Re: [Manga] Captivity PreFoundation (Page: "Plot")

[x3Darkie]

Hi. You've probably seen me around here before. This is a side project I'm working on alongside the main game. And yes, for all intents and purposes, I'm calling it a manga. It'll read from right to left, illustrated in a very manga/anime style, toned/shaded in a very manga style. So for what it's worth, I'm calling it a manga. This is a direct tie-in to the main game. Focusing on two other major characters instead of the Player (although she'll make a couple cameo appearance). And as mentioned, this will be worked on concurrently alongside the main game. I'll upload a page whenever it's completed and will be free for everyone to read. (The free/public version will be downsized to 40% to maintain readability and uploaded to imgur, while the original resolution versions (2480 x 3508) will be available to my patrons on Patreon.)



Summary

On the day of The Transference, a mysterious incident that caused tens of thousands of players to be trapped in the game world of an action MMORPG, chaos ensued. With no way to log out or escape, the world of DragonSong became reality. For some, this meant a new life in a video game, for others, this meant rage, despair, and suffering. Those who are unable to adapt to this new reality take out their frustration and anger on others. Causing widespread chaos and hysteria among Adventurers and NPCs alike.

The guild master of Integrity, one of the highest ranking guilds on the North American server, Resonance, not willing to simply let things continue or get worse, he took it upon himself to stop the chaos in Estal City. However, with the king dead since The Transference, Resonance took it one step further and attempts to gather like-minded players to form a new Estalian government. The first person he invited, Meowtiny, a close friend and guild leader of Kitten Overlords. A guild famed for its odd requirement of mandatory equipment of Cat Ears and Cat Tails that led many to believe that they are a roleplaying guild. Meowtiny accepted his offer, becoming the spymaster of this budding group and began to spy on potential members.

A story of which a Foundation to a better world is being built begins.


Read online
Pending.
Please wait until I've at least done a couple pages!


Main game
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=6124


CHARACTER SUBMISSIONS!!!elevenone
https://captivity-hrpg.blogspot.com/p/c ... ssion.html


Yes, I definitely stole that ending line from the summary of the two Danganronpa anime this anime season. There will be action! Sex! Espionage! Politics! Drama! What more could you ask for? On a serious note, I'm estimating this manga to be around 60-ish pages long, depending on how I pace the panels, dialogues and sex scenes. I should probably have storyboarded the whole thing first, but since when do I do things the smart way? Let me know what you think of this side project!

[ANooB]

Your artwork looks pretty tight. Can't wait to start reading it

[x3Darkie]

Oh, I still have much to improve. And I'm not even trying to be modest. This manga is just another way for me to practice and improve my skills. :3

[x3Darkie]

For those who are craving for more Captivity while I'm working on the next update (which is probably like null), here's some previews of page 0, 1 and 2! Do note page 2 is hugely unfinished especially the first panel and looks like it was drawn by a 3 year old, but they're rough sketches for me to get a general idea of how I want the final lineart to be. Trust me, I know how to draw, but do feel free to tell me how shitty my placeholder looks though. Also, I may move page 2's bottom panel to page 3 and draw some more filler panels. Right now page 2 is essentially the same as page 1 but just with a different character.

(The first appearance of familiars?!)

[x3Darkie]

As of this post, 3 OCs were submitted to me. I sketched 2 of these characters as they appear in manga. I'll insert these into their appropriate panels as I get to the pages, but here's a teaser for 2 of the said characters. I took some liberties with their appearance to fit my style, but hopefully their owners are fine with the liberties I took. (E.g: I have no idea what a roman styled hair is, so I gave Rick long cowboy-ish hair.)

Also, the character submissions is still ongoing. If you want to submit a character, please go here and do so!

[Andvett Aeon]

Hey Darkie,

The manga is looking good so far, I'm looking forward to read the rest of it when it comes out.

Also, feel free to draw Deh any way you want, she looks great on your art style.

Cheers.

[x3Darkie]

Apologies for the lack of communication in the past 2 weeks or so, everyone. Not that anyone actually contacted me, which is kinda sad. But regardless, I've been really busy with work, so that's why I haven't been doing much at all. But came home yesterday feeling like drawing something, so I sketched a quick panel of page maybe around 10 ish? It may seem like this is very disorganized and I don't know where everything is, but the truth is, I have the full story in mind. I just haven't gotten to draw the earlier panels/pages so I don't know which page this panel is gonna be on exactly. And I wanted to draw one of the more interesting parts considering a good part of this manga is just exposition or sex anyway.

Bear in mind this is still a sketch, so a good part of it will be redrawn.

CPF-SomeEarlyPageIguess.jpg (139.97 KiB) Viewed 3425 times

In other news, I'm trying to work out a plan to quit my part time job (that's 10 to 10 so I'm not exactly sure if that's considered a part time job) and live off my savings for awhile so I can work on Captivity full time, so we'll see how that goes.

And thanks Andvett! I won't spoil too much, but Deh will only appear for a couple of panels since I don't have too much plans for her. If you'd like me to give her a slightly more significant role, hit me with a pm or an email and we'll see what we can work out.

[x3Darkie]

The continuation of the previous tease.

[x3Darkie]

This is a real problem I REALLY need to fix. I need to stop jumping around pages and instead storyboard in order. But, here are some panels I've storyboarded for Exo. Obvious spoiler alert, don't open it if you want to wait for me to god knows how long to actually finish this manga. But otherwise, slight gore incoming.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Fun fact, this character was conceived before Youjo Senki got an anime. But credit where it's due, they certainly made looking up "evil loli expressions" a lot easier.
It's also disturbing how fast I can draw breasts without looking up references now.

Side note, I'm also gonna redo the cover art. Something looks off and it's been bothering me ever since I've posted it. Now I've finally got a good idea of how I want it to be. But among making assets for the main game and the manga, the manga is gonna take a lot longer, since I'm only really drawing the manga when I get strokes of inspirations. And trust me, there's no one more than me that wants the game to actually get a fucking update.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

I almost like this art style, but the wandering proportions really drive me away.

When drawing people, it's important to use some kind of measuring system. You may have heard of the idea that people are 7 "heads" tall, or the face is 5 "eyes" across. One of the problem areas I see are with hands. A hand is about the same length as a person's face. When you draw hands near the face, you tend to get this right, but when you draw the hand down at the hips, they shrink. I obviously can't see your whole drawing process, but if these are first drafts, there should really be more sketch lines and construction shapes going on. You really can't expect to get figure drawing right from memory on the first try.

There's also a lot of rigidness to the characters, which is unappealing. Characters standing like their backbones have been made of iron bars. It's common for beginning artists. Working from reference and using construction shapes can help you overcome that with time.

I've been there making all the same mistakes, and I learned that practice doesn't make perfect, research does. Here are some guides that really helped me out:

Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdWsNp5KWdE
Figure drawing Tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kK71t-I-2w
Bean Shaped Cartoon Bodies: https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/ca ... ctor-18651
Simplyfing Complexity: https://nsio.deviantart.com/art/Nsio-ex ... -401151718 (And check Nsio's various tutorials)
Chris Hart's Cartoon Cool: https://www.slideshare.net/jefffarias9/ ... 02phpapp01
Chris Hart's Cutting Edge Anatomy: https://www.slideshare.net/saudi507/chr ... my-8834128
12 Principles of Animation Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... i92U_l6ZJd (since comics are like proto-animation, there's a lot of overlap)

I know none of these are specifically anime style, but figure drawing is figure drawing, it is easily converted to any style you want. In fact, I find it much more helpful to practice in various styles because this helps you to learn control. Try something like this guy did: https://io9.gizmodo.com/artist-drew-him ... 1483640863

If you're into physical books, I definitely recommend Chris Hart. He gets some flak on the web for not exactly having his finger on the pulse of cartoon culture and for acting like more of an expert than he really is, but as long as you take his advice with a grain of salt, Chris Hart is very useful. Chris Hart is very good at analyzing a style of cartooning and approaching it with the same formula of figure drawing. Chris Hart also has some anime books, but he's not the most authentic anime artist, but better than most "How to draw Anime" things I've seen.

[x3Darkie]

I won't deny that my proportions are all over the place. Part of my problem is that I don't make character/reference sheets. I rely on the busts I'm making for the main game, which surprise! Is only from 1 angle instead of multiple ones.

I'm not gonna go too much detail into my drawing process, but these indeed are sketches/first drafts. I don't really draw guidelines or construction shapes to 1. speed up my drawing process by forgoing guidelines, 2. practice drawing without initial guidelines (I still use guidelines when I can't draw a particular shape or from a particular angle) and 3. git gud without using guidelines. And when sketching, I don't like leaving tons of sketch lines. It has its charm and all, but it confuses me when I do the lineart. So I'm one of those guys that make lots of undos to get the "first" sketch line right.

One of the reasons I post sketches like this is to get feedback. And according to the amount of feedback I get, which is like barely any, I get the impression that either no one gives a shit about this manga or that people don't really notice these things. The only feedback I get are artists that are studying others' art (like you) who also cares enough to leave comments (like you). In any case, thanks for the valuable feedback. There's a few things I can do to try getting the proportions more consistent, but I don't think I can do anything about "characters standing like their backbones have been made of iron bars." So, I dunno. Things'll probably change during the linearting phase. (I also read/watched pretty much all the links you provived, so I don't know how much it'll help for me to go back to read them again)

Also, continued from the last post!

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As someone who doesn't draw a lot of pained expressions. I'm proud of that pained expression. I must be a sadist at heart.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Hopefully it doesn't seem like I'm trying to bust your chops here or anything. I just want you, and frankly everyone, to draw better. I used to hang out on the NewGrounds art forum giving the same advice to new artists over and over again. I wish these tricks were something that they taught in school, I wish they had taught them to ME in school, but they don't, so we're stuck learning them on the streets.

The idea that you can get good at drawing without guidelines by skipping the guidelines is backwards. By making the guidelines, you get a sense of expectation for them, and eventually get to a point where you can draw the guidelines in your head, so to speak, and don't need to put them on paper. It's different for everybody, but I find that it's easier to draw well than it is to draw poorly. Meaning, that all these tricks like guidelines and perspective lines and gesture drawings are there to make drawing easier, and it's easier to make better drawings when it's easier to draw.

You can help with the character stiffness by drawing from reference. The ideal thing to do is get a real life person (possibly yourself) to do the poses you're trying to capture and then photograph them from a couple angles or have them stay in that pose while you draw them. For a motion, you can video tape them and pick the best frames for the comic. In How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way, they suggest to draw motions at the beginning and at the end. And given the internet, you can often find pictures or videos of people doing whatever pose or motion you need. As with guidelines, practicing with references will give you a sense of biomechanics so that you can eventually guess what things should look like without relying on reference everytime.

First of all, you need to identify when you are being stiff, the way they are standing in this picture looks an Ancient Egyptian painting:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

And this is completely naturally. Without active reference, the human brain wants to simplify human form into designs like this. It's also healthy for the design process, you can make a sketch like this to start and then change the camera later. But you don't want to leave the hieroglyphs in your final product.

In general you want to avoid these "Orthographic" views of the action. Avoid being directly in front of or to the side of the characters. Try to default to the 3/4 profile. Don't just draw a diagram of the characters, imagine a scene and putting a camera in the scene somewhere to capture the action. You can also generate energy and emotion for the scene with the "camera". Putting the camera over someone's shoulder makes you feel like you're with that character, seeing it from her perspective, or like you're on her team. Putting a camera above someone can make that character feel weak(shorter, closer to the ground), while putting the camera below them makes them look strong(taller, closer to the sky). You're already doing this, perhaps subconsciously but putting their faces in the corners, exaggerating their relative heights, even though their faces are almost at the same height.

Let's check out some human reference for kneeling:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

I couldn't find a shot of someone looking upward, but we've got some biomechanics to study. Notice that the back is curved forward. This gives you that body language message that the character is in pain. As the arm reaches forward to tend to the wound, the shoulder moves forward. And try to notice not just the pose, but how they look relative to the "camera" or audience.

[x3Darkie]

Not at all, I appreciate all forms of constructive critique and even encourage it. (Rant territory: "u suk dik at drwing" doesn't help. "This particular part looks odd" helps.)

I have to disagree with the idea that you can't improve by skipping guidelines. This is based on personal experience and an anecdotal evidence at best, but I find myself draw best by skipping guidelines. When I first started drawing, I relied almost entirely on guidelines, but when I dropped the guidelines, I could see massive improvements compared to when I still use guidelines. The things I draw felt more "alive." Though again, purely anecdotal. But that's not to say I absolutely don't use guidelines. I still do, but I prefer not to. In the previous post for example, the faces in the corner are drawn without using any guidelines, but the frame/panel in the center did. And I have to admit it looks 10 fold worse than their counterparts. However, that's likely just because of my lack of experience with child/loli proportions and failure to properly illustrate the pose of the woman being stabbed. Her not arching forwards is intentional. I wanted to portray the loli forcing her to sit upright with the knife in hand.

A lot of the cinematography/framing tricks I use is more or less subconscious. The trick here is to think about how dramatic you want things to look, the action and subject to be framed and how to lead the audiences' eyes to the next panel. I don't think orthographic angles are necessarily bad. A lot of times it's not strictly about what looks realistic according to the scene, it's also about what you want to show the audience. In the post previous to "evil lolis," the subject is framed exactly like that to show the audience what Resonance is seeing. And I'm willing to bet most people naturally have their eyes landing on her tits first, then working down to see the text bubble with her stating "My face's up here, buddy." Which once people read that, they'll be like, "oh fuck. Damn you, author! Stop getting inside my head!" ...That's my dramatic reenactment of what I think of people thinking when I drew that. (And yeah, I know the face shape look a bit fucked up. That'll be fixed when I get around to linearting it.) As for the latest post, the faces are framed from the side simply because I think they look good like that. I do this subconsciously, but thinking about it consciously, the side view of the faces perfectly enforces the center frame. Making the faces a 3 quarters view or front view breaks the flow of the panel. But yes, in manga and comics (and also in every other visual mediums obviously), leading the audiences' eyes is important. Tl;dr, cinematography tricks goes hand in hand with paneling.

Quick note, I write in a way that almost seem like I'm addressing to everyone that reads this. So don't feel pressured to reply to a specific thing I've said. I'm well aware that you may know a lot of the stuff I listed already, but I write in a way that assumes not everyone knows how these thing work as to give them insight to my process.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Well, there are many different ways to do guiding shapes, and it's because different people need different things. I'm actually more of a fan of using blobs to start with. The main thing is to give yourself a chance to see the pose and make changes before you commit to it, and to get your measurements and perspective right.

And same deal, I see a lot of these same "mistakes" from a lot of artists, so my critique is for whoever, whenever.

[x3Darkie]

Wanted to doodle something quick and fun instead of plot or hardcore sex. I would've edited the thread title to "something out of a typical ecchi anime or manga scene," but sadly that's too long.


This isn't actually part of the plot, so I'll probably just make it a midcard or something.
(I have no idea how to explain what a mid card is in 2 sentence or less, so have a google images link)