Uploading to ComicFury

Some years ago when I was out with a few friends we ended up at a local club that was – for lack of a better description – slowly dying.

I couldn’t say why this was the case but for whatever reason the clientele had started going elsewhere for their weekend dose of booze and bass, with the owners so desperate to pull people in that they were allowing free entry along with drink tokens to anyone who’d cross the threshold. Still free entry and free liver punishment just wasn’t enough, once I got inside the place was predictably barren with scatterings of unenthused teens lurking on dance floor’s outskirts. This might have been a depressing enough sight in itself, but to make matters worse a contrastingly enthusiastic band soon appeared to play, who received little more than irritable glares and jeers in exchange for their music. They weren’t at all bad, but they were most definitely in the wrong place.

The point? Lately, The Duck has been emitting the same kind of atmosphere as that club and I’ve gotten a sense of how that band might have felt.

This is not say that the site is ‘dying’ or that I would wish such a fate upon it, but I can’t deny that the community seems off kilter in the wake of the recent update. I will stress here that I’m not having some sort of immature tantrum over the underwhelming feedback I have(n’t) received, just pointing out its abnormality.

During earlier uploads to its previous incarnation ‘Drunk Duck‘, my comics were less accomplished in just about every regard not to mention sparsely updated but I could usually accrue at least two or three comments in a matter of days. By contrast, continuously uploading pages through a week with barely a peep seems odd; I’d never expected to draw vast amounts of praise or anything as I’m sure my work doesn’t warrant it, at the same time though it can’t be that bad.

Looking at other comics besides my own the reduced number of comments appears to fit this trend, supporting the idea that a large portion of the community has simply left the site. Thinking about the months in which the changeover was happening I recall there being a lot of animosity towards the administration/owners, with more than few authors saying they’d leave if things weren’t sorted out. I can only assume that the threat was made good on.

I know I said I’d be patient, but I was counting on getting a significant amount of feedback not just for personal satisfaction but to analyse and include in my upcoming module essay. Were a month to pass like this with only a handful of responses from The Duck it would hamper my work severely leaving me little to write about in that area. So it is that I’ve accelerated matters and begun uploading elsewhere sooner than planned.

ComicFury was brought to my attention by regular reader Demontales (thanks!) as a possible alternative, and having looked over it myself in preparation there’s a lot to like. Besides being advert free (for now) the interface and general management is much more straightforward than the current system on The Duck, with many of its old users resurfacing there. The ratings system also seems more likely to provoke honesty too being anonymously done rather than attached to a user.

Having just setup and begun posting there I’ll admit my layout isn’t as tidy as the one The Duck, but it’s functional at least and doesn’t hamper reading. I’ll be posting on both sites as of now so ideally I should see a lot more feedback and commenting in the days to come.

As before, here’s a link for my work on the site :)

Bionics from Mercedes?

A fellow student brought this little news snippet to my attention:

As you may recall earlier this month I also mentioned about Mathew Green; a man whose life may have been saved by an artificial heart. While in this case matters might not be so dramatic there are some notable things to consider.

When I was looking at Deka’s ‘Luke arm’ I noted that funding, distribution and affordability for the average amputee would inevitably be problematic given the costly development and components. Touch Bionics’ i-Limb Pulse doesn’t appear quite as cutting edge as the latter but is still said to cost a hefty £30,000. Originally the wearer Matthew James – somewhat craftily – was said to have offered the Mercedes Formula One team advertising space on the arm in exchange for the funding required to purchase it and while they may not have agreed directly to this their actual response is perhaps more impressive.

Apparently they managed to make a deal with Touch Bionics by exchanging technological secrets, knocking £25,000 off the cost of the prosthetic in the process to make it affordable. Besides personally being good news for Matthew it interests me that such an exchange could be organised, where the micro electronics from F1 racing are potentially utilised in bionics with two otherwise separate industries bettering each other.

It’s in trade offs like these that realistic and affordable options might be found in future, offering a potential solution to the problematic price tags that currently accompany such prosthetics. Something to consider in my fictional setting, but something I also hope comes to pass in reality someday soon.

Uploading to ‘The Duck’

I’ve been the victim of some particularly unfortunate bureaucracy today which urgently needs to be addressed so I’m afraid this won’t be quite as in depth as I’d like. Anyhow, as planned I’ve begun uploading pages to ‘The Duck‘ (formerly Drunk Duck) webcomics site in an effort to expand out of my blog and connect with a larger audience, or as the module might put it ‘locating‘ practice externally.

First and foremost “why the Duck?” you might as, I could just as easily of started afresh on ComicFury or Smack Jeeves with a clean slate. The decision primarily hinged on the advantages of familiar ground; it’s been a long time since I was posting goofy comics on DD but I am at least reasonably well established there with a few key contacts and reasonable experience of the site’s workings. Put simply, it’s less daunting than starting a profile up from scratch.

How I’d post was another matter that considered thought, with the option to make reliable weekly releases with a sizable buffer or go for a page a day blow out at the risk of running out of material. Playing it safe might have been smarter here, but considering the reader’s viewpoint (one I’m often in) it strikes me that regular releases can go a long way in hooking an audience – it seems better to provide an initial stream of story to draw greater interest before settling into slower updates. It’s something of a gamble but I’m posting the cover and first seven pages on a daily basis in an attempt to hook readership before changing to a steadier schedule.

Setting this up was pretty basic, with the result being inevitably basic default presentation. As Paul Gravett pointed out to me, extra features have come to be the norm online and while a webcomic is only as good as it’s central work a bit of polish certainly can’t hurt the impression given. Conveniently the new website has some straightforward link/subpage features so following creation and application of a banner I was able to set about adding synopsis and character pages (below):

The synopsis is a pretty predictable affair, offering concise backstory against a few faint concepts. I had a little more fun with the character profile page though, giving it the look of a police document from within the story’s universe complete with faded print and inked out details on the plot. I figured a more metaphysical touch might amuse but also provide deeper immersion in the setting and its occupants:

So far the reader response has been muted/non-existent but this was to be expected, with success seemingly dependant on gradual accumulation. I’ve taken the initiative of messaging users who previously read my work in an attempt to spark interest but it’s already clear this is going to take a while. What’s important for the moment is that it’s out there now, with the best strategy at this point being to wait and see before attempting anything drastic.

I should perhaps mention that I have a few issues regarding The Duck itself in the wake of the change over; besides the bizarre mismatch between the new name and URL, my stats don’t appear to be displaying correctly along with other small but irritating errors – none of this is serious but it is annoying. As such I’ll consider uploading to alternatives when time allows but for now I’ll just test the water so to speak and remain patient.

Oh, and for anyone who wants check out Branch first hand on ‘The Duck’, just click this link ;)

Page 8

A little later than planned here’s page 8!

I drew up the linework on holiday to avoid a complete hiatus, though drawing in the face of strong winds at the beach wasn’t the best of ideas, nor was trying to draw straight lines in a moving car…

Anyway, with this one I wanted to change the atmosphere giving the sense of breathing room after the claustrophobic tunnel and airlock. I was advised to pull back more by Paul Gravett so I’ve done just that with the middle panel, emphasising Alexa’s departure (for now) and the new spaceport setting.

In relation to this I cranked up the brightness of the colours aswell, going for more in the way of  antiseptic whites and light blues while intensifying the characters. This may seem counter logical given the used future setting and noir influence, but I feel this is a good point to visually emphasise the ‘calm before the storm’; the story is destined to head into gloomy murk soon enough and a little contrast seemed like a good idea. Besides this, in reality airports frequently have whitish colour schemes and if anywhere on the station were likely to be well maintained it would be here.

I should also mention I made a notable alteration from the script here with Curt’s reaction. Originally he didn’t say anything after Alexa walks off, but it occurred to me how odd it seems they didn’t introduce themselves at all. As such I felt an acknowledgement in the dialogue might be a good idea, while lending a bit more colour to Curt’s personality in the process. Alexa also developed to be more flirtatious than scripted in drawn form so the suggestive response seems believable enough.

On the negatives: I can’t help feeling I could have done more with the space, especially that middle panel. Maybe a few passers-by or more scenery would have improved it. I dunno, but a bit more care in future compositions wouldn’t go amiss. That and a few instances of dodgy anatomy continue to irritate as usual.

Not a great page then, but at least an adequate one and a reminder of where I need to work harder.

Back from the Wilderness: Post vacation rumination

Having spent a week thrashing about in the sea on the Welsh coast I’m feeling somewhat refreshed, with the step back giving me time to approach again with a new perspective on my work.

Getting the biggest change of plans out of the way first: after lengthy consideration I’ve decided not to rough everything out in thumbnails as suggested by Paul Gravett. I realise that this is advice from a professional to disregard at my own peril and yes, I formerly referred to the method as ‘inarguably superior’ stating that I would ‘definitely’ set about doing it with my next script draft. The truth is that the more I thought about it, the more ill fitted the process seemed to my working methods.

I’ve been told repeatedly that I need to step out of my comfort zone and experiment; which I am doing with almost every other aspect, but this approach just isn’t for me. To reiterate a point made by Scott McCloud in Making Comics ‘there are no rules‘, everyone has their own methods. One of the things I love most about this project is the flexibility it allows, stepping away from the rigid systems of film making I formerly worked within into a more fluid situation.

It’s not as though I’m improvising here; I have a script along with detailed concepts and I do plot out each page in rough before I draw and colour the real deal. I do however make small alterations and improvements on fairly regular basis, generally being things which won’t affect the overall narrative and execution too severely but invariably have a knock on effect with the following pages – in other words, experimentation.

Therefore, it’s my conclusion that any long-term visual plan would inevitably be made redundant by these tweaks, ultimately amounting to waste of time which ironically would also hamper me from experimenting. For its precision I see the value of roughing layouts and visuals before production, but in my case it would ultimately constrain creativity and prove to be frankly demotivational. Sorry, but I’m no Alan Moore…

The other realisation I had on holiday was considerably more embarrassing:

Yep, I drew an anatomical impossibility and didn’t even realise. I’ve fixed it now in the gallery and original post but the question begs; how could I miss such a glaring error? If there’s something to take away from this it’s that more care is required checking over before I post pages up… seriously it’s like someone’s slapping his head out of frame… Ack.

Anyway, with the module conclusion and its requisite essay on a frighteningly near horizon I’ve still got a lot of research to do but I should/need to keep the pages coming while I’m at it. As a part of the module aim to ‘locate my practice externally’ I think it’s about time I start putting my work out to webcomic sites so I can begin to assess the reaction and type of audience it draws.

Expect another post and comic page in the next day or so ;)