Tubby Wubbies!

I finished the renders for page 9, and should finish the page tonight. At this point, the chapter will be longer than the previous one by at least a couple pages, maybe more (around 15 total).

The sequence with Zarro Boogs and the Tubby Wubbies is turning out well, I think. It has a level of diabolical humor that I find enjoyable. In case I haven’t mentioned it, the Tubby Wubbies are genetically engineered “toys” that are actually alive. They’re kind of like teddy bears that live and breathe. The idea is not entirely original. In this case, I got the idea from a Futurama episode (from the maker of the Simpsons) called Love & Rocket. In the episode, a company raised cute and adorable teddy bears, and then euthanized them before having them stuffed. I combined that idea with something else I once read, namely, about how our brains are hardwired to be attracted to cute and adorable things, even when they are dangerous. It’s as if we cannot comprehend that something can be cute and evil at the same time. In the past, such as in the Chucky movies or Gremlins, even though the bad guys are toy-like, they are still evil-looking. I wanted something that looked completely harmless and wonderful, but which was capable of saying and potentially doing the most awful things. It’s precisely this contrast that I find so fascinating.

Half-way Point

I managed to get 3 pages done in three days over the weekend (I took Friday off from my day job). On Sunday, I finished page 8, which means I’m over the half-way mark for this chapter. These last few pages have concerned another comic element in the chapter, namely, Zarro Boogs and the Tubby Wubbies. I think the sequence is pretty funny, but we’ll see if others agree. I still have another page or so left of that section, and then there will be the Funkmiester Rik interaction and finally Tagus will meet Alexander for the first time. All in all, I’m estimating the whole chapter will be 12-15 pages.

Bye-Bye, Robot!

One aspect of rendering a shot, that is easy to overlook, is making space for the dialogue. An example of that occurred last night while I was working on page 5. Featured in the panel were Tagus and Lt. Burke (in the foreground) and a woman and a robot (in the background). At the time of the render, I did think about where the dialogue balloon would go, but I felt that there was enough space. However, after the render had been done and I was adding dialogue in Photoshop, it became apparent that there was simply too much text and I had to make more space. To do that, I needed to cover up most of the robot with the dialogue balloon. Since it’s considered bad form to cover a character like that, even if it’s in the background, I decided to do some Photoshop magic and “erase” the robot entirely. This is fairly easy to do: basically, I use the Clone brush to copy the areas around where the robot is standing. It was a little tricky in this case because the surrounding scene (a wall) had some designs on it which would look disjointed if I didn’t take care. After about 10-15 minutes, however, it was as if the robot had never been there. Sorry, robot!

Another Example

I spent three hours working on the comic last night, but I only got one render out of it. First, I downloaded some resources from Daz (different hair for the Poser models – one of my coworkers who saw the comic said everyone’s hair was the same so I felt compelled to buy more hair for the models). Then, I started work on a character (a prostitute) for the scene. After working on her for awhile, I realized the dress I was planning to use was too “elegant” for a streetwalker. So, I revisited the Daz site and download a dress and a texture for it. Then, I completed the character model. Next, I got into the actual scene, but due to the camera angles I needed, I had to add additional walls to the set. Finally, I had to arrange the models and take the render. Three hours = One render.

On the bright side, tonight I shouldn’t have as much setup before being able to do the rest of the renders for page 5. For page 6, however, I have another character I need to make. I wonder how long that will take!

Ch 2 Progress (or Lack Thereof)

I’ve been frustrated at the slow pace of chapter 2. As usual, the setup is taking the longest to complete. Since there were no ready-made street scenes I could use, I’ve been forced to create my own, which is obviously time-consuming. In this case, the sets I’m building are street scenes of Ashetown. There will be at least three: a car park (done), pedestrian walk (in progress), and inside the “Funky Town” (not started). The second one is taking the longest since it has the most walls and things. I also have to populate the street with members of the Underclass and Middle Class. Anyway, it’s taking forever, which means getting the chapter done may take longer than I expected. At this point, I don’t know how long

At any rate, I have pages 1-4 done, and I’m working on 5 now.