page 47 is it now? Of that, I think it was.
I may be getting a little bit better at ink application. Not better enough, and certainly not any FASTER, but perhaps this means that will eventually be feasible.
It finally occurs to me why comic artists use blue pencils; because it’s a different color from the ink and so selective color detection can automatically remove it. I obviously haven’t used one here. It hasn’t been my experience that colored pencils’ marks are terribly compatible with erasers but I never considered testing it by color. Anyway that won’t do a thing about the grain of the paper or the unending hassle that is layer switching plus the increased save period which makes me reluctant to do it as often which is a terrible idea when using outdated image manipulating software.
empanadas are not welcome here
Pizza abuse sez:
Ah, but that certain graffito did bring me much glee.
Nemitz’s ears would appear to transform into something half-way between taffy and spaghetti when biv becomes impassioned. Also, biv would seem to have stolen Inchwelm’s jacket in the 11th (new) panel. I’m as of yet uncertain whether this is a point to the former’s credit or discredit.
The text seems a little too “drawn” rather than written on this page, though, if ya know what I mean. A few words are a touch difficult to read, with the result that they obscure some of the jokes; I initially read “barnacle”, for instance (a term I really must make a mental note to apply to public houses in the future) as “parnack”, and Elpse’s line in the first panel of the last row as “That sounds ferr–” (-ous? -occiouss? -etlike, say a stoat or some such?). But I suspect that this may be another instance of the comparatively fixed panel size taking its toll on things.
Also, that last panel deserves to be the basis of a future painting. There’s a delightful Edvard-Much-meets-Dr.-Seuss quality to it.
Uvprimlurx sez:
Thank you for the comment! It strikes me that we haven’t had a proper conversation in a while. I’m never awake late enough and I infer that you left the country at some point. Your current ip reading further suggests that you were allowed back in.
I am forced by the moment’s circumstances to imagine that when it is defeated, the deedle ball looks around for means to upgrade its arsenal. By the looks of this it condenses its size to match that of its victim and through a method unknown to current science expands the volume of the pilfered artifact along with its own in an effort to intimidate its foes.
However, nemitz’s system of stealing from those not present for the exclusive purpose of non-verbally communicating how proud it is of itself is surely a greater threat to the general populace.
I did try to haggle with the panel size by adding the extra row, thus not forcing myself to reach a conclusion in four, but that may not have been enough. In fact I needed two extra frames and then had space for another, I thought (thus the useless tunnel exterior). The notion that 1/3 horizontal space is enough for anything probably has to go. Another issue is likely my using the same pen for text that I did for the characters. I only switched to the disposable participants when I got to details I KNEW would be messed up. Maybe I will have to accept writing dialogue for all characters in the default kumquat script at last.
Do you mean a real painting or one with the computer, and with or without the legless elpse and not-clearly-defined helicopter-dope? I don’t expect to use the real oil stuff for… as long as I can get away with it.
Jumbi sez:
Oh, I liked this page. Nemitz’ inspirational speech is a riot.
How long do you spend on your speech bubbles? Cleaning up your handwriting a bit seems like it would only take some extra time, though I know how frustrating that can get.
Uvprimlurx sez:
Oh thank you, I wondered how well that worked.
Regarding the lettering, I do always spend a lot of time fixing that, mostly toward the end when I start testing it in the reduced size and can better see what is not readable. A major problem is often freeing up space to better position the letters over, since I’m always terrified to remove any original element of the drawing.
Ah any of these things can be fixed forever. I must attack the origin of the problem and force myself to write only as fancily as I can do so legibly from the beginning, add more frames, or simply try and say less. The layer chicanery I’ve been doing lately interferes with this, also.
Maybe I should switch to captions?
Piazza abstruse sez:
You may have had difficulty contacting me in the past few weeks even if you managed to stay up until the wee hours, as immediately upon my return, I was greeted with the second half of a nearly 200 page document (easily the longest document I had ever received, being about five times the length of the second-longest). The first half, incidentally, was something I just barely managed to finish before I left (which was a feat in itself), and I had been informed that others would take care of the remainder while I was absent, but…well, that obviously didn’t happen. Let us hope a similar thing does not occur when I leave the country again in a month (of course, I’m actually planning to continue working during that period, which may be a poor decision in itself…ah, but we shall see).
I had meant a real painting, though a computerized one may in fact be the better choice, due to it being more easily viewable to the public in a higher-resoltution form. The helicopter dope is optional, but the legless Elpse, I think, is essential, and is indeed what lends the panel a great deal of its character.
Jumbi sez:
Part of drawing a comic is figuring out what to do with the speech bubbles! It’s a learning process. It’s all entirely up to you of course. Captions may stop the reader’s quick progression along the panels and make the speech bubble gags impossible, which is why I refrained from suggesting it before, but if you think it’s a good idea then it is definitely worth a try!
PurpleSpace sez:
It makes me curious where the Elpse would prefer to eat!
Uvprimlurx sez:
Elpse will be eating out of a bowl on the floor if the reprobate doesn’t cut out the bad attitude.