Page 122 Timelapse.
— The Manor's Prize (@ComicsJimbo) June 29, 2022
This is made using Krita's timelapse function, nothing fancy.
I don't have complex notes for this, but if you are curious about anything feel free to ask. pic.twitter.com/jykVePWBZB
Went from 12:50 AM to 3:07 AM, so just over 2 hours.
The fact that it was being recorded made me more self-conscious, I think, so I drew faster. I often looked at the clock and was surprised about how little time had passed.
It is also faster because there's only 3 panels, and no background.
Though, 3 figures per panel makes up for some of the simplicity.
Page 124 timelapse.
— The Manor's Prize (@ComicsJimbo) July 1, 2022
Note that the last panel BG is different from the final page.
Otherwise nothing too fancy or surprising. pic.twitter.com/NJBzn2LHo2
I was very tired and ther were many interruptions. I thought I would do 2 pages but I only did 1 that day because of how busy and tired I was.
I flip-flopped on the grass in the final panel because it looked too light but then the black is too dark.
For the water I did a soft airbrush bland color because the warble effect confused my mother. But, I will probably use the warble warping nonsense when there are more dramatic panels over the water to make it look scary.
The beam stairwell is the same color as Judgment's skin so it kinda muddles stuff... but I hate changing my palettes... so I think I will not worry about it.
Panel 2 was added later because it wouldn't be clear the host was the one talking.
I am actually not sure how the stones around the pond work 3-dimensionally. In my model they wrap around into the water, so I am thinking they are big thick stones embedded in the dirt, but in some drawings I draw them like thin stone tiles. They look kinda like teeth in panel 1. Maybe I should emphasize that later to make them scary???
This isn't really timelapse notes anymore, just ramblings. I think I am tired and that is why I am rambling more.
Page 125 timelapse. pic.twitter.com/ae58vh4yOH
— The Manor's Prize (@ComicsJimbo) July 5, 2022
From the time I hit record to the time I finished this was about 4 and a half hours. I think I watched a TV show in the middle and got distracted with other things.
Also I'm doing this on a monday after a weekend of goofing off so that makes me much less efficient.
There are several things I am unhappy about with this page, but I still have another page so I'll just move forward.
I did a sketch over photo reference of myself in a seperate file, and used it vaguely for Hanged Man's sitting pose. I didn't want to show the photo of myself in the timelapse. Maybe I'll reveal my face some time, but when I do, I want it to be cool, and I think just pasting a picture of myself in to sketch over would be a lame way to reveal how handsome and good looking I am to the world.
Page 126 timelapse pic.twitter.com/6O9fiVNV2Q
— The Manor's Prize (@ComicsJimbo) July 6, 2022
About 2.5 hours including interruptions.
Clearly faster than 125 (which I drew on the same day) but really, if Hanged Man's not on the page, it's more like half a page. Although there is a complex background, and I did some double takes, I don't really feel a need to spend a long time making Magician look purty. But the page does feel a bit more dull. Also, only 2 full figures on this page. 125 had 7 different faces, and had panels with multiple characyers overlapping.
For panel 1 I used a reference of my hands. I had my brother take the picture. So, I guess this counts as a hand reveal.
For panel 2 I wanted to have the stairs to the beam in the foreground and Magician walking up to them, but I couldn't figure out a good perspective so I just said nah. Maybe if I had a vague 3D model of him to put in the reference, I could do it. Perhaps I will do that later for the beam crossing just to make things easier...
For panel 3 I had to add a layer that slightly darkens the background so Magician doesn't completly meld into the hedge. This is the consequence of being too devoted to a simple selection of colors. I maybe should have done that in panel 2, as the tree "leaves" meld with his sleeve a bit.
From the side the beam usually looks about long enough, but whenever viewed in perspective it looks really short, like 2-3 strides will cross it. Maybe the scale is wrong...
Page 127 Timelapse pic.twitter.com/lzx9QaZA8O
— The Manor's Prize (@ComicsJimbo) July 7, 2022
From start to end, this page took me about 5 hours, for no good reason. I was very distracted, and took a break to read a book in the middle, but even with breaks, I have no idea why it took 5 hours. I was just feeling lame and distracted. Oh well. I don't know if I'll draw another page today or just settle for 1 page.
In the reference 3D model, the end of the beam is visible, but I was thinking about how short that would make it look, so I extended it off page, so in the viewer's mind, the beam could be infinitely long. That's more of the effect I want anyways.
Originally Chariot's "The drinks..." line was going to be in its own panel, but that would make yet another page with a needlessly confusing layout, so I added it to the bottom of the first panel. I dunno if that was the correct decision... :|
I removed the comedic effect of Magician flailing his arms. For one, I wasn't sure how to draw it, but more importantly, there's a ton of dialogue in that panel, so it would give the weird impression that he's flailing his arms for way too long.
Word bubbles gave me a massive amount of grief on this page. Free-floating bubbles are the hardest. There's no corner or panel border to hide one of the edges. At 127 pages in, I still can't draw a curved shape like a word bubble. It's just so damn hard, compared to everything else. I tried a vector bubble at one point, but gave up. I created a detailed guideline for the bubble where HM says "Oh, I'll be fine...", with a series of points and straight lines. When artists draw ellipses, they often use squares as guidelines, so using straight lines to create a difficult curve makes sense. A lot of effort for a word bubble, but word bubbles are evil bastards.
I goofed off a bit at the end. This page took way too much time, so it was nice to blow off some steam. I also must confess I did it so the timelapse would be more fun to watch.
The Manor's Prize Page 128 Timelapse.https://t.co/pt1y4eoOpb pic.twitter.com/bDhUYQ9yE4
— Jimbo (Read my Comic) (@BigJimbo0100) July 10, 2022
Blarg.
This one was super hard, for some reason. It took me a million years to start on it, and a million years to finish.
Once again, the timelapse is not proportional; the program puts down approximately 1 frame (1/30th of a second, I think) per stroke, so it does not show the interminable and ridiculous delays between strokes.
Fool's walk may look funny, but I wanted to do something interesting in with perspective. It is my goal for the beam crossing to be more visually dramatic than previous sections, but due to my inexperience, the "drama" may end up looking rather silly more often than not.
I spent more time today setting up the layouts for future pages than I did drawing this page. The layouts are usually just panel borders and dialogue, becuase more often than not just looking at the dialogue and seeing the layout will be enough to remember what's going on in the page. I don't have detailed notes for the visual aspect, usually, but I try to make the art fit well in whatever seems like a good panel layout. My script has all the lines of dialogue, and what's happening, but I don't slice it up into pages until the page will be drawn soon.
Often I will add more dialogue when doing layouts. Especially for panels like the first, which originally didn't have Fool and Chariot's lines. It felt like the panel would be too sparse without them, and why not have Fool say something funny to make the panel more interesting? There are some future pages where I did this to the extreme degree, with the page gaining over 50% more dialogue compared to the script.
I spent a lot of time today on script and ideas, changing plans for a lot of future scenes, for the better, I think. I have a lot of thoughts about writing, scripting, and planning right now, but I will write them down later when my thoughts are more clear.
I am thinking perhaps that these "time-lapse notes" won't be interesting to most, but at least they will serve as a good record for me if nothing else.
The Manor's Prize Page 129 Timelapsehttps://t.co/3PM7KKW60e pic.twitter.com/tA9MD9j1Gr
— Jimbo (Read my Comic) (@BigJimbo0100) July 10, 2022
This page was made in what felt like a dire time.
I'd spent 3 days taking a break from drawing my comic to do scripts, so I was rusty. Also, my buffer had been whittled down to about 6 pages. Also, I'd be going out of town for a few days soon.
OK, so not really that dire. I was just nervous. I maybe rushed it a bit, and tried some weird BG effects that could maybe have been a bad choice. IDK.
I had to change the beam in panel 1, because I wanted FOOL to be bigger. I removed the beam entirely in panel 2, becuase FRICK! I dunno what I woulda done to extend it properly, and I'm bad at perspective. I also thought the lines were cool enough, and the actual beam would be distracting.
Losing the physical nature of the beam might be bad... the scary thing is falling off of it... but in an abstract world with no beam, the only fear is that one of those white lines will hit you in the eye. If I was a smurt genius I would probably try to make the beam MORE physical, maybe add some sort of wooden texture, make it creak, or whatever, but I'm a third-rate lazy cartoon drawer, so oh well.
The red stuff you see me filling stuff with is part of my "BG-erase" layer, which is set to just erase background elements on layers below it. It's nice because I can change or move the BG, but erase parts of it that the characters would cover in a non-destructive way. It was useful for panel 2, because I completely redrew the background lines using a vanishing point assistant, and I didn't need to worry about which parts went behind the characters. I started using the "BG-erase" layer pretty quickly, when on one of the first pages I spent the effort to erase a bunch of BG behind a character, and then realized I'd rather move the character or BG elements, but couldn't because I'd need to redraw BG elements. So, BG-erase is also good for "just in case" situations.
Really simple page, but wow, it's easy to ramble.
The Manor's Prize Page 130 Timelapsehttps://t.co/JN0B2LVpYk pic.twitter.com/R9PGeLtK2Y
— Jimbo (Read my Comic) (@BigJimbo0100) July 23, 2022
ZZZZZ tired.
I did this on the same day as 129.
The first two panels... thankfully very easy and simple. Strength's line was added late, but it makes sense, if you know the secrets of the plot (which only I do, hehehehehe) but if you don't, hey, pay it no mind, it probably doesn't mean anything... anyways I thought it was a good place to drop hints.
The final panel was obviously harder. I decided on the pose right before drawing it, and it gave me renewed vigor, because I thought it would be fun. Hanged Man cheering Chariot on while also pulling her down is a kinda funny contradiction, showing that she's kinda goofy when drunk.
Chariot's body is too short. Bwegh.
I really like drawing interactions between Chariot and Hanged Man. I also think, in general, drawing characters touching each other is fun. It's harder, but I think the difficulty is always outweighed by looking more fun, and it helps to make a pair of character's relationship into more than just words.
I often regret not doing enough with hands out of laziness. Panel 1 would have been a lot better if Strength was raising a "tut tut" finger as she makes her point. Hands are another thing where they're often worth it to draw, because they can make a panel more fun and communicate more without relying completely on words.
Of course, I have plenty of excuses for characters having hands in their pockets, or be obscured, or whatever. You know, it's essential to the plot that Chariot likes having her hands in her pockets (I'm lying).