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Description
For the ones, that are interested how *Tavaris and I work.

1. After working together on the story, Tavaris sketches out the concepts of the page. Fairly quick mind you. With that and a more detailed description in text form I can begin my part.

2. Sadly I don't have the sketchphase for this page anymore. Normally I would sketch each panel again, working as freely as possible, but still using her concept as a guideline, especially concerning expressions, perspective and most importantly, panel layout. Working on the bgs I only do as much work as needed. So I don't color stuff that will be hidden later on anyway.

3. Adding the colored chars, panel borders and stuff.

4. Adding the text and speechbubbles and calling it done.

For everyone who hasn't read them and still has some questions:

A section for your FAQ, if you have any ;D.

1) Why the title "Sleight of Hand"?

Definition of the term: (source: Wikipedia)

"Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation ("quick fingers") or legerdemain (from the French for "lightness of hand"), is the set of techniques used by a magician or card sharp to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly.

A card sharp (informally cardsharp, card shark or cardshark) is a person who uses skill and deception to win at poker or other card games. They use methods to keep control of the order of the cards or sometimes to control one specific card. Most, if not all, of these methods employ sleight of hand."

--> If you think further, it means that by the use of "Sleight of Hand" you get hold of a "trump card", a "joker", which will help you win the game. It refers to the protagonist of our story. The term is also used in the "famous last words" by one of the main chars, but you will find that out eventually.

You have to think around a few corners, but the reason for the title is there and it actually makes sense x'D.
For more information on the topic of "Sleight of Hand" see the related articles on Wikipedia:
Sleight of Hand
Card Sharp

2) How many pages are planned?

For now, Ses and I have no intentions of making this a completed project. Means, we do not intend to make this an epic story of 100+ pages and counting. Instead we want to work on some (connected) teaser-chapters, that intruduce the universe and character backgrounds, but also hint at a further plot development. Something with an "open end". If everything turns out as planned, "SoH" will leave the readers wondering on how the story might continue and give room to discussions and an exchange of ideas, maybe even the creation of fan comics and -fictions - who knows? OR Ses and I fall so much in love with the project, that we just keep going .

3) What were your inspirations?

Gods, we had TONS of inspirations. For the story, we were greatly influenced by 'Ginga Densetsu Weed' and Jack London's 'White Fang'. For the characters, better said: their names, we were inspired by several video games, books and mythology (like the greek or norse one). I can't list them all here, but if something catches your interest while browsing the pages/sheets ask away. We won't deny anything x'D.

4) When did you start working on SoH?

I got the first PN from Ses about a possible joined project on 8/7/2009. Ever since then, we've been talking about and planning the project - and still are.

~Tav

5) Who does what?

As you can see this is a co-operation. So you may ask who makes what?
Credit where credit is due.
For now, this is how we make the comic:
The story was created by both, Tavaris and me, although Tavaris has much more done than I have and is still the driving force to keep the story going and fill in my plotholes. ^^
The characters are created by both of us, Tavaris made most of the maincharacters and I many supporting characters.
The comic pages are solely drawn by me (for now) but the concepts the pages base on are drawn by Tavaris alone.
Without them I would never be able to draw this comic, at least not in this quality.

At some point we may switch places, half way at least, so we both can work in different fields throughout this project.

-Ses

6)Why are you doin' this anywayz~?

For teh lulz.
People. "Klischee-Wolf-Comic" (see description)? What does that imply? ^^'
Hint: it also answers questions like why our wolves don't look "liek real wulves at all!!11" (colors, anatomy) ;D. Or why the story is so... totally original. Guh.

Ses and I are able to make fun of ourselves (and everything around us), but no worries, it's all in good humor. We aren't taking ourselves very seriously, BUT we are serious about the project. Means, we're not gonna work half-heartedly on the pages, for best possible results (to our possibilites). If you expect anything new here, BE WARNED. Better move on :'D.

~Tav

7)How do you work?/What program do you use?

Well, here I can only write as the artist, whose final result you later see.
First of all, I base the Comic page on the concepts I get from Tavaris. She does amazing work there.
I do all my work in Photoshop CS3, using a Wacom Bamboo Fun graphic tablet (A5 size). I work in as high a resolution as my computer can handle. Each page is 7052x5450px in dimension at 300dpi. Each file is currently around 700MB, sometimes I have to split things up into two 600MB files, they also use often up to 10GB RAM.
I ink the lineart with a default hardround brush from PS (size dynamics set to pen pressure). The coloring of the characters is done in a semi-gradientshading way based on normal cellshading. I also use a lot of layer modes to get desired effects, like the strong orange sunlight of dusk.
The backgrounds are handdrawn by me. I use many different kind of brushes and base my technique on many tutorials I found here on dA. I still struggle with backgrounds and need alot of practice.

Also, there are too many tutorials to list them all here, if you want to know which ones I use most often, write a note and I will send you the links.

-Ses

8) Do you need an translator (any language) for the comic? And is it okay if I submit it on my homepage?

Ses and I haven't thought about the possibility of translations yet. I think we'd like to keep the project on devART only. Submitting translations to the club itself sounds like an option then (eg. we could create a new folder for translations). But for now it's far too soon to think about it. We don't have enough progress in the comic pages yet .

9) How about distribution on the web in general?

Experience taught me that it is fairly impossible to upload anything on the internet without at least a single person taking and distributing it elsewhere, no matter what the artist says. Like I said in 9), Ses and I would like to keep the project on devART only. However, if we see it elsewhere (pages and/or characters or whatever) and people have linked to our page (aka 'giving credit') we won't say anything. As long as it is no mass-production or profit involved.

~Tav

Description
For the ones, that are interested how *Tavaris and I work.

1. After working together on the story, Tavaris sketches out the concepts of the page. Fairly quick mind you. With that and a more detailed description in text form I can begin my part.

2. Sadly I don't have the sketchphase for this page anymore. Normally I would sketch each panel again, working as freely as possible, but still using her concept as a guideline, especially concerning expressions, perspective and most importantly, panel layout. Working on the bgs I only do as much work as needed. So I don't color stuff that will be hidden later on anyway.

3. Adding the colored chars, panel borders and stuff.

4. Adding the text and speechbubbles and calling it done.

For everyone who hasn't read them and still has some questions:

A section for your FAQ, if you have any ;D.

1) Why the title "Sleight of Hand"?

Definition of the term: (source: Wikipedia)

"Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation ("quick fingers") or legerdemain (from the French for "lightness of hand"), is the set of techniques used by a magician or card sharp to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly.

A card sharp (informally cardsharp, card shark or cardshark) is a person who uses skill and deception to win at poker or other card games. They use methods to keep control of the order of the cards or sometimes to control one specific card. Most, if not all, of these methods employ sleight of hand."

--> If you think further, it means that by the use of "Sleight of Hand" you get hold of a "trump card", a "joker", which will help you win the game. It refers to the protagonist of our story. The term is also used in the "famous last words" by one of the main chars, but you will find that out eventually.

You have to think around a few corners, but the reason for the title is there and it actually makes sense x'D.
For more information on the topic of "Sleight of Hand" see the related articles on Wikipedia:
Sleight of Hand
Card Sharp

2) How many pages are planned?

For now, Ses and I have no intentions of making this a completed project. Means, we do not intend to make this an epic story of 100+ pages and counting. Instead we want to work on some (connected) teaser-chapters, that intruduce the universe and character backgrounds, but also hint at a further plot development. Something with an "open end". If everything turns out as planned, "SoH" will leave the readers wondering on how the story might continue and give room to discussions and an exchange of ideas, maybe even the creation of fan comics and -fictions - who knows? OR Ses and I fall so much in love with the project, that we just keep going .

3) What were your inspirations?

Gods, we had TONS of inspirations. For the story, we were greatly influenced by 'Ginga Densetsu Weed' and Jack London's 'White Fang'. For the characters, better said: their names, we were inspired by several video games, books and mythology (like the greek or norse one). I can't list them all here, but if something catches your interest while browsing the pages/sheets ask away. We won't deny anything x'D.

4) When did you start working on SoH?

I got the first PN from Ses about a possible joined project on 8/7/2009. Ever since then, we've been talking about and planning the project - and still are.

~Tav

5) Who does what?

As you can see this is a co-operation. So you may ask who makes what?
Credit where credit is due.
For now, this is how we make the comic:
The story was created by both, Tavaris and me, although Tavaris has much more done than I have and is still the driving force to keep the story going and fill in my plotholes. ^^
The characters are created by both of us, Tavaris made most of the maincharacters and I many supporting characters.
The comic pages are solely drawn by me (for now) but the concepts the pages base on are drawn by Tavaris alone.
Without them I would never be able to draw this comic, at least not in this quality.

At some point we may switch places, half way at least, so we both can work in different fields throughout this project.

-Ses

6)Why are you doin' this anywayz~?

For teh lulz.
People. "Klischee-Wolf-Comic" (see description)? What does that imply? ^^'
Hint: it also answers questions like why our wolves don't look "liek real wulves at all!!11" (colors, anatomy) ;D. Or why the story is so... totally original. Guh.

Ses and I are able to make fun of ourselves (and everything around us), but no worries, it's all in good humor. We aren't taking ourselves very seriously, BUT we are serious about the project. Means, we're not gonna work half-heartedly on the pages, for best possible results (to our possibilites). If you expect anything new here, BE WARNED. Better move on :'D.

~Tav

7)How do you work?/What program do you use?

Well, here I can only write as the artist, whose final result you later see.
First of all, I base the Comic page on the concepts I get from Tavaris. She does amazing work there.
I do all my work in Photoshop CS3, using a Wacom Bamboo Fun graphic tablet (A5 size). I work in as high a resolution as my computer can handle. Each page is 7052x5450px in dimension at 300dpi. Each file is currently around 700MB, sometimes I have to split things up into two 600MB files, they also use often up to 10GB RAM.
I ink the lineart with a default hardround brush from PS (size dynamics set to pen pressure). The coloring of the characters is done in a semi-gradientshading way based on normal cellshading. I also use a lot of layer modes to get desired effects, like the strong orange sunlight of dusk.
The backgrounds are handdrawn by me. I use many different kind of brushes and base my technique on many tutorials I found here on dA. I still struggle with backgrounds and need alot of practice.

Also, there are too many tutorials to list them all here, if you want to know which ones I use most often, write a note and I will send you the links.

-Ses

8) Do you need an translator (any language) for the comic? And is it okay if I submit it on my homepage?

Ses and I haven't thought about the possibility of translations yet. I think we'd like to keep the project on devART only. Submitting translations to the club itself sounds like an option then (eg. we could create a new folder for translations). But for now it's far too soon to think about it. We don't have enough progress in the comic pages yet .

9) How about distribution on the web in general?

Experience taught me that it is fairly impossible to upload anything on the internet without at least a single person taking and distributing it elsewhere, no matter what the artist says. Like I said in 9), Ses and I would like to keep the project on devART only. However, if we see it elsewhere (pages and/or characters or whatever) and people have linked to our page (aka 'giving credit') we won't say anything. As long as it is no mass-production or profit involved.

~Tav