Quentin Tarantino and Inglorious Basterds

This one is totally accurate. Y'know, even I went into this knowing there's going to be a lot of dialogue and very little action, but after watching it...man. There's a lot of dialogue with very little action. I'm pretty sure all the action in the trailer was the exact amount of action in the entire movie.

Ok, I think I got it all out of my system. I now declare Quentin Tarantino week over! New Dumgens & Draggins© tomorrow!

Quentin Tarantino and Gadget Greg!

This one I'm not too proud of. The joke is meh and I actually liked the anti-climacticness of that part. But I only did it in 20 minutes and I was drawing all day and the sun was in my eye yada yada yada. I swear tomorrow will be the last one.

But I'm pretty proud of this random sketch of a friend I did!


Also, I started to get back into illustrator and I wanted to do a test to see which program would take the least amount of time while having the best quality between illustrator, flash and photoshop. I used one of my characters from my upcoming RPD heroes comic, Gadget Greg! Here's the starter sketch:


Here's the illustrator version:
Time taken: 8+ hours
Maybe it's that I'm out of practice, but compared to flash I just think the layer and pen system is clunky and takes waaay too long. But these are just my views, I know many people who use illustrator like a second language.
Pros: good for handling big files, interesting style techniques
Cons: takes a long time, don't like the layers system, hard to create lines, brush techniques don't look that great

Flash:
Total time taken: 2 hours.
I really feel like this is my magic comfort zone program. The outline took me an hour and then the fill and shading too just under an hour.
Pros: fast, can get a smooth outline fairly quickly, easy to select, delete, copy and change assets, good for figuring out multiple color schemes
Cons: can't handle large files sometimes, brush tool not as good as photoshop brush tool, using the M key to zoom, sometimes outlines look too curvy

And also here's a version with no line. I thought it looked interesting.



Photoshop:
Time taken: 2 hours 15 minutes
It takes just a little bit longer than flash, and it gives that sketchy style (if that's what's you're looking for) but it's murder on the hand and I really prefer the smooth line.
Pros: can handle relatively large files but slows down when painting, better for blending, patterns, and stylish techniques, shading good for detail and a natural look
Cons: needs a waccom tablet and can be murder on the wrist, sometimes harder to do curves and straight lines

This one I took the flash version and shaded it in Photoshop:
I somewhat like the shading in photoshop because it can look more realistic and more easily get those tiny shading details and highlights.

This one is similar to the last, but I used some patterns for the clothing. It's kind of cool, but it's not really needed.

So, I've proven without a shadow of a doubt that Flash is awesome and there is no reason I should use any other program. EVER. Except maybe Maya.

Quentin Tarantino: King of Anti-Climacticism 2

Y'know, I really do enjoy most Quentin Tarantino films, and I did really like the first Kill Bill for reference. And I also realize that she pulled a knife out of the cereal first(Is that the secret prize they put in Frosted Flakes these days?!) but it's still anti-dramatic. And not to say that being anti-dramatic is a bad thing all the time either, it's just that's his thing. That's why two of his first films, Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were so good, BECAUSE they were anti-climatic.

I'm just saying, hail to the king of anti-climacticism baby.

(still not a word.)

Also, here's a preview of Friday's Dumgens & Draggins!

Quentin Tarantino: King of Anti-Climacticism 1

For no apparent reason, I've decided that this week is Quentin Tarantino: King of Anti-Climatcicism Week!
(No, it's not a word that I'm aware of)

Not to say that I don't enjoy his movies, but man, are they ever anti-climactic. I could probably do the whole week with just Kill Bill, but I'll try to restrain myself.

Also, here are some pics of the model I started so far!



It's not too much now, but it's still blocky and I haven't modeled for a while. We'll see how it turns out. I used to do a "speed modeling" exercise, similar to those that speed paint in photoshop. I might try something like that for next model.

Dumgens & Draggins 4: The Hovering Kobold

One of the glitches I hate about DDO, is that every so often the enemy (especially kobolds) will jump around trying to evade you, and they'll inadvertently jump up on to a candlestick or the side of a wall or something that is clearly not jump-upable. So you'll have to jump and awkwardly swing and miss, or do what I do and run away and wait until they follow you(BECAUSE THEY NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE). And it's not just small baddies, I've seen full on orcs jump mid air and just hover there!

I think this is my best one yet with all that new fangled perspective and backgrounds and whatnot. I was going to try grayscale with Zao the thief, but I just love the way he looks in Black and White.

I keep forgetting to upload pics of the model I've been working on. Oh well. Have a great weekend!

Brand New Thief

Sorry guys, no new comic tonight, too busy on the new Dumgens and Draggins. But I do have a few new pics of my Thief protagonist! I'm trying out different styles:

Black and White

Grayscale

And color!

Which one do you think is better?

big butt, horrible quality

Sorry for the horrible quality, but the power went out in my house so I had to rely on the flash of my camera and my auxiliary laptop power. I'll upload a better version tomorrow, pending electricity.

EDIT: Oh my crap that is so much better. I don't think I've ever loved a scanner more than I do now.

But I do have other stuff that I scanned in earlier today!


This is what I thought a bugbear in Dungeons and Dragons would look like before I knew what a bugbear was.

And here's a surprise sample panel from Friday's Dumgens & Draggins!


Go perspective!

A cow, pig, and chicken walk into a bar...

She didn't think it was funny. I thought it was HILARIOUS.

And for all the girls I know who wear glasses and think it's you, IT'S NOT YOU.

Also, I'm trying to get back into modeling, so I'm gonna start modeling this guy:


That is, I will be starting when Maya stops quitting on me. GAH!

Dumgens & Draggins 3: You don't have what it takes

I picked a thief so I can get through any locked door or disarm any trap. But one of the cool things they have in DDO is that they don't just have locked doors that only thieves with lock picking skills can get through. They have a whole slew of locked doors that tied to different attributes such as levers that rely on strength and runes that rely on wisdom or intelligence. I think this is great because (a), it makes anyone without lock-picking skills feel special by giving them their own unique door t unlock and (b), it really forces you to team up and create a rounded party so you can get to everything in the dungeon.

Of course it sucks for loner thieves who are trying to get through the whole dungeon by themselves.

Also, no there aren't any charisma based parties to sneak into. How cool would that be?!

Soulmates 2

Hmmm. Not much to say. New Dumgens and Draggins tomorrow!

Soulmates

Wow! Amazing! A comic in which I really like the art! I didn't think it was possible! Man that's awesome. I think I'm finally getting comfortable drawing female heads and bodies. Go me. And look how spiffy I look! I should draw myself in style more often.

Motivation! Also, 100th comic!

I keep putting my friends in these without them knowing. I wonder if any of them realize?

Holy crap! This is daily comic #100! Hooray for me! Man, they really add up. Of course, if I had been doing them EXACTLY five days a week, it would have been sooner, but y'know, stuff happens.

I could have done a big celebration comic, or a cop-out comic realizing it's the 100th one, but I thought I'd do something different and do something simple and funny.

Looking back at the very first one, I don't feel like I've come all that far. But then, I kinda really liked that one. compared to alot of the earlier ones, I think I've improved a bit. Maybe I get a +1 bonus to my comic making skills after 100 comics.

Actually, I feel like a couple of my earlier ones were cruder, but much more experimental in style and presentation. I think it's become almost like a chore for me, and I should step back and do some more experimenting.

Anyways, hopefully the next 100 will be much more awesomer!

EDIT: Just counted, and I'm pretty sure this is 101. Me and my awesome organizational skills, I never filed away the very first one. :p But this kind of works out better, because last Thursday's comic mirrors the first in a way.

adventures in the city

I was in the city and this what I did!

One more until 100! Although it might be up on Saturday.

The Wrath of Tumblar

Yeah, so I have a Tumblr now, and I don't know what to do with it. I was planing on writing a weekly essay to keep my writing skills up and have a form of recent reference, but I'm still working on that.

It's cool that it can reblog all the other blogs into one voltronesque monster blog, but then does that mean that everyone should be fans of just that instead of fans of the mini blogs? I'm still tweaking it. And I'm sure I'll come up with my own design later, but I really just LOVE the Vertigo design.

Also, I'm surprised how quickly I can do these now and how they're semi not sucky.

AAAAAAAAAND two more to 100!

Russel Bland

I don't really think we share a resemblance, but everyone else does. I once got mauled by a group outside a theatre because I looked like that guy from Forgetting Sarah Marshal. Story of my life.

Anyways, he was supposedly in my town with Katie Perry this weekend, so I'm surprised this never happened.

EDIT: I also updated the blog with pages about the artist, daily comics, and dumgens&draggins archive. I want to change the background too but I think I'd have to mess with HTML and I don't know if I'm up for that.

ovatar

Man, that was a really bad movie. I did hear someone almost clap. I could rant about that all night long.

So I will!

I read all of the reviews and I knew it would be bad, but nothing could have prepared me for the horrendous pile that was this movie. And no one mentioned they intentionally mispronounced the names! Honestly, what's the reasoning behind that? It's not like they didn't know the correct pronunciation as if it were adapted from a book, and what would they have to gain from changing it? As if the mainstream audience wouldn't except his name is pronounced Aang? All they're doing is further pissing off the already built in fanbase of the show.

"Ong"? Seriously? In what language would aa make an "o" sound? I think that's what hurt the most. It's so simple and yet stings so much. It's like someone you just met mispronounces your name after you say it to them. I was waiting for someone to walk up to the little bald kid and go, "Hey, it's pronounced AANG bitch."

And speaking strictly from a movie standpoint, the storytelling was poor, the writing and dialogue were terrible, and the action sequences were just wasteful. It felt like he was trying to be Zack Snyder but failed.

But why should I have all the fun of dissing the movie. What did you hate most about it?

Dumgens & Draggins 2: Level 2

Not that it's a bad thing, but when you level up, you feel like a monster slayer extraordinaire, able dispatch any enemy with a simple whisk of your blade.

And then you move on to the next monster area.

But that's the way games work. If it weren't monsters getting harder, there'd be no reason to level up and the game would get boring.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting used to the process or because this particular one was short, or because I gain +352 XP on my photoshop skill but this comic only took me barely two days! Awesome!

Apologies for not posting this much this week, it's just been a lazy week. But next week I'm gonna do a comic every day! Why? Because if I do, then next Friday will be my 100th comic! Huzah! Ale and whores for everyone!