I need some thoughts on some of my work. I run a webcomic & the graphics are not so great. We're about to "upgrade" ... But I'm having some concerns. I'm going to explain the process I went through to create the new designs.



Now, first off, this first picture I'm posting is NOT mine. I found it on a forum and saved it becuase I liked how it looked. If anyone knows who the artist is, I'd like to know, and I'm sorry for posting it without permission.


So take a look at that first picture. Nice eh? Well, since the pixel-people used on my webcomic don't look terribly attractive, I thought it was time to see how much better I could make them. I scoured forums, websites, and my own gif archive trying to see what might look good for a webcomic. Having no training in 'pixeling' I started trying to observe other people's work... Noticing shapes, and which lines work for what... When I saw this picture in paticular, I noted that a charecter created at that size could convey emotion much better than RPG-ish sprites like the ones used in Highschool Starship, but would remain simple enough to edit...

So after a few unsucessful freehand tries, I actually copied that spear-girl image into my MSpaint file, and mimicked one side of the face... as seen here...



The "trace" to the far left is my freehand mimic - meaning I looked at the face and drew that next to it. (The outline to the right is an exact trace of the face outline which I made just to illustrate the difference). You'll notice some differences - the dark skin-tones on spear girl which indicate the outline of her face, don't exactly match up with what I drew, but only by a few pixels. I feel these are crucial differences, but we'll address that later. Besides, a different angle of the face ended up being the same as that outline to the right (or half of it)

There are two reasons I didn't want to trace the face exactly;
1) I didn't want to be accused of copying, (admitedly, this wasn't my first thought) &
2) I actually prefered what I came out with for reasons I will explain shortly.

From here on out, I had to pretty much stop using the spear-girl image. For one, the complexity of the shading and stance made her impossible to use as anything more than a very vauge referance for what I was trying to do, if that.

You see, amidst preforming the aforementioned operation, I was also in the process of illustrating a body, hair, and eyes. Once these things started coming togethor, it became apparent that I would need to adjust my methods and essentially improve my own style of doing things. The 1/4 face outline I had done became enough to give me this...the third picture.



Once I had something to work with, I was able to make the face 'look' in different directions by editing it myself. Eventually, I got the sideview completly figured out as well



I've since created a slew of charecters using this head, and body shapes all my own. *I've not included these, but I MAY post some examples if so desired*

Here is where I'm having trouble; In later comparisons, I've noted that the base head-shapes line up FAR too well with that of the spear-girl, as well as the position of the eyes - an unintended fluke.  Look.



And here's a finalized version of the 'base' head along with spear-girl head for comparison. I made sure they were lined up at the chin, just to be fair.



I've come to understand more and more recently, that I don't want to screw around with stealing someone elses art, as I would not want someone using mine and claiming it as theirs. Sprite comics are one thing, but taking an unknown artists work for modding etc. causes more trouble than its wort, plus the whole ethical side of it that bugs me ^_^().

My question is; Are my charecter designs close enough to that of my referance, that it constitutes stealing art? I don't think so at all, but recent issues amoung a well known pixel artist have, unfortunatly, made me acutely aware of the crap that can happen when it comes to this... I eventually want my own webcomic to 'suceed' (as in support itself so I feel its worthwhile) and I feel this new art will assist that. I want to have no reason for any amount of 'reasonable doubt' to enter into the equation as far as if I OWN the rights to what I beilve is in essence, MY art. I want people to be able to buy T-shirts from me... not for the money, but for the novelty of it all, and knowing that something I made - not just the art, but the comic as a whole - means something to more than just  a few random people who stumble across the site.

Everything else is fine. The bodies are compeltly different - They are so simple compared to the spear-girl... the styles are not even similar. The hands... the feet... torso... clothes... everything. But the HEAD! its very close in, if nothing else, the shape. And it isn't so much that it bothers me, as that it bothers me that it might bother others (i.e. reasonable doubt)

I feel that I learned from and was inspired by that image, no doubt. But I feel the amount of work I put into the design of the charecters after that inital 'mimic', warrents complete origonality. I think the overall style of the completed face is vastly different from the face of the girl in the first picture... it is much more 'anime' ...very clean, and simple (or visa versa if you're feeling Kingdom Heart's -ish)

Thoughts on this? Feel free to include any thoughts on my website, as well... no reason to pimp that in two threads.

oh and ... 'hi' 'I'm new'

...Uh, hm. At first I wasn't sure what you were talking about, but I assume you are referencing the itunes links we post on our site.

The easy answer is yes, but not really. We don't generate enough traffic to produce the minimum amount of purchased songs for us to get a percentage. Its a linkshare thing.

In anycase, I would appriciate some comments on the topic at hand...