[Flexible Elf]

Finally got some time to sit down and crank it out. Hope ya like.

-Flexible Elf

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http://www.geocities.com/flexible_elf/Main.html

[Isric]

Flexible one, your great you know that?
I dig it.

[This message has been edited by Isric (edited November 14, 2000).]

[Akolyte]

That looks really good. It's much cleaner than your last comic pages. Nicely arranged, too.

[TheMilkMan]

Flex....

Hey man sounds like a good story so far and also the artwork is awsome..I mean I like how you are really being detailed with the settings and bringing the viewer into your world..keep that kinda detail up!

[Seph|roth]

Awesome work flex, as usual.
Cant wait till page 2

Keep up the nice work!!

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- Seph -
Listen Without Prejudice

[galen]

VERY cool, vikings rule...

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or you can dream of the frog legs sitting in the church, with the glass and the sand by my footsteps

[Jenn]

Damn nice as always and I wanna see more :d heheheheheheh as usual



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DarkChyld

[Bradford]

Great Artwork! It has a very clean, humble feel to it. Im looking forward to seeing the next page.

Bradford

[g:tech]

Hey, Flexible Elf, Have you been playing Rune for the PC??? I can see a bunch of similarities (Vikings, runes, even a dude named Sigurd!), etc. If so, cool! It's a great inspiration... vikings are awesome.

Sorry if it's been asked before. Anyway, keep up your excellent work. I love reading your threads, bro.

peace,

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[This message has been edited by g:tech (edited November 15, 2000).]

[MisterOwl]

Mr. Elf,

Your work is phenominal; your skill increases with each new image you create. You're a real inspiration.

I really like your story line so far. You do well by drawing the reader in and making him/her interested in the tale you have to tell. The panels all have great consistancy between them, and really reinforce both the feel of the scene, and the substance of the characters. The camera angles and captions are all very interesting too, not dull or monotonous, and the eye is easily lead from one panel to the next through each composition.

One thing that troubles me is simply my inability to decifer what happens between the panels showing the king and his yes-man, and then the dungeon. The transition from those scenes is some what obrupt. I'm not following...could just be me.

Great work as always. You definately got me hooked!

[Blitz]

How�s it goin Flex?

This is very good. As stated before the story seems intriguing, art is good (especially in the environment) and it flows nicely.

A few questions...
1) Will this comic ever reach paper?
2) Will it be featured on your site in a comic book fashion? ie..1pg "next" 2pg "next" 3pg...and so on. Kind of an online comic.
3) Will you be accepting fanart to post at the end of the comic? hehe (I can't remember what it is called when other artists draw a picture in another persons comic at the end)

Uda man Flex...

Blitz....Slayer of Vikings

[sear]

gifted and skilled elf.


really nice.

[kig]

Wow, great stuff with a great feel. The only thing that bothers me is the standard issue bubbles and the font. It just doesn't seem to fit the otherwise painterly look. Maybe you could try doing the speech bubbles with the paintbrush using light gray or something? That way they'd blend in better and give it some more dignity imho.


[This message has been edited by kig (edited November 15, 2000).]

[Grendel Khan]

Nice to see your new comic, Flexible Elf. Looks great!

I just want to comment some thins on the panel layout (it's a really personal opinion, so don't think about it as a critic ). I think that not having rectangular panels makes the story somewhat visually hard to read (of course, sometimes it works). For instance, i believe that if you made the central panel as a the (whole) page background and all the other panels over it with squared shapes, the page would read more easily, and also look better as a design.

I've heard lots of times that each page should be designed as a whole (don't know if you did it), while i can see that with the colors on this one, i can't see it on the panel distribution.

Anyway, i could be (and probably i am) wrong. As i said, looks great, waiting for page 2 .

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Bleed the Freak

[This message has been edited by Grendel Khan (edited November 15, 2000).]

[toast!]

wow

that 's excellent

[Kaiju]

Great art FE! I like the new direction you are taking. I don't agree with Grendal Khan at all on the layout. I think it is just fine, and I don't see where anyone would have trouble reading it. If anything I would think that the borders are a little too thick. I agree with MisterOwl that the transition between the last two panels is very awkward. One tiny thing you could do to help it is the word bubbles. You could characterize the shape to individual characters. Either change the color, font, or the edge of the bubble. That way you can tell who is speaking from any angle. My offer to help is still open.

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Kaiju
My Home

[Gordillo]

Very well executed,really like it.

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ALBERTO GORDILLO
[email protected]

[dreddawg]

Elf, excellent work. Just wanted to weigh in on a few comments. Before I begin, I'd like to say that I've been monitoring your comic work. It's too bad in some ways that you were not in the industry back in the late 80's. They would have snapped you up and paid you 100k (really, that's what guys who did painted comics were getting at one point:-) Anyway, your overall work is excellent. There are a few suggestions/comments (you don't have to follow them) that I will give.

Comments:
1.With the Painting; it's great. Don't change anything color wise. As if I new anything about color theory.
2. For those who are students of sequential art, cartoon/comic panels work from a left to right motion. We are trained this way in the western world from birth(ie. you read from left to right moving downward)

Everyone take notice of the panel to panel/object to object (word captions) continuity. Text book execution. Well done. Trust me, they don't teach that in school.


Suggestions:
In the total context the wide borders and diagonal panels don't bother me. Because the panel to panel works. In comics, border style effects the mood. Clearly you are going for a cinematic feel (black borders). You've succeeded. My only suggestion would be to rework (not totally as the same elements can be used) the composition of Panel Two. Think about 3 things. 1. This is the Kings big intro 2. The setting (the king's lair) is introduced. What is in it? Subjects, Guards, Whores?:-) 3. How can you do it and make the continuity stay in sync? I've done a quick sketch to show it using a similar caption layout.


Other than that, excellent work. Doing a painted comic is the equivalent of doing an animated film without the inbetweens. Really intensive. Just so you know, I worked for a bit in the comic industry painting graphic novels. Believe me, by the end of this project, you will be a master.

Keep going

Ps. for you folk that are interested in becoming better layout artists, check out Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. That book is the drivers manual for comic artists.



[This message has been edited by dreddawg (edited November 15, 2000).]

[Grendel Khan]

Just to make what i said more clear.

I didn't mean that it couldn't be read :b, what i wanted to mean was that the layout could distract the reader, which (i think) is basically the same thing MisterOwl and Chap...er..Kaiju are saying, except that i messed myself .

The layout i was suggesting is something like this

I'm not saying my sugestion is better, it's just what i would do.

In my opinion, the transition from the last two panels is strange because you see the last panel before the previous one due to the left-to-right motion dreddawd mentioned.

It's not a big problem or anything, i just wanted to be helpful.

That's it. Elf, stop reading this and start working on page 2!

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Bleed the Freak

[egerie]

wow much much slicker than that previous comic of yours elf. Easyer to read too.

more please ?

[YourMum]

Wow! I like that one too. It's awesome. Looks like you are getting better every time you draw comics. That's cool. I hope you post soon.

-Juha-

[Flexible Elf]

Hmm... well something goofy went on. Sorry for the double post. I hit enter twice and it won't let me edit for some reason, saying I have more than 8 images linked.. when I have none.. but.

Isric- Hehe thanks man!

Akolyte- I'm glad others can see I'm improving. That's real encouraging.

TheMilkMan- I intend to, Thanks!

Seph|roth- Coming soon

galen- Why yes they do

Jenn- Thanks!

Bradford- Gracias!

g:tech- yeah I tried out the Rune Demo but I havent bought the game. My reason for doing a Viking comic is because of the game, my liking the 13th Warrior flick and wanting to do something similar, and my ancestry (which is Scandinavian} I figured, what the hell. Why not do a comic about 'em
MisterOwl: Yeah I totally understand the bottom panel. The JPG compression kinda muttled the little sign that says 'Holding Cells' I think I might fix it. And thanks!

Blitz- 1>Probably not, but it might be a stepping stone to something in paper.
2>Yeah it'll be on my website or another website. Or maybe both.
3>I never thought about fan art. But if someone were to send me something for it I'd put it up for sure!

Sear- Thank you much!

Kig- Yeah I think you might be right. Maybe even a different font would work?

Grendel Khan- Understood, I think you're right. I'll try to stay away from angled panels.

Toast!- Thank you very much.

Kaiju- Yeah I definitely think you're right. I might have to wrestle my way free of the typical comic book
balloons/text. And I'll let ya know, Thanks!

Gordillo- Thanks! I'm glad you think so

dreddawg- Thanks a million for taking the time to do all that. I learned a lot from the post. And boy is painting a comic page more difficult, but like you said, excellent practice. Perhaps I'll have more of an establishing shot on page 2. Thanks again!

Egerie- Soon very soon

YourMum- Like I said before I am glad you think I'm improving. It means a lot hearing that from you guys.

-Flexible Elf

[This message has been edited by Flexible Elf (edited November 15, 2000).]

[Flexible Elf]

sorry if anyone read that before I edited it :/

[EDIT] I also added a little line of text to make the last frame a tad less confusing.

-Flexible Elf

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http://www.geocities.com/flexible_elf/Main.html

[This message has been edited by Flexible Elf (edited November 15, 2000).]

[Kaiju]

Ya know what... I just now realized that the last panel had nothing to do with the previous ones. I thought it was an outside view of the king's place and the messenger was trying to kill them with some worm things. So, my previous post doesn't relate to this, but keep it in mind anyway FE. What you should have done here is put a little tiny box somewhere in the frame that said "Such n such Dungeon". You should announce new locations. You probably could have left the bottom panel off and used it as the start of the next page.