What Sucks above

[McDuffies]

I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you be patient! I have my own strip to do,

Why you rewieving your own strip?

[KedaDibandion]

to do=to draw

I completely forgot today's strip until about 11pm last night. ^_^ Heh. I don't have time at all anymore, for anything....

I'll try to finish Netrek today, though.

[Netrek]

*Tries being patient*

*squirms*

*draws more bondage and cheerleaders*

-er, GAAAK! did I just - . . .ah, that is, puppydogs! Puppies, and kittens, and bikers . . look what you've all done to me!

Help!

--Sij

[ZOMBIE USER 12015]

*Tries being patient*

*squirms*

*draws more bondage and cheerleaders*

-er, GAAAK! did I just - . . .ah, that is, puppydogs! Puppies, and kittens, and bikers . . look what you've all done to me!

Help!

--Sij

Mwahahahahahaha! All is going according to plan!

[Netrek]

*removes brain and washes repeatedly*

Ahh . . . . . much better. . . . . .

--Sij

[YarpsDat]

ok, Wrecked I owe you this:

primo: I still have no idea how to get to your other projects via links on your site.
So there is a possibility I'm missing on your best works.

secundo: I don't like that backgrounds that show marker texture.
maybe it's your style, but it looks weird esp. when there is a trully black text box right next to semi-black background

tertio: I'm not sure if jpg's are the best for you. -small text, and line-shading gets fuzzy. and hurts my eyes! ><

[something]: interesting reading,
although I cannot identify myself with it.

and I can't say a bad word about your style... well I could say "not my favourite", but I say that all the time .
few years ago maybe I would even like it.


well, that wasn't too productive of me, but it is a review.

[Randomaxe]

Okay, I know I'm setting myself up for a royal ass-chewing here, but I'll do it anyway. <b>YarpsDat</b>, this is for you:

First, you need a title graphic or some text or <i>something</i>. I had to look at my browser's titlebar to figure out what the actual name of your comic was. I see that you have it at the bottom of the actual comic, but it's not always there, and it's sometimes obscured.

Second, PROOFREAD. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. To me, nothing makes a comic look more amateurish than a buttload of spelling and grammar errors. In the first half-dozen or so strips, I found several spelling errors ("wher's", "loose" instead of "lose", "beeing") that jumped out and STABBED ME IN THE EYE.

Third. Either lose the text in your background image, or put the text beneath your comic inside a table cell with a solid background. The text-on-top-of-text thing is <i>really</i> hard to read.

Fourth: I'm really not sure if your strip is supposed to be humorous or serious. It sometimes seems like you were thinking about a joke, and then you kinda hint at it, but you never actually develop it.

I'm not going to be super-critical of your art... it's clear that you're trying to put your characters into dynamic poses and arrange the characters in the panels in interesting ways, and that's really good. So instead of criticism, I'm just going to point out two places that I think you should concentrate your efforts: Your characters look a little stiff. They don't look like they're comfortable. I'm not sure what it is, exactly. Maybe it's the board-straight spines or something. You should try to make them look more natural in their poses. Second, you draw faces well from the front and at an angle (the latter of which is something to be very proud of), but when you draw them in profile, they look very blocky, very robotic. That would be something to practice with.

As far as style goes... If the sketchbook-look is what you're aiming for, congratulations, because you're there. But if it's not, you should really consider picking up a good vector graphics tool such as Illustrator, and maybe a copy of Streamline so that you can scan your sketches in and clean them up easily on the PC.

[YarpsDat]

First, you need a title graphic or some text or <i>something</i>.

damn, I thought I've put a banner kind-thingy on top, but turns out I forgot to add "/images/" to filename, I'll fix that in a minute.
(a minute later) no I won't I 've lost the image that was supposed to go there, I'll fix that tomorrow.

Second, PROOFREAD.

too bad I know noone with better English than me.

Third. Either lose the text in your background image, or put the text beneath your comic inside a table cell with a solid background. The text-on-top-of-text thing is <i>really</i> hard to read.

it's really <i>that</i> hard? I thought the text was bright enough not to be annoying. but I guess I can get rid of it.

Fourth: I'm really not sure if your strip is supposed to be humorous or serious. It sometimes seems like you were thinking about a joke, and then you kinda hint at it, but you never actually develop it.

I'm not sure neither
but seriously,
it's supposed to be serious story, with humour when possible.
a couple of times I tried making a joke when it wasn't possible (or when I only had a vague idea of a joke). It seems stupid in retrospect, but I used to think "hell, better this than nothing"
recently I'm trying to quit that, and just admit that a joke is not aways necessary.

Your characters look a little stiff.

you've got a point there, I'll try and fix that, but it will take some time.
(too bad noone commented on that earlier)

but when you draw them in profile, they look very blocky, very robotic. That would be something to practice with.

yeah, I don't like drawing profiles.

As far as style goes... If the sketchbook-look is what you're aiming for, congratulations, because you're there. But if it's not, you should really consider picking up a good vector graphics tool such as Illustrator, and maybe a copy of Streamline so that you can scan your sketches in and clean them up easily on the PC.

Do you mean my pencil-shading?
I started doing that because I was too lazy to shade on computer, but then I've grown to like it.

[Odd1]

Okay, randomaxe:

I'm going to let somebody else comment on the comic itself. If I was able to find flaws in it it would most likely not be my favorite (gag) comic online. 8)

I would recommend you take off some of the voting buttons since it's very rare for anyone to want to vote 5 times in a row. Besides that, some of the lists you're on are very much frozen. Also it couldn't hurt to update your News more than twice a year(?).

You've kept your page light on graphics, possibly too light. More images can't hurt unless they're very large in file size, or the obvious 'literally painful' images to look at. You know, the kind that make you want to gouge out your eyes to make your brain stop itching. But you seem like a sensible web designer so I think it's safe to suggest some more imagery!

[Randomaxe]

Okay, randomaxe:

I'm going to let somebody else comment on the comic itself. If I was able to find flaws in it it would most likely not be my favorite (gag) comic online. 8)

Daww. You really love me!

I would recommend you take off some of the voting buttons since it's very rare for anyone to want to vote 5 times in a row.

Yeah, I've been meaning to do some housecleaning, which may involve dropping the voting buttons entirely, or just making a separate page for them.

Besides that, some of the lists you're on are very much frozen. Also it couldn't hurt to update your News more than twice a year(?).

Um. Heh. Yeah. Actually, I use a LiveJournal for most of the comic-related news... I'm looking at ways to integrate that into the site so that it'll be easy to update each day's news. I'm also just considering redisigning that portion of the page to use daily news updates.

You've kept your page light on graphics, possibly too light. More images can't hurt unless they're very large in file size, or the obvious 'literally painful' images to look at. You know, the kind that make you want to gouge out your eyes to make your brain stop itching. But you seem like a sensible web designer so I think it's safe to suggest some more imagery!

I'm actually working on an ad graphic for the top of the page to help me get more <strike>suckers</strike> customers to buy <i>RAoK</i>-branded <strike>crap</strike> merchandise.

Wow. And I was expecting this to be painful.

[Jaster!]

Liz? No coment. I think you're well aware of what everyone thinks of your comic.

That being said, I would like to say that I share her enthusiasm for Random Axe of Kindness. It's almost obscenely funny, and the site design, drawing, flow, blah blah, yadda yadda, it's all good. I still get annoyed by copy and paste comics in general, but your writing is funny enough to make up for the lack of visual appeal. Arlo frightens me. And I'm not very good at reviewing comics, especially good ones. Sorry.

[Odd1]

Daww. You really love me!

And yet somehow it slipped my mind to send you a fanmail or something... The only time I think we've ever were in contact was concerning the CCA presentation last year. Damn that presentation kicked so much ass; I tried linking it here, but the whole CCA site seems to be down. Gah.

Um. Heh. Yeah. Actually, I use a LiveJournal for most of the comic-related news...

I take it the LiveJournal you're referring to isn't the "randomaxe" one? That one just contains the strip itself as far as I know.

[Odd1]

Liz? No coment. I think you're well aware of what everyone thinks of your comic.

What? Just because my comic isn't out until next month? I feel so used now.

C'mon, Jaster. Just use your imagination.

[Jaster!]

Weirdism: Keenspaces newest and most shiniest star. I've only read about half of your archives so far, but I get a pretty good impression of how it's going. The navigation bar looks a little cluttered, but that's easily ignored, as the artwork is incredible. You can tell you spent a lot of time on the art style, as it's incredibly unique stuff. Half the time it's incredibly funny, but then you occasionally seem to wander off, like that stuff with the shoes? I didn't get any of that. Maybe I was just distracted by the interlude where everyone went camping, and you seem a little too focused on the characters' relationship issues for my taste, but all in all, it's looking to be a worthwhile read. I'd suggest leaning more towards the weirdness, as suggested in the title, and lay off all the mundane stuff, as the angst really bogs down your humour, which shines. I hate the neighbor character, though. I'd suggest killing him off as soon as possible.

[KedaDibandion]

Weirdism: Keenspaces newest and most shiniest star. I've only read about half of your archives so far, but I get a pretty good impression of how it's going. The navigation bar looks a little cluttered, but that's easily ignored, as the artwork is incredible. You can tell you spent a lot of time on the art style, as it's incredibly unique stuff. Half the time it's incredibly funny, but then you occasionally seem to wander off, like that stuff with the shoes? I didn't get any of that. Maybe I was just distracted by the interlude where everyone went camping, and you seem a little too focused on the characters' relationship issues for my taste, but all in all, it's looking to be a worthwhile read. I'd suggest leaning more towards the weirdness, as suggested in the title, and lay off all the mundane stuff, as the angst really bogs down your humour, which shines. I hate the neighbor character, though. I'd suggest killing him off as soon as possible.

*dies laughing*

*ahem*

I mean, yes, I completely agree with Jaster.

[ZOMBIE USER 12015]

ok, Wrecked I owe you this:

secundo: I don't like that backgrounds that show marker texture.
maybe it's your style, but it looks weird esp. when there is a trully black text box right next to semi-black background

tertio: I'm not sure if jpg's are the best for you. -small text, and line-shading gets fuzzy. and hurts my eyes! ><

[something]: interesting reading,
although I cannot identify myself with it.

and I can't say a bad word about your style... well I could say "not my favourite", but I say that all the time .
few years ago maybe I would even like it.

Thank you, I appreciate the time and comments. I agree with what you've had to say as well. I started the other day to fix the marker texture from showing next to the black text boxes and definitely need to learn more about scanning and image formats, etc.

[Netrek]

Wow! It's good to see everyone agreeing and working out problems like this. Gives me hope for . . . well, something.

(just realized I still have a huge batch of comics to rescan and reduce in file size) gacccckk...

Well, I'm fixing up the site at least . . ..

--Sij