About how long does it take for an article to go through the submission process? A couple months ago, I submitted a location (Rimefire Glade) and it was up in about a week, but I submitted an article to the Creature Codex about a week and a half ago and it's not published yet. I know this sounds like a "what gives?" and I'm trying not to make it so. I am just curious if there's an actual expected delay or if things are kind of random.
More of a question than a bug
Thu, 2009-01-08 14:46
#1
More of a question than a bug
Tue, 2009-01-13 18:27
#3
Ah, all righty, thanks for
Ah, all righty, thanks for the heads-up 
Was just curious about how things worked behind the scenes.
Thu, 2009-02-12 15:47
#4
Clueless are you the sole
Clueless are you the sole editor? I'm sure we can drum up some volunteers - I'd take a go to lower your load as you do so much for the fanbase!
Mon, 2009-02-16 21:43
#5
Right now I'm the sole -
Right now I'm the sole - but I don't have as many articles coming in as I'd like actually. (The delay over the last few weeks was actually a technological one - I had to beat on a database to get something working again - and we have a new search system if you've not noticed. 
)
If you wanted to drum up support our biggest need right now is artists for the PSCS projects, followed by article writers or new ideas for getting content to the front page.
Tue, 2009-02-17 02:29
#6
Which PSCS projects need
Which PSCS projects need artists? I put in a post on the PSCS forum, but did not hear anything I figure you're busy so you didn't notice it, and I get a bit busy off and on, so I haven't pressed too hard, but if you need artwork, I'd like to see what openings are available.
Tue, 2009-02-17 14:58
#7
The RSS feed hasn't been
The RSS feed hasn't been updating properly (one of the other bugs I've smacked upon today) - so I actually completely missed your post. So... *cracks knuckles*
I'll get to it here - and be brutally honest.
What it boils down to is that the PSCS 3rd ed is ready to go live, final, and with a Lulu print link. At least in regards to the text.
We're missing artwork. There's a list of the art requests, I'm sure you've seen it. There are a few folks who've come and gone since we last got started on artwork, and a few artists that got ate by real life along the way (I'm still worried about one of them actually, as he's not gotten back to me at all.) So yeah, there's Lots and lots and lots of art that we could use for this. I was planning to put together a gallery set featuring our PSCS artists with link to Lulu printing, DA printing, and/or their own personal sites to encourage folks to go explore the rest of their works, but with no one answering their email or PMs of late...
I'll say this, while I don't want to sacrifice quality too much - at this point I would view our need more to fulfill the quantity than the quality. Which is to say, an artist willing to produce 1 fine detailed intricate full color masterwork over the next year... isn't nearly as valuable to me as the artist willing to do a looser sketchy work, lower detail though still quality that can get 12 of them out by the end of the month. (Compare Todd Lockwood to TonyD for detail/painting depth to see what I mean.) A single standout piece, while nice - isn't going to help us much if it's the only one we've got in the book.
I saw the Justianian pic - which is *very* much awesome. It's really pretty good for going into the PSCS, the only worry I would have (and using that one as an example) is the background framing, to try and get that to work well with text on a page may be tricky. So you'd just want to keep that in mind is all. You mentioned an Exalted element to your work in the other thread, and I can see it there, but it's mostly in the abstraction of your noses. ;)
I was curious if you work usually in digital or real media?
Tue, 2009-02-17 21:14
#8
Well, this sounds like fun!
Well, this sounds like fun! 
I have a few follow-up questions, but first I'll address your points!
1.) Looser art is something I can do in sketch but I'm not quite so good at for colors. At the moment, I don't have a version of Photoshop on my computer that's good for much more than simple editing. My upgrade to CS4 did not go so well... I could potentially get Painter but I prefer Adobe Illustrator for coloring. It requires more precision work, I think, but for what I do, Illustrator suits my needs perfectly.
That being said, looser, but decent-quality pencil sketches are something I'm better able to furnish. When I get back home tomorrow, I can post a few examples. I can color non-digitally and I usually use markers (sometimes colored pencils), but I don't like to for digitally-produced works because scanners have an obnoxious tendency to wash out the colors and I can't get them to look right again in Photoshop.
One other thing to note is that I can also do pretty simple flat color renders in Illustrator without taking much time. I'll give you more examples when I get home, but if you look at my character profile pictures in the other thread, the only parts of one of those individual figures that is time consuming are devising the image and doing the sketches.
2.) If I understand correctly, it's the background pane and the stripe that you are talking about? If that is the case, something like that could easily be removed from most of my art. The entire background image and stripe can be removed in just one click since it's on a different layer. As to whether Justinian himself is appropriate to be thrown in print, I could see it go either way so I defer to your judgment ;) But thank you!
The Exalted influence shows a lot more (to me) in some of my earlier recent-ish works. I've been trying to get back into it and stylize my anatomy and figures more but I'm having a hard time breaking away from more "realistic" proportions :/
3.) I usually sketch all my pictures on paper, then line and color them digitally in Illustrator. I haven't had many results with real ink that are satisfactory to me, so I just skirt the issue completely and go into digital. I have experience in both, but digital is my preferred medium.
And the questions!
1.) I notice the long list has a bunch of things that are "taken" or "done" or such. Are those still "taken" or "done" or whatever? I know some art has been done in the past but I don't know how up to date that list is, nor if you want newer pictures for anything.
I suppose the rest of my questions will come once I give you a wider portfolio to look at...But I will ask this: is the coloring style that I used for Justinian something you could see going into PSCS?
Fri, 2009-02-20 17:01
#9
My apologies for not
My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, this week has been chaotic to say the least. But it sounds like I've finalyl found someone with that combination of art + fan + ability to organize! *GLEE* And it's not even my birthday.
1) I can actually color pretty well and pretty quickly, esp if you have guidance for what colors you had in mind as you work. I currently work with an airbrushed style - in keeping with the sketchy work - which goes really well over the texture you get from pencils. I've been considering doing some texture treatments as well to give some depth to pieces, but haven't had a sketch yet handed to me that called for it.
So if you're looking to zip out real-media pencil sketches, but were hesitating over no color - problem solved.
2) Yep - the background panel and stripe were it. They're really nice in a standalone pic as they help balance and ground the character - but in a page where the character would be balanced by text they don't help much. I figured you kept them in layers, but I wanted to mention it as I've had a few pieces get handed to me before that didn't account for the surrounding text as part of the image. Luckliy I was able to find a place to put it as a between chapter fuill page image.
3) You and me both. If I'm going to use ink I'm going to get a brush and do a painting not line work. If you take me up on my offer to do the coloring, it may be better for me to get a cleaned version of the pencils to work with. That way I can calibrate the colors I use with the saturation of the pencil sketch so that there's not as much fighting to get the parts to look good when put together.
Answers! I shall attempt to have them!
I'm going to update the list over the weekend, hold my feet to the fire if that's not done by Monday. I'll also see if I can gather the existant images and get them up to a nice gallery for viewing.
Re: Justinian's coloring: Would be pretty good for the PSCS actually. You've got a good feel for when and where to break shadows, highlights, etc to convey the form. And I like the detail on the sword. The only thing I could see missing is some internal textures - mostly becuase you're doing flatter cell-style shading, and might seem particularly flat against some of the other pieces. It fits well with the inking style though - so it looks good regardless and I can't really say it's something I'd say no on. The only other thing I would be cautious of is your browns - the ones used for Justinian are really idealized browns, the kind you just don't see outside of a crayola box - but then again, the image itself is all *about* idealism and above-reality imagery. So it fits. If that was deliberate than teh awesome, if it wasn't - then still, it works!
And I actually *like* your more realistic porpotions - I wouldn't back away from them. They give a more weighted mature feel to your work. For the PSCS I'd definately use the more realistic forms - and for your webcomic, personally, I say stick with that more realistic edge. It really looks *good* and makes it stand apart from other comics out there. If you aren't under time considerations then I wouldn't use the abbreviated forms that manga/anime uses. That's just me, mind you, as the last time I entertained the idea of doing a webcomic - sumi and real media watercolor were pretty high on my consideration list.
Fri, 2009-02-20 21:15
#10
Here are the samples I
Here are the samples I promised before; Assorted pictures that show my sketchability.
First is a picture of Justinian without the background stripes.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/kaitou-kage/planescape%20comic/si...
Then some images of sketches
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/kaitou-kage/planescape%20comic/si... -- A Salamander http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/kaitou-kage/planescape%20comic/si... -- A molydeus http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/kaitou-kage/planetar.jpg -- Justinian's sketch http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/kaitou-kage/lovers.jpg -- A dancing couple http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/kaitou-kage/concept.jpg -- A bulezau
All the sketches except the dancing couple are concepts for my webcomic.
And now to go back to the other parts!
1&3.) If my sketches work for you, I'd be glad to work with you on colors Will save me a LOT of time and will let me get more art out in a shorter time. Not to say I'm going to foist all the coloring off -- I'm glad to color some pictures of my own here and there -- but a collaborative effort should make the art easier on both/all of us.
I do want to preface any work that I offer with this, though. I'm a grad student right now, so you probably know how insane things can get from time to time. The worst of it for me comes in May and December usually because that's when my major papers come due and I unfortunately have to really crack down on writing and make art a lesser priority. And I do have a couple of personal projects that I'll be working on concurrently, with the webcomic being top priority.
My biggest weakness right now is probably backgrounds and scenery :\ I've made some pretty big strides over the year in humans and humanlike figures and am getting some good work in on nonhuman creatures, but I've eschewed scenery for some reason and now I'm really paying for it.
On the List, if you have any sort of priority wishlist, could you put that on it, too? That way I know where to go first If there is no priority, I'll just jump in.
With colors, I do sometimes use texturing, but it's typically grabbing a photo texture off the internet and applying it judiciously. Sometimes it makes my pictures look a little lazy but I get lazy sometimes ;) With Justinian in particular, if I understand you right, a lot of the browns are actually attempts to shade gold-colored metal. Unfortunately, yellow is an obnoxiously hard color to shade and metal is even more obnoxious to color (or I just haven't gotten the hang of it yet, at least). If you mean the belts, I often pick specific colors instinctively. For example, "Well, Justinian's belt needs to be brown, so...this brown seems to work!" I've been told I have a good eye for color, but I just work with what my eyes tell me works best
And I will be glad to stick with the realistic proportions, then. It's proving hard to get out of the habit anyway, so if it works for you, it works for me! Also, if it's okay, can I pitch in some of my character art for the comic for the PSCS? I realize it's a little presumptuous to try and throw my own characters as "mascots" or something, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask, especially since I have a bunch done already that could possibly work.
Tue, 2009-02-24 21:05
#11
"I'm going to update the
"I'm going to update the list over the weekend, hold my feet to the fire if that's not done by Monday."
*cranks up the fireplace* Per your request, madam
Tue, 2009-03-03 22:55
#12
Updated!
Updated! /forum/artwork-thread-needs-and-desires#comment-20071
I went through all my old emails, archived files etc etc. I'll be also putting up new things into galleries on the site so folks know exactly what's in and what's not.
For example: /image-galleries/pscs-artwork-3035/chapter-2-p...
These are the pencil sketches I got from CByler to color in, so you can see some of what I'm used to working with here. Looking at your pencil sketches, they're a good base to start from. If we're going to go with my more soft-airbrush technique of coloring, you probably want to do a little more hatchwork for shading, just to help the linework hold it's weight some. (You can see what I mean with Byler's linework). Otherwise the sketches work well for solid cell-shading, I'll experiement a little to make sure I can do that style right for the pieces that go in that direction.
You're not the only one on a crazy schedule, so don't worry too much about that. I've got a few other artists I'm going to see if I can beg for some help from.
There's no specific priority ont he list, but you could probably assume that specifically named elements are probably higher ranked than "Misc landscapes" or the like.
And throwing in your own character art is great actually! I don't mind seening familar faces across scenes at all - it lends to the feeling that there is something of a coherant world and story going on here. That's why the regular DnD books have their iconic characters.
Well - Christmas vacation and holidays... your webmonkey was tired after all the scrambling to wrap banana's up for gift giving. ;) I'm planning to make it a regular occurance, probably each Friday or Saturday to process through the queue, so expect to see 'to be published on' dates on your stuff shortly.
I'm currently scheduling them at a rate of 1 to 2 a week, the more I get coming in then I'll bump that # per week up to reflect the increased flow of articles. Mostly I don't want to dump everything out all at once and then have a momentum killing dry spell.