(holy hell, 6 hours??) Congrats on the win Sean! :DDD

HEATHEN- This is ralph bakshi caliber stuff right here. This is totally reminding me of the recent animation he crowdfunded. The sketchy style you got going almost feels animated. Its a shame its only two pages- it read like a sunday strip with one dark gag tho!

SEAN- Dude you're a beast. Like the time constraints goin down here is impressive enough, but to get this kind of quick tale is really impressive. This got dark 0_0 But I am ok with this! Great inks and I like that you kept the shots close for this kind of intimate violence. Harvey's reflection on the knife is my fav bit

Thank you Heathen for this awesome battle exercise, and thank you to everyone who left comments and critiques. It's greatly appreciated. You crazy kids are great

I wasn't going to comment because I have to sleep soon, but I just had to after reading Heathen's comic (and I'm sure I'll feel the same after reading Sean's)

@Heathen: You mentioned that this was a bit of an experiment, and I enjoyed it! I'm impressed at how well you communicated what everything was even while using abstract, gesture-like lines. I think your comic is a good study in telling a story through composition and minimalism, as well as creating form in less conventional ways. The ending line made me chuckle.

@Sean: On top of how impressive it is that you did this in 6 hours, I love how much you showcased of who Harvey is as a person, from him running in fear, to trying to break free, to what seems like him wanting to prevent him exploding just as much as he wants to not die. Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but I liked it. And the ending made me re-read his bio, which was cool because now I know it's not just his hair that causes explosions haha. I hope this is the beginning of a lot more Sean comics!!!

Wow, for 6 hour comics, these are quite the feat!
Heathen- NICE NICE
Sean- I'm no sure why he had to head-butt him but NICE
Since there was prolly zero planning that went into these, I'm not really going to crit them XD, BUT I LOVE THEM ANYWAY!! <3

I'm super impressed with what both of you did with such a short time. Since the stories are so simple, it's good you both stuck with very little dialogue, and it's still very clear what's going on in both.

Heathen: I gotta say, I really enjoy this loose, sketchy style, particularly the way you did your shading on the characters. Kinda reminds me of gritty 90's comics. I'd say if you want to try and push this style more, maybe consider doing a darker outline around the full silhouette of each character. Parts like Harvey's hair or the tie on the handkerchief of the punk guy become so loose they start to bleed into the background or become hard to read overall, and giving the outer most outline a darker look, like you did with Smile's arm in the final panel, would give them more structure. That's just an idea though.

Astro Sean: This looks very clean considering the rush! I like the use of heavy blacks here and how it adds to the dark atmosphere. For critique, I'd say you should work on making your posing match the intensity of the expressions. In the shot where Smile first grabs Harvey's throat, he looks very pained, but Smile's hand doesn't really look like it's wrapped around his throat tightly. Having the beard pinch in more under his hand and having the hand and bringing it in closer might help, or zooming out a bit so that Smile's arm could be put into the motion. The one with the headbutt looks a little static too. Maybe some motion lines could have added to it? Your expressions still do a great job of conveying the action though!

Great job on both of these!

Just wanna say, I'm really happy that this is starting to become a thing. With the complexity of Void stories lately, simple ideas like these are very refreshing to me.  I think you both did a great job for such a tight time-limit, and showed off your unique strengths.  Heathen with dynamic poses, composition, perspective.  AstroSean with solid storytelling, paneling, and clean inks.

it is a very interesting concept. And in such a small amount of time, you did very well both of you
Could become a theme for a tournament...

That is really awesome from both of you. I can't really think of any helpful critique for the technical stuff other than that's awesome you both did each of these in 6 hours.

Heathen: That first page is amazing and I love the perspective and all the detail you put into it, i love the reflection showing the gun off on the side that part is an amazing small detail. I also like how the Smile just casually kills the guy Harvey was giving a haircut for.

Sean: Your inks are super clean and all the panels you were able to do in this battle is awesome. I feel pretty bad for Harvey and I do like the boom effect you did at the end. Overall simple and voilent but in a good way

SmileVSHarvey

Boy oh boy oh boy is there nothing I love more than a down and dirty quick, roughshod fight.

Right away for both of your comics I think the biggest thing that comes through is a fair bit amount of split second planning. Simple and straightforward with very little fat to them they get right to each other with the exact amount of conflict and style I've always loved in Void comics.

Heathen: well rendered in its sketchy styling there is a good amount of geometry and cohesiveness to both page which does a great amount of legwork setting the scene and the atmosphere. The first page establishes everything that the shop needs to be broken with the single shot of violence on the next page. It's a deep breath followed by a sucker punch and I like how it played out.

Astro: different approach but good result. This is pure nightmare panic, the type of event that would play out in a post-spice curry fever dream. There isn't a lot of context but with some one like smile you don't usually get that so it works. Where heathen's is two whole notes on a measure this is eighth after sixteenth notes ending in crash!

Man oh man I love this and I hope to heck I can do one myself sometime. A great proof of concept!

Ballsy project, hats off to you both.  Seriously cool exercise!

Heathen:

Solid pages, man.  Love the perspective and interesting angle you set to the establishing shot in the shop.  The detail in the characters despite being sketchy is phenomenal.  Lots of movement in all of their poses.  Stellar work, 6 hours or not.  I don't why but the "spritz" sound effect cracked me up as much as it did but I chuckled pretty good. Harvey's reaction was funny too.  Enjoyed it.  

Astro:  I'm impressed by the amount of finished, quality panels you were able to produce in six hours.  A little more exaggerated motion in your figures would add a lot more interest to each panel.  Go for more extreme poses and camera angles in the future and see how it works for you.  

I'll leave writing out of this one as its meant to be a quick and dirty exercise and 3 pages doesn't allow for much plot progression. I was entertained on both sides and will definitely be trying to line one of these up in the future.  Nice job fellas

6 hours you say? These are impressive.

Heathen: Very well composed, short and clear. Good comic. The sketchiness may make the characters a slight bit harder to read, which is to be expected, but it does also lend an interesting quality to it and doesn't really detract too much from how it looked either. Also, appreciate the use of color for mood.

Astro: Very well done on your end too. No wasted panels, each one building up to a good payoff. Also looks pretty finished for a 6 hour work. My only critique is perhaps some of the poses could have been composed more dynamic like, to really sell on Harvey really getting gripped by the throat/beard. Have some of that body squished or pulled for something like that.

awesome idea and great job for 6 hours y'all

Oh man, you used your time wisely, Sean! Super clean little comic! Poor Harvey!

This was a helluva lotta fun, I can’t wait to draw Harvey some more!

P.S. everybody please offer feedback on the technical stuff and the overall style if you can. The brief drawing time is certainly a consideration, but I took the opportunity to throw caution to the wind and see how quick and dirty I could get with my pencils while maintaining readability in the art, so I’d like to use feedback on this to help kind of refine the technique in future comics to find a balance between speed and quality.

Thanks!

Heathen: Super great gesture work, all the poses are really strong and the coloring is subdued and relaxed. I love the way you worked with Harvey. This comic is a lot of fun. It's hard to say any negatives given the 6 hour deadline, but I think you could have been slightly more deliberate with the 'charcoal' effect. A little more focused and it would have gone a lot farther. Still, rad comics.

Sean: What a nice little exercise for yourself. Just when we thought you were nothing but an old time shitter, you turned in something lovely. I think that the opening of the comic shouldn't have had Smile in the alley, would have been a better build up. You could have probably built the dread up a little more by keeping him held at bay for as long as possible (the old movie monster razzle-dazzle). That being said, you have a fun little stabbing and your layouts are good. You made some solid punchy blacks and I like how hard you get to the story and everything else. Little dodgy on the facial anatomy, but acceptable with a 6 hour rusher. Great work.

Six hours Deadline. Three Page Max. No Stipulations.

I won't lie this was really fucking fun. Thank you Heathen for making me back up my shit talking.

This is bad...

Oh no...