DOBU: The Infinite Issue #3

So this issue will again be a departure from the previous, as this will be a "choose-your-own-adventure-style" comic, where you get to DOBU's path through the story. I have always wanted to make an interactive story ever since I read "Space and Beyond" by R.A. Montgomery although I can't remember anything about the book, but the idea of choosing the destiny of the hero was something I liked and stuck with me. I will be making the DOBU comic very post-modern, blending modern role-play, video games with the comic book format.

The other very striking difference will be the action nature of the comic. I recently came across Marvel's Tales to Astonish Issue #100 in a comic shop you can check out the cover here. On the cover it features the words "AN EPIC-LENGTH 22-PAGE BATTLE" between HULK and the Sub-Mariner, it doesn't, although the whole issue is based around the fight, it falls quite far short of this, so I thought it would be funny for DOBU to have a "AN EPIC-LENGTH 22-PAGE BATTLE". Even though it is impossible to as the choices you make may lengthen or shorten that battle. There will technically be 22-pages of battle, however you probably wont' ever get that exact number.

Working Methods

I thought I would make a short post about how I work, I am by no means an expert I have just found (in the two comics I have made, these to be the best methods for what I was doing.

For Issue #1 of DOBU I drew each panel out on a separate piece of paper, it made me concentrate purely on that panel and I was pleased with it. I barely had a plan just a rough story in my head. It did however take a lot more time , approximately 2 hours per panel, penciling, inking, scanning, cleaning up and digitally coloring, so I decided for Issue #2 I would try something different. I decided to staple 6 folded pieces of paper to make a rough version of a comic with 24 pages, write the synopsis on the back cover and roughly sketch out what I wanted on each page. It was a lot quicker, and having a clear plan to work from it meant I was able to concentrate on the drawing instead of "what am I going to do to show this is happening" and then drawing it. When I was in a drawing mood I could simply pick out a page and draw that, instead plan then draw, plan then draw etc.

Pages 3 & 4 from DOBU #2 sketchbook

Pages 3 & 4 from DOBU #2 Finals

These are my pens and pencil. 

A Muji 0.5mm for writing.

Uniball eye Needle 0.3mm for inking, not for parallel lines, or as it dries too slow and smudges.

Staedtler Pigment liner 0.3mm for inking.

Staedtler Triplus Color (Black or Blue, they both come out black in the scanner)

Staedtler Noris School Pencil and the Staedtler Mars Plastic works well to remove pencil.

This, this is my roller ruler.

Necessity is the mother of all invention and I needed to draw loads of parallel lines for speed lines, I have ordered a roller ruler and I am still awaiting its arrival.  In the meantime I have fashioned one out of LEGO and it works really really well.

It's A Cover Up

So yeah, ISSUE #2 is done and will be available shortly, very pleased with it, the story is quite complex but I think I have managed to do it justice. Here are some images to get you excited about it.

Having dialogue and narration dramatically alters the production of a comic, everything had to be re-arranged to make way for text that was either smaller or bigger that envisaged in the original little sketchbook, so it has been a yet another learning process for me me.

Hope you like what you see.

Getting Things, Ship Shape

So I have been agonizing over the ships in the second issue of DOBU in the last blog I showed that I did them digitally and I am happy to say I wasn't entirely happy with them, so I went back, again and again and again. I needed them to be physically possible and yet as if a child had imagined them with all the defects and omissions that might entail.

First one digital, second one digital with smaller ones blacked out, third and final hand drawn (about 10 tens til I got it right) and my favorite. As soon as I got this right the floodgates openedand I got loads of pages done. So I am back on track and actually I am more than half way through this issue already so it might, be out by the end of the week.

Clear Warning

I am pretty sure somewhere I mentioned that the visual style of DOBU would be changing, in that I meant I would occasionally use straight lines. DOBU is a very organic looking comic, it's base art style is drawn from all kinds of inspiration like Aboriginal art for example. So when it came to draw the "V-Model" robots I wanted very digital straight lines to contrast it.

And... there is dialogue and narration too! (there was in the first issue, the rocks in the first issue aren't random, they are morse code), this is because DOBU #2 is about to get very complex very quickly contrasting the very simple narrative of the ISSUE #1.

The changes feel weird for me too, but I know it needs to be done to tell the story and make the different characters stand out, it is even harder due to the fact their is only five colors in DOBU.

Thanks to Blambot who make amazing fonts two of which I use on this page "Digital Strip" for the narration and "Mandroid" for the robots speech. You can find more info on Blambot here.

Keeping Up the Pace

Very pleased to announce that DOBU ISSUE #1 is available in .pdf format from Gumroad here you can also buy it in the sidebar to the right for $2.00. I am very pleased with it and hope you will be too. I will also make it available in my preferred .cbr and .cbz format as soon as I can make reliable versions that work across multiple computers.

Right beside me as I type this is the mock-up version on ISSUE #2 (I stapled several pages together to make a little comic book with the storyboard in it). Although it is very rough, it manages to illustrate the hyper-complex narrative which splits in to three streams to play out three simultaneous stories. Despite its simple beginnings in ISSUE #1 DOBU gets very complex very quickly, ISSUE #2 contrasts ISSUE#1 nicely in that respect.

It will be interesting to see how DOBU #2 takes shape, as I have 1) now had experience making a comic 2) have a much clearer idea of this story and how to tell it than I did for the first one and 3) know pretty much exactly what images I want for each panel now that I have sketched them out. I wonder what I will learn while making ISSUE #2 and how it will impact on the rest of the comics.

We Have it Covered

So I finished neatening up all the artwork last night, it was really good to see it all together in .cbr file just to see how it all looks on-screen next to each other. I knew how I wanted it to look in my head, and how I wanted the pages laid out, but to finally see it all together and to discover there were no problems was nice.

Mixed Media Painted Cover

The cover was good fun to make I did it with my two boys, I drew some circles, we threw paint at them, let them dry, cut them out and stuck them to a huge purple watercoloured "universe" sheet of paper, it is around three feet in length. Scanned it and places the vectorized art over it. The back cover is more of the planets from the painting. I think I will do the rest of the covers in a similar way, most definitely painted.

So the next stage is to get the two story 20 page comic printed (on actual paper) that way I can release the digital and physical copy at the same time. Also I should probably start on the second issue as the story is infinitely more complex in nature, the first issue was just about setting up the art style and the character of DOBU, I know exactly what is to happen I just need to now draw it out.

Here are some images to get you interested.

Very excited by it all, hope you are too.

A Change in View

Well I am pleased to say DOBU: The Infinite Issue #1 is done, well the first stage of the artwork is anyway. I am just neatening it all up at the moment, editing the hand-drawn scans and colouring it. I am very pleased with it and it has all come together much quicker than expected but I don't want to rush it so I am trying out a few different image techniques to find the best one. I am doing this as the storyline drastically changes in ISSUE #2 and it requires a lot of severe straight lines which don't look quite right in the hand drawn versions.

Final "Outlined" Art

Original "Inverted" Art

Original "Outlined" Art

So I still believe DOBU: Issue #1 will be done by the end of the month which is pretty good going, as I have had to learn how to make a comic as well as actually make one. So below is the Original and Vectorized cover there isn't much difference between the two except obviously the smoothness of the image. It is still rough I just wanted to share it with you.

That is all from now, I am sure there will be more news soon. Below is just a version I like due to it's minimal colours don't know if I'll use it but I do like it.

Half-way there, Already!

I think it is fair to say that I have been working non-stop on Issue #1 of DOBU: The Infinite and it has really paid off being totally submersed in this weird and wonderful world. The art has gotten better I have gotten faster and I am now 12 out of 24 pages through the first issue.

It is really strange my "drawing table" contraption has literally taken the space usually reserved for my Macbook Pro, I have gone from being virtually digital to analogue in just a few days. I have drawn so much I ran out of ink and had to venture out to buy more inking pens. If you would have told me a few weeks ago I would be standing in a shop deliberating over the benefits of a 0.3mm over a 0.5mm I would not have believed you, anyway I went with the 0.3mm.

Issue #1 Intergalactic Daydream

That is it for now I don't want to give too much away and I really must get back to it, I am very excited about this new and very different project.

Dobu #1 and my workspace.

Due to the response from people about "Dobu : The Infinite" issue #0 experiment, I have decided to make, issue #1. I think the whole Dobu series will be around 6 comics in total each 24 pages long with approximately two stories in each comic. The first issue might be a bit longer just so you can see what you are getting into. Here is one of the pages from Dobu #1 "Lonely Dobu / Intergalactic Daydream".

Issue #1 "Lonely Dobu"

So I have had to setup a workspace, with a nice piece of laminate board, a cartoon animation paper clip, lots of electrical tape and an old business card box to hold pens and pencils all of this is leaning on an easel. I have everything I need to draw. It is a far cray from the professional drawing tables that I have seen comic and cartoonists use but you got to start somewhere and this is definitely a step up from leaning on a hardback book on my lap. I have even made a rolling ruler out of some LEGO and wheels until my "real" rolling ruler and other equipment arrives.

From the pencil and inked drawing go to the scanner, neatened up in Adobe Photoshop and coloured in, it is a nice, easy and enjoyable process. I am making about one to two pages a day, so all going well, I should have Issue #1 finished by the end of the month.

I am thinking I am going to need to buy a font for "Dobu" and looking around think "Blambot's Silver Age" to be the most suitable, so I will need to save some pennies for a license for it. It is a really good font, and I think it is definitely needed for the project. Check out their cool fonts through the banner below.

That is it for now, time for pizza and then more drawing.

DOBU : The Infinite Issue #0

So here it is "DOBU: The Infinite Issue #0" my first ever attempt at a comic book. I started drawing it less than 72 hours ago and already I feel like I have been on an epic journey myself. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process and have drawn until my hands began to ache. I want to do more I have at least six full stories in my head for "DOBU : The Infinite" but without funding and time I don't think I will be able to do it, at least not full time at the moment.

Each panel took around an hour to sketch, ink, scan and then colour, but in all fairness it seemed like time actually flew by when I was working on it.

I hope you enjoy what you read, this issue is totally safe for all ages and for work.

You can find the Issue #0 here in .cbr format and here as a .pdf.

This is not a complete story, this is Issue #0 it is just an experiment to see how far I can take the idea of making my own simple, quirky comic book. If you like what you read please consider donating in the sidebar, donations mean more time and equipment for me to make more.

I have at least six stories I would really like to make in to full 24 page comic books, so if you want more please consider donating, tweeting or sharing this project on Facebook as it really helps a lot. If you know somebody who likes comics or you know something about comics yourself, don't hesitate to get in contact @pixelh8 on Twitter.