Art sequentials (Full color Manga)

My brother and I do a online full color comic called Alpha Shade. We've been posting it on the web for about a year now. The art is done in FlashMX with some Photoshop elements imported in like smoke, dust, and clouds. Any C&C is welcome.

Page 1 (70)

The damaged Inn, turned into a dressing station, was based off the buildings in the animation. I wanted the nurses uniforms to look practical not sexy. I always hated those silly nurses hats, so we gave them simple white head bands. I went for two white bands to identify hospital structures and vehicles. I thought Having part of the Inn's walls damaged and braced would add a bit of history to the scene



Page 2 (71)

After the attack on the command post the two remaining flyers sweep fast and low over the camp to avoid any antiaircraft fire. Troops scatter and find cover as the birds scream overhead. The Station in the background is supposed to be a part of an outlying town that was captured before the siege of the city.



Page 3 (72)

This is the end of this mini three page scene from the ground. Only two more scene left to go and we'll finish out the chapter. There are over 180 characters were drawn in this 3 page scene, but I don't think it would have had the same effect with less... We tried to give this three page scene a feeling of both history and atmosphere. I think it worked out well for the most part.

The Anti Tank Rifle Ivan takes from the soldier is made up, It's based off a few different anti tank rifles of WW1-2.



This gun doesn't have a clip and each shell has to be loaded one at a time. The lower green object in the center of the gun is a flip out hand grip and the green tube above the grip is the sight.



page 4 (73)

The planes on this page are from a different squadron than the planes in the beginning of the comic. These are army air units.

A few notes about the planes markings.

The far plane in the top frame is the squadron leader. His plane has yellow markings on the wings and a white stripe on the fuselage. This makes it easier for his squadmate to recognize him at long range. The serial numbers 20208 (the leader) and 20212 on the two planes do have some meaning. The first number 2 indicates army (number starting with one are built for the Navy) the second two numbers indicate the squadron 2-02 (army-second squadron) and the last two numbers indicate the plane number.

So The first plane number 20212, reads:


2 Army 02 2nd Squadron 12 12th Plane

The last two numbers are also stenciled on the side of the plane's fuselage. Each pilot decorates his plane with his own personal emblem inside the yellow ban. The red triangle right of the yellow ban is the pilots kill card. Plane 20212 has two kills, while the lead plane 20212 has seven. If the pilot would shoot down another plane or flier, the ground crew would repaint the new total on his score card.



page 5 (74)

It took about 10 hours to get the tracers and sound effects the way "WE" wanted. I don't think the page would have flown as well if he didn't put in the extra effort.

The lead plane is diving in and firing on the left flyer. I wanted to show a Barrel Roll attack. The idea behind a barrel roll attack is to be able to dive in at high speed and then bleed some of that speed off, while still being able to keep the enemy insight and have a firing solution. The attack turns one pass into two, while retaining your speed.

Frame one.

The lead plane dives in, firing at the flyers left wing.

Frame two.

The pilot cuts his throttle to idle, as he shoot past the target and rolls over the top.

Frame Three. With the throttle still at idle the plane rolls over the top of the flyer and the plane drops back in behind the flyer.

Frame four. The pilot settles back in behind the bird after bleeding off some of his speed he gain in the dive. Note that in frame one and four the pilot is using the rudder to bring his planes nose/guns to bare on the target. The puff of smoke at the tail of the plane is from the pilot throttling up to full power again.

CB
Alpha Shade
www.alpha-shade.com

 

good work you guyz! i can see nice characters, environment and good art quality ^_~ also i like the pose's and camera views too. the colors are done nicely but i hate the that flash brushes as those on the flyers! XP
but i still think of it as a comic(american/european), i cant see any manga touches!! my bad english wont make me able to explain this but i think that you can reialize it by lookin on any of the manga books. and i dont think its just cuz its full color! it dosen't matters really.
btw, i'm not sure if i saw that on eatpoo or somewere else! but i'm sure that i saw it on some other forum ^_<~ so good luck on the comic and Psst: the nurses head bands ROCKS dude! i hate that usual hats with the a red christ on it ^_^ PEACE!

 

The coloring and environment is really good! Keep it up! I agree though, it isn't manga but that's cool. All styles are good!
edit* Lol, never mind. I went to your site and it's definitely more like manga (manga hybrid perhaps). Anyway, I think I have say again that your whole layout and background and stuff are awesome!

 

Your attention to detail, especially the vehicles and settings, is quite impressive. I like the way you used historical references. With people so interested in it nowadays, it was definately a good choice to use elements of it in my opinion. Tons of things in these that would interest my friends just because of the World War weapons elements.

 

The Flyers bank, crossing in front of biplane 20208, hoping to confuse the pilot. As they head off in opposite directions, the Flight leader signals his wingman to pursue the second bird.

The T shaped thing towards the end of the gun barrel is part of the cooling jacket's design, not a site. In the second frame, the wingman is holding back far enough to cover his flight leader. We also used a backwards sound effect on that plane. I think it gives it a sense of movement. In the last frame you see a puff of smoke behind plane 20214 as he throttles up his engine to full power. The planes control surfaces are in a "diving roll" to the left.

CB
Alpha Shade
http://www.alpha-shade.com

 

The fourth flyer Dives in,smashing through the wings of the biplane. We added a few combat markings to the new flyer. I tried out a new frame layout for this one, but some people thought it was confusing. I think the top frame may need a bit of tweaking before it goes to print.

CB
Alpha Shade
http://www.alpha-shade.com

 

Page 77. The Fourth flyer Zooms back up after hitting the second biplane. It spins out of control slamming into a tent, scattering a few soldiers. At the same time the Lead plane is closing with the other low flying flyer. I wanted to experiment with a twisted sound effect to show the planes spinning decent. I think the tracer effects turned out well. We'll have to go back into the squad fire fight scene and redo the older effects.

CB
Alpha Shade
http://www.alpha-shade.com

 

The flyer flares it's wings to close with the biplane. Fliping over it, skids along the dirt road. With it's rider safely clinging to the underside of it's neck, the bird prepares to sink it's talons into the undercarriage of it's pursuer. I really wanted some sound effects in the bottom panel, but in the end it just looked too cluttered.

CB
Alpha Shade
http://www.alpha-shade.com

 

This is the last page of the flyer vs biplane scene. We tried to get two actions in at once, the Flyer grabbing the plane and using it's momentum to flip it on it's back, while the rider's swinging back around to her saddle. I knew it would be a difficult page to pull the flipping action off but I think the paneling help move the action along. We went through a few versions of the sound effects at the bottom... I think the last one turn out nicely.

CB
Alpha Shade
http://www.alpha-shade.com

 

It's very excellent art; for once I have no negatives about the art.

I do wonder why there isn't any sort of anti-air weaponry or support, even just people firing hand weapons on the ground (since these are obviously flesh and blood creatures and hence vulnerable to high speed lead poisoning ) True,there are tracers, and I suppose the base is not finished, but simply from a logistics viewpoint I have to wonder. But then, bear in mind I'm a \/\/h0re when it comes to these sorts of things (I'm the sort of person who wonders about the food requirements of the flyers, their speed, inherent durability of a creature that large yet still capable of flight and such without suspending disbelief when I get put into a fantasy setting), so pay me no heed.


Edit: Didn't catch the part about them flying low to avoid it; still makes me wonder about it since I think a creature of that size would probably have to rely on thermal drafts for movement. But then, I'm just viewing a slice of your universe,so odds are it actually makes sense after some in-universe explanation.