A One-hour comic.

[japanimationfist]

They were all pretty viceral, weren't they? Hmmm. I vote for the CIA thing.

Getting back to what Vince was saying, I have reconsidered. I was thinking about the value of routine, and what a difference it might make to my art, and I decided that I WOULD like to try it every week. Say every Sunday, or something like that, and we could post links up here.

I will do another this Sunday. Who else is with me?

[Jason Alderman]

No guarantees, but I'll try to join the fun again this week. I may have to skip a few of the early weeks, depending. I'm still moving into my new place (boxes, boxes EVERYWHERE), just starting a grad school course, tackling a few big projects at work, and still trying to finish up another radiopolis strip or two before I let the inventory run out.

I should be able to spare an hour, though (I hope!)...

If you're going to do a theme this time, however, Bill, post away!

(I'd sort of like to do a biography theme one of these 1HCs, since I never did get a chance to do this.)

jason
comics.huah.net

[gazorenzoku]

Sorry for not posting for a few days... We took a little trip to my wife's brother's farm this weekend. It is incredible how good his vegetables are! I always thought that farm vegetables were better than what you can get in the supermarket because they were fresher, but it turns out that farms that sell exclusively to supermarkets have to pick their vegetables and fruits before they are ripe so they don't go bad at the store. Small market farms like my wife's brother's farms usually just pick their fruits and vegetables when they are ripe. What does this have to do with comics? Nothing unless someone out there wants to make a comic about it....

Getting back to what Vince was saying, I have reconsidered.

Wow, someone out there actually thought something that I said was worth "getting back to". Maybe I'm not such a horrible guy after all...

I was thinking about the value of routine, and what a difference it might make to my art, and I decided that I WOULD like to try it every week. Say every Sunday, or something like that, and we could post links up here.

I will do another this Sunday. Who else is with me?

ok, I'm in. In fact, here is my Sunday one hour piece for this week. It's already Sunday here, so I put it up...

http://www.gazorenzoku.com/one_hour_03.html

Vince

[japanimationfist]

Really neat Vince. I love that surrealist style. Thank goodness no cartoonists had to die for this one (did they?)

Mine is a little different this week. I was trying for something that I didn't quite achieve, but I think it was a neat experiment. I also wanted to try left to right panels this time, which was new for me. This seems to be a good place to experiment.

Here it is: http://www.dunktank.ca/50cents.html

[gazorenzoku]

The pictures didn't download. Looks really neat, though. I didn't read the text cause I am saving it for when I can see the images properly.

Did you do it in frames? The only way I could think of to do something like that is to put an image and a block of text in each frame (or, you could make a seperate frame for the image and text)... is that how you did it?

Really neat Vince. I love that surrealist style.

Thanks. I was playing around with Photoshop (get your mind out of the gutter), and I came up with some strange lines. Actually, I was testing out the way the lines look by doodling, and then I just decided to keep those lines. You might notice that the lines gain more and more "purpose" towards the end. It was hard to keep that same "meaningless" and looseness as the story began to take shape, though I tried to keep the lines as random as possible except in the last face shot.

I was also feeling a little bit melencholy that day, and that helped me produce some lines that were a lot more meandering and searching than my usual lines, which I feel have a real sense of purpose and solidity...

Thank goodness no cartoonists had to die for this one (did they?)

You can't proove anything!

This seems to be a good place to experiment.

It certainly is. I find that I almost have to experiment to get a decent piece out in an hour. If I do it the way I normally do comics, I can't get enough done in an hour, so I do things I have never done before. That is a lot of fun for me... I suppose that necessity really is the mother of invention, and it seems that we have build a construct wherein we feel compelled by necessity to invent.


...I can't wait to see the images!!

Also, Jason, are you out there?

Vince

[Wikkit]

The pictures didn't download. Looks really neat, though. I didn't read the text cause I am saving it for when I can see the images properly.

Yeah, he did the same thing as last time, uploading the images and page but leaving the images pointing to his hard drive, rather than the webserver.

You should start trying to use relative URLs, rather than absolute, 'fist. It was a good job, I like the way it was done. I'm going to add it to this message; as soon as you fix it on your page I'll delete this. I hope you don't mind; I really like it and want to make sure everyone sees it. Don't forget to rename bm01 to bm01.gif and fix the IMG SRC accordingly.

[edit: deleted as promised]

(to fulfill my daily nitpick quota, you probably want 'his' instead of 'this', the dash under 03 should be a long dash, and foam cups are made out of expanded polystyrene beads, not Styrofoam. Styrofoam is a trademark, and is only used on a specific type of rigid blue foam insulation.) I should probably start doing these every week with you guys if I'm going to be this involved anyway...

[gazorenzoku]

Nice to see the visuals. I really liked it. I noticed that your art style made the whole 1 hour time limit thing work. Maybe I should adopt a quicker style...

I also noticed that with the exception of Jason's piece from last week, a lot of the 1 hr works have more words and less art, or a higher concentration on the words at least. I suppose that words can be written faster than pictures can be drawn. Maybe that is why a picture is worth a thousand words...

It is really hard to let go of the control that taking time lets me have over each image. I feel a lot less in control when I have to draw that fast... one interesting thing about this project is that I am starting to get more and more comfortable with letting go. I still am at the doorway, though... I have yet to fully explore the options that letting go will lead me to. I'm still too worried about control and taking time with each image...

Vince

[gazorenzoku]

Nice to see the visuals. I really liked it. I noticed that your art style made the whole 1 hour time limit thing work. Maybe I should adopt a quicker style...

I also noticed that with the exception of Jason's piece from last week, a lot of the 1 hr works have more words and less art, or a higher concentration on the words at least. I suppose that words can be written faster than pictures can be drawn. Maybe that is why a picture is worth a thousand words...

It is really hard to let go of the control that taking time lets me have over each image. I feel a lot less in control when I have to draw that fast... one interesting thing about this project is that I am starting to get more and more comfortable with letting go. I still am at the doorway, though... I have yet to fully explore the options that letting go will lead me to. I'm still too worried about control and taking time with each image...

Vince

[japanimationfist]

Thanks Wikkit. I have been using Netscape Composer to slap things together, and I keep forgetting to check the relative url. Doh! It should be fixed now.

What if we try to go without words next week? Challenge ourselves a little more, to try and tell something that makes some sort of sense in one hour. Think it over.

I think that Jason was busy this past weekend, but he'll probably be back with us next week. If Wikkit joins us too, we may be four at this next week!

[Jason Alderman]

Vince, Bill,

Sorry folks. I just sent you an e-mail with my excuse for not getting a 1HC done this week (reason: I was working on something else webcomicky, which I'm not sure I'm supposed to mention yet). If you didn't get the e-mail with the URL, let me know, and I'm sure you'll understand when you see it.

Your comics this week were both great as usual...I was about to ask, Vince, if it was cool to draw from something already written or an idea we already had, but it seems like you answered the question (unless you made up the writer of your 1HC, in which case you're much more imaginative than I thought!). I got a great idea for a 1HC (with words albeit) this weekend, but never had a chance to draw it.

Definitely count me in for next week. If I can't spare a single hour, then what good am I??

jason

[japanimationfist]

Will do Jason. Thanks for the heads up, btw.

***

I was just scanning back through the posts, and I noticed that I hadn't answered Vince's question about how I played with the left to right. To be honest, before I tried it yesterday I had no idea how to do it.

I didn't use frames. I simply built a table, but instead of constricting it to the usual 500 or 600 pixels that I usually use, I tried 1500. It gave me a very wide table that I could then plug my images inti. I then made the borders invisible, and plugged the text into a parallel row underneath.

The next time I think I might play with the order a little, and have everything working on diagonals, but I suppose I will see when the time comes to sit down again.

Thanks for the edit Wikkit. Looking forward to you joining us.

[gazorenzoku]

Sorry folks.

That's alright. Hope to see some more 1 hr comics whenever you have time.

I was about to ask, Vince, if it was cool to draw from something already written or an idea we already had, but it seems like you answered the question (unless you made up the writer of your 1HC...).

Actually, that was all made up on the spot.

The issue of how much you can do when you sit down to do a one hour or even a 24 hour comic is something I have been thinking about. Up until now, I have only been doing it pure: sitting down and doing the whole thing cold. In theory, I personally think that is the way it should be done. But if that rule keeps you from doing something great, then what good is it? .... I suppose you should make the decision for yourself. If it were me, I'd go ahead and do the idea I had, and then add a little comment saying that I had given the project some thought before doing it.

And, actually, to be honest, the comic I did last week was based on a dream I had had the night before. Though I did think about the dream before I sat down to do the comic, I didn't think at all about how I could turn it into a comic, nor did I think I was going to illustrate the dream when I first sat down. So, in that way, it is like choosing to take a memory as your subject matter. Is that a break of the rules? I personally don't think so... as long as you don't mull over how something can be done as a comic, it is ok in my book, but what do other people think?

Just to clarify: the idea that this week's comic was a story written by someone else was something I came up with on the spot, but the actual dream was not. I did come up with the illustration style and text on the spot. Those words themselves were not part of the dream. The sequence of events were part of the dream.

I got a great idea for a 1HC (with words albeit) this weekend, but never had a chance to draw it.

All rules aside, I would like to see it.

Definitely count me in for next week.

Great!! No pressure, though.

If I can't spare a single hour, then what good am I??

That's for you and your dungeon master to decide.

Vince

[Wikkit]

Thanks for the edit Wikkit. Looking forward to you joining us.

Happy to help.

I was just being anal about the Styrofoam; I didn't expect you to change it. The truth should not get in the way of art.

If I'm doing mine on paper, I'll have to do it this week to have it scanned for the weekend. I'd like to do it in the computer, though, does anyone know of any good open source vector drawing programs? I have the Gimp, but it's a bit high-end for my uses.

[gazorenzoku]

Does open source mean that anyone can download it and use it? If so, I would looooooooove to have some of that kind of action. I have been pining for Illustrator for so long, but the price tag is just too heafty for me.....

vince

[Greg Stephens]

Does open source mean that anyone can download it and use it? If so, I would looooooooove to have some of that kind of action. I have been pining for Illustrator for so long, but the price tag is just too heafty for me.....

vince

Yes, Gimp is open-source and free to use.

[Jason Alderman]

Vince,

Gimp for Mac and Linux--supposedly better than Photoshop in some respects and free.

Artstream - found it on freshmeat.net, don't know much about it, currently only available for Linux and Irix. Click on arrows at bottom of the screen (multi-page with some amazing illustrations). Might be open-source, seeing as it's a linux app...

From Sourceforge.net:

Sodipodi
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sodipodi/

Sketch
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sketch/

Beez
http://sourceforge.net/projects/beez/

There's even the Draw component of the free OpenOffice suite (yes, free as well):
http://www.openoffice.org/


And of course there's always the free time-limited Illustrator demo.

jason
terse today

[japanimationfist]

Out of curiousity, what do you use to draw Jason?

[gazorenzoku]

WOW!! A whole lot of links to free stuff!! Thanks.

I am also curious to know which ones you use.

---

I am interested in doing the following:

1) Scaning in line work and changing it to a vector based graphic without changing the line variation in any way

2) Coloring the line work with flat colors

3) Being able to print or post a graphic on the web without worrying about dpi

Which program or group of programs do you think would be best for that? I already have Photoshop, so I don't need a non-vector based program (unless there is one that has things I need that Photoshop doesn't have...)

Anyhow, I will check out some of these programs on my own later, but if you have any suggestions that would be nice too.

I also just realized that it's Friday!!!! Almost time for another round of 1 hr comics!!

Thanks again for the info!!! I have been longing for a vector based graphic editing software for a loooooong time now!!! I have even been considering giving up buying comics and cutting down on my food bill to save up for it!! You have saved a poor amateur cartoonist from a living death!

vince

[Wikkit]

Thanks, Jason. I'm looking at them now. I'm on a PC running Windows at the moment, so there's probably all kinds of shareware available, but I still try to go the open source route.

If I get one down by this weekend, I'll participate.

[japanimationfist]

Woo Hoo! Our numbers are growing. Look at our numbers grow! Woo Hoo!

Okay, I'll settle down now. Sorry about that

[gazorenzoku]

there's probably all kinds of shareware available, but I still try to go the open source route.

Wow, this is really going to make me the laughing stock of the web comics group, but I have to say I have no idea what the difference between "shareware" and "open source" is...

Somebody plug me in!

If I get one down by this weekend, I'll participate.

Hope to see you soon, Wikkit.

Woo Hoo! Our numbers are growing. Look at our numbers grow! Woo Hoo!

Yes, soon it will be time to release our special mixture into the water....

vince

[Wikkit]

there's probably all kinds of shareware available, but I still try to go the open source route.

Wow, this is really going to make me the laughing stock of the web comics group, but I have to say I have no idea what the difference between "shareware" and "open source" is...

Somebody plug me in!

Shareware is software that a person has written that they allow you to download for free. After some period of time, or some moral obligation, or to get some disabled features, they want you to pay for a license. It's a good way for people to be able to try out commercial software. Dowload.com is full of shareware. Eudora is a popular shareware program.

Open source software, on the other hand, is completely free. Literally, open source means that every person who has access to the software has access to the source code, and are free to edit it and recompile the program to their heart's content. Depending on the license, they may also be allowed to re-distribute the modified code. The advantage of open source is that a lot of people can work on it, so bugs can get fixed quickly and the feature set is user-driven. The disadvantage is that there's no good way for the programmers, who write the code, to get any financial benefit out of it. They get the benefit of having software that does what they want, which is nice, and the support of a worldwide community. Most of the Linux and BSD OSes, along with part of MacOSX, are open source, as are most of the programs written for Linux and BSD. Good linux open source programs often get ported to Windows, which is what I was looking for. Open source buzzwords: GNU, GPL, EFF, BSD, Linux, Slashdot, Stallman, Torvalds, RedHat...

Somewhere between them is freeware, software that's free to use but whose source code isn't available.

If I get one down by this weekend, I'll participate.

Hope to see you soon, Wikkit.

Beez is the only one I eded up with, and while I can now create neat vector animations, it doesn't seem to have the capability to save them. It is pre-alpha, but the capability to save a file seems like the first thing you'd put in a program. I'll probably end up making something ugly in POVray (another open source program), since I'm too late to scan something.

Ben

[japanimationfist]

Do what you can Wikkit. It's just nice to have another person along.

[gazorenzoku]

yeah, it would be nice to see something, but no rush. Join in any time.

And thanks for the info. Hopefully I will be working with vector graphics soon.... just as soon as I finish a few projects I'm working on now I intend to do more research on it.... I can't wait until the day I stop thinking about dpi!!!

free from dpi!!! Here's a question to Photoshop users: what would you trade to not have to ever worry about dpi again? Which Photoshop filters could you not live without? ...I suppose if you are not thinking about printing at all, then it isn't such a big deal. But, if you are working with 600 dpi color files, which of the filters or special effects is keeping you from working with vector graphics?

I guess this question should have a thread of its own... this thread is supposed to be about 1 hr comics after all....

vince