Celu-Comic

“Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work” is a Chuck Close quote that I use as a mantra to motivate me to work. like most of you keeping up with weekly postings and everyday life gets to be a big hassle. I know that at times I want to just throw off the job of another comic or blog post, sit in a nice comfy couch, watch some TV and and eat spaghetti. but then I think about artist like Chuck Close who makes massive works of art despite being mostly paralyzed. or someone really remarkable like Jean-Dominique Bauby who wrote the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking his left eye after his entire body was paralyzed by a stroke. now the works of art they created were great not just because of the adversity that they went through to make it but because they were actually great creations. The creators just had more hassle to go through to create them. So I think about how hard they had to work to apply another brush stroke or to spell out another word and I take advantage of my good fortune to be able to move my body and put it to the task of expression. individually we have the ability to create the most awesome projects we just need to get up and get to work. so ask your self “Why? Why do I make web comics?”

For me “Why I make web comics” comes down to a few factors.

1. one person cannot animate an entire series by himself with no money. I would prefer to be an animator but considering what it takes to do that I think comics will suffice

2. I like to draw and tell stories. as I am still learning how to refine the craft of funny booking, the only way I can get better is by doing it.

3. I enjoy it! the whole process I like that I get to share this idea with people. I look forward to seeing the entire project completed and learn what I can for the next project.

4.again I just enjoy it.

I think it’s best for most people to search out the motivations of there creative outlet and explore the reason that they are compelled to create art.

Today’s end blag question is a two part.

1. what is your “why I make a web comic”?

2. What are some stories of adversity that motivate you?

article on Jean-Dominique Bauby - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986096,00.html
Chuck Close website – http://www.chuckclose.com/

The value of Value, what I use to ink and pencil

Value is an element of art that refers to the relationship between light and dark on a surface or object and also helps with Form. It gives objects depth and perception. Value is also referred to as tone and most of you will recognize a gradient as an example of a value scale.

How important is the proper use of value?. Well if you use it wrong or not at all the world will not end, your mother will still love you and you will not be devalued as a human. (pun intended) but your art might be lacking. If you look at one of my earlier pages of Celu like Page 5

http://www.celu-comic.com/celu-comic/page-5

you will see that the image seems washed out and poorly defined. (and in my defense to save my ego a little, this was my 5 comic page I have ever drawn.) looking at this I saw that it was lacking and was needing a wider range of value. Learning from my mistake I started to pay attention to value in each of my drawings and tried to find ways to help me get a clear black to a clear white. I started to implement the use of Inks to help me reach full black as seen on page 34

http://www.celu-comic.com/celu-comic/page-34

here is a list of some of my art supplies to range from Black to white

The pencils I use are the Staedtler Lumograph Drawing and Sketching Pencils. Typically I use only the 8B because I feel comfortable enough with this one that I know how much pressure to use to get light shading to dark backs. The other pencil I use is just a regular .05 mechanical pencil. The other thing I use is a small tortillion to help my blend my shading.

The ink pin that I use are Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens Black, Fineliner Set of 4 the cost is about $15 at your local art supply store. With this set you will have a different variety of line thickness and if you start to judge your line thickness you will be using all of them along with the ever needed brush pin.

The process is simple enough. Sketch out my page with the mechanical pencil then go over my outlines with the pins and blacken in any area then go back in with my pencils and shade with both depending how dark or light I need it then blend it together with the tortillion.

With the ease of Photoshop the use of the levels to adjust such things makes the entire process much easier, but I try not to rely on the the computer to compensate for my laziness or cut corners. Its like what a old manager used to say to me, “if you try and make chicken salad with chicken shit, no matter how much you cut it, no matter what else you put into it, you will always taste a hint of shit.” It can always be better and that is what I am working for. If you have suggestions or if you would like to share your materials and process I would love to hear from you.

Thank you,

Tyler

www.celu-comic.com

I like many of you have friends and family who are extremely talented in one way or another and year after year you wonder “why are they not a well known success, and other mediocre talents are taking the spotlight?” the answer in short is Production and Exhibit! As I was growing up I had a friend who was a child phenom at writing. He could mimic the writing styles of the authors he was reading and his personal writings were wholly original and ahead of its time. But having extreme talent and showcasing it among a few friends on rare occasion brought about nothing. He stopped writing because it never took off and now He works at a gas station and in my opinion is one of the most talented human beings I have ever meet. He just lacked the ability to let his project out and to push it to where it belonged. In front of an audience.

Even if what you are producing isn’t the best you should run with it and refine it as you go. Producing and exhibiting are important crafts to learn for anything. like any craft they need to be put into practice so you can gain the experience. In the case of making a web comic you have a few main aspects of what makes it a good comic. Art, story, web page functionality, readability and reader interaction. But all this will not amount to anything if you do not produce and exhibit your project.

As an example of how not to Exhibit, I had a band once who I could not get to play out in public because they said they were not good playing publicly. Its funny how the logic loop in that thought process killed all hopes of that music from going anywhere. We spent months and months producing great music but without the ability to deliver it and exhibit it to an audience it became as pointless as drawing masterpieces in the sand. The only way you get better is by doing it.

As an examples of not producing I just need site the endless conversations that everyone has at some point or another when a few friends get together and talk about a project and all aspects of how to get it going. Then never do anything. Not one page of text, not one drawing, not one hour of research. You make nothing you get nothing.

I can reword and site so many examples of this essential idea that it makes me frustrated. Frustrated because of so many talented people and great ideas are passed over because someone else has an ambition that greatly outweighs there talent and the talented never gets the spotlight and justifiably so.

If I can offer any advice any plea to those who have great ideas and talents just make it and put it out there or else it doesn’t matter. if you are settling for excuses as to why you should not start you will never start.

I was told by a wise freind once “that a man should seek enlightenment like a a man with his head on fire seeks a pond”. what are you doing to seek your dreams?

Topic inspired by conversations with Donald Poquiz

great comic http://straightfacecomics.com/

Thank you,

Tyler

www.celu-comic.com

I have managed to double my initial traffic to my web comic (www.celu-comic.com) by simply taking interest in what others are doing.

Here is the principle, As a social experiment, if you ever feel that you are not comfortable meeting new people or in a awkward social setting you can get just about anyone to be your friend just by showing interest in them or there interests. I am not kidding just by talking to somebody about themselves you will walk out of the situation with them saying how great of a person you are and you never even told them one piece of information about yourself. Except maybe your name. That way they can tell all there attractive friends who the interesting person was.

You can do the same thing on the web as that. A great place to start is in the web comic forum and sites because they are jammed packed full of people who want your interest in what they are doing. I am a part of The Web Comic List at http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/ and a few others. If you go onto the forums and post “look at my comic” you really wont go anywhere.. everyone’s advertisement blinders will kick in and you will be ignored so you will have to interact with the people on there. Make internet friends.

Now listen very close because this is a big secret. This is what will get people to your site every time. all the web comic site and forums usually have a function involved that go completely ignored. I have found that if you go and actually really read and review others websites and give them a ranking, just go to The Web Comic List’s home page, then Browse Comics and go to the creators profile. There you will find the ranking part of the site. Read there comic and let them know what you think, every single person will return a visit to your page. I just write about what I thought and what I think will make there comics or website better or even just tell them that they are doing a great job. Don’t be a jerk about anything just be into what others are doing. If you like there site make it a favorite and follow it. Personally I like to read what others are doing and I really like the fact that they come back to my site over and over again as well. At the end of my critique I sign my name and my web address just like at the bottom of this page and more time then not I get new friends and fans, I hope this helps you out in gaining new readers and helps you to open up to what others are doing. Remember if you want people to pay attention to you, you will have to give them attention and be a fan first!

The love you take is equal to the love you make. – the Beatles. (man they had it right!)

Thank you,

Tyler

www.celu-comic.com

To start off my first Blag entry by telling you a little about myself, and what the project Celu is about. My name is Tyler and I am a fine artist who likes to use mixed dry mediums like pencil charcoal colored Pencils, pastels and pin and ink. I will be setting up and promoting a fine art web site sometime in the future so keep a eye out! I started Celu because of a newfound interest in comic books. It started a few years ago with the comic book The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman http://hiddenrobot.com/WALKINGDEAD/

Then I moved onto The Goon By Eric Powell http://www.thegoon.com/index.php

Then to Fables by Bill Willingham   http://www.billwillingham.com/

Then to “Y” The Last Man, Ex Machina, and on, and on, into a full blown comic addiction…

Inspired by these great comics I wanted to write and draw my own. So I asked, “how do I do that?” I want anyone who is reading this to really understand the power of a question like “how do I do that?” for me, that small question, took me on a long course of study, research, trial, and error that is still going on, to figure out how to make my own comic. There are so many questions that need answering before I got started that just taking that first step seemed daunting. So to inform others and to help in there ambition and endeavor to put a comic out there I will write in my blag different topics that have helped me to bring my project to reality. Celu comic is not just a passion project but really a project I undertook in order to learn how to put a comic out there and how to draw, write, ink and color a comic.  I hope that the improvements to the comic are apparent and hopefully by writing up some aspects of refining the art of funny book making, this will help someone out to make there own. Please come back often, leave comment and critiques and let me know what you think. This is intended to be two-way conversations so let me know about your ideas and thought so we can help each other out.

Thank you,

Tyler

www.celu-comic.com