So... I'm behind both here and over at Surreal Situations. This is partly because my sinuses have been trying to murder me, and partly because my free time is limited (the next bit of Surreal Situations requires me to recreate an earlier scene -- which is certainly possible, but it means referencing the existing pictures, finding the right props, and getting them all back together - it isn't quick). Mainly, though, I'm behind because I've been working on The Chained Man, which I recently mentioned as possibly the weirdest story idea I've ever come up with. It's coming together nicely, though it's still pretty early in the Zero Draft: I have a first chapter of five or six pages, and maybe three pages of chapter two. Admittedly, it's torn me away fromthe Nameless project I'd been working on, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I keep restarting Nameless, whereas The Chained Man is sort of pulling me along with its own momentum.
I will get back to Surreal Situations this week, though. It's too much fun to let go.
Showing posts with label Surreal Situations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Surreal Situations. Show all posts
Monday, March 6, 2017
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Creating Surreal Situations
Nothing over here, today. Too much is going on in real life.
However, there is a new comic up over at Surreal Situations.
And for anybody who's interested, here's a shot of how I'm currently creating the comic:
However, there is a new comic up over at Surreal Situations.
And for anybody who's interested, here's a shot of how I'm currently creating the comic:
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
How do real cartoonists do it???
I'm currently holding to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule over at Surreal Situations. Understand that my process consists of taking pictures, running them through a filter, taping them to something, arranging action figures in front of them, taking more pictures, then adding text (in word balloons or thought scrolls) to those pictures.
I mean, I'm not actually drawing. Admittedly, when I write it out that way, it turns out that it is rather more labor-intensive than I think it is (and than I think it should be) but still: I'm not drawing in every line.
And yet, it takes up a surprisingly large amount of my time. And I can't do it when the boys are around, which is a problem for pretty much every creative endeavor I've undertaken in the last decade. Which leaves me trying to cram it in either at night, or at odd boy-free moments on the weekends, or just before or after work.
I don't understand how real cartoonists do it.
On the plus side, I discovered this weekend that another line of children's toys, called Woodzeez, has tools and utensils that are size-compatible with the Imaginext guys. All of a sudden, I have props! And I am stupidly excited about it.
I mean, I'm not actually drawing. Admittedly, when I write it out that way, it turns out that it is rather more labor-intensive than I think it is (and than I think it should be) but still: I'm not drawing in every line.
And yet, it takes up a surprisingly large amount of my time. And I can't do it when the boys are around, which is a problem for pretty much every creative endeavor I've undertaken in the last decade. Which leaves me trying to cram it in either at night, or at odd boy-free moments on the weekends, or just before or after work.
I don't understand how real cartoonists do it.
On the plus side, I discovered this weekend that another line of children's toys, called Woodzeez, has tools and utensils that are size-compatible with the Imaginext guys. All of a sudden, I have props! And I am stupidly excited about it.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Surreal Wednesday
Quick reminder: the next comic is (or should be, better be) up over at Surreal Situations.
Meanwhile, Limpopo:
Meanwhile, Limpopo:
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Post-Apocalyptic Payphone
So, I went around on Sunday for about two hours, looking for scenes that I could photograph and use for landscapes in Surreal Situations. And, actually, I did pretty well. Someone had cleaned up the area I most wanted to use, which was disappointing personally but not a bad thing overall. However, I found a couple of nice alternatives, and got some pictures.
The difficulty, of course, is that the current setting for Surreal Situations is about three years into the Zombie Apocalypse. That means that I really need to avoid any kind of setting where someone has clearly been mowing the lawn. Also, any kind of setting with cars, unless I can find some cars that are weathered, rusted, covered in dirt, and whose tires have given way to rotting rubber.
The photo I was really hoping to get this weekend was a badly overgrown playground, but a lawnmower and a coat of paint has taken it completely out of my genre.
But, having spent about two hours driving around to grimy, overgrown areas and taking pictures of them, I decided it was time to get back to my father's house and collect the boys. I was all done for the day, I was going to drive straight back.
Then, on the way back, by the side of a major highway, I found a post-apocalyptic payphone:
I was a little later getting back than I'd expected, obviously.
The difficulty, of course, is that the current setting for Surreal Situations is about three years into the Zombie Apocalypse. That means that I really need to avoid any kind of setting where someone has clearly been mowing the lawn. Also, any kind of setting with cars, unless I can find some cars that are weathered, rusted, covered in dirt, and whose tires have given way to rotting rubber.
The photo I was really hoping to get this weekend was a badly overgrown playground, but a lawnmower and a coat of paint has taken it completely out of my genre.
But, having spent about two hours driving around to grimy, overgrown areas and taking pictures of them, I decided it was time to get back to my father's house and collect the boys. I was all done for the day, I was going to drive straight back.
Then, on the way back, by the side of a major highway, I found a post-apocalyptic payphone:
I was a little later getting back than I'd expected, obviously.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Whuf!
Right, so: first up, the next episode of Surreal Situations is up, which means I've successfully kept up with my web comic's M/W/F schedule for an entire week. Go, me!
I've been reviewing my initial impressions of the process, and I'd like to share some thoughts here. (I'm basically reserving the other blog for the comic itself; I don't want to clutter it up/distract from it with discussions of how it gets built.) So, if this sort of thing interests you...
1. Despite my best efforts to keep this simple, it's taking a surprising amount of my time. The Great Conference Adventure was done on the fly, with nothing more than an action figure, an iPad, and whatever I had to hand. Any text/narrative was either typed into the iPod, which was set in the picture; or added when I posted the images on Facebook. For Surreal Situations, though, I'm aiming for something more like a "real" comic: I want the characters to look reasonably natural in their settings, even if a lot of the setup is structured more like a stage play (i.e. with some characters interacting on a stage in front of a flat backdrop).
This means either not using a backdrop (the first episode), finding images and converting them to the right feel (second episode), or taking pictures myself and converting them for feel (today's episode). I'm not real comfortable with using other people's images, even if I'm converting them and adding elements in a way that I think constitutes Fair Use, so I'm probably not going to do any more of that. Unfortunately, that limits what I have available.
The original plan was to use some playsets for the settings, and there will almost certainly be some of that. Unfortunately... A) I started off in the Zombie Apocalypse setting, and there are remarkably few playsets available for that; B) even if such things were readily available, I'm doing this on a pretty small budget; C) and more to the point, I don't have a place where I could store a bunch of playsets and set them up to take pictures. And that's assuming that the boys wouldn't immediately raid such a setup for things to play with, which... ha! Not very likely.
I've thought of some possibilities, but a lot of them involve time and attention: garage sales, secondhand toy stores, leftover aquarium decorations, and things like that. That's all doable, but none of those options are much help when I start thinking, "Aha! For this next scene, I really need some sort of farmhouse with a porch and a kitchen!" (And, again, there's the question of where in the hell I'm supposed to put such things when I'm not using them.)
Some things could be built out of cardboard (which is actually something of a family tradition), but that runs into the question of time and effort as well as storage. This is supposed to be a side project, not a day job.
For now, I'm probably going to stick with just the figures and the backdrops. That means figuring out what I need, and then looking for places where I can take the sort of pictures I can use to fill those needs. Still, sometime this weekend I really ought to hit a couple of toy stores and/or hobby shops. A handful of appropriately-sized props would go a long way towards making this easier. I would, at this moment, willingly maim someone in exchange for a colorful plastic model of a campfire, for example. Instead, I'll probably have to build something using small rocks and twigs.
2. This isn't going to be a zombie comic, though it will almost certainly continue to have zombies in it. I have waaaaaaay too many other interesting figures to play around with. I started with the zombies because that's kind of where my brain goes, and because it gave me something familiar to build from.
3. That's why I changed to this figure for the main character, instead of using the one who followed me around the conference. I wanted a guy who would look a little battered and out of place in any setting he visited. It seems to be working so far.
There's probably more to say, but those are my thoughts at the end of Week One. Any questions? Put 'em in the comments, and I'll answer 'em there.
I've been reviewing my initial impressions of the process, and I'd like to share some thoughts here. (I'm basically reserving the other blog for the comic itself; I don't want to clutter it up/distract from it with discussions of how it gets built.) So, if this sort of thing interests you...
1. Despite my best efforts to keep this simple, it's taking a surprising amount of my time. The Great Conference Adventure was done on the fly, with nothing more than an action figure, an iPad, and whatever I had to hand. Any text/narrative was either typed into the iPod, which was set in the picture; or added when I posted the images on Facebook. For Surreal Situations, though, I'm aiming for something more like a "real" comic: I want the characters to look reasonably natural in their settings, even if a lot of the setup is structured more like a stage play (i.e. with some characters interacting on a stage in front of a flat backdrop).
This means either not using a backdrop (the first episode), finding images and converting them to the right feel (second episode), or taking pictures myself and converting them for feel (today's episode). I'm not real comfortable with using other people's images, even if I'm converting them and adding elements in a way that I think constitutes Fair Use, so I'm probably not going to do any more of that. Unfortunately, that limits what I have available.
The original plan was to use some playsets for the settings, and there will almost certainly be some of that. Unfortunately... A) I started off in the Zombie Apocalypse setting, and there are remarkably few playsets available for that; B) even if such things were readily available, I'm doing this on a pretty small budget; C) and more to the point, I don't have a place where I could store a bunch of playsets and set them up to take pictures. And that's assuming that the boys wouldn't immediately raid such a setup for things to play with, which... ha! Not very likely.
I've thought of some possibilities, but a lot of them involve time and attention: garage sales, secondhand toy stores, leftover aquarium decorations, and things like that. That's all doable, but none of those options are much help when I start thinking, "Aha! For this next scene, I really need some sort of farmhouse with a porch and a kitchen!" (And, again, there's the question of where in the hell I'm supposed to put such things when I'm not using them.)
Some things could be built out of cardboard (which is actually something of a family tradition), but that runs into the question of time and effort as well as storage. This is supposed to be a side project, not a day job.
For now, I'm probably going to stick with just the figures and the backdrops. That means figuring out what I need, and then looking for places where I can take the sort of pictures I can use to fill those needs. Still, sometime this weekend I really ought to hit a couple of toy stores and/or hobby shops. A handful of appropriately-sized props would go a long way towards making this easier. I would, at this moment, willingly maim someone in exchange for a colorful plastic model of a campfire, for example. Instead, I'll probably have to build something using small rocks and twigs.
2. This isn't going to be a zombie comic, though it will almost certainly continue to have zombies in it. I have waaaaaaay too many other interesting figures to play around with. I started with the zombies because that's kind of where my brain goes, and because it gave me something familiar to build from.
3. That's why I changed to this figure for the main character, instead of using the one who followed me around the conference. I wanted a guy who would look a little battered and out of place in any setting he visited. It seems to be working so far.
There's probably more to say, but those are my thoughts at the end of Week One. Any questions? Put 'em in the comments, and I'll answer 'em there.
Monday, October 10, 2016
So It Begins
I'm starting a webcomic. It'll probably run on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, unless that doesn't seem to work and I end up doing something completely else. While this project definitely owes its origins to The Great Conference Adventure, it won't be a direct continuation. It'll still be random and whimsical and occupied entirely by action figures and other children's toys, though. Welcome to Surreal Situations.
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