An old concept I never finished, basically, the Association of Associates portraits, then their bio on the side. Never did finish it sadly, but I always liked the idea. What do you think?
Redrew their adult versions bc I really need to diversify unique features while also portraying their personalities... Which while I think it's an improvement, I don't think I've quite nailed it yet. May rework some of the minor features, particularly the eyes.
Some notes on the design choice:
Jacques & Kit - they're twins halves of the same whole to me, so they have the same face, just different vibes. Jacques is supposed to give the impression of a cool, strict, if a lil cold older brother, while Kit is the more carefree, also cool, affectionate older sister.
Lemony - I added scars from when Stew beat him up. His eyes are the same as his siblings.
Moxie - Other than polishing up the structure of her face and adding freckles, I think I really got her right from the get-go. 10/10 no further notes.
Cleo - She's supposed to look intimidating and regal, her hair is meant to evoke a "queen". She looks fierce, but she's nicer than she looks.
Jake - when he was younger, his hair is curlier and down, now he has it styled. He's meant to look friendly.
Ellington - doesn't look mysteriously enough ngl, but she does have femme fatale vibes. Kinda.
Lizzie - literally just Hedy Lamarr in terms of face. I really want a look that screams "STARLET", so she's the prettiest/most elegant looking here.
Kellar - my intention for him is that bc of his harried and anxious nature, he gives off the impression of being unapproachable and unpleasant.
Squeak - the youngest of the group, he grew up but still maintaining that core mischievousness. He looks a lot like Pip.
Pip - forgot to draw his glasses, anyways he looks more of a refined gentleman here bc he's now officially a librarian, a prestigious job.
Ornette - meant to look classy, enigmatic, and amiable. Perfect for a hotel proprietor.
I've been browsing your art, although I don't go there and I don't have much context, I'm consistently blown away by how you compose comics (plot aside, which is also amazing, the panelling is the one that really blew my mind). It's so creative and has a lot of variety, while remaining clear to read. If I may ask, but do you have any tips to keep oneself from being rather monotonous when panelling?
ahh thank you! i think the main tip i have is to know what you want each panel to show, and have a good handful of basic panel compositions at the ready to choose from
by "knowing what to show" i mean like, for each chunk of dialogue, i already have/had a visual in mind for the scene/characters when that line of dialogue is spoken. i know the emotion of the characters in the scene, and sometimes their pose/expression. when i sketch each panel out, i ask myself:
who/what should be visible here?
what's happening? what interaction is taking place? what poses are there?
what expressions are they wearing? should an expression be focused on, or hidden?
what is important for the viewer to see (or not see)?
where should i put everyone/everything in the scene, and what camera angle should i use, in order to ensure that all of the above is visible in the panel?
there's a lot of ways to answer those questions, but because i draw a lot of the same scenarios (often just 2 people talking), i have a go-to panel composition that i just modify slightly for each panel, which is "1 character closer to camera & 1 character further from camera"
i like to angle the camera like this just for a sense of depth because it's more dynamic than them being equidistant from the camera (although i do that too, if the pose calls for it or if i want the panel to feel flat/matter-of-fact on purpose). this angle also lets you swing the camera around during an exchange so that the conversation feels less static
you can extend this setup to 3 characters (or more):
and just within this basic setup, you can edit proportions & reframe to draw focus where you want it:
panels don't just live in a vacuum though, so where i can, i like to work with the page as a whole. with all of these elements (text, bubbles, art, panel frames) to arrange on a page, i kind of treat it as putting together a collage.
when i start a new page my first step is to add the dialogue to the page & split the text up into bite-sized chunks. then i move the text around the page, visualizing roughly how much space i want to allocate for each portion of text, and start to arrange the dialogue bubbles. i'll think about which text chunks are part of the same line of dialogue & how i want to connect them (should they stay near each other, or is there a panel change?), and about if there are any interruptions (where text bubbles need to overlap) or dialogue running off-page (where i'll need to find or create an edge to hide text runoff with). at this step i'm already thinking about composition of the page as a whole, bc the placement & portioning of the text affects the composition just as much as the art does
then i start doing rough sketches--like this rough, so that i can easily & quickly scrap and redo sketches if i change my mind. (this is kind of like my thumbnailing step, but i do them at full size bc i prefer to have the correct page proportions & text bubble sizes for the page before i start sketching)
for panel-first comics (like this or this) i set up my panels first according to my space estimates from earlier, then draw my sketches for those panels. tbh i've found that i don't really like going panel-first, bc i feel like it stifles my panel shapes & arrangements and keeps everything very rectangular and rigid, and i really have to think and make a conscious effort to make things more dynamic or organic
for art-first comics (like this or this) i'll do a sketch for each chunk of text, and let the sketch sprawl over as much space as it needs to (aka, not trying to confine it to a panel shape or anything; at this point i literally don't have any panel guides onscreen at all). i do each sketch on its own layer, and i generally keep my previous sketches up as i go so i remember my progression, but i'll also start to hide layers if i'm running out of room. after i finish all my sketches for the page, i unhide all my sketch layers, and move my sketches around the page to see how they flow & fit together. finding similar curves and tangents and natural cut-offs that i can use to connect 2 sketches is how i get the panel-less look, and for sketches that really need a clear line of demarcation to separate them from everything else, i'll draw a panel around them
after all that, i have my sketch for the page as a whole. if i feel a need to, i'll move the text around some more until i like how it looks & flows with my art, or i'll redo a sketch or two if a couple consecutive panels look repetitive. and that's pretty much it!
This bit creeps me out. I know the basic idea is supposed to be fantastic: Anyone can be an awesome person, and people with a strong moral code should unite to make a difference in the world. But it does leave a bitter taste. VFD/Lemony seems to dream of an elite class of people who are morally and intellectually superior to the rest. 'Aristocracy' does refer to a ruling class, after all.
Joke’s on you, transitioning from caring about superficial progress for its own sake to caring about enjoying a good soup in a pleasant moment is an age appropriate milestone
vaporwave
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jacobvanloon
