The comments for Monday’s comic yielded an interesting conversation about the comic’s art style. I thought I’d try a few variations and see if maybe I like something.
#1 is done in the usual style, the others all have either thinner lines or softer shading or in 3’s case a special brush style.
I may do another round of this later, these all look farily similar. Maybe try something craaaazy.
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
#5 looks like a clearer, sharper rendition of #1.
I agree!
#5 looks like more of what we already love, but better, which is always good.
I’m not much of a fan of 2-4. They all look too messy to me.
Something between 1 and 5 is what I prefer. Though 5 looks like it’d take longer than most of the others.
Same here on the messy ones. 6 looks very much like 1 and 7 looks very much like 5 – I would wave them through in different panels of the same comic without blinking an eye. That said, is Selkie’s chin really that sharp or is it just the drawing style?
I like 5 & 7.
I like 1 but 7 seems to be more clear and professional looking, Imho.
5 and 7 are definitely my favorites, with 7 being the top for me.
I like 2 and 7
Five is my favorite!
I vote for #2
I liked 1 and 6.
I really like 5
6
Number 1 and 5.
1. Like
2. Dislike.
3. Dislike. A reasonable style to represent a character’s artwork.
4. Dislike
5. Love.
6. Like. It looks the same as #1
7. Love.
As Dave says, they’re all pretty similar, but I like 5, 1, and 7 the best, in that order.
I like the lines of 5 and the shading of 6.
I like 5 and 7 the best. I’d like to see full body drawings done in style 1, 5, 6, and 7 to see more of what the differences are. Someone suggested in the comments a few days ago trying out sketching the naked bodies first before layering the clothes over them and then erasing the lines hidden by clothes. I think that would make a good Sketch Saturday for next time. The original style is great and I love it, but playing with the art style, IMO, is a good thing. It’s good to see how the art could change and improve.
I like 5, 1, 6, and 7’s okay. 🙂
1, 5 and 7.
4 is very close to the outline-less art style you rejected long ago.
I think in addition to artwork, 3 would work for representing memories and flashbacks.
I love #5 and #7 is a close second if we were voting.
I kinda wish Amanda would get adopted into a family that already has a kid like Selkie(maybe another species or just a human kid with a lot of extra needs).
Amanda needs a good family and help learning to get along with people that are very different than her.
The outlines on 5 look great, but the facial features on 7 are the best.
I like 5
Am i the only one that thinks #2 is the coolest?
Like 2 best, then 5.
I agree that #3 looks like maybe Amanda drew it.
#2 looks like maybe your first draft of Selkie (and I bet it takes longer to draw), while #4 is from the zombie edition.
#6 and #7 you changed the shading of her hair to her left, and it doesn’t work as well. Other than that I would say that #6 is my favorite.
Followed by #1. I don’t know exactly why I don’t like #5 as well, but I don’t.
I personally like the sample sketch you did on page 157 I think it was. That was fantastic and I wish you would have continued with that instead…
Yeah I remember that sample. I used pieces of it for a few strips after that (the unconnected lines for example) but I kind of felt at the time (and still do, if I am being honest) that it’s so far over into the realm of the child-like that it wouldn’t convey the more serious elements of the strip as well. Although it is great for energy and movement and whimsy.
On another note, I like style number 2 the best. Your art isn’t fully developed yet so I think the more edgy and crazy the style is, the better since you notice the flaws less that way. Anything that’s less defined in the way to go in my opinion, since it gives the comic it’s own style that would set it apart from other comics that way!
Looking back over older comics, I remember now that I used to draw with thin outlines like #5 uses all the time before I started using the thicker outlines I am now. It feels a bit weird, having noticed that, to see that the most popular style is the one that calls back an older format.
Although going back to thinner lines would open up more detailing options… I wonder why 5 works so well. Maybe because I used a paintbrush tool instead of the pencil tool. I’ve used the pencil tool since forever because it’s hard and stark in appearance and has the added benefit of being easier to fill colors without worrying about anti-aliasing gaps. Although maybe the comparative softness of the paintbrush tool adds more to the overall look than I gave it credit for…
Just thinking out loud. 🙂
If you look back to when you first proposed the new (current) drawing style, people weren’t too happy with it, because they liked they style you had. Maybe that’s why the thinner line version gets the votes – it’s already been proven good, and people liked it then (I know I did), so they like the idea of it now. Maybe you can find new use for the various styles, like you do with the “memory stories”, for flashbacks, dream sequences and the like.
I forgot about that. XD
It’s funny, because I don’t remember the last style-change. I was voting for 5 purely on what is presented on this page.
the “softness” of the paintbrush and the thinner lines are what make #5 great. The thin lines are really nice for when the characters are drawn smaller, like in the third panel of the previous page.
I think thin lines with pencil tool and thick lines with paintbrush tool are both going too far, in opposite directions. Thin lines don’t provide much room for shape to come out, and lend themselves to a high-pass look, so the paintbrush tool’s softer blending balances that out. Likewise, thick lines tend to be blocky and seem to move slow, but the pencil tool’s starkness provides texture and “synthetic emotion” to balance that out.
Also… I’m no expert, but it looks like you’re doing this very close to final res. One trick I’ve found to make mouse art better is to start with a higher “wet” res, between double and 10× the final res, and just zoom out. You’ll often find yourself not zooming all the way out — like with the wet res being 4× final res, you’ll zoom out 2× — and you’ll naturally have more room to do the details with.
A way to avoid the anti aliasing issue is to use the wand tool to select the area you want to fill in and then fill in the selection on a different layer. After you drop the selection, you re-fill the color a couple of times and it looks like it’s meeting the edge. I use this when I draw so I can mask the lines later to add glow or spectral effects after everything was inked in black
Hope this helps!
I’d like to see a full panel (or more?) for styles 2 and 3 – I think the “messy” style could work well for the way you do panel compositions. I don’t believe the outline-less style #4 would work too well in the long run without sseing proof; and for the other styles, if you switched to any of those and not told me, I probably wouldn’t notice.
Liking 7, but loving 5. Personally, I thing the thinner lines make it look less “cartoony”.
My favorites are 7 and 1. 5 and 6 are okay too, but 2-4 just really put me off. Something about them.
5 is the one I like best.
Long time reader first time commenter.
Personally I like 5 the best. The thinner lines do make it look more polished and clearer, the shading is neither too heavy nor too light -Goldilocks would be pleased- it’s not sketchy -nothing wrong with number two mind you, maybe use that style for a dream/nightmare sequence?- the shapes seem in proporation to each other and well balanced e.g her hair isn’t took big and boofy on her head while her eyes are big enough to be expressive with out being face consuming. Lastly, and I feel this is most important of all, her little bow looks so cute in her hair and she looks like a sweety pie! /)^3^(
I like 2 because it looks “softer” but like many people said it also looks messy and that may not work well for an overall look. That said, 6 and 7 are my next favorites since they also look softer. I don’t care for 5, it’s too simple and hard edged.
I like # 2. it’s cute
I vote for something closer to 7, it seems somewhere between 1 and 5 (lacking detail and too much detail, respectively), but with some other shading style. The detail and line balance and the slightly-outside-the-lines colour fill make me feel lit has charm, but the shading seems way to harsh for some reason.
I think I’ve mentioned that I am a huge fan of seeing the progression of art style in online comics. No matter what you do with your art style, I’ll be around to see the end of this comic through (hoping for no indefinite hiatuses!). 😀 I’m, personally, still waiting to see shimmer-and-stars effects or other similar crazy things around her pair of winter shoes. Will we ever get to see the shoe-people again (like when she gets her winter shoes)? I love them!
I rate 1,6,5,7 in order of preference; 2-4 any expression seems lost in the lines. 5 has chunky-wide face aspect ratio, 7 the hair seems to be taking over, and 6 gives the impression of Selkie being farther away (or at least her head from the headshot).
My favorites are 1 and 5, followed by 4.
I like 5 the best too
I liked 5 the best overall. I think it feels like an evolution of the current style. I really enjoy watching Dave get better over time.
I’d ask more about the process of the art, but I’m almost certain Dave has answered all of the questions I would have if I looked back in the archives a bit : P
looking at it again, i like 5 best 🙂