Digital comics

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Digital comics are comics created directly on a computer, as opposed to comics that are drawn with conventional media, scanned and colored on a computer.

There are several methods of digital comics creation. One is the use of a pressure sensitive graphics tablet and a computer graphics program. Panels are drawn using the pressure sensitive stylus, handled in much the same way as a pencil or pen, but the lines are drawn in the image editing software, producing a digital file.

Other approaches include drawing in vector graphics applications, with or without a tablet, allowing for the manipulation and revision of lines after they are drawn, and the use of 3-D computer graphics applications to create characters and backgrounds. Some digital comics include various combinations of these techniques.

Contents

[edit] History

The first digital comic was Shatter, written by Peter Gillis and illustrated on the computer by Mike Saenz. Shatter appeared simultaneously as a one-shot special and as a backup feature in First Comics' Jon Sable title in 1985. It was published in its own 14 issue series from 1985-1986. Shatter was serialised in the British computer magazine Big K from the March 1985 issue.

Shatter was initially drawn on a first-generation Mac using a mouse and printed on a dot-matrix printer. It was then photographed like a piece of traditionally drawn black and white comic art, and the color separations were applied in the traditional manner.

Shatter artist Mike Saenz went on to create Iron Man: Crash, the first digital graphic novel in 1988.

Batman: Digital Justice was published by DC Comics in 1990, and introduced a more sophisticated blend of computer graphics techniques.

The Black Diamond Effect was created and started publishing by George Peter Gatsis in 1990, incorporating all the 3-D rendering and 2-D techniques of that time to mimic an animation still.

Mike Saenz and Norm Dwyer created Donna Matrix, the first digital graphic novel utilizing 3-D rendering, in 1993.

Other comics began to appear, both on CD-ROM and in printed form, that utilized computer graphics to manipulate or add to traditionally drawn comic art, and more all-digital comics were published as improvements in software and computing power made this art form more practical.

[edit] See also

CDisplay RAR Archived Comic Book File for a digital media format used view archived comics.

[edit] Chronology

  • March, 1985: the first episode of Shatter, written by Peter Gillis, illustrated by Mike Saenz and edited by Mike Gold, appears as a double-page spread in the British computer magazine Big K published by IPC Magazines (now IPC Media).
  • June, 1985: Shatter, written by Peter Gillis and illustrated by Mike Saenz, appears as a backup feature in Jon Sable: Freelance #25, and Shatter Special #1, published by First Comics.
  • December, 1985-1986: Shatter continues as a 14 issue series by First Comics. Mike Saenz leaves after 2 issues. Other artists include Steve Erwin and Bob Dienethal who drew traditional art on board that was digitized, and Charlie Athanas who re-established the practice of creating the comic directly on the computer.
  • 1988: Iron Man: Crash, the first digital graphic novel is published by Marvel Comics. Drawn by Mike Saenz.
  • 1990: DC Comics publishes Batman: Digital Justice. Artist and writer Pepe Moreno uses a combination of 3-D modeling, vector illustration and CAD programs in addition to image editing software like Photoshop, using a Mac II with 16-bit color.
  • 1990: The Black Diamond Effect started publishing by George Peter Gatsis. The comic was generated using 3D and enhanced art by scanning and painting, using all the various graphic formats of that time, composed in a layout program.
  • 1991: Sandman #19: "A Midsummer Night's Dream," is the first and only comic to win a World Fantasy Award. It was colored using an early version of PhotoShop to create a progressive sunset and night in the colors of comic.
  • 1991: Victor Vector & Yondo by Ken Steacy is published as a CD-ROM comic by Sanctuary Woods Multimedia. Although this is not a digital comic, it features an early use of digital special effects (Photoshop twirl filters) applied to traditional comic art. It was published as a print comic in 1994 by Fractal Comics Group.
  • 1992: DC Comics publishes The Hacker Files written by Lewis Shiner and illustrated by Tom Sutton and Mark Buckingham, the last two issues of which incorporate digitally created art.
  • 1993-1994: Dark Horse Comics publishes Version, an English language printing of the traditionally-drawn manga by Hisashi Sakaguchi, with all-digital (3-D CGI) cover art by Jack Harris.
  • August 1993: Mike Saenz creates Donna Matrix, computer generated graphic novel with 3-D graphics, published by Reactor Press. This is the first 3-D CGI graphic novel.
  • June, 1995: Argon Zark!, a digitally created Web comic, appears on the Web, drawn by writer/artist Charley Parker with a graphics tablet in Painter and Photoshop.
  • 1995: Sinkha, a multimedia graphic novel featuring sophisticated 3-D rendering is created by science fiction artist Marco Patrito and published on CD-ROM by Mohave.
  • Fall 1996: Sinkha is published as a comics story in the Heavy Metal Fall 1996 Special.
  • 1998: The Black Diamond Effect-Syntax E.R.R.O.R. by George Peter Gatsis continued the story, with much better graphics, but still using the same techniques from 1990.
  • 2001: The Spiders by Patrick S. Farley for his website, Electric Sheep Comix. The webcomic traces an alternate history of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, where Al Gore is President of the United States, and ordinary civilians can view the war through web cams carried by roving robotic "spiders" dispersed into Afghanistan by the U.S. Army.

[edit] Other digital and hybrid (digital/traditional media) comics of note

  • Eye of the Storm by Jon Knowles, Shane Caudle, Randall Ryan and Brian Sellers (December, 1994). Hybrid: painted characters with 3-D backgrounds, digital effects. Rival Productions
  • Mr. Punch, by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean (September, 1995). Hybrid: mixed media, digitally manipulated. DC Comics
  • Neuro Jack, James Chambers and Erika Taguchi (1996), All-digital. Big Entertainment
  • Astounding Space Thrills, by Steve Conley, (1997). Hybrid: inked in Adobe Illustrator. Image Comics / Web comic
  • Blue Loco, by Mark Landman (1997). All-digital. Kitchen Sink Press
  • The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln, by Scott McCloud (1998). Hybrid: penciled on paper, "inked" in Photoshop with 3-D backgrounds. Homage Comics
  • The Dome: Ground Zero, by Dave Gibbons & Angus McKie (1998). All-digital. DC Comics
  • When I am King, by demian.5. All-digital Web comic
  • Delta Thrives, by Patrick Farley, (2002). All-digital Web comic
  • Return of the Green Skull, by Joe Zabel. All-digital Web comic, part of moderncomics.com
  • Cass Corridor, by The Hungry Ghost. All-digital Web comic
  • Hulk: "Lonely Man", by The Hungry Ghost. All-digital Web comic
  • "ARComics.com" Hybrid: mixed media. ARComics.

[edit] Sources

[edit] Books

  • Moreno, Pepe & Gold, Mike (Introduction) (1990). Batman: Digital Justice, DC Comics
  • Parker, Charley (1997). Argon Zark!, Arclight Publishing
  • McCloud, Scott (2000) Reinventing Comics, pp. 140, 165, Paradox Press
  • Withrow, Stephen (2003). Toon Art: The art of Digital Cartooning, pp. 12-21, 45, 118-119, 170-171, 174-175, 184-187, Watson-Guptill

[edit] Periodicals

  • Gillis, Peter & Saenz, Mike (June-November 1985). "Shatter", Jon Sable: Freelance, issues #25-30, First Comics
  • Gillis, Peter & Saenz, Mike (June 1985). Shatter Special, First Comics
  • Saenz, Mike & Dwyer, Norm (August 1993) Donna Martix 1, Reactor Inc.
  • Patrito, Marco (Fall, 1996). "Sinkha", Heavy Metal Special
  • Landman, Mark (1997). Blue Loco, Kitchen Sink Press
  • Gatsis, George Peter (1991-1992, 1998). The Black Diamond Effect, The Black Diamond Effect Inc.

[edit] Web Sites