Episode 256 - Using and creating weapons in fiction
Feb 1, 2016
Tantz Aerine, Banes and Ozoneocean discuss the topic of using and creating weapons in fiction and some of the pitfalls involved- all the things you can easily do wrong and do better! Stuff like using overly specialised weapons in too general a role, like giant swords where they'd be next to useless, or tricked out assault rifles with way too many things hooked onto them so they're oversized and weight a ton- also copying ideas and tropes about weapons usage without understanding why the exist and in the process making many of the same mistakes as others have in the past.
Topics and Show Notes
Topics and shownotes
Featured comic:
XTIN - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/XTIN/
Links:
Quackcast 256 VIDEO - https://youtu.be/4lPSTIwehv8
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Please contribute to help DD - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/drunk-duck-webcomics-improvement-drive/x/4410947#/
The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
The Understanding - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Understanding/ by Call Me Tom, rated M.
- See more at: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2016/feb/01/quackcast-256-using-and-creating-weapons-in-fiction/
Episode 254 - Sexism in your OWN work?k
Jan 18, 2016
OMFG you sexist PIG! Heh… today we talk about trying to recognise sexism in your OWN work, what to do about it, and WHY. It turns out it can be very hard to do, and if you DO acknowledged it the instinct is to rationalise it away, justify it, or just try and brazen it out in some kind of old fashioned, largely embarrassing, display. I frequently do all three. How do we spot it? Well the Bechdel test isn't that useful, that's better for looking at broad trends not giving specific works a pass/fail - sexy outfits is one thing, if females are dressed minimally or in tight gear in CONTRAST to the males or vice versa - females ONLY having old stereotype roles (maiden/mother/whore archetypes, secretary, nurse, victim, maid etc), though this is context sensitive, i.e. it's more forgiveable if you're doing a historical story or something stylised like a fairytale or a noire story - Gender balance is another thing, it's context sensitive because certain stories will naturally have more of one gender (WW2 submarine crew, Girl's school, a prison story etc), and you don't have to have an exact balance anyway but it's definitely something to THINK about because there is no reason most stories should feature a majority of male characters and a minority of females. WHY should you think about it? Why should you care? Well the audience for almost ALL types of stories, be they action adventure, romance, Scifi, fantasy, historical, even porn, is getting close to 50/50 between men and women these days (maybe it always was?), it really doesn't make sense to alienate or belittle half your audience just because you like to cling to older ways of doing stuff. Gunwallace's theme this week reminds me of a cross between the Knightrider theme and Gunship- it's VERY retro-future. It's the theme to DDSR, a comic with cool custom “sprites”, AKA pixel-art.
Episode 251 - Year end Christmas wrap up
Dec 28, 2015
Merry Christmas and a Happy new year!!! For Quackcast 251 we have a year end wrap-up episode. Tantz Aerine and Pitface join Banes and I to talk about the year as it was, what happened with DD, comicing, and what movies we're looking forward too!- Star Wa… ZOOLANDER! Yes, Zoolander 2, it better not be a disappointment. Gunwallace's theme this week was for Dragonet! A very sober and majestic sounding piece, like a royal funeral march.
Episode 234 - Climactic Climaxes!
Aug 31, 2015
What's best? One big climax, multiple small ones, early, or delayed? How much should you work UP to a climax? What about anticlmactic events, how important are they? Climaxes are really important in stories. Often you work up to them over the course of a whole series, but each episode or chapter can have them, maybe even every single page. I find writing “up” to climaxes a bit stressful because you have a lot of preasure and expectation there. And when it's over and you've actually achieved it, it can be a bit depressing: where do you go to from there? You can feel a little lost, at least I do. TALKING ABOUT WRITING HERE. My preference is for multiple climaxes. Do you always need climaxes in stories? I don't think you do personally… there are times when things work fine without one, but it does help better with endings. Sometimes climaxes can be TOO big. Way too much of a story can be invested in a climax, it subsumes everything, everything has to tie in with that specific story flow and that can be REALLY had to pull off. If it's not done right it can be massively disappointing. Anticlimactic. Pitface Joins Banes and Ozone to chat about climaxes in stories and read out the contributions from our climactic contributors. Gunwallace gave us a gorgeous theme for Just Another Day!
Episode 227 - Biggest webcomicing mistakes
Jul 13, 2015
Webcomicing is a learning process, you build on your knowledge and skills as you go, comics can take years to complete and your audience is usually pretty forgiving… Well learning is all about making mistakes and if you're like the people who contributed to this Quackcast, you make a hell of a lot of them! But hopefully you learn from them, or even better; learn from the mistakes of others. That's what this Quackcast was all about; sharing your biggest webcomicing mistakes. None of us are immune to them. They can be borne of hard to break bad habits, lack of experience or skill, or just plain stubbornness. If you make any that you'd like to tell us about, just share them in the comments bellow. I hope you'll enjoy the lovely Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy/Harry Potter-esque style musical theme for Wizarding Along The Way by Gunwallace!
Episode 220 - the Process of Creation
May 12, 2015
Hello from Belgrade in Serbia! This Quackcast was recorded 3 weeks ago and I am currently in Europe, though I'm still writing this from Perth Western Australia 3 weeks in the past… So in this particular Quackcast you get to hear ME Ozoneocean, Banes, Bravo1102 and Tantz Aerine (who I visited in Athens last week), chat about the process of creation! Creation is a topic very close to the heart of all webcomic creators and the four of us try and explore all aspects of it with the help of some very wise people on DD. The music for this week is Gunwallace's them fro The Temple at 50 Fathoms, a comic by Skreem, SO if you like a hyper dance club sound, you better strap on your dancin' pants when you listen to this one!
Episode 186 - X-men of the galaxy wintersoldier
Sep 29, 2014
No more pre-recorded Quackcasts... Ozoneocean is BACK from Europe! For this Quackcast Banes and Ozone chat about 3 superhero films... well, more like two because BANES bloody didn't see Guardians of the Galaxy! The bastard. Anyway, Ozone and Banes have a bit of a talk about these films and give them a rating out of five. They were all good films pretty much, some better than others, Banes and Ozone talk about the things that worked best, the things that didn't work, and which films were their faves. SPOILER- the film starting with G was THE best out of the 3 by a looooong way!!!!
Episode 184 - The Trevor Mueller Hour
Aug 18, 2014
Trevor A Meuller, author of many astounding comics including Albert The Alien, @$$hole and Temple of a Thousand Tears came on to tell us about some of the different projects he's working. Banes and I were highly impressed by his professional approach and his amazing radio voice! Trevor is a Drunk Duck graduate who you might remember working on @$$hole and Temple of a Thousand Tears in the early days, he's since moved on to bigger and better things, working with the award winning artist and colourist artist Gabriel Bautista Jr on the gorgeous all ages comic Albert The Alien. He's also involved in the great comics based educational reading initiative readingwithpctures.com as well as may other joint projects. he's definitely worth listing to for his exciting motivated approach and the advice he has to offer beginners in the field.
