January 2nd, 2009
Faces
The main reason for me making this one is that I got some art books for Christmas, and I really wanted to try out some facial expressions. I’m hoping to improve my art a bit within the next few comics. We’ll see how it goes.
Gonna start playing Sonic Unleashed. I think we can count on a Sonic comic coming up.
The art is getting better, but the humor is still the weakest part of your strip. As I’ve said, we get it. Ence is silly. Why do I care about him making faces in the mirror? Do I find that funny? No. I find the typo funny though. “Ence! What the heck are you DONG in there?!” That’s as close as you guys have come to cursing and it’s a typo.
There is no urgency in the strip, no conflict. Does Locke need to use the bathroom? I don’t know. Does he think Ence is doing something PG-13 in there? No, he knows he’s making faces in the mirror. Here’s a simpler version of this comic: Ence has his arms in the air and says, “I’m being silly!” and Locke stands next to him and says, “You’re being silly.”
I will now take this time to explain the importance of pushing the envelope or “Being Edgy” as some would like to call it. You don’t take any risks. Ever. There is no cursing, there is no debating, there is no hard-hitting commentary. No one is hurt, no one is offended. No one is interested. Again I ask, “Why should I care when Ence is being silly?” I can’t answer that question.
The problem I’m diagnosing comes down to the misunderstanding of what “risky” means. It doesn’t mean throwing around curse words just because they can be typed. It doesn’t mean seeking to offend people with fetuses, (God no, don’t be VG Cats). It doesn’t mean being a jerk for no reason. It means take a stand on something. Dislike a game? Say it, and SAY IT LOUD! Go ahead and say that the Wii is a disaster of a system or that PS3 fanboys need to shut up. Go ahead and piss someone off. Make some noise. Show that you HAVE a backbone. If the only characters or concepts getting attacked in your comic are your own characters, it gets boring very quick. There is no excitement being generated by a lack of true conflict in any comics. You have a limited space to tell your story and make your point, and if your only point week after week boils down to “Ence is silly!” then I don’t care because I’ve already seen it over and over again.
Don’t be afraid to get noticed because someone gets mad at you. If you try to please everyone at the same time, you end up pleasing no one or very, very few. Conflict is the soul of entertainment, so use it.
Heck, I don’t even care if you decide to devote an entire month’s worth of comics to trashing me. If they’re funny, I’ll be overjoyed and laugh to my heart’s content.
Have you considered that the idea is just to be simple and funny, not bold, risky, with deep and complex thought process involved?
Megildor,
Yes, I did consider the idea was just to be simple and funny. Did you consider that not everyone agrees with that opinion, just as everyone isn’t going to, (or should), agree with me?
I’m not asking for deep, complex thought processes involved. I’m just asking for something deeper than “silly faces.”
Ever thought about getting a life and not making fun of pretty much the ONE decent and funny thing on the web? probably not.
i concur (SC?) i think that parade-rainer needs to do something more constructiive with is/her (or in their case both) time… although they had one thing right, the art work IS getting better… TALLY HO Ence!
I do this all the time.
lol