Panels in progress

Discuss Scott McCloud's current online comic project. Be sure to check out <a href="http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi.html">the latest improv</a>!

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Panels in progress

Post by Greg Stephens »

Scott-

Would you consider keeping these things around for posterity? Maybe, for example, posting an addtional link at the end of the comic reading "additional work-in-progress panels from this comic?" Process junkies like me love this sort of thing- comparing the various befores and afters.

On the other hand, do you not like to display work that's unfinished, even if a completed version does exist?
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Post by Christopher Lundgren »

I heard there was a big power outage somewhere in the US. Do the panels-in-progress have something to do with that?

What parts of the country went down? (I guess if I wasn't so lazy I could look it up right now...)
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Post by Greg Stephens »

Large portions of the Northeast lost power, not at all near where Scott makes his home.

All the blackout news you could want.
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Kris Lachowski

Re: Panels in progress

Post by Kris Lachowski »

Greg Stephens wrote:Scott-

Would you consider keeping these things around for posterity? Maybe, for example, posting an addtional link at the end of the comic reading "additional work-in-progress panels from this comic?" Process junkies like me love this sort of thing- comparing the various befores and afters.

On the other hand, do you not like to display work that's unfinished, even if a completed version does exist?
I second that motion.
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Post by losttoy »

Ah, energy!!! I got hit by that blackout and I am finaly back online ... yet I still do not have anything useful to say. :P
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Post by Christopher Lundgren »

Greg Stephens wrote:Large portions of the Northeast lost power, not at all near where Scott makes his home.
I like the way you put that, "makes his home," as if he wandered around the countryside, found a good spot, and conjured a house from the ether. Read about this and other exciting modern-day miracles in the Book of McCloud.
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Post by Rip Tanion »

Greg Stephens wrote:Large portions of the Northeast lost powerAll the blackout news you could want.
What news do you need to know, except: darkness, heat, and lots of utter boredom? No computer, no stereo, no radio (I found out the battery back-up in my clock-radio only preserves the time if the power goes out, but doesn't power the radio - big deal, I can always find the right time, and reset the clock, but I need radio), no boob-tube, no light sufficient for reading of drawing...oy vey; and because I live in a high-rise building, no water.
I had gotten home maybe fifteen minutes before the power went out around 4:pm. Since the elevators we'ren't working, I was trapped in my apartment - alone- the whole time...I don't mind walking downstairs, but walking back up...you ever try climbing UP over two-dozen flights of stairs?...in the dark? Did a little bit of sketching before daylight was lost, and started banging my head against the wall for the next several hours. Thank God the phone worked, and I was able to talk to some friends and family, else I would have gone totally insane. And thankfully, my parents up in Rockland Co. had their power restored before nightfall, so I was able to get news of the outside world - including updates on the Yankees@Orioles game.

You never realize how dependent on power you are, until you lose it for 13? hours. I say, damn the enviroment...A Power Plant in Every Backyard. Science marches on! As we speak, I am constructing Tesla coils, and working on my Elemental Turbines? which run my Ethereal Generator?, which provides power for my extraordinary, evolutionary, econimical, but ecologicaly un-tested Engine of Sanity?(patent-pending)

Professor Rippy is working hard...for YOU!
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Post by Fortunato »

ah, happens to us up here in North Dakota all the time. Every few blizzards there will be a serious power outage.
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Post by Rip Tanion »

Fortunato wrote:ah, happens to us up here in North Dakota all the time. Every few blizzards there will be a serious power outage.
Gees, I didn't even know that electricity had ever come to North Dakota, yet. :wink:
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Post by Greg Stephens »

So, about the "panels in progress".... Any chance of archiving them for future reference? You know, a micropay gate for them would be one idea. Currently, the M.I. comics are all free, but readers can micropay to vote on the next title. Maybe the additional panels in progress could be worth a micropayment to view? The final comic is open to all, but he special-edition DVD extra features are $.05 to access. (I understand that the return on investment for paying to view a handful of unfinished panels is quite low, and possibly a bit of a turn-off for some. I didn't say this was a great idea.)
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bitpass and the process of mccloud

Post by jess »

scott-
seeing your panels in progress reminded me....

you had mentioned, in your faq section (some time ago), the poss. of paying for info on your process. well, bitpass seems perfect for this.

just wondering,
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Post by Scott McCloud »

Haven't worked out a method for saving and archiving panels in progress yet. The idea isn't bad, though I doubt I would charge for such a thing unless I really went the DVD route and had lots of extras.

When The Right Number is complete, I will probably offer a tutorial on exactly how I did it, and I would charge a bit for that.

BTW, there will definitely be extras sold alongside the Improv. Hi-Res PDF posters, desktop patterns, icons etc. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. I think the "gift shop" approach can be a lot of fun for artists and readers alike when the main event (ie a daily comic) is free.

If anyone would like to suggest bitpassed goodies related to the Improv, please do. Might even want to start a separate thread.

Gotta go. Hurty hands...
kaos_de_moria

goodies

Post by kaos_de_moria »

If anyone would like to suggest bitpassed goodies related to the Improv, please do. Might even want to start a separate thread.
Gotta go. Hurty hands...
haven't got my bitpass account by now, since my visa i have in my wallet is not valid anymore. somewhere on my other desk should be the new one, but... where? *g*

1st) a thing i would really like would be good birthday, birth and marriage cards with the morning improve characters (online or even real). there is so much crap on the web, most cards simply look awful and are additionally not funny.

2nd) if you would reanimate the can't stop thinking section... or if you'd take your own title seriously, let's say as a 2nd MI, i'd surely pay for that

3rd) mac os X icons would be cool, you know, the big one's

4th)... dunno... maybe later
kaos_de_moria

progress panels

Post by kaos_de_moria »

ah yeah, wanted to add...

i personally liked the idea of progress panels in theory, but i think in practice it takes out a bit of the fun, 'cause if you come everyday you know half of what you get already. IMHO it's less 'vorfreude' (anticipation according to my dictionary). and in german we say that 'vorfreude' is the best/greatest 'freude' (joy, pleasure).

i'd rather like a page with historical pics and comments published afterwards. as well with explanations when which turns of the story were created and if discussions in the forum manipulated the outcome *g*.

jup, that's it for now,

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Post by Rip Tanion »

I think this "panels in progress" thing is really novel. Not only does it let you in on the creative process, but I think it actually adds to the suspense. For instance, today, the panels in progress show some wild action. A toy party perhaps? I don't know quite what is yet, but I can't wait to find out.

OK, maybe I'm not THAT excited, but I sure am interested.
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Post by kaos_de_moria »

Scott McCloud wrote: Hi-Res PDF posters
hey scott, i'd like one of somnivore for my niece. signed if possible. how much do you want? :D

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Post by kaos_de_moria »

kaos_de_moria wrote:
Scott McCloud wrote: Hi-Res PDF posters
hey scott, i'd like one of somnivore for my niece. signed if possible. how much do you want? :D

kaos
hmm... i actually read that wrong. :-? i'd like a printed poster... let's say one meter high or so :roll:
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While we're on the subject of fantasy goods...

Post by Christopher Lundgren »

I always thought that if it wasn't so long, Uniformed Bob would make a neat (if somewhat depressing) T-shirt. Maybe it would work if it was front and back.
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Post by Greg Stephens »

Again, I say: Panels in progress are sometimes really nice in and of themselves.
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Post by DecafSilicon »

I don't see the glory of the panel in progress, but even if I did, I'd feel cheated if anything from the actual comic was Bitpassed. Keep building the gift shop. Heck, Homestarrunner.com turns a profit without any for-pay content. MI has that kind of cult power.

Well, it could.

(I had a Homestar / MI parody here, but it was unfunny, so I said "screw it." Pretend I said something very clever like "The panels -- are down. The panels -- are down." in a Strong Bad voice.)
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Post by Greg Stephens »

OK, seeing today's panel makes me almost want to reconsider my last comment, it's so good. I sitll like to see in-progress panels, though.
DecafSilicon wrote:.... I'd feel cheated if anything from the actual comic was Bitpassed.
Just because it hs been discussed before doesn't make this is any less of an interesting comment to me. Can you elaborate on the potential feeling of being cheated?

(And, yes, Strong Bad pretty much rocks.)
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nobody

best yet?

Post by nobody »

Sort of off topic, but I have to say that I think this is the best Improv since I've started following it.
PinkDreamPoppies

Post by PinkDreamPoppies »

A couple other gift shop ideas...

-- Desktops for non-standard desktop sizes. I have a 17" iMac flat panel, 1440 x 900, and so can't get any desktops that fit my screen. I suppose I could modify one, but I don't know what format they come in (having not bought one) and mine wouldn't look as good as Scott's anyway.

-- I second the idea of extensive behind-the-scenes stuff because I'm a process junkie. Perhaps there could be an enhanced version of the improvs with, for instance, a few comments from Scott on any panels that he finds particularly interesting or that were hard to make, or perhaps comments from another cartoonist, and the ability to click on any given panel to see an in-progress version of that panel.

-- Birthday, wedding, and holiday e-cards, a la Blue Mountain, or printable versions of same. Monkey Team - Christmas Attack!

-- High quality raw image files. I don't know what your process is, but this would basically be the equivalent of open source code. Open source comics. Heh.

-- Some of the smaller comics, like "Man-Eating Shoes" or "Inertia Man" would make fantastic t-shirts, as would some individual panels from strips like "A Bucketful of Kittens."

-- Speaking of the kittens, I've wanted a stuffed one since I read the comic, but I realise that that's not really feasible.

-- And speaking of cute, how about a desktop of the last panel of "The Evil that Men Forget to Do"? The chibi-Scott is so adorable. Yeah, I'm uh... I'm done here.
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Post by DecafSilicon »

PinkDreamPoppies wrote:Desktops for non-standard desktop sizes.
My desktop is a hefty 1400 by 1050 pixels. Still treats the largest MI wallpaper size fairly well. It's tough to make a wallpaper for every resolution when you cater to computer-savvy folks with particular preferences for their desktops.
PinkDreamPoppies wrote:The ability to click on any given panel to see an in-progress version of that panel.
I feel that would rob Scott's creative time. I'd rather see more panels per day than a complicated way to view the process.
PinkDreamPoppies wrote:...fantastic t-shirts...
I'd rather buy another comic than any of the merch ideas. Maybe we could run a poll on this.
Greg Stephens wrote:Can you elaborate on the potential feeling of being cheated?
The MI contains little content for the time it's taken to write it. Two years of daily panels (that figure excludes the hiatus) have produced 24 comics ranging from four panels to several pages. Some of them would seem mediocre if Scott's creative constraints (time, format, titles) were ignored.

Meanwhile, I'm hungry for one solid narrative running at least 50 pages -- a graphic novel, even if published online. That's something I could sink my teeth -- and wallet -- into.

By the by, I feel more fulfilled by Scott's classics (Zot and the chess comic) than by the panel-by-panel "The Right Number." I'd rather see TRN laid out with threads or gutters than the current click-through (a method Scott rightly disparaged in "Reinventing Comics").

So cohesion of long-term narrative and a meaty-looking format will earn more money from me than merchandise for ten-panel throwaway jokes.
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