So I finally got around to drawing my own character prototypes for the actual drawn strip I've been planning to do for a while now... Unfortunately, I couldn't manage to draw a horse that looked decent and was funny, so I finally settled on a tiger. So tell me what you think and, more importantly, tell me if you've seen anything similar before. I'd hate to have unconsciously ripped off someone else. Aside from the minor ripping off of the original bear and horse, which I was intending. So here you go:

[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b78/stripcreator/tbaf1.jpg[/IMG]
The bear and the tiger.

[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b78/stripcreator/tbaf3.jpg[/IMG]
Early attempts. I like the 30's cartoon looking guy on top. He's silly.

[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b78/stripcreator/tbaf4.jpg[/IMG]
I hate feet. Feet suck. They're hard to draw.

[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b78/stripcreator/tbaf2.jpg[/IMG]
Various action poses!

I'd appreciate any suggestions or anything. Shazam!

Have you ever read those "Hellcar" comics they give with crappy mix CDs? Because these drawings look strikingly familiar to every art style I've ever seen in them. Polishing, I assume, will take place, because otherwise they look poopy. Look at the Hellcar comics and read them to yourself and know in your heart you must polish.

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the kid's getting old, the kid's getting old

I looked up some Hellcar comics just now, as I've never heard of or seen it before.... And to be honest, I don't know what you're talking about. What I saw doesn't look anything like what I've done. Maybe you can post some examples? As far as "polishing", these pictures were scribbled with a half empty sharpie onto notebook paper and scanned into a crappy scanner. The word "prototype" and the horizontal lines and 3-ring holes should have made that pretty clear. Although to be honest, scribbling is my style, as I'm impatient and don't like boring perfect lines.
I appreciate your criticism.

I look at my previous post and realize I was being illogical. Forgive me for that, but I can get ahead of myself sometimes. Your work looks, to me anyway, like Gus Fink's previous comics, not any of that other shit (and it is shit). Gus Fink is not funny. It's important to understand that.
[IMG]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/Puffofilogic/img012.jpg[/IMG]
See? As for the rough part, I'm just nitpicking. I hate ink and colors and stuff, and using anything besides a pencil or pen when drawing makes my pictures look like fart spat.

I'm sort of sad the horse is out, though. I know what you mean by horses sucking ass when you try to sketch them, but still...

These have the potential to be really good. I can see them on Letterman next to David Spade talking about their Hollywood girlfriends. I say this because they also remind me of a couple of Calvin and Hobbes strips. Anyway, I hope the rambling helps.

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the kid's getting old, the kid's getting old

And of course, the writing/jokes will be excellent. I built you a shrine for a reason.

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the kid's getting old, the kid's getting old

If you're thinking about going anywhere commercial with it, be aware that not even Comedy Central would touch a title character named "Tard Boy." I'm not saying turn it into Garfield, but etc etc.

I worked on feet until they were easy, and I started exaggerating them into these big spatulate appendage things. They're easy if you think of them as a heel, an arch (with a little hypotenuse on top for the instep), a ball, and toes.

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What others say about boorite!

I made this salute before I knew they were going on the road.

[Click to view comic: 'Business Plan']

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"Jelly-belly gigglin, dancin and a-wigglin, honey that's the way I am!" Janice the Muppet

I like the 30ish style bear, but that's because it's clean and neat.

Don't like the heart on the shirt at all. Reminds me of Care Bears. Ugh.

Feet suck. Solution? Amputees!

I like the level of detail in the action shots. Is it really a bear? Kind of hard to tell, but that may be to your advantage.

Doesn't look at all like Gus Fink.

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Chicken Feather Bed Bugs Bunny Hop Sing Out Side Street Walker Texas Ranger Cookie Dough Boy Wonder Years

The heart and star t-shirts are supposed to be evocative of the Care Bears and the Shirt Tales. I'll get to everything else tomorrow when I'm not totally shitfaced drunk, as I very much am now.

Reminds me a bit of Zxipi. Which was an awesome comic in the past, then they made it small, b&w, less detailed, and much less funny. It is also on a shittier site now with no links to the old good comics. Not that any of that has anything to do with you, I just needed to weigh in on the Zxipi issue.

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8===D

i'd keep both their expressions stagnant on the smile, changing expressions rarely if ever. their dissociative expressions are key to the funny. to be honest, the redraws strip away a lot of teh funny imo. another example -- see how the original bear and horse's eyes look a little crazy, not pointing in the same direction? the redraws don't convey this and it's also key, kind of indicative of both the craziness of the characters as well as the craziness of their relationship. (a possible fix for this might be to keep the crazy eyes exactly the same in every draw even while the expressions change. i mean EXACTLY the same -- copy and paste -- not just a rough estimate)

half the funny of your strips are really the bear and horse characters themselves. and since they're in submitted doesn't that mean they were drawn by a user here? maybe contact him/her/Bob Saget and see if they'd let you use them as your own.

or maybe kill said user, consume his flesh and argue the characters ARE your own in a "i drew an 18 on the bottom of my shoe so i'm over 18" kind of way

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what if nigger meant kite

First off, I think a Tard Boy and Finkelman web comic would rock. If anyone could pull it off, you could.

I waited too long to think of stuff to say and most people have said what I was kind of thinking but I'll throw a few thoughts in.

I think the drawings are pretty funny in a Steamboat Willy kind of way. There is something to be said for that crazed look of the submitted art that tard Boy and Fink seem to embody, but I think it might be because you made the assocation between your style and those characters so strong. I'm sure it wouldn't take long before we started associating a different look with the characters.

I actually liked the Care Bear-esque shirt style, especially if it's always changing. It reenforces whatever mood they're in. I like it.

I think the fact that they are a horse and bear only in name and are some kind of hybrid animal is funny. That being said, I think they should look completely different from each other. Matt Groenig (sp?) said that a good rule of thumb is that your characters should be recognizable in silhouette.

That's all I've got. i gotta work.

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Peeing sitting down is the gift you give yourself.

That's a good point. I've been working on a few alternatives to the horse, but the tiger was the best so far. I guess I'll keep trying new things. When I get back to work, I'll scan in the old horse tries I made and you'll see how crappy and unfunny he looked.

I considered that, I even asked Brad about it a while back. But I ultimately decided I'd rather use my own artwork. Even blatantly copying the horse and the bear didn't really seem like something I wanted to do. But yeah, I love those characters. They can do anything and it's already funny. Maybe I'll try a few sketches somewhere between them and mine. I really do want to keep the horse in there, rather than a tiger or something else.

I looked that up and, yeah, wow that comic sucks. I only read the latest 10 or so and they just had no funny in them. It felt like he's just given up and expects his weird looking character talking to a normal looking character = funny business.

quote:

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If you're thinking about going anywhere commercial with it, be aware that not even Comedy Central would touch a title character named "Tard Boy." I'm not saying turn it into Garfield, but etc etc.
I worked on feet until they were easy, and I started exaggerating them into these big spatulate appendage things. They're easy if you think of them as a heel, an arch (with a little hypotenuse on top for the instep), a ball, and toes.

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quote:

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Boxing gloves I can do until the cows come home.

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If feet are such a problem, just given them over-emphasized shoes.

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It was such a waste of everyone’s time and money that even the Tokyo stadium’s rape robots apologized– something they were programmed specifically never to do.

or do a "fun with mines" comic to explain their stumps

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what if nigger meant kite

First I like to say...DAMN!
You draw that good and you use stripcreator?
Your art is cooler than Johen Vasquez.
(He made Invader Zim & Johnny the Homocidal Maniac)

I like the 30's design but also theres the problem of being too simple.
I like how you drew the final draft.
When or if you ever make the webcomics PLEASE let us know.
Because I'm gonna be one of your loyal followers.

(Also Comedy Central won't make a show like that then go to Adult_Swim)
(I'm serious.....You can get on Adult_Swim in the middle hours of Aqua Team Hunger Force and Squidbillies)
(Also....Squidbillies sucks)

-Chaplin-

(heehee you say Tard!)

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"I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Espcially since I rule." -Randel,Clerks

I dunno Chaplin... Squee was pretty good. I'd like to see Tard Boy fight Squee.

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the kid's getting old, the kid's getting old

This is going to be awesome :)

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troelsea at gmail dot com

I'm not an artist, but i know i'd be proud of those drawings if i had done them myself. (but again, i'm not an artist, or anywhere near slightly good at drawing, so i'm not sure if you'll hold my opinion in any regard)

Personally i always thought it was the writing that makes for a good webcomic (as i wouldn't say 8-bit theater is pleasing to they eye, but its funny as hell IMO) and your comics are pretty damn funny.

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The following statement its true. The previous statement is false

I think I've found my horse. I'm glad you guys got me to try and keep the horse, because I think I've found a good one somewhere between a total rip-off and my own work. I'll start at the sucky beginning.

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/tardboyandfinkelman/tbaf5.jpg[/IMG]
He looks like an aardvark or something. I was trying too hard to look nothing like the horse here.

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/tardboyandfinkelman/tbaf11.jpg[/IMG]
He just doesn't look funny. At all. Notice the aborted tail. Tail = bad.

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/tardboyandfinkelman/tbaf6.jpg[/IMG]
Working from the original, I try to make it something more. Notice the one-celled organism on the right and the cow on the bottom.

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/tardboyandfinkelman/tbaf7.jpg[/IMG]
More attempts. It's finally shaping up there at the bottom.

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/tardboyandfinkelman/tbaf8.jpg[/IMG]
And there's the one I like. The one on the upper right edge, without nostrils. I don't like the nostrils. He's my keeper. What do you think?

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/tardboyandfinkelman/tbaf10.jpg[/IMG]
Some doodling. I love the Steamboat Willie guys.

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/tardboyandfinkelman/tbaf9.jpg[/IMG]
More doodling. I think this picture is awesome.

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/tardboyandfinkelman/apechest.jpg[/IMG]
My next project, the Amazing Adventures of Apechest!

So how's the horse? I like him. This still isn't anywhere near the final draft stage. I need your helps.

I really liked apechest.

This is my opinion;

It's the rightmost one in the drawing it came from. And I say keep the nostrils, they look fine and make him a horse.

Also, I think the tiger should stay on as a second-string character, maybe as a retarded cousin or hanger-on? He could be the butt of abuse between the ultra-awesome bear and horse.

Also, Apechest rules.

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8===D

i like that horse a lot better. with or without nostrils. (i'm in the without camp. provisions are low.) the eyes are perfect

and Apechest roxxors. i think you should try to incorporate misunderstood bacon man in too. that surprise expression of his is one of the best on the site

i'm not vibing on the shirts though. looks too homestar runner-ish. and geh. you should put one in scuba gear. like the old fashioned 500 pound kind. the other one you hurt by working the body, then catch him offguard in the 15th by switching back to southpaw

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what if nigger meant kite

I like the nostrils. And keep the tiger. The cow has promise too, but I don't know if it's enough to keep.

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It was such a waste of everyone’s time and money that even the Tokyo stadium’s rape robots apologized– something they were programmed specifically never to do.