Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Comic Book Class

Pre-post rant: I would like to say that Safari is not a good browser. I've had it do things ranging from not saving my Blogger posts to closing windows with all my open tabs. This time I had a lengthy post reguarding my Art, Design, & Visual Thinking (MDP 110) class and when I hit "Save as Draft" it submitted all the information I had filled out except for the actual body of the post. Good job, Safari. Thumbs up for you.

Now that I look at it, however, these workstations are running Safari 1.0 (v85) from 2003. Um...yeah, I have nothing to say to that. "Please patch this nearly 3-yearold program"?

As a test, I decided to stop writing after my last paragraph and hit 'Save as Draft' again after copying what I had written to the clipboard (or whatever it's called in OS X). Safari deleted my entry before submitting it. Further proof I need to put Firefox on my iPod so I can use it on all the Macs here.

Knowing Safari was having issues with submitting this form, I decided to conduct the same test with the 'Publish Post' button. I mean, it's one thing to have a bug with the 'Save as Draft' button, but the button to actually post something has to work, right?... Right? Uh, no. Exact same issue. Now I'm using Internet Explorer 5.2 to update this before I get Firefox. Ugh, what an experience.

Actual post
I got an assignment in MDP 110 to make a comic. Not that big of a deal normally, I've done stuff like that before. This time, however, we're limited to using six frames. I'm not sure if I really feel like re-describing the hardships of doing this because of the Safari issues, so I'll just make some points about it.
  • It's hard to develop a story (especially for our first assignment) with only six frames.
  • We're supposed to have 3 versions: (1) rough sketch/layout, (2) more detailed version, & (3) high-detail penciled version. We are not an art class*. Don't push quality of art on us.
  • We wern't given much information on how to make a comic, just on their elements. Nothing on how to use the elements together, just that they exist.

    I'm not too excited about the project at this point, but it's a grade and I need as many points as I can get. So I'm sketching out ideas, looking at web comics, and I'm looking through some Penny Arcade for inspiration, then I remember the most over-used D&D joke ever: fumbling a move silently check. I made a rouch sketch out of that and it occupied six frames. I win. I'll put up a higher quality version once I make one and get it scanned. Until then, here's a script of it.

    [Frame 1]
    (The heros, Kuro and Brekke, are standing near the arch to the room in which a cloaked man stands in front of a glowing orb.)

    Narrator: As our heros near the end of their quest they notice The Wizard they're after concentrating on the Viewing Globe.

    Kuro: I still have 10 minutes left on by buffs so I'll sneak attack him and tank while you heal, okay?

    Brekke: Alright.

    [Frame 2]
    Move silently!
    (A d20 rolls and bounces.)

    [Frame 3]
    (The d20 continues to roll.)

    [Frame 4]
    (Close-up of Kuro's face, centering n his eyes.)

    Kuro: Let's roll!

    [Frame 5]
    (Kuro falls over, his fullplate making ear piercing crashing and banging sounds. Both The Wizard and Brekke are cought off guard, The Wizard shouting in suprise.)

    The Wizard: Gaah!

    [Frame 6]
    (Brekke and Kuro stand over the body of The Wizard who has a moist stain around his crotch.)

    Brekke: I think he had a heart attack.

    Kuro: I think he peed himself.


    Posted by XenoFreq @ 1:30 PM - 1 comments