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Archive for ‘Interstitial’
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What kind of reception did he expect with a store-bought pie? That he bought on Thanksgiving? I’m pretty sure all the decent pie stores are shut down on major holidays. Of course, if he left that part out, it looks like the Lobster might have been warming up to him…
I need to shade this, but I also need to go to sleep. I powered through the coloring tonight so you’d have something to look at. I wouldn’t expect it to be perfect too early tomorrow, because I need to fix a recurring problem with my truck. At least it runs, and I can get around with it if I have to.
I figured with this strip I should reintroduce the basic history of the guy and the lobster (http://www.yawcomic.com/2007/03/02/043/). It’s only been 300 comics, but it’s been over three years. Speaking of which, wow, that art is old. If I could be a professional cartoonist, redoing all the early strips would be item four on my to-do list. One would be to update, in color, five days a week. Two would be to do all the character stuff I should do (proper models, lineups, etc.) for consistency. Three would be all the upgrades I want to make to my drawing table. Then, fix the original strips. If I were a professional, I’d have time to do it. Then I could sell books with nice art in them.
The “tackses” pun isn’t that great, I admit. But, it is what it is. I like bad puns. The linework doesn’t totally offend my eyes, so that’s a plus.
The comic makes it look like he’s sitting in a corner. I’m not sure why I did that, except for the fact that everything was floating earlier (no walls, floors, etc.) and it looked too “disconnected”. I thought it grounded the comic, even though it’s probably not a common seating configuration. It looked better than no wall. The perspective was weird (and still not quite right) because it’s supposed to be looking up from Lobster-level. That made the lack of walls even more disorienting. I probably could have made better decisions if I had more time, but this was a rush to production. All in all, I’m not unhappy with it.
Man, I have not been good about posting. Sure, I’ve been busy, but this is just embarrassing. It’s certainly not a lack of ideas. Perhaps I have too many, and it’s crippling? Perhaps I’m just lazy. That’s probably the case, because this one is obviously rushed.
I look at comics like this, and think that the guy and the girl must have a relationship, at least when it comes to the lobster’s attempts on his life, like Dib and Gaz from Invader Zim. Clearly Dib is fighting Zim in a struggle of terrestrial incompetence vs. extraterrestrial incompetence. However, incompetence is incompetence, and an inconvenience to her either way. In a similar way, I get the feeling that when stupid stuff happens she’s not looking for an explanation, she’s just upset that stupid stuff is inconveniencing her life and busting up her house.
Of course, this is coming from a guy who has a lobster with what appears to be a combustion-powered messenger bag launcher in his comic. Perhaps the whys aren’t that important in this case. Maybe sometimes I just want to draw an elaborate yet incompetent sequence of violence. Perhaps I watched too many Road Runner cartoons growing up.
This is the card I sent out this year. Sorry I posted it after Christmas, I had a lot of driving to do and then a lot of chores to finish up when I got back.
I liked this one, particularly the neutron saying “meh” in the last panel. The electron gets excited in the second panel, and falls back to a normal state in the last panel, throwing off excess energy in the form of light. None of this is terribly accurate, of course, just one artist’s illustration for the sake of humor, not accuracy.
The first step to realizing you have lost your mind is to admit it is lost. Paradoxically, this requires a mind. I think that’s why people find ways to dig themselves deeper and deeper into holes: They lack the sense to realize they don’t have the sense they need.
I tried a few different things today, but I also rushed this comic. I used my Pentel brush for a lot of the linework, which I keep forgetting is a mistake. I would much rather have more fountain pens with varying nib sizes for this type of work. The brush has its uses, of course, but this was a poor choice. Also, I tried some different things with the coloring, and I’m not sure I like it yet. Keep an eye open, because I will be experimenting in the coming weeks.
I have also tagged the lobster in this comic, even though he’s hidden. I figure, what the heck. Correct me if I’m wrong in doing so. I’m new to your Internet and am not familiar with the customs.
I told myself I wouldn’t do any comics about the economic downturn; That everyone is already bummed enough, and I did not need to bring it up. However, once I came across this gem of a statement, I couldn’t resist. To all of you big-wigs out there, here’s some free advice: If you want to comfort your employees, let them know you have cash and revenue sources to cover their salaries for two years.
I really enjoyed this strip, though that’s probably due to the preponderance of pernicious puns.
The second panel takes some of my techniques and really throws them for a loop. I shaded everything in the foreground by my usual 15% opacity black shade layer, then erased the edges. I desaturated the background and then used a light filter (not a lens flare) to give the impression of a projector. To give a hint of…womanness…I added another 15% opacity shade layer to add an extra level of shading to Joelle.
I’m still using the softer brush for shading. It definitely has limits to its utility, but I’m learning a bit more about it.
The big difference for today is that I reduced the saturation of my background colors. Actually, I put the background in a separate layer then reduced the opacity. Since the background was white (full RGB), it had the effect of “adding white” to the colors, reducing their saturation. I settled on 50%, but I tried lots of levels and I’m not convinced it’s perfect.
I think I’ll do another reason or two before I roll into another story, but rest assured, I’m going to start up another story soon.
More fun, and some new painting techniques. I’ve alternated brightness up and down over a flat wash for the floor, and drew straight lines with the brush by holding Shift. The wall was a flat color with a darker color spread over it with a sparse brush.
The big change is that I shaded today with a soft-edged brush as opposed to a hard-edged brush. I think it looks really nice, but I can also see advantages to the hard brush depending on the lighting.
I think I may do a few more of these, give the lobster some face time.
Something I’ll probably throw in from time to time: Reasons why lobsters are good pets. Of course, these hold no bearing on reality. They wander aimlessly through a fanciful forest where trees bear whimsical fruit. The choice of forty-two was by design, and I positioned the lobster as an analogue to The Guide. Clearly it’s not a perfect analogy, but stuff it, I had a lot of fun putting this one together. Plus, more lobster. This is a win-win situation.
I tried something new with this, using some different brushes to give the whole thing a bit of texture. Frankly, it was probably a bad choice because it didn’t fit the theme, but I do like the results for a first try.
Does anybody else smell crayons or colored pencils when y’all are looking at this?
To the nitpickers out there, the equation was an aesthetic choice. If other than that you still think I’m mixing my maths, you need to review your math history.
For the vast majority of you non-dork humans, the guy gets hit with a bunch of sandbags. That’s the gag here: There’s no hidden math gags. Classic comedy.
It’s amazing how historical events can get “shanghaied” by corporations, people, or even the cultures who should know better and turned into mass-commercial marketing events. It took me many years to realize that the good Saint Patrick wasn’t known for turning beer green. I still don’t know what the remembrance of martyred Christians has to do with racy greeting cards and scarfing down chocolates in heart-shaped boxes. The current celebrations seem quite incongruous with the original events, and even though I rail against it whenever I get the chance I still follow the piper out of town, dancing along whatever crazy path he should wander.
Humanity is doomed.
I can’t help but look at the word “sake” and not think of Japanese sake, which allows for a lot of creativity when interpreting sentences which involve it.
This one’s just some fun I had, no reference images. I wanted to continue with the established characters, but I needed a (relatively) quick throwaway strip since I skipped one update and I needed the extra time to work on other projects. I have a lot going on over the next two weeks, including a whole new way of presenting my comics, and I needed the extra two hours.
This comic is a response to Jamie’s ad for a day-long date at http://www.daniellecorsetto.com/archive.php?today=645&comic=644. Jamie’s from Girls With Slingshots by Danielle Corsetto, a talented artist and a sweetheart who always answers all of my questions about cartooning thoroughly and honestly. I can’t say enough nice things about Danielle, so please send her an e-mail telling her how awesome she is and tell all your friends to try her strip.
Yay, Chris is back! You may remember him from #72 (I like the joke there). I originally intended to have the main characters be dating, but I nixed that and had them married because with their history it made more sense. So, Chris was supposed to be the guy’s best friend and a swinging bachelor, doing all the fun stuff single guys can do but usually don’t. I’m glad to bring him back, and hopefully he’ll appear more often.
I had a hard time balancing the photos in this. I wanted enough elements to tell an interesting story, but I was again in a rush and had to draw the line somewhere. Also, I really should have used my straightedge more in this. I thought a more organic line would look more natural, but I’m still too shaky and the lines went everywhere. I used freehanding for the lettering and inside the pictures, but framing the pictures with straight edges helped them stand out as photographs. I need to remember to use my straightedge more, especially since I paid for the stupid thing.
This one was an example of plain ol’ fun to draw. I learned a lot about perspective doing this, something I would have been able to apply to the comic had I done sketches first. However, I’m usually doing these strips last minute, so if I want to do something I haven’t done before I pretty much end up inking the rough draft. Far from ideal, but it’s very time efficient. The downside is I put up strips where the windows don’t line up, doors are too tall and the left and right side of the streets don’t match, amongst other things.
Why didn’t I play around with brushes earlier? Oh, right, it was already taking me several hours to digitally work a strip. Shading by coloring black at 15% opacity is great, but it doesn’t allow for texturing with color like on the flannel shirt. I have to add another layer for the texture colors, but it’s still faster. plus, the brushes allow for the neat dirt effects. I played with a lot of other things, to give a painterly background to the second panel, but I need more practice with that.
Well, let me get this out of the way…250 strips! Thanks to all of you, because it wouldn’t have gotten this far otherwise. There, I said it. Now get outta here.
A couple of references. Night Terrors, Ma’am is from the Simpsons episode where Bart and Homer are handcuffed together by court order, and “There, I said it. Now get outta here” is from one of those 80s Garfield specials. Christmas, I think, though it’s probably from more than one. You might wonder why I still remember that. Like I’ve said in the past, I am a huge Garfield fan.
This joke took some working out, but I’m happy with the results. Best part is, the idea was pretty much given to me! No muss, no fuss!
the big news for this strip is I have changed the way I do my shading. I had the brilliant idea a while ago to create a layer, set its transparency to 15% and shade with a 100% black brush. The idea was that I reduced the saturation on my colors by 15% (usually) to do a general shade, and this should have the same effect in most cases. Well, it does, but somewhere along the way I lost the idea and desaturated each color individually. This new method shouldn’t change the shading you see, but it’s a heck of a lot quicker than constantly changing colors and panning back and forth, so it will give me more time to mess around with new techniques. That should mean an improvement in general over the next few weeks. Stay tuned.
I’ll admit, first off, I’m not proud of the joke. I think it’s funny, but that may just be my sense of humor and regardless it’s definitely not something I would consider “A” material.
That out of the way, I really like how this one turned out. First, the composition worked really well. The tree line is pretty abrupt, but it would have been distracting had it gone beyond the word balloon. The balloon needed space to command to show it was carrying weight.
Also, I used space to hint at some other things. The woman is up on the deck, an ordered, man-built structure. The guy is out there running a wood chipper with trees to his back, brush at his side and chips in front. I tried to convey a progression of order and comfort from the woods at the upper right and the guy’s work clothes to the structure of the deck and the everyday clothes of the woman.
Finally, I really played with brushes today. I tried to do cool stuff with the trees, and got some neat texture with a stipple-style brush. The big surprise, though, was the grass. The secret is that it’s a brush that’s standard with Photoshop. Elements. 3. I imagine it’s still standard, but I wanted to make sure nobody was pulling their hair out running the latest version of CS4 if they happened to drop this one. You can’t miss it: The brush preview looks like grass. I used the one that was a single blade instead of a clump.
That’s why HDMI has so many gotchas, like HDCP. It would make men obsolete if it were designed for full-house HD video / surround-sound audio distribution. Thankfully those engineers at Scratchmoore Industries know what they’re doing. Maybe we’ll see them again sometime.
Though frankly, I’m still surprised women keep men around what with insect sprays and all-in-one TV/DVD players…
These are definitely two competing parts of my personality. I’ve got lots of ideas I think are great, and instead of failing in execution I just fail to execute entirely. Ideas aren’t worth the bar napkin they’re sketched on. On which they’re sketched. Point being, any sci-fi fan (or scientist) worth his (or her) salt knows people have had ideas that are, quite truly, decades to centuries ahead of their time.
If you have a good idea, go out there and try it out. It doesn’t have to be a world-changing scientific breakthrough. Even simple things, like having the idea to do a comic, can put a smile on a face. Even if it doesn’t work out it’s worth failing in execution. Call it a deferred success if it sounds better, but don’t be too afraid (or lazy) to give it a shot.
And for reference, Amazon is selling “Highest Grade” sea salt for $3.95 per pound. Not including shipping, a 160-pound scientist (we’ll assume they’re tall and gangly) would be worth $632.00 in salt, not including tax and shipping.
Merry Christmas! Here`s the Christmas Card for this year. It was received really well. Get it? I mailed them, so they were “received”. It`s another pun!
You know what? Just go spend more time with your family.
I wasn`t sure what to do with the background in the montage scenes, so I made it a flat color. I probably should have done something fancy, but I didn`t think I could pull anything off. Now I missed the chance to figure out how to do something cool, or at least learn what doesn`t work.
232: Happy Thanksgiving 2008, A Misunderstanding
on November 27, 2008 at 12:00 amPosted In: comics, Interstitial
This comic was actually envisioned as a one-liner. I saw the guy saying, “This is all one big misunderstanding!” I decided that was too much, so I retooled it many ways (one of my favorites: “AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”) before I realized that this strip would be best served without speech. Understatement is key. Besides, what is the guy doing with a live turkey anyway? Again, understatement, which permits whimsy.
Coloring this one was a lot of fun. I`m not overly excited about how it came out, but I am pleased, which is a rare occurrence. I am a harsh critic of my own work, but if I`m not then I`ll never seek to improve. So, having fun and pleased makes for a feeling of temporary satisfaction.
Check out the shading on the tail…I added a “shade effect” layer, 10% opacity, and used a black brush to give the silhouette of the wing. Actually, it`s subtle enough that you won`t notice it if you don`t look for it, but it`s a favored technique of mine, so the practice was good.
This is a return to the theme of comic #68, What?!?. That was one of my favorites for a long time. The style has changed a lot since then, but I was really proud of it at the time. Wow, things are sure a lot different now a year and a fourth later.
David Reddick does Legend of Bill in greyscale most days, so I thought I would be clever and do the whole comic by hand, including greys. Instead of testing everything out beforehand, however, I jumped right in with some grey Pitt brushes. Big mistake. The background is nowhere near even, and it`s way too dark. I seriously messed this one up. Oh, well, live and learn, right? I learned I really need to test my tools before diving in to a technique I know nothing about. At least this time I did character models first, which I will scan and show off this week sometime.
UPDATE: I pulled out all the backgrounds and replaced them with a flat grey in Photoshop. Man, that`s MUCH better!
1080p: Way more “p”s than normal, brah.
Normally I try to avoid political humor, as all it serves to do is alienate, and I`m here to entertain as many people as possible…But I couldn`t help myself. When I inked it, I wasn`t sure of the outcome…Call it a lucky guess.
Ironically, I worked a pretty good bit on this one. It didn`t take as long as four-panel strips do, but I certainly didn`t phone in this one. I wanted focus on the guy and his candy consumption, so I kept the legs thin and the feet small, exaggerating their proportions. I went too far, however, and they look to small. I didn`t realize the magnitude of the error until it was colored. Oh, well, lesson learned. I like that he`s claiming he has a cold. Not sure why I found this funny, so I hope it strikes your funny bones as well.
I tried a few different angles on the characters and played with the background a bit. I need to get back into drawing backgrounds, but since I do everything by hand it`s kind of a pain. I COULD digitally add backgrounds that I hand draw in layers, but it just seems wrong if it`s not on my original. It`s a personal oddity, and that`s why artists who embrace the digital can be so much more efficient.
Hey, check out Girls With Slingshots by Danielle Corsetto. McPedro the Cactus has lost his moustache (or rather, the moustache that had taken up residence on McPedro decided to take a world tour). I`ve given him a temporary home here, on the lobster, because it was fun to draw. Danielle is a fantastic artist (check her personal and Etsy sites while you`re there if you doubt me) and she`s also trying to do art professionally…So if you see something cool, buy it! I`m an amateur hack with a day job, this awesome gal`s got real talent and deserves to put pen/cil to paper for a living. Also, let her know there`s a
moustache sighting!
As for the comic itself, I tried to force the perspective in the middle panel, to indicate the characters were leaning in. Instead, they look tremendously out of proportion. Crap. The shading isn`t bad, but I really didn`t ink any of the folds in, and on a close-up like that I really should have spent more time on such things. The mariachi lobster was fun to draw, and he looks pretty darn good, so I hope that`s what people notice.
Oh, and Danielle, if you`re reading this…Maybe I`m not aware of it, but you need a GWS domain name. Something short. I went through a lot of White-Out (brand name!) to get that URL in there…
I had this one figured out for a year. You may recall I set this up after last year`s Dragon*Con. Yeah, that far back. I thought, hey, this is a pretty cool idea. Plus, I can throw a bone to the furry community. They`re a bunch of people who do what they love. Personally, I`m not about fur. I`m especially not about any of the more scandalous activities committed by a subset of the community. Gross. However, they`re consenting adults who aren`t hurting anyone, and they get a lot of crap from the web community at large and in the nerd hierarchy. I figured I`d throw them a bone.
Of course, that jerk Randall Munroe of xkcd beat me to the punch. In fact, if I had put this one up on time, we would have gotten there on the same day…The cad. Plus, he wrote it better than I did. That`s the advantage of having so much room to work with. Anyway, furries, I just wanted to say that I have no interest in what you do, but you`re not hurting anyone, and you get the short end of the stick for it.
Give that jerk what-for! And by that, I mean tell him you adore his comic. It`s good stuff.
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 brought 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.
This flow chart indicates that the project cannot be done with a hammer, so HammerBot won`t be able to figure out what to do. I guess.
It`s done, but it`s not what I wanted. Here`s an example of a great idea wrecked by terrible writing. Oh, well, I still liked drawing the robot. Expect a little more, then a nice little story line where the guy plays the sad sack. That and the lucky sonofagun are his strengths.
From long ago, I`ve always wanted to look at the workplace though my comic with different eyes, always adapting. Now, let me take time to point out yet again — I like my job. The comic workplace has nothing to do with my workplace, and I am making jabs at generic jobs from horror stories I get from friends, family, newspapers and imagination. That`s why I wanted a different perspective on workplace humor.
My first attempt at this was actually a panel back in comic #12 (please excuse my early artwork). A zombie-employee stalks money, rasping, “Gaaaaames…” I thought it would be funny to have the main character imagine he`s a zombie at work, but I ran out of ideas quickly. Actually, I ran out of ways to keep his co-workers from thinking he`s insane, but regardless, I couldn`t make it work. I thought of doing a slice-of-life zombie worker drone comic for the local freelance paper, where zombification is reality, but I could barely keep a schedule with YAWC. So, instead of a recurring character, he died on the sketchbook page, barely making a cameo.
I`ve picked on work here and there, but it eventually developed into a “can`t win” scenario for the guy, where the student he gives a card to ends up being his boss (Percy). However, I did eventually come back around. While I do love my job, there`s a lot of data management, and when the papers pile up I can feel like a real automaton, working as hard as possible to move papers from pile “A” to pile “”B via keyboard and mouse digitization. The idea stewed in my mind for awhile, and intersected a desire to draw more fanciful things. One fateful page of sketches later, and I had a robot cast ready to deploy in the workplace.
Today`s comic was supposed to be that introduction, the idea that the robot revolution has already happened, but instead of metal it is made of meat. We work so hard for fear of losing our jobs, and we do highly repetitive tasks that computers either aren`t ready for, are too expensive to replace humans, or are cheap enough to replace humans, but don`t have the “extensive knowledge capital” (also known as compromising pictures of the Vice President at the last Christmas party). The robot is the main character, a simplistic-looking robot model stuck entering data and rerunning the cost-benefit scenarios for the company to upgrade to the next model. Being a robot, this is done every 2.1 seconds to make sure he`s one of the first to know. The new model, of course, could do the calculation twice a second.
But I digress. Notice the robot`s output is paper-based. It`s actually a continuous feed sheet version of a punch card. Also, he talks in flow charts. I wanted him to be robotic, but not rip off the things I`ve seen lately (Curse you, Ramon Perez and your Kukuburi! Curse your use of electonic schematic symbols!). The flow charts made sense, and they can actually communicate frustrations.
In this strip, the robot looks down, and says that his life is a repeating cycle. His choices (branches), though present, have only one possible functional outcome. If you will, it`s the illusion of choice of going to work every day. Notice he`s separated from the working robot, different background color, too — That`s why he`s speaking about his life in general. In the second panel, he is surprised to see that, even at work, the choices he makes are counteracted by other forces, and no matter what he does the end result is the same. Plus, due to a floating point error, it looks like he was due to be replaced .3 seconds ago. Poor guy.
But, alas, I couldn`t convey that in the strip. Chalk it up to poor writing.
I was really excited about drawing this first panel. This is one of those cases where the image popped in to my head, and I had to write a comic around it. I think the shading is getting better, and I am happier with the darkness/highlight effect in the first panel than I thought I would be. I`m even more excited about my idea for tomorrow, but I`ll get back to the lobster as soon as possible. I know that`s why you come here.
Try it. It`s a totally different experience as an adult.
I`m trying to describe volume better with shading, and I like where it`s going. More practice, of course, is required.
A brief story: I originally thought of this strip and didn`t want to draw a whole restaurant, so I decided they would be sitting next to a window and looking out on a nearly-empty parking lot. When it came time to draw, though, I was short on time and didn`t want to put that much detail in the background. I threw around a bunch of ideas, including a hilly scene and a glass pane that`s mostly reflective, then it hit me — Wall! It`s a cop-out, but it gets a comic out on time and if I didn`t say so, I`d be willing to be nobody would have noticed.
First off — The title is a line from a great Robert Redford movie, Spy Game. Yes, I rip things off left and right. Check yesterday`s comic again…I pretty much rolled out my Jim Davis model, no changes. A little idol worship never hurt anyone, right…Right?
There`s been a big theme at play the past few comics: The issue of roles and success. We all know the guy is coasting along in an entry-level position while the girl is quite successful in the corporate world. Here, they are trying to step outside of their comfort zones, and they are meeting failure. The guy can`t seem to climb the corporate ladder (he gets perks, like an office and a raise, to keep him happy) and she`s met a string of failures in being domestic.
The second panel here is the last I`ll run in this theme, at least for now — They are willing to return back to their roles. He assumes the domestic burden and she`s paying because she has much more earning power. His solution, dinner out, is a bit of a cop-out, but he`s never been portrayed as a really good cook anyway and I`m sure they`re really hungry. Notice also that he drops his work bag — He`s relinquishing the role of corporate success to his wife.
I tried to tie it all up in a nice neat package, but it`s a huge story that y`all probably never even realized was taking place. Three strips a week is not enough, but I can`t possibly provide more. That`s why I provide comments form time to time — I fill in the details behind my motivaiton.
I can also point out some artsy stuff — This is one of the few times, and definitely the best, I have been looking over the shoulder of a character. Shading helps define direction here, but I still need work on things like the hands. The second panel is a bold new example of shading for me, where I`m really trying to define the depth of the actors. It`s definitely a start, one I`m very proud of. I think overall that today`s comic is an indication that I`m going to start trying new things again. Keep checking back to see the good (and the bad).
I decided it was time to play with some different panel formats again. I`m still not quite sure what I think of this type. I think it`s not quite tall enough, but it gets the point across.
I also wanted to do something with SA Johnson again…I really like him. Lance and Vance from the RIAA are good foils, but how often can my characters run afoul of them?
This was one of those spur-of-the-moment dealies that I churned around for quite awhile before putting pen to paper. It was essentially a one-liner, but I wanted to play with it a bit. Notice the veep (Veep?) sleeps with his shirt, tie and jacket on, ready to go. Also, I like the turkey on the headboard (trust me, it`s a turkey). That was a contender for national bird. Plus, it`s got a great connotation for the Veep (veep?).
If he had a few letters behind his name, though, or a certificate or two…
Yes, yes, another pun comic.
I highly recommend Jonathan Coulton. On his download page, anything with a smiley face is gratis. I recommend hearing his resampling titled “W`s Duty,” regardless of your political leanings. It`s fun for the whole family. Of course, all of his work is good, but Chiron Beta Prime, for example, didn`t inspire this comic.
Hehe, duty…
Well, this entire comic was based on a pun. In fact, shoeflies might come back. They probably shouldn`t…but I`m a sucker for beating dead horses, or whatever the PC, non-animal-cruelty phrase is.
Kids, don`t drink underage. And once you come of age, don`t drink too much. Adults…well, you`re kids who have come of age, so take heed. Alcohol can do plenty of damage on its own and it can wreak havoc on other bodily systems that you will pay for later in life.
But of course, I`d be remiss if I ignored its comedic potential.
I had this idea in my mind, but wasn`t sure how I would get the proportions quite right between the panels. It`s not too bad. I sketched it in my sketchbook and drew a box around the guy`s head to frame the first panel. It really helped keep things in perspective.
Had a great time at a reception. That`s why we`re up a day late. To be fair, I never had five bottles of beer in my hand at once, though I did see someone with two flutes of champagne and two bottles of beer. I wonder why they call them flutes?
Here`s a double-length day for you. On time. Congratulations. You`ve earned it.
I would like to say that I did not see the movie or anything more than previews before I designed this comic. I pulled the craziest ideas I could think of (and Cate Blanchett`s character) into what I thought would be an interesting composition. It kinda works.
Also, I saw the new Indiana Jones movie today (opening day!). No spoilers here, I promise.
First things first: clearly it is a showcase for ILM. Lucas made sure the movie was half an Indiana Jones movie and half a computerized special effects showcase. With that out of the way, If you are a fan of Henry Jr., you`ll want to see the movie, especially the first half. The opening sequence is your standard pulp action fun, spiced up with some nearly seamless effects. Then, you settle in and there`s some good development. Next? Cue the shark-jumping.
I`m a big pulp action fan, so the movie was everything I expected it to be. If you`re a Jones purist, and thought Raiders was the only good movie, don`t waste your time. If you`re looking for some good, over-the-top fun, this should be on your list.
I got this idea from the third panel. Parents. The Last Crusade is still probably my favorite movie of the three (give me a break, alright?), and one of my favorite scenes is when Sean Connery tells Harrison Ford, “I think those men are trying to kill us.” I know, dad. If that`s a spoiler, you`re 20 years too late: I can`t help you. Anyway, that`s what`s going on there if you`re not familiar with the scene. The other two top panels should be pretty self-explanatory.
You may notice that none of these panels (save the first) actually occur anywhere. They almost do, but not quite. I had to recompose them to be interesting. They`re definitely in the spirit of the film, but that`s an advantage of film over comic: They get 24 (?) images every second. I had to pull the key elements and put them together in one frame. I think the composition was done pretty well for these shots.
Let`s not forget that I`m working with a lobster, too. That poses some unique challenges that Mr. Ford was capable of overcoming.
I`d like to say something about my choice of “Jump the Shark”. I picked it because I thought it was funny, not that I felt the movie was forced. Plus, it gave me a great center image of Maine Lobster (Indiana Jones? Get it? Bah, whatev). A lobster jumping a shark on a motorbike with a sidecar? I just HAD to draw that.
I admit, I phoned this one in. It`s not up to the usual standards I try to hold myself to, but I am in kind of a rush. Work is picking up pace again, I have a busy weekend planned and I have an awesome strip idea I`ve been trying to get ahead of (unsuccessfully). I apologize, but it`s still a far leap forward from Day 1…
Alright, alright. I promise that I`m done with the outdoor shots for awhile. I like playing with formats, and this extra-wide one posed some composition problems for me…especially since I`m still learning the trade. I`ve got some good ideas for strips coming up, so I should have some good practice with composition coming up.
I admit it: I did this comic because I wanted to draw the last panel. I spent too much time considering the last panel, however, and screwed up the third panel pretty badly. Oh, well. I guess you could say I couldn`t see the forest for the rest of the comic…though that`s nowhere near as elegant as the phrase I butchered.
In an amazing departure from my normal method, I know the entire story line already, and I even have a few comics ahead inked. They`re not ready for prime-time, but now it won`t be a series of last-second rushes. I like it. I think I`m going to try to stay ahead. We`ll see how that works out.
I can`t be the only one this bothers. So many times I have been sitting at my computer, thinking, “Man…If only I could acquire some 15m satellite imagery at 15m satellite imagery prices and turn it into 50cm imagery with magic software. The proof that this technology doesn`t exist? Every imaging laboratory in the world would own a copy and everyone would be getting traditional X-Rays instead of CAT scans. Oh, and spy satellites wouldn`t have to be able to see which face of a coin is up or read license plates…If you can see what appears to be a vehicle, hey, just run it through the enhancer and determine what kind of fly is on the license plate.
While we`re at it, we can tap the expertise of a bugologist* to determine that the fly is a very specific fly that only lives in one apartment of one particular apartment building, which happens to be the apartment of a mole who insists he`ll never tell our spyhunters anything then gives it all up five seconds later. But, that`s for another day…
* – Yes, yes, entomologist…
In honor of my 135th strip (rather, since I haven`t bought any new art toys in a while) I got a new Pentel Brush. This thing is AWESOME, but man it puts down a lot of ink fast. Sorry if the linework is thick and jumpy, I`m still learning, but I think the strip from first panel to last is proof enough that I should have it under control soon. I look forward to learning more about how to effectively use it. In the mean time, I have to find a way to compensate for the fact that the ink stays wet for quite awhile and leaves black puddles on my scanner. They wipe up just fine, but I`d rather not have to clean up after myself in the first place.
As I was sitting down to do a simple comic, I realized I have had a heavy hand lately and needed to reinforce that the characters are very much in love. I used the same young-character technique I have used before (ripped off, of course, from Michael Jantze of The Norm fame. I recommend the Normathon and the Know-It-Alls, and the Gocomics link takes you to his strips. Otherwise, it`s pretty content-light, but while you`re over there tell Mr. Jantze I sent you and that I was a HUGE fan of his work. Don`t tell him I steal his ideas. Or Jim Davis, for that matter.
Anyway, I wanted the guy`s childishness to be one of the reasons she fell in love with him in the first place. Playing in the mud is neato, innocent fun. If you`ve forgotten, try it some time. It ranks up there with dancing (or in my case, acting like a goofball) in the rain. For her, he`s a constant light rainfall or mud puddle. Sometimes, all it takes is a new perspective, and what was once dirty shoes and suit cuffs become a geological expedition. And yes, I just said neato.
As an interesting side note, the inkwork was lighter on the left side of the mud pit, and when I scanned the original it was not as shaded as the right side. That dictated the lighting for that scene. It was a coincidence, and it actually made my job easier. Win-win! I also tied in the backgrounds from the third and fourth scenes with some gradient work. All in all, I`m much happier with this than I thought I would be.
I`m also thinking about going to the traditional dot-for-eyes you usually find in comics (like the lobster has). Just a thought.
I was tired of working on it, so it`s so-so today, but I like the middle panels – The transition from countryside to more urban area with the switching equipment in the middle. I wish I had done more with the first panel, and the last panel doesn`t look quite right, but all in all I think it gets the point across. Plus, that`s a punchline I really like.
I needed an idea, and I wanted it to be simple. Again, I got really in to it, but it gave me some follow-up ideas and I still managed to finish it in the time frame I wanted. That didn`t leave me time to sketch out the next comic like I had hoped, but I still chuckle at this one every time I see it. Four hours later, that`s good: Usually I`m sick of the joke by now.
I like playing with formats, because the traditional panel is so formal. I have to go back and read more Calvin and Hobbes, because Bill Watterson broke format fairly often. In this strip, the lower-right snapshot captures his fear that someone will grab the last donut of the batch, and he will only get donuts twice. The horror!
It`s a creepy song.
Phenylalanine is actually an essential amino acid, and it exists in a lot of protein-bearing foods. Phenylketonurics are people who are allergic to too much phenylalanine (something about their ability to metabolize it). So, it`s actually fine unless you`re a phenylketonuric.
I also just realized the comic says, “Warning: contains phenylketonurics.” I wonder how they put all those people in that little cup? That was an example of a lack of proofreading before I inked it. I`ll fix that at some point. (ed.: Two and a half years later, it’s still wrong.)
I went directly to the Writers Guild of America (West) to get the skinny: No apostrophe. If the Writers Guild of America — The authority not only on themselves, but presumably on writing, put it in digital ink on their own site, that`s good enough for me.
Isn`t what I have to look forward to great? I can`t wait.
Nothing to say, really — I just read an article on superheated water and somehow belly button lint popped in to my head. If I can say anything, it`s that NOTHING is worthless in your quest for ideas. Take in everything you can. You never know where a bad idea will come from.
I fell really short on the middle panel, but I had to draw it. I had this in mind and I was really excited about it. I want to do more landscapes and I want to push my skills with shading and color mixing. I learned a lot in doing this, of course, and it was fun, but it still looks terrible. Plus, it makes the bookend panels look even worse.
Happy New Year! I originally wanted to draw this twice as tall, with the top row being a door five times, getting larger and larger, all angles, as it someone was running towards it in a panic. Then I decided I would do it digitally — That`s a lot of black ink to drop on paper and I don`t have a way to do that conveniently. Then, I decided the strip stood on its own. Which is good, because it`s getting late and I have to work tomorrow.
This will be a short story line, probably just one more day, then I`ll do some one-shots. Thanks for indulging my story line desires. I want to do more landscapes — I really enjoyed drawing and coloring the fourth panel today.
I`ve noticed that my file sizes are creeping up. I have taken measures to reduce them. Please, in the name of all that is good and holy tell me if it doesn`t look right. There are far too many browsers / OSes / et ceteras for me to know. If it looks bad now, it`ll probably look bad forever. I`ll never know.
Besides, since I`m moving to three comics a week, and I provide everything for free, the least you can do is my visual legwork. Think of it as giving back. I guess I`m trying to say testing these things out is crap work, and I don`t feel like doing that. I`d rather YOU do it.
Yes, this is the same image from the 2007 Christmas card. I know it may not be a big deal for those of you who got the card, but I really like this one, especially since it was all done by hand (including the coloring, with colored pencil). To me, it totally earns the slot of 100th comic. I hope you enjoy it as well.
This also allows me to have some valuable extra time over this holiday season, which brings me to the surprise I promised in the News: I am going to attempt three days a week again! Expect a Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday schedule. If it doesn`t work out this week, then next week for sure, but I hope to have a new comic up in two days. Merry Christmas.
Sorry it`s incomplete, I will color it in tomorrow. I`m in a rush tonight to jump from place to place. As far as the CIA thing goes, it`s true: Head over to your favorite news source to verify it. I`ll rant about it tomorrow, probably.
072: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2
on September 11, 2007 at 12:00 amPosted In: comics, Interstitial
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 in “What?”. 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.
As you all know (starting now, if not already) Dragon*Con is again upon us, prompting the question: Why the asterisk? I shall be off for a weekend of pointing and laughing, mostly at the prices the stars choose to charge for autographs, and a good bit of fun hanging out with comic artists, playing games, and seeing some old friends.
In the spirit of web comic business surrounding a con (though I am not a guest) I have set today aside for a guest comic, and next Tuesday shall likely be a pretty weak comic (or another guest comic if one is offered up). Thank Sharla (thank you, Sharla!) for today`s strip, especially since it allowed me skip out on a couple of hours of artwork.
This one is my favorite so far. Everything just seemed to come out right: Linework, coloring, shading, gradients, I used lots of new tools…Plus, I think it`s really funny. Home Run.
Age-old wisdom.
I forgot how much I miss drawing…Even when I`m not happy with the results.
Nothing to say today. Maybe when I revisit this one later…
A gift of Guitar Hero 2 found its way to my Playstation 2. A mixed blessing, to be sure: I really don`t need another hobby, but its absorbing decadence is so disarming. Let`s say it`s easy not to notice how much time one spends playing (or attempting to play) such “classics” as Trogdor! Instead, I could probably learn to play a real instrument, and play it really well…But instead, I shall strum away on my plastic Les Paul.
Merry Christmas!
Sorry. With things what they are, you won`t be seeing a colored comic today. If things calm down around here, hopefully, for Christmas (it`s a Monday, so…). However, I wouldn`t expect much. Coloring is not really my favorite part anyway, it`s something I`m really learning, so it`s taking me a while. Again, I have it on good authority I wil be receiving a Wacom tablet for Christmas, so I`m really not willing to put a lot of effort into the coloring steps anyway until I get that to play with. Part laziness, part too much going on to invest the time.
I also apologize for the poor quality scan. I didn`t ink it, and this is the best I could do with the lines being what they are and level adjustments. I could also use a decent scanner if I insist on hand-sketching…but we`ll see if the tablet can obviate the need for scanning (for the most part) and eliminate the noise that I get otherwise when I do use scans. You know, since I`ll be “inking” from the noise, instead of introducing noise into my inked work. Or maybe you don`t know. Or maybe you do know the subject, but I don`t know. Whichever it is, trust me.
Oh, and “think to myself” is in there intentionally. It really bothers someone. RAS Syndrome, and all that jazz.
Cobras! The Simpsons is such a great show.
I am not very happy with the results for today, but here they are. I haven`t been drawing as much this month as I would like (which is to say, barely enough to get a comic out the door). But with the holiday season, a bit of overtime at work and some other real-life “intrusions”, I simply can`t make drawing a high enough priority right now. Besides, I have it on good authority that I am getting a tablet for Christmas, so I don`t feel motivated to get ahead of myself.
I must say, I do so enjoy the comments on Slashdot. Half the crowd is illiterate (and I don`t mean they misspel the occasional word or have some minor grammatical issues) and half of them think they know far more than they do. The best is when the two groups intersect. Hi-larious. This is not to say I know enough about half of the topics that come up to make a coherent argument, but the flip side of that coin is you don`t see me posting. Slashdot, I don`t read you for the “news”. I read you for the depths of the Internet which you dredge onto your filthy, public fora.
Apparently, the current games only use half of the PS3`s power. I don`t think anyone is surprised that the first games for a console aren`t quite showing the console`s full potential, but here`s a bit of shocking news:
“No one will use 100% of the PS3. Ever.” Was that meant literally? If so, duh — The games would run too slowly in intense parts, and it still wouldn`t use 100% in the slack parts. If it`s figurative, well, sure, it has a lot of potential with firmware updates. Potentially, it could be used as an ignition source. Potentially. I didn`t actually try to verify that last one, but we`re just spitballing here. The point is, sure, you`ll probably ALWAYS find another way to make it better. Maybe in a decade it will be able to properly render CSS 3.0. It will probably beat all the PC browsers to that feat, since CSS turned 10 today and most browsers still barely get 1.0 right. The point is you can pretty much always update it. Again, even if it`s figurative, it`s still a “duh” statement. Heck, even the Nintendo Entertainment System has a small following, and the old Ataris have even more amateur (and I`m sure, in some cases, professional) engineers tinkering with them.
I am quite underwhelmed.
Though, in Wii news, the forecast channel was released today, and we`re getting the Opera browser, for free until March, on Friday. I fear that, with all the excitement, next Monday`s Virtual Console release will be even more underwhelming than usual.
A contest attempt for VG Cats. This one took forever. It wasn`t that it was long, but rather that I put a lot of effort into it. It still didn`t come out quite as well as it appeared in my head, and the writing suffered from my abbreviated timeline. Dramatically. That`s OK, it`s good for me to work under pressure. If nothing else I`ll learn to start on things like this earlier.
The Wii Shop continues to disappoint this week. At least it`s consistent.
This is, of course, NOT based on a true story…
Speaking of a true story, Microsoft released its XNA Game Studio Express two days ago. I haven`t checked it out myself, as I have enough things going on right now, but it appears to be a neat package for amateur game programmers who want to worry more about gameplay and logic than workign with DirectX to make everything appear. Apparently it will even abstract networking for PCs. Why mention for PCs? Because, apparently, it will allow you to develop, with minor changes in code (or the proper use of compiler directives), for the XBox 360! Now, there are some catches: You have to pay $100 to use your work on your XBox 360, and anyone with whom you want to share it must not only pay the $100 but have a complete copy of your code, or so it seems. Also, no commercial development, and Microsoft gets final say if you want to seriously distribute it (even freeware, as I understand it)
Personally? I think this is great. How else would you get your code onto an XBox 360? Sure, you have to pay for the privelege, but not $10,000, and you don`t have to “prove” you are a “competent” game studio. I use quotes because I find the definitions of these words in this context very flexible, but the point remains the same, and that is that for a small fee you can compile and run your code on your own console with not only the manufacturer`s blessing but their assistance? Yes, there are several homebrew efforts and you can “hack” your PS2/3 to gain access to Linux, but they don`t have a huge developer`s network with tons of sample code which they will provide to you.
That`s $100 well placed if you ask me, and even though I much prefer free to any cost, even a penny, I can`t imagine honestly finding this a bad deal if you wanted to get into your 360`s processing guts with Microsoft`s blessing. No warranties are voided here, friends. You`d have to have some truly dark spectacles to be so blind.
Plus, let`s not forget the PC side…It seems pretty much geared to distribute your finished projects. I don`t know if licensing issues apply here as well, but it will handle everything up to networking. Great place for the amateur code hack who wants to see how their game logic/ideas pan out quickly. Sure, it won`t build optimized code, but coders do have to learn to crawl before they walk, metaphorically speaking. After brief review, these appear to be great tools. And again, the PC side is free.
However, I could be wrong, so I remain skeptical. I`ll wait to see how this pans out for others first. Maybe in a few months I`ll have some disposable income and can drop some cash on it. I`d really like to. Right now, though, I have a Wii and several games in my queue. Plus, the holidays are always busy. I`m not a big fan of C# (Oh, right, you use C#, a compiler for which is available for free as well) but we can learn to get along.
Well, the good news is the high estimate of what I heard is apparently true: 4 new Virtual Console titles on Monday. The downside? Alien Crush, Dr. Robotnik`s Mean Bean Machine, Gunstar Heroes and Ice Hockey.
It`s not that I think these are BAD titles, but they`re not exactly good. Mean Bean Machine? A bad version of Tetris. Gunstar Heroes? Meh. Ever heard of Alien Crush? I hadn`t. It`s a Turbo Grafx 16 pinball game, apparently. Its claim to fame? You can “bump” the machine. Apparently, it will tilt if you bump it too far. Ooooh. Ice Hockey? That was a decent NES game. $5 is a bit high, though, and it`s NOT SUPER MARIO BROTHERS! Plus, it took me nearly ten minute to find out what the new games were through the Wii Shop channel this afternoon. I`m not sure if it`s the nebulous wireless security problems Wii connectivity is reported to have, or if its their servers, but either way it is highly disappointing.
The comic for today is not yet ready. There was a contest for two seats at the Child`s Play charity dinner/auction next week, so I decided to enter. The requirements were pretty slack: The strip must contain meat, a cat, the Child`s Play 2006 logo and a city in which one of the partner hospitals resides. Does a building really reside? I`ll have to think about that later.
I will certainly keep you posted on what happens. I know the dinner is in Washington (yes, as in the state) and that is not exactly nearby, but if I can figure out a way to get a day or two off of work, I can spring for a plane ticket. Since the contest is only one day long, I figure I`d better enter it now and figure out how to get there later. If I can`t make it work tomorrow and I do happen to win, I will gladly step aside for another worthy artist…But that won`t have to happen, because I`ll figure out a way to make it work.