A classic scene that terrified audiences back in the day was that moment in Halloween where an out-of focus Michael Myers (“The Shape”) sits up behind the traumatized Jamie Lee Curtis. “Behind you! BEHIND YOU!” The audience screamed. The audience knowing something threatening that the character doesn't see plays ...
Actions and the Unaware
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 29, 2024Concepts into Characters...into Canada?
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 22, 2024
I'm not sure if we've talked about this before, but character creation has so many possible roads.
An interesting one is turning a ‘concept’ into a character. It's been done many times - of course, there are the ancient Gods and Goddesses, that personify different aspects of reality ...
Top Five Sci Fi Romantic Couples
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 15, 2024
It's Valentine's Day as I write this, and the day after (or many days after) when you're reading this.
Anyway, I thought I'd run down (or run up) my top five science fiction romantic couples. I don't think I've done this topic before, but ...
Creator and Creation
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 8, 2024
The Quackcast this week was about the idea of defining or understanding the artist by looking at the creation. It's a fascinating topic, and I had a few thoughts that were left on the cutting room floor.
The cutting room floor, in this case, is my emptyish brain wot ...
We gonna be awright?
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 25, 2024
Nothing really coherent occurred to me to write about this week, so here's a little ramble…
I was watching a little interview with an actress who was a lot more candid than most. She talked about experiences with some famous performers, and she had some things to say that ...
The Comedy Villain
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 18, 2024
A fun type of character is the Comedy Villain. This is not a comic relief character in a more serious story; this is the Villain in a Comedic story or series. Actually, they MIGHT be the funniest character - but we'll get to that in a bit.
The legendary comedy ...
The Rules of Writing, from the Sandman Man
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 11, 2024
The next Anthology of Duck comics is in development - Remember to vote for the title! The thread is here:
https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/179106/
Here's some writing advice from Neil Gaiman, writer of comic books and other media. They're outstanding of course.
The Rules of Writing ...
A living tribute to Chris Claremont
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 4, 2024
Classic X-men reprinted the Chris Claremont stories and included new Claremont stories A+
IMPORTANT NOTE: To my knowledge, Chris Claremont is alive and well. This is just a fan's tribute.
This article will let you know what he's working on right now, as well!
Chris Claremont is one ...
A Different Kind of Story Structure
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 28, 2023
I have a lot of interest in story structure. Understanding what it is, how it works, and using it to write better stories. Stories that will keep people more interested, and deliver a satisfying experience…that's what we try to do when we're making comics and writing stories ...
Three Books
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 21, 2023
I've only read three books in my life.
Okay, that's not true - over the years I've read nearly a dozen.
But the first art-instruction book I used (at least, the earliest one I can remember) was this book
about using basic shapes to draw animals.
It was ...