I tell you, making a webcomic is certainly FAR more involved than I ever thought possible! It’s tons of fun, but if you don’t think it though and plan properly, you can get it very wrong!
Don’t get me wrong in my next few paragraphs in this post, I am still having fun, but I clearly have a sharp learning curve. Again, this was the main reason for me doing all of this, to learn. And I guess you have to learn the hard way sometimes.
As I mentioned last week, I have been having trouble developing a workflow that will give me the results I want for the F-D-M-idget comic. I have struggled getting the line work right, but that I don’t think is the complete problem.
I have been drawing out strips with characters that look like different people from frame to frame, and all the frames I have drawn so far look different to the original concept drawings. This has led to constant re-working, and time wasted.
As I said before; partly the trouble has been lack of experience in doing all this (which is the main reason for doing it, to learn and practice). The other half of the problem has been the base for my characters is not codified enough.
The original concepts I created were all ok….ish, but there were things that I simply could not bring myself to like or understand. The line work is “wobbly” and not very neat, and the overall style seems to change from character to character. But the main problem is a lack of rules that would allow me to repeat the characters over and over from any angle and expression.
For example; although I have the hairstyles and face shape pretty much set for the main characters, I have not grasped the body shapes well enough to call them codified. What shapes make up Fidget’s body? What are the rules for drawing Didget’s eyes? What is the actual colour scheme for the hair and such? What hand shapes and sizes are they going to have? How can I give their clothing more character to make it more “them”?
This might sound like I am being too hard on myself and not allowing for much give in my creativity, but without the above worked out, I have ended up floundering in discrepancy and making mistake after mistake.
It sounds like a lot of work to effectively start over, but I feel that I need to redefine all three of the main characters, and have myself a template for each that I can work to. Once I have all of this worked out, I would be able to work MUCH faster as I could look at these new concepts and say “Ok, so in this position, with this expression, I could apply these rules.”
Sure thing, I won’t be drawing out EVERY possible combination in advance, but if I could at least give myself a better basis than those original concepts I uploaded all those weeks ago, then I will have a much stronger foundation to work from.
I want this to be a good quality comic that does not take tremendous chunks of my time to make. And the only way I am going to achieve both those goals is stop, take a breath, and really look at what I am trying to achieve.
So, although this will add more time at the start, this will certainly save me a ton of time later on, which will pay for itself.
And don’t get me wrong, I am sort of glad it’s gone this way, as I have been taught a valuable lesson in not running before walking, and the worthiness of proper concepting and planning. And learning lessons is what this is all about.
Now, this does mean that I cannot upload this week, and maybe next week (let’s see how it goes), but over the next few weeks there will be more to offer, and better quality.
So! On with the good work!
Laters for now,
Mark
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