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:

The bear and the tiger.

Early attempts. I like the 30's cartoon looking guy on top. He's silly.

I hate feet. Feet suck. They're hard to draw.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

/comics/Spankling/331010/

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.

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.

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

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.

quote:

---

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.

---

quote:

---

Boxing gloves I can do until the cows come home.

---

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

quote:

---

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

---

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!)

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

This is going to be awesome :)

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.

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.

He looks like an aardvark or something. I was trying too hard to look nothing like the horse here.

He just doesn't look funny. At all. Notice the aborted tail. Tail = bad.

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.

More attempts. It's finally shaping up there at the bottom.

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?

Some doodling. I love the Steamboat Willie guys.

More doodling. I think this picture is awesome.

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.

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

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

With nostrils!

These look cool, much better then last time. Yes, they are the same drawings, I am aware. However, when I am tired I tend to see things, like giant Microsoft Word helper computer sprites.

Maybe I just like it more since the familiar animal duo is back. It looked weird with Tiger and Bear together. Apechest kicks ass, by the way.

I don't neccessarily agree with nostrils, but both models look good. Kudos.

The nostrils add a layer of depth (physical depth I mean, like perpsective or something) and help the mouth look like a mouth in a natural place on the head, rather than just a grill on the end of a tube.

Tricks of the eye!

I was thinking about the things I like about those submitted characters, and I think one of the biggies is the weird smiles, like the way little kids smile for pictures with their teeth gritted. They look mental.

Anyway, one of the things that helped me with my comic is not focusing on being good. And periodically folks write me just to tell me "I suck" or my artwork sucks and that's how I know I'm on the right track. So when people start telling you that the pictures suck, that's the way to go.

Also, I like the nostrils.

quote:

---

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.

He looks like an aardvark or something. I was trying too hard to look nothing like the horse here.

He just doesn't look funny. At all. Notice the aborted tail. Tail = bad.

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.

More attempts. It's finally shaping up there at the bottom.

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?

Some doodling. I love the Steamboat Willie guys.

More doodling. I think this picture is awesome.

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.

---

That's basically what I said, without linking a huge post unnecessarily.

Quoting, rather.

quote:

---

I was thinking about the things I like about those submitted characters, and I think one of the biggies is the weird smiles, like the way little kids smile for pictures with their teeth gritted. They look mental.

---

Hey, Squid, when you're rich and famous, can I hang around at your place sponging off you and dipping regularly into your copious stash of drugs? I can entertain your guests with the hilarious "Spock's eyebrows" story.

And I could laugh at the story.

Yes. You can be the guy who seperates all the purple pieces out of my Fruity Pebbles cereal. I can't stand the purple ones. I'll even throw you a groupie now and then if you're good.

Let me the first to say, that's awesome. I'd read that comic.

quote:

---

Let me the first to say,

---

quote:

---

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

Let me the first to say,

---

And also the last.

---

quote:

---

Also I should learn how to make a website. Because without that knowledge, I may as well be drawing these things so I can tape them to my refrigerator.

---

quote:

---

do non-xeroxable pencils scan?

---

They is called "non-photo blue" pencils, so copy machines and other old-ass printing technology (which they were created for) don't pick them up. Unless your scanner is room-sized and requires impoverished Chinamen with ridiculous braids to operate it, I wouldn't be too concerned.