Joe Hearts Drawing

Avw for Sniper Elite. 

Avengers Product Placement probably won’t be nearly as bad as this.  Let’s hope so anyway. 

Here’s last week’s matriculated: http://www.digitalpimponline.com/strips.php?title=mat  Totally forgot to tumble it. 

Muppets covered in today’s Joe Loves Crappy Movies.  Comic and review for the movie that hit DVD and Bluray on Tuesday. Here is a short bit:

I had an interesting experience with the puppetry of this film in that I didn’t really notice it. It’s brilliant of course. In watching the film back on DVD you can see all the hard work and creativity that went towards bringing these guys to life. But we totally take it for granted. We know these characters. They’ve been putting on shows for us our entire lives. To me I’ve already accepted them as “real”. I’m not looking for the puppeteer cranking Kermit’s arm I’m just watching Kermit the Frog wave at the crowd. That’s kind of an amazing achievement if you think about it. Jim Henson has given us a unique gift in these characters. For that reason I will always welcome them back with open arms.

Oscar Night Comic has update for Joe Loves Crappy Movies.  One day Andy Serkis will get his proper praise. 

New Another Videogame Webcomic.  Things get all kinds of thrusty. 

To all the Muppet purists - I’m sorry. New Joe Loves Crappy Movies.  And if you’re into the support here’s the link for the page on reddit. Thanks.  And sorry again. …. Sincerely.

Fun with numbers in today’s Joe Loves Crappy Movies.

This week’s Matriculated (Which updated last Wednesday… catch up already) is a classic example of how good lettering can save dreadful art.  Or at least cover up its mistakes. I choose to highlight for the tumblr blog this close up on Dan reacting to the bad ass PCU reference form last week but it’s in the next and last panel of the strip that I made a big mistake.  One that thankfully Phil was there to back me up on. 

I just left too much damn room. I was sure how to translate this distance between them, where I should put the camera, how I should layout the panels, etc…  After hitting send on the strip I realized that the better thing to do would be to stretch it out across the bottom.  Translate distance with actual distance instead of “near/far” parlor tricks. 

Anyway, I was left looking at this huge unused space at the top of the panel.  I knew there would be dialogue but I knew it wasn’t a ton. I tried to play with the buildings, switching the perspective and sort of having them fishbowl bed around us.  It looks pretty cool but I had zero faith that it was enough. 

Thankfully Phil nailed the lettering, filling the space beautifully and putting a nice bit of punctuation on the joke. (PUN INTENDED!!!)

I’m loving this arc and I’m loving sharing my thoughts behind the scenes with you guys. :)

To read the full comic click this sentence or the image and be swept away to another part of the internet!!

I’m going to file this latest edition of Another Videogame Webcomic, for the game Dead Space 2, under “Kirby” for liberal use of complex costuming. 

The main characters costume in this game is really complicated.  Unesseserily complicated.  Space should be all sleek lines and bubble helmets. Since finishing the strip I’ve become aware of some clean interpretations (apparently the Penny Arcade guys have a really simple, clean version that looks great and didn’t take 14 hours to draw out) but I was for one reason or another determined to embrace the straps, buckles, plates and rivets. To an extent of course. 

So apparently, and you’re probably hearing this like 5th hand but I bet it’s still true, apparently Jack “the King” Kirby who was famous for making really complicated costuming for his characters would change them to suit his needs.  Not just from book-to-book but often from panel-to-panel. You can crack open a copy of the original Fantastic Four series and see Galactus with a dozen different details in the span of a page and a half.

Honestly I can’t blame him.  As an artist you want to translate the ornateness and detail of a characters choice of wardrobe but sometimes it just gets to be too much.  I don’t have room in my brain to remember what the buckles on Kang’s boot look like.  (Note if you have the time it’s best to be thorough and retain continuity.  But there has to be a line. Don’t let a really beautifully rendered gauntlet destroy your marriage.)

Reference kept handy dandy is an option but when you’re trying to produce something quickly, getting lost in a game of matchy matchy can be the worst thing in the world. 

I felt like I was getting caught there with the costume from Dead Space. Too many nooks and crannies.  I used reference but notcied subtle differences in the images I chose for each angle.  One must have been concept art or from the first game… but I digress.  Long story short I decided to embrace the Kirby technique and just create the illusion of a costume without paying too much attention to the finer points. 

The only rule to keep things FEELING universal even if they aren’t:  Helmets. Keep them as close to the same as possible because it’s really the first and last place people look. As long as the helmet is the same and your character doesn’t spontaniously sprout a tail you should be in good shape.

To read the comic and review of Dead Space 2 please click the image or below link! LINK