largento Posted November 2, 2009 Author Posted November 2, 2009 Wow, where did the time go? The Wannabe Pirates strips start going up on the site today! I've just started to get back into doing them again. It's been hard to get started back up. I was in such a zone before, but I'm sure I'll get back there. Quote
apprentice Posted November 3, 2009 Posted November 3, 2009 Yeah! the new design looks catchy! I think I'd like lighter background instead of black, though. But maybe it's just me. So did the 3D bring new readers, Mark? Quote
largento Posted November 4, 2009 Author Posted November 4, 2009 Thanks, Andy! I agree about the background. I had something else in mind, but couldn't get it to work. It's a wait and see on whether or not this brings in more readers. It's only been two days and I did some advertising yesterday. Our numbers did improve when we went to five days a week. Now it's going to be six days a week. Hopefully, it'll pick up. I'm going to do a small convention on the 14th and hope to get the word out to a bunch of people there. Quote
largento Posted November 15, 2009 Author Posted November 15, 2009 Whew! I just spent the whole day at the Dallas Webcomics Expo. It was a lot of fun and I was able to give out a bunch of the postcards I'd had printed. Mentioned Animation:Master to all who asked the question of what program I was using and a few of them had heard of it! (I think that's partly due to Hash's presence at comic conventions!) It was great fun seeing how much the kids liked it. There weren't many there, but it was gratifying to see! One of the other webcomickers told me that she prints out several of the Wannabe Pirates strips and puts them in her kids lunchboxes! Hearing that was worth the whole effort of attending! Quote
KenH Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Good work! I hope it pays off. That's really satisfying all right. Quote
largento Posted November 15, 2009 Author Posted November 15, 2009 Thanks, Ken! Hopefully I'll get some new eyes on the website. I'm just finding this out today, but I had a sort of long conversation with an older gentleman who asked me a lot of questions about the 3D and if it would look good in black and white and how I was making money off of it (I told him that I wasn't) :-) Long story short, it's only today that I'm finding out that was Bill Hinds who draws the syndicated strip Tank McNamara! I feel like a complete moron for not knowing who he was... I did ask him about his comics, but he didn't mention the one I would recognize. Quote
KenH Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Can't say I'd know him myself. But it's great he took an interest! Did you get a chance to look around? Are (m)any other comics using 3D? Quote
TheSpleen Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Glad to hear all of it! Keep going! Things happen fast on the internet! Quote
largento Posted November 20, 2009 Author Posted November 20, 2009 Thanks, guys! Ken, there weren't any other webcomics at the show using 3D that I saw. I've encountered a few just looking around, but the majority of them seem to be "poser" deals that I find bland and uninteresting. Of course, there's Scott Sava's Dreamland Chronicles which uses his own character designs, but he's spent thousands of dollars of his own money producing it. (As an aside, he just recently reached his 1,000th page!) I found a video showing the process that one of the 3D webcomics used and thought it was interesting that the majority of the characters' clothes were added after the fact in Photoshop, painted on. I'm struggling to get back into the swing of things. I'm about to have to make a move because most of my freelance work has dried up. I'm holding off until the first of December to make the decision, but I've already given 60 days notice on my apartment. Hopefully the economy will pick up next year! I'm going to keep going with The Wannabe Pirates, though! Maybe in a couple of years, it'll grow big enough to be self-sustaining. That's the hope anyway. :-) Dallas Art News is doing a deal where webcomic artists are recreating famous pieces of art with their characters and style. I've signed up to do one. I'm going to do the classic Howard Pyle illustration, "Walking the Plank." I'm just in the beginning stages: I am going to give Flemm the blindfold, but instead of being tied up, he's going to have a kid's inflatable float ring around him. :-) Quote
largento Posted November 21, 2009 Author Posted November 21, 2009 Chickens! Chickens are a very important plot element in this story. I'm keeping them pretty simple, since they'll appear pretty tiny in the actual comics. Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 21, 2009 Posted November 21, 2009 HAH! they are great! I do a very sophisticated rendition of singing "Fairy Tales Can Come true" in chicken squak-speak - if you ever need a voice for them. Bwack bwack bwaaaaack... Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted November 21, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted November 21, 2009 Great looking characters as always! But you're never going to animate them? Quote
Admin Rodney Posted November 21, 2009 Admin Posted November 21, 2009 I always enjoy your insider looks and previews Mark. Quote
largento Posted November 21, 2009 Author Posted November 21, 2009 Thanks, everybody! LOL, Nancy. I don't think I know that song, but it makes me think of "Young at Heart" ...and if the need ever arises for a chicken serenade, you'll be the first person I go to. :-) Never is too strong a word, Robert. I am committed to doing this webcomic for at least 3 years to see if I can grow an audience. This does mean that I can't make an animated film during that time, but I can work towards one. I think it's actually good for me in the sense that I'm getting a lot of practice at posing, building sets, lighting, etc. My goals for the animation were too lofty. I was feeling too overwhelmed by them, but as challenging as the webcomic is, I feel like I can accomplish it. And with the webcomic, I feel like I'm accomplishing something every time I finish a strip! I do have in mind doing a "commercial" for the printed book when the first story is done ...and I'll have all the assets I'll need for it once the story is finished! Heck, it might even be something I can do mid story to advertise the comic... but the primary objective has to be the comic. Quote
MJL Posted November 21, 2009 Posted November 21, 2009 Great Chickens! Don't ba-a-alk at using them to set up a good yolk! (sooner or later SOMEONE had to say SOMETHING!) Seriously, Mark, all of your modeling is so clean, concise, and inspiring! The stuff you show always serves to egg me on. (I can resist anything but temptation ) Myron Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 21, 2009 Posted November 21, 2009 LOL, Nancy. I don't think I know that song, but it makes me think of "Young at Heart" ...and if the need ever arises for a chicken serenade, you'll be the first person I go to. :-) Yes - it's the very same song...Have your people call my people and we'll take a meeting... Quote
largento Posted November 21, 2009 Author Posted November 21, 2009 Thanks, Ken! I'm crying fowl, Myron! :-) Thanks! Nancy, I'll have to see if we can afford the licensing with our budget. We may need you to bawk "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" instead. :-) Quote
kwhitaker Posted November 21, 2009 Posted November 21, 2009 you're work is such a inspiration Largento. love the chickens Quote
largento Posted December 3, 2009 Author Posted December 3, 2009 Well, I ended up having to rush this, but I think it came out okay. Thankfully, the reason I had to rush was that I picked up some freelance work, which I really needed. The majority of the work was home-based, but I started today doing three days of work back at my old work. I'd forgotten what it was like to do that. :-) Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted December 3, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted December 3, 2009 there really needs to be a horsey head on that flotation device. I do have in mind doing a "commercial" for the printed book when the first story is done ...and I'll have all the assets I'll need for it once the story is finished! Heck, it might even be something I can do mid story to advertise the comic... but the primary objective has to be the comic. Have you written this commercial yet? If it's short I might be able to animate it for you. Quote
largento Posted December 3, 2009 Author Posted December 3, 2009 there really needs to be a horsey head on that flotation device. I do have in mind doing a "commercial" for the printed book when the first story is done ...and I'll have all the assets I'll need for it once the story is finished! Heck, it might even be something I can do mid story to advertise the comic... but the primary objective has to be the comic. Have you written this commercial yet? If it's short I might be able to animate it for you. Some kind of head was definitely the original plan, but I was literally down to one hour to finish it. That's a generous offer, Robert! I haven't done anything yet for the commercial, but my thinking was always that it would just be short cuts of different characters and things from the story with a narration of some sort, but that's about as far as I've gotten with it. Most of the "cool" assets that I would need haven't even been started yet. Quote
largento Posted December 13, 2009 Author Posted December 13, 2009 Just an update... Things are pretty hectic right now. I've gotten some freelance work (thankfully), but not enough to change the fact that I'm going to need to move out of my apartment. So in between work, I'm now trying to pack up all of my stuff to prepare to put it in storage before the end of the month. The Wannabe Pirates is having to take a back burner for a little while, which is quickly bleeding away the surplus I'd built up. Oh well. :-) I'll just have to work twice as hard when all of this settles down to rebuild it. After this coming week, all of the strips that I've posted here will have appeared on the site. So starting a week from Monday, there'll be new strips to read on the site! Quote
MJL Posted December 13, 2009 Posted December 13, 2009 Yaaayyy!!!! (On the new strip part. Not the other part, bummer ) Quote
largento Posted December 14, 2009 Author Posted December 14, 2009 Thanks, Myron! It is a bummer, but things could always be worse... Quote
HomeSlice Posted December 14, 2009 Posted December 14, 2009 but things could always be worse... yeah, like you could have decided to stop producing Wannabe Pirates! Quote
largento Posted December 15, 2009 Author Posted December 15, 2009 All the suffering is so that I can make sure that doesn't happen, HomeSlice! A little bit of Christmas cheer... I'm working on a Christmas strip with Flemm sitting on Santa's knee. :-) Quote
Paul Forwood Posted December 15, 2009 Posted December 15, 2009 Heh heh. That is a great Santa, Mark! Sorry to hear of your hardship. Going solo in such dangerous waters was always going to be precarious. Hoping that your ship sails into Paradise Bay real soon. (Paradise on Earth that is! We don't want you going too far for a long, long time. At least until the Wannabes have found and enjoyed that hidden treasure.) Quote
largento Posted December 15, 2009 Author Posted December 15, 2009 Thanks, Paul! Santa is a redress of the Barney model. :-) You are totally right about the risks. Part of my decision was that I felt like I'd never really tried hard enough before. I sort of see all of this as being tested on how committed I really am to doing this. Thanks for the moral support! Quote
mtpeak2 Posted December 15, 2009 Posted December 15, 2009 Nice santa, Mark. Happy holidays. I hope things work out for you. Quote
largento Posted December 15, 2009 Author Posted December 15, 2009 Thanks and Happy Holidays to you, Mark! Thanks, Gene! It's amazing what you can accomplish with a little bit of messing around... :-) Quote
KenH Posted December 16, 2009 Posted December 16, 2009 Nooooo! Santa has black gloves and a hat! I just don't believe it's him without them. But great model otherwise! Quote
mtpeak2 Posted December 19, 2009 Posted December 19, 2009 What kind of textures did you use for his suit? They look great. Quote
largento Posted December 19, 2009 Author Posted December 19, 2009 Thanks, Mark! Nothing too fancy. For the red, I used a dark red for the diffuse color and a normal red for the specular color. I set the specularity to 800% and the specular intensity to 20%. Then I set the roughness to 80% and the roughness size to 2%. The fur was done with hair. I messed around until I came up with these settings: Worked well enough for my purposes. :-) Quote
largento Posted December 21, 2009 Author Posted December 21, 2009 No problem, Mark! The "new" strips start today on The Wannabe Pirates website! This first one is a re-cap... Quote
Jeetman Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 Nooooo! Santa has black gloves and a hat! I just don't believe it's him without them. But great model otherwise! Black gloves? I remember him having green mittens but definitely the hat would add to it. In any case Mark, that IS a GREAT Santa makeover hehe. George Quote
largento Posted December 21, 2009 Author Posted December 21, 2009 Thanks, George! For no reason, a 3D render... Quote
largento Posted December 28, 2009 Author Posted December 28, 2009 Well, moving day is tomorrow and I'm doing the last of the packing. About to dismantle the computer, so I'm going to be offline for a few days. I'm really looking forward to having this all done with. There are a bunch of new models I need to create that I've been putting off because of all this upheaval. Hopefully 2010 is going to be a great year for The Wannabe Pirates! Happy New Year, everybody! Quote
Gerry Posted December 29, 2009 Posted December 29, 2009 Mark, good luck with all your adventures and upheaval (not sure if "upheaval" is synonymous with "adventure" but you gotta think positive!) and here's to the New Year bringing change for the better for you and the WP's! Quote
largento Posted January 4, 2010 Author Posted January 4, 2010 Thanks, Gerry! Gonna' stay positive that it will all work out in the end! The good news is I'm back to work on The Wannabe Pirates and was able to finish next weeks' strips today! I've got a lot of work on my plate and my buffer is now very small, but I'm sure I'll get it back up there eventually. Here's a render from next Friday's strip that I liked... Quote
KenH Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 Gorgeous prison!? But Flemm seems a little washed out. Quote
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