Before you start making CGI Comics you should probably...
Griffin Avid
Posts: 3,814
Who?: Griffin Avid (Drew Spence) - Approaches comics from a general ART perspective. Fine Arts background (BA in Fine Arts) and Graphic Arts.
What? CGI comics, using rendered images as a foundation of your work and from there going wherever you want.
When? 2015 Started using Daz Studio and released a bunch of comics and graphic novels since then. Did a bunch of workshops in the Daz Store with Digital Art Live about comics, from A to Z.
Where?: The Dynamic Univserse. I've been doing music and art since...well a really long time time.
Why?: I think most of us could use a little boost and help to keep from making a lot of early mistakes (that I made).
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1) Calibrate your monitors. I still see people sharing dark renders in art groups- where you can't really see the details. There's several hardware devices that you can use to correct your monitor- to display proper brightness/contrast, color, etc.
If I don't, what happens? Your work will not look consistent across devices, and print dark- since most people have their computer control the settings and it's set for "reading emails brightness".
2) Sequential Art is not the same as making kool pictures. They are separate. Expressing an event through a series of images is a developed skill. If someone gets confused panel-to-panel, you have an issue.
3) The rules of Art (and comics) still apply to you. Just because you are using rendered images does not mean that the generally accepted conventions do not apply to you. Break rules when you need to and you should rarely need to.
Readers will have expectations on how a comic will function. This is true for layout and presentation. Keep it easy to read. 99.9% of the Good Art and Design Rules apply to making good comic art as well.
4) Story still matters. Flashy art is enough to get the initial engagement- even a sale. But the story is what will remain. If the story isn't worth telling across multiple mediums, it's probably not a strong enough story. If it only works with the CGI approach, then it should be worked harder to say more. A cool idea is not a cool story.
5) Get a Mentor. Find someone who is doing or has done what you want to do. Books and YouTube are great resources, going to a source is just as valuable (if not more valuable).
6) Get an Editor. Find someone who edits as a service and have them go over your work. Don't take it personal. Stop with the attitude, stop with the ego and just address/fix it.
07) Accept that "Styles" evolve over time. If you hunt for perfection, you will forever be 'almost ready'. Artists grow and change as they develop and gain new experiences. This leads to many not liking their earlier work. Well, guess what? Whatever you do now will someday be your earlier work.
08) Start small and grow BIG. Do not make your most epic story idea first. Make some good pages. Make a good short story. Work your way up to a good comic/graphic novel. Learn from what you've already done. DO NOT START WITH A SERIES.
09) Do not make comics for other people who make comics. You want respect from your peers, not sales.
10) Respect Retailers and Readers. Their opinion matters. Take your book/work to them and get feedback. If you're nervous or want super-truthful feedback. Tell them it's your friend's book. lol
More to come.
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Comments
I think a reason for overly dark images is nothing to do with poorly calibrated hardware, but just the fact that if you made the image youself, you see it differently to somebody else. You know exactly what's going on. You know that shadow is somebody's arm and that other one is just a tree. The fact that you know what you're looking at means that it appears perfectly clear to you, whilst the reader remains (literally) in the dark.
One trick I do to avoid over-dark images is to look at the thumbnails. If I can't see what's going on in a thumbnail (worst case, it just looks like a black square!) it's probably too dark. Of course, like any rule, it can be broken for effect, but you should be doing that deliberately, not by accident!
As someone who's created images on one computer and viewed them on another, I can say, yes, the brightness and contrast varies from machine to machine and monitor to monitor. Not sure what the solution is, if any.
I'd love to know how to grow. I've received some extremely positive feedback from individuals, leading me to beleive that I could grow to a larger audience. Any ideas on how to do that?
the brightness and contrast varies from machine to machine and monitor to monitor. Not sure what the solution is, if any.
Calibrate your monitor and create work that doesn't push the edges of readibility and clarity and it will look fine across devices.
Use reference images for your own set up. Aside from measuring, you can compare the average against your work.
I could grow to a larger audience. Any ideas on how to do that?
This honestly sounds like a business question. That's a broad and general question, so the answer would be generic.
There's a 1,000 videos, articles, blogs and books about marketing, promotions and even networking.
I don't give business advice, but you would need SPECIFIC advice tailored to you exact situation, goals and needs.
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This thread is made for people getting started...
11) Organize your ideas and assets. The CG comic springs out a bit differenty than traditionally (drawn) artworks, but many parallels exist. A comic is basically a still frame of animation and the CG comic is a still frame from a CG animation- much closer to movie making. You build a cast of characters, wardrobe (dressing/outfitting them), choosing/building sets/locations. Matching your scenes to your script, and then assembling pages.
As I've stated in workshops, your script is a living document that keeps changing and growing over time. You will most likely make a Master Document for your work that has the full description, names of all characters, places and props- basically it's a Guide Book for your own work(s). The planning stage may contain a list of items from the Daz Store (or where else) or assets you intend to use. This is a good practice, as the name of the item might be hard to remember or find in the future. As you work, there can be a Master Folder that has the primary copy of all important assets. That's where you would save the final version of a character or repeating object(s) that you plan to reuse. Using your Browser to bookmark items in catergories is also a method of easy organization.
12) Test Everything. Never rely on a first impression or your imagination for how things will work. If you plan to use a location, open the location and explore it. This is like scouting a location. for the most part, you may find unforseen limitations (nonfunctional doors, missing walls, difficult camera angles, glued-together props, etc) or new story ideas may arrive once you see the details and features. Render your character, dressed and ready to go. Test poses, expressions, etc.
13) Use a naming system and stick to it. For my first comic, all my Daz-Scene-saves were named by describing what was happening in the scene, not according to the section of script. So later, when I needed to go back and reload a scene it was very hard to find out what image matched what saved scene. As long as your convention is consistent and easy to follow, you should be fine. A scene could be called 01Opening_01Splashpage. The next scene you save could be called 01Opening_02HesSleeping. The 'Opening' is the first section and the 01Splashpage is pretty obvious. The scene in your script, the Daz Scene Save and the image name should link. So the first section of your comic is called The Opening in your script. Having a proper system will also allow you to jump around and render out different sections of the story without getting lost.
This is the first image I rendered for Force Six called 'Car above Both TEST (great lighting)'. I think it's called great lighting because I figured out how to use an HDRI. This was the early days of Iray and so many products used Domes that would not work with Iray and render black.
Another too-dark image.
Then here is the reworked page from some time later when Post Work was heavily used tio fix lighting issues, poke through, etc...
Corrections are next.
You have a friggin' mountain of content. Where should I start?
Good Question.
Wishlist and Wait for them to go on sale.
1. Daz Start Up- it covers the basic and is for beginners.
https://www.daz3d.com/startup-vital-tips-in-getting-started-with-daz-studio
2. Comic Book Foundation - when you're ready to dive in and start.
https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation--foundation-course-part-1
4. Daz Mastery - because at the end, you should probably be pushing your Daz-use toward power-user and really getting the most out of the software/environment.
https://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-mastery--tutorial-set
5. Comic Creation- The images are supplied already and it's the excercises to make a story (with a narritive goal) out of them. It's the easiest to get into as everything is supplied, but needs the most imagination to complete.
https://www.daz3d.com/comic-book-creation-kit-part-1
Everything else is directed at an exact process or goal- like lighting or post work, and covers...real specific workshops.
Corrections. Part of the clean-up process for CG artists using 3D models (and the CG environment) is checking for errors.
These are some of the common errors to look for.
Floating feet - It can be difficult to see where your character's feet meet the ground. There is a function to move your character's feet to the ground.
Edit/Figure/Move to Floor
You can make adjustments and re-render or move the shadow under the feet using post work.
Arched feet/Flat Feet- Many pose presets place the character's feet in a high heeled foot position. It's a giveaway when your character is standing flatly but the feet are still in the high-heeled pose. Also happens in reverse. Character wearing heels and a non-matching foot pose. Fixes include choosing the ankle and ...
Edit/Figure/Zero/Zero Selected Item(s) Pose
* You can also choose Zero Poses from your library and add them to favorites to reset hands and feet for fast edits.
(Most pose products in the store will have a Reset or Zero pose included among the poses) OR just pick a foot pose matching the wear of the character.
Poke Through- Occurs when overlapping clothing layers 'poke through' in certain places. A shirt sleeve may poke through a jacket. A foot or sock may poke through a shoe. There is usually an adjustment morph on the two items which can be adjusted to pull the shirt tighter and make the jacket "looser" by expanding. Sometimes it makes the outer clothing item balloon out and not fit nicely. This can be fixed in Post or, if all else fails -a drastic measure for the advanced is to make a second copy of the shirt (add it twice) and use the Geometry editing tool to cut out the poking polygons. Always SAVE before you try this. lol The reason you'd make a duplicate of the worn shirt is, once you cut the shirt you can't undo the edit. One shirt is made invisible and is still there in case you need to show the shirt later on. Almost NEVER cut the polygons of figures as they are high-poly and will almost always tax your system.
Using Tool/Geometry Editor (Marquee selection to choose the shirt parts the poke through), then right click to...
Shirt parts are cut away.
Eye Sore - Characters not looking at each other or the right object. I've used two products to sort this out over the years.
https://www.daz3d.com/look-at-me-ii-pose-control
https://www.daz3d.com/eye-clock-pose-control-for-genesis-3-and-8-male-s-and-female-s
Intersecting Objects - Getting hand poses (holding things) correct and getting characters to sink into objects. Body parts squish on impact. There are morph products to flatten and compress. At worst, sink your character into the surface a small amount (usually feet flatten when supporting weight) . Make sure fingers, feet and items do not overlap.
Feet are sunk a little into the floor.
More later.
Another solution to pokethru is the "Mesh Grabber" product. Expensive, but well worth it.
https://www.daz3d.com/mesh-grabber-win
https://www.daz3d.com/mesh-grabber-mac
Great suggestion. I need to experiment more with that.
I don't want to interrupt this great tutorial, but I'd like to suggest two more ways to deal with poke-throughs, if that's alright:
1. Smoothing modifier with collision detection – especially when applied hierarchically. For example, the jacket would then be based on the shirt and not the model itself. Most clothing items already have a smoothing modifier enabled. Then you only need to change the base of the outer item and adjust the sliders until it fits. However, this can be resource-intensive.
A product that can be helpful with this (but isn't strictly necessary) is: Morph Master
2.Thickener Plug-In: A plugin that increases the thickness of clothing (or any other) items. The underlying clothing or model might then poke through the first layer, but there would still be something above it. However, the thickener can be a bit tricky at times and probably requires some experimentation – not necessarily for beginners.
Both options can be freely enabled/disabled – so they are non-destructive, unlike the Geometry Editor or Mesh Grabber.
I'd like to suggest two more ways to deal with poke-throughs
Of course. All ideas are welcome.
14) Build your own Troubleshooting, Tips & Tricks and Tools & Techniques Guides.
If you have a problem once, you'll probably have it twice. It's a good idea to keep a document that lists your problems and their solutions.
You can even add points that you haven't encountered yet- from the forum.
Black Image Renders: Usually a camera issue. The camera is placed behind a solid object or placed under the virtual ground (Render Settings/Draw Ground = On). Possibly Dome related as older sets used a dome for the backdrop and that doesn't work with Iray. Scene Menu, find Dome and remove.
You open a scene and it's dark. Ctrl+L to turn on ambient light. etc
Great thread. Many interesting topics.
There is always something new to learn with sequential art.