HdE's bits and pieces Options

[HdE]

Thanks for your comment, Cougar. It's much appreciated.

Really strong. I think you need a little more weight around the main figures, as they are blending in with the background too much. Maybe have a thicker line around them or something. This is particularly evident in the third panel, as the figures in the background are blending in with the background itsself. The foreground figures should have a thicker outline when compared to the background figures also.

This is actually one of those areas I keep trying to tighten up and improve on, oddly enough.

What I find is, if I lay the ink down as thickly as sometimes feels natural to me, the feedback I get is 'tone down the line weights.' When I pare them back, I tend to get the sort of feedback you just gave me. So it's a real judgement thing that I'm always trying to strike a balance with.

This time around, I figured I'd concentrate on getting more character in the linework, and using broken lines to suggest space. That's because I'm really looking to get feedback to see if THAT particular trick works (I personally have my doubts!)

I've gone over to using this method because - although I'm told colourists hate it - I'm actually not a huge fan of the 'thick lines for foregorund objects' rationale. It's become a common practice, but I see a lot of comic book art where it has the effect of making foreground objects look like cardboard cut-outs. Sometimes it's down to over-laboured inks, sometimes it's down to poor colouring.

Not to argue with you there, because your feedback is very useful. I'm just hoping if I can explain my approach, maybe someone can point out precisely where I can tighten it up and make it work better.

[HdE]

Haven't updated for a while, as I've been too danged busy writing and lettering.

Here's my latest complete work - an episode of my irregular webcomic 'The Misery of HdE'. There's a shout-out here to 2000AD superfan John Burdis - a man who seems to fit his replica Judge's uniform a little too well for my liking...

[HdE]

More one-page comics goodness.

And, whaddya know? It's those pesky Robots In Disguise again!



My thanks to the very talented Jeremy Tiongson for his work on this. He knocked it out of the park!

You may notice there's a different project banner over the top of this one. That's because 'Transformers Mosaic' has come to an end. Sad but true.

However, a new project 'Transformers Multiverse' has been set up to continue the tradition of these single page fan comics. And I'm the guy who set it up. Yoink!

We're currently sounding the call for interested parties to head on over to the project's DA page and take a look at us. Anyone can chip in if they're interested.

You can find us here:
http://tf-multiverse.deviantart.com/

[HdE]

Another day, another update - this time with the latest work to have gone up on the 'Transformers: Multiverse' page.

This one's been kicking around for a while. The art is by my buddy Paul Vromen, and the colouring by Eman B. Zubia. Both fantastic guys. The script and lettering is all mine.



While it's not explicitly stated in the dialogue, the central conceit here is that those wacky robots have their own holographic avatar thingies. It's an idea that cropped up in IDW's early Transformers books, and was recently revisited by James Roberts in the current 'More Than Meets The Eye' ongoing.

And if you want a fresh, rewarding comic book experience, I'd REALLY urge you to track down the two trade collections of that series. It's great!

Lettering wise, this one was quite a work-out! I took about twice as long as usual about lettering this, as I wanted to go to town on things like the newspaper headlines, the signs in the diner, and even the label on the ketchup bottle in panel 1.

This post has been edited by HdE: Jan 6 2013, 01:09 PM

[Ron Fortier]

COLORADO!!! They're coming my way! Hahahahah...Hde, thanks for sharing this. Really great job on the lettering. Paul's art is also really clean and fresh. Looks like a winner to me.

[HdE]

Thanks, Ron - and be sure to look out for some improbably conspicuous automobiles outside your home. If they're robots in disguise, WHY do they choose such flashy camouflage? Ah well, mine is not to reason why...

Paul's art just gets better and better every time I see it. I've worked over his lines a few times now, and his every piece is a delight to work on. I've also seen a dramatic rate of progress in his page composition and layout skills - this guy is one to watch, no mistake!

And I can't labour enough - Paul's an absolutely lovely guy. Sometimes the best artists aren't the nicest people - something I had a LOT of unfortunate experience of during 2012. I really want to see Paul succeed.

[HdE]

New comic time!

I really gotta apologise - I SWEAR I have more in the works than these Transformers one-pagers. But here's another, for posterity!



I tried a few different things here, in the hope that they'd mesh together.

What we've got are a mix of current IDW-era character designs, three tone colouring, and, to show what a lettering nerd I am, I tried to ape some old-school lettering styling here. yeah, I know - I didn;lt build the fonts, but the coloured captions and header design is all evoked from old Transformers comics of yesteryear.

I also got a blast drawing a group shot (I don't do that nearly often enough) and writing a villain, as well as trying to eke as much out of a single splash page as I could. Fun times!