Sorry I haven’t updated the Blog lately. I’ve completed page one and most of page 2. I’ve also completed a second set (the bridge of a pirate ship) for the chapter (even though I originally thought I’d only need one set).
Although he’s only a minor character, I introduce the Captain of the ship that brought Alexander and company to Revenna (and which takes them to see the Glitter Fields). The captain is an Akiak, a feline race. Although I didn’t originally plan it, I’ve stumbled into some dialogue about the racial prejudices within the Imperium and especially the naval officer corp. Since most officers are from aristocratic families and most aristocrats are Human, most officers are therefore human. That makes it difficult for another race to reach higher ranks in the navy (or other parts of the military for that matter). Again, I didn’t plan on having that in the chapter, but it gives some added flavor to the Imperium “environment” so to speak.
My wife and I will be going to Wizard World here in Chicago in August. It’s a comics convention and will have people like Frank Miller (Sin City, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, etc.). It’s the first comics convention I’ve ever been to, so it should be “interesting.” I have ordered one of my Imperium Chronicles Tshirts that I will wear there, perhaps giving some very primitive advertising. I got the first sample of the tshirts this week. The quality is good, although of course it’s still just a tshirt. I ordered one of the mouse pads next, which I hope is even better.
Just tripped over your site while looking through OnlineComics for epic sci/fi, hopefully Poser-created ;o) VERY impressive body of work you've achieved - it's such a treat to see someone who's actually disciplined enough to work through a real solid epic storyline, instead of the usual shorts and puns.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as someone who is obviously struggling with the same problems as yourself, I thought I'd offer a few comments. They are offered comments in the interest of getting a fine story the interest it deserves, and I am certainly no expert, so take what's useful (if any) and forget the rest.
I have this notion that Poser just could spark off a small revolution in web-published visual storytelling, and your story will certainly help things happen! You've got a fine storyline going, seems inspired as much by "Dune" as by "Henry IV" and "Henry V" - prince Alex seems a regular prince Hal ;o) Fine use of costume to distinguish the characters and families, ditto for the backgrounds, I envy those people *LOL* A little more color and contrast (and variation) in the lighting would add a real sparkle to things!
Unless you are hoping for paper publishing one day, though, you could get more space and easier reading by switching to landscape format (the usability wizards claim that most surfers hate scrolling, meaning that it's often only the visible part of a page that gets read at all!).
And hey, you're working far too hard on crowd pics - learn from Ridley Scott, "Black Hawk Down" is a masterclass in making a handful of people look like a crowd, and a crowd look like a horde!
One pet peevee of mine : why not use comic fonts for comics? You can get great comics fonts from www.blambot.com - free for self-published stuff (I use "Digitalstrip").
Your visual storytelling skills are superb, and that's why I'd try to get more lively poses and faces (I readily admit that I buy most of mine, there are some fine sets out there!). After all, 'tis easier to angle and frame than pose ;o)
Seeing in your blog that it's hard work to tell all those chapters, you could speed up the telling of the story with little or no effort - not every speech bubble needs its own panel.
And, speaking of speaking, a bit of variation (close-ups, long shots etc.) might liven up the conversation pages - one needs some diversion when the characters are prattling; not that I've found the magic balance myself, my bubbles tend to crowd out the characters at times *LOL*
All my nit-picking aside, I think you're doing something that will have a lot of impact _ providing much needed proof-of-concept that it's possible to tell an epic story visually using Poser and supporting apps. I'm sure there's a lot of would-be storytellers out there who dream of just such a dream machine to realize their stories. Comics may be the "poor man's moviemaking", but since we can't all have ILM, Poser is a sweet substitute. Fine examples such as yours will certainly help to open up some eyes ;o)
And oh, yeah - I never miss a chance to drop a link to my own faltering efforts :
http://www.apexdigest.com/
Online/sequential/purgatory/
menu1.htm
...or, if you will suffer poorer navigation to get further in the story :
http://www.renderosity.com/
gallery.ez?
Start=49&Artist=thip&ByArtist=Yes
...find and click "Prologue 1" then keep hitting "Previous" (top left) to go forward - crazy, but it works fine.
Looking forward to seeing more of this Alexander epic. I noticed that you worry about how much attention (if any) web comics get, but don't lose heart as long as you like doing the story. Most web comics creators are suffering from this "attention deficit", but epic stories have an edge : readership has lots of time to grow - first you hook'em, then you make them addicts ;o)
Cheers,
Thip