Entirely CG

japanimationfist · Post by **japanimationfist** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 5:34 am

I was just curious how many people reading this are working entirely at the computer at this point, and what kinds of hassles or benefits that may entail.

gazorenzoku · Post by **gazorenzoku** » Fri Aug 30, 2002 6:52 am

I have done some work entirely on computer in the past. I find it liberating in that you can use a lot of media that would cost a lot of money to use seperately (if you have something like Painter). Also, you can do lots of things that you simply couldn't do when working by hand... straight lines and such are a lot easier, and you can move the composition around really easily.

The one thing I don't like about working entirely on the computer is the sketching and "inking" stage. Sketching just seems easier for me on a physical piece of paper. Also, inking is the same. I work with a brush right now, and I just love it to death. I just can't get that same feel on the comptuer, even with a tablet. So, when I work on the computer only, I usually work with color more than with line. I build shapes like I do when I paint with oils, just laying on color over color, mixing and layering as I go. It is a lot more fun that way, but makes for a relatively heavy file size... (compared to coloring an inked drawing in flats)

I know that you were doing work on the computer because you don't have a scanner... are there other reasons you prefer a computer?

vince

Tim Mallos · Post by **Tim Mallos** » Fri Aug 30, 2002 1:24 pm

I did this piece, http://www.fifthdigit.com/comics/happytim.html entirely on a Mac. I was playing with a Wacomm tablet and wanted to ty my hand at using it for drawing. I found it frustrating (Couldn't draw a circle to save my life) but from what other people, including Scott McCloud, have written, I probably didn't give myself enough time to get used to it.

Anyway, I like to do my lineart and then scan for coloring.

I know you didn't ask WHO WASN'T doing all their work on a computer, but there ya go!

Tim

losttoy · Post by **losttoy** » Fri Aug 30, 2002 1:28 pm

I love doing art on the computer because of all the opinions it gives me. Undo, line paths, texture, gradients, copy and paste, scaling are just some examples (my technique on computerized inking is written in another string http://www.zwol.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=614). Frankly when looking at the art I have done 100% on computer (or even the art I sketched first then drew on the computer) the quality is much much better (see cg vs. inked with pen). If it was my choice I would do all computer art (except for maybe the thumbnail sketches and even those can be done on the computer). Although, the choice is not really mine. My computer at home has a fried hard-drive and I haven't gotten it fixed. Even if I got it fixed, it's slow and doesn't have a lot of memory. So until I get a new computer at home, I am forced to use my computer at work. This of course means I have a limited amount of time a day when I am not working when I can actualy use the computer to draw my comic. So lately I have been doing the line work at home and scanning it in to add color and texture. Sigh. Well, that's my experience.

Tim, I really liked your comic!

Tim Mallos · Post by **Tim Mallos** » Fri Aug 30, 2002 1:49 pm

Thanks! I haven't done anything I've liked as much in a long time. Actually, I haven't done much in a long time....

Tim

japanimationfist · Post by **japanimationfist** » Fri Aug 30, 2002 6:10 pm

Wow Tim! I really enjoyed that piece - the sentiment as well as the art, which I think was pretty impressive. I don;t have quite that much control yet (but then again, I am still working with a mouse - though only until next week).

I think one of the things that I find exciting about working on the computer is the flexibility. I also find the computer somewhat more forgiving, in so far as I can tweak my images because I am drawing in a vector program, and lines that go a little wonky can be brought back to where they ought to be just by dragging point with the mouse.

Before I started my webcomic, I was doing construction paper collages with my students (I was a grade school teacher for the last six years - Kindergarten through Grade Six), and I really like the effect of creating textures and light effects by using various colors and shades. The computer lets me do those things in a myriad of colors without ever cutting a piece of paper.

I think another reason that I really like it is that there aren't very many people who are doing it. It's kind of new, and relatively unexplored territory.

What really did it for me though (and here I am really letting the cat out of the bag), was following John allison's work on Bobbins, and more recently on Scary Go Round. It was just so distinctive, and innovative, I thought it was just about the best thing going, where webcomics are concerned.

I could never pull off the Seinfeld-esque humour that John plays at, but I love the style of his drawings so much that I couldn't help but be somewhat influenced, and he does everything directly on the computer in Adobe Illustrator.

The version of Freehand I have was a throw-away from the university my girlfriend was attending, and it has been invaluable. I used to use Appleworks Paint, but the options are about as limited as a box of crayons. Freehand lets me do quite a lot, and with the help of Fireworks (another score from the university, which was upgrading at the time), I can do even more. Once I have the tablet, I am hoping that my options will continue to expand.

I will always do my sketches on paper. I think that it's important to keep the skills, or in my case, to build them, but I like what the computer does for what I do. You can look at my 24 hour comic and compare it to what I've been doing at Japanimation Fist, and you can see that there's a vibrancy that come from working with all those colors that would be hard to reproduce otherwise.

I admit it, I am a bit of a snob when it comes to comics, and I like color. I like black and white too, but when it's black and white I expect a lot more from the artwork. Something like Goodbye Chunky Rice (probably one of the best graphic novels I have read in a long time), or Maus, for that matter, is brilliantly drawn and written. Period. And of course, I go gaga for stuff by Scott Morse with his terrific use of contrast and negative space, but I am not that kind of artist (at least not yet).

Anyway, you get my point. I like working on the computer, at least for now.

Post by **Greg Stephens** » Fri Aug 30, 2002 6:30 pm

When the heck did Scary-go-round leave Modern Tales? And why?

japanimationfist · Post by **japanimationfist** » Fri Aug 30, 2002 9:51 pm

It left MT just a few weeks after it debuted, and from the little that John revealed in his newsbox, it had to do with maintaining control of the site, and keeping the archives free for the readers. I'm sure it was more complex than that, but he never went into much more detail than that. I think that there's a couple of posts about it on the MT message board, in the subscribers section, at www.talkaboutcomics.com.

I'm just glad he's still working, and putting out comics.

coffeekev · Post by **coffeekev** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 6:34 pm

I produce a single-panel web cartoon called Coffee Spill. My Spills are created entirely on my iMac with a Wacom Graphire tablet and Adobe Photoshop. I'm really comfortable working this way and really like the results. Visit http://www.coffeespill.com and let me know what ya think!

japanimationfist · Post by **japanimationfist** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 8:34 pm

Cool! I had actually read your strip quite a few times before, and enjoyed it, but I didn't realize how you were working.

Until two days ago I was working with my iMac mouse, but I have now joined the tablet folk, and I'm lovin' it!

gazorenzoku · Post by **gazorenzoku** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 9:10 pm

japanimationfist wrote:Until two days ago I was working with my iMac mouse, but I have now joined the tablet folk, and I'm lovin' it!

Congratulations!!

vince

gazorenzoku · Post by **gazorenzoku** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 9:14 pm

coffeekev wrote:I produce a single-panel web cartoon called Coffee Spill. My Spills are created entirely on my iMac with a Wacom Graphire tablet and Adobe Photoshop. I'm really comfortable working this way and really like the results. Visit http://www.coffeespill.com and let me know what ya think!

Do you do your rough sketches on the computer too?

I'm not a big fan of the "laugh-comic", but I like your work.

vince

coffeekev · Post by **coffeekev** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 10:25 pm

Yes, Vince, I layout and sketch the cartoon with the Wacom pen as well. This is a part of the process where it really benefits me, I feel. In the sketch stage, I can quickly draw out the figures on separate layers, and then move them around and stage the scene, trying different set-ups and picking the best one. I then finish the sketch layer, rendering everything out fully before making a new layer to "ink" the final illustration. Ultimately, this means I pretty much have a Wacom pen in my hand almost all the time I'm sitting at a computer! You see, Coffee Spill is something I do in my spare time. At my "real" job, I'm a graphic artist for my local CBS-affiliate TV station. I produce graphics for news, weather, and sports, as well as the web. And, you guessed it, I use a Wacom tablet there too. Of course, it's about 5 times bigger than the one I have at home. The TV station can afford a bigger tablet than I can!

gazorenzoku · Post by **gazorenzoku** » Thu Sep 05, 2002 5:23 am

coffeekev wrote:Yes, Vince, I layout and sketch the cartoon with the Wacom pen as well. This is a part of the process where it really benefits me, I feel. In the sketch stage, I can quickly draw out the figures on separate layers, and then move them around and stage the scene, trying different set-ups and picking the best one.

I know what you mean about being able to move stuff around... even though I do most of my work in non digital media (I paint in oils and what not for non comic book work, and do my comic book pencils & inks on paper), I too enjoy that moving around technique. Sometimes when I am planing out a painting I do sketches on paper, scan them in, and move them around to find a satisfying layout. At one point, I got worried that I would lose the ability to do layout work without a computer... sure enough, a while ago I enrolled in a life drawing class and found out that I had lost the ability to keep the figure all on one sheet of paper!! Anyhow, I moderate my use of computer generated layout, but it is sooooo much fun, so I will never stop using it all together...

coffeekev wrote:I then finish the sketch layer, rendering everything out fully before making a new layer to "ink" the final illustration.

This is the stage I have the most problems with. I just can't seem to get the line that I want using a tablet on a computer. I can get pretty close, but there is still something that isn't quite right... or not quite as good as the lines I can get when I work with ink and a brush...

coffeekev wrote:At my "real" job, I'm a graphic artist for my local CBS-affiliate TV station. I produce graphics for news, weather, and sports, as well as the web.

Wow, sounds like a fun job. I know someone here in Sapporo that used to do that kind of job. She said that it was pretty stressful, but a lot of fun and a good experience. The world of Japanese design/illustration/graphics is supposed to be pretty harsh in terms of work load, or at least that is what the designers I have met here say. How is it in America?

coffeekev wrote:And, you guessed it, I use a Wacom tablet there too. Of course, it's about 5 times bigger than the one I have at home. The TV station can afford a bigger tablet than I can!

I have only used the small one I bought... does using a bigger one really make a big difference in the drawing process?

vince

coffeekev · Post by **coffeekev** » Thu Sep 05, 2002 10:16 am

There is a definite amount of stress at my job at the TV station, because the newscasts are going to start at their scheduled times whether I have the graphics ready or not. Some stuff is designed and created far in advance, but late-breaking news stories that need maps or "over-the-shoulder" graphics or full-screen info boards may need to be done in a very small amount of time. But every day is different and interesting and I love the environment.

As far as the size of the tablet...when I started at the TV station and saw the huge Wacom tablet I would be using, I thought "this is going to spoil me. When I go home to my little Graphire it's going to feel way too small." The amazing thing is, it didn't turn out that way at all. I still feel perfectly comfortable with the small graphire tablet. I think it's because you're always picking the pen up and starting a new line. I never really feel like I'm utilizing all of the surface area of the bigger tablet at the station.

So there you have it, guys. Go ahead and tell your significant others that the age-old question is finally answered...size doesn't matter! Although for some strange reason if money was no object I'd probably still get a bigger one. The tablet...I'm talking about the tablet!