...Hoo boy. You've opened yourself up to concrit, and now you're gonna get it.
First of all... By "yaoi comic" we all know you're referring to Cuanta Vida. There really aren't many TF2 fancomics at all, so it's pretty obvious. And regardless of whether you like the comic or not, one thing that can be agreed on is that the artist/writer behind that comic is a sweet and humble person whose art improved over time. let's see if you can at least follow her example there, even if you seem to pride your comic on being "OMGGGG NOT YAOIZ"
Also, just so you know, you're hardly the first to make a non-slash TF2 fancomic. Just sayin'.
Woah, holy %#@$ on a cracker, man, I was kidding. I wasn't referencing TF2 there; I just see a lot of fancomics that are yaoi/yuri/romance/ect. I don't expect my comic to be necessarily better or superiour, but we'll see...
So anyway, let's begin.
Your first page seems to have a lovely drawing of a bird. Seriously, it's gorgeous. Most of your background drawings are nice too. Which makes the shift to your humans all the more jarring. Seriously, the faces look wrong. I know you've stated that you're going to a stylized, non-realistic look with this comic, but that's no excuse. Even the most cartoony styles rely on a basic knowledge of anatomy to be pleasing to the eye. Just dismissing all that by saying "it's my style" is plain laziness. Not to mention that your "style" is loose to the point that each character looks radically different in each panel. Some variation is to be expected, but we're talking about ears being half the size they were before from panel to panel. In page two alone, Dell's father's nose changes shape about five times.
And for a "stylized" comic you really seem to be trying to meet it halfway. Some details are gritty and super-realistic, while others are cartoony, sometimes on the SAME FACE. This just comes off as unsettling. Pick one style or the other, because what you have now seriously doesn't mesh.
Thanks for the input.
What I mean by "its my style" is not necessarily the "proportions" changing. Hell, I appreciate it when people tell me that and it causes me to revisit my other pages.
I think a big problem here is that I'm using a very cartoony eye style, which I do consider a part of the style. It however does conflicts with the rest of the face, which since others have noted as well, I will be discontinuing, or rather, minimizing as much as I can.
What I meant was that 1) I was focusing less on the drawings (which, granted, is foolish) but rather the pacing, which it is too early in the comic to determine, and 2) that I wish not to be criticized for the dark shadings, tones and bolder lines of the comic.
Your aesthetic is interesting here, but is a mite too dark, in that it makes a lot of details harder to see for the viewer, and makes things muddled and confusing. You're probably making things harder for yourself, too. It's a nice start, but it could stand to be tightened up.
I doubt that I will change the lighting too much because the comic is very dark in actual nature. It's heavily inspired by The Crow and will take some very dark turns, unlike most TF2 fanmedia (and TF2 media in general).
The scanner also downgrades the quality quite a bit, in addition I am forced to use higher contrasts than the original image to make them appear far less blurry; at this point I just want to get the initial pages up so that corrections can be made before they are scanned for a more finalized copy, which I will probably post on a site that I own.
So, my advice: Move away from acrylics for a while and practice drawing faces with good ol' pencil and paper. Study human anatomy, particularly facial anatomy. Practice different perspectives.When you do move back to acrylics, try to not make everything so freaking dark. Get some humility and take concrit to heart, not take things halfway by saying "well thanks for the advice BUUUUUUT you see it's my style so I'm not gonna change it."
For now I will NOT move away from acrylic since the acrylic mainly serves to give the images more grit (I only use white; everything else is done in pen), as well as to compensate for the fact that my resources in gradients are limited. I am not painting these pieces, but rather using them to touch them up in a sense, like with
this piece (If you haven't noticed already, I usually draw birds). I also use it as correction fluid. I am NOT painting these images, but rather painting a little over them.
I have been quite lazy with my camera setup and I take the blame for that, however through just these 5 pages though I think I've made a substantial improvement and got a good grip on about 80% on what needs to be done; criticisms like this are used to correct the difficult 20% that is remaining.
Also: Engie already has a canon dad.
It's the Engineer from Team Fortress Classic. If you were already aware of this fact, do some research and try to find an interesting way to tie it in. If this is the case, Engiedad is certainly not gonna be all "RAAARGH NO EDUCATION FOR MY SON EVER."
Adieu~
I understand that, and I learned that after I developed that part of the story. At the same token, however, in this his gramps is alive in 1928. Take this as you wish. In addition, that person could be argued to be RED's father instead of BLU's, but that might be taking it too far. (in this, RED [whatever] and BLU [whatever] are not the same people, but either people of a very similar profession, as in the case of the engineers, or of the same family, such as the spies). I think I might tie it in as RED's father, but mentioned very sparingly.
I appreciate the criticism, I'm sorry that the topic title apparently upset you; it was meant as a modest joke. I think it came off the wrong way...
Regardless, I will continue the comic and continue lining the pages. I will preform corrections, however, since the process of actually getting them ready for uploading online is tedious, I will not be updating current pages until I feel they are content.
