Timewaster's Guide Archive

Hysterical.  It would have to come after the store's purpose and clientele were well established, but that would be awesome.

I definitely agree with using original characters instead of forum members.

As for the 2-3 hours a week drawing thing.  I think it's a bit much.  We could drop that down to reasonable if we went with a cut and paste format as follows:
My proposal is that we start producing character drawings with the nine angle you were talking about. We make 5 or 6 and fiddle with them so we all get an idea of the "style" so we can make new ones look like they fit.  We then make a page or a photobucket account or whatever where they are freely downloadable to our contributors.  The contributors then make the comics, using the stock drawings and their own text, and submit them.  If they're funny, we post them.

This would allow us to try and insist that they all fit the context we choose (shop in mall, publishing house, whatever) or we could just see what random comics/story arcs come out of it. 

If Sprigg got really ambitious maybe he could code up something that allowed contributors to craft the panels, place the text and picture where they wanted them, on the web.

It seems to me that Salvatore is approaching the difference between descriptive language and evocative language.  There is no communication without shared imagery and concepts.  What is different from writer to writer and from reader to reader is the version or flavor if you will of the thing described.  Someone from Norway will have a very different picture in their head from the description "sun-soaked doorway" than someone from Egypt.  But they both know what a doorway is and they both know what the sun and its effects look like.  The norwegian will probably think happier thoughts about that sun-soaked doorway because the sun is a source of warmth for him, but the Egyptian might associate sun-soaking with dehydration and death.

So for the Norwegian, happy summertime is evoked while for the Egyptian grim death by the elements is evoked.

So how does this affect one's story?  If the doorway needs to be a happy one for the story to work, it might not work for the Egyptian and he'll stop reading.  But if the story goes into great detail on the door it will probably bring how the two readers feel about the door into closer alignment.

Reading a story that relies on description rather than evocation is a very different experience than vice versa.  One is usually much faster paced than the other, as someone else has already pointed out.  I enjoy some stories in both camps.

Seems to me that deliberately choosing one or the other in any given situation is simply another tool in the well-rounded writer's toolbox for manipulating the reader.

Gaming store in the mall next to a comic shop? With the people from the clothing and gadget stores making appearances, as well as all the funky mall people.  Mall walkers, teen mall rats, homeless people who sit on the benches all day during the winter,  endless possibilities.

I think an initial investment in more than a couple of character sketches will pay big dividends in how easy it will be for people to contribute strip ideas.

Giving them characters is like giving them tools.  The more the better.

But I may be underestimating the effort needed to profile these characters.

Ooh, and an excellent example of a strip where the artist uses the same profiles over and over (with minor changes occasionally) to good effect is http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/current/index.html

I think vector is the way to go.  However I don't think it's possible to come up with a unified style.  At least not in any timely fashion.  So we'll have to plan on working with three, maybe more, distinct styles.  Work it into the concept from the beginning.

Maybe having certain characters assigned to a specific artist each time.  Artist 1 always draws Joe the Cat while artist 2 always draws Maggie the Blender, even when they're talking to each other.  We could probably unify this after just a couple of iterations using photoshop filters  and adapting to a middle ground.

Or cycling the comic from one artist to the next by week.  One does the whole thing one week, another does the whole thing the next.

Just brainstorming here.

Where is Jeff anyway.  I haven't seen him posting recently.