Thursday, September 26, 2013

Webcomic Talk

Something I would like to start doing about once a week is write up an article on other comics.  This isn't going to be a review on comics, but just a general discussion on some comics that have either inspired me or deserve more attention that what they are currently receiving.  So, without further ado, let's get right into it.

As a just budding webcomic creator, I've been on the search for other webcomic creators from which I can either learn from or grow together with.  Lucky for me, I discovered a group called Webcomic Underdogs.  This site has a growing community of webcomic artists and writers who are all in various stages of creating their own webcomics.  Webcomic Underdogs has been a great place to take apart in, and through it, I have come to discover several webcomics that have turned me into a regular reader.  All of these creators and writers fully deserve all the praise they can get, which brings me to the first webcomic I would like to discuss.

Webcomic Pete, boiled down to it's essentials, is a webcomic about making webcomics.  Written and drawn by Jerry Mcmasters, this is a family friendly strip that is a blast to read.  A lot of webomic creators, both amateur and veterans, are going to see parallels between this comic and their own experiences.  Even readers who don't create webcomics will find entertainment in the humor of the strip and are given what is a fairly accurate peak into the day-to-day life a beginner webcomic creator.

There is a particular hurdle that some people might have a hard time looking past at first.  The art of a comic is something I'm discovering to be less and less important with exposure to more webcomics.  Obviously many webcomic artists want to be able to make a pretty comic, but without strong writing, that effort in making a gorgeous webcomic goes to waste.  A well drawn comic cannot carry weak writing the same way a well written comic can carry weak art.  Webcomic Pete is a great example of how true this is.  No offense to the creator, but the art isn't on the same level as some other webcomics out there, however, you will hardly even notice it as you go through it's archive and read all of it's excellent strips.  If a webcomic like xkcd can be as successful as it is, then I believe that there is an audience out there for Webcomic Pete that can elevate it to that same height of success.

I know this isn't suppose to be a review, but I'm giving Webcomic Pete 10 rabid weasels out of 10 because this is a very funny webcomic that everyone should be reading.



One final note, for any artists out there who are seriously looking to get into webcomics but aren't very good writers, Jerry Mcmasters has a proposal on Webcomic Pete that you might be interested in.  Take a few moments to read it, Mcmasters is a very straight forward person, and see if you might be interested.


Monday, September 16, 2013

Super Smash Bros. DRAWL

Recently, I participated in an art project called Super Smash Bros. DRAWL.  In this project, 45 artist got together and each made a drawing of a character from the game, Super Smash Bros Brawl.  In a first come first serve basis, each artist chose a character and was given free reign to artistically represent that character in order to show off their artistic style.  It is incredibly neat to see what how everyone chose to represent their respective character.  Someone nabbed Kirby before I could, but luckily I got to draw my second favorite, Meta Knight.  I went through a few ideas, and the one that ultimately was posted can be seen here.  Meta Knight is one of those characters who seems like such an obvious person to be in Super Smash Bros that it leaves you wondering why he wasn't in it sooner.  But then, that list of obvious people to be in Super Smash Bros is a long list so it would be understandable if it had taken longer as well.  These are the sketches that I went through trying to figure out what I would do for Meta Knight:




Those sketches then let to these final drawings:


The image of Meta Knight slashing his sword didn't come out as well as I wanted.  However, I am very happy with both the first and last one.  If you went to the site, you'll notice that the star one was used (shame on you if you haven't gone yet).  You may have also noticed that there is an image missing from the final drawings.  Meta Knight sweeping his Dimensional Cape (which if you don't know, is apart of his Final Smash) was meant to lead to a joke.  I wanted one of these drawings to be a humorous one.  With Meta Knight owning a dimensional cape, I figured there had to be a joke in there somewhere.  It begs the question of where does he go when he uses is?  Wait...

I got it!

He teleports away to a waiting Lady Rainicorn (from Adventure Time) whom he uses to fly away (along with Kirby holding on to her tail).  An update with this image will be coming ASAP.

Friday, September 13, 2013

To Anyone Visiting

This blog is going through the construction process.  It may take a while but thank you for coming here and I hope you're enjoying Conrad's Inventions