I absolutely hate when this happens. I’m a person who values his sleep, so there are few things more annoying than when it’s not as satisfying as it should be.
I’m not going to post any creation notes with this one… for a couple reasons. First of all, I’m tired, and I did a lot more drawing on this one than I originally planned. Secondly, this is actually a joke I recycled from the archives of a previous concept, although with updated artwork, and some wording changes…. So I figured rather than go into a bunch of detail now, I’d first see what people think of it, and then I’d just post both this cartoon and the original over at the panel mammal site tomorrow, along with creation notes and so on.
This is a great strip. I love the amount of art you placed in this one. The sheep with antennas was a nice touch, though I am not sure what they are doing in the second panel. I do not have any suggestions for improvements for this strip, though I will give it might once I wake up, I think.
I HATE when that happens. One time, I dreamed i couldn’t sleep and partway through the dream I became aware of my sleep, but it was more suffocating than restful so i felt like i needed to wake up. Anyways, nice take on the multi-dream in panel 2, really like all the thought bubbles!
I love this one. Thought bubbles upon thought bubbles!
The sheep are a nice touch. And “sawing wood.” Takes me back. *sniff, tear*
Nice drool. And the cyborg sheep are cool. I like the Shel Silverstein-ish “Where the Sidewalk Ends” setting at the end. All actually all your background are phenomenally rendered. Panel 2 is terrific how sleepy he looks – good job. You say you do all these fine lines on a WACOM? Maybe I better look into one…
The blacks and whites work well in this one. It helps the eye wander from left to right.
One thing you might want keep in mind, especially for those individuals just discovering your strip, is to insert the characters’ names in the dialogue. It’ll help familiarize the uninitiated.
I like your writing style in the smaller format. Less wordy and it has a good flow. Be careful of punctuation but other than that, I think you’re heading in the right direction.
“One thing you might want keep in mind, especially for those individuals just discovering your strip, is to insert the characters’ names in the dialogue. It’ll help familiarize the uninitiated.”
Worth, I have told him this a dozen goddamn times but he is one stubborn Alabamamian.
[yawn] Morning everyone!
@ Kevin: Thanks Kevin.
@Yakboy: Thanks! I figured I’d go for a bit of ‘visual confusion’ to try to explain that weird dream state that hits on occasion… You’re up, you’re asleep, you’re not sure which is which… then it’s morning…. What a bummer.
@Rachel: Yeah you gotta love the sawing of logs as a visual metaphor.
@ME!:Yeah, you can get as fine a line working digitally as any crowquill or technical pen would give you. On a related note: I generally hate crosshatching. I find it to be one of the most boring and repetitive tasks there is… but painter has some really digital pens that made the process go so fast it was great. I would go so far as to say there may be more crosshatching in future JP&TM strips.
@Worth: Yeah, I always forget to put their names in dialog… I can’t help it.
@ Wit: What. do you mean? Suggesting – I have punctuation…. issues?
@Jarrett: You’re just too darn smart you know that?
Excellent strip and awesome third panel. The drooling is great. how long did it take to do this one? I am curious.
hm… I’m not sure. It took a while, just because it’s wall to wall drawing, but I didn’t hustle much while doing it… I got distracted a couple times. I’m going to say 3-5 hours drawing it. I think it was closer to 3.5 hours, just because It only really features Adam, who I’m familiar with drawing. Time is always added when I insert a less used character. That being said, there was also some layout time, and even though I recycled the joke, there was some writing time to adapt it for this layout. I also had a last minute change in dialog before I ran through the final clean up and publish routine. I want to say 5 maybe 5.5 hours, which I think is too long if I was doing seven a week.
Jim, loved this strip. I had a night almost exactly like that last night, so I can feel the pain. I think panel 3 is my favorite panel I’ve seen you draw so far. Considering your strip always looks amazing, that’s saying something.
Hey thanks marc! yeah, I hate those nights…
Looking at that third panel again, wish I would have drawn adam’s head once at 3/4 view from the top, that way I would have shown his head from every angle (except the back) in that shot. It wouldn’t have helped the narrative any more… But I’d like that it would show that I’m finally really starting to get a feel for the character in 360 degrees (which is really hard!)
Your strip looks pretty snappy too by the way.
Nice. Back in the high school days, did you ever dream all night about being in school only to wake up in the morning and realize you had to go to school. Perhaps the greatest feeling of dread I’ve ever experienced.
Tell me about it…
And don’t mention the disappointment of dreaming that I just finished my giant homework assignment early, only to wake up and realize that I still had to do it.
Visually stunning work. Glad to see a cool crosshatching method.