Hey Dave, I’m replying up here to make sure you see this:
There’s a piece of comic-creation software I’ve had my eye on — Manga Maker ComiPo, on Steam — and it’s normally $50 but right now (for like two more days) it’s on pretty much the best Steam sale you can get: 80% off, so that $50 software is knocked down to a mere $10. (Sale ends at like 10 AM Pacific Standard Time, Friday, if I understand the countdown right.)
I don’t know what sort of software you use but I hope you’ll take a look at it. I put it on my wishlist a long time ago because even though the normal price is way out of my budget, I know Steam sales make things far more reasonable, and the software itself looks like it’d make a bunch of comic-creation fiddly bits (like word balloons) a lot faster and easier to mess with.
Even if you end up making blank squares with word balloons or something and drawing the rest in a different program, it might be worth the investment. Same if you use the program to create certain elements but hand-draw or Paint or GIMP the rest. If it does actually work well, it should reduce the amount of time it takes you to put everything together (once you get used to it, obviously). And I believe it’ll also allow you a variety of background elements as well. I happen to enjoy your hand-made backgrounds quite a lot, but there’s always useful things to be done with new tools.
So, take a look at it and see if it might help you. Cheers!
Thanks for the heads-up. I currently use Illustrator and Photoshop plus a sketchpad for the comics, so I’m set on software. I’m honestly not sure I’d get much use out of Comipo anyway, from the video it looks like it only allows it’s own pre-made character templates.
You know your own process best and each artist is different, but since the subject has come up I thought you might be interested in how someone else does it.
I went ahead and bought it, but I won’t be able to give it a try for several hours, so my feedback will likely be too late for decision-making purposes. But I’m assuming — and I hope I’m not wrong — that you can create/import your own resources.
The elements seem like RPG Maker or Charas Project in that they’re professionally-designed pieces that are made to fit together across a wide variety of other pieces, so that people who don’t have artistic skill can still make use of the provided resources, but in RPG Maker you can import your own resources and I expect the same thing with ComiPo.
Also, just had to skim through the EULA and it seems nicer than many others. It’s short and to the point, it makes it clear that the company has copyright over the software and not the things created from the software (and didn’t seem to have a “no commercial products can be made with this software” clause like one piece of video-creation software I had been considering), and it allows use on two computers instead of just one, which isn’t great but is better than many other ones that seem to think you’d actually pay fifty bucks per computer in your household (yeah right). Being EULA-free to install it on both our computers does simplify my life without any added stress or guilt, so that’s good.
She seems less like she’s bouncing/bounding in panel 5, and more like she’s gliding over, without a care in the world (save for that care of rubbing her dad & others of her species in Amanda’s face)
Still can’t determine if Selkie is actually herding Andi into snapping at Amanda, or not… it IS something kids that age would do: They’re vicious like that.
And, like any parent would say “My kid won’t do that”, I’d love to believe Selkie didn’t do that… but still…
1: I suspect she is often terrible to her friends in an effort to find out if they, too, will leave her. (And if they do, well, now she knows that she was right not to trust them and to be terrible to them.)
2: Especially terrible to Selkie, who is A: Different, and B: got a lot of attention when Amanda probably could’ve used it (both legitimately and Little Kid Entitledly).
This leads right into 3: Amanda has been terrible to Selkie, and then went and was rubbing her New Mom in the faces of her enemies — as a kind of status symbol, and not just “I am EXCITE!” ((Note: yeah, yeah, it should be “excited.” Current slang in my neck of Twitter/LiveJournal drops the D.)
So is Selkie going to weaponize her dad in an attempt to one-up Amanda in Who Has The Coolest Parent?
Heck, yeahs. She might’ve been able to shrug off orphanage-Amanda, but parented-Amanda is now on the same “status level” and is being a git about it. DEPLOY THE WEAPONIZED PARENT! PARENTDOME! TWO PARENTS ENTER, ONE PARENT LEAVES! FIRE THE WAVE-MOTION PARENT!
*kind of hopes that Andi will manage to oozle out of this encounter somehow, or at least she and Todd can have their blow-up away from everyone else*
I am mildly concerned that having the blow-up at maximum stress levels is going to lead to some things getting said that are not actually meant, and will be on the level of “mudbloods”.
I think this is a possibility largely because the other Sarnothi are present.
I don’t actually think one instance of an epithet in a heated moment is indicative of a serious problem, however much this is played up in shows and stuff. But it can certainly escalate things beyond the intensity they’d been showing until that point, and it can drive wedges where wedges didn’t need to be.
Yeah, looks like Dave copped a weasel-out, and weaseled out of committing to the yellow dress for the whole page. You and Nevil Chamberlain, Dave. Appeasement! Yellow won, right? Fair and square.
Dude, she was wearing a coat. It’s cold outside in the comic. Selkie can’t handle cold. Therefore, she wears a winter coat over her dress. Traditionally, children only have 1 winter coat. Hers is purple.
Thus, this strip has her taking off her coat, revealing which dress won. And now, we know, so she’ll be wearing the yellow dress until the next day. This is hardly going to be the only strip with the yellow dress.
I love how, for Amanda, Selkie at her ultra-creepiest is absolutely un-faze-worthy. There’s something to be said for familiarity, even when it’s someone you don’t like.
I’ve been following this comic for years, but it never occurred to me how closely Selkie resembles a shark until the last three panels of today’s strip. I can only wonder why…
It’s not just Amanda–how does Andi feel about Tod choosing the fish freak over his own daughter? Andi is more sympathetic/guilty about the situation, but so far Selkie hasn’t exactly been making a good impression.
i dont think andi has made the link between amanda’s snarky comments and todd passing her over for selkie, and its not like he went in looking for someone who would pass as his daughter, he wanted to help give a child a home, he saw selkie needing that more than amanda
Yeah, Todd didn’t know about any of the stuff in Amanda’s life. He’s had to make his decisions with the information he has had, and that information weighted things in Selkie’s favor.
are you sure that ir won’t end in a WELL of TEARS? i foresee A LOT of tears being shed here soonish…
Amanda for finding out Todd is her Bio-Dad and that he bypassed her to adopt Selkie, Selkie for finding out she has AMANDA for her ?step-sister? by adoption? (not sure exactly how to quantify the genealogical path (yes, I’m blatantly ignoring the whole ‘different species’ thing, just like Dennis Quaid and Louis Gosset Jr. did, in Enemy Mine), Andi for getting caught flat-footed, AGAIN… as well as for finding out that there are MORE people like Selkie around… The De’Madieas for being told that this is NOT a Smorgasboard… and the OCTOPUS, for not getting all the attention that (S)he wants, because the act will be interrupted by Suko diving in to get to it … 😀
Once the truth comes out, Selkie & Amanda are SISTERS – period. They’re going to purely hate that. As Todd’s biological daughter, that makes them sisters (granted, by adoption, but look at Todd’s own siblings).
Okay, this isn’t really related to today’s comic but~I have a question for you Dave. I’ve noticed in the last couple of comics, the De’Madieas (sorry if I spelled that wrong) don’t have webbed hands but Selkie does? Since they live(d) in water shouldn’t they all have that, or does the webbed hand thing vary among clans?
Also, I’m really loving the fear in Andi’s eyes >:3
I may have chortled loudly when I saw Andy’s expression! Is it Friday yet?
Hey Dave, I’m replying up here to make sure you see this:
There’s a piece of comic-creation software I’ve had my eye on — Manga Maker ComiPo, on Steam — and it’s normally $50 but right now (for like two more days) it’s on pretty much the best Steam sale you can get: 80% off, so that $50 software is knocked down to a mere $10. (Sale ends at like 10 AM Pacific Standard Time, Friday, if I understand the countdown right.)
I don’t know what sort of software you use but I hope you’ll take a look at it. I put it on my wishlist a long time ago because even though the normal price is way out of my budget, I know Steam sales make things far more reasonable, and the software itself looks like it’d make a bunch of comic-creation fiddly bits (like word balloons) a lot faster and easier to mess with.
Even if you end up making blank squares with word balloons or something and drawing the rest in a different program, it might be worth the investment. Same if you use the program to create certain elements but hand-draw or Paint or GIMP the rest. If it does actually work well, it should reduce the amount of time it takes you to put everything together (once you get used to it, obviously). And I believe it’ll also allow you a variety of background elements as well. I happen to enjoy your hand-made backgrounds quite a lot, but there’s always useful things to be done with new tools.
So, take a look at it and see if it might help you. Cheers!
Thanks for the heads-up. I currently use Illustrator and Photoshop plus a sketchpad for the comics, so I’m set on software. I’m honestly not sure I’d get much use out of Comipo anyway, from the video it looks like it only allows it’s own pre-made character templates.
You know your own process best and each artist is different, but since the subject has come up I thought you might be interested in how someone else does it.
http://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=1100
(In case the url doesn’t come through, that’s one page back from the current one in Quantum Vibe.)
The part of that I find intriguing is the idea they draw a full comic page, then slice it up for vertical layout.
I went ahead and bought it, but I won’t be able to give it a try for several hours, so my feedback will likely be too late for decision-making purposes. But I’m assuming — and I hope I’m not wrong — that you can create/import your own resources.
The elements seem like RPG Maker or Charas Project in that they’re professionally-designed pieces that are made to fit together across a wide variety of other pieces, so that people who don’t have artistic skill can still make use of the provided resources, but in RPG Maker you can import your own resources and I expect the same thing with ComiPo.
Also, just had to skim through the EULA and it seems nicer than many others. It’s short and to the point, it makes it clear that the company has copyright over the software and not the things created from the software (and didn’t seem to have a “no commercial products can be made with this software” clause like one piece of video-creation software I had been considering), and it allows use on two computers instead of just one, which isn’t great but is better than many other ones that seem to think you’d actually pay fifty bucks per computer in your household (yeah right). Being EULA-free to install it on both our computers does simplify my life without any added stress or guilt, so that’s good.
Good luck with it, I hope it works out for you.
I didn’t realize a Steam game could limit how many computers you install it on. I mean it’s all run through the Steam interface…. ??
Uh oh judging by Andi’s expression she didn’t / pussied out on having any kind of talk with her daughter.
She really needs to have the talk with Todd, first.
She seems less like she’s bouncing/bounding in panel 5, and more like she’s gliding over, without a care in the world (save for that care of rubbing her dad & others of her species in Amanda’s face)
It’s a mischievous, victorious glide.
Talk about Kuma Shock!!
I think we could use some yuribears showing up right about now for a distraction.
Because oh dear sweet Neptune this is the absolute most awkward of all possible situations.
Still can’t determine if Selkie is actually herding Andi into snapping at Amanda, or not… it IS something kids that age would do: They’re vicious like that.
And, like any parent would say “My kid won’t do that”, I’d love to believe Selkie didn’t do that… but still…
Amanda has been… well, complicated.
1: I suspect she is often terrible to her friends in an effort to find out if they, too, will leave her. (And if they do, well, now she knows that she was right not to trust them and to be terrible to them.)
2: Especially terrible to Selkie, who is A: Different, and B: got a lot of attention when Amanda probably could’ve used it (both legitimately and Little Kid Entitledly).
This leads right into 3: Amanda has been terrible to Selkie, and then went and was rubbing her New Mom in the faces of her enemies — as a kind of status symbol, and not just “I am EXCITE!” ((Note: yeah, yeah, it should be “excited.” Current slang in my neck of Twitter/LiveJournal drops the D.)
So is Selkie going to weaponize her dad in an attempt to one-up Amanda in Who Has The Coolest Parent?
Heck, yeahs. She might’ve been able to shrug off orphanage-Amanda, but parented-Amanda is now on the same “status level” and is being a git about it. DEPLOY THE WEAPONIZED PARENT! PARENTDOME! TWO PARENTS ENTER, ONE PARENT LEAVES! FIRE THE WAVE-MOTION PARENT!
*kind of hopes that Andi will manage to oozle out of this encounter somehow, or at least she and Todd can have their blow-up away from everyone else*
I am mildly concerned that having the blow-up at maximum stress levels is going to lead to some things getting said that are not actually meant, and will be on the level of “mudbloods”.
I think this is a possibility largely because the other Sarnothi are present.
I don’t actually think one instance of an epithet in a heated moment is indicative of a serious problem, however much this is played up in shows and stuff. But it can certainly escalate things beyond the intensity they’d been showing until that point, and it can drive wedges where wedges didn’t need to be.
Amanda: “Oh YEAH. Well my REAL mom came back for me!”
Todd: “Real mom?” *Wheels start turning*
Elegantly analyzed.
*insert Sailor moon transformation music in panel 4*
Thank goodness. I thought I was the only one seeing that imagery!
Yeah, looks like Dave copped a weasel-out, and weaseled out of committing to the yellow dress for the whole page. You and Nevil Chamberlain, Dave. Appeasement! Yellow won, right? Fair and square.
I don’t understand what you’re getting at. ?
Dude, she was wearing a coat. It’s cold outside in the comic. Selkie can’t handle cold. Therefore, she wears a winter coat over her dress. Traditionally, children only have 1 winter coat. Hers is purple.
Thus, this strip has her taking off her coat, revealing which dress won. And now, we know, so she’ll be wearing the yellow dress until the next day. This is hardly going to be the only strip with the yellow dress.
Transformation Sequences are how you know things are about to get real. 😀
Panel 4 looks a lot like Clark Kent turning into Superman…
Yeah, I was just thinking – ‘that’s a new kind of “powersuit.”‘
Same here, I was thinking ‘see my news armor’.
I love how, for Amanda, Selkie at her ultra-creepiest is absolutely un-faze-worthy. There’s something to be said for familiarity, even when it’s someone you don’t like.
I’ve been following this comic for years, but it never occurred to me how closely Selkie resembles a shark until the last three panels of today’s strip. I can only wonder why…
Hooo boy, time to either face the music somehow, or time to play a game of duck and dodge.
Awww, awkward reunion in 5, 4, 3,… 😀
It’s not just Amanda–how does Andi feel about Tod choosing the fish freak over his own daughter? Andi is more sympathetic/guilty about the situation, but so far Selkie hasn’t exactly been making a good impression.
i dont think andi has made the link between amanda’s snarky comments and todd passing her over for selkie, and its not like he went in looking for someone who would pass as his daughter, he wanted to help give a child a home, he saw selkie needing that more than amanda
Not to mention (again) that Todd didn’t (and still doesn’t) know that Amanda is his biological daughter … a situation that may change at any second.
Yeah, I don’t know why people keep thinking he knows.
I mean, Andi obviously knows, but she’d know he couldn’t have.
Guys… Look at the user name. Amanda is breaking the fourth wall.
Yeah, Todd didn’t know about any of the stuff in Amanda’s life. He’s had to make his decisions with the information he has had, and that information weighted things in Selkie’s favor.
Having lost a child named Amanda, Todd probably didn’t want to adopt a child with that name.
This can only end in tears.
Well, this can only end well.
are you sure that ir won’t end in a WELL of TEARS? i foresee A LOT of tears being shed here soonish…
Amanda for finding out Todd is her Bio-Dad and that he bypassed her to adopt Selkie, Selkie for finding out she has AMANDA for her ?step-sister? by adoption? (not sure exactly how to quantify the genealogical path (yes, I’m blatantly ignoring the whole ‘different species’ thing, just like Dennis Quaid and Louis Gosset Jr. did, in Enemy Mine), Andi for getting caught flat-footed, AGAIN… as well as for finding out that there are MORE people like Selkie around… The De’Madieas for being told that this is NOT a Smorgasboard… and the OCTOPUS, for not getting all the attention that (S)he wants, because the act will be interrupted by Suko diving in to get to it … 😀
Once the truth comes out, Selkie & Amanda are SISTERS – period. They’re going to purely hate that. As Todd’s biological daughter, that makes them sisters (granted, by adoption, but look at Todd’s own siblings).
My brain a sentence. Amanda is Todd’s biological daughter, therefore … the rest of it.
Okay, this isn’t really related to today’s comic but~I have a question for you Dave. I’ve noticed in the last couple of comics, the De’Madieas (sorry if I spelled that wrong) don’t have webbed hands but Selkie does? Since they live(d) in water shouldn’t they all have that, or does the webbed hand thing vary among clans?
Also, I’m really loving the fear in Andi’s eyes >:3
Sai Fen and Suko have webs, Pohl does not.
Well now I see the webbed hands on Suko, but Pohl doesn’t have them..so yeah.
Pohl had his removed to improve dexterity during surgery, it was stated a while back. (I think just in the comments, but it may have been commentary.)
Ah that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying that!
Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s just fan conjecture, Dave’s never actually stated the reason.
Wait till Todd puts two and two together. Or five and seven, which happens to be the spam protection formula today…
The spam protection actually changes constantly. Last comment it 8+3. This one is 4+10. Less than three minutes apart.
I love that evil grin in the last panel, it just makes her look so darn cute!
I love this webcomic.
It looks like Selkie has two sleeves on the left side of her coat. In panel four.
Freakout, round 2
Sai Fen is quickly becoming one of my fav’s with that line.
Folks, please stand away from the Fan. The Fan is going to be impacted by something Not Nice in 3 … 2 … 1 …
A good style for her with the belt. An empire waist just wouldn’t do for her, I think.
You can’t keep running away, Andi, you’re going to have to go through this sometime. 😀