Singing Potatoes
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Wednesday, 31 March 2004
Dream ideas
Smile Time!

I've long wished I could do my own comic strip. Sadly, my desires have always been thwarted by my utterly pathetic drawing skills. Every time I encounter a good strip (Sluggy Freelance, Liberty Meadows, Something Positive, The Devil's Panties...) the frustrating urge returns.

Computer-animated shows also sing their siren call to me. Tripping the Rift and Game Over, despite the flawed writing, make me want to do my own.

Last night, I dreamt I used Animation:Master to bridge the gap, and created a non-animated 3D "comic" strip. I think that's something I could probably do. Start with a couple of basic sets and characters, and give them a plotline which lets me utilize them while I'm working on other sets and characters. Rendering at the resolution needed for a Web comic would be pretty quick, so it should be a simple matter to pose the characters, position the camera and bang out three or four panels a day. Then just bring them into The GIMP to add word balloons.

And the best part is, I could use the same models to do animated shorts as well.


Posted by godfrey (link)
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Comments
I think your cartooning is actually pretty good.

I've often wanted to do a series of web cartoons in CGI, but I was thinking more in terms of Homestar Runner or Petey and Jaydee than a comic strip format. One thirty-second spot every week, or something like that.

My latest invention is--well, no. It's not solid yet.

Keep us posted on this, sounds cool.
Posted by Squelch on 1 Apr 2004 08:12
Sadly, that cartoon took me about two days to draw (and that's without anything even remotely resembling a background) and I completely failed to capture the likeness of Wil Wheaton.

I had originally wanted to do animated shorts, but realized it would be far more likely that I could actually get something done if I limited myself to still images (with the option to do some animations as well).

Invention? Sounds intriguing. (By the way, nice lunar animation. I'd comment about it on your blog, but...)

Posted by Godfrey on 1 Apr 2004 08:33

Hmmm... From the bottom of FLEM Comics:

FLEM V2.0 is hosted on Keenspace, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics. If you can scribble out something and put it on the net, they will host it. No, really. It doesn't matter if you have all the artistic talent of a lobotomized boll weevil, and want to do yet another strip about chibi cat girls who cry a lot, Keenspace WILL host it. Oh, the humanity.

Maybe I could just draw it after all... :-)



Posted by Godfrey on 2 Apr 2004 07:14