#friend of the studio
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helioscopepdx · 3 months ago
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The Schweizer Guide to Spotting Tangents
A fantastic resource from friend-of-the-studio @schweizercomics, who wrote this guide back in 2011. Read on for a goldmine of information (and visual examples) about avoiding tangents in your work!
Comic art is, as a general rule, a line-based medium. I know, I know, there are plenty of artists whose work is painted, or who depict their subject in ink using solely light and shadow. But these folks are unquestioningly in the minority, as the history of printing technology originally dictated the use of line to depict form in the early days of comics. This became a stylistic expectation, and it’s an expectation that I enthusiastically embrace, as have many others. But using line to draw the world invites chances for that cardinal sin of composition: the tangent. 
A tangent is when two or more lines interact in a way that insinuates a relationship between them that the artist did not intend. It can create confusion on the part of the audience as to what it is that they’re looking at. It can cause the spatial depth that one attempts to cultivate through the use of planes to become flattened. Most of all, it creates a decidedly unwelcome aesthetic response: tangents are just plain ugly. There are a lot of different types of tangents, as least according to the way I define them. In order to make it easier on my students when giving critiques, I’ve categorized them and named them. This may have been done before, but I’ve not encountered it. My hope is that, by making this “spot-the-enemy” guide, fewer artists will fall into the tangent trap by knowing what to look for.   
1. The Long Line
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The long line is when a line from one object runs directly into the line of another. This is the tangent that everybody knows. The one that’s easiest to spot, easiest to avoid.  For a lot of folks, this is the only thing meant when one refers to a “tangent.” Even in the work of the very best comic artists, a vigilant eye can find the occasional tangent.  Even when a cartoonist is constantly on the lookout, a tangent can slip through.  But, as each of strive to better ourselves and the quality of our work and our medium, 
2. The Parallel
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The parallel tangent is when the containing lines of two objects run alongside each other.  This causes one of two negative outcomes.  Either one object becomes “lost,” as the other overpowers it (figure 1), or one object feels strangely contained by another (figure 2). This can be avoided by ensuring that any object that COULD run alongside another is angled at least 45 degrees from the first. The next two are REALLY tough to spot, and most artists have fallen victim to them before.   
3. The Corner
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The corner tangent is when two lines in an object meet in a way intended by the artist, but another (accidental) line runs directly into the place where they meet.   
4. The Bump-Up
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A bump-up tangent is when the containing line of one object “bumps up” against the containing line of another object.   When these two lines touch, it creates a bump-up tangent (and even when they don’t technically touch, if it’s close enough to raise eyebrows, they might as well).  The bump-up gives the impression of containment.  In figure 1, it seems as though her ponytail is physically unable to enter the space occupied by the pole.  In figure 2, it feels as though her elbow is unable to LEAVE that space.
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Also, be careful not to let elements of the drawing bump up against your panel borders!  Either give them room to breathe or decisively crop them.   
5. The Directional
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A directional tangent is basically just a long-line tangent that’s been broken by empty space.  Now, this one isn’t always bad – it can, on occasion, be used to draw the reader’s eye through the image on a specifically determined path.
6. The Panel-to-Panel
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This one is exactly the same thing as the directional (in fact, I shouldn’t even classify it as its own thing), save that instead of empty space dividing a long-line it’s a panel gutter. My gutters are crazy wide, but with normal-sized gutters this can be a real problem.   One more thing… This ain’t a tangent, but it is a compositional no-no. 
Fake Panels
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Comics generally have panel borders, so readers are used to having images contained by straight lines.  Some artists don’t allow gutters between their borders.  Though I believe that, as a rule, this can make it harder for new comics readers to follow the story (and new readers are always important), it’s done with enough regularity that we must expect the audience to feel comfortable with gutterless pages.  What does this mean?  It means that we can’t draw a straight line in any panel, either vertical or horizontal, without having some object overlap it.  If we do, readers may think that it is a panel border, incorrectly breaking one moment into two.
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See how the overlap of the elbow causes there to be no question?
That's it for Lesson #1!
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alfheimr · 9 months ago
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mithrun 🌞
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boingopilled69 · 5 months ago
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concerning love triangle moment
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beebeedibapbeediboop · 8 months ago
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Art I did for the csp contest with a music theme :)
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zakutari · 5 months ago
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dont ask how i come up w this. they started as trad doodles but i really think theyre cute. i did genbends of the critters a while ago but didn't think id use the designs again bc they were originally silly jokes but fuck it theyre honestly so fun to draw.. (there's also not much to design lol) i might post those at some point idk. anyways here
originally was just the critters dressed up but this being a school au is cute too?? im not sure tbh either is fine, im not fussed i just wanted to draw them in cute clothes and acting silly😭
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kelogsloops · 9 months ago
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'i hope we're friends in every universe'
#brbchasingdreams
prints | tutorials
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avenoirn · 1 year ago
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Howl's Moving Castle (2004) poster reimagined 🏰
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tunabuna · 7 months ago
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what’s up I love smiling friends
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quisters · 10 months ago
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Studio Ghibli Malevolent
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schwanemannsland · 9 months ago
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💗🍼Smiling Babies🍼💗
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nouverx · 9 months ago
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I absolutely loved the recent duo print of Alastor and Charlie on streamily and I wanted to make an hypothetical duo print of Alastor and Niffty in a similar style. A man can dream 💀
I also wish he had one with Rosie ofc he needs a duo print with all his girlies. Maybe I'll draw that next time who knows
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spiderdotexe · 1 year ago
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these two !
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hatsunemiku-official · 2 months ago
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htasune mkiu quick pleas help me whats 26 × 8 time sensitif questin
you should ask teto this.
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cherrytraveller · 11 months ago
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he's gonna fold his obnoxious ass like a lawn chair.
Leon of MNMC by @mutantninjamidlifecrisis
Twitter || Ko-fi || Instagram
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dailyhatsune · 5 months ago
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fun trivia time about neru and haku’s origins:
neru came from a time when a strange incident occurred and miku’s presence was essentially nearly scraped off the internet following a tv feature deriding miku’s existence. this caused people to get super upset (think the 2007 equivalent of something trending on twitter), assuming that the japanese music industry was intentionally trying to suppress miku (they were not). people who said that wasn’t true were associated with the phrase 飽きた、寝る。(akita, neru/‘i’m done, i’m going to bed’), which was memed a lot. the phrase eventually became a character (亜北ネル as opposed to the original reading) used to represent those people who said the rumour wasn’t true (at their expense)
haku’s origin is significantly less touchy. she was made to represent the mikus who worked with producers who couldn’t take criticism, always complained that their work never took off or didn’t know how to use vocaloid and were surprised that it did not sound Great. the name yowane haku (弱音ハク) is based off the phrase 弱音を吐く (yowane o haku/‘to complain’). on that note, honne dell is a ‘version’, so to speak, of haku that is a derivative of len instead of miku. his name (本音デル) is based off a pun much like haku’s name (本音が出る [honne ga deru/‘one’s true feelings came out’]
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zakutari · 3 months ago
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furry friends<3
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