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Thought Bubble 2018 Art Competition

Started by Sinx, 25 September, 2018, 06:53:46 PM

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Sinx

Now that the winner has been decided and the dust has cleared a little I thought I'd post my entire magnum opus (4 pages  :)) with some of the critique that I received from both Tharg and the panel. I can't say that it wasn't a bit deflating when your name isn't read out - no one enters this type of contest without a real desire to win - but on the whole I found it to be a very positive experience. Ridiculous as it is, despite drawing sequential art on and off for a few years (more off than on) and being a big comics consumer I have never had the courage to take my work to a portfolio review session at a convention.
Anyway - enough chit chat

Page 1 :


Page 2 :


Page 3 :


Page 4 :


Critiques :
Tharg - Panels a bit tight for space in regard to lettering, the inking on page three doesn't make enough distinction between foreground and background making the panels look a bit too busy, anatomy tends towards squat figures. Good story telling and variety of angles.
Laurence Campbell - Inconsistency between the inking on the first page and the second, good use of lighting on the first page which seems to have been discarded on the second page. Liked the backgrounds and said it felt like characters were occupying a believable real world. Perspective in pg2. panel 3 a bit wonky.
Tom Foster - Pointed out some anatomy problems on pg.1 panel 4 and pg.2 panel 4, mainly around the arms just not looking anatomically correct with the lighting (ugh so right and annoying when you know it doesn't work at the time but you hope you can get away with it.
Dani Strips - really liked panel 3 had plenty of drama but concurred with Laurence on page 2
Molch-R chipped in and said that he'd only ever seen black ceilings in small press  :lol: and that the use of this ruined pg.2 panel 1 because he only just noticed the head at the bottom of the panel.

Not to take anything away from Dani and Tom but I think because of his maturity Laurence was the most willing to offer the most direct critiques on the day.
I would agree with the comments. Page two I did shoot myself in the foot. I work traditionally but I had to fix panel 2 and panel 4 because I simply had not left enough room for word balloons. This, I knew could potentially be a terrible amateur mistake and get me eliminated early doors. So, I downloaded a trial version of PS, tried to resize the panel, printed it out (rubblish paper). Redrew some of it, re scanned couldn't quite get the contrast balance right in PS and ended up with a sort of muddy blurry mess. This is not an excuse but a note to maybe get the computer side sorted out earlier.

The middle panel on page 3 still haunts me - I redrew it but still couldn't get the anatomy right. Luckily it never came up. I'm so glad gave myself enough time to redraw the panels that I did. Having travelled up from Sussex I have to say i really wanted through to the finals.

Every single entry I would say had me thinking "Gruddamn it! Why didn't I think of doing that?". I don't think you could sit there and dismiss anyone as not being in with a good shot and I am mighty jealous of the clearness and clarity of some other artists inks.

I think this is everything. If any other entrants are around please feel free to post on this thread.

MacabreMagpie

#1
Hey Sinx. I wasn't there for this year's final but I was the winner of last year's competition so I thought I'd chip in and say that I whole-heartedly agree with your comments about how valuable the feedback given to all contestants is, as a developing artist. I was encouraging people who came to my table at the weekend to sit in the audience, even if they didn't get through, as you really learn a lot about storytelling strengths and weaknesses.

Interesting to see, though, that they apparently judged multiple pages this year? I believe it's only been a single page (usually the first) in the past so that's a new element that can either work in your favour (consistency) or against you, depending on how it goes.

As you mentioned lettering, let me share my own technique I use as someone who - at the point of entering the competition - had a bit of trouble, myself, with not always leaving quite enough room. What I've done is create a page template with a font size that matches what's in the prog and then I copy and paste the dialogue from Tharg's scripts into the panels so that I know exactly much room I need. That sounds like something that would eat up unnecessary time but I've found it helps a lot with figuring panel layouts because then you can see what space you have on the page and move stuff around to best fit, so that's how I approach the composition now.

Congrats to the winner, Tony if I recall from Twitter and best of luck if you decide to enter again in 2019!

Bolt-01

MacabreMagpie- that's a good idea, and one that the more technically minded would be wise to look at.

Sinx- don't forget to mail me for a script. I was serious about getting you some more pages under your belt.

Sinx

MacabreMagpie  - Yes, I think the format was very good this year - two pages is more than enough for the panel to look at to judge storytelling, consistency etc and catch any basic weaknesses. Also they have put all of the finalists two pages on the website which is a nice touch.

Thanks very much for the tip about the lettering - that's an excellent idea. I've started doing rough layouts in Mischief at the before moving onto the A3 board so that actually fits right in. Why didn't I think of it? Doh! I blame reading "Drawing Comics the Marvel Way" where the artists used to work off plots not script ... joking I was at the 41 years of 2000AD panel when you said after you'd won you hope you didn't die before the prog came out  :lol:

Yep, well done to Tony Allcock - a worthy winner. I'm pretty sure I'll be there next year

Quote from: Bolt-01 on 26 September, 2018, 09:37:19 AM
Sinx- don't forget to mail me for a script. I was serious about getting you some more pages under your belt.
PM sent

MacabreMagpie

Quote from: Sinx on 26 September, 2018, 11:15:33 AM
I was at the 41 years of 2000AD panel when you said after you'd won you hope you didn't die before the prog came out  :lol:

I misspoke, I actually meant that I developed an irrational fear that I'd die before I submitted the artwork... I could live with dying before it saw print because I'd have still been in it, then, but I had visions of a heart attack as my finger hovered over the "send email" button lol.

Best of luck next year then, mate. I can personally recommend sharpening your skills with FutureQuake Press in the meantime, they're a great bunch to work with. 

GrudgeJohnDeed

Great Art Sinx, you may not have won but you've got lots of talent!

Quote from: Sinx on 26 September, 2018, 11:15:33 AM
Also they have put all of the finalists two pages on the website which is a nice touch.

Is there a link for that? I can't see it on the website, maybe I'm going to the wrong one.

Bolt-01


Sinx

GrudgeJohnDeed - Thanks very much!

MacabreMagpie - Cheers! That is the plan as it happens  :)

GrudgeJohnDeed


Sinx

Here's something from an upcoming five page story to be published in a forthcoming issue of Futurequake. Obviously I can't show it all so here is the first page ... also slightly edited as so not to give much away


MacabreMagpie

Di you attach it, Sinx? Nothing showing up when viewed here

MacabreMagpie

Oh nevermind, it shows up when I try a different browser so must be Chrome thing.

Nice work! Looks like you have plenty of space to play with on that page. Love the texture on the hair in the larger panel.

Sinx

Thanks for the feedback MacabreMagpie ! It's hosted on a server at work so maybe Chrome didn't like it for some reason.
This was probably my best laid out page tbh - I'm still making the letterers earn their notional dollars when they do my pages at the moment  :)
At the moment, looking at this page with a critical eye, I'm practicing hard on drawing faces as I still think it's a bit of a weak point
Cheers

Sinx

Congrats to the winner of the Rogue Trooper competition. Here's one of my entries ...


Sinx