Sandusky's new look

[John Prengaman]

I wanted to post a thread in here just to get things started. And, since this was the most popular current topic on the old message board, I figured it'd be a good one to start off with here, as well.

Hopefully, you all are starting to get accustomed to the new drawing style. As always, it's a work in progress. And, as always, there will be some strips that look better than others.

For instance, I'm not all that fond of the last few strips. I think it's because I've been a little too pressed for time of late. The typical strip takes me between 6 and 8 hours to complete from start to finish, and lately my dog has been asking me for a lot more attention. Combine that with my regular job, and sometimes there simply aren't enough hours in the day. Luckily for you guys, Sandusky always comes before sleep.

Anyway, feel free to tell me your likes and dislikes. Maybe I'll even listen to you. Probably not, though.

[crosshair]

You are getting better drawing the eyes. The characters now don't look like ancient Egyptians when they are doing the squint/evil eye/sarcastic squint/whatever.

When the characters are squinting a bit, like Bunker in the last frame of Fridays comic, it's still not looking quite right from my point of view. Perhaps the style you used for Scott in #443 might look better. Not sure. It might be because they are out of proportion, like they get too small or something. I wish I could be more helpful, but that one part just seems to be a little "off".

*10 minutes of going through all the new comics*

OOO, I think I just realized what the issue might be. Now that I'm "used" to the new style I went back and looked at the other comics. In #436 Scott looks fine, though I think his eyes might be too far "back" in the last frame, but Bunker looks weird. I think it is because you are drawing his eyes too low and sometimes a little too far back when you give Bunker that expression, messing up the proportions. John and Ashley look fine for the most part, it's Bunker where things aren't looking right.

Here are some edits I made using some sophisticated image editing software I have. (MS Paint) ;D



In the one on the left I moved Bunkers Eye up two pixels.

The one on the right I moved Bunkers eye up two pixels and "forward" one pixel. The shading is messed up a bit on Bunker now, but MS paint doesn't have much for shading tools and I did the best I could to at least clean it up a little.

The same would probably work for Bunker in Comic #441, but I think you get the idea with the two examples I made. Let me know what you think. I hope this helps.

[crosshair]

I spent some time in front of the mirror doing facial expressions and from my observation, when you squint, be it in anger, embarrassment, whatever. The eye narrows from both the top and the bottom. The other expressions seem to look fine, but from my point of view, when you shrink the eye for the "squint" you take all the shrink from the top instead of both top and bottom. The end result is that the eye ends up too low.

I did some more work trying out this on both Bunker and Scott. These ones were much harder to do and they aren't perfect, but get the idea across I think. I kind of messed up the eyebrow on the middle one on Scott. I'll blame MS paint and not my drawing ability.



Original is on the bottom.

Again, I apologize if I am being really picky. You have clearly done lots of work on the new style and it is working quite well overall, there is just some minor fine tuning I think.

[crosshair]

I have no idea why I find such a problem with the positioning the the eye when in a squint vs regular. In Monday's comic you have bunkers eyes wide open and "low" in the 3rd frame and it looks OK. I'm not sure if it really is an issue or if it is just me.

BTW, was there a comic on 5/25/09? I've had some trouble with the comics and background loading lately. Not sure what it is.

[whisperpntr]

In my honest opinion sandusky and his crew never looked better! more emotive, better anatomy and wonderful colors! definitely even more fun because of the great new webdesign and layout!

[John Prengaman]

In my honest opinion sandusky and his crew never looked better! more emotive, better anatomy and wonderful colors! definitely even more fun because of the great new webdesign and layout!

Thanks! The change in style is something I'd wanted to do since early on in the Rocky Mountain storyline. However, I figured it would look pretty silly to have a book change so drastically midway through.

Of course, I still have to find time to get the rest of my webpages up to code. Maybe next weekend. This weekend I'm finishing my books. ;D

[cougarhearted]

I like the new art style-- it's looking chic. I wish I could draw like that. LOL!!!

[wolfes33]

i think there all great keep up the good work