Front cover work (ideas to final design)

For the front cover of my Comic I decided to look at multiple things,first was the text for my comic,Here are some examples I considered in my research:

I found this one quite intresting in the way it was very thin(compared to the other fonts I had looked at)Also I found it very simple and considered it for my comic.

I liked this one especially because of its bold,attention seeking,layout.The more dramatic the word,the bigger the font would be.

I came to the conclusion that,although both font ideas were nice,I would stick to drawing the lettering by hand as I belive it gives a nice touch to the book front.

After my search for a font came to a end I began looking at diffrent comic layouts (some good examples I could find were in Marvel and DC comics)

Some examples found were:

I stated off by looking at what I imagined would be one of the most intresting comic company's (marvel)to use for examples and ideas.This one appealed to me mostly because it includes one of my favorite characters (which is Wolverine) .But because likes the way that dark shading has been uses to contrast Wolverine from the background (which appears to be a mint green colour).Also the way images have been put in the back ground also makes Wolverine stand out as he is darker then the rest.

This comic by marvel also interested me by the way that one character was overlayed. This made the reader look at two parts of the front cover.I asks o really like the colour scheme that is used for this particular comic As it gives off quite a adult vibe(with all the dark colours) though I do nit think I will be using this as a direct example it is always good to look at other ideas.

This is by my favorite one and the one I will be trying to base my front cover on,what I like most about it is that the head (or man) is in the centre of the page and this becomes the vocal pinot of the front cover. I also like how the other characters are shown to be debating around him.This gives the cover a very intresting look.The colour scheme on the page is not really to my taste(and would not really go with my comic)but is something to keep in mind if I consider doing the front cover in a Marvel esc way.

My final front cover idea (photo reference) :

For my final front cover idea I used one of my class mates hands a s a example to draw from.I then drew the world of Gurms (which I explained in a other blog)in the middle of the hand.

(Insert image)

Evaluation of final comic

Above are screen shots of my work.Most are segments of the comic it's self and not pages 

Final comic strip finished:

Above is the front cover.

Evaluation;

My comic was made using Photoshop,illustrator,and mostly my own drawings.The pictures  i took were taken in Bradford lake and around the college.I vastly prefer the pictures taken at bradford as they are better quality.Though the price for all my pictures being in high quality as that this made the computer lag and sometimes it would freeze up completely.I would then uses the images i took in the background and mess around with the brightness,levels,and Hugh and saturation,until i was happy with the picture.I tried to give each picture a dark comic style.This was decided after i did research into different comic styles.

All my characters in the comic really go well with the background.I have enjoyed drawing them out but would have loved to do all the comic by hand.As i had a lot of problems(specially with photoshop).On my past blogs i have explained the characters and their profiles(please see others).I researched layout that would be suitable for my comic and came up with a slightly circular and my comic panels fit in perfectly.

I had before thought of using a sketchy effect for the panels but wanted the back ground to be black(and for obvious reasons this would have not worked).

I was going to have the speech bubbles in grey but had to think of colour blind or those who struggle to see colours.Also by making the bubbles white it attracts people to the comic and the taking parts straight away.

The actual font its self is Papyrus in 0.5pt.I believe that Papyrus suits my comic style as it gives it a slight edge.The font was in a colour black for the simplicty.

The overall project went well though I do feel that it was quite a rush to get it finisged.I am happy that I stayed behind to help get to the end though as I am impressed to see my comic.come to life.If I had chance to do anything differently it would be to have learnt some of the Photoshop tricks before hand (this would have helped in saving more time).Also I would have made ,at least,  a few more pages for my comic.

Examples of Anthropomorphism (used in comic work) and Fantsia

Anthropomorphism:Giving human characteristics to inanimate objects.Most that I found were parts of buildings and architecture but these gave me ideas all the same.I loved the way that looking at something with a completely diffrent mind set can reveal so much.

A hat in the disney style.Disney its self is highly known for giving human characteristics to inanimate objects.One of there most poplar films 'Fantasia' includes a magic hat which leads Micky around the castle .Everything in the castle is animated.

Here we see the brooms marching away in a human like fashion. 

I studied this film closer and decided to focus more on the brooms,which in the film,are brought to life by magic.They the go around the castle cleaning up(and also carry buckets around with them.

Mickys hat,for a short while,becomes enchanted as well.

Comic presentation (unit 12)

Story idea :
My story includes a gang called' The Germs' who's names are Feather and Lolly.They travel around trying to write the wrongs of the world(namely cleaning up the mess humans leave behind).As the travel through ha nearby forest they come across a old, wrecked,mushroom.They soon get to work cleaning it up and are thanked by the dealers of the house.

characters(included in story):
Feather 

Lolly

The Gurus
(Dork,Smirk,lork,York,ETC)

Age:
This comic is suitable for all  ages and does not contain any thing that may be seen as imapropriate.

Length(wip)
1-2 pages

Colour:
Full color pages including black boarder.

Example:

Programs i have used include;

Photoshop

Illustrator

Both have helped make characters.

Improvements that i am aiming to make are:

Finishing my comic,

Adding to my Disney research,

speech bubbles.

Notable areas i have already included are: 

Research on different types of comics,

Comic styles,

Different artists,

Boarder idea.

This comic presentation was shown to my class mates and was ment provide a idea of the work I was doing. In this I found out what I would need to do to appeal to my audience when I was doing my comic book.

pictures for comic WIP

These photos were all taken at Bradfield Resivour near Sheffield.As there is a lot of nature and trees I thought it would be perfect for my comic.I will be hopefully transferring these images from blogger over to a computer at colledge. 

comic layout ideas

For my comic work I decided to look at the diffrent types of layouts in comics and magazines.This would help me with creating my choice and how dramatic I would like it to be.
Here are some examples I found that inspired me:

The first one that caught my eye was this comic strip that seemed to use semi real people and then using comic effects to make them blend in. The background includes a varsity of colours that draw your attention and seem to fit in with the comic quite well..I like how parts of the comic have been draw (and I assume are made to look like so).

The layout it's self is quite standard but fits well.This makes it so that the comic goes in order and is easy to read.

Text is placed in little boxes that separate it from the picture so ,again,makes it easy to red. 

This comic features a black and white colour effect which gives it a dramatic look.Some pancakes of the comic are darker then other this too me adds drama and gives a nice subtle effect.In my work I would like to achieve something similar to this if possible.Thsi comic,like the first one,is easy to read and understand. Even though there is no actual writing.Detail has been put into this work .The layout itself is very slanted(as if it will fall off the page) And the borders have been outlined.

Last but not least I have picked one if the most simple layouts(this is just standard as you can see and there's no comic in its self).Thsi layout gives me a idea for my own as I want my comic to have a sketchy border to it.

This will be my focus through out. 

My final idea is to make my comic similar to this style (but still keep the Jim Davis simple panel style) :

My favorite part about the idea above is the way the boarders are not at all straight and give the comic a bit more life to me.

While searching for layout ideas I cam across a very useful comic direction guide.This gave me the idea of how I would go about pacing a comic ans how the audience would read one of my comics if I decided to do it in this way.(As seen below)

The red arrows give indication of the pace as stated.

Jim Davis (comic artist) basic information

James Robert "Jim" Davis (born July 28, 1945) is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the comic strips Garfield and U.S. Acres (aka Orson's Farm), the former of which has been published since 1978 and has since become the world's most widely syndicated comic strip. Davis's other comics work includes Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat and a strip about Mr. Potato Head.
(Taken from Wikapedia)
Examples of art done by Jim Davis :

I really want to use Jim Davis as a artist for inspiration because I feel that both are styles link(such as the way the eyes are drawn ) I also would like to take reference from how his comics are played out.

The example shown above gives me a idea of how his comics are drawn out and the way he adds drama in his pictures without actually using words(this means that even if there wasn't any speech you would still be able to have a idea of what was going on and it would still grab your interest. 

Starting comic designs

So to start my project off I decided to look at diffrent styles of comics and the way characters are protrayed:

First off I looked up one of the most common comic styles I know which would in fact be Manga.Manga characters are known for having big eyes(this is supposedly because they are ment to represent innocence like a baby).Manga has a barbarity of diffrent genres like for example,slice of life,romance ,horror,etc...

Over the years manga has began to increase in popularity to such a extent that some books were animated (this is called anime).

Above we see a example of anime/manga.showing the big eye theme.

As I read Garfield when I was little I feel as if it is very close to my heart.I have always adored Garfields lazy nature.As well as having comic books published Garfield was also shown in The Daily mail here is a example seen below:

I find Garfield strips to be quick and snappy which is what I hope to do with my work in the future.I love Jim Davis comic style and also the way he draws each individual character so the are automatically recognizable. I would like yo use his work as future reference in my comics.

For example with Garfields ginger and black fur and eyes I would recognize him.

The next style is the more realistic one(even though the characters them selves my not be).In the sponge Bob comics we see inanimate objects take on life.This  is a great example for our work with comics.In one page we take in a lot of information.