May I Help You?

Mayihelpyou · Post by **Mayihelpyou** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 6:33 pm

May I Help You? is about two women working as receptionists at a medical clinic and everyday life.. except it's not so normal most of the time. We've got ghosts in closets, treefrogs running rampant.. and gypsies in the research lab.. So, come on it, let us offer our services and ask "May I Help You?".

My intention was to take all those funny moments a person has in a normal day and showcase them.. with a touch of old style vaudevillian humor. I also wanted to add a couple of elements that weren't so normal.. and I decided to go with a more simplistic art style. I've updated about fifteen-twenty more comics since this first posted so please check it out, and give me some good honest feedback.

THanks..
L.Hall

MinekaC. · Post by **MinekaC.** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:10 pm

I think the story rocks. Well.... there isn't REALLY a story, but I think the strip in of itself rocks. But you already knew that *smiles*
I hope it stays around for quite aways yet. *gives you thumbs up* It has my support!

Mayihelpyou · Post by **Mayihelpyou** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:25 pm

MinekaC. wrote: *gives you thumbs up* It has my support!

Thanks! As does ditloac from me.. And now would be the perfect time for you to give me any criticisms, you know.

Glambourine · Post by **Glambourine** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:39 am

I basically dig it--I like the stuff that's about the office more than the stuff about cosplayers and ghosts, definitely. I'd like to see a more varied art style--at least varied line width--but what you've got does the job. I dunno--it's not a bad start, and I can see it going someplace good once characters start solidifying, getting more specific. Nice stuff.

ARC Lambda 00 · Post by **ARC Lambda 00** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:23 am

Very funny,
I believe that this is one of the oddest

webcomics that I have ever seen!
It is just so different, that I cannot help but laugh.

Mayihelpyou · Post by **Mayihelpyou** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:06 am

glambourine wrote:I basically dig it--I like the stuff that's about the office more than the stuff about cosplayers and ghosts, definitely. I'd like to see a more varied art style--at least varied line width--but what you've got does the job. I dunno--it's not a bad start, and I can see it going someplace good once characters start solidifying, getting more specific. Nice stuff.

The line art is something that I have had a lot of thoughts about. I've always used varied line widths in my more traditional art, and I considered it with this.. but I wanted the cleanest, most simple art possible for the cartoon work. I would like for there to be more office stuff, but the cosplay and the ghost stuff is there to help define the characters.. and honestly, there are only so many one page sight gags I can think of in one month. *chuckles* But it does open my mind up to some other possibilities and thank you for mentioning those things. Thank you very much.

Mayihelpyou · Post by **Mayihelpyou** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:07 am

ARC Lambda 00 wrote:Very funny,
I believe that this is one of the oddest webcomics that I have ever seen!
It is just so different, that I cannot help but laugh.

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Mayihelpyou · Post by **Mayihelpyou** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 6:40 am

MinekaC. wrote:I think the story rocks. Well.... there isn't REALLY a story, but I think the strip in of itself rocks. But you already knew that *smiles*
I hope it stays around for quite aways yet. *gives you thumbs up* It has my support!

You know.. I never heard any criticism.. I'd really appreciate the feedback, espcially from you.

*hugs*

Dave Against The Machine · Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:47 pm

I somewhat liked it. It was a bit funny, made me laughh. But.................
The one thing that turned me off to it, and probabaly will future readers, is the amount of recolored and reused images. It seemed like you used the same image alot, but recolered the shirt. Othere than that. I liked it.

Mayihelpyou · Post by **Mayihelpyou** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:34 pm

Dave Against The Machine wrote:I somewhat liked it. It was a bit funny, made me laughh. But.................
The one thing that turned me off to it, and probabaly will future readers, is the amount of recolored and reused images. It seemed like you used the same image alot, but recolered the shirt. Othere than that. I liked it.

I'm getting that a lot.. but the thing is.. It's their work place. When I go to work, it doesn't change. The walls are the same color, the phones are in the same place.. I have to sit in the same spot.. I do use a break room, a supply closet, their homes, and other places that are coming up, but it's not just about the characters. It's about the characters in THIS setting. Same place, same colors, different clothes, day in-day out. Sounds monotonous, but I still find things that make me laugh.

I'm trying to make use of the criticism. I'm drawing more individuality into the characters.. starting to use more storylines (I promise, no treefrogs were harmed in the making of this comic) and in general really looking at it and trying to improve it.

Thank you for your time, and your feedback. I understand that this is a consistent problem, but that may be one that is built into the comic itself. We'll see how it develops. I have different layouts coming up too, so that may help break the monotony.

Dr Neo Lao · Post by **Dr Neo Lao** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 10:06 pm

Not sure how useful this is to you:

It's not really appropriate to your style, but if I was drawing a comic that was always (or spent a lot of time) in the same place, then I'd build said place (or at least the walls, roof and floor) in 3D using a colour pallette that matched the drawing style.

That way, the characters and maybe some furniture would be hand-drawn but the background is just a render image out of the 3D model. Since it's basically "taking photos" in the setting, the angles could be easily varied in order to make the composition more interesting.

Some more practical advice: you don't have to draw everything in every panel. You have some panels where it's white with a sound effect (such as this page) but you can also "break out" of your style. See this page. The second panel has a background that has nothing to do with anything, but it still works well.

Negative space can also work (such as seen here in the third panel) and will prevent your comic from getting that monotnous feel. You may also want to experiment with varying the viewpoint, such as close-ups, over-the-shoulder shots, establishing shots (such as from outside the building looking at a window) etc etc.

Mayihelpyou · Post by **Mayihelpyou** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:00 am

Dr Neo Lao wrote:Not sure how useful this is to you

This is very useful for me. There is coming up (in the next two panels even) differences in settings.. just exactly what you were talking about. And I've been designing future pages with that in mind. Thank you for the valuable insight and examples. This is, actually, very vey helpful!