Episode 275 - Layouts, what to do and what not
Jun 13, 2016
The topic this week was ALL Banes' idea! We talk about page layout: techniques to make a good, readable layout, and stuff to avoid. We have Tantz Aerine (greetings), Banes, and myself, Ozoneocean, chatting about how best to do page layouts, at least from our own limited perspectives. None of us are pros in this regard, but we've been doing comics for many years now and we've all developed some pretty decent ideas about how best to do it, in our own ways. Banes is mostly influenced by American style comics, which have more interesting layouts. Tantz and I were manly influenced by European comics, which tend to have a more conservative by very constantly readable style of “box” layout. On Pinky TA and Bottomless Waitress the majority of my pages are in a fairly standard box format, but every now and again I experiment with crazy shapes, overlapping panels, no panels at all, and even “infinite canvas” pages that work with the scroll function. Speaking of which we briefly mention Scott McCloud and the comic Heart of Keol, which uses vertically scrolling large pages. The music this week by Gunwallace was Wastelanders Anonymous, an epic classic rock tune with a lovely repeating upward base rhythm, soaring guitars and authoritative keyboard.
Topics and Show Notes
Topics and shownotes
Featured comic:
Pluto Bear - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Pluto_Bear/
LINKS:
Heart of Keol - http://www.heartofkeol.com/eng/001-01/
Scott McCloud - http://scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/icst/index.html
Heavy Metal - http://www.heavymetal.com/
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz Aerine/
Kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Featured music:
Wastelanders Anonymous - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Wastelanders_Anonymous/, by Seabiscuit, rated M.
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.
Episode 169 - The Chatcast!
Jun 2, 2014
In this fake Chatcast, Ozoneocean and Banes receive calls from their versions of various duckers who ask many interesting questions such as "Where do you get your ideas from?", and "Where do you get your ideas from?", and the always popular and thought provoking enigma of our time; "Where do you get your ideas from?". Our fake callers include Bravo1102, Skulbie, Lonnehart, Skoolmunkee, Ironscarf, Genejoke, and Pitface who called especially to tell us about her epic shoe buying expedition. We really had a marvellous time talking to all these totally counterfeit versions of these wonderful people!
Episode 165 - Mecha Madness!
May 5, 2014
Today Banes and I have a little talk about weaponry and mecha in webcomic- how do you come up with it? How much research do you do? Should it actually work? Is coolness the only factor to consider? How detailed do you go when you design it? how far away from reality and cartoony is appropriate? We consider most of those questions and a few more, there's a LOT to get into on a topic like this and we really only just barely scratch the surface! In my own webcomic Pinky TA I've done a LOT of research and design work to get my mecha and weaponry looking right, so this is a subject dear to me. But we all have our own opinions on this, not just in webcomics but in games, movies, anime, and manga. I would love it if people could contribute their ideas in the comments here or on the DD forum here: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/176137/
Episode 124 - 60 Challenges in 60 Minutes
May 6, 2013
With ozoneocean away having fun this week, it falls to Banes and skoolmunkee to pick up the slack! Our chosen topic is "Challenges" - those longer-term thematic projects you see around, meant to get you off your drawing/writing duff and doing stuff that makes you better. They can be fun though! From the simple DeviantArt meme sheet to the gruelling Pokemonathon, we mention all kinds (although I'm not sure we mention sixty different ones...) for drawing, writing, and even a few for comic-making. Some are more famous than others, and some you might even just make up on your own! We do agree it's more fun to do them with other people, though. Don't forget you can find lots/get good ideas by searching for a likely challenge and adding 'tumblr' to the search.
Episode 112 - Live play: Operation MOON!
Feb 11, 2013
We live up to the promise of two Quackcasts ago: We have a LIVE play for your listening torture! A comic play written by Ozoneocean, full of horrible jokes and starring 5 wonderful duckers all playing their parts to perfection in Operation MOON! It also includes a lot of talk about the origins of our names, ideas for future play based Quackcasts, and a special edition second version of the play done full of giggling! We hope you enjoy this special presentation.
Episode 89 - The Art of Feedback
Aug 6, 2012
For Quackcast 89 we wanted to know people's ideas on Feedback! How do you get it? Do you want it? How do you take it? How SHOULD you take it? How do you give it? What do you prefer, praise, abuse, critisism or advice? Banes and I discuss feedback in all its variations and incarnations, using the wise, learned and experienced words of our valued contributors. There were some really interesting and insightful things said by our contributors about advice, criticism, praise, abuse, and sycophancy.
Episode 66 - Why do you do it?
Feb 27, 2012
After finally definitively vanquishing Ozoneocean last week, Banes is now top dog and chief superhero in the Quackcast universe. He begins his reign by trying to find out from the comicers on DD WHY they write and/or draw their comics, possibly as part of a dastardly plan. In Quackcast 66 we wanted to know what drives people to want to create? How did their comics come to be: Ideas-wise, writing-wise, editing-wise, and web-wise? Why did they choose comics as opposed to some other medium, like dance or archery? How/where did people's initial spark come from for their comic? Where do people draw ideas from? These and more questions are answered interestingly by many creative and clever people, giving us a cool insight into their work and hopefully your own as well.
