Trying Something New in the Funnies

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Jun 022014
 

Starting with this upcomingThursday’s strip, you may notice some subtle (or maybe not-so-subtle) differences with the way things look. I experimented with my brush tools again, this time playing around more with the settings until I found something I felt I could work with.

A reminder, I use Manga Studio EX 4.0 to draw the Funnies. The tool I was using in it before was a rounded magic marker type. The lines were uniformly thick throughout. The new brush is a pen which tapers off on either end depending on the pressure I apply with my pen, much like the brush I use in MyPaint for the mash-ups.

It takes a little more getting used to, but I liked the results overall so I’m going to continue with this new brush.I think the differences are most marked when I draw Shade.

The one thing I need to figure out is how to make it autocorrect for my hand movement so much as it tends to straighten my lines TOO much. I think it has something to do with how much I press down with my pen. Be sure to let me know what you think of the new look!

In other news, I saw X-Men: Days of Future Past on Sunday. It’s…a movie. Actually, it’s alright, but I feel the ending was poorly thought through which somewhat spoiled my enjoyment.

That’s all for this week.

Is Ranma 1/2 Appropriate?

 Carja's Corner  No Responses »
May 262014
 

Is it appropriate for me to feature Ranma 1/2 mash-ups on this site?

Originally, I imagined Age of Animus as an all-ages site, meaning that 100% of the content would be safe for kids, although now I feel ages 10 and up would be a better guideline. By extension, all the links on the site should also be safe for kids of that age to click on. And ideally, if I mention something on the site (for example, in a mash-up), kids could do a Google search on that thing and not come up with links to any questionable content. My basic guideline is generally, “If I had kids, would I feel okay with them watching/reading this?”

I would have no problem showing the anime or the manga to my (hypothetical) children, however Ranma features content (occasional casual nudity) which I know many will find inappropriate for children. Other than that, the cartoon violence and themes are about on par with your average Looney Tunes short, which most kids are allowed to watch freely.

I did some minimal searching for a rating and I’ve seen sites that rate it Ages 10 and up (about right for this site) and others which feel it should be Rated R, which is quite a spread of opinions. Rumiko Takahashi is said to have purposefully aimed for the manga to be popular with women and children, but then cultural norms being what they are, what a Japanese parent thinks is appropriate for their child does not always coincide with what a North American parent thinks is appropriate for their child.

IMDb certified the series as PG and that’s the rating I’m going to go with. I’ve featured other PG material on the site (such as Firefly) so I ultimately decided that I was comfortable featuring Ranma 1/2. Because of how touchy I feel this case is, I have decided to include a parental advisory on the posts stating that while the mash-up is safe, it is still better for parents to read up on Ranma 1/2 before showing it to their kids. I will include similar advisories on any material I feel is necessary.

 

 

 

So Titans…

 Carja's Corner  No Responses »
May 192014
 

It’s been an exciting time for me site-wise.

I had another Teen Titans mashup post shared on the Teen Titans Animated Series Facebook fan page last week. It’s the first time I’m aware of that my posts are being shared around without my involvement (beyond the initial post that is) and I have to say it feels pretty good. It means the content is getting out there and in a fairly timely fashion as it was current post that got shared.

I don’t know if my short Facebook ad campaign had anything to do with it. Maybe one of the visitors it attracted is a Teen Titans fan who chose to share the link on the fan page. Maybe it was a random visit from a Titans fan. If it was random, I hope to have more such random visits if that’s the case. If it’s the ad campaign, then it’s definitely an added perk. If any of those visitors stick around and enjoy some of the other content, it’s another win for me.

I’m almost sorry the Teen Titans mash-ups are over. We’ll have to see if the new theme attracts some similar attention.

Anyway, that’s what’s been up. Not much else to report. Fab had his first campfire of the season last night. It’s always nice to get together with friends and stare at the pretty burning lights and just gab. What did we talk about? Wouldn’t you like to know? The one thing I’ll share is that Quebec City was brought up. This might be important in the future. Or it might not. It remains to be seen. If something happens, you’ll be able to read all about it right here in the Monday Blog.

It’s back to work tomorrow. Have a great week folks!

 

Character Facts

 Carja's Corner  No Responses »
May 122014
 

I don’t know what to write about. I started writing something about some things that have influenced me creatively, but is how much I like Disney’s Robin Hood really what you want to be reading? Well, it’s not what I want to be writing. Suffice it to say that there was a time that I could recite practically the whole movie by heart. I can still speak all the lines along with the characters when I watch it now. I’m that kind of obsessive person when I like something.

And yet I can never remember if I paid the electric bill or not.

Anyway, facts you may find interesting (unless you’ve read through everything on the site, in which case, most of this is just repetition).

  • Todrick’s name came from Todd, the titular fox in The Fox and the Hound.
  • Constable Copley’s name came from Copper, the titular hound in the Fox and the Hound
  • Todrick is an archer because I like Robin Hood
  • Todrick is a fox because I like foxes because of Disney’s Robin Hood and The Fox and the Hound
  • Nektara is a bear because she couldn’t be an Ewok.
  • Deema is a lizard because she couldn’t be a Trandoshan
  • That makes Nektara and Deema Star Wars Sisters
  • I used to think Latara the Ewok’s name was Nektara.
  • Nektara plays a flute because Latara played a flute
  • I regularly forgot to draw Nektara’s flute and had to go back to draw it because it was going to be important in a later gag.
  • Since that gag, Nektara has almost never carried her flute.
  • Cyran’s name came from Cyrano. I just dropped the O. I didn’t add an R to Cyan.
  • Red Rich’s third colour is green because yellow was already the secondary colour in his blue costume
  • I like Blue Rich’s colour scheme better than Red Rich’s but Red Rich sounds better
  • Big Oonch is named after my friend’s cat
  • Zoë’s name comes from my friend’s obsession with names starting with the letter Z
  • Barnaby was originally going to be named Barney
  • I was not thinking of Christmas when I named Crismus
  • I forgot after one strip that Horvath was supposed to have a goatee.
  • Sass was not named after Sass Jordan
  • The name Tomaw comes jumbling the letters in the name Mowat
  • Ardebast Raconteur was going to be the name of a historian in another fantasy setting I was working on.

That’s all for this week. Have a good week folks!

And Lo There Was Light!

 Carja's Corner  No Responses »
May 052014
 

On the first day, he said, “Let there be light” but lo there was no light, for the bulb had burnt out and he had no spares.
On the second day, he said “Let there be light” but lo there was still no light, for although he had gone out during the day he had totally forgotten to buy spare light bulbs.
On the third day, he said “Let there be light,” but lo there was still no light, for he didn’t feel like braving the rain to buy spare light bulbs.
But on the fourth day, when he said “Let there be light,” there was finally light to be had, for he had remembered to pick some bulbs up after work.

Thus was it written in the book of “My Computer Room Was Totally Dark This Weekend”.

Thanks to everybody who stopped by Zone 51 on Free Comic Book Day and took an Age of Animus postcard home with them. Most of you were friends who already knew about the site, but I still appreciate that you liked them enough to bring some home! When visitors ask, “Hey! Where did you get that rocking postcard?” you’ll be able to give them the 411 about the site, so it’s still a win for me! By the by, if you colour in the back of the card, be sure to send me a scan of the picture so I can put it up on the site! To the new visitors the postcards generated: Welcome to the site!

One of my proudest moments of the weekend was when Didier, the owner of Zone 51 took a look at my postcards and noted how much I’ve improved as an artist (he even kept a couple for himself). Coming from a professional artist, it meant a lot. I showed him the website back in 2011 and knew my art came up short then. When I started the flashbacks late last year I finally felt I was finally ready to show him what I’ve been up to, to see what he thought. I don’t think you ever stop growing and I definitely still have room to improve, but I’m proud of how far I’ve come so far.

I had a great time talking to my fellow comic book and pop culture nerds. I usually end up getting most of the free books included with the few remaining subscriptions I still get online, so it’s the chance to connect with friends and other fans that makes Free Comic Book Day special.

The one thing I forgot to do on Saturday (other than buy light bulbs) was to buy some boxes to store my comics in. I’m long past due. Since I reorganized my board game collection I can get to my comic boxes again (they were under the board games) so it’s worth it.

I knew I’d be spending most of Saturday out so I tried to get ahead a little bit by drawing one of my two strips during the week. It’s a good thing I did, because between Free Comic Book Day and the general lack of light in my computer room I did very little drawing over the weekend. Thanks to my foresight, I’m only one strip behind instead of two. I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow after work! 🙂

Okay that’s it for this week!

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