Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Hiatus

Alas, though it has only just begun I am afraid I must take a break. Not to worry, the comic will resume updates in January. Hopefully with a regular schedule too.

This break is necessitated by the fact that I make this comic on a desktop and will have to travel home for Christmas break. Not having access to a computer with Photoshop (not to mention a scanner) means I can't make any more comics. Though I will be working on scripts and the paper portion of the pages, as well as trying to fix up the site.

There might be some more blog posts here before the next comic, and you can expect me to complete the "About" and "Cast" sections on the main site over the next month. I can understand if you don't want to stick around waiting on nothing, but I do hope that you come back in January.

See you then!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

So How's it Done?

I think every webcomicer makes their comics in a different way. I know that in preparation for making Deck of Fools I read a lot of tutorials and advice from various other artists, and not just the best ones either. It's always useful to find out how something you don't like was made so that you can avoid making the same mistakes.

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether I'm producing something to emulate or avoid, but here's my process.

First I start with the script, I've got a rough script of the first four chapters written out that I detail as it gets closer to drawing time. For example: before I started the prologue I had fully scripted and named the pages as well as including some brief stage directions. I had chapter one sectioned out into pages and named, and I had detailed outlines of chapter two and three. I've also got bare bones scripts for four and five in development.

My next step is to make some thumbnails, I do these in my shetchbook. I usually do thumbnails for a few pages at once, it helps me get an idea of how they'll flow together when they're done. I'll then take my thubnails of my upcoming page and make the proper one.

The real page is made on 11" x 14" smooth bristol paper. I've got a tsquare that I use to measure out approximately 1"borders all around, and a triangle for the straight lines inside the page themselves. I'll also sometimes make use of a protractor, though I've got some other tools those are all that I've used so far. I pencil my lines with .7mm HB mechanical pencils (oh I know, I'm a bad girl), and I use one of those white erasers if I have to make corrections.

When the page is finished I'll scan it into photoshop in sections then create a photomerge to give me back my full page.

The next step is to merge all visible layers, change the mode to grayscale, then adjust the levels until I get the lines I like.

I've got a pre-made template that I use for the background and titles, so I duplicate my page layer into this template. From here on it gets a bit more complex, but I basically color in my blacks and shade the shadows and highlights.

Last but not least I put in my speach bubbles. I've learned that it's much easier to fit the bubble around the type than it is to fit the type into the bubble, so I put my letters down first. I make the bubbles themselves using the paths functions.

Then I resize my image, save for web and devices, ftp the comic to the site and wait for it to update! Not quite easy as pie, but it's a lot of fun.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to Deck of Fools! The Blog of the Comic!

This is where you come if you want to know what's going on behind the scenes. I'm your host The Demonic Comic, TDC if you're too lazy to type it all out, and I hope you enjoy your stay!

If you've stumbled upon this blog by accident and are wondering what in the world is going on I'll be happy to tell you.

Deck of Fools is my Webcomic, it's brand new, just five pages as of this post and probably dosn't yet need a blog. Alas, this is necessary. You see, DoF was started as a project for my university drawing class, a project which is due in slightly less than two days.

Now I know, you're thinking "But TDC, you can't finish a webcomic in two days." I know. I'm not planning to finish it in two days, I just need to show the work I've done.

And don't worry, I'm not going to drop it at the end of next week. DoF has been in the works for two years now. It has a developed and detailed plot, a beginning, middle, and end, and far too many of my hopes riding on it. It will however go into a short hiatus over the month of December while I'm on holidays and build up a buffer. DoF will return in mid January if you care to stick around.

Just FYI, I really hope you do. I promise it'll be good.
and in case you missed it, here!