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Hello,
I hope this is the right forum to give a heads up about my bi-weekly Warhammer 40.000 webcomic, that I have up and running since 2008:

Dredd907 - the adventures of Xam and Dred

+ Update 47 +
+ 4.08.2010 +

Direct link: http://dredd907.thecomicseries.com/

Webcomiclist: http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/p/12850/Dredd907

Please let me know what you think!

Feedback, ideas and guest art is always very welcome!

Enjoy!



Dredd907

Sorry, I don't like it. The art's not pretty enough to admire, the humour isn't funny or relevant enough to laugh at, and the story isn't interesting enough that I want to follow the narrative.

AlexHolker wrote:Sorry, I don't like it. The art's not pretty enough to admire, the humour isn't funny or relevant enough to laugh at, and the story isn't interesting enough that I want to follow the narrative.

Dido, Sorry Dredd. There are a lot of ways to improve your art out there, better luck in the future.

Thank you for your feedback!

The narrative is tough to get going, but seeing as I dawdle along it may be a slow one. Thank you for pointing that out though, always looking for ways to improve.

I will work on it more and hope to get your opinions as the narrative and drawing proceeds =)

#20 was my favorite. 3 panels might be tough to always generate a good joke or story. Good cartoons don't necessarily need good artwork... God know's I've seen plenty of garbage artists in my day... but they always had something else to offer. You might look for a "hook" of some sort for your humor. You tie your characters in with the game rules early on, which is good because it's all something we can relate to (and often complain about)... but then you lose sight of that and focus on the cartoon as more stand-alone (living) characters. Perhaps using the cartoon as a humorous way to poke fun at the stupid rules or ridiculous things that happen in a 40k game might be a way to draw your readers in while giving something familiar that we all can laugh at?

Just some thoughts.

@Gitsplitta: Very good input, thank you for your feedback =)

For those inputs I had someone who played a lot - point is that I don't play actively any more and simply don't know stuff like that =)

Forums like these are always a great inspiration for me, but I somehow fail to get the really relevant stuff

Might be worth your while to look for threads asking for peoples funniest moments, or bad beats, most hated units or cheesy characters and such for relevant ideas... but you should vet things like that with someone you know who is a regular player so you get their take on it first before spending your time on all that drawing.

Comic strips don't need to be fine art... but they need to be relevant and/or funny. Not necessarily both. Having an artistically definable style is a good thing as it helps your strip stand out... but I'm sure your artwork will develop over time. For now, it's the narrative that will carry your strip... focus on that. You might experiment with single-panel strips a bit... might help you focus your efforts. Look at those demotivational posters... those are essentially single-panel comic strips with a note of truth and irony that makes them funny. You might as well experiment with the form.... who knows, you might hit on something unexpected that you're really good at.

Well I like it somewhat. It could be a bit funnier but overall I would say its decent and with some work it could be pretty great. One thing I kinda didn't like was the speedo armor lol. Just looks odd.

Very blase. Never copy+paste your artwork, ever. Always redraw it. That's what separates the artists from the Tim Buckleys. Learn something about drawing cartoons as well - right now your artwork is incredibly flat. You should be drawing things as if they were three dimensional. Build your characters up from basic shapes, and fill in the details later. You've also got a lot of panels from the exact same angle. This is very boring and lacks any quality of being dynamic.

If you want some real critique and advice for this kind of stuff send me a PM. I've got a bit of experience with comics, both critiquing and creating, and I don't want to write a page and a half of it in this thread.

Brother SRM wrote: Learn something about drawing cartoons as well - right now your artwork is incredibly flat.

If you want some real critique and advice for this kind of stuff send me a PM. I've got a bit of experience with comics, both critiquing and creating, and I don't want to write a page and a half of it in this thread.

Oh the irony...

Maybe you should point him in the direction of someone who actually applies said advice.

There's is nothing wrong with a little criticism, especially when someone is looking for it, but there is an etiquette to it. There is a fine line between criticizing and berating someone.

@Dredd907-

Your comics could use some refining, but are a great starting point. I commend you for your bravery by posting here. Some people can be hypercritical when they really shouldn't be.

Brother SRM wrote:Very blase. Never copy+paste your artwork, ever. Always redraw it. That's what separates the artists from the Tim Buckleys.

I disagree with this. The important thing, in my opinion, is to know when not to copy and paste. And improving his art style would make copying and pasting less obvious: there are only so many poses a suit of powered armour can take, after all.

Wow! Thank you for all your feedback!
I try to take the positives out of criticism and turn it into something good - well mixed with the positive feedback =)

@Drawing feedback:
I will continue to work on my drawing as I just enjoy doing it and - to be honest - I mostly do it for myself. However of course it is important to me that other people enjoy what I am doing aswell

@Storyline feedback:
I just found the thread about funniest moments and will definitely use some of that for the comic! My problem was that the narrative has been going for quite some time now and I always need a strip or two to get back into the storyline ... but I have developed a technique to not lose sight of that and make it tighter and more interesting.

I will keep working and try to improve on my drawing and narrative skills. Stay tuned for the next strip - which is when the 'nids start 'a landin' ;D

Cheers,
Dredd907

A good place to start would be to improve the proportions of the human face. The eyes should be about half way between the crown and the chin, and the distance between the hairline and the chin should be divided into thirds by the brow and the bottom of the nose. The mouth should be about a third of the way between the bottom of the nose and the chin. At the moment, just looking at the picture you use as your avatar, the eyebrows and eyes are placed too high, and the mouth placed too low. I've attached a modified version to show you what I mean.

Apart from that, I'd suggest working in a higher resolution and using the path function in a program like GIMP to get cleaner lines, then scaling it down if necessary.

Hm, I never thought of that - it's just been the way I used to dawdle and draw since ... well ... always =)
But I like the way the avatar looks now - good point!

I work directly in PS CS5, but will take a look at GIMP!

Thank you!

+ Update 48 +
+ 16.08.2010 +

Direct link: http://dredd907.thecomicseries.com/

Webcomiclist: http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/p/12850/Dredd907

Enjoy!



Dredd907

Hi Dredd907,
I like your strip. It kept me interested and continuing onto the next strip in your archives. I'm going to bookmark your site and be a fan. I love your positive attitude and ability to see the constructive criticism in every post you get! An artist and writer needs that ability to truly improve! Way to go!

--- Keep up the good work!
Frankie