Hammerspace- a concept for C&C (strip added, page founded)

[Ghost]

I've recently started to work on a little series of comic strips, codenamed "Hammerspace". Just like short stories, I consider strips a demanding artform; creating a comic book allows you to waste space, strips don't. I've collected a few ideas, nothing too original I fear, but amusing at least.

It's a strip about a caffeine-addicted student, a hippie girl and her sock rabbit, a egocentric banker and an Igor.
The basic idea is that these people accidentally meet and (all needing money) decide to create "a cool video game", since they sell so well. They hardly have any idea how to code, draw, make music or even settle for a genre- they're almost completely clueless, but nevertheless have a web page made to announce "the best game ever, coming soon".
This will, of course, never work.
The most important distraction from the team's work is that their mainframe has somehow linked up to "hammerspace"- the dimension that is used by cartoon characters to retrieve hammers, anvils or supersized machineguns from. Ever so often hammerspace and the little office of the motley crew will merge, often with disastrous results.

But- as the team falls behind their deadline but still claim their game to be up and about, a strange hype starts. Blog junkies and important software companies decide that there really must be a killer app out there- and some very prominent businessmen do their best to sabotage a project that hasn't even taken off ground.

Hammerspace is meant to be a sitcom-type strip, focussing on the relations and interactions within the team, though hammerspace itself allows me to include everything from game characters entering the office to actual timewarp frenzies.

This lot being said, I'd like to show a small sample and ask how you like the concept (the lengthy bit above) and, of course, the style (see below)- hard to judge from just this little appetizer, but heck, it's late...
I rather like the idea that Hammerspace could make it as yet another little web comic- would you read something that looks like that?

[Sparky]

I'm impressed by the drawing skill, and the lighting is well done. You're a really talented artist! The premise sounds entertaining enough, and I could see it generating all kinds of interesting plot twists.

Some minor criticisms:
I'm personally not very fond of the colors, but that's subjective. I think I'd like it more if it were a little more artsy and had less of a traditional "clean" web comic look. I'm missing things like colored outlines and more dynamic composition. Again, this is pretty subjective.

But I don't mean to sound negative, I'm just trying to offer useful feedback. I'd like to stress again that the style you have is very professional, and really leaves very little to be desired. Good luck with the project!

[Ghost]

Thank you for the kind words! And if I wasn't up for crits, why would I've posted here  ?

I have not yet settled on a colour swatch for most characters and will DEFENITELY consider coloured outlines- I just tried them out and must agree; they certainly add to the tone. The clear colour lines, however, will stay, since they are a perfect method for me- fast enough to try several different lighting/shading effect in good time, and still simple enough as to  keep their look after downscaling. My original images are HUGE, and elaborate, soft brush effects are almost completely lost when reducing them.

I think I'll just get one good clean strip done and then post it here, if only to attract some more responses... 

[Neil Dnuma]

Yeah, the style seems good and clean. Not very original though, nothing that stands out. You might want to think of ways to make it grab attention. But it's really the content that matters. I'd love to read it, but it's german and super-tiny so a bit hard. The funniest comics I've seen around here was far from this nice looking but funny nontheless (Cunnnt and the one Rolf made about the shoes  )

[Steel Drummer]

You liked Yufster's comic, Neil?

[Ghost]

One strip added for your convinience- correctly formatted and in the internet's lingua franca  I was surprised that there are actually hardly any nice lettering fonts with umlaut support, so well...

(BTW- the guy to the left is the Sandman)

[Babar]

I'm not quite sure what you are wanting C&C on. You have a very polished concept, and a very polished (or at least webcomic worthy IMHO) art. Perhaps the only complaint I could have is that the art is a little too generic or "common". Any other changes or improvements you might need to make would be in-depth, high-level comic type adjustments and refinements that I would not be able to help point out. I'm sure there are better qualified comic-persons on the forums to help you with that.

So...in conclusion....this post has absolutely no use...

If you are asking for critics about that specific comic, then..... well, I wouldn't have known that to be the sandman unless you had actually said so. Is he going to be a regular on the comic?

[Nikolas]

I'm a bit confused. The main character you're using seems well known to me. Have you done other comics by this character, did you "copy" something, or am I just crazy?

I do seem to remember various comics with that "kind" of character.

Either way the sandman one is very good one well done on that! You're using all the right tools and techniques to make a great comic (imo of course).

Just find a way to keep us posted of any new ones you know

[Ghost]

So...in conclusion....this post has absolutely no use...

I take that as a compliment 
But I think it HAS use. First of all, while the general oppinion seems to be that my style is appropriate, I wasn't sure it would be. Now I know. And I didn't just ask if I can draw well (that would've been boasting), I wanted to see if the concept seems interesting. This question has also been answered, making me a much more happy person.
And this is a place where many, many talented people post their art and are ready to comment upon it, several of them much better than me (take Igor, for example), and many of them with much more experience than I have. So, no, this post isn't useless, it's already helping me.

I see that the post got a lot of reads, but very few responses. Did I give the impression that I just want to boast? In that case, please let me stress that this isn't the case. I'm a newcomer to strips, and just wanted to get some second oppinions. I tend to lose patience very quickly, I have a darn tight shedule. But I believe in Hammerspace, and your responses have fortified this belief.
And anyway- all you need to C&C a strip is the ability to read. Everyone can tell if he liked what he saw, if he can get into the humour, even if he can't draw. I couldn't write a novel like, well, Fool On The Hill, yet I can have an opinion about that novel.

Is he (the sandman) going to be a regular on the comic?

Indeed. Sandman will make frequent visits to Geoffrey (the main character), always trying to deliver dreams- Geoffrey hardly ever sleeps, so he messes up the sandman's files. It's sort of a running gag; there's also one where Geoffrey is going to be taken by Death, and Sandman actually defends him because he still has to deliver a whole motherload of dreamworks.

I'm a bit confused. The main character you're using seems well known to me.  Have you done other comics by this character, did you "copy" something, or am I just crazy?

Well, I'm drawing that guy for a while now, but have not made it public before (not much). But since my art is heavily influenced by belgium artists, there's a sure bet you've seen someone similar somewhere. Do you remeber where you actually saw Geoffrey`s twin? I don't want any lawsuits storming in once I get on-line.




Once again, thanks for the kind words. I'll defenitely keep it going, and use this thread for further info.

[Nikolas]

Doulbe posted???

How dare you!

Ok. I remember that it reminded me of ctrl+alt+del. It's not the same that's for sure, but I do think that there are plenty of resemblences: http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20061213 for example...

It's just the style that's pretty close I reckon.

no harm done really of course...

[Moresco]

Looks great.  I liked the sandman strip.  Like everyone else said, it's a pretty common style.  Hey though, that didn't stop the other guys and don't let it stop you either.  ^^  Keep at it!

So you do intend to make it into a webcomic?

[Ghost]

@nickolas: Ah, I see. You're right, there is some similarity in style there. Fortunately, I still consider them "different" enough... And thanks for pointing me to a very good online comic. I like to add some to my list.

@redpress: Thanks. Yes, doing this online would be fun. My knowledge about setting up such a space and financing it, however, is almost non-existent. Any hints would be welcome.

First I want to build up a healthy buffer of strips, though- I don't plan to rush this. PvP updates daily, which would be out of question for me, but a weekly update seems managable.

[Moresco]

Well until you're ready to purchase a host and setup your webcomic for sale etc, you still have plenty of options.  Start an online journal and post comics there, you can host them on photobucket as storage etc.  Hell, you could even ask me and I'd gladly host them.  Or there's DA, plenty of good webcomics to be found and they'd certainly appreciate yours. 

Plenty of other options - not really appropriate to this forum though, but if you have any questions about that stuff hit me up with a PM.

[Ghost]

Hammerspace has found its home at deviantart, where I will post the
strip. Right now there are two meagre testing images, but I'm positive to have some strips up there around May.

Kindly follow this link.

http://blghost.deviantart.com