Posts Tagged ‘MC’
41 items.
I used my fountain pen on the outer panels, and my Pentel brush on the inner panel where the shot was more close-in. The only other thing is that I did the rough pencils and scripting beforehand, which made things move a lot faster. Pencils, ink, scanning and painting took roughly an hour and a half as opposed to two to three hours. I highly recommend it.
I experimented with the lighting. I know it’s not consistent: That was intentional. Sorry if it disturbs the nitpickers, you can always send me a scathing e-mail if it makes you feel better.
This strip kicks off a new story line. I’m excited to see where it goes! Also, I like how things turned out in the first two panels. I’m not so happy with the inks in the third panel, and I don’t know that they have improved, but I am more comfortable with them. That’s a huge victory, even if it’s not a visible one.
Yeesh…Yeah, I know, I’m working my way back to good, creative comics. I’ve been having a case of the blahs lately, and it has had a significantly negative impact upon my work. I’m coming around, slowly but surely, so stay tuned.
Sir Isaac Newton, translated by Andrew Motte. The original Latin is below (according to answers.com, not a copy of the book). I know I could have gone with the objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force, but I find his particular phrasing far more poetic. Newton wrote his famed three laws in The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, which shows that he considered his work, at least in part, philosophy. It shares many traits of classical philosophy and mathematics, including the use of the word Axiom in the original text. It’s quite evocative if you appreciate science and math literature. For normal people, it’s just an unnecessarily obtuse passage.
Lex I: Corpus omne perseverare in statu suo quiescendi vel movendi uniformiter in directum, nisi quatenus a viribus impressis cogitur statum illum mutare.
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 wanted to put the Lobster in a comic, because he’s been distressingly absent. I thought this was a great visual, so I was excited about it. I’m a bit disappointed in how I rendered Mary, though. I wanted to give the impression she was looking down at the plant, but I’m not so sure I did her justice. Oh, well.
I tried something new with the background. A long time ago I had scanned in part of a sheet of sketchbook paper at 600 dpi to digitize some stuff I had scribbled. I noticed the paper tooth was quite evident in grayscale mode. Since then, I have wanted to use it as a multiply layer to add texture to things. I happened to have a small patch of “unsketched” notebook paper from a scan, and I borrowed it for the background. Instead of multiply, I used the “Soft Light” layer mode. I felt it did a better job of softening the background color intensity so it would detract less from the foreground. Please let me know what you think of it. I’ll probably play with it a little more before I make any decisions, but input is always appreciated.
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.
I tried to get a bit heavier on the linework again for the dark panels, but I’ve realized that it’s completely unnecessary for color work. Yeah, I know, I should have known that, but now I can clearly see why. Also, I forgot the lobster again. Crackers.
Originally I wanted to do a story line where the power went out, and I had started to flesh out the idea when I found out my grandmother was in the hospital. For new readers, my grandmother passed away while we were in the area visiting her. As far as those things go, it went as well as possible, but it was still tough. When I came back, I was ready to tackle the story and to use the power outage as an analogue for loss in the main character. The fact that it was a loss so transient softened the blow and, I think, made it funny in a ridiculous way.
Unfortunately, not all loss is temporary. I wanted to do one more strip, where they celebrate the return of electricity and then the main character does something inane, to show he has already forgotten his lessons. I spent days trying to do it justice without success. In the end, I decided to leave it here. The light being on is comforting to the main character, because it shows that power is restored, and he can sleep happily. In my story, the analogy clearly breaks here; It is the lamp itself which is important to me. In this way, I think I’ve been able to weave a part of myself into this story but still maintain an upbeat comic atmosphere. I hope it was entertaining and satisfying.