Hypertransitory Monday Comics #3 – Kid Hype pt 3

Posted on by JG

Hypertransitory Monday Comics continues! This week it’s part 3 of our inaugural Kid Hype story arc.

Who is Abigail, and what does Hurricane Stormfront want with the kid?

Click to view larger in a new window

JG’s Creator Notes

I tried something new this week (and a little bit last week).

If you check the pencil and ink versions of this comic (click for larger view):

You’ll see that very little of the background is drawn in. How much of the background I draw usually depends on the subject of the background.

In this case I wanted a “big city backdrop” behind the action. The only problem is, lots and lots of buildings are really boring for me to draw, plus the perspective can sometimes be challenging for me.

Now, if I was getting paid by Marvel/DC Comics, etc .then by all means I would just get busy setting up the perspective and drawing away on it.

In this instance, though, it’s just a bit too much effort for me to go through, and I might not get it done in time.

The solution

Photoshop Brushes:

Last week in a couple of panels I used some photoshop city silhouette brushes. These are brushes that are already made up with a section of a big city in it, so all you have to do is plunk it down and work from there.

That worked ok. It’s not great. Sometimes these brushes can get pretty ratty looking at larger sizes. So I had to go looking again.

Vector Silhouettes:

This time I scrounged up some free vector city silhouettes that I could use as backgrounds.

When something is “vector”. That means it’s a “resolution independent” graphic. Essentially I can scale it to whatever size I want without losing quality.

So I then used a few of these, and they worked pretty well. The only problem is the perspective is kind of locked in. if you want to change angles, you’re out of luck.

3D to the rescue:

Finally, I decided to go the 3D route and drop in some renderings into the background.

The upside is that I can choose whatever angle I want and it will match the scene.

The downside is that I then have to go through the drama of lighting and rendering out a city shot, then trying to make it “match” with the drawing.

Here’s a shot of the basic render I got from my 3D program (Daz Studio):

I only lit it just enough to make everything visible, since I knew I was going to be heavily adjusting it in Photoshop.

Once in there I had to finesse it somewhat to get some windows lit up and make it seem like it was meant to be a part of the artwork.

It still ended up as a lot of work, but just not as much as if I would have had to draw every last bit of it.

I know some creators cry foul on this sort of thing, but I feel like if I spent my time and effort on it and put my own work in on it, and it looks good and it helps the story/art then the readers won’t mind it.

Check the video below to get an idea of how the 3D city works in Daz Studio:

Anyway, that will do it for this week’s adventure. Check back next Monday for the conclusion of this Kid Hype story arc!

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24 thoughts on “Hypertransitory Monday Comics #3 – Kid Hype pt 3”

    1. Thanks, Andrew, this Kid Hype scenario will come to a close next week, and then we’ll see what other comics are coming this way!

    1. Hey Kris, thanks for dropping in, man!

      I wouldn’t mind at all if you posted it on there, it would be much appreciated, bro!

  5. This brings back so many pleasurable memories of reading comic books. The little zig-zag arrows for telephone conversation and the sound effects add just the right amount of nostalgic flavor.

    Oh, and the art is almost on par with Melinda’s!

    Cheers,

    Mitch

  8. Your drawing skills is really great, I am a frustrated artist, I love to draw but the finish product is not so good. I think it’s a wonderful if I will be trained by a good professional artist like you. Two Thumbs up!!!

    1. Thanks for the compliment, Ruby. I don’t know if I would be such a great teacher though lol.

      But the only way to get better is to keep doing it! This is what I was doing in class in high school when i was supposed to be taking notes :)

  9. All I have to say is you’re great at what you do my friend. I grew up wishing I had that kind of chops you do with art…but I never saw it through. But my oldest daughter (8 y/0) is an artist and trust that I live through her art!

    Great stuff man!

    1. Thanks, JK! I appreciate you dropping in to check this out.

      Keep nurturing your daughter’s talent, there’s no telling where it can take her if she chooses to go down that path!

      Hey so you got your site issues cleaned up? What was the final verdict on that?

  10. Hi there, John!
    Continuing to check out your comic series.
    Good one! And although I do not know much about vector art, photoshop brushes or 3D, I do recognize the final quality as an observer.

    1. Thanks for hanging around here Kristina!

      I know the technical how-to stuff is not for everyone so I don’t think I’ll put it in there each time unless there’s something out of the ordinary.

      Thanks again for commenting, and make sure to check out part 4!

  12. Excellent part 3! The plot thickens…..I can’t wait to move on to part 4! Also, it was really interesting to hear about how you did the backgrounds. I think you made a good choice btw, the results were fantastic!

    1. Hi Karen, I felt good about how the results looked, even though I do feel guilty sometimes for “cheating” lol

  13. You’re so talented, the pictures are very well done. Have you been to any comic conventions trying to sell your stuff (maybe posters?).
    Anyway, I like the comic, dark action. ;)

    1. Hey thanks for the compliment, Pia!

      I used to try to hit up the conventions, but I never got a very good response, and even worse I would spend hundreds of dollars on comic stuff while I was there lol. So I don’t tend to frequent them these days.

      Thanks much for commenting!

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