Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Nemo the Duck test page

When I write the Duck Comics (starrin' nemo) i think a lot in advance about pages in later sequences in the story i don't quite have figured out yet. For example, there is an Arabian Nights section starring fan favorite The Slug King that I do iterations of from time to time. I've been working on character building pages for past the event coming up in the next few pages for a while....most of that is inked and awaiting painting but a lot of the pages i have are third drafts, remixes of jokes and visual ideas I've been developing, but that are either not at their best or no longer fit into the ebb and flow of a narrative. If you can make an idea better there is no reason not to do so, I say!

For example, here's the second page I painted when I got some new paints a month or so ago...it's a little sloppy and the scene depicted is a very far down the line concept so i would likely want to redo it by then anyway.....BUT I had some color ideas about this environment and wanted to try them out, i had a tube if red paint and wanted to try IT out! and the best way to do this is o course in the form of a comic, where every image is required by law to be a new image. I learned a lot doing this page too....it's fun painting comics i think because you can play with outlines as you go in ways you can't with ink! of course inks got its advantages....of course of course


Here's another page I'm not using for various reasons, even though I like it a whole lot. I won't give away too much because a little ways down and features at least ONE secret character, and probably I'm going to reinterpret and build on elements of this later in other pages...the lamppost is certainly a better layout idea than I've had in a while! Anyway the duck is kind of a mangy creep but he too is vulnerable and we'll start to see that come out later more, this page was my first taste at that. This is an early page too! I drew it in june or july and i think it was my first time drawing him in the city. We'll probably get to the part of the story this was supposed to be by this year, but it might be a full year after i'd completed this page!

Anyway, maybe next time I'll talk about space jam. I mean it. We'll talk about this joke that belongs on tiny toon adventures

Friday, March 2, 2018

This is a cartoon I like...The Runt

I've been watching a lot of TerryToons lately and I want to post about some things that I like about them. This is a Farmer Alfalfa short, which is a nice cozy little cartoon series that uses the framework more to tell stories about animals than the dull human, Al. Sometimes I think about the guys drawing these thinking about their childhoods on the farm or some other place with bugs or animals. Now all cartoonists draw remembrances of is pokemon games! This is a joke because I do this also but now I'm just ramblin', here's what I likes.



The Terrytoons were made for very cheap as most cartoons were at the beginning, like the koko the clown stuff or felix. I say "most" like I have an understanding of the market in the 1910s-40s but ad far as i can tell ink and paper were not the most expensive ways to produce a film. Especially not here, where they're inventing limited animation techs hannah-barbera probably both takes credit for and has completely forgotten. The pig's mouths are animated separately from the bodies, which are running on weird little cycles. Apart from cost this probably helps lip sync easier. It doesn't really track correctly and it's full of wee glitches but i think this makes it more charming.


Anyway this cartoon's not about those other pigs, it's about the runt! The other pigs hog all the food and we arrive at this great little scene of the runt crying and singing. The tune sounds old, I almost think it was supposed to sound old then, like a foggy memory of some childhood tragedy you wouldn't be fazed by now. The lyrics are also very simple, which I think they shoud be. Cartoons should be simple.

Anyway some frog notices

And hey! now a bunch of frogs are jumping around and playing, it ain't all bad kid. The animation in this scene is also really something, very fluid and full of specific well executed lip sync. I might have to scrub through but I get the impression it's more "full" compared to the rest of the cartoon's cycles.

This guy is great and the image is a still painting (or inkwash)

"NICE FAT PIGS"

There is little funnier than a direct, printed lie

Anyway Honest John captures the fat pigs but The Runt escapes unscathed, because he is too little to be of much eating use. I won't spoil the rest of the cartoon, what are you doing reading me talking about the plot of this cartoon like the plot of the cartoon is important or like you just didnt watch it already in the beginning. I like that the runt turns into a horn.


Anyway next time I can talk about some reasons I find space jam good. It's the best episode of tiny toons for sure, and speak of the devil here they are now!!