Snarky Ducks Crack Wise – Mondays and Thursdays
I should apologize for two important things, here:
1) I apologize for the lighting. It turns out that the dining room table isn’t nearly as good of a stage as I’d hoped, because I had to get the lights way, way too close to make this work at all. Thus, shiny ducks.
2) I should apologize for the sort-of cliffhanger. I won’t… but I should.
Score is a good duck, really. He’s just a bit… touchy. And a bit of a perfectionist.
…
One of the characterization ideas I’ve tried to utilize is to give some of the ducks little facets of my own personality. Roger’s a punster, Neil’s a music lover (not to be outdone by Roger, of course), Rusty’s easily exasperated (but gets over it quicky) as well as easily bought (um), Li’s the laid-back type, Poe’s a bit of a snob, and so on.
I know that this one lacked a real punchline, and that’s more-or-less on purpose. A few script revisions tried to force a gag in the third or fourth panel and it kept falling flat, so I decided to keep Score in character and go for the grumble instead of the guffaw. We’re establishing characterization and setting again, and I expect to be doing a few more along these lines as I work toward letting the entertainment grow a bit more… well, organically may not be the precise word but hopefully you get the idea.
And that gets us through the first month. Can I handle the next eight-to-ten comics?
Is this the end, so soon after we’ve begun?
I certainly hope not!
Okay, here’s the deal: I could try to carry on a gag-a-day (okay, gag-twice-a-week) webcomic and see how long it takes for the jokes to run out. I never intended to do that, however. Part of what I want to learn from this project is storytelling and characterization. Yes, I’m doing my learning right out in public where everyone can mock watch. Mine is a special brand of masochism, it’s true.
Starting Monday, we start small: A little more conversation, a little less slapstick…