Category Archive: digital

Apr
11
2010

Q) What format for a comic?

(can’t see the images in facebook/email, view it here: http://atomicbearpress.com/2010/04/11/comicformatquestion/ )

Now that our comic work will most likely appear in multiple formats: print, web, ipad, iphone/ipod touch, Motion Comics, cel phone, e-book reader what is the best format to aim for first?

There is…..

1) Standard Comic Book Format (portrait aspect ratio).

Pros: Works good for print and on correctly formatted screens like the new iPad from Apple. The print copy might sell better in Comic Book Stores.

Cons: Posting it on the web requires the user to possible scroll up and down which could take away from the experience. For smaller screens like the iPhone, the page might need to broken up into single panels.

2) Web format comics (landscape aspect ratio)

Pros: Works good on monitor screens with out scrolling around.

Cons: Harder to print as a book. For smaller screens like the iPhone, the page might need to broken up into single panels.

(example: Travis Hanson’s The Bean. It looks great on screen and the printed books are nice but might take more work to create)

the bean page 100 by *thebeanbytrav on deviant ART

3) Panel by Panel (web format) Each panel is a separate illustration which is then can be edited into a page layout if desired.

Pros: Panels are ready for digital formats like cel phones and the iPhone. Can be edited into a comic page if desired. Feels like a picture book or a story board/animation that is reveled as you scroll downwards or sideways. Can control how the reader sees the work since they focus on only one page at a time. Easier to make into Motion Comic.

Cons: Still might have to edit it into a page for print. Would produced full page layouts that are pretty un-dynamic based on their standard shapes. Story telling can possibly go slower paced then a full page of comic. The reader has less control how the view the information since they only see one panel at a time.

(example: Derik Kirk Kim’s The Tune. Cinematic, looks great on screen, can control how the reader see’s your vision more so.)

44) Square.

Pros: Nice, friendly format. Feels like a childrens picture book. Stands out as different then a standard comic. Looks pretty good aspect ratio wise on computer screen.

Cons: Might be harder to print and format for some smaller screen media like the iPhone.

(example: Mouse Guard and Jim Hennson’s Fraggle Rock from http://www.archaia.com)

Are there other formats to consider as a starting place? Which one do you like?

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Apr
23
2009

Convention Video Loop playing from an iPod Touch

by Brian

I will be at the Fremont Comic Arts and Anime Teen Expo (CAAT-X) this Saturday April 25, 2009 from 10-4pm. There is more info HERE.

I will be trying out something new (thanks to some electricity from the City of Fremont) to bring a small TV and playing a video loop of my animation and artwork. When I got my iPod Touch this December one of my hopes was to play slide shows and videos from it. But to make a video that will constantly loop over and over seemed impossible. But I figured it out and wanted to share it with you all in case someone else wanted to use the same technique. I am guessing it would work on the iPhone too.

YOU WILL NEED: Movie video loop in iTunes, Garage Band or other sound editor, Small TV or Monitor with RCA input, iPod Touch (I have version 2.0+), and the Apple Composite AV Cable (RCA imput)

NOTE: I will not cover making video in this post, but will cover it if folks want me too.

SOULTION: (as far as I know) the only way to loop a video is to have it be part of a PlayList in iTunes. But the problem I found is that Movies (i.e. videos) will not show up on the iPod Touch in a PlayList unless there is an audio track as part of the PlayList as well. Once you have an audio file the PlayList in iTunes can be set to loop.

Heres how I did it:

a) Open garage band or another audio editor and create a TINY audio clip that is about 1 second long and is silent. If your clip imported is longer then you want you can shorten it in iTunes’s INFO for that track. The file should be an MP3, WAVE or other compatible format.

b) Import the TINY audio track into iTunes as well as the video loop if you have not done it yet.

c) Create a PlayList with the TINY audio track as well as the video track(s) you want.Â You can put as many copies of the movies into the play list as you want so you can have it play the TINY blank audio track very little.

d) Go to the iTunes settings for your iPod Touch and make sure that your play list is selected in both the MOVIES and MUSIC sections.

e) Sync and update your iPod Touch

f) Plug you iPod Touch into the TV with the RCA Video cables that you can purchase sepertly. (Apple Composite AV Cable)

g) Select PlayList under MUSIC and make sure it’s set to LOOP (the icon of arrows going in a circle under the title and to the left).

NOTE on playing video and slide-shows from an iPod Touch. Nothing will show up on the screen unless you have hit the play button. In the case of a ‘photo’ slide-show (another option for conventions) you can press play to have the images show up on screen and then pause if you are giving a presentation.

RESULT: The Movie(s) will now loop forever or as long as the batteries lasts all from your iPod Touch! Yay! There will be a black screen ‘pop’ when it plays the TINY audio clip, but you can make a PlayList of the same movie over and over again that playes for hours. If this is helpfull, please let me know. If there is a better way to do it too, then post a comment and let me know. To see some video work I have done for conventions, check out my samples:

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Mar
18
2009

Artist inspirations on-line.

by Brian

It seems that this week there have been a lot of really good posts on comics and art on-line and as always I love to share them with you. Of course I am a huge fan of all these artist and highly recommend checking out their sites and blogs.

Craig Thompson (Goodby Chunky Rice, Blankets) Has posted a page from his comic-in-progress Habibi and showed how he used some scanned sketches into PhotoShop to help figure out a page layout. His work is so amazingly beautiful. Check it out HERE: http://blog.dootdootgarden.com/2009/03/17/overexert/

Pierre Alary has posted another work-in-progress page from his Sindbad comic. http://pierrealary.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post.html

Tony DiTerlizzi has posted his progress of creating the third and final cover for his series Beyond the Spiderwick. I love his work. His creature looks like Ursula’s pet eels sort of. Check it out: http://diterlizzi.com/blog/2009/03/18/wyrm-king-cover/

Ruben Procopio posted some of his cover work of The Phantom. I love his rough sketches as well as the finished work. Here: http://maskedavengerstudios.blogspot.com/2009/03/latest-on-phantom.html

Here Steve Rude has posted a video of him inking a comic cover:
Inking Origin Cover #2

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Dec
15
2008

Animated Cerebus 3D

by Brian

From a 3d CGI fan-film based on Dave Sim’s comic character Cerebus. Find out more at www.cerebus3d.com.

I admire any attempt to take something as graphic as comic art and bring it into three dimensions.

To see more comic by artist/writer Dave Sim and images of his creation Cerebus. Check out these links.

http://www.cerebustheaardvark.com/ â€¢ http://www.artofdavesim.com/

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Oct
23
2008

24HCBD comics by Doc Pop and Star

by Brian

Two more comics from folks at Comic Outpost last weekend.

Doctor Popular’s Robots Don’t Know about Twitter

and page 1(called page 2)Â of Star St.Germain and Miss Mary Bee’s comic HERE. Other pages are posted on her blog at the same url.

And from Minneapolis, Zander Cannon’s awesome 24HCBD comic Golden Wing vs. Freezer!

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Sep
12
2008

The Totoro Forest Project at the Cartoon Art Museum

by Brian

The Cartoon Art Museum has a multi-faceted art exhibit coming up starting on September 20th. The show will actually appear in segments with the fist one opening in a week. So by December the show will encompass 1/3 to 1/2 of the museum. The art work was created as part of a fund raiser for the Totoro Forest Project.

Now you might be asking yourself, what’s a Totoro?

Totoro is a mystical forest creature that appeared in the delightful Japanese animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki, my neighbor Totoro. Here is a clip from the movie:

The Totoro Forest Project is an a group who have set out to protect the forest that inspired the movies setting and story. To help raise money many of the artist who have been inspired by the movie and it’s talented director donated original art for an auction that was held at PIXAR animation studios a week ago.

Sayama Forest is one of the most remarkable urban forests in Japan, located just outside of Tokyo. This forest is said to be the inspiration for legendary animated film My Neighbor Totoro. With Japan’s rapid urban development in the 1970s and 1980s, the forest has been diminished to a small fraction of its former self. In 1990, Miyazaki helped set up a national trust, Totoro no Furusato National Fund, to preserve the park and promote awareness of environmental issues.

It is estimated the PIXAR art auction raised about $201,236.00 to protect the forest. Much of the artwork will be on display for the museums show. You can see all of it at the official website, Totoro Forest Project.

I will be teaching the drop-in cartooning class at the Cartoon Art Museum on the same day the show officially opens, Sept 20, 2008 and I am trying to create an art project to tie into the exhibit. My idea is to take a painted blog and turn it into our own version of the Totoro. Here are some experiments I did below, inspired by a kids art lesson where they turned fingerprints into people.

What do you guys think?

As a bonus, here are some short animations made from the art that was part of the fund-raiser…

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Mar
11
2008

The Wizards of Ur

by Brian

The Wizards of Ur is a new artist blog that features artists James V. West, A.P. Furtado, Nate Piekos and Chuck Whelon. I will be looking forward to seeing what new stuff these gents produce.

The work below is by Chuck Whelon.