Snoozer

I think the blurred effect turned out well. CB Alpha Shade [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS115.jpg[/IMG]

This is part of the lastest scene we're working on. I think the fall colors came through pretty well and the stone effects. CB Alpha Shade [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS108.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS109.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS110.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS111.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS112.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS113.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS114.jpg[/IMG]

The new chapter of Alpha Shade has started. New characters, new world... it starts off with Laura being part of a college Women's Gymnastics team before a meet. One of the major differences between this chapter and last is how we draw the hair. Instead of using black outlines we're going for a softer look, using slightly darker hair color for outlines. If anyone's going to Anime Centeral in Chicago next weekend, stop by our booth and say HI. The same goes for Dallas at A-kon in June. :) CB Alpha Shade [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS091.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS092.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS093.jpg[/img] You can also get our book of chapter one now :) [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/Alpha-Store/products/CH1extraSamples.jpg[/img][img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/Alpha-Store/products/CH1Cover.jpg[/img]

This is the final scene in chapter one of Alpha Shade... We didn't expect it to take this long... There are only two pages left and it's over. We really tried to keep the action moving at the end. The final storyboards had to be redone a number of times. Even the text was flopped around and edited. These pages use our new costum created font "Digital Haggis Pro" JB_CB Alpha Shade [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] ~~~~ Page 80 Finally a change to draw something other than sand and tents... It was fun to work on a different atmosphere. The ripples in the water and the rain effects turned out nicely. The fire reflected in the low clouds and water seems to work well with the over all night feel. Some people were confused by Laura's darker colored hair. We used one of her darker shadow colors to give it a wet, dark look.This page and part of page 81 are a small preview of what's to come in the next 11 chapters. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS080.jpg[/img] Page 81 Effects like the water dripping up, the handgun disappearing, and the panthers turning to smoke were added in order to clearly illustrate that this scene is a dream and not a flash back. The change in text bubble style was suppose to symbolize Grey's intrusion into her subconscious. The transition of the panther into Grey in frame two really turned out nicely. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS081.jpg[/img] Page 82 Leyna and Osvka appear on the ridge of the command post. This page is full of dust and smoke effects. They seem to add depth to the page. Having another squad entering the scene in the last two frames wasn't in the script, but I thought it world add more suspense to the final scene. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS082.jpg[/img] Page 83 The squad enters the command post not knowing the Flyer has appeared on the ridge.The blood effects are a combination of Photoshop pngs and flash. This page has a whole lot of little tiny people running around and if you don't visit the flash version and zoom in on the details, I've just wasted my time. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS083.jpg[/img] Page 84 After shooting up the newly arrived squad, Leyna turns her attention to her real target, Laura. The firing effects in frame 3 turned out well, and the sound effects add a bit to the action. There's also a neat blur effect on the rifle in the fourth frame. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS084.jpg[/img] Page 85 Lenya charges the thin ring of men protecting Laura. It took quite a while to get this page out... This page is the first page that features the new "Digital Haggis Pro" Font. Joe will be going back into the pages and replacing the hated comics sans for the printed version. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS085.jpg[/img] Page 86 I tried a new panel type for this page. I think it turned out okay. I like the way the center panel turned out, I was worried that the Flyer wouldn't come off right... The page was delayed for 3 days because a virus too out our main computer and it had to be completely reformatted... [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS086.jpg[/img] Page 87 This was a hard page to pull off... I really like how panel 3 turned out and Laura's fear of losing her precious watch come through well. I wasn't sure if the last two frames were going to work, with the size difference between Ivan and the cat, but I think in end, it blends well together. The font is still being edited, but it's pretty close to finished. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS087.jpg[/img] Page 88 Just 2 more pages and the chapter is done... no more tents or flyers or biplanes or orange colors, no more remembering where the damn sun is supposed to be in every shot or what direction is what .. wheeew -_- Chapter two is going to be completely different, I'm really looking forward to it. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS088.jpg[/img] page 89 One more page and the chapter's over... I really like how this page turned out. The bottom frame is almost all done in flash, only the mist and clouds are done in Photoshop. We spent an extra four hours on drawing plants and grass, but it was worth the extra effort. If you check out the flash version, you can zoom in and read the text on the laptop. [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS089.jpg[/img] page 90 This is the final page in Chapter One. There were some specific things I wanted portrayed on this page, the colors of the sunset, the trees and the Peru like rocky hills. We'll be going back into the comic and retouching up the pages for print over the next few weeks. [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS090.jpg[/IMG]

The final showdown between Laura and the Gunnery Captain. CB [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS060.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS061.jpg[/IMG] ] [URL=http://www.alpha-shade.com][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/Ads/as728x90-2a.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

The bottom frame of the newest page is all photoshop because the flash background didn't blend in well with the explosion. CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS058.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS059.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='*Tatl&Tale*']This is so cool! How do u do it and where can I get one? lol ^o^ But I'm serious tho, this would definately make my manga a lot easier to draw, and it'd look proffesional too! I checked out the site where the Alpha Shade stuff is and went to tutorial.I don't think I quite get it but I would definately like to know where u got this stuff and how much it cost! ^-^ Anyways it's really good and I can't wait to see more![/quote] We use the program FlashMX, it's around $100-$200 and wacom tablets 100-300. I think the effects in the lastest pages worked out pretty well over all. CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS054.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS055.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS056.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS057.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE]why are all the soliders women?[/QUOTE] All the soldiers aren't woman, it just that the story is following two woman, Sky and Laura. If you count up all the characters it's about 1/4 women. Cb [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url]

Fun with Kitties [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASImprove/pages/ASI_003.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASImprove/pages/ASI_004.jpg[/IMG]

Switching to a dedicated server sucks... It burned up a week of production time. Anyway here's the end of scene one and the beginning of scene two. It should be very cool. The art is done in FlashMX with photoshop skies. CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS049.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS050.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS051.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS052.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/www/ASpages/AS053.jpg[/IMG]

This scene is almost over (it starts two pages before the first page) There are only 2 pages left to go... We tried very hard to present a fast, powerful, and exciting scene... I'm not sure how well it work, over all I'm pretty pleased. Any Comments? CB [URL=http://www.alpha-shade.com]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/URL] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/ASpages/AS045.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/ASpages/AS046.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/ASpages/AS047.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/ASpages/AS048.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/ASpages/AS049.jpg[/IMG]

Just thought I'd post up a few clean frames from our webcomic, Enjoy :) CB [URL=http://www.alpha-shade.com]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/URL] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro31.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro01.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro05.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro32.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro27.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro19.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro17.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro21.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro12.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro29.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro11.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro02.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro24.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/intro/intro23.jpg[/IMG]

We spent a lot of time working on the skies and lighting effect on these two pages. I think over all they worked out very well. The Sound effects were a bit harder to incorperate into the frames. We tried to fade them out and use similar colors so they wouldn't detract from the pictures. Did it work? Has anyone out there found a good resource for making up sound effects or how to use them more effectively? CB [URL=http://www.alpha-shade.com]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/URL] [img]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/1073547572AS035.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/1073897839AS036.jpg[/img]

The characters were moving straight into the enemy lines. The squad was trying to flank the snipers, but didn't really have a good idea where they were. Their job was to surpress the enemy until help could arrive. Once the MG started shooting at them, the 3 tried to move forward towards cover. [quote] In the 2nd page, the enemies are aiming towards the left, so it looks as if Sky and Co. are running right towards enemy lines, which doesn't make sense.[/quote] They expected to only come up against snipers, the bunker was hidden. When the snipers fired on the command post the squads MG started firing towards the hills side to surpress them. When the camo curtain was opened the gun was pointing left of the squad. The loader's hand is pointing towards the approaching squad. In the center frame on the third page, the Gun in the bunker is sweeping from it's left to right. There is one error in the tracer fire on in the first frame of the 3rd page. the fire should be coming at them from the direction the blonde guy is facing not across the page. There are 2 of us working on this and that was a communication error :( . One of things i try to focus on in the comic is to use different camera angles. There are very few we use more than once. CB

Here's our latest action scene. We messed around a bit with tracers and a few different types of sound effects. A lot of time way spent trying to create interesting angles and effects to try to bring the action to life. C&C is welcome. CB [URL=http://www.alpha-shade.com][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/AS_468x60_2.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/1070342996AS029.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/1070941990AS030.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/1071565210AS031.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/1072194111AS032.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/1072754631AS033.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/1073028033AS034.jpg[/IMG]

Here are a some of the latest pages on my webcomic. I messed around a bit with some new frame styles. Tell me what you think. CB [URL=http://www.alpha-shade.com]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/URL] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/AS022.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/AS023.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/AS024.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.drunkduck.com/Alpha_Shade/AS025.jpg[/IMG]

Here's a frame from page 24 of the Alpha-Shade webcomic. Showing an Imperial drop ship and a destroyer in the background. CB for a larger image of this frame click here [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/dropship.jpg[/url] [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/dropship2.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE]Is it for a comic your making?[/QUOTE] Yes we are doing an anime-manga style color webcomic. CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url]

The two characters are Captain Alexis Andreeva and First OfficerRose Inessa. THe first picture is used as a transpartent layer for the final page (page 18 Alpha-Shade ) By using an Alpha faded gradient it appears as if the 2 characters are being reflected in the windows. CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/Capt.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page18sm.jpg[/img]

We finished up our second scene in our webcomic (Alpha-Shade) It took awhile to finish all the characters in the last few pages. Karpova's hair is a little bright, but she sure looks Cute :wink: CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page13sm.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page14sm.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page15sm.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page16sm.jpg[/img]

Added page 15 to the post above. CB

[QUOTE]I'm confused, but it's good work. I'm assuming the person asking for a hat is female? If not, oops.[/QUOTE] Really? I thought the breasts in frame 4 gave it away.:smirk: We use Flash mx for all of the drawing and photoshop for some of the skys with clouds in them. We draw on wacom tablets straight into the computers. CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url]

Here are a couple of our webcomics newest pages. CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com[/url] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page13sm.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page14sm.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page15sm.jpg[/IMG]

That's true... You need a tablet to draw into the computer. If you're serious at all about drawing on a computer, you'll have to get a tablet. There just isn't any other way to do it. CB

A lot of people have asked us how we get our clouds to look like clouds in photoshop. Here's the Cloud Tutorial we posted on our web site. This is how we did the clouds in the pictures below. CB [url]http://www.alpha-shade.com/Tut/clouds.htm[/url] [IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page11sm.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.alpha-shade.com/banners/page12sm.jpg[/IMG]