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hever — Duel on the Docks
Published: 2008-03-24 05:38:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 3948; Favourites: 24; Downloads: 66
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I'm definitely not a comic artist. But I've kinda always wanted to be. Unfortunately, I've never been good at it. Never. However, when I saw the source images for the comicstock contest [link] I couldn't resist giving it another try...after all, the image was already there..it just needed to be drawn. And it was quite an awesome image done by *Della-StockI know my process was completely backwards when it comes to comic art....and I thought about all the steps and stages (I own books on the subject), but then I figured the hell with it--I was going to do it my way...which was basically a watercolor painting with outlines.
This is done completely by hand using watercolors, acrylics, and india ink.
Really, all I wanted to draw was a monocle.
EDIT: First Place winner!
I really can't believe it. There were some amazing comics submitted that made some fierce competition and I was convinced I wouldn't even place.
Many thanks to ^misskittyoooo and all of the judges!
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Comments: 59
wow. good job. 
this is very stylish, i love steampunk. and its impressive for being all traditional. im not very good at traditional. 
check out my entry if you dont mind. [link]
we used the same stock.
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Thanks very much. I'm still surprised I won....I guess approaching it with a technique I know was the right decision.
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miss kitty has a thing for traditional art.
yeah, usually i find it helps to just do what youre used to and what has worked for you in the past. let the experts say what they want. 
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This is so freaking awesome. Who says that comics can't be in watercolor? And the steampunk vibe is complete and utter win.
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Thanks very much
Well, in a time when the majority of comics are done digitally, it's a little weird to present one entirely in watercolors
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This is a winner for sure. Like everyone else said, it would be an awesome style for a comic.
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Woo, I like it. A comic done entirely with this strong technique would rock.
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Thanks--I think it would be interesting to do a full comic like this, but I don't think I'd have the energy to do it.
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Oh, you are SO lost to the whole steampunk thing!
I love this--it's campy, it's got great colors, and yet again, you've done something different.
The kraken-y dude is terrific...and I'm *pretty* sure I bid on that gun, on eBay. (Got outbid, darn it! 
So...did I tell you my Sweet Pea found a 2 ft long snake skeleton on his property? And is planning on sending it to me? (No head, unfortunately...and most of the ribs are gone...but the vertebrae are there. I'm so psyched!)
And I'm thinking of trying to find some plastic "leading" to make my big windows into diamond paned windows. The only problem is, I've tried to make "diamonds" before, in a trellis pattern on my bedroom set (last apartment--not this one)...and I SUCK at it. It's the whole measuring thing. Hope I can do it better, this time!
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Well, I had to make these comic characters unique...I was just going to do Victorian...but Victorian gentlemen wouldn't clobber one another like that. Steampunk enabled me to make it interesting.
And a snake skeleton?? SWEEEEEEEEET. That'll be awesome if you get it mounted.
Good luck with the windows...I wouldn't know the first thing about that....but I've always wanted to take a class on how to make stained glass. I think that's my next endeavor once I find a job and start making some money.
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Too true--it wouldn't be cricket, to beat each other to a pulp!
Yeah, my very own snake skeleton!
And thanks! The only thing that'll be hard about the windows will be the math-y bit. The leading is a piece of cake--I made fake stained glass when I was a kid--much like this: [link] ...only we actually cut out pieces of colored plastic, and used the liquid lead to hold them together. Here, all I'll have to do will be to get the liquid lead and use it to drawn the diamond panes. Something like this--without the herald: [link]
(I could SO see you learning stained glass, though!
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you always have the coolest things...lucky ducky!
Hmm...the math is always the worst part...but the design seems simple enough. Maybe work it out on tracing paper first....
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Hehe--funny, that's just what I'd say to YOU!
And yeah...I think the design is straight forward enough...I don't really want to lose much light, I just want to visually break it up a bit, and make it look more interesting. Working it out on tracing paper SEEMS like a good idea...but given my idiocy with math, is easier said than done.
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Do you have a triangle and a t-square? That's what I use to grid for paintings and it always seems to work out...a ruler just doesn't cut it.
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I have a triangle...and that's what I used on my furniture...but it didn't work quite right--the angles were off. I used the ruler to make beginning and ending "dots"--and the triangle to do the lines. (I have a small t-square--but it's pretty useless. I really should get a better one.)
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hmmmm...really, if you had a projector then you wouldn't have to worry about measurements so much.......
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Hmmmm...would you really be able to project, though, on a window? With sunlight coming through the back? (And wouldn't you have distortion issues?)
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I thought about that after I posted it... but then I thought you always project it onto a large sheet of transfer paper the size of the window. See, us math dyslexic people will go that much out of our way than actually try working with the numbers.....
And I don't think distortion would be an issue...that was another technique we used to use back in the art studio for mapping out paintings on large canvases.
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Ooo--and it might even be simpler than I think--because apparently you can buy the lead in liquid--or in strips, for use on windows! And look here: [link] See the window?!
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I hear you!!!!! (BOY do I hear you!!!!
The transfer paper IS an option, though... And I found this, online, while looking for an image to send you...seems like there might be something useful here... [link]
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I love this. I'd love to see a whole comic done in this style. Loads of work, granted. But it's a really nice piece of work. So many comics are dull these days. Great stuff. Good luck.
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Thank you very much. My favorite comics have always been the ones that looked natural and lush--the Wolverine Origin series is the most beautiful I've seen and I really kept that in mind as I approached this. I figured, I'm a painter and so I was going to do this in a painterly style...no reason to fight it.
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Bloomin' heck that would make a rip-roaring comic! Even if it did take forever!
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Thanks
I think a full comic like that would take forever and a day. Hah. I'll pass on that one
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Oh this looks really cool! The Sky looks Amazing, and all the Details here. It's Fantastic
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read The Scar by China Mieville if you want steampunk-esc pirates
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I'm so deliriously excited that you chose my stock to work the monocle in. The costumes and everything are just perfect. What an amazing piece of work, I'm so happy to have had a part in helping you make this!!!! Thank you
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I'm happy that you like it--I was a little intimidated entering a comic contest, but it's such a great image that had so many possibilities. So thank you!!
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"you offend me sir" *punch* "back to the Kraken from whence you came!"
Very interesting pic.
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Hahaha...that should be the caption.
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Whoa! Steampunk pirates!? That's intense! You're breaking all the rules!
This is seriously awesome. All the colors look great, and it's always cool to see people branch out a bit too!
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Hahaha...do you have to be a pirate to end up on a dock?
I'm actually not too crazy about it...I like the colors, but I hate my line drawings. But that's pretty typical. Or it could be that extreme uncomfortable feeling you get when you actually branch...
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Yes! Stepping onto a dock immediately inducts you into pirate-hood. Don't destroy my delusions!
Yeah, I think it's largely your branching uncomfortableness. The only real problem I can see with the lines is the scale of the furthest hand to the right.
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yeah...I saw it too, but I was too lazy to fix it. I was hoping no one would notice...damn you!
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you know, I just did a brief search hoping someone made an avatar or emoticon of an octopus mauling someone (because that would be the perfect thing to insert right now) and I had to hastily abandon that quest due to my extreme octopus/squid phobia. So I guess you've won this round.
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Victory.
So I take it you can't eat the kind of calamari where you can actually see the little tentacles.
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Oh god no. I can't even look at it.
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Me neither to tell the truth, but that's because I can't eat meat when I can actually distinguish the animal bits.
When I was a kid my mom used to torture me with those things. "OH, look at the cute little octopus, swimming along!" and she'd shake the thing a bit, and then jam it in her mouth.
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I hear ya--imagine my dismay the first time I ordered a soft shell crab sandwich only to find a whole crab sitting atop a bun.
Sorry, but your mom inspires nightmares. Ewwwww....
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haha! That's like ordering a burger and getting a beef hoof and a meat grinder. Ridiculous!
Oh. You have no idea the horrors I was subjected to as a child.
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Oh, I bet...that octopus story just sets the stage. Haha.
Although nothing beats the stories my friend whips out...he spent the duration of his childhood afraid of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer because his mother told him that if he didn't behave and go to bed, Rudolph was going to get him. Meanwhile, his aunt stood out in the woods outside his window blinking a flashlight with red cellophane taped over the light. Rudolph, man. Rudolph.
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haha! Yeah. That one is pretty freakin hilarious! Who turns Rudolph into a bad guy!?
My mom used to tell me one about a supposed older brother that I "had" who was bad and didn't do his chores, so they made a stew out of him. I never really believed them, but there was always that doubt in the back of my mind.
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this is freaking amazing. so piratey. i love how it looks like its in an old encylopedia or something.
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Thanks
I guess it is sort of piratey. I knew I wanted to do something steampunk, and when I had the characters drawn out I couldn't think of where to place them....then my boyfriend mentioned adding tentacles and the dock was born!
I wonder what sort of entry this image would reference in an encyclopedia.....
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