Short Cuts and Execution

Sometimes I go through a stretch where you look back at what you've done, and you're not entirely proud of it ... and this pasta joke is one of them. Definitely an err in judgement.

While it's funny when it happens to someone else, it's hardly a well-written joke. And it wasn't especially well drawn, nor was it particularly well coloured, and no gag was written along with it to add any special value. So there's another lesson learned. Here's how it turned out.

Seems that lately there's been more "lessons learned" than things I'm proud of.... 

As for drinking toilet duck, this story arc just wrapped up on the main blog and I think it covered all the bases I wanted to cover. Towards the end of the arc, the artwork and framing really improved. At this point I was still simply drawing elements of a panel and them assembling them digitally - - whereas I think a cleaner panel is created when you do it all on the page. Adding extra elements might be "easier" digitally, but it looks like you took a shortcut. You can see how these elements came together in the final strip here.

Obviously, skipping any setting or background made this look rushed and incomplete. When I speak of "lessons learned," I guess what I'm hoping is that I won't repeat the same mistakes as in the past.

I've taken some steps to eliminate those "shortcuts," and I think it's paying off, but, of course, it means things are taking a bit more time, too.

Business Man @ Home is designed to be a whole lot simpler, though. One panel, one frame, one line of dialogue, minimal setting - - and I think it works as a motif, but ... I think people are losing their lust for the strip, though. In any case, I think the minimalist structure and the trope on "Crying Over Spilled Milk" worked well for this gag, and you can see how it turned out here.

Most of these strips were drawn back in October at some point, and I've since taken some corrections to give myself more space to build a panelled comic. I'm not just folding a sheet of paper into quarters and building a strip from there. I'm taking more time to use the space more effectively and add more detail to the images - - I think it's been working out, but we'll have to wait and see as those strips start appearing on the main site.

Something I've been looking to improve are the "brush strokes" in the comics. Frankly, none of these have the "swishing" strokes you find in clean, more professional-looking strips - - and I'm not sure I've got the correct hardware to create those lines. I MAY have to get nibs and actual ink and stuff, rather than the pigment liners I've been using.

If that happens, that'll be a whole different kettle of fish to unpack, set up, practice and keep out of the reach of my 2-year-old :S

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom! I hardly even proof-read these posts all the way down here!

Follow on Twitter or Facebook!

The Mystery of Mr. Minestrone | Behind the King St. Capers

Here's a different example of how things work sometimes:

Epic Fail, To Do List, Hat Vendor and Abbey Road

Recently I've changed my pattern a little bit.Before, I'd dedicate a week to writing only Capers, or only comics or only Tomb of the Undead, but instead, now I'm drawing up a mixture of strips at a time, including Business Man @ Home, too. It brings more variety to my week.

But this example came before that switch, and after building a deep catalog of King St. Caper strips, I realized a change was a good idea. So a Caper, a regular webcomic, plus a Business Man @ Home, and whatever else is floating my boat at the time is generally what I"m working on at any given time.

This page, however, is probably the last time I wrote four Capers in one week, and likely will be the last. 

I've produced a "schedule" which shows which strips I'm well prepared for, and which I'm lagging behind in, indicating where I should focus attention the next week.

In any case, the first comic here is "Epic Fail," which had a big response on Twitter when it was published.

I suppose the "Epic Fail" meme is still flooding the Internet, which is good to see. It's not what I had in mind when I wrote it, but I'm happy to take the extra pageviews (however modest the increase was). The pure truth is - - Mr. Minestrone wrote this comic. He actually gave me a pair of godawful haircuts where I felt exactly like this. Now it's a stupid comic. Thanks Mr. Minestrone!

"To Do List" was next. While not hilarious (to me anyhow), the joke does get into Mr. Minestrone's professional philosophy. I mean, who's THAT terrible at haircuts? What could be his motive? WHY is he still doing this as a career?

Perhaps it's an opportunity to pursue his vices? I mean, if a meth-head had a job where he could be as high as shit and work at the same time, you think he'd be looking for a new job?

I also think this teases the idea that Mr. Minestrone knows full-well what he's doing: giving awful haircuts. There's something mischievous about him - - like he's MEANING to do it.

Truth be told, he's still a mystery, even to me. I'll bet he has some more surprises up his sleeve for me and everyone else in the future. Especially with the Salty Advice he's been giving lately.

"Abbey Road" was a highly, highly requested comic. I'm happy to take fan input when writing a joke, and this was no exception.

Again, it was inspired by the strip "Buncha Stooges."  Matching the colours and everything was a lot of fun. While the imagery might be a little crass, or thematically fitting in line with the King St. Capers, the colour-matching was a big success.

As well, the man in the background in the original cover art, who is represented by Mr. Minestrone, was named Paul Cole, who died in 2008, who said some surprising things that fall in line with the artwork, to my astonishment.

He says about the Abbey Road cover:
"I just happened to look up, and I saw those guys walking across the street like a line of ducks," Cole remembered. "A bunch of kooks, I called them, because they were rather radical-looking at that time. You didn't walk around in London barefoot."

It's all a coincidence that the ducks and "Buncha Stooges" resembles Cole's thoughts so precisely.

Of all of these strips, my personal favourite was "You Could Use a Hat," which I saved for last. I would usually put my favourite joke at the front of the schedule, but ... this ties into a series of other jokes, whereas the others in this slate of jokes were more "stand alone."

This specially means, you'll be seeing more of the Surveyor and his hat enterprise in the near future, and how Beardo and Mr. Minestrone may react to his hat enterprise.

This was obviously inspired from personal experience: I left his barbershop and immediately wished I had a hat. I'd bet I would have paid a pretty penny for a hat right then and there.

Thanks for reading, and if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter of Facebook.