Happy Holidays, 2012!

This is my first holiday card using ComiPo!

This picture was taken on the skywalk that connects King Manor to the Rainbow Center.

The residents of my apartment building love my holiday card.

This image is a series of layers and I darkened the foreground characters to match the background.

I wish I could darken just a character’s skin without darkening the rest of the character model; as I’d like to include characters other than white people.

Please feel free to suggest other images that I could make using ComiPo!

Second Street Sinkhole Surprise

The first two panels depict the Duluth, Minnesota Flood of 2012.

I thought I could incorporate this once in a lifetime, I hope, flood event into my comic.  I never thought that I’d see miniature waterfalls in my apartment’s parking lot, but I did.

The last two pictures I made with a 3-D graphic program.

For the third panel, I made a bowl-shaped brush in the floor and then textured a photo of a sinkhole onto that brush.  Thus, that sinkhole appears three dimensional with the characters and floor.

I’ve noticed that when two dimensional photographs are projected onto a flat screen as background images and then photographed again, these background images appear flat, especially when you have 3-D persons or objects in the foreground.  I’ve noticed that happen when playing computer games, seeing movies, or watching television.

The fourth panel shows a Fringe gate with the rainbow effect on, from the Fringeworthy role-playing game.  That means that all three of my main characters are Fringeworthy and can use it to transit to their world’s prime platform.

Before and during the 2012 Duluth Flood

I’m amazed at how well this page comes together.  It has a pleasing mix of asymmetrical design, bright and subdued colors, and Abigail Adams tells a short and snappy narration that is sufficient to tell the reader what’s going on with these characters.

Here is what I found out while making my first digital comic that you can use to create your own digital comic.

First, I’d suggest that you should create your own digital photography portfolio of subjects to use for backgrounds.

Second, don’t be afraid to use slightly blurred photographs.  The first panel has a blurred photo (shot in light fog) for a background.  I blurred my three 3D characters to make them better match with the 2D background photo.

Third, I also darkened my three characters in panels 1, 3, 4, and 5.  I then added a rain picture (thoughtfully included in ComiPo!) as foreground for panels 5, 6, and 7.

Lastly, I’m grateful for digital software such as “ComiPo!”.  I could have never made a hand drawn comic, printed out paper copies, and then attempted to sell these to readers.

How (Laraine) Hunt joined WASS

Laraine’s background is based on a real high school student I once knew.

One day he brought to school a pair of real police handcuffs that I saw him show to his friends in homeroom.

I enjoy using “ComiPo!” to blend three dimensional characters with two dimensional backgrounds.

I’m aware that my two characters would probably not be talking about WASS in a public skywalk.

But, there was no one in the skywalk beside them, so they felt safe to talk about WASS there.

The Station Speech

Abigail Adams, Angry Cab, and (Laraine) Hunt are practicing their magic in the subway station to reduce any accidental damage to WASS equipment due to a misfired spell.  The fact is that the station was built to be used as magical training grounds, isolated north from the WASS base, which is south of the King Manor Station.

Think of the subway station as a decoy for urban explorers, so these thrill seeking intruders will not find the WASS base.  In short, the urban explorers find the subway station, think that’s all there is to the DTA’s Second Street Subway project, and then return home.

“Washington’s Army of Sorcerers and Sorceresses” (WASS)

This page introduces the secret government organization “Washington’s Army of Sorcerers and Sorceresses” (WASS).  While some readers may object to reading many lines of text, I contend that many profession​al comics and graphic novels use similar blocks of text to convey background information to the reader.  Not every comic needs to be written with short, declarative sentences.

The misfired spell!

I didn’t know how well Larry Hunt would react to this comic; but he accepted it with good humor.

The misfired spell Abigail Adams cast was supposed to transform Angry Cab, not her mentor Larry Hunt.

I’m still amazed on the quality comics I can create with ComiPo!; and I hope to create even better comic pages in the near future.