Here is my final media piece. Its a small comic strip about an issue which is most common and pronounced now - domestic violence. I tried to use a look which is relative to today's clothing and colouring (either pastel colours and not a lot of print) like Lichtenstein used in his comic books with the well dressed woman in expensive clothing. Here I used simple colours in the clothing to just how simplistic the look is of people's clothing today in comparison to the 50's. The comic strip has a mixture of pop-art styles intermixed with comic book styling of comics today.
As I put in my previous posts, I had trouble with the colouring of the images. If you look at some of the panels, there is a white fuzzy outline which goes around the edging of where the Quick Selection Tool was placed causing gaps in the colour. If I was to do this again, I would use a drawing tablet to colour the specific bits instead of just relying on the QST. (My tablet broke just before creating this so I was unable to do this)
Overall I'm pleases with the way the piece turned out as I think I mimicked Lichtenstein's concept but added my own twist to it. I like the story and how it was set out but next time I might add a history of before and what happened to her and why she is in a abusive relationship with this man. Exploring the backstory however can be added later which I will probably continue on this blog.
Its been a good experience to do a piece like this instead of having to use things like After Effects and physical drawings and the idea of using Photoshop and drawn images to create a final piece is something which I may follow in the future and practise more to get better. Hopefully by the time I pass, I can make a industry quality (or near enough) comic strip which I can then progress into other parts of my media work.
The Media Product:
Note: Originally there was supposed to the a 6th panel. But due to it not following the story properly and having problems drawing and colouring, it was cut for the final piece.
If you're interested in comics you need to learn their language so that you can communicate effectively in this medium. I recommend "Understanding Comics – the invisible art" by S McCloud and "The Language of Comics – word & image" by Varnum & Gibbons. For example your panels are all a similar size so not one carries extra emphasis. You also need to consider your narrative structure:- I would suggest (1) woman's face (2) fist (3) POW! (4) extra panel - man's POV showing fist hitting face (5) man's face (looking down not up or woman's POV) with speech bubble (6) woman on ground with speech bubble (off). Finally you should consider allowing the "POW!" to break out of its panel or even float on top of the other panels. If you want more on comic book writing come and see me. In the meantime I recommend that you look at artists like Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Gilbert Shelton, George Herriman, Winsor McCay, Dave Gibbons and Dave McKean.
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