Thread "The 2009 Rant, Vent, and Share thread" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 5:03AM, Mar. 16, 2009

That scientist avatar made me sound way to academic. I actually wrote Cryptodira once.

… that's a turtle. Why didn't I just say turtle…

Posted at 8:03AM, Mar. 16, 2009

It's 12:56am on a work day and I've just had to clean up several pages of spam in the bug forum… when I should be in bed >.<

Lucky tabs and my cintiq made it fast work :)

Posted at 10:03AM, Mar. 16, 2009

As if dealing with the people in my own county wasn't bad enough, now I get to report to the regional office and work out of that one for the rest of the month. Yay.

Posted at 10:03AM, Mar. 16, 2009

Holy mother of urgh, I wish I was dead.

Or had a giant ice cream cone.

Or both.

Posted at 10:03AM, Mar. 16, 2009

Holy mother of urgh, I wish I was dead.

Or had a giant ice cream cone.

Or both.

I just got a mental image of someone getting impaled by the cone-end of a giant ice cream cone.

I hate waking up late. I mean, not late in the sense that I'm running behind, or missing some appointment (I pretty much have nothing to do, like, ever). But late as in "noonish". I'm so much more productive in the morning. I don't get how the first six hours I'm awake, regardless of when that is, can't be as worthwhile as 6am-noon.

Posted at 11:03AM, Mar. 16, 2009

Shadow99's dregged up a lot of threads in the hello/goodbye forum as well. I wasn't going to say anything at first because my warning will probably shoot right up, but at this point I think it's worth it.

We do actually want people to report this kind of thing to us. Otherwise we may never know about it. :] I didn't know he was doing that in Hello/Goodbye til you just said.

It's 12:56am on a work day and I've just had to clean up several pages of spam in the bug forum… when I should be in bed >.<

Lucky tabs and my cintiq made it fast work :)

Thanks for doing that, I had to run to a meeting. Sorry the newspost made it sound like you guys were being lazy or something- I just wanted the spam gone and only had about 10 seconds.

Cintiq- makes website admin fast AND fun!

My grump: Why do video game makers all assume that everyone has giant TVs now? I've got some xbox games I can hardly play because the text is too small on my average-sized 32-inch tv. I'm looking at you, prince of persia, among others. (PoP also has some readability issues with lack of contrast… no one can read white on white.)

Also, I found out that Costco carries Sony's ebook reader. Now that I know that it's physically in my vicinity, I really really want one (instead of just single-really wanting one). I may have to go tomorrow and see if I can play with it (and how much free stuff it comes with).

Posted at 11:03AM, Mar. 16, 2009

i del a couple of his posts

Posted at 12:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

I finally got around to drawing out a map of The Hub. I'm gonna redraw it all detailed- with each little building and such- on 18"x24" paper, scan it in bits, and eventually get around to posting it. I even made it consistent with the buildings characters have walked past in the comic, all in the correct place and order. I'm quite proud of myself. >:D

Posted at 12:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

My grump: Why do video game makers all assume that everyone has giant TVs now? I've got some xbox games I can hardly play because the text is too small on my average-sized 32-inch tv. I'm looking at you, prince of persia, among others. (PoP also has some readability issues with lack of contrast… no one can read white on white.)

Is your tv SD or HD? I mean, don't ever play Dead Rising on an SD TV. Ever. It's a waste of a good afternoon and you wont accomplish anything but raising your blood pressure. Funny thing is, in all the backwoods places I've been to, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has an HD tv, even if its one of those little 14 inch computer monitors with an coaxial input.

However, I do remember playing my PS2 and my xbox on my old 12 inch tv back in college and loving it. I didn't get a next gen system till I graduated from college, and that was my 360 and Elder Scrolls IV, but I played that on an 18 inch SD TV. I didn't get an HD tv till about a year ago, broke in my next gen experience with Gears of War and COD4 and I have never looked back.

Still, as to why they tailor games to the people who have bigger t.vs? I guess they want to make games as awesome as possible, even if only one 100th of the people playing it will get the full mind blowing experience. I only get to play games on my 27 inch. The only time they let me near the 41 was to put a blu-ray of 300 on.

Posted at 2:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

Man webcomics are starting to attract some amazing artists, i mean like ones that make print comics look like amateur garbage. Look at this guys pages:
http://www.o31.net/index.html

You're out of your mind! Your pages look way better than those; better layouts, clearer style, less wasted linework, better colour… I could go on but I want post this before you change your avatar again.

Posted at 3:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

Man webcomics are starting to attract some amazing artists, i mean like ones that make print comics look like amateur garbage. Look at this guys pages:
http://www.o31.net/index.html

You're out of your mind! Your pages look way better than those; better layouts, clearer style, less wasted linework, better colour… I could go on but I want post this before you change your avatar again.

i concur.

i mean the dude is a good artist, but there's too much going on in the panels where I can't tell where too look and my eye strays from the speech bubbles easily.

Posted at 3:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

small text small tv

i love hd

i have a 46 inch i got on sale a couple years ago, and even on my tv, some of the games (such as dead rising) the text is barely large enough to read it. and what sucks, is most of them have not audible audio. so i need the text to see what's going on. but i cant read that. sigh.

——-
i just drove the course that i ran yesterday, and it is 3.6 miles. a tad bit longer than i had thought. i need to make it longer by running further around the lake.

Posted at 3:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

I finally got around to making anchovy-free caesar dressing today and had my first caesar salad in almost two years. It was delicious.

Edit: Real rant: Every time I start doing something productive something happens or I think about something that makes me depressed and then I listen to For No One by The Beatles and I end up playing Minesweeper for six hours…again.

Posted at 4:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

So, I'm pretty sure I got lied to. This girl I've been talking to, just as friends, was telling me about how I was on her top friends on Myspace, because she was on mine. Well, I found out how to check that, because hers is hidden, and I'm not on there. It's not so much the whole "OMGzzz, I'm on her TOp Frendss guisee!1!!"

It's just that she lied. And I actually trusted her. I just really, really hope that the way I learned to do it, is wrong. Because that really hurts.

I also do not feel well at all today. I came home early, and had to drive for about 4 hours with my mom and brother to go pick up my brother's car that had to get repaired.

So now I'm feeling sore (from Shadowboxing. Very fun, although very tiring, and from cleaning my room yesterday, lol), tired, angry, depressed, confused, betrayed, sad. And all of the above.

I liked it better when I didn't really feel any emotions. I can't say I was emotionless, because that's impossible.

Posted at 6:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

So, I'm pretty sure I got lied to. This girl I've been talking to, just as friends, was telling me about how I was on her top friends on Myspace, because she was on mine. Well, I found out how to check that, because hers is hidden, and I'm not on there.

Oh, that's such a silly thing to be upset over. But if you want to show her what's what, send her a "you're not my friend anymore!" note in class. That's how we did it back in the analog days. ;)

Posted at 6:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

So, I'm pretty sure I got lied to. This girl I've been talking to, just as friends, was telling me about how I was on her top friends on Myspace, because she was on mine. Well, I found out how to check that, because hers is hidden, and I'm not on there.
Oh, that's such a silly thing to be upset over. But if you want to show her what's what, send her a "you're not my friend anymore!" note in class. That's how we did it back in the analog days. ;)

Well it's not that. It's the fact that she lied. At least, I'm sure she lied. Unless this thing is flawed. It's just the point though.

Posted at 7:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

so i started up another comic….stories inspired by music, or SIBm, anyways there's a song i've been listening to, that really wants me to make a story of it. of course this would be a long story, because this one requires backgrounds and stuff that the music already implies, but prolly wouldnt transfer well into a comic. but as i was thinking about it….i realized there's already an anime that i have, that is almost this song. slightly different…but enough that i was like, hey i'll just do an amv instead….i mean, i'd be fullfilling both my urges to make a story, and the one lately to make an AMV (i used to all the time) and all from the same song.

but alas, the anime is not in a recognizable format for neither adobe premiere elements, or windows movie maker…so i cant do one.

Posted at 8:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

so i started up another comic….stories inspired by music, or SIBm

Dang. I wanted to do that myself. I found a couple songs like that. I just suck at writing things out enough that hadn't started anything.

I realized the need to revamp all my business cards and self-promo stuff earlier tonight. I started the project of redesigning my logo at around 6:30 and I haven't left my seat yet. I would say that means I find graphic design interesting, but I know it's just because I'm directing myself here. That's kind of getting to be a problem lately. I keep blowing off course work in favour of doing this personal stuff that isn't nearly as pressing.

Posted at 8:03PM, Mar. 16, 2009

I keep blowing off course work in favour of doing this personal stuff that isn't nearly as pressing.

The best way to get something done is to wait until something more important comes along.

Now you just need something more important than your cousework so you can get that done too. ;)

Most meat and potatoes graphic design work is super dull. But even the slightly more interesting stuff gets dull too. Only your own work is interesting. People just need to pay us for that. Bugger what THEY want us to do!

Posted at 2:03AM, Mar. 17, 2009

Is your tv SD or HD?

I'm assumung by 'SD' you mean 'the old heavy big kind, not a flatscreen'

I really don't see the point in spending Â£500 for an equivalent lcd tv when the one I've got works perfectly well most of the time. Maybe if I used my TV more, and had spare cash… I've also got a large dog who tends to knock into things, she's far less likely to knock over my older perfectly-functional TV than a lighter, higher-centre-of-gravity flatscreen. :]

Still, as to why they tailor games to the people who have bigger t.vs? I guess they want to make games as awesome as possible, even if only one 100th of the people playing it will get the full mind blowing experience.

Economically speaking, they probably know that a large percentage of their market audience likes things like fancy TVs- and that is the trend of TVs, so people buying a new TV (which is a huge possibility with the switch to digital tv) means they are likely to get a bigger, sharper TV. So they're really just doing what their demographic is enabling them to do.

Still, I think there are basic things they COULD do to make things more accessible, even on a game like prince of persia which puts a lot of weight on its art direction. Too much detail being put onscreen I can understand, my perceptions can adapt to that. But subtitles that are small, prerendered and poorly blended is just bad design- if you're going to have subtitles that people can turn off and on, at least let them change the font size- or go for the safer choice of larger text with black outlines, rather than over-antialiased offwhite on light colored background. (That wouldn't solve the problem of the tiny text in menus I guess.)

Well it's not that. It's the fact that she lied. At least, I'm sure she lied. Unless this thing is flawed. It's just the point though.

I understand that. I used to know someone who would lie about all kinds of really simple things, and it wasn't the content of the lies that drove me up the wall- it's that he was lying at all. I would have been fine with whatever he was lying about, not even stuff worth making up lies for most of the time- but the idea that no matter what I did, he thought he needed to be untruthful… that just pissed me off to no end. (The fact I could unfailingly tell when he lied was no deterrent, apparently.) I don't associate with him any more though. :]

Posted at 3:03AM, Mar. 17, 2009

Well it's not that. It's the fact that she lied. At least, I'm sure she lied. Unless this thing is flawed. It's just the point though.
I understand that. I used to know someone who would lie about all kinds of really simple things, and it wasn't the content of the lies that drove me up the wall- it's that he was lying at all. I would have been fine with whatever he was lying about, not even stuff worth making up lies for most of the time- but the idea that no matter what I did, he thought he needed to be untruthful… that just pissed me off to no end. (The fact I could unfailingly tell when he lied was no deterrent, apparently.) I don't associate with him any more though. :]

She doesn't really lie though, that's just the thing. It's probably just Myspace. Myspace isn't very reliable as it is lol!

And on a side note, I'm working on two Pages for the comic at the same time! Woo!

Posted at 5:03AM, Mar. 17, 2009

And I have to write out the thank you cards for the sympathy cards I got about my father's death. It was hard enough reading all the cards. I'm a lot more depressed and feeling the pain of loss than I've allowed myself to realize.

I come to a great chapter transition point in the comic and realize I haven't even finished the picture shoot for the previous chapter and that I'd have to stop shooting with these characters and totally change what I'm shooting which includes horses.

Horses. 8" high at the shoulder, a foot long with the tail, and they don't stand up if you do any posing with the legs. So let's see four foreground characters, ten background characters with horses…

Screw it I'll go with what's already shot and plan better in the future.

And an old friend read some parts and wondered why such a talented artist like me choose to use photos of action figures rather than drawing it. lol! He told me that at my father's viewing. Comes full circle.

Posted at 11:03AM, Mar. 17, 2009

I decided that for the most part I was gonna try to do away with the "filler" backgrounds in "The Hub". I started getting annoyed with them about 2/3 through inking the 2nd issue- I thought a lot of it was too generalized, or that I had plenty of room to do a real background and just… didn't.

Unfortunately this means laying out a background in proper perspective for like, every other panel, whether it gets covered up by the figures or not. As if it didn't take me long enough to do this comic anyway. I wish I could just… simplify. But I HATE "blank" space; it's almost a phobia. Just in my own work, mind you- I don't mind it in other people's stuff. But any time I draw anything, it makes me want to puke when I look at just… space. Empty space.

If I ever self-publish, my press' name is gonna be "Horror Vacui". ;)

Posted at 12:03PM, Mar. 17, 2009

There's nothing quite like the yearly portfolio review and revamp of all my stuff. Normally it's a horrible chore, but this year I'm almost enjoying it. It brings to mind all the advantages and gains I've made from things I did that people called me stupid or crazy for. Stuff like how much I've earned from Last Words. True, I haven't actually made any money directly off the comic in t-shirts or anything, but it got me over $8,000 in scholarships for school this year and I consider that part of the net profit and that's a damn lot for a hobby. So, now I get to look through all my stuff and tally up what I've earned from it, whether it was directly earned cash or indirect stuff and I'm noticing just how much it really does end up adding up to quite a bit. It makes me feel so much happier and cheery with the realization of it all.

Posted at 12:03PM, Mar. 17, 2009

So I'm actually getting some hits from stumbleupon(thanks for that kind review btw Hyena :) ) It's not much but i'm genuinely surprised i got any at all.

I keep coming up with all these comic ideas, but don't have the time or energy to make them. And i'm too anal about working with other artists, i dun wannaaa.