NEW STUFF! - "The Morning Improv"

Post by **Scott McCloud** » Fri Aug 31, 2001 3:04 pm

<a href="http://www.scottmccloud.com"><b>It's pretty weird and there's not much there yet -- but there will be soon!</b></a>

Jack Masters · Post by **Jack Masters** » Sat Sep 01, 2001 4:48 am

The image of president fillmore in the morning sun looks really fitting, somehow. Do you use, or plan to use the <a href="http://scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/_logo.gif">banner</a> for anything? It doesn't appear to get linked to from anywhere on your site.

Post by **Scott McCloud** » Sat Sep 01, 2001 10:56 am

<img src="http://scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/_logo.gif"><br>Y'mean this?

I tried it out in the top frame, but it clashed style-wise and looked a bit too much like a banner ad so I changed it to the simpler version you see now. Maybe I'll use it as an ad someday! (If I ever actually pay for an ad.)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 02, 2001 12:34 am

This is really a pleasure. Ta kindly.

Kenya
(Brendan Beltz)

lylebclarke · Post by **lylebclarke** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 5:59 pm

Good idea Scott. Doing it every morning takes advantage of everyone's habits. For example, I've put the page in my daily bookmark list (It's right there on the list under <a href='http://castlezzt.net/spongy/'>Spongey</a>, Jack Master's experimental comic).

Going totally overboard with the effects etc. seems like a good idea as well. On that point, if you keep a basic track of what effects you used where, you could make style threads (as opposed to story threads) and run the comic vertically through time (up through time's layers (as opposed to 'horizontally' along the string). Kind of like drilling a core sample.

Then again, taking the idea one step further, the core sample could have its own story, i.e. everytime you use an effect or style it slightly advanced the story thread of that style, as well as the story thread in the panels it is sitting in.
However, pulling that off would require some pretty heavy mental lifting, and I know I wouldn't be able to tackle it in the morning, so I'm not going to expect it of anyone else.

Looking forward to seeing the daily experiments, and any daily experiments-in-law (like Spongey) that result.

Lyle

buzzard · Post by **buzzard** » Thu Sep 06, 2001 4:16 pm

For some reason, the frames are opening really clumsily for me when I drill down rather than use "open in new window". I end up with the comic showing in the too-narrow left frame (the one which had just held the index of what comics there are).

Netscape 4.08.

I'd mail this but my ISP is being flaky.

Post by **Greg Stephens** » Thu Sep 06, 2001 4:39 pm

Same here- The comics had been opening in the larger frame on the right, but yesterday and today it opened in the narrow left-most frame. Just a matter of fixing the "target" value in the HREF.

Post by **Scott McCloud** » Thu Sep 06, 2001 4:50 pm

<h1>D'Oh!</h1>

Thanks for the heads-up, Guys. I'll fix that right away.

buzzard · Post by **buzzard** » Sun Sep 09, 2001 7:43 pm

Updating on Sundays too, whee!

I really like the embracing-digital-style of Proto.

Any thoughts on the commercial side of this? In one of the ICSTs you mentioned how getting real money for Zot! Online (or was it ICST) made a big difference in what you could produce online, comparing your production to that in Choose-Your-Own-Carl, which was, what, a single black-and-white panel a week?

For example is seven hours a week is a good compromise for putting out work that you may not get directly reimbursed for? Or is this a "well, I'll do it for a while but if the paypal donations don't add up I'll probably stop" thing? Or is it too early to think about the financial ramifications?

Post by **Scott McCloud** » Mon Sep 10, 2001 12:22 am

is seven hours a week is a good compromise for putting out work that you may not get directly reimbursed for?

More or less, yeah. And a good way to give me a creative outlet I was lacking otherwise.

Or is this a "well, I'll do it for a while but if the paypal donations don't add up I'll probably stop" thing?

I'll worry about that only if bandwidth becomes an issue -- which it might, of course.

Or is it too early to think about the financial ramifications?

Why fix tomorrow, what you can obsessively worry about today?

Post by **Greg Stephens** » Wed Sep 19, 2001 4:30 pm

I'm enjoying the Morning Improv so far- Interesting to see the style change from story to story. Do you have any idea how long you'll be doing this? Surely it's a nebulous timeframe- sort of "until I'm not doing it any longer" kind of thing- but I'm thinking you must have had some sort of goal in mind when you started- a year maybe?

Post by **Scott McCloud** » Wed Sep 19, 2001 4:53 pm

I'm not sure of the time frame. At least until the end of the year, but mayber a lot longer. It is, after all, just one hour.

Off topic, but check out the latest <a href="http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubb/Forum9 ... irmish.</a>

damonk13 · Post by **damonk13** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 2:54 am

just me popping in after a little absence to say that i really enjoyed your morning improvs to date -- nice job with switching around with style and storytelling pacing...

but when do we get some Filmore?

Post by **Greg Stephens** » Sun Oct 14, 2001 4:53 pm

The recent San Jose / Silicon Valley Business Journal article mentions that you're using the Story Machine (incorrectly referenced as "the Game Machine", unless you've invented a new thing with a new name that sounds an awful lot like the old thing) which I don't recall hearing being part of the improv process.

Is the Story Machine a regular part of your MI- that is a firm rule that you use it every day- or only something you use if you have a particularly rough time coming up with the next bit on a giving morning?

Post by **Scott McCloud** » Sun Oct 14, 2001 6:33 pm

Yeah, it was the Story Machine.

Actually, I've only used it for "Proto the Pet" so far, but I may use it for other MIs in the future. In a way, the titles themselves serve as pretty good randomizing devices.

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Dirk Deppey · Post by **Dirk Deppey** » Tue Oct 16, 2001 3:17 am

I should note (vis-a-vis the latest Understanding Comics melee) that the TCJ bulletin board has been reconfigured, and the URL has changed; you can find the above-mentioned thread here.

Also, don't mind the screwed-up first page; there were technical problems associated with the transfer, and Scott had to restore the thread from a back-up file or something.