Oh look! A new comic!

And no, not an entirely true story. The weird stares I got at Target however, are true. And no, they do not carry Catherine. Either way, I did drop by Best Buy and had to ask them specifically to get the game out and a chick I knew passed but I avoided contact with an SMART maneuver. That parts true, and inspired this comic.

Never the less, practice on caricatures and lots of new coloring techniques being deployed. Tell me what you think!

NEW COMIC + PANDA STINGER!

Heh, everytime I try and work on an animated peice myself, I find myself lacking for two things: People to help me animate (truth be told, I am an illustrator. I can animate however I am not confident enough sometimes to get things complete) and I am not good at making music. Thus, my quandary explored in this comic.

I can however, draw, ink and color like a mofo. This is one of my better peices. I will play with it and clean it up a bit more before I post it to deviant art alone but still, figure the finish product should be up here.

Panda 3 Progress Report

Quick status update. Comic is actually done, just finishing this puppy up.

Like it? Imagine, if you will, if it were inked. And colored. Team Fortress 2 style. Might be awesome right?

Give me a night or two. New comics here and on Fragworld too.

And original character.

Me and Stephen been talking about the honey badger for a while. It's badassery knowing no limits, its only right he get a comic book character named after him.

So meet Ratel.

He's a sorta anti villianous guy with a bad childhood checkered past and a few years in the marines. Somehow connected to Wolverine, I plan to introduce him tugging on Thor's cape (He's that fearless) to ask him where Wolverine is. Thor of course, lands him in jail with a black eye. But Ratel isn't that dumb, it's all in his big plan ....what plan?

Well just wait till I can do the fan-comic I've got in the works for it =D

Anyway thanks to some mutant genes or Weapon X balonga, he now feels no pain and has regenerative capability similar to Wolverine: albiet slower and less effective than Wolverine's. If Wolverine gets shot in the head, typically he gets back up, wonders why some guy with a smoking gun is looking at him crazy and can't remember what he had for breakfast that morning. Ratel gets shot in the head, hes pretty much dead. He won't feel it but yeah dead. Stabbed in the torso or shot in the extremities give him an hour and hes ok. The litmus test is if its something that would instantly kill a normal man or something that isn't fixable by a trip to the ER, its light's out Ratel.

Anyway initial design. Might clean it up and make him look meaner. More scars.

Crysis 2 Comic

CRYSIS 1 SPOILERS GO CRYSIS 1 SPOILERS ARE IN THIS!!!! 

Outside that, enjoy my first impression of the first 15 or so of Crysis 2. Beautiful game and so far the only one I've paid the 59.99 for and so far, so good! It's pretty awesome.

Still kinda mad that we aren't able to play as Prophet unless he does what he did in the first game, which, is play dead early on and come back and kick ass. Hard to say at this point as the comic illustrates he was taken out pretty graphically. Not by Alcatraz. Heh, Alcatraz is your typical AFGNCAAP so far, which, I kinda tire of this trope. Namely after playing Heavy Rain, in which, you play as 4 distinctly different characters, all of whom have concrete sets of characteristics.

While I guess I don't want a lot of characterization getting in the way of my action, I also wish developers wouldn't shy so far away from letting you play as a set person.

It would'a been cool to play as Prophet. Least maybe the introduction where you see him with the mini gun destroying aliens. What a way to introduce a game than to throw you in head first kicking ass?

Never the less, art wise, this was probably one of the most labor intensive ventures. Shading the Nanosuit 2 and the gun porn was a pain.

Panda Banner

A banner I did for the Panda Comics. Didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, first run at sprite making. Gonna post all the sprites here later but check it out. Cool banner, I dig the retro look for all the this comics 'packaging'.

Rage Ferret and Stoner.

With designs pretty much finalized (I could do some more complex model sheets but I'm going to probably change these characters designs a wee bit down the road anyway so why bother wasting time?) Next step is characters bibles and comic two, both projects to get done by this comic Sunday.

Anyway, I'm digging the stoner at the bottom. Reminds me of a high school buddy. I think his handle should be "Donut420" being its just weird and down to earth enough to fit. Also working on his room (i.e. mom's basement) because well, thats the next step I think.

This whole comic is largely about these characters, but where they reside has to be a character all its own. The idea is to avoid having to use a text box to say "Donut's house" or "Panda's house". These will be immediately identifiable because A) reoccurring props and B) reoccurring color schemes and C) the character is sitting there, figure it out Einstein!

Eitherway, soon as this work is over and some banners are made I hope to keep on schedule with comics. I was thrown off by a couple of pay projects, but lets hope that I can balance everything nice and neat after I get into a groove.

Happiest Valentines, Ever.

I guess I'm a fan of the bitter sweet, contrasting the beautiful things such as a little boy falling in love for the  first time with the cold steely gaze of rejection.

None the less! Part two tommorow! Enjoy Valentines Day, or, for the single folks out there, I suggest Singles Awareness Day. A day to revel in the joy of not having to pay $60 bux on sending your sweety flowers and chocolates and being free to mock the sheeple buying said flowers and chocolates.

Enjoy!

I shaved my head

Tryed a new inking program and <3 the result. Quicker, prettier, without losing much of the benifits of inking digital. Also trying some color experiments. I'm studying Symbionic Titan alot, Scott Wills is a modern master of color. How that man does it, I can only hope to discern.

I thought I had posted this already....Here goes!

And our Panda HERO! I had fun drawing that "MINE!" pose. Never eff with a panda and his game, Mr. Ferret! Oh and the ferret sheet I did earlier got a bad review so...might redo alot of him. Hammering out the final designs, got a comic layed out. All I gotta do is pencil, ink and color it >.<

I got alot more action poses on this sheet, makes me want to do another "action' sheet for the girl.

But I'm a GIIIIRRLLL!!!

Quintessential girl gamer.

Character wise, I kinda got an idea. She's kinda ditzy but not in a "GIRLZ R STUPED DUUR" way but more in that particular vampish girl way that is cute. When she games I wonder if she don't simply SNAP into a sterner almost drill instructor manner and show some prowess.

Next week is character bible week. Until then let me know how she comes off to you.

To: Gaming Industry

I've whined before about this brand new 59.99 price point for PC games that I've never paid and probably never will, but since a game I actually want first day has screwed the pooch on this issue I figure it's time I write about it.

Lets get some fact straight.

1) I'm not a tightwad. It's principle because PC games are at least 50% less expensive to make than console games. 

While 50% is an educated guess (anyone want to do my homework for me to support this let me know.) lets break down the additional expenses encountered when making a console game that deserve the additional $10 dollars.

• Dev Kits. A dev kit is basically the engine, tools, and manual for making a game for a console. PS3's alone runs about 2k. Now, this is as of last year. It was at one point 10k. C++ is free to code with. Now, some other tools are available (ex Visual Studio) but costs significantly less per pop than dev kits, like the top of the line latest and greatest runs +$700.
• Licenses Fees. Every game you sell on the PS3, you give Sony a cut. PC this is not an issue. You make a game for PC you don't have this expense. 
• Programmers on PC are cheaper. PS3 and Xbox 360 all have there hang ups, and require a special set of skills from there programmers. And alot of patience. Programming for PC is probably equally difficult however PC progammers are easier to find, train and hire. 

With all this said, how the hell are we expected to pay this much extra? Do you think we're morons who don't understand this? Do you think we wouldn't notice?

 2) DRM/ Bugs


The major PC exclusive releases this year could be counted on one hand. In fact, truly, there was only 2. I say this because alot of PC games are simply ports that was ported out to some third rate studio and comes to us full of bugs. Or full of obtrusive horrible DRM (Ubisoft, the worst offender so far, just recently scaled back. Thank you) that prevents use of the game we paid 59.99 for. If you are going to charge $59.99 for a game, it better have not ONE SLIVER of DRM!

I understand that pirating is a big problem however, how come we are getting the hammer? Hey, guess what? I've stolen more Wii games than PC. It's a pain in the ass to steal for PC. So I don't. Because games are cheaper anyway, easier to simply grab it off Steam when it goes on sale.

That said, I would like to see some measures taken to prevent stealing of games on PS3 and Xbox. Not Wii.

Secondly, bugs. Deadspace, releases in 2009 is still full of bugs today. Bulletstorm is dropping for $59.99, by Epic studios who did Gears of War on PC, dropped us like a hat when Cliffy B couldn't buy another car with the profits thanks to releasing the game a year after its Xbox debut (Oh hey, I wonder why it didn't sell?) and was riddled with bugs (still is) and resulting in one of the most painful installations I've ever endured. Before you can play your game, you have to first Google all the problems, then install 2 different items in a certain order before firing up (which, if you fired it up BEFORE installing, you have to UNISTALL then REINSTALL) and pray. Alot.

 We are neglected and largely abandoned when it comes to PC ports, why should we pay the same as the consoles for worse treatment? Do they worry about fixing the bugs? Do they quickly sort things out? No. So, there are STILL bugs in Deadspace, and you expect me to pay $59.99 for Deadspace 2 and enjoy the same treatment?You must be kidding.

3) Delayed Releases


It drives me crazy when I want a game and the release for the PC version is weeks, YEARS behind the console release. I simply won't buy games that do that. I want that game NOW and how dare you give us PC gamers such treatment! The pirates aren't the ones suffering, it's your paying customers!


Gaming Industy. Don't mindlessly follow Bobby Kotick's example. You're not hurting for money I assure you. And I think that adding +10 to your PC games is not only hurting the PC gaming industry as a whole, I think it is going to backfire. In fact, I am tempted to pirate Deadspace 2 out of simple spite.

Treat your customers better and don't give us reason to steal your game. Also, consider PC games can't easily be traded. If you ween your PC gaming community off to the consoles, it's going to hurt you with more stuff on the second hand market being PC gamers are thrifty bastards. So your only hurting yourself and gaming industry as a whole and treating us like idiots while your at it. Which, we are NOT idiots.

Lastly, you already have plenty of problems with the second hand market on consoles. Destroying PC gaming as a whole isn't going to help that problem, only make it worse. Also, when the PC market finally crashes, all the guys hacking DRM are going to set there sights on your consoles. If you think they are safe, you are mistaken.

You aren't solving a damn problem. Simply moving some and making more.

So in short, screw you.

Love, FP.

We have name and logo. Now time to finish up the largely rough designs and get to writing some comics!

My favorite design thus far. "The Douchebag" as he is called. Something of an antagonist, hands with the Panda clan when his 'bro's" arent around (which is always, the existance of said bros is dubious). Obvious who he is based off of but I'm wondering if anyone can guess.

 Redesigned Panda with bigger preportions. Still very rought probably could've used a few more drawings.

Rage! Raging ferrets! I babysitted a ferret for the longest time and enjoyed the hell out of it. When trying to come up with a 'rager' the ferret just fit being ferret are stubborn creatures. Also, I find small characters with smaller overall composition work better for action poses, as the pose in the top left can attest.

Lets home by next week we'll have finalized designs and then we can start some comics!

Bobby Kotick VS Horrible people.

I had to redo the text thanks to Adobe Bloat ware. Seriously Adobe Fireworks. Fundamentally you haven't changed in like 7-8 years. However, in size and resource usage probably more than tripled. And for what?

Keep in mind my PC is by no means a slouch. It can play Crysis on High, It can multitask effiectively without any one item losing speed. So, Adobe, your products have no excuse being they SHOULD be designed to run on a much slower machine than my own.  I would venture to guess that maybe...10-20% of the general PC populace have rigs faster than my own. Only a handful of CPU's and GPU's outrun my own.

That said.

Bobby Kotick is horrible from the perspective of a person who doesn't like to pay $80-90 bucks for a fully functional complete game and as a person who doesn't buy into yearly franchises and perfers 1 or 2 quality games every other year as opposes to 3-4 meh games every year.

Outside this, I must say, kudos to the man as a business person. Where I running a business for the sole purpose of making money, I would surely adopt some of his highly successful viewpoints. However, as the consumer, his tatics often put me and my tastes in the cold and compromises the quality of the industry as a whole.

Figure I'd add this before people come in "OMG JEALOUS" because well,halfway your right. I wish I had a fraction of his money but I can still knock him and the quality of the games his company produces.

Enjoy!

Holiday Strip? Eh.

My partner in crime Stephen J. had a great idea for a Christmas cartoons. However..my laziness and Team Fortress 2 score demanded that I instead goof off and enjoy my Christmas time off . This comic in particular  was inked already and holiday related enough to work.. Hopefully the Frag guys will keep me on schedule these upcoming weeks.

I've got alot drawn actually. Just a matter of putting it into my comic inkin' machine because I totally have a comic inking machine. 

Whats this?

Designs for a new comic strip?

In chats with doing comics for the folks over at Fragworld.org. Give them a drop by and give me some feedback!

Call of Duty: You Get What You Pay For....

Activision are truely nasty people. Bobby Kotick is hurting gaming more and more with his "Money First, Games Second, HR Third" philosophy and sadly asshats at Ubisoft are mimicing these ideals. Thank god there are a few developers with the heads firmly planted in what matters as opposed to there own ass.

See, let me list out some infractions of utter asshattery commited by Activision:
--Firing Infinity Ward for wanting to get paid. They basically held them hostage like "You make Game B, you Get paid for Game A and so on.
--Being the first to charge $59.99 for a PC game. Look, console games are $10 more because you have to pay both licensing and for dev kits. They assume we're so stupid DUUUUR same price as consoles we don't mind. Guess what? I've NEVER bought a PC game for $59.99 because not one PC game thats stuck his balls out so far has been GOOD.
--Bobby Kotick. This, is self explanitory. Wikipedia him if you feel frisky.

Hi guys! Lets have a fresh start!

Weekly updates.. THEY'RE BACK! TUESDAYS! NO EXCEPTIONS!

being out of school helps a bit, I am now the holder of an Associate of Applied Science in Web Site Design!
Anyway, this is my apology for the outburst last time I posted. I need to keep up the schedule and do better, be funnier whatever is wrong with my comic, it is on ME.

I will still periodically encourage ya'll to send my comics to your friends and will continued to be humbled by the large ammount of moral support I have.

Speaking of which ANOTHER COMIC TOMMOROW! I intend to make it a rule to rush out comics that pertain to some event being the time in which it is funny is LIMITED. I've squandered many a golden egg by letting it rot in my brain. Sometimes even drawn comics don't end up on here having long past there shelf life.

Oh and guys: Your outpouring of support hasnt gone unnoticed by Google as well. I do have ads on here and guess what? Thanks to all the views I actually have more than a few cents on them! 9 dollars or so! So keep clicking those ads that are relevent to your interests! The more money I make on this, the greater chance I can simply quit one of my two jobs and do this as one of them or hey BOTH! And if you love my comics, this is highly relevent to your interests!

Thank you all so much <3