Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Button Mashing (that's basically how I do my posts)

Special Moves

Art - I really liked the art of this strip. I know it is basically 5 set pieces with Brent and Francis (who he again has drawn multiple times together even in the last few weeks) the two controllers and the couch.

However, everything is drawn well and almost everything looks fully realized (see below). I liked that Brent is sitting with his legs out and the controller on top as it is not a usual PVP position. Also, Brent's "mitten hands" are acceptable and used well in this situation as it helps to emphasize the button mashing joke. Also, the shading is done great and Brent has minimal/no eye shading which looks a hell of a lot better.

My only complaint is Francis' fused three fingers in panel 2 and the lack of full coloring for the ball of the joystick as it doesn't look like shading just like incomplete "coloring"

Surge Fist

Art - I, as above, liked the art in this strip as well, but not as strongly as Monday's. I continue to like that Cole is now in this new, legs out position and it isdrawn well. Also, Brent is added well to the last panel as it doesn't seem too cluttered. Finally, the facial expressions of all the characters are perfect and if you take the words away the strip makes sense just from looking at the reactions.

The drawbacks of this strip are: Francis has the same position in panel 2 as panel 2 of Monday's strip, along with the fused fingers. Plus Cole's shading looks a little more heavy-handed then Brent's, especially in panel 4 with the close-up and goes from a subtle touch to major feature which shading shouldn't be.

Story - I chuckled at both of these strips because this is one of the levels of hell for a gamer. I like to play Madden (I don't know whether that is a good or bad thing to admit) and I HATE HATE HATE those guys that have 2 plays that work and you can't stop them. I barely play fighting games but I think that is something they face more. When you think you have skill and lose to a glitch or random luck its teeth-grindingly frustrating and I can totally relate to the strip.

10 comments:

Sko said...

It's good to flick between the two strips just to see how much of the first one is copied into the second. Apart from it basically being the same joke, the first three frames are the same in terms of artwork and the positioning of Francis.

Unknown said...

Why are you so obsessed with fused fingers and mitten hands> That's been Scott's style since the beginning of the strip. If the comic isn't funny, it's one thing, but isn't he allowed to draw in his own style?

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@CryptoZooey
Well its the fact that his hands have been drawn better many different times and that he has shown ability to do it whenever he wants to.

Im not calling the art crap because of it (read the WHOLE critique of the strip) but there are a couple small things I see done over and over I don't like. (Jade bug eyes, mitten hands, eye shadowing) But like i said the art is far from crap, in most cases

Unknown said...

I would think it would fall more under style than anything else... in the same way that Calvin has outlined eyes sometimes (with whites and everything) and other times they're just dots.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

and if you don't like one little piece of how it's drawn you can say it, as long as you don't think the whole thing sucks for the one little piece.

Unknown said...

Just to clarify, I never thought you were saying it was all crap -- I actually never took it as anything other than an observation. I've read this blog for quite awhile and noticed that the hands are commented on a lot and wondered if it really was noteworthy to comment on when it's clearly a style choice rather than a mistake or error on Kurtz's part.

Sko said...

But you yourself have set up a double standard - in saying that finding the comic not funny is fair game but disliking an aspect of the art isn't. Clearly not finding humour in a joke is a personal opinion and not a mistake/error on SK's part so how is it any different?

Either everything is viable for stating an opinion of or nothing is.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@Rdy
Which one of us are u talking to with that last statement?

Sko said...

Well, since CZ said "If the comic isn't funny, it's one thing, but isn't he allowed to draw in his own style?", I thought it was clear it was talking to CZ.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@Rdy
Well it was 1230 in the morning and I didnt feel like reading through the posts again

I went straight to the horses mouth. Sorry sir, Sorry :)

Blog Archive