[Comic] 29/09/08 (Project Future Pg. 32 remixed)

[Tapewolf]

Ah, thanks for explaining. And yes, I would have described James's expression like that too. But I don't think that caused a negative effect in the strip, it just makes us (at least me) wonder how they all ended up posing for the lesson.

Incidentally, and hoping Ren doesn't kill me for this, here's an early draft:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/tapewolf/projectfuture/cam.png
James came out looking positively evil 

[Ryan_Galen]

Incidentally, and hoping Ren doesn't kill me for this, here's an early draft:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/tapewolf/projectfuture/cam.png
James came out looking positively evil 

...only difference I can note are the eyebrows. Are eyebrows really that evil?

Mind you, James has always looked kind of tall to me. Given the size of ferrets, I would expect squirrels to be a smaller species in Furrae. Of course, the same could be argued for house cats, but most felines are 'human' height in Furrae. I certainly can't personally remember seeing any cats at the height of Wildy, Jyrras and the basement mice.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

How about poodles, Ryan?

Shouldn't Fa'Lina be another short-arse?

[Tapewolf]

How about poodles, Ryan?
Shouldn't Fa'Lina be another short-arse?

Well, she probably has the ability to change her size through shapeshifting.  Also, full-size poodles are pretty big.

As for James' height, you'd have to ask him...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

How about poodles, Ryan?
Shouldn't Fa'Lina be another short-arse?

Well, she probably has the ability to change her size through shapeshifting.  Also, full-size poodles are pretty big.

Not compared to full size Alsations, I thought...

Am I mistaken?

[James StarRunner]

As for James' height, you'd have to ask him...

Listed as 5'10 in the wiku page.

[Zedd]

As for James' height, you'd have to ask him...

Listed as 5'10 in the wiku page.

Now I know James and I are the same height

[James StarRunner]

At least when it comes to characters. In life I'm 6'0, so 5'10 is small (to me)

[Ryan_Galen]

At least when it comes to characters. In life I'm 6'0, so 5'10 is small (to me)

That I can understand. Perspective of the player ruins the sense of "average" height. I'm on the tall side myself, coming down to 6'0 with a slotch. Ryan's normally been set above my casual "bad posture" height to what I know my true height to be.

I have more to say, but I'll move it to PM since I don't want to clutter up Tape's comic thread any more with this off topic tangent.

[Brunhidden]

i sympathize, its weird to have no real clue how tall you are for no other reason then its lost a frame of reference.

as a kid my best friend was the little nerdy shy kid, and he hung out with me the hulking brute psychopath kid for protection. after a few years i grew so used to bending down to talk to someone who only comes up to my elbow that how tall someone is makes no difference. in a way i wonder if the dan and jyrras combo had the same effect or if its passe in a world where every fourth person is only knee height

case in point my wife comes only to my chest height, and its common for us to forget how big a difference that is sometimes- untill of course we hug and i crush her face while all she can grab is butt or thigh.

feh, its not like people walk by a giant ruler daily so they see 'oh, im five foot seven' or 'wow, i cant believe im six foot ten, i dont feel that tall'

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

case in point my wife comes only to my chest height, and its common for us to forget how big a difference that is sometimes- untill of course we hug and i crush her face while all she can grab is butt or thigh.

... you're complaining about her grabbing your butt?

[Gabi]

James's character is still quite tall in comparison with me.

Why are we discussing heights so much anyway? I think it's up to Amber to decide whether it's common for a squirrel to be that tall or not.

[Tapewolf]

Against all odds, Page 13 is up today/tomorrow rather than Saturday or Sunday.  I still don't really believe it, but there you go.

[Ren Gaulen]

GREAT WORK, TAPE!!!


I'll try not to put you in a situation where you have to colour a whole page in one evening again. I promise.

[Tapewolf]

I'll try not to put you in a situation where you have to colour a whole page in one evening again. I promise.

Well, these things happen.  Though it would be nice if they didn't, I'll admit 

I'll probably be looking at the thing and seeing mistakes and things which could be tweaked for the rest of the week.  I've already made a slight change...

[Ryan_Galen]

Clan? Well that has to be the biggest tangent the comic has taken from the written story. Maybe it will be nothing. Maybe it will be everything. Clan does imply cubi after all. Big difference from anything I remember.

Oh, and you are correct Gabi, but Amber is unlikely come out and give complete answers to every question. Even if she was, we know we'd all rather her spend her time elsewhere. The comments on height are all just derived from her various comic scenes.

[GabrielsThoughts]

I would suggest no more explanations for now, this would be a good time to skip ahead to a villainous  action being conducted by a member of the  clan  then have the good doctor start explaining...otherwise the comic is going to be "this guy explains everything in intricate detail a bit too well."and then it starts to get boring like a lecture from a tenured professor going over the alloted class time frame and who is still talking as the students leave the classroom.

[Tapewolf]

Clan? Well that has to be the biggest tangent the comic has taken from the written story. Maybe it will be nothing. Maybe it will be everything. Clan does imply cubi after all.

Demons and Weres have clans too, but I'll admit it coming straight after the demonology page gives an impression I did not originally intend.

I would suggest no more explanations for now, this would be a good time to skip ahead to a villainous  action being conducted by a member of the  clan  then have the good doctor start explaining...

In the original writing, the bulk of chapter 2 was, I'm ashamed to admit, largely padding to space out what happens between chapter 1 and chapter 3.  In fact, a number of characters who are soon to show up are camoes from an earlier non-DMFA story.  In the comic storyboard I've done my best to liven it up and in any case I can't ditch most of it now because it's become important to later chapters.  And of course, it explains why Josh is there.

(Mutters something about the second album always being the problem child)

**EDIT**

Also, full-size poodles are pretty big.

Not compared to full size Alsations, I thought...

It looks like they overlap.  By the looks of it, a 'standard' poodle is about 16-24" to the shoulder - an Alsatian is 22-26".

[Sunblink]

The background in panel five is terrific. I don't know why it just stood out at me. These backgrounds remind me a lot of the DMFA panels, only I've never seen sweatdrop-shapes utilized in the comics before...

By the way, great art, Ren. I think Kris has been looking surprisingly handsome in the past few pages, which is tricky to do with canines, considering the muzzle. I'll probably need to take some notes regarding drawing canines from the front, so I can foreshorten the muzzle.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Tapewolf]

The background in panel five is terrific. I don't know why it just stood out at me. These backgrounds remind me a lot of the DMFA panels, only I've never seen sweatdrop-shapes utilized in the comics before...

Thanks.  I was wondering who'd notice that.  It was a sudden flash of inspiration.  Originally I was going to do the melting effect like on page 7.  But yes, the backgrounds are directly inspired by the SAIA interior walls from DMFA.
There are a few little things which I'm planning to do in this series which I have never seen done before, or have only seen done rarely.  Time will tell whether there is a good reason for that 

By the way, great art, Ren. I think Kris has been looking surprisingly handsome in the past few pages, which is tricky to do with canines, considering the muzzle.

Kris?  IMHO Ren has worked wonders on making Joshua look awesome, but Kris... well, I suppose I do have something of a mental block towards him 

[Ren Gaulen]

By the way, great art, Ren. I think Kris has been looking surprisingly handsome in the past few pages, which is tricky to do with canines, considering the muzzle. I'll probably need to take some notes regarding drawing canines from the front, so I can foreshorten the muzzle.

Thank you! It isn't easy to draw Kris for me - I have to make him look handsome without making him look effeminate like some of my own characters. Also, he is constantly turning out looking Evil, like in the eighth panel of this page. Here's a link to original lineart. He looks like he could be Doctor Ink's relative (or, at least, a colleague)!!

[Gabi]

This is a little detail, but I like the way the eyes are aligned on panels 9 and 10. It causes quite an effect.

[Tapewolf]

This is a little detail, but I like the way the eyes are aligned on panels 9 and 10. It causes quite an effect.

In the very first version they were slightly out of kilter.  So anyone who grabbed it as soon as I posted will have the um, 'Collector's Edition'.  Yes, that's right... a rare special edition...

[Tapewolf]

The new strip is up, after a last minute decision to redraw the weather effects and change Kris' eye in one of the panels.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

It's probably just the style, but Our Hero appears to have an extremely long neck, and very low and thin and hanging shoulders...

I wouldn't mention it, but it's very obvious in the last panel...

[Tapewolf]

Our Hero appears to have an extremely long neck, and very low and thin and hanging shoulders  I wouldn't mention it, but it's very obvious in the last panel...

You know, I thought there was something odd about that panel.  I couldn't put my finger on it, though.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

You know, I thought there was something odd about that panel.  I couldn't put my finger on it, though.

Happy to, ah, finger it for you.

So to speak.

[Tapewolf]

Actually, that's an artifact of the scaling, at least to some degree.  His neck is actually wider than it appears, because you can only make out the white part:


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/tapewolf/projectfuture/pf14_8.png
...he does still look a little Tinish, though.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

No, as a matter of fact, I -can- make out the grey part. Advantage of using a laptop screen. ;-]

And yes, thank you for expanding it for me... but my point still stands.

[Ren Gaulen]

Actually it's my fault. I kind of did not notice it before, though. My drawing skills need much improvement still...