Weekly Comic: The Magical Belly Button

Belly button lint inspired this latest comic.  I don’t always find lint in my belly button but when I do I get more excited than I probably should.  It’s so much f*ing fun digging it out!  Calm down Ben. Anyway, the comic that follows is all about a dude with a totally gnarly navel.

The Magical Bellybutton

The Creative Process
I noticed that I had done my last two comics in a horizontal format and while I think that works great for web-based comics, I wanted to try something a little different this time.  I like how it came out.  I thumbnailed this one on a piece of scrap paper I found at my parents house and from there I just went right into the pencils.  Very quick turnaround for this one.

What I Like
I love the first two panels.  That’s me getting ready for a shower and playing with my belly button.  I think I captured the boredom waiting for the shower to heat up and then the surprise at pulling a treasure chest out of your belly button really well.  Also, I love that last panel.  It was just straight fun to draw and the word balloon?  I don’t know.  It’s silly and I love it.

What I Wish I Did Differently
Looking at in on a computer screen I can’t help but notice that there’s tons of pencil everywhere.  I need to maybe go back and start erasing?  Actually I really probably need to use a lighter pencil.  Up to this point I’ve been using some your standard #2 pencil…  Also, the ballpoint pen just isn’t working anymore.  I want to experiment with different line widths, thus I bought a pack of technical pens that I’m hoping will help improve some of my detail work.

I regret not putting a title on this comic.  I think panels three, four, and five need some work.  I could have put a ton more detail in there.  Lastly, I’d like to try working with a longer narrative instead of these one-and-dones.

Final Thoughts
I think this is my best comic yet.  It’s clear and concise and it was really fun to draw.  Other than that… I learned that drawing boats is freaking hard and that I still really need to work on perspective.  And basically everything else…  But I have new pens!  We’ll see what happens with that madness.  And I’m going to try to find an eraser.

Let me know what you guys think!

Advertisements

Weekly Comics – How to Tick Off a Dragon

Oh yeah!  Check it out it’s the second installment of my Weekly Comics series!  This time I’ve got an awesome comic that’s been stewing in my head for nearly a year now, its first iteration done on a piece of receipt paper at my horrible restaurant job.  It’s great to finally get it out there for world to see.

How to Tick Off a Dragon

The Creative Process
This comic took forever to thumbnail.  I could not figure out what I wanted to do for my first panel.  Initially I had imagined a squire stumbling upon a bunch of knights getting torn to pieces by this dragon here, but I just couldn’t make it work.  Again, I probably redrew the thumbnails 6 times or so, and that first panel at least a dozen times.  Finally I just broke down and drew something to set the scene, a dragon flambéing some knights.

What I Like
I really like how the first panel turned out, and I think I drew the dragon pretty darn consistently up until the very last panel.  I love the expression of my timid knight in the third panel and the way the dragon looks in the fourth and fifth panels.  I also like how the speech bubble breaks the panel borders at the end.  Overall I think I did a fine job with the pacing and created something that’s both readable and kinda funny.  To me at least.  Heh.

What I Wish I Did Differently
The last panel with the dragon… Gah I wish i drew that differently.  I wish I had either gotten rid of the flames or showed more of his face or something!  It just looks weird as is.  Also I wish I had utilized the space on the page more… efficiently.  I would have made the panels bigger and maybe moved the title somewhere else.  I would aslo have made the title cooler, maybe using fancy medieval style lettering.  Lastly, I probably would have made the dragon more dragon-y.  Maybe giving it wings or making it look less like a dinosaur.  I dunno.

Final Thoughts
Honestly I think this is much much better than my first comic.  I utilize the majority of the space on the page and the story has a clear beginning, middle, and end.  I think. I draw things a bit more consistently, and… yeah, I think it’s pretty ok.  I tstill need to improve my materials I think, and not use a ballpoint pen for inking.

Let me know what you think!  What do I need to work on?  Help me help myself team!