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On the topic of Artistic Fine-Tuning (...or is it Editorial Meddling?)
🕑 Added 2022-08-07 15:54:51 +0000 UTC
You know, I don't really like to take credit for this, but I feel it's important to address this, since it impacts the release schedule.
For the vast majority of my comics, I take a role of editorial "artistic fine-tuning".
Depending on the artist who's collaborating with me in a given comic, my intervention can range from minimum to drastic, but it's rare that I don't touch a page of art delivered.
(Now, just to make it clear, all artists are always told about this before-hand and shown the final result for consideration, but I reserve the right to have the final word on the final result every time.)
So, in this latest comic, for example...
I've put together the art that was delivered by the artist along with how it was released in the comic.
Thomas' art is nowhere bad itself, quite the opposite. But his deliveries lack a certain punch on the mood and ambiance (and sometimes he misses some details, too.)
That's where I usually come in.
As you can probably notice, most of what I did was adding some lighting and texture effects, to help tightening the atmosphere of the comic, making it a bit more spiderverse-ish.
But there were also some illustration tweaks/additions as well.
Some were narrative corrections (ex: adding the three spider-women coming from a portal in panel 1.1), while others were necessary to make the dialogue bubbles flow better in a panel (ex: panel 3.5 that was mirror-flipped).
There were also some art changes for purposes of dynamic and/or personal taste (ex: 1.4 where Cindy's face was added inside her hazmat suit, and adding a bit of pubic hair to the girls throughout the comic).
Bottomline is, I just felt these changes result in a better comic, and that unfortunately impacts the production time.
However, despite my own personal feelings, I never questioned if it actually makes it worthwhile for you guys. So, here I am. What do YOU think about it?
Should I keep doing it in the future? Or do you feel I taint too much of the artist's craft?
(Also, would you like to see other comparisons from past stories and see how they were before I had my pass on them?)
Please vote on this and share your thoughts by commenting below.
Comments
RoofPig
It mostly looks better except in a couple spots where you overdo it just a little and cover the art with a little too much glare. It's not quite the lens flare in the Abrams Star Trek, but...
69% - nice
Alx
As one of your occasional artist. I always though you did an awesome job as an editor and I'm 100% behind you on this.
Hivedragon
I'm in the boat of go for it and dont really care. I support these comics for A long time and so far I have never been really disappointed. So just go for it.
jmy25
I trust your judgement so if you think something needs to be changed, I say go ahead.
Jak O'Hara
End of the day it's your project Trace, if you feel the need to tweak or change anything, then that is your right to do, you don't have to justify it to anyone, if something doesn't look quite right to your expectations or you think you can make it better in anyway, Well then you got to do what you going to do🤷♂️
Tracy Scops
That's probably a resolution thing for this post, because on the actual comic at the full resolution, none of the fun bits were obscured whatsoever. I really made sure of that. As for the foggy thing in this story, it wasn't only a stylistic choice. It's a significant part of the storytelling here, considering the pheromonal chems which are an inciting device in the sexual conduct of the characters. In my opinion, it was a fix that needed fix. But thanks for the feedback. It's important that I keep my own opinions in check.
Didi Solomon
I'm for things that improve the clarity of the story, art, and storytelling. And I see some of that there -- especially the insert panel border on page 1, which was otherwise lost in similarly colored art. I'm against anything that doesn't do any of those things and obscures part of the art -- which I see happening with the fog, especially on page two. If you wanted more fog for the story, please don't put it over the "fun bits." I also think the fog obscures the purple spew in panel one, making that story point less clear. Generally, I'm for women having some pubic hair, so I don't mind that happening -- so long as it matches the art. Not quite sure it does here, at least at this resolution, especially at p.3. And the fog, again, is a mixed bag. I'd usually rather see clean art rather than steamy or foggy or motion blurred art. Especially in a porn comic. Fix things that need fixing, but don't obscure what we're here to see! :D
Thomas
The top one the right is better but the other 2 I like the left better
Michael Rider
That’s why I said, if you have to, I’m fine w/ “You gotta do, what you gotta do.” I may very well be here till you shut the lights off. Or not, but I’ll support you until I choose to leave. It’s been a great ride, full of quality work, that’s only gotten better over the yrs… I’m sticking around awhile w/ any extra time or money you need. But you know, within my budget 😉😂
Tracy Scops
Not creepy at all. I've been also doing my best to not raise any prices either, but with the inflation going as it is, it's getting even more challenging by each day.
Michael Rider
I enjoy your work. That sounds weird, it’s smut but you’re obviously talented at creating a compelling story, even if it’s smut😅 I’d rather wait for the best finished product available. Even if it takes more time, more money, I’ll probably still be here… (Sorry if that comes off creepy, not my intent😇)
Tracy Scops
That's an interesting idea. I'll work on implementing that for the future.
AaronMcG
Your tweaks do look better to me. Your artistic vision has been steering this ship, and I'm fine with you being happy with the results. (However, the original pre-tweaked artwork might make nice bonuses for "Plus" subscribers.)
