character designs for formative

Reference pics

When I was in Nelson I got a bunch of our photos of cave/rocky areas for reference, and we also went for a walk in golden bay and came across a massive patch of stinging nettle, so I got pics of that.

-added the dead swan neck to her cape thing, maybe? character wise it makes more sense, though I don't quite like the way it looks...

-also did a soldier design.

-castle dining room(?) sketch

-lineup of the characters. 

nettle weaving process

How to gather/process nettles for cordage
nettle cordage tutorial

making fabric from nettles
nepali woman weaving with nettle fibre
this is a much more crude version of the above but could work?

Some More comics / styles i might try

150 Days

This is a lovely short wordless comic with a nice messy painted style.

Yellow Hearts

Rosemary Valero-Connell

I already added one of her comics I think but Sam charminlyaquainted's short comics such as Elsewhere Unversity and Tattoo (wordless!) are great

Rose Haghighi - I'm thinking of maybe doing this kind of style??

my notes on first draft

-if i’m not putting narration, the first frame should be more of the happy family things not just. silhouette..

Also maybe could mirror last page?

-Maybe take out frogs bit? just swans> hair cut

-being kicked out  could probably be simplified too - panels 2&3 combine

-beach frames are awkward. does the old lady conversation need More?

-better composition of swan/sunset

-too many panels at bottom??

needs a bigger one in there somewhere

this day/night montage at the top of the right page needs more space/longer? could some of it be on the previous page?

-dunno if this nettle weaving framing is too weird.

-last panels on their faces is kinda awkward

-is  it obvious enough she’s run out of nettle?

-obvious enough transition to next day? last frame is awkward.

-panels are weird shaped. also like....whole climax on last page??

-probably add more panels here? need to add a bunch of extra story stuff....but having big panels at the end is nice...

More comics (mostly short ones)

http://watercolourfey.tumblr.com/tagged/comic --  all in my comic tag on my blog here

full comics at the links

Mount Saint Helens

a short metaphorical comic, nice use of colour, interesting simple geometric style

TAZ fan comic

this is just a 5 page comic of a scene from a podcast, but has really nice use of panels and action shots

Just a two page comic

Elsewhere University

the artist has lots of similar short comics like this , here

all with lots of panels, often close ups and details (especially at the start or in creepy stories), and have limited palettes. the use of panels to put the words in is interesting

Rio & Evie (part 2)

Ark

a good short comic with a plot twist

Deal

lots of nice silhouettes

Contact

nice rounded panels, and use of space/composition

Zodiacs

very busy and full of action - lots of different panels

Bride of the Rose Beast

a fairytale

Icarus and the Sun

A short star wars fan comic

really beautiful creative layouts

Wasteland

Plant

Catch

wordless, so lots of small details

Ties

Azami: Book of summer

another scrolling one - all the images bleed into one another (unless there's some text in between)

La Luciernaga

overlapping of panels, and the chasing scene are really well done, very simple and clear

Thermohalia

has the most amazing use of space and composition, especially of achitecture in the city, but was unfortunately taken down after ch-4 because it's being rebooted. you can download what exists at the link though.

Museum of Moss

a 9 page comic from the same artist- beautiful composition and use of space again

a one page comic by the same artist:

Nameless and the Scientist

this is a long comic, but has such beautiful art and compositions. i haven't actually read it, only seen various bits

The Arrival

a really nice wordless story, which uses a photographic style like an old photo album, which fits with the themes of immigrants in an unfamiliar land, finding familiarity. nice subtle use of colour and tone throughout. (I wrote my essay on this last semester)

The One Hundred Nights of Hero

Another book, which has very fairytale style storytelling (but modern humor). simple but effective art style and use of colour, the kind of crude hand drawn look works quite well with fairytale kind of things? (also v nice and feminist)