Fishing island Tai'O, photography.

In 2011, I traveled with my parents to Hong Kong. We lived in the city for two months, and during which time, we decided to visit some of the fishing islands. This is Tai'O, one of the main fishing islands.  It was the derelict looking huts which have been the main inspiration for the design of my underground City in my comic. The boggy marshlands and dirty looking housing provided a great photography opportunity, and with a bit of photo manipulation, I feel as though these could be used as a base for my City.

This is one of my favourite photographs from the ones I took as I really like the colour composition. I love how the green door, window frames, and plants really compliment the rusted walls and roof, and the scarlet new year decorations. 

I will most likely use this as a base for my "home" design, as out of all the photos I have taken, this hut seemed the most 'lived in'.

This is a photo of me in front of the huts for good measure, and to prove that I was there.  like the idea of having someone sat in front of the 'city', so I might use this as a pose reference for my main character.

This photo is pretty interesting as the hut itself was unlike the others. Though substantially smaller in terms of width, it was one of the only houses on the island to have a second floor. The photo really does not do justice to how small these buildings were, but if you look at the door for size comparison, then you will see how petite the buildings actually are.

High City: Photographs

After taking ideas of improvement into consideration, I then developed the original design for the Revolutionary and created an outfit which I could dress my roommate in so that she could replicate a live action version of my character. I took influences from various sources, the main source being the setting of the Hunger Games' Capitol City. I also took influence from Japanese geisha fashioin which can be seen in the belt of the model, which is actually based off an Obi.

To give a sense of class, I used a rich looking material for the back drop.

I wanted the Revolutionary to have an instantly recognisable character design. I also wanted to focus on the design of the makeup, as I feel that it would be very dramatic in the High City. I had experimented with some bright colours, but I find that white looked the most sophisticated. I decided to stick to white details as it works well with the blue hair of the model to give a nice cool feeling to contrast against the warm colour and texture of the jacket.

To prove a sense of wealth, people in the High City would have short unnatural coloured hair as it is a lot of maintenance and would show that you could afford the upkeep.

The same is to be said about body modifications. Things like elf ears, piercings, or tattoos are again a show of wealth as it proves that you could afford to pay a professional to mark your body.

Civilian Bio

To help create the setting for my comic, I designed the average citizen for both cities. This was mainly to demonstrate the key difference between the two class systems and add some depth into the comic.

I really like the designs for both. I think if I was going to develop the designs, I would probably alter the High City's design to be something a bit more dramatic. 

What I found to be the most inspiring was the Hunger Game's idea of futuristic wealthy fashion in the Capitol. It was this which gave great influence in my design.

Revolutionary.

I wanted to create a character that wasn't on either 'side' of the situation, and that could help move the story along on neutral grounds so that it isn't always action. This way the comic would have more of  balance between plot and action.

I plan to have her lead the comic's revolution in a more political way, than actually get involved with the physical element of battle.

Comic Scamp 1

After scamping up my comic, I decided that the original colour scheme seemed too saturated for the genre (post apocalyptic, in a sense). So as an experiment, I tried out a less saturated colour scheme with hints of colour towards the end. I really like the affect this has as it brings focus to certain details, and breaks up the page so it doesn't look monotonous. 

I think that when it comes to my final comic, I will use a low saturated Sepia colour scheme, with bright saturated colours for key details like eyes or light. 

When I build my final product, I think that I will need to design more pages to go into further depth of the story so that it isn't too vague. 

Comic Layout Comparisons

One of the things I find the most interesting about comics is how the layout effect how efficiently the comic flows. Even more so, the impact that shape has on a mood.

In the first example, Marvel's Winter Soldier, it is clear how the use of smaller and larger boxes have been used to demonstrate the difference between thought and setting, and the importance each of these have.
The smaller more aligned boxes are the thoughts of the key character, and are used just to show him entering the building. It gives the reader the sensation that they're walking along side him.
The small boxes are then followed by a large box that scales the room that he had entered. The fact it's large implies that the room is open and busy.
I also really like how the use of over-lapping boxes implies time and adds dramatic affect.
The final box of the double page spread breaks away from the quadrilateral shape, by slanting the corners and having it 'roofed'. This creates a sharp edge to the box, which works with the violent colours and gives the reader sense of rushing and urgency.

In the second example, Neil Gibson's Twisted Dark, Neil uses a larger box to give the impression of space and vastness. This works well because the trees in the partition dwarf the character.
He also creates a sense of steady walking by using identical boxes on the second page.
The four boxes balance the page nicely and add a sense of rhythm.
I really like the contrast between the two pages, as opposed to having two pages made of similar composition (as is the first example).
I feel the use of an enlarged box really sets the mood and gives the reader a sense of what it would feel like to be in the main character's position.

In terms of layout, I feel that the first example is more successful as it really displays the emotion of the story it's telling. Though, the use of the same structure can be a little boring, and that is where I favour Twisted Dark. However, the box shape in Twisted Dark has no variants, and so makes it feel almost repetitive. It is here where the Winter Soldier comic surpasses, as it's exciting box shapes and layout (in terms of layers) reflect the atmosphere without fault.

Painting styles

I was looking at different painting styles for my comic, and I came across an arts who's painting style I really liked. Their Deviantart username is makochan, and they work with grey scale paintings with a coloured layer set to 'over lay.

This is the process I went through to accomplish a similar affect to their work.

I did a basic sketch of what it was I wanted to paint.

I then worked into the sketch with a grey scale paler to create my painting. 

To make the piece a little more aesthetically pleasing, I added in a background with a light gradient to match the highlights and shadows of the character I had painted.

I roughly coloured over the grey scale painting on a new layer and set it to "overlay". This would make it almost transparent but kept the saturation of the colours, as opposed to altering the layer opacity. 

This is the finished sketch. I don't think I will use this technique in the comic as it is very time consuming and I am not overly fond of the over all affect. I think it's because when working over a grey scale painting, the colours can easily lose their saturations. 

Not only that, but painting itself in photoshop without tools such as the 'oil brush' make it very difficult to paint in. 

I think that if I were to try this again, I would use a different software such as Manga Studio Debut 5.