Keenspace Sampler Volume 2

[Chibiartstudios]

I like the Jam Idea. Though there is a good point in that it's not really a sampler of existing comics but rather a new work by our active artists.

As for plot? Well, I'm going to be restarting the Colluseum around the 1st. If you want we could add a plot or something and have it be a book rather than a contest. I'm not sure how the contestants would like that though. Meh, just an Idea. [/shameless plug]

In any case If we are going to do the "pick a villain" idea I say we go for KrisX. His Pocket Kitty party is just begging for a plot to support it.

And in the case that we go for another sampler I'll put something in. No worries there.

Or maybie MrBob. He's got squirrels running in the hamster wheels of his mond. Evil squirrels that at the hamster and drove him mad long ago. Pluss he has this cool evil grin.

Also, how would this work? Would one person make a script/story and the others each get a set amount to turn into comics? Or would this be more improvizational A la Battle Royalle?

[Paul.Power]

A jam would be nice, as I missed out on Revolution because by the time I decided "yeah, go on, give it a go, Paul", the thing had just finished . I'm not sure how well it'd work in the context of a sampler, though.

[ShineDog]

no jam for shiney

firstly, im not big on the jam concept MYSELF since i dont like working with other peoples stories.

with regards to outsiders, im not too sure jams work. if you arent part of a given community then a jam is a mess of inconsistent art at best if it is a preplotted jam, and if its an open jam, then its just a mess if you arent a community member.

bleh, too tired to argue. i must bed! smells like im in a minority anyway.

[War]

That's why I said a coordinated one. The idea was that someone knocks out a script suitable for a short comic. Properly scripted. Then it gets divided up so each person has to do 3 pages.

[Joel Fagin]

A single comic written by many people always feels disjointed to me and it'd be quite extreme if we have, say, Maria and Michelle do something in the same issue as Stinkywigfiddle. The styles are at diametric opposites and the piece would have no continuity of style and no overall feel. Imagine if there was a movie, every ten minutes of which was directed by a different director.

Also, if it's anything like the forum jams, it will appeal mostly to Spacers. Making it about Spacers is like me sending Americans Australian political cartoons. Yes, they might get the joke, but it never works as well as when you know the characters yourself.

In fact, I'm really putting myself off the idea. I'll see what happens but I might not join in if it ends up being a jam. I just feel it defeats the point of a sampler.

- Joel Fagin

[Jops]

What about having something a little less fightish?
like making 2 teams of spacers and have them play a basketball match (with no rules, of course) or something like that.

[edit] On the other hand, Joel's right about non 'spacers not fully enjoying it.
Perhaps we can make a jam in a later issue, when we can assume there are regular readers of the print who appear to know us.

[Joel Fagin]

Why not keep the sampler a sampler and just do a jam as normal, only with certain stipulations on format so it can be printed? I mean, people do the things anyway.

- Joel Fagin

[War]

Ok, a jam was a bad way to describe it. What I meant is a proper comic, scripted and written by one person (with the imput of others) and then drawn by several artists (a similar example would be Judge Dredd: Apocalypse War, drawn by 4 artists each with their own style). It would be less a jam, and more like the result of Al Schroeders alternative pages.

I was intending this to be seperate from the Sampler. I should have made it clear that this is a seperate project. We'd be looking at around 6 to 8 artists to do it.

[Joel Fagin]

What I meant is a proper comic, scripted and written by one person (with the imput of others) and then drawn by several artists (a similar example would be Judge Dredd: Apocalypse War, drawn by 4 artists each with their own style).

Ah, that sounds much better on numerous points. I would try to keep art styles which are complimentry to each other and complimentry to the story, though. Maria and Michelle doing Judge Dredd, for example, would be... Cute.*

- Joel Fagin

* And a cute Judge Dredd should be all the argument you need.

[ShineDog]

hmm. still not too sure i like it tbh. seeing the art styles jump around from page to page would put ME off at least. its also particularly jarring when you have people here who draw at wildly different ability levels. If they were doing there own comic, they get a chance to show off there writing on top of there art.

not saying i wont participate, just that i would much prefer it to be our own stuff that goes out.

im thinking im probably not eligable since i havent been updating for long anyway

**edit!**

didnt notice wars point that it would be a seperate entity. DONT MIND ME!

[Komiyan]

Put my name down for participating. I do like the idea of all drawing one story, but getting the script down could be messy. As someone said, things written by many people tend to feel disjointed, no matter how much you try to avoid it.

However it turns out, though, I'm definitly up for doing some drawing.

[Soap Soaperson]

Does the Jam have to be about our characters and avatars? Maybe if we focus on a couple made-up characters, there will be less for a reader to wade through. Of course in that respect, it's even less of a sampler, but it would possibly attract more readers if they weren't reading about 30 random Spacers.

[Spriteville, USA]

Here's my clearly well informed and experienced view on doing a KeenJam (What!? I've been here like a few months =])

This sampler is NOT for us. It is to show off the skills of the Keenspace community. This is very important to keep in mind because some of the posts seem to reflect the opposite. This sampler is obviously created so that people who know nothing or very little about Keenspace will contemplate exploring it more.

That said a story written by a group of us WILL include inside jokes. I mean doing a Kris X story would be funny and cool, but people who aren't us won't understand. It'll be an inside joke no matter how much of it we explain.

As fun as a jam would be I don't think it's the best idea. Each person should do their own page and that page would reflect their own style. Each of us presents a very different style of story and graphic interests. I think instead of trying to conform all of our styles to coincide with a core story, that we do it like the last sampler and each of us do the best single page comic that we can muster, something that screams our individual style.

That's just my opinion though.

[Kris X]

3 pages each?! I had enough problems with one. >.< Well, I'll let you guys figure it out, if there are places open at the end, I'll be more than happy to contribute (I have a new comic to pimp). Let me know if you do, afterall like faub said, best let people who haven't have first dibs.

[Jops]

well, i missed the 1st round, so i'd like to take part in it this time.

[War]

Does the Jam have to be about our characters and avatars? Maybe if we focus on a couple made-up characters, there will be less for a reader to wade through. Of course in that respect, it's even less of a sampler, but it would possibly attract more readers if they weren't reading about 30 random Spacers.

That was what I intended. If we use ourselves then a) Self insertion! and b) It's more likely that we'll fall into the trap of using injokes for everything.
Here's how I planned on doing it:

1. I accost someone who meets the writing requirements. The most important things being a known experience in writing a story based comic, and experience is scripting comics.
2. We throw ideas around till we find one we like.
3. It's time to design characters/locations/props as needed!
4. The script is cut up and each participant is given 3 or 4 pages worth.
5. The participants draw their comics, same format as the sampler. At this point I should point out that I'm heavily in favour of drawn comics here. The more someone favours ink over CG the better (McDuffies page prints out well because he uses no gradients). Sadly I'll most likely say no to any rendered comics, they mostly print out as black boxes.
6. The participants finish their part of the story by the deadline and pass on the 600dpi version to whoever is assembling the pdf.

This idea is not for the faint hearted. Whilst I will try to avoid giving hard stuff to the less able artists, there's no guarantee. If you thought doing the sampler was hard, this one makes it look like a walk in the park.

[McDuffies]

I say we make comics that could work like separate short stories, but are also connected. Cortland had the good idea, for instance buss full of spacers, visiting each place. I, for instance, make a one-page-comic where the buss is visiting Serbia, and comic is in continuity with others (regarding characters and concept) but also works separately as one episode.

[Mr.Bob]

So it's like KeenLobotomy, yes?

[Pimpette]

Seeing as how I missed the first volume (**shakes fist at school**), I'm up for whatever's going on in this one.
I like the KeenBus idea - we can have little "episodes" and not have to worry too much about an overall script.
Though if it's back to a one or two page minicomic, I'm up for that too.

[Cortland]

Let me throw my hat in the ring for doing just about anything we need here! Some kind of group-participation comic would be great--we'll just have to be good and coordinated in order for it work. We'll need to nominate someone to act as "director" and crack the whip over participant's heads to make sure they get their comics done. And not all comics in the second edition have to be part of this, either.

One note: it might be easier just to have a common theme or setting for everyone to follow for their samples. I'm still partial to a KeenBus, where each participant can have the cast visit his or her part of the world. It would be more open, freeform, and showcase some of the diversity of cartoonists we have around here.

Keenspace: WORLD TOUR!