Renovation Page 2

Well hot damn people it's a comic.  On Friday, just like I said it would be.

So this is where I talk about making this thing.  In the interest of full disclosure the soundtrack to making for this was was roughly equal parts Slayer, Girl Talk and the Spice Girls.

I said I was wanting to make it much cartoonier and so that is what I did.  I have to say that I had a hard time not crosshatching the hell out of this thing, but I managed to resist so that is good I think.  I may have mentioned before that I have a weird relationship with colour.  I am not too sure why, but I have never been too comfortable with it.  Maybe it has to do with having more of an Apollonian personality, though that might just be a bunch of bullshit projection.  In any case when I use colour it tends to be more washed out.  However, in my recent watercolour paintings I have been using bolder and bolder colour, so maybe I am getting use to it.

When it comes to style I am not so sure who I am riffing on.  The handling of mouths is defiantly influenced by Penny Arcade.  I have always liked Mike's handling of mouths as just one swift movement and depending on all of the angles it gives off different expressions.  One other thing I have always had trouble with is eyebrows.  I tend to think about them too much I think.  In cartoons they give a ton of emotion and they don't have to make sense always, but I don't handle things not making sense too well and I think that is the root of the problem.  There is this way of doing eyebrows that ya see in anime a bit where you see them through the bangs, but only the line-work.  I've always liked that idea, but I never really used it too much before this because I felt that when I did it it was too much of a clutter of lines up in the hair that didn't make any sense. 

When it comes to layout I knew what this page would look like before I was done page one.  I knew I wanted to have the full phone call in one page and quite suddenly I came up with the idea of having just four or five vertical panels that were defined by the windshield.  I was worried that the page might be boring because it is quite simple and nothing really changes, but in the end I think it turned out ok.  Really this page for me was about nailing down Jeremy's design and playing with facial expressions.  I am not sure how happy I am with the speech bubbles.  I had an earlier draft that didn't have black outlines on them and it made them look a bit cuter, but I thought they were harder to look at.  Also, I am in love with the idea of each person having a really distinct looking speech bubble.  The first time I saw this was in Gaiman's Sandman series and it struck me as such a good idea.

So that is it for this week.  You can expect the dramatic conclusion to the Godzilla comic next Friday and page three of Renovation the Friday after that.  Hope you all have a great week.

Love and Peace,
Jeff K

PS:  I do not condone driving while talking on the phone.  Personally the idea always freaks me out and so whenever I get a phone call I either ignore it or pull over.  Remember people, safety first.  :P

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Godzilla King of Monsters Part 1

Hello people!  I am uploading this a bit late, sorry for that.  I assure you that I am committed to making a strip a week.  The plan is to upload Friday nights, around 7 or 8 my time preferably.

Anywhoo...

This is the first of a two part strip.  A friend of mine showed me the film Godzilla Final War the other day.  Needless to say I liked it a lot.  It was the last of the Toho Godzilla movies, made in 2004; it's something of a swansong to the Godzilla series.  In it Aliens bring monsters to earth to try and take over.  Their plan would have worked, but they didn't count on one thing. . . Godzilla.  The entire movie is basically Godzilla wrecking monster after monster.  HE IS UNSTOPPABLE.  It gets to a point where he is fighting three at once.  I am starting to ramble, that is a sign that the movie is pure gold.

Here let me link something.

I mean look at that scene.  Really look at it, ya know?

Sum 41.

Anyway, next week will be another Renovations page, and I am really looking forward to that. The week after that you will witness the dramatic conclusion to this Godzilla strip.

Oh, also, another friend and I have a podcast, so if you like these strips you might like it, you can check it out here or just by searching "Hopelessly out of Date" on itunes.

Cheers,
Jeff K.

Renovation

Hey people!  Frustrated Comics is back as you may have heard and here is the big grand return post.  And as promised, change is in the air.  I am pleased to announce and reveal the first page of my new project Renovation!

Renovation is a full colour horror comic that I have begun work on.  I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time, and now that I am done with school I have the time and more importantly energy to start working on this. 

A key feature of Renovation will be its visual style.  I want making this comic to be an adventure, and for it to push out of my visual comfort zone.  As a result, each page of Renovation will be done in a distinct visual style and after each page is done I will give some thoughts on said style.  Eventually I do plan on settling on one but for now it will be quite a ride.

So I suppose I'll start with this.  Initially I wanted to go with something cartoonier but with no line work, like a sort of paper cut out look.  This starting point can be seen best I think in the red car in the first panel.  That plan broke down a bit.  I am sort of ashamed to say that I broke down into a more painterly way of working.  I went to a method that I felt more safe with, and while I like how this page turned out I am disappointed  that I didn't push myself further.  Oh well, there will be plenty more pages.

So here it is, the next thing I am working on.  I hope you like it.  Next week will probably be a 3 panel black and white strip.  the goal is to have a Renovation page out every two weeks on Thursday.  My next Renovation page will be much cartoonier than this.  I want to do this because 1. I am not good at cartoon stuff and so I want to work on it, and 2. there is something about the idea of a cartoonie horror comic that intrigues me.  Maybe it won't fit as easily, but the fun is in making it work.  I think that is the point of this new project, not just to make a comic, but also to have the decisions that go into it a public process.

In any case, till next time!

-J

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LOOK WHO'S BACK

I am back, and so is Frustrated Comics! Things may look different though. School is over, for good this time. I have passed through end of year crunch time and kept my sanity. I don't plan on going to grad school for a few years (if ever) and so it is time for former side projects (like Frustrated Comics) to come back in some grand spring awakening. So I suppose this is me formally saying that the comic is back and will be updating weekly. But I spoke of change and change there will be.

First, I am going to say that the comic will be coming back, and in the usual style; but this time there will be more. Over the last few years I have been tossing an idea around in my head and I think it is about time to get moving with it.  So, along with the usual 3 panel black and white strips, every few weeks there will be a larger, full page, full colour comic.  The details at this point are sort of sketchy (hur hur hur) but I can tell you three things.  One, I haven't settled on a title.  Two, It will be a horror comic.  Three, the art style is totally up in the air and I think it will be really weird, as I am totally just experimenting right now.

Oh, also the image above is some rough work on the aforementioned narrative project.  I can't guarantee that the end product will look anything like that.

So that's it!  See you next week and I look forward to making sweet sweet comics together.

-J