A little late to the game here but I thought I'd chime in.
Both comics were really fun! I can see some of the problems with certain color that were mentioned but I never felt like it was a serious problem.
Team A: A lot looked really good here. Sometimes the anatomy got a little wonky, but usually in a way that felt more like spontaneous dynamism than, well, wonky anatomy, though sometimes something seemed a little off, like Johnny Patch's arms at the top of page 14. I also felt like each page didn't really feel connected to the next, but that may just be me.
Team B: The characters came out especially well in this one I thought, and the crisp lines. I think there may have been just a couple too many panels of blank, flat-colored backgrounds, though those aren't necessarily bad. One issue, and I'm not entirely sure what caused it, is that on page 4, the gutter between the two top panels reads to me more as the corner of a wall, and Johnny Sweet is looking directly at Mr. Awesome.
A little late to the game here but I thought I'd chime in.
Both comics were really fun! I can see some of the problems with certain color that were mentioned but I never felt like it was a serious problem.
Team A: A lot looked really good here. Sometimes the anatomy got a little wonky, but usually in a way that felt more like spontaneous dynamism than, well, wonky anatomy, though sometimes something seemed a little off, like Johnny Patch's arms at the top of page 14. I also felt like each page didn't really feel connected to the next, but that may just be me.
Team B: The characters came out especially well in this one I thought, and the crisp lines. I think there may have been just a couple too many panels of blank, flat-colored backgrounds, though those aren't necessarily bad. One issue, and I'm not entirely sure what caused it, is that on page 4, the gutter between the two top panels reads to me more as the corner of a wall, and Johnny Sweet is looking directly at Mr. Awesome.
Man, these were both great entries.
Fred/Wolcik: An impressive amount of pages, and the art was of good quality too! I'm a big fan of vibrant colours, so I really enjoyed the colour work here. I did feel that the story dragged on a bit in the middle, which made my interest wander. Perhaps a few bouts of dialogue could have been lost, but this is a nitpick really. But for the most part it was entertaining and very funny. I was very fond of the animated pages, even though they seemed a little out of place.
Jet/Sabu: HEHEHEHE. Naturally vegimite and beer can be used to summon hoards of dropbears I mean koalas. I really wish you guys had been able to finish, because the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense in its current state. So its a little hard to critique in that area, but I am very much curious as to how the story ends.The colours are quite nice, and the linework is pretty solid. Backgrounds have been improving, but are still a little bare in places.
Keep up the good work~
Outstanding job, both teams!
Wolcik/LeFred - Beautiful colors, rendering, and detail, from the poses to the backdrops. I thought the animated/pixel parts were cute, but didn't add to the comic really. J.Sweet looked beautiful, and its always nice to see Malek!
Jetster/Sabulive - Great crisp lines and vibrant colors. Some of the anatomy and movements need work, but I stayed interested throughout!
Fred and Wolcik - I know I seem to have a habit of nitpicking about this whenever I consider necessary, but I feel that the exteriors of the buildings (the prison building in particular) could use some more details. If anyone else has pointed this out before, then I'm sorry, but the word bubble containing "And where do you think you're going" should be pointed at Sweet, not at Casino.
Overall, I liked the story and the conversation between Casino and his son, and the one between Casino's son and Patch. By the way, those are some pretty cool sprites in some of the pages.
Sabs and Jets - As much as I enjoyed the story, I'll admit that it gets a little too random beyond comprehension, and that it ended rather abruptly. Maybe you could've simply introduced the conflict between the Johnnies and Bob and Casino in a less distant manner.
Either way, good job, and hope to see more from you guys.
I think you two may be concentrating on the wrong things when you were working on the comic, but the things you were concentrating on did look good.
Wolick/Lefred: It could be that a lot of pages have the same color scheme, which may have been the downfall to the mood of the thing. No doubt, beautiful colors. But because there was a lot of action in some scenes, and a few calm conversation on others, the fact that the colors barely emphasized the right mood of the story begins to confuse the reader if they should be feeling action or not. Because of this, the enormous amount of pages started to get boring to me. It's more like experience and judgement on how colors should work in these things, but the best example that I can use to point out is page 10, 11, and 12. Notice the biggest BAM in the story is page 11, where a chair is flung through a glass panel, yet the colors are so melodramatically cool. And right before, you get a colorful sense the page before, with a casual conversation and bright colors. Not completely true, but usually warm colors=happy, blue colors=sad.
Jetster/Sabulive: I kind of know the characters, but the story is a little whack. Just like last comic, I'm not sure how to judge the plot at all. Part of the issue in the comic is more in the way of storytelling. I can see that the artist is able to convey expressions on their faces, but body language isn't so strong on a few pages. There are two reasons I can think of. One is that you're not sure how the character would move or act, and/or two would be that interaction with each character isn't completely understood. An example is page five, where the movements of each character look a little abnormal (if you're talking to someone who just grabbed you by the shoulder and when you ask a question to them again, your head would likely not be pointing straight at the viewer while the eyeballs are looking that way). You may try making a bigger BAM! of movement in characters if they're jumping or suddenly turning stiff with more powerful action lines or sound effects on the object itself. Of course, not all pages apply to this, but I DID notice a degradation of backgrounds towards the end of the pages.
Gosh if people were warming up the first round, this second round is an all out brawl. You guys are BRINGING it and I for one and loving what I'm seeing.
WOLCIK & LEFRED
The first thing that struck me upon opening your pages were the colors. They had such an acid feel to them. Like the reader was on a bad trip and seeing this world through fevered eyes. Some might like it and some might not, but I rather enjoyed it. I dig that it appears all the TTTers are paying attention to all the battles going on and injecting them into their tales as evidenced by Casino watching the new about Hiemie's city takeover. I won't lie that when it comes to comics, I always get a bit leery about animated bits. It's always felt a bit like cheating as comics primarily are a static art form and the action should be drawn, but I will admit the 8-bit style and animated payoff on page 4 was pretty damn funny.
The more I read of this tag team the more I wonder if Mr. Awesome understands the rules of the game, lol. Poor Casino seems to be in more danger AROUND Awesome than away. Nice save and intro by Sweet. Also heeey, Casino has a kid? In jail? The plot thickens! I loved that the main focus wasn't front and center the entire time they were in that interview cell. Seeing a pair of people talk over a table can get real boring real fast so it was fun to follow Mr. Awesome around as he explored and looked through windows at the goings on in the other cells. Also what the hell you doing in jail Mimi?? With some masked S&M guy roughing you up?? Don't watch like a creeper, Mr. Awesome, geez!
Speaking of goings on, very epic intro to Johnny Patch with the window smash, and clever way to expand on his background by showing off faceless parents. Mr. Awesome's wacky non sequitors really keep you on your toes as it doesn't quite allow the reader to get too bogged down on all the seriousness going on in the story and for me that's ok. I'm all about keeping it light and you guys did so with even more 8-bit craziness and OMG THE HIEMIE CEREAL JINGLE YESSSSSS.
JETSTER & SABULIVE
Loved your opening page. Just ACTION! Right out the gate. It was also a great set up to put across that both Johnny's were partners and doing pretty groovy. I dig the change of setting to the wild west theme. I feel the first round really placed the spotlight on Patch so it's great to see Sweet in her element. The designs and patterns on the dines they were wrangling was pretty cool and I wished their heads weren't covered so I could ogle them more.
I think the strength in your guys' side of the battle is that you told so much in only a few short panels. A good example would be page 2 where the pair head into the saloon and panel 4 tells us Mr. Awesome is holding up the bar, gagged and tied up the barkeep and just is being his usual crazy self. The pair off between Patch and Casino was great too as it let you run two events within the same space and bounce between the two. I will be the first to admit I fly the backgrounds to be a bit lacking, but you have some pages where you really go all out. Like page 4 where Sweet i tailing Mr. Awesome and the 'watch your head' ceiling is busted- that totally got a laugh from me. The Vegemite gag as well totally killed me and poor Sweet was a great sane counterpart to be found covered in teatime koalas. Adding insult to injury in the coin toss by showing off a farting dino butt was really great too as was the following grim expression by Casino.
The breaking of the fourth wall was nice, especially in the last panel, but I felt overall could've been handled better. It seemed to just leave me going '…well now what?' Still though, AMAZING stuff from you and your opponents. This is definitely going to be tough to vote on!
I just wanna say right off the bat that I loved the color stories of both sides. Totally my favorite use of color this round, right here.
Wolcik + Lefred: I really like the font choice, I think it suits the tone and style of your comic. Everytime you switched to hand lettering it was a little jarring though. You're perspective gets a little wonky in places, and I think just setting down a horizon line would help keep the spaces at the same angle as the characters. I like how strong all the shapes of the characters are, especially the way you drew Patch, and the line quality of the whole thing really improves as the comic goes on.
Jetster and Sabulive: I'm so sad you dudes couldn't finish, because I really liked this comic. I normally hate non-endings, but it was written so cleanly I just thought it was hilarious. That last expression from Johnny Patch is just amazing. Speaking of him, since this tournament started I'm totally Johnny Patch fan now, dude's the best.
Like Angie said, the flat coloring worked really well, and whenever you tried for something soft like on page 8 and 9 it stood out in pretty bad way.
Both comics were just so enjoyable to read, great round guys.
JETSulive: Reading yours first since I know it's not finished and I don't want to end with a cliffhanger :) Suffice it to say that I really REALLY can't wait to see the completed comic. The story seemed to be missing some important elements, but I love where it was going. Mr Awesome's insanity and the Johnnies' shenanigans made for great reading. And hey, you even included Casino Reasoning backstory! I think the best thing about your comic is how well you integrated each of the characters into the plot. Casino Reasoning felt a little like a side story, but otherwise it was really well done (and if you bring Casino Reasoning back for the finished product, even better!). Your teamwork of lines and coloring are beautiful, and I think the color choice was even a little better than last time. I don't really know what else to say; funny comic, well written and drawn, and OH MY GOSH I JUST REALIZED JOHNNY PATCH IS LEAVING THE COMIC IN THE LAST PANEL THAT IS FREAKING HILARIOUS. Good job. Get better, sabs!
LeCik: Whoops! Your speech bubble is pointing the wrong way on page 22! Other than that, this was a wonderful comic. I really like the way you guys work together. LeFred's colors just go so well with Wolcik's linework! Just beautiful all the way around. I feel like the comic could have been a little shorter, actually, but it was enjoyable all the way through. I really don't know what to critique for most of this, because it was just fabulous. There were a few little typos here and there. Also, I feel like I'm missing some sort of joke on that last page, but I LOVED the Hiemie's Hams bit. That was just hilarious. XD Keep up the good work, guys! Can't wait for next round!
Wolcik/LeFred- Great job, you guys do great together. What I really appreciate is that you went and gave different color tints to everyone based on their environment. That's something people tend to forget sometimes. For some reason though the patchy colors on the walls were kind of bugging me, that texture may have been too noisy at times.
Jetster/Sabu: What's here is complete, nice to look at and still funny/entertaining. But it did feel a bit all over the place, like others mentioned, there isn't much direction in the pages we've got. That's my only real concern on the comic.
Wolcik/LeFred-I was really impressed with the color style here! They supported the lineart perfectly and helped the pencils feel complete. I hope you guys team up more in the future, because this was a nice looking comic. The weakness here was the lettering. While hand lettering fits the style of the comic very well, not enough time was spent on it. It would have been better to just digitally letter it so you can ensure that the text is readable at all times.
Jetster/Sabulive-The inking looked great here, please continue to use solid blacks because it works great on this comic. The flat colors also worked great against the bold lines. I felt like story wise, you guys weren't sure what to do. I wasn't sure why Johnny and Awesome went to investigate that portal thing on the floor or what it had to do with what was going on with Casino and Johnny. It made the story kind of feel disjointed which interrupted the flow.
[quote]ALSO SHUTOUTS TO MAMA RU
I don't get that one, and it was a surprise for me since Fred did it last minute.
Once again I can't objectively say anything about your site of the battle, since there's Mr Awesome and he's awesome - him being crazy and funny makes all crazy plots valid for me, while Casino's scene fell flat for me since it was so plain in comparison and even if it would be funny for me I'd still consider any panel without Awesome in it Awesomeless panel XD
Man, bodies I tell ya... Can't live with 'em, can't freakin' make 'em draw for two weeks 24/7, am I right?
It's a shame that you guys didn't finish it all, although I think you found I nice place to have your hand break sown; it's kind of weird and crazy, but we know what's what and what it is is funny. Still, I can't wait to see what more you had planned.
Also, Lady Luck flipping the table totally just made my day.
[quote]ALSO SHOUTOUTS TO MAMA RU
YEAH, HONEY. I think I actually have you to thank for mentioning this show in the forums. Totally kept me motivated while drawing during the last stretch.
Sab Jets: Looks like time and injuries got the better of you. : C It looks like you actually did a whole different story from what you originally had planned, since I remember seeing you work on pages that looked entirely different from this. Trying to out-weird Mr. Awesome as a character and lefred's style of storytelling is pretty hard, but you made a valiant effort.
The quality of these pages is lower than your previous round, and there's less detail put into the backgrounds and perspectives/character consistency, which I am going to assume is due to Sabs' wrist. Still, you managed to finish and keep it short and silly. D : Get rest.
le Wolcik: OH MY GOD. Your writing is on point, I loved the sprite asides, and it was a really entertaining piece overall. Be careful with where you put people in the panel--sometimes things don't look as if they're standing "right" on the ground. Also, on page 6, I feel as if you could have swapped the panels where Casino's scrambling for dice and Johnny's peering up into the sky, just so that it could have flowed better.
Also, on page 22, I believe you have a speech bubble pointed the wrong way--instetad of Sweet saying it, you have Casino saying it.
Aside from that, though, fantastic job. ALSO SHOUTOUTS TO MAMA RU
Pages 1-9 of our battle have been uploaded, as Sabs said we will get the rest up as soon as her wrist can handle the last few pages.
No cover this time, so our breakdown:
Story: Both of us
Script: Jet
Layouts: Sabs
Pencils & Inks: Sabs
Colours: Jet
Lettering & Bubbles: Jet
To dear Wolcik and LeFred who worked hard to get (what I'm sure is) a great comic up, Jet and I will have to apologise on submitting an incomplete entry. My hand (and eventually whole arm) seized up and it became painful to continue the last remaining pages. This is being typed up with my left hand, lol.
We will upload the whole battle as a BB later when my hand decides to cooperate again, but in the meantime only part of our entry will be put up.
WIN IT WOLCIK AND LEFRED, WE BELIEVE IN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
There was a slight mess up in a couple pages' order, so I sent those to Bobo and Red.
The rest of the 24 pages were uploaded just dandy.
'DIT; Make that 25 :P
Sabulive:
I humbly request to draw Awesome with a full head of hair
I made him bald cause he won!! XD
EDIT - last day and we're bleeding and dying...
LeFred will post when it's done - praise and glory to him cause he is the reason why it's done as it is
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