I am tempted to go and do my own comics for each of the challenges. Anyone want to face off? The problem is I have to mentally trust myself not to think ahead to what they will be. I almost would have to wait until the show comes out, get someone to give me the words, and then make my comic. Then after 90 minutes I can watch the episode
For the Make-a-Strip panel at PAX East, Mike & Jerry actually did the Strip Search challenge. I thought it was a bit of a cop out that they immediately came up with a visual gag, zero dialogue. Still pretty funny panel though. I watched it on Twitch.tv after coming home from PAX.
I want the final showdown to have each artist create a team out of the eliminated artists (Two teams of 6 led by the finalists) and then do something awesome, like in the Apprentice.
While Amy did end up winning the t-shirt design contest and getting a Cintiq, I feel I was right and calling her skills for arting and creating a comic were on par.
Maki's made me laugh out loud, even with all the dialogue. Art was solid and the expression on the dude's face in the final panel was great.
These next few weeks are going to get even crazier.
Same as the alternate panel 5 with the drowning joke, except there is also a dead fish there implying she hallucinated the mermaid.
This is the most awesome. I'd be up for a comic challenge, if anyone wants to do it live. We both click on "random wikipedia page" link and then set ourselves 90 minutes to finish. There's no need to do the same challenge as the actual show.
I used the same method for writing an entire song in an hour. The page was the 1984 Africa Athletics Championship. I wrote a song from the point of view of Abdi Bile, the sprinter who took second place in the 100m final. In that case it was a jumping off point, but you could keep clicking until you got a more general single topic.
Some really funny banter. Once you understand Mike and Jerry's main job is just to make stuff harder for the contestants, it just gets funnier and funnier. I wondered why they left in so much of Mike eating the cookies, but it became obvious as soon as Jerry started drinking the comic. The one-upmanship and the 100% dedication to the gag made for comedy gold.
As we watch it Juliane and I constantly hit pause to share our opinions. Relevant comments while they were still drawing:
"All I see from Amy are characters. Where are the mermaids?" Which later reflected the judges' opinions.
Me: "wait, did you see Maki's panels? They already made me laugh out loud!" Just seeing the mermaids with ukeleles and the next panel of the captain and the Flying V guitar made me giggle. I said "Amy's dialogue is going to have to be super funny for her to stand a chance."
Of course this feedback was repeated by the judges too. Maki deserved to win more than any other winner so far, that I remember.
What made it so clear is that, without those last two speech bubbles, this is the first challenge comic that not only made me laugh, but would make me laugh even without me knowing it was a challenge comic with two specific words to be included. Those panels, and the amazing visual joke and storytelling, is as good as any web comic or other comic I've seen. It could have been an idea someone worked on for a week, as part of a weekly strip. Of course, it would have been artistcally executed to a better level, but the joke is just so good!
Also I've been reading a few of the various artists' comics recently and like... damn I wish there was more of all of that coming out in the show because damn.
Maki seems like a bit of a buzz saw in the elimination room. This makes him very dangerous. I'm not sure anyone will figure it out before it's too late. I still really hope Lexxy wins, however.
Maki blew that shit out of the water. I liked Amy for the first few episodes but I was pretty much done with her after last week, so it may be time to jump on the Maki bandwagon. For 90 minutes, that comic was not just funny, but actually looked really good. The man has the skills.
That's the amazing thing, right? From the very first shot over his shoulder of the captain, I was super impressed. Nobody else on the challenge has done that much shading and colour work right from the start, and it made it look super professional even if some of the body shapes were a bit off. And the expressions on the mermaids' faces were delightful.
I really want the final challenge to be between Tavis and Lexxy again. That would be awesome.
Juliane started catching up with some older episodes and checked out all the artists' web pages. I'd looked through a few, and already knew of Maki's comics before, but I'd not seen all of them.
Anyway, I only knew Abby from the show, and her art skills aren't great compared to other in the house. But her web comic is as funny as fuck. It's the only comic where we were laughing out loud as we read through each one. Her arts aren't great, but in an elimination challenge that could work in her favor by her cracking out a nice long strip with a fun story and twist in 90 minutes, as her style doesn't involve colour or complex backgrounds.
Am I the only person who only knew the term tangent in terms of math, not art? I got what Mike was saying when he first pointed Abby's tangent out, but I don't think I'd have noticed it if he didn't call attention to it. I may be the abnormal one here, as while I enjoy art, I don't have any fine appreciation for it. I could tell you if I like something or not, but don't care enough to have developed the critical lingo to say why (or to know if those are "good" reasons).
Am I the only person who only knew the term tangent in terms of math, not art?
No, I never knew it as an art term, then again I'm not an art person so it's not so surprising. I found a blog that explained them pretty well and after seeing those examples I can really understand why they would bother the hell out of another art person. To me it's just something that's a little off.
I have no idea what a tangent in art is. At least by any technical definition. I'll check out the above link when I am done going through final screening for my job at the Post Office.
Comments
Maki's made me laugh out loud, even with all the dialogue. Art was solid and the expression on the dude's face in the final panel was great.
These next few weeks are going to get even crazier.
Those are all great ideas Scott.
Some really funny banter. Once you understand Mike and Jerry's main job is just to make stuff harder for the contestants, it just gets funnier and funnier. I wondered why they left in so much of Mike eating the cookies, but it became obvious as soon as Jerry started drinking the comic. The one-upmanship and the 100% dedication to the gag made for comedy gold.
As we watch it Juliane and I constantly hit pause to share our opinions. Relevant comments while they were still drawing:
"All I see from Amy are characters. Where are the mermaids?" Which later reflected the judges' opinions.
Me: "wait, did you see Maki's panels? They already made me laugh out loud!" Just seeing the mermaids with ukeleles and the next panel of the captain and the Flying V guitar made me giggle. I said "Amy's dialogue is going to have to be super funny for her to stand a chance."
Of course this feedback was repeated by the judges too. Maki deserved to win more than any other winner so far, that I remember.
What made it so clear is that, without those last two speech bubbles, this is the first challenge comic that not only made me laugh, but would make me laugh even without me knowing it was a challenge comic with two specific words to be included. Those panels, and the amazing visual joke and storytelling, is as good as any web comic or other comic I've seen. It could have been an idea someone worked on for a week, as part of a weekly strip. Of course, it would have been artistcally executed to a better level, but the joke is just so good!
Anyway, that's all I'll put for now.
Oh well, I'm still curious if I could do it.
I definitely agree with the decision to eliminate Amy, she barely incorporated the ideas from the basket.
Why didn't she do anything remotely like this in the competition?
I will not miss her.
In any case, I like Amy and it's a pity to see her go, but the choice to eliminate her was obvious.
I really want the final challenge to be between Tavis and Lexxy again. That would be awesome.
Anyway, I only knew Abby from the show, and her art skills aren't great compared to other in the house. But her web comic is as funny as fuck. It's the only comic where we were laughing out loud as we read through each one. Her arts aren't great, but in an elimination challenge that could work in her favor by her cracking out a nice long strip with a fun story and twist in 90 minutes, as her style doesn't involve colour or complex backgrounds.
edit: here be the blog! http://curiousoldlibrary.blogspot.ca/2011/10/schweizer-guide-to-spotting-tangents.html
In my design books, they're just called "false groupings" or "false relationships."