Hey, I need some feedback.

How do you guys feel about the Crimebusters #7 covers I've revealed so far? Here they are again:






I just had one of my backers post a public comment where he basically said they both suck - especially the Trixie's Mysteries cover - and that essentially it's not worth his money to keep buying the series if these are going to be the covers.

I'm kind of miffed, because... you know, there's also 36 pages of story every issue that I hope people are enjoying and that take a hell of a lot more time an effort than a cover does. I also feel bad for the artist who did the Trixie's cover because it was pretty rude and since she's also a backer on the campaign who basically asked to do a cover becuase she's a fan, she might see the comment.

But at the same time, I need to listen to feedback. I know when I posted the original version of the Crimebusters #4 cover, shaxper suggested the airbrushed quality wasn't working, so I tweaked it in a way that I think worked better for everyone. I think the regular cover for #7 may have the same issue -- this is the first time I hired a colorist to do the cover colors rather than doing it myself, and he's done some great stuff for me on my other titles, but I think the style just might not quite work here because it's too airbrushy. I've posted it a few other places before and nobody said anything, but if people generally don't like it, I might need to look at changing it.

Thoughts?

I agree with Shax. The composition and background of the second cover are very good, The faces however, leave a little to be desired. The vampire's face is ok, it just feels lifeless (and not in the evoking an undead creature good way) just flat and doesn't hold the eye. Trixie's face however, is just plain off. It's proportioned weirdly (too long and the forehead eyes area seems a different shape attached to the jaw and cheeks rather than a single face), and reads masculine, not young woman (as does her blocky undefined torso) because of it. And unfortunately, with the composition and color, it is the figure of Trixie that draws the eye immediately highlighting the thing in the picture that seems the most off. It's not a total loss-a reworking of Trixie (both face and torso) could salvage the cover-reshaping the face to round it out and softening the facial features a bit, and then adding a little bit more definition/shape/curves to her torso to soften it a bit as well, and it would "read" a lot better. Again the composition is good, it has a narrative element and has a bit of dynamicism, the vampire reads ok, but the face could be touched up a bit, but it's Trixie that needs another pass since everything in the cover draws the eye to her.

As for the first cover-I do like it, it's really dynamic. The colors don't bother me. My only note is that Chuck's neck is a little long, making the proportion and head angle a bit awkward, but it's not a major thing.

-M

Ps Photorealistic anatomy is not necessary in comic art, and I don't expect that, especially in small press stuff, but cartooning is about capturing the essence and feel of the character, evoking a feeling in the reader about the character. That Trixie drawing in the second cover doesn't do that. The essence it captures and the read it projects is not Trixie young female detective, and that's the core problem with it. In this case, it comes down to the cartooning of anatomy as portrayed reading wrong-the anatomy being off isn't an issue in and of itself, but the read that results form it is the heart of the issue, and addressing what is off in the anatomy should fix that read.

So, while it's true that I just don't have time to draw Crimebusters -- or anything else -- regularly, I did have an idea that I think is going to allow me to draw issues occasionally.

Basically, I love making comics. But when I have a deadline to get files ready for the printer, or get a cover done for a Kickstarter page, or whatever, it's not that much fun because it's work. Oftentimes, after I've done a bunch of work on a project, when I need to take a break I'll end up screwing around with some other project instead that's still way off in the future, because it's still fun.

So I've started working on the main story for The Crimebusters #9 in my spare time. Now, at the moment, Mac is still only 2/3 of the way through drawing issue #7. That means I basically have a year or so to get issue #9 done. I timed myself drawing it, and it took me about 3 hours to draw. I think this main story is going to end up being around 28 pages, so that's about 84 hours of drawing time over the next year. I think I'll be able to squeeze in an hour or two here and there to get this done.

The story for issue #9 is one I've had in my head right from the start of the series, and it's what Trixie's arc in issues #5-8 is building up to. So I really wanted to draw this one myself.

Here's a look - the finished comic will be in color, but I won't be sending it to the colorist until after the pages are all done some time next year.




I'm working on a couple of things art-wise.

The most obvious thing you'll see right off I think is that I'm trying to do more detailed backgrounds. But the characters are still going to be cartoony.

At the same time, I'm trying to move a little bit away from the Dan DeCarlo Archie-style faces towards Darwyn Cooke / Bruce Timm style faces.

Unexpectedly, the results look to me to have a manga influence. That's not intentional, but for whatever reason doing those two things together is giving me a manga vibe, which I don't hate.

It's all very much a work in progress, especially the faces. This is my first effort at tweaking how I've been drawing them, and it's not where I want it to end up. I'm also having some struggles with my drawing tools just not giving me the consistent clean lines that I need. But I want to just shift things slightly from the clean cartooniness of the Archie look to the more robust and mature cartooniess of Cooke. The lines are just as simple, but they pack more power.

Anyway, just wanted to share. I might also try something different and draw the pages out of order. I have a later splash page in my head that's probably somewhere around page 16 that I kind of want to draw next before I do anything else, so we'll see how it goes.

Backed this today. Had to wait until after Gem City to see what level I could back it at, but I'm in for the regular cover.

-M

Crimebuster

Haven't had a chance to snap pics yet, but Quest #3 (module edition) arrived safe and sound at the end of next week. Wanted to shout you out and say thanks again for another great book and flawless kickstarter experience.

-M

This is later in the story but I decided to jump ahead.

From somewhere in Crimebusters #9 - Trixie enters Castle Heartbreak.