New artwork. Whaddaya think?

[Brook]

Well, we've got two new pieces of artwork up now, so what do people think? I'll go first.

I really think Daniel's artwork has improved since our last attempt at this comic, which is saying something, as I have always held his artwork in high regards. I really like today's piece, as I think it nicely shows and contrasts two important aspects of Diana's personality.

::hopes and prays for some responses::

[Ssedrey]

I think it's nowhere near as good as this Christmas pic I just did.

[Kunugi]

The color application the the christmas piece was excellent. If you dont mind me asking, what kind of inks did you use or was that applied in Photoshop?
Also, the layout and design is awesome, especially the rework from the 2002 design.. the new look is alot more crisp, better defined edges, in brief, just alot more detail overall. The only flaw I noticed is that the shading could use some improvement, though considering this is work from hobbist animators, this is truly top-notch artwork.

Heh, I might give animation another try myself in the near future now that I have some free time... and also due to the fact that the manager for the fine arts department at my workplace has been bugging me to continue my designs for awhile now. :P

[Ssedrey]

yeah, I need to find a better way to shade that isn't as easily marred by Photoshop. Photoshop's used primarily for painting, cleaning up pics, and adding text. Everything else is done freehand with my great pencil and pen in tow.

[Kunugi]

Hmm... not sure why it listed my post as Guest :P

Also, I forgot to mention... have you tried using Illustrator or Quark to emplace text instead of Photoshop?

[Ssedrey]

nay, I don't mean that the photoshop damages the image. Simply put, I just haven't figured out how to adjust the levels to clean up the image but still keep the original shading intact. As for charcoal pencils and kneaded erasers, I've used both before, and they're great for most images. But I don't want to use that style for the manga format. I'm just going to have to figure out a better way to shade that won't be as easily eaten in the level adjustment.

[Kunugi]

Well, like I said before, I've yet to encounter problems like those you've mentioned based on my experience in Photoshop. I'd have to compare the hard-copy to the scan art to understand whats going on. Honestly, for just scanning in a greyscale image, all you should need to do is remove artifacts for the most part, maybe tweak the saturation and midtones, but really nothing else should be necessary to correct something as simple as that. The only thing I can really suggest at this point before making too many assumptions is to actually get a hard-copy of a problematic image from you and process it myself and see what I come up with.

[Ssedrey]

bleh, I used a different style of shading for today's strip and it came out much smoother. see for yerself. I think today's strip came out pretty well, though the last panel was a little rushed... Still, a far cry from the original version. I haven't been able to do all the backgrounds I'd like to do since I started inking the strips, but since I hate backgrounds anyway, I'm actually quite satisfied with most of the character art. The characters look a lot less awkward in their poses then before, and have a far greater wealth of expression and motions then before. Though if you notice, I have gradually taken to Piro's idea of hiding the hands by putting a mug there instead. Fun stuff. Turtles are easy to draw... Now I will do the chicken dance. Later.

The computer is infallible, there must be a problem with the user...
The computer is infallible, there must be a problem with the user...

[Kunugi]

Haha, looks like your catching on.... (watches chicken dance)
But this is just inexperience, just spend some time trying some of the tools on a dummy image and read the "Photoshop Help" section, furthermore, this is one of the most clearly written and complete help references I've seen to date.

But anyhow, from my experience, operator error is true in almost every computer fault I've investigated that didn't involve hardware...

[Ssedrey]

But isn't it still operator error when said operator applies shotgun to said hardware?

[Kunugi]

Yes, but I said faults I investigated... If the first thing I noticed was a shotgun blast through the case, I'd most likely leave rather promptly.

[Ssedrey]

so you're assuming then that the blast was made by a shotgun and not a vicious virus made up of millions of destructive nanites?

[Kunugi]

Thats even more reason to leave! To put it in brief - I'm not going to hang around long enough to find out what exactly caused a computer case to become that mangled. Whether it be projectile blasts, small explosives, viruses, nanomachines, aliens, or whatever... If I don't know the person very well, I'm running for the door or nearest window to jump through.

[Ssedrey]

I sometimes do that, even if there's nothing wrong.

[K_One]

You bastard! Im glad you finally got back into this , i told some people about your artwork and how faw the comic "should" have been , I was embarassed to find out you handed it over(i sound like a cheesy credit card commercial). Im gonna try to post in here as much as possible. Keep up the good work man! I love the new changes made! alot smoother if you ask me!

[Ssedrey]

Thank ye, thank ye. Witness as your praise causes me to blush through my scales. Honestly, I'm just glad to be back. This time, perhaps, a little wiser and a little less procrastination prone.