[samhell]

I love Science Fiction.

I love comics.

And I've been a fan of them both since I was a little kid.

Below, you can find an online comic that combines those two things important to me. This project took pretty much all of my time early this year. Sketching and storyboarding the story took surprisingly long, so this was a great learning experience.

I created this story together with a good friend of mine and we are very proud of it. So please, let us know what you think.

Thank you for taking a look.


http://murskain.pp.fi/genesis/index.html

[durgldeep]

Kneejerk: Holy sh*t, well done!

Really like the format/layout (once I figured it out, hehe). Fav line, "seeking out those places mapmakers once marked with dragons" - ain't that the truth (or cling to suburban mediocrity, forever assuming that anyone you don't know is an 'enemy' - oops, I'm starting to soapbox/free associate, lol). Thanks for sharing.

[Sumaleth]

Congrats. Nicely done.
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Art Links Archive -- Artists and Tutorials

[samhell]

Durgldeep, Sumaleth, thank you! ^__^

And Durgldeep, soapbox as much as you want, that's why the story was made. Any reactions that the story evokes from the reader are absolutely fascinating to hear. I was surprised how that effect is much� stronger when compared for example to hearing critique for a single image.

Anyway, It was absolutely a blast to put this thing together and what I really love about it is the way the visual and the written narrative support each other, even though they are telling two different stories. For this, all the credit goes to my buddy who really has a way with words & creating stories.

Some random info:
+ Creating the comic took around 5 weeks to paint + 2 weeks of sketching the story.
+ The rough drafts were done on post-it -notes so I could change the panels on the fly as I was putting the scenes together.
+ Googleskethup was used to create the corridors etc. (was great to get to know that software)
+ Biggest influence on the presentation was this: http://www.wormworldsaga.com/ I love the minimalistic scrolling experience, I bet that would look great on an ipad too!
+ Did I already say creating the comic was a lot of fun?

More to come, for sure.

Thanks again for the comments guys!!


p.s. Learning speedpainting through Sijun was an essential piece on making this project possible. Without that� I'd be most likely still working on the first page of the story going anal over details that don't matter� So thank you, Sijun.

- Sami

[Petri.J]

Awesome!
I like those moments where unexpected happens in a story. You give the viewer/reader a familiar world and reference the beginning of time, reference to a story that everybody knows but then you completely brake it by bringing this story to the future. You also very brilliantly refer back to that birth story and give a strong feeling that the main character has been there for a long time and that in other hand gives a reason to why the story ends like that.
I can't even list all the good things you had in this, because this was just flawless.
Well done!

-cheers, petri.j

[samhell]

Petri.J, my deepest, most humble thanks for the comments. ^___^

Before we published the comic, we already had plans to continue the story. Now, after the feedback we've been receiving (I was quite nervous to hear any :-/ ) it is starting to look like that we will be doing that a lot earlier than we initially thought.

It is going to be interesting to see that were we just lucky with the 3 first chapters, or can we pull it off again.

Thanks again!

[johnbriner]

Samhell, your strip is extraordinary. It is well written and the artworks are well conceived. You didn't exaggerate any of the drawings which makes it easier to understand and the lack of dialogue did not make the story bland. Overall, this is excellent. Post some more!
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John Briner Art

[durgldeep]

Took me this long to think of the song...

Prelude - After the Gold Rush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6BzTCQ6Nqo

Yep, still free associating.

[samhell]

johnbriner, thank you kindly for the feedback.

Rest assured, we are doing our darndest to put out more chapters. Furious scriptwriting is on the way at the moment. Sijun will be the first place to know, when more content is ready to be published.

Thanks again!

[Tomasis]

samhell, im really delighted with your works. especially with idea as comic book! I look forward for more stuffs
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[samhell]

durgldeep, that song was fantastic! The illustrations on the video were also spot on. A captivating combination and pretty darn close to what I had in mind for a backstory!

John Pitre's works made a huge impression, especially these 2 struck a nerve in regards to Genesis.

http://www.johnpitre.com/_assets/images/gallery/colateral.jpg
http://www.johnpitre.com/_assets/images/gallery/SplitWorld.jpg

Thanks for sharing!

[samhell]

Tomasis, thank you!!

All the feedback has been very inspiring, and it's really pushing us to try harder. Internet ftw! ^___^

[samhell]

While waiting for the new chapters to finish themselves *cough*, I thought that I'd post some of the concept work that went into the comic. A shocker was to notice that the first pieces were done one year before the real work started.

Time flies. 0___o

Anyway, to make a long story short, here is the first.



The design philosophy with the corridors was that they should be bright & uncluttered. Most of the wall surface also acts as screens to provide visuals and mission information when needed, or just for recreational purposes.


The walls are also covered with smart access panels for easy maintenance.

Happy, clean and easy to navigate. Shockingly different to what usually passes as Sci-fi designs for corridors?

[samhell]

Here's another one.



I wanted to take stab at creating garments that would actually look like they were useful. After a year these still look okay to me... and tragically the designs were not seen at all in the first 3 chapters of genesis.

[durgldeep]

Argh, thought I commented on this - cool.

How's the new one coming along?

[samhell]

@durgldeep: Thanks for asking! Genesis is progressing on the storyboard & writing level, but beyond that it is on a back burner so to speak.

I've been working on the my pipeline of creating comics and for example I want to get to know Sketchup a bit more better before continuing with the project on a full 100% focus.

The first 3 chapters were fun to do, but I feel I'd like to add a few more levels of detail into the art.

I noticed you've done a lot of buildings + landscapes with GS, how has it been for you? The biggest surprise for me is that it seems to get very heavy handling the geometry on screen, a lot faster that I thought. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

[durgldeep]

[samhell]

Thank you Durgldeep for the advice, that was exactly what helped making Sketchupping more... user friendly. I'm also getting close to being done with exploring the limits and ways of what I can do with GS in terms of this project.

Update is getting closer. That's a good feeling.

Short tangent to the wise words of Carl Sagan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PN5JJDh78I

[durgldeep]

Glad the Genesis update is getting closer (can't wait).

The Carl Sagan video is very cool. I don't know Sagan's work as well as
others but rightly or wrongly he's in my mind as a forerunner to Dawkins,
Krauss, etc. (again, my ignorance/laziness is showing; can catch up via
YouTube).

It's also a useful reminder. For Patel Grand I realize I'm concentrating too
much on the adventure (blow shit up) and not enough on the people (of that
alien world) - while orchestrating in my head, that is (no spectacular drama
in the posted work, obviously). My original focus was the people (have
strayed in an effort to make it entertaining)...

Re Sketchup, "Layers" make a big difference, very effective replacement
for "hide/delete" (above). Should have discovered this sooner but have
been divided, etc.

To me, GS is more and more appealing, first because it has none of the
flashiness re traditional "blow shit up" stories/software (see above). Kinda
the gouache of digital (re earlier discussion of subtlety using gouache): get
out and walk.

[samhell]

Here's a preview of things to come.



I redid the Colony ship 'Dawkins' as a side project while I was getting to know Sketchup better. The ship was the only thing in the first 3 chapters that I was not completely happy with. And since the ship itself will be the main focus on the 4th chapter, I thought I'd redo it from the ground up, properly this time and with a lot of thought.

I ended up with a "semi-realistic" industrial look, instead of a sleek one.
.
.

[durgldeep]

[samhell]

Making slow but steady progress. Here's some more assets made for the next chapters of the story.

[durgldeep]

*envy*

[samhell]

Lolz, durgldeep that is nonsense.

I've been hugely inspired and impressed on how dedicated you've been at creating Patel Grand and the world for the stories. I am only following your example.

[whom]

Awesome thread samhell, that ship design is really something, real cool.

[samhell]

whom, thank you!!

I wish I could show off the big ship more, but I really must try keep patient and wait for the next chapters of the story to be finished.

These new pictures show some of the process I have for building new assets for the storyline. I usually start with a loose sketch or two to find the overall shape and style I'm looking for.

This time I also realised to make a rough 3d mockup before going into details, just to make sure it looks good also as a "solid" object. I made the mistake with the previous ship that I didn't sketch it out completely from the beginning. The ATV was a lot easier to create when I had proper sketches and this new project seems to have started out even better.

Hope it lasts. *crosses fingers*

[samhell]

And here's the finished cruiser. Moving on to the next item on the list.

[durgldeep]

Talk about work - phew!

Well done.

[samhell]

Thank you! ^__^

It's hard to estimate how long this took, but I think I worked on it for a span of 3 weeks. Usually only 1hr or so at a time. Planning and sketching the modelling beforehand on paper really helped.

Also, after finishing this I realised that I really have to learn to use more organic shapes in SU sometime soon...

[samhell]

Work in progress for a mysterious cover like image...