Back in 7 for:
TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS PT.2!!
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How much would it suck to get pimp-slapped by a tentacle?
Well, here’s a page I’ve been foaming at the mouth to show off to you guys! THUNK and WHAP, indeed! There’s just a ridiculous amount of energy coming off this page!
Lots of news and stuff to cover this week, and I blather hard about Marvel’s Infinite Comics– so let’s jump right in!
PROCESS
* Like I was saying, a TON of energy on this page, and much of it comes from DJ’s use of angles– particularly the dutching in Panels 1 and 2, kicking the whole thing off with a one/two punch!
(Blake would have probably preferred to miss out on that first punch, though…)
* Part of the reason this page works so well from a compositional standpoint is that DJ orientates the angles on the top of the page so the action flows from left to right– while, in Panel 4 the energy switches to right to left– in essence, creating a Z-like pattern for your eyes to follow– Obviously, since we all read in that same direction, it feels balanced and natural to our eyes.
* Action lines are always awesome if they aren’t overused– Here, DJ uses them to great effect, while also guiding your eyes as to where to look next.
* Here’s a cool little thing to take you through the stages of one panel:
DJ’s original pencils/inks for Panel 4:
Brant’s Flats (the initial stage of color separation– we talk about it in this writeup) and part of his lettering layout:
Lisa’s final colors for the panel:
Man, I do love Don’s “Buhwha?!” expression in this shot!
* Notice we did swap out the stack order of Everett and Warpy’s balloons– That was Brant’s suggestion, which I thought perfectly illustrated the transference of Everett’s mind from one body to another…
SPYING ON THE NET!!
Ok, super quick process writeup so that I could jump into today’s big digital comic news– which is the release of Marvel Avengers vs. X-Men Infinite Comic.
I’m sure you’ve heard of it by now, but in case you missed the announcement, here’s a really cool video with Marvel head honcho Joe Quesada.
(by the way, how jealous of that office are you?)
This morning I fired up the Ipad and re-downloaded the Marvel app, hopped on and found the first Infinite comic fairly quickly– login was fairly simple, as luckily I apparently already had a Comixology account, and the download was super quick.
A minute or two later, I was looking at “THE FUTURE OF COMICS!!”
…hyperbole aside, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t– but it sure is a sweet little app.
There’s some really nice and elegant solutions to things that have plagued digital comics, including double page spreads.
Probably the biggest compliment I can give Infinite Comics is that everything felt natural and intuitive. I didn’t find myself frustratingly double tapping on a panel because I needed to enlarge it, or getting stuck in “Panel View”–
Mark Waid talked recently about the length of content in a digital format– and how he believed 8 to 10 screens was an ideal amount– well, Infinite runs at 65 screens– although a number of them are repurposed screens– and feels pretty “right” in terms of a read to me.
I’m not a huge Nova fan, so I’m not going to comment too much on the actual story– but “weight” wise, it runs about 4 scenes long, with each scene comprising roughly 10 to 15 screens. So, if the Infinite format takes off, say goodbye to decompression!
In regards to the repurposed screens, many of them are done so for effect– one in particular involves a character in the foreground, which (upon swipe) rack focuses to the background for a reveal. It’s a really nice effect– and you get to double dip on a piece of art using nothing more than Photoshop’s “Blur” tool.
Here’s a screen:
Then SWIPE!
Same art, different focus. Really well played and works to great effect when you’re viewing it on a tablet.
The real draw of this app is that it isn’t a “regular” comic refitted for a tablet– this is a comic that was designed to be a read on a digital device– and it shows. The majority of the panels are designed at the Ipad aspect ratio, taking advantage of the full screen– and balloons/Caps at a very legible size for panel reading. No need to pinch and zoom.
I showed the comic off around the office today, and everyone (including ex-comic readers, non-comic readers, and the print guys) all seemed intrigued and impressed.
Thumbs up from me. I’d be okay with calling this the future of comics.
PLUGS!!
Plugs time from Team 16!!
DJ had an awesome week in Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con! Not only spending time hobnobbing with the power comic book elite, but his book Island Tales: The King Who Ate Men debuted at the show!
I don’t have ordering info quite yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll post it here! Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on this book!
Bonus awesome shot: Here’s DJ hanging out with current Batman artist, Greg Capullo!
Man, Greg is RIPPED!
Meanwhile, if you happen to be in the Los Angeles area this weekend, our Editor extrodinare, DJ Kirkbride is going to be signing at Gallery Nucleus for the anthology, Titmouse Vol 2! Swing by and tell DJ that Spy6teen sent ya!
Finally, Brant Fowler’s Zone 4 Podcast celebrates it’s three year anniversary this week and will be throwing a little internet party on this Friday’s episode. Long time 16’ers might remember that I was on the show waaaay back in episode 90– it’s a super great crew and comes highly recommended!
Plus, how many podcasts run with their own webcomic?
So set a calendar reminder for Friday and get Zone’d with Brant and the crew!
Finally, a quick reminder that Spy6teen issue 1 is available FOR FREE ON ITUNES! Kindly give us a download and a review/stars!
Ok, gang! That’s it for this week–
Next week…
ACTION TIME!
Welcome back 16’ers!
This week we cut into the interior of the Drama club for a glimpse of what our “trio of evil” are up to!
I’ve always loved the idea of Mind Uploading, or treating the brain as software. I can’t say where I first ran across the concept, but I remember Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell (and possibly Appleseed, before it) being fairly impactful.
Of course, it’s turned into a bit of a trope now (as all good ideas become), heck, by this point good ‘ole Everett isn’t doing anything more than what we’ve seen in consciousness transfer we all saw in Avatar!
So that does raise the question, how Sci-Fi is this concept? Well, let’s turn to an expert to find out! Here’s one of my favorite Theoretical Scientists, Dr. Michio Kaku:
“…the initial steps are once again being made at CalTech…. They’ve been able to take a mouse brain and look at a certain part of the brain where memories are processed. Memories are processed at the very center of our brain and they’ve been able to duplicate the functions of that with a chip. So again, this does not mean that we can encode memories with a chip, but it does mean that we’ve been able to take the information storage of a mouse brain and have a silicon chip duplicate those functions. And so was mouse consciousness created in the process? I don’t know. I don’t know whether a mouse is conscious or not. But it does mean that at least in principle maybe it’s possible to transfer our consciousness and at some point maybe even become immortal.”
So, while still a Science Fiction/Comic Book idea, the science is applicable and at least theoretically possible…Now, putting Mr. Everett’s brain into an interdimensional monster? That’s pure Spy6teen.
PROCESS
Fun page this week, and one where DJ got to let some of his design skills fly, particularly in regards to Everett and the Consciousness transfer machine.
Somewhere I have the initial layout/design sketches—I’ll have to edit/upload once I get ahold of them.
* I really love Panel 4, which showcases the sense of scale between the characters. One of the biggest things an artist needs to learn to separate themselves from good to great is the Silhouette test.
The Silhouette test is usually done in the design phase—it’s a check to see if your characters can be identified simply by their silhouettes…wanna take it?
Chances are, you got most, if not all of them—
Now, obviously, Spy6teen isn’t quite as cartoony as the above—but, I’d wager a pretty penny that with only the silhouette’s you’d still be able to pick out Sears, Don, Warpy, and Everett from one another.
Now if only Blake had done the test before stumbling in…
* Lisa rocked the Special Effects Lighting on this page! I love the otherworldy glow coming out of Everett’s box, and in particular, how she creates a halo effect around the back of Everett’s head in Panel 3. It really adds a super creepy effect.
* Something I didn’t notice until screen capping here: One of the signature Spy6teen production elements is the fact that we black out the gutters—That was a Lisa choice from way back on Page 1, and we’ve kept to it since.
This was the first time that DJ gave us a black panel—which, once you border black becomes a BIG PANEL!
* The Super cool moment of this page (to me, at least) was having Everett and Warpy speaking in unison. I thought it was a neat way of illustrating that Everett’s consciousness was starting to take hold.
Brant came up with the cool idea to separate/overlap the two—since neither of us wanted to make it look like it was a production mistake–
What I really like, beyond the inverted color scheme, is the eerie blue circles; to me, it comes off as a different/scary voice…which, I’d presume Warpy would have—if he could speak English to begin with.
* Brant also had a cool idea to slightly overlap the balloons, to give the effect of both of them saying the same thing at the same time. Since comic panels constantly play with time, you almost have to do this, or it might play as Warpy REPEATING Everett’s words.
PLUGS & WRAP UP!
We’re on ITUNES!! That’s right, you can pick up Issue 1 on Itunes to read on your Iphone/Ipad with you Iballs!!
We only have Issue 1 up currently, but hey: it’s free! If you have a chance, please nab a copy to drop us a rating! The more ratings we get, the better chance of getting more of a readership—we’ll hopefully be adding more issues soon. In the meantime, it’s just really cool to see us on the world’s leading digital distribution platform!
And…MORE cool plugs from Team 16 this week!
First up, Lisa Moore is now providing colors for Boom Comics Snarked! Written & illustrated by Harvey winner, Roger Langridge, this looks like a super fun all-ages book…check out some preview art here:
If your local shop isn’t carrying Snarked, you can pick up on Comixology as well!
(note: Lisa’s run begins with Issue 5– Issue 6 hits stores this week!)
In Brant land, we’ve got the four-year anniversary of the Comic Related podcast (which Brant co-hosts), The Related Recap! That’s 303 episodes they’ve done! Swing on by and wish them a happy anniversary!
…remember the 4th year is Silk!
Ok gang, that’s a wrap on this week! We’ll see ya back next week for…
WHAM!!!!
