Atomic Tails #18!

New Atomic Tails!

Check out #18 below!

Finally here!!! Okay, I've been watching a lot of Rick and Morty, so I've been yelling a lot and typing in caps a lot too. However; Somewhere in between playing WoW and watching way too much fucking Adult Swim I managed to finish another strip. Like  always I tried new stuff or changed some old stuff to help improve the comic. This is one big learning experience so if you're reading this and you're reading the comic, please expect changes as I learn new stuff. 

Different stuff in this comic: 1. Buttery's fur. Though you can't see it in the grey scale version, I've decided to make Buttery's fur all the same yellow. That includes his hair style. 2. Chud with one 'D'. In the past I've always spelled it as Chudd. This is actually how Jason (my real life twin and the real life Chud) created the name for the character. Form now on though it'll be just Chud with one d. We love classic horror films of the 70's and 80's and both real and cartoon Chud's are representing the fandom. 2. The mouse faces. I actually learned a little bit about stylizing the mouse face from doing the Goldfinger mouse. I'm going to start applying this in future strips. 

Over all this was a fun strip. For #19 I'm going to get them off the couch. seriously, I'm done with the living room and want to move them somewhere else. Look forward to "the Tree of Woe!"

Cheers!

Atomic Tails #17

Yeah, this one took awhile too, but I'm trying a lot of new stuff. And I'm lazy. One of the things that took so long with this strip was I actually drew an entire living/TV room for Trog's apartment. You only get to see a little bit of it in #17, but I drew bookcase, windows, and all sorts of other stuff that I'm hoping to use later on. The good thing about doing that was it sets up another asset for future use so I don't have to redraw every thing again, I worked a little bit harder on Buttery on this one too. I lost the star on his outfit (I never really liked it) and I tried (probably failed) to work on his sitting pose. Buttery is essentially just a bigger version of Chudd and Trog, but he's still an awkward draw as I figure out the toon. 

One last thing about #17, we also launched a Patreon for Atomic Tails, and created our first add for the comic strip. I kind of dig it. I'm also trying to restructure the archive page for series one to something that is some what readable, but that's a work in progress. I also reformatted the strip so that Instagram followers can see the entire thing. 

Anyways, I'm already beginning work on #18 and series one is coming to a close soon. This has been a good warm up and I really into Chudd, Trog, and their world. Yeah, I'm weird and a little worried by that, but fuck it! It's my crazy and it doesn't hurt anyone. 

If you are interested in helping us, check out the Patreon link above. Currently we're just asking for dollar donations as we work on some rewards for higher contribution levels. My main goal is to be able to pay for the site, which cost about $20.00 a month right now. I'm mostly broke so getting enough support to cover the site cost would really (REALLY) help. 

On to 18!

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!

The Sloppy Daily and Working on #16!

So, I'm almost done with #16. Not exactly a week, but two weeks (so far) is the fastest I've produced a strip. Sucks to have to work a full time job. Also, to get warmed up this morning I did a really quick, pen and ink, Atomic Tails one off. In a way it's also to save ideas for future joke. Jason and I made the unfortunate mistake of eating fast food last night. My gut is still paying for it, but it also kind of inspired the idea of Chudd and Trog's favorite fast food joined; Mac-thulu's. Also, we had this idea for a joke about "a tub of Nuggets" which I'll probably work into a strip later on down the road. Anyways, I call this the Sloppy Daily because I moved really fast on this (I didn't want my fear to get in the way) and it just looks bad to me. Maybe by doing more of these I'll be able to improve my freehand mouse sketches. I'm also doing some character design study and I hope this will help improve my toons. Anyways, check out a preview of 15 below as it is coming together!

Cheers!

Strip #15! We're Rolling Now!!!

I Just finished Strip 15 and it only took me the better part of 3 weeks! Okay, still terrible, but I'm making the strip more of my focus and I'm really hoping to start producing one strip a week. In this strip Chudd and Trog's bad day continues. I'm not very happy with the first panel illustration, Buttery just looks wonky to me. Well, as wonky as a made up cartoon mouse can look to someone. However, I kind of dig the other three panel illustrations. After this post I'm going to watch a tutorial on character design and see if there's a way I can improve my toons. It does feel kind of good having the twins together again too. 

Anyways, I'm jumping right into strip 16 and it is a real goal of mine to have it done by next Saturday (the 1st). Also, I just recently started a facebook and Instagram accounts for Atomic Tails. If you're digging the strips, please help support them by following me on social media. 

Okay, back to work!

Oh yeah, in the first panel I wanted to put something on the wall that reflects my/Trog's personality. When I can, I play a lot of World of Warcraft (WoW), and so does Trog. Makes sense since he's based on me. I can't say I'm great at the game, but I love the hell out of it. I tried making a mock "For the Horde" poster to hang on Trog's wall, but most of it got blocked out by the text. Oh well, more chances in the future to show off our geek predilections.

Cheers!!!!

Strip #14 is here!

Yeah, it took me awhile, but here it is! One more strip for Atomic Tails. This strip introduces another many character to the story, Buttery Wholesomeness. Buttery is based (for the most part) on an old high school buddy of mine, but in a weird way, much less of an actual cartoon than the real guy. If you knew Chris, you would know what I was talking about. Anyways, Strip #14 was also a chance to work on the characters form and anatomy a bit more. Though I'm still unsure what happens to their tails when they sit on a couch, I actually like some of the poses I pulled off. All except the last panel. Trog's left foot still just looks weird to me, but as many times as I tried (which was a lot) I couldn't get the leg to do what I wanted. Oh, well... Practice!!! Also, though I went back and added it to strip #13, this is the first time I added a Logo type and creator credit to one of my strips. Chudd (the real life Chudd) helped a little bit with it. Anyways, I'm jumping onto Strip #15 now. I really would like to start producing one a week, but at this point I'd settle for anything under a month.

Cheers! 

Strip #13!!!

Just finished strip #13! This time around I tried to not paint the strip in full color, and I actually kind of like how it came out. I'm a huge fan of Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County and I really like how he draws expressions and how he'll just drop in a little color on some of his strips. I wish I had his talent.

Anyways, this strip was produced much faster than all the ones prior, so I think I'll continue in a sort of near color style. Then if I start doing larger "Sunday" like strips I'll do the entire thing in color. Also, I did this entire strip on an eleven year old computer. My normal computer is going through a slow and painful demise, so I had to use AI CS3 and mouse! Currently I'm trying to save money for a new computer so that I can start using my Wacom tablet again, but since starting this strip I had a couple of trips to the emergency room, so medical bills come first. Sucks to be poor. On a brighter note, I'm already thumb nailing the next strip (a Trog strip) and I'm going to try very hard to meet a two week deadline. That'll be the 7th of January. I think I can do it. 

Strip #12!!!

I finally finished strip #12! Okay, I'm still no where near the cartooning level I want to be at, but there are some elements in this strip I'm kind of proud of. Chudd and Trog are starting (a bit) to look like how I imagine them in my head. This strip is loosely based on the many bad job experience Jason (aka: real Chudd) has gone through. I think this will be the last full color strip. My time is very limited and I would like to get more strips done. Also, I love strips like Bloom County which often only use color elements and as I study cartooning I'd like to learn how it's done right. Anyways, I'm diving right into strip #13. Hopefully it won't take the better part of 4 months to complete. I hope. 

Strip #11!

I finally finished Strip #11! Well, the first draft. I'm going to let my brother take a look at it and make changes if he points anything out. All the same, feels good to be working of the strip again and I'm jumping into St #12.

I kind of feel like I should say something about the changing appearance of the mice. I've been practicing drawing Chudd and Trog a lot in between strips (which can be awhile). So instead of trying to go back and retroactively draw them like they were, I would rather draw them as I can now. I feel it's like bringing a camera lens into focus on this really weird world that's in my mind. This is why the mice now have pants, and eye brows. I think I'm getting a bit better at drawing them and I want that reflected in current strips. Also, this is why Waddle looks WAY different. I wasn't really happy with the first version of this little guy so I spent some time working on the character and I'm a happier with the final result. Anyways, I gotta get back to work. I'll try and have a new strip done in a month. 

Back to Work!

It's been awhile, but I'm finally back to work on the strip again. I just started #11, and I'm also working on some portraits and turn arounds for the 5 (Chudd, Trog, Buttery, D20, Numbers) main characters. The sketch above is a quick rough of what I might (meh) use for the Trog and Chudd portraits. Though I've spent a lot of time this last year working on the characters, they still seem a little off to me. I'm hoping that by doing more stuff like this I can refine the toons a bit more. Also, I've started to draw the guys with pants. Turns out that there's a lot of "dick jokes" I want to write in the future, but I don't actually want to draw any mouse dick. Should be fun. 

Cheers!

Just Getting Started!

I just started putting the website together, and I'm running into all sorts of problems. Sorry if the comic strip is kind of unreadable or small. I'm hoping to fix that soon. Unfortunately I'm like really new to using Squarespace and this CMS isn't designed for webcomics. Well, not yet. 

The 10 strips I posted the other day were started about 3 years ago. I've been taking some time off from working on the strip it self to develop the form of the characters and study cartooning. I spend a lot of time drawing the Looney Tunes and cartoons like Tom and Jerry on top of normal character study and perspective work. I'm hoping the practice will pay off and I'll have better looking characters. 

One thing I've been doing is mixing my mice with other cartoons. Recently I did a couple of MOTU mash ups with the mice. I like doing this and I think it's helping me work out their overall form. Plus, it's just fun. After MOTU, I'm going to start on some DC Mash ups. I'm also working on a series of character sheets for the comics main characters (Chudd, Trog, Butter, D20, and Numbers) , I'm hoping to have that posted here soon too. Anyways check out the images below, and I'll have prints of them available on the Murray Brothers Creative website soon, and we're also taking them to Power-Con 2016! 

Enjoy!