Asonixic
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Blessed Shapeshifter
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- Posted: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:02:10 +0000
Depending on how fantastical/adventure-y the elements in your story are, I prefer the right side actually. Many people have had good arguments for the cartoony style and I agree with them; however, if you have a fantasy story there are some high points to making the style more realistic.
Stories with more realistic, "fully developed" (if you want to call it that) worlds and characters allow for the reader to "live the scene" with greater ease. The world as you see it/create it will surround them and they will be able to fully envision themselves running alongside the characters, becoming fully involved in their lives and activities. A higher level of detail will allow them to envision everything that you, too, envision - just the way you envision it. There are some high points to that, especially if your fantastical elements are very different from fantastical elements already seen (like, you're creating a whole new planet or whole new civilization)
Of course, if you want to have leeway and allow the readers to paint their own decisions/experiences into your characters and see pieces of themselves within the characters you create, the more cartoony style offers a slightly more blank (blanker?) canvas in which they can do that. You can still cocoon them in your world as long as you make the world more realistic - the characters can stay cartoony and readers won't really notice the difference. You can see examples of that in Jeff Smith's Bone and Scott McCloud covers it in one of his numerous works, Making Comics. If you're interested in that approach, I highly recommend you look both those works up.
In the end, it's really up to not only the story but the way you're going to tell the story. Are you looking to make it more of a novelistic framework? As I said before, you could stick with a more cartoony style and allow the readers to fill in the details (hair color, skin tone, textures, etc) themselves. If you're looking to make it a more cinematographic adventure, then you'll have to add details to give the readers an overall experience.
Either way you have two beautifully rendered and easily "read" styles and either one should suit your needs! Best of luck and I hope I didn't confuse matters with my advice~!
PS. I love working with Manga Studio which is cheaper and more geared to making comics. Look into it and it may be what you're looking for!
Stories with more realistic, "fully developed" (if you want to call it that) worlds and characters allow for the reader to "live the scene" with greater ease. The world as you see it/create it will surround them and they will be able to fully envision themselves running alongside the characters, becoming fully involved in their lives and activities. A higher level of detail will allow them to envision everything that you, too, envision - just the way you envision it. There are some high points to that, especially if your fantastical elements are very different from fantastical elements already seen (like, you're creating a whole new planet or whole new civilization)
Of course, if you want to have leeway and allow the readers to paint their own decisions/experiences into your characters and see pieces of themselves within the characters you create, the more cartoony style offers a slightly more blank (blanker?) canvas in which they can do that. You can still cocoon them in your world as long as you make the world more realistic - the characters can stay cartoony and readers won't really notice the difference. You can see examples of that in Jeff Smith's Bone and Scott McCloud covers it in one of his numerous works, Making Comics. If you're interested in that approach, I highly recommend you look both those works up.
In the end, it's really up to not only the story but the way you're going to tell the story. Are you looking to make it more of a novelistic framework? As I said before, you could stick with a more cartoony style and allow the readers to fill in the details (hair color, skin tone, textures, etc) themselves. If you're looking to make it a more cinematographic adventure, then you'll have to add details to give the readers an overall experience.
Either way you have two beautifully rendered and easily "read" styles and either one should suit your needs! Best of luck and I hope I didn't confuse matters with my advice~!
PS. I love working with Manga Studio which is cheaper and more geared to making comics. Look into it and it may be what you're looking for!