What sort of projects do you want to work on creators?

[Ruyei]

Here's a fun little thread, I just wondered what sort of comics you guys want to make. I'm targeting primarily artists cause they don't always get to create their own stories, but writers and other creators can post too.

So what is your dream project creatively? Would you like to make a steampunk, a fan comic, something manga style something down to Earth like a typical crime show?

I'll start the tread. For me I'm very interested in creating as in depth a fantasy world as one sees in books. It's a challenge since books are so much easier to create content wise so you can make a much longer story so much easier, but I want to see a high fantasy comic that works with its world-building elements well. I'm sorta cheating since I have a couple projects in the pipeline that meet this criteria though.

What are your thoughts all?
Sincerely,
Ruyei

[JennaP]

A really good superhero series, to be honest. I'm not happy with anything being done by the big 2 right now. Marvel is still tolerable, DC...I'm getting my DC fix from the shows.

[Ruyei]

But what constitutes a good superhero series? For me although Spawn isn't "great" it's a step forward from the little I've read. It has a good focus on world building and character development while not hainv a character who is a boy scout. I feel superheroes should be relatable rather than ideals. As much as I like anime for example their tendenancy for using their main characters as soapboxes bothers me and American superhero comics do that a little too. There is also more of a focus on drama and action than actual character devleopment.

[JennaP]

Character development that goes in all directions (i.e., none of Didio's "superheroes can't be happy" crap).

Powers that aren't just tagged on to the characters, but become an integral part of who they are.

Greater diversity properly written into the theme.

Superheroes are ideals AND real people. The conflict is often trying to live up to being that ideal.

[Ruyei]

I think superheros as a whole are flawed. The whole "Saving the world because it's 'right'" makes no sense, especially when they do it for free. Spiderman is a prime example of his. And the riddiculous costumes need to be updated, and have been. But I still feel that in feel life no one would wear an iron man suit or dress as captain america in an actual combat situation. For me the ideal of a Superhero movie still is the first xmen film. Understandable, practicle costumes and a down to Earth plot (or as down to Earth as you can get with superpowers0

[Eagle-NO-Earth]

One of the problems I have always had, is I never have time to write all of the comics I would like to. I had to settle for writing a series of titles all set in the same world, and then accepting the fact that I can't draw them all.

I enjoy the concept of superhero comics, but often find that the execution is so flawed as to destroy my enjoyment. I agree with another poster that often times, the DC TV shows are better than what they have at the comic store. For that matter, the same can be said for the Marvel movies.

So the world that I have built on my site is an alternate history world where I get to tell superhero stories the way I want to. Or to put it another way, I get to tell stories set in a superhero universe the way I want to, as some of my stories are not about caped vigilantes directly.

Eagle
(up late inking a cover)

[ld-airgrafix]

I am a big fan of walking dead show, and anything post apocalyptic. For a long time now i have been thinking about creating a post apocalyptic world, characters and so on.
Im also a huge fan of westerns, my first comics were westerns. However these days cowboys arent that popular, so im thinking about doing a steampunk western.
Unfortunately all my ideas dont see past first page as im not a writer.

[JennaP]

Copperhead is a sci-fi western that's pretty good and doing reasonably well. Besides, Firefly.

A post apocalyptic comic with a western feel might work.

[noonecomics]

if you check top selling comics today, they are

-free of captions, so they read fast and easly
-full of action, it doesnt take 8 prologue pages to get somewhere
-character driven, instead of groups or large numbers of characters
-they are very down to earth (within boundaires of course) thanks for that nolan!

for me thats it, I personally like histories set in the real world and fallen heroes overcoming his own sins to stand out and redeem , I prefer the history:
- from defeat to victory, than...
- the awesome hero vs the awesome foe resulting in a super awesome hero victory, Im tired of that.

also, I think you should look around for trends, what the big two are doing, what image is doing, etc.
then check out what succesful kickstarters, indie gogo etc are doing.

and you should by all means check www.jimzub.com super insightful tips on the industry, hes not sponsor-ing me but he sure owns me a buck or two

[Ruyei]

Well I never really trusted the trend. Given my experiences with popular comics I generally don't agree with the general trends. Sure I like graphic novels like The Dark Knight Returns and Kingsmen, but don't ask me to read the latest issue of Superman or Spiderman. Right now I personally am in an experimental phase where I'm trying all sorts of stuff, from high fantasy that's more-so a collection of short stories to a silver age inspired superhero parody with a touch of the incal and moebius in there. As much as it is stupid I'm just pushing my boundries to see what I can do, and if it clicks with publishers than that's great!

-Ruyei

[Eagle-NO-Earth]

if you check top selling comics today, they are

-free of captions, so they read fast and easly
-full of action, it doesnt take 8 prologue pages to get somewhere
-character driven, instead of groups or large numbers of characters
-they are very down to earth (within boundaires of course) thanks for that nolan!

for me thats it, I personally like histories set in the real world and fallen heroes overcoming his own sins to stand out and redeem , I prefer the history:
- from defeat to victory, than...
- the awesome hero vs the awesome foe resulting in a super awesome hero victory, Im tired of that.

also, I think you should look around for trends, what the big two are doing, what image is doing, etc.
then check out what succesful kickstarters, indie gogo etc are doing.

and you should by all means check www.jimzub.com super insightful tips on the industry, hes not sponsor-ing me but he sure owns me a buck or two

Top selling does not mean they are good.
Fast and easy read is a dumbing down of things.
It should never take 8 pages of exposition to get anywhere. 8 pages of prologue is a totally different matter, and a 22 page prologue is not out of place as long as it's a good story in it.
Large groups can be character driven. Character driven is the opposite of action driven, by the way.
No, I think that the top selling books are not the way to go. They are part of the problem.

Eagle
(Trends? What Trends? We don't need no stinkin' trends!)

[Ruyei]

A story I'll always remember regarding trends is actually a video-game related tale. There was a game designer, Jullian Gloop I believe, who was known for his tactical warfare games, was developing a game for Microprose. Microprose had recently created the Civilization series that was selling very well, so asked Gloop if in his latest game he could take a page or two from Civilization.

The result? A legendary game called XCOM in which not only is the game reliant on turn based fire fights but that there is a base management aspect that turns the genre on its head. Got a pretty good remake for the last generation of systems but the original in my mind is what happens when one does what one should be doing, taking notes from what people want but truly making a creative piece that reflects who you are and what you want to do.

In my opinion a creative person can take advantage of trends to lead people into their own original work. I'm a hypcrite though, I'm still enamored in my own experiements. A casebook example of "going with trends though" is what a penliness writer has to do to get an artist, as in taking an artists story and tempering it into a finished project. As an amateur writer I've done text edits on finished arts as well as taking concepts and developing them, as well as simply working on a genre I hate (superheroes) and making a story that even I could like.

That's what I have to say on trends.
-Ruyei

[Eagle-NO-Earth]

You know, the thread is what type of projects do you want to work on. Very rarely have I wanted to work on anything that was trending. Not out of spite for it being a trend, but simply because my tastes and trends have never coincided more than about 60%. Now, I've seen lots of things that I liked become trends. After Watchmen, it became popular to deconstruct superheroes. Batman: Year One wound up making that whole idea into a standard trope. But for the most part, things that follow trends have only a fraction of the interest for me as a creator or a consumer as the things that set the trends. I've managed to be on the front of a trend once before, and would give just about anything to be there again, now that I'm older and understand how to harness it better.
So I keep creating, in the hopes that lightening strikes twice.

Eagle
()

[youngPRO]

I'm personally getting tired of these super heroes that can destroy planets just by breathing and punch holes and open black holes. I'm writing a much more down to earth story with powers but extremely limited in what the powers are capable of making the character have to use their real life skills. I Have my world started, my main story and about 20 plus branching out side stories that all tie in together. I'ts been in the works for about a month now so there's still a lot of kinks I need to fix but I'm having fun in the process. It's a much darker super hero world where there is really no conventional heroes (boy scouts). It's primarily criminals and then anti heroes. Everyone has their real life motives and are relatable which I think is what would make the story worth reading.

[Tzratzk]

I suppose, a choice of a theme depends of personal tastes of every creator.

As for me, I prefer situation comedy type comics, erotic stories (making one by the moment for a private client)...




...and humoristic fantasy (planning to start a humoristic serial with a friend script writer, for our own pleasure, self-promotion and possible future publication).

[Eagle-NO-Earth]

I like the way you've got with faces and backgrounds. Two things often lacking in art on the web.

Eagle
(Wishing both of mine were better)

[Tzratzk]

I like the way you've got with faces and backgrounds. Two things often lacking in art on the web.

That´s why one page takes me 4 days instead of 1 day...

[tomcapung]

im special in manga comic.
see my art in http://tomsicapung.daportfolio.com/
for more sample manga, email me tom.capung@gmail.com

[Eric Conner]

MORE SUPER HEROES!!!!!!!!