Light Reaper Comic

Process Apps

art

No no no not paypal.

I’m talking artistic process apps.

These include Fresco from Adobe.

This app has been good to me. For more on it, see my instagram account. I use Fresco there MOST of the time. For more examples, the posts I’ll be putting up every Thursday are built there. But! You like visuals. What is with Fresco, Keegan?

Fiiiine.

A recent creation – Umlaut, for a DnD campaign.

So Fresco is where I started Lightreaper and where I drew the first few panels.

What I love about it –

  • Layers
  • Intuitive Drawing
  • Touchpad like subtraction and zooming

What I hate about it –

  • there are limited features for shapemaking, like for example, tracing a circle versus filling one in (which you can do) which make exact art MUCH harder (maybe I’m missing something)
  • my touchscreen with it is finger-based versus pen based/stylus based so I can’t see it as precisely

That said, I’ve made a ton of art on it.

My next App I’ve used is Figma. I love Figma. Sometimes I don’t know why. But I do love it for gutters, narrative and speech bubbles, and layout planning, and for yeeting my text responsibilities over to James, my writer.

I need to get MUCH more used to Figma before I begin breaking it down, but I will say, it can get cramped by large file sizes/ text.

My third app I’m loving is Krita. It’s pretty great if you keep in mind the pixel counts mentioned by such greats as Jamie McKelvie. There are also a ton of useful posts on using it. I’ve found it cheaper than Adobe and as useful on my Cintiq.

So yeah! Those are my apps of choice. There is a HUGE difference between Fresco and Krita, which I will need to correct for as I move forward. I will say, Krita is not great on mobile, and Fresco is therefore more mobile, as it were, even if Krita is far more accurate and adjustable.

Characters? Games!

art

…For all you homestar runner fans out there.

But no, while working on perspective, another issue I’ve come across is character faces. Specifically, background/crowd character faces. Specifically, making sure that each of the characters I’m setting up gets used and placed in a proper place. This has two areas of increasing complexity – bodies and faces.

These guys again?

I must love this panel! Or maybe I find it properly problematic. Anyway, you’ll note that each character here has a face. Should have just done smiley faces, or made them more shadowy.

Naaaaah.

Instead, each character here has their own body type and facial feature choices. So! I’ve got to place those jerks in matching panels as I work my way through. For example, on the next page…

Bruiser

This guy’s gotta be a lot smaller and seen from a ways below.

But I’m also futzing with the panel shot to make sure he’s in it. He’s the biggest threat these guys have got!

Mid Field

Is the guy below him. He’s got to be

a lot smaller than I originally sketched.

Handsome

He’s the prettiest person

I drew in that last panel. He

gets the Ezmerelda closeup

(thank you,

Hunchback).

Body Type

I am faithful to this with my characters, but I’m noticing my crowds get a little wonky. Case in point…

Professor here gets a workout on the next page…

Actually, when I really look at him, I realize two things (three if you count that his body is actually pretty consistent)

  1. His initial neck. Is way too thin.
  2. I gave that man MUTTON CHOPS! How dare I take them away…

But yeah, in summation, this is the tough part about character detail. I have to use my secondary screen to reference back to work I’ve made on previous pages.

As a note on viewability and process, my current workaround is to make PNG or JPEG versions of older pages I’ve “finished” so I can review them for details.

I think I’ll write more on this tomorrow with something about all the digital tools I am and/or have been using…

‘Til then, excelsior!

-Keegan

(dont’ forget to like our Facebook, follow our Newsletter and support us on Patreon!)

Perspective

art, Plans

So one of my biggest stumbling blocks as I get into comic book crafting is perspective. In other words, tonight for me is a back-to-school night… during the last week of the semester.

Like, I’m fine with figures. I’ve been drawing figures since I was in Kindergarten. But like. Backgrounds. Making them match up with figures and look good, simple, and defined… it’s tough. It’s time consuming. And it’s something I’m sure I’m doing ABSOLUTELY wrong.

This became a major issue for me in a combat scene in a classroom. It’s got some of that great classic comic book action, but it takes place in a very defined space. I think I approached this scene all wrong. Here’s what we’re working with:

A bunch of turtlenecked doodah’s cheering in a circular auditorium.

So let’s look at this. It’s a very steep auditorium. It’s in the round. They’ve got chairs. But then I need to build a combat scene for them, a podium, and a floor chair.

So I make this.

OTT?

Maybe. I want to be able to zoom in, zoom out, and reference a curve that makes a consistent space for a bunch of characters fighting in a large classroom (clearly here deeper than it is wide – it would likely be wider than this in a real class auditorium setting).

Right now my backgrounds look like this.

A little dark – literally, in the world, but also in the mood a bit, I think.

So as you can see, I’m dealing in more abstract terms right now. There’s *some* perspective, and granted, I’m messing like hell with where the viewer is (that bottom middle panel is a bird’s eye view… and my own take on darkened carpet).

So tonight as I revise my last three pages of the first issue, I’m bringing it back to the basics of backgrounds and journeymanning my way through Krita perspective tutorials.

Tonight’s mantra: “there has to be a better way.”

I’m trying this guide now (well into my first issue illustrations)

I’m also going back through these ones:

This is a awesome series with great workarounds and tips 🙂

Anyway, readers, hope you all enjoy! Don’t forget to follow our Newsletter and support our Patreon so you can see some great finished screen backgrounds I’ve been working on!

-Keegan

Resolutions

Uncategorized

Too Long, Didn’t Resolve

I’m writing here with a resolution to be a consistent blogger- specifically, to focus on my work for The Light Reaper Comic. We’ve got a Facebook page here, a newsletter you can follow here, and a Patreon that helps pay me for my art here.

I’m resolving to post on here daily, and to repost from this blog to my Facebook, rather than posting on FB proper. I’ve been inspired by other writers promoting their content on that app, rather than promoting the app with their content.

Here’s my likely writing schedule:

  1. Mondays – Wednesdays – Light Reaper Art Thoughts
  2. Thursdays – Western DnD Art/Gaming Thoughts
  3. Friday – Sundays – Light Reaper Art Thoughts

The Deeper Download

Why this resolution? Why this resolution?

I just got married. It’s a life changing event, and I keep thinking about what about it changes me.

I got there by focusing on one person and that person’s need. So now I’m focusing, bringing things back.

I’m tired of just posting things on Facebook. I’d rather be building a blog.

So here we are again, back on this old blog. I’ve cut the funding on the fancy blog name. That’ll come back when I earn it. And I’ll earn it by being focused, and by cutting my worst bad habit.

To say the least, I’ve been inconsistent.

My last “blog” proper here was a post about Bar None, a podcast I worked on nearly three years ago now. That project exploded into two brilliantly produced seasons, and helped Greg Benson build himself a solid resume for his new career as a podcaster. He’s done great work with that entire experience, including consistent appearances on the Speakeasy podcast, and I’m really proud of him for it.

As for me, I’ve been… all over the place. I’ve had a ton of projects hither and yon, but my biggest focus has been cobbling together education work. That should be complete this November, when I wrap my master’s degree and finally become a licensed teacher in Maryland.

Why that focus? It pays the bills 🙂

But as for my art, it’s been more… scattershot.

I’m an actor… when I get the work, and can afford to take it. That’s been a bit here and there.

I’m an artist… I’ve got some friends who have bought my art, and I’ve put some things up here and there on instagram. I need to be better about putting up samples and stories on that app. It got me linked with The Light Reaper Project, and has helped me sell some art pieces and commissions. But I’ve been inconsistent on there as well.

I’m a writer… I’ve got three Nanowrimo books in the can, one of which I semi-published on a small facebook group. I’m in rewrites for two of those – one on Witches, one on Captain Hook. I’ve written a third one on a haunted house. To give an idea of the rewrite stage – the first book of the witch series has been in rewrites for now…seven years? And the Hook book is coming up on year two of rewrites. Rather than perfect the first witch book, I’ve written its sequel as well (1st draft).

I’m a tabletop game designer… I’ve got a massive world I’ve built for a Western d20 system on Foundry. I create art for it in game tokens. This is the closest thing I’ve got to being consistent about – this and the Light Reaper Comic. The trouble is, I’m not showing to you, world. There’s some great art I’m brewing on these projects, and you don’t know about them! Oy.

So right now, I’m an artist. I’m working in Krita, learning through Youtube, and trying to execute this awesome project. See you all again tomorrow.