largento

What about posting them to YouTube and then embedding them on your own blog? I haven't been following the whole webseries scene in awhile. I guess I need to go read up on what's happening.

I just watched one and it's definitely full color. It just uses a lot of reds. There do seem to be some composite elements, but I'd suspect the coloring and contrast is happening in the compositing.

Gabe over at Penny Arcade has been made MS' sort of Surface Pro guinea pig (as he puts it) and after being a big proponent of the Surface Pro 2, was sent a Surface Pro 3 to test. Here are his opinions. MS seems to be working with him to try to resolve issues, which is pretty cool.

Looks like a lot of fun. With all of Marvel Comics to choose from, that seemed an odd choice, but maybe they aren't looking to compete with their Marvel Studios movies.

Gerald, I just sent you a message with your instructions. Thanks, Steve! I greatly appreciate it.

I did read that the wacom tech required something in the screen itself. Something that apparently added depth to it. I gather the new one just uses the pen? I think the pen has a battery. I also read that Wacom may not have been thrilled that MS told people their technology was in the Surface Pro 2, since it might have bit into their cintiq sales. So maybe wacom pulled out?

Awesome, Mark! Thanks! That's great to hear. This may have ruined it for you if you ever do watch it. :-)

I guess that's where the divide is. I see a tablet as a casual entertainment device. It's for when I'm not working. To be honest, I bought my laptop just so that I could read e-comics in bed, but it was too big and clunky and heavy for that purpose. The iPad is EXACTLY what I wanted. I am FAR from a hipster and I can tell you I love my iPad. I use it for all those things I'd hoped I could use my laptop for. Reading comics, surfing the web in bed, reading books, light gaming. I frequently post to this forum using it. I don't use it for heavy lifting (although I have done some scriptwriting on it), because that's not what I wanted it for. My MacPro is my "work" computer. When I work, I want a very large monitor and a good keyboard and mouse and a desk to put them on. My iPad is my fun device. Two different beasties. Scott Kurtz (of PVP fame) switched to a Surface Pro 2 because he was jealous of the portability, but his experience was a bad one. He found the ui was too small to use Photoshop, so he had to switch applications. Even then, he found it was taking him 2-3 times longer to draw a strip. He also complained that what looked good on his Surface's screen, would look bad when it was brought onto his desktop computer and seen at full size. He gave up and went for that 13" Cintiq HD, hoping he'd be able to sell his Surface Pro 2 to recoup his loss. Kurtz acknowledges that what he's doing is replicating pen and ink, not painting, so there may be a difference if you're doing digital paintings. [EDIT] I just read on the Webcomics.com forums that the Surface Pro 3 drops Wacom in favor of something called N-Trig. It also drops the pressure sensitivity from 1024 to 256 levels.

Thanks, guys! Will, the day job is inevitable. I had to turn down freelance work to finish the movie and I've never been this broke. :-) I don't plan on quitting doing the projects, but right now, all the work and lack of sleep is catching up with me and I'm thinking "why would I ever want to do that again?!" :-) I do fantasize about doing a Wannabe Pirates movie, but that includes completely redesigning and remodeling everything. Flemm and the main characters were among the very first models I ever made. I've gotten a little better since then. :-) As soon as I can get everything done to fulfill the Kickstarters and get The Wobbling Dead online, I'm going to focus entirely on getting a job. Once that's done and I've gotten settled and used to working a day job again, I'll start up on the weekends. :-) I wish I could make my living just doing the fun stuff, but I can definitely say I gave it a try. And it's not like I don't have anything to show for the five years. I did a bunch of Wannabe Pirates stuff, another Greyhawk graphic novel and two animated films. Not too bad. I gotta' say, though. Having money again will be so nice. :-) Most of my stuff has been in storage for 4 1/2 years! I miss it. :-) Being able to buy books again and go to restaurants I want to go to. Getting a new computer or some piece of software I'd like. Being able to donate to OTHER people's Kickstarters in a real way. Getting to go on dates with girls again! Being broke, living in my sister's guest room and making cartoons for no money don't impress the ladies like you'd think it would. :-)

I don't get why anyone would want to pay so much for a laptop light. The cheapest model is $799. It comes with no keyboard and only 64 gb of hd space. They tout it as weighing 1.75 lbs, but in the picture, they show the keyboard, which isn't factored into the weight. With keyboard and pen, it actually weighs 2.44 lbs, which is about .75 lbs heavier than the iPad Air and only .5 lbs lighter than a MacBook Air with a 13.3" screen. The flimsy keyboard, which you need to have, costs $129.99 extra.

Thanks, Rodney! I really appreciate it! After working on something for so long, it stops being funny and I worry that the gags will fall flat. So good to hear from you and others that it is getting laughs.

I still think this is a foolish way to go, but you gotta' admire their ability to keep their blinders on. :-) A tablet and a laptop are two separate devices. I don't want a tablet to replace my laptop. A tablet is a terrible laptop and a laptop is a terrible tablet.

Good info, well-communicated! I didn't know you could add an action object to a pose, either. I would definitely have used this on the bridge set for Stalled Trek. Thanks, Chris!

I haven't forgotten about these. :-) I'll be working some stuff up in the near future and make it available to the backers. I don't recall this generating any new backers, but it was worth a shot. :-)

Your dancing zombie is pretty memorable, Rodney. :-) It won't be long now!

Thanks Rodney & Kat! Kat, they have places that will make copies of your DVD and print the covers, discs, etc. They use two processes. For Stalled Trek, since I ordered 1K of them, they did replication, where they make a glass master of the disc and that's used to manufacture the discs. For small orders, like The Wobbling Dead (150 copies), they just use blank DVD-Rs and duplicate the master onto those discs. The first way is the more reliable way, but it locks you into ordering at least 1K discs. I've used two places so far: Discmakers Nationwide Discs My reason for switching was that Nationwide Disc is local, so I could pick up the discs and not worry that they wouldn't get here in time for the convention. So, with The Wobbling Dead in the can (or case), what's next? I think I know, but I'm not ready to announce it officially yet. :-)

Turns out I really did make a movie! Here's a pic of the first one I pulled out of the box after picking them up at the duplicators.

Every step's a step closer, kat! The strange part comes when it's finished and you realize there's nothing left to do. I got a kick out of the reading of the "A dragon now stands where my door should be?" line. :-) Was the Wizard appearing *in* the spell book? I wasn't quite sure.

Thanks, Robert! I'm uploading the data file to the DVD replicators right this very moment! (I've actually been trying all day, but that's another story for another day!) I watched it for the first time on my TV last night and noticed a couple of wonky shots I had to fix. One was a shot that hadn't been adjusted for the 16:9 and the other had a weird rendering glitch. I didn't have time to explore it fully, but for some reason the audio timeline was up several places in the timeline, rather than at zero and my lip-synching was causing some kind of glitch. I just lassoed all the key frames and shoved them up a little and that fixed it. It seems like it's taking forever to upload this file. Hoping that with everything in hand tomorrow AM, these guys will be able to get my discs made in time. Since it's not a 1K copy order, they aren't making a glass master and are just creating duplicates rather than replicating. It's supposed to take less time that way. They had me save it in a DDP format, which I'm a bit wary of. There must be potential problems, because I had to sign a waiver before I could upload it. Fingers are crossed. It's a race now to get them done by the Comic Con. I wish I could say something about how it feels to have it done, but it doesn't feel like it is done yet. Maybe after the DVDs are in my hands and are real...

JUST ANIMATED THE LAST SHOT! I've got post work to do (audio mostly), but that should be out of the way tomorrow! I'm not a drinking man, but I may have a drink after I deliver the DVD master to the replicators! :-) Then, I'm going to sleep for a week! :-)

Here's an idea... If the deadline were right before Comic Con, maybe you could let con-goers vote. Might be a little something extra to have at the booth. I don't know the mechanics, maybe they could write a number on a piece of paper or something. Then there's a reason for them to go visit the Hash website after the con to see which image won. Be a neat way of showing what's being done with A:M currently, as well. I'm sure people would step up their game if they knew it was going to be on display during the con.

Very nice.

Personally, if you extended it, I could participate, but that might just give you three. :-)

Thank you, Nancy!

Took some time today to put together the cover for the DVD!