2013-05-01: [CT]Hand Wringing

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The Comment Golem
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2013-05-01: [CT]Hand Wringing

Post by The Comment Golem »

Discussion thread for [CT]Hand Wringing
Domine
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Re: 2013-04-29: [CT]Hand Wringing

Post by Domine »

I have to wonder how many great stories came from the same kinda, I pulled it outta my ***, direction. Anyway, whether it was intended or not, it worked. :lol:

EDIT: Yeah, I joined to post that, rude as it may seem (god, I hope not, but I am not above second guessing myself), it was not meant that way. Just if you are going to just go with something for, well, why the heck not, you better hope it works as well :D
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mindstalk
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Re: 2013-04-29: [CT]Hand Wringing

Post by mindstalk »

So what did Errant Story refer to then?
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Graybeard
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Re: 2013-04-29: [CT]Hand Wringing

Post by Graybeard »

I have to say, I'm finding much of the new art here rather jarring. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have it, but much of it, particularly the images of Ian (and to a lesser extent Meji), is strangely at variance with many of the things that made Errant Story such a great read in the first place.

Ian, as we first knew him, was this nice, idealistic kid from somewhere up north who had a completely quixotic plan to help his sister. (I confess, I am a sucker for quixotic plans.) Yeah, he loathed the elves, but he was a half elf; he had every reason to, even if he took it up to eleven (and maybe not really, every half elf in Santuariel who knew any history would have a reason to feel the same way). Watching him change over the course of the story was one of the major dramatic elements of the whole thing. Why, then, does the new art show him as bordering on crazy or just plain crazed from the outset? That first image on this page... brrrrr. I wouldn't want to run into that in a dark alley, even if I was another half elf. Starting to treat him as monstrous from the get-go weakens the impact of him really going crazy once he gets Anilisized. But just my opinion.

-- P.S. Welcome, Domine, and it will be a cold day in the Anuban Colonies when we get on someone's case here because something they write sounds a little snarky. ;) Besides, you're right. A lot of great fiction, not just in the webcomic genre, has resulted from a story taking a drastic, pulled-out-of-the-*ss turn between when the characters are initially presented and when the story really takes root.
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Disciple of Sakura
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Re: 2013-04-29: [CT]Hand Wringing

Post by Disciple of Sakura »

Oh, Lunar. What an excellent game. I thought there was something familiar in Meji... Ghaleon was one of the best villains ever...
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Re: 2013-04-29: [CT]Hand Wringing

Post by Bytemite »

I've liked most of the new art, and I'm trying to reconcile the first panel here. I get what it's trying to do, it's an early heads up that something is not all right with Ian - shouty ranting at the drop of a hat or the name of a racial group generally implies some serious issues.

I've always been partial to an intense Kubrick Stare that too quickly moodswings or clears up to hint at some deep seated violent shudder-worthy yeah-I'm-just-going-to-go-over-there-now crazy myself. A kubrick stare with a slasher smile is of course always the best option, but that conversation and panel isn't really a smiley panel.

Actually now that I look again, the eyes in the first panel are perfect really, and it's even got that too quick moodswing with the next panel where Ian looks more calm and curious (if sad, sad Ian always sad). And the shouting actually carries over a little bit with the last panel on the previous page.

I guess even with the moodswing thing I mentioned above, it feels like there almost needs to be an in-between of Ian last panel previous page and Ian second panel this page. Like if he were gritting his teeth scowling as he vented his grievances with the elves.

So the first panel works in some ways. I'm thinking it over.
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Re: 2013-04-29: [CT]Hand Wringing

Post by dark_lord_zagato »

I had a feeling the Lunar games were an influence in this, but not because of Meji's ears. Ellis just always struck me as black dragon spawn. If that was intended, i wonder if any thought went in to choosing between a blue or a black dragon?
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Re: 2013-04-29: [CT]Hand Wringing

Post by Imp-Chan »

I'm not a fan of the first panel. Like everyone else, I think it's too harsh, but I also think it's too tight a camera angle and doesn't fit with the visual approach of the pages at that point in the story, which were all flatter and blockier with occasional flashes of a strong diagonal. When I put the space for an extra panel there, in my head I saw a still fairly boyish Ian shot from above on a downward angle. But I'm not the artist, so stuff like that isn't my call. He may change it in the final version, he may not... at this point, Poe is WAY behind on new art. I'm trying to require as little in the way of it as I can, but there's only so much you can do when you have to split pages into two or even three of themselves just to get all the text in. The text is way better than the art for developing the stories and characters, and in a lot of places it really sings, so while I'll whittle at it a little, I'm reluctant to do too much in case it ruins the voice of the books... and that means that something has to give. In this case, that something is creating more panels. I would prefer it if Poe could come closer to matching the emotional tone of the existing art on the page he's working on, but I'm not sure he even CAN. It's hard for an artist to go back in time stylistically.

Sadly, it's not like this whole process is particularly optional... the original pages HAVE to be relettered because the original lettering is pixel data and can't be printed worth a damn, and I drove myself damn near suicidal (a word I do not use lightly) trying to cram all the text in back when I was still trying to keep the pages whole for the web release. It would take me an entire week to force myself through ONE PAGE, and I still hated it. The whole reason we're running altered pages right now is because I flat-out refused to do that to myself anymore.

-_-'

P.S. For future projects, Poe is getting a strict character limit per panel and being asked to just write out all the dialogue before breaking it into panels. I am not at all sure that this will work, he tends to thumbnail and script at the same time and for some reason has never learned that a one and a half inch square panel with no negative space CANNOT hold seventy or eighty words of dialogue.
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