horror comic

deadmouse · Post by **deadmouse** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 9:07 pm

I guess I could still hype my comic, but seeing as Scott McClound
already linked to it on The Morning Improv it seams a little redundant,
but here goes. My comic, Ballad is an ongoing project that would fit
the genre of horror, fantasy usually updated with 4 pages on Tuesday.
I don't know how to describe it, as I haven't developed a plot as yet
but it mostly follows a once dead boy who for reasons that are unknown
is alive again.
Just back to the Morning Improv again, when I check into the MI and finished my
double take, and like any good web site owner I immediately looked at my web stats,
July 227 hits
Aug. 963 hits (after posting on the Flight and Dumbrella forums)
Sep. 8274 hits (my exact words were Holy Fuck)

Tim Mallos · Post by **Tim Mallos** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 12:14 pm

Yeah. As word of mouth goes, Scott has a BIG mouth

Tim

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 9:07 pm

It's very Lovecraft. I'm glad that Scott posted the link.

kaos_de_moria · Post by **kaos_de_moria** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 7:57 am

if you like lovecraft then check for the german comic artist reinhard kleist. he has got two volumes with lovecraft adaptations.

but i finally have to say something about ballad. i found the link on the flight forum before and i already read it back than. and i also read the other two comics on the page.

i like oshidori. it is an interesting story. story adaptations seem to be always a good idea to begin with. the mermaid is simply great. the comic poetry combination, rarely seen, and even less with a good impression, this one is really good. just one thing on the two comics, i had problems to read the font. especially mermaid has a couple of characters which i didn't find particularly clear.ballad seems to be better on that point.

on ballad. i find the format of the pictures a bit annoying as i can see around 65% and then i have to scroll. and click and scroll etc. as it has so many pages i would find it nice if you'd combine multiple pages on one site - but without keeping the white frame but rather as if you'd painted for a 4 times longer paper. (i hope i am clear)

thanks a lot for the pleasure of reading this comic. the style is great. it remembers me a bit of the swiss painter thomas ott. even though he is clearly using another technique, but the impression of the result is very similar nonetheless.

kaos

Tim Tylor · Post by **Tim Tylor** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 9:06 am

I'm impressed.

"Ballad" reminds me of Edward Gorey, with the dark fine-hatched style and Victorian* clothes and surroundings. Personally I like the vertical format; it's working well, and I'm pretty much used to vertical scrolling with large comic pages.

*Or Edwardian? I'm lousy on history.

kaos_de_moria · Post by **kaos_de_moria** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 10:09 am

Tim Tylor wrote: it's working well, and I'm pretty much used to vertical scrolling with large comic pages.

i don't mind when i am reading a comic like haiku 5 7 5 with 16 pages up til now. i really realised the missing flow only because ballad already has so many pages and it seems to interrupt the reading experience and doesn't allow me to get into the atmosphere as much as it could.

kaos

deadmouse · Post by **deadmouse** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:06 pm

Yeah. As word of mouth goes, Scott has a BIG mouth

As to the resolution and format of my comic, it's purely for selfish reasons,
I'm still on dial up. I tried to make the pages as small as possible and still
legible. It didn't really work on Oshidory and Mermaid so on Ballad I printed
the text bigger. I also noticed that reading the pages does brake the mood
but I do want to publish as a graphic novel, a format that will suit it much
better and, not dealing with jpg compression, easier to read. I will try playing
with a higher resolution to make it easier to read.

Rip Tanion · Post by **Rip Tanion** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:23 pm

I like it, DM. I only had time to check out the first dozen pages, but it's pretty creepy and interesting. The cross-hatching style is perfect for the genre. Your hand must hurt.

ShadowCaster · Post by **ShadowCaster** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 5:53 am

deadmouse wrote: It didn't really work on Oshidory and Mermaid so on Ballad I printed the text bigger. I also noticed that reading the pages does brake the mood
but I do want to publish as a graphic novel, a format that will suit it much
better and, not dealing with jpg compression, easier to read. I will try playing
with a higher resolution to make it easier to read.

Text is often a problem with jpeg compression, because you want a higher quality for it, and keep the lower quality for the rest.
Higher image resolution is costly in term of file size, and changing the text size can change the look of the graphic novel in an unwanted way, unless you create a version of the text for the web by editing the digital scan.
I'd like to try to make the result both smaller in KB and more readable, without changing the image resolution, nor the text size.

Could you post a link to a lossless version of a page of Mermaid ? I'd like to try greyscale and palette png encoding, and eventually separate the text from the image and try jpg with a png containing the text over it.
If it's concluent, I could either teach you how to do the same, and/or do it for you.

About the interface : you could add next image preloading and the image linking to the next page.

TheDeeMan · Post by **TheDeeMan** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 3:50 am

Yeah, that is nice. Your artwork has a real gothic quality that the old time horror illustrators did so well.

Dee

molgrev · Post by **molgrev** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 4:13 am

the next link on page 88 links back to it self, not page 89

ShadowCaster · Post by **ShadowCaster** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 6:01 am

thanks for pointing, molgrev, I assumed page 88 was the last online.

Rip Tanion · Post by **Rip Tanion** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 12:03 am

Well, I finally got a chance to get through the last page. Wow, that's some sick stuff, and it looks like it's only gonna get sicker. Can't wait.

Let me guess: Liz grows up to be a "Goth chick", and enrolls in Art School.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 7:06 pm

Holy S#@t! Ballad went from being great to being one of my favorites of all time! I can't wait for the next chapter to start. I also look forward to seeing this classic published.

Zwol.org

horror comic

horror comic

bad link