Comic Fury Webcomic Hosting - Quick question regarding new shading style

I'm gradually refining the look of my comic, bit by bit, as I work it towards a semi-polished look and I'm curious if there are any major preferences between two types of shading.

On the left, below, is what I've done until now - Simple flat grey tones that let the inking stand out. The pic on the right is what I'm trying on the current strip - A more watercolor-ey grey tone shading look. It provides more range of shadow, obviously, but I don't want it to swallow the ink lines. If anyone completely hates the newer shading style, let me know soon before I do the whole latest strip this way...

I prefer the second look much better. It's not as flat/bland! :)

I personally don't think there is much in it. I think they are both good works and there are bits from each that I like. I would judge this one on efficiency, does it take longer to do one verses the other? If so, go with the quicker option.

The second is slightly more realistic and edgy. Which one fits your comic better?

I personally gravitate more to the second one, as that is more how I shade. But both look fine. The blacks are still clear and visible on both, the only real difference I see in how visible the black lines are in the second is in the hair and the shirt where the shades are way more visible than the black...though I don't think that is a bad thing.

EDIT: I want to add that I think there is a benefit to the second on as the variety in the shades of grey lets the piece seem a bit more dramatic than the first one.

First off, a big thanks to everyone who replied - I really appreciate you taking the time to give me your feedback and thoughts. It's surprising how much feedback from other artists helps to avoid that "Flailing in the dark" feeling. Now, let me see if I can answer all the various comments...



A lot of people have echoed this sentiment. I'm torn because on the one hand I'd like to jazz up the art further, and show more of what I'm capable of doing, but at the same time, more detail adds working time and I have a hard enough time keeping the strip on track as it is.



The first method is quicker, though it does require a lot more precision. Shading is nice because you can just dive in and swish stuff around. Flat tone shadows require taking the time to get it *right*. But still, the flat tone look is probably twice as fast as the shaded version.



My comic is as far away from edgy as it is possible to get ;) No, really, it's a bouncy, silly, feel-good strip that plays with horror and sci fi tropes. I'm frustrated because I like the second look because it reminds me of the great B&W horror & fantasy mags I grew up with (Eerie, Epic Illustrated, etc) but I'm not sure it suits the strip. More on that below...



That's a two-pronged effect. The shading draws the eye more, but I'd also switched from a .1 pen to a .005 pen for the basic lines on the second one.


Now, having read your comments and pondered, I went ahead and started doing more of the strip that way and almost immediately didn't like it. To wit:



I did the above, sat back and looked at it, and hated the shading. I have always preferred my unshaded inks to almost every type of shading I've tried, but this is a particularly strong example. But I'm not sure if others will feel the same, or if the "enhancement" of the shaded forms will be better eye candy for the viewer. To me, I think it crashes - I think the basic characters are too cartooney (intentionally) to look good with realistic shading. But I'm curious to hear other opinions.

If I had a goal, I think it would be something on the order of a Looney Toons look with a *little* bit more complexity.

In that case, I would go with the cleaner look. I've heard a lot of people who think that the rougher shading doesn't look good and makes the characters look "dirty".

I think you're setting yourself on the right track. You wouldn't color/shade Jim Lee or Neal Adams the same way as Mike Mignola. Now, the more varied shading might come in handy on occasion for emotional effect.

Honestly l like the shading you did for the polo shirt character. The jock, not so much. Have you considered dialing back to only minimal shading? Lighter tones that dont impact as hard.
For example, the arm of the jock stands out too much, his neck too. Go more subtle and see if that works for you.

Either way, your stuff looks pretty damn good, need to check it out!

Again, thanks very much to everyone for your time and suggestions - I appreciate it very much!

It occurred to me that I hadn't bothered to post a 'finished' pic using the shading I've currently been using - Here is an example of what the comic looks like at present:



That's just simple inking and a 1-shade grey tone used for shadow. It's elegant but I am concerned that it might be too boring. OTOH, every time I try adding "stuff", it seems to detract from the line work. Hrmph.



Yeah, that was my exact thought. The pencilled shading made them look like they've been rolling in grime. This could be because I'm so used to the previous look, though, I dunno.



Yeah, I hadn't actually put as much work into the big guy. I pretty much finished the shading on the skinny fellow and started the big guy and then took a break and came back and looked at it and immediately thought, "That looks like crap." I wonder what very light airbrushed shades would look like? Thanks for the kind words, BTW!



The other option that I debate over constantly is whether to go with just inks, and adopt a more heavy crosshatched inking style for my shadows. I have been thinking this ever since enjoying the comic "Nigel the Nosferatu", which basically makes me want to ink like crazy.

Sir John Tenniel makes me want to just work in B&W, but I always seem to make the hatching clumsy.

And then there's THIS random experiment...



Oddly enough, I find this colored version less distracting/overwhelming of the inking than I did the grey-shaded version. Go figure. It would take an abominably long time to color a whole page this way, though...

Color can really help to make what is going on in a picture clearer because it can make it more visually easy to differentiate parts. And those colors look great...though I can understand not wanting to do that for the comic given the time it takes.

Funnily enough, I'm also wondering if adding color (especially to clothes) would help give it a stronger 70's feel. I'm trying to be careful to keep it very consistent to 1977 but when it's mostly just torsos chatting, the era gets kind of lost. I suspect that some good 70's clothing colors might help keep the vibe alive, so to speak. Thus far I haven't had a chance to have a whole lot of clothing cues that evoke the times, except for this brief panel that I was particularly happy with:



I look at her outfit and my mind immediately says, "1976-1979, Mork & Mindy era". I can only imagine how insane that would have looked with color...

Honestly, the two are similar enough that you could even switch - using the quicker one for simple panels and use the watercolor style for ones you want to be more dramatic or eyecatching.

The first one is fine (I do flat shading in most of my work) but the second does add a sense of depth to it (something I only do very rarely in illustrations). I think you should go with whatever fits your comic best, though I once read that if the comic is in black and white with lots of 'colored' things, little to no shading is the best option so it looks less "cluttered".

I could see it helping add to the era feel. Like the polo for example, the colors make it immediately seem more dated, in a way you don't get as clearly with just black, white and grey.

Even with that panel you showed, it has a 70s feel, but if it was colored, even if it was just the dress, wow, it could really pop out as being period.

I think this is on target, yes - The more shading I tried to do, the more cluttered and "dirty" looking the page became.

Well, for all those who were kind enough to share their thoughts and ideas, I finally finished and posted the first KFP color strip. What I eventually settled on was a fairly desaturated color effect that would still let the inking detail shine through, since I like my inking OK at this point. Also, it gives the strip a somewhat faded look that I like. Examples:





This took forever, so color is probably NOT going to be a regular addition to the strip, but it will be fun as a change of pace on occasion, and it was also handy to have an excuse to pick outfit colors for the characters anyway.