mcDuff's reviewalicious thread

[McDuffies]

That concludes this reviewing spree. It would be helpful if someone went through the thread to see if I haven't missed someone.

Thanks to everyone for taking critiques so gracefully, I know it's not easy. Too many times people talk about "critiques" when they actually mean "praise". This was a totally different experience and people were nothing but classy.

[Dallawalla]

Thank you.

It is always a pleasure to have someone who reviews comics and doesnt judge them simply on whether they are good or bad.

And yeah, with E and Mu, It doesnt mean anything... or it can mean what you like... like anything really...
Something's effect is always going to be limited anyway, it may as well be visibly pointless.

Anyway.. thanks.. major effort on your part

[Td501]

Went through the thread and didn't find any missed requests - looks like you got them all.

Thanks for doing this - really thorough and thoughtful reviews. While the opinions of people will often differ, you explained yours very well. Advice helpfully accompanied critique, and you explained comic strengths and weaknesses in very understandable terms. Again - thanks and well done!

[Mithandir]

Hi there,

I'm the writer of Chasing the Sunset and would like to thank you for your kind and honest review. You've brought up some points that I'll surely keep in mind.

The pixie problem is one several people have brought to my intention and one I'm unsure how to fix. At this point it would disappoint a lot of fans to simply remove Feiht and while I can of course put less focus on her, she doesn't have a personality that blends into the background easily. Furthermore she's not the easiest one to add dimensions to. Still, half the fun is in the challenge

The human antagonist problem is one that I hadn't noticed myself yet, but now you point it out I have to agree. While I strife to make characters more than simply good or evil, I have been using the humans more than others to blend this line (a clear example being the Witch who I used to try and point out is not evil, does come across at ethically dodgy at the least). I'd content that the bard-king Dersil was a good person, but as you say he's clearly scheming. Conversely, some characters may also in my mind be less kind than they may appear. Geb the Troll, for instance, IS dangerous and IS quite scheming, but he doesn't show it as clearly.
I think part of the problem there is that the characters are elvish and events are partly coloured by their observations and reactions. Ayne for one is quite specieist against humans.
I'll keep this in particular mind and will try to improve.

As for the length of dialogue: guilty as charged. As you can tell from this post I'm prone to rambling and have trouble condensing my thoughts into less text.

Now for art, I'll have less comments here since I'm the writer. However, I should point out that I also do the colouring and the shading and that the problem with faces you pointed out might be due to me having no idea how to shade a face. It's simply too complex for me.

I agree with you on the camera angles and have frequently pushed Alien (the artist and my wife) to put in more closeups and different angles, but she tends to revert back to the same format (with an occasional birdseye shot thrown in). I'll tickle her until she puts in more experimentation in this regard

Oh, and I think she's improving on backgrounds, but she has a habit of thinking of a wall as a rather featureless and homogeneous rectangle. This creates the problem of e.g. an incredibly detailed filled table set against a featureless void.

[McDuffies]

Hi there,
The pixie problem is one several people have brought to my intention and one I'm unsure how to fix. At this point it would disappoint a lot of fans to simply remove Feiht and while I can of course put less focus on her, she doesn't have a personality that blends into the background easily. Furthermore she's not the easiest one to add dimensions to. Still, half the fun is in the challenge

Eh *shrug* for a moment I thought that she was gonna fall in love and there would be a change in character's primary interest... though I don't know how much that would change.

The human antagonist problem is one that I hadn't noticed myself yet, but now you point it out I have to agree. While I strife to make characters more than simply good or evil, I have been using the humans more than others to blend this line (a clear example being the Witch who I used to try and point out is not evil, does come across at ethically dodgy at the least). I'd content that the bard-king Dersil was a good person, but as you say he's clearly scheming. Conversely, some characters may also in my mind be less kind than they may appear. Geb the Troll, for instance, IS dangerous and IS quite scheming, but he doesn't show it as clearly.
I think part of the problem there is that the characters are elvish and events are partly coloured by their observations and reactions. Ayne for one is quite specieist against humans.
I'll keep this in particular mind and will try to improve.

Humans - technology and modern society - bad; Forest creatures - oldfashioned values - good.
It's a stereotypical characterisation that fantasy writers have largely accepted (though they privately usually aren't that oposed to technology), and such stereotypes can sneak up on you.

Now for art, I'll have less comments here since I'm the writer. However, I should point out that I also do the colouring and the shading and that the problem with faces you pointed out might be due to me having no idea how to shade a face. It's simply too complex for me.

Nah, it's not colouring.

I agree with you on the camera angles and have frequently pushed Alien (the artist and my wife) to put in more closeups and different angles, but she tends to revert back to the same format (with an occasional birdseye shot thrown in). I'll tickle her until she puts in more experimentation in this regard

Your kids must be having a blast about their parents making a comic.

[Linkara]

Thanks again for the review McDuffies. ^^ Every time I get a kick in the rear, it helps me improve at least a little bit more. ^^

[Redtech]

Thanks again for the review McDuffies. ^^ Every time I get a kick in the rear, it helps me improve at least a little bit more. ^^

At your fast rate of progress, maybe I should cheat and just keep kicking you over and over and over! Maybe it's linear progression.