Sappho gets graphic in “House of the Muses”

Computer generated graphic novels?

It looks shockingly bad. Nothing beats real art. It just looks like those bad exerpt problem stories in The Sun newspaper or something, hehe.

Is a new fad in comic books and graphic novels, and while it is economic and produces results despite the skill of the artist, unless one is incredibly proficient at the medium, it often appears, as stated in the article "like simulations". Comic art has such a history, and these days a plethora of fantastic artists, I would like to see this writer teaming up with an artist in the more traditional writer/artist pairing of the graphic novel world.

Wouldn't Sappho's story look great under the sketches and ink of:

Frank Miller (http://moebiusgraphics.com/)

Jospeh Michael Linsner (http://www.linsner.com/)

Rebecca Guay (http://www.rebeccaguay.com/)

Todd McFarlane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_McFarlane)

Charles Vess (http://www.greenmanpress.com/whatsold.html)

As a writer who has worked in the collaborative process of graphic novels, I understand how the artist assists in the creation of the piece, visually telling a story just as deep as the one told by the narration and dialogue. The text-heavy telling of this story did not do much good for the genre and I certainly hope Sappho can get another look-over by someone who is versed in the interplay of image and text that is so vital to graphic novels. Because, after all, she is pretty much the first lesbian role model.

 

I'm still undecided. I want to like it, because hello, all things greek and ancient! And lesbian to boot! And I do like the light/shadow effects in 3D images very much, it's so wonderfully consistent, and I like the contrast. But the faces seem so empty it's a little troublesome to look at them. And yet the text is very nice, a bit like a sappy Xena fanfic, which I'm very partial too. Hmm... I'll definitely give the online stuff a try, and then we'll see...

Not a big fan of the 3D graphics used this way, and I must admit I'd be more interested in this graphic novel were the art more traditional.  I don't know much about the medium though, besides what I like.

Oh wow, this looks really bad. Like Second Life avatars or something.  It looks more like a rough draft than a final product. The figures are stiff and the colors are washed out. There's plenty of illustrators and sequential artists out there needing work. Why give it to a computer artist with no understanding of composition and figure drawing?

the graphics kind of scares me but the idea of it sounds okay

I didn't like the idea of a computer-generated comic book. It would be better to read with the "normal" kind. I think it looks a little... unprofecional of some kind. I wish I could explain. Not that it isn't good looking, only not to a graphic novel. But  But I'll give it a try anyway.

I might have been interested in this but the graphics make my eyes bleed.

Has nobody heard of the uncanny valley? 

As others have said, those visuals are pretty awful.  Not my style at all.

I love historical accounts, stories set in the ancient past and graphic novels and of course "women loving women" storylines. but as many others have pointed out already the art needs some getting used to.

While I am not against computer graphics (I am an avid gamer after all) these ones look awful compared with the amazing comic art that is out there now. not being a fan of the sims might be a reason. imo the art looks like a 10 year old computer game. very outdated, plain and almost  sterile. no depth. since comics are a visual medium I am having a hard time getting invested in characters that basically look plain and without depth.

with different visuals I would probably read this graphic novel.

------------------------------------------------------
No on H8! pics

I don't think that 3-D computer generated art has a place in comics, it looks lame and takes out the emotion. Not only that, but on reading some of the pages you have up the dialogue seems a bit over done. It seems a little tacky to me.

You will spend more of your time reading the story than looking at the art.  It's a little messy in some frames.  It doesn't look natural.  It's something to burn the time, but didn't speak to me.  And what's with the reference to "little bird droppings"? Seriously, there are times I was reading it and couldn't figure out what the author was really attempting to say or if she just had poor english skills... or maybe a bad translation??

If you're an upside down purple people eater who happens to believe in aliens and you can get the job done, I'm voting for you.  Period.  

www.myspace.com/lunakiss7

I'm not sure about this I think it's interesting that the graphic artist attempts to combine 3-D images and poetry together. If you call it poetry. It's so lost in translation. She probably needs to update the language a bit and create her style of Sappho poetry. It's difficult for any modern-day writer to revert back to thr original language of any poet and succeed in it. Before I left college in 2001, there's a class in my last semster about graphics. The school newspaper did an article about the declined of comics/graphic novels. Maybe this trend of 3-D graphics in comic novels are trying to increase sales or perhaps take advantage of new computer-aged technology. The question this graphic artist needsto ask,is it working within its medium form?

I don't know. 3-D seems to work for fil and television which is already a two-three dimensional surface. Graphics are created on a flat one dimensinal surface. I'm not sure if it works great on paper.  I have to give her props on  her innovative ideas of a sappho graphic novel.

"I was suddenly swept away by the fragrant scents of her perfume, an exotic, musky scent that drew my breath sharply in pangs of excruciating desire."

 I absolutely love the story and the mega use of adjectives. I also love the computer art..but somehow the two of them just don't taste right together...Ya know what I mean?

I've chased rainbows all my life..and I've finally found my treasure..her name is ~Anna~.

Not bad as you can see the determination of the artist to create it. Really imitates the Sims. Although,i must say this will look much better with hand graphics/drawings. A comic always looks better with hand drawn.

dónde hay amor, hay el dolor

CG art isn't that bad at all, I enhance hand-drawn things nicely since I don't draw very well. But this one is kinda weird. It just exaclty like Sims. While reading those, I was kinda waiting for them to move or say something gibberish like "tataloo!"

The hardware used is probably not that powerful to render it better? Also reminds me of playstation/xbox games

-MJ

Spread the RAINBOW!

http://mgayness.livejournal.com

Linster, you were MORE than generous. I'd like to thank you for your very kind review.

I'm grateful to all of the rest of you for your opinions of the first book of my series. I do understand that there are certain demographics that do not "get" it; but not enough to be of any concern.

And as for suggestions on doing the series in pencil and ink?  I did my own pencils for several pages of Book Three after a critic had gotten under my skin.  But now I've got my groove on, I realized they were wasting my time.  So now the work is evolving, getting better.  People actually DO read it and enjoy it and take the time to write and tell me so, and that's what REALLY counts, after all.

Perhaps not surprisingly, my widest readership is among lesbian teens who are very open to the format and story, and very surprisingly, hetero men and women who all make note that finally the Sappho story is accessible to a much wider audience and no longer the jealously guarded secret limited only to erotic porn and mature audience readerships.

The rating of this series was changed several months ago to Teen+ and has been extended to nine issues. For those of you who are curious to know more but not ready to make the jump, go have a look at the synopsis of the entire series at http://houseofthemuses.com/

http://www.drunkduck.com/House_of_the_Muses_3/index.php?p=490767