Developing a 'graphic novel' style
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@Braden-Hallett hey man!
Yeah, exactly what I'm working on right now. The backgrounds! They gotta be simple, but get everything across. I keep looking at Quentin Blake, and a few other artists that say a lot by showing little.
I DO NOT want to do detailed backgrounds, and after purchasing a few graphic novels for kids, I can see that we're not alone
Just gotta find that balance. I think if I could finish a page in 5-8 hours I'd be happy.
Your comics are awesome!!
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@kylebeaudette A lot of graphic novel backgrounds are only a couple panels, for establishing shots. You can get away with less!
The Prince and the Dressmaker's author, Jen Wang, writes that she didn't like backgrounds and only included them sparingly to establish the location. She uses solid color panels to hint at the environment and mood, and it works really well:
I tried to do a similar method with my Eragon short comic, only drawing backgrounds in a few panels. That way the focus is on the characters and their dialogue.
I think your work shows potential for graphic novel work! There is that weird balance to find where you have the style you want and work fairly quickly. I heard someone say once that to make a comic you need to be happy with your work at 60% power, since you have to make so many panels and can't spend forever to make them perfect.
Carrie Copa
https://carriecopadraws.com/ -
@carriecopadraws great comic! That last panel is the perfect way to do the details after those other block colour ones. Nice!!!
Yeah, I'd plan to make use of lots of mood-colour backgrounds. It's all about those characters and their expressions/interactions/dialogue. Im no expert, but Ill give it a shot
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@kylebeaudette I'm still learning too! Maybe you, me and @Braden-Hallett can start a comic group to cheer each other (and anyone else) on!
Carrie Copa
https://carriecopadraws.com/ -
@carriecopadraws let's do it
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These are really cool guys. @Braden-Hallett I think you have WAY more detail in your backgrounds that any graphic novel my kids read, so you probably can dial it back even to save time (unless you love doing it hah).
@kylebeaudette back to your initial question - I'd personally say it's both. Depending on the style of a picture book, your first image actually looks like something you might find depending on the style. I think it might just depend on what's specifically trendy at the moment (or what look the author had in mind).
I really gotta make a project to try and get into one. The age group really interests me because all my kids are reading this kind of stuff today. Plus, doing stuff at 60% is so my jam with how busy I am these days lol.
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Finished this one today. The backgrounds are me tracing living rooms from google images -
@carriecopadraws said in Developing a 'graphic novel' style:
@kylebeaudette I'm still learning too! Maybe you, me and @Braden-Hallett can start a comic group to cheer each other (and anyone else) on!
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Changed the little creature, added some light background hills, and of course, the falcon. -
@kylebeaudette I really like your loose style! The updated piece is an improvement. Perhaps since the falcon is further away- thin the line work/limit detail so it doesn’t match the two foreground figures.
I’m also looking into developing a comic style. I’m still figuring out how and would love to join this group!
@carriecopadraws I love Jen Wang’s work and use of background. I think you executed the similar formula very well! And 60% power seems about right lol
I’ll add in a few examples from artists I’ve been reading:
Richard Sala’s Cat Burglar Black
Delphine
Luke Pearson’s Hilda
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jadepagecraft/
Portfolio: www.jadesv.myportfolio.com -
@Jade-Vaughan love that Hilda, dont think I would ever be that good
I bought a copy of a Phoebe and her Unicorn book to look at, (and also for my classroom this fall!)
The backgrounds are simple, the drawings are very animation-esque, and the focus is on humour. It's pretty good, I like the clean visual style.
!
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@kylebeaudette Very nice!! As you say the clean style does focus more on the character and dialogue. I’ll be checking it out
I’m sure your class will enjoy it -
Can't stop futzing with this one.
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@kylebeaudette have you thought about using a silhouette for the falcon with certain details (like the cockpit windows) picked out? Instead of a full render I mean?
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@Braden-Hallett i took out the line work and liked that, but didn't play with it too much. I'll give it a shot
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Two old characters of mine, a boy and the monster in his closet (the olde cliche
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Trying to carve at the lines with an eraser, colouring it early to see how it looks and editing repeatedly -
@kylebeaudette I love seeing this evolution. I do see a tangent with his collar and the mountain behind him though...
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@chrisaakins here's the latest! Took Bradens advice to make the falcon a silhouette, and I moved mountains to get rid of that tangent
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Okay! I've been inspired. I'm gonna get this short story done up.
There are a few places I feel I fell down in my webcomic. Getting caught up in details and overbaking textures; too many lighting details in regular panels Sound effects; and probably a few other areas.
SO! I got a couple fo questions for you guys as I 'develop my graphic novel style'.
1.) I'm using the same tools as I use for my regular illustrations. I like the idea of being able to do a graphic novel in the same way as I do a kid's book. Do you think this works?
2.) Do the hand-drawn sound effects work? (the 'HRRNNNNNNG' and stuff) or should I use a SFX font?
3.) I used very limited lighting passes. On the characters I did a very small occlusion shadow pass, and a very simple light pass. Is this enough? Not enough?
I wanna settle on a style before finishing this thing, so feedback is most appreciated
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@kylebeaudette I think you really improved the silhouette, but I think the contrast is too vast between the foreground/background (the values start to get lost around his legs). It just feels unnaturally dark on the lower side without much reason for it. I think it would help the foreground characters jump out to push all that into the background.
Something like the Falcon would be recognizable even if it was like 3% different from the mountain. So you don't need to make it really stand out that much to get the recognition.
