Mythica Monday
How to give an art critique.
After working on issue 1 of Mythica I sent it off to a friend and mentor of mine, Scott McDaniel, expecting that if he had any time at all it would only be a few quick words. Instead, Scott took the time to give a panel by panel breakdown of several pages pointing out the good, the bad and the needs improvement.
This is what he had to say about the first panel below.
"Tough angle, good control of the figure in the composition. It could have gotten a bit hard to view with background elements competing with foreground elements in that tight cluster of figures, but you controlled the lower elements well so the "hands in the center" moment was clearly seen.
Mythica 1 Page 3 panels 1 and 2 by Matt Campbell
Scott went on to point out some issues in the next panel. The first of which was about the direction of travel in a comic. I knew this from my time in animation school but the way he worded it stuck with me and it is now a subject I always bring up to my comic students.
”Generally, moving LEFT to RIGHT is considered moving FORWARD, or EAST.
Generally, moving RIGHT to LEFT is considered RETURNING/BACKWARDS, or WEST…
…but the direction of travel to me means they are either going home, returning to their starting point, or heading west. If NOT, they should be going the other direction.”
If you’ve read the first issue you will know that they are, in fact, heading back home. If you haven’t read issue then read it for FREE here.
Tangents
One of the other things Scott helped me see better is a thing called tangents. Below is the original line art that he was critiquing.
Mythica 1 page 3 panels 2 and 3 original line art. Notice the placement of the moon.
Be careful to avoid 'tangents.' These are places where lines or objects that are completely separate meet/join/cross in ways that make the art look awkward or confusing.
The tiny area where the moon contour meets the hill top contour meets the shadowed head is a 'tangent' - actually, it's TWO! The more offending tangent is the head/hill joining. You should change the hill contour so it does NOT coincide with the top of the character's head.
It would be better too if the moon were shifted a tiny bit left or right, to either enclose entire the head, or miss entirely the head.
Before and after.
I made the adjustments before printing the first issue and to this day it is one of my favorite little panels. The way Magnus is framed inside the moon makes me so happy I sent my work to a professional for honest feedback,.
Speaking of honest feedback. That is one of the perks that I offer to my patrons on patreon. As a member you can send me art, pages or even graphic designs for useful feedback. If you are already a member of patreon or have been in the past please share the best things you’ve recieved from being a patreon member.
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