Order of the Stick: The Manga

[FoE]

Thanks for your comments.

Here's the next one. It might be a two or three parter. It all depends on how it flows.

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Hmmm. Dynamic action. Very nice. I especially like the third panel.

[Silverraptor]

The only difference is we can tell that Miko is a girl by this point by panel 3. Excellent work by the way!

[Haven]

Very nice! I really like your version of Roy there. And Miko's armor looks amazing, I can't wait to see how her revealed self appears. Keep up the good work :)

[Lissou]

The only thing I can say is that Roy doesn't look black to me. Not from the features, not from any shading, nothing.

Sorry, I must sound pretty negative. Every time I post I have something to criticize. But I do admire your work.

[Je dit Viola]

Yeah...he doesn't look very Black, but I like it a whole lot anyway.

'Sides, I imagined him as Black, while I was reading it.

It looked awesome! I loved Miko.

[Prime32]

The only thing I can say is that Roy doesn't look black to me. Not from the features, not from any shading, nothing.

Sorry, I must sound pretty negative. Every time I post I have something to criticize. But I do admire your work.

Something about Roy's eyes makes me feel like giant sideburns are about to erupt from his face.

[Lord of Rapture]

The only thing that slightly ruins this experience in my mind is the knowledge that there'll be some jerk who'll say how much it sucks because it's in anime format.

Other than that, it's really nice seeing OoTS in this format. I bow to your art skill.

[Weimann]

So I just found this thread, and I thought "what's this then" and I open the first spoiler and I couldn't breathe for a minute? Is that normal reaction?

Also, could someone recommend a good breath retailer, because I seem to have lost mine rather permanently.

In critisism to the last piece, I like how you can tell Haley's and Roy's weapon attacks apart by their appearance. You can see how Haley uses more momentum from her other arm moving as well, while Roy puts more of brute strength in his blow.

Furthermore, Haley is cuuute!

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Colorized Readcloak and Tsukiko are now my wallpaper! This rocks like the Himalayas!

More, more, more!

Seriously, this is some amazing stuff! Don't do so much you burn yourself out, because that would be a terrible loss.

[Tobi_goodboy]

this is absolutely amazing! great work, keep it up.

also, by way of request, i was thinking more towards the begining--page #1 for example...

[CoffeeIncluded]

I just noticed the wedding ring on V's finger.

I freaking love this stuff. And I'm not that big a fan of manga.

[Kumo]

couldn't it be the ring of wizardry?

[CoffeeIncluded]

couldn't it be the ring of wizardry?

Maybe, but you wear a wedding ring on your left ring finger.

[Athaniar]

I can't think of anything that is more awesome than this thread. This is pure, 100% WIN.

[GolemsVoice]

If you don't mind requests, I'd love to see your version of Belkar. Or, could you do the battle against the giant demon on the island? I can't find the exact number, but it's where the little imp turn in his favor with the big devil down below.

[Serpentine]

I just noticed the wedding ring on V's finger.

couldn't it be the ring of wizardry?

Couldn't it be both? Would be quite appropriate, I think, to have magical wedding bands in a D&D world...

[Silverraptor]

Couldn't it be both? Would be quite appropriate, I think, to have magical wedding bands in a D&D world...

I think they were talking about the fact that V pulled the wizardry ring off Xykon's finger from their first encounter with him.

[Dogmantra]

And here's an enlarged version of my avatar. Unfortunately I had to cut out the book to get it into the proper size.

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IMAGE

Wow. That's a really well-done androgynous V. At first, I think he looks female, then I look more closely at the face and see that he looks more male, and then I look back at the hair and the facial features seem to change and he looks female and OH MY WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD AT THIS?

[Tengu_temp]

Roy looks kinda like a DBZ character. Due to lack of colors he also reminds me of this guy:

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Yeah, I agree with this V looking incredibly androgynous. Well done.

[FoE]

The only thing I can say is that Roy doesn't look black to me. Not from the features, not from any shading, nothing.

I don't read much manga, but from what I gather, black people are a bit hard to draw in that style without making them a bad caricature.

[Prime32]

Roy looks kinda like a DBZ character. Due to lack of colors he also reminds me of this guy:

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Well, we know who'll be voicing Roy in the anime at least.

[Mando Knight]

Roy looks kinda like a DBZ character. Due to lack of colors he also reminds me of this guy:

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Great. Now we'll have Roy demanding that no one say anything about his secret technique.

Though I imagined Roy a bit more like an Ichigo/Samuel L. Jackson gestalt than as a black Ikkaku, personally...

[Prime32]

[Je dit Viola]

Oh, now he's black. Now all he needs is a sword with a green hilt.

[TheBlackShadow]

This really is epic, in every sense of the word.

Some minor criticisms - Roy's face looked a bit too angular and... not black, I don't think the clothes looked quite right in either the Elan and Nale one or the Elan and Haley one (overall, I don't think Elan looks quite... Cloudcoocoolander enough), and Redcloak a bit too rough and muscular (I imagine him as more of a geeky-looking type).

All considered though, this is brilliant. I don't read Manga, but I know a friend who does, so I know enough to know that the drawing here is of very high standard. The drawing style of the comic itself is such that the clothes and facial features are pretty vague, so much of it is down to the imagination of the reader, and everyone's impression of the charaters &c will inevitably be slightly different, so I'm not blaming you for any of that (mostly ). Also, something I did like very much was the Tsukiko picture. I think you excelled yourself with her and managed to capture her character very well (plus, I think you can see her panties if you look very closely on the coloured picture ). Finally, I second the opinion that you should start with the first strip and work your way through - far more orderly and well-structured that way.

All in all, well done, and keep up the good work.

[Pronounceable]

I know it's been done before, but I'm gonna quote people.

...

THAT IS SO AWESOME!

You. Are. AWESOME!!!

Whoa.

It are moments like these when I'm actually envious of other people's abilities. This is 100% pure and natural awesomeness incarnate.

Wow, hate to be that annoying echo guy, but those are really good. Can't wait for more.

...*explodes due to awesome*

...
I suppose that's enough echoing. Moving on:

61: Nale is so awesomely psychotic. And I love the change you made, it suits this medium much better.

468: Cute. I love how Haley isn't "well endowed" at all. That should be reserved for Sabine (and Roy's mom and sis, if you ever draw them). Minor nitpicks: Haley doesn't have her bow.

449: Hinjo fits SO MUCH. Durkon's very good as well. But I expected more beard. Xykon is awesome too. Except for the eyes: He looks like he has eyelids. I know, manga style and all... But it's still a skull. Might I suggest you use the light points inside the sockets for expression, and keep the sockets static? But perhaps that'd better be accomplished in color.

And Soon. Man, epicness oozes off of that guy.

200: Roy doesn't really look black, as mentioned. And he doesn't look anything like I'd imagine. But that's mere subjectivity. However he should be in heavy armor. But the feeling of action is conveyed very well. I love how Miko's knocked off her feet.

V: Perfect.

TE: MitD is cool, but I can understand it not working in color. Tsukiko is a work of beauty (but I'd expect a bit less short skirt with a slit). Reddy is very awesome too, but maybe his robes could be more elaborate with runes and whatnot? He's the highest ranking priest after all.
...

And now for something completely expected: A request. I wanna see Belkar. Atop a mountain of corpses declaring his divinity would be nice, but not strictly necessary. Maybe the "victory pose" of Book 1 end that showcases entire OotS?

[Rae Artemi]

quick request, could you put primes colored version of comic 68 in the first post? (With his permission of course.)

[Elagune]

As many of you have noticed, Roy doesn't look black. Rather than it being the fault of manga, it's actually got to do more with me. The area I live in has more than its share of Asian and white people, but black people are a rarity. Thus, my Asian and white character end up looking alright, but I drawing black people is much harder for me.

There are basically two ways to go about indicating race in manga. The former is actual changing of facial features and similar, which takes some freedom of expression out of a character. I don't want to do that, expressions are the lifeline of manga for me. The other way is through hair, skin, and eye colour. This is especially troublesome here because Rich has a LOT of bald characters, and I don't want to darken skin tones in case I want to go back and colour them later.

Easy way to tell race in manga (in black and white):

Mongoloid: Black hair, white skin, black eyes. (Not always because some manga authors like weird hair colours. If he's got a tan, this character probably just came back from vacation.)

Caucasoid: White hair, white skin, pale eyes. (If they have black eyes instead, it's probably Asian with a dyejob. An easy way to show Caucasian blood is through freckles. Although freckles can appear on people of all races, it's a lot more common in white people than others.)

Negroid: Curly black hair, tanned skin, black eyes. (Rarest of the physical types, strangely enough. I've been to Japan before, and saw more black people there than white people. Underrepresented in manga, which means its harder to draw them since there is little precedent.)

Personally, I'm not going to worry too much about race.

So for Roy, I decided to go with what I got from his personality. Narrow eyes because narrow eyes indicate seriousness and concentration, and those are two of his most characteristic traits. Thick eyebrows because thin eyebrows carry connotations of frailty.

[Moff Chumley]

It are moments like these when I'm actually envious of other people's abilities. This is 100% pure and natural awesomeness incarnate.

As you continue your stay in our glorious Playground, I hope you'll notice how significant these two things are. Because Itchy is pure, lovable, arrogant win.

You, my friend, are amazing. Especially your depiction of Tsukiko.

EDIT: All of the black guys I know have very short hair. Those without tend to either have it in dreadlocks, or some variation on an afro.

[CrimsonAngel]

I love you.