OFFICIAL Top Cow Talent Hunt Discussion Thread

[Professional Female Chair]

I'm happy to see that people are sharing their feedbacks, here's mine:

"Cecilia, these pages are really cool stylistically, and I think you should maintain that messy style - but don't let it detract from storytelling. Keep figures tight and don't let the mess get in the way of what you're trying to show. Still, really excellent."

I'm a bit confused of what to do now honestly, I'm afraid to change too much or too little or to touch panels that weren't suppose to be touched :\

[novalir]

I'd take this as keep on doing what you're doing but don't get too experimental with the style - keep the basics intact and the storytelling clear.

Overall it reads very positive so I think you'll be in good shape regardless

[novalir]

First off I just want to say thanks to Top Cow for the valuable feedback and for creating an opportunity like this!

Now, here's what they had to say about my submission:

"James, I like the way you're playing with panels here, but your linework is a little too loose and chaotic.
Try to clean up your lines or structures a bit, as well as focusing on tightening up classical anatomy and perspective."

For some context, I submitted roughs but with one page near completion so this was very helpful in giving me direction on how to proceed with the final.

[seanterry25]

I'm happy to see that people are sharing their feedbacks, here's mine:

"Cecilia, these pages are really cool stylistically, and I think you should maintain that messy style - but don't let it detract from storytelling. Keep figures tight and don't let the mess get in the way of what you're trying to show. Still, really excellent."

I'm a bit confused of what to do now honestly, I'm afraid to change too much or too little or to touch panels that weren't suppose to be touched :\

Don't be confused. Take it at face value. Maintain your "messy" style however look at any panels where it might be going overboard, to where it's detracting from your story, i.e. it's hard to tell what's going on, or the chaos detracts from the scene. Clean up those areas and keep the figure work clean. You're looking for the areas that can be cleaned up, not to reinvent the wheel.

[Jhonesbas]

Hi, I also want to show you the comments: "Jhonesbas, the biggest issue with these pages are the facial work. A lot of stiff expressions and anatomical missteps. Everything else is looking pretty good".

they are very right when I revise again having these annotations I realized that it is true and were errors that I did not realize, but I would like to reive comments about the graphic narrative that was to what more importance to give

[Lulisluc]

Hey, guys. Wanted to share my feedback along with the pages I've sent, since I did not share them here. I'm very thankful for the feedback the Top Cow folks have given me, but I'm a bit confused as to which parts I should tweak, and which ones I should not.

https://lulisluc.deviantart.com/gall...8810/Postal-16

"Lucas, I like how fluid these are, although you occasionally play fast and loose with anatomy, I think it mostly works well. I'd just advise you to avoid too many repetitive faces and panels."

If you guys see panels/faces you think are repetitive I would be very thankfull if you could tell me. Any extra feedback would also be deeply appreciated. Thanks!

[dgilbertson66]

Hey gang. I just wanted to share something that might be useful for both artists and writers. I know this is a fairly popular piece, but if you haven't seen or heard of it, check out "Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That Always Work" wally_woods_22_panels.jpg

As a writer, the amount of description I give to a panel depends on the artist I am writing for. This sometimes means taking the time to describe a series of dialogue-driven panels in an interesting way. On the flip-side, for artists, if a writer doesn't give much direction for panels like this, it can be a challenge to present them in an interesting way. Wally Wood’s 22 Panels can be helpful for either case and, since Postal is a book that often utilizes dialogue-driven scenes, I thought this would be a good place for it.

Hope this helps!

[Aladdin]

I never received any feedback on my Talent Hunt script. Is that still pending? Did my submission fall through the cracks somewhere?

[matthewwead]

Couple of questions regarding POSTAL:

1) Is Eden surrounded by open country? Or is there some sort of fence?
2) Does the Comanche die at any point?

Forgive me. I haven't hunted down the whole series yet, but I need to know. Thanks for your help!

[settlechaos]

I asked earlier if anyone knew the name of Dwayne and Jimmy's boss in Tithe. I would like to get an answer. I reread through volumes one and two of Tithe and I saw several scenes of Dwayne and Jimmy talking to a FBI director about their mission as if she is their boss, but her name is never mentioned. The conversations are very tight and direct and names are never used. The FBI director appears to be a middle aged woman with short hair, so is she their boss? And what is her name? This information is important to the script that I am writing.

[Pauul]

Hey, guys. Wanted to share my feedback along with the pages I've sent, since I did not share them here. I'm very thankful for the feedback the Top Cow folks have given me, but I'm a bit confused as to which parts I should tweak, and which ones I should not.

https://lulisluc.deviantart.com/gall...8810/Postal-16

"Lucas, I like how fluid these are, although you occasionally play fast and loose with anatomy, I think it mostly works well. I'd just advise you to avoid too many repetitive faces and panels."

If you guys see panels/faces you think are repetitive I would be very thankfull if you could tell me. Any extra feedback would also be deeply appreciated. Thanks!

Beautiful work Lulisluc. It's important to remember that Top Cow has a lot of excellent artists submitting. Your work is great, but we can always do better.

I'm not an artist, but yeah, some of the characters look similar - the shape of the face, dark eyebrows etc, but it isn't off putting.

I'm sure other artists on here can give you more accurate feedback, but otherwise, try taking a step back yourself and examining your work.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, Top Cow are just telling you what you can improve.

I think your stuff is already excellent and at a professional level, but obviously the folk at Top Cow think you can do even better.

With so many talented folk submitting, Top Cow really has an embarrassment of riches, when it comes to picking a winner. You don't just have to be good, you don't just have to be professional, you need to raise your game to be the best of the best.

And you have the talent to do that.

[Pauul]

Couple of questions regarding POSTAL:

1) Is Eden surrounded by open country? Or is there some sort of fence?
2) Does the Comanche die at any point?

Forgive me. I haven't hunted down the whole series yet, but I need to know. Thanks for your help!

I asked earlier if anyone knew the name of Dwayne and Jimmy's boss in Tithe. I would like to get an answer. I reread through volumes one and two of Tithe and I saw several scenes of Dwayne and Jimmy talking to a FBI director about their mission as if she is their boss, but her name is never mentioned. The conversations are very tight and direct and names are never used. The FBI director appears to be a middle aged woman with short hair, so is she their boss? And what is her name? This information is important to the script that I am writing.

I'm not familiar enough with the material to answer these questions, guys.

Maybe someone else will be, but the best advice I can give, is don't rely on anyone else.

You haven't read every issue? Go read every issue. Or, at least, any relevant ones.

Use websites like Comic Vine (https://comicvine.gamespot.com/) for research.

You want to know a name of a character? Look up which issues they appear in and see what characters appear in those issues.

Go above and beyond.

I mean, you don't have to. I know Kelly Bender who was a Runner-Up in 2015 wasn't that familiar with the continuity. But I needed to do every bit of research I could. I needed that certainty that I knew the world.

His writing was good enough that he could afford to make mistakes. Me? I wanted to give myself every advantage.

And, when I wrote my entries and Runners-Up strip, that research paid off, I knew exactly what the continuity was.

It's so important for a writer to know how to research.

If there is something you need to know, go find out. If the information is out there, then you'll find it.

[Lulisluc]

Beautiful work Lulisluc. It's important to remember that Top Cow has a lot of excellent artists submitting. Your work is great, but we can always do better.

I'm not an artist, but yeah, some of the characters look similar - the shape of the face, dark eyebrows etc, but it isn't off putting.

I'm sure other artists on here can give you more accurate feedback, but otherwise, try taking a step back yourself and examining your work.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, Top Cow are just telling you what you can improve.

I think your stuff is already excellent and at a professional level, but obviously the folk at Top Cow think you can do even better.

With so many talented folk submitting, Top Cow really has an embarrassment of riches, when it comes to picking a winner. You don't just have to be good, you don't just have to be professional, you need to raise your game to be the best of the best.

And you have the talent to do that.

After I went back and analyzed my submission again, I could see where I could improve and what I should scrap and start from scratch, so thank you for the feedback man! Also, thank you for the amazing help you give us every year! Your the thread's MVP sir!

[Justart27]

So i hit up one of my creative contacts and we are going to tackle this together with his help on inks and colors...but here is my question though....intial submission was just me with lines..now that its tag team...how do we submit artwork and contest legal documents?

Do we both sign the same docs or do we sign and submit different docs? Anyone doing a colllab submission let me know how your handeling it.

[NathanWe66]

Hi Top Cow, I have a quick question: I'm ready to resend my submission having made a few alterations/corrections, do I need to resend a copy of the submission agreement? Obviously the agreement is quite a large file and including it means compressing the art files I send in order to get my email under the 10mb limit.
Nathan