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deathmango — Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel Sample Page
Published: 2013-01-14 20:13:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 4645; Favourites: 67; Downloads: 25
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Woohoo! I can finally show a peek at the art we've been working on for the Ratha's Creature graphic novel.This panel started as an original storyboard by author Clare Bell ~rathacat . Tod Wills did the layout, inking and coloring. I penciled the characters (with lots of input and help from Lew Lashmit *viergacht ), and Sheila Ruth did the lettering. All five of us worked on character design. Based on a scene in the first chapter of Ratha's Creature by Clare Bell.
Working with this team on a beloved story has been incredible - we're all learning so much from each other. Between Clare Bell's moving narrative, Lew's gorgeous full-page art, and Tod's luscious watercolors, I think the finished graphic novel could be amazing.
If you like this, please pledge on Kickstarter so that we can do the whole graphic novel.
[link]
Look for updates as the campaign goes on. And please help spread the word!
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Comments: 23
Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel penciller, Dani Long (Deathmango on Deviant Art) shows us the process of creating an appearence for the chatacter of Thakur. Don't miss this!
[link]
We are 55% funded, but there are only 9 days left. If you want this to happen, please back the project's Kickstarter:
[link]
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This looks awesome. I am so ridiculously excited.
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This is gorgeous. What a wonderful style you've all put together ^_^
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Eee! I was so excited to see this in the official email that was sent out. 
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Oh, this is gor-gee-oous!
I like how they say what they say; it makes me feel they're thinking like animals (instead of quadrupedal people). Along those lines, the wording of panel 8 is heartbreaking for me, for some reason..
awesome awesome awesome. I shall have to "kick" you guys some "start"!
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I'm glad the "thinking like animals" can come across in such a small sample. It's one of the things I love about the books, and it drives the plot in places. Thanks so much for your encouragement and support, both today and through the years. You've always been a kind person and a dear friend.
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The art is amazing and I love Ratha's creature to bits!
The dialogue is a little confusing though. I can remember this passage from the book, and I feel like the dialogue here is a little less fluid. The positioning of speech bubbles and the panels probably plays into that; the three panels at the top right have a wholly ambiguous order and lead the eye to the wrong side of the next row of panels via an overlap, the positioning of the spiky speech bubble is a little confusing (from the reader's perspective, although it's obvious there's a hunt going on, we don't know the animal is actually dead until the next panel,) and you have several ambiguously tailless speech bubbles which are closer to an image of the character who's not speaking than the one who is. The tails on the bubbles are also slightly inflated and overlap the bubble boundary, which is
unprofessional looking. Since the speech bubbles here are digitally added, it's fairly simple to put them in better places, but panel layout can't be corrected that way.
And that's really important here. If this was a webcomic, rad! Perfect! You can learn to panel as you go along, and people will keep following because the story and the art are good. But if you're going to be selling it (and you guys are!) you want the little details to be as good as the big ones.
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Hi, Bluewyrm.
I wanted to add an updated reply. Your feedback has renewed our discussion on process, with more focus on how to insert the text earlier in the layout, and making sure we consider several related pages at a time. Clare Bell, aka ~rathacat (who is on her way to Furcon) asked me to pass along her appreciation for you critique as well.
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I'm glad I could help! Graphic novel adaptions where the original author's involved are just the coolest thing ever, and I can't wait to see how it all turns out...
(Lettering programs are weird; I totally sympathize with her.)
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I'm glad I could help! Graphic novel adaptions where the original author's involved are just the coolest thing ever, and I can't wait to see how it all turns out...
(Lettering programs are weird; I totally sympathize with her.)
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Bluewyrm, thank you very much for this detailed critique!
It takes time to parse out and verbalize what doesn't work in an image; I appreciate your effort in helping us figure out the weak spots (and how to fix them). This gives us a chance to discuss and improve -- if not on this particular panel, then on upcoming releases. In Sheila's defense, she was attempting to learn and use a new lettering program (in addition to a zillion other tasks), and it was not working for her (requiring a quick trial on AI). Your fresh and critical eyes are most valuable, and I'm going to copy your comment and share with the group. My sincere thanks to you!
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This will be so awesome!! I cannot wait for the goal to be reached ^_^
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Thanks! I feel like the excitement is contagious, with the potential to bounce around exponentially. I'm having a hard time getting anything done around here.
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Wow, wonderful art! 
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Thank you! This was super fun to collaborate on. The colors are thanks to Tod Wills (not on dA, but has an account at FA: [link] ).
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