Justin is all about duty. Rune is more of a realist.
Notice that, in addition to varying between medium shots and closeups, I vary the camera angle (such as in panel six) to add visual interest.
I omit backgrounds in some panels for the same reason, but I think I overdid it on this page and should have included the landscape in the middle row of panels.
Lots of talking on this page, but hey, look at the pretty horses! (They are Millenium Horse).
Rune and Justin are traveling light, with bedrolls and small saddlebags. They are, however, carrying all their favorite weapons. At their hips are swords from Valheigh. On their backs are swords from Tangene and their archery gear. It’s unrealistic that they would be riding with their bows strung, but they didn’t look “right” without the strings so I opted to leave them.
During initial design, I thought the extra weapons would be strapped to the horses, but I did some research and decided Rune and Justin would choose to keep the horse’s load balanced, which is easier on the horse.
They wear different outfits when they enter the castle, and there’s clearly no room for those clothes in their saddlebags. This is an example of a detail that might make it into a prose novel but which I thought was too minor to include in a comic format: they shipped most of their belongings from Tangene via a trusted courier, and it’s in secret storage in Valheigh, waiting for their arrival.
Page 5. Justin is lurking nearby to make sure Jalina doesn’t actually kill Rune – he’s sworn to protect him, after all. I love how his deadpanned line, “I’ll get the horses,” has so much unspoken “I told you so!”
Rune is painfully naive in this scene; he thinks if he loves her, of course she’ll love him.
I have to admit, Jalina (while an interesting character, in my opinion) is in this story to be the Rosaline to Rune’s Romeo. To setup for Arklomene’s curse, Rune needed to be in love already.
Notice how the camera switches between medium shots, close-ups, and extreme close-ups. This technique serves the same purpose as in film: it adds visual interest.
Page 4, Jalina’s tent. The shirtless guy hanging out with Jalina should give you the impression that Justin is probably right about her. Rune’s dialogue packs a lot of information into three sentences. We find out that Rune is royalty, that he’s the heir to the throne, that Jalina saved his life, and that he’s been hiding his identity. From Jalina’s reaction to his revelation, we expect things are not going to go well for him.
A note about pronunciation: Rune’s House is Beowald, pronounced \ˈbā-ə-ˌwȯld\ (derived from “Beowulf” and “wald,” the German word for forest). Valheigh is pronounced \val-ˈhī\ (derived from “high valley”).
Art notes… As with page one, I’m not happy with the background landscape because it’s featureless and doesn’t provide enough contrast for the characters. I also had a lot of difficulty with the lighting in panel two. Lighting is one of the most difficult aspects of 3D art, and the pwToon shader had its own challenges with respect to light sources in the scene.
Jalina is played by Amelia (morphs, textures, and hair) from the talented artist Adam Thwaites. I used the character set without any modifications because I thought Amelia was perfect for the part.
Page three. Justin knocks Rune’s sword out of his hand, knocking him off balance so much that he falls backward.
Unfortunately, this early in the comic, the reader probably can’t get the full implication of this action. Rune and Justin are master swordsmen, so much so that they’re using real blades while practicing.
Justin is teaching Rune a lesson – that his infatuation with Jalina is putting him in danger. If he wasn’t distracted and angry, Rune would have easily blocked Justin’s blow.
Justin’s prediction foreshadows Arklomene’s curse and ties in with his later comment about how he didn’t expect Jalina to be the one wielding the blade. I call these “stitches” – two disparate points in the story that reinforce each other, making the whole work cohesive. When writing, I will frequently think of small details to add in earlier to make a stitch. That’s why I need to write something completely before posting it in installments. I certainly rewrite and make changes as I go, but I need to know where the story is going to get a satisfying amount of setup and payoff to plots, themes, and characters.
A note about the art: I never found a technique that I liked for the motion lines. I drew them in Photoshop, trying various brushes and effects. I used them sparingly for that reason, but in the first panel I wanted to convey that the sword was sweeping in a very fast arc, and a motion line seemed the best way to do that.
Page two. I drop a few more questions in the reader’s mind: what can Rune do to prevent the war? Will Jalina return Rune’s affections, or is Justin right about her?
Rune emphasizes the word “brother” in a mocking way, clueing the reader in that they are not actually brothers (as far as they know at this point, anyway). As you can see in the prequel scene where they first meet Jalina, they are pretending to be brothers as they travel across the countryside incognito.
Some notes about the art… Rune and Justin use the same 3D model (Michael 4) and the same skin texture. It’s a common amateur mistake to use a single skin color for all the characters in a comic, but in this case it’s intentional because (as we learn later), Rune and Justin are half brothers. There’s one other character who has the same skin: their father.
When posing them, I used a combination of commercially packaged poses and hand-adjusted settings. I learned somewhere along the way that characters should have a “focus point” for their body language. (I think it was in the Paper Wings Podcast). I gave Rune and Justin different ones to help distinguish them visually. Rune’s focus point is his heart. A lot of his physical posture centers around his chest. Justin, on the other hand, has a focus point at his, er… let’s say hips, which you can see in panel two.
For fellow 3D artists who might be curious, Rune and Justin are wearing the Slicer outfit (with slight modifications). Rune’s hair is Rievel hair, which I selected because it has a fit for Millennium Kids and I knew I would be having a younger Rune in the book. Justin’s hair is Mon Chevalier hair. I used the M4 eyebrow node with trans maps that I drew myself. There was a bug in the model where the eyebrow wouldn’t follow the morphs correctly – luckily another DAZ user had developed a script that fixed it. On that note, I should say I owe a lot to the DAZ user community. They helped me learn the product, they answered questions, they suggested products that suited my needs, and they even (in some cases) made things for me (like the model for the signet ring that the Lords of Valheigh wear). I couldn’t have done this project without them.
I’m obsessive about details. It can be both a benefit and a curse.
When I’m reading fiction, nothing “pulls me out” of the story more than a detail that fails to make sense.
For example, I was recently reading a comic about a run-away princess. A commoner notes that her hands have never seen hard labor. Later, we find out that the princess is an accomplished harpist. Have you ever played a stringed instrument? She would not have soft, pampered hands if she was a harpist!
I understand that the storyteller just wanted the commoner to suspect that the woman was a princess. I also know, from experience, that it’s incredibly difficult to concoct a fantasy world where everything is internally consistent. But I did try my best!
Now that the Rune story is complete, I’m going to have a little fun with it. I’m going to go through the Rune graphic novel again and post commentary so I can talk about all the little details in each scene. Hopefully it will be like re-watching a DVD with the director commentary audio enabled. Feel free to ask questions or give feedback to help me see areas where I could have done something better!
Since the pages changed from their original webcomic run, I’ll be posting them again here on the blog.
Let’s get started!
Page one. The goal here was to introduce the characters of Justin and Rune. Notice how they address each other by name in panel two. People don’t usually do this in real life but it’s a necessary evil in writing.
I have Justin call Rune “little brother” because it instantly gets the reader to understand their relationship – Justin is protective of Rune, although we later find out the reasons are more complicated than actually being brothers.
We also setup a question in the reader’s mind: what truth is Rune going to reveal? And to whom? Why does Justin disapprove?
It’s not a great hook, but a first page needs something to get the reader curious enough to turn the page.
Art notes… I’m not happy with the background terrain in these panels. The original opening took place in an open field, but I wanted something a little more bleak. The rocky area ended up being too featureless, though. In retrospect, I should have commissioned a digital painter to do some landscapes for me. Live and learn!
If you have (or are willing to create) an account on the comic community site The Duck Webcomics (formerly known as Drunk Duck), please consider voting for “Rune: A Tale of Wizards and Kings” in this year’s Awards!
Please consider Rune for any or all of the following categories:
To vote, simply fill in this form. You do not need to vote in every category, but you do need an active account on The Duck.
Voting closes July 20, 2013!
Here’s the page I made for the “For Your Consideration” series, where the story arc was that the Awards needed to raise money or they were going to be cancelled:
May 4, 2013 is Free Comic Book Day - visit participating comic shops and show comics some love!
You can also celebrate FCBD by downloading the complete graphic novel Rune: A Tale of Wizards and Kings and sharing it with a friend!
Swords! Magic! Love! Revenge! Download the free PDF today!
Announcement
To celebrate my upcoming birthday, I’m hosting a one-day-only Q&A group on Goodreads. Please ask me something!
Rune: A Tale of Wizards and Kings has been complete for over a month now, and I thought it would be fun to round up my favorite pieces of feedback from readers.
First, though, I want to say that every comment from a reader is a treasure. My thanks to every one of you who let me know you enjoyed the story.
Here are a collection of my favs in no particular order:
Printed copies of the complete Rune: A Tale of Wizards and Kings are now available for purchase!
The deluxe edition uses rich, glossy color and contains bonus content including the short story The Hidden Academy of Tangene.
Purchase the deluxe edition at IndyPlanet, home of the greatest selection of independent comics!
For those preferring a different purchasing option, the standard edition is available at Amazon and its European websites. The standard edition uses Amazon’s print-on-demand service.
Using 3D models with desktop rendering software opens up many possibilities to comic creators.
You could use them as references when drawing, like having a live model who can assume a pose and hold it indefinitely.
You can render the image and then either use it directly or do “post-work” effects to simulate drawing or painting.
Or you can use my preferred method, which is to use a toon “shader.” Basically, this means that the software that makes the image from the 3D models adds the lines and shading. I like this better than post-work because image filters have to guess where the edges of objects are, whereas the 3D render engine actually knows where the object boundaries are in the image.
Getting started with 3D art is very easy. I recommend DAZ Studio software (which is currently free) but there are plenty of other products, with varying feature sets.
The basic process consists of three steps:
Load a Model into a Scene
Pose the Model
Render the Scene
Once you’ve mastered the basics, the possibilities are boundless. You can add more models, including clothes, furniture, backgrounds, etc. You can experiment with camera angles and lighting. And, most importantly, you can have fun!
Book recommendation: Figures, Characters and Avatars: The Official Guide to Using DAZ Studio to Create Beautiful Art
The Duck (formerly known as Drunk Duck) has selected Rune: A Tale of Wizards and Kings as a Featured Comic!
I am honored by this recognition and excited that new readers are discovering Rune!
I made this picture of Mizha from LeyLines, for the recent fan art contest over there. Robin generously decided to give prizes to ALL the entries, so I kinda won!
Mizha can conjure up physical manifestations of her fantasies, a power I would surely abuse. If you’re not already following LeyLines, you should check it out! The story is intriguing and the art is wonderful.
