Someone recently remarked to me that comic book artists make the best animators. I don't believe that, because they are different (though related) disciplines with different skillsets. I'm thoroughly convinced, however, that they are complementary disciplines, and this is the reason why I chose to study animation.While in comics we are concerned mostly with capturing the moment in still shots, in animation we need to deal with movement and timing. Adding these to comics brings life to the drawings in a whole new way.For starters, there are 12 basic principles of animation, namely:1. Squash and stretch2. Anticipation3. Staging4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action6. Slow In and Slow Out7. Arcs8. Secondary Action9. Timing10. Exaggeration11. Solid Drawing (same or different as Weight)12. AppealThese principles were developed by Disney's "Nine Old Men", the last of whom just passed away recently. Further elaboration on these principles are explained on the website of 2 of these men at http://www.frankanollie.com/PhysicalAnimation.html The application of these principles makes a series of still drawings come to life (ever seen 'dead' looking animation?). The mastery of these principles when applied to a piece of animation is what makes it great (think Pixar and the early Disney cartoons).How does this apply to comic art? Well, since we are concerned with capturing the moment, we have to decide which moment to capture. If we are able to visualize the whole sequence of movement of a character for example, we can choose the best moment to capture. And the application of these 12 principles into a sequence is what makes it great. And I'd think capturing a great moment from a great sequence would really help in illustrating a comic panel.That's my 2 cents worth :)
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There are now 365 full color Silly Daddy comics on SillyDaddy.net. That's enough all-ages profound or preposterous family comics to read a Silly Daddy webcomic every day for a whole year at no charge.I moved my Xeric Award winning comic from a previous site started in 2004 to Google's versatile Blogger platform in early 2007 and am currently updating Silly Daddy every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Become part of the family at www.sillydaddy.net.Joe ChiappettaMaking Kids and Comics Since 1991 -- So You Don't Have To
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A nine-page preview of Issue #1 of Shadow of the Stars: Advent can now be viewed (in .pdf) or downloaded at Grail Quest Books newssite. The issue will be available to download online in its entirety at the end of August.Let us know what you think!UPDATE: The preview has been removed since we are getting ready for a wide release in a week or so. We would like to thank the 203 people who took the time to read the preview. A special “Thank You” to all who provided comments and links to the news story at deviantArt, Christian Comic Art Society, and HalfPixel…as well here at the weblog!The first nine pages are now available as a flash file.
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[This is for anyone who's been following or knows where to go to catch up on my graphic novel "Emily's Child"]So I've been trying to figure out what are these hard questions that needed to be answered before I started writing and creating this comic, long before it was stolen from me. Now the questions have gotten impossible! Oakland just seems to be a no-furries-land in the sense that no anthro work could survive if it based it's settings on Oakland or the rest of the Bay Area...I've been going back and forth over and over again about the psycology, evolution, and culture of the demographics in my city as well as the nature and biology of the animals, specifically wolves (seeing as the main characters are kit foxes but I'm appling the same canine behaviors of wolves into the rest of the family) and for some reason they just won't work either for the main character (Raquel) or the rest of the other major populations in my city.What won't work? That was my first question. Turning the social behaviors of wolves into mental conditions and then considering a anthro-canine with a "omega wolf" mentality as a "disabled" opens up a pleathora of trouble in any city even at the first stage in this sentence! No such 'person' could live to see adulthood at least with out recieving even more severe physical and/or mental impairments! One out of every...two persons would take advantage of him/her even if it's just short-changing at a supermarket, and that applies to everyone here. If they new about their disorder, that statistic changes from "take advantage" to "exploit" or "physically/verbally abuse." Emily's Child seems to be a very kindergarden slang to what nicknames the gangs here could really give them.Now back to the syndrome itsself. Raquel for the longest part had always this fantastic, if not miraculous way of always acting as a pure altruist whenever her "disorder" reared (or should I say lowered) it's ugly head in front of others. However the function of a "Omega Wolf" within it's pack was not to just be an altruist. I've had the hardest time reading up on their "ritualized" behaviors and personal/interpersonal attitudes, but there are a lot of aspects to this mental state where this compleately altruistic character does not coencide with the disorder I made for her (and the rest of the canine population) placing all this scientefic data into consideration.It is also a difficult problem converting these behaviors into the interactions with modern society of the human world, especially in Oakland. For example would wolves view each of their social systems e.g school, work, family, transportation, shopping/restraunt centers, as "packs?" Canines in general (not the domestic kind as much, although I'm not considering the evolutionary aspects of having both interacting as 'equals' in my anthro world just yet; seeing as I may have pets like "Author" has) would have trouble interacting with people in every way at this point because of the issue of which "pack" are they loyal to. They would all have to develop external hierarchies for these "packs" in order to adjust and a lot of help learning to tolerate dealing with "rivals" or "competitors" outside of their main "pack." I had even considering applying this into certain state/government structures such as Raquel's school district making it law that canines with siblings must all go to the same school to create a structural bridge from the parents 'pack' to the schools 'pack...'However with all this in consideration, does Raquels disability even apply anymore, seeing as all of the natural-born canines would have some mental/psycological difficulty with the world around them; or does it give her a more special or severe disorder? If there was a fight within Raquels own family, would she try to get in the middle of it to take the tensions onto herself? Would she do the same thing at school or in the general public, where people outside her family would all the more be ok with, even greatful to take out any anger or stress onto her? Seeing as she comes from a Latino/Mexican background, how does their traditional, modern, and subculture affect/interact with the the social behaviors of canines and how does that affect Raquel?So the first ultimate question that you've asked me thousands of times (though not this way) wich I'm finally getting to from all this is: What do I want to say? I have expirienced the tip of the iceburg with my regions rap, 'ghteeo' and 'n****/gangsta' pride culture at it's very worst or best depending on how you take it, and I can't see a way Raquel could help these people the way she is. That really was the origional idea was that Raquel changed or even redemeed all of this subculture, but even if I narrow the number of people down that Raquel touches, I don't know how she could reach one of these persons unless that had some hint of aristrocracy or elitism within their or their families persona (ie they aren't dependant of social security or welfare; or they don't use public transportation; or they have a more 'refined taste,' etc). This may be because I haven't developed Raquels enough and I'm only treating her as if she experienced the same things I did or had the same qualities that I had. I know that I'm far too obscure to be projected in any way as Raquel, and besides I don't react at all for the most part to the tragedies and evils I see in Oakland, while Raquel does in an all too perfect manner in a Christian's world-viewpoint!Just to keep track the two main questions on the plate now are:What do I want to say-before I even take on a premise and summary for the story-because not eveyone can come up with a raving success like Alfred Hitchkock; who could just visit a city and come up with a blockbuster right after considering how great it would be to have a muder in that town.How can Raquel change anyone, or even survive the way she is? Is it all conscidence, or does she have a talent for developing this wisdom?One thing I did notice I'm telling you all here is that this area has a overpowering/predominant mindset that pervades in every social hierarchy (as humans) of my city and the cities surrounding it extending to hundereds of miles around! Could it be that I wish to address or take on this attitude with my graphic novel? It could be that Raquel does see this attitude so strongly that it convinces her to assioate everyone to be of the same "pack" she was raised in as well as interpets this attitude as the instruction to how she must behave within this pack ie. submissive, nonviolent, and altrustic; (whereas the origional concept to the disorder was that "Omega Wolf" anthros lost their sese of aggression to the point that their entire region of the brain for it was turned off, disconnected, or miswired). This still brings up two conflicts to that because I can't see how she can get that interpetation when this predominant attitude is the exact opposite-so it would seem her self-proclaimed "role" within the city is to be "at war" with it through her humble, altrustic ways. There is also the probelem of the origional conflict with Raquels personal desire; to become a basketball playet in with WNBA like her older sister desires; implying that Raquel sees her eldest sister as the main dominant figure in her "family"/"pack" as well as the two having the closest relationships compared to anyone else plus a lack of any impression/relationship onto both of them from their parents.Loads to think about. Is this comic impossible to start/finish at this state? Seeing as I lost nearly all the story notes both old and new due to the robbery (I got a lot of the schoolwork and other notepads recovered thanks to some of the papers having contact information and the lady who's yard they were dumped in was kind enough to have them returned to me); is that a sign that I should just give this-and my wishes/prayers/desired_actions for this city up; permanately even? Or do you see a light to any of this that could could offer to me to help me get this project up in running with the fullest sucess? I really need to know soon, I can't focus on anything else (regarding school and other work that is-I'm still trying to pray,fast,etc) at the moment...Thanks for reading at least; and peace to all the rest of you bretheren,Michael TuttleP.S.EDIT: Some extra questions came into me head yesterday about the whole "predominant mentality" issue...Am I saying it's wrong/evil? Am I just exposing it to the ret of the world? What do I want Raquel to fell about it? Am I just exposing our culture in the eyes of the last person who whould be living there to my audience who would already feel that way if they did move over here? What if I addressed "us" directly through the comic, even though it's physically, much less culturally impossible to get comics into their hands? Do I want my world to be changed; what aspects; and how? On the other hand, I don't want to just 'copy and paste' my settings/enviornment onto Raquels, but if it had the same ideals, what would Raquel herself want to change, considering her disability, and how can she? Should Raquel herself change rather than change those around her, or vice versa? Does the story really have to revolve around "change"? It's an amazing comic if it's just about Raquel "surviving" if not even "succeeding" in this obscure world. Though it would still be hard to write and both ideas seem too much like a soap opera, drama, or reality tv show...and I want this comic to fall into a genre both the critics are craving and praising or engrossing themselves with...or do I?
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NEED YOUR COMMENTS!We, here at Funnypages Productions (that's Tom and Rob, primarily), try to be careful about "letting the cat out of the bag" about what we are working on or planning for our company. Usually, that's because we can't. NDA's and all. In other cases, it's because we really want to announce something when it's fully baked. That seems to be a good plan most days.Not this time.After a few years of thinking about it and going back and forth on the best way to do it: Rob and I have decided we are going to start an ONLINE ART SCHOOL. That's not the name of it of course, but you get the idea. The idea is that we will start it semi-small at first. A kind of Phase one, with other phases to go into effect if all goes well. Maybe between 3-5 different classes with up to 10-20 people in each. (Maybe that sounds like alot, maybe it is, but there IS two of us.) This would be a "mentorship" style program where we would produce streaming video lectures per lesson and then issue a homework assignment that goes with that lesson. We would go over each homework assignment ourselves and provide instruction and drawings to specifically address your drawing assignment. All sent back to you via the 'net. Each class could be 6 weeks long, more or less.All the classes (in Phase one) would revolve around drawing principles.Our initial thought is that we need to have a "drawing fundamentals" class (that could be used as a prerequisite for some of the Level 2 classes) designed for more beginning artists and, perhaps, talented kids. From there, our thought is to have a "character design class", a " Illustration storytelling" class that would revolve around character-centered illustration involving layout and composition challenges (like children's books, comics, etc.), and " Poses and expressions", taking new and established characters and bringing them to life!So, here's where you come in. What do you think? Would you or someone you know be interested in having 2 experienced animator, illustrator, director types mentor them (uh...for a price)? What do you think of those classes outlined above? Any others that sound good? Anyone take another online class like this and want to throw out pros and cons for us to think about? We would love the input as we prepare to launch the site. Thanks!
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My copy of "By Design" by Tony Snipes arrived today from LuLu. I love it! But there are a couple of things I should mention first. When an artist says he's selling a sketchbook, he means a book to sketch in. When an artistically challenged person like me hears a well known artist is selling a sketchbook, I think it's a book full of sketches, ha ha. So I was a bit perplexed by the blank pages, until I understood. Tony wants to interact with you and God to make the book something special and worshipful. This book is well worth the price! It's very attractively built, and the lessons by Tony are messages from the Heavenlies brought down to earth. I love Tony's writing style, it's gentle and wise. And you never feel like he's reaching, or stretching scripture to apply it to art or any creative endeavour. So the messages really touch my heart. Ah, but the blank sketch pages, I don't think I'll draw in my copy:) I'm the sort that won't hi-lite a Bible or fold paperback book pages to mark my place, ha ha:) But if I could draw, I would set aside days to worship God through drawing, and draw in the book. That's what Tony wants, to encourage you to exercise your God given gift for His glory. The pages are a little glossy, I wonder what it would be like to draw on them? I bet inked pictures would look great! Tony's marvelous lessons are all taken from the Bible, and come with very appropriate verses. From the creation of the Temple in Israel, to the parable of the Talents, and beyond, Tony shows how God wants us to be creative people, to express what is good and worthy. Good book! Gerry Lee
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How can on sum up an experience like a modern Comic Book convention that swells to the size of a small city over a four day period? How can on describe the ebb and flow of surging crowds that are in such a hurry to go--where? The Comic Con International: San Diego is a cultural phenomenon that acts both as a barometer of popular culture and an influence of that culture. This weekend (July 24-27, 2008) I attended the 39th San Diego Comic-Con. I attended with several purposes. Most central is my involvement is the Christian Comic Arts Society. This time we extended our small press table for the 12th year. We were flanked on each side by representatives of other spiritual traditions, Diablo Publishing and Necroscope. Curious passersby surreptitiously snapped digital photos of this seemingly odd confluence of soulish persuasions. Our tracts and other freebies found ready acceptance and flew off the table. Also our book sales were much better than last year. Numerous Christian believers who stopped by were encouraged by what they saw. Even Superman who claimed to be a Baptist stopped by for a visit. It was his 70th anniversary. He didn't look a day over 40. We also had a CCAS sponsored "Spirituality in Comics" panel. We make efforts to diversity our panelists and our move in that different this year was Holly Golightly, the happy and bright red-haired wiccan, who has written Sabrina the Teen aged Witch. This panel perhaps covered familiar territory but it did provide food for thought for those unaccustomed to thinking in terms of the deeper nature of popular media. Saturday CCAS sponsored our first open forum get together of Christian fans and creators. We didn't know what to expect but there was a good turn out of mostly young people (and rightly so) where introductions were made with a brief summary of CCAS history followed by an unstructured time of visiting. This could very well become another CCAS convention tradition. The next morning we had our traditional Sunday chapel service. Robert Luedke, writer/artist of the Eye Witness graphic novel series, gave an excellent devotional that ended up challenging the audience to make comics, graphic novels, artwork, costume design, sculpture and other creative projects for next year's convention. Kevin Yong video tapped the session as well as the Spirituality in Comics panel the day before. This was followed by a panel lead by Leo Partible that discussed trends and happenings with the Christian comics field. On the panel were Luedke, Robert Flores, Sergio Cariello, Clint Johnson and Jerrell Conner. This was likewise a very good panel with the participants grappling with issues of how to do comics from the heart of a Christian believer. As with all conventions the four days slipped away into the files of memory and lots of good and not so good digital photos. Overall this was a very encouraging experience for everyone. (This is my short convention report--a longer one should follow in the not too distance future.)
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I am going to share some photos I took of CCAS events at the2008 Comic Con International: San Diego.These will be the participants of the Saturday and SundayCCAS panels.Reports on activities will come later.Don
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Hello everybody! It has been a long time since I have talked with you and stuff. LOL! I have missed you dear members and want to say that I am back. You have no doubt heard of my Graphic Novel: The Overcomers. It ships out in September and was wonderfully designed by the one and only Christina Cheek of Silver Dagger Studios. God has really given her a remarkable talent and in my opinion, the best. Living Word Publications has graciously picked us up and is run by the man in the business, Pastor Martin Oakley. I thank God for their wonderful efforts and can be ordered at livingwordpublications.info.What I really want to talk about is our belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians say that salvation depends on belief in Jesus. For example, Paul told the Philippian jailer, " 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved' " (Acts 16:31). I agree with Paul's statement, but I would also like to qualify it. Simply believing that Jesus was a good Man who lived on earth two thousand years ago isn't enough.Simply believing in the fact of His death on the cross isn't enough. Genuine Christian belief is a commitment to Jesus that makes a difference in one's outlook and in how one lives. It's the same with other Christian beliefs. I believe in the Ten Commandments, but do they make a difference in how I relate to God and others? I believe in the inspiration of the Bible, but do the Bible's teachings change the way I live?My answer is THEY SHOULD! So consider this, what does Jesus' resurrection mean to you? It better be everything because it means absolutely everything. God Bless.
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I've moved onto the issue as to how to color Emily's Child, and I've always thought of going for a more realistic look, but not in the same style as Alex Ross's; at least what I imaged the final panels would look like never resembeled his renderings as far as I could tell. Turns out I found something similar in my papa's collection of recycled (library and other reading places's discards) children's books to what I was thinking of having. The books was apparently part of the Reading Rainbow series and is titled "Daddy's a Monster...Sometimes" -my papa has a lot of "dad" related children's material for some reason- and is written and illustrated by this fellow named John Steptoe. I could only find two images of his this book (barely a cover photo)
It's uniqe even to this artist, but I just love the "feel" to these paintings. I guess one could consider it an "Impressionistic" approach to rendering, and other than the strange background patterns for every picture this style portrays the sprit of the characters and their backgrouns (community, settings, culture, etc) extremely accurately! All of John Stepoe's work is just as unique or illustrative like Ross's, but if you know of any illustrated book like this one, please let me know!
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Sorry it took so long but you can view the color flats to Messiah's Chosen preview and tell me what you think. I've been busy working nights so i sleep most of the day (Gotta pay the bills some how.). I hope you guys are blessed with what the lord has given me to show you. Also I have posted a sketch that I had done in 1998(Wow it's been ten years!!!), but I fell in love with the results and i think it's going to be the first poster from the BAP . Also be looking forward to the finish Preview comic and the poster of my rendition of the Armor of God in the next couple of months. BAP out!!!! P.S. If you can not view the pictures it takes a day or two for Society to approve the content of the pictures. It's Family base website with a love of God wapped up with the moving of the spirit. Kinda sounds like a Lumpia, whops! I guess it's the filipino in me.May God Bless you with this blog...
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Hello Everyone! My blog today is about 'A Christian Comic I'd buy more than once'. An explanation: I try to buy Christian Comics to support the efforts and visions that their creators have been given by God. Nowadays there are more titles than I can afford to keep up with, but I try. Today I will review a comic I would buy more than once.
You've all seen the promotional teasers for our very own 'New Creation Entertainment' friends from the CCAS. For those of you who haven't been following, 'New Creation Entertainment' has it's origins in a group of CCAS members who published some fine books in years past. Recently, they, and some like minded comic creators, banded together to form NCE, which is a Christian Comic company. NCE is still working on it's first wave of Christian Comic books. It looks like a great line-up! For more information, try the following website: http://www.newcreationnow.com/ Where was I? Oh yes! One of the classic books created in the summer of 2000 by the forerunner of todays NCE is still available from their current website! The book is "New Crew" and it's written by a very talented CCAS comic creator, Kevin Yong. Sadly, Kevin doesn't come around here on ning that much, he's very busy. But believe me, he is a very imaginative and prolific writer. Typical of Kevin, the book throws you a curve from the outset. The book isn't really about 'The New Crew' as much as it is about a wonderful Christian super heroine named 'Virtue'. But just as 'The New Crew' characters are glory hounds in the story, so they manage to steal the title of this delightful book. Storywise it's a very light-hearted and comical view of the world of superheroes but it does have some sweet and poignant moments in it as well. Art-wise the book is in four chapters, by Geoff Strout(our webmaster here at ning) and Ralph Miley Jesse Hamm(Seven Seconds and a Dead Fish) Bud Rogers(from Community Comics, 'Awesome Dude') and Monte Wilson(Elfin Romance, Royal Guard). Also contributing, Don Ensign and Devin Parker I recommend this book very much! Here is a scribble fan art I did, of Reggie Byer's "Shuriken" teaming up with 'New Crew's' Virtue. Hope it doesn't hurt their sales, ha ha:)
Let's rally around 'New Creation Enterprises', and give her our support! God bless you all, Gerry Lee
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For any who weren't aware (most of you), I have had a business going for the last 3 years or so - between my day job, my personal life crisises and multiple health issues, not much business has actually occurred...But I've decided to get serious this year, and one of the FIRST things i need is a LOGO for business cards, banners, etc.. The purpose of this message is to encourage submissions, to be subjectively reviewed by myself and a few trusted advisors, for visual clarity, simplicity, "cuteness", and "eye-catching" ability. Not asking TOO much...The Name of the Business is - George's Comic Reccollection - BUT - I'm doing business as - Comic Wreck. [Think "Rent-A-Wreck" of the comic industry - good reading books at affordable prices, as well as serious collectibles...] I kinda have this image of a car-shaped-comic book, with a VERY VISIBLE "ding" - but I'm NOT locked into that image alone - So I put it out on the Floor - send your submissions DIRECTLY to me at Comicwreck@yahoo.com please -If it's a contest, then what's the reward? Good Question... At this moment, i have in excess of FORTY THOUSAND comics, magazines, amd miscellaneous collectible minutea [sp], but not an excess of funds - so submit a want/wish list with your logo idea - the winner will have either a reasonable amount of that list filled, or failing to locate such, be offered comparable credit towards anything else in stock...You don't need to be a great Artist - just an imaginative one...Looking forward to the fruits of stimulated minds -george macas jr
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I've planned, designed, laid-out, agonized and prayed over this magazine and magazine launch for the past 7 months. It's interesting to see how past experiences have in some measure prepared me for this (God's good at ordering our steps, isn't He?), but in many ways I still feel inadequate (You're asking me to be a publisher, Lord--are You SURE about this?). My hopes have gotten dashed here and there as I learn the ropes of what to expect and what not to expect. But God continues to encourage me to keep on going with this. I think He has something up His sleeve.Volume 1, Number 1 is ready to hit the presses. Volume 1, Number 2 is 90% completed. The website is designed and only requires the html guy (and his payment check) in order to be up and running.So here we are, month 7, and I have my initial hard copies of my magazine to send out to potential distributors. Ingram came back a big fat no. But a church friend had connections in Indonesia and those folks seem to be interested. If I need to start out overseas, I'm willing. Heck, I'm grateful!God is good, and if it's His idea, He'll make a way for it. That's the cool part. All I have to be is obedient. Thanks for the welcome and encouraging comments by you folks on here--I'm looking forward to being a regular member and in getting to share in your overall purpose. Blessings!
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Gene Simmons Dominatrix writer, Sean Taylor, puts DC on top in movies!Go check out my newest blog entry, in which I explain how to put the Distinguished Competition back on top in the movie department.Vain of me to try?Of course it is. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm right about it.Take a peek and see if you agree: http://www.redroom.com/blog/sean-h-taylor/how-dc-can-kick-marvels-butt-hollywoodRead more…
