http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Emerald_City/index.php?p=285567

here is the preview of issue one.. please give us your feedback!

Got the final page of a 6 page preview up!! Please give me some feedback good and bad. We are at the stage where we need it. We think we have some great on our hands and want to know if anyone thinks so! :p so please take a few moments and let us know! Thanks

-Kevin M. Jones

I really am looking for some feedback... I am at the point of begging for it.. so please...pretty please let me know what you think. (good and bad)

I can't believe no one has commented on this comic before. I'll start:

I love your art style. The inks over pencil shading is a unique way of doing what otherwise should just be a black and white comic. Your level of detail and ability to convey emotion (especially facially) is top notch, and you have a good eye for anatomy too.

There aren't a lot of pages up for me to comment on the story, but right now it's a pretty violent ride (which I tend to enjoy). I would like to see some improvement with the balloons that you're using - making them opaque can make them a little difficult to read at times. Also, trying to compress your dialogue so that you can fit it into a round balloon isn't necessary, but may also help draw the reader's eye towards the dialogue.

How often do you update this?

Your art is great, but it seems that you don't like posting your pages in order for some reason. Ya know, that more than kinda fucks up the reading process.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

That was just a preview. We are about the run the whole issue here in a few days. releasing 2 pages every few days. We just wanted to introduce the police characters, which for them the pages are in order.

As for the bubbles, we are trying to keep the details for all to see...but that might not work out huh? I am putting up the cover for issue 1 and as soon as we start the run of issue 1 I will update you guys here! Thanks so much!

-Kevin

I really like the pencil art, dude. I'm shocked I didn't even notice this lovely comic before.

The only thing I don't like is how you can see through the speech bubbles.

Does the speech bubbles really make it that hard to read? I kind of like it. But you are the 2nd person to say that.. we might have to change that. I am loving the feedback keep it coming. We are really trying to get this out there.. been a looooong time in the making y'all!

Ok Book 1 is live! first two pages today and should be getting 2 or 3 up every couple of days until it is finished! Check it out give me feedback of all kinds! Thanks!

You still have the see-through balloons and text boxes. Artwork is solid, though.

Yeah. Thanks for all the careful comments, I can't stress how much they mean!

I just don't want to lose the details of each panel. And you have to do it all or nothing type of thing. So we decided to go with it and see how it turns out. personally I kind of like them, but I am not the one reading it. They can be fixed rather quickly if it doesn't work out. But give them a chance they might grow on you.

:)

And 2 new pages are up!

The storyline is interesting and the artwork is very engaging. I'm a detail freak with my own manga/comic. I can't help it. As a result, it's refreshing to see a clean, less-detailed comic.

Plus, like everyone else has said, the pencil and the ink combination is really striking and captivating. I personally don't find it too hard to read through the low-opacity of the speech bubbles, but it would probably give a more closed-in, complete feel to the comic if the speech bubbles were solidly white.

Then again, what do I know? I haven't had any training in the art profession (self-taught) so I might be steering you wrong. ^^; But I hope I've helped you, either way.

man! your art is superb! XD it reminds me ALOT of JoJo's bizare advanture (which is a REALY good thing ;D) keep it up! i first need to read true the pages that are already up to deside wether ro not ill fav it, but i think im gonna like it alot!

Thanks for the comments! going to crop the borders tonight and hopefully will be able to get the pages all reposted by this week. Still updating and still plugging away! This has been a long ride for us, and we want it to look as professional but still our style, as we can. So all the crit goes right into the thinktank with us and we consider everything people tell us. (yes we are checking into the bubbles too! Don't think I have not noticed!)

Thanks to the people who have added us to their favorites, as the writer I really think our world is something great! So stay with us and share your thoughts!

With artwork like that, how could I not fave it?

Thanks Trev! I hope you enjoy the story as well (once we really start rolling)

New pages aren't quite up yet (on the 18th they come) but... we did crop the old pages and filled-in the bubbles... take a look and tell us if it improved the comic or not! Thanks again for all the love!

2 new pages up now as the prolouge/opening arc comes to a close.

today 3 pages of the comic went up! I decided to give an extra page today since 2 of the pages were from the preview we showed earlier! enjoy!

two new pages! Love to thank Midge for all of his feedback! It is really helping us out! Any other people feel free to chime in!

I'm usually commenting on the comic itself, but I like what I've been seeing. Taking away the opacity on the balloons has helped by leaps and bounds, I think.

Could stand to have some more contrast in there between the backgrounds and the characters, though.

you of course have been great! Any thoughts on the limited story you have seen? The next scene has great conversations (I thought when I wrote them at least)

two new pages up!

The conversations have been pretty good - realistic dialogue. It sometimes gets a little confusing when you go from two guys talking on the streets to two guys talking on a couch in their apartment. Perhaps a little narrative box that says "meanwhile" or "elsewhere" or "hours later across town."

Other than that and shrinking the pages a bit, it looks good!

thanks again trev! (semi)new pages are up! And I have been on the hunt for font.. here are my final two choices...

Which one do you like better

this one




or

this one




I will re-work the bubbles once I decide on the font of course

The second one is easier to read, I think.

playing around with the pages now... found something I feel that I like for the most part... tell me what you think

old




new


old


new

hmmm....

the old one is more grey scale,which gives it a newspaper feel.

the new looks actually kind of manga-ish.


it all depends on who your audience is.

The new one has thicker / bolder lines, which sometimes work and sometimes don't.

It almost looks like you just changed your Photoshop filtering from "Darken" to "Multiply."

You are right Trev I did use a fliter and found out that it really isn't that hot. So... went back to PhotoShop(tm) and played around some more. This, I believe, looks a lot better and it prints a little cleaner...


NEW