JDelta
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A commission comic marches on...
🕑 Added 2023-05-08 06:02:42 +0000 UTCI know I've been silent on here for a bit. Mostly because I'm hunkering down on a commissioned comic for the past few weeks. It's been a really exciting project and I've been able to flesh out some new techniques, or improve upon old techniques.
I don't wish to name the commissioner, since I'll let them choose to reveal themselves on their own volition, nor do I want to share too many images from the commission before it's completed, but I think it'll be cool to share a few of them, cropped down and without dialogue, to show and explain what I've done to create them.
This paper serves as the framework for the plot and scenes. While there's no direct context as to what this is for in the comic itself, it helps set up the standard plotlines and order out the scenes. As I knew I was going to be using img-plate/flat-plane I went ahead and whipped this up in google docs, then just converted the pdf to a usable texture format (png, jpg, what have you). I can then go into Photoshop to fill out the form as I go, changing out the texture. The pencil is also just a cute addition by pairing a mushroom model to a pencil. I also figured out that attaching small/invisible models to objects helps me choose where the pivot point of an object is. I don't know what sociopath decided the pencil needed to have a pivot point on the eraser end, while the ruler has a pivot in the center, but tossing in a tiny object into the other object and parenting it, let me choose where I move the object from. It's been much less of a headache adjusting certain models now.
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Since the main character of this comic wears glasses, and is therefore near-sighted, I thought that having the POV scenes be a bit blurry with her glasses off might be a funny touch. This one was done with simple layering in photoshop. One image clear, another blurry. Overlay the blurry image, then erase the middle of the glasses in the blurry image. Granted, it would have also made sense to have the image in the glasses zoomed in a bit more, or shifted over, but I think this is fine for now. I'll change it if it bugs me enough.... it might.
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Ignoring the obvious draws in this image, here I wanted to point out the locker. It's not actually an open locker. I took a screenshot closeup of the only open locker in the scene, and a closeup of the doors, then went into photoshop to turn them into image textures, similar to how the paper application was made. Then some more flat plane layering over the existing textures, and it's passable! Wouldn't work at all in motion/animation, but for a static image comic, it's believable enough.
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Once again, try to ignore the obvious draws.
While Kinoko has a standard pair of glasses on the model/outfits, it's a pain to adjust them that way. Here I cloned Kinoko over herself, then took the glasses off one model (or used an outfit that didn't have glasses) and made the cloned model invisible save for the glasses. Then I attached the invisible clone to the "glasses" section of Kinoko's model, so they would always move with her head. But if I wanted a scene of her adjusting them, or putting them on in a hurry (or another few ideas I'll have coming up) I can just move the clone model around. I feel it makes a character with glasses look a lot more lively.
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Ok, NOW the obvious draw is the point. This is an effect I use quite a lot. Even one of my earliest images used it. I change the color of the dong model to match the clothing, and it creates a more "realistic" bulge effect. This one was tricky as I needed to layer three times, and three colors. I also had to manually draw in the stitches along the hem, which I don't feel come out all that great, but it's passible for the effect I wanted. I hope it reads properly to most people, and doesn't look oddly out of perspective.
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For the final image, this is the first time I tried for this effect. (well, second time in this comic.) I feel what's lacking a lot in KK imagery is the conveyance of motion, and the sizes these girls reach would easily have some impressive sway and heft to them.
I tend to notice a lot of H-Comic drawing two or more objects in the same scene, and emphasizing fast movement with speedlines and semi-transparent. It's tough, maybe even impossible, to create such an effect in the scene editor, so once again, I had to rely on layering in photoshop. I created three shots of the same scene, only adjusting the moving object. Then I used transparency to make it so the "extra parts" looked like they were once there, but not currently there. (Sorry, Multi-Member fans. That's not canonical to my stuff, and not my personal jam.) Then I had the idea to use motion blur on the two translucent appendages, making sure the motion blur was moving in the direction of the object, and this is how it came out. I hope it conveys what it's supposed to, and if it doesn't, the added SFX in the comic should make it pretty clear.
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Overall, I'm (and I believe the person who commissioned this comic is) very impressed with how this comic is coming out. The characters are adorable, and I think that some very specific boxes will be checked in the reading audience. Once it's 100% complete and given the go ahead, it will be posted content on here, E-H and Pixiv (barring their "no fun allowed" edits.)
Please look forward to it. I'm shooting for within a week or two.
...we may have to workshop a better title, though.
