This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 at 12:10 am by Brandon Hanvey and is filed under Comic.
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I love your comic. I love your scripts. I love your character designs and the facial expressions and layouts. Really appreciate how characters have open mouths when they talk… but…
I feel like the design of the comic shop is really weak. The door Josh walks through looks like the door to someone’s house! A store is probably going to have some kind of window-front. Even the crappiest comic store in the world is probably going to have a glass door.
I guess it’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s sometimes a shame that such expressive and well-designed characters don’t inhabit a more plausible physical world. The longboxes and posters help a bit, but come on…
Thanks for the kind words, ireactions! And your point is well-taken, and this actually goes back to the blog post; taking cues from the real-life shop I worked in that might not be relatable to the rest of the world. 🙂
Another comment on the art… I noticed that Josh’s hair no longer sticks up at the top. It’s rounded now. Is this to reflect the changes brought on by his recent roadtrip or was there some other reason for the redesign?
I like how Brandon now draws the eyes fully instead of just adding dots. Nothing wrong with dots, but the eyes make the characters seem more alive.
While most of the comic shops I’ve visited are your typical glass store fronts found in strip malls and main streets, the first one I ever visited was essentially a basement accessed from a external staircase. Another, in NYC was a second floor walkup.
I based the comic shop on various shop I’ve been to.
It does have a store front window as seen in the first comic. http://comiccritics.com/2008/06/18/meet-josh/
As for the door, I wanted to make it a generic door since Greg, who runs it, doesn’t really pay that much attention to decor. Plus I imagined that he lives on the 2nd floor to save money so it is kind of his front door.
As for the character designs, I’ve been playing with the new style for a while. I’ve always wanted to try the current eye style of full eyes, and the hiatus gave me a chance to try it out.
Most of the main characters will have their looks tweaked. Be it hair or style. Such as Marissa having new glasses and a slightly different clothes style.
I definitely like seeing the eyes. However, looking back and old strips, I can’t help but note that Josh’s unrounded hair made the character look more aggressive, while the rounded style makes him look gentler. But then, given Josh’s increasing indifference to superhero comics and reviews, maybe that’s the point?
March 13th, 2012 at 10:24 am
I love your comic. I love your scripts. I love your character designs and the facial expressions and layouts. Really appreciate how characters have open mouths when they talk… but…
I feel like the design of the comic shop is really weak. The door Josh walks through looks like the door to someone’s house! A store is probably going to have some kind of window-front. Even the crappiest comic store in the world is probably going to have a glass door.
I guess it’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s sometimes a shame that such expressive and well-designed characters don’t inhabit a more plausible physical world. The longboxes and posters help a bit, but come on…
March 13th, 2012 at 11:05 am
Ireactions probably greg doesnt know better about the atmosphere of the Comic book store
March 13th, 2012 at 11:21 am
Sorry i mean the Comic boom store owner
March 13th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Thanks for the kind words, ireactions! And your point is well-taken, and this actually goes back to the blog post; taking cues from the real-life shop I worked in that might not be relatable to the rest of the world. 🙂
March 13th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
OH. Well then. I guess this is a case of how Reality Is Unrealistic: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealityIsUnrealistic 🙂
Another comment on the art… I noticed that Josh’s hair no longer sticks up at the top. It’s rounded now. Is this to reflect the changes brought on by his recent roadtrip or was there some other reason for the redesign?
I like how Brandon now draws the eyes fully instead of just adding dots. Nothing wrong with dots, but the eyes make the characters seem more alive.
March 13th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Josh has BEIBERHAIR. KILL IT WITH FIRE.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
While most of the comic shops I’ve visited are your typical glass store fronts found in strip malls and main streets, the first one I ever visited was essentially a basement accessed from a external staircase. Another, in NYC was a second floor walkup.
March 14th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Anyone else think he was probably making more money playing back alley comics trivia?
March 14th, 2012 at 11:36 pm
I based the comic shop on various shop I’ve been to.
It does have a store front window as seen in the first comic. http://comiccritics.com/2008/06/18/meet-josh/
As for the door, I wanted to make it a generic door since Greg, who runs it, doesn’t really pay that much attention to decor. Plus I imagined that he lives on the 2nd floor to save money so it is kind of his front door.
As for the character designs, I’ve been playing with the new style for a while. I’ve always wanted to try the current eye style of full eyes, and the hiatus gave me a chance to try it out.
Most of the main characters will have their looks tweaked. Be it hair or style. Such as Marissa having new glasses and a slightly different clothes style.
March 15th, 2012 at 11:25 am
Ah. I see, Brandon. 🙂
I definitely like seeing the eyes. However, looking back and old strips, I can’t help but note that Josh’s unrounded hair made the character look more aggressive, while the rounded style makes him look gentler. But then, given Josh’s increasing indifference to superhero comics and reviews, maybe that’s the point?
He seems to have the unrounded hair in the flashback to the 90s, although that might just be the angle. http://comiccritics.com/2012/03/02/adapt-or-die/