Graphic Novel Practice

[InGaN]

Sketchbook for stuff I’m working on related to a graphic novel I’d like to (continue to) try creating.

After a few years doing other things, I am working again on the graphic novel project. Beginning with some practice, seeing what’s up with my favorite toolschains and what’s new (in Blender 2.8, Eevee, Manuel Bastioni Lab, Marvelous Designer, Blendswap).

Eevee is fast and I like it.

MB-Lab 2.8 compatible version from Github

Blend Swap | Sink

Blend Swap | Bathroom

Working on transforming toon shaders like these

Experiments with NPR/Toon shading in Eevee

I’d like to share some details about my humble npr shading experiments during the recent weekend challenge. The concept is actually pretty simple, but it can yield quite interesting results. Note: These shaders can only work with Eevee cus “Shader to RGB” node is not supported by Cycles. Default diffuse shader for reference: [default_diffuse] Basic toon shader with predefined color stops: [npr2_1] Procedural colors based on a light source: [npr3_2] And finally noise texture …

Into what you see in the image
I need to get the alpha stuff fixed so that I don’t have to composite later.
I put the toon shader on the figure only, rendered separately and composited in the GIMP.
But hopefully can integrate it all soon.

One thing I’m learning is that when I assign everything a color and texture it often starts to look ugly, clashing, and not so cinematic. So I tend to stick with one material for most items.

[InGaN]

I integrated it, though the shader can still be cleaned up, now I don’t have to go into the GIMP and overlay the shadows layer.

Left: “ink” shadows are fully black
Middle: “ink” shadows are mixed
Right: No “ink” shadow layer

The material also needs to have the Blend Mode and Shadow Mode set to something that supports alpha.

This is still building on Experiments with NPR/Toon shading in Eevee

Use guide:

The main shader is plugged in as shown in the annotated area, and can be whatever you like. Change it to another shader as you like.

The amount of coverage is set using the ColorRamp as shown in the image. Move it left and right to get more or less area.

The two (main shader, ink shadows) are mixed with a Mix node (not the mix shader node) so that you can play with the different modes (I have it set to Multiply mode in the screenshot). Change the mode or the factor to affect the mix.

I like when the area is dark enough to see the cartoonish line, but light enough to allow the textures and complexities of the underlying area to shine through.