Monday, December 16, 2013

Last post of 2013!

I am working out everything about the upcoming Medusa publication. As I have previously said it will be available through Amazon and Lightning Source (for extended distribution). I am signing off until next year where I would have loads of great news! 

I will be returning on January the 19th!


See you next year!

Panos.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

The last pages

I am still working on the last pages. I am a little lost on how some things should be visually. This is the finale and I feel it should be special. There are certain panels that changed completely and also the grey toning needs to be redone from scratch. Just hang in a little longer as I will be starting the lettering process soon after.I hope you are good!

Take care!

Panos.
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Sunday, December 1, 2013

Publishing and trim sizes

Last week I referred that I am looking into the print on demand services available. I have come to the conclusion that I will use both Createspace (CS) and Lightening Source (LS). As I have gone through the reviews for both of these services it turns out it is best to use CS for the Amazon website and then use LS for extended distribution (meaning bookstores, online retailers, libraries and academic institutions). Here is the thing, CS offers extended distribution but bookstores and online retailers are boycotting anything that comes from CS (Amazon’s company). There is no such issue with LS.

I initially intended to have the comic available in A4 size. Unfortunately CS doesn’t offer that particular trim size (LS does) so I decided to have it in 7x10 inches, a size available in both companies. Next week we will talk about the digital versions of the comic!
Thank you for visiting!

See you next Sunday!
Take Care
Panos.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Printing and Distributing!

As the comic is coming to an end I have been searching my printing and distributing options. I have to say I got really excited when I found out Createspace, the company owned by Amazon that assumes printing and distributing your book. On the lookout I found similar companies offering the same services like Lightning Source and Lulu. I read different reviews about the quality of their services some positive, some negative. I am leaning towards Createspace (at least for the time being) because of their affiliation with Amazon. If somebody has any experience with any of the companies I referred to sound off your thoughts on the comment section below.

Thank you for visiting! See you next Sunday!

Take care!
Panos.  

Sunday, November 17, 2013

5 pages left to go!

As the title says I have 5 pages left for editing! There are a few changes that need to be done maybe a panel or two that need to be reworked from scratch! Even though I am so close to finish now! Stay tuned for more info will be coming available soon!

Take care! See you next week!
Panos.
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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Update!

I am finishing page 42 right now! I have 8 more pages left to edit and finish! I have to say I am looking forward to wrap this up because it has taken me a lot longer than expected! Looking back at all the pages I am satisfied as to how the comic turned out. As I said the comic will be finished in November! Hopefully with lettering! I will keep you posted on the details!

See you next Sunday!

Take Care!
Panos.  

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Happy November!

Welcome to another update!

 November will be the final month of “Medusa” graphic novel! The art, cover/ back cover and lettering would be finished by the end of this month! I might have some time as well to start arrangements for the publication! Medusa will be available digitally at first in formats like pdf, cbr and plain old jpgs! I am still considering ways to tackle the printing process. The most viable solution right now as I see it is “print on demand”. The other option is to start a crowd funding campaign to print several copies and have them ready to go! I will let you guys know soon enough! I am editing page 41! The art is so close to completion and it is really exciting!    

See you next Sunday!

Take care!
Panos.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Teaching.

This coming week I start teaching again to IEK Intergraphics. I will be teaching Illustration and Sketching. I have to admit that this was another slow week for the comic given all the prep work that I needed to do for this illustration course. I am working on page 37 right now.

See you next Sunday!

Take care!
Panos.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

So…

I am editing page number 35 right now. There are 15 pages left to go and most of them don’t need heavy editing except for the last 5 pages. I know it gets a little repetitive that there is only a journal with updates and no visuals, but I haven’t decided yet on how much of the comic I want to show for promotional uses. I will be able to make up my mind soon enough. There is definitely going to be the first 10 pages lettered for free reading though.

See you next Sunday with more about Medusa!

Take care!
Panos.
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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Updating...

Things started rolling this week! I was able to work out a few other issues that kept me from working the comic. Right now I am finishing the editing on page 31. I am quite satisfied on how the comic is shaping up! I might have a post on how the art was before and after the editing process! Making a comic from the scratch has many advantages but many responsibilities as well! You are doing everything from the art to the editing on your own. Every decision you take will reflect on the final product so you need to be a hard judge onyour work!

I hope to see you next Sunday!
Take care!
Panos.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Sunday update!

I have to admit it was a bit of a slow week for me. I am (still) working on the double page spread 28-29. I haven’t finished it yet. These are few of the last pages that need heavy editing. I will have the most of line art ready by today and probably finish both pages by Tuesday.

Thank you for following along!

See you next Sunday!
Take care!
Panos.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

More Updates

Right now I am finishing page 27. I will start re-working double page spread 28- 29 tomorrow morning. Heavy duty editing is almost over, the rest of the remaining pages need minor tweaking. I will soon be able to show you some new images!

Until then see you next Sunday!

Take care!
Panos.
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Sunday, September 22, 2013

Updating!

Welcome back to another update!

I am working on page 26 right now, so things are well on their way! Without counting the current page, I have got 8 pages left of heavy editing. Most of the hard work is almost complete. After finish editing the art I am going to design the cover/ back cover and then move on to the lettering. I might have said this before but the book will be available in both English and Greek.

Share your thoughts or questions about the project down in the comments section! You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for visiting!

See you next Sunday!
Take care!

Panos.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Update!

I am still working on page 23. I do have a lot in my mind going on right now and I haven’t been working on Medusa as much as I wanted to be. I have to say it is a bit of a tiresome procedure, editing that is. You have to make sure that things look exactly as they should be. From Monday on I will be getting back to it with more excitement!

See you next week!

Panos.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Update!

Hey there!

I am heavy on the editing process. Right now I am finishing page 22. Page 23 needs to be reworked from the scratch.  Also pages 24-29 need extra work. The rest of the pages 30-50 don’t need a lot of editing. I believe that the art will be truly finished by the end of September; hopefully lettering should be done as well.

Keep up with me on Facebook!

Take care!

Panos.   

Sunday, September 1, 2013

September 1st! Welcome back!

Hey! I hope you have a great month!

The blog starts today and it will be getting updated every Sunday!

I said  that I would have a 10 page lettered preview of Medusa at September 1st but it turned out that the editing of the art will take longer than I expected. There were a few aspects of the graphic novel that needed changing like the snakes on Medusa or the anatomy and armor on some of the warriors. To keep you in the loop I have the first 20 pages finished (no revisiting) page 21 almost done and 29 pages for editing left to go! Now only about 10-12 pages need heavy duty editing, the other won’t take that long!

Thank you for visiting! See you next week!

Take care!
Panos

Sunday, August 4, 2013

August Update!

Hey there how is summer been treating you. Here in Athens is 38 degrees, coupled with the heat of my laptop and my drawing tablet it’s probably about 52 degrees : P The little fan I‘ve got over here (air-condition out of order) is barely helping.  

Ok enough with my little heat rant. I haven’t been doing much concerning Medusa. After I finished with the art a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and I decided to leave it some time off and then start over with a fresh eye. I will be picking it up to edit the art and finish the comic within August. 
  
I will be taking some time off of the blog and focus on a few other things I have been postponing and maybe some vacations. The blog will be back on September first 2013 with a 10 page lettered preview of “Medusa”!

Until then enjoy the rest of summer!

See you in September!

Take Care!
Panos.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Medusa page 8

I have been a little busy this week so I haven’t started the editing process on the art yet. I will start tomorrow retouching and finishing the art so that I can move to the lettering. I don’t believe that I have mentioned this before but the graphic novel would be available in two languages, English and Greek. Now I am still considering if I take the self-publishing road or try to seek a publisher. 

Today I decided to show you page number 8.



See you next Sunday!

Panos.  

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Medusa update

I finished inking all of the remaining pages. I have 8 pages left to do the gray toning. The comic should be completed around Wednesday. After that I will start with improvements and changes. I am not sure how long this will be considering that there are a few pages I am not happy with. After the art is finally finished then I will move to the lettering stage. Cover and back cover will be the last stage of production. 
  
If you are into social media check out my facebook and twitter.

See you next Sunday!

Panos.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Medusa Status.

Hey! Welcome back!

So there seems to be a change since last week’s post. I referred to a revise about the last three pages towards the finale. I had a problem with the pacing and staging of the final scene. I felt that it was dragging for too long and that it was too similar to a particular movie. 

Therefore the comic would be two pages less than it was estimated to be, making it 50 pages in total. Now don’t get me wrong there might still be changes and that number might change again. As you have read before all the images you have seen are far from finished and they are subject of change and improvement. 

Today I am finishing the pencils of the last page. Inking should start tomorrow and it would be about a week to finish considering it is 10 pages.

I will keep you updated!

See you next Sunday!


Panos.   

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Sunday, June 30, 2013

More about Medusa!

Welcome to our weekly update! 

As of now I have completed the pencils for the pages left. There are 12 pages remaining to complete the book. I am still revising a few things on the last three pages regarding the finale but other than that things are well on their way. I have to say I am getting really excited.  The most crucial part of the process is almost complete. 

I have already started considering stuff that needs tweaking. There might be changes/ improvements to the pages you have already seen on this blog or social media as well.  

It would be great to hear if you have any suggestions for the comic too! Sound off your suggestions on the comment section down below or on Facebook or Twitter!

I have been hearing some really nice words since I stared this graphic novel! I wanted to thank all of you who support this initiative! Thank you very much!

See you all next Sunday!
Panos.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Medusa Update!

Okay so if you are following any of my social media presence you already know that today I will discuss the graphic novel I am working on. Just for those who visit this blog for the first time let me do a brief introduction about the project.
I am making a one shot graphic novel of the Medusa myth. Medusa was an ancient mythical monster (gorgon) that had snakes instead of hair and could petrify (literally turn to stone) any leaving creature that set sight upon her. 

Medusa was once a striking young woman with beautiful long hair. In fact she was so beautiful that all men in Athens wanted to have her as their wife. Medusa though was a priestess of the virgin goddess Athena, and she was bound by an oath of chastity meaning that she was beyond any man’s reach. Poseidon god of sea was among her admirers, and as the powerful god that he was, nothing was beyond his reach. Poseidon found Medusa inside the Parthenon (Athena’s temple) and raped her. Athena was furious that such terrible desecration involving one of her priestesses took place inside her very own temple. Athena was angry but not with Poseidon; she felt that the wrong deed was Medusa’s fault. The goddess full of anger curses Medusa for her crime and turns her into the monster we are familiar with. After that Medusa was send to live to an isolated island.

The graphic novel would be 52 pages in total. Today I will be finishing page number 40. I assume that I would have all the pages completed by early July. After I am done I will go through every page again correcting inconsistency mistakes, improving any anatomy issues etc. Then I will proceed to refine the writing and dialogues. Right now I have a very rough version of script that needs a lot of work until it becomes the finished polished writing that will end up in the graphic novel. After I am satisfied with the writing I will do the lettering (placing balloons and captions in the comic). Finally after all this is done I will create the front and back cover. After the comic is finished a new challenge arises, promoting, publishing and distributing the graphic novel. I will go through how I am thinking on handling those on a future post. 

Now you have a good idea on how this is shaping up. It takes a good amount of time planning and executing all those different production stages. 

Thank you for being here!

See you all next Sunday!
Panos

Sunday, June 16, 2013

How to draw in three-point Perspective.

Welcome once again to another drawing tutorial. Today I am going through the three point perspective. Basically we have three point perspective when we look at objects from an angle (just like in two point perspective) but we look at them from a high standpoint or a low standpoint. 

E.g. Imagine you are in a helicopter up in the air, when you look at a building from an angle you are looking at it at in three point perspective (called bird’s eye view). Same is if you look at a building from a low stand point all the way up from an angle you have again three point perspective (called worm’s eye view). 

In this example we will do a bird’s eye view.

First draw the horizon line.


Now draw three vanishing points. Make them have a good distance from each other


We will put a rectangle in perspective. We don’t have any parallel lines here. Draw two lines from Vanishing point 2.


Now draw two more from Vanishing point 1.


Now unify each corner with Vanishing point 3.


Decide how long you rectangle want to be. Now close the shape with Vanishing point 2 and Vanishing point 1.


There we have a rectangle in perfect three point perspective.


See you next Sunday!

Take care!
Panos.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

How to draw in two-point Perspective.

Welcome to another drawing tutorial. Today we are going through two point perspective. Basically two point perspective is when you look at objects from an angle and not straight on like in one point perspective.   

If you haven’t been through last week’s tutorial I strongly suggest you go through that one first. Link: http://panoskamoulakos.blogspot.gr/2013/06/blog-post.html

First draw the horizon line.


Now instead of one vanishing point draw two. Make them have a good distance from each other.




We will put a rectangle in perspective. Draw a short vertical line.


Now draw the lines towards the two vanishing points.


Now decide how long your rectangle wants to be. Draw another short vertical line.


Draw the line towards vanishing point 1. 
Draw another vertical line. 




Draw the line towards vanishing point 2.


There you go a rectangle on perfect two point perspective.


Hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

Take care!
Panos.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

How to draw in Perspective

Today we are going to have a look at some basic perspective theory. There are three basic perspective categories: one point, two point and three point perspective. There are actually other types of perspective (four and five point perspective) but you need to get really comfortable with those three basic categories first before you move into more complicated compositions.

This week we will go through one point perspective. 

Literarily anything you draw into paper follows perspective rules. Let’s start! 

Draw a straight horizontal line. This is called the “Horizon Line”. This is the line where sky and earth meet. 

Now draw a dot on the Horizon Line. This is called “Vanishing Point”. It is the point where all of the lines of the objects you draw will meet. 
 
e.g.
Draw a rectangle. 

Now from each corner draw all the lines towards the vanishing point.

Depending on how long you want your shape to be, draw the rest of the shape. The lines are parallel with the original shape.

There you go a rectangle in one point perspective. 

As an exercise you can take numerous rectangular objects and put them in perspective as shown below.



Next week we will go through two point perspective. 

See you next Sunday!
Panos.          

Sunday, May 26, 2013

How to draw the female body

Welcome back to another drawing tutorial!
Today we will go through constructing the female body. Move to the image below.



Here we see a template of the female body. A few things to go through this exercise, notice that the figure is 8,5 heads long. At the second head is the chest-nipples area. The third head is a little further down the belly button. The fourth head is the crotch. Between six and seven is where the knees are. Between eight and eight and a half are the feet. 

A few more tips. Start from working from the first pose on the left. Draw the head similarly to the stages we did on previous posts. Draw a vertical axis right in the middle and all the way down. Now start counting heads towards the vertical line. Make a small mark each time you count a new head. Once you hit 8,5 heads stop. Know you know where the body parts fall.

Finally feel free to use this template however you like. You can print it, you can try your character designs on it, you can use it as a reference etc. but please if you do make sure you mention where you find it with a reference link.

Thanks for being here! See you next week!

I am more than willing to ask any questions regarding today’s post or previous ones. Write your questions or comments at the comments section below.

Take Care
Panos

Sunday, May 19, 2013

How to draw the male body

Hello, how you’ve been?

If you’ve been following this blog for a while you already know that I am working on my graphic novel ‘Medusa’. I think that the illustrating stage (penciling, inking and gray toning) should be done around June. From then on I would “fine-tune” the art, make improvements and correct any inconsistency mistakes. I am going to present a detailed journal talking about the steps I took towards creating this graphic novel. From the brainstorming stage all the way down to complete published product. In case you are wondering I haven’t decided if I am going to self-publish or seek help from a publisher. I am thinking that it would become available as a digital version first and then move towards print. I would have to worry more about those things after the book is completed.

If you are interested in more than our regular weekly updates make sure (shameless social media promotion) you like my Facebook page as I regularly update with work in progress panels and sneak peeks from the graphic novel: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Illustration-of-Panos-Kamoulakos/110340709142917?fref=ts

Now into today’s subject, I let you know a few weeks back that I will be doing a series of how to draw tutorials for beginner artists. I went through the drawing of male and female head, check out the archive to find those posts.     

Today we will go through constructing the male body. Move to the image below.

 
Here we see a template of the male body. A few things to go through this exercise, notice that the figure is 8,5 heads long. At the second head is the chest-nipples area. The third head is a little further down the belly button. The fourth head is the crotch. Between six and seven is where the knees are. Between eight and eight and a half are the feet. 

A few more tips. Start from working from the first pose on the left. Draw the head similarly to the stages we did on previous posts. Draw a vertical axis right in the middle and all the way down. Now start counting heads towards the vertical line. Make a small mark each time you count a new head. Once you hit 8,5 heads stop. Know you know where the body parts fall.

Finally feel free to use this template however you like. You can print it, you can try your character designs on it, you can use it as a reference etc. but please if you do make sure you mention where you find it with a reference link.

Thanks for being here! See you next Sunday where I will be drawing the female body.

I am more than willing to answer any questions regarding today’s post or previous ones. Write your questions or comments at the comments section below.

Take Care!
Panos.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

How to draw the female head in profile

Today we are going through the female head in profile. 

You can check out how to draw a male head in profile here: http://panoskamoulakos.blogspot.gr/2013/04/how-to-draw-head-in-pfofile.html

Let’s start.
   
Step 1
Draw the circular type shape you see below. Again notice how the jaw and the jaw bone are affecting the lower part of the face.

Step 2
Right in the middle of the head draw a horizontal axis. This where the eye rests. 

Step 3
There isn’t a particular scaling method for placing the eye somewhere specific (contrary to drawing ‘en face’). Draw a triangular shape close to the vertical axis. Make the eyelash heavy.

Step 4
Draw the eye brow. Notice how the eyebrow on the right side goes inside the head forming a depth illusion. Draw it thin and curvy.

Step 5
Draw the axis from the beginning of the eye. This is where the nostril is. Cut the lower part of the face (from horizontal axis to jaw) in the middle. This where the nose exists.

Step 6
Draw the nose. Notice the curve starting from the eyebrow that goes in, then out and then back in again to complete the nose shape. 

Step 7
Draw a vertical axis from the middle of the eye. This where the mouth is.

Step 8
Draw the mouth. Notice how the curves shape the lips and the jaw.

Step 9
Draw the neck. The neck has a slanted angle; it is not vertical to the head.

Step 10
Now draw two horizontal axis around the end of the nose and the eyebrow.  
Between the axis draw the ear. 

Step 11
Draw the hair. Treat hair as a whole unified shape. 

It is Easter here in Athens so I will be taking a two weeks break. Therefore new post will be 19 May 2013.

One last thing if you are into social media you can check out my Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Illustration-of-Panos-Kamoulakos/110340709142917and my twitter here: https://twitter.com/PanosKamoulakos

Take care! See you soon!
Panos.