Archive for September, 2007
8 items.
Layout and Writing are made a lot easier in the digital world. This is a good thing: Before the ability to resize and move, it was a real pain to rearrange anything. Liquid paper, scratching paper away, cutting out sections and taping in new ones, it was a real chore. It was of paramount importance to have your layout set at the beginning. This didn`t leave a lot of flexibility to do things like set your dialog
after
you finished drawing. You needed to know beforehand what kind of space you would need. Sure, there was flexibility, but not a lot.
Also, setting the text is real simple. I use the Comic font provided with Windows. I debated writing out my own alphabet and making a custom font, but then even though my letters would be more unique they would still all be uniform. I lose the uniqueness of hand-lettering, but it`s a lot faster. Frankly, it allows me to do the two comics a week I do. Otherwise, even that would not happen.
One could debate the value of that, however. Does the comic strip world really
need
amateur hacks like me? I sidestep that whole argument by doing this for fun.
I have two paths for doing my comics: Analog-Digital and Digital. When I start out in analog, I usually just do the sketch with a .3 mil mechanical pencil and regular leads as they erase easily, have high contrast (are easier to see) and scan well. Then, I ink digitally. I am looking for non-repro blue leads for my mechanical pencil, because I currently use non-repro Prsimacolor pencils if I intend to ink by hand and it`s a pain to sharpen them every two lines. Then I can scan in the inking without the sketchwork.
Lately I`ve been totally digital, sketching directly on my standard comic layout with my Wacom tablet. Despite the fourth panel, I sketched this comic by hand and I think I will move more towards sketching by hand. I like sketching by hand better, but having a digital canvas allows me to resize, drag, add canvas and erase instantly and on the fly. Those are some compelling reasons for digital sketching. Plus, once I have my inks the sketches are for all practical puroses irrelevant. I keep them around because I like looking at them, but they serve no further production purpose.
I have a lot of respect for Jim Davis. Garfield has had an amazing run. It seems that most cartoonists of this generation have picked up a Garfield collection when they were young and were instantly enchanted (For me: Garfield At Large). That`s one heck of an endorsement, no matter how simple or “lowest common denominator” some people may feel the strip is. Garfield gets picked on a lot, and I think that`s telling as well.
Seriously, some comics start off with something that was said or done, but they never end that way. The majority of my ideas actually come to me when I`m doing something mindless: Showering, watching television and the like. Sometimes I get a one-shot idea, sometimes I get an idea for a story arc I want to pursue, and sometimes I get a real jem of an idea that gives me several comics and sometimes they can be organized in to a story arc. The upshot is, I can`t think of a single comic I`ve done off the top of my head which wasn`t jazzed up a bit, though sometimes jazzing up means making it sound like the characters are serious in the comic when they were joking in real life. Some comics are word for word, just dramatized.
I organize my ideas on sticky notes: For generic ideas, I write a sentence or two, sometimes a punchline, sometimes something I want to draw. Several of these go on a single note. For full ideas, I draw/write a small storyboard and each idea then gets one sticky note. If I have a string of inspiration, I get a stack of notes and scratch out a bunch of ideas. I use sticky notes because I keep them all over the place, and when I get an idea, I have to write it down immediately or it is gone. Plus, it`s easy to keep track of what I want to do and I can see and rework my ideas in a neat pile.
I just checked. Oddly enough, I use the real McCoy: Post-It brand sticky notes. I don`t think that`s important to my creative process, however.
I liked the original Ghost Recon. It made a lot of sense, it was a lot of fun…Now, it`s just a bunch of hoopla. The controls were alright, but I did not buy the story at all. I had an easier time getting in to Rainbow Six: Vegas, and I was only riding that train for the excellent cover system. This is simply getting ridiculous now. Tom Clancy, why can`t you just admit you got really lucky with the Jack Ryan series and stop there? Please? We`ll let you take a mulligan and keep your freighterloads of cash. Oh, and the Splinter Cell games can stick around. Just the games.
I`m not as happy with this one as I would like to be. I just don`t think the shading and such came out as well as
What?
did. However, I tried a bunch of different things here, and I lost a lot of space to the rambling text, so this is a totally different beast. Plus, the third panel is pretty good. The glow doesn`t look right at all, but I`m done with it. Not finished, necessarily, but done. Overall, it`s okay.
Uh-oh…What`s going on
here
? I may explore this avenue at a later time, provided there`s interest. It may forever live as a throwaway panel. I was, of course, “recruited” for the USCM, and at first I thought it was a bit much for me, but they have some pretty cool costumes, and they make “interactive” models that light up, “sound” up, have working switches, ammo counters,
etc
. And we all know that I`m a sucker for flashing things. This time next year, I may have participated in an alien hunt. Don`t be surprised.
I didn`t even shade this one, so it looks pretty weird, very minimalist compared to what I normally produce. I`ve been so busy catching up with everything from being out of town that coloring is simply unreasonable. For posterity`s sake, I am posting this Sunday, two whole days later than scheduled. As cool as I think this one would have turned out, I just can`t afford to take more time. Especially with Tuesday rapidly approaching. I think I may experiment more with grayscales to see if that`s any easier than color. If that works, I might move away from coloring all the time, which would help keep me on schedule.
Dragon*Con was amazing, as always. There are many things the eyes simply will never unsee, but overall it is worth it. I will touch on the highlights in the panels and try to keep them related to the paragraphs. Maybe that will explain some of the jokes. Frankly, I hate it when reality comics do that inside joke thing, where they put up some punchline from a weekend of hanging out with their friends, and everyone else is left in the dark. Now, I`m that guy. So, without further adieu, here`s the inside of the inside jokes:
It may surprise some of you, but I really like the comics. The comic strip has always been my favorite version, but the “graphic novel” is high up there. So, I spent a lot of time in the Comic Artist`s Alley(s). I met lots of really cool artists, and got to shake a bunch of hands (and spend too much money on comics). The winner of the show, however, is Ms. Jennie Breeden of
The Devil`s Panties
fame (It`s not Satanic porn…Honest!). She was a sweetheart who didn`t mind talking nonstop with anyone who would show up and was super-friendly the whole time. Also, she participated in this kilt-hunting tradition where people chase Kiltsmen (the Utilikilt is popular around Dragon*Con) with leafblowers. I missed that one, and it might not have been accidental. Anyway, not only is she super-awesome, but I really like her artwork. Great comic strip form.
So, anyway, the inside joke — Apparently I know someone who was at a Ren-Fest once and who made their presence quite noticeable. Apparently Ms. Breeden was also there, and my loquacious friend was the inspiration for something in the background of one of her comics. That was one talking point we discussed, though our conversation did not give that sense of creepiness I implied. I just figured that was more fitting the character.
The second panel was from a game of “Are you a Werewolf?” It`s pretty simple: Everyone who plays gets one of three jobs: Peasant, Werewolf, Seer. The peasants are just peasants, and their sole job is not to die. The werewolves are just as simply motivated to kill non-werewolves. Every “night” (turn), the players all put their heads down, close their eyes, and make noise by slapping/stomping the floor, slapping their leg, etc., leaving one hand free. The werewolves are called to “awaken” (open their eyes) first and pick a victim. They go back to “sleeping”. The seer awakens next, picks a victim, and the referee tells them if that person is a werewolf or not. Then the seer goes back to sleep, then the whole town awakens (unless you play with crack-addled rules which add a bunch of jobs). The mauled victim is removed from the game, and the rest of the villagers get to lynch one person if they choose. Play proceeds until only one non-werewolf remains.
The werewolf part of the comic, now that you know the rules, should be pretty much self-explanatory. Apparently this game echoes the concept of a game called “Mafia” which I have never heard of, and because of that similarity, my excited recounting of the rules was met with apathy. Just because I`ve never been exposed to Mafia doesn`t mean the game is any less interesting…
The last panel is also pretty self-explanatory…I did see a Stormtrooper with a sack full of toys. A Santa Trooper. I did say, “That`s what I`m talking about. You never hear about Rebel Scum doing this sort of thing.” The trooper replied that someone had to deliver toys to all the children, even those of Rebel sympathizers. I told him and the officer who was nearby that the Empire got such a terrible rap, and that`s a shame. Plus, I think the Rebels are terrorists. They agreed with my assessment. Damn Rebel scum.
The somethingorother Galactic Union of Death Star workers was there as well…I guess the ones that managed to escape. Rebel terrorist scum.