Page 1+2 inked

The first couple of pages are inked. I think I am going to forge on and get a good few more pages inked (and possibly lettered as well) before considering colours. I'm not sure if it is best to go for as many pages as I can of the 40 inked for hand in or the 24 min fully inked and coloured. 

Also I think the colouring may take a bit of time as I am not as used to colouring my pages. It's something I'll think about as I continue.

Both these pages took a full day to go from the layout stage to how they are now. I will definitely want to make some changes after I get some more pages to this stage as well. I have already noticed a few things that can be more effective. I think I need to push a couple of the poses further in some panels. This is something maybe I can review after I get the full first scene finished.

Here are how the pages look now.

I think the bottom sequence on page 2 really works well. The shot contrasts and the effects are working. The top of the page can maybe use some variation in panel size, 

Costume Colour Tests

I've been trying to work out how the superhero unifroms will look. Here's a bunch of tests. I'm really not pleased with the icon - it's pretty much a placeholder for now. 

  

  

  

Madefire Tool

Another outcome for the semester was using digital comics tools. I opted for Madefire over Motion Artist . 

Here is my effort after cutting apart a page from The Lost Legionnaire to work with. I tried to make use of most of the basic functionality. I opted not to include sound as a) i couldn't find an ambient track I liked for the page and b) I don't think comics should have sounds as they already have sound effects!

In general, I don't think "motion comics" need to exist. I don't see them adding anything to the experience really and they come with a number of problems. The clever 360 degree panels Madefire can create I think are for the most part just a novelty. In the examples I have looked at, the motion and animation is almost always overdone and added not really for story reasons but just because it can be. I also think that converting a comic intended for print to digital this way causes other problems. Two of the main issues are panels size contrast being lost at times if the motion isn't handled carefully due to zooming and scaling of the panels and related to the panel sizes increases is some pixelation and difference in finished quality from panel to panel. It's very distracting and doesn't look professional. 

I also found the Madefire tool to be extremely clunky and unintuitive. There were a great many options I wished were easily located and obvious that just weren't there at all or if they were were hidden and awkward to discover.