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Hi, Mike. Thanks for your feedback and for referring to the foundation. Yes! That's all it is at the moment. I had the same thought about the pose. She actually is walking forward but I can make that more obvious. I hadn't thought of the hair; I'll try it. My curent attempt adds a ghost light inverted dome behind her (that shape because I want a focused area of illumination, not a general light source), pointed downward at her back, with a reflection screen in front. It achieves zero in terms of a rim light but it does illuminate her face better. It's more of a grimace than a smirk. I also can't figure out how to blur the edges of the smoke. These products are shapes, so of course they have edges. I need to set up an illusion I think, wiith a series of planes. Maybe that'll be better.
Some of the best I've seen. Good job on the color effects.
The blur may need to be handled in postwork (Photoshop or Gimp). Or you could practice using Depth of Field and put the shadows in a position so they can be blurred.
As for the pose and the expression; I think you need to ramp them up a little so they are more obvious to the readers.
Keep up the good work – you'll get there!
@mmitchell_houston, I've created some web comics for the sword-and-sorcery RPG I run for my son and his HS friends. As handouts, I find comics a wonderful medium for storytelling, chiefly for fleshing out character backstories and for world-building. Wanting to improve my game, I searched this forum and came across your post above regarding Clip Studio Paint. I was intrigued, and after reading more about it, I plunked down a few dollars for the EX license and set about learning to use it.
Now, by no way am I formally trained in visual arts; neither am I producing comics for a paying audience. Nevertheless, as you've also elaborated on, I've found Daz combined with CSP suitable for line art illustrations.
Right now I've challenged myself to complete a new web comic for my players -- just to force myself to learn CSP. Here are a few panels that I want to share, part of a flashback in the larger story I hope to tell.
Thanks for the CSP recommendation! I appreciate all the insights and feedback in this discussion thread.
Cheers!
As someone who is just learning, let me congratulate you on being a quick study! These are very good comics. Even though you're not professionally trained, you've obviously read a lot of comics and have absorbed the basics of solid storytelling. Your scenes are set up well, and the narration adds a dimension to the story that would not be possible with the art alone. I'm VERY impressed! Well done. And I'm glad my recommendation for CSP was so well met.
I look forward to seeing what you do next!
Current project in pre-production.
Basically, the first panel after the intro.
@mmitchell_houston,
Thanks so much for the generous feedback. It may be cliche to say this, but because I'm producing comcs for my son and his friends, it's really fun putting in the time and the effort -- it's not "work" at all. And to be able to channel all those comic book artists I admire -- Mike Mignola, Scott Snyder, Dennis O'Neal, Alan Moore and Stan Sakai, just to name a few -- is simply a treat, a homage to the entertainment they packed into their fantastic storytelling!
Right now I'm experimenting with toon shaders in Daz, combining the output render with the line art functionality of CSP. Previously you talked about Poser+CSP, showcasing illustrations with clean lines and stark contrasts. I find it a challenge to reproduce that look by using Daz Iray and CSP ... well, maybe I've yet to discover the secret sauce! So I think that's what I want to focus on going forward, just as most people on this thread are chasing the right "look".
I'm beginning to find though that the more time and effort put into getting the art right (by fidgeting with the rendering and rotoscoping), the less goes towards meeting deadlines for the project. After all, the reader will only spend less than 10 seconds on a panel. The overall flow, drama and themes of the story weigh more, IMHO. Gestalt matters.
Attached is screenshot of a few more panels I'm working on now. CSP really gives great control when it comes to producing line art.
Cheers!
-- Dennis
Thanks for the Christmas gift @3Diva this looks really good : https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-arix-hair-for-genesis-8-males , can't wait to test it out.
Has anybody tried Procreate on iPad for the comic book postwork? I just used Procreate and Clip Studio Paint (both on iPad) for the first time and I think there's some potential here, although not without some pretty major limitations. Honestly, for me, the screen size and way that you move layers around were the two biggest limiting factors here. I pretty much had to stick to a pretty destructive workflow for just this one image, so don't know how feasible a full comic page would be. I guess, if you didn't make any errors, ever, and never had to go back once you were done with the page and change something you could make it work. Still, I like the results, even if my "linework" got lost in all
I love it, duckbomb :) So much story in those two words and the graphic work! I feel like I know exactly what's going on even if your concept is totally different lol
Really digging this style... how are you getting that graphic coloration effect and bold outlining going on?
What software is everyone using? (Aside from Daz Studio)... I just got into this, and I have Photoshop, but couldn't find an easy/fast workflow for doing it in PS (maybe somebody knows of one?), so I bought a cheapo program -- Comic Creator Studio / Digital Comics Deluxe. (I have a problem with it recognizing new fonts I have installed, which makes it practically worthless... that and the fact that the panels don't seem to be adjustable. But otherwise I like how quick and painless it is for layouts and for speech bubbles, etc.)
Here's my first few pages...
nice start there @guru20 Some small advice: use a different font, that one is really hard to read (take this from someone who's made bad font choises in the past)
And I'm not sure abotu the boxed text, is that talking over the communication system? then I would still give it a tail to point either at the person speaking or the device it comes from. Usually techincally "deformed" voiced are indicated with a zickzack tail to their speech balloon
Yep... I downloaded different fonts (mainly plan on using Komica), but here's the kicker: the software I was using only recognizes the fonts that were installed when I installed this software! When I update fonts, they do not get recognized by the program (Comic Creator Studio), making it essentially worthless... Even uninstalling and rebooting doesn't fix the issue... it's like it creates some sort of font list cache or registry or config file on install, and it doesn't get removed on uninstall, so the problem can't be fixed. Already reported the issue and going to demand my money back.
So, the current text is just a WIP placeholder...(if nothing else, I can go in and add the text/lettering in Photoshop at the end)
Software is also known as "Digital Comics Deluxe", which is just a rebranding of French software "BD Creatur"
It's very limited, but very inexpensive and extremely easy to use, so the font issue is really disappointing (I also wish the pre-made panels were more customizable)
Here's a third page, different setting, different style.. I am doing a mix of Daz environments for some settings, mixed with photoshopping/compisiting for other locations:
As for the boxed text.. it is not talking at all... it is narration / internal thoughts / monologue. So it is directed at the reader (from the main character's point of view)
But a "thought bubble" would look very silly and comical for the purpose/style. (plus, it wouldn't even work, because there are first-person POV views, so where would the tail attach to?)
Your pages are looking great! I started using a software like that, in which I also could not change the font, however one thing you can do is simply create the pages and text you want and then replace all of the actual text in Photoshop. I know you mentioned this in a later post you made, but I just wanted to say that it is a viable way to do it if you liked the program otherwise. As for the panel options, we've only seen a few pages so I can't comment much on that, but from what I see it looks varied enough.
As for software, that's a tricky question... I used to play guitar as a day-job, and it's much like pedals and effects. There's always something new to try, and the artists you most admire will always be doing something slightly different than you. This causes you to think that you're either doing something wrong or that you could be doing something better, and the simple answer is that however you actually do it is the right way. Personally, I use PS for all post-effects and layout, and I do all of my text and bubbles in Clip Studio Paint. As far as my workflow goes, I might use 4 or 5 different programs to create my scenes, but in the end I always end up hitting the render button in DS, I always take all of my images and my masks to PS for post, and I always take that into CSP for bubbles. That way, no matter how chaotic my build process seems, I always know that at some point it gets super streamlined and easy for me to just focus on the final image.
Everybody does something different, and at the same time similar, so whatever keeps you actually creating and not sitting around wishing you were creating is the right answer for you.
Hey thanks! I appreciate the feedback! Sometimes I like to use images like this in place of an "elevator pitch" or a thumbnail when deciding on which short story to tell next. It's easier for me to scroll through images like this instead of sentences on a notepad when considering my next muse LOL.
Then I have no qualms about to boxed text. I just had real trouble reading it so I didn't identify it correctly. Hope you solve th trouble with the font installing. I don't use that program so no help from me there
Thanks for the info... yeah, I just installed CSP to try it out, and it sure is full-featured... a little too full-featured, if you know what I mean!
When I was looking through the directions for some stuff (maybe the different bubbles, or panels?) and it said "For more information, be sure to check out the 1000-page manual," that's when I went "Nope. Uninstall."
To fix my workflow, I will probably either manually fix all the text in Photoshop, or try to install this software on another machine AFTER getting the proper fonts installed first (but I fear I would also need to transfer all of my artwork for the panels, so may not be worth it)
I have also bought a Render Queue asset, because waiting 2-3 hours for some of these individual panels to render was a real killer (the photo-composited ones where I just render a single character have renders that took like 2 minutes, but the ones with multiple characters done all in a Daz environment were taking hours...)
Thank you :D starting issue 2 now. everyone's feedback been valuable so now in this issue ill be focusiing more on the acting and not lose the tecnical aspects from issue 1
Thank you,
Im using some mixes for photoshop filters like Cutout, palette knife and paint daub and i use the Exposure to bumb up the colors. for the lines (i trace it manualy) and some comics effects in some pages (for background and others) i use Clip studio Paint.
Very nice effect... do you use a stylus to do the hand-drawn/tracing bits?
yes sir, i do. most of the times its done on ipad with apple pencil (because PC is rendering somethng) and other on PC with Wacom tablet
@guru20,
I also thought about paying for Render Queue. Based on the product description, what appealed to me was its ability to restart the computer for a fresh run. I find this is critical because after a couple renders in the same DazStudio session, Daz crashes or slows down, out of memory I suspect. Rebooting the PC always gives me a quick and clean render.
But once I rexamined my workflow I decided against purchasing Render Queue. I find that my process is very iterative -- with the script, the panel layouts and the individual panel images prompting me to change each element, or combination of them, as I review my work. In hindsight it's hard for me to batch my renders in advance to feed them through a render queue. I'm more likely than not to dump the queue output once I revise.
How's your experience with Render Queue so far?
Cheers!
Render Queue (or a similar product) is essential.
How this is an add-on and not a default DAZ3D option is absolutely bugnuts.
These look so good, especially the attached images. Curious about your process for using Daz assets in Twinmotion. I would love to not have to render/reduce the amount of rendering needed for projects.
Hi guys.. nice tips - tricks and awesome images in this thread !!
After experiment with shader and postwork techniques , I think I`m ready to make my dream about creating short stories in sequential format/comis come true . I want to know which one comic font I should invest first before starting ? I know about some free comics font and I`m also understand how to edit vector in AI or Affinity designer , but I saw some of you using some cool fonts . Would you share your favorites ?
Thanks
I tend to use Lint McCree for dialog.
Blambot is a killer resource for comic fonts, free or reasonably priced: https://blambot.com/
The font I use for dialogue, Digital Strip, is from there, and it's my first stop for titling and special effect fonts.
Thanks for suggestion guys ...
Meanwhile I found this playlist. I think this one worth to share in here