3D Comic Book Tips And Pictures

Cris Palomino

If you're really interested in your word balloons, take some time to find and study some of the best lettering out there. Tom Orzechowski is an old friend and one of the finest letterers in the business. Artists should design their work with space for story and dialogue in the same way that illustrators design space for titles. 

Narrative should only be used where imagery can't show the information or the scene properly.  Dialog should be easy to follow. Learn how emotions can be displayed by the way the word balloon is drawn. Think about how size of lettering, caps and lower case, italics all contribute to the tenor of what's being said. Don't write out "Whisper" when slightly smaller, italicized lettering will denote a whisper.

http://comicsbulletin.com/classic-interview-tom-orzechowski-part-i-talking-the-comics-business-lettering-inking-and-his-task-force-x/

Pick up some of his work. Good lettering makes the comic book fun to read. Take a good look at the sound effects. I still remember the first time I saw the strong winding blades of a helicopter shown as "Thwok! Thwok! Thwok!" and could actually hear the sound in my head.

There is an art to good lettering. Take time to discover and hone it.

BeeMKay

Thanks for the thoughts, Cris Palomino! You're very right about that. I keep forgetting the extra space sometimes, because of what I learned about spaces in renders, in general. It just wants me to zoom in more, or fill up that space, and stuff...

I've begun to re-do my lettering&speech bubbles entirely, and I now have an English and a German speech bubbles set, complete with the different sizes, for the first Division page. I also have begin the lettering inside of ClipStudio rather than Photoshop Elements. ClipStudio isn't quite as cooperative as Photoshop, and for some weird reason, the 18pt font I use is just a third of that size in ClipStudio compared to PS. But I guess it's a matter of practice and learning, as you said.

 

kenmo

magicjava said:

kenmo

Tom Foster comic artist on Judge Dredd gives insight on how he uses DAZ Studio in creating his images...

He's very good. I like the expressions he gives his characters.

---

Here's a cover from one of my comics. The character on the cover is Man O' Metal, who was active during the 1940s. I like how the lighting highlights his muscles and gives a nice look of thickness to his body.

They layout is pretty good too. He's got a balled fist and a look of determination on his face and his back is literally up against the wall. The picture has a very nice heroic look to it.

EDIT: Here are the other covers to the series...

A sample page. Needless to say, Colonel Yamato won’t be reappearing in a future story....

And a nice poster of Gold Venus flying her P38 Lightning...

They say the P38 Lightning was the precursor to the modern jet. Whether or not that's true, the P38 got the job done in World War II.

The top two pilots in terms of confirmed kills, Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire (whom McGuire Air Force Base is named for), both flew P38s. Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who was in charge of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, was killed by a squadron of P38s.

Maybe I should add some shot-down Zeros falling and smoking in the background? Maybe have the guns on the P38 firing? What do you think?

Your artwork is excellent...

kenmo

vrba79 said:

Here's another postwork recipe for Photoshop.

The cost is some finer detail, but you get a nice, soft cartoony look.

Go to Filter - > Blur -> Smart Blur

Set Radius to 2.0, the Threshold to 25.0, the Quality on High and the Mode on Normal.

Then go to Filter -> Artistic -> Cutout.

Set Number of Levels to 8, Edge Simplicty to 0, and Edge Fidelity to 3.

Lastly go to Edit - > Fade.

Set the Opacity to 50 and the Mode to Screen.

And that's all she wrote!

Attached are my before and after images.

 

Thanks kindly for the tip and technique...

kenmo

magicjava said:

Griffin Avid said:

For example, none of the links you provided on word ballons mentioned planning for them before you do the render,

The first link I shared has this: 

At first, you just suspect there might not be enough room. But only five minutes later you’ve tried everything and can no longer deny it: You did not leave enough room for both script and art.

That's why I said 3) The basics are the same no matter HOW you make your comics.

Same for studying comics. Yep, if you want to mainly make a webcomic, you study them and see what works and what doesn't.

Just don't make anything about your comic "In a webcomic format" not the scale or page sizes, etc. Always convert it later.

That's very good advice, Griffin Avid, and I forgot to thank you for the links you provided earlier.

---

Because I'm building an entire comic universe, and I'm only one guy, I have to get the most bang for my buck from the things I do. To that end, my comics have backup stories, which are 6 page stories that focus on a characer other than the one in the main story.

The backup story for Gold Venus is Black Fury. Black Fury is Detective John Perry, who fights crime in the 1940s as an after hours vigilante when his partner is murdered and his death goes unsolved. Assisting Black Fury is his young ward and daughter of his murdered partner, Tabitha Marley as Kid Fury.

Here are the four covers that appear on the back of the Gold Venus issues, along with a sample page and a poster of Black Fury and Kid Fury on patrol in their Super Charged Auburn Speedster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow..enjoying your work BUT this is exceptional... the restaurant/diner part reminds me of a Edward Hopper painting... Love it..

magicjava

Griffin Avid said:

So doing the covers first inspires you? I usually do covers last.

No, not really last, just somewhere near the end.

I usually have an idea though of what I want the climax and cover to be.

That what drives me forward, the desire to show that moment or express that point.

My creative process is really just whatever comes to me. I read things, they enter my subconscious, something happens, ideas then enter my conscious. My only job is to record what I'm given. So, in this case, the covers are what I was given and there's only 3 of the 4 covers because I haven't recieved the 4th cover yet. Once I start working on the series, the 4th cover will show up.

kenmo said:

Your artwork is excellent...

kenmo said:

Wow..enjoying your work BUT this is exceptional... the restaurant/diner part reminds me of a Edward Hopper painting... Love it..

Oh just stop, you. *blush*

Just kidding! Don't ever stop! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

magicjava

EXPOSED: Magicjava's No-Talent Word Balloon Hack!

I figured I'd finish up my discussion on word balloons by showing how I actually make them. It's simple, really. I use a product called Comic Life. In addition to having features like page layout templates and a script editor for your stories, Comic Life has very nice word balloon capabilities. They offer a 30 day free trial, and it's less than $30 to buy. Mac and Windows are both supported.

As you can see from the picture above, the word balloon tails and connectors between balloons can have their curves adjusted so they work with your illustration. This is done with a standard bezier curve control.

The following additional features are supported:

Balloon Kinds

Most popular kinds of word balloons are supported, as you can see in the image above. The way you create a word balloon is by clicking on the kind you want. Yup, just 1 click does it. The option on the far right is to add child word balloon to a selected word balloon. The child will inherit all the properties of its parent by default, but you can change the properties manually if you want to.

TIP: The easiest way to create word balloons in Comic Life is to click on the kind of balloon you want, and then double click on the sample text inside the created balloon to replace it with the text you want. When you're done typing, click outside the word balloon. Done.

Fonts Quick Bar

TIP: Quck Bars are the easiest way to make common adjustments to the default properties of a word balloon.

The above controls let you control a word balloon's font, font style, font size, and font color. There's also controls for setting common font styles with 1 click, and for setting the justification of text within the word balloon.

This bar provides quick access to some of the more common options from the Inspector panel's editor panes.

Balloon Properties Quick Bar

These controls let you set how thick a word balloon's border is, what color it is, what the fill is for the word balloon, and if the balloon should have a drop shadow.

Fills can be colors or gradients. There are many preset options to chose from, or you can use a color picker (which is where I set opacity for my word balloons) or a gradient editor to customize your results.

This bar provides quick access to some of the more common options from the Inspector panel's editor panes.

Form Editor Pane (Yeah, I know, Weird Name, But It's For Editing Balloons)

TIP: Editor Panes are for making more complex adjustments than can be done using the Quick Bars.

TIP: Open the Inspector panel by clicking this button: 

The form edit pane is available from the Inspector panel.  The options are:

• Kind: Changes the kind of word ballon. Useful if you want a child to have a different kind than the parent.
• Variety: Changes the shape of the word ballon. Useful if you want specialized shapes.
• Tail: Lets you select between curved, straight, or jagged tails.
• Auto Curve: If selected, the tail will automatically curve based on the center of the word balloon and the location of the end of the tail.
• Width: You can set you balloon's tail to be thin, medium, or thick. Or you can let Comic Life decide for you.
• Add tail: Let's you add additional tails to a word balloon. An example is shown at the beginning of this post.

Graphic Editor Pane

The graphic edit pane is available from the Inspector panel.  Really, too many options here to even discuss. It's worth playing around with. I'll just hit a few highlights.

• Fill: Lets you fill the word balloon with a color, a gradient, and image (including colorized and tinted images), or a halftone. The controls immediately below the fill dropdown will change based on which type of fill you pick.
• Stroke: Use to pick how you want the balloon's border to be drawn. 10 options to choose from.
• Shadow: Used to control if the balloon has a drop show, and if so, the appearance and location of the shadow.

Text Editor Pane

The text edit pane is available from the Inspector panel.  This is where you find your advanced controls for managing your text's appearance, including how much of an inset you want between your border and your text.

vrba79

Working on a completely non-postwork, shaderless solution for people looking for a cartoony look. This is a work in progress, but it uses the Dzdefault shader from the DS Default directory, and several directional lights.

I'm working to whittle it down into something easily replicable. Keep in mind, no postwork was done to this image at all.

 

 

kenmo

vrba79 said:

Working on a completely non-postwork, shaderless solution for people looking for a cartoony look. This is a work in progress, but it uses the Dzdefault shader from the DS Default directory, and several directional lights.

I'm working to whittle it down into something easily replicable. Keep in mind, no postwork was done to this image at all.

 

 

Looks nice....

 

shady_milkman_5b7d51ccaf

At what resolution do you guys render at for a comic? Do you start with a large size and then reduce it or do you start smaller?

vrba79

 

 

shady_milkman_5b7d51ccaf said:

At what resolution do you guys render at for a comic? Do you start with a large size and then reduce it or do you start smaller?

For serious projects, I always render and compose large. And build the pages in a higher DPI, That way if I want something to publish and print, it's already the right size.

Going from large to small: Yes. Going from small to large: NO!!!

 

Also, that simple toon solution I was working on, isn't working out so good. Different skintones and the like really look poor with it. That said I'm working on something else.

The "No Budget Toon-torial".

Linwelly

My original art is in large size and I always keep the original. For the pages I reduce size, as the page Iäm uploading to doesn't even accept larger formats. Makinf the pages in large size and only then reduce might be the batter strategy though, but I'm a far cry from ever getting something printed and if so I have to make major rearrangements anyway.

vrba79

agent unawares

magicjava said:

Just to follow up on my previous post, I almost forgot I already have some test covers done for Black Fury's own series. They're still WIPS, but here they are:

I'm liking your cover design but the super names here are "don't dead open inside" material. Black The Kid and Fury Clown Fury together for another exciting adventure.

magicjava

shady_milkman_5b7d51ccaf said:

At what resolution do you guys render at for a comic? Do you start with a large size and then reduce it or do you start smaller?

I agree with everyone else. Large file sizes are best.

 

vrba79 said:

Looks very nice, vrba79. I can't wait to give it a try.

 

agent unawares said:

magicjava said:

Just to follow up on my previous post, I almost forgot I already have some test covers done for Black Fury's own series. They're still WIPS, but here they are:

I'm liking your cover design but the super names here are "don't dead open inside" material. Black The Kid and Fury Clown Fury together for another exciting adventure.

Thank you, and yeah, I think you're right about the names. I also don't like the 3D issue numbers on these covers. I'll see what I can do. 

---

Just a couple of pages from one of my books.

vrba79

Thanks, Magicjava. I'm very surprised at how flexible a shader set it is. For years I thought it was just absolute junk, but I never really applied much time into it.

magicjava

vrba79 said:

Thanks, Magicjava. I'm very surprised at how flexible a shader set it is. For years I thought it was just absolute junk, but I never really applied much time into it.

Here's a test render for just the skin. The one on the left is VSS. The one on the right is your method with slightly tweeked values for the colors (I added 10 to each of the RGB elements for each color). Looks pretty good. I'll try the hair and clothes and a little bit of gloss for the skin tomorow.

---

EDIT: Also, for agent unawares, there's this:

agent unawares

That is way more readable.

vrba79

magicjava said:

vrba79 said:

Thanks, Magicjava. I'm very surprised at how flexible a shader set it is. For years I thought it was just absolute junk, but I never really applied much time into it.

Here's a test render for just the skin. The one on the left is VSS. The one on the right is your method with slightly tweeked values for the colors (I added 10 to each of the RGB elements for each color). Looks pretty good. I'll try the hair and clothes and a little bit of gloss for the skin tomorow.

 

 

 

Wow! So far, so good! 

magicjava

Here's pages 3 and 4 from one of my books. Pages 1 and 2 were posted a couple of posts back.

dreamfarmer

Has anybody done anything with 3D renders and manga-style storytelling? I don’t mean anime-style-art or even the reverse reading order (though from my research that seems partially relevant, at least for panel layout and word balloon presentation) but the way manga tends to be more impressionistic. More closeups, less characters-against-backgrounds. Text placed in different places to guide readers through panels. I’m thinking about doing something with a more manga-like approach but I’m having problems visualizing it with realistic color figures (I always end up imagining American comic panels) and I think even a few pages of somebody else’s efforts in that area could help.

(I have another project I’m perfectly happy with in what my brain insists on referring to as ‘Vertigo style’but for this one I think the story would work better in that more impressionistic style.)

 

ETA; I guess what I could do is maybe try to create a page from a pre-existing manga using Daz models and see how it looks...

 

magicjava

dreamfarmer said:

Has anybody done anything with 3D renders and manga-style storytelling? I don’t mean anime-style-art or even the reverse reading order (though from my research that seems partially relevant, at least for panel layout and word balloon presentation) but the way manga tends to be more impressionistic. More closeups, less characters-against-backgrounds. Text placed in different places to guide readers through panels. I’m thinking about doing something with a more manga-like approach but I’m having problems visualizing it with realistic color figures (I always end up imagining American comic panels) and I think even a few pages of somebody else’s efforts in that area could help.

(I have another project I’m perfectly happy with in what my brain insists on referring to as ‘Vertigo style’but for this one I think the story would work better in that more impressionistic style.)

 

ETA; I guess what I could do is maybe try to create a page from a pre-existing manga using Daz models and see how it looks...

 

I've thought of doing this too, and the approach I've decided on was what you suggested in your last sentence, reproduce an existing manga panel by panel. However, I've only gotten to the "buy a manga" stage, I haven't started reproducing it yet. :(

That said, there are YouTube videos that give instructions on how to draw manga. Just search for "how to draw manga" and you'll get a ton of them.

EDIT: You have a nice DeviantArt gallery. I like the way you work with light.

Linwelly

My impression about manga was that it's mostly about how you draw your characters but I might out me here as.. ignorant. So I wouldn't even know which label to put on my comic there...

magicjava

Here's my latest go with the DS Default shaders. The steps I did to produce this image are:

1. Open a scene with a toon that has VSS shaders. 
2. Merge the same scene into itself, so we have 2 identical toons in the scene.
3. Select the skin of the second toon and apply the DS Default shaders.

The image below shows the VSS toon on the left, in the middle is the same toon after the dzSkin shader was applied to her skin surfaces, and the one on the right  is the same toon after the dzSkin shader was applied to her skin surfaces and Specular Strength set to 15% (from the default of 100%)

 

EDIT: Here's the same thing, but starting with the defaut Sakura model. No VSS shaders involved.

dreamfarmer

'How to draw manga' seems to be a lot more about how to draw in big-eyes style. While I subconsciously noticed some of the differences between manga and American-comic style, I didn't really understand what was going on until I read some Scott McCloud talking about it and then did more research. Apparently a lot of the differences are pretty visible to academics in the field but without training (or at least a tutorial) it's definitely hard to see. The major gist I've picked up is that 

1.) the panel reading order is different between USA comcis and manga not just in left to right vs right to left, but also the way you follow art and bubbles. A couple quotes from http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2010/06/visual-languages-of-manga-and-comics/:

• Japan: First, follow where the art and speech balloons are pointing you. If that fails, read right to left, then up to down.
• U.S. First, read left to right and then up to down.  If that fails, follow where the art and speech bubbles are pointing you.

In manga, it's super important to avoid using t-junctions in panel layout, because they're more confusing in manga.  That page also talks some about the differences in speech bubble placement.

What Scott McCloud talks about is how manga is generally more focused on portraying how things _feel_ emotionally than the actions themselves-- even in action manga. Like (my example) if somebody is zooming really fast around somebody else, in comics you might see that-- the speedster zooming around the target making a whirlwind, and the whole thing framed against a background. Manga might portray the same event with a closeup on the target having whirly eyes with circular speed lines, showing that the target is really dizzy, with no real background to speak of. 

One reason I want to try the manga approach is because I have a suspicion that it will make weaknesses in 3d-comic production less meaningful. I think it's at least worth experimenting to find out. So yeah... I think I'll dig up some manga pages and try to duplicate them.

 

magicjava

dreamfarmer said:

'How to draw manga' seems to be a lot more about how to draw in big-eyes style.

Yeah. But I did manage to track down an interesting one by searching for "what makes manga different from american comics". There may be others.

Manga VS American Comics: The Main Difference

In that video, manga is compared to cinematography, which is a route I want to go down anyway.

 

 

 

Linwelly

Thanks a lot for the link @dreamfarmer. I learned something new today.

magicjava

And the last two pages I'll preview from my book, pages 5 and 6. Pages 1-4 are just a few posts previous to this one.

 

dreamfarmer

Yeah, I think it’s interesting that comics, which are more ‘big picture’ tend to be _less_ suited to cinematic adaption than manga but it’s something I’ve read too.

is anybody interested in seeing the test pages I produce? If so should I start a new thread (themed on manga) or stick ‘em here? (Or both?)

magicjava

dreamfarmer said:

Yeah, I think it’s interesting that comics, which are more ‘big picture’ tend to be _less_ suited to cinematic adaption than manga but it’s something I’ve read too.

is anybody interested in seeing the test pages I produce? If so should I start a new thread (themed on manga) or stick ‘em here? (Or both?)

I'd love to see them, here, or on another thread, whichever you like.