Saturday, June 16, 2007

Page the third...

Inked mostly by candlelight and with the blood of a thousand soldier ants. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but now it's done I can move on to my FULL PAGE SPREAD! And yeah, I'm starting to get irritated drawing these on 8.5x11, I'll be doing Jonah on 11x17 for sure.

In other news, I'm about to head out on the town and pick up a tasty shawarma! We might be headed to go see Fantastic Four tomorrow, I have no expectations so... Still don't have my new laptop yet :(

5 comments:

Jon said...

Hi Shobo, hope all is well. I like your comic. They are such like-able characters, and it is really well drawn, but I wanted to know if you had a plan for how the story develops. You know how the typical formula for a story starts with everything in balance, then something happens to throw it off balance, and then we have to see how it becomes stable again? I'm not saying it should fall into that structure, but sooner or later, I think you have to give the reader more incentive to keep reading. It seems like your story starts with two characters in search of something, so things are already thrown off balance. Maybe you should consider adding some information about why they are looking for it. Or if it's a secret, when are you going to tell the reader and how can you maintain their interest for long enough to get to the answer. what has thrown these two unlikely creatures together? If the plot is already written, then this won't be a problem, but it seems like the story could be more effective if you knew the direction the story was taking before you are too far into it. Basic stuff, like what is the main idea, what is the conflict, what are the characters like and what is the resolution? again, if you already have a clear idea of all that, then forget I asked.

Shobo said...

Excellent points Jon, I've got a vague idea and a plot outlined, but stuff like pacing is still up in the air and I'm pretty much making up the details as I go.

The plan is that things should start to fall into place in the next couple of pages, or rather, fall apart. Just as you suggested, things get shaken up a little bit, what the duo are searching for (which has been hinted at) becomes more clear, as well as their reason for searching. How they met isn't going to be explored quite so soon, at least I don't think so. I apologise if it's a little slow paced at the moment, I'm experimenting with pacing, I guess things should have moved a little faster?

Great crit though, that's definitely stuff I've been thinking about!

The pixter pod said...

Yes, I would have to agree with Jon, I was thinking that but I had no idea how to phrase it. However, when i read the pages, they have the same pace as a daydream..wandering and meandering with unexpected occurrences. I have faith you will find a nice balance. *hugs*

Robots and Stuff. said...

Hey Chris. I love this and hope to see lots more of it.

What Jon's talking about kind of sounds like the "Hero's Journey" paradigm to me, apparrently also known as the "monomyth" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth), made famous by Joseph Campbell and used in almost every facet and medium of story-telling. This is your basic three Act storyline template wherein the character begins in their normal world, something unexpected happens and they get thrown into a new and special world wherein they must achieve a goal or complete a quest, then, after facing their ultimate anagonistic force (often times a metaphor for their inner demons), they must escape the "innermost cave" and return to a new world of stability which resembles the normal world in the beginning but with new lessons learned, new elixirs found, etc.

Anyway, I wasn't really trying to butt in with my two cents, but I find all of it really interesting and wanted to share. This might be kind of small, but here (http://www.eviltwincomics.com/action/images/poster-big.jpg) is an illustrated explanation, etc. of the Hero's Journey. I love all that stuff.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing more of this comic maybe.

Shof Coker said...

Baba Shobo when is the fourth page going to make an appearance now?