Woods and Keys Critique

[Adamazing]

Hey everyone!

I'm open to all types of critique. Writing, drawing style, inking, coloring, website format...

http://www.WoodsandKeys.com

Let 'er rip!

[Lianweijun086]

I love it! You are really rockin' the art, and I love the lame one liners. I'm not sure if "lame" is the exact word I'm looking for, so don't be offended. It's good clean humor. I love that! Keep it up!

[Phalanx]

I like your art, the writing is fairly entertaining but is something of a fire-and-forget kind of thing. You read, you chuckle at the jokes, then you forget about it later.

Wow. That guy REALLY reminds me of my friend who constantly works in lame puns every time you see him. *chuckle*

Website design wise, it might be nice to have a tagline or a short description of what your comic's about. It would help the new reader a lot on deciding whether or not to take the plunge into the archives.

The website while neat and functional, feels a little stark. You might consider adding some soft watermark patterns in the background wallpaper to soften the look.

Overall, it reminds me a lot of newspaper comics. I don't really read those anymore, but people who do would probably enjoy this.

[Harishankar]

Hmm.. what shall I say. The artwork looks quite settled and the style is, in the main, pleasing. Layout wise you are fine. Readability is excellent. Colouring is pleasant and not overdone. Nothing much to criticize about your characters either though they aren't memorable in any sense. That's not to say they are bad, but they're just not well developed yet. From what I see of your drawing style, I think with your level of expertise technically speaking you can do a lot more with the characters.

However, I can also see that you're still working into your theme as it's a fairly new comic. The jokes/gags are a bit generic and sometimes they are kind of mismatched as against the background of your storyline (it's about teachers, right?). For instance, Here's an example of a generic gag that's been done a lot and so doesn't really have that punch which might be expected : http://www.woodsandkeys.com/wordpress/?p=60

Some of the gags are just a bit TOO slapstick shall we say? (Or maybe you intend it to be that way?) For instance, this one here the male character comes across as a touch mean and takes away from the humour aspect http://www.woodsandkeys.com/wordpress/?p=40 .

I would say, it has potential - add a touch of sophistication and uniqueness to the humour as you go alone because it will probably suit the comic better and give you more themes to work on. The best gag comics I've read always have a personal touch and don't rely excessively on the punch line. Though I might be wrong, but I get the feeling that you're just "testing the waters" right now with your work.

However, these are just suggestions from a random reader. So don't take my critique amiss.

By the way, in the latest comic http://www.woodsandkeys.com/wordpress/?p=87, did you mean "We shouldn't be so lucky" rather than "We should be so lucky"? Seems to make sense with the first one. But also I think your latest comic shows that you're moving in the right direction!

[Herschel Dirtwater]

I like the strip a lot. I know you said that you will be trying to keep the "teacher gags" to a minimum and I think that's a good idea since it will keep your audience as wide as possible. The art is outstanding and the writing is above average for sure. I would try to hone in on a writing style and then stick with it. Right now, it is funny in the way that "For Better for Worse" was funny. I don't think you can get away with Dilbert-style (mean and sarcastic humor) with your characters and setting, so I think you're on the right track.

By the way, in the latest comic http://www.woodsandkeys.com/wordpress/?p=87, did you mean "We shouldn't be so lucky" rather than "We should be so lucky"? Seems to make sense with the first one.

I don't agree. I'm not an English/grammar expert (even though I play one online ) but I think that the punch-line as written is standard in speech (if not in writing).

HD

[SevenCurrents]

I wouldn't drop the teacher gags entirely. I work for the public school system in my country and am getting a huge kick out of these. I think my favorite so far was "Good News, Bad News." Just the other day two of our teachers had almost the exact same conversation in our mail room. I'm tempted to staple some of these to our bulletin board.

Overall, clean design, colorful comic, delightful dialogue. You could find a serious niche in the education fields as Dilbert did for the workplace with time and proper advertising.

[Phalanx]

I wouldn't drop the teacher gags entirely. I work for the public school system in my country and am getting a huge kick out of these. I think my favorite so far was "Good News, Bad News." Just the other day two of our teachers had almost the exact same conversation in our mail room. I'm tempted to staple some of these to our bulletin board.

Overall, clean design, colorful comic, delightful dialogue. You could find a serious niche in the education fields as Dilbert did for the workplace with time and proper advertising.

What he said.

When you try to please everyone you end up pleasing none. Stick to your guns, I'd rather read a specialized comic about teachers than a generic one about schools.

By the way, in the latest comic http://www.woodsandkeys.com/wordpress/?p=87, did you mean "We shouldn't be so lucky" rather than "We should be so lucky"? Seems to make sense with the first one. But also I think your latest comic shows that you're moving in the right direction!

No it's correct. "We should be so lucky" is the correct phrase, although no one ever said English was a sensible language.

[Harishankar]

Ah ok. It popped out at me when I first saw it.

[Samuli]

Yeah, love it! You've got the four-panel-gag rhythm down pretty well. I've seen most of the gags before in some form or another but they don't feel old, except the ones that don't really hit home all the way (Harishankar mentioned one in a previous post). But I get enough kicks from the strip to keep reading. On that note, there's too few of them.

I like the cleanness of the site. White is nothing to be afraid of and it centres the focus on the strip, which is probably your intention. There's good contrast in the typograpy. The banner is just enough to not be visually distracting but offers clues about the setting and nature of the characters. Nice. I'll definitely come back.