Episode 208 - Testing Your Writing
Mar 1, 2015
In this Quackcast Banes and I discuss some methods for testing your writing, well mainly your characters, to see how well you really know them. We use a comedic character creation template that we have found is perfect for testing and learning more about your established characters, no matter how serious they are. It consists of four interrelated elements: Point of view; Exaggeration of the point of view; Faults; Relatability / Humanity. We also talk a little about the dreaded dangers of the Mary Sue... you never want your writing to fall in that putrid, cancerous hole of smelly excrement where your main character is perfect and all the others worship them. And lastly the very useful Bechdel test for seeing how rounded your female characters are. There are 3 rules: You have to have at least two named women; They who talk to each other; It's about something besides a man. We were both a bit sad about the death of Leonard Nimoy. R.I.P. Mister Spock.
Topics and Show Notes
Topics and Show Notes:
Featured comic:
Sweets and Giggles - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Sweets_and_giggles/
Character template:
Point of view
Exaggeration of the point of view
Faults
Relatability / Humanity.
Mary Sue - http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue
Bechdel test:
It has to have at least two named women in it,
who talk to each other,
about something besides a man
More info - http://bechdeltest.com/
Wiki definition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace Costansa, musician - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
DeadFingers - Music: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/DeadFingers/ by Peipei.
Episode 205 - What about bodyshape?
Feb 9, 2015
This week Banes and I were inspired to talk about body shape in the depiction of figures in comics, inspired by some famous images from photographer Howard Schatz's 2002 book, Athlete. In it there are photos of many athletes who're at the peak of their sports and yet their bodyshapes are vastly different, subverting the idea of an "ideal" bodyshape or what it means to be a top athlete or even fit. too often bodyshapes in comics follow a very narrow range, not getting much past what we think of as the current popculture ideal. We all know that idealised model shape is a problem and yet we all still perpetuate it, most of the time you can only tell most "realistic" characters apart by their hairstyle or costume, especially in superhero comics. And that invents a second problem: the myth of the "normal" shaped body as opposed to the ideal- there IS no such thing as normal, and even the ideal is always changing throughout the ages. There's even a lot more to body shape than the famous categories: Mesomorph, Ectomorph, and Endomorph, or Skinny, Pear, Athletic, Hourglass and Apple. We also have a beif mention of how stylised characters (Sponge Bob, Calvin and Hobbes etc) are exaggerations of these shapes and differences.
Episode 139 - Telling Gender From Comic Styles
Oct 28, 2013
For Quackcast 139 Banes and I were joined by Kawaiidaigakusei, who had an amazingly interesting subject to talk about: “Telling Someone's Sex By the Way They Draw". Kawaiidaigakusei says:This has been a subject matter that is of great interest to me since college, and I am sure a lot of people who draw webcomics can relate. The early periods of Western Art have been mostly dominated by men. Female artists were rare during the Baroque Period with the exception of a key figure, Artemisia Gentileschi, whose dark interpretation of Judith Beheading Holofernes can be read with psychoanalytic overtones of a woman asserting her dominance over a man by decapitation. The twentieth century welcomed an influx of women artists during the Feminist art movement that began in the late 1960s. In the present day, with the introduction of webcomics and the Internet, women and men now have a level playing field to showcase their art to the public. Now the question remains–Is it possible to tell a person's sex by the way they draw?
Episode 93 - American Tantz Aerine and Greek Pit Face
Sep 3, 2012
Banes and I chat with Tantz Aerine and Pitface, two talented and beautiful web-comicing women who are authors of their own great individual works (Without Moonlight and Putrid Meat to name a few) as well as their amazing collaborative WW2 Greek resistance war comic Brave Resistance, featuring dastardly Nazis, a brave native American pilot, and the heroic Greek resistance fighters. We chat about collaborative working styles that involve people working together halfway around the world - Tantz in Greece and Pit in the States - as well as all aspects of the story of Brave Resistance and up coming plot points.
Episode 92 - Women, Feminism, and Webcomics with Noelle Dreves: Part 2
Aug 27, 2012
For the 92nd Quackcast we return we return to Australian heroine and flying ace Noelle Dreves and and international bon vivant and professional wine taster Skoolmunkee chatting with me about women in webcomics! This is the second part of the two-parter that began with Quackcast 90. We begin with Discussion Pinky TA, as you do! As before: These two ladies are on to talk about women in webcomics and popular culture in general from an ever so slightly feminist point of view.
Episode 90 - Women, Feminism, and Webcomics with Noelle Dreves: Part 1
Aug 13, 2012
For the 90th Quackcast we have two special guests: Skoolmunkee and Noelle Dreves! These two ladies are on to talk about women in webcomics and popular culture in general from an ever so slightly feminist point of view, with me along just agreeing with everything. We discuss a bunch of topics rape, sexuality, sexy outfits and more. You should know Noelle from her amazing featured comics, Strange Case and Dangermoth! This is the first part of a two parter. The DD play will be next week and the second part will come on after that!
Episode 65 - Men and Women in Tights
Feb 20, 2012
Banes and Ozoneocean round off the topic of superheroes, beating that wonderhorse to death well and truly. There's a lot of reminiscing here about ancient superhero pop-culture and along the way we discuss silver age and golden age comics, supervillains, second stringer superheros and why the remain that way, the gender and culture appeal of some characters, evolution of superheroes towards realism and grit, then webcomic superheroes, especially those on DD, and then finish up with why we like superheroes. Sidekick Captain-Ozone continues to echo disturbingly from the void while the real hero, Ultra-Banes, continues to bring the humour. We decide that it all comes back to Superman and Batman, who are the ultimate prototypes for the two main types of superheros: super, good, and perfect Vs normal, flawed, and human.
Episode 54 - Creative Backgrounds, Under the Influence
Dec 6, 2011
What are the things from your background that have influenced your comic work? What are the events, images, situations, lessons, film, music, people, ideologies, and experiences that have served as your creative fuel? This is what I wanted to know about for this Quackcast, so we have various DD comic artists describing the inspiration fuel cells that power their work.
