Episode 465 - Planning Vs pantsing!
Feb 10, 2020
There are a couple of approaches when it comes to making a big creative project: planing it all out or working things out as you go i.e. flying by the seat of your pants. Well in reality it's a spectrum and those are the two extremes. Most of us work somewhere between those two, sometimes with more or less planning etc… I've tried a lot of different mixtures myself!
Topics and Show Notes
Improvising as you go can be thrilling, it can really keep the creative juices flowing. It works best when you have a really good idea of the world you're working with, the characters and how they think. The downside to it is that you can easily lose focus and hit a creative brick wall. It also means it's harder to make big, coherent story arcs with clever ideas, good structure and payoffs for loyal readers. This approach is best for comic strips or very experienced creators.
Planning everything is a good way to go if you want a nice tight story with a good structure and pay-offs for readers. If you create this way you'll always have a direction to go in and won't really run into any blocks. It's also easier to get team members on board to help you. The disadvantage is that it takes a lot of work to set it up at the beginning and if you plan too hard you can lose motivation when you're creating things because you're just working to a per-determined plan. This approach is best for graphic novels, team projects, or commercial projects.
Most of us will work somewhere in between. I used to fly by the seat of my pants and just work pay to page… I've also tried working from a fully written script. At the moment I work from a broad outline: I know what happens in the full chapter and the action on each page, but not what the action looks like or how many panels I should have. I've let myself have some creative freedom so my creativity isn't stifled and I can develop tings as I go without being too restricted- but my main plan is always there to go back to when I need it.
What's your method?
This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Dozer Manifesto - Start your engine… The sound of the powerful diesel motor as it comes time life… you can smell the fumes. Dry, dusty, industrial, rocky, the guitar thrums with a mechanical rhythm, hot and fast.
Topics and shownotes
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Links
Planning newspost - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/jan/29/planning-ahead-vs-the-thrill-of-discovery/
Featured comic:
The Second Crimean War - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/feb/02/featured-comic-the-second-crimean-war/
Featured music:
Dozer Manifesto - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Dozer_Manifesto/, by Arborcides, rated T.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Episode 464 - The current digital art landscape
Feb 2, 2020
I recently had to upgrade my main computer because Windows isn't supporting Windows 7 any longer and I don't want to install Windows 10 on the perfectly functioning old one in case it ruins it and my main programs can't run any longer… SO I had to get a new PC. This got me thinking though: The barrier to getting into digital art is lower now than ever!
Episode 459 - 2019 Year in review!
Dec 30, 2019
It's been a great year! DD has continued to grow bit by bit, we've been stable and a great host for many many webcomics. DD is one of the only truly independent community focused webcomic hosting sites left. Most of the rest are commercial hubs that are not community centered. Part of our commitment to the community on DD is showcasing our best webcomics every week, which we've been doing for 17 years now, and I've personally been doing that for about 13.
Episode 457 - Religion in fiction 2
Dec 16, 2019
2 weeks ago we discussed the topic of religion in fiction: basicaly how we use real world religions to inform the perspectives of our characters and make the worlds more real, how we use religion in fiction, and how we make up religions for our worlds. We had so many great responses to this in the forum and about the Quackcast that we thought it'd be great to feature and chat about them! DD is a community after all and we love our community members to be a part of the Quackcast!
Episode 456 - Smackdown on Quackjeeves
Dec 8, 2019
Smack Jeeves has been sold out from under its community to a Korean mobile content provider company NHN. The same company approached us last year but the deal didn't go through because we were too strict on retaining control of the site and protecting our community, SJ apparently didn't have those same concerns for the people that made the site so special and that is a huge shame. What's happened now is that NHN is streamlining the site, minimising the creative members who host their comics there and turning it into a content delivery site for its hand-picked pro work, turning it into another souless clone corporate of Webtoons or Tapas.
Episode 455 - Religion in fiction
Dec 2, 2019
We're talking about how religion is portrayed in fiction and a bit about WHY. This was a surprisingly fascinating topic. I came up with the idea while watching the old 2000s SciFi series Andromeda: one of the alien characters there is sort of a space Buddhist, and I felt like that was a pretty common thing in American TV Scifi, so I wondered about what other kinds of religious tropes exist in contemporary fiction, fantasy and other SciFi worlds.
Episode 454 - Are Marvel movies "Despicable"?
Nov 24, 2019
This week we look at the famous quote by respected film director Martin Scorsese that “Marvel movies aren't Cinema” and also the quote by fellow director Francis Ford Coppola that Marvel films are “despicable”. We try and look at the proper context of these remarks outside of the twitter garbage and social media outrage to see if either had any point or whether they're way off the mark and deserving of criticism.
Episode 452 - Storytelling styles change!
Nov 11, 2019
Storytelling styles change over time for various reasons: fashion, audience expectations, competition for audience attention due to increased choice and availability of media, technological limitations and abilities, and culture. We chat about the reasons for the changes and how styles have changed.
