trifecta

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:41 am

I have three new comics for you check out.

Lets start out with the first chapter of No Exit.
It's a story of a man who is lost in life. - Drama

Next is the beginning of Blood of the Bean.
An ongoing story of nonsense. - Alternative

And last is an all new Hot Dog.
It's still the weekly adventures of a man that was a hog dog. - Stupid Humor

Enjoy!

Rip Tanion · Post by **Rip Tanion** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 6:01 pm

I notice, Eric, that you are using JPEG compression on the panel images in Hot Dog and No Exit. You are obviously trying to get the byte size down, but all that compression is adding "artifacts" to the images.

If I could make a technical suggestion...
Since the panels in the above mentioned features use large areas of flat colors, you'd probably be better served using GIF compression. GIF compression bases file size on the number of colors used in the image. Because each panel has a limited number of colors, you could probably convert them to 32 or even 16 color GIFs (maybe even 8, if you dither the colors) without any noticeable difference to the naked eye from that of the original. The file size will probably be about the same, or maybe even less than JPEG. Obviously, you'll have to experiment to get the results that you'll be most pleased with.

They plump when you cook 'em.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 6:49 pm

Good idea, I might work on that this weekend. Another reason I like working on my strange black and white comics better. Just scan and post.

losttoy · Post by **losttoy** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:06 am

Eric, just read your Truck story ... I am not sure what to say. It is kind of like after you finished watching a Twilight Zone and you are just baffled but intrigued. Good work.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:16 pm

Thanks, David. I guess it turned out ok. I hate that it took me two months to finish. I don't think I'll do another "daily" strip for awhile though.

Rip Tanion · Post by **Rip Tanion** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 4:24 pm

losttoy wrote: It is kind of like after you finished watching a Twilight Zone and you are just baffled but intrigued.

I'm waiting for Eric to come out, holding a cigarette in his hand, gritting his teeth, and saying "submitted for your approval...".

Heh, heh. It's like a voodoo truck. Voodoo is always a catalyst for comedy.

What, no Hot Dog strip for the Fourth of July? Nothing is more American than a Hot Dog on the Fourth.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 6:54 pm

I don't smoke. What if I showed up eating a red hot saying "shummibit oor uor apooval," while bits of processed pork and bread sprays out of my mouth.

But you're absolutely right. I should of made a special edition Hot Dog for the 4th. Truth be told, the "man of meat" is on hiatus for now. I'm going to try and build up a huge back log of strips then relaunch the Hot Dog.

As soon as I'm done with my mini comic.

losttoy · Post by **losttoy** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 2:00 am

Holy-shit, it's extreme etch-a-sketch! That is so crazy! How do you do it???

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 12:03 pm

How? Lot of patience, that's how. What I do is I pencil in the pages like normal. Then I start a line from one side to the next, making sure I hit everything on the page. I swear a lot when I box myself into a corner. Depending on how bad the mistake is, I'll paint over the offending line or I will start the whole page over again. Each page takes about an hour and a half from start to finish. I could do them faster but then I usually screw up the lettering. So the answer is a lot of patience.

ShadowCaster · Post by **ShadowCaster** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 1:47 pm

Souds challenging, I love graph theory programming.
Could you post just one of the original penciled images ? I may come with a way to partially automate the process :
You'd give your original image to a program I would write, and it would give a randow line going everywhere and trying to reduce the number of double lines.
If it didn't look good enough to you, you'd simply relaunch the program to get another line.
Once satisfied, you'd draw yourself the exact path picked up by the program.

Rip Tanion · Post by **Rip Tanion** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:57 pm

A very interesting exercise in the use of negative space, Eric. I remember doing stuff like that in art school. I know it's tougher than it looks.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:38 pm

ShadowCaster wrote:Souds challenging, I love graph theory programming.
Could you post just one of the original penciled images ? I may come with a way to partially automate the process :
You'd give your original image to a program I would write, and it would give a randow line going everywhere and trying to reduce the number of double lines.
If it didn't look good enough to you, you'd simply relaunch the program to get another line.
Once satisfied, you'd draw yourself the exact path picked up by the program.

Sorry but all of the pages have been inked. Thanks for the offer but I think that using a program to do the art would take away from the human touch and personal style that I hope I give the pages. Besides, I'm a very rough penciler and I barely drew any backgrounds (both very normal for me). I did a lot of improvising while I inked it (still, very normal for me).