Atomic Tails #30

New Comic Online

Just a couple of notes about A.T. #30. I worked on this strip when I could, before and after the day job (yuck). I’ve been working extra hours (and days!), so I sort of “chipped away” at this one until finished. I feel like I still need to improve my characters, but I also feel like I got a better ratio between Chud and Buttery. In past strips I felt like I drew Buttery way too big. He’s a large mouse, but only a little bigger than Chud and Trog.

Since the last strip I have also been practicing and I feel some of it is shown in Butter and Chud here. I know some stuff looks wonky (very deep in the uncanny valley), but overall, I was happy with what I pulled off.

This strip is the first step in introducing a new character to Atomic Tails and hopefully Agent D-20 will make his appearance soon.

The next strip I’m gong back to Trog and Rio, and their day at work.

Cheers!

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Atomic Tails #26!!!

New comic strip! This one only took me two weeks!!! Actually one week. I got hit with a really bad head cold, but now that I'm mostly back to normal, check out the latest Atomic Tails. To be honest, this one was really easy to put together since I was able to use so many of the assets from the last strip. I'm probably going to go back and re-draw the kitchen. I'm still not happy with that. 

Anyways, check out the new comic below or in the archive. I'm still leaking a lot of snot so I'm going to cut this short!

Enjoy!

Atomic Tails #25!!!

Two months. I know. Really pathetic and I don't have a lot of excuses, but I'll make some up anyways. Two major problems with getting AT 25 done were One: I originally intended it to be a much larger ("Sunday" style) strip, an so I had sketched up a lot more art than I needed, and two: I threw my back out about a month ago and sitting in a chair for any length of time has been incredibly painful.  Though I am working out my back pains (no joke, it hurts!), while I was down it did give me time to look at the strip and realize I was doing every thing wrong. So, I went back, re-drew a bunch of the panels, and broke up what I had originally planned into a small four panel strip and then next week (I hope) I'll have the resolution between Buttery and Chud. Well, I don't think there's ever going to be a resolution between the two, but for this part of the story. 

Overall, I'm not happy with a lot of the sketchs for this strip. I did like how Trog turned out in a lot the them, but he's kind of hidden behind Buttery and Chud most of the time. As for Chud and Buttery, the only real finished piece I was (mostly) happy with, was Chud's entrance in panel one. That final colored drawing of Chud in his bathrobe just made me really happy. This strip was also a chance to create a new background for Trog's apartment. Though, I'll probably redraw it in future strips, I thought it was an okay first go.  So, keep checking back. I'm already into the next strip and I hope to have it online by next Saturday, but its me so don't count on anything.

Cheers!

Atomic Tails 23!!!

I feel like I need to start these post with a reason as to why it took me a month to do a four panel comic. I mean, I don't need to. The comic is free, but I have to do Atomic Tails in my spare time (after work and weekends) and sometimes life stuff just get's in the way. I have a day dream where I some how walk into $50,000.00 and I can just take a year off to do nothing but work on the comic and Atomic Moo. Seeing as how that's never going to happen, just know that there is an actual battle of will behind the creation of every strip. 

Another reason this strip took sometime was because I had to learn how to draw a bunch of new stuff. I think that is one of the best things about doing a webcomic is that it can force an illustrator (even untalented ones like me) into having to draw stuff like scared rabbits and fly golf carts. 

Anyways, the fellers are on their way to the Tree of Woe and I really had a lot of fun creating this comic. It's kind of a call back to strip #2, but I feel like I've learned a lot since then, and I wanted to try an push myself on more dynamic illustrations. 

Check out the new comic below, and I'm just starting on #24. I have no idea how I'm going to draw a beach, but I'm looking forward to figuring it all out.

Cheers.  

Atomic Tails #19

New Atomic Tails and I'm Going to SDCC 17 today! Keen. So, with the new Atomic Tails some stuff has changed. First, I've been studying (and practicing) a lot of new body forms for cartoon characters and I think (THINK) I like where this is going. Buttery, Chud, and Trog all have better sitting and body forms in this strip. Well, maybe. Also, I worked a bit more on Buttery's proportions compared to other two mice. Buttery is bigger than his friends, but not really fatter. Which, I think I was drawing him as in previous strips. I like his size relationship to the other two in this strip way more. Also, I got to draw a hooka in this one! I think the gag was a bit hacky in this one (Jas came up with it, but since I'm mostly trying to work on drawing the comic I thought it was good enough. Plus I wanted to do a comic that kind of went into why the twins are living apart up until now.), and hopefully I can get a better joke in #20.

I'm going to be at the con for the next few days, so I probably won't get to do any real work on A.T. until I get back Sunday night, but check out the full strip below and I hope you enjoy!!!

Cheers!

Atomic Tails #16

Last night I finally finished #16. Not that I really feel bad about taking my time with this one. there's a lot of changes in this strip from how I normally illustrate Atomic Tails. This is the first time I tried to do a larger, "Sunday" like, strip. It was fun, and I would like to work these strips in on a regular basis. Maybe every seven strips instead of days, maybe not. It does take me awhile to get a comic produced. Also, this is the first time I used Adobe Photoshop to fully color one of my strips. So, there ways a bit (huge) learning curve on how to work with PS on this level. I've only ever used Adobe Illustrator for my strip, but I can see how learning Photoshop will speed things up, once I get more practice. I still inked (digitally) the strip in Illustrator though. I just like AI's pen and brush tools way more than Photoshop's. Keep in mind too, I'm using CS3 a much older version of Adobe than most people have access too. I'm broke! I can't afford the cloud! 

Another thing of note is the logo for the Ascension of the Golden  Yo-Yo's, As Designed by Jason (aka: real life Chudd) Murray. I dig the design and think it'll give us a lot to play with in the future. Jason also helped with the writing of this strip and I think it came out a lot better than what I had originally planned. 

The last thing of note is the changes to Trog's apartment. I changed the couch to look more like my own couch at home (kind of...) and I also added some posters of stuff similar (kind of...) to stuff I keep on the walls of my own apartment. It wasn't until I had most of the strip done that I noticed how little detail I was putting into my backgrounds. I'm trying to work more with perspective and spacing, but I want to focus more on Chudd and Trog's world. I'm even playing with the idea of designing the layout of Trog's apartment. Right now I'm just throwing up walls, because they're in doors and there should be a wall there somewhere. In the future I'd like their living space to be more planned out and believable. Well, as real as an apartment for cartoon mice can be. 

So, I've already got a good bite into #17 and I'm hoping this one won't take more than two weeks! Keep checking back for more Atomic Tails goodness! Check out the full #16 below!