Jeez guys, you don’t make it easy with some of these characters. Had a bitch of a time finding refs for this one. If anyone can help out with better pics, feel free.

V

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OK, y’all

A Finit-e update…

As a result of adjusting my commissions schedule to allow for weekends free to work on the comic, I have made more progress this year, 2 months in, then all of last year combined. It’s awesome.

Finit-e chapter one is nearly finished in terms of color (1.5 pages left, for inked work ready to be rendered) and in proofs, awaiting a QA review for continuity. I did notice the need to add one more page, so I have to get that whipped up and rendered, and then this first installment will be done.

It’s incredibly difficult to work on this every weekend, for 8-12 hour blocks, and then not be able to show anyone the fruits of my labors. Well, except my wifebot(tm) who is getting excited, now that they actually look like… comic pages. But on top of that, unlike many serial-based stories, this isn’t being made up as I go… the entire first volume is written out, planned fairly carefully, all pages thumbnailed. I have a Finit-e ‘bible’ that helps me keep track of the characters, the details, the easter eggs, etc. And it’s a lot of work. And so the rub is, I can’t talk about the story, either, because it’s intended to be a bit confusing, a mystery of sorts, as you are peeking in on the internal crisis of people not in the public eye. So every night that I work on finessing story details… which I usually do before going to sleep… I can’t actually vent about the process, either. BUT, what I can say is this: I’m having such a good time doing it. It is my hope that my expected 7 readers will enjoy reading it, as well!

Now, I have some questions for you, my loyal R3 members and TRDL supporters. So, as you know, the Finit-e comic is being published as a serial. That means that new chapters, each comprised of one scene, are posted at a time. At the end of the first volume, the book will be printed. It will be pretty. And pretty expensive. So, the assumption I’ve made is that most people will read the serial online, and few will buy it in the end. This is fine, as Finit-e is an online freebie… it’s intended to be free to you to read, and my hope is that some of you WILL enjoy it enough to pick up the book itself. The problem I face is that I don’t read many webcomics, and I don’t like much of what I see on-line, in terms of format. I find them inaccessible.

Please answer the following: You can just reply here in the thread:

1. Have you ever read a webcomic on-line? Do you have a recommended favorite for me to check out, not in terms of content, but in terms of format and structure? I’m talking about the way you actually read the book. Is it a PDF using Acrobat Reader through your browser? Is it a proprietary reader built into their site? Is it panel by panel, strip by strip, or whole comic pages? Do the pages auto fit your screen, with the option to zoom in, or does your browser do that for you? And is it easily navigated?

2. Knowing that Finit-e is produced for printed format, so it is comprised of entire pages of art, do you imagine yourself viewing this online (with the caveat that you will be likely zoom and scrolling, to get everything in) or do you imagine you will be more inclined to print it out? EVen if it is in color? Would you be printing it in color or black and white, if so?

3. Since the Finit-e comic serial is free, I hadn’t planned on establishing any saving or printing restrictions. The pages are watermarked, and I own them, but I work under the realistic assumption that they may be saved by viewers, may be printed either for reading or collecting, etc. and I have been working towards the end of having a nice, high-quality bound OGN-type book at the ned to distribute. Do you think this is wise? Too generous? Should I reconsider, and limit downloading and printing, such as you can from the browser level? Tell me if you think I’m crazy for giving this away. I have heard some strong arguments towards distributing it as a pay-to-pay PDF, but I am unconvinced.

4. What do you think about online sales of comic media? I plan on attending some cons again, starting next year (I took a break this year in order to keep focused) but they will likely only be on the west coast. I don’t plan on actually conning it full steam until the book is DONE, and that’s too far out to plan around. But I have some merchandise that is available for sale now, and more throughout the year. My intention was to just offer it through the site. We’re talking aparrel, stickers, and printed material, including a sketchbook and some prints. I also expct to have a sequwntial art product ready for sale far sooner than Finit-e, but more on that later. Do you think people are comfortable buying such things online these days? Those of you with CafePress stores and book/print sales through your own sites, do you find them at all viable? Are people actually buying from you? What method have you used, to produce and distribute your products? And how have you marketed to support this?

5. Finally, the plan has been to offer some ‘bonus DVD’ tidbits in support of Finit-e. In fact, I’ve been pretty through about collecting details, commentary and extras to be shared exclusively through the R3 forum… will you have an interest in seeing such things? Do you enjoy annotations and commentary? sketches? pin-upes, etc? What other kinds of behind-the-scenes material would interest you?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please drop your thoughts below as you have the occasion to do so!

Thom

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I am in the market for a tablet style mousepad, and knowing that a fair portion of you here use them, I thought I’d open up the forum for any recommendations, hints, or warnings you can provide.

I’ve never used one, personally, though one of our guys that shows up in our little studio jam sessions has one at home… Is there anything I should know beforehand?

Also, for those of you that work in a Non-Digital realm, What do you do to fix Boo-Boos when they inevitably happen? I am horrible about laying down Ink before much more than a sketch has been completed, which sometimes leads to very happy accidents, but I’ve also found myself working around some fuck-ups. Tried a few things, but thus far, short of breaking out the light table and re-inking the whole piece, I haven’t found a type of “White-Out” product that works.

Olin Fnard

Now Playing: Something from the Lord Of The Rings OST

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Not too familiar with this character either, but here we go… It seems like there are loads of different costumes, so choose your own version.

http://underworld.fortunecity.com/blood … ilee.html#

http://hyperion2000.free.fr/Costumes/Ju … ubilee.htm

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Anyone have any hints they can share about rendering water in Photoshop? (I’m currently using 6.1, but I can adapt later versions hints to mine)

I’m currently working on a piece with the Ocean, which I’ve never colored, and I have 2 problems, 1 is getting it to look realistic without spending hours fiddling with little details, and 2 is the fact that it’s part of a series of drawings, most of which including additional portions of the beach and ocean, so whatever technique I use needs to be able to be duplicated easily and accurately.

Anyone?

Thanks, Olin Fnard

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This pic was done for the This Week Jam…

The character selected at random this time around was Cheetara, from the 80’s cartoon Thundercats!

I loved that show. I mean, it wasn’t my FAVORITE, but I did watch it regularly, and I remember digging the designs of the fur on the different characters, how everyone was based on an animal of some sort… very cool stuff. And of course Cheetara was very sexy, regardless of before or after the censors made them add the leotard! Anyway, fun to see all the interpretations of the character in the jam so far, and the week isn’t over yet! My redesign just offers more of a view of her spots along the shoulders and back, and has more of a gymnast look going on… of course, I added some tattoo action as well, so this ain’t your father’s Cheetara!

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

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From everything I have read on this board, I have descerned that most if not all of the artists here use Bristol type papers. I am finding in my meager experiences that small sized papers are too confining but the space I have to work in is too small to accomidate anything larger than about 9×12. I am curious as to what you prefer to work on.

Here’s the questions:

1. Board or paper?

2. What tooth?

3. Size?

4. Weight?

5. For the digital artists, what paper do you use in your printers?

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This was a commission done for R3 Forum member Swordfriend. Ash is a character from some his RPG gaming, a Nephrem assassin, on a mission to rid the Earthly plane of supernatural beasties, vampires, demons and the like. His paradox being, much like Hellboy, he is what he hates. A full bio of the character can be found on the TRDL site through the link below.

Hope you like it!

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

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Another This Week Jam contribution…

The character for the week was Lady Jaye from G.I. Joe.

Since I had fairly recently done an erotic piece with this character for the 2006 80’s Ladies Calendar, I decided to go a different route this time and draw her in a way I’ve never tried before: in military dress attire. Granted, any of you with actual armed forces experience will probably cock an eyebrow to this uniform, which is based on a general service dress uniform, chosen for the contrast of the white tunic. There’s no attempt here to show what branch of the military Lady Jaye is/was in before joining the Joes… no accuracy attempted… but I had a concept for the piece and ran with it.

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

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Sigh, getting tired of saying the same thing but… Another character I know nothing about. Any help will be appreciated.

Vlad

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