The tiny seekrit project

[telophase]

Got the tiny seekrit project that I've been annoying you about since last week done. If you've been reading the hints etc. in the comments, you've probably gathered it's a comic of some ilk, and yes that is so.

And it's a doujinshi, not original work. I did it because I needed to work on a few things - namely pencils and inking - without the pressure of OMG original work. I didn't entirely succees - I think the pencils and inks are better then any I've done so far, but they're not what I'd hoped for. Oh well. :D And I hate the tones - they are thoroughly and entirely not waht I wnated, because AS ALWAYS I reverted to my too-much-tone stuff. And I think that's because the inks, while good, are still not good enough - I need much more detail in them, especially in the backgrounds, so they stand entirely on their own and the tones can be confined to small bits here and there to highlight important bits or to pop other bits out. Ah well. Next time.

How I picked the one to do: I didn't want to do something very long, so I started hunting for drabbles - my declaring I was in the mood to read drabbles last week makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE now doesn't it? It had to be a fandom I knew, so I would know the undercurrents going on in the story, and it had to be able to make the transition from text to manga. Which was rather hard to find: by their nature, most drabbles out there tend to be introspective and navel-gazing and that kind of deep interior life doesn't lend itself to comic pages. It didn't have to have dialogue, but that would help. And it had to be by one of you guys - I couldn't tell anyone about it because that would bring some sort of expectation and pressure to bear on me, whereupon I'd quit halfway through, and that meant I had to pick one written by someone I was reasonably sure wouldn't freak out at me for adapting their story without permission. :D Which is why this is still under friendslock - I'm not making it public or uploading it to DA/whatever before the author in question says it's ok. :) (ETA: out of friendslock now!)

[ETA: And oh yeah - the other sort of drabble that I couldn't use is the kind that's all about one strong image - I love the image in this one about Sanzo using shell casings for meditation beads (by octopedingenue), but it's a single picture and not a sequential bit of story, at least not in my mind.]

So who's the lucky winner whose work I've stolen paid homsge to adapted? Why, it's octopedingenue and her Princess Tutu drabble What we do not regret from back in March.

Believe it or not, there are NO SPOILERS for Princess Tutu in it. If you have not watched the show, you'll be rather confused because it requires knowledge of the characters to interpret correctly, but if you read it before you see the show, everything that happens in the show will still be a total surprise. :) I'm going to request any spoilers in the comments be protected like this.



(I almost picked a drabble featuring Tenpou and Goku by someone whose name I have temporarily forgotten, but then realized I'd have to draw lots and lots and lots and lots of books and went AH GOD NO.)


Clicking on each page will take you to the high-res version. And anyone who want to try out inkng sequential art, let me know and I'll send ya the pencils. :)

Comments

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I love the feathers in the title and in the final frame (where Rue's arms echo wings), and the birds above the school, and how the top view of Rue dancing shows her beautiful and sad and angry all at once.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

(Finally, a fandom where floating shoujo feathers are appropriate! XD)

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Oh my, that's gorgeous. Rue! ♥♥♥

I, uh, I wish had something intelligent to say, but I don't. (Though--it's probably just me projecting old ballet lessons, but in the last frame Ahiru almost looks like her feet are in third position. Which is nifty. XD)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

In that last panel, I was paging through my way too big file of downloaded screencaps, looking for ways to draw legs of someone just standing there in such a way that they didn't look awkward, and found a shot of Rue and several other dancers standing, and they all looked like that. :D But it makes sense for someone who's taken ballet for however long to automatically stand in one of the positions. I once knew a black belt in Hapkido who always unconsciously assumed ready stance. XD I could spot him across a room from his posture alone.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, that is so cool! I love the perspective of the school and of Rue dancing, and Ahiru's gobsmacked expression, and the feathers.

Now I want you to do some of my drabbles. I have some with dialogue and action.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thankyou! :D Ahiru spends a lot of time looking gobsmacked. It seems natural for her. XD

I forgot to put in the sound effects of the bell ringing in the first big panel. And I learned something aobut perspective: the clock-tower-with-door part in the front of the building should have a slightly different vanishing point than the rest of it - right now it's got the same, and it looks out of perspective.

Link me - I've got a bookmark folder called "Mini-Manga Possibilities and have several by others bookmarked in case I get an urge to do another of these. :D

[octopedingenue]

OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD

YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION

WOULD YOU LIKE MY KIDNEYS?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

XDDDD I was hoping your reaction would be closer to this than "How dare you!" XD

I had fun doing it - I don't think I quite managed to get the effortlessness of your last line into the last page (the smooth transition from speaking to leaping), but going by the comments people seem to have gotten the general idea. :D

[rilina.livejournal.com]

This is awesome! I have only seen a couple episodes of Tutu, so I suspect I am missing a lot. But I love the way the panels are laid out in the first page, and all the diagonals on the last one.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! XD

[cicer.livejournal.com]

I am way too burnt out to give any constructive comments or pick out exactly what I found so lovely about this, so I'll just say, Wow, beautifully done. Very smooth, graceful lines. The shot of the academy is particularly exquisite.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D

[marith.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's gorgeous. I love your layouts, and the final leaping Rue.

[marith.livejournal.com]

(We are three episodes from the end of Princess Tutu. Our sadistic Master of Tuesday Night Anime will only allow us to watch either 1 or 2 episodes of a given show at a time. I may die of the suspense and the AUGH. Also the Fakir love.)

[chisotahn]

Eeeeeee! Awesome. I love that last page so much~

There is not enough Princess Tutu love in the world.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

And I agree. XD

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I just wish it were a little longer. Also I had no idea manga looked like that at high-quality. Rue in the last panel of page 2 looks very much like something drawn by Rumiko Takahashi.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D My wrist and my patience were willing to hold out jsut about this long and no longer. XD

Yeah, shrinking stuff down seriously tightens up the lines. My lines are also still not as good as they ought to be - I've got lots of little tails at the end of lines where I don't pick the stylus up cleanly, and I really need to be working at 1200ppi resolution instead of 300 ppi, which I did for this. But since my 1-gig stick of RAM went bad, I couldn't handle the slowdown on doing that high a resolution, plus this wasn't meant for print so it would hsve been overkill. :)

[oyceter]

That's so cool! I particularly love the close-up of Rue dancing in her tutu.

Doh. Now I want to write a drabble specifically so it can be illustrated.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (Can you guess the ballet? XD I don't expect anyone to, really)

If you do, I'll bookmark it with the others I've got bookmarked, in case I get in the mood to do another one. XD

[flyingpeachbun.livejournal.com]

Very nice :3 I also love the last page. It's all cool... the perspective of the school in the first looks good too.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[soranokumo.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! I wish I could give more constructive feedback that hasn't been given already, but I work better with words than drawings, myself.

So... I'll just keep it at beautiful.

And huzzah for octopedingenue!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! XD

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous!

(by the way, got my PBR a few days ago, and enjoyed it immensely)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! XD

(And: yay! XD)

[emtigereyes.livejournal.com]

You remind me of what I've been missing of late! I need to get around to doing some more fanarts! (starts digging for Princess Tutu sketches from a year ago).

As ever, your style and eye for composition astound me. I doubt I can do it justice with commentary, so I shall instead leave it with a bow of homage.

*dips into a low bow*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D

[serika-san.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is lovely ^_^ Very nice job with the manga structure, shading, general layout, and character likenesses! :D As a fellow artist, you have my envy. o_o Your art is absolutely beautiful.

So great to see more Tutu-lovin' out there!

[dusk-eyed.livejournal.com]

I really like the strong lines in this and of course the pretty feathers, and their expressions. Huzzah! Tutu does not get enough love, I think.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

THank you! :D