Praesidium - A Hard Sci-Fi Mini Series

[MichaelYakutis]

Finally, after much delay, I am able to launch my sci-fi series, Praesidium. Aboard the interplanetary exploration vessel The Praesidium, First Class Engineer Camille Rogner has awoken from cryogenic stasis to find the other members of her crew either dead or missing. Her ship has been floating lifelessly through space for nearly 200 years, leaving Rogner freezing, starving, and alone…

Praesidium is a mini series that I am currently in the middle of producing, which will in the end be printed as a one shot comic. Hope you like it!

[vorto]

Michael, I love it! I've just read the first ten pages. It looks great! Definitely a departure from 'And to be Loved'. I'm really looking forward to reading more of it and seeing where the storyline goes.

I love the 80's hair, by the way. Very nice touch.

[MichaelYakutis]

@Vorto- Thanks! I'm glad you noticed the hair. Since the mission started in the 80s, it would only make sense that the hairstyle is not modern. The comic is a lot of fun to work on, but I have very little free time in which to do so. It is serving as sort of a test run for another, larger, project I have in the works to later on.

[MichaelYakutis]

Here's the promo image for the first entry....

[MichaelYakutis]

*sigh* It's sad when forums like these are hit with blatant spam like the one above...

[JSConner800]

Wow, that's some incredible artwork. I'm getting a distinct 2001 meets Alien vibe. Really love those starscapes and all the minute mechanical details on the ship. I can appreciate great background work, since I've seen how hard our artist struggles with setting. It's one of the biggest weaknesses plaguing Steel Salvation right now. Hopefully if our artist keeps at it, he'll be able to put out something close to what you've accomplished here

[MichaelYakutis]

Wow, that's some incredible artwork. I'm getting a distinct 2001 meets Alien vibe. Really love those starscapes and all the minute mechanical details on the ship. I can appreciate great background work, since I've seen how hard our artist struggles with setting. It's one of the biggest weaknesses plaguing Steel Salvation right now. Hopefully if our artist keeps at it, he'll be able to put out something close to what you've accomplished here

Thanks so much! I get more compliments on my backgrounds than anything else. Praesidium is still updating, and Lt. Rogner is now resorting to drinking urine and eating pencils out of desperation: http://tapastic.com/episode/7130. The artwork is a little all over the place these days, which is to be expected seeing as how it's an experimental series and I'm trying out different inking and watercolor techniques on almost every update. I'm learning a lot and am really looking forward to implementing the useful skills I've learned into my future work.

I think the key to doing background is having patience and filling the page properly. Steel Salvation has a lot of potential, but the artwork is very simple so overly detailed backgrounds would be more of a distraction than a benefit. A lot of detail is lost when I upload Praesidium to the web, so webcomics need to be kept simple for the most part. Something I've learned to do with my other webcomics. Oh, but I love the site theme of your comic. Very cool look and navigation buttons.

On another note, my writing partner and I have been hard at work developing a new website called Webcomic Underdogs. It's a community for webcomic creators to come together and share experiences in the world of webcomics. We'll have forums, chats, lots of resources, and each week we will spotlight a different member's comic on the site for critique and to help promote their work. We currently have a wonderful facebook group that all webcomic creators are welcome to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/webcomicunderdogs/. I will let everyone know when the official site is up and running, which we hope to be in a matter of days. So come join Webcomic Underdogs!

[JSConner800]

I think the key to doing background is having patience and filling the page properly. Steel Salvation has a lot of potential, but the artwork is very simple so overly detailed backgrounds would be more of a distraction than a benefit. A lot of detail is lost when I upload Praesidium to the web, so webcomics need to be kept simple for the most part. Something I've learned to do with my other webcomics. Oh, but I love the site theme of your comic. Very cool look and navigation buttons.

Yeah, I think the problem is that I have a different vision of what I want the comic to look like than our graphic designer. I love gritty, meticulously detailed artwork, like the kind of thing you'd see in Metabarons, but he likes simple, minimalistic artwork. So while minimalism is probably better for a webcomic (and he's the one doing the lines and shading, so it's his call anyway), I wrote the script with my particular tastes in mind. I really just need to work on composition and put my desire for super intricate scenery aside.

On another note, my writing partner and I have been hard at work developing a new website called Webcomic Underdogs. It's a community for webcomic creators to come together and share experiences in the world of webcomics. We'll have forums, chats, lots of resources, and each week we will spotlight a different member's comic on the site for critique and to help promote their work. We currently have a wonderful facebook group that all webcomic creators are welcome to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/webcomicunderdogs/. I will let everyone know when the official site is up and running, which we hope to be in a matter of days. So come join Webcomic Underdogs!

That sounds great! I've already submitted a request to join the Facebook group. I'm leaving tomorrow for the UK, and I'll be there for about 3 weeks, but I'll be able to check in occasionally and I'll try to get involved as much as possible. Good luck with the website!