Hello Raiden.D (please read everything, mainly at the bottom-the end part, where it starts with LISTEN)
BENEFITS:
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Once you have your model sculpted you can use it for what you want (comics, games, animations,etc) so if you are doing a comic this is good to show diferent types of style of your characters and story. (doing different illustrations, etc)
I COULD NOT AGREE MORE WITH YOU (AS I HAVE ALREADY STATED). -
Using ink materials in zbrush you can have a PREVIEW (not a final render) of what your model will look like in a comic book look, so thats why if you want to give that traditional ink style, you need to ink on top of that render in photoshop, because is going to be used like a sketch ( so you save time not doing all the sketches and jump right in the inking stage)
GOOD POINT, THAT LEAVES ROOM FOR ‘STYLE’, I LIKE THAT. QUESTION? HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO INK, IN THIS CASE, ‘A’ CHARACTER? -
Zbrush render’s the flat colors in 2 seconds - traditional comic book artists sometimes pay somebody to do the color flats or spend hours doing themselfs, so here the only thing that makes you spend time on flat color is just to make a render of your model with the flat color material of zbrush and make little adjustments in photoshop to match the inking. So you spend 10 mts doing flats
I LOVE THE IDEA OF THE ‘QUICK’ FLATTING. YOU ARE CORRECT, WE SENT OUT OUR FLATS TO BE DONE BY ‘FLATTERS’, BECAUSE WHILE SOMEONE ELSE WAS DOING THE BORING (BUT NONE THE LESS IMPORTANT) WORK OF FLATTING, WE THE COLORIST COULD CONCENTRATE ON THE ‘COLORING’ PART (OF PAGES WE ALEADY HAD FLATTED). THERE WAS/IS ‘NO TIME’ TO DO THE FLATTING AND COLORING YOURSELF IN THE WAY BOOKS ARE DONE TODAY BECAUSE OF THE LITTLE ‘TIME’ YOU ARE GIVEN TO FINISH A TYPICAL 32 PAGE COMIC BOOK (AND REMEMBER, THE MAJORITY OF THE PAGES ARE ‘PANELED’, NOT ‘ONE SHOTS’). ALSO REMEMBER, THE WAY BOOKS ARE WORKED ON TODAY, THE ‘COLORIST’ IS ALWAYS THE LAST PERSON TO GET THE FINSISHED PAGES (INKED AND FLATTED), AND MORE THAN NOT, THEY NEVER COME WITH ENOUGH TIME, AND SO MANY, MANY A TIMES, YOU FIND YOURSELF ‘RUSHING’ THROUGH PAGES TO MEET THE PUBLISHERS DEADLINE. SO WITH YOUR METHOD OF ‘FLATTING’, THAT IS ALREADY AN ‘UP’ (SPEEDS THINGS ALONG). -
Like tdpubs said once you have all your models you can work the poses, camera angles etc, and that makes you have more freedom to explore your scenes since you have a 3D preview you have a better understanding of the environment here your characters are and try more stuf, its like playing sims and set camera angles to do the renders.
I AGREE.
Of course you can make this render in 20 minutes if you are a great comic book artist with practice and experience,
FOR A ‘ONE SHOT’ (LIKE FOR A COVER OR THE ‘MONEY PAGE’-THAT IS USUALLY SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COMIC BOOK), MAYBE?
for me this one take me 3 days to make, WHY??? because I was testing and experimenting stuff to improve this, but if I remove all the testing and experimenting part well maybe ive done this in 45 mnts! and to be honest I think this brings a lot of benefits for artists that want to make comics using 3D.
AGAIN, I AGREE, 20-40 MIN TOPS, FOR A ‘ONE SHOT’ (AS YOU HAVE BEEN SHOWING). QUESTION: HAVE YOU TRIED THIS TECHNIQUE WITH 3 OR 4 PAGES OF ‘PANELED’ PAGES? AND IF SO, HOW LONG HAVE THOSE TAKEN?
And to answer Dragon question, well this is like an hybrid technique on comics, I already see comic book artists using sketchup to do the environments (like buildings) of a comic, because sketchup has a really cool ink style, but if we see this like a race between traditional and using 3D softwares, we can say that traditional comic book artist will go in front at the starting line while you are modeling the characters, but once you get you models done (maybe here a traditional artist already had publish a first issue) you will start to catch him and since you have 3D models you can use it for everything, promo stuff, 3D printing, animations, and your comic. Wich is a benefit because you dont show you story only in a comic look but in a lot of them (realistic for instance)
COMIC ARTIST HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH ‘THIS’ HYBIRD TECHNIQUE FOR SOME TIME NOW, BUT THE ONE THING THAT HAS ALWAYS KILLED A FULL COMIC BOOK MADE IN 3D IS… TIMING (SPEED). IF YOU ARE MAKING YOUR OWN COMIC BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL THAT TIME IS OF NO CONCERN (YOU FINISH WHEN YOU FINISH), THEN YES, THIS IS A FANTASTIC WAY OF DOING COMICS OR GRAPHIC NOVELS. BUT WHEN YOU ARE DOING IT FOR A LIVING I.E. YOU ARE WORKING WITH SEVERAL PUBLSIHERS AND THEY ARE ALL BREATHING DOWN YOUR NECK TO FINISH THEIR BOOKS ON A GIVEN DATE (MONTHLY), IT IS A WHOLE DIFFERENT BALL GAME. AND TAKE INTO ACCOUNT, YOU FIRST HAVE TO SEND EACH PAGE TO THE ART DIRECTOR FOR APPROVAL AND BOY, THEN THERE ARE THE ADJUSTMENTS THEY WANT DONE TO THE PAGES, SO YOU HAVE TO WAIT ON THAT, THEN, YOU HAVE TO DO THE ADJUSTMENTS AND SEND THEM BACK TO THE ART DIRECTOR FOR APPROVAL AGAIN (OR YOU HOPE, FOR THE FINAL OK-AND THIS IS PER PAGE, EVEN BEFORE YOU INK AND COLOUR). THEN, ONCE EVERYTHING IS APPROVED, YOU HAVE TO GIVE THE PRINTER TIME TO PRINT THE BOOKS AND GET THEM TO THE PUBLISHER, AND THIS IS WITH ONE AND EVERY BOOK YOUR WORKING ON.
THEN YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT MONEY, HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST TO PAY A MODELER TO MODEL EVERTHING IN A ‘PANELED’ PAGE? I AGREE, THAT AFTER SOME TIME, THIS PART WILL PAY FOR IT SELF, BUT THE START UP? AND WHENEVER SOMETHING ‘NEW’ HAS TO BE MODELED, THAT WOULD HAVE TO BE CHARGED AS WELL, CAUSE, TIME IS MONEY.
Well this can be a big discution but for that we need to see more published comics made from a 3D software 
WITH YOU 100% (IF IT CAN BE DONE QUICKLY).
Im still trying to improve this , specially in the shading color and I will keep you updated
Hope I’ve answer all the questions Cheers!!
ANSWERED LIKE A TRUE ARTIST.
LISTEN Raiden.D, incase you have not caught on, I AM NOT BEATING YOU UP HERE-
INSTEAD, I want you to PROVE ME WRONG and in doing so, help my fellow comic book artists that are still burning the midnight oil and as you yourself already commented “…In terms of time, it really depends, for instance this technique is good for artists that doesnt feel confortable to draw but they are good on 3D modeling and post prod. So if you are good in 3D you can make a comic book :)”
And also, think about it, if I did not care, I would not write as much as I have. Let YOU (and with ZBRUSH), be the one that once and for all brings 3D to main stream comic book work. In other words, I simply am your ally-
Your method/work (as everyone has already told you), is out of this world (totally cool-:D) I WANT TO SEE YOU SUCCEED. I stopped doing comics over ten years ago (and I know comics books are still done the same way as many of my friends still practice the craft), but if I can be of any help, just ask.
All the best (cheering you on the side lines-;)), Dragon (Saul D Orihuela).
