Zatswan: Multiversal Guardian

[Neil Allen]

Zatswan continues:



Wesbite:
http://zatswan.com

[Neil Allen]

Originally Posted by griffin

Very cool that you reworked you page. New version looks better. I'm liking what you cooking up so far. Where are you finding most of your readers?

Are you getting feedback from anyone?
That new character reminds me of an X-Men sentinel.
You create some powerful figures.
Well done.

Thank you. About the questions...

Where do I get most of my readers?
I run another website that is about something very similar to this, which gets traffic. I direct visitors of that site to my Zatswan website. I also post on comic book forums and have developed some rapport on some of them. Posts on forums or social networks that have userbases that you believe will be interested in your content can go a loooong way. I have actually gotten rather successful websites off the ground just doing that. That said, I think it is most worthwhile to post on ones that are large in membership and have strong activity.

I also make Youtube videos about comic books and comic book related things, and I'm rather shameless about plugging my Zatswan project, as I should be.

Twitter is another source of traffic. Every time someone follows me, I have an automated system set up that shoots them a direct message inviting them to take a look at my comic. I send out update tweets whenever a new page is ready and use (I think) good hashtags to find new readers.

I also follow other people on Twitter who make web comics and interact with them. They aren't hard to find using the #ComicBookHour and #WebComicChat hashtags, among others. Those are communities that have weekly Twitter chats and I take part in those, usually. They're fun... sometimes. It depends on the topics they talk about. Oftentimes they're about interesting things that yield very good information. I've found the discussions most interesting when subjects like promotion, how best to monetize your comic, and preparing your comic for print are discussed. Other times the topics are just lame, or just about common sense stuff. The Twitter groups get pretty strong activity. Especially ComicBookHour.

I will invest money into advertising when I have more content. I will likely start with ads using Project Wonderful.

Are you getting feedback from anyone?
Not often. Why? I dunno'. Probably best to ask the people who don't give me feedback. They're all around us. I do not find this discouraging, though, because I'm passionate about my project and my passion doesn't really hinge on feedback from some other people. And in the long run, I'm pretty confident about my project. I think it will succeed in appealing to the people I'm aiming it at.

Besides, at this point, I'm not expecting anyone to be a super fan of my project. There simply isn't enough content for it yet. I'm aware that it takes time and content for people to invest in the characters and the story. Maybe if I was doing simple gag comics, I would have enough content by now, but for this type of comic, I don't think there is. I believe the best I can do at this point is intrigue people. If I can do that much, I will count it as a victory. As the story unfolds, I believe more people will become invested if I play my cards right. This is why I don't bother investing money into ads right now. When I spend money advertising, I want readers to have more content to dive into. Finding readers isn't really my prime directive at this point. I'm mainly focused on building content.

[griffin]

Well, I'm not going to interrupt your showcase thread with a bunch of questions.
But I've always felt, places like this and others are where the creators are. And creatives don't really have a lot to say. Either you're working on your content/material or you are really relaxing.

And readers seem to be scattered.
I know for me, I'm mostly concerned with my own stuff, but I do click through this thread to see what you are up to. Your series is steadily maturing.

[Neil Allen]

Originally Posted by griffin

Well, I'm not going to interrupt your showcase thread with a bunch of questions.

Oh, I don't mind. Ultimately, I think we're here to help and engage with other creators.

But I've always felt, places like this and others are where the creators are. And creatives don't really have a lot to say. Either you're working on your content/material or you are really relaxing.

I think it depends on the community. This particular one, in my opinion, is not especially outgoing. Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's been my experience from what I've seen. Activity breeds activity. I think if more people offered (beneficial and non-assholey) feedback, then others would be encouraged to offer feedback. For example, I admit that lately I don't have much to say to people here. However, if more people offered me thoughts on my own work, I'm almost sure that I would offer thoughts on other people's work more often and participate in the community more. I mean, for one thing, I'd have more of a reason to be around here more often. When no one is saying anything on an artist forum, then potential members would probably think, "what's the point of even posting there."

I think we should remember that if people aren't offering us any feedback, that's not our fault, so it's nothing that we should be discouraged by. It's likely to do with where we are posting our work, and that's something for the forum administrators to deal with in making their community more active and welcoming. Not our problem.

And readers seem to be scattered.

I think the best thing to do is think about what your comic is about, think about what other franchises it might be like, think about who might enjoy something like your comic, think about who you're trying to reach with your comic, and then go to wherever those people are at, and engage in communities where they are. I think that's the best free way to go about finding readers.

For example, the other site that I have is about the John Stewart Green Lantern character from DC Comics, and it gets traffic. So, when we consider that character, he is a black dude with some cosmic powers. Well, that's exactly what I have in my Zatswan comic, so the traffic I direct from my Green Lantern site to my Zatswan site is extremely targeted. I already have an audience that I think will enjoy Zatswan, so I just point them to my comic. Some of that audience reads my comic, and it's my hope that once they become invested enough in it as the series unfolds, they will enjoy it enough and care enough about it to tell other people they think may be interested, and then things go from there.

I know for me, I'm mostly concerned with my own stuff, but I do click through this thread to see what you are up to. Your series is steadily maturing.

Thanks a lot for that. I appreciate it!

[davidj28]

Just read through this and my first impressions are the colors are amazing, the backgrounds remind me of Kirby and it reminds me of Power rangers, Transformers and several other series from when I was a kid so great for nostalgia.

[Neil Allen]

I finished another redone page from chapter one. These two pages work in direct sequence. The page that has been most recently redone is the second. I will continue redoing chapter one pages while working on new pages. I've found it doesn't slow me down.





I don't often say much about the artwork I do, so I'll give it a shot. The second page (the new one) gave me the opportunity to use my C'aran Dache Musuem Aquarelle watercolor pencils, which I recently bought. From what I saw in video reviews, they are the best watercolor pencil on the market. I recently bought some and I can say that I agree with that. I'm familiar with the top brands (with watercolor pencil work, I have been using Derwent Watercolor pencils and Faber-Castell Albrecht D'urer most often), and the Museum Aquarelle is the best.

The first page shown here was done largely with Derwent Watercolor Pencils for the characters and Crayola Supertip water soluble markers for some of the backgrounds, and while nice, those tools aren't as good for me. Nothing really compares to the Museum Aquarelle. So, it was fun playing with these tools and seeing how they perform for myself.

I have some Holbein Artist Colored Pencils coming from Japan, which are also relatively very expensive, and said to be really good. I am excited to see how they perform. I've been curious about trying them for some time.

Many of the stars in the second picture were done with Sakura Moonlight Gellyroll pens, which are trusty tools of mine I use often. I prefer the sparkly Stardust Gellyrolls myself, but their sparkly effect doesn't pick up well in a scan. The Moonlight Gellyrolls excel at working against dark backgrounds.

The lines were done mainly with a dip pen and Higgins Black Magic ink. I used to use technical drawing pens more often, but I've found that recently I don't like them as much for numerous reasons. One example is if you need to color over pigment to strengthen your lines in case your pigment faded some of them, the technical drawing pens don't work well AT ALL for that, and you can even damage the nib of your pen.

The second page is battle against Final Boss. DON'T GIVE UP!!!


Website:
http://zatswan.com

[Neil Allen]

Originally Posted by davidj28

Just read through this and my first impressions are the colors are amazing, the backgrounds remind me of Kirby and it reminds me of Power rangers, Transformers and several other series from when I was a kid so great for nostalgia.

Thank you. That's actually one of the best compliments I've gotten about this project, because that's exactly what I've been going for! It really says something to me when someone is nostalgic for something that didn't even exist during the era they are nostalgic for.

I want the project to have the fun feel of kids action programs from the '80s and '90s, but with more depth, and intelligent storytelling than most, because I also want adults to enjoy the project, especially those who grew up with 80s and 90s cartoons.

Power Rangers is definitely a huge inspiration here, and I hear the Jack Kirby comparison often, so I guess his influence comes through pretty clearly in my work. I'm honored to be compared to him. I also hear Sailor Moon, and that is an inspiration, too. Some of the backgrounds in the original Sailor Moon anime are AMAAAAAAAAAZING watercolor pieces, and I often look to them for inspiration:







I mean, I could just post these all day long, they're so pretty.

I'm really glad you like my coloring. I put a lot of care and thought into it, and it's a very fun and important part of the process for me. I think the coloring lends strongly toward giving this series a distinct identity.

Thanks a lot for reading and commenting. I'm very happy you're enjoying the project!

[Neil Allen]

The latest page of Zatswan: Multiversal Guardian.

To make an end to battle...


I got to use my new Holbein Artist Colored Pencils on this page, and I really love them!

Website:
http://zatswan.com/

[Neil Allen]

A new page of Zatswan: Multiversal Guardian, and a critical moment of this ongoing saga.



Website:
http://zatswan.com/

[Neil Allen]

Zatswan: Multiversal Guardian continues...



Website:
http://zatswan.com/

[Neil Allen]

Now back to Zatswan: Multiversal Guardian!



Website:
http://zatswan.com/

[Neil Allen]

Zatswan, The Stardust Defender finds himself in a precarious, but is surprised by what he sees:



End Chapter 2.

Website:
http://zatswan.com/

[Neil Allen]

I've revisited some pages from chapter 1 and redid them.

First, the cover image. I actually did not redraw this. I didn't feel the need to. Rather, I just changed a couple things and added some details in the line work and coloring. The changes aren't major, but they make a difference. This piece was primarily colored with Winsor and Newton Pro Markers and Prismacolor markers and lined with Micron technical pens and Pigma Professional Brush Pens. The "Zatswan" logo was done by me in Adobe Illustrator... though, I did sketch it out on a piece of paper first.

Here is the new one:


For comparison, here is what it used to look like:


Moving on, the first page of Chapter 1 was entirely redone. The new one was lined with a dip pen and Higgins Black Magic ink, and Steadtler Triplus Fineliners for colored lines. It was colored primarily with C'Aran Dache Museum Aquarelle watercolor pencils. So, those are some of the tools I use often these days.



For comparison, the first page used to look like this:



I redid page 17 of chapter 1 as well. Chapter 1 of Multiversal Guardian was extremely experimental in that I didn't know what medium I wanted to use, what paper I wanted to work on, how I wanted to display things like energy, and even how to portray some of the characters. I figured all that stuff out just by doing it instead of deliberating on all of that beforehand, and it's still like that, really. I'm still trying new things, like papers and supplies, but I have a better idea on how I want my characters to look. For example, I decided that I drew the main character, A.C. Cooper, too small in chapter 1, so in chapter 2 he was bulked up quite a bit, which is how I draw him now. I felt that was a more... exciting, aesthetic look for something like this. You can really see the comparison in these pages.

New version:


Old version:


Also, here are larger versions of the "Zatswan: Multiversal Guardian" logo that I never posted here:





I will continue to go back and redo pages from Chapter 1 when I feel like it, but that certainly doesn't mean Chapter 3 pages won't be posted soon.

[Neil Allen]

Chapter 3 of Zatswan: Multiversal Guardian begins!



Website:
http://zatswan.com/

[Neil Allen]

Oh my god! The latest page of Zatswan: Multiversal Guardian...



Website:
http://zatswan.com