(Image removed by Author)
Thought I'd share my comic strip.
Becoming a cartoonist was THE single reason I wanted to be an artist when I was really young. This strip is called "Hoxwinder Hall". It's about a boy and his pet... alligator. The basic premise is this kid (Byron) catches what he thinks is a lizard - while on a family vacation in Florida. He brings it back home, and that's where the mad cap fun begins!
So here are 5 black & white strips - a weeks worth - to be read from top down.
Hope you like.
PS - I needed to delete the image due to the "comic strip superstar" contest rules. Hopefully you'll be able to see it again on THAT website before I post it back on this one. ; ))
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6 comments:
Man, these are really great! I liked the play on Lacoste and the "I'm gonna swallow you whole on day" one's the best. Ha! those are great to read. Excellent loose style!
The hair on the older brother is absolutely phenomenal! Great job. wow.
Hey thanks, Matt. It took a LOT of time developing the character's, so I really appreciate your comment about the brother's hair (Rowdy); it's one of the things I am most proud of! I created around 20 strips that I then sent into all the big newspaper syndicates years ago. Got rejections from all of them except an Editor named Lewis Little (I later learned this was the guy who discovered Garfield). He thought it had a lot of potential, and invited me to an internship program where I would submit 30 strips per month, and he would "grade" them based on the strength of the gags. In the end, at that time, I just didn't have the writing chops to sustain (what he thought) was consistently funny enough writing - and the internship ended. What I learned from that was how all-important the WRITING is to ANY comic. The whole experience gave me great confidence, so someday I need to get back to it. I still think the concept is great, and has never really been done before. Maybe work it into a concept for a Pixar feature... ? Thanks! - db
By the way, DOZI - the alligator's name - is IZOD spelled backward...
Hmm... that might need further explaination. The once popular fashion insignia (the tiny embroidered alligator on polo shirts, etc) used to known as "izod", but might now only be known as "lacoste"?
Haha! Yeah that did need some explanation, though now that you mention it I do remember "izod." I first thought of Lacoste though. XD
These are really cute and the designs are really nice. They kind of remind me of Peanuts or something (I don't read a lot of strips unfortunately DX).
However there is one thing that bugs me a little. I notice a lot of copy/pasted images throughout the panels and strips, especially seeing them all together like this. Whole panels go by where nothing changes but the shape of the mouth (strip #2) and even a head seems to be reused (strip #5) and it just looks obvious. I know a strip is usually a bunch of repeating panels but you play around with posing and expressions in the future, like Byron's discovery he has to share a room with his brother. First panel he sighs, can look sad. Second panel he could look bitter or resentful, third panel angry, fourth panel sad again. I love to draw expressions so I probably think of this more than anything, but it might help break it up. At times it seems a little, like...inactive when the panels repeat.
That's just my two cents! I still applaud all the effort, and I know how hard it is to work on stuff at all. I admire anyone who can crank out this stuff, and I do think it has a fun, cute premise. Keep it up!
Crap this is kinda long sorry. DX
Hey Sarah. Your observation about re-used images is right on. Actually, that was intentional. I'm a big fan of Doonesbury and Bloom County; both of those classic strips used repeating characters/expressions/panels, and I they influenced me a LOT. I love those strips, especially Bloom County!
I created this over a decade ago. As I dust-off this idea and think about how it might be updated, I will definitely reconsider my approach to all of it.
Thanks a ton for your thoughts! Much appreciated!
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