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I am trying to create a web comic using Xtreme. The type of Web Comic I am trying to create is like the Sunday Comics. The one with the squares that show events in sequence. What I wan't to know is, is there a way in Xtreme to create a template somewhat like that? I don't want to keep adding squares for each event. Any advice will help.:)
My guess would be to create several boxes on a seperate layer or layers and make them visable but not editable. This way you have them pre-created but you don't change them unless you want to. You can then save the xar file and use that as a template each time you create a new comic.
Hope that helps.
Eric
I think I can give that a try to see how it works. As far as layers, I want to create the boxes then be able to draw in them. This wont affect me drawing in them?
No not at all. It's just a handy way to have your empty boxes tucked away until you want to use them.
For speed you can create templates with one, two three and four boxes.
You might want to create the boxes as cut-outs from a rectangle that covers the whole page, on or above this you can have your Titles/logos and Copyright text.
This way you can work on the layer beneath and have the 'frame' mask the edges of your contents.
If after cutting out your boxes you make the 'frame' an editable object you will be able to select all the nodes that surround a gutter and move them (and the gutter) to one side or another thus resizing two boxes at once.
Oh, okay thanks for the information. :)
Seems to me that the content inside the boxes should be rather more challenging than making a few boxes. I'm not up to making a comic, but I wouldn't draw inside the boxes, but make a drawing then mask it using a box, then add the outline..
Here's a simple template to give you an idea.
The drawing is not mine ...Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoGreen
Or even;
You should be able to save as a template and then tell Xtreme which template you want to use.
Or you could do a make from and always have the bottom layers locked as your cells. In otherwords, you save as and just delete the layer with your cartooing on.
Let me just be the monkey that throws his wrench into this one....
There are a number of reasons that newspapers have comics in the standard cell format. The biggest being that it allows editors to easily break apart the comic to fit various layouts. As such it as become rather standard practice to create comics this way but the great ones, from Bill Watterson to George Herriman bucked that and created frameworks that added to the comic itself instead of just framing it homogeneous boxes.
You, unlike newspaper comic artists aren't bound by any editors demands. You have no compelling reason to maintain a hard and fast structure to your comic and I would suggest you think about the content of your comic in much broader terms than just making a 3 or 4 panel standard cartoon. Strong action might dictate a sweeping landscape panel, tense emotion might imply a narrow hard vertical layout, you might pass objects from one panel to the other, break the boundary of the panels, layer panels one on top of the other or even do away with panels all together. Point is you should use your layout to help tell your story.
If you are going to have a reoccurring comic and you use a standard template you comics will soon become very similar, very familiar and ultimately very boring for the reader. Think outside the box (or panel in this case).
While I am FAR from an expert on this I do try to play with layouts some. I'm at work and only have a couple of partial works to share as an example of some very simple ways to address sequential art layout. Wish I had some better examples to share.
Good luck,
J
I've never created a comic strip in my life Joe, but your advice is great, not only for cartonists but artists in general. Thank's for that. (Glad to see you're still lurking).
two mandatory books by Scott McCloud
understanding comics
making comics
btw i couldnt believe i didnt ever think of making a FRAME LAYER ABOVE the drawings- you have no idea how hard its been to select every single object and then the frame and do the apply clipview each frame... god... :)
havent had any time to work on the graphic novel in my head... no time no time no time... but ... www.caveproductions.net > anime kitten is my silly webtoon - never got a chance to use xara on it, unfortunately... unsure where to go from here as an artist but ive been using xara for a lot of my interface design for my online game www.dawnsoft.org :)
sorry for the shameless plugs
ROnC
Love this affirmation. A golden course of action. Thanks for excellent demo, Joe!Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Skeesick
Cheers, Anders.
Glad to see that what I said made a little sense at least then. (sometimes I wonder) I'm much better at the preaching then I am the practicing.
J
Wow awesome examples. This has helped me alot.:)
Joe,
What a beautiful example! Thanks for sharing! I agree 100% about the variation of frames for a strip. It can become so lifeless so quickly when you continue to use a concrete template layout for every strip. At the very least,
if using for print, try and mix the frames up in width. Also a tapered line with varying width helps too. I LOVE it too when objects exceed the boundary of the box and lay on top or beyond the framework as often seen in comic books today. Very cool stuff.
td
Thanks TD.
It should be noted that repetitive layout can in some cases be the proper vehicle for a cartoon strip. As in the case of Red Meat, a droll comic with a very peculiar feel to it... is benefited by having the repetitive (typically) 3 panel delivery. The monotonous feel of the strip adds to the odd humor. (and example is included below.)
http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/current/index.html
I would suggest however that in most strips that use standard strip delivery this is not the case and repetitive strips are used out of habit and not as a element of the story telling.
j
"Red Meat" is SICK!!! I love it!
Sadly I love it too... what does that say about me? :rolleyes:
Still not as good as Dilbert though...
Your posting stuck a chord with me as I also first experimented with Xara when beginning my comic book art. It didn't take long to realise that there were better ways of producing the actual 'strips' - but Xara was perfect for adding speech bubbles, SFX and countless other page effects.
So I settled on Comic Book Creator and its myriad of page layouts to drag and drop my completed artwork into pages. CBC is seriously limited by its text, SFX effects, so , after publishing the pages in TIFF format, I opened then up in Xara where I had the right tools to produce a polished page.
To get you moving I have added a copy of my Xara Cartoon Workspace to my website Download page for you to look at. The Homepage gives a few examples from my many comic book efforts - (some not so successful).
The Xara workspace download will almost certainly require some font substitution as I use commercial comicbook fonts from www.blambot.com - the world leaders.
If you get as far as the Comic Book Creator site please don't be put off by the somewhat 'Toon' content. Instead, presevere and watch the move tutorials and checkout the range of premade templete - including basic cartoon strips. Just like Xara, CBCis incredible value for money.
My site: http://www.vector42.co.uk
If you are not yet thoroughly bored with the topic - I have also included a free video tutorial on producing a basic page in CBC.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Ray
'Be Alert - the world needs more Lerts'