Fun shit. Exams are over and that has freed up quite a bit of time for me, so naturally I’ve been going out and enjoying the weather and not doing any comiking. That time is now over. I am crying on the inside, I assure you.

 

Time for comiking. It is long overdue. But I like comiking, so not really such a bad thing really. :)

 

I’m doing ‘The List’ pages too, but I have to scan those, and I’m not near a scanner.

 

Here’s a panel for a short promotional commissioned comic instead, that I am spending way too much time on. I think that this delay is produced by a tendency to be perfectionist for every detail. Hey, now that a lot of time has elapsed, I have no choice but to deliver the quality, eh?

 

Getting much appreciated support for the Anthology idea I have. Looks like that pipedream of mine that’s been bobbing in my head for the last few years might very well go somewhere, and dare I think get done. Funding looks like it will be covered. I might be able to afford to boost the production quality, although I’d say that’s a premature statement as I haven’t gotten around to getting printer quotes just yet.

And because I like transparency, I’ve put this down.

From what I conceived of it at the moment:

-         Title has not been created yet. Expect some weird name.

-         10-15 contributors

-         Invite only for first round artists, and then it’s open to others if room is available. I think this is would ensure that the quality of the work is there. At the moment, I have a fairly large shortlist, so it’s going to be hard culling it down to a mere 10-15, but then again, it also depends if anyone is up for being a contributor.

-         10-20 comic pages each

-         Full colour

-         I wouldn’t mind A5 size, but it’ll probably be the same size as another anthology called Gelatin (smaller than A4?).

-         Optional theme: Psychosomatic

-         Each author has 1-2 little pages dedicated to their biography and description of works (and pimp out their websites/contact details/whatever else).

-         Tentative 3 book anthology, where the first one will determine if the others will get done as well as if further print runs are required

-         Initial print run will be 200

-         Glossy dust cover jacket (I initially wanted a matte finish without a dust cover, but after seeing this done on another anthology where it really worked, I wanted to do this)

-         Glossy interior pages if budget allows

-         I’ll try to promote it as much as I can before its release and after, by flyers and whatnot during conventions. To help generate interest, I’ll try to include it with my works, and probably encourage other contributors to do the same if they go to cons, or to include it with their works as a freebie.

-         Each contributor gets one copy.

-              Each contributor retains the right to their work, but for the first edition, I'd like the first printing rights to include it in the anthology. For further print runs, the agreement has to be renewed with the creators for the right to print for each subsequent run.

-         I’d like the sales price per book to be around $25-$30

-         The idea is after printing costs and excluding contributor copies (at cost per unit), each contributor (including myself as I’d be a contributor) will have equal share in profits. So that means whatever is left over is split evenly amongst however many contributors there are in the book.

This can be done either as a lump sum payment when the first print run sells out or included on a per unit basis and paid in instalments after certain predetermined sales marks are made. I prefer the former as it’s less complicated for me. ;)

Maybe I’m a bit naïve, but I think that 200 print run is doable to sell out, and after printing costs are recouped, I don’t see why anyone who contributed shouldn’t be able to have profits (even if I do run at a (hopefully minor) personal loss for myself).

-         If further print runs are required, all contributors have to consent to a second printing (per book if it gets to that). If it’s not a full consensus, then it does not go ahead.

 

 

These things will most likely change during the course of the production, and this is by no means a complete list inclusive of all contingencies. So far this is an idea at its roughest design stage.

So a year, eh? It has literally been over a year since I last posted anything. And it was a leap year too, so that means an extra couple days there.

Here's something new. I was asked very kindly by the people at www.sawbonesonline.com to do a colour pinup for their second volume. And here it is. Loose linework done in pencil and then scanned and completed entirely in Photoshop. Tried a new brush, and I have to say I like the rough quality it produced.

I haven't done new CGs since the last post, and it took an whole year to get around to doing a new one. It took about two days on and off. It was surprisingly quick to do. As always, it's a learning experience as I rarely do CG but I somehow know how to make the most of it. I improve greatly with every attempt.
I don't think it's wholey a matter of "practice, practice, practice". I don't practice and my work is noticably better than the last. I don't even do it often enough to retain muscle memory of pen flicks. I think that you have to really know how composition, design, lighting, physics, human behaviour etc. works to really get better.
There are a lot of technically able and brilliant artists out there, but are incredibly and tragicially shit. There is nothing in their work that speaks aside from the "clever" things they manage to do in their works. There's no humanity; if it features a human figure at all there's no emotion or life or anything natural; they're plastic and might as well be a mannequin. The pose is unnatuaral and there's no expression. Also the composition and design isn't there. No one is imaginative enough to break away from their training wheels and move from the centre focal point.
Another thing is that I really can't get over how people don't know enough about design or typography to incorporate it into their work. For the small amount that do, can only do more contempory designs and dismiss every previous era of design. This is more apparent in fantasy art or comiking, especially on places like Deviant art, where people have a set aesthetic and no one will dare challenge that.


Henry