I’m Lady T. and I make the New Adult Fantasy comic MagicalMashup! https://tapas.io/series/MagicalMashup/info
Today is actually my birthday and I thought it’d be fun to share some OC birthdays and pics! I’m using their mage licenses that I’m working on 🙂
Junah Faye 20th which would equate to April 20th She is 23 at the start of the stroy.
Kaelen Geant 22 which would equate to February 22nd he’s also 22 at the start of the story.
I would love to see some of y’all’s OCs and when their birthdays are. Even if they don’t follow real-world conventions, so feel free to post them with a picture, and also feel free to link your comic or novel as bdays are for celebrating!
Hey Y’all, I’m Lady T. and I make the New Adult Fantasy Comic MagicalMashup!
One of the core elements I decided before starting the comic is that it would be in color. I choose to go this route because, well for one, I LOVE color, but also because it would be a way for me to get in the habit of thinking about color and studying how using color can impact a scene.
A blind oc named Luel with long blue dreads that he keeps tied up a top his head. He is also a mage with a neat support skill.
Coloring a comic that I work on by myself is defiantly a whole extra thing, but I enjoy it and love to see my blackish (I don’t use black in the art for the comic as it’s a very stark and powerful color that commands too much attention in my bright magical world lol) lineart come to life!
When I first started drawing the comic I had a time trying to decide on the character and world color pallets. Due to how expansive fantasy worlds can get I quickly realized I’d need a way to organize my color choices. That is once I figured out what colors I’d be using that is…
Color is such a mindblowing thing that is as complex and vast a subject as it is beautiful. Up until I decided to make the comic, I had no need to keep track of color palettes, even for reoccurring characters. I could just fudge it and guess close enough and be good. That wouldn’t fly with a whole comic though. I started crafting my colors with the characters in mind first and thinking that the colors for each character should tell a little about their personalities.
Junah leaving home to start that independent life
Junah is an overall optimistic person that is very open and excitable, maybe too much so, but it is what it is haha, so I choose upbeat colors for her.
Kaelen on the other hand is more of a grounded person with a more reserved personality and so I choose colors that are more mature.
I had a lot of fun picking their colors, but then I had to think about shading and highlights… that’s when things got really interesting.
An introvert amongst extra extroverts.
When it comes to shading I used to just color pick the base skin tone and just use the color slider in ClipStudio to go down (add black) for shade and up (and white) for highlight.
(Original page from my practice comic MagicalBeginnings! ).
The old practice pages I did foe the comic. Still cannon, just changed my coloring approach to be more lively and magical feeling.
This works aight’, but I found that it felt flat in my newly designed colorful world. I was thinking of ways to improve on this when I found a Twitter thread started by a comic colorist names Marissa Louise talking about resources for learning about color for artists.
Now I thought I was color literate before, but wow did my eyes get opened to the possibilities I hadn’t thought of when it comes to color. I checked out all of the books and resources from the list I could and watched the videos recommended. Afterward, I revised my character sheets and started to look at where my colors were placed on the color wheel using this online Color Wheel. Being able to easily see the different color harmony rules affecting my color choices live was (is) so helpful for deciding what can work with your base color selections.
One way of keeping track of colors
Once I got my colors selected and was happy, I had to figure out a way to make them easily accessible as I’d be using them often. At first, I just made color dots on each character sheet from print screens of my color pics that I could reference, but copy-pasting them onto each page to color pick form was annoying (even if it looks cool).
Another way I used to keep Track colors, way to much going on though …
I then found out about saving color swatches into palettes in ClipStudio and BOOM!! Game changed. (ClipStudio palette, admittedly not as organized as I wanted).
Clip studio swatches!
I would have stuck with ClipStudio if I hadn’t started using an iPad to give myself more time to work on the comic when not at home, but switching to Procreate offered the same options for being able to color swatch and the color picker tools were a bit more intuitive for me since I knew how I wanted to approach color for my comic.
I really like the snappy ness and convenience of working in Procreate. Keeps me from getting to buck wild.
The main difference I found was that CipStudio offers more spaces in their swatch palette for more colors than Procreate, but honestly, I’ve found simplifying what I have to be the better option for me. Keeps things manageable and I’m able to work faster this way.
Ahhh yes name codes color pics <3
You still get a good bit of options and you can also make a secondary palette to the main one in Procreate, so if you must have more you still can.
Anywho I’m curious about how y’all do your color crafting. Do you use color in your work or stick to monochrome? Fall somewhere in between? What made you decide to go this route? How do you keep track of all of your colors or values that are used repeatedly in your work? I’d love to hear your thoughts/process!
TLDR: There’s a lot that goes into the decision to work in color. I talk about my process from starting with flat color to learning how to incorporate harmonies in my palettes thanks to a few resources and how I use said colors as references in my work. I’m curious to know y’all’s thoughts on the subject.
Some examples of the characters features in my webcomic MagicalMashup! and all them beautiful skin tones!!
Hi, y’all fellow creatives and musers of the world!
It’s Black History Month, but there is always time to talk about diversity in my book. I make a comic called MagicalMashup! that features a black female protagonist who is also fat or plus size if you prefer, I’m fine with fat as it’s just a descriptor and it is what it is, but I’ve noticed a difference in tags for fat and plus size so yeah… cover all grounds… (body diversity is a whole other can of wigglies that I’m sure I’ll get into at a later date). My cast is also filled with a host of other racially and ethnically diverse characters too with sexualities as beautiful as a rainbow as I draw inspiration from my life. As it is a fantasy setting, the ethnicities are all fictional, but racially speaking I pull from the real world for some relatability and representation. Today I want to talk specifically about characters in our stories and that we draw/illustrate/write that are not white.
As a creator of any racial/ethnic group, do you make black characters or other racial identities that aren’t white and based on real-life people of color for your stories or illustrations? If you do, what leads you to do this? Fill free to share pics of your characters. If you don’t, why not? Are you interested in diversifying your cast or writing?
I think it’s important to look at these types of questions and think about them in earnest and face them head-on as story creators and artists so that we all grow and expand our horizons about each other. I am aware that some folks live in racially homogenous areas so thinking about other races isn’t something that would cross their minds regularly or if you only tell stories based on your life and have never come into contact with someone of another race that would be included in your personal tale, but if you have access to the internet and partake in social media it isn’t hard to come in contact with the diversity of the world and this is about promoting and encouraging that contact.
I thrive in creating works based on fantasy and sci-fi and those two genres are where I like to spread my wings. Growing up much of my exposure to these genres was through white lenses and oftentimes black characters and other racial minorities would be cast as tokens and stereotypes. Even if I didn’t really connect with them, I appreciated them for existing when they showed up in those two genres specifically (Sci-fi had more rep than fantasy for sure though). It’s hard to notice how the things we consume growing up can impact us down the road, but craving representation in the fields that I adore is such a driving force for me that It got me to create art focused around the type of characters I wanted to see (and still do).
I’m not here to accuse or police anyone’s work and I can only speak from the experience I have as a cis black woman living in the USA who is tall, and fat has had a run in with cancer, and often mistaken for a drag queen (no shame in that game as DragQueens are beautiful and extra and I love them, but gotta keep it real as can’t talk about that life from persona experience), but I am curious to know the thoughts other creators have when it comes to racial diversity in their work (which is different from ethnic diversity as racial specifically means physical traits for how people look [skin color and features] while ethnicity is more based on culture. These two tend to go hand in hand, but not always, to be honest, there are more nuances that go into even that so it can get a bit eye-crossing for folks who fall into mixed groups or folks that fall into other groups). For example, my race is Black which gives a basic description for how I look (emphasis on basic), my ethnicity is African American when I fill in paperwork, but I’d put Black American if it were an option as unfortunately I nor my family have had any cultural ties to Africa in generations due to slavery and the loss of any records of where my lineage comes from before my great-grandma. Being Black and American is what I know and there is still more to me than that, but I think you get the gist of what I’m saying.
I started off just doing skin recolors of favorite cartoon characters and making OCs off of them as I didn’t understand the nuances of the differences in illustrating racial groups, but through anatomy studies and people watching (an ongoing learning experience for life), I have been able to apply that to my character designs to make more racially distinct-looking characters. Observation and studies are something I recommend any artist do, and if you are a writer, this also helps when being able to describe your characters with a flair that doesn’t always center around a type of chocolate or food (I love my sweets too, but the verbiage for dark skin is as wide as the sea is vast so don’t be scared to expand form that). There are tons of fabulous resources on writing with color and this is one that I recommend, but there are many more out there, and if you know of any feel free to share 🙂 https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/FAQ.
TLDR: Do you create characters that are Black or other racial identities (different from ethnic identities) that aren’t white? if so, how/why do you? Feel free to post examples of your characters of color. If you do not, how come and would you like to? Any resources for creating with diversity in mind are welcomed as well!
Checkout the post on the Tapas forum foe more replies!
You know that stiff wooden doll in all arts and crafts shops that’s promoted as that tool all artists have and use because it’s always shown in photos with artists? Yeah, you know the one. IDK about y’all but to my kid self, that mannequin was the tool that would take my status as an artist to the next level, so I had to have it. I saved up my little change and bought one from a local shop and couldn’t wait to put it to use. Yeah so about that… I tried to make the thing sit and it barely could bend over. Talk about disappointment. Admittedly mine was a cheaper version, but even the pricier ones tend to be lacking and just make me go… “But why…?” I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, so I kept it around for years as a paperweight before forgetting about it when I moved out of my Ma’s place.
Plus size Barbie with a little thickness on her thighs ha!
As I developed as an artist, I’ve come to find that figure drawing form real life is the bees-knees and really makes a world of difference, but sometimes you just don’t have time (or want to) do a photoshoot with someone to get a quick pose that you need, that’s when I heard about using a Made to Move Barbie while listening to the webcomic creators podcast Dirty Old Ladies (not for children as some of the hosts create adult content, but they are a wealth of information as all 3 have different levels of engagement in making comics and are super insightful.) As soon as I heard Amanda describe the multi-joint action of the Made to Move line and that there is a plus-size version (she thick, not fat FYI [a girl can dream though, one day]), I was like OK-Then, lemme go look this up. I found both of mine at Target for about 15$ a piece.
For 15$ whole a$$ bucks you can get a figure with some facial features, hair, clothes, and 10x more mobility than the 15$-50$ wooden figures. The joints bend, the head moves, and this barbie line can sit upright on her own. They are so darned handy and I’ve been slowly building a pose folder of pics to refer to later when I’m “modeling” them (Yeah I know I’m just playing around, but so XD).
Black gal yoga Barbie reporting to the photo shoot! I wanna Afro up her hair though!!
I laughed at first, but have since kidnapped his figures as they are just as flexible as the Barbies and offer different body types for me to work with. I wouldn’t recommend buying them to use as art figures as they are collector’s items and pretty expensive, but if you happen to have some already, give them a go haha! They’ve been in the house for years, but I never would have thought to use them if my darling hadn’t pulled them from the shelves first.
Just hanging with boo
Anywho, you guys have any wood mannequin alternatives you’d like to share, or do you like and use the old wooden folks? I’d love to see and sure others would too :D!
TLDR: Check out Made to Move Barbies for more modeling for your buck as an artistic reference tool or the more controversial collectors figures if you prefer action figures with the same range of motion. Do you use the old wood models or prefer another method?
TLDR at the bottom 🙂 as I like to talk and am very aware.
As MagicalMashup! is my first long form comic (that I’ve posted online) I’m constantly learning new things about making comics and the most effective ways to use my time. I started creating my comics in ClipStudio (drawing and layouts), Adobe Photoshop (color correcting and formatting), and Adobe Illustrator (text placement and word bubbles) on my The Panda City Yiynova MSP19 Tablet Monitor hooked up to my PC at a desk. The Yiynova tablet screen monitor was my answer to Wacom’s Cintiq back in 2012, as I didn’t (still don’t) have the cash money to sink into a high end graphic display tablet. Options were still slim for anything that wasn’t Wacom for graphics tablets, but some competition had started to show up. I jumped on the research wagon and decided to go with the the Yiynova display tablet from Panda City bc price and reviews by a few artist bloggers at the time.
Once I figured out how to hook everything up and got the correct drivers installed, it worked like a charm (still up and running now actually) for almost a decade (baring a few minor hiccups with updates that were sorted out through reading a few forum posts). The only thing I missed that Wacom had was the tactile feeling the screens have that makes drawing on the screen not feel like you’re drawing on slippery glass :V, butttttttt a large screen protector can help with that. The other thing I would have liked was having the customizable side buttons on the Cintiq display mirrored on the Yiynova. The Yiynova pen also wasn’t as sturdy feeling in the hand and needed a battery to operate, but I got used to it and I only changed the battery like 5 times in the time that I’ve had it so eh. For the price I paid (sub $600) those things were just slight QOL things and I was too busy being mad excited for being able to draw directly on a surface I could see my hands doing the work.
My messy work area but you see the setup
(Not the best pic of my setup, but I forgot to take a new pic for the post at home.)
As much as I love my tablet screen monitor set up at my desk and swivel arm attachment, I work a day job and spend about half of my day not at home. Once I started getting serious about making my comic and planning my time out accordingly, I just kept lamenting on how much time I could be spending between breaks and when I’m not at home getting more work done if I could travel with my tablet screen. I was chatting with a techy friend of mine who told me about the 2018 iPad and how it was a cheaper model of iPad that had access to the Apple Pencil. I went over to a tech store, tried out one of the displays, and fell in LOVE. Bought it my next paycheck. It is so dang neat and portable and I can go on, but yeah.
I loved it, but after drawing on a tablet screen that was 3x bigger than the new tablet it was a bit rough. Not to mention the main program I was using at the time ClipStudio does not have the best interface for small screens, so I Iooked around the App Store and that’s when I found Procreate. It’s not specifically geared towards creating comics like ClipStudio, but I’ve been able to use it for that purpose just fine. The creators of the Procreate app release updates with new features often enough to make a difference too and it’s a one-time buy app as well. Since using the app, they’ve added a text tool and animation assist and I look forward to what new things they decide to roll out as well. They have a community tab that has a forum and gallery too!
Since the text tool wasn’t around when I first started making the comic in Procreate, I needed to find something else besides Adobe Illustrator as I was not buying that again. That’s when I found Affinity. Affinity is comparable to the Adobe creative suite at a fraction of the cost. They have tablet and desktop versions of their apps Designer and Photo with Publisher that’s just been released for desktop. Affinity Designer was exactly what I was looking for to edit my typography for word bubble typesetting and branding. It also has vector tools as well!!! I could go on about them, and just might at a later date haha.
Even with the program switches to software with a better interface for a tablet and using the 2018 iPad, the screen was still to dang small for me. I looked into upgrading and was fortunate enough to find an Ipad Pro 2017 within my budget on Swappa (I love this site for finding used tech for resale by owners as they authenticate merchandise and allow reviewing).
Upgrading to the Ipad Pro line was such a shift for my productivity. I could work on larger canvas sizes with more layers, everything loaded faster and crashes were a thing of the past. The biggest upside was of course the 12.9in screen size and amount of gigs the tablet came with, but I was also pleasantly surprised with the number of applications available for content creators that have good design and work well.
Working on iPad Pro, laying out ch 2
(can work on the comic like anywhere now)
There are a ton of options for creator setups and I have no idea what mines will look like a few years from now, but this is working out so far. What kind of setup do you all have for creating and what programs or tools do you use for making your comics or novels?
TLDR: I started off tied to my desk using my budget graphic display tablet with ClipStudio and Adobe products and then switched to a mobile setup using the Ipad Pro Procreate and Affinity Designer. What’s your content creator setup and what programs/tools do you use?
Before making my comic MagicalMashup!, I did tons of research on tips, tools, and anything helpful in making my comic (just like all of y’all I’m sure). I’ve watched hundreds of videos, listened to podcasts, read books and blogs from other creators. So much helpful info, but once I posted my comic and branded myself with the “I’m a webcomic artist.” I have been exposed to even more neat and just plain helpful information. Things change fast and there are new resources being made and knowledge being gained and shared every day for the benefit of others.
After responding to a thread on Twitter about helpful tips that saved you time on making your comic and seeing just how many people liked and shared my little 2 cents I remember that just bc it’s out there and you found it (or heard it in the case of advice), doesn’t mean everyone else knows about it (even if it seems like common sense to you). You don’t know where all folks are on their journey so the common sense you have might be an eye-opener to someone else.
These are the two resources that have helped me immensely on my ongoing journey as a creator of comics and art that may be of use to y’all.
https://www.pexels.com/ (Free stock photos uploaded by Creative individuals.) This site is pretty darn handy and just plain nice as all folks who upload do it for free of charge. Though it’s not required to shout out the photographers, it’s a nice thing to do :). Check out their licensing page for more info in case your skeptical too https://www.pexels.com/license/.
https://planner5d.com/ (Build houses, make rooms, and other architectural structures with simple to use tools and a ton of assets that come in the free version and even more in the paid one. This site also lets you create in 2d and flip to 3d.) I really dig this site bc it’s faster than making assets completely from scratch (reminded me of the Sims) and you can get a look around your rooms with ease by vanishing a wall if it’s in the way.
2D
Here’s an ex of what 2d looks like
3D
Flip to 3D
(Sorry for the bad quality, but you get my drift).
I would like to get this thread going for all who have something to share that could be helpful to a creator and to those who are looking to learn something new. Feel free to also add a link to your work, but only after sharing a helpful resource. Also feel free to add what you specifically use the resource for if applicable.
What counts as a helpful resource? If it’s something you used/use and it helps, that counts :smiley: .
This is my New Adult Fantasy Comic https://tapas.io/series/MagicalMashup/info
We all win when we share and grow together!
TLDR: Share a resource or two that helped you on your journey as a creator and then you can share a link to your work. Let’s get some gains and learn something new!!
