My first Comix.

[Crazyswordsman]

I'm still in the process of trying to make this work. Heh.
]

I'm more than happy to take complements and criticism. But please don't just say it's good or it sucks. I'm still a n00b at this (and I'm admitting it didn't turn out exactly how I'd like it, but I'm new at this and busy with other crap, etc).

Also, please give me suggestions on what I should do to improve my next comix, or if you like any of the ideas (a Wayman story or a series about the Pawn Shop).-CSM

[Cataclysmic Paradox]

Well, the sprites and backgrounds need work. They're resized very badly. Try resizing them by multiples of 100, it usually turns out much better. Text boxes would help, too. You should also try seperating the frames with thick black lines. Not too thick, around 5 pixels or so should be good.

Edit: Oh, and you misspelled "weird".

[Dylan]

Oh man, where to begin...?

1. You're right, the intro did suck, but you didn't need to say it yourself in the comic. To most readers, that just screams "Look at me, I'm humble!", which definitely isn't humble, and therefore shouldn't be done. Confused yet?

2. Those sprites really do look like crap compared with the backgrounds, especially Kefka and Pete. Did you resize by hand? For shame.

3. Cheap scribble blood = NO. Blood entirely covering Wayman's beak and feet = cheap = no. Give a little more effort into it; hell, I don't even think it's needed.

4. I can tell you were aiming for humor. I can also tell that you failed. Work on that. That's all I can say.

5. The text was all fine and dandy until the pawn shop. Then, it was nearly impossible to read. I recommend speech bubbles or boxes or whatever tickles your fancy.

I look forward to seeing improvements.

~Dylan

[Crazyswordsman]

I should have resized the Pawn shop more. The problem is I do each frame seperately and don't use "Temp" folders (maybe I should use a template when making comix?), so I don't know the actual size of things. Also, the Earthbound backgrounds (and sprites) are taken from an EB ripping package called "weirdomaker" from Starmen.net, so they're sized differently as supposed to my other ones (they're ripped). What I do when I resize an image is I make a perfect square, so that way the dimensional proportionality doesn't change. I have no plans on going around and making crazy edits to sprite sizes (because it would take too long and I have no time).

I will put lines between the frames, thanks for the suggestion.

My other main concern is the readability of the text. I don't like text boxes, as they tend to get in the way (and I've read how people lampoon bad text box usage). Once I get an NES emulator (which will take a LONG time considering my college knows how many bits each download is, and whenever there's a big change, they assume you're downloading a movie and they jump down your throat for a year. I've had a friend who that happens to, and it's really unpleasant), I will use clean backgrounds, but I like the Final Fantasy battle backgrounds and the Earthbound ones as they give a 3-D feel to the comix (and the Earthbound ones (no, not the Earthbound Ones, the Earthbound ones ) are relatively clean). Besides, you say not to mix up bittages.
-CSM

edit(Dylan: that's not blood on his beak and legs. That's anger).

edit2(What are some good ways to resize an image? And to make blood?)

[Cataclysmic Paradox]

To resize better, right-click on a selection in Paint, and select "Stretch/Skew". Then enter the values in the boxes. I would avoid using skew. For stretch, use multiples of 100. 200 would double the size, 300 would triple it, ect...

[Crazyswordsman]

Here's my concern though. More important than the relative size of the sprites as related to each other, to me, is that the ratio of the two dimensions of each sprite (or background) remains constant. If I do everything in multiples of 100, things may become skewed. I'd rather have disproporionate sprites than skewed ones.

[Cataclysmic Paradox]

*is not exactly sure what you mean* You can do the background the same way, to match the sprites.

[Crazyswordsman]

It's difficult to go in and scan each sprite and background, and I'm not up to doing math. I do more than enough of it in my classes and I don't want to do it here.

And here's what I mean. Let's say you have a sprite of Luigi. Luigi is tall and thin. If you multiplied by 100s you would then get a fatter Luigi. That's not what we want, is it? Didn't think so. And also, if I only use hundreds for the sizing, that REALLY limits my freedom to put objects in unless the background becomes enormous (and I'm NOT doing that because 1. it makes the comix waaay too big and 2. You can see the individual pixels).

My beef with text boxes is they obstruct the background, and because I use SNES backgrounds that is difficult to do. Usually I use them whenever a narrator is talking (as you see in my comix).

And as for humor, Dylan, it's very difficult to make something that just screams funny Very few people can do it consistently (Jay is one of them). I know this from experience. The things that I think are funny (bad art, stick people), you guys don't like (which is why I try to limit their use). I have some new ideas for jokes, but they're not that great. -CSM.

[Chunky Kong12345]

What's the reason that Kefka's body broke in half?

[Crazyswordsman]

^
Because you don't play enough Earthbound.-CSM

[Ace Mercury]

Originally Posted by Crazyswordsman

More important than the relative size of the sprites as related to each other, to me, is that the ratio of the two dimensions of each sprite (or background) remains constant. If I do everything in multiples of 100, things may become skewed. I'd rather have disproporionate sprites than skewed ones.

If you multiply the width and length of a sprite by the same amount (say, 400%), then the sprite will not be skewed. Try if yourself and you'll see that the sprite will retain the same aspect ratio (width compared to height); this is a basic property of geometry. Now, if you want to increase the size of a sprite between two numbers (say less than 400% but more than 300%), you will get ugly scaling with MS Paint; you'll want to go with another more advanced image editor.

I agree with what most are saying in this comic. One thing I noticed right off the bat is that your characters don't stand out much from the background. Your background has vivid colours and is quite detailed, while your characters are... not as much so. In general, you'd want your backgrounds muted in colour and less detailed, as it draws attention to your characters. With ripped backgrounds, that may be difficult to modify that with MS Paint; for example, in Photoshop, you can filter the background to reduce complexity and reduce the colour tones to a more backgroundish level.

The second is the use of straight lines to connote motion. Well, I don't like that. I realise that in sprite comics, you mayn't have sprites that are running or jumping, and that drawing action lines is the easiest way to express to the reader that your character is moving in the comic. But, they are the worst way, in my opinion. You should be able to express movement without using action lines; this will, of course, add complexity (and time) to the creation of your comic.

The last is that it ends kind of weakly. There were a few okay 'jokes' in the comic, but they didn't lead up to a big punchline or something that finalized the entire strip. This work does not stand on its own, it's like it kind of ran out of steam, so to speak.

[Vapor]

Originally Posted by Chunky Kong12345

What's the reason that Kefka's body broke in half?

(Shoots Chunky) it said right in the comix not to ask. Either way, I think it's just one of those Random Jokes.
Anyway, the sprites ARE way too pixelated. I can hardly even tell what Pete is.

And if you don't like the numberness of the Strech/Skew feature, then here's an alternative: Next time you select an image or whatever in MS Paint, hover the cursor around the outline of the selecting box for a bit. Eventually you'll see an arrow that looks a bit like this: <--> click on that and hold it down, and pull. you can stretch your sprites with no numbers at all.

As for the narration, you can do what I do with it: put ONLY the narration in a text box, or bubble, or whatever.

Rating:

Sprites: 2/10
Jokes: 6/10
Plot:3/10 (I see no plot so far..)

Overall Comix Average: 3.7/10

[qwertyu63]

Stinky

[Sonic Fanatic]

Hmmm.....since I make ALOT of comics EVERYDAY.....I would DIFFINITLY suggest that you work on the sprites....I can't see thier EYES....or, ARE they supposed to look like that?

[Crazybirdanimations]

try a remake of this comic, and post it here!

[Dylan]

Way to bump an old topic.

~Dylan

[Sonic Fanatic]

Well....DO you want to make some changes MASTER? And if you do, what would it be?

[Metal Man]

Yargh. If I could make any changes, it'd be locking this topic (unless it warranted being bumped)

[Dylan]

Did somebody say my name?

"REINFORCEMENTS!"

Justice Lock-it Backpack Rocket Lock-it fire!!

~Dylan