webcomic.cc

Jicoo Magician Chapter.2 page.5

2010-09-19T00:26:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm Shig. I live in Chiba Prefecture in Japan.

In Japan the heat was terrible this summer, but it has softened for these several days, so I could sleep well last night.

The proverb says, 'No heat or cold lasts over the equinox'. That's right.

Well, I translated the page 5 of the webcomic "Jicoo Magician, Chapter 2" from Japanese into English.

As usual, vocal data is left untouched.

See you!

Jicoo Magician Chapter.2 page.4

2010-07-23T01:26:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm Shig. Thanks for visiting Webcomic.cc blog.

Yesterday I finished translating the page 4 of the webcomic "Jicoo Magician, Chapter 2" from Japanese into English.

As usual I took a lot of time to translate the dialogues in the speech balloons.

Oh, no...it seems I'll never improve my English, no matter how many years I study.

It's easy I hand my manuscripts to the professional translator, but that's no good.

Because I think most translators are not familiar with the Japanese Manga & Anime.

So I'd like to send the informations by myself.

Well, see you!

Jicoo Magician Chapter 2 page 3

2010-05-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Shig. Thanks for visiting Webcomic.cc blog.

As I finished translating the page 3 of the webcomic "Jicoo Magician, Chapter 2" from Japanese into English, I uploaded the files to the server just now.

Every time I have a hard time to translate the webcomics, but this page translated easier than I had thought.

By the way, a speaker of the UFO style has appeared on this page.

The UFO speaker is Blue's favorite tool. (Blue is a magician and he is a hero of this story.)

And it is not just a speaker but it has many useful functions.

What functions?

It's secret.

But if you see the functions, surely you must want to get this useful tool.

Well, see you!

Update after a long time!

2010-04-09T00:12:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Shig. I have updated this blog after a long interval.

I have been busy since last update, so it was all I could work on the Japanese webcomic.tv site.

But At last I'll be able to take time off to translate the Japanese contents into English.

I have changed a top page design at the beginning.

I'm going to increase the contents of Webcomic.cc site, little by little.

Please click the image above to see the Webcomic.cc site.

Japanese Tezuma Magic

2007-02-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

Hi How are you?
I'm Shig.
I uploaded the Webcomic '4D Magician' at page 15 with difficulty.
I had to comment on the Tezuma in detail in the page.
It was no easy job for me to translate the explanation of Tezuma into English.
I stayed up all night translating.

In Japan, Western magic is the main stream now.
Japanese peculiar magic is called Tezuma and is on the verge of extinction.
Some famous programs of Tezuma are as follows.

Kochou no mai(Paper Butterfly)
"Kochou no mai(Paper butterfly)" is one of the most famous performances of Tezuma.
Butterflies which are made of paper hover over a sensu(a folding fan).

Thumb tie
First of all, the magician ties his thumbs with the strings.
Next, a sword goes through between his thumbs.
Strange to say, a sword doesn't cut the strings at all.

By the way, in the fourth cartoon panel we learn the surprising fact.
Gosh! Kurota the cat is the chief adviser of military affairs in Suzume army.
Is it all right?

The upper picture is a screen capture of the webcomic '4D Magician' at page 15.
You can see the multimedia edition of this image in the following URL address.
http://webcomic.tv/4d/chap1p15_e.html

Panorama

2007-02-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

Hi, I am Shig.
I have been making the Webcomic '4D Magician' since last year.
And I uploaded the Webcomic '4D Magician' at page 14 just some time ago.

At first cartoon panel, I tried panoramic animation in the background.
Animals in the forest surround and threaten him.
Panoramic animation is effective to express the scene in a high state of tension.
But I am not satisfied with the workmanship.
Because a feeling of panoramic rotation is not expressed enough.
When I make panoramic animation next time, I will bear it in mind.

My webcomic is a multimedia comic.
So it is possible to introduce various ideas.
I am always happy when I make trials of various ideas.
But these works take time very much.
I am short of time.

The upper picture is a screen capture of the webcomic '4D Magician'
at page 14.
You can see the multimedia edition of this image in the following URL address.
http://webcomic.tv/4d/chap1p14_e.html

Webcomic "Inhabitants of the Kuriha Woods"

2007-01-19T04:48:00.000-08:00

Hi, I am Shig. How are you?
I uploaded the Webcomic '4D Magician' at page 13 several hours ago.

In this scene, the animals gather around Mr.Blue and surround him.
Of course Suzume,the female Ninja is manipulating the animals.
She said, "Ho-ho-ho. Prepare to die!".
Blue is in a desperate situation.
Animals such as an eagle, a horse and a bear threaten Blue.
What will his future be like?

A bitmap of an eagle was so huge that I had a hard time to compress a swf(Flash) file.
I think I could do a multimedialike expression.
But it is not so good about the expression of a horse.
There is room for improvement as for the part of a shadow of a horse.

The upper picture is a screen capture of the webcomic '4D Magician' at page 13.
You can see the multimedia edition of this image in the following URL address.

http://webcomic.tv/4d/chap1p13_e.html

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 12

2007-01-04T08:01:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year!
Hi, I am Shig who is a webmaster of webcomic.tv site.
I'd like to continue producing the Webcomic '4D Magician' this year, too.

The upper picture is a screen capture of the webcomic '4D Magician' at page 12.
You can see the multimedia edition of this image in the following URL address.
http://webcomic.tv/4d/chap1p12_e.html
I'm going to comment about this page today.

At the 1st panel Suzume who is a female Ninja has thrown the Kunai at Blue.
Do you know a Kunai?
Kunai is known as the weapon used by ninja.
The ninja dug the ground with a kunai.
When a ninja steals into a castle, the kunai was used for climbing, as either a kind of grappling hook, or a piton.
And they often hurl a kunai at an enemy in substitution for a Shuriken("hand hidden blade").
In short the kunai was a multi-purpose tool for a ninja.

By the way, I think that I was able to use sound effects well this time.
Suzume whistled for her animals.
Then a wolf answered by howling.
I was able to express area of a forest by using these sound effects well.

I'm going to upload the subsequent page one of these days.

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 11

2006-12-16T01:09:00.000-08:00

Hi I am Shig.
I have just uploaded the Webcomic '4D Magician' at page 11.

I had much difficulty in translating from Japanese into English this page.
Because there are many lines in this page.
It took much time to translate the dialogue in my poor English.

By the way, you find the name of Kashin Koji at the second panel
in the comic strip.
Kashin Koji is one of the famous NINJA in Japanese NINJA novels.
He seems to have been the NINJA who used magic.
They say he took the form of a mouse.
In addition, he was able to show an illusion of a dead person.
But I don't know whether he was a real person in history.

Kurota the Cat said, "Kashin Koji in question is going to take over
our Kuriha village."
A decisive battle of Iga NINJA vs. Kashin group is going to begin.

What will Blue's fortune be like?

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 10

2006-12-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

Hi, I am Shig.
I have updated my Webcomic.tv blog after a long interval.
I'd like to update my blog frequently.

I uploaded the Webcomic '4D Magician' at page 10 just now.

In this page there is the name of Nobunaga Oda.
Nobunaga Oda(1534-1582) was a major daimyo during the Azuchi-
Momoyama period of Japanese history.
He attacked the Iga province where Iga Ninja lived.

At the 4th panel of the comic strip, Blue who is the hero of this story
turned pale hearing the name of Nobunaga Oda.

Why did he pale? He feared Nobunaga? No.
He realized that he had moved backward to different points in time,
that is to say, he moved from 2050 to the late 16th century.

How will he survive Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan?

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 9

2006-11-14T00:17:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Shig. How are you?
I have just uploaded the Webcomic '4D Magician' at page 9.

In this page you can hear the female NINJA Suzume's voice.
The voice actor who plays the Suzume's voice has taken part in the work.
(Sorry, the voices have not been dubbed into English.)

I added much animation to this page, so swf(Flash) data size amounted to 217 KBytes.
If you access Internet with broadband, you can enjoy the webcomic comfortably.

A webcomic page is composed of several frames.
And I'd like to give an interactive reaction on each frame if possible.
But it takes too much time to do it.

To make the webcomics(multimedia comics) I have to integrate of several media
(e.g. text, voices, graphics, animation, interactivity).
It is not easy work, to be sure.
But I am now happy to make the webcomics.

English webcomics coming soon!

2006-10-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

Hello, I'm Shig.
I'm a webmaster of the Webcomic.tv site.

I'm preparing to open the English webcomics site
in which I will exhibit the English webcomics contents.
At present I put the Japanese contents and the English contents into the same Web server.
But I'm going to separate about these two contents.
And I will set up the English webcomics contents on another server.

Why will I separate these two contents?
I want to comment on the history of Japanese comics on the English webcomics site.
And I want to comment on a trend of recent Japanese comics on that site.
But the Japanese are not interested in those things
because they know about those things enough.
So I'm going to put the Japanese webcomics into the Webcomic.tv server,
and put the English webcomics into another server.

There is fear that I may fail.
Because I am not so good at English,
so I may be unable to tell the readers my intention well.

I am going to try hard in order to tell Japanese comics culture all over the world.
Please expect the English webcomics site!

Suzume Enters

2006-10-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

Just now I uploaded the Webcomic '4D Magician' at page 8.

Since Suzume who is the heroine of this comic entered,
the comic became gay a little bit.
She is a female ninja and has a faculty for manipulating the animals freely.

She is clever and is honest in spite of being a NINJA.
She talks in a command tone to the others.
Because she is the queen of animals.
Since she grew up in animals, she is also as innocent as a newborn baby.

By the way, she wears simple clothes which is made from the fur.
Her plain clothes enhance her wild charm.

The child whom she is carrying on her back is Kintaro.
He is a baby ninja.
He will play an active part soon.

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 7

2006-10-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am Shig.
I'm a webcomic creator.
I have just uploaded the webcomic "4D Magician" at page 7.

I make the webcomic pages of a Japanese version first.
And I translate Japanese dialogues into English next.
But the voices have not been dubbed into English.
Because the friend who can speak native English is not around me.
Someday I find the voice actors who can speak native English,
and want to dub the voices into English.

And I want to speed up work.
Since I have taken over three roles(scenario writer, CG designer
and programmer), I am very busy.
The work may be done easily and quickly if shared by many people.

But the author's originality is required for a comics work.
The originality may be spoiled if shared by many people.

I will make the webcomic in the present way for the time being.

Close-up picture of Suzume

2006-09-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

A female NINJA "Suzume" appears on the Webcomic "4D Magician" at last.
But the modeling data of Suzume has not been completed yet.
It is difficult to express the expressions of her face in particular.

It is not difficult to make a smiling face and an angry face simply.
It is difficult to make the expressions of her face suitable for her character.

The upper picture is a close-up picture of Suzume who is in woods.
I used Carrara5 in order to get a photo-realistic image.
Hair became a real image like a photograph.
But I failed in expression of the textures of skin.
I applied the textures of skin onto polygons, but since the distance
from the surface to the light was near, the textures of skin have disappeared.

I'm planning to make the many characters appear on the Webcomic "4D Magician".
So I have to make many 3D models of them after this.
I am likely to become busy in the autumn of this year.

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 6

2006-09-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm Shig.
I have been creating a Webcomic "4D Magician" for these several months.
I have just uploaded the Webcomic '4D Magician' at page 6.
The upper picture is the screen capture of the webcomic at page 6.

I have got experienced in the multimedia creating work of a webcomic.
So, my work speed is becoming quick.
And I can spend many hours, in order to improve the quality of the work.

At the beginning, I was going to add the game-elements to the webcomic.
However, at present, the proposal is not realized.
I cannot decide whether I should add the game-elements to the work.

Because, most readers read a webcomic, in order to enjoy the story.
But the game-elements may interfere with advance of the story.
I think that the readers should concentrate their attention on the story.

I am going to consider this problem for a while.

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 5

2006-09-12T23:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I uploaded the Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 5.
The upper picture is the screen capture of the webcomic at page 5.

The glasses which Mr.Blue wears are HMD(Head Mounted Display).
He is a hi-tech armed magician.
It is difficult for a hand-drawn picture to represent a high-tech magic.
But it's easy for CG picture.

Webcomic "4D Magician" is a multimedia comic which is represented by
several media(e.g. text, voices, graphics, animation, interactivity).
The multimedia comics have not spread yet.
However, I think that the multimedia comics will be popular slowly.
Since the artists can unify several media, power of expression
becomes large for the artists.

But it may become hard work for the artists...

Japanese baby sling

2006-09-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

The other day I made a picture of Japanese sling.
The upper picture is it.
A female NINJA whose name is Suzume is carrying a baby on her back
with a Japanese baby sling.

Unlike European and American baby sling, a Japanese traditional baby sling
carries a baby on one's back.
Suzume is carrying the baby on her back.
Therefore, she can't see the baby's face.
But it is okay with her.
Because the baby is the NINJA, and the baby is not her child.
She does not want to see the baby's face.

Many NINJAS are due to appear in the Webcomic "4D Magician".
Of course, many stage properties also come out.
For example, a sword, a Shuriken("hand hidden blade"), a NINJA's clothes, etc.

I will have a hard time to make these CG data!!

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 4

2006-08-31T06:29:00.000-07:00

The upper picture is the 4th page of the Webcomic "4D Magician".
This tale has just started.
A showy scene has not come out yet. But the NINJA will appear soon.
Since NINJA versus MAGICIAN fighting will start soon,
the exciting scenes will be seen.

A long time ago, in Japan, magic was called "Tezuma".
In late years European and American magic is the mainstream than Japanese Tezuma.
Blue who is the hero of this tale is a high-tech magician.

And the NINJA is a globally popular Japanese superhuman secret agent.
They are masters of a sword or a Shuriken("hand hidden blade").
Moreover, they are good at witchcraft.

If a Magician fights against a Ninja, which wins ?

Webcomic authoring way

2006-08-22T23:55:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am Shig, the webmaster of Webcomic.tv site.

I am gradually becoming accustomed to the webcomic authoring work.
I am using the following tools, in order to make a webcomic.

Modeler: Metasequoia, Lightwave3D
* Metasequoia is a japanese polygon modeler for 3DCG.
Renderer: Currara5, Poser, Vue
Retouch: Fireworks
Authoring: Flash8
Sound Edit: Sound it!

Please see the upper picture.
I am just going to stock the rendered images in the layers.
I rendered the characters and the background separately.
At the beginning, I rendered the character models in the Vue.
However, this way was not so good.
It is because the characters were not conspicuous for a background.
So I rendered the character images separately.
Of course I was cautious of lighting and shadows at that time.

Next, the above-mentioned pictures and the data of voice are read into Flash.
I made the cartoon panels, masks and some buttons in Flash layers beforehand.
And I have only to control the motions along the timeline.
At this time, an interesting animation can be expressed according to an idea.

I am still in the stage of trial and error.
When the technique of me is established,I want to write a webcomic work procedure again.
See you!

Webcomic "4D Magician" at page 3

2006-08-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am Shig, the webmaster of Webcomic.tv site.

I uploaded the third page of the webcomic "4D Magician".

Making this took time very much.
It was difficult to draw the expression of his faces by 3DCG.
And I sometimes use Macromedia Flash on business,
but it is the first time to make a webcomic with Flash.
Therefore the pattern making a webcomic has not been completed yet.
I want to accustom myself to this work as soon as possible.

Next time I am going to show you my Flash authoring way.

See you !

Webcomic "4D Magician"

2006-08-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm Shig.

Today I uploaded the volume for two pages of webcomic "4D Magician".

"4D Magician" is a Multimedia comic which is integrated of several media
(e.g. text, voices, graphics, animation, interactivity).
Therefore making the webcomics are not only difficult but takes time.
But the works are pleasant for me.

I translated the dialogues into English.
But the voices have not been dubbed into English.
Because the voice actors are all Japanese.
The friend who can speak native English does not live near me.
She lives in the distance, so I cannot order it to her easily.

The completion portions of the webcomic "4D Magician" are few.
I am going to exhibit the continuations as soon as I make them.

See you!

New-type multimedia comics

2006-08-02T00:43:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm Shig.

I am writing my blogs in Japanese and English.
Since I am not good at English, it is not easy to write my blog in English.
I want not only the Japanese but many people of foreign countries
to see the Webcomic.tv site.

Japanese comics and animation cultures are globally famous.
But the Webcomics which I am making differ from the ordinary comics
drawn on paper.
I am making new-type multimedia comics.

The upper picture is one scene of the Webcomic "4D Magician".
A female ninja by the name of Suzume and a cat by the name of Kurota
are drawn on the picture.
It is difficult to express the delicate looks of human by 3DCG.
I am studying about the expressions now.

Of course, I am also doing the authoring work at the same time.

See you!

"4D Magician", authoring work

2006-07-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm Shig.

I started the webcomic authoring a few days ago.

The upper picture is the scene where I am authoring.
The software tool is Macromedia(Adobe) Flash.

Compared with ordinary comics, multimedia comics requires
time and labor very much.
Because the multimedia comics include not only text and pictures
but animation, voices and etc.

I like ordinary comics which are drawn on paper.
But this is the age of the Internet.
I want to enjoy the comics of new style.

I am creating the webcomic "4D Magician" by trial and error.
I am going to show you it in the near future.

See you!

He is not ICARUS

2006-07-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hi! I am Shig.

I opened the webcomic.tv site in May.
And in this blog I am writing the work diary of the webcomic.

Today I pondered the story of the webcomic "4D Magician".

Blue who is the hero of this comic is cornered at the precipice.
But he is a magician. He has the magic wings.
He tries to fly by his magic wings.
But somehow his wings does not work.
He falls to the ground head over heels.

The upper picture is the scene where he falls.
He is not Icarus. He is Blue The Magician.

See you.

"4D Magician" Rough Drawing

2006-07-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello, I am Shig.
How are you?

The work of webcomic "4D Magician" is advancing little by little.

I added three pages of rough drawings of "4D Magician".
I have not translated the dialogues of comic strip into English yet.
Sorry! Those who cannot read Japanese may be unable to understand these rough drawings.
I am going to translate them at the time of authoring work.

Usually I draw the final pictures using a pen and a brush.
Then, ordinary comics will be completed.
But the webcomic which I'm going to create is different from ordinary comics.
I am going to create a multimedia comic by unifying some elements.
Those elements mean text, graphics, animation, music, voice, interactivity, etc.

The story board is still incomplete.
But I'm going to begin the multimedia authoring work anyway.
I have the work which must be checked.

See you!

Opening Animation beta version

2006-07-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

Last night, I uploaded beta version of the opening animation of the webcomic "4D Magician".

It is the animation which the characters of "4D Magician" dance to disco music.
This animation became considerably better than the last work.

However, the magic-expressions are not expressed in this animation.
Moreover, there is also no atmosphere of a fourth dimensional world in it.
I have to add those elements into the animation.

By the way, I made the music with the composition tool "Dance eJay 2".
I do not have a talent of music composition.
But I can make the music compositions in a short time.
This software tool is very helpful.

I have to manage a lot of work to make the webcomic.
But I am very pleasant to do it.

Next time, I will show you new rough drawings.

See you!

Opening animation

2006-07-09T23:39:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday today.
I was making the opening animation of "4D Magician" all day long today.
Although the rough drawings of "4D Magician" are not still complete,I am going to do them later.
The plan for the animation is as follows.

The characters of "4D Magician" dance to disco music.
They perform magic good at each.

I began making music first.
But I don't have a talent of making music.
I decided to use the software tool for making music.
Many sound pieces are prepared in the tool.
What I should do only places them in a favorite row.
Although it is still incomplete, it is likely to become the music which you begin to want to dance.

Next, I began authoring work.
The upper picture was made using Macromedia Flash.
And the SWF format was changed into the GIF format.
(Music has not been added yet.)

This work gives a somewhat lonely atmosphere.
I am going to remake this work.
I'll show you a new work a few days after.

See you !

2006-07-07T01:38:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm Shig.
I have uploaded five pages of rough drawings in webcomic.tv site.

I have to do many works, in order to make a mutlimedia comic.
The work is advancing. But just a little bit...

I drew the rough sketches with a pencil.
Then, I scanned the rough sketches with the scanner and retouched them with an image-editing tool.
Although they are rough sketches, exhibiting them on the Web requires time and labor.

I am going to draw more several pages of rough sketches.
And I'll begin the authoring work which is the following stage for the time being.

See you !

2006-07-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm Shig.
I have uploaded a new page in Webcomic.tv site.
On that page, explanation of the graphics in "4D Magician" is written.

At the beginning, I thought of three kinds of pictures, in order to draw the webcomics "4D Magician."

Hand-drawn picture
3DCG
CG-filtered picture

I chose 3DCG in consideration of the contents of the tale "4D Magician".
By the way, the upper picture is hand-drawn.

I am tackling 3DCG work for the first time in years.
Since the latest personal computer and latest CG tools are highly efficient,
I can do work quickly.
A long time ago, since my personal computer was low spec., I felt dizzy for stress.

And although I use Poser application, this tool has a function of dynamic hair.
Thanks to this function, I can grow hair to an object easily.

Now, my next work is creation of a storyboard.

See you !

2006-06-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hello. I have'nt written to you for five days.

I have been making Suzume's CG data for a few days.
The picture above shows female ninja "Suzume" and animals of her fellow.
It is necessary to make the expression of her face.
But I'm going to interrupt the Suzume's CG work.
I should begin the rough draft work.

By the way, the progress report at present is as follows.

plot … Settled
character(the main characters) … Settled
rough drawings … Coming soon
about graphics … Coming soon
sound & voice … Coming soon
about authoring … Settled
this volume(4D Magician) … Coming soon

I want to begin the rough draft or explanation of the graphics tomorrow.

See you !

2006-06-23T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hello. I'm Shig.
I opened webcomic.tv site last month.
In this blog I'm going to show you a making diary of webcomics.

Yesterday I designed Suzume who is heroine of this story.

Suzume is a female ninja.
She is a specialist who is manipulates animals freely.

The upper picture is a rough sketch and a computer graphic.
I tried to express Suzume's wild atmosphere.
It's still incomplete.