THE COMIC STRIP! : Chris Perdigao 2005 : "Misfits"

[paperclip]

Sounds interesting!! Takes so long to get these things up & running though doesn't it?

[Jasel]

I'm really looking forward for this... you've proven in the past that you've gat a great sense of humor!

[Ilikesoup]

I'm a bad man. I haven't posted any pics, haven't posted any replies to the nice people who posted in my thread. . . :banghead: I now intend to make amends.

paperclip - Yes, I agree completely. I had forgotten how much preparation goes into creating a comic between creating the concept, fleshing out characters, writing dialogue, plotting out the panels, drawing and finally, lettering. Last night I drew out about 1/2 of a comics page and this morning decided I'm going to change the layout. :banghead: What's more, I've decided I don't like the title, either. :banghead: :banghead:

Jasel - Thanks so much for the compliment. I'm hoping this will be funny, and welcome your feedback if it's not. Setting up a joke in terms of timing and panel layout is just WEIRD. I can't imagine what animators go through.

I fully intend to post a completed 1st page Saturday at the latest. Right now the comic is in black & white with some gradient backgrounds. Expect lots of experiments until I find something I feel comfortable with. Stay tuned!

[Ilikesoup]

Okay, here's progress toward page 1 of my comic:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/ilikesoup2/Msft1.jpg


While I like the look of panel #3 (bear in boxers) I decided it would be easier for the reader if I turned it to a vertical panel along the left edge. This also makes room for two new panels to the right. An extra panel means another action or reaction shot and extra room for dialogue. I know this won't make much sense without the dialogue, but I plan to add the lettering last. And I still promise to have page 1 done this weekend. :)

I'd love to hear what y'all think.

[The Damned]

I like the style... and with your humour I think this will be wicked.

I think your idea of moving the bear panel is good as it's a bit confusing as it is currently.

I know you said your weren't putting the text in but what's the idea behind this page?

[Ilikesoup]

The Damned - Don't you want to be surprised? :) I'm thinking of an Odd Couple intro where Skippy's parents kick him out and, having nowhere else to go, Skippy drops in unexpectedly on his brother. Skippy and his brother's roommate have never met before. Hopefully the visual joke with the hearts will be clear once the page is done.

Thanks for commenting!

[Ilikesoup]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/ilikesoup2/Misfit1.jpg

Okay, this is my final on the art but I've still gotta add the lettering. I'm much happier with this layout, and thought it would be more readable if the panels were color coded. :)
Panel background goes from black to light gray in sequence. I liked the gradient, but figured that might cause problems if I ever want to have this printed.

Crits & comments more than welcome.

[Ilikesoup]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/ilikesoup2/Misfit1final.jpg

Okay, I'm a day late. I forgot how much of a perfectionist I am. The last panel wasn't working for me -- rabbit being freaked out about the big, fat bear and then being all angry and rude. I'm happy now. :thumbsup:

But I want to know if you're happy, too, so tell me what you think.

[augustus]

To be honest, 4th frame looks like "Did you see my brother? He is this tall and wears a short like yours!" more than "Gaa! Big fat bear" to me:). Maybe you can move "Can I help you" to 2nd and "Big fat bear" to 3rd, so you can give a little more time to rabbit to calm down.

Keep it up:thumbsup:

[Jolene]

Hahaha i like the panel where the bunny freaks out on the big bear. Looking forward on more :D.

[Ilikesoup]

To be honest, 4th frame looks like "Did you see my brother? He is this tall and wears a short like yours!" more than "Gaa! Big fat bear" to me:).

Good point. I don't always know what to do with their hands and Skippy has often been accused of overacting. :)

Maybe you can move "Can I help you" to 2nd and "Big fat bear" to 3rd, so you can give a little more time to rabbit to calm down.

I know that you're 100% right, but it will take a lot of work to get the text bubbles into place without disrupting the artwork. I'll have a go at it tonight, and thanks for the advice.

Jolene - Thanks!

[Ilikesoup]

Still slogging through the molasses. . .

Instead of proceeding to page 2 to keep the momentum going, I've decided to rework page 1 a bit and the perfectionist in me couldn't be happier. The time keeper in me is shouting, "LEAVE IT! LEAVE IT! LEAVE IT!" and wants me to proceed to pages 2 thru infinity.

Anyway, the way I now envision this scene Skippy will first be surprised to encounter the bear, will jump to the wrong conclusion and try to avenge the (assumed) murder of his brother (yeah, he's like that). This way there's plenty of action and I don't have to bring Skippy from surprised to angry to calm all in one page.

WARNING! This comic will contain several references to the sport of hockey because it's a great sport that's highly underrated in the U.S. and can use all the attention it can get. Basically, it's the misfit stepbrother of baseball, football and basketball. Also, it's blatant pandering to the Canadian members of CGTalk in an attempt to build my audience. ;)

I'm still working some details out, but I think the bear (Ursa) is from Montreal. His parents kicked him out of the house for being a Boston Bruins fan. Skippy is a Tampa Bay (Florida) fan whose team just won the Stanley Cup last season. I see Skippy and Ursa debating a lot, but they'll have a basis for building a strong friendship with Jack on the outside looking in.
I'm hoping to post page 1 revision by Saturday. Stay tuned!

[elmasfeo]

hey soup, good work! I really like frame 4, you've always had very good sense of humour...hehehe
my only sugerence is that I think skippy looks too calmed in the last frame, he was freaking out in the 4th... just change him a little (hands in his head maybe?) to make him look worried and it will be perfect IMO.
I'm looking forward to that 2nd page...:D

[duddlebug]

haha... kinda strange. I like the shot of the back of the rabbits head and all the love hearts!

I think augustus made some good points though...

[Ilikesoup]

Update: I'm about 90% finished with Page 1 version 2.0.
elmasfeo - There will still be a rabbit freaking out in panel 4, but he will be thoroughly irrational in panels 3 and 5 as well.

duddlebug - Rabbit has been removed from panel 2 in favor of more hearts.
Themes of murder, revenge, luggage and hockey will be introduced. That's all that I will say. I'm just crossing my fingers that in revising, I've not removed the elements that people thought were funny in the first place. :sad:

BTW, I've been looking around at www.eatpoo.com (http://www.eatpoo.com), particularly at their comic book forum. Some really great stuff and useful information. There were references to www.blambot.com (http://www.blambot.com) where you can download fonts (some free, some not) designed for use in CG comics. Definitely worth a look, especially if you're not a MS Comic Sans fan. :thumbsup:

Thanks for looking/reading!

[Ilikesoup]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/ilikesoup2/Msft1final.jpg

Okay, mission accomplished! Saturday comic. As you can see, I changed the dialogue in panel 4, but a rabbit in full freak out has always been part of the plan. I'd love to hear what y'all think about the changes - good or bad. I'm tired of looking at this page so I won't be making any changes in the near future, but it's important to know what I've done right or wrong. Does it flow well? Do you understand what's going on? Does the shading in panel 5 look weird? Would you like to see more pages? Will I ever shut up? :rolleyes:

As always, thanks for looking.

[augustus]

Much better. But (there is always one :)) I think bears don't have lighter color around their mouth.

By the way... Altough hockey is OK, I prefer curling, less violence.:D

[yonna]

The Disney bears like Baloo (http://www.etek.chalmers.se/groups/EKAK/historia/97/pics/baloo.jpeg)have. It doesnt look disturbing to me but it may look better if you separate the light color with outlines. Overall, its looking good so far. That last frame is making me curious what is going to happen next. And oh, i can recommend comic fonts on DaFont (http://www.dafont.com/en/theme.php?cat=102&page=2&nb_ppp_old=10&text=ILikeSoup&nb_ppp=10&classt=alpha)(in case you are still looking). I like that site very much since you can preview your texts there.

[Ilikesoup]

Much better. But (there is always one :)) I think bears don't have lighter color around their mouth.

By the way... Altough hockey is OK, I prefer curling, less violence.:D

Good question, and I had to look this up. The American black bear has a black coat (I'll color him darker in the future) and a tan muzzle. I was thinking of him as a brown bear when I did this, but that's just another name for a grizzly whose fur is the same all over. Thanks for keeping me on my toes. As your reward, I'll work curling into the storyline somehow. ;)

jånnis - Thanks for the link, and putting my name in as the sample was a nice surprise. As for the fonts, GOOD DOG and KOMIKA look good. I need to be able to type in lowercase. I'm so conditioned to think that all uppercase = yelling.

Cheers!

[Ilikesoup]

oops, double post.

[DMageXVII]

Looking good!

I think i like the first iteration better though... (i wonder if it's too late for you to change it)... The writing just appeals to me... AAAH! BEAR!!! BIG FAT BEAR!... lol priceless!
As for the art, the second looks a little more finished, but i noticed the bear changed color between the two frames... :S

Also, maybe you should consider putting some sort of blurred out background on your pics... It might spice things up a bit (especially if the BG is much darker than the characters, because it will make them pop out a bit.

On the whole though, it's pretty great! Keep it up!

[fundagenie]

I liked the 2nd frame in the first version where the rabit is faced by the bear shorts.....

infact i am with Dmage ....i sorta liked the first one better.....

i dint understand what the hearts were doing all around the rabbit at first glance and later when i understood it looked funny...... and imagining myself as a rabbit and getting to see the shorts first gives a kinda humorous feel.....

what say???

Great work....keep it coming....

FundaG

[Ilikesoup]

Update: I haven't made any progress on drawing page 2 and don't know when I'll be able to since I've joined the CGChallenge "Master and Servant" (red link below if you wanna check out my entry). I'm sure I'll come back to this sooner or later and might post an occasional concept sketch for practice. Who knows, maybe I'll end up redoing page 1 and put "big fat bear" back in. ;) But many thanks to fundagenie, DMage, jånnis, augustus, duddlebug, elmasfeo, Jolene, Jasel, The Damned and paperclip for your comments.

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