Comments For Page 378 and Page 8

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Here is a lovely image of Racheal for your viewing pleasure. This image is based on a photograph but is in no way a copy of that photo. I build the image though solid construction and observation the way a true artist should. Having a photo reference does have certain advantages over trying to draw from your head.

Page 8 was draw completely from my head but the posing is still strong because of the construction lines. The weakness is in the proportions and fore-shorting. I'm getting better at it though.

Comments For Page 377

Who is this new adversary? She's certainly no minotaur. Looks like the gang is in big trouble whatever she it.

In case you haven't noticed, that girl's head is above the hedge. That means she must be 14-16 feet tall. Well over twice as tall as anyone else. That hammer she's holding must be as big as Toi. No one could hope to survive being hit by that thing.

I don't know if anyone noticed that I haven't updated the remakes in a while. This is for two reasons.

First off, I finally found someone to critique my web comic. He found a lot of problems with the way the story starts. Racheal seems to accept her fate a little too easily, and he is right. I just wanted to get to the more interesting parts of the story and made the mistake of pushing Racheal into a situation she really shouldn't have agreed to. Because of this, I've decided to actually rewrite the story. I should put the first rewrite up tonight or tomorrow morning.

Secondly, I have been working on a project for a client and that kept me busy Friday and Saturday. I'm waiting for an evaluation, so I have some free time to work on the story now. I'll probably miss a few more updates once the client returns, but for now I'll keep working on my web site.

I'm working on the story for my main comic as well. I want to write a good story arch that really forces Racheal to think about what she's doing. She's been following everyone else for too long and needs to take a more proactive lead in the story. I hope you enjoy the new focus on story.

Comments For Page 376

Seems like Racheal is still in her right mind, but she seems unhappy with the situation. Toi is being her usual self-centered self though. Doesn't she realize how strange she looks?

Sorry, for the lateness of this post. It was late when I put up the page and I noticed an error when I went to view it. I don't like drawing the whiskers on the characters faces because it makes it hard to color. However, this time I left the whiskers off thinking to add them on later and didn't. I only just fixed the error.

The other think is I just forgot to update. I try to update when I post so there is no chance to forget, but I just didn't have the energy last night and I got busy this morning and forgot about it.

I don't know how many people read this anyway. Maybe I'm just wasting my time. If anyone reads this, plese post a comment so I know you're out there.

Comments For Page 375

Racheal has transformed again. This time into some kind of lion woman. Will she be able to control her temper this time or will she end up riping her friends apart? I wonder if she can even speak in that form.

I tried to keep Racheal's appearance hidden until the last panel so that her new form would be a surprise. I wonder how many people would just jump to the last panel anyway.

I like how much cleaner my art is now. The thumbnail is very readable. There are still some white edges under the lines though. This only appears in the thumbnail, so it likely has something to do with how Manga Studio formats the image.

One of my new reads mentioned that the front page needs work so I'm going to see what I can do about that today. Page 8 should be up tonight. See you Friday.

Comments For Page 374

Does Racheal have a paw now? Has she transformed again? Check back Wednesday and see.

I decided that I need more introspection from my main character. I'm not sure how well her personality comes across in the story and I though this might help.

I've got a line on a new job, so there may be a bit of slow down on the updates. I'm hoping to be able to keep up both tasks, but a paying job needs to take priority over my hobby. I hope you understand.

Comments For Page 373

Oh no! Looks like Racheal got hurt - again. What's going to happen to her now?

I finally put up a Wonder Project ad. For less then 50 cents a day, I have a small button on the main Girl Genus page. I've gotten about 100 new page views already and the ads only been up 24 hours. Hopefully many of those people will stay on and become regular readers.

Tomorrow (October 20, 2007) is 24-hour comic day. I'm going to put all my other activities on hold and try to participate. There isn't any local group involved that I know of, so I'll have to do it alone. I'll put the pages up as a vote incentive and make the whole thing available for $5. Hopefully, some of the new viewers will have some money and can help support the site.

Comments For Page 4

It took me a little longer to update this page then the others, mainly because this is the worst page of the bunch. Not only was it just a bunch of talking heads, but the words didn't really convey the emotional content of the scene.

As you can see, I've completely rewritten the dialogue. If you don't remember the old text, just click on the image and scroll to the bottom of the page to see the older version.

I've also added backgrounds to make the pages more interesting to look at. Add to all that, the better quality artwork, and you have a vast improvement all around. It's pages like this that I've wanted to fix for a long time. It's about time I got around to it.

Comments For Page 372 and Page 3

Remember kids, don't run around in pit filled labyrinths. Sounds like good advice regardless if you're being chased by a killer rabbit or not. Seems like Slara should have known better. Well, they won't make that mistake again.

I feel that the simple trick of drawing at 1200 ppi has really improved my art a lot. Part of the reason is that those annoying little mistakes can't be seen at all now. The other reason is I can draw a lot bigger and detailed images knowing that it will all be reduced in the end. I have to be careful not to draw small details, since those will disappear as well.

Do you like the feeling of depth in the last panel? I don't think it would have looked nearly as good with out the different line thickness. Racheal at the bottom has very thin lines and little detail, while Slara and Toi are more detailed with thicker lines. It really is a nice effect that just wouldn't have been possible before. The best thing about it is that the page didn't take any longer then usual to draw.

Look at this remake of page 3. It took me less then an hour to draw this, about the same amount of time as it took to draw the original page two and a half years ago, but the difference in quality it remarkable. I added little details like the stitching on the glove just because I could. I could never have done that in the past.

Comments For Page 371

We now return to the gang in the labyrinth. Where's a Holy Hand Grenade when you need one? (Shame on you if you've never seen Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail.)

Notice anything different in todays page? I guess the most noticeable thing in the thumbnail is that the words are clear and easy to read. That's actually the result of the real change which you can only see in the full size image.

Taking some advice from Scott McCloud, I set my drawing to 1200 ppi. I have heard about this before but it was never really said why this is a good idea. Mr. McCloud's book, Making Comics, actually shows you what a higher ppi will do.

Basically, working at a higher scale allows you to vary the brush size easier for a greater variety of line thicknesses. Working at 300 ppi (which I usually do), forces you to use tiny 3-5 pixel brushes to get any detail. At 1200 ppi, I can use a 20 pixel brush to get the same quality of line. This allows greater flexibility, and I can use pressure sensitive brushes now for even better line quality.

One thing to be aware of is that 1200 ppi files are huge. Once you're done, you should save your final Photoshop (or whatever drawing program you are using) image at 300 ppi (for print) and save your web image (.jpg or .gif) at 72 ppi. Oh, and when scanning in images, scan then at the highest ppi you're scanner will allow. It's much easier to clean up a 600 or 1200 ppi image then a 300 ppi one.

I highly recommend Making Comics to anyone interested in telling a story with pictures. Although the focus is on comics, his advice and examples can be applied to other forms of art as well.

Page 1 and 2

Here they are. The first two pages of my web comic updated with new art and word balloons.

I'd forgotten how bad my printing was in the beginning. Fortunately, I'd written everything big enough that it was somewhat readable. I'm sure there are many people who will be glad to have some better quality images to read from.

My printing is so much better now that you can almost read page 2 despite it being half the size of the original. As usual, you can click on the image to get the larger version.

Comments For Page 370

What happened to Obitckert? How did he get captured and and tortured by this strange woman and where did she come from? What happened to the rest of the gang? These and many other questions will not be answered on Monday.

I did up an announcement about the new book idea in the forums. You can go these and discuss the book idea or post in the comments below. So far there has been no comments so I'll work on an other project for a while. I will do the paperback version of my story someday. It is a good source of income for many web comic creators so it would be foolish of me not to put one out. In fact, there should have been at least two books out already. I wish I had done a better job on the first 50 pages or so. It's the task of fixing those pages that's really holding me back.

Maybe I should switch to a 7 day update schedule. Regular updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and fixing older pages on the other days. That way the comic would eventually be finished and the book can come out sooner rather then later. Yes, I'll put out an improved version of page 1 for tomorrow and see how it goes.

Comments For Page 369

A snake, a rabbit and a cow? Where have we seen those animals before? They certainly don't look like normal animals. Could it be...? Nay, that's impossible - or is it? Come back Friday to learn more about these strange creatures.

My business partner isn't as ill as she though, so we will work on our business plan once again. The doctors don't know what the cause of her illness is, so it's still iffy about when we can start the business. I'm hoping this won't drag on too long. Money is tight right now, so I'm going to have to find a way to make some money.

Is there any hope people might pre-order my book? I'll do up a high-quality poster for the first 50 people that tell me they want to buy a print version of my story. Just post a message in the comments below.

The first book will contain the first story arch (up to the point Racheal goes to the BioBattle dome for the first time). The book will include all new art (since the original art sucks and isn't good enough to print), a full color cover, and some bonus content. The price will likely be $12.99 (this may change). If I get at least 10 comments asking for the book, I'll get the book ready for November 1, 2007. Otherwise, I'll work on it whenever I can.

Comments For Page 368

Who are these characters? You'll have to wait to find out, though there are a few clues about who one of them might be.

I'm changing things once again. This time it's the final export that is different. Click on the thumbnail and you'll see that the large version isn't so large anymore. On the advice of the gang at Webcomics Weekly (the link is in a previous post), I've put a lower quality (but still very clear and readable) version on my webpage and will offer a higher quality printable image for sale (higher quality then any of the previous pages).

The main reason I'm doing this is because I will be making a graphic novel version of my webcomic available for those that want a printed copy. It's also a good source of income to sell individual prints. I only have high quality versions of the pages from page 355 to today, so if you want an older page I'll have to rework it.

The early pages are simple black and white sketches so it'd shouldn't take too long to rescale them for the book. I may even fix a few pages and put them up in place of the old ones. I've got the cover sketched out, so hopefully it wouldn't be too long before it's done. I'm going to push to have it done before the end of the month. I'll let you know when it's near completion.

Comments For Page 367

Well, it's about time Charhex showed up again. It's been something like 150 pages since we've last seen him. Hopefully, he'll be put to some practical use instead of just being comic relief.

Well, I have some bad news. My partner pulled out of our business deal at the last minute and I'm jobless once again. She left due to health problems, so I'm hoping she'll recover enough to try again in the future. In the meantime, I'm going to need to do more freelance work.

I know some web comic artists do commissions for their reader and I'm willing to do the same. Just let me know what you want and I do it up for you at a reasonable cost. The more complex (several characters, detailed backgrounds, etc.) you want, the more it will cost, but if you just want an original signed picture of one of my characters in black and white, it will only cost $5.

Please buy some things from the store (http://www.cafepress.com/dungeonwarden). I'll try to get my comic in book form as soon as possible. I know many of you would like a nice hard copy to read and I'm going to do my best to get that to you soon. It takes a lot of effort to make money, so I need to get off my butt and just do it.

Comments For Page 366

In this day and age, we often forget what a rare gift it is to be able to read and write.

Sorry for panel 5. I don't know why Toi and Balap look so distorted in that one. I'm too tired to fix it.

Speaking of which, I think I'll go to bed now. I may post a longer comment later. Tomorrow's a busy day, so I may not get the chance. I'll talk to you again Friday if not before.

Comments For Page 365

Basilisks and a minotaur? How is our gang going to get past that? Or are they going to take Slara's advice and give up trying to recover the satchel? Find out what they decide to do next time.

Once again, I'm trying something different. This time I have talking heads explaining what's happening in the panels. I have seen this used in other comics and I think it works here.

I wish I could get some feed back about the different things I'm trying in this comic. I guess if no one is complaining I'll have to assume you like the changes or at least don't mind them. I would hope that if I do anything you hate, you would speak up right away. Either way, I'm going to keep playing around with my layouts and style, if for no other reason then to keep me interested in doing this.

I'll see you on Wednesday.