A College Project

A side-blog for me to log the progress of research, experimentation and creation of the final product for my FINAL MAJOR PROJECT

[iceskatingcrow]

6/6/2020

COMIC DRAFT 1 COMPLETE

COMIC DRAFT 2 COMPLETE

... Comic draft 2 was a few pages being changed to improve small elements of them, mainly making the humans in the stories more stylised. They weren’t... slow changes. I thought they would take me a few more days, but nah, we powered through. 

What this means is I have the front cover (and possibly the back cover) to make and then I am F i n i s h e d ! 

There were many, many times when I did not think I would finish, so I’m quite... dazed about the entire thing? I’m going to reward myself for doing this somehow becaues I think I deserve this. 

Next steps are do the covers and then research into how you can print graphic novels. I know my college has a printing shop.... room... thing, but I don’t know if I can access that, given the current situation. 

I like that page because it goes through all the eras I decided to settle on. 

Anyway!!! I’m basically done with this entire project and blog now!!! How crazy!!! It was actually a quite nice project to do during this crazy time; I’m glad I had something to keep myself busy with, and will need to look into what my next project will be now this is finished. 

Anyway, see you tomorrow as I try and make a cover. 

[iceskatingcrow]

5/6/2020

I woke up feeling very sick and tired, but once again, we managed to continue working despite it. I really am a stubborn fool. 

Here’s a fun fact - we only have four more pages to go until the entire story is finished! @me in the past - we did it, kid! We made it this far! The end is very much in sight! I’m planning on re-drawing about six pages, some of which are easy changes, some which may take longer. Still, with luck we should be finished with the pages by Wednesday at the latest. Then I have some time to think up a cover, and then... we’re.... done...

I recieved an onslaught of kind emails today from my tutors, which was very sweet of them - some suggestions about what could be changed, which I greatly appreciate, and praise for getting so much done, which is also greatly apprecaited! I wish that the past me, who was worrying so much, could see this. We’re nearly done!!! 

[iceskatingcrow]

4/6/2020

I very much did not want to work today. But we did anyway! Hurray! 

As they say in America; ‘caw’

Also, some real life bird facts - the great tit fledgling we had? Has grown up! Now it’s a young bird, still with its parents, but flying around now! You can tell because it’s a bit greener than the parents, and a tad smaller. It’s nice to see them in the garden!

Speaking of in the garden, we have a visitor right now, pecking away as I type this - a woodpecker! Which is pretty rare around where I live. 

What a handsome lad

[iceskatingcrow]

3/6/2020

Two panels done, eight more to go, you know the deal by now. We were meant to have a group day ‘out’ - virtual day out, but medical misfortune meant that has been post-poned. Whilst I am upset about the medical issues that occured, I’m glad the event is being post-poned, because at this point, I just want to get my work done. 

We’re on ‘The Birds’ section of history. 

[iceskatingcrow]

2/6/2020

Two more pages down, ten more to go! Then there are parts I want to change. But we’re nearly done, that’s very cool. 

I’m enjoying drawing the lil crows floating in the Great Wide Abyss of space. 

As noted in the previous post, I don’t... technically have to finish the work. I think it helps that I want to, and I think it helps that I’m so close to finishing that it’s almost a matter of pride. I know a lot of the other people in my college group are not going to continue with portfolio writing as a result of this outcome, and I’ll likely stop as well, but I quite like updating this blog whenever I finish, so I’ll keep doing that for as long as the comic is being made. This means it’s likely to finish - at the latest - June 15th. 

[iceskatingcrow]

Grading update

This is going to be a bit of a ramble, I apologize in advance for that. However, this is my production diary, and we had a major update about this project that is going to affect my production so I think it’s worth noting here. 

What with COVID-19 and college shutting down, things have been uncertain about how we would be graded. Up until recently, we were told that things were going ahead as normal, and we may need to adjust projects to fit the limitations we have at home. For me, this meant changing the project from an animated piece to a webcomic, because I can’t animate at home. Not very well. There was some grumbling from us about it, but we all got on with it. 

Before half term started - late May - we were told that things may change to a calculated grade instead, where they take a variety of our work and use it to calculate the grade we should get. This can be work from previous portoflios, attitude to learning, attendance and our final major project - what we’re currently doing. Again, some grumbles, but we got on with it, waiting for an update. 

We got the update. It turns out they’re going to use all work from before March 20th to determine our grade. This is not the choice of our teacher or even the college - it’s the choice of the exam board we have. 

Their decision effectively means that all the work I have been doing for this project is worthless. 

I’m going to continue working on this project, because I’ve gotten into the routine and I have literally 12 pages to finish, then a few to clean up, and then I’m done. But I cannot put into words how angry and cheated this makes me feel. 

I understand that this project has taught me other things beyond a grade - time management, how to change things to suit my limitations, project planning, various other things. But I feel extremely disappointed and frustrated at this development. And I was the one in the class who put 100% into all their portfolios; we were told that only the last three would count for a grade, so most of my classmates didn’t put a lot of effort into their previous portfolios. I cannot imagine how angry they must feel. 

That’s the update. I’ll post the daily production update once the pages are done. 

[iceskatingcrow]

1/6/2020

Happy pride month, another two pages done, and as a happy coincidence, today is the mark of the start of the rainbow crow story. 

40/52, we’ll be done by Sunday at the latest! 

Also as a happy aside, now that half term is over, we’e doing group meetings again, as mentioned in the previous post. I had to present the work I had done so far and the class really liked it! Enjoyed the facial expressions, liked the changes in art style, it’s nice to hear!

[iceskatingcrow]

31/5/2020

Two pages done, two pages closer to the end. 

I realised I forgot to do research into Native American art styles, so I may have to spend a bit of time tomorrow researching that - make sure I get the shapes and colours right. A very quick look on Google implies a lot of red, black and blue? But I want to do proper research before I commit to anything. 

Saying that, previous knowledge knows that the circle is quie key in a lot of Native American culture, so I’m half expecting that. Still - research first. 

Tomorrow we also officially end half term, so I’ll be taking part in video calls and the such. This is half frustrating because I got into a comfortable routine, but I’ve worked around it before. 

[iceskatingcrow]

30/5/2020

Another day, another two pages. I got very distracted about halfway through the day, but we got back on track in the end. 36/52, eight days of work to go!

We’re in the Jewish paper cutting era! I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, and I think the end product has come out well! Really reinforces that knowing the art style can result in cool effects overall - worth changing things in the previous pages, I think. 

It is another frickin dead body, sorry Able. 

[iceskatingcrow]

29/5/2020

We flashed through the Islamic story very quickly and also got through three pages today, which means I’m likely to finish on the 7th June instead of the 8th, giving me EIGHT extra days to adjust things!

I know there are things I want to adjust - Celtic era,for example, has a few issues, and I’d like to redrew some parts in teh Chritian era as well. However, this is very do-able! 

I made a few issues with the original page, which my friend kindly pointed out. 

Here’s a good few panels. 34/52. Let’s do this!

[iceskatingcrow]

28/5/2020

As said previously, it’s my mothers 50th birthday, so college-based work was minimal. I did manage to make one page, which is more than I expected to make, so good job for that? If I can make three pages in one day, I cut my finishing date down by a day, so maybe I’ll try and do that. 

Other bird news: the water pipes near our house had issues with pressure, so there has been work done on them, and yesterday, the pipes were all leaking, likely dislodging the ant nest. A magpie took advantage of this disarray this afternoon, and was eating away at something. It was making fun little happy noises!

Also, photos from previous adventures to see crows with a friend;

There were four crows when we went to see them, although only two of them came to get food. My friend had named them Ben, Jerry, Cornetto and Sorbet. They were quite skittish and were all gathered near cows, including highland cows!!!

[iceskatingcrow]

27/5/2020

Another day, another two pages done. I also started work on the third page, but I’m now bored and restless, so shall stop. Here’s a sneak-peek of that page;

Someone’s angry oh no 

It’s my mum’s 50th birthday tomorrow so there’s a high chance I won’t be doing much, if any work. A prime reason why I did a few extra pages earlier.

I’ve also realised I have 22 pages to go, which should be done in a steady 11 days, if not sooner, which is quite nice. I should be done by the 8th June, which then gives me a week to adjust anything that needs adjusting. Good good good!

I’m thinking I might go back and adjust some earlier pages - I’ve already said pages 19, 20 and 21 could do with adjustments. I’m also tempted to change things to fit the different time periods - however, for now, the rule is get the pages all done, then go back to change them. I’d rather have an end product that I’m mostly happy with than a half-complete one that I’m fully satisfied with, just for this grade. 

[iceskatingcrow]

26/5/2020

Making more comics and not doing a whole lot else. That’s a lie. I drew a picture for myself yesterday, that was nice. 

We’re officially past the halfway mark!!! 28/52 pages are done!! We’ve entered the Medieval Christian era, where things get bleak and sad for crows. Here’s the most recent page which I quite like for the splashes of red;

Here’s to 24 more pages. On the last post-it note of the first storyboard... board. Slow and steady progress!

[iceskatingcrow]

25/5/2020

I have 26 days to get things done, and I think I’ll do it in time! 

Today I wrote four pages, which again, potentially gives me a day off later down the line. Or gets it so I can get the work done quicker so I have more time for revisions. 

I’ve decided I want to re-draw yesterdays panels with humans in them - I think trying to avoid having people in the story is the best plan; it’s what I’ve done with later stories, partially because I didn’t want to be disrespectful in trying to portray Mohammad. If I did feet or swords or detatched limbs instead of actual people fighitng, it might work better. 

Todays panels went well. Here are some good ones:

Playing around with style to draw Celtic crows. Very happy with how it came out. 

I’ve also been sending the comic pages as they’re made to a few people to get feedback, which is mostly going pretty well! Big thank you to those people who will read my daily updates. It’s very helpful to get other opinions on what I make and see if it works, or see if something doesn’t make sense.

[iceskatingcrow]

24/5/2020

Drew 2 comic pages. Wasn’t thrilled with how they came out but we’ll live. Figured out a way to get the background patterns done very quickly, which will save me time. I think drawing actual human people is tripping me up a little, because I’ve gotten so used to drawing crows. Alternatively, it may just be a bad day for making stuff. 

[iceskatingcrow]

23/5/2020

I have things to do this afternoon so I woke up early to do my work - and actually got it done quicker than I expected. Either the pages were simple (fewer panels - they were) or I’m getting quicker (also possible). So in the spare time, I did another page, then sketched out the positioning for the next page. This is gonna save me time later down the line, which is very nice. There’s a chance I may do some work when I come back, but it’s unlikely. 

Tomorrows page in sketch form - we’re in Celtic times now, which means I’m drawing human people. I also made the possibly foolish mistake of making the background pretty detailed, to mix things up a little;

I’m going to have to draw this out every time I want to do the sky as a backdrop, which is 100% of the time. It’s quite fun to draw, so hopefully I won’t get sick of it. 

(I will).

19/52, we’re over 30% done. 

[iceskatingcrow]

22/5/2020

Pages done today woohoo I thought it’d be interesting to get a process of how I do these pages, because when I first started, I was confused about how to do things and I made something up, which works for me. Plus, this blog is my production diary, so here’s how I produce things.

To start with, I drew out a big long storyboard with every page, every panel I wanted onto post-it notes. This was a long process! It took me five days of dedicated work. I know some people start with a script, I just prefer visual things myself. 

Here is one of todays pages. Lots of the dialogue stays the same, though some has been adjusted to suit the characters more.

I have this post-it next to me whilst I work, starting with tracing out where the panels will be - this is done initially in red, which is my sketching colour, then gone over neatly with black, using the rectangle tool to make it very neat. 

Then I sketch out how the characters are positioned in the panel, again in red. Sometimes I also put where the dialogue bubbles will go, so I can structure it into the page better;

Then comes lineart; this is done in a kinda tricky way, possibly because I’m a fool. I give each character their own lineart layer, which for the black crow makes sense - I then clip the black lineart white - but everything else could be the same. 

After that, I colour, starting with the sky, then the ground, then the characters (this is when I clip the black crows lineart white). 

(I also added sunbeams, as seen, and will later add in the white crows smoke, because I always forget)

Then I do the speech, typing out what I want to say and adjusting how it composes itself on the screen. Sometimes I change things because I don’t have enough room for what I want to say. I then draw speech bubbles around it, colour the background around each panel white and - voila - tha’s a comic page done. 

Takes me around 2 hours, not including the time spent drawing the original post-it note sketch out. Some take more time, some take less. Sometimes I draw more than two pages a day. Today is not one of those days.