This is a prime example of what happens when I try to wing it (hey, I should write that one down for later use) with an idea that hit me earlier this evening. By all rights I should have made a note of it, then let it percolate in my head until I could flesh it out a bit more.
On the other hand, I managed to work two Sci-Fi references into the strip so how’s that for efficiency?
One of the challenges of turning nine duck-like objects into distinct characters is finding their “voice.” Granted, they aren’t going to be all that different from one another: I’m the one putting words in their beaks, as it were. But… I’m trying to work out some speech patterns from duck to duck, and that helps me nail down the personalities a bit more. The preparation I went through back in May gave me a feel for their backgrounds and motivations (such as they are) but it seems that only the process of actually doing the comic can settle the issue of how they “sound.”
And that’s enough “inside GreyDuck’s brain” for one week. See you next Monday!
3 Comments
“A funny conversation is more interesting to me than a one-liner.” – Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes)
Well, you’ve certainly got the panel space for some funny conversations. Frankly, almost too much space for a one-liner. All that build-up you’d have to do with all that space…
That’s one of the design decisions I faced when nailing down the layout: How much room do I really need? I probably have too much, here, and in fact I might’ve gotten away with a much smaller (*cough*) three-panel-wide format for a lot of what I’m doing right now.
Of course, I seem to be falling into the pattern of Setup Panel 1, Setup Panel 2, Punchline, Follow-Up Snark. This suits me, and sort of plays into the “conversation” thing you’re talking about.
(Nice side-benefit of putting the punchline into the third panel? Less chance of someone scrolling down and reading it in the fourth panel and THEN going left to read the third panel, ruining the joke entirely.)
Great shot of Roger in that third panel by the way – all he needs is a wing in the hand-over-heart position to capture that “I’m gazing off into space at how my name will look in lights” pose.