Manfred von Skärva
on September 10, 2012 at 2:57 amAbscondWithAPie:
She literally wrote the text, but I still came up with the idea for the comic itself.
Personally, I like the old art style better.
Altermentality:
Something seems different! Did a lightbulb go out in here or something?
Well, I’ve been looking at other webcomics lately and feeling inferior, so I decided to kick myself into high gear. I thought about saving this shift for a more important occasion, like the end of the Mire Manor plot, but why wait to improve yourself? This only took me like an extra hour or so. Hopefully I can keep it up >_> In addition to the obvious, I also changed the brush I use to draw. It allows for more variation in line width, I think, I just have to use it carefully.
Also messing around with speech bubbles/squares so they look less TOTALLY BORING. Our text has so much character but the bubbles themselves are lame. Lately I introduced a little flavor with Posti’s deteriorating bubbles; we’ll see what else I can do in the future.
Title and reference in this comic to celebrate the announcement of the the new Phoenix Wright game! Looks great!
Fun fact: Victor’s working on a huge project lately, so I’ve written the text for the last several comics!
Victor and I are having artistic differences!! He misses the simplicity of the old style, but I like the new detail and assure him that all the expressions and silliness will still be around. What do you guys think? Be honestttt
I read A LOT of webcomics, and I think our old style was much more unique and fun.
Well we’ll see what other people have to say, won’t we, dear? We can always put this behind us like some kind of crazy dream, or that one sax party without Bobby.
hahah hey alter you went all out. you really shaded them really well
P.S. did u see my new deviant art picture?
CAPTCHA: every AANews
so i guess captcha is a dolobt machinist who got famous for working for AAnews
angry skaervahz head ramming into the wall says “BAM” all the time
I like the new style. I mean, part of doing something like this is letting your skill develop, yes? Shadows and definition add a lot to it. Go for it.
Also, love the head meeting the wall at the end there. I’m freakin dying laughing here
True. But at the same time, Victor’s right… it just looks less like The Fourth now. There are other ways I could improve, some of which I already tried out here… more creative panel structure, text bubbles, more detailed backgrounds and background characters…
I am torn because with this shading it looks a bit more like an N64 game. Which is probably where they’d be about now.
And I like that, it’s sort of my original vision. The old brighter colors are more reminiscent of early games… and also the 90s cartoons I grew up with, which is also a dose of nostalgia that we try to provide with the comic. Losing that would be a shame, despite the fact that a progression is logical.
I recently did a commission in which I tried this style of shading, and I really enjoyed it, so I thought I’d try it out with the comic. Perhaps I should try to keep myself sharp with other art and leave the comic what it is.
See, I disagree with that. I don’t think it looks less like The Fourth. It may not be what you’re used to, but that doesn’t make it less true to the style
Man, I looked at the page and was floored by the art! This is great! In some of the better manga I’ve read, the art varies with the tone of the panel. Here, this style works very well, enhancing the mystery atmosphere. However, changing the style so often seems like a very difficult thing, and I’ve yet to see a webcomic do such a thing. I’d say you should go with this style for a while and consider how it’s affecting the punch lines. Also, will you be able to keep up the pace with this style?
Also laughed at the reference in the last two panels! I’m so excited about the new Phoenix Wright game. It’s actually supposed to feature Phoenix one year after Apollo Justice. I’m wondering if they’re going to use the child-neglecting hobo Phoenix or the old Phoenix personality.
Yeah, I’m not sure I could really pull off constantly altering the style, but I like Ozi’s suggestion of using this shading for special panels. I could create more special panels than I do now. (But would any of that manga happen to be online, so I could take a look at what you mean?)
This actually didn’t take me too much longer than the comic normally does, so I could probably keep pace. Your enthusiasm is encouraging, but I still do have reservations about taking this plunge.
Sorry, it looks like my old source for manga is down. It was generally stuff to emphasize the type of humor going on in the panel. The curve ball jokes were drawn very spastically, and panels in which a character was thinking to himself “you’ve got to be kidding me” were drawn with more realistic shading and defined facial features.
Im on it, Posth.!
Herofied, herofication, hero haunted (?).
Im not as good.at this as I thought.
Also, if Skärva breaks his nose, does that mean e broke his face, too?
Also, I just realized Posthumaid gave me nightmares.
I had a dream that i was running from zombies with apron things, but I didnt realize where my subconscious had gotten it from until when I was looking at yesterdays post.
What the heck, subconscious?
AHAHAHA
I’m sorry about that. I would like to apologize for Posthumaid but I have no regrets. Besides, he’s like the least scary zombie ever. But I understand, subconsciouses are weird.
http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/shark/english/skull.htm “The cartilage in the rostrum is spongy and flexible, allowing the shark to absorb considerable impact with its nose.”
He’ll be ok.
The new shading style makes Posthumous creepier than he should be in Panel 2… I’m not sure it fits with that face.
I like it, but I don’t know if the shading style fits the character designs. You may want to stick with the old look.
Maybe you can use this style for dramatic moments?
True, I could just use it for special panels, and just try to create more of those for visual interest. That’s a good idea. If that’s the case, and I retract this style in general, I can forgive myself for having randomly used it here because… it was creepy and a mystery? >_>
Yeah, you’ve hit upon my chief worry, which Victor inception’d into my head. Since so much of our humor is just SILLY FACE, I’m afraid the shading might mitigate that. Somehow, the more detail you have in the coloring, the less effect the expression has. I might try this again for a few more comics and see if it’s doing damage, like the Hanged Man suggested.
“A spirit of terrible, terrible kindness and integrity.” “Heroed.” “First thing to do: name this unique situation.”
I feel your pain, Skarva. It hurts. Especially the face, ow, would you quit smacking that massive jaw into the wall already?
I like the new style. I like the old style. The new style’s shading lends itself well to little details like the discoloration in the undead flesh. It’s really up to you guys.
Yeah, I really enjoy being able to add those details. On the other hand, I could work on making my lineart more detailed. But not TOO detailed, at least at this point in the story. I’m having to really decide what I want the comic to look like, irrespective of my own artistic improvement and experiments in other areas. I feel we’ve had this Paper Mario-ish simplicity and charm up to this point (90s cartoons is another analogy). It’s defined us this far, and it would be a shame to let that feel go. But every time I look at this page, I am proud of it. This decision is so tough!
I’m alright with either the old or new style.
What’s up with Skarva’s hand in the first panel? It looks like a pink peanut for some reason.
Half-assed hand-lumps are a lot more obvious when I try to shade them. XD
Suddenly, the comic seems a bit more epic than usual. :U
I love Scarva in panel one, the ghost in panel two, and Posti in panel four…
… and everyone else in the other panels as well.
Scratch that, the entire comic in general.
But mostly Posti in panel four. *_*
Also, looks like Scarva’s on the verge of orange fury in the last panel! xD
I guess you could say he’s dead sexy.
…IT WAS A PUN OK STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT
This new art style is almost like that of a painting.
“And not that of a comic,” Victor would say. “Not that of OUR comic, anyway,” he would add, mournfully clicking through older pages.
If I stick with this style, I’m going to break the poor thing’s heart. He’ll get used to it, but he’s just so attached to the old style. I suppose I should be flattered that he always did like my art the way it was, even when I would have low self esteem about it.
Face Wall when just a normal face palm doesn’t suffice.
Maybe he’s ripping open a portal to stick his head through, like Cranky! http://www.pointlessmuseum.com/museum/pictures/computergames/snes/donkey%20kong%20country%202%20-%20diddys%20kong%20quest/instructions/12-13.jpg That was an obscure reference. Pah, nobody even reads the instruction manuals these days!
The castle is “haunte-heroized”!
We have a winner?!
That is some sweet quality there, no doubt! I wouldn’t mind it either way; whatever floats your boat, y’know?
I have no idea what to do at this point
But it’s good to know you’ll be ok with whatever happens!
Hahaha! Skarva, like myself, still suspects Posti.
Maybe he came up with this whole plot so someone would have to come up with a good term for a place being infested with a hero!
hey if u have an unnamed creature species on here, CAN I name it?
happy bday VIKTUR!
I’m not sure how I feel about the new style, it’s like it looks the same but with more texture. It can either end up being a good direction to go or not as good as going back to the old way, but I personally can’t tell for sure with only one comic. It looks good so far at least.
We have a birthday? Yay!
*confetti*
Yeah, more busy with RL, finally catching up on comic again.
I’m of the opinion to save this stuff for the drama. This is GORGEOUS art, by the way. You’re really getting wonderful at this stuff. But there’s something to be said for simplicity too; the old style lended itself well to the humor and parodic feel of the comic. This new style is great for drama, but it does kind of sap some humor out of it because I keep thinking I should be expecting epic instead of funny.
Rambling aside, I think this is wonderful and great and would mean a lot more if saved for dramatic scenes. That would also keep you from burning out too. Don’t worry about no one liking your art; you’re brilliant no matter which way you go and I’ll keep coming back to read, even if life gets busy.
Yaaay! We missed you!
Yeah, as you can see, I went back to the old style immediately… but this style of shading is one of the tricks I have in my bag now, along with the black and white thing I sometimes do…
Aw, thank you so much. I’m not going to worry about *no one* liking my art… nevertheless, I do want to keep improving so that I can better express the characters and story!
This is one of my (maybe THE) favorite pages from this comic ever, Seriously the presentation is awesome.
I bet skarva gets a lot of mileage out of using those teeth as bottle openers.