Ok, I realize that many readers are fond of the traditional full page format. Still, many of you were willing to give a new format a try. And tomorrow will be the first of the new four panel, more comic strip-like format.
I made it so that it gives plenty of room for funny Hitchhiker’s Guide-style captions and footnotes, which I love to write, and enables me to still tell a story while simplifying the making of the comic dramatically. Also, each strip will still fit on a 6×9 comic page so that I can still use the traditional full page format when the story calls for it. Some scenes need a more dramatic full page format. But for much of the comic, which is talking or narrative and hopefully funny, I think a four panel layout will work well.
Not including Friday’s comic, I’m already two pages ahead. (That is a first!) Now that I’ve gotten the techniques down, it only took me about 3 hours today to do a nice looking full-color strip. I’m using Flash, which allows me to build up a library of poses and expressions. While I want to make it easier for me to do the strip when I get super busy (which happens a lot and was a big problem doing strips on time before), or when I get sick (double ditto), I don’t want to stunt my drawing skill progress by reusing stuff too much. I know Kris Straub of Starslip said that relying too much on Flash sprites was counter productive to his growth as an artist. So I’m going to strike a balance. The whole upshot of this is that I intend on going three comics a week (M-W-F) starting the second week of April.
By making the comic easier for me to produce, the story will continue on, regular and professionally. I want you to be able to count on TFR being there three times a week, something it should have been a long time ago. Feel free to comment on the new format and remember that it’s a work in progress. I don’t want to turn TFR into a gag strip. Instead, I’m definitley going to go for a more Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy style, with a hint of Wodehouse feel to it. And as always, thanks for reading and supporting TFR. I’m going to be giving it my best efforts.
