Pierre Speaks: Tools

Note from Jim: During the month of July, I filled in for Pierre on Wednesdays while he's been working on a big animation project. However, today, Pierre is back with another column I hope some of you will find very useful! - Jim

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Hi guys! This week I will talk about various tools that are rarely mentioned, but that can be a big help to anyone wanting to make some of them “silly comics”. ;)


Some I discovered thanks to the time I have spent working in animation, others from spending wayyyyyyyy too much time in various libraries over the years. And some I picked up also from spending wayyyy too much time online at some point.

YouSendIt.com

Unless you have access to an FTP server, if you work for a client that is halfway across the globe, you will need something to share BIG high-resolution files with your client.

Most e-mail services have a limited amount of space for you to use to send files. So if you need to send some BIG…. if not HUGE files through the NET to your client…. YouSendIt.com can be a great tool to do so.

Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life

I often see “How to draw the Marvel way” or “Dynamic Anatomy” mentioned as books that are a must have to any aspiring comic book artists.

But never is the “Illusion of Life” mentioned.

I can already hear the comments “But… I want to draw comics… not some silly animated cartoons?”

Not only is this book a must have for anyone working in animation (whether 2D or 3D), but I believe that it can be also very helpful for anyone wanting to draw comics… or two draw period for that matter.

It is a great tool to learn how to give the illusion that something is in motion.

Too often, you will see people doing a fairly good job drawing talking head scenes, but as soon as you see some sort of action scenes, the work is not so good. Sometimes… it can get pretty obvious that they don’t have a clue how to properly convey any sense of motion.

That might be one of the reasons why too many comics if you ask me (which I know you didn’t ;)) are little more then pages and pages of talking heads. Why too often when there is an action scene… it happens “off screen”.

The death of Alpha Flight would be a great example of a talking heads comic where the only action scene, the death of Alpha Flight, happens off-screen.

So do yourself a favor… and get a copy of that book. ;)

Various catalogs

This could probably go into a blog about the various references that an artist need (which will come in the near future).

Although in this day and age, the easy way would probably be to use Google to find any references that you need… it can always be good to have at least a few catalogs close at hand.

You never know when your NET connection will be down for some reason… or heck if your computer won’t die on you all of a sudden. As a freelancer, you can rarely afford to send three days waiting for your internet connection to e fixed, or to wait while you get your computer fixed or go shop to buy a new one.

So having some of these catalogs is a good idea just in case.

Film Directing: Shot by Shot, the Grammar of the Film Language, and Understanding Movies

Again I can hear the comments “But… but… I want to make comics… not movies?”

Although these books are about movies… a lot of what is in there can be applied to making comics.

These will be great tools at teaching you amongst other things storytelling.

Often… it can make the difference between a poor storyteller and a great one.

Any of these books will make you go through some sort of paradigm shift. I guarantee it.

After that… you will never look at comics or movies quite in the same way. ;)

Superman: The Complete History Batman: The Complete History, Understanding Art

Again I can hear “But… but… but… I want to draw comics… not to be a historian?”

Well knowing what happened before… even before you were born… can be a great tool.

The phrase “Those who don’t know the past are condemned to repeat it” is very true… especially when making comics.

Wayyyyyyyyy tooooooo often do I see people think that something is new, fresh and original, only to be forced to point out that “You know…. This has been done before?”

Knowing what has happened before will keep you from either repeating what has been done in the past…. Or allow you to repeat it fully knowing that it was done before.

But don’t worry…. No one can know everything, which makes it exciting. It gives it a sense of never ending discovery.

Heck not that long ago, I discovered the original Catman. All this time I though that DC had simply come up with a Reverse-Batman to act as a villain in the DCU.

But now I know.

So that sense of discovery will always be there.

There is always something new to learn.

Isn’t it exciting?

I know it seems like a lot of stuff to read…. and even more… a lot of stuff to understand, but don’t worry about it. Don’t expect to read all of that overnight. It is okay if it takes a while before you can go through just one of them books.

And heck, even if you read all of them books, don’t be afraid, many years from now to pick one up and read it again.

You will discover some new things that were not there the first time you read it. Or you will realize that you did not really understand something you thought you understood the first time.

No the book will not have changed.

But you will.

Enjoy.

Until next time.

Free Comics Monday: GI J0E

To get you guys psyched for the movie that's coming out this weekend, I'm presenting two GI J0E comics - I know it not quite classic Larry Hama version, but on the flipside, no one's wearing body armor. ;)



[ GI J0E 8 ]



[ GI J0E 14 ]

- Enjoy!

BAS: A Bronze Age Alphabet (Part 1)

Inspired by Kenneth Hite's trio of articles in the late, lamented Suppressed Transmission ("A Conspiratorial Alphabet","A Secret-Historical Alphabet", and "An Alternate-Historical Alphabet"), I decided to explore the tropes, elements, themes, cliches, and minor obsessions of the Bronze Age in a manner alphabetical. I was assisted in brainstorming this esoteric undertaking by a man who's been around the alphabet--Flashbacker-in-Chief, Jim Shelley.

So here you go, the first fun-sized installment of a Bronze Age A to Z:

A is for Apocalypse and its Aftermath
Like 70s cinema, Bronze Age comics loved the end of the world, and had an "irradiated-sky's the limit" approach to what came after. Killraven swashbuckled with Bruno-esque fashion sense through a world where Wells' War of the Worlds had really happened. The astronauts of Atlas/Seaboard's Planet of Vampires returned to a devastated, vampire-ruled earth that played like a mashup of Planet of the Apes and Omega Man. Kirby outdid Planet of the Apes in Kamandi by evolving the whole zoo above humankind after the mysterious Great Disaster. Hercules Unbound eventually was revealed to share the same post-apocalypse with Kamandi, and with the giant dalmatian riding Atomic Knights from the 60s. Cranking the apocalypse dial to "eleven," Starlin destroyed the entire Milky Way galaxy in Metamorphosis Odyssey. Compared to these outre visions, the standard nuclear holocausts of Doomsday+1, and Mighty Samson seem positively tame.
B is for Black
And probably blaxploitation. Say it loud, African American characters burst onto the scene in the 70s, and were so proud almost every one of them used "black" in their name. Sweet Christmas! Luke Cage became the first black superhero with his own title in 1972, and it was followed by the short-lived Black Goliath. DC's first African American superhero, Mal Duncan, appear in Teen Titans in 1970. In 1971, he was followed by John Stewart, who would one day be the titular Green Lantern of a series. DC didn't wind-up giving a black character a book of their own until Black Lightning (1977), but would've published the first title starring a black super-heroine with Vixen, had not the Implosion nixed it.

C is for corporate evil
Over-the-top corporate malevolence may be part of "the world that's coming" in Kirby's OMAC, but it also reared its Serpent Crown wearing head in the present day in the form of sinister Big Oil company, Roxxon, and anti-environment Man-Thing nemesis, F.A. Schist. The military industrial complex baddies responsible for the creation of Deathlok are no less evil for being in an alternate future. Better not to even get into the banal, faceless corporations that were dummies for perennial world conquers like HYDRA or AIM.

D is for Devil
The Bronze Age comeback of the Prince of Lies has been chronicle in the BAS before. In addition to the satanic choir of brimstone-smelling baddies, we got the titular Demon, Etrigan, who proved that hellspawn could be heroes, too. Shuma-Gorath and his tentacled ilk brought a touch of Lovecraftian horror to the superhero proceedings, and I think we're all better for it.


E is for Extradimensional
In the Silver Age, most "out there" characters came from another world, but in the Bronze Age more and more characters were popping in from other universes entirely. Howard the Duck and Korrek the Barbarian, were among those that dropped into Man-Thing through a heavy-traffic, Nexus of Realities in the Everglades. Shade the Changing Man came to earth from his home dimension of Meta. The Infinity Man chillaxed in an other-dimensional eden until summoned by the Forever People. The Micronauts proved there were no small heroes, only small universes.

F is for feminism
It's "Ms." Marvel, thank you. Not only did Carol Danvers choose a hip pro-women's lib codename in her 1977 superhero debut, but she also was the editor of Woman magazine--which one assumes was not full of housecleaning tips. Avengers #80 (1970) featured the first all-female superhero team, the Lady Liberators (though they were being duped by the Enchantress), and the 70s saw an explosion in female lead titles from Red Sonja to Supergirl. Of course, angst about gender roles was far from resolved--Thundra and her Femizons from an alternate future, were like Rush Limbaugh's worst nightmare of feminism, and the less said about the villianous militant feminist, Man-Killer, the better (really).
G is for Giant-Sized
In the Bronze Age, size did matter. Marvel released a number of hefty, 80-page comics under this banner in the Bronze Age including the historic Giant-Sized X-Men, and the suggestive Giant-Sized Man-Thing. DC called their equivalent Dollar Comics (a reference to the price, naturally), but they were just as giant. Characters also got super-sized in the Bronze Age. Merely being a Giant Man wasn't enough anymore--what with Devil Dinosaur and Godzilla, stomping around, and the Shogun Warriors invading from space.

iPod Comic Questions

Last week I mentioned was was spending time re-engineering our League of Monsters comic to work better on the iPod. I never mentioned the publisher, as I have been waiting for them to go live with the application, but I can now. It's ComiXology who I interviewed a while back. They went live Friday at Comic Con and their iPod Comics application/comics store is available for download from iTunes now.

My post about working on the comic prompted several questions from Sphinx Magoo (as well as a few from people who contacted me directly.) I'm going to do my best to answer all of them today...

Q. Would it be possible to have the text balloons animate in some way so that they expand to a larger size when touched?

A. Yes and no. Currently, all of the iPod comic applications I've seen use static images without any type of true animation effects. A few (like genusApps Kamikaze iPod comic application ) have the type of fly out/expanding balloons you are talking about but I think they are just using two sets of images. One with the panel as is, and then one with the balloons isolated and enlarged.



They way the Kamikaze app works is pretty nifty actually, so if you have an iPod, download one of their comics and check it out.

Q. What sizes do you have to convert each of the images to be converted to iPod-legible format?

The iPod screen is 320 x 480 and some iPod comic vendors want all of your images to be that exact size. The beauty of the ComiXology process is that you can use various sizes and aspect ratios, so you aren't as tied down. My general advice is to keep the 2:3 aspect ratio in your head when dividing up your comic so all of your panels will look as uniform as possible.

Q. How do you go from a series of images to something which can be read on an iPod and Is there a way to test your comic on a computer before bringing it onto your iPod? I'd imagine that'd be a bit of a time-saver for making quick edits and such.

I think the question here, is how would your average comics creator put his comic on an iPhone, and the answer to this is not simple.

It's not like the web where after signing up with some web host, you simply tinker with html and post a bunch of jpgs to a web site. No, unfortunately, creating content for the iPhone OS involves Apple's Objective C language and you MUST have an Apple computer to test your application as there isn't a Windows emulator (that I know of) that would allow you to develop iPod applications on a pc.

So, unless you are prepared to learn Objective C AND buy an Apple computer to develop on, this leaves you with two options.

1. You can partner up with a iPod comic vendor to put your comic on the iPod.

2. Or you can subcontract a freelance Apple developer to help you with the process.

I chose option 1, as I felt the advantage of working with a vendor is you can benefit from their marketing support.

Q. So who is the best iPod comic vendor to work with?

Well, I think that's a matter of personal preference. I chose ComiXology because I like the very slick system they have developed which uses Photoshop to help you prepare your files and doesn't necessarily restrict you to the 320x480 screen proportions. However, there are many other companies making iPod comics ( iVerse, Robot Comics, Kamikazee, Clickwheel, etc...) and they all take submissions, so you have lots options.

So, if you are a comics creator who wants to put your comic on the iPhone/iPod I would suggest the first step is to buy an iPod Touch (they are the cheapest of the two devices) and spend some time reading some of the comics available from the iTunes store. That will help you understand the limitations of the format as well as get you familiar with all the various iPod Comic vendors.

Have a great day!

- Jim

Free Comics Monday: Power Nelson

When I think of 1982, I think of many things:

Screaming for Vengeance
Tron
Remington Steele

but what I almost always forget is how civilization was conquered by Mongol Hordes.



Thank God we had Power Nelson to save us!

Power Nelson is another character from the Crestwood/Prize/Feature publications house who appeared in an anthology comic Prize Comics. Other regulars in this series included The Black Owl, The Green Lama and Frankenstein.



[ Prize Comics 03 ]

Power Nelson has recently been featured in the second Project Superpowers series from Dynamite Entertainment where he has been elected President of the United States. Normally I would think people would be relunctant to vote for a man who wears spikes on his clothes, but he most likely won simply on the strength of his reputation for punching robots so hard their guts exploded.



[ Prize Comics 04 ]

Enjoy!

The OTHER Digital Comics

Today I'd like to shine the light on another form of DIGITAL COMIC BOOKS: Podcasts! As a comic book fan, you may or may not be a fan of podcasts, but I'm sure you are a fan of well told tales of comic book drama and adventure. You'll find all that in more as you read on...

While I'm not going to go in depth on what a podcast is (there's wikipedia for that) I will say that a podcast is usually an audio or video file that can be experienced with a portable device such as an iPod, as a hosted file built into a player on a web site, or downloaded and played on your computer.

There are podcasts about nearly everything including comic books: the industry, reviews, and best of all graphic verbal story telling...

BATMAN: The Ace of Detectives

"Batman: The Ace of Detectives" is an ongoing monthly serial adventure based on the modern incarnation of the character in DC Comics.

Here's the thing...Jeffrey has been asking me for going on two years now to write a new intro for this page. Sertan,the gentleman who wrote and directed the show previously, passed those duties on to me a while ago. But every time I sit down to write something, I run into a brick wall. I mean, what do you say?

He's Batman. The Caped Crusader. A guy who saw his folks gunned down right before his eyes. A guy who can't stand the thought of it happening to anybody else. One of the richest men on Earth, who has sacrificed his happiness to a city. A man almost no one really understands.

When we first meet him in this series, he's damaged goods. A particularly nasty villain has put him through threw the ringer and he's forgotten how to trust. He's cut off from everyone except his surrogate father and his adopted son. Even the woman he loves is on the outside, looking in. He loses so much. And it just gets worse, to the point that he breaks. And then...

Pete Milan

Writer & Director, "Batman: The Ace of Detectives"

What about it makes it "Comic Book" like?

Pendant Productions never lets their "licensed" podcasts (they have original stuff too) stray too far from an actual comic book. Each has its own page where listeners can download wallpapers, cover art, and more for each.

Did I mention that beyond Batman Pendant also produces a Superman, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Supergirl, StarWars, and Indiana Jones podcasts?

BONUS:

In the Pendant productions Batman Universe Bruce Wayne is still Batman and Dick Grayson is Nightwing...

Axiom-Man

One night Gabriel Garrison was visited by a nameless messenger who bestowed upon him great power, a power intended for good. Once discovering what this power was and what it enabled him to do, Gabriel became Axiom-man, a symbol of hope in a city that had none.

Driven by the desire to prove himself someone of worth, Gabriel donned the cape and tights after seeing an article in the Winnipeg Free Press about a little girl who was killed while gang members raided her father's house, looking for drugs. Having always struggled with self-esteem, Gabriel figured that, by being Axiom-man, he might be able to reclaim some of the self-worth that had been lost through twenty-four years of being looked down upon by society, friends and even family. He understood that little girl, understood what it was like to not be heard, to not have the chance to speak up for herself. Perhaps as Axiom-man he'd be able to speak up for those who couldn't, able to take a stand for those overrun by the injustices of society.

What about it makes it "Comic Book" like?

A P Fuchs, the author and creator of Axiom-Man, is a dyed in the wool comic book creator at heart. Axiom-Man started as a print novel, which was podcast, along came two sequels which have now led to actual webcomics that are updated weekly at places such as WOWIO and others.

Decoder Ring Theatre's: The Red Panda Adventures

Keeping 1930s Toronto safe from gangsters, racketeers and power-mad supervillains - Thrill once again to the tales of that Masked Man of Mystery; The Red Panda! All-new tales of two-fisted pulp justice!

For years now, a shadowy organization has targeted the city and its citizens. Time after time the Terrific Twosome has defeated their most diabolical efforts and time after time the Syndicate has risen from the ashes, changed its stripes and begun it's campaign of terror anew. Who would have thought that the worst thing they could possibly do was give up? Will anything be left standing after we enter....

What about it makes it "Comic Book" like?

Greg Taylor and the gang over at Decoder Ring Theatre have created a character made of the very same grit and pulp as the characters who inspired (and sometimes star in) our comic book superheroes of today such as: The Green Hornet, and The Shadow.

BONUS:

There is a Red Panda print novel that you can purchase off his web site and amazon right now...

Speaking of the shadow...

Steve Saylor's: The Black Shadow

In a world where evil walks the earth, where super villains are taken over by demonic beings. They all want one thing, and one thing only. To take over the world. There is only one man who can stop them. One man with the powers and abilities to kick some serious demon ass. In a race against time to stop a portal that opens to Hell itself. One man, one hero, one sonofabitch you don’t want to mess with. He is faceless, he is fearless, he is Black Shadow. From the mind of debut podiobook author Steve Saylor comes a story where the super powers meets the Supernatural.

What about it makes it "Comic Book" like?

The Black Shadow operates in a city larger than Metropolis, more crime ridden than Gotham which sits on a portal leading straight to hell, a place that the man behind the Black Shadow mask may very well have been too. This concept is tailor made for comics, and just ended up as a podcast instead.

Have a great weekend,

Caine

iPod and iPhone Concessions

To paraphase Stan Lee, With Great Opportunties comes Great Work, so for the past week, I've been reworking our League of Monsters By Butterfly Betrayed comic into a format that will be better suited for the iPod/iPhone.

It's been an eye opening experience as I've had to change many pages from the way we originally made them. For example, here is the Roll Call Page as created by Pierre:



While I love the heads for each character that flank the main panel, on the iPod, this just didn't seem to be working. So, I felt it was best to break out the text in the yellow box onto a separate page and make a new Roll Call page.



In some cases, the revisions were simply a matter of breaking out panels onto their own...like this page with 3 panels...



Which would look like this on the iPod - making the text too small to read.



Now becomes these two screens...





Sometimes it was necessary to move balloons and add some text to make a better transistion - like in this case with the Blood Vs Butterfly scene



I felt the text was too small so I reworked the page like this:





Sometimes, I just have to completely redesign a page using the existing art to make something we can use. This page with a diagonal panel layout was such a case. It *might* have worked on the iPod, but odds are the text would be hard to read.



So I broke it out like this which I think will work better on the iPod. Not a perfect revisioning, but I think it shows the story better.





So far, this has been a good deal of work, and some people might question why I'm going through all this trouble. Well, the answer is, Pierre and I have always prided ourselves for designing comics to be read in a digital format (CBR) so it would have been a hard pill to swallow to see iPod versions of our comics that were hard to read.

There are several companies making comics for the iPod now (we've been approached by nearly every single one of them) and I just wasn't happy with how those companies were handling the conversion process. Many of them don't seem to care about readability or the user experience.

It wasn't until recently that I was contacted by a company (who will remain nameless for right now) who really had an amazing system to handle the formatting process that I decided the time was right to convert one of comics into the iPod format. Like I say, it wasn't a slam dunk, as I've had to do a good deal of rework. It's been a real learning experience, but in the end I'm hoping I'll understand what you can do in this format well enough to capitalize on it when Pierre and I begin our next League of Monsters comic!

I hope this helps anyone else out there working on an iPod comic.

- Jim