November 14th, 2007
The Search
The comics continue. I put a little more landscape in this one.
The mildly sci-fi comic about a slightly off cyborg boy named Adam, and his dangerously nerdy friend Fred. Updates on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
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Jet Packs and Time Machines - The Best Semi Sci Fi Comic Strip Out There. is powered by WordPress with ComicPress. Subscribe: Entries [RSS] | Comments [RSS]
November 14th, 2007 at 6:32 am
Good humor, great art and social commentary…This is what we were missing while you decided to take your little hiatus. We understand the need for such breaks, just don’t let it happen again.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:28 am
Wow, Jim returns to comic strip genius with a huge bang. I might hqave to do some rethinking…
November 14th, 2007 at 7:50 am
And Google’s inhouse masseuse is now a millionaire because of company stock options.
I need to be doing something else with my hands.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Really nice strip. Your comic always looks like it takes place in England, at least to me anyways. G’Day, Mate!
November 14th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Worth: after the cross-dressing livestock, please don’t start a discussion about the “masseuse” or needing to do something with your hands.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:42 am
November 14th, 2007 at 11:13 am
@Kevin: Alright mister “I just started a website” we’ll see how you do when the novelty of having your own site wears off.
@MJ: I don’t know about that, but I’m gonna try to up my game with these three panel strips for a while.
@Worth: Tell me about it. I remember when google stock came out… I didn’t have a buck to may name at the time but thought “man, I should buy some, if only I had money…” boy did I miss the boat on that one.
@Jarrett: Yeah, I suppose it does…. Weird.
@me!: Did you just not say anything? No problems to point out, or drawing to pick apart? Are you sick or something?
November 14th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
I point out details on Pinkerton and get outted as a nitpicker. I don’t say enough and get crap for that here. What’s a guy to do?
“No problems to point out, or drawings to pick apart?” - you think that’s what I’m all about? I thought I’ve been supportive and observant of the finer details. The reason I leave the comments I do is because I want to leave some form of appreciation on a daily/per post basis, but thought you guys would get tired of “Nice job.” “Good one!” “Nice one!” “Good job.” Etc. I joked with Wit about just commenting in emoticons from now on, but apparently even that isn’t acceptible.
Screw all y’all.
November 14th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Hey, criticism is dangerous game. Some people like the constructive feedback from both a negative and positive angle, and some don’t.
Usually I give criticism dependent on the cartoonist. For example, I know Kevin wants to know what he’s doing well and what might be off about his work, so if he asks for it, I try to supply both. Scott and Wit on the other hand, aren’t wild about technical criticism posted on their sites, because they feel it detracts from the other readers experiences, so I only point out the occasional grammatical error (if I even notice) or point out what I think they do well. (100% positive feedback for the most part)
Cartoonists like myself on the other hand, prefer a wider range of criticism, and the general rule when providing feedback to cartoonists like myself is to provide a positive/negative mix keeping it at least 50% positive usually. The general format is to first mention something done well, then pointing out an issue. (if this seems somewhat nerdy, keep in mind I majored in art… )
There are even more diplomatic methods of critiquing though… but it can get tricky, and some people will always get offended by critiques. This is why many people like to avoid the feedback issue unless they feel particularly strongly one way or another.
Personally, it doesn’t bother me that much either way, although admittedly, once in a while I might get annoyed, just because on occasion I might have to post a comic I know is weak because I ran out of time or got busy, but still wanted to keep my update schedule, and then I might cringe if the negative criticism starts rolling in and my weaker comic gets dissected…. But for the most part I take it all in stride and am grateful for the feedback since the whole reason I started putting my comics on the web was so I could get better at cartooning, and sometimes it’s hard to see one’s own weaknesses.
November 14th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Very nicely put Jim. I believe in different types of feedback for different artist, but never blow smoke up anyone’s skirt. I’m one of those people who wants to know what people like about a strip, or what I need to work on. If some one says “nice strip” but gives no indication about what they like, it doesn’t help me. If I feel the strip is weak and someone’s says “I like this strip”, I think they are lying. I am hard on myself, but I know I have a lot of work to do before I reach my goal of syndication. There is no way for me to attend college right now, and I don’t know of any that even teach the art of comic strip creation, so feed back from readers is the best way I can think of to learn what works, what doesn’t work, and why.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
All right! Time to rip Jim a new one!
Kidding!
The artwork is beautiful as always, but it did make me wonder about a few things.
I hope you don’t mind me asking. Which took longer, panel one or two? It looks like it took a while. When you were done, was it worth the time? Like I said, I love the look, and it may be a case of, “this is the look I want and time is the price to get that look.” but it would be a shame if you had to work slave wages to do it, or just burn out. Have you considered saving bits of background for cutting and pasting into future strips? Or is that heresy?
November 15th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Panel Two took longer. For the most part, nature is the fastest thing to draw. Drawing buildings and towns takes a little longer, and drawing interior spaces takes the longest (although I’m working on it.)
I don’t copy and paste, unless the joke dictates that I use the same background in a couple panels, (in which case I’d be stupid not to) but I don’t copy and paste from strip to strip…. Not because I’m a purist, but because copy and paste can retard your drawing development. See, it’s like this…. As I draw my characters more and more, I get better at it, I become more familiar with how they look, and they develop and evolve… and as I draw them more, I also draw them faster. The same goes for anything else in the strip. The more landscapes I do, the faster I do them, and the more I get a feel for them… So in the long run, it’s really better to just draw everything out, even if it can be a struggle at first.