kickstarter Archives - Page 18 of 20

February 10, 2015February 9, 2015

Review Day Tuesday: The Hues

The Hues is a webcomic made by Alex Heberling featuring post-apocalyptic magical girls, a diverse cast, and a mysterious alien race.

…You had me at “post-apocalyptic magical girls.”

the hues chapter 1 cover art — The cover for Chapter 1.

This webcomic centers around Sami, a 17-year-old girl based in Columbus, OH, who witnesses a mysterious signal from an alien race. Turns out the signal is a literal doomsday clock, and when it goes off, the aliens descend into the city and annihilate it completely. The ones left behind are Sami and other girls who have mysterious magical powers like her, and it’s up to them to fight off the aliens.

I love everything about this webcomic.

To start, the main cast is ethnically and physically diverse. Look at this line up!

You don’t see that often in magical girl stories.

Plus, the way the story opens is a nice change from the usual magical girl fare.

Because the USUAL magical girl fair opens with the protagonist waking up late for school and rushing out the door. But then she encounters something MAGICAL on the way to school and gets her powers.

Not with The Hues (thank goodness).

It opens with Sami making a YouTube video about the signal in the sky over her home city.

Horray! Originality!

Plus, the characters have a variety of personal histories. They’re not detailed in the first 2 chapters, but the hints leave you intrigued.

The art is actually a standout from other webcomics, in that it’s all digital painting. It almost looks like vector art. There are few comics that are drawn like this, but the artistic style suits the story it conveys. It’s animated and colorful, but also dark.

the hues chapter 1 page 17 — Chapter 1, page 17.

This series is definitely worth checking out. And the best way to do it?

Alex is actually running a KickStarter campaign to release the first 3 chapters in a book, featuring bonus materials and remastered art! I know I backed the campaign, and you should, too. It only has a few days left!

If you’re absolutely broke, though, you can read the comic online.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you support The Hues on KickStarter!

I’ll see you tomorrow.

January 2, 2015January 1, 2015

Six: An Anthology of Comics…Review

There’s a new addition to my comic collection thanks to the power of KickStarter…

I completely forgot I backed this project until it arrived in the mail, along with a really fun “Believe in Comics” sticker (which I already put on my sketchbook).

To be honest, this was the first horror comic I have ever purchased or read. I’m not usually a fan of horror. I don’t read horror comics and even horror movies are ones I watch sporadically. I’ve never seen many of the things this author draws inspiration from, like Tales from the Crypt.

The only horror films I have seen thus far are Psycho, The Birds, Orphan (which I would say is more a thriller than a horror film), and Shawn of the Dead.

Wait, zombie movies count. Then I’ve seen more horror than that.

But it wasn’t until I read this comic anthology, Six, that I was introduced to the idea that the horror genre had its own niches like atmospheric horror and supernatural horror.

So my mind was pretty much a blank slate in terms of expectations for this book.

And it’s actually good.

This anthology features stories written by one author, Fabian Rangel Jr, with different artists for each story.

The first short story, “The Blood and the Snow,” features a Conan the Barbarian-esque woman warrior fighting her way towards her arch nemesis. This one is still my favorite, but mostly because I have a soft spot for badass ladies (or else I wouldn’t have started the Women Warriors Project). The artist, Jonathan Brandon Sawyer, does a great job.

six comics anthology woman warrior — Look at this artwork! It’s gorgeous!

The second story, “The Souls of Wicked Men,” follows two train robbers who fail in their heist, and retreat into the woods for shelter. I’m not going to spoil the ending, but it made me gasp out loud. I haven’t read a comic that made me do that in a long time.

The third story, “No Stranger to Death,” is probably the weakest story of the bunch. It follows an old man as he travels to a stranger’s house, only to reveal himself as a vampire hunter. And then, after he kills the vampire, out of nowhere, a ghost of a little girl appears and asks him to give her a proper burial.

The mood the author is trying to set in this story is commendable, but the artist, though good with facial expressions, is not a great communicator. The volume I got from backing the KickStarter included scripts of this story in the back, and it’s not entirely the fault of the artist that the story falls flat. The story is just littered with shotgun ideas that don’t connect very well.

The fourth story, “Stinky,” however, brings back the good stuff. It’s about a boy who is teased relentlessly by his classmates because he smells like rotten meat. One day, two of his classmates come over to his house to harass him, but soon discover the secret in the house, and why Stinky is…well, stinky. THIS story creeped me out the most, but in a good way.

The fifth story, “When the Evil Came,” is pure gross/psychological horror. Just…don’t read it if you don’t like bugs.

The sixth story, “Our Own Wars,” is about a soldier in a war against zombies. This was actually featured in another anthology, FUBAR (published by Alterna comics). It’s a good closing story, but not the best one (then again, it’s hard for me to get emotionally invested in a zombie story), since it relies on sentiment. But its circularity in its plot makes me happy.

I would say go and buy a copy, but I had a hard time finding it online outside of its KickStarter (which is over). However, if you find it, leave a link in the comments below!

Overall, I say this anthology is a must-read, even if you don’t read horror comics. This anthology definitely got me interested in horror comics, and if you’re on the fence about getting into the genre, this anthology is a good place to start.

Have any other suggestions for horror comics? Leave those in comments, too. :D

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Monday.

December 16, 2014December 30, 2014

Lessons Learned from a KickStarter Project

Click to enlarge.

My sister Kia and I were running a KickStarter to help fund the beginning of our new webcomic, Seeing Him.

AND…

It did not meet the goal.

To be honest, Kia and I weren’t really sure whether this project would get funded or not. We were hoping for the best, whatever the best may be.

Now that the KickStarter is over, I think, for now, it DID turned out for the best.

I am sad our comic cannot be made right away.

However, we did learn the following things from this KickStarter:

People WANT to support indie comic creators (we did, after all, raise a little over $500. We didn’t get any of that money because KickStarter is an all-or-nothing fundraising system, but people were still willing to contribute money towards our project!)
People WANT to see more positive trans representation, especially for trans men.
People are more altruistic than we are lead to believe.
And digital rewards are way more popular than I thought they would be.

Kia and I are going to take these lessons in and plan our next move.

We are hoping to fund raise for the project again sometime after New Years, and perhaps…

Lower the asking goal.
Offer more/only digital rewards (so we don’t spend our funds on making rewards for the backers, therefore justifying our lower goal amount and getting the comic made faster and sooner)
Offer more ways backers can be included into the comic, because MY GOODNESS during the campaign the $100 reward to be drawn as a recurring character got sold out FAST.

As soon as Kia and I have a plan, I will let you fabulous readers know so we can try again and, hopefully, succeed.

Thank you to everyone who shared Seeing Him on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and elsewhere on the internet.

Thank you to Pink Dollar Comics and Women Write About Comics who wrote about the KickStarter project as it was going.

Thank you to all of the backers who contributed (sorry we didn’t make the goal).

And a very special thank you to my friends and family who were eager and supportive for our project. You know who you are.

Again, stay tuned for further developments for Seeing Him!

Thank you for reading (and for all of your support), and I will see you tomorrow.

December 15, 2014December 30, 2014

Step-by-Step Roxie Portrait

This post is the first in a week-long blog post update extravaganza! (It’s when I update my blog everyday, Monday through Friday, just for this week).

I just finished a new illustration in colored pencil! So to celebrate, I wanted to show the progression of how I made it and the tools I used. And at the end of the blog post, you can see the finished piece.

To start, I grabbed my Prismacolor 72 piece colored pencil set (which I had left over from my first ever art class in college. Hold on to your supplies, students!) and an 9 wide inch by 12 inch pad of Strathmore Toned Tan paper.

Once I got those, I drew the black and white version of what I wanted to color. I sketched in (lightly) where the shadows would lie with my trusty F hardness sketch pencil. I use that pencil for all of my drawing and sketching.

Then I go over those lines with my mechanical pencil, which I believe is a B hardness in lead, so it’s darker than the F.

Next, I color over the whole sketch with a white colored pencil. I do this so that…

I don’t lose my shadows
I have a layer of colored pencil between my pencil lines and my actual colors, thus
making my art much cleaner and less muddy.

Once the white is laid down, I lay down the brightest colors I’m going to use, and color from light to dark.

The first layer of colors end up looking a little like this:

colored pencil portrait of validation roxie in progress — Click to enlarge.

It’s not the prettiest…yet.

Also, I did not use light peach straightaway for the skin tone. I laid down the highlight color, which is a mix of Cream and Beige.

Alright, so I drew the light colors first. What next?

The shadows!

colored pencil portrait of validation roxie in progress 2 — Click to enlarge.

I really wanted to try and find colors that would compliment Roxie’s hair, which is why I went with fuchsia industrial piercings, dark blue gauges, a purple camisole, and an orange-yellow tank top.

Also, use the color wheel. It is your friend.

color wheel tool — I got this sucker for around 6 or 7 US Dollars at a craft store in college. (Click to enlarge). One side is tints and the other is shades.

I used this to help me find the complimentary colors mentioned above, and it also helped me find what colors to use for shading.

So at this point, I have colored the highlights and the shades. There’s just one layer missing…

Oh I know! The mid tones!

I took the colors I wanted for the mid tones in each area, which went a little like this:

Mohawk: Spring Green
Shirt: Canary Yellow
Gauges: Cloud Blue
Camisole: Violet
Piercings: Magenta
Skin: Light Peach
Teeth: Cool Grey 20%

But after I colored the mid tones and finished out a few minor details (like the teeth), I noticed that the shade tones got lifted up a little.

So I went back over the mid tone layer with the shades again. Which went like this:

Mohawk: Dark Green
Shirt: Dark Brown
Gauges: Ultramarine
Camisole: layers of Violet Blue, Ultramarine, and Indigo Blue
Piercings: Mulberry
Skin: Sienna Brown
Teeth: French Grey 60%

Then I added some neutral tones like brown in the linings of the mouth.

The last step was VERY LIGHTLY adding Black on the edges to help delineate shadow.

Finally, at long last…

colored pencil portrait of validation roxie finished — FINISHED! Click to enlarge.

This portrait is finished!

Looking at it, there are still some errors that I notice (like her nose), but I have to say…

This is the first colored pencil piece of art I have made in a little over five years. I think I did alright. It’s not the best, but it’s not the worst. With practice, I’ll get better.

So what do you think? Should I do more portraits in colored pencil? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

In other news, the KickStarter for Seeing Him is wrapping up, and, to be honest, I don’t think we’ll make the goal.

But that’s ok! Kia and I have been talking behind-the-scenes and we have a few ideas for what to do next. I’ll be able to share them with you soon.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you back here on the blog tomorrow. Or in comments at Validation. Or Johnson & Sir. Or Charlie & Clow. Or Tumblr… I’M EVERYWHERE.

December 12, 2014January 18, 2015

KickStarter Updates and Videos

The KickStarter for “Seeing Him,” the new webcomic made my Kia and myself, will end on December 15!

I made a video for the KickStarter on my own YouTube channel, which you can watch below:

We’re still not near our goal! So if you can, please donate and spread the word. You can get cool rewards like posters, stickers, or even a chance to get drawn in the comic.

But the best thing about funding Seeing Him is that you’ll help bring a story, featuring a trans man, to life.

Because there need to be more stories about and for trans men.

Again, the KickStarter ends December 15!

Here’s some art to show what the webcomic will look like when and if it’s funded:

seeing him trans man webcomic comic page preview — Click to enlarge (and read).

In other news, I’ll be updating my YouTube channel much more often. Hopefully the next update will be the blooper reel for the KickStarter video. After that, there’ll be a video showing off a sketchbook I finished recently.

For the rest of December, I’ll be finishing up the KickStarter, making commissions, and wrapping up presents. But the webcomics I do will still update regularly!

Here’s another crazy thing I’m doing: starting Monday next week, I’m updating this blog every day, from Monday to Friday.

I’ll be showing never-before-seen sketches, posting more videos, talking about comics (maybe even discuss some comics history), and who knows? Maybe I’ll write a blog post you suggest.

Leave suggestions for next week’s blog posts in the comments below!

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Monday.