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
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.
