Ye Olde Towne Pub

My friend Matt “Powers” Wilson, the creator of the Sam and Nate characters from the Classic Pub strips, posted some pretty excellent feedback to today’s strip:

Not that I have any right to tell you how to do your comic… but I wonder if you could have excised the second panel and pushed the monologue into the other two. As you note, space is at a premium in comics, and so sometimes you have to show your action in as few panels as possible.

I have mentioned repeatedly that I struggle with “panel density” in these new strips, especially given the dearth of updates (one per week) which means that there is a long wait between comics.  This presents difficult problems for keeping readers engaged, and so I want to try to get more panels, more dialog, more action into the comics.  So here, Powers has definitely tapped into something with which I struggle often.  The biggest problem for me is that I do not like working small.  I dislike drawing small, and I don’t like putting small font into the comic.  It’s bizarre because, when I am reading comics, I don’t even notice when there are 8, 9, 10 panels on a page.  The art looks fine, and everything is clear and readable.  I don’t know why I have trouble with it myself.

I will say that I am writing the script as clearly defined pages, which is something I’ve never done before.  In the past I would write scripts panel-by-panel, and decide which panels (and how many) to include on a page when the time came to sit down and plot the page out.  Now, I try to capture a logical sequence of action to “fit’ a single page.  A great example, I think, is the “I have had enough of you” page, and the following “jetpack ignition” page as well.  I would not have wanted to break that action sequence across multiple pages, especially if that meant starting it half way through one page, and ending it half way through another.  I’m trying to make careful, thoughtful decisions about what is going on in a single page.

So, as I said, this page was supposed to be 6 panels originally and I struggled with that for a day or so when trying to do the rough layout.  I could NOT figure out how I was going to fit Trebarg, the cats, and the dialog into 6 panels.  Not without making some dramatic concessions.  So, the next logical question was, how do I break up the page to make the new, individual pages, still work as individual units?  As it happens, the logical point of separation was the half way mark; 3 panels on this page, and 3 on the next page.  I absolutely hate talking about upcoming strips in any detail before we actually post them, so I’ll refrain from getting too specific as to why I felt that way, but I hope you’ll trust me

That being said, Powers’ comment is absolutely valid: these three panels absolutely could have been condensed into two with some success.  The action between panels 2 and 3 (which basically shows several of the cats pulling out knives) is fairly subtle.  I would still have some misgivings about fitting the dialog into two panels, but I probably could have made it work.    The problem then would be what to fill the remaining space with.  I could pull a panel from the next page, but that would leave me with only 2 panels for page 11, unless I started sucking panels in from page 12.  This would begin to affect the flow of the script, and how I’ve decided to break up the action from page to page.  Would anyone even notice besides me?  Probably not.

Suffice it to say, these are things that we really do put a lot of thought into.  On some days it feels like we have no time, and that we are churning these pages out at a breakneck pace.  As readers I can understand why it would feel slow and tedious between pages, but for us we are literally working on these every day.  We make decisions by the seats of our pants and hope that you’ll just bear with us.  But, feedback is always good, and I want folks to know that we don’t make even simple decisions, like how many panels to include, lightly.  Knowing what readers would like to see definitely factors in, though, so in the future I’ll try to work a little more outside my comfort zone to pack more into each page!

Page 10 in the Reboot to the Head series is live!  Enjoy!

I’ve talked a lot…

…well…I just talk a lot.

But!  One thing I have talked a lot about recently is “panel density.”  That I’d like to fit more panels into each strip.  Given that there is a week between page updates, I want to give folks a little something to look at/read to tide them over until the next update.  Unfortunately, when writing the script for this chapter, I got a little carried away.  This page was supposed to be 6 panels.  What you see here was to be the first 3.  So I was supposed to squeeze Trebarg, 8 cats, two tables, and all that dialog into panels roughly half the size of what you see here.

Yeah, no.

So, instead, I decided to stretch this out into two pages, which would give me room to actually show what was going on in these panels.  As I reread the script I realized that I had committed the same crime on subsequent pages.  Too much action and dialog to actually squeeze into small panels on a single page.  So, instead of a 3 page chapter, this will be at least 4 or 5 pages.  I think it will work out a lot better in the end.

At any rate, I hope that you have enjoyed the last couple of pages.  As always, we look forward to your comments and e-mails.

Yeah, so, Dave asked me to post something right before he logged out and dashed home from work around 5 today.  I then also rushed home and then forgot all about it.  I feel pretty bad about it, because Dave spent the better part of the afternoon working on some spiffy new wallpaper.

When we were working on page 9 of the Reboot to the Head saga, we really wanted to make the background feel like a real bar.  That meant filling the walls with the kind of stuff you’d see in a bar.   The first thing that sprang to mind for me was the Captain Morgan Poster that we’ve all seen like a million times.  Of course on a planet of feline aliens, we can’t have a normal looking Captain Morgan.  And so, Captain Felix was born.  You can spot him on the right wall, in the back of page 9.

I knew I was going to be needing the poster in several panels over the next few pages, so I drew it in a separate file, at fairly high resolution and quality.  Then Dave colored it, and added the textured “old parchment” background and border.  Dave was then able to insert the poster into the background and adjust for the perspective.  We had always planned on posting the full sized poster image today to give people something amusing to look at, but then Dave went above and beyond and made some really spiffy wallpaper, which you can find on the Goodies page.

Sorry that this isn’t more substantial.  I’m a bit distracted at the moment.  Either way, please enjoy!

HEY! The strip IS live. Click that Latest Comic link in the menu bar!

Bob will be back to post something that he believes to be witty soon!

Enjoy

-trebarg

The new Reboot to the Head page was live as of 12 am last night, but for those of you (Hi, Powers!) that may have stopped by before about 10 o’clock this morning, you would have seen an empty news post to go along with it.  I apologize for that.  Last night I was suffering from a splitting headache that only got worse as the night went on.  I typed a 2 or 3 line news post and hit the “update” button in WordPress but, alas, it did not update for whatever reason.  I know that the loyal fan….er…fans of Towne Pub hang on my every word, so I want to express how deeply, deeply sorry I am for the oversight.

I would also like to say that I’m sorry that this page is late going up.  This chapter of Reboot to the Head sees the return of Marc Trebarg, which I am very excited about.  It also features the first in-strip appearance of the redesigned character: now with 100% more necky goodness.   The reason that this page took so long to finish is that, unlike the previous chapter, the backgrounds in the panels of the next few pages will feature relatively static, interior shots.  I won’t get a chance to draw different stuff (like cars and buildings) to fill the backgrounds and try to make each panel look unique and interesting.  I want to avoid the old shortcuts from the class TP strips where backgrounds were just ill defined blobs (or, in some cases, just…nothing).  Back in those days I was trying my best to update 4 times a week, and corners had to be cut to keep up with that schedule, especially given that the strips were hand drawn and inked, which made art reuse painful and laborious.

This time around, I wanted to ground the scenes in real-feeling places, and avoid the cut corners.  I would rather post a new page late, and be happy with the results, than half-ass my way through it with empty backgrounds, or shapes to fill space.  So Dave and I spent a lot of time and effort on the background of this page.  It’s setting the stage for this chapter, and it needs to feel like a place.  There has to be stuff in it.  Stuff that will be shown again in future panels.  So, I spent a lot of time drawing, and redrawing, and redrawing again.  Getting things to look good enough to make me happy.  And Dave, to his credit, did a fantastic job with the color (as always).  In particular, the lighting effects in this are just the bees knees.  Check out the mix of purple, blue, yellow, and green highlights from the neon signs.  The way that the ceiling gets swallowed up in the darkness, and the foggy atmosphere.  I think he knocked it out of the park on this one.

At any rate, the extra time and effort we put into this strip will make the next few pages flow a lot faster and easier.  We won’t have to agonize over what decor to put on which wall, what colors to use, the orientation of the tables, how many aliens there should be, etc.   All those decisions are out of the way, and now we can just go with the flow.

I expect that we will be posting the remaining pages in this chapter on time over the next several weeks, though Dave has some incredibly hectic weekends ahead (with lots of travel) that may make that difficult.  I will do my best to continue Towne Pub’s new tradition of completely open honesty, and I’ll let you know well in advance if we’re going to miss a date.

As always, we love to read your comments and e-mails   Also, this Tuesday we have a particularly fun update coming.  I hope you’ll check back in.

Hi all. Happy Tuesday.

So while we are on a bit of a break between chapters I thought that it would be a good time to talk about the first chapter a bit.

Bob and I have learned a ton over the last 8 strips. So much has changed since we first launched the strip back in 2000. Hardware, our methods of drawing and creating the strip, our methods of collaboration… It’s all very different from where we started.

We have talked about a lot of this again and again, but I thought that I would take the time to talk about each of the first eight Reboot to the Head strips.

Reboot 01

Well, of course I can’t find it, but this strip originally looked a lot different. Instead of a sleek, modern skyscraper that Phinn was busting out of, the first panel showed a window into a stone-walled building (looked like an old English cottage, or a classic Irish Pub). Second panel had the cracks on the window and the third panel was, well… blank at the time.

Bob redesigned and we get to see that these Cat-creatures-things live in a futuristic world with flying cars instead.

The first strip is the only one where we see a neon sign on the side of the buildings. Bob originally was thinking something like Blade Runner, I think, with neon signs all over the place.

Let’s be frank. It was too much work to try to put that amount of detail in, so we stopped with one. I’m pretty sure that the Neon Sign in the first strip says “Your Ad here” in Kitty-ese.

You will also notice that none of the buildings are lit, and there are nice reflections of the buildings across the street in this one. Maybe we are just very lazy.

Reboot 02

Not much else to say about the second strip that we haven’t already written here. Take a look at the Behind the Scenes page when you get a chance.

Reboot 03

This is the strip that nearly killed us. It looks pretty simple. but the problem is that while a lot is happening, the scene does not change all that much. It was a lot of tedium getting everything drawn and colored correctly so that it looked consistent. It also suffers from what a random internet person referred to as “Color-form” syndrome. There isn’t a lot of apparent depth of field because we are lined up perpendicular to the buildings in the background.

At one point I was blurring the backgrounds to create some depth of field. Below is a test of what that looked like.

We didn’t like it one bit.

You will also note that this is the first strip where we “lit” the buildings. It’s a great effect. It started to really pay off in the next few strips where we were able to put less detail into the buildings in the panels where it wasn’t as important and focus our time on the foreground.

The second panel here drove Bob nuts. He redrew it at least twice. It came out great in the end.

Reboot 04

I love the first panel here. I think that we just nailed it.

The second panel shows the less detailed, but even more effective, in my opinion, buildings in the background.

You will also notice in the second panel the brand of Phinn’s shoes. It’s a call-back to previous strips. D’OH brand shoes. Multiverse favorites!!!

Reboot 05

Not a lot to say here except that we forgot to add in the grapple-line falling in the last panel. Phinn in the last panel is a great drawing!

Reboot 06

Jetpack gets lit! I did about eleventy-billion versions of the color on the rocket nozzles. The final version is much cleaner and looks great.

The last panel was sketched by Bob on paper, captured on his handy-dandy iPhone camera, and added it to be digitally inked. Nifty!

Here is the shot of the drawing that we added in.

Reboot 07

The first strip that we missed getting posted on Friday. Darn Superbowl…

We were a bit slap-happy to get this one and 8 done as on-time as we could after we missed the strip 7 date.

We generally have versions of more than one strip being worked on simultaneously. While Bob was finishing up strip 7, I was doing some color on the parts of strip 8 that I could.

One of the cars there just looked to me like a Ferengi Marauder. In all fairness, it doesn’t but that “car” was sort of colored like one and was referred to as the “Ferengi” car from then on.

So, that sets us up for Strip 7 stupidness.

So Bob was worried about the last panel. In that panel, Phinn is bathed in light from oncoming headlights from the truck that ends up blowing him up in strip 8. (GOOD RIDDANCE SAYS I! TOO MANY COLORS ON THAT ONE!)

The concern was that it wasn’t obvious. Bob decided to put in the “sound” of a horn honking.

I decided to do it myself first. Take a look at the last panel. I also snuck in a new car design up in the first panel…

Bob then did me one better. Take a look at the first panel in the final version of the strip. A stylized Klingon Bird of Prey. Yeah baby!

Reboot 08

The last chapter, or as I call it, the one where Phinn goes Boom.

If you look under the truck in the first panel, you will see those pesky Ferengi.

Also, if you didn’t notice, take a close look at the last building on the right in the panel. Happy egg-hunting!

What… back so soon? Yeah. It’s obvious.

We have done it before and will probably do it again.

We hope that you enjoyed these strips.

Sorry about blowing up Phinn. It had to be done.

Come back soon to find out who we blow up next!