Monday, June 22, 2009

B(D&D)SM

Taking Initiative

Art – I really have no complaints about the strip save for my normal problem with the shadowing under Jade’s right eye in panel 1 and Brent’s in panel 2. Even that is small because they are light enough where you have to take a harder look then normal to see it.

Otherwise, there is no Jade with bug eyes (another normal complaint), and the shading of the hair, especially Jade’s, is done well. Also, Jade’s mischievous/sinister look in panel 3 is done very well.

Finally, I really like Jade’s arms throughout as the width has been variable at times with the characters and she could have look beefy (or Clarkson-esque, heeeeey-oh!). They stay thin, and very feminine throughout.

Story – I’ve never played D & D a day n my life but this is a good version of gaming nerd joke. Unlike other instances, this is no where near being too inside baseball and it is a joke that the average person can get. Plus, as I have seen with Morgan Webb and Olivia Munn girls into anything nerdy is sweet and adding –atrix to anything will give anyone (even D&D virgins) a good nerd-on.

Side note – Who’s pony tail is sweeter, Brent or Jade?

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Update

Hey guys,
Sorry about the lack of posts, but i am alive! Just been a hectic week as work has skipped up (12 patients in 8 hours of PT wears you out) and I have 2 minutes to just post this. Good conversation going from what I saw and Ill add my 2 cents about PVP and DING!'s return as well.

It'll likely be around 6-7 pm EST thought :)

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Let Go Of . . ..

Last Call

Art - I liked the art in panel one, especially in the shading of the trees and the overall detail of the house. Scott does seem to do well with landscapes where he can put detail into his work.

Robbie and Butler are also drawn solidly/well like they normally are and I like the shading on Robbie's chin a lot better then before. It changed from the beginning to the end of the last strip from the lighter circle to the border of his chin. It looks a hell of a lot better and a lot less distracting.

The only thing that confused me was the size comparison between Butler and the couch. Either that is a REALLY tall couch and Robbie is taller than I thought or Butler has shrank (which I believe he's taller and skinnier of a character.) At the height of Butler's chest the couch would have to be about 5-5.5 feet tall which is the size of the headboard of the bed we are getting and most couches I have seen aren't that tall.

I know it is mostly a framing issue keeping the characters face's in the panel. Just when that happens you get some unintentionally weird proportions :)

Story - I don't know if it has been revealed before for interesting for me to gain the information of Robbie's last name. The story really didn't touch on anything that was brought up from the last strip, in terms of what Robbie thought of his life.

Asking what you guys think, when Robbie said Jase would run the brewery I was curious, is Max also a partner of the business (i.e. "runs" the business) as well or just a consultant?

The punchline was meh for me, as I guess my opinion of Heineken then Robbie/Scott :)

As a side-note - Renee Engstrom, creator of Anders Loves Maria is doing her second Sketch-a-thon. Scott and I don't agree on a lot but we agree that she is a great artist and this is a good way to support her and get some nice art from her. I did it the first time around and hope to this time, so if you want something follow this link here.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Gogurt for Drunks

Art - The two frat boys were done well from a character design point with only the lack of a sclera on the guy on the left causing a minor distraction. Also, a good use of "camera angle" to pull back through glass to show Jase a Robbie there with the white lines not being too distracting.

One other thing I noticed if you look at 6/7/09, 6/8/09, and 6/9/09 Jase's nose changes from small and rounder, to bigger with a hook/point, to round with no point. It does change the shape of his face when you look at the differences of the three.

Story - Nothing much here, just a middle strip showing the progress of the product. Robbie does speak the truth though. The unintentional humor of the strip was that most focus groups do perform just like the one in the strip.

Just so you guys know commenting is turn back on for this strip, yesterday things were starting to go downhill and well it was the easiest way for me not to deal with it and things spiralling out of control when I was at work

On a side-note: From Scott's twitter. "it feels like "insert name of jerk being negative about Scott" is always followed by ".blogspot.com"" There is a jerk named PVPmakesmesad out there? Wow that is a coincidence.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Ok everyone

To explain the sudden re-emergence of Scott Kurtz on our site.
a) Scott emailed me on Friday basically saying what he said here "why do you feel the need to publicly tear down my work"
b) I, very verbosely, responded with my history interacting with him, and what my motivations in doing PVPMMS, none of which has to do with him, and how PVP and PVPMMS make up .0001% of my life
c) Scott responded saying he knows that PVP and PVPMMS are big in my life and that I have to think about it all the time. Also, that everytime someone brings up the site to him it ruins his day and finished with "Just let that roll around in your head a bit and let me know how you can be okay with that."
d) I responded back again saying that Scott Kurtz really places no role in my life and it was funny that he supposes to know what is important in my life. Plus I dont attack HIM so I have nothing to feel sorry for
e) AGAIN Scott responded refuting whatever I wrote to him ending with "You can try to claim that everyone talks about their favorite stuff this way, but they don't. I don't. My friends don't. We don't maintain websites like you do. We don't tear down people like you do." (see Buckley, Tim, the woman who critiqued his book, anyone who critiques or dares to swipe at him, despite the fact he swipes at people for proof against that)
f) i stated the phillies were winning 3-1 (won 7-2 btw on Sunday night), Chris Jericho and Tommy Dreamer won titles in the WWE and that I had notes to do.
g) He started showing up on the site again, guess he can't stay away.
h) the shit starts up again.

Basically I explain this to say to those who are normally here, he is trying to get the responses he is getting as he is taking the argument he was having with me to the site. I don't think responding to him will do anything but just degenerate into an endless flare war.

FSM only had one rule "don't be an asshat" so I'm going to have to take out the stick and delete those posts Kurtz/Scott and those alike that just want to go around the same rabbit hole. I think this is a good definition of trolling (I should know I was called one myself by the man) But hey, at least the whole forum isn't going to be deleted right?

Thick and Heady - That's what she said

Slow Pour

Art - Really liked the whole set-up to this strip with the background, the detail on the tap and the bar itself. Panels 1 and 2 are basically the same, but with the story it is expected (not much big action going on). Also, Jase doesn't move a lot again, but the facial expressions are done well and help to serve the story.

The only real complaint is the coloring and placement of the shading, Robbie more so then Jase. The color seems too light and again the placement under the eye and on the chin is just weird. It looks more like he has eczema then that there is light coming from the right side of the panel.

Story - Simple set-up and a pun for a punchline. Nothing groundbreaking but it was enough for me to chuckle. After all between those two getting it RIGHT on the first try would have been more unlikely then the beer slushie (which does sound delicious).

Friday, June 5, 2009

Here comes the rain again

Hey guys coming from the rainy East Coast here,
No strip yet, but I'll be doing a critique today since the story has progressed since the last time I did one

Any news on the Kurtz addressing his DING! strip?

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Where's Zeddmore?

Unique Fixer-Upper Oppurtunity

Art – I like the overall atmosphere of the strip as from the opening shot of the building, to the background, and even foreground drawing in front of Robbie in panel 3 help show that the place is a dump. This is a lot better then just taking the word of Max and having bland backgrounds.

Also, the shading is done well here as it matches the darkness of the building and what little light casting the shadow. However, this shading makes my point about the usual shading, the differences of shading between those strips in “light” and “dark” is minimal at best.

All the characters look good as well, but I have a question, does Jase ever move? I know one strip is not a big deal but if you look here, here, and here it looks like his major motions are facial expression and slight upper body movement.

Story – I like the story so far just for the mere fact that Cole, Brent, Francis, Jade, and Skull (even though I like Skull a lot) are not involved. I don’t necessarily hate stories with the above characters involved, but you get fatigued from seeing the same 3-4 characters over and over again, especially if there is a larger cast of characters behind them as well.

The story line has a lot of ground to cover to see if anything comes of it, but it is a nice change of pace and I’m interested in seeing the next day’s strip just to see the interaction between the three.

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