Archive for ‘Blog’

18 items.
anger

. . . arg . . .

by the Ogre on June 30th, 2010
Posted In: Blog

This was actually an easy image to create, but when it came time to upload the image I discovered I made a mistake naming the file (2010-06-29 Seoul Temple instead the proper 2010-06-30). Frustrating! It took four attempts and yelling at the computer to get it right. The thumbs still don’t generate properly. This is a planning problem. I outlined before, but I didn’t write in the file names during the planning phase. This won’t happen again.

This comic stages an explanation about how the guys became friends. Kwan is the lynchpin. That will become apparent later as will the relationships between the four of them. I love the Seoul Temple and I wanted to start here. The problem with the top shot is that missionaries do not go to the Seoul Temple until the end of their missions (Seoul West). So, this shot forces some of the story: when they go home and when they enter the MTC.

The second panel is one I will keep working on. I do not like how Kwan’s wife looks. She looks too much like horse-faced Nellie from the Home on the Prairie television show. Not that she’s ugly, it’s just that horse-facedness is not a noted Korean characteristic. I like the p1 from “District Meeting (06/23/2010)” better. My son likes this one better, because p1 in “District Meeting” looks like an evil, sniveling, emo manga character. That’s his opinion. Obviously, I need to work on her some more.

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smile

Reel Mowers

by the Ogre on June 29th, 2010
Posted In: Blog

When I was a kid, we had a rusty, old, reel-mower. I hated the thing, because it was heavy and not powered like the electric ones dad could sign out on whichever army post we were on. The electric-mowers were quiet, bright orange, and the only difficulty was making sure you didn’t run over the hundred foot extension cord.  The reel-mower cut the grass fine, but I would have to mow over the same patch a couple times and sometimes in those hot Oklahoma summer’s the grass would go through growth spurts and I would have to go over the yard from multiple angles just to keep the grass from laying down under the blades. When we moved to Utah, we didn’t have access to the electric-mowers. The gas-mowers were unreliable at best, but that rusty-reel mower always worked even if it gave me blisters and splinters.

Recently, I’ve seen reel-mowers pop up in the media. In the background or as the subject of articles. This is fantastic considering the damage fossil fuels do to the environment. This post is a continuation of my first comic “Send Off the Clowns” (06/19/2010). Kwan’s yard is Korean in that there is not a lot of grass. Mostly there are vegetable gardens or elevated spots to eat sam-gyup-sal or whatever. Johnson, however, has a giant yard and wants to keep it short and mown quickly. He can’t miss the chance to brag. Honestly, isn’t that the point of riding-mowers in the ‘burbs anyway?

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dizzy

2 Experiments

by the Ogre on June 28th, 2010
Posted In: Blog

Yeah, the emoticon carries my basic emotion right now.

The first experiment is a new lettering pen. I discovered the paper I am using bleeds. This is a pain for two reasons:

1) I like to draw on graph paper. It’s like cheating, because I can draw my comic at work without hauling around a ruler. The one in my backpack is faded and notched.

2) Bristol board is more expensive than graph paper (and also unfamiliar).

Changing over is happening anyway. The classic comic artists used brushes for their lines and lighting. My line work needs help and lighting isn’t being attempted yet. Waterson used ink washes and watercolor and I’d like to as well. Ink more than watercolor. Brushing ink in graph paper would be disastrous. Eventually, I’ll graduate to bristol, but I don’t want to yet.

Besides, The new pen’s $5.99, so I’m not giving up on it yet.

The second experiment is layers and the transform tool. P2 was drawn beforehand and differently. I like how it looks and the subtle difference it shows. Difference is good as long as it is on purpose. In prose and poetry, I use differences in technique to emphasize something without being obvious (trochees in iambic verse). I’m not trying to emphasize something here, but I wanted to try it out. I learned a lot while using layers, the transform tool, the gradient tool, and the rectangle tool. I like the direction this option seems to be going and will keep working it.

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normal

Democratic Ad

by the Ogre on June 24th, 2010
Posted In: Blog

In the Salt Trib, there was an article discussing a new ad campaign by the National Democratic Party (DNC) accusing Republicans of having too cozy a relationship with Big Oil. I found this particularly hypocritical. True the GOP is dirty with oil money, but the same is true with the DNC. Stupid really.

If they wanted to do this right the DNC should open up regarding their own culpablility and then build a national dialogue. This would be the smart thing to do and it would also show a certain level of integrity that neither party currently exhibits. There is something else out there. The desire to switch to alternative energy is growing. Eventually, we’ll be able to stop using fossil fuel all together. I am excited about the capacity of solar and wind (and even geo-thermal). However, the rest of the nation might not be as excited – neither are yet proven. I think being able to switch over like we did to oil, through commerce instead of government regulation, would be preferential. However, constituent groups think the government should step in where the markets drag their feet. I disagree. The motive is correct, but this implementation would blow. Honestly, smaller government is better.

Look at the VA and Post Office. Two organizations that are actually quite great, but private industry does do a better job. I don’t want government running everything, because then everything will be run with the same level of proficiency as these two organizations.

the Ogre

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embarrass

Handwritten Dialogue

by the Ogre on June 23rd, 2010
Posted In: Blog

I want to try (at least for a while) handwritten dialogue. Narration will be in the Typed font. The reason is that I am just not that satisfied with the premade fonts. Okay there is one I really like, but it costs $70. It’s not that I’m cheap, rather I’m poor. Fonts are great and possibly I create my own, but that is quite far down the priority list. I have to learn photoshop better than I know now. I also want to start having a bit of buffer. Right now, I have no buffer and so on the days when I need to do something else or just feel dehydrated like today, then I can not take time off and recuperate.

Right now I’ve got to learn to better at the following:

1) Art. I need to improve. Todays is not to the standard I want.

2) Speed. I am still too slow.

3) Rest. I am running on empty way too much. That make me slow and I also sacrifice in areas I do not like.

4) PhotoShop. I need to get better at photoshop. I’m learning things all the time and I am never going to do the webcomic 100% in photoshop, but I still only know the basic of this industry standard.

5) Creative Process. I need to start having brainstorming sessions where I do nothing but create lists.

As you can see there is much that I still have to do, but given time, I will master all these areas so I can then focus on a few fun areas and move into the second phase of my plan.

The Ogre

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The Cast

by the Ogre on June 22nd, 2010
Posted In: Blog

I really wanted to draw all the characters early. Here they are and their families.

In p1, I’m showing Perry Cohen and two of his children. He is married to a pediatrician and has an infant, but as you can see in some of the other panels, things were a tad crowded. Cohen teaches history at a local university.

P2 shows Hank Flanigan and his wife. They’ve been married the longest, but they don’t have children. This has made life a little hard for him: he’s a full-time seminary. She is a professional blogger.

In p3, Kwan and his son are Americanizing. His wife’s non-confrontational personality and her job as a math professor makes FHE the perfect opportunity to assist in this nearly impossible task. Kwan drives an airport shuttle (in Korea, he was a taxi) and Law Enforcement at night.

In p4, Johnson is teaching from his heart and, he feels, the will of the Lord. He’s a web-designer/house-husband. She’s a Wal-Mart Supercenter Co-Manager and Cohen’s younger sister (she started writing Johnson after a mission Dear John). They have seven children: six girls and one boy (fitted cap).

My comic is a loose portrayal of their lives and whatever else I want to draw/write. The four guys met on their LDS missions in the Souel-West Mission. The four of them shared the same apartment in AnSan, KyongGi Do for well over a year and became brothers in heart and mind (this never happens, but you know . . . fiction).

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confused

AHHHHHHH!?!?!?!

by the Ogre on June 21st, 2010
Posted In: Blog

Trying to get the Father’s Day comic to post drove me right up the wall. I am still seeing multiple copies of the comic in the comic folder even though I’ve deleted it several times. I was hoping to have an easy go at this. This is two days in a row of frustration dealing with getting comics to upload. I hope tomorrow will be better.

It does not mater that iTunes is playing Symphony No. 5 in c minor, OP. 67 I Allegro Con Brio. This always gets me worked up anyway. I don’t listen to classical much, but this popped up on random.

Re: Father’s Day. I went to my dad’s today and had steaks, brats, and potato bar. As always the food was great and in fact the steaks were perfect. Nate was there and man he went off the second we started talking politics.He is like the second speaker in Panel One, Johnson. Open minded, nice, and welcoming to everyone, but he has been having trouble finding a job and his friends and fiance are a bit liberal. Nate’s getting married in August and will probably end up a house-husband like Johnson. I think he feels persecuted. I don’t help, but I didn’t want to fight with him. I let him vent.

Rob came with me. He mostly hung out with my sister and her husband. Anyway, it was great fun and them I came home to bang my head on the wall trying to upload content.

Aaron.

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happy

Hi . . . be warned, NOOB webcomic finally unleashed

by the Ogre on June 20th, 2010
Posted In: Blog

I am quite excited. I’ve wanted to webcomic for years and I committed a month ago when we got my son’s printer to work on my computer: it has a scanner. Since then, I’ve started doing my research and considering what I need to webcomic. The first part will be to improve my craft as an artist and writer. My post today took too long to create. I need to learn photoshop.

Oh sure, I can do the basics – red-eye, crop, juxtapose, steal from the internet, and doctor my FB pic – but, I’ve never learned webcomedian creation skills. I also do not draw as small as the scan bed . . . I’ll get a stand-alone later.

Like everyone else, I’m a bit ticked about the BP screw-up, continuing antics, and classist gaffes, so I drew the above. I like observing politics and would like to get more involved (voting is just a D+ after all). I am quite polemic, I just don’t subscribe to mainstream political movements or agree with the fringe-wackos either. However, I have some characters I’ve been working on for quite a while – not everything will be politics.

The character in panels 6 and 8 is a guy named Kwan based on the point-guard in my ’90s BYU Asian Ward  basketball team. I don’t think my character will be the same for long though, Korean profanity does not translate.

Anyway, nice to meet you.

Aaron the Ogre.

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