Kobold Sketchpad

Minor Improvements to Inter Net

2007-03-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

Well I put some buttons on the site that link to here and to my flickarz, since one of my three readers complained that he was having to type too much to check all the various things I hadn't updated (Hi Ben! Still handsome, Ben? Still handome?!?!)

I had some help from Steve to get the buttons to all be contiguous (who knew "whitespace" was such a bitch huh). Steve can't tell me why there is a funny line between the "Bonus" and "Links" buttons, or maybe... maybe I just didn't know how to ask.

Steve

"Bonus" and "Links" are currently just images by the way since I ain't created pages for them and probably won't do so for a while.

The next comic will resolve the question: "Who is the worst lay in the History of Man?" and it might be completed this week.

My Flickr is not being updated right now because I don't have a working camera, but that oughta be sorted in a few weeks. There's a poster in Tokyo at the moment depicting kittens dressed up as right-wing nationalists that I'd really like to share... they have a version of the Rising Sun where the red spot has ears on it like a cat.

New Comic Soon-ish I Think

2007-02-25T18:26:00.000-08:00

Dang well I was hamstrung for a while on account of hitting a wall with this Barry/Lewis script I been writing.

Yesterday morning I had an idea about Keith sending a business proposal to Lil Jon and it should be a pretty easy draw so I might crank that one out today.

TOO MANY KEITH but what can ye do, the dude just writes himself

All Comics Back Online, Website Still Pine Fresh Green

2007-02-14T03:46:00.000-08:00

WOAH.

a-small-kobold.com has been disembowelled and is back online with new guts. Mad props to Dave for helping me discriminate my arse from my elbow on this one. And cheers to Jeremy who basically made version 1 go (before it stopped going) - Jezra hopefully I won't need to bother you much about this bull crap for maybe a short while. I recommend burning a photo of me where you've scratched out the eyes with a pair of scissors. Follow with a shot of cachaca. Nice way to mark a break with the past.

So anyway I think I have an idea how to do inter net now... maybe...? I did a graphic for the title and some basic navigation buttons (just scribbles with the Magic Pen), but there's plenty that can still be done to improve the look and function of the whole deal. e.g. The archive doesn't work. Ain't a chance in hell I'm doing any more tonight though.

Got Me A Magic Pen

2007-02-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

Okay so I got a Wacom doo-dad so's I can cheat at inking, and hopefully cut out some of the drudgier aspects of comic production while simultaneously improving the look of things.

I gotta say it is an outrageously slick product. But it takes a bit of practice to get co-ordinated with moving a pen while looking at a screen, so I've been doing a lot of sketches and then inking them with the Magic Pen to get my eye in. I've been working my way down a list of Nethack monsters - the setting of my comic is loosely based on Nethack (a cynical ploy for nerd readership?) - so the exercise is a bit of a drill in character design as well. I could use the practice.

Some monsters are harder to draw than others. (Cockatrice? What the hell is the crossbreed of a chicken and a snake supposed to look like? And let's not forget the egg was incubated by a toad? A toad???)

(And is there any way to draw an Air Elemental apart from basically a whirlwind with a couple of evil looking eyes peeping out the front? Is this the reason why no-one cares about Air Elementals, and no-one puts them in they comics?)

Anyway here are some of the more presentable examples. I didn't bother drawing a bunch of limbs and feet and crap 'cos that shit's boring:

I may have violated Jon Kricfalusi's injunction against 'tude here. Hard to say... insects are pretty inscrutable.

This is a pretty telling example of Steve Purcell's influence - I can't draw an insect without rather ineptly biting his steeze. All those years jocking Sam & Max when I was a youngster I guess... I suppose I should be thankful I never liked Dragonball Z.

Eric the goblin has already appeared in the comic and may well be back. I wrote a script called "Eric the Goblin in: BADMINTON!" but it didn't have any jokes in it. There are like two puns you can make about badminton and apart from that all you can do is put stress on the word "shuttleCOCK" a whole lot... in terms of comedic canvas badminton ain't the Cistine Chapel ceiling exactly.

Another named character, Rufus should probably show up within the next 8 episodes... so let's say around 2014.

Hell if I know what a "manes" is supposed to be. Some kinda imp or something. I drew this feller and decided he was a manes after the fact. Looks kinda like an evil bowling pin.

This tengu is a girl... yeah I'm pretty sure you can tell. I have been practicing drawing female versions of things (including humans) since I am not well practiced at it. Making marks on paper that suggest breasts is pretty embarassing for me. I mean is it a bit presumptuous for me to draw a lady's breasts... I feel like paper's gonna slap me. But anyway if I'm gonna draw lasses I gotta put some lumps on 'em and that's that.

It's a gargoyle.

Another kobold. I have a formula for drawing kobolds and I need to explore how I can change it up a bit. Formulae are dangerous in drawing... you can end up trapped drawing weird, flat looking shoulders and angular, jutting necks for the rest of your life. (Just for example).

He was very easy to draw and I think he looks okay. Consequently you may expect more gremlins.

On the monster list is something called a "lemure" which is apparently a kind of slimy ghost? I thought it would be more enjoyable to draw a lemur.... but I'm afraid he looks kind of like something that might show up in Shirt Tales erotic fiction. I doubt such a character will be appearing in A-S-K.

More girl practice... Tessa should be showing up next episode or maybe the one after. Hence my need to confront my inability to draw ladies. I didn't really think about what kind of monster she's supposed to be.

So that's it for today.

Okay, pretty soon I will try to fix the website I think. It's much more fun to do a bunch of drawings though. But... I should fix the website.