Here’s how I set up my master reference folder in Manga Studio and I think it one-ups Photoshop

Put everything right at your fingertips.

In Manga Studio go to the Window menu and display Materials (F6). In the materials palette click on the Show Context Menu button and select “Browse External Folder…” from near the bottom of the list. In the Material Folder Settings window click Add and then browse to the location of your master reference folder. Click OK to finish.

Now you see your master reference folder listed under the “External Browse” area of the palette. You can now browse through all of its sub-folders and preview images without leaving Manga Studio. When you find an image you want to use, just drag it to the page.

Like a lot of these specialized books it doesn’t focus on technique if making art, but the process behind the art. The concepts that are emphasized are organization, automation and making use of the nature of digital images to give you more time to make great art.

The book focuses on Photoshop because that is what the author Freddie E. Williams II is familiar with and uses for his art. He has some tools on his Web site and also sells master page templates there. I’m going to be working in Manga Studio so I’ve started spending time thinking about how to apply his techniques in that program.

Most of it is easy to convert. In fact Manga Studio does a lot of organizing by default. The layers palette is divided into: image, selection, ruler, guide, and page. If you convert your panel ruler into layers, they’re automatically put into neatly named folders.

Other things are going to take a little more tinkering. I think Character Materials can fill the role of a stat library. The use of Photoshop paths for “chest symbols” is the technique that seems the hardest to translate. You can create a path based ruler in Manga Studio, but rulers can’t be distorted. You can distort any image you make after drawing with the ruler. The other option I think might work is saving the symbols as selection layers. Those can be distorted and then stroked or filled.

The High-Altitude Windak Pressure Suits in action.

Take for instance the space suits in “The Wheel in Space“. When I saw these suits come on screen I was rather surprised. The suits they used were High-Altitude Windak Pressure Suits. Since it’s an actual working pressure suit, I have to say it’s a pretty convincing costuming choice. These suits also appeared in The First Men in the Moon and eventually found there way into Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.

It’s this philosophy of using real world items that can add a layer of believability to stories like Doctor Who and Star Wars. The Doctor Who costumes look like working space suits. The Star Trek costumes from the same period look dated and require a lot more suspension of disbelief.

That sums up my comic in one brief sentence. Let’s break it down and look at it in more detail.

Verdant Spiral …

The title of the comic. It refers to the idea of a galaxy (the spiral) that is green as in full of life (verdant). It refers to the idea that in the distant future, humanity and other alien life has spread throughout the Milky Way so that every corner is teeming with life. This image is inspired by the book The Millennial Project.

… is a comic …

The medium for my story is comics. Sometimes referred to as sequential narrative.

… about the adventures of …

It is primarily an action/adventure story. I’m choosing to focus on this framework in order to grab the widest audience. When I look at the inspirations behind Verdant Spiral they always began as an adventure-focused series. They could explore other things like drama, romance, comedy, philosophy, but the core of series like Star Trek, Flash Gordon and Doctor Who was adventure.

… a man from the 20th century …

Noan Rand is one of the two main characters. He’s the “Captain Kirk” in this pitch. He is the viewpoint character for the audience. He is analytical and his response to any situation is to think his way out.

… and a warrior princess from a parallel universe …

Kyrin Adara is the second main character. She’s the “Mr. Spock” if you will. She’s a sword-wielding, empress in exile. She’s a táltos – a genetically-engineered, extraterrestrial human. In contrast to Noan, her response to any situation is always physical.

… and a crew of misfits …

The supporting cast is filled with a bizarre assortment of characters that have joined them along the way. Many, like Morrigan, are sidhe – a genetically-engineered race of clones intended to colonize planets. There’s a Mi-Go doctor, and the disembodied brain of a former space fighter pilot.

… exploring the Milky Way …

The story is set in our galaxy, but in the distant future. Setting it at an unspecified point in the future is more forgiving. Humanity’s expansion through the universe wasn’t steady. The setting is filled with an eclectic mixture of technology and cultures. If the people on another planet look human, then they probably are. If a piece of technology seems too primitive, there’s probably a reason for that.

… in their stolen starship.

The Bellerophon is that starship. It’s familiar home base for the characters and the readers. It’s stolen. They’re not on an official mission. They’re not part of a star fleet. They’re adventuring on their own because they have a need to discover what’s out there.

http://www.pauljholden.com/blog/2010/08/27/manga-studio-kirby-crackle/

First download the 346 Color Chart from www.copicmarker.com/resources. Open the pdf in an image editing program and save it as an image file that is readable by Manga Studio.

Next, open Manga Studio and create a new page. Import your color chart image. Make sure the entire image is visible.

Create a new color set

With the Color palette open, click the “Show Menu” button and then select the “Edit Color Set…” item. This opens a window with a list of color sets and actions you can perform. Click the button for New Color Set. Name the new color set anything you like. I named mine “Quick COPIC Set”. When you click OK you should find your Color palette is now showing the set you just created which at this point should be empty.

Make sure Auto Load Eyedropper Color is checked

Click the Show Menu button again and make sure that “Auto Load Eyedropper Color” is checked. With this checked, select your eyedropper tool and start click on each color shown in the chart. As you click on colors they’ll be added to your color set. Once you’ve clicked on all the colors, open the context menu and uncheck Auto Load Eyedropper Color. Once you’ve done that you should have a color set that gives you instant access to all of Copic’s standard colors. It should look something like this:

Look at all those pretty colors.

Now this probably isn’t the most accurate way to add the Copic colors to Manga Studio. Please don’t try to do any corporate identity or other work where color accuracy is paramount. This is just the fastest way to get the colors into the program. If you’d like a more accurate set you can enter the colors into the the set using numerically. That’s going to take a lot of patience though. You can find Photoshop swatch libraries on Copic’s sites. You can use these to get RGB values for selecting each color in Manga Studio.

• Adobe Color Swatch File from copicmarker.com
• RGB Color Equivalents from too.com
• RGB Color Chart from Inkyheart blog

Verdant Spiral is Flash Gordon meets The X-Files.
Want to know why?

Here’s what that means and why I chose those touchstones.

Flash Gordon
Why not Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars or Buck Rogers? Why not just generically space opera? First of all, Flash Gordon, unlike the others, was a comic first. It didn’t start as a book, or a movie, or on TV. Verdant Spiral is also starting out as a comic. One of my goals is to create a space opera comic that doesn’t rely on an existing license for its fanbase.

Flash Gordon immediately evokes science fiction, space opera, and maybe something that’s a little retro.

The X-Files
Just as Flash Gordon is synonymous with science fiction, The X-Files represents conspiracy. “Conspiracy” itself is just a shorthand for saying that Verdant Spiral is inspired by theories about ancient astronauts, the Bermuda triangle, faces on Mars, reptilian shape-shifters, greys, Nordic aliens, Bigfoot – anything that might fire my imagination.

That’s Verdant Spiral in two seconds.

The book focuses on everything except the creation process. Originally published as a four-part series, the book collects all four parts and adds new material. Chapters cover infrastructure,  contracts, marketing, distribution, conventions, and finally pitching your comic to Hollywood. In the middle there’s a sample contract and the back contains an appendix of sample paperwork – invoices, purchase orders, printer quotes.

While it’s a quick read, the book still made me think, and is the kind of thing that deserves to be read again and again.

If you’re interested in other books on self-publishing here’s my round-up:

• How to Self-Publish Your Own Comic Book (1997, ISBN 0823024555)
• How to Publish Comics by Gary Brodsky (1987, Comic – Solson Publications)
• How to Draw and Publish Your Own Comic Book (1992, ISBN 9992823054)
• Cerebus Guide To Self Publishing (1997, 2010, ISBN 0919359264)

I don’t have any of these (yet) so I can’t vouch for how good or bad they may be.

There was also an updated version of Blaylock’s book solicited in April 2010, but I’m not sure if it was ever produced. If it wasn’t, that’s too bad because the update sounded great. Maybe they could release it for the iPad?

Third Person - Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives

Recently I’ve been reading articles in an interesting book that brings together an eclectic mix of media under the umbrella of exploring how massive stories are both created and experienced. The book is Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives edited by Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. So far I’ve read articles on such diverse topics as Doctor Who, H.P. Lovecraft and superhero comics.

One article focused on three techniques used by the modern Doctor Who to develop a vast narrative that pleases fans without alienating new or casual viewers. Another article analyzed exactly how Lovecraft’s works can be read as a single mythology. The most recent article I read was an interview discussing multiplicity in superhero comics. Multiplicity in this case refers to the opposite of continuity. It encompasses all the imaginary stories, elseworlds, what-ifs and ultimate universes. That’s just the tip of the iceberg in this book. It also features academic writing on Henry Darger, Spore, World of Warcraft, and even more Doctor Who.

I got a surprise package today. A early birthday present arrived. The package contained The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. The book is an step-by-step analysis of how the archetypes of the hero’s journey are applied to creating stories. One thing that distinguishes it from  the classic Hero with a Thousand Faces is that it uses modern examples like the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars to illustrate its points instead of ancient mythology. It also seems to be more focused on how to apply the concepts to your own work rather than just analyzing existing myths.