Descendant Chapter 4: The road to color

Well, I was supposed to post a new page for Chapter 4 today and I'm behind...mostly because I wanted to start coloring and when I got through the first panel, I thought it looked really bad:

Light is a bitch.

 My other thinking was: This story is set in the old west. ORIGINALLY I wanted to have a color overlay on top of tones or gray tones to give the comic an old movie feel. Like one of those old black and white westerns back in the early days but, even then, I couldn't settle on the right feel.

For the first 3 chapters, I compromised with just tones and trying to make up for the lack of "oomph" through the story but there are things coming up IN the story; silent pages, lots of spells and rituals, the will require the very best of my current art skills.

I want this to look awesome on screen and, eventually, on paper. I think I'll revert back to my original idea: doing the old movie thing, but then there is the problem with night scenes.

Since I consider myself a creator who is unafraid of elevating people of color into roles of authority, AND since a lot of this project takes place at night, how do I make my characters stand out against the background, especially characters like Laini and Ohanzee. Laini, pictured above, specifically who is an Egyptian goddess (may as well be. I love her!!) <3 p="">



Anyway, dark skin+night scene= Can't see them! D': This must be corrected. I tried using Gradients to fix this via toning but I thought the fact that it was night was being lost on people. I need this to translate. How do you handle this? I want them to be in the story like they're supposed to. 

So, dearest Internet, I am begging, PLEADING even, for your help. I've been looking around and asking for a very long time now and nobody seems to have any answers. I need YOU, Internet. I need you!

And if begging doesn't work, maybe this cute picture of baby Bender, maybe?

~DJ

So. You want to own your own business.

This article is a hypothetical. But maybe not. Maybe this can happen, yes?

Anyway, it was for a school assignment.

---------------------------

    And you came to me? Seriously!?

    It's all good.

    If I were to give serious advice about owning and operating your own business, it would be this: WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN!

    It's hard, it's arduous, it can crush all hopes and dreams with the cold hard facts of doom! But it's supposed to. It's supposed to take the mystery out of your business approach.

    Your business plan is there to serve as a window into reality. Once you have the facts; once you have the rulebook for your business and industry, then you can get creative.

•     Creative with your image.
•     Creative with your product or service.
•     Creative with your market reach.

    The most effective purple cow can come from already having a clear grasp on the rules and your business plan is, again, that rulebook. Now, don't let this intimidate you and don't run at it like an angry bull charging that irritating little man the red flag. Be calm, open-minded, willing to change and tackle each section one at a time until it's finished and you'll get a clear idea of what your business is and where it could be.

    This also doesn't mean you can't be working on your product or service in the meantime. For example: I finished the First and Second chapters of 'Descendant' while writing my business plan. It was through this process that I realized the only way I could reach my audience was through smart Marketing and knowing how and where to talk to them.

    Marketing and skill. These are what I needed to have in order to draw in my audience.

    So, you can then start to set priorities with your business. For instance: I did my financials last because I wasn't going to be asking for money because I knew I wouldn't be able to pay it back within a decent amount of time. I wanted to, first, prove that my product could at least break even so when my investors did help me with capital, I was able to attend more functions, put more effort into advertising and marketing and turn a business that was just breaking even into a business that became a profitable share in the comic book industry. And, when you turn a profit and can show you're doing it, you become more attractive to investors, your audience and anyone else who may draw inspiration from you.

    The business plan is, by far, the most important thing you can do for yourself as a small business owner. If you have an existing business, you could do this as well. You can then easily see if your practices are making you the most profit it can or if you're missing something.