Only two more hours to go so I'll go ahead and fling out my responses.
First off thanks everyone for reading,voting, and giving me some input outside of the website.
Phil - I understand what you mean by cutting the pages short, as I still have that habit of going up to 12+ pages per battle. It's very possible if I would've cut out page 8, I would have had more time to tighten up the pages that were rushed and cued in a smaller explanation for what was going on. I will continue to work on accessorizing the backgrounds to make them pop out rather than make them look like I did some cheap importing from Hooverville Box Town USA.
Squid - I agree with slapping on more blacks. I was using a dry brush to dip in the ink well to paint over which left some panels scraggily. I'll continue to try tightening up that issue, as well as again the line art.
Kozi - You have the best way of describing characters. Upper class twat bag is the best description of Pandora EVER. Pages 11 and 13 were a bit rushed, in fact finished the same night when it was due. I have no excuse, I'll have to get my pacing right and chill with it.
Ari - Yeah, even when working with the tones something felt off with me too about them. I didn't like how they blotched over the thin lines, and when I tried the opacity levels it just felt off. Of course I didn't bother to change anything since I was already in the middle of finishing everything. If I had my copy of Deleter Comic Works then this definetly would've been a different story. In the meantime, more tone experimenting for me. =X
Angie - Yeah the tones did feel awkward, but I might just stick to the regular dotted templates to keep them from making the lines so overpowered too. As for inking, now that I finally found something I can stick with I feel that I'm only a foot close to doing that harsh mistress. She'll regret walking out on me....oh yeah...*anger man stare*
I was only using one nib for the whole process besides the brush, so I'll work with a variety between two or three. Hopefully it'll finally get me to where I want to be.
RabbitRabbit - Thank you very much for the second battle! Once again I really liked your entry, but not just because you are my friend and favorite artist. I thought it contained quite a bit of substance. ( like the fight scene, I wish I would've done something to that extent. ) I giggled when Tanuky exploited one of her pet peeves. ( that or maybe she was manly enough to kiss? 8T ) I hope we can do more collaborations in the near future!
RR-I think you would have benefitted a lot from doing a shorter comic. The colored panels you had looked very nice and you have good color variation, but the random color panels didn't work well with the overall comic. Your pacing is good as usual but you started to lose it when you got to the action sequence. I think you shine when you have characters interacting but your action is kind of weak. While it's easy to follow I couldn't really get into the action part. Then again it was a pretty good battle and I think you would just work a lot better with a smaller page count.
BM-I love the story here and thought you had some great character interaction and expressions. The only thing that kind of bothered me was the toning, mostly on things like the suit where it looks like it got a little uneven so there'd be some lines here and there. The layouts were very strong and easy to follow, you seem to do them so effortlessly. I know that inking is a harsh mistress for you, perhaps introducing a few thicker lines here and there and slowing down a little more would make things a little smoother? Other than that I really enjoyed your comic
rabbit: Hooooo, your comics never fail to amuse me. This might be my favorite of yours! The art was fairly nice and clean. There could be a bit more line variation in there too; i saw that most of the lines were about the same thickness, and it gets sort of dull. I think you can try some variations in people's faces. It took me a while to realize that Pandora was Pandora ( then again, that could just be me being stupid ). Try swtiching it up a bit :3 But the figures were really nice and the action was easy to follow. You had a good flow. Those colored pages were looking good too. The story drew me in real quick and I actually got a bit of a chill in that first part with the little girl! It made me smile C: Felt like a movie, and that's how good the flow and feeling was. You always have such a cute and funny way to fit little suprises in and keep the reader interested. I'm hella glad you had to time to do another battle here and I hope you do another!
Bitter: Goooood. I loved that read so much XD haha At first, i sort of shyed away from taking my time to read it, because of how lenghty it was, but once i started, I couldn't stop! It pulled me in right away and I didn't feel like I was forcing myself to read it. It had one of the smoothest reads I've ever read on void. The way you presented the characters was so playful and rich! I fell in love with Pandora and Potemnkin all over again ( because really, it had been so long since you used them, I forgot how they were! ) and you make it easy for the reader to love them. The dialouge ran smoothly and was very believable. I could almost HEAR them. High marks for entertainment and creativity there! I loved the art and the fact that you had kept that good quality throughout the whole comic. Sometimes the tones overpowered the lines a bit or didn't really fit well with them. Maybe try using different patterns, or thickening the lines? Either way, it wasn't much of a problem, just something to think about :3 Cheers for a job well done!
kissies you guys, hugs and kissies! :D
Been meaning to comment on this battle, but I wanted a few days to let it percolate before offering feedback...
RABBITx2- I wasn't sure if you decided to take a more Saturday anime cartoon feel to this battle in comparison to your other ones, but I couldn't quite get myself to enjoy the cheese. Although you sold me with 'a swift kick in the labia' line. That's some classic dialogue right there. XD Your stories are usually quite good and this one just didn't feel like you.
Artistically, it feels like you're right where you usually are in terms of technical skill and feel- PUSH IT BABEH! I want to see some fantastical from you.
BITTERMAUSE- Love, LOVE the way Pandora speaks. It's like upper class twatbag. XD She's a gal you love to hate. The story, for me, flowed well and I was interested with every turn on the page. I do agree the quality of the work took a turn around the end, but what Voider hasn't gone through the last minute deadline dash? I'm just glad you came with a complete work. Kudos!
I enjoyed both of these, great battle~
Rabbat, I agree with Phill about Pandora putting up more of a fight... really the rooftop fight didn't compare to what you were building up until then I think; it was an all right conclusion though. But up until the rooftop part it was great, and the doll/girl was a touch creepy. :D
Inks could still be tighter... maybe less breaks in the lines, less thin, sketchy lines and more solid darks? And like on page 7, there doesn't need to be that white "halo" on the vest, because Tanuky's fur is light and is set off enough from the black on the vest.
Bittermause- Page 8 was my favorite. :I I wouldn't have changed anything about the story. Sometimes it's good to stop the story for a rest.
I thought the line art was a little weak, and I don't think the hatching was helping it that much. Maybe needs more blacks?
Not bad, still got quite a few things to nit pick though...
Rabbit x2: Not bad dude (prepare yourself however, cause I ain't holding back), I don't mind regular comic page format size honestly because it's something I'm used to and it's not a problem for me with lightbox, the story was OK but honestly it seemed a bit cut and dry. I liked how Tanuky used the cat doll to lure out Pandora, but after that I lost interest in the story after seeing that Pandora posed no threat whatsoever to Tanuky. Yeah he's a mystical creature of Japanese lore (though his testicles seem to be thankfully average in size in your comics) but come on people! Your protagonist has gotta at least struggle a bit to make it interesting, otherwise it's just the same thing we always see in void battles that put the emphasis on battle.
The art here is really bleh to me, not saying it's bad but... there's nothing new here from ya. We're still seeing a lack of backgrounds, some pages have a single blotch of color while most of it is straight up black and white or has that dot tone pattern. Keyword here is: Consistency. If you're going to color, go for broke until you can't color no more! If you're going to tone, tone as much as you can! If you're going to use a limited color palette, don't just do that to a few pages, give every page the same treatment! Your consistency here makes this entire comic look half finished, and that's not good.
Also, last thing about art that I know you keep for some strange reason. Your women do not look like women (Phill, you can't draw women! Who're you to say such things?! Well for those thinking this, I at least try to draw women correctly and I'm always open for critiques granted half of you can't seem to let the whole RTV comic go and refuse to help me out, also just because I can't draw a woman doesn't mean I haven't seen one! [/rant]) the reason I say this is because Pandora doesn't look like Pandora, she looks like Katrina, hell... she looks like every woman in your style right down to the diamond shaped anime eyes, V shaped mouth, and body figure. The only thing you change is the hair and outfit. If this doesn't scream out "Bad habits" to me, I don't know what does? You've got to strengthen up your anatomy basics BIG TIME (and draw some noses on your human characters for a change) and you need more consistency with your comics, because right now this to me is the same comic you've given us since 2007.
Bittermause: Not bad, the story here was pretty clever and it didn't disappoint in the least. I kinda feel like some things should of been shortened however as the comic ran a bit long, personally I would of shortened the morning routine, and gotten rid of page 8 since it really felt unnecessary to have what Tanuky was explained to Pandora and really seemed to bog down the comic's pacing and story. Page 9 could of had a slight mention of Potem's encounter to make up for it. But what I'm trying to say (if you can understand me here) is that you really don't need to use an extra page to have things explained. So don't stop the story thinking the reader may not understand what's gonna happen next.
The art here was OK, but your backgrounds need a bit more love rather than just being random boxes in the distance. Where are the cars and street lamps? Mailboxes, trashbins, etc...? She's in a city right? Would a city not have those things? You've got a good foundation for the backgrounds but they're lifeless and dull, spend some more time on details and not extra pages, your figures and character emotions are pretty spot on however and made the comic a lot more enjoyable to read.
Overall these comics were pretty decent, although a bit too lengthy for my tastes. Vote goes to Bittermause.
Ok....I ASSUME all of my pages just uploaded.
For some reason I didn't get a page showing all the links.
I'll try one more time but if not I'm e-mailing my pages.
Y'know, I was re-reading Pandora and Potemnkin's profile, and it occurred to me: I'd sure like to see Potemnkin use that Winchester shotgun o' his that he's supposedly so skilled with.
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