Teoes said:
This is definitely interesting! I too like the style and want to see where the story is going. Looking forward to reading more.
Guffe said:
Alrighty then, let's get this one going!!! as about 70% of the people writing here_ You've caught my interest!
Arean said:
Dropping by for the obligatory "okay, you piqued my interest". But really, this kind of long-form comic is gonna be a nice addition to the site, I think, and the visuals so far is right up my alley.
Thank you, Teoes! Thank you, Guffe! Thank you, Arean! Glad to hear that, thanks for welcoming me around here and welcome to the series yourselves! It will most definitely be a bit...specific, as is most of the stuff I've ever done, but I do hope that you'll keep enjoying it throughout!
Pinkamena said:
I'm curious about how this is made. At times it looks hand drawn, but other pictures looks like a cel-shaded 3D model overlaid on a photograph gone through some photoshop filters.
All your observations are in fact correct, Pinkamena. It's a big mess of techniques I've set up to deliver a look that I like, mostly by trial and error. I do try to keep it more uniform than not - but there are definitely some differences between frames that come from a 3d render being post-processed and overpainted, and ones that include more grounds-up manual work or bits and pieces I've ripped from my shitty old camera or some other legit source.
The general setup is that I'm posing and rendering actual 3d models - characters with hand-sculpted faces, my own model creations, stuff I've collected in my library over the years, when I still had enough money to buy up commercial licenses for various model collections, etc. - joining them up with painted stuff, photographic details and textures, and then pulling it all through my pipeline, which consists of heavy filtering (I've got effect macros set up that take between 3 and 10 minutes to process a single frame of the comic), overpainting with my Wacom tablet (equally shitty as my camera, as its plastic casing is rather unelegantly falling apart) - which I skip on frame elements I don't think need it (hence the difference in backgrounds you've noticed, probably) - and finally applying detailed postwork on top of all that. I tried to take all my experiences with developing Marauder Shields into account when coming up with this process, avoiding all the obvious traps and horrible timesinks that I've endured (and am enduring) on that project.
All in all, I try to make it look good and present the story well, but I'm always the first to emphasize that I am in no way a proper, trained and fully realized artist. Hell, I still struggle with understanding perspective! In the end I just make pictures to visualize the stuff I've written, which - to me - is always the clue of it all and at all times my primary concern. Seriously, I obsess on whether or not a single word reveals too much of the upcoming plot. Wish I was joking.
Due to all that, any critique one might throw at me is extremely valuable, and although it might not be heeded in full (I do have a rather specific taste when it comes to comics, preferring the "heavier" styles, so to speak), it will definitely be accepted with glee and taken under advisement. In short: if you want to kick my ass about something, do so, please. The more detail you give, the bigger the chance I can improve. This goes to all of you fine folks.
Similarly, if you want to make sure I keep doing something I'm doing well, do let me know what exactly is it.
chozo_hybrid said:
Glad to hear it's long term
I think the overall visual noise one is what I meant, I feel it was overdone, but thanks for responding to everyone's constructive feedback here. Hopefully no doomsday scenarios will be needed.
Roger that - no promises (I need to see it before making any decisions), but I'll try to look into downplaying it a bit while still keeping the specific art style I have in mind. Also, dude, you have no idea how much I need this feedback - both in terms of improving on this series and my psychological comfort - so do indeed pile it up whenever you have some to share, negative or positive! Always greatly appreciated!
Alfador_VII said:
Yeah like this idea, some sort of "Doc" and and an AI drone messing with a girl's mind. Also Shovel Knight!
This one couldn't start any other way, including Shovel Knight was a must. I have bits of the soundtrack stuck in my head at all times nowadays.
Jandau said:
Bah, typical casual behavior - needs a full VR neural interface to handle Shovel Knight. Shameful... Seriously, though, good start, looking forward to seeing where you go with this.
Sir Jandaue, I demand satisfaction! How dare you accuse anyone of casual behavior in a webcomic that actually has the word "hardcore" in its god-given title! For shame! We shall duel, and with shovels!
Thank you and do keep watchful, the VR neural interface is very much relevant to the overall plot, not just a gimmick to put some characters and references together (though it is that as well, obviously).
RatGouf said:
koobismo said:
I am indeed a follower of the One True God Nicolas Cage, so it might've just been my love for his awe-inspiring facial formidability seeping into the frames of this comic. I shall not apologize, though, as this spontaneous creative outburst is but giving testament to The Wildest of All Faces, The One Who Gawks.
No need to do such a thing as I would have enjoyed it for Rule 63 anyway.
Now you're just taunting me to change her name to Nicoletta Cage, aren't you.
Lightknight said:
Oh, very cool. You're monitoring the responses to your art work. It's going to be great to see you discuss some of your future works if they're also this good. I'm really happy you're contributing here. Thanks!
My pleasure! Though, on the other hand, don't thank me yet, you might have enough of my poking and proding for more detailed feedback ("And which frame would that apply to?") soon enough! I'm definitely here to ask, be asked, poke, be poked and discuss anything. The only thing I'll try to avoid will be spoilers, but anything else is fair game.
Lightknight said:
It's also quite telling how good you are at hooking your audience in when I look back and see so many people come in here to say the exact same thing. That they saw/read it and there was something that just grabbed a hold of us and made us want to know more. Very interesting take on a realistic shovel knight, by the way.
Thank you! There's a fun story connected to that "realistic" Shovel Knight, actually, as its a mix of two models I've prepped for, well, that super-awesome Baldur's Gate-like roleplaying game I totally developed and obviously certainly and totally almost finished right after college (fair warning: don't set out to make RPGs on your own in entry-level middleware as your first game dev project). I've dusted it off, swapped the textures, added a few details here and there, morphed a few others, and, voila, the Shovel Knight plus sombre, a'la noire!
P.S. Holy shit, my replies. Towers of text.
