Black-and-white comic style...

Technocrat · Sun 13/02/2011 09:09:35

I've been practicing mimicking a style of comic that's been a perennial favourite of mine, and was wondering how well you people thought it's coming out.

The shape of the arms is what's bothering me the most, personally.

Tabata · Sun 13/02/2011 14:26:10

I think that :
- if the ellbows should be on the table nearest to the body, you have to do the shoulders higher (it's like sitting on a little chair at a high table)
- if you like the shoulders the way they are, the ellbows are not possible to place near the body, while putting the arms on the table

tried both versions in one pic

Edit:
I totally forgot to tell, that this woman looks very interesting to me (although she is nice). I'd love to know her story and like the style chosen!

Anian · Sun 13/02/2011 16:23:51

Is this HD Technobabylon?

Yeah, this looks to me like you didn't sketch out the anatomy correctly (or maybe at all) - either corrections Tabata suggested are a better solution.

Well I think b&w style is generally harder to do, take for example the cheek lines, normaly you'd probably draw that lightly with a darker shade of the color of her face and maybe the sides of the nose as well, but here the cheek lines are very pronounced so the nose seems like it's in a different style. Also her lower lip is a tad too oval.
The expression now looks to me like she's a skinny goth (try thining or almost completly removing the lines that make the lower part of her eyes) woman pouting her lips. Oh, and she's slightly crosseyed....I'm really not trying to be cruel or anything, just pointing some stuff I noticed. Honestly.

There's also something with that lower left corner of the technical panel thingy (the one on the right), the perspective doesn't match.

Ilyich · Sun 13/02/2011 16:57:19

Overall I like the style, it has a great dark sci-fi feel to it, and close-ups are really underused in 2d games lately. Is it Latha, by the way? And I'm also very curious about the comic that inspired it.

First of all, when doing black&white you have to be very careful where to draw a line, and where to leave the place blank. And the choice should be based not only on how dark the area in question is, but on the contrast with the adjacent area. Also, varying the thickness of the lines is very important for simulating lighting and emphasizing the shape.

Then, because of the semi-realistic style, the background looks a bit boring and too plain - more randomness wouldn't hurt.

Anatomy is obviously a big issue here, but I'm very bad at it myself, so I can't really recommend anything apart from always using a photo-reference. All comic book artists do it!

Still, I tried to do a quick dirty paintover to address some of the issues:

And then I noticed that it's not really black and white, but black and very light purple, which reminded me of Paul Pope's comic book "Heavy Liquid", where he uses a very limited palette to evoke a dark dystopian sci-fi atmosphere(very similar to Technobabylon's, btw), whilst keeping the b/w aesthetic. So I "borrowed" this palette, and applied it here:

Technocrat · Mon 14/02/2011 12:23:23

Quote from: Tabata on Sun 13/02/2011 14:26:10
I totally forgot to tell, that this woman looks very interesting to me (although she is nice). I'd love to know her story and like the style chosen!

Well, she's Latha from the first episode of Technobabylon, an emaciated, agoraphobic, internet-addicted young-adult who's just had her apartment blown up, and is now trying to give a statement about it to the authorities. At the beginning of part 3, you're in the role of said authority, interviewing her.

Quote from: Ilyich
And then I noticed that it's not really black and white, but black and very light purple, which reminded me of Paul Pope's comic book "Heavy Liquid", where he uses a very limited palette to evoke a dark dystopian sci-fi atmosphere(very similar to Technobabylon's, btw), whilst keeping the b/w aesthetic. So I "borrowed" this palette, and applied it here:

Wow, I'm going to have to steal that limited palette idea! I had been experimenting with using a few colours, but hadn't managed to get it quite right, so had resigned myself to sticking with monochrome.

The style I've been trying to mimick in particular is from the graphic novel version of the Forever War, here's an example.

Monsieur OUXX · Mon 14/02/2011 12:36:22

Ilyich's paintover fixes the small glitches in your original drawing without changing the style - just perfect!

Tabata · Tue 15/02/2011 22:50:30

Quote from: Technocrat on Mon 14/02/2011 12:23:23
Quote from: Tabata on Sun 13/02/2011 14:26:10
I totally forgot to tell, that this woman looks very interesting to me (although she is nice). I'd love to know her story and like the style chosen!

Well, she's Latha from the first episode of Technobabylon, an emaciated, agoraphobic, internet-addicted young-adult who's just had her apartment blown up, and is now trying to give a statement about it to the authorities. At the beginning of part 3, you're in the role of said authority, interviewing her.

Hey, that's cool â€" I voted for Latha's story being the next!

Well, if she is only sitting there for her statement you could simply lift her up (giving her a higher chair) to get enough space for the arms to put it in the way you wanted it.
This way you solve the little prob with those lines behind her, too.

btw â€" I love the colouring, which Ilyich did!

Igor Hardy · Wed 16/02/2011 00:17:42

Ilyich, I love those colors and lighting. I'll remember this as I want to do limited palette stuff in the future.

mode7 · Wed 16/02/2011 10:46:40

Hm, these B/W comics get their charm form the careful balancing between black and white shapes. Your picture is more of a lineart, try to add some contrast and mood by making some shapes black. Frank Miller was really good at this but it might be a little impractical for adventures: http://outnow.ch/Media/Movies/Bilder/2005/SinCity/comics.p/01.jpg

Alan Moores From Hell did also a good job at this: http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Alan%20Moore%20Eddie%20Campbell%20From%20Hell%20panels.jpg

benny · Wed 16/02/2011 16:47:17

I think you did a good job with the black and white pic. Good luck on your comic. I would add some more shading into your picture and future pictures. The background contrasts sharply against the person, it looks to me like the background was made on the computer with perfect lines and the girl was drawn by hand(on the computer). If I were you I would try to add more personality into the background and sketch it by hand. That is my only criticism. It is looking real good and I can't wait to see the finished product.

Technocrat · Tue 22/02/2011 15:36:49

Well, I suppose I can't really call it black and white anymore now, can I? Anyhow, here's my next image, done in a style attempting to ape Ilyich's limited-palette.

What say you? An improvement? Conveying the right atmosphere?

Tabata · Tue 22/02/2011 19:05:19

Oh! Yes, it is an improvement â€" hold on to this style, please!

Only two little things to complain about:
I think that the person behind the desk is too small and I have a bit trouble by â€žsortingâ€œ the legs of the person in front.
(Is he holding something in his hand or has he crossed the leg while sitting on the desk?)

Ilyich · Wed 23/02/2011 08:34:01

I like it! Moody and futuristic. I can't figure out what's going with the first guy's legs too, but the figures here are quite lively and realistic. Perhaps, the second guy's arm seems a bit short, and he's quite small himself.

I think you nailed the style and palette perfectly, my only suggestion would be to add a few more(one or two) pink accents, maybe as some sort of badges on the police uniforms, so that the terminal at the back doesn't grab the viewer's attention that much (unless that's the plan).

Anyway, I really like where this is going, well done!

Monsieur OUXX · Wed 23/02/2011 08:36:49

Same as above. Really cool. This game will have a very personal style!