Earlier today Ozoneocean made a pretty interesting post at Facebook, regarding how demons are depicted in modern culture as opposed to how they were earlier, and especially what they symbolized in western culture: they are now generally depicted as sexy, good, glittering, or misunderstood. If they are doing negative things ...
Making Evil Good is Blunt Fudge
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 17, 2018Showing and Telling
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 10, 2018
Anyone who ever dabbled in creative writing or any sort of narrative work, had the phrase “show, don't tell” hammered into them. The sheer anxiety of being caught ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’ made us all think in terms I assume only exhibitionists do.
The truth though is, that sometimes ...
Depicting Cultures Different than Your Own
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 10, 2018
Depicting a culture different to ours can be a tricky process. There are a ton of pitfalls involved, from showing a stereotypical (right down to racist) almost fetishized version of the actual culture to presenting it in a light directly connected to the author’s/creator’s culture (therefore either ...
It's Cold Outside
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 28, 2017
It's downright freezing out there - colder than the norm for this time of year (in recent years at least). And it's going to stay cold, they tell us.
Eeks!
So, comics artists, how do you DRAW “cold”?
There are a few ways that come to mind:
Mostly, I ...
Time Stand Still
Banes at 12:00AM, Nov. 9, 2017
Time doesn't really exist in comics. Someone can blast through multiple pages in seconds, or linger on one panel for years. Well, that would be rare. But you see what I'm saying.
What if you want to make your readers slow down? To give your pages the pace ...
How Much is Just Right when it Comes to Shock Value?
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Aug. 12, 2017
Having decided that shock value is needed in your comic and you must scare, disgust or generally traumatize your audience in some way in order to get the emotional reaction to serve your theme and your subject matter, how do you decide when and where to draw the line? (note ...
Grit --> Gore --> Gorn : When is it true to subject matter and when is it porn?
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Aug. 5, 2017
We’ve heard it and experienced it many times: For a creator to make an impact, to truly etch his/her message in the brains of his/her audience when it comes to art, from novels to films to comics, imagery with a high shock value is employed or simulations ...
Reflecting on Reflection Characters
Banes at 12:00AM, July 20, 2017
Reflection Characters
When I was doing a little reading on the “Mentor” character type, I learned about something called “Reflection Characters”. It was an eye opener; I'd never heard of this before, though I could instantly see how it made sense in storytelling, and dozens of examples came to ...
Superheroes & The Duck!
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, June 9, 2017]
Guest newspost by Nepath
Firstly, let me get the self-promotion out of the way. Sunday just gone I started a third story arc for my comic Energize (www.theduckwebcomics.com/energize), which originally launched on this site, 10 years ago that day. It's called Energize and if you like ...
The Differences Between a Formal, Social, and Psychoanalytic Reading of Art
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, March 27, 2017
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith beheading Holofernes, 1611-12, oil on canvas, (Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples)
There are several different ways to read a painting. The perspective of the reader adds a new insight to the history behind the art. For the purpose of this article, I have selected Judith beheading Holofernes ...