PSEUDORANT #1: you know, one thing kinda saddens me about th

Tcho · Post by **Tcho** » Thu Mar 21, 2002 4:28 pm

On 2002-03-20 17:45, not damonk wrote:
If you find that he beginning is corny, what's stopping you from rewriting it?

Heck, I've taken hours to pencil and ink comics, only to scrap them completely just because i didn't like it.

An artist and writer should never be afraid to start over, and most importantly, should force themselves to be satisfied with something they know they can improve.

Heck, I'm actually planing on rewriting the first few weeks worth of FRAMED!!! strips, because there are a number of them that i find are just BAD.

Well, I guess it's supposed to be sorta corny, and I have no idea what I'd do if I did rewrite it.

....Crap.

Tangent · Post by **Tangent** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 7:45 am

Well, it's fairly simple. As Not Damonk is the anti-Damonk, while Damonk is being evil and sober in the comic, Not Damonk was being nice and drunken in here. Thus sounding like he was being reasonable and such... um... well... anyway... ignore the time differential, that's all.

As for "Why I Started Down This Crazy Path As A Cartoonist"... ironically enough, Tangents started as a CRFH Fanfiction. The first character, Martin, appeared near the end of it as partly a plot device to get Margaret out of the room, but also to lead the "author" to realize that he wasn't real because neither he nor Maritza had created him. Long story, just read "Deus Ex Liber" if you're curious.

Jessie and Ginny came about as an extension of the second Fanfic, "Aftermath", which originally was just going to be a bit showing that Dave and Margaret studying was a good thing as their Calculus Teacher sprung a surprise quiz on them. But... well, I never do things small.

So I created an entire story in which the calculus quiz was only a secondary sub-story... and started plotting out enough plot twists to make Josh envious. Sadly... it never made it onto the screen as there were problems with the story and also Maritza had gotten... annoyed with me teasing about the "sleeping bag scene" in my third planned story "The Trip" (which is mostly done in fact).

I wanted to do a comic strip, but didn't think I could draw. Finally, one day on a whim I drew a person. And to be honest, it sucked.

But I looked at it and saw it as looking great! Because it far exceeded my expectations. A few art books later, and I started planning out my own comic (Tangents).

So basically... my web comic came about as an extension of my own storytelling skills and my wish for others to read my stories. There is a certain... simplistic pleasure in reading a comic strip. People who will never pick up a book to read unless forced to will gladly sit down and read the funnies. Or log onto a computer and read on-line comics.

And while drawing isn't easy for me, and I have had a bugger of a time updating regularly (not to mention inking the strips so it looks decent)... it's slowly getting better. Heck, after I added a links page to my comic (Thanks to Mai-Li who helped me with the redesign!) and got linked by Carson Fire and a few others... my readership skyrocketed! Nothing *major* compared to some comics... but now I feel an obligation to update more often. *grin*

The ironic thing is... years ago I wanted to do a comic book. And never could find an artist. So those stories I started turning into novels.

Perhaps... someday I'll end up doing them as comic books, drawing them myself. That would be an interesting circle.

Damonk13 · Post by **Damonk13** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 2:47 pm

i LIKE circles, Tangent... heck, the best tangents COME from circles, no?

The Moose King · Post by **The Moose King** » Mon Mar 25, 2002 7:38 pm

It's true what's been said... I've been there. I've had a comic die on me. The main reason was that I skipped a day. I was tired, and figured I'd do the strip tomorrow. And then tomorrow, I figured I'd do it the next day. And so on. After a series of abortive restarts stretching over six months, the original Forsooth collapsed.

Was it the consequence of rushing in before building up a backlog of strips? Of not developing my ideas fully? I don't know. Probably some of that, some of other things. I'd advise getting a schedule; I'd advise then sticking to it.

The other problem is the fact that, with many plot-based comics, a lot of the early strips are just scene-setting, and aren't particularly fun to do. (I suppose more competent writing would have helped on this count.) With the old Forsooth, I was bothered by this fact, and as a result introduced random gags that didn't further the introductions and distorted the characters' personalities. I found out that this was a bad plan, as I didn't know who my characters were any more.

I'm currently attempting to revive Forsooth... I've had a year to think about what went wrong, and to work on new characters. I've changed the focus of the strip, in part because I think Thor's a better character than Tim, and in part to start anew. I've even got a substantial backlog of strips (okay, so they're the result of my scanner not working for two weeks... whatever.) As for the inconsistencies of the art (always my worst flaw, except when I wasn't trying hard enough to write), I'm taking that in stride for now. So what if Matt's chin inexplicably descends several inches between the first panel and the last? He's still Matt, everyone can tell the difference between him and non-Matt characters, and the consistency will come. As will the greatly increased quality, when I'm capable of doing character-based humor. And if not, I suppose I'll have to tweak it again, while at the same time retaining a schedule. Because if the schedule falls apart, everything falls apart.

TMK
Who realizes he's rambling

Damonk13 · Post by **Damonk13** » Mon Mar 25, 2002 8:43 pm

well, the fact that you WANT to keep trying is a very good sign, TMK.

Todd Michaels · Post by **Todd Michaels** » Mon Apr 01, 2002 2:11 pm

I hope I'm not breaking Forum ettiquette here, but I find something Damonk said about re-doing old strips very interesting--so much so that I'm going to expand on it over in my forum. I'm not trying to hijack Damonk's thread, and I apologize if that's what it looks like I'm doing. I'm just trying to find something to talk about over in my neck of the woods.

Here's the thread.

_________________
Todd Michaels
<A HREF="http://boardersandsister.keenspace.com/">Boarders and Sister</A>
<A HREF="mailto:boardersandsister@yahoo.com">boardersandsister@yahoo.com</A>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Todd Michaels on 2002-04-01 14:15 ]</font>

The Moose King · Post by **The Moose King** » Mon Apr 01, 2002 9:03 pm

The fact that my scanner is a non-working piece of junk is a bad sign.

____

TMK, owner of the non-scanning scanner

Jenova4 · Post by **Jenova4** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 3:46 am

what, is it hiccuping?

Corana · Post by **Corana** » Tue Apr 02, 2002 3:40 pm

hi. I'm completely new to this board (but not to framed), thus, I highly doubt anyone knows me. So for the record, my name is Kait, but I use Corana as my pen name and alias and all that stuff.

so hi....

*waves*

anyhoo, I just recently began thinking about starting a comic (again).... so Damonk's post and others were very helpful and made a lot of sense. all the comics that I have tried out in the past have led to no where, and though trial and error, I more or less learned what Damonk reinstated and elaborated on.

but then again, there is never much hope for any comic I've tried, considering I can't draw for my life. heh heh. I usually just play around with story lines and just before Easter I tried out doing sprite comics. it's fun and all, but it don't feel original, you know?
So I'm lost... lol. even though I manipulated the hell out of alot of them (re-coloring them, switching the heads, re-drawing different little things), I still didn't _draw_ them.

but I completely believe in what Damonk says... cuz some of that stands true for when you write stories, sometimes. and I'm alot better at that then drawing, so I know more about it...

there are only like 8 strips so far for Little Pixels (my sprite comic), and I'm hoping it will get a little better. But if I don't like it, and it gets tedious, I'm gunna stop makin them. I have a plan, and a bunch of ideas, and the only thing I need to do is get around the sprite problem.. :

well, I'll stop rambling now...
if I can stop being so _shy_ you might see more of me

Damonk13 · Post by **Damonk13** » Fri Apr 05, 2002 7:43 am

Sprite comics can be cheesy rip-offs and laziness, or they can be pretty darn good. 8-bit Theater is an exampleof a Sprite comic that i really and truly enjoy. It brings back memories of FF1 while being very fresh and original (and FUNNY!) in its own right.

In the end, you can see the sprite comics as just another medium or genre for comicing -- we have cartoony, minimalist, stick figures, "professional" classic cartoon style, manga style, etc etc etc...

If you offer good humour/story, then it doesn't matter as much if you choose to illustrate your comic with ink or with sprites...

As long as you like comicing, you'll do fine.

ZOMBIE USER 8601 · Post by **ZOMBIE USER 8601** » Fri Apr 05, 2002 12:57 pm

hey,
I'd just like to say that I'm very glad that there are toonists out there that share advice like this. I have been struggling with thinking up an amusing comic concept for a while now and your advice has given me some helpful things to do once I find my concept. And I just want to say thanks, so yeah... thanks. ^_^

~Anne

Corana · Post by **Corana** » Fri Apr 05, 2002 4:06 pm

thanks for the support, damonk ^_^

i _do_ like comicing... daydreaming and writing up charcter disignes and plot ideas is prolly the reason why i'm struggling in a few of my classes...

ah well, the point is i prolly am gunna give this a shot, and when keenspaces gets back to me, i'll start to put up the comics five days a week for the first month or so, and then switch to three days a week. yeah... sounds like a plan.