Comments For Page 233

Is it just me or does Bunny look less serious when she's in rabbit form . . . Wait a second. Since when can Bunny change into a rabbit? The weirdness continues Friday as Bunny and Toi fight it out.

Very busy trying to keep up with my homework and tutor at the same time. I've been painting with Coral Painter 8, and the results look pretty good. I'll post the picture on my art page (look for the link to the right) when it's done.

I've been thinking I should start putting up all my pictures. Especially my life drawings. Potential clients seem to like seeing that kind of stuff.

Comments For Page 232

Looks like Toi is awake ... or at least something is. What happened to Toi? You'll have to come back Wednesday to find out.

Tuesday is Halloween so I'll take the time to wish you all a happy Halloween now, since I likely won't post again until the event is over. I put up a halloween animated e-card my friend created. You can watch it by clicking here.

Things are starting to get better organized around here after the loss of one of our instructors. As I posted before, he has an injured foot that is taking a long time to heal because of where the cut is. We are going to get some evaluation and figure out what we have to do to finish the term. I really would like to get my animation project done by December, but at the rate I'm going I don't think that is likely. We'll see.

UPDATE: I've updated to the Blogger Beta and the image loaded right away. Hopefully the upgrade will prevent this problem in the future.

Comments For Page 231

Bunny seems to have recovered ... or has she? She certianly seems to be acting strangely. Toi not likely to recover with Bunny shaking her like that. Come back Monday to see what happens next.

I'm busy doing tutoring with a classmate of mine and it's taking up a lot of time that I should be using to work on my own stuff. I'm way behind on my animation and I don't see how I'm going to catch up. I suppose I should be working on it now instead of posting on my blog, so I'll get back to it.

See you Monday.

Comments For Page 230

Looks like Bunny has found a way to tap into her old Slimorp form. Long time readers (and anyone reading the archive) will know that the Slimorp was transformed into Bunny on page 175. At the time she seemed to be locked into the new form. Now it appears that it it just taking time to adjust to her new body. It will likely be a long time before she will be as flexible as she once was, but it's nice to know those powers aren't gone for good.

Anyone puzzled by Balap's change of heart has to understand that he spend the night as Bunny's prisoner before the current battle began (between pages 189 and 190). What happened during this time is another story. One I may write as a side story or maybe I'll just reference it throughout their journey together.

I'm keeping ahead of my assignments so far. Shouldn't be any problem getting Friday's page up on time. What's going to happen Friday. Nothing that you're expecting, you can be sure of that.

Comments For Page 229

Here it is. You finally get to see what happened to Toi and Bunny when the Scalians discarded them. Looks like they are in pretty bad shape. Can they still be saved or is this the end for these two? Come back Wednesday and find out.

I've been reading some articles about storyboarding, camera angles, dramatic poses, and other related information. It's hard to believe what goes into laying out a story for a movie or animated show. There is so much you need to think about when placing the characters and the cameras. I'll have to try practicing some of these techniques in my own stories. This page includes some dramatic close-ups, but I probably would have done that anyway. I'll try something different Wednesday and see how it works. See you then.

Comments For Page 228

My Instructor was out sick today, So I had extra time to work on my web page despite having a lot of work due tomorrow. I'm still not done all the work but I have a better handle of what I need to do at least. Hopefully my instructor tomorrow will give us some time to work on it in class. I don't think anyone has it finished so I'm not too worried. Still, the faster I get it done, the less work I'll have to worry about.

I went with the Obitckert (Drake) scene instead of the Toi/Bunny one. I try to spend the weekend trying to work out how I want to present what happened to them. Expect some blood, but I don't plan to be too graphic.

There may be some blood in the current battle as well (actually there already has been a little). I don't want the comic to get too serious though, so expect some craziness as well. I'm planning one scene that will surprise a lot of you (I hope). Keep on reading.

Comments For Pages 226 and 227

Sorry for not posting the comments for page 226 until today. I got pretty busy and then forgot all about it.

Our mystery man on page 226 seems to be taking matters into his own hands. As you can see on the top of page 227, he seems to know how to use a whip. Ouch!

Ann keeps trying to get Racheal to fight, but Racheal seems distracted. What did the Scalians do to Toi and Bunny before running off to attack Angel and Slara? The scene was removed due to graphic violence. Not so much because I don't like graphic violence as that I'm not sure I could do the scene justice.

Should I reveal our surprise guest from the last panel on Friday, or should I cut to what is happening with Toi and Bunny? Find out Friday (feel free to vote between now and then).

Comments For Page 225

Sorry for the late post, but since it's Friday the 13th, these things are to be expected. I'm doing this in class because we have a work class right now. I should be doing the work since I'm starting to fall behind. Since almost everyone is falling behind, I don't feel too bad about it, but still....

Today's page has the Scalians making a come back. Looks like the battle is not over yet. Expect things to get pretty violent next week.

I don't really have anything else to say. I guess I better get back to work.

Comments For Page 224

Sorry for not posting earlier but it was late by the time I uploaded Page 224 and I didn't get a chance to post my Blog. I'm only now getting around to updating.

Today's comic is brought to you by BLAM! The makers of comic sound effects. Actually, I just thought I'd try something a little different to add a little fun to the battle. Don't think the Scalians are out of action yet. It will take more then a few punches to keep these guys down.

I tried to pose Angel and Slara so it looked like they were punching at the same time, but the angles and overlapping images make this kind of difficult. Since Ann is all alone, it was much easier to put her into a nice pose. It's not perfect but I kind of like it. I'm sure in a few months I'll wonder how I could think this was actually good, but for now I think it probably one of the best free-hand (that is, drawn without using any references) illustrations I have ever done.

Comment For Page 223

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

Today's comic is a contrast of color and black and white. I also experimented with the idea of space. Again, only you can decide how well this works together, but I'm trying.

I hope most of my readers will forgive me for experimenting with the design of my web comic. This project is as much to help me to develop my art style as it is to produce an interesting story. I am currently reading several books on art design including:

"Understanding Comics:The Invisible Art" by Scott McCloud - an interesting look at what comics are and how they work as a visual story telling medium. Anyone interested in Sequential Art (including animation - though the focus is on comics) should read this book.

"Comics and Sequential Art" by Will Eisner - I've only read the first few chapters, but it is already clear that Mr. Eisner is a master of sequential art (again, referring to comics). He really thinks about the placement and shape of every element - including the frames around panels. He was one of the first to remove the frames for added dramatic effect. A must read for anyone using this art form (Note that Mr. McCloud refers to this book several times in his own book).

"Creating Characters with Personality" by Tom Bancroft - a brand new book (published 2006) and one of the only books to go into character creation in full detail. Mr. Bancroft works as a character creator for Disney (he created "Beast" from "Beauty and the Beast" along with many other well know characters). This is a real nuts and bolts book about creating characters, which includes a project the reader can work on themselves to get use to character design. The most important thing I came away with when reading this book is that I need to pose my characters more to create more dynamic and likeable characters. I'll try to do this in Wednesday's page. It includes a battle scene, so posing will really help bring the page to life - I hope.

Comments For Page 222 + John K.

Sorry for the long delay getting this page up, but I was busy last night - watching a presentation by John K. Himself. Wow! What a great honor to meet one of the greatest animation directors of our times.

It was a modest presentation. John talked a little about his life in the industry and showed a few classic cartoons. There were a few problems with the set up. Early on they had to change laptops and John was forced to ad lib and answer questions before the presentation really got started.

Later on, a cartoon ("Tortoise Wins by a Hare") couldn't be viewed because there was a scratch on the disk. John showed some newer stuff he has been working on, including the weird Al video and an animatic of the Tenacious D video. He also showed an old Ren and Stimpy cartoon that never made it past the animatic stage.

Overall, it was a fun evening. I wish I could have talked to him in person but I had to catch my ride back.

I tried for a dramatic effect on this page, but the scalians seem too happy to make it really work. Though, maybe that makes it even more frightening. I can't really tell. It's hard to divorce yourself from your own work.

Comments For Page 221

It looks like a race to find Toi and Angel. The Scalians have a head start and Angel is out at the moment. The Scrofian is out as well, but if he wakes up he might give the girls a fighting chance, or not. Those Scalians are pretty tough.

John Kricfalusi is coming to Halifax this Thursday to show some cartoony cartoons. I have got to go see his presentation. Truro (where I am) is a bit far from Halifax (about an hours drive), so I don't know if I can get a ride there and back but I'm going the beg the people I know with cars to take me. Since we're all animators, I'm sure they'll want to go as well. I can't wait.

Comments For Page 220

Whoops, seems like Racheal should have kept here mouth shut. Now they have to deal with a Mondroit - whatever that is. The Scalians seem happy about it so you know it can't be a good thing.

Not much to report today. I've been doing a lot of research on the web. Seeing what kind of animation was out there. I though Atom Films was a good place to look for quality animated films, but there is a great deal of good stuff you can only find by going to animators own websites. I've also found a few more articles talking about the state of animation today. One scary statement one commenter made was that animations schools are producing a generation of factory workers instead of independent artists. People want to go where the money is, and that is working for the various animation studios. Real artists will go the independent route and create their own films. Fortunately Canada (where I live) will pay artists to produce independent films. The catch is, you need to create an independent film first and have it shown to the public (Film festivals are the best way to do this) before they will fund you. My goal is to produce something while I'm still in college that is worthy of showing at a film festival. I'll keep you posted at to how I'm doing.