Roberts: Tracing

[Jordan-o]

I doubt you can find a professional comic book artist that hasn't from time to time reused posing and expressions. Speaking form personal experience, it isn't an easy thing to draw comics and illustrations. Tracing is really just one of the tools of the trade. That's why tracing paper exists. Drawing is a constant exercise in recreation and refinement; when you throw digital painting on top of that, as well as story creation, there's a lot of stuff to do. I've seen people jump down others throats for using photographic reference for posing, well, that's how you GET good, realistic posing, anatomy, proportions.

I don't really think that this was an intentional way of cheaping out on Gary Roberts part, I think he simply was reusing reference and he added enough elements as well as painting to make it a new scene. I mean I kind of snorted when you showed the reference. Is it a similar pose, sure, but it's not identical.

Anyway, you're also really demonstrating serious troll behavior, how many final posts have you made throughout the course of this thread?

[ROBERTS]

Troll indeed.
I'll bet not even Ernest is aware of the online pricing of Taboo..I'm sure he isn't. That's a whole different department at Larry Flynt...Production usually has absolutely NO idea what Marketing and Sales is up to..But I'm sure Larry Flynt will take the time to hear your concerns. Why don't you call him up, I'm sure he's there for you.

So did I trace previous drawings? Of course I did. There's over 10 YEARS between these two comics...10 YEARS. I re-used some poses from 10 YEARS ago! And you know what? I'll do it again too..the poses fit the action I needed and I used them. that was the decision. I needed that kind of poses and the previous drawings fit what I needed..It was a creative decision, not a devious communist plot to cheat you out of a couple of new unique drawings as you imply. I am the artist, I own the comic, I draw the comic as I see fit.
If the scene did not please you, or the girl is not attractive, or if your woody went soft, remember...no warranties express or implied, your mileage may vary. There is no guarantee and no return policy. No money back guarantee. My view at this point is A) you're a troll and B) if the fact that I traced a couple of girls totally stopped your day and stopped you from reading the comic and broke your concentration so badly that you completely lost the story and dialog, then serious treatment for OCD is in order for you my friend.
I'm in my 3rd day of painting and detailing my next page..this sort of bullshit does NOT inspire me. Then again, he is the only one in 14 years...
Troll.

[STeve]

As freelancer illustrator who has worked in many areas of illustration, from editorial to books comics and licensed products, for thirty years and more, I can fully concur with Roberts that it is far from unusual to trace.

Boris always works from photos, Chris Achilleos and many other big names too. Vermeer used a camera to trace his images before painting as did several other "masters".

Tracing is copying, drawing from life is copying, sure drawing from life is a skill in itself, but what effect does it have on the finished product? The same with drawing from the imagination, it is a skill, for sure, but generally only used as a shortcut. It was a necessity that came to be regarded as the norm in comics, for a while. One of my favourite comics artsits; Authur Ranson; https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=arthu ... 24&bih=768 always traced and turned out some magnificent comic strips.

I use Manga studio manikins very often in my work, but don't feel that I am cheating anyone.

The finished product is what matters, how you get there is about personal preference, and time constraints.

[LOLord]

- Sorry to interfere, but it's quite annoying! Tracing and mimic my way to learn draw and anatomy! And it's the fastest way to make your drawing skill move on from zero to some point around 50 and beyond!
- And i didn't have problem with tracing as long as the expression is satisfy and the anatomy is correct! Just dont copy 100% both color, pose, face, hairstyle, expression at the same time!

[Ernest Greene]

Quick point of information. If you buy Taboo on the newsstand it's about nine bucks. If you order it on the web its a back issue, meaning no longer in print and in limited supply, so it costs twelve bucks.

Still a bargain and still nowhere near the mythical twenty dollars we're supposedly charging.

[ROBERTS]

The $20 reference is illustrated by him as the 3 month membership at Hustler.com.
Now what in the living f@ck I might have to do with the prices at Hustler.com is a goddamn mystery way past anything reasonable in any sick minded universe.
So you bought a 3 month membership to Hustler.com, and you think it's a waste because I traced a couple of comic book girls in a comic in Taboo? Huh?
This guy is a fuckin psycho. Let's waste no more time on this loser, ok? I have WORK to do.

[Demosthenes]

Roberts, I found this paragraph in your original response interesting:

I know I should try and follow the trend around here in DoFantasy World and give the girls Names and Lives and Backgrounds so the FanBoys can sit around going all giddy over what's gonna happen to little Susie Creamcheese next..I'm so deficient in this area I know. I'll have to think on how to improve this part of my serial behavior, because personally I'm not interested in her job or her car or her school..I'm interested in tying her up and gagging her and sliding those panties down off her round ass so we can enjoy her getting boned senseless by some big guy with a fat cock. I guess some people just need more these days..

I would have to disagree with that somewhat. I like the fact that artists like Fernando give each girl her own back-story and personality. Clara from his Confiscated Twins is completely different from say Kate from Total Control. I would agree with you that the main dish that attracts us all to these kinds of comics is what you describe in the bolded part, but the variety in the girls are the spices that give that dish a different flavor.

[Thon]

Well, that was exactly what he was saying. He, and/or Dof, has spotted a trend on the market for more character development (in these violent misogyny comics ). Roberts is simply saying that it's not for him. Fair enough.

As an artist you need inspiration to create, if you don't get inspired by that, it's harder to produce.

On the other hand, Roberts is very frank about doing comics for the money. Nothing wrong about that, but if that's one of main motivators and if there's a trending/growing market out there, ignoring it might not be the wisest move.

[ROBERTS]

In reality, every artist here is doing this for the money. None of the artists web published on DoFantasy are donating their work as an act of charity, and they all need to get paid because this is quite time consuming and it tends to completely overwhelm one's whole life..there's just no way to do this as a side job or on a "hobby" level..it's too labor intensive.
Even back 10 years ago, when my drawing style was a lot more basic and simple, it took a whole 12 hour day to complete a comics page. Multiply that by 44 to 48 pages. Nobody is dedicating that kind of time for free.
As for content, this simply demonstrates the different tastes we artists have..this is where you see a more personal side. I do tend to be purely physical..I'm not so much into the psychology or the personality of the girls. It's about looks for me, and getting where I want to go. f@cking them. For me to attempt to inject storylines and scripts into my work, when in fact I don't FEEL it, or build characters in my comics when I really don't CARE..I think you'd notice how clumsy and straight out bad that would turn out. I don't do well what I don't like. And it shows, usually in a big way.
But this is a good thing. You have this VARIETY, you have choices. If you really love to get into the Person behind the pretty face and nice body, if you like knowing her, then you have artists here who love to satisfy those needs...Fernando always gets my endorsement, as I think he's a great comics artist, works on impossible schedules, and actually has a script and running storylines and characters. He's amazing. Erenisch is really good at this stuff too. But me?
I'm doing a comic book version of a porno video, pretty much based on the physical. I guess it's just where I'm from. Apparently a lot of guys like what I like too and are just fine with the straightforward approach. I personally like choices.

[Thon]

Agree fully.