[PXFIRE] Comics

[Nekomata]

PXFIRE Season Two!
Comics

Comics are a well known form of story telling and visual art that has had a major impact on the entertainment industry. Once thought of purely as a 'nerd' hobby in the past is now a widely appreciated medium for expressing stories and ideas. Some of the most popular movies and shows today were directly inspired from comic books or manga. The work that goes into comic making is immense and requires a variety of different skills- writing, cinematography, art, color, lettering, etc. Often times it takes many people to create a single story in a timely manner.

Each week we will be exploring various stages of the comic making process in order to create a (short) comic story from start to finish. It will start simple with brainstorming, writing, and planning and then shift towards art in the later weeks. Both writers and artists have a chance to shine in this section and are encouraged to collaborate.

Rules

• Plagiarism will not be tolerated in any form.
• You are welcome to collaborate in this section. Points are awarded per entry each week.
• Each week of this section builds on the week prior. However, you are welcome to refine older parts, start with a new idea each week or even pick up where another left off (with permission, of course).
• All PXR forum rules apply!
• Be respectful, be creative, and have fun!

Judging

Judging will be on a week by week basis on each part of the comic process. I will offer constructive criticism for each entry so that any changes necessary can be made before moving on should the participant choose to continue the same story across rounds. Any changes made after judging will not effect previous scores but may effect future scores.

Weekly Challenges

Week One: Scripting
Week Two: TBA
Week Three: TBA

[Nekomata]

Week One
Scripting

This week we're going to start with something essential to any story-based medium. Planning the story! For comics in particular this means scripting! Scripting is crucial in that it tells the artist (or yourself if you happen to be the artist!) what is going to happen in each chapter, scene, page, and panel of your story. Scripting helps create a foundation for the pacing, a clear description of each page's events, and the specific details of what happens in each panel (and even panel size/shape sometimes!)

Since we have but a single week for each section of this challenge you will be asked to write a short comic script. The script must be no less than one comic page long and has no upper limit. However, if you plan to use this script for future portions of the challenge (You do not have to) do keep in mind that lengthier stories may be unwise. I would recommend looking at daily webcomics that release individual shorter story strips rather than grand sagas that span over many pages for reference.

Scripts are expected to be in a readable and consistent format. The most important purpose of a script is to convey to the artist exactly what the writer wants to be drawn. Is there a lot of dialogue in one panel? If so, an artist will need to take into account a little extra room. Is the first panel bigger? What does the setting look like? Is there some important object in the background that'll come into play in a later panel? These are all things to be considered. One of the biggest challenges however is knowing what can reasonably fit in a page. Too many panels and too much dialogue makes for a cluttered page- too little and you're wasting precious page space. Decisions, decisions!

Click the following link for a quick guide on scripting- complete with examples!

http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/for...and-Guidelines

Judging

This round will be judged on the following criteria:

- Story: Is the story interesting? Cute? Funny?
- Originality: How original is the idea?
- Characters: Are the characters likeable?
- Organization: Would an artist be able to create the story as intended from the script alone?
- Scope: Could your script reasonably fit in the panels or pages as planned?

Deadline: Since I was late in posting this, 11:59 PM on July 1st. (Central Time)

[Nekomata]

Week Two
Layout

Congrats on surviving the first comic challenge! Hopefully everyone had a good time thinking up of a little story to script out. Now I'm hoping y'all are ready to take things one step forward. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the concept of storyboarding for animation. It's a process in which artists block out the animation and timing of a scene to get a feel of how it will all play out before diving into the final shots. Well- guess what? Comic artists do something quite similar- we call it layout. (Layout also exists in 3D animation but people are more familiar with storyboarding. Similar concept.)

Layout works similarily to how layouts/storyboarding work in animation. It's the artists way of expressing the story and pacing using rough thumbnails of each page. Thumbnails commonly are smaller doodles of each page that focus more on the broad strokes of a scene such as how the panels are arranged, where the characters are in the shot, general motion, etc. These are done quickly for entire portions of a story so that both the artist and writer can see how the script could look as a whole in pages. It is vital to see the story laid out as a whole visually to see what is and is not translating as well from script to art. For example you may realize at this point you have too many panels in one page that are making it hard to tell what is happening- or too much text to fit in a busy panel. Or maybe a transition that just doesn't work as well visually as it does in the script. It is important to catch these things before working on final art since once lines are in it can be difficult to change.

Your task this week is to take your script- or make a new one, it doesn't matter- and create a set of layout thumbnails for it. Reference the comic tips and tricks guide for some things to keep in mind when creating the layouts (I know some of the images are broken: I will fix these sometime tonight!)

If at any point anyone wants some critique or feedback on layouts (this is a very tricky step!) please don't be afraid to message me. I will get back to you ASAP and am willing to offer advice.

Some final notes:

- You may create a new script if you wish. I would ask that you include the script you are using with the layouts.
- You may use the script from another member if they give you permission to do so. (Collaboration!)
- Layouts are typically drawn without any text. However, drawing in speech bubbles to take into account the amount of text per panel is helpful.
- Layouts should be no less than one page with no upper limit. Try to keep it short for your sanity.
- This challenge is all about telling the story through visuals- not about art quality or writing. Make the drawings no more detailed than it needs to be in order to express what the story needs. If you can achieve this via stick figures, then that's fine. (I imagine you'll need more than stick figures though!)
- A helpful thing to look at would be general cinematography camera shots. Many don't realize it but film and comics actually have a lot in common when it comes to story telling. Comics just express time in a different way.

Link to guides/tips/tricks:

http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/for...and-Guidelines

Example layouts from PRS Chapter 7

Spoiler:

Judging

This round will be judged on the following criteria:

- Time: Do your layouts portray the sense of time intended? (Ex. Does an action scene feel fast? Does a tender moment feel slow?)
- Readability: Are your panels easy to follow?
- Layout: Do the 'camera' angles used help the story? Do you break the line of action?
- Emotion: Is the intended emotion evident in the layout? Can we tell what the characters are feeling without the use of words?

Deadline: Since I was late in posting this, 11:59 PM on July 8th. (Central Time) - I swear we'll get on track for that last task!

[Nekomata]

Week Three
ART!

Congratulations on surviving yet another round of comic making. Not as easy as it looks now, is it? Pat yourself on the back for any and all work you've submitted to this section: You deserve it! Now the last challenge shouldn't require too much explanation- we're going to finish your comic by adding in final art! Exciting, yes? There are few things more rewarding than seeing something you've put so much time and effort into finally come together to completion.

So for the final task you will be completing ONE page of your comic. If you wish to do more, you're more than welcome to- but to prevent killing everyone with a lot of work only one is required. Additionally, colors are optional. If we had a week 4 I'd split this into line art and color- but we'll just have to settle. If you choose to remain in black/white or greyscale, be sure that your art is easily readable. If you use color- the same applies. Remember that in comics you are trying to tell a story through script, layout, and art. Every single choice you make is to help tell the story- this includes in HOW you draw or color your pages.

Some final notes:

- If you did not partake in week 1 or 2, feel free to create a page anyway. I will not require layouts/scripts being posted as this is a 'final' page. So do whatever. If you did partake in prior weeks- you can create a page unrelated to your previous entries if you want.[/b]
- You may use the script/layout from another member if they give you permission to do so. (Collaboration!)
- Keep in mind what the focus of each panel is meant to be. Characters or important objects should be easily readable. This can be done through the use of lighting, color, line thickness, camera, level of detail, etc. etc.
- Only one complete page is required, even if your layouts span multiple pages.
- Color is completely optional. So is shading. However, they can both help tell your story so I suggest adding some in- even if it's some simple greyscale or monochromatic shading.
- HAVE FUN!


Judging

This round will be judged on the following criteria:

- Art: Is your art clean and readable?
- Story: Does the art help tell the story?
- Emotion: Do the artistic choices help compliment the tone/mood of the story?
- Final: An overall score of story, layout, and art based on the grading criteria of all rounds.

Deadline: It's a time consuming task, so July 15th at 11:59 PM Central time.

[Nekomata]

Reserved for Scoreboard

[K'sariya]

Do I win the round if I write out the script for Loss?

Joking, just wanted to drop by and say that this is a really interesting idea for the first round of Comics--I've never thought about the scripting that naturally would go behind each page, and that's a great new perspective to think about in the creative process. I'll enter this if I get the time!

[Bulbasaur]

So just to clarify, I'm just writing a script for week one; no actual comic?

[K'sariya]

I've never done any comics before, though for an animation class, we had to read "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud (which was a really cool, educational comic on understanding the devices that comic artists use to do what they do. It's an older book, and the full PDF of it is actually available here, if anyone's interested!

Anyway, yeah, totally new to me! I hope Bulbasaur's right in that we are just writing a script for this part, because that's what I tried my hand at. It was really fun. I might have over-explained some things, but I tried to think of how I'd explain it if I weren't creating a page that I'd be drawing, so I wanted to communicate as many details to this imaginary artist as possible (hopefully maybe without crimping on their creativity? ; n ;).

Pieta

Spoiler:

Below the surface of the open ocean on a clear afternoon. Bright sunshine pierces deeply. There is no land in sight. The ocean floor, miles below, is cast in shadow, where even the light cannot reach.

A row of three small, square panels that rapidly profile and establish the ocean.

Panel One

A shot of the surface, with the clear blue sky eclipsing most of the frame. The sun shines brightly, casting a flaring glare, centered in the sky.

Panel Two

The view shifts deeper, with the surface now eclipsing most of the frame. A slice of the sky is visible at the top to connect the progression from the sky to the sea. The water here is a crystal blue, brightened by shafts of sunlight to establish clear, tropical waters. There are many spears of light, all very thin to show that the view is fairly far-removed. The light illuminates a wispy trail of bubbles emanating from the bottom of the frame.

Panel Three

The sky is no longer visible, only the sea. The upper half of the panel shows the fading edges of the sunlight up above. The bottom half is darker, without the shafts of light that just faded, but still lightly lit by the sun’s dimmed glow. The trail of bubbles continues halfway down the panel, before ending at a tiny, rounded silhouette. It’s one of a smaller, curled slice of body with a massive, almond-shaped appendage attached to it that’s almost larger than the body itself. It’s a black silhouette, with no details visible. It casts a dark shaft of shadow beneath it.

Panel Four
A larger panel, full width. The panel’s bottom sits at the center of the page.

The view is much closer now, showing the dark blue form of a Clawitzer drifting in the vastness of the empty panel. The closer view reveals its colors and details. It’s body is tilting upward, as if were drifting upward, its massive claw hanging limply down beneath it. Its smaller claw is held out in front of it, with some sort of shiny, red object balanced on it Its mustached head is tilted down, looking at the object. In a thin, understated serif with no container, its thoughts are the only thing that accompanies it in the blue.

CLAWITZER: What if…

Panel Five
A much smaller panel, half width, a fourth of the remaining vertical space.

The panel is filled with the Clawitzer’s perspective, its sideways-tilted claw and the object balanced on it in full view. We see now that the red orb is a spherical gem. It glimmers slightly, even in the dim light. We can slightly see the Clawitzer’s reflection in the gem, and barely, we can see a thick scar that streaks down its whole face.

Panel Six
Below panel five, the same width, filling the rest of the column defined by panel five.

The same as the above panel, but the ghosted, lowered-opacity details of a Staryu frame the gem.

CLAWITZER: ...it’s too late?

Panel Seven
The remaining space of the page.

At the top, cast on a bubble with intensely-streaked edges, the words “HELP!” burst urgently from the right of the panel. Beneath it, a front-on view of the Clawitzer and the gem, but with the Clawitzer’s reaction--alert, head raised and turned toward the sound, the gem now clenched between its claw instead of balanced on top of it (accompanied by a small “clack!” SFX of its claw gripping it). The vibrant, though dark, ocean seems to lose a bit of its color behind it to indicate a subtle shift of the mood.

[Coru]

Do the comics need to be pokemon related?
I have a story that I've slowly fleshed out for years and I'm starting to think about making it into a comic but it doesn't involve pokemon. It's more of a fantasy type thing. Would it be ok for me to do that instead?

[Noblejanobii]

Alright here we go!

Lucky Travels

Spoiler:

Panel One:
Lucky’s back is to the audience. Staring down one of the streets of Castelia City. Buildings all around. Have some logos on the buildings like in the game, “Pokémon Center” and “Union Tower”, etc. Night time, lots of people walking around. A few people in this panel take notice of Lucky but are more concerned than alarmed. Bright lights big city feel.

Panel Two:
Lucky’s ears go straight up in alarm when a service pokémon notices him and starts growling. The owner screams.

Owner: SHINY FERAL!

Panel Three:
Lucky appears confused and lifts up his front foot as he prepares to run. There is murmuring throughout the crowd as more people take notice of him. Police lights can be seen in the distance.

Panel Four:
Lucky takes off running through the streets. Triangle shaped panel. Close up of his paw. There is a soft "pat pat pat" from his paws hitting the ground.

Panel Five:
Continue Lucky running through the streets. Triangle shaped panel. Close up of his alarmed expression.

Panel Six:
Lucky runs down an alleyway. Shot of him with his tail and ears folded down staring at a brick wall. Out of the line of sight but slightly visible through a shadow, Lonbo (shiny golduck) tries to catch Lucky’s attention.

Lonbo: HEY!

Panel Seven:
Lucky spots Lonbo. Focusing shot on Lonbo gesturing for Lucky to follow him.

Lonbo: This way! Quickly!

Panel Eight:
Lucky follows Lonbo. Shot of both of them running down another alleyway with officers shouting in the distance.

Officers: Where did he go?
Officers: Find him!

Panel Nine:
Lonbo leads Lucky to the sewers. Shot of him holding up a manhole cover and pointing down it. Lucky looks a bit disgusted by the thought.

Lonbo: Just down here. Hurry!

Panel Ten:
Another establishing shot of the Heart of Castelia from BW2 (the garden with the tree in the center) with several different shines inside, both gijinka and feral.

Lonbo: I’m glad we found you in time.