Now for something serious...

[secondlina]

Another day, another page. Namesake updated this morning. Recently, me and dqbunny  noticed that we got two reviews for Namesake on the internet, here and here. Generally good/encouraging reviews. One of the main recurring elements in reviews such as these and in many, many, many comments by friends is the fact that the art is gorgeous, but the sporadic coloring is annoying and distracting. Basically, for those of you who don't know, the comic goes from color to black and white more-or-less randomly because I don't have the free time needed to color. Also, i'm not much of a colorist to start off with. Though I myself like this type of coloring, it seems most people don't.

With chapter 4 coming in, we need to take a decision on what to do next. Among our options, we can :

• Make the webcomic full color. This will however require us to either purchase a time machine, make the update schedule more sporadic or outsource the coloring. The problem with this idea is that i'm not Doctor Who, I don't want to make the updates more spaced out (3 times a week already doesn't seem like enough!) and hired help usually likes getting paid.
• Make the webcomic fully in black and white. The problem with this issue is the fact that color is often important to the story.

So what then?

The best compromise I found was not to eliminate the color, but to regularize it. I mean, what's annoying for Namesake readers is not the color itself, but rather how random it is. So from now on (aka, starting chapter 4), I was thinking doing things like this :

• The chapter page and the first 2 to 3 pages of each chapter are in color.
• The rest of the chapter is in black and white, with small details or isolated characters in color, as seen on these two page :

I think it's the best idea to keep the comic regularly updated, have me survive the process and keep things pretty. What do you guys think? Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

- Isa

p.s. Have some sketches of Emma. I love drawing her so much it's crazy. Mostly it's her nose and hair. I can't wait to get to put her hair up.

Comments

[looniewolf.livejournal.com]

As one of the two reviewers in question (Tangents), I feel I should pipe up here. It's your comic. Do what you want. If you enjoy the random color, then use random color. What I or any other critic says on this doesn't honestly matter.

That said, I think that the use of spot color on scenes or panels where there is a specific impact for said color, then that would prove quite effective. Your use of the shades-of-green with the Ozma flashback was superbly done in this regard.

Take care. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. :)

Rob H., Tangents Reviews

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Thank you for taking the time to answer this! :D

Mostly, my only concern about the color is that I really don't know what i'm doing and it shows. Most of my work has been done in black and white. But color seemed important for Namesake due to the content. So, I want to learn to do the colors better, I really do. I'm going to still color as I wish, but i'm still going to push to make the color more relevant and a bit less random.

Thanks for reviewing us, by the way. we really appreciate your support!