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Hi there, we're mostly using http://inksoupp.tumblr.com/ now so head over there to stay updated!

Alternatively check us out on Facey B: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ink-Soup/287767714585794

INK SOUP ONLINE SHOP OPEN

 

Hello all, we're still accepting submissions for the 7th issue.

Please send your black and white narratives to Ink.Soup@aol.com

Also, visit the facebook page for regular updates, and the big cartel shop for back issues.

Thanks, BM

ISSUE 7

We are now taking submissions for Ink Soup issue 7! Please send enquiries and submissions to ink.soup@aol.com by 31st January. This issue is open to anyone, not just BCU students so there will hopefully be an exciting range of work!

Call for INK SOUP 7 & 8

Call for INK SOUP 7

Theme: Non-Fiction Fiction
Stories Based on some instance of truth bent & stretched to as far as you like.

1 to 5 pages

Call for INK SOUP 8

Theme: The silent story
Non text narratives

1 to 5 pages

First deadline End of June

INK SOUP 6 Available from May 15th!

Yes! It's finally out, and it's looking crisp and mean!

For Three pounds only you can own one of these luscious bad boys!

Awesome cover work by the one and very only Pete Heyes

 First come first served :)

 xxx

Manga Artist Yusuke Murata

Check THIS out!

Blogs: what do you do?

Hey guys, I am looking to revamp my web presence with a new blog and maybe look at online portfolio sites, etc.

I was wondering what blog sites you guys use and what you think of them??

- any really good features or stuff you cant do, etc. looking at blogger, tumblr, wordpress, etc.

Cheers :)

Anyone interested in digital comics, this is super cool

makes you think about the posibilitiiiiiiiies!

http://effuchu.deviantart.com/#/d1unu9l

if you're up for a bit of reading this is really interesting

http://heysawbones.tumblr.com/post/11971025964/the-schweizer-guide-to-spotting-tangents

Negotiated project progress...

Well as of last week i had finished my comic and had printed it on the Risograph printer.

So i have spent the last few weeks, designing a cover and some simple merch to go along with my comic, working to very fast deadlines, pushing myself to produce elements of a complete body of work in a short time scale. My cover i designed in a day, printed in a day, the merch i designed in a day and printed in two. As now the majority of my negotiated project is completed , im tiding up a few loose ends and concentrating on my RCC work.

Competition for 9th January!

 

http://www.fumetto.ch/index.cfm?nav=162,473,474&SID=2&DID=1&NewsID=91

Negotiated Project Pencils

The script for this came from the 2000AD competition at thoughtbubble festival, Unfortunately I didn't make it to the event...as I am only on pencils anyway.

Not very happy with my hands throughout so I plan to work them up again. There are a few other bits I am not happy with but would be grateful for some feedback :)

Tim

All 4 pages for beauty and the beast

I just finished up all 4 pages of the why Dogs chase Cats story comic today and placed in the caption boxes to rough out where I think they would fit appropriately on the panels.

Next step taking on the criticizing I got from my tonal rough is to improve on this contrast of BaW and clean up the pages of pencil marks on Photoshop.

The outcome has a few flaws in its line volume and perspective more with the background.

 

New comic for Beauty and the beast value test

I have decided to enter something completely different in to the beauty and beast comic still using my concept of a roger rabbit cool world universe. its 4 pages based on a short American folktale from Virginia in tiled Why Dogs Chase Cats.

I already have inked in page using very fine pens to create a better sense of depth.

A tonal rough on Photoshop with tablet using BaW versions of Juan Diaz Oanales and Juanjo Guarnido’s Blacksad as a source of inspiration for values and contrast.

  I have a  manuscript for this as well but I would like some critical feedback from the first years or any other ink soupers. It’s still quite rough around edges with the drawing in terms of perspective more on the objects in the middle panel.

Comparison of my tonal value test to BlackSads book 1 that had some really interesting striking use of light in domestic settings.

Cover for the next issue

Just about finished this I think, any changes I should make?

will post about my new comic soon when I've done a bit more!

cheeers

Testing testing 1.2.3.

Just thought I should post somthing, I get alot of mixed feelings about this piece, don't know if I should like where it's heading...It is just experimentation anyway, just thought 1+1=? you know...Was sort of going with a Screen print look, with some over lapping colours, I think the line work though brings it down a little, some lines didn't translate into vectors too well.

Might push it further...

New layouts with panel alternatives.

Yeah, sort of digitally collaged together panel alternatives and redrawings of some others into a bit of a mish mash format to see how they all work together. Obviously it's all still very rough, but would rather have to make any further alterations while it's at this stage; before I transfer it to the final boards...

As for the optional(?) fifth page... I have yet to consider it - I'm working towards the Ink Soup submission guidelines, but with a Historical subject matter.

red/blue mech pencil refills & art books.

Hi guys,

A few people were asking me where I got my red/blue pencil leads on Monday. I ordered them online from tiger pens. just over £3 for a pack of 12 leads.

Also i found an amazing torrent (which obviously i have not downloaded, and nor should anyone else, cuz illegal downloads are wrong!) for drawing books on anatomy, characters, manga, pretty much everything you can think of for drawing people/ characters. Plus loads of stuff like Scott McCloud, Eisener, etc. there is about 120 books on the list all in PDF format.

anyways hope you find these useful :)

Beauty And The Beast

Made some changes which was discussed on Monday, like detail, panelling in page4 and added the text. I liked how it was obscur with 'him' and 'her' rather than names, dont hate me Tim.

Top Cow Submissions.

Okay I was particularly curious concerning this, so I'll throw it out there in case anybody else is wondering, or can shed some light on it. Top Cow are a publishing company, who helpfully have put submission guidelines on their website concerning Scripters, Pencillers, Inkers and Colourers.

For Pencilers or Complete Artists:
Quick tips:
1.    Backgrounds are as important as dynamic figures! If you send us some great pinup work but either not enough or bland backgrounds you will most likely get filed in the trash. Give us a showcase of all your skills.
2.    Use a variety of camera angles, depths of shots, and shot selections on each page. The easiest way for an editor to spot a novice penciler is medium shot after medium shot. Your pages don’t just have to be competent, they have to be exciting!
3.    Your first job is to tell the story. Is your story-telling clear and easy to understand even without the dialogue?
4.    Hands and feet. Editors look at characters’ hands and feet.


For Inkers:

Quick tips:
1.    Be true to the artist’s intent. Your job is to strengthen and enhance the penciler’s work, not over-ride it with your own intent. Make sure you understand what the artist is trying to convey (shape, shadow, texture) with every line.
2.    Separate forms and create depth by using varying line thickness, breaking up lines, and different rendering techniques. This is one of the inker’s primary jobs.
3.    The tool you use to ink is not important, but use the right tool for the job. Classic tools like nibs and brushes rarely fail in a skilled hand. Typically, technical pens and markers will not give your line the life it needs to enhance the original pencils. Digital inking is an emerging discipline, but remember that computers are no substitute for technique.
4.    Vary your technique to convey texture. Metal should not be rendered with the same technique as fur or wood for example.

They're pretty handy things to keep in mind I think, especially considering those are the expectations they have for if they're going to pay you...

What was of particular interest however, was:

For sample pages of Top Cow characters to ink download the images from the following links. Right-click these links and choose “Save target as…” for high resolution 300dpi JPGs. For best results, it is recommended you print these samples in non-photo blue ink on comic book art stock board (ex. Blue Line Pro).

The paper is here: Comic Board from Blue Line Pro . This board's 11x17 with a 10x15 working area, which means they want the pencils printed onto this, which at the time left me wondering: does anyone know if printers can have different calibrations and be formatted to print to different sizes? On CS5, with my crappy desktop printer, there's no option for printing at 11x17, even though it does fit in my printer.

Even if noone knows, it's good to be aware that at sometime in the future we may be required to do this, (if you decide to go into 'mainstream' comics) and knowing how could well be of use!

Newz

Hello you inky buggers.

I've made an Ink Soup facebook page so add it and let's build up some support! Also I intend to post some work from previous issues on the page (is that allowed Chiu or do I need permission...?) so please let me know if you don't want me to - this would only be finished pieces from actual issues for now.

tata

hand written text

Last bit of lettering...

Morning people! After the meeting yesterday, and due to the deadline for submissions, I'm looking at lettering my beauty and the beast pages before getting too stuck into writing scripts. What would be helpful would be some opinions on said lettering, I've tried digital fonts, calligraphy nibs and brushes. I know which I prefer, i'd just like some other input before going ahead on the final pieces.

This is the digital lettering, the font being an edited open source typeface found on the internet. 

Calligraphy Nibs. I followed http://www.blambot.com/handlettering.shtml This tutorial thing on filing down a nib I didn't often use. It does give the letters a nice quality.

Finally brushes. Apart from the 'o' in Know, the freedom of weighting of a brush led to a nice mix of formality found in the calligraphy nibs, and the rather artificial looking digital type.

NEXT ISSUE OF INK SOUP

'sup. Anyone who wants to submit something for the next Ink Soup please send me an email at peetoman@blueyonder.co.uk (and ideally let me know how many pages)

Provisional submission deadline: Monday 10th October

ULTIMATE DEADLINE: MONDAY 17TH OCTOBER

cheeeeers

Beauty & Beast page 3

So, this has taken a long time and there's not much left, BUT the third page is done! I'm already working on the last two. And I've learned to draw boats.

Also, I've started working on something new, only a few pages, and still at storyboard level. I °might° enter it into the Observer competition, though first of all I just want to lay it out and use a bit of watercolours, for fun. Next step is photo references. I'm also trying to make my storyboards a little more comprehensible and closer to what the final image should look like, at least even if something stays at the first stage I can go back to it later and actually understand what I had in mind.

great find by Tim Ki-Kydd:
http://timebombcomics.blogspot.com/

Some of you may be interested submitting work?
http://timebombcomics.com/submissions.html

Button Phobia/ Zipper Phobia

These  are the pages about Button Phobia and Zipper Phobia. the first picture is about how the Button Phobia woman reached for sweets that were on a pile of button boxes. dramaticly they fell on her and she was forever traumatised.

The Zipper Phobia guy developed his fear during a  camping trip. When he was about to lay down ad opened his tent an angry racoon attacked him. Ever since he wont open any zippers. 

Below you see the sketch for the layout. I'm ok with it but need to check on size and better perspective. For example the way the Butto Phobia girl reaches for sweets.  She could be way more in bird's eye perspective (hand much bigger than her head). and the lid of the candy glas could be slighty open so you can see some lollipops. My next step is to redraw both childhood storys and of course think about the final page how they get together. I could use some feedback on this please. 

Have a look at

Comical Animal

late research?

http://whatson.visitbirmingham.com/birmingham-royal-ballet-beauty-and-the-beast-746100016

Though I'm not sure how I feel about ballet, what are the chances that it's on? :)

Competition

05 Warsaw Rising Graphic Story Competition deadline 03.10.2011