How to Create Your Own Webcomics
Posted on 10. Jul, 2010 by DAS Team in Articles
1) How did you start with comic art? What got you interested?
Hi My name is Isidore Koliavras and i started working with comics at the age of five..I was just reading back then and try to recreate the characters i saw..Mostly i was reading Marvel and Dc comic books…Superman the movie excited me so much that i was drawing him with traditional brushes until the age of fifteen…then Photoshop came into my life…
So comic books was the starting point for me…
Dan Jurgens and Alex Ross are the 2 guys i owe them everything…
2) What tools do you use?
The process I use for creating my comic characters is the following: First i create the figure in full 3d using Poser Pro 2010. I create my own textures and i have very accurate control over the pose and the lighting…Poser pro is an excellent program for illustrators to use it as a base for creating everything imaginable… The library of characters, clothes and props is nearly infinite and you can always hire someone to create for you something in particular…like the Batman Cowl, that firstly i paid a 3d modeler to create it for me and then decided to give it for free in the mass…(Batman Picture)
Then I use Photoshop Cs 5 and its amazing new brushes…80% of the work is done there..i usually overpaint everything…
I have been using Wacom tablets for the past 3 years…I have now an Intuos4 A5 tablet and my dream is to buy a Cintix sometime in the immediate future..Don’t even think to illustrate without pen pressure!!!
3) Is there any guidelines that you follow to make sure that the quality of artwork is good?
Illustrations is what i do in my free time…i have a creative adv office and i work as a freelancer visual communication designer…
So visual communication is what i have studied…Guides, graphic design rules, color psychology are tools of trade that usually comes in handy…Rules of the third, the Fibonacci rule are things that everyone should study in order to achieve maximum optical pleasure.
4) How do you decide on colors? How do you make it eye-catching?
Well it really depends on the character…you can’t have a sunshine without warm colors and you can’t have Poseidon without using blues. My images are usually saturated…Color saturation can be attractive to the eye under certain circumstances…Every artist have his own style…Monotones and duotones images were never mine…There is really no rule…after all these years of studying other artists it comes natural. To be more specific with the question, i’ll give you some hints…study the color wheel..use depth of field in you images, learn how to direct your eye inside an image…
5) Any advices for other digital artists who are starting out in comic art?
Yes! Give a good look at Poser Pro…it will help you with the anatomy of your characters and with the lighting…you can surely learn them from books but with 3d software you can learn how light and shadow react with each other in real time…
I Believe that digital 3d comic art is the next step in illustrating comic books. Buy a wacom tablet..all great artists out there have one…you can start with the cheap models like bamboo fun. Even linearts are made digital nowadays…
Study others work…You can take a look in my favorites folder in isikol.deviantart.com to see my large collection of other great artists i study for inspiration…
And one last thing..I create digitally comics and illustrations for the last 3 years of my life, so that means that you don’t have to get anxious about thinking that you need decades to achieve a certain level..I’ve become better and better everyday…I learn from my mistakes and i discover new things from them.
Thank you for reading this…
For More Information Visit:
isikol.deviantart.com or www.isidore.gr
