Coughing, I Guess?

   In the bath the day before yesterday I noticed that I had a bit of a rough throat that made it kind of jagged to breathe, then in the bath yesterday it evolved into a full-on cough. It has nothing to do with my wisdom tooth thing. Turns out I was just phlegmy. Unless it was somehow brought on by the saltwater treatment. I'm not sure how that would be, since it's not like I swallow the saltwater or anything.

   Huh. I'm really running out of things to say on this. I've got that one update. But, other than that, nothing. I guess the wisdom tooth saga is coming to a close. By now reporting on it just seems kind of arbitrary. Unless there's another development that's more exiting and more applicable than a ticklish throat, it would be. So, uh... I don't know. I guess I'll have to switch to a different topic now.

Requirement: Want vs. Need

   So, I got to use a straw, and I used a straw. Vampire'd the heck out of that pineapple juice. Also, ate some pineapple in solid-state. Fresh pineapple with all of its fibers and pulp isn't really the best for your teeth on a good day, and you'd need to do a lot of flossing anyway. So I needed extra dental care after that one. It was still alright, though. As worth it as anything else.

   Syringing out the hole in my mouth flushed a disturbingly large number of chunks from it. It kind of makes sense, seeing how crumbly teriyaki pineapple turkey burgers are, but seriously how deep is that hole? Syringing it out kind of hurt, so I guess I know I'm not done syringing until the aching restarts. Maybe I was a bit premature in saying I no longer needed any pain pills. I specifically said yesterday I don't "require" the use of pain meds, and it still was true, I don't.

   That word "require" was carefully chosen, because there's kind of a bit of a distinction there in what you want and need. Remember, I didn't use any pain meds the first couple of days, when they would have been the most useful. I just didn't want them, because I wanted to feel myself healing, and to feel if anything hurt abnormally in case anything went wrong. I guess now that it doesn't hurt as much and I don't need to know if it hurts, I'm entitled to require pain medication. Funny how that works.

   So, that's it. It still kind of hurt yesterday when I said that I didn't require medication, it's just that the pain was down enough for me not to want it. I did want some after syringing and the pain went back up, so it was required there. I popped two more ibuprofen, so right now I can't feel any pain (not in my mouth at least, which is what this is about.) I wouldn't know if my mouth still hurts, so I wouldn't know if I would make the same claim on requirement. Probably. Only now, there's a subsection in there about what happens after syringing.

Straws!

   So, I went to the doctor's again yesterday, to check up on how I'm healing after my wisdom tooth extraction. Looks good. I'm fine. My mouth hole-- that is, hole in my mouth-- looks pretty clean. It still kind of hurts, but the city is down to normal speaking volume, low enough that I don't require the use of pain meds. Yay. I can eat hard foods and other normal stuff again, and am now allowed to drink through straws. Which means... well, it means that I can drink through straws. Straws, you know? Straws.


   I was given a mouth mirror, and got a special syringe with which to advance to the next stage of rinse-out: squirting the saltwater directly into the tooth hole. In theory the hole'll get smaller until I'm unable to fit the syringe, and then I'll be done. So it looks like I'll soon be able to post about things other than how my mouth feels. Like ponies.

With straws!

   So now I'll be able to drink, you know, like- like things one would drink through straws. I don't normally use straws, so it wasn't really that big of a deal for me last week, except for when I was on that purely liquid diet at the very beginning. That ability would have been useful then. Still, I'm thinking of using this new-found freedom today. A straw, I'm thinking, with pineapple juice. (Happy birthday, or whatever it is they've got up in heaven, man.)

Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together

   No, no Reese's peanut butter and chocolate. Though they do taste great together. Not even the Killers and Burn Notice, which also strangely complement each other. (Am I the only one who notices that?) Also, OneDirection and Marilyn Manson, surprisingly. Really. Anyway. Shut up.

   Going back to the doc's again today. Should I be on pain stuff when I see him? I don't know how much it'll hurt, or if indeed it will hurt at all. Do I want it to hurt? How honest does this need to be? I don't know. It's really harshing my mellow. The harsh is alright, though. It's real. That really mellows my harsh.

   People say that, right?

   You got harsh in my mellow!

   You got mellow in my harsh!

   Mmm.

   Amazing.

Doing Stuff Again!

   I'm up and back in it. The city comes and goes, and right now I can't feel it at all. I do hope that doesn't jinx anything. So I'm working again. Doing some awesome fanart. Some stuff it's not worth talking about yet. Oh, and I'm knocking out some high-quality Persistence rewrite. Which is the really important thing, here (aside from the stuffy stuff.) It's important for writers to, um, write. (I'd say "right" here, and move on, but that'd sound too much like a pun after saying "writers" and "write," when it's only intended as a transition to the next subject. So, instead, I'm going to say, "sure.") Sure.

   The latest episode of Writing Excuses makes me realize that the Other//half universe is ideal, and in fact seems custom-made, for an RPG: a detailed science/magic system, lots of exotic locales, an in-universe "save points" mechanism in case of character death, layers of future history periods and stages of scientific development for a variety of modules. Sounds like a winning idea to me, aside from the fact that I'm a little uncomfortable with so many crawling around in my universe so that I wouldn't be sure the canon of anything. It's actually more than a little existentially disturbing. I do try to keep track of these things. So, I think we'll hold on that for now? Well, for that and for the fact that the project isn't even off the ground yet, and is as of yet still in the hangar being constructed. But, I would totally cross that bridge should it be come to.

   It's just that afterwards I would lie awake at night in terror of what's going on in my world. Brr. (Maybe by then there'd be some kind of web mechanism whereby players could automatically post progress in their campaigns and make a complete record of all that transpired therein? That'd sure be fun.)

My City Screams

   That title has nothing to do with the post. I just remembered how awesome the Spirit is, is all. Or maybe not? If by "city" you mean "toothache," and if by toothache you mean "lack-of-tooth ache," then, yes, my city totally screams. In fact, I think "city" is a better word for it, since the phrase "lack-of-tooth ache" is kind of awkward, and it feels like a big old city in my mouth. So, it's "city" from now on. I slept in my own bed last night, and took my last Amoxicillin capsule this morning, but apparently I'm not as far along as I thought because my city is still screaming. Or at least it was earlier.

   It's better now, actually. As long as the blood isn't rushing toward my mouth like it does when my head is down, I'm fine. I guess that's why I was on the couch all week. It's like a bed but it's also like a chair, in that your head can be elevated. Elevated head, comfy as a bed. Hey.

   Another reason, I guess, is because I genuinely needed to have a lie down, in a place more convenient than a bed. I'm doing activities again now, but I'm still kind of tired. Well, I suppose there'll be plenty of time to sleep at church today, do-ho-ho-ho-hoh! But no really, yeah. One thing they don't tell you about healing is all the goshdarn rest you need. You need a lot of it. Because it's, seriously, tiring.

   They say a lot of the Hebrews didn't look upon Moses's brass serpent to heal themselves after the fiery snake attack, and they figure it was because of pride. I just think they were too tired to be bothered.

Mmm?

   What the heck? Turns out I CAN use pain pills, and could have been using them the entire time. You don't need a prescription for ibuprofen. Apparently. That fact certainly made yesterday a whole lot pleasanter. Though the entire point of going without was kind of being able to gauge how far along the healing process I am, I think it's kind of moot since it's really just about the stuff with the things and the modern medicine and all that and not really mattering whether or not it hurts, since it's alright and not really liable to get infected due to taking the medication for which I actually was given a prescription. So, the pain pills are good. It definitely helps with being able to do anything other than lounge. Uhhh... I guess that's it.

   Yeah, it's either about that, or more pony stuff.

I'm...so...conflicted.

Update

   I'm doing this without pain meds or anything, so I guess I have the ability to tell how far I'm healing. As long as I keep my mouth shut and breathe entirely through my nose, I'm fine? I'm certainly able to get around the house a lot better now; I'm not so tired as much.

Going Under

   So I had my wisdom tooth extracted Tuesday? They put me under first, intravenously (I think that was the second time for me to have ever been put under, the first when I had appendicitis.) I realized I wouldn't be able to remember falling asleep, but I didn't realize how unable I'd be to remember much else surrounding it. Now that I remember the i.v. I can remember how cold the sleepy juice was coming in. I remember looking as the doctor needled the needle. They allow that. You can look, but if you're squeamish... They had explained things to me, in that doctory bedside manner way, simple words, even if the patient knows all the terms. The risk of death is very slight, but they still make you sign the papers just in case, and combined with the bedside manner it's enough to make you paranoid that something will go wrong. Even an embolism or something, even with the tubes so narrow. So, initial these rows, sign here. Oxygen tubes up my nostrils for me to breathe. Didn't feel like anything other than plain old air, though. Cuff, sterilize the area. Puncture the skin, remove the trocar from the cannula, put the tube into the catheter, inject the anesthesia into the tube, please no embolism, please no embolism. I tilted my head back, intending to make it easy, but maybe it was too easy.

   I knew I wouldn't be able to remember going under, but I had intended to see how much I could remember. Maybe I went on a looped-up rant or something. I don't know. I should have recorded it or something. and it is a blur, but the next time I have to have that happen to me I have a strategy to figure out the last thing that I remember. Try this. I had come up with this method a few years ago as a preventative against amnesia in the event of getting knocked unconscious, but I'm not sure if it works, so I think I should have tried it this time so I don't have to wait until my next opportunity. The method is this: if you need to hold onto a memory or thought, tie it somehow with the film "Ghost Rider." Why? Because you'll always remember Ghost Rider! You will always remember Ghost Rider. Make of that what you will.

   I can't even remember waking up. I remember being covered in a blanket there, the doctors handing it to me, and I remember sleeping a lot on the way home. I mean, I don't remember sleeping a lot on the ride home; I can't even remember the ride home, so I figure it must have been more sleep. A few days have passed, and I no longer have as many suspicions that I actually died while under, as I am awake more often now. Creepy, still. Lots of drowsiness. I'm sure it was a good thing that they put me under for it. But we like our reality to be continuous. Any gap in the record is a sign of something nefarious. I should have recorded it or something. Recuperating from that, why I'm still laid up, why I've been given enough time to listen to an obscene amount of fancasts. Take amoxicillin every eight hours, swallow the capsule with water. Eat only soft foods. Rinse your mouth with saltwater. The dull throbbing pain means you're healing... I think. Et cetera, et cetera.

   Well, I'm off to go give birth to an eight-legged spider horse. Because I'm Loki, and that's what Loki do.

Alright, I Did It

   Doctors, specifically, of the orthodontic variety. I had my sole wisdom tooth taken out. I spent yesterday recuperating: lying down, eating no solids, icing my mouth every twenty minutes. I will spend today doing much the same thing. It was in this environment I decided that I had to watch Less Derp-y Derpy Last Roundup. I had to see for myself. What would you do? So when the episode came onto rotation, I decided why not. So I buckled myself down, and I watched the episode...

   And it was awesome. Seriously, still just as entertaining as all-get-out. I watched it something like 12, 13 times in a row. No hyperbole. Watching and re-watching for hours and hours until my bladder almost gave out. What else was there to do? I think that I'll actually be able to make it through a year of Lion King. Seriously. It didn't get old or anything.

   When you watch something like that enough, you begin to see the reasoning behind why the producers did what they did. I discovered that Derpy/Ditzy (?)'s role in the story is somewhat principal to the lesson of the episode. Instead of running away from your problems, run to your friends. Other themes I noticed:

1. Food- Not only is there cake and a lot of cherries, food is discussed a lot. Popcorn and peanuts and taffy and sarsaparilla and snackiness in general. Pinkie uses the word "pickles" as an interjection, Applejack does the same thing with "nuts," Pinkie's favorite funniest three words all involve food, Applejack doesn't come to breakfast, the phrase "spill the beans" is used a few times. Speaking of...
2. Cliches- the ponies for whatever reason use a lot of cliches in this episode. Example: in the I Love Lucy conveyor belt homage scene, it should have been "easy as cherry pie." But it wasn't (hence the homage.) After that, they decide that they "seem to be striking out" on getting A.J. to spill the beans, they decide it's because they're "playing too nice," that "desperate times do call for desperate measures," so they "call in the big guns." That's all contiguous in one continuous dialogue, by the way. Yeah.
3. Anxiousness- kind of hard to miss out on after you've been lying down in front of the television for over five hours doing nothing but drinking fluids. You could say I was pretty jittery by the end of it. I peed for a solid minute when my mare-a-thon was over. Likewise there's a lot of jitteriness within the episode? Applejack is anxious to get the heck out of Dodge, Pinkie is anxious to hit the head (!).
4. Have fun!- Both Pinkie Pie and Cherry Jubilee use this exact phrase as a reminder to have fun. Ms. Jubilee makes a big deal of it, so it kind of calls attention to itself.
5. Economy- the mayor is obsessed with money, mentioning it specifically in three of her four lines (three lines if you don't count the ponies cheering as splitting her first line.) During the big chase at the end, Applejack will give the cart pullers double pay to outrun the the others, the others'll give them triple pay to slow down, A.J.'ll give them quadruple pay to leave them in the dust.

   Also, where the heck is Spike in all of this? He appears a grand total of "the theme song" times.

After a Bunch of Long Essays and Stuff, Some Brevity

   Dentists!

Ideas and Execution

   Maybe it'd be better if I just picked a subject and stuck to it. I've got so many projects going on. Television, films, comics, literature, music. Nonprofessional at all of them (so far.) Oh, and fanart. Also reviewing television shows and tropes and fandoms? That doesn't create a very strong webidentity for me. Blogs about comics exclusively, blogs about writing exclusively. DeviantArt pages. Those are good. But this is just some dude's blog, and has no clear identity. So, I guess this blog is for my friends. But I suppose you can look back through it afterwards if I do get pro and see me go through the creative process as I tell you how I advance on these projects. That's always fascinating.

   I do go through with these projects I tell you about. There'd be no point in them if I did not. It's not enough merely to come up with a clever idea. Execution. It's the cliche of the kid who comes up to you and tells you that he has a terrific idea for a book and that he could sell it to you and you can write it. Or at least, that's a cliche in my universe. I'm sure it's like that for some of you, too. In fact, I think that's actually happened to me at least once.

   The point is, ideas are cheap. Without execution, an idea is nothing, or even worse than nothing since you can see the idea, but you feel how painful it is that it doesn't exist as an execution, and you don't have the rights to it, so you can't execute it yourself (or at least not for pay or in public or anything legally anyway) but maybe it's alright, because it, being a good idea, inspires you to have your own good ideas, which you can then execute yourself if you want? Um... Ooh, run on sentence. It kind of got away from me, but I like it. I'm keeping it because it illustrates exactly how cheap ideas are.

   I do followup when feasible. Obviously I lack the resources to send out little troopers to attend all the major nerdystyle conventions to do the Con Digest, but maybe someday. I also lack the technical resources to project sequential art over the internet in human form. I suppose I have no such excuse for Perfect Sense, but I'm kind of avoiding that because I've still got no idea how senses work there, and since that's basically the game mechanic I'm not ready to approach that anytime soon. But you can see how these things are on my mind.

   But man, now I really want to have enough resources to start the Con Digest up.

The Sweep

   I've finally finished (?) cleaning up and archiving a lot of my old notes and drawings. In neat plastic sleeves, so that I can flip through the pages without worrying about touching any of the old weird stains. I can look back at my portfolio as a whole. There's a marked improvement in the quality of my art over the years. Alright! I can say. I sucked! Recognizing this only means that I can recognize old lack of skill in myself, and that I've improved my style. Though, really, I don't even know what my "style" was back then. There's a brevity of form that I needed to follow, but didn't. There were good parts, good bits in each of the drawings, but how is the viewer supposed to know that it's deliberate when that good part is overshadowed by the accidents and the errors and the outright lack of talent, in other places?

   I've got a few sleeves set aside for my 24 hour comics, which thankfully get progressively better as well. These are always a good indicator of the artist's abilities at the time. The ideal test, really. Made in a single burst of productivity, they give an exact snapshot of the creator's writing and drawing and layout. Think of it like coring a tree to see the rings. Still improving. From a stylized style to a more realistic style to a more three-dimensional style. A pretty clear linear progression of improvement, but looking at them it's now so simple, since I added another layer on top of that, since I deliberately drew on different artists each time for influences in the art style of each one. Imaginably, it's really hard to compare between them since each of the projects has a very different feel. One, two, three. Kazu Kibuishi, Alicia Austin, Joann Sfar. (People are just awesome.) I suppose in a sense this makes it "cleaner" to compare my own talent between each 24 hour comic, since it's not reliant simply upon one style and ideal to gauge against, if you can see past the surface and down into other techniques. But, still, it's tough.

   That's not all of them in there. I'm still working and practicing on new styles. Not even all of my stuff is in the archive. I mean, I've still got some current projects out, locked and loaded, working on, outside of those binders. I'm still practicing. It's definitely about style here, and I think I've reached the zenith of one and am now practicing and moving onto another, (by tracing other people's artwork and then seeing how they got a feel for their characters, if you must know.) This new style is throwing all of my old Other//half character designs off, but I think that's why I said that I'm at the zenith of that particular style. Those old designs aren't quite as-- realistic, as I would like? Something. I keep on trying to draw the characters better, but they all come out looking the same as they did before, so of course it has to do with the character modeling. These characters as characters already have some form of icon, so I can't alter their designs too radically. Trying to merge the two styles so that character design is somewhat retained. Going alright.

   So: looking through old stuff, seeing it get better, and continuing to improve. Hopefully catching up with some of my more talented peers in that area. It's the practice that's important, in both senses of the word.

The Bronymoon

   Never comment on some current event until you've gained perspective on it. Time passes, and then you can reflect. In fact, this holds true of most things; you never know when your batch of cat food is going to get recalled. I guess this serves as a justification on how late this is. But I didn't originally plan on sharing this. It just needed to come out.

   The entire thing has weighed heavily on my mind for the past week or so. First off, I'm no brony. I'm just an adult male fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Which is... oh, shoot, I guess that's what that means. It's the same thing. But I say this for an important reason. I'm not trying to distance myself from the fandom or anything. In fact, it's the opposite. I love those guys. But I'm not hardcore. I can't connect. My observations here are from a perspective outside of the main (mane!) fandom. I don't do the things they do. The wallpaper and the fanart and the Adventure Ponies video game, sure, but I've only been on Equestria Daily three or four times, I don't meme, I haven't even seen Derpy in any of the episodes-- except, of course, for the infamous now discanonized appearance.

   I mean, I'm just in it for the show. A lot of people are. I guess that for a franchise that exists to be based solely around the toy line, that speaks about the quality of the series and the care put into it. The creators are more or less given free rein to do what they love, and thus create a product that many people would proudly and boldly face the scourge of internet hatedom to get behind. Is it the bronies that are hated, or is it the show itself? Obviously not the show itself; nobod-- nopon-- nobody would argue that the show isn't perfectly acceptable for young girls (outside of those people who argue about anything being acceptable for young girls or not.) But to attack the audience is in a way to attack the show, as being what someone would like, as being something that would draw such an audience. Can that really be derided? Does it need defending? This... show... isn't really all that bad. High production value, a strong ensemble cast, genuinely funny humor. Or is your critique against it solely because it's My Little Pony? Any work of art can be dismissed simply on that. Form instead of content.

   For example, right now, I could say that baseball is unamerican. Baseball is mass entertainment, the american drean revolves around self-actualization and self-worth; thus any mass media especially sports especially baseball is unamerican. I could actually make an argument for that. I love baseball, though. I'm just pinko that way.

   Pun... intended? Or... not? I think not intended. Pinko, Pinkie Pie? Yeah, it's kind of weak, but it's there. Anyway, the point is that any criticism, or even criticism of criticism, would be missing the point. The point is the thing itself. In itself, and of itself.

   I'm afraid, though. Some of the magic's gone.

   I haven't seen that episode in anything but its original form. Season 2, episode 14. They say it's a different character now; that they replaced her. Because this needs to be Google-able, let's use the word "Derpygate." I only saw that episode when it first came out, that one and only time. I haven't seen it since then. Does that make me unqualified to speak on the matter? Like I said above, I am speaking my own opinions here. Besides, my lack of rerunning here is sort of deliberate.

   You see, as of now I can still see the scene clearly. The actions, the voices. The annoyed way in which Rainbow says "Derpy" in the original cut still rings perfectly in my ears. I'm actually afraid of watching the altered version. Would that memory fade? I saw her once. Would I lose her? I've never seen her in the background or in crowd shots. But when she was right there, front and center. Is that what that is? Could that be... Derpy Hooves?

   Alright, the silliness of the name kind of undermines the bittersweetness of the moment. But I saw her, on the show. She was there. But, no longer.

   I could go into some length as to exactly why they changed it and why her appearance caused so much offense in the first place, but if you really want to know you can go elsewhere. The entire thing came as a colliding of tectonic plates of sorts. That which was intended as a shout-out or joke or outright praise of the older demographic misstepped and backfired and created an attitude that some found ableist and inappropriate to depict to little girls. Earthquake. The fact that something like this could happen at all in a place so wonderful is just such a soul-crushing thought. They tried pandering to the bronies, and it didn't work. The bronymoon is over.

   When did it really start? The moment the show premiered? When they began slipping in the little things in the first season? "Equestria Girls" and/or the extended cut thereof? "Bridlemaids," "Mad Ponies," et al? Season two, when the creators not only knew of the demographic but actually had time to pander to it fully? It's variable, depending on your definition of "bronymoon," which I just invented, so it could be whatever. So, whenever. It clearly did exist. It's there on the show. Preserved in celluloid. We can go back and watch it unfold before our very eyes. So, not entirely gone. And, who knows, maybe some better take on the character will come along. You know they're going to try. It's still going to be good. I'm just not sure if they'll be willing to pull stunts like that again. That's really it, then? The definition. Stunts like that. It fits. Even when Lauren left, nothing was lost, so it had to be independent of that. The "stunts." The winks and the nods and the references. But it crashed and burned.

   It doesn't have to be over, though. Maybe I'm calling it too soon. In any case, we'll see. Either way it'll continue to be a fantastic show. Now, I guess, we just have to sit it out till season three.

Funny is Wrong

   We hold comedy to a different standard from other forms of entertainment. We expect art to be truthful, and if it is not, then we reject it. But comedy, or at least a comic universe, cannot be truthful, because comedy is based on the unexpected, and must in order to be stable constantly go against truth.

   In particular I am thinking of the medium of comic strips. In a comic strip, we expect something funny to happen every time, so what we get is a universe that could never be real or even truthful (Prince Valiant, Mark Trail, Funky Winkerbean (?), et al don't count.) Discounting clever observations that are funny because they are true in just the right way, truthful comedy is not funny. It is bland. At the other end of the spectrum, no truth at all, all zaniness. Who cares? All good comedy has a straight man. It's hard to fit a straight man into the small limited panels of a newspaper comic. If not the universe itself, then what?

   In fact, strip comics are a terrible medium for humor. Occasionally you get a genius of the form, like Bill Watterson, who railed against the small formats forced on artists by newspapers at the time because he realized the inherent limitations if the medium were this way. These types are few and far between. I-- I'm getting Deja vu or something-- something about a chart, or a diagram, with that and Garry Larson and something else, demonstrating the spectrum of-- the great newspaper comic artists? How they handled the-- the things. Hmm. Well, I'll be sure to share it with you if it comes back to me.

24: Ranked-- Day by Day

   A review of the FOX television action drama 24, ranking season by season in order from best to worst because hey why not. There's many times in which my opinion diverges from the consensus, but I've got very good reasons for these, which are delineated clearly. So here, from order to most awesome to least (but still very) awesome is my take on the matter.

OH AND ALSO MAJOR SPOILERS I GUESS.

1. Day 3- The entire season had one big narrative push. Procure the virus. This kicks off 24 of the most stunning hours on television, as Jack Bauer is ... from Los Angeles to Mexico... It is in this season that the team has to make the most heartbreaking decisions for the greater good: kill Chapelle? Allow Kim to go into danger? Sometimes it is already too late, and their only choice is humanity: pass around the suicide pills to those infected at the hotel? Plus it sports twists galore: Gael isn't a mole?  Which, I suppose, proves that throughout the entire show the only true moles at CTU are female. (The guy in season seven, for example, honestly thought he was working for the CIA.)
2. Day 6- Generally regarded as the worst season, I'm putting it here as the second best. Collecting all of the snukes gave the entire thing a narrative push, and by the end of it, when the snukes have all been recovered, a new twist is thrown in as the Chinese are still out to get Jack, and use  the (apparently not dead!) Audrey as leverage to get the Russian component, which brings Jack into one finale confrontation with his father, tying the whole shebang of a day up nicely. We see Jack at his most venerable (yes, even more venerable than his drug-addled season three self and his pathogen-exposed late season seven self), emotionally naked when he realizes that Senator Heller will never let him see Audrey again. Also, Milo, played by the ever-fantastic Eric Balfour, returns, and that can only be seen as a plus. I also love the political maneuvering, with Vice President Daniels trying to 25th-Amendment the encoma'd President Palmer using any means necessary, going so far as to actually wake up all 12 members of the supreme court to come together in an emergency session to determine if that's even constitutional at all. They decide it is, but Daniels has perjured himself to get to where he wants, allowing Palmer some delicious leverage. In fact, I could do an entire post on why day six is so awesome, but I think I've exhausted most of my talking points.
3. Day 8- Put in at the #3 slot due to a strong season overall and particularly its incredible finale, wrapping the entire series up in a way we genuinely cannot possibly dream of being handled better (they even brought back the "events occur in real time!"). Maybe I'll make a separate list ranking season finales. They are after all the final note on which that particular day is left, and a such strongly influence how said day is remembered. I call this the "wind-down hour." Winding down the season. But you could have guessed that. Since they're drawing the entire day to a close and not really introducing any new action, they tend to be a bit slow. Some finales are slower than others, which comes to bite season 5 in my opinion.
4. Day 2- Nina really gets her first chance to truly bear her teeth here. Frightening stuff. It She was established as being a good liar as early as the second episode of the entire show, with the conversation between her and Tony, so there was always that. This season, however, really shows how manipulative she can be. I mean, getting Palmer to preemptively pardon her for the (foiled) murder of Jack Bauer in return for information on the nuke? Cold, Nina. Very cold. The stuff with Kim isn't really as mockable as people make it out to be. And the finale is iconic.
5. Day 7- Spoilers ahead, regarding Tony. He's alive, and now a bad guy. Awesome. The second that gets old, it turns out he's actually a good guy. Awesome. The second that gets old, it turns out he really was a bad guy all along. Awesome. Mostly the only slow parts here are the seconds that gets old. And also when the terrorists drill underwater to get to the white house. That part was weird.
6. Day 4- A somewhat uneven season. The stuff with the nuclear football was good. The stuff with the nuclear reactor meltdowns, not so much. The first act, saving Senator Heller, was thrilling, and the real time format has never been put to as good a use as with that. But it turns out that was a cover up to distract CTU while the terrorists went through with their real evil master plan, a diabolically unparalleled plot of unsurpassed insidiousness: causing nuclear reactors across the country to melt down? Uh... huh. While this would be scary in real life, on a real time television drama is is somewhat underwhelming. Like, very underwhelming. Luckily, however, CTU shuts that down quickly, forcing the terrorists to come up with a plan C. The crash of Air Force One and nuclear football stuff is also incredibly tense, with T.J. Thyne, which I guess makes it even better, and just solid thriller. Paul is good, and so is Behrooz. All in all, this has got some really good, and I mean really good, episodes, but as a season it's mixed.
7. Day 1- The first season. Bizarrely intimate compared to the grandeur of later seasons, revisiting it makes you realize how surreal a format real time can be. (Hint: really, really surreal.) It's just, save the senator? Not even from nukes? It draws the arcs of Jack and Palmer together and explains the history of why these events are even happening, so it functions well as a standalone, making it an ideal first season. Jack's so young here, so innocent, if you can call it that. I don't think he even tortures any dudes. After watching the rest, revisiting this one is kinda jarring. But, hey, Dennis Hopper out of nowhere!
8. Day 5- Generally regarded as the best season, I'm putting it here as the eighth best. Which means worst. But to be fair, it is a really solid show. So, eight best. Anyway. Though the bad guys here are hipper than ever, the fall of President Logan is just too painful to watch, ending in an infamous "wind-down hour" that stretches out for two hours (in my eyes, at least.) Expectations change experience. The first episodes of this season are incredible, with Jack investigating the crime scene of the assassinated ex-President Palmer (even as the FBI is actively trying to hunt him down) and then having to go defuse a terrorist hostage crisis at an airport, being saved in that situation only by the fact that Sean Astin rocks. I guess that just makes the rest of the day a bit anticlimactic after all that. After you start out a day by killing Palmer, it's just all downhill from there. Day 2 had the prescience to save that exact thing for the end. Though Jack is forced to hijack a plane in this season. I guess it balances out. Let's face it: 24 is a really solid show.

Noise

   Grahh. So... many... memes. Doing research for yesterday's post. It's like every single background character has a dozen different memes devoted just to them. Making me depressed for my own stuff. Why I art. What's the point of saying anything original if anything you do is just part of the noise? Even though "noise" really only means, in communications theory, that which prevents a message from being received clearly. I'm working with a written medium here, so it's an active medium: anyone who'd want to read me would have to go out of their way to do so. As opposed to a passive medium such as television. It's not noise because it's the message you're looking for.

   Okay, better. It still won't prevent people from arriving here and not finding what they were looking for, which would be considered a form of noise (an inordinate amount of people seem to think that I've got EMP blueprints or something on this site, after this post, but man is that a frightening thought. Are you all... terrorists? Or, do you want to pull off an Ocean's 11, or, what?)

   Alright, so, as everyone who knows how George R. R. Martin feels about these kinds of things knows, he's not a big fan of fanfic, but he's alright with the fanart of his work. He says that it's better to work with your own characters. That's one way to do it. Fanart, on the other hand, is a whole 'nother animal entirely. It's just making art, but with someone else's characters. A good drawing is a good drawing. Anyone can do character design, so it's kind of overrated in that regard, (which is why, for instance, video game companies looking for character designers are actually looking to see if you can design good environments and vehicles and stuff before any actual character design), but, it's significantly harder to write your own believable character. Handling someone else's character well isn't really that hard. You've got to learn to do that with your own characters, got it?

I Don't Always

    I don't always propagate ridiculous memes, but when I do, it's because I've run out of all dignity, and afterward become severely depressed for a few days. Meh, it's worth it. So, here I am. Going through with it. I'm going through with it.

   It's still heavily debated whether it should be "Watchponies" or "Ponymen," because such a-- hold on a sec. Really? That's a debate? Oh, this is ridiculous. Am I sure that I'm really going through with this? Yes. Oh well. Ahem.

   It's still heavily debated whether it should be "Watchponies" or "Ponymen," (not that I would know personally or anything; shut up) and even the video can't seem to decide, but it's undeniable that a My Little Pony/Watchmen mashup does exist. You've probably seen this video already if you've spent any time on the internet, but, it's worth a second (or third or fourth or whatever) viewing.

 That's um... That's not bad. It's certainly quite well done. They clearly spent a lot of time and effort into getting the mouthflaps to match up. It's just made with so much love, you guys. Though it really raises the question, why? My Little Pony/ Watchmen? That's so arbitrary. Two different franchises with two different tones. Why these ones in particular? Other franchises I can see, but this is bizarrely specific, even for the internet. I suppose it could function as a "parody" of internet culture. Parody, yeah, that's it. I mean, this could definitely work, I mean just as a one-off deal, because I certainly wouldn't be able to explain the existence of more than one of these and... Aw frig there's more?

   I don't know. I really don't know. Why Pinkie Pie? Every time, it's Rorschach as Pinkie Pie. It was hilarious in the video, but it's bizarre to see it again here in an example that clearly wasn't inspired by the video (Rainbow Dash was the Comedian, and it was Applejack who was Nite Owl-- they are both voiced by Ashleigh Ball, but seeing as how the video has nothing to do with the original voice actors, it's definitely not inspired by that.) So this was two separate thought processes that led to two separate My Little Pony/ Watchmen mashups, and two separate thought processes that led to Pinkie Pie as Rorschach both times. It makes some kind of perverse kind of sense, but... Does that-- is that... I mean, that's gotta be a fanfic reference or something, right? I mean, the fanon views on-- you know what, I refuse to comment on this, since clearly it would just reveal my ignorance in the matter. I mean, if there were some other casting...

   Haha. This one... This one actually makes sense. Mare Do Well totes looks kinda like Rorschach, you guys! It might still be Pinkie here (it's not really clear in the show,) but... At least it's understandable in the context. Incidentally, that pun seems to crop up just as often, as well.

   How often does this situation come up anyway? Much more common that you'd initially assume. One or two people having the same idea, alright. More than that is kind of inexplicable. Is there anything in the source material that would suggest this amount of dedication to mashing up the two respective franchises like that? There's just a lot of people in the world, I guess, and it only takes one person to hit upon the idea initially. These guys all seem to have hit upon it individually, though; that's the scary part.

   See, this one is just baffling. And kind of awesome. Easily the coolest of the lot. But it doesn't really make sense, because Dr. Manhattan's whole shtick is being blue, naked, with a giant symbol and thing on his forehead, which- oh, is he not a unicorn? He's not a unicorn, guys. That's good. It at least kind of emphasizes the nudity. Makes him look more naked, somehow. Without the mane and everything. But, with no wings, and no horn, it doesn't really explain how the hay he's levitating. There's a reason they're called "earth ponies," you know. Maybe someone else is levitating him? Anyway, it's not really exactly uncommon to be blue and naked in this universe. Now all he's not going for him is being not a little pony, when Manhattan's all giant. Fun fact: My Little Pony is actually just a funsize spin-off from another Hasbro toy line, My Pretty Pony, hence the "little" in the smaller toys, so, maybe he's one of those then?

   Or, uh... Or not. Not's good too.

   I really need to post stuff that isn't already being done by media aggregation sites.

Chewing

Achtung! Semi-Graphic Descriptions of Vomit to Follow!

   One month ago. Throwing up after gorging myself on Independence Day weekend foodstuff. There were some kind of big chunks in there that were hard to wash out of the sink. I've been trying to eat smaller bites and chew better, but I guess I wasn't doing a very good job. I've been try to chew better lately because- wait, hold on.

(Okay now.)

   I've been trying to chew better lately because it's good to chew, I guess. I realized that it's easier to chew if you take smaller bites. Look, I've got a list.

1. Chewing makes you eat over a longer period because you eat slower, making you feel fuller sooner, so you don't overeat. You know this one.
2. Chewing releases and helps absorb unsaturated fat (the good kind of fat, apparently.)
3. Some other third thing to justify me telling you this in a list format. I guess I'll just reiterate some stuff.
4. It's easier to chew if you take smaller bites in the first place, so do that.
5. This also helps you breathe if you have restrictions against breathing through the nose.

On Inane Status Updates

   Why do people post inane updates? Crap about their relationships and stuff that no one outside that very small circle cares. I know this seems like I'm just venting, but I actually have a point to make. I though about that and realized, the status updates about stupid politics of relationships are just as important to the posters as the ones of other posters about having an awesome life. What's important is important. Some people care about the outside world, so the outside world cares about them. Others only care about the crap that's happening with their friends, so the only ones who care are their friends. The ones who do things. Post about doing stuff. These are the movers and the shakers. But for these, where much is given perhaps much is required. I suppose it's a commentary on the nature of fame.

   Another thing is that people like that post only their feelings without posting why they feel that way. Vaguebooking. People who don't give out specifics, saying only things like "you." So vague as to be meaningless. Do they realize they're making themselves contemptible? But now I... I am just venting. So sorry.

   But, um, yes. Science has finally proven that vaguebookers will never amount to anything ever.

Fun Factoid

   Modern science, even with all of its advanced technology, cannot prove the existence of more than 20 leprechauns, ever.

The Goshdarn Majesty of Goshdarn Nature

   You know right at twilight when the sun is out of sight, but there's still scattered light, making it so that the world is still perfectly visible, with no shadows as the light doesn't come from any particular direction? 

   And when, during that time, the sun is diffused by clouds, bathing everything in a surreal yellow shadowlessness? 

   And the last light of the sun is striking the clouds at such an angle that it's causing rainbows to refract?

   And it's a double rainbow? 

Based on cryptic references to that phrase on the internet, that's, like, a shock site or something, right? If you're going to do an image search on that, use SafeSearch, just in case.

   And there's a lightning storm going on at the same time?

I understandably couldn't get a picture of any lightning from that, but picture this, but with more yellow.

   Such was yesterday's sunset.

Official Trailer HD

   The trailer for the On Our Own remake, now officially titled "Collapse," is in. Does that make sense as a sentence? I think it does. Okay, how's this: The trailer for "Collapse," the remake of... No, that still runs into the same problems. "Collapse," the On Our Own remake,'s trailer is in. Gruhhh, all right. That's decent. So, I'm telling you about this now.

   Okay, it makes sense that I didn't get this earlier because the director uploaded it to his son's YouTube channel, because, as the director put it, "he has almost 8,000 subscribers and my channel has 3." Makes sense to me. (Who knew you could get so many subscribers as a review channel for Korean Pop music? K-pop does rock, but still. Are there... bigger channels out there, devoted primarily to stuff like this? Looking at it, they're actually one of the biggest. Huh.)

   My name's not in the credits, but be on the lookout for things I told you about in the production diaries.

 

   Civilization unravels as the nation is gripped by a widespread economic catastrophe. Without market distribution, supplies dwindle, and the truth of human nature is revealed when the thin veil of order as we know it is stripped away in the absence of authority.

   Two young brothers find themselves orphaned in a world where the rules of society are superseded by the need to survive. Forced from their home, 14-year-old Luke must protect his young brother from looters, gangs, hunger, and 1,200 miles of wilderness which stand between them and safety.

   Luke and Scott face heartbreaking decisions and ethical questions as they struggle to find the will to keep each other going.

   "Collapse" is an independent dramatic feature film produced in northern Nevada. The film is scheduled to be completed in October 2012, and screened at select festivals in 2013.

The Universal Angle

   I've done even more thinking. What do we do? To return to Aurora now that we have Oak Creek. It would seem callous not to return at all. There is still much to be said about it, isn't there? It's hard to relate to the more recent tragedy than the last one, or even the one before that. Tuscon, Toronto, Aurora, Oak Creek. Oak Creek may or may not be just senseless domestic terrorism, which is an unfortunate part of our lives but hopefully widespread dissemination this incident will make people realize that Sikhism had nothing to do with Islam. Tucson is back in the news, with Loughner pleading guilty. I guess it's just natural to revisit these.

   Tucson, that affected us. Aurora affected us. Going to temple to worship is different from going to the cinema to see Batman, is different from going to a political rally to see your representatives is different from going to the Eaton Centre Mall food-court to get a drink. All these we can relate to: politics, worship, the arts. Food especially.

   The universal, then; maybe I was wrong to go for the personal angle. We don't need things that separate us; we need things that connect us. Mutual experiences and feelings that we had on it. What we thought when we heard the news, making sense out of the senseless. Some men just want to watch the world burn. I know that I thought it; I know that you thought it. That this would be the equivalent of Heath Ledger, terrible as it is.

   Here's the part where I wrap it up, but I have nothing else to say.

Is There Life on Maaaars?

   Oh, man... I was so excited about this, but I decided to wait until after I posted my promised post. It would have tied together so beautifully with current events and everything, how I had commented on the Sikh temple shooting and then this happened. I couldn't really find a way to tie it together elseways, though, with my Journeyman post, so I didn't and just posted the post I promised you. But now I realize that this totally ties into Life on Mars. Because, well, you know.

Still Highly Specific, Slightly More Prolific Than I Had Thought, Still Equal Parts Entertaining and Unsucessful

   A continuation/addendum to post A Highly Specific, Highly Prolific, Highly Entertaining Yet Highly Unsuccessful Genre.

   Journeyman. Another gripping, emotionally complex time-travel mystery police detective post-Lost American drama show that couldn't make it out of one season. This show, like Awake, is also brought to us by NBC, which only proves my point how they drop shows like fresh beats (though NBC isn't the only one guilty of dropping a gripping, emotionally complex time-travel mystery police detective post-Lost American drama show (even though time travel aspects of Awake are debatable and it really might all be happening in Jason Isaac's head, but it could be argued time travel and that's really my point) and most of the major networks are equally if not more guilty of this (ABC, natch, since they're the network behind Lost and their following of the leader is the most excusable) I'm talking specifically about NBC right now (CBS doesn't have, like, any gripping, emotionally complex time-travel mystery police detective post-Lost American drama shows. What's up with that?)) Anyway, NBC.

   I had specifically brought up the Cape last time because it was a show designed to pick up those flagging ratings, but also couldn't make it out of a season. (No time travel in this one... or at least none in the first and only season; maybe they were planning on expanding the superhero mythos later on.) It's baffling how NBC orders groundbreaking experimental new shows to pick up flagging ratings and then drops then if it takes a while for said experimental shows to find viewership. Seriously, they didn't do that with Law and Order even though it initially had poor ratings. NBC stuck with it until people got used to the then-revolutionary idea of combining lawyer and cop genres like that, and now it's one of the most successful television franchises of all time. That worked out, in the end. But generally they've been skittish after the infamous "no-hitter" year of '83. You'd think they'd learn to be either bolder or more conservative and then stick with it, but they go from one extreme to another. Anyway, Journeyman.

   I was nebulously aware of this show when I first posted A Highly Specific, Highly Prolific, Highly Entertaining Yet Highly Unsuccessful Genre, but I had just figured it to be a docudrama based around the bestselling Journeyman Project series of video games (yes, seriously). This is one of those scenarios in which it would have been better for me to have been an outsider to the sci-fi field/industry, as there obviously would have been no chance of me making that mistake had I never heard of the Journeyman Project.

   So, now that I know that the show also belongs in that category, I have to review it separately from Awake and the other shows from that post. To get its own post, this had better be the best of the lot. 

   It is.

   The series revolves around Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd), a journalist for the San Francisco Register who finds himself suddenly plagued by unexplained headaches. These apparently trigger warps through time, where he tracks and must help people through various stages of their lives. The casting director here is to be commended, as the characters throughout the stages of their lives are very believably casted timeshifted actors.

   Dan does his best to help out those he's tracking to see where these people are at in life in the present to find and fix whatever's broken, using his own connections in the newspaper agency, his cop brother Jack (Reed Diamond), and judicious use of Finder-Spyder. The time travel mechanics as he tracks people and changes the past are secondary to the drama going on in Dan's life; that being said, it would seem to be a mutable timeline, with some element of fate over all of Dan's shifts. The word destiny is never explicitly dropped, but it seems to be a prevalent theme. "My life is slipping through my hands, and you're talking about some kind of order to all this. All I see is chaos."

   Back at home in the present, Dan has to deal with the fact that his shifts are interrupting his work life at the newspaper and his home life with his son Zack and wife Katie (Gretchen Egolf), as well as his aforementioned brother Jack, who used to be engaged to Katie and still might have feelings for her. When Dan begins shifting, Jack suspects him to be gambling again, or worse. Try as Dan might, he can't seem to convince him of the shifts. Katie knows his secret, though, and Zack kind of accidentally sees him warp one time. Dan's warps happen at the most inopportune of moments, straining the relationship between him and Katie, who is at least understanding because she knows that Dan really can't control when he goes.

   Throw in the wrinkle of Livia Beale (Moon Bloodgood), Dan's ex-fiance who was thought to have died in a plane crash but transpires to be warping through time too, and who is herself tracking Dan with her time shifts. Although initially Katie is suspicious of this development, she trusts Dan.

   Moon Bloodgood plays this part with-... Wait. What the heck? Moonbloodgood? Are all gripping, emotionally complex time-travel mystery police detective post-Lost American drama shows conspiring to be connected somehow? Anyway, she's, like, Moon Bloodgood. I don't even need to tell you. She was in Day Break. Which was similar. It was on the list at number one, but now at number 2. Pushed down. Which, right, the list. Needs to be adjusted to fit Journeyman, now, doesn't it?

   So, here's the complete updated list of all of the gripping, emotionally complex time-travel mystery police detective post-Lost American drama shows that only lasted one season, with footnotes.

• Journeyman~ † (NBC, 2007, 13 episodes)

• Day Break~ (ABC, 2006, 13 episodes)

• Awake* †  (NBC, 2012, 13 episodes)

• Life on Mars † (ABC, 2008-2009, 17 episodes) 

• Alcatraz ‡ (FOX, 2012, 13 episodes) 

• FlashForward* †  ‡ (ABC, 2009-2010, 22 episodes) 

• Terra Nova † (FOX, 2011, 11 episodes)

~ Has Moon Bloodgood

* Time travel themes present with no actual time travel, with timeline split (Awake) or visions of the future (FlashForward.)

† Main character American not played by American (Kevin McKidd, Jason Isaacs, Joseph Fiennes, and Jason O'Mara twice.)

‡ Major character played by Lost actor (Jorge Garcia and Dominic Monaghan.)

Beginning to Sound Familiar

   Another mass shooting. I'd leave it alone, as I'm more of a pop culture type blogging guy, but this is too too soon on the heels of the last one (which did have something to do with pop culture), and, ah man, I really like Sikhs. What's up with that? Though I really can't see anyone being able to say for sure. It'd be too easy to assume motive for the killers, too easy to assume they want fame or infamy and for us to share their names. Too easy to assume that the victims would want their stories told, that they weren't the sort of people who were private about their lives. Too easy just to talk about it and say that everything's too easy.

   I know I've been guilty about these assumptions in the past, at least in passing reference, but I've had time to do more thinking and research on the subject. You do something, you follow through with it. Here's my follow-through.

   More follow-through: the thing I'm hopefully going to post tomorrow; the fact that the reason I had to backdate last post was because I was waiting to see if the official film trailer would come out, for me to post, like it was supposed to yesterday; the reason that my post being backdated is somewhat appropriate because my next post has to do with time travel (but maybe that's giving too much away already); Dolly Parton is still alive, and I don't think anyone at all believed when I claimed otherwise. Though I sure hope I sent them scrambling to verify that.

Sorry... More Backdating

   I said yesterday that I would do a followup post today. Well, now that would be yesterday. "Today," I mean. I mean, I said the day before yesterday that I would do a followup post yesterday, but to you it would seem to be today. Well, no, because it would never seem to be today because that is already yesterday.

   What I mean to say is, in Friday, August third's post, I said that I would do a followup post on Saturday, August fourth. It is already Sunday the fifth but I am backdating this post so that it is the fourth's post. I was held up from doing my actual August fourth post (this one) on the fourth because I was called into filming unexpectedly. More motorcycle stuff; the only thing really exciting about today's shoot is that it's the last really big shoot of the film.

   I guess I'm going to have to do the promised post today, that is, not yesterday (this post.)

What Hands Do

Preston Blair shows how it's done. (In his Disney-animated cartoon sort of way, of course.) Scan taken from James Gurney's awesome wonderful art blog, Gurney Journey; post: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/03/drawing-cartoon-hands.html

   It's interesting to note what people do with their hands. We humans are bipedal, giving up the quadrupedal gait for one in which we can use our front appendages for grasping and whatnot. What do we do with our hands when we're not grasping is fascinating. Cupping, folding our arms, letting them hang down by the side. It's good practice to (discretely?) sketch the hands of those around you, on the bus or subway or at church or work or-- you get the idea. I say discretely so that people don't notice you're sketching them and pose- that would defeat the purpose of the exercise, which is capturing the hand in its natural environment.

SO MANY HANDS. And that's not nearly all of the sketches I did. Still, this many hands wouldn't take that long-- see a pose, sketch it, see a pose, sketch it. It gives you something to do, and you get excellent practice time in.

   I've been working on this technique for a while now; it's the technique I told you about all the way back in May, here, (back when Adam was still among us!) Sorry. Sometimes that can still hit, like... well, not like a brick per se, but, still, it's weird.

   You can see the technique there, how I start out with a more flattened-bell-shaped palm then get a feel for the positioning of the digits. Getting the position of fingers and wrist is the most important part, along with the relative location of the other hand if they're interacting at all.

   Well, I guess I'm off of animation techniques for a while. Tomorrow, a follow-up of something else from around that time period. Don't miss out. (And if you do, you can just go back and read in the archives. Whatever, mmm.)

Animation Techniques, Part II

   Practicing. Character models being honed in on. It's not enough to have talent if you don't have technique. I've got skills, but I clearly don't know how to use them. Talent is application of technique. I think I heard someone say recently. Within a few months. Other//half could be up and running within a few years. (I bring this up because it could be sooner, but I doubt anyone's going to care before then. I mean, really, I could start it today. You can start your own webcomic today! ComicPress for WordPress free download! Technology is amazing!) So, we build up our cred first. One project at a time. You have to space these things out, give them time to grow naturally. Take breaks. So, one project at a time, with breaks in between in which you can work on other projects? Other projects. Wasn't I editing Persistence of Memory? It's August now. Only three months left till NaNoWriMo. Should have it then.

   I've been reading a lot of animation technique books lately. I talked about Ollie and Frank yesterday. Today's examples come from Preston Blair's excellent Walter Foster-series books on animation (I know!). I spoke yesterday of technique differences between cartoon art and animation techniques. Even in the realms of non-animation, there's still some good technique tricks and a lot you can learn from it. Action lines, silhouettes, framing of subjects, body types that speak about what kind of archetype the character is.

   For movement (in this case posing of movement) to be fluid and believable there has to be a "line of action" running down the length of the figure's body. This line flows through the pose and binds the movement together into one continuous idea of action.

   Action and character has to be clear through the silhouette of the figure. If you have someone, say, writing a letter, you have to draw that in profile, meaning not with the pencil (or pen or quill or whatever) hunched up in front of their frame. If it's not in profile like that, it's not immediately clear what's going on, and the impact is lost.

   There's many other techniques to be learned. It's kind of overwhelming at first. They say learn one thing at a time, master it, move onto something else. This requires a sort of methodical patience, but, if you have the ability to always surprise yourself, you'll see results soon enough.

Once, or Twenty-Four Times a Second

   Why don't I do much fanart like I used to?

Fanarts of animated characters, I mean.

   I used to do many animated character fanarts, but then I realized, I just drew a character. A character that an animator had to draw 24 of (in slightly different poses) per second! You take so long, put so much love into your art, but even the highest ideal, having it be on-model, only matches that flash-by. There's other concerns on animation here. Fluidity of movement. Here it's just a still frame, so all you have to worry about is being on model. Figure, it takes me a few minutes to get the gist of a character down, about half an hour to make it not be off-model, maybe longer to finesse it if I really wanted to.

Case in point: I didn't take my time with these, as I only had 24 hours to do this entire comic, and even then I wasn't really paying attention what with all the other stuff that day, so, I guess I'm justified here? That's a well in the first panel foreground there, thanks for asking.

   What took me 30 minutes to do, the animators had to do 24 of, in a second. Doing the math, that means that animators are, on average, 43200 times faster at drawing than I am. That's how that works, right?

   With a character or prop or whatever up on cellulose, it flashes by like that. When it's down on paper, though, it's meant to be studied. An entirely different style of drawing between animation and non-animation? Well, quite probably. Out of Frank and Ollie's iconic twelve principles of animation, only three or four of them are really applicable to art and design. The rest are in the animation itself: timing, overlapping action, going from pose to pose...  Having the character act with their movement. With still images, as in a comics sequence, you can understandably only show part of a sequence of moment at a time. However, continuity doesn't matter nearly as much here, which definitely allows the artist to get lazy...

It's FORESHORTENING, guys. His head and everything. That's why  he's so... not tall-looking in that panel.

...but, it also allows the artist to make up for the lack of mime through unparalleled use of color and line, as well as specific framing: close ups, angles, backgrounds... There's a wealth of techniques to be explored.

   Solid construction of characters is important, like Frank and Ollie say. Characters must hold appeal to the audience. Yes. But comics has to separate itself from animation on other matters; with only one panel to work with, not animating frames in real time, you have to learn to utilize unique metaphor. A comic panel ofttimes must depict that which is not literally there. In animation, you can capture the sweep of the scene, action and reaction. But it is more necessary to squeeze action and reaction onto a single panel in comics, in order to preserve the timing that would naturally be there as part of animation's nature! Good animation requires exaggeration of movement, good cartoon (for want of a better term) requires exaggeration of spacetime itself!

As seen in the fact that I'm clearly not trying to pad out my lack of expertise in the subject matter through use of these images over and over again.

   To paraphrase Jean-Luc Godard, the truth comes in 24 frames a second; lies lie there on the paper to be soaked in.

   In the whole, animated-characters-vs.-comic-art-characters fanart transition thing, I guess I'm just shifting my style of visual metaphor right now? Sure, that makes sense.

Yep, it's all right there in the- the metaphor there. Yep.