Cullerverse

[mowub]

In this topic are my previous attempts at making original characters and writing comics. As of June 1st, I'm only cartooning as a hobby, "for fun."

[chdr]

Not really. I like Phil's design.

[Temple Fugate]

Question: Does Phil look like a ripoff of Towelie? Because that's not what I'm intending. Phil is the head of his own soda company and can synthesize his own beverages out the top of his head.
I didn't even think of Towelie when I looked at Phil.

The logo on his back might need a little work. Logo design in general is difficult to master, but you'll want to cement the illusion that he is part of a legitimate soft drink company.

[mowub]

Violet
http://th01.deviantart.com/fs40/300W/i/2009/038/6/1/Violet_Serves_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

Norm
http://th09.deviantart.com/fs41/300W/i/2009/039/0/e/Norm_2_8_09_by_GSRobotCan.png

[Temple Fugate]

Does anyone think the coloring on this looks too much like Invader Zim?Yes, but unless it doesn't fit the feel of what you're shooting for, it shouldn't be a problem.



http://fc49.deviantart.com/fs41/i/2009/039/0/4/AntVark___Return_of_the_Bear_by_GSRobotCan.png

The strip is pretty good. I'd like to offer a few storytelling tips, if I may.

- Something seems to change drastically between panels 2 and 3. Hub is pleading sympathetically one second, and the next he looks angry, so it looks like he's speaking in a more aggressive way. In general, characters shouldn't change thought patterns or expressions without something else occurring in the story. Otherwise it creates too much randomness. The audience gets confused and has trouble connecting with the character. (For example, after panel 2 Scott could ask him why he has no place to go, prompting Hub to remember what his girlfriend said and then becoming angry and speaking his next line. It's a logical chain of actions that the audience follows easily.)

- In panel 6, Hub appears to be looking off into the distance instead of down at Tony. It's a minor gaff, but it causes enough confusion that I wasn't able to concentrate on the strip's punchline.

[Racattack!Force]

Gamma and Hugo during Romance Week (Alt+0an Valentines equiv)
http://fc75.deviantart.com/fs40/i/2009/044/a/1/Romance_Week_Night_by_GSRobotCan.pngNice...wasn't there a description of Romance Week up a while ago in this thread? Or was it a different one?

[Racattack!Force]

Erin. Posing her is a lot of fun, although a bit difficult.
http://fc22.deviantart.com/fs41/i/2009/046/1/4/Erin_Rests_by_GSRobotCan.pngYeah, I see how it would be difficult. She looks awkward in that position (the middle of her body is arched up, and with her human back seemingly curved, it looks weird to me). But you seem to be getting there.

[Racattack!Force]

It could be that this kind of centaur may have a special spine that allows her to bend that way. Remember, this is a fantasy world.True. I guess I'm just one of those people who want an explanation for almost everything in fantasy. :sweat:

[Temple Fugate]

It could be that this kind of centaur may have a special spine that allows her to bend that way. Remember, this is a fantasy world.
There is still the need for plausibility even in the face of absurdity. Centaur backs naturally form right angles at the joint between the vertical human spine and the horizontal horse spine. I'd imagine sleeping in that straightened out position would be uncomfortable.

Aren't horses supposed to sleep standing up anyway? Something about their midsections not being able to withstand the pressure of resting on the ground?

[Racattack!Force]

I'd also appreciate if anyone can help me adjust my premise so it makes more sense.I don't think you stated the premise in this thread.

[Racattack!Force]

Okay:

A bunch of aliens, humanoids, and fantasy creatures live in Cullerton Beach, on planet Alt+0, in the present. The planet is an off-shoot of Earth, founded and terraformed by NASA scientists in 1973. One story follows a family of human/alien hybrids, another is about an average guy and his friends, another is an attempt at sci-fi crime fiction. That's basically all I've got. I don't really have a purpose for all this.That seems easy. A simple way to shorten all that would be:

Three shorts about various inhabitants in the town of Cullerton Beach, on the alien planet Alt+0.

Because the way I see it, if you ever turn that into a series, then you can have a 21-minute show, with each story around 7 minutes long.

[El Dahveed]

Cause I sure as hell ain't gonna pitch it to Fox, after how they mistreated Futurama and other sci-fi/fantasy shows. They're practically setting Dollhouse up to fail.

Well, you bring up a good point with Futurama, but Dollhouse might do better since it is Live-Action. Fringe is doing well on their channel from what I've heard.

[El Dahveed]

Ruler Jllft

http://th03.deviantart.com/fs41/300W/f/2009/052/4/d/Ruler_Jllft_by_GSRobotCan.png

This guy is probably the creepiest character I've ever designed. Ruler Jllft is the ruler of Alt+0. This guy had a rough time growing up: At age 10, he mindlessly ran into traffic, and lost his arms, legs, eyes and the top of his skull in a carship accident. But thanks to state-of-the-art robotics, doctors replaced his missing parts, and he made a comeback. His robotic eyes can actually see better than normal ones, and include thermal and x-ray vision. He eventually rose up through the ranks of the Alt+0an government, mostly because so many people felt sorry for him. His first act in office was to secretly allow Earthlings to travel to Alt+0. The saucers that picked them up were reported as UFO sightings and abductions, but of course nobody believed the conspiracists who saw them. Now, at age 111, he rules the entire planet. When addressing his people, he comes off as a friendly person, but behind the scenes, he's pure evil. He has a dark secret as to why he wants Alt+0 to emulate the Earth lifestyle.

He is very cool-looking! I love the jacket you gave him, it makes him appear Russian. I'm not really sure how the whole ruler/dictator thing is going to work out. Are the people oppressed by him? Other than that, great background story, cool design, and I'm getting anxious to see how all of this is going to work out. As for the Goron thing in the other thread, you're worrying too much about being original, when half the stuff on tv has already been done. Look at Fox, pretty much their whole animation lineup is of the same style of shows about dysfunctional families. Don't worry about such small nitpicks that only you have noticed. If someone else mentions it, then worry as you please, otherwise, it may not be that noticeable to the audience. One other thing, in the picture with Gamma and Norm, you might want to change Norm's eyes to look the opposite way, it seems as though he is looking at something other than the floor. Keep up the good work!

[Temple Fugate]

I'm not going to spend this comic dwelling on what these character really are, but how they act. In my eyes, they're all human at heart, and I don't have to do anything sci-fi with this comic. I mean, nobody questions exactly what the characters are on Homestar Runner.
That's exactly the right idea. Readers are going to connect with your characters as people through their actions and dialogue, the same way we do with Homestar Runner characters.

[Temple Fugate]

EDIT: During my reply the previous post was apparently deleted. I decided to remove my quoting of the deleted post but will still keep the majority of the reply.

In an earlier post you stated "I don't really have a purpose for all this."

The biggest question you should try and answer before continuing is, "Why are you doing this?"

You have an affinity for designing strange and quirky characters. Do you want to pursue a futuristic/alternate world because it gives you the opportunity to experiment with non-human designs? Are your passions more art-related or more writing-related? What part of the work do you find most satisfying?

If all of this "Cullerverse" stuff just feels like a job to you, then are you really going to be satisfied with working on it? You need to affirm for yourself what you LIKE doing and what you WANT to do. Find the things that make you the happiest and explore how to get the most enjoyment out of what you do. That might mean walking away from this concept altogether, or it might mean changing the premise or coming up with new characters.

At the core of every story is a creator's passion to tell that story. Without that core, the creator won't find fulfillment from creating it and the reader won't find enjoyment from reading it.

[Temple Fugate]

Question: I'm kind of a fan of the "Hot mom" trope. Do you think it's been done too much?
Not as much as the "Out of touch with today's generation" trope.

The deal with tropes is, you can use common ones as long as they're used well. It's when tropes are abused for shock value/fan service/higher ratings that they become problems.

[mowub]

Every now and then, I do traditional pictures with watercolor pencils and a marker.

http://fc95.deviantart.com/fs45/i/2009/060/0/a/Watercolor_Gamma_3_1_09_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

Hub's redesign:

http://fc94.deviantart.com/fs42/i/2009/081/2/6/Hub_Runs_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

Phil the can, underwater... or is it blue Mountain Dew?

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs45/i/2009/086/7/7/Underwater_Phil_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

http://fc15.deviantart.com/fs45/i/2009/095/2/7/Chasing_Pam_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

Random Alien Female

http://th07.deviantart.com/fs44/300W/f/2009/100/6/7/Random_Alien_Female_4_10_09_by_GSRobotCan.png

Let me know if she looks too Zimmy.

[mowub]

Jade, one of the very first characters I ever created.

http://th08.deviantart.com/fs45/300W/f/2009/100/a/1/Jade_4_10_09_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

Filthy Fish

http://fc15.deviantart.com/fs42/i/2009/100/0/1/Filthy_Fish_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

Space Ghost Coast to Coast fanart

http://fc25.deviantart.com/fs42/i/2009/102/e/2/Space_Ghost_by_GSRobotCan.png

[Temple Fugate]

Sorry to say I don't have much to offer in the way of feedback. (You draw a cute Space Ghost though.) You clearly are working toward a style of your own and as you keep working that style is just going to get better and better. I like your sketchy guys more for some reason. Sketches always seem more lively and organic than finished work.

[mowub]

I just noticed that whenever I draw, my right-handedness causes the drawings to slightly slant to the upper right. It appears more noticeable if I hold the drawings up to a mirror. Is there any way I can work on correcting this?

[Temple Fugate]

I just noticed that whenever I draw, my right-handedness causes the drawings to slightly slant to the upper right. It appears more noticeable if I hold the drawings up to a mirror. Is there any way I can work on correcting this?
I used to have that problem as well. One day someone pointed out to me that I tilt my head as I draw, and after concentrating on correcting that, the tilt in my drawings disappeared. The same thing might be happening to you.

[mowub]

I used to have that problem as well. One day someone pointed out to me that I tilt my head as I draw, and after concentrating on correcting that, the tilt in my drawings disappeared. The same thing might be happening to you.

Thank you for this idea! Now I won't have to skew the image when I bring it into Photoshop.

[mowub]

Pam
http://th08.deviantart.net/fs46/300W/i/2009/177/4/b/Pam__s_Wild_Hair_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

Cass
(Year-old character that I dug up. And look! A pose that isn't standing around doing nothing!)

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs24/i/2009/247/4/4/Cass_9_4_09_by_GSRobotCan.png

[mowub]

Mods: You can lock this thread now. I'm finished.