Archive for August, 2008
11 items.
I tried some different background shading techniques here, and tried to vary how I handled the lighting, but just a little bit. The light in the last panel comes from the far left. It`s getting there, but it`s still new territory for me. I like the silhouette in the second panel and may use that more to spice up blank backgrounds.
You know, I should probably mention my knock on Wikipedia. I`m a big fan of peer review. Academia, however, has it wrong right now. Peer review shouldn`t take over a year, shouldn`t be so political, and shouldn`t be the measure of a career. It should simply be a filter, a filter of experience and know-how. It helps separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. That doesn`t mean everything that gets through is good, or everything that fails is bad, but it`s one way to find good avenues to pursue.
Which is where Wikipedia falls in — they should collect the wheat that ends up on the threshing floor, ready to be burned. I like where they`re going. It should work, in theory. You know, like Communism. The problem is that in reality, you get a bunch of jerks who ruin everything. To prevent this, they had administrators, automated analysis, and other tools to help monitor work on Wikipedia and “revert changes” (a.k.a. “set it straight”) based on the administrator`s whims. Basically, it`s a peer review system for a site that prides itself on its lack of peer review, the place that is supposed to buck the system. It`s an impractical system which is brough up to speed by false assumptions.
It`s a great place to get some casual information that is of no relevance, but if you need something important, I`d suggest peer-reviewed sources. If you can`t wait 24 hours for a peer review, you should probably be calling 911 anyway. It`s a fun casual exercise, but I certainly wouldn`t settle a bet with Wikipedinformation (I just made that up).
Here`s a short story to fill the time before Dragon*Con, which will be followed by a few comics of what I saw there through the eyes of the main character. I like his unaccustomed and naive take on Dragon*Con. It`s also an exercise in adding detail. Her costume is relatively unadorned, but I had to stop somewhere. I can only ink so small.
Sometimes, I open the paper and say, “Man, the Russkies are up to their old tricks again!” Then I say, “That means WE`LL be up to OUR old tricks again.” Then I wonder if it`s totally reprehensible (from a moral standpoint, of course) to buy stock in Boeing on the anticipation that we`ll be sending Cruise Missiles somewhere…
So far, no Boeing stock.
Wow, 200…I never thought I`d make it this far. I usually give up on things pretty quickly. Turns out I may actually enjoy drawing. Go figure!
Thus ends the lobsterette storyline. I wouldn`t expect to see her back. Eve may pop up from time to time, however. She`s too fun to draw NOT to give our protagonist grief.
The soup can is a crude and incorrectly rendered Warhol parody. I went generic intentionally, but swung further than I had intended to. Should have checked the reference material first. I chose Warhol because he also did paintings of comic strips. So, it`s a comic of a painting by a comic-painting artist. For those of you familiar with The Soup, it`s a Keith Olbermann / Joel McHale mashup all over again. If not…Get familiar. Best show on TV currently. I will actually excuse myself of my no TV policy for The Soup…even though, since I don`t watch TV, I constantly have to ask what`s going on.
I really phoned in the coloring job on this one. I`m behind and trying to get other stuff done, so I skipped pretty much all the shading and did a real quick job on the rest. Sorry. At least there`s a comic.
I`m also kind of disappointed in the writing on this one. I had a better idea…I think…but it`s gone now. I think it gets the point across, but it could have been better.
I know some people are…well, sad`s too strong a word, but slightly disappointed in today`s comic. You didn`t think I`d have two lobsters running around, did you? That wouldn`t be sustainable. Of course, I never planned on having ONE lobster until I saw companies advertising live lobsters for Valentine`s Day, and I never intended on keeping him around. It`s amazing how stupid little things stick. Greatest accident of the comic.
Well, time is very much at a premium this week, but that hasn`t stopped me from putting in more time than I probably should working on these strips. I thought this one was going to be phoning this one in, but I spent a lot of time working on the color here. I think I`ll be doing more landscapes and possibly sunsets, because I really think I can improve based on what I have learned today. There`s the color layer, a haze layer of 95% white set to multiply, a red multiply layer to give the sun tinge, a layer for the sun and its shading effects that I put in by hand (purple in clouds, for example), and erasures in the above layers to bring out wave highlights. More experience using a combination of tools and techniques…Phew!
I guess I never aged past 12…I still think this joke is funny, especially on tasteless postcards.
The joke was supposed to be, “The weather is beautiful / Wish you were her” and it was supposed to be the lobster surrounded by babes. There`d be an arrow from the word “her” to one of the bombshells. Time conspires against me this week, though, so I had to phone this one in.
Really…This is just some fanservice. That, and I didn`t get anywhere near as much work done today as I wanted. I really need a day to dedicate to catching up…on comics and sleep. Until then…fanservice and good comics! You still win!
I`m not sure what`s up with the brunette…Maybe she`s drunk?
I was really excited about doing this one. I made every panel different (composition and framing) to keep a sense of action even though it`s a heavily text-driven joke. I`m happy with the results. In addition to the shading practice (I`m really getting to like the results) there`s lots of background and some specialty sun effects in the first and fourth panels. Of course, only the shadows really stand out…the subtle yellows cast from the sun don`t really show up very well, especially once it`s downsized for the web. But, now I know to work more on the shadows and less on the subtle effects. Perhaps I should have done highlights instead, though I don`t think that would have done much better.
Now that I think about it, I`ll probably do a filter over the whole panel of yellow next time, drop it to 5%ish opacity, and then wipe it from the shadows and darken them with a 10-15% opacity like I normally do for whole-panel shadows. Probably look pretty good and be a lot quicker. I`ll keep you posted.
I wondered why she wasn`t there in any of the recent strips…Apparently she stayed home. But why? That`s a great question! Hence, a strip! Or two! Plus, she`s mad! Bonus!
Shading has been my current subject of experimentation, and it`s getting better. I totally forgot to shade the couch…oops! Mary`s shirt says “HIPPIES use side door”.