Comment of coloring, good or bad, here

[stevedj]

Quick question for Europeans. Does not the Berne Convention supersede local laws in international matters between signatories? I would think we should be referring to those laws, rather than the laws of individual countries other than Canada.

Woah!! A moderator fueling the Off-Topic discussion further? What is this world coming to...

(And then I will add a humble request that all this copyright stuff (including messages here) be moved to a new thread?)

[LAYF]

Quick question for Europeans. Does not the Berne Convention supersede local laws in international matters between signatories? I would think we should be referring to those laws, rather than the laws of individual countries other than Canada.

Woah!! A moderator fueling the Off-Topic discussion further? What is this world coming to...

(And then I will add a humble request that all this copyright stuff (including messages here) be moved to a new thread?)

Hmm.. I see you'r point.. but it is not compleatly offtopic. as the Thread creator himself made the post that started the talk, and the talk still has an effect on the outcome of said post.

So unless Morikahn asks that the talk is stoped/moved. I'll not act upon it, unless it gets realy off-topic.

[morikahn]

You guys should drop the copyright law discussion. I'm assuming none of you are lawyers and/or have studied copyright law. In all honestly, I highly doubt anyone is going to create a library of Thunt's uncolored work. I should not have said anything about it.

[Changes_everything]

I have studied law, copyright issues are not any speciality of mine, but... anyway. You don't like a discussion not going along the lines you wanted it to in one of your threads AGAIN, I'll leave it at that.

[morikahn]

Dude...

[Catmandont]

Dude...

Morikahn.

You'll have to forgive the general tone of some contributions; the combination of an audience and anonymity sometimes makes for a less then constructive atmosphere, especially since we feel so passionately about Goblins. We wouldn't be pouring over new posts and comments if we didn't already love the comic. This passion will...well...lead to a variety of comments that may not be entirely sensitive to the feelings of one another. However, we do mean well and don't intentionally go out of our way to insult.

It's the unfortunate nature of forums... Luckily, this one is far less combative as many others, and the positives really do outweigh the negatives by a long shot.

You can't please everyone, nor should you try, though aiming for a majority is usually a less frustrating goal. Unless you're in Politics, well then....good luck.

I am now equally as guilty for being 'off topic'.

ON topic------> I love your work. Do I agree with all of your choices? Nope. Nor do I expect myself to every time. Still, keep up the good work, and try to read my mind next time so I won't be disappointed in you........Sorry, couldn't resist.

[MapsGroxily]

To be honest, I like Morikahn's shading for 2 reasons:

1. It adds atmosphere, and even if it's exaggerated that's usually on purpose or at least feels purposeful. And example is the climatic Battle of the Alts, and I think it helped make what was already an epic battle even better.

2. It helps define 3d details that are difficult to do without shading. Some things I just miss without the shading, or are difficult for me to pick out. Back to the Battle of the Alts example: With shading, while it was darker (in the MoM pages anyway), other details were more obvious than when there was no shading.

It's like 2 different views on the same scene: Both have things the other doesn't. I would also approve of 2 archives if it would ease the tension this is causing, but I won't hate the comic if it doesn't happen.

[warwizard87]

Morikahn

First off i think you are very talented and very good at coloring, in fact its impressive, however, i do feel you overshade often, sometimes you make the scene to dark. for example
http://www.goblinscomic.com/03092013/ and http://www.goblinscomic.com/03172013/ i feel this is to dark, i personally enjoyed the vibrant colors that were originaliy there before the shading darkened everything.

however this shading seems fine to me http://www.goblinscomic.com/04182013/

to me part of the fun of the comic is the vibrant rich colors. It sets a tone that clashes with the grim back drop the story often takes. and i think that is fun. I dont like a realistic style for a comic like this. it just feels somehow wrong, i guess were the comic goes toung in cheek often being to dark and gritty artistically makes for a strange combo that takes me out of the story. I guess my point it, shading is fine just dont remove the rich bright colors that have been a hallmark of the comic since the beginning. (who needs to use google to help them spell beginning....sadly me XD) keep up the good work keep developing as a artist. you got talent man =]

[morikahn]

Morikahn

First off i think you are very talented and very good at coloring, in fact its impressive, however, i do feel you overshade often...

Thank you warwizard. I appreciate the criticism. I find that when I'm not sure how to approach a scene, I do tend to get overzealous in details. When I colored 04-18, I purposely went for a more simplistic look on the page, hoping that readers would like the more cartoony feel. I'm glad I wasn't off the mark on that.

[Godbot]

Edit: I'm not sure if I looked at the examples in the original version of my post too much or if I was just too tired when I wrote it or what, but I'm not sure my point from my original post made any sense. What I was getting at was that sometimes your lighting is inappropriately intense for the mood of the scene you're coloring, and just ends up being distracting.

Here's an example of throwing everything into light and shadow adding a lot to the drama of a scene, in addition to making it absolutely gorgeous. (This is one of my favorite pages in a while, by the way.)

Here's an example of inappropriately high-contrast and dramatic lighting distracting from the humor of a scene.

And here's an example of an exception to that, where the lighting adds a lot to a scene by adding a lot of visual interest and atmosphere instead of distracting from it. I guess it's a little hard to establish a distinction, especially since the atmosphere wasn't like this at all until you colored it. I initially said that the coloring didn't have to do with the mood so much as the uniqueness of the setting but that it worked anyway, but I might want to go back on that. It kind of adds intimacy to Kin and MinMax's moment. I don't know, I don't really know how to talk about art.

Anyway, I get that you're trying to accurately convey what the environment is like, but something to keep in mind (and I don't doubt that you already know this) is that lighting a storytelling mechanic, not just a feature of the setting, and sometimes the storytelling is more important than accurately conveying how the light would work. (Of course, then the issue becomes not making it look inconsistent when you use milder lighting for milder scenes.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to stop feverishly editing this post to try and make my point clearer, because I've spent way too long on this thing and have very little idea of what I'm talking about.

[langerhans]

I'm normally very impressed whenever the colouring is updated, probably the only time i've been dissapointed is in http://www.goblinscomic.com/03172013/ - the flamemax in the bottom right corner i was anticipating something more dramatic and eye catching.

i was expecting something like Dies' new new hand http://www.goblinscomic.com/11162012/ ..this was the first time i really noticed the colouring and loved how bright it looked, like a genuine light source, especially on a bright, sunny, background

[Krulle]

I'm normally very impressed whenever the colouring is updated, probably the only time i've been dissapointed is in http://www.goblinscomic.com/03172013/ - the flamemax in the bottom right corner i was anticipating something more dramatic and eye catching.

For comparison:
the unshaded image:
http://www.goblinscomic.com/comics/20130316.jpg

The other one is not online anymore, at least I have not found it.

[willpell]

For comparison:
the unshaded image:
http://www.goblinscomic.com/comics/20130316.jpg

The tower room was a good example of making things darker than they needed to be and obscuring details. A low point in my appreciation for Morikahn's work. Conversely probably my favorite work of his has been the fight with Junior and Klik's death scene; bright sunny outdoor scene, and impressive detailing on the metal surfaces to make them look shiny and textural. The dramatic lighting in the "I don't want this moment taken away" scene was also awesome, but I wish the tower room itself had actually been as bright as that scene made it look, by comparison with the dark corridor where FMK are.

[Tofu]

I loved the darkness that was here, the mood was enhanced in my mind, and going back and forth through the pages, this is the improved colouration work that has stayed with me in my mind the best. Very satisfying.

http://www.goblinscomic.com/02152013/

My most favourite coloured page. The simplest as well in many ways, but lovely!

[willpell]

Yeah, that's a good one alright. Also panel 2 makes for an amusing counterpoint to subsequent events....

[Vertigo]

For what it's worth, I think your coloring is very beautiful. I don't know why people are complaining about it being dark; I think the way the shading has been done recently adds so much depth to the comic pages and I only wish that the comic was updated with the shading in effect because sometimes I forget to go back and look at it. Your shading conveys a lot of emotion to me and it makes characters just... pop off the page. I think you do a wonderful job and I always look forward to seeing you add some dimension to the flat coloring of the comic. The way you shade is very stylized and it really makes this comic stand apart from others, in my opinion.

All I can say is keep up the excellent work.

[warwizard87]

i am really loving the current trend in shading, your doing great man, keeping the cartoon vibe but adding dramatic shading and it looks great.

[Rooks]

To be honest, I like Morikahn's shading for 2 reasons:

1. It adds atmosphere, and even if it's exaggerated that's usually on purpose or at least feels purposeful. And example is the climatic Battle of the Alts, and I think it helped make what was already an epic battle even better.

2. It helps define 3d details that are difficult to do without shading. Some things I just miss without the shading, or are difficult for me to pick out. Back to the Battle of the Alts example: With shading, while it was darker (in the MoM pages anyway), other details were more obvious than when there was no shading.

It's like 2 different views on the same scene: Both have things the other doesn't. I would also approve of 2 archives if it would ease the tension this is causing, but I won't hate the comic if it doesn't happen.

x2. Can't say it better myself. Keep up the good work Morikahn.

[Krulle]

I won't hate the comic because of shading.
I did not miss shading, I did like Thunt's shading while he did it himself (with the drawback of less upgrades),
I do like the comic with Morikahn's shading (although I prefer it slightly without shading).

The reason why I like it in all cases is simple: the artwork itself is amazing (but still, that would not bring me here).
The reason why I love this comic is the awesome story.


BTW: many newer pages are left unshaded in the archives. That's why many links to the comics in the newer discussion threads are not working anymore. The shaded version got a new date, the page of the old date removed. The unshaded image is still there, if you want to compare directly.
It's one of the extras I'm linking to in the transcriptions...

[friedkitty]

OK, I have a question: I absolutely love the way the comic was shaded here: http://www.goblinscomic.com/05082013/ Even though I am not fond of the content of the panels (storywise, not artwise) I especially love the way the blood is rendered very dimensional by the shading. However in the very next comic http://www.goblinscomic.com/05112013/The blood is flat again. Was this due to difficulty in shading such small puddles, just the way the shadows naturally fell, or what? There is a disconnect for me between the two strips, simply due to the lack of dimension in the later comic. I don't dislike it, and still feel the shading enhances the mood, just wondering why the change in dimensionality. (is that even a word?)

[Jotunheim]

I think it's largely a question of narrative shading. Forest started out working very "realistic" in terms of lighting, so that everything got lit in the way that it would be if exposed to the lightsources in question. Lately though, he's gotten a lot better at working the shading to better frame the story in question, and in the frames in that second strip the blood serves a less heavy narrative purpose, so the focus should be on Kin's face and the cup. I'd guess that might be why it is less heavily worked over.

[Jotunheim]

Well. Let me be the first one to say that I'm very sad to see Forest go. The comic is far worse off for his depature.

[Sleaw]

Agreed. Was looking forward to seeing the story progress with his colouring. Will miss it!

[thinkslogically]

Definitely. Sorry to see you go!

[gamecreator]

Why? What happened?