I don't think you read what I was saying. Just because he can draw something once, doesn't mean he can adapt as a writer.

By the way, the cover? If you're pointing it out, the pose doesn't look right. How could anyone support the weight like that by just holding the legs?

why must you two make it so hard to choose???

Menace, once again I'm absolutely loving the character's expressions and interactions, you really know how to tell a good story no matter how short it may be! The one thing you need to work on is the backgrounds, I'm sure it's already been mentioned and Lord knows that I need to also, but it kinda felt so empty behind the characters

Noir, your take on the match was very creative and I liked how you even threw Dan into it to make Sketchy even more realistic... well about as realistic as he can get.  Next time, don't sacrifice quality for quantity, I understand you only had a week, but you should try condensing your story into a more compact comic.

Kuro: I think the cover page is proof that he can adapt just fine if he wanted to.

menace, still with the backgrounds, man. even in a time sense, we know you do characters. you do them well. but your backgrounds need work man. I would have rather have seen more completed scenery from you than finished characters actually. Even in the ones you blocked out, they're way too simple & generic for someone who draws the characters as well. There's a clear division & you really ought to work on that.

noir, you're free to do whatever you want in your comic & all, but you know, if you can't adapt to handle & rise to meet challenge, it looks weak from a writing standpoint. To just suddenly slap down decrees & say 'oh i'm not going to draw that because it doesn't fit' isn't in the spirit. The spirit is to work on it in a way that makes it fit & have it still be an interesting story. If you can't do that, then that's an area where you could use some work.
Beyond that, your panels are all over the place size wise for no reason. If you're going to set things up in tiers, there's no reason the tops & bottoms shouldn't meet to give a solid, simple gutter space rather than jump & be all over the place & look sloppy. If it's a matter of layouts, plan better. If it's a matter of compositing from different pages or something, do it in a way where everything works. But the way it kind of piecemeals one panel to the next with nothing compositionally in the panel to drive that change, it looks sloppy. Also, give us more with the backgrounds. You've got a few scribbly ones in place of nothing every so often but give us something solid & then give us the scribblies in place of the nothing.

I commend the both of you for being able to incoporate each other's characters into your comics.

@ Dan:  Great job.  I really liked the jokes in your side of the story. It sort of reminds me of the Animaniacs and other cartoons.  I'd like to see this finished, but I understand with just one week to do this and things come up.  In any case, I like Sketchy and I look forward to what he'll do next.

@ Noir: Aha, wow, Sketchy looked really scary in yours.  I think the bandana really made him look a lot scarier and sinister looking.  Some of the jokes felt really forced though, at that point it'd be better to focus on the action and minimize the jokes.

Now, sorry to beat a dead horse, I promise to bury it afterwards.  But I think I can understand where Phil is coming from.  I felt the whole 2-dimensional transformation into 3-D reality worked for this comic (commenting about making other characters into realistic humanoid types).  It worked because Sketchy came from a different medium/dimension/world so to speak.  And it would for for any other character that came from a different medium whether it be the t.v., computer, toilet paper, whatever because they exist on a different plane of reality.  With this in mind I find that it would be hard to explain how people who supposedly exist on the same plane of reality would lose characteristics like anthropomorphism, etc. because in my mind they didn't just jump out of another dimension to get into Ashley's reality and share the same planar existence as Ashley.  I feel like there should be a better way to explain why that rule is applied to Ashley's world.

Like for instance if you're treating Ashley's world as it's own dimension/reality that is separate from other artists and that other artist's have their own different worlds/dimension/reality so that when they cross over it's like jumping into an alternate universe or something.  I don't know, this is just my two cents on the subject.  No need to contest this or anything, just wanted to put my thoughts out on this.


More IMPORTANTLY, I really like that you are taking the initiative to do something new here at Void and I'm looking forward to seeing what else you will do with Ashley.

Good luck to the both of you and good fight on both sides.

*buries the dead horse*

Great show people! Between Noir's action story and bearded's humor, the beard mainly gets my vote because I like humor better. But both of you did so well in your way.

Good show all. I enjoyed the Sketchy take Noir... excellent work.

Jessica Rabbit comes to mind. BAZING.

This was an interesting fight, to say the least... I think everything and then some has already been said, but I'll just note a few things:

Dan: Good story, nice angles and poses. Hart was a bit stiff here and there, try to work on loosening your poses. Time management, sketchiness, blah blah It's been said, good show!

Noir: I found your version of Sketchy to be kind of hilarious... and also really creepy. Sketchiness and all that again, yadda yadda. Good show as well!

CONTROVERSY INDEED.

Anyway, really impressed, Noir!  Your pencils looked good, and I enjoyed the action (sorry mine was so unactiony)!  Clever ending!  Your rendition of Sketchy was totally unexpected and effin' awesome!  Made my day, honestly.  This is why I love battle comics.  I love seeing artists have fun and being creative, and at times, reach out of their comfort zone.

@William - Yeah, BGs are really my achilles heel.  My main objective here on VOID is to really work on them, but prolly moreso once this tourney is over.

@angie - I hear you on the stiffness.  I admit to not drawing females as much as I should.  Also, I have a consistent problem with consistency.  I'm still struggling to find that perfect middle ground of cartooney meets anatomy.  I'll definitely loosen up in the future.

@Pip C - Orange bubbles.  Fool you once, shame on you.  Fool you twice, shame on me. (Does that even make sense here?)  I had normal text/bubbles when I started laying them out, but then got stubborn and made them orange again.  I understand your issue, tho.  I think as part of the character is kinda important, but from now on, I'll save the colored bubbles for when everything else is.

@Cherubas - What's Sketchy's type?  I'm not sure I really want to find out...

Cherubas, you never cease to amuse me.

Good point being made here. Not every world can be comfortably "Roger Rabbit". Some people are perfectly fine with the uncanniness of that movie, other people, like me, find it creepy and disturbing to have cell-shaded animated "cartoony" characters in a more traditional world. You couldn't comfortably fit good old Porky Pig in a world like the animated version of the Lord of the Rings because it wouldn't fit. You have to go with what things will accent the character without them standing out too much. If he's there but he doesn't fit then it's unbalanced and it doesn't work. (see: I find it creepy and disturbing).

If the world is cartoony, then the other characters in the world are going to be cartoony, that's what Bearded did. If the world is more traditional and conforms more to the laws of the real world, then the character being introduced would then have to conform in order to prevent this "wtf" factor.

But to paraphrase what Cherubas is saying: Sit back and enjoy the comics. Jeeze guys. Does it really need to be so hyper analyzed? Noir and Bearded both did a good job incorporating the characters into their own worlds. No matter what little nitpicks i have I have to say that I genuinely enjoyed both comics. A little concerned that my character keeps jumping into the line of fire when she damned well knows she's going to wind up hurt, but oh well. Kids will be kids I guess.

Little nitpicks like "geeze I wish I could have seen these with finished linework, colour/tones." asside, both of you did fantastic. *thumbs up* Move on now guys. Sheesh. There are other comics to be read and commented on. SPEAKING OF WHICH*goes to read rate and comment while on break from working on her own* FFFFF

Why does a radioactive spider bite make a man shoot webbing out of his wrists as opposed to more spider-like places?

Then again, analyzing all the illogical things about a radioactive spider bite resulting in spider-man would give you a pretty big list. Don't get me wrong, it's always good to have things thought out so that when questions arise you don't have to retcon anything (Like Star Wars, lulz) but here and there a little suspension of disbelief is okay. After all, who HASN'T read a Superman comic and thought "why doesn't he just fly where they can't reach him and eyebeam them to death?" Despite the obvious logical benefits we all know that would make things pretty boring.

That's the truth of it for the most part. I'm going to include this in her bio and future battles to make sure its understood. I'm not sure I could explain/give a better example than the ones Pyras gave for sketchys translation into a 3dimensional existence.

 Pyras and I are buddies in real life. Which is why he knew about Ashley's world and mentioned it. It's my fault for not saying it sooner. I apologize.  

ON ANOTHER NOTE

Noir: I'm really happy to see Marie make a cameo this round, even if she wound up thrown into a wall. I think you did better last round, imagery wise. This round was sketchy and didn't seem up to the quality of your previous comics.  It's sad to say this, but since your 'entry'  comic, the quality has slipped a bit. Story wise this one was a bit more fun, and better paced.

Beardie: FUN. I wish I could see the whole thing completely finished, the last few pages made me sad. I like the idea of having her think the pencil was an artifact, AND having her try to seduce him. your expressions were wonderful! But again, I was kind of hoping for something like you did last round.

I'm not trying to antagonize or irritate you, my apologies.

It's true that this rule didn't come up until I brought it up before the comics were posted. But Noir would have brought it up himself regardless, and he thanked me for bringing it up early. He can testify to that himself; But it *was* brought up early, close to the day that this match was first set up, and whether or not Noir has yet to write this rule into his character's bio is irrelevant to that it has been established for the comic we see here, and the opposing artist(bearded) supports it.

You're right, the artist is bringing his creation into her world, and that is exactly why Sketchy conforms to the world's rules. If you live in a low-gravity planet and travel to a world the size of Jupiter(extremely high gravity), do you expect to be able to move with the same freedom of movement you had on your own world? If Mario jumps from a Nintendo 64/Gamecube game to an NES game, he can't move in complete 3D anymore, can he? What's more, his 64-bit features would revert back to 8-bit. Now is it possible that Mario simply looks as good anyway and just runs around in a 2D 8-bit world ala the classic stages in Smash Bros.? Absolutely. If the rules allow for that. And I believe that this is how you believe that it should work, Phillip. It's not a wrong train of thought and works just fine, but it simply isn't the rule established for Hart's universe. The rule is plain and clear:

*In Ashley Hart's universe, all toons and furries that appear conform to a human-heavy, more realistic body.*

It doesn't matter that in Bearded's comic, Sketchy looks exactly like he does on paper. In Hart's universe, once Sketchy sets foot off paper, he conforms. The rule isn't being broken or bent, it's still in perfect order. This is why it isn't a plot hole, a plot hole contradicts what has been established.

Please understand that I am not trying to stir anything up, but there is as we know a difference between a subjective statement and an objective statement. To say that the Hart comic has a plot hole because of how Sketchy was portrayed is an objective statement, and one that I feel is incorrect.

Also, to add onto what I said and to clear the air, I didn't hate her version of Sketchy, OK? I gave Noir my vote after all.

I gotta ask, where has this rule for all characters that are somewhat unrealistic in Hart's universe instantly become realistic? I do not remember seeing it anywhere until you brought it up. And it is a plot hole because if the artist is literally bringing out HIS creation into her world, why does it conform to somebody else's rules instead of his own? That is just baffling to me!

I have to disagree with you, Phillip, on the idea of it being a plot hole. I don't believe that any plot hole has been made in the representation of Sketchy.

Ashley Hart's universe has established that things in the real world are realistic in their construction, we've known this since the beginning, right? This means that once Sketchy is removed from the paper world to the real world, by Hart's universe's rules, his body conforms to greater realism needed to coexist on the same plane of reality as Ashley and the others. Dan and Sketchy are following the rules of the universe laid out in an Ashley Hart comic.

As a comparison, take the Scooby Doo movies. Hypothetically, if Scooby were to be brought from the TV into Hart's world, he would look like the CG dog made in the movies, not like a cel-shaded animated replica of what is seen on screen. Dan and Sketchy follow this same rule. Or think of when Brian/Peter/Stewie found themselves in the real world through dimension-traveling in Family Guy.

To be able to bring something to life from a sheet of paper is an incredible psychic feat as is, and it's the artist's decision, not the reader's, to decide how much reality-bending Dan is actually capable of, especially in a specialized universe like Hart's.

THAT SAID,

I do agree with William that the comic built up the possibility of beating up Dan and expelling Sketchy as a result, but this was never carried through to the end so it ends up being needless filler.

Hmmmm...



Bearded: Dude, you're quite the contender here, but half finished comic means half the score from me no matter how entertaining the comic is. All I can really say here is what I said before, you do not need to color in Sketchy's text, considering the comic is half finished, it looked really jarring and hurt the quality for me. Also your backgrounds need more love, you got the right idea of getting more people in there, but more background love!



Noir: That version of Sketchy is OK, but kinda creepy (I would of liked to seen him without that bandanna actually). I really don't see why there needed to be a real world equivalent since it's obvious that he's a toon brought into the real world, it's not too much of a stretch since it's established that the creator is using a psychic ability here, I don't remember seeing anything saying he has something that limits his power to making a real life equivalent honestly. Sorry to nit pick, but as a story teller myself, I have to do this so that others can step back and think about these things in order to avoid plot holes, and I'm sorry to say this, but I think making Sketchy a realistic humanoid is a major plot hole for me considering the powers of the creator here.

However! This is actually sort of a minor complaint actually, I didn't mind the story or the design as much as I'd have people believe by now, the art was consistent so that's an advantage here despite it being sketchy, you need to zoom out more and trim some of the dialogue, seriously, this comic could be much much shorter if you could cut back on the chatter. Also, I'm pretty much saying this to everybody, but give your backgrounds some love! My vote went to you!

I enjoyed both of these quite a bit!

Beardedmenace-Most of your issues I would touch on would just be the incomplete pages. The finished stuff you had was very nice though! One thing I noticed was while your males and obviously the cartoon character are very loose in their posture and gestures, Ashley was very stiff in comparison which made her poses feel forced. Like it makes sense for when she's trying to awkwardly hit on Sketchy, but even later on when she's pissed the problem is still there so it no longer feels like it was a conscious decision.

Noir-I really enjoyed the story a lot, your comics so far are very entertaining! But the big thing hurting you is the sketchiness of the comic. Like I totally get that it's hard to condense a full story to a reasonable size (believe me I know) but for a week deadline you kind of don't have that luxury to have a lengthy story. I think on your next comic you should definitely try to do a finished up polished comic even if it means you'll be doing less than 10 pages.

Very entertaining comics from both parties!

Mmm.  It was an a fun battle and interesting how the authors put together these two seemingly irreconcilable characters together and made it work.  Kudos to both.

Noir your art and style are pretty polished.  You have a good body of work here and it looks great, it just needs some polishing.  Sketchy as some sort of pencil ninja was an interesting choice.  If I have one nitpick it's your use of the word lolicon.  I don't understand your choice here because frankly there's nothing that screams Japanese anime and/or manga in this comic.   It's a distinctly Japanese term and would be unfamiliar to an American audience.  You would have been better off just using the equivalent 'pedophile'.  It's a small thing but I just found it really wierd.  I do recognize though that your character has those manga-like influences but I just don't think it plays heavily into it.  Sketchy's dialogue felt rather forced at times but it was a good try especially if you're not used to writing it.  One last thing is that I felt the reasoning was kinda wierd for what Sketchy's weakness was.  If Dan as a character in your comic has some sort of 'psionic power' and shares a 'metaphysical bond (whatever that means)' with Sketchy, then logically wouldn't beating the shit out of Dan work just as well?  That's not so much a serious crit as it just my personal observation.  I just found it odd that you took the time to speculate and then kinda went in another direction with it.

there's less to say here, Dan, because your level of talent is immediately obvious but there's little to criticize in an incomplete entry.  Frankly there's little in the way of backgrounds. But it's unfair of me to comment on these things with a one week deadline.  Let's see what you can do with a slightly longer deadline, that should be pretty cool.  And perhaps this is just an issue with style but I wasn't too fond of Ashley's face.  The reason being that the lines on her face at times would age her and she'd jump forward in time.  Handling those can be difficult and often times, especially with women, less lines is better.  Someone gave me a similar crit not too long ago.  You're definitely in your comfort zone though as far as Sketchy's dialogue goes and it's really entertaining at times.  Plot's dodgy but eh whatever, you're good.

These were amazing. Really high quality stuff, guys.

Dan, it looks like time caught up with you a little, but the parts that you got all the way finished with were so polished and clean. Stunningly awesome. Very funny, too. I gotta wonder what Sketchy's type is though, cause Ms. Hart was looking pretty bangin. Keep up the good work.

Noir, this was even more incredible than I thought it would be. Yeah, it was a drastically different take on Sketchy and people might have a hard time warming up to that, but I loved it. In my opinion you did exactly what you set out to do and turned sketchy into a human equivalent, and you made an entertaining battle out of it too. Kudos. I hope you continue to pump out quality stuff too.

Both of you guys, really impressive, way to raise the bar.

Excellent efforts on both parts.

Sketchy's comic was hi-LAR-ious, it's a pity you couldn't finish it up but Sketchy's face is a joy to watch as always

Ashley's comic felt straight out of an anime/manga episode, it had all the right elements in place and stayed solid from beginning to end. I would have liked to see Sketchy without the bandana though XD

Yes we are aware of the problem Rofl. No one's going to die.

And a death match error here too, oh no!

Pages uploaded!  Time got the better of me this round, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway!  GL Noir!

uploaded!

Very intrigued to see how this one turns out. Good luck guys!

I'll be the anthro artist that stands up and says "hey that really makes me want to battle her even more" because I think that's really cool. If we battled I'd take the opportunity to practice humans even more with a human Angie.

I'm not sure why everyone is encouraged to interpret the setting as they like, but not the characters?
This is one to watch, if you can skilfuly interpret Sketchy in a way that fits your comic then mega props to you, Noir. Go for it!

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, Otamie. You make very good points and you do so without being insulting or demanding which is great. We'll just have to see what happens. I'm sure whatever comes out of this, whether they're humans or all represented as squirrels, will turn out really nice in the hands of these two artists.

Hmmm its a kinda like a double edged sword. On the one hand its a creative challenge, forcing yourself to really think about how to interpret a character into your characters reality. It becomes a surprise on how the opponent will see his character back.

On the other hand you're not acknowledging the character for who or what it is. Changing a furry into something human could take away the core intention that the creator and might even hit as offensieve (thats probably extreme but still).

But i guess by communicating in advance on how your going to interpet things (by not giving away to much off course) you could do it no problems. Anyway don't listen to me, I always go crazy with my comics so don't listen to me about more serious comicing. XD

CONTROVERSY! XD

Yeah, I have to admit I think it's really cool. Like how the more recent Batman movies are more grounded in reality. I think you're making it sound like some horrible thing but it's really just a creative choice, no different than one person using paints and another using digital coloring. Most of us are not going to copy our opponent's style with our interpretation of their character, we're going to bring their character into our style (which I think is half the fun). In this case, that would be representing non-human characters as unusual human characters. Personally, I love it. Other people's opinions be damned, just go with what makes YOU happy, noir, and hope for the best. No one's paying you for this, so I think you deserve to enjoy it.

Lol  I had to make a salt shaker fit into the real world...a salt shaker.

I dunno guys.  I think there is something honorable about having and sticking to a set of rules.  Perhaps all bets are off when it comes to VOID, but to be honest I think it's would be a lot harder, and if it works, more respectable, to make a off-beat character work in a more grounded reality.

I agree with Phillip C. Void city is CRAZY! So just GO CRAZY! XD

Tell me that's not true Pyras, if so, that's just really cheap. GO FOR BROKE! Draw furries and toons if you find yourself up against them! Continuity be damned, just roll with what you got and hope for the best!

For those who don't know:

In Ashley Hart's universe, there are only really humans and humanoids. Toons and furries, for example, don't exist. This means characters of this nature are translated differently in an Ashley Hart comic(For example: Angela Rudell would look like a human, with the horns, ears and tail of her original race, etc.). It'll be great to see how noir translates Sketchy.

This is gonna be awesome!

I'm anxious to see what this will look like.

Well, you both intimidate me so I'll be happy that one of you gets knocked out of the tourney. XD

Seriously though, while this may not be the easiest to write, you guys both have pretty solid skills so I'm sure you'll put out some quality comics. Best of luck to the both of you, may inspiration hit you like a freight train.

interesting match up, good luck XD

Wow tough matchup!

I can't wait the see the results. 8D

Same here! This one definitely puts a damper on my story line. I'm going to have to get creative XD

I admit, I was not prepared for this matchup!  Good luck, Noir!