Renovation Page 4

Hey everyone, sorry I am late.  This is as good a time as any to talk about scheduling.  From now on this comic is going to update on Sundays.  This just works out much better with how my week is typically planned out.

In other news I graduated with my BFA this week and so it has been kinda hectic; hence the late comic.

But back to business.

No playlist for this comic.  The vast majority of this was done in silence, it was just one of those weeks.  Probably the earliest sketches were done to the new Daft Punk album; but I can not be sure. 

So linework.  You may remember that in my last blog post I talked about how I was not satisfied with my lines.  Well this week I feel is a bit of an evolution but I am still not satisfied.  I was mindful in some of the panels to have a thin hesitant sort of stuttery line, just to see how that would work out.  In the end I feel like it was equal parts good and bad. It seems like where I used this type of line things seemed to fall apart.  Shapes are made, but they don't know what they are exactly; almost like they are perpetually on the verge of rattling apart.  I am not sure how I will move forward in the next page.  My guess is that I will focus a lot more on the line, cross hatching, fully blacked out shadows, that sort of thing.  That said, there is a chance that I might make things even flimsier just to see what happens.  I did have moments of weakness (panels 2 and 3) where I fell back onto a thicker line made with a more confident stroke.  So maybe the answer is to expunge that idea completely with no regrets or second thoughts.

Colours are coming along.  I have always felt that they are my weakness and I feel like I am getting a better grip.  I am still trying to stay away from anything too painterly, but at the same time I am giving myself some room away from a purely graphic approach.  I have a hunch that I might have gone overboard with the textures a little in this page.  I have been hesitant to use them in my digital work, I feel like some people use texture to cover up bad drawings or colour choices and I don't want to do that.  All in all I am happy with the colour, though I think I should have made things a little bit lighter.

 I am happy with page layout.  Nothing is too adventuress but then again not everything has to be.

As far as story is concerned I am biting at the bit to get past this prologue and introduce the full cast, but I do want to take things slow; it is a thriller after all.

I can't think of much else to say about this one.  Thanks for reading and have a good week.

Jeff K.

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Renovation Page 3

Hey people it is that time again!  Sorry for being late with this comic, I was having some computer trouble, but that is all smoothed out now. Besides, I got this thing out the next morning so get off my back.

So lets get back to business.  Soundtrack for this one is mostly Iron Maiden and Beastie Boys.  If there was more then I forgot.

 I think I should mention before hand that a friend of mine, Ian, gave some good suggestions that helped the layout quite a bit. That said, I jumped the gun a bit and I think this page could have been a bit clearer.  Specifically, I think that I should have put the foot on the break panel earlier on in the page.  Other than that I am happy with how things turned out.

I decided to tighten up the linework a bit in this one compared to the last page.  Maybe that isn't the right word, but whatever.  I have a thing with lines, they strike me as being all really similar.  Hear me out, this isn't as stupid as it sounds.  I find I have a habit of making lines a bit too curvy and too think for fear that they won't be seen.  Best examples of this can be seen in panels 1 and 2.  In panel one, the interior of the car
 bothers me, and this isn't an issue with variation in line weight.  I know that I might have a problem with having too uniform of line weight, but what I don't like about the work is more that when lines get thick I don't like how they look.  Secondly, the curvieness of lines I feel like I never make straight lines, like they always have to swoop.  So, what have I learned form all of that?  Well next comic you can expect something very different in terms of line.  I am thinking of thin thin lines that don't very in weight that much, also a lot less swoop.

Colour was interesting this comic.  I knew that I wanted to have all of the exterior shots of the cars and stuff have a yellow orange haze that hinted at a day that is a little too sunny; then with interior shots, stick to cooler colours.   Not sure how well it worked out.  Also, in the battle of painterly vs. graphic I think I hit a reasonable middle ground.  Earlier versions of this comic had the gravel road and fields really worked with a bunch of grays browns greens and yellows.  It all looked a bit cluttered, and the colour began to fight with the lines so I smoothed things out a bit.  While I allowed some of the nuance to come through in the gravel and grass I think it isn't too distracting and gets the point across.  So I guess I am saying that I am happy with colour for once.

Well that's it for this week, so have a great long weekend and I'll be back again next Friday.

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Renovation Page 2

Well hot damn people it's a comic.  On Friday, just like I said it would be.

So this is where I talk about making this thing.  In the interest of full disclosure the soundtrack to making for this was was roughly equal parts Slayer, Girl Talk and the Spice Girls.

I said I was wanting to make it much cartoonier and so that is what I did.  I have to say that I had a hard time not crosshatching the hell out of this thing, but I managed to resist so that is good I think.  I may have mentioned before that I have a weird relationship with colour.  I am not too sure why, but I have never been too comfortable with it.  Maybe it has to do with having more of an Apollonian personality, though that might just be a bunch of bullshit projection.  In any case when I use colour it tends to be more washed out.  However, in my recent watercolour paintings I have been using bolder and bolder colour, so maybe I am getting use to it.

When it comes to style I am not so sure who I am riffing on.  The handling of mouths is defiantly influenced by Penny Arcade.  I have always liked Mike's handling of mouths as just one swift movement and depending on all of the angles it gives off different expressions.  One other thing I have always had trouble with is eyebrows.  I tend to think about them too much I think.  In cartoons they give a ton of emotion and they don't have to make sense always, but I don't handle things not making sense too well and I think that is the root of the problem.  There is this way of doing eyebrows that ya see in anime a bit where you see them through the bangs, but only the line-work.  I've always liked that idea, but I never really used it too much before this because I felt that when I did it it was too much of a clutter of lines up in the hair that didn't make any sense. 

When it comes to layout I knew what this page would look like before I was done page one.  I knew I wanted to have the full phone call in one page and quite suddenly I came up with the idea of having just four or five vertical panels that were defined by the windshield.  I was worried that the page might be boring because it is quite simple and nothing really changes, but in the end I think it turned out ok.  Really this page for me was about nailing down Jeremy's design and playing with facial expressions.  I am not sure how happy I am with the speech bubbles.  I had an earlier draft that didn't have black outlines on them and it made them look a bit cuter, but I thought they were harder to look at.  Also, I am in love with the idea of each person having a really distinct looking speech bubble.  The first time I saw this was in Gaiman's Sandman series and it struck me as such a good idea.

So that is it for this week.  You can expect the dramatic conclusion to the Godzilla comic next Friday and page three of Renovation the Friday after that.  Hope you all have a great week.

Love and Peace,
Jeff K

PS:  I do not condone driving while talking on the phone.  Personally the idea always freaks me out and so whenever I get a phone call I either ignore it or pull over.  Remember people, safety first.  :P

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Renovation

Hey people!  Frustrated Comics is back as you may have heard and here is the big grand return post.  And as promised, change is in the air.  I am pleased to announce and reveal the first page of my new project Renovation!

Renovation is a full colour horror comic that I have begun work on.  I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time, and now that I am done with school I have the time and more importantly energy to start working on this. 

A key feature of Renovation will be its visual style.  I want making this comic to be an adventure, and for it to push out of my visual comfort zone.  As a result, each page of Renovation will be done in a distinct visual style and after each page is done I will give some thoughts on said style.  Eventually I do plan on settling on one but for now it will be quite a ride.

So I suppose I'll start with this.  Initially I wanted to go with something cartoonier but with no line work, like a sort of paper cut out look.  This starting point can be seen best I think in the red car in the first panel.  That plan broke down a bit.  I am sort of ashamed to say that I broke down into a more painterly way of working.  I went to a method that I felt more safe with, and while I like how this page turned out I am disappointed  that I didn't push myself further.  Oh well, there will be plenty more pages.

So here it is, the next thing I am working on.  I hope you like it.  Next week will probably be a 3 panel black and white strip.  the goal is to have a Renovation page out every two weeks on Thursday.  My next Renovation page will be much cartoonier than this.  I want to do this because 1. I am not good at cartoon stuff and so I want to work on it, and 2. there is something about the idea of a cartoonie horror comic that intrigues me.  Maybe it won't fit as easily, but the fun is in making it work.  I think that is the point of this new project, not just to make a comic, but also to have the decisions that go into it a public process.

In any case, till next time!

-J

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LOOK WHO'S BACK

I am back, and so is Frustrated Comics! Things may look different though. School is over, for good this time. I have passed through end of year crunch time and kept my sanity. I don't plan on going to grad school for a few years (if ever) and so it is time for former side projects (like Frustrated Comics) to come back in some grand spring awakening. So I suppose this is me formally saying that the comic is back and will be updating weekly. But I spoke of change and change there will be.

First, I am going to say that the comic will be coming back, and in the usual style; but this time there will be more. Over the last few years I have been tossing an idea around in my head and I think it is about time to get moving with it.  So, along with the usual 3 panel black and white strips, every few weeks there will be a larger, full page, full colour comic.  The details at this point are sort of sketchy (hur hur hur) but I can tell you three things.  One, I haven't settled on a title.  Two, It will be a horror comic.  Three, the art style is totally up in the air and I think it will be really weird, as I am totally just experimenting right now.

Oh, also the image above is some rough work on the aforementioned narrative project.  I can't guarantee that the end product will look anything like that.

So that's it!  See you next week and I look forward to making sweet sweet comics together.

-J