Month: August 2007

Cartmoonity

andertoons6 Comments

Online Communities

I just finished commenting on some other comments based on an earlier comment about another comments referencing the initial blog entry.

Whew!

And I got thinking that one of the things I like about blogging is this nice little community of readers and commenters that’s emerged, and a lot of my good friends have been made here and/or on other boards/blogs. So I was thinking…

What would you all think about adding a community component to Andertoons.com and/or the Andertoons Blog? And I’m not talking a run-of-the-mill bulletin board, but one where you can follow posts via RSS, post artwork, the whole shebang.

My worry is that it’d be a real time eater, and the inevitable spam problems don’t seem like a good time, but I like the idea in general.

So I guess what I’m asking is… If I build it, will anybody come?

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Why This Cartoon Doesn’t Work (I Think) #4

andertoons2 Comments

OK, time for a stinker:

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This one’s fairly recent, but I still dunno what I was thinking.

The art:

Not bad really. The characters pretty much look like who they’re supposed to, although the Muppet across from the Count is hard to recognize. (It’s Elmo.)

Why I felt the need to add Cookie Monster in the next room I have no idea. It just confuses things more.

The joke:

The gag was intended to be that Sesame Street characters all use the Count for their accounting needs come April 15th because he’s good with counting.

*chirp chirp chirp*

Yeah. Real knee slapper, huh?

Ahem…

The sale:

Nope. No takers, and I can’t blame them.

Ugh…

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The Simpsons Movie – Review (Of Sorts)

andertoons3 Comments

Simpsonsmovie

OK, I’m not gonna do a full review here because, to be honest, I’ve got a ton to do, but I did see The Simpsons Movie yesterday and it was really really good.

I don’t think it necessarily transcended the TV show as some might’ve hoped/expected, but I laughed out loud a lot, and that’s really what I wanted.

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Why This Cartoon Works (I Think) #3

andertoons5 Comments

OK, I’ve been blabbing on and on about non-cartoon stuff for a while again, so back to cartoon blogging with another cartoon that works, and why.

Let’s look at this cartoon:

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OK. first the art:

Again, a very very simple scene. A sidewalk and a brick wall hinted at. The character, however, really took some attention to detail for the joke to work.

I hunted down every deck of cards in the house to get sort of a consensus king. Well, for the head, anyway; the body isn’t really important.

Often when I do characters like this I’ll do more of a wiggly line in the clothing and sign for a dirtier, more unkempt look, but for some reason I didn’t here.

Although I do have the font of my handwriting, I did hand letter the sign to get a more realistic look.

The joke:

To be honest, I’m not even really sure what the joke is here. Was the king himself lost during a shuffle? Did he lose his status during a shuffle? You could go even a little further afield, but those are probably the best options.

This thing is, it’s a pretty funny cartoon right off the bat. When you think about it any deeper, it’s a little odd, and then sort of confusing. Or maybe that’s just me having overanalyzed it.

Anyway, a good joke, even if I can’t really explain why.

The sale:

Sold and colored for Reader’s Digest:

4530 Rd Color-1

I spent some time in Photoshop getting some texture and color effects, and I like how it turned out.

Often publications will remove my signature in the lower right, so I moved it up a tad and made sure it was placed within the color.

Well that’s it. Anyone have any other theories on the gag?

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