Page twenty six of Green Corner has been published! (see preview below from one of the panels)

Labels: comics, green corner

Page twenty five of Green Corner has been published! (see preview below of one of the panels)

There are more panels than usual on this page, which helps push the story along a bit faster. It's closer to the outdoor scenes now.


The TWC incentive is black and white line art for an upcoming special. I'll probably be using it for the Hallowe'en special, but I had the chance to get a head start on it over the weekend. If you liked Jem and the Holograms and/or 1980's style, you'll probably like this one.


And a little note on the Green Corner story:
You may have noticed that Zalanda's purse seemed to disappear. I hope the way Suko's books appeared on this page give you a hint of what actually happened. The purse is with Zalanda all the time, but she's more subtle in her magick and hid it without calling attention to what she was doing. She prefers people notice her, not her magick. A lot of the females tend to be subtle with magick of this sort. Males tend to prefer quicker options, and "snap spells" are common among the guys in town (unless they're trying to show off!).

As for how that might affect security in the bookshop, the security system can detect even magickally hidden items. It also prevents fire magick.


Hope you enjoy the new page! There are also new progress images, the pencil for page 25, and new icons.

Labels: comics, green corner

Page twenty four of Green Corner has been published. Please visit the Green Corner website to see the update.

Progress images and Pencils listed in the image gallery have also been updated. New icons and an updated incentive will be added later.

I hope you enjoy the updates! :)

Labels: comics, green corner

Page twenty three of Green Corner has been published. Please visit the Green Corner website to see the update.

The TWC incentive is line work for an upcoming special/ vector tutorial (when I change the incentive, I will post the image here).

Other updates:

• Suko's profile now features an image of Suko.
• The characters page has some new icons.
• Progress images listed in the image gallery have been updated
• Pencils listed in the image gallery have been updated
• New icons have been added to the image gallery (all sizes)
  

I hope you enjoy the updates! :)

Labels: comics, green corner

Page twenty two of Green Corner has been published.

Please visit the Green Corner website to see the update.

The TWC incentive is a scan of some business cards I made to hand out when promoting Green Corner in person. I only made a small amount, assembling and trimming by hand. There's one front design, but various options for the back.

The business card preview has been moved to this post

Enjoy :)

Labels: comics, green corner

Page twenty one of Green Corner has been published.

Please visit the Green Corner website to see the update.

Enjoy :)

Labels: comics, green corner

I've been working on page 21 of Green Corner lately, and this image of Aena cringing is the first part of the page that I worked on digitally. It's also the only figure on this page that I didn't use pose reference for.

In the final page, this instance of Aena is mostly obstructed by the desk in the bookshop, but I wanted to share the whole figure here. For a more current progress image of the page, please vote for Green Corner on TWC.

Labels: comics, green corner

If you've followed my comic series, Green Corner, for a while; you've probably noticed that I tend to make adjustments from the pencil stage to the final digital image. In the earlier pages, I often corrected proportions as well as relative sizes of characters and objects.

Now, I make far less adjustments of that kind and find it easier to double-check things while hand-rendering. I check proportions a few times while I draw by hand, to minimize the need for digital corrections.

I know how to draw in perspective, and what looks correct. But I sometimes have a little trouble with things like the sales desk in the bookshop. In my head, I know the size that I want for the desk, but I'm not actually using reference.

Professionally, I use more reference to ensure correctness; but Green Corner is a personal project (and a learning project) that I have the option of editing at my discretion. For the most part, I don't use reference for Green Corner. The problem with this is that it can be difficult to translate what I see in my head to what I draw on a page; which I think happens to a lot of artists.

I was recently working on page twenty of Green Corner; one of the more complex and detailed pages.

I wanted both Zalanda and Alshina to be mostly visible in the first panel, but I placed them a little too close to each other and made them a little too large in my pencil to allow the desk to fit naturally between them. Initially, I wasn't sure about including the desk, but I added it and other scenic elements to the page for interest. I adjusted the desk as well as the size of the characters in that panel for the digital version.

The desk is seen at various angles and in relation to various characters many times in the first twenty pages of Green Corner. I often find myself adjusting the perspective of the desk, to ensure that it's correctly rendered when it appears. If the angle appears too steep, it can make an entire page look awkward.

I prefer to digitally render the more geometric scenic elements in Green Corner, regardless of whether or not I sketch them out by hand. I can fix things when I re-work pages digitally, but when making detailed pencils, I want to limit later adjustments.

I think part of the problem I have with rendering things like the desk in pencil is that I'm used to drawing at a single size. When I draw characters of different heights, I often reduce a sketch with a photocopy and re-draw to fix relative size. This allows me to maintain detail and consistency at smaller sizes. I may re-draw characters multiple times, but I don't do the same with scenic elements.

When creating digital pages, I find it very useful to layer items and selectively hide objects if I need to work on something unobstructed. It's more involved to edit things in pencil. I find it awkward to check perspective of the desk by hand because it's usually obstructed.

I don't think I will continue making completed, hand-assembled pencils for Green Corner. I think it would be better to draw items separately by hand and then adjust and assemble in Photoshop as necessary. I would still have a hand-rendered foundation, but there would be less re-drawing. I think this would work better for the way that I tend to complete the pages, as I often draw portions not visible within the confines of a page to ensure things are rendered correctly.

I don't think I'll ever stop drawing things by hand, but I like to streamline my process when possible. Illustrating a comic series is a tricky thing, but it has taught me a lot so far and always encourages me to grow as an illustrator.

Labels: comics, green corner, illustration, theory, traditional media

Page twenty of Green Corner has been published.

Please visit the Green Corner website to see the update.

Enjoy :)

Labels: comics, green corner

New pages have been uploaded to the Green Corner website.

Enjoy! And Happy New Year!

Labels: comics, green corner

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Page 17 has been uploaded. Please visit the Green Corner website to see it.


Have a great day!

Labels: comics, green corner

Please visit the Green Corner website to see the completed page 16.

Progress images through page 15 and new avatars added to the image gallery. Vote incentives are close-ups from page 16.

Enjoy the page :)

Labels: comics, green corner

Two pages this time. Please visit the Green Corner website to see the new pages.

Enjoy!

Labels: comics, green corner

Please visit the Green Corner website to see the completed page 13.

New avatars and progress images for page 12 also added to the image gallery. Please vote to see close-ups from page 13.

Enjoy!

Labels: comics, green corner

Please visit the Green Corner website to see the completed page 12. Vote to see progress images for page 12.

I've also made some other updates to the site, including progress images for page 11, new avatars, and more organization for the image gallery. Links have also been added for artwork available in prints.

Enjoy!

Labels: comics, green corner, web design

Here's another older piece that I created in pen and ink. Aena has written an embarrassing love letter to Suko (the young man), and Zalanda sees this as the perfect opportunity to mock her for it (and share it with Suko!). Please click on the image to see a larger version.

Media: pen and ink
Paper: Borden and Riley #234 Paris bleedproof paper for pens
Dimensions: varying panel sizes, on two sheets of 11" x 14" paper)
Vintage: late 2002
Digital: minor cleanup in Photoshop

Labels: comics, green corner, traditional media

My tutorial for creating comic pages with Adobe Illustrator is available in PDF format here (948 KB). The tutorial is geared toward the novice user, but more experienced users may find some interesting techniques as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions about items not answered in the tutorial.

Edit: The location of the PDF has changed. Please only link to this post when promoting this tutorial. Direct links to the PDF are not permitted.

Labels: comics, green corner, illustrator, tutorial

This is an older piece that I created in ink and wash (the water from the washes caused the paper to ripple). Aena is looking at real estate advertised in the newspaper classifieds. She's happened upon poor D. Fish here, who is quite desperate to sell.

Media: ink and wash
Paper: Borden and Riley #234 Paris bleedproof paper for pens
Dimensions: 9" x 12" (on 11" x 14" paper)
Vintage: late 2002
Digital: minor cleanup in Photoshop

Labels: comics, green corner, traditional media

Green Corner has been updated.

Published page seven available here.

I'm still working on the tutorial, but I will let you know when it's finished.

Enjoy the page!

Labels: art, comics, green corner

Green Corner has been updated.

Published page six available here.

If you want to start from the beginning, page one is here.

I plan to start on page seven soon, but I will also be making a tutorial at the same time, so it may take a while. I'll keep you updated.

Enjoy the page!

Labels: art, comics, green corner