i would love line thickness, and you will have it! (after x-mas....) >_>;;

Dustin-I wasn't a fan of how you colored the first page, I think with your style you'll do very well with cel shading. (looked great in your intros) I really liked your style and found the story enjoyable, it's just a shame you didn't really get to give this your all. (it's rarely a good idea to do a high page count with 2 weeks unless you're like Monday, Colossus, or Zsabreuser) Try to avoid using the line tool for backgrounds, it just looks really stiff. Since you have such a cartoony style it would be neat to see you have more fun with your backgrounds, try looking at The Misadventures of Flapjack and Chowder and check out their awesome backgrounds. I would also like to see you vary your linewidths some since as the moment everything is looking pretty flat. Other than that it was a pretty good battle, it's good to see you back. Mooo-I see some definite improvement here, but I feel your anatomy is lacking in some areas. I think the big problem area for you is the neck and I think you're only having the problem on Moo. Like on page 4 it looks as though his chin and neck are one big thing and he has very little chin. Also be careful with the text, it's barely fitting in your word bubbles. Other than that and the unfinished story, I enjoyed your side and it's good to have you back. Both of you need to work with a longer deadline next time though, there is no shame in doing 4 week battles.

really good dusitn! I loved the Jay and Silent bob reference. things progressed really well and had all the elements a story needs.

Koshi by Dustin C. - NIce work, heh seems like you had more then a lot of fun with this. Lovin yah art work Mooo by Anonymooo - Funny as hell, but i wish there was another page...it felt a lil too.....T_T....empty....it was like the most evil \"to be continued\".BUt still luvin yah artwork T_T freakin awsome

Folks, I'm sorry for the confusion--there was supposed to be one final page, but I was unable to get it uploaded in time. I'll provide a link to it as soon as possible, but it was already kind of a given who was going to win this anyways. XD God damn can you write, Dustin. I personally think yours was a perfectly-paced comic, enjoyable to read as well as look at, even though the art wasn't as finished as I would have hoped. We were both kind of pushed due to the time limit, but you made off better with what you had and turned in a finished product. I'll get that last page up ASAP, and thanks to everybody for the help. My backgrounds have always been kind of weak, so they're something I can just keep practicing on and hopefully develop. I'm also probably going to stay away from 2-week fights for the time being--I used to be able to do them all right, but things have changed and I'm not able to put my all into it in that timeframe.

@Dustin: Saw that you asked about short plots, maybe I can help you. I'll tell you what I use to do and then I hope this can at least help you somehow. First, you have to set the number of pages you will be able to work on. It can sound strange, but setting a limit first is a good way to cut things short when the time comes to finishing the plot. Count the number o days you have to work on the idea (the whole deadline) and cut off at least 3 days of it (on 2 weeks deadline). You won't be able to work all the time on the comics anyway, it's better to count those lost days to make it easier to check how much time you'll have for working on your submission. Then you must know how is your speed, like how many pages can you get done a day. Thinking on that, you save 1 or 2 days for plotting and thumbing and the rest of the days will be used to actually make the comic happen. After calculating those steps, it's time to set a plot idea. I use to take notes of the characters personalities and backgrounds before doing this, then I set a very very simple line, for example, how the characters will met, fight/interact and how it's going to end. From those, you set what must happen per page, for example, on page 1 they must met, 2-4 they will interact and the climax will happen then page 6, they leave and the story ends. It's very important to be able to get rid of scenes that are not very important or won't really add something to the story. I use to thumb my plots 2 or 3 times before doing the final version. When you're done thumbing, reread and check if the pacing is not too fast or too slow, and if needed add or cut pages. The best is to cut in my opinion, since I prefer developing few ideas than tossing a lot of them. It's all about preference. In my case it also helps using less close ups in order to use more surrounding shots, since those can show more than one character doing actions per time and can save some panels ha ha In the end it's all about knowing how much panels you really need to state an idea. This is not a rule of how to do things, just how I roll to make short stories and make it suit my deadline proper. It's a good time/production management, at least works for me ha ha. Hope this helps you!

thanks for the critiques! ^^ actually what i did for the lineart was just the stroke effect. i just like that effect and thought it would \"soften\" the lineart so you just dont have black and white burning the retinas. as for being cut short, i was planning on doing a little image of moo being pulled from the rubble by mal, but alas, i did not do it. and some of the speedlines were from a pack, but som i did myself. and the copied panel...well, i guess all i wanted to change was the mouth in that particular page. but thats the only time i duplicated! honest! also, does anyone have any tips on making short & sweet stories? :D

dustin, the blurring the lineart is a neat effect. i do it sometimes too. but given how sparse your line art was with little to know blacks or anything to contrast it with, it kind of just stands out in a bad way. hurts the eyes. either reduce the opacity on the blur or use more blacks/color whatever. but talking about jpeg compression like corny was, some of those speedlines look like you're taking that from something else. a pack? they look low res & stood out to me. somewhere else in the beginning, it seemed like you just copied the same panel twice & only redrew the mouth. void's for practice. what's the point of practicing if all you're doing is taking shortcuts like that? moo, i like the crosshatching. but the backgrounds seemed to sometimes be on different planes or follow a different perspective than the one the characters were on. also that text stands out in a bad way. blambot. seems like it ended abruptly. was there supposed to be more? -J

Dammit Nate! You gotta work with less pages in the future mang! Dustin: Not bad, but I'm putting you in the same boat with Nate, with a limited time limit, you gotta work with less pages, doing say... under 10 pages can really help your quality in the long run instead of having one page with colors and having only enough time to put bits of grey and yellow here and there. The art was OK and I like your expressions, but your backgrounds are soooo EMPTY! Seriously, fill 'em up with some details, an abandoned building should have lots of wear and tear and debris just laying around. Asbestos and rats my friend, I demand more asbestos! The story I liked, but it kinda feels cut short since at the end Mal just suddenly disappears from the comic. Overall good, but give yourself some more time, and less pages to work on. Nate: I know you were running on a tight schedule man, but I'm still ripping into ya. Art wise had you of finished, your comic shows the strongest quality, but I'd seriously watch out when it comes to backgrounds and shading, Panel 1 is a good example of this since it looks like Mooo is directly facing the diner, but the staircase seems to be at a slight angle, the cross hatching around the bars don't help much either I'm afraid. However You did really push the backgrounds a lot in this fight, although it seems to fade away towards the end, again time being the main factor here. Story was pretty strong but the only thing that stinks about it is that you obviously had more pages to work on. Dude, trust me when I say this: Less pages is always better. We all want to push ourselves when it comes to stories, but it is never a sin to make the story a short one. With less pages, you don't have to spread out your effort over 10+ pages, get what I'm sayin'? And don't be afraid of giving yourself more time either, you can't get extensions on 2 or 1 week fights, so plan ahead for if the worst should happen. Don't get me wrong, this story was looking good, but you gotta finish up these battles. Overall I really liked both entries, but I think this one belongs to Dustin.

Dustin, I really did not like the fuzziness of those lines. I think you should compress your pages a little less, or whatever the hell would fix that. Just wait for angie to throw down a critique. She'll tell you what to do. Since I can't :'3 N'Moo, I have nothing really bad to say since I don't know what your standards are :P It sucks you had to cut off the story.

haha! i love the trash talking Moo is forced to do! XD

Can't wait!

Go Anonymooo!! =D

Oh yeah, im lookin forward to this one. I may have to bring my rusty butt back onto good ol void'.

i wasnt satisfied with my art skills when my first battle submission got rejected. (well, so did my challenger's submission) but now i wanted to start anew with a different concept and design for fighting here. ^_^ but i'm glad you liked tachi!

Not trying to start drama, just trying to satisfy my curiosity (keep the jokes to yourself folks) Dustin, I gotta know, why start void all over again with a new character? I thought your last guy was pretty decent granted I never saw a battle from ya. Anyway, good luck you two, hope you haven't gotten rusty either Nate.

*insert screams of abject terror here* I'm finding Koshi to be a really fun character to write. Thanks, everybody, for the encouragement.

:insert tears of joy here:

Show us what you're made of, Dustin! I always was a Mooo fan, this looks good.

Dont FUCK UP Mooo.

Yeeeeeeees! I expect awesomeness from both of you. And look forward to reading it.

Good luck guys! Happy to see both of you back in action!

:O whoa~

YAY BRNG IT GUYS, MAKE IT HAPPEN!

good luck guys! make this awesome :3

holy moly!

HAHA

Good luck, Dustin!