He Changed It And Now It Sucks: Character Design

Ebly · Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:37 am

I'm going to be one of the odd ones out and actually give some semblance of encouragement. Wow.
(Oh, sarcasm. How witty.)

But seriously though, I've never really commented on how the comic actually -looks-, beyond quick one-adjective comments ('oh PB is cute, GJ is funny, i like the art, it's so pretty'), so this will be a first for me and I'll probably say all kinds of wrong or uncalled for or nitpicky or I have no idea things. I know I like the style, in both its manifestations, so I'll be saying good things, probably. But I'll be sure to punctuate it with harsh niggling about stuff like eyes, just because that has got to be the most commented on thing, from what I've seen.
As far as the change itself goes, I don't really mind either way in as much as you can do what you like with Housepets! and I for one would keep reading. Unless you started bashing everyone I know and love or something.
Anyway, Imma get started on thinking. /effortface
Surprise, I'm not a visual artist, so I'm not going to pick up on the same things a visual artist would, or use the same terminology a visual artist would. U:
...wow this is going to be so completely and utterly self-absorbed isn't it. OH THIS IS MY OPINION YEAH IT'S SPECIAL. U: fffffff i'm stupid.
You know what I'm going to say right now that I'm probably a elephant and I'm really sorry because I actually like the comic. A lot. And its art is amazing and I could never do that because I'm not amazing. Ux

So as for the Zap! arc:

Bzzt
I remember how, at first glance, I thought this comic was a guest comic. Oh, heeheehee. Yeah, I was really not keeping up with HP! updates back then. I blame school. U: Either way, I thought it was a completely different person who drew it. I remember my first impression was that it was, well, impressing. Ahaha. I did like it. Come to think of it, do you still redraw characters even if they haven't moved from the last panel? Ah, but still. I'll give it to you that the colouring is just in flats, but I still thought Grape's ears looked a little off, because I forgot how thin cats ears actually are or something? Maybe I was expecting shading or something to indicate depth, but that's not really going to happen in flats. Either way, it looked odd to me. It looks better to me now. I've noticed that the dogs' noses have gotten smaller since that comic. I kind of prefer the larger nose, if I really think about it, because somehow it makes them seem more puppyish and cute, but honestly? It's a nose. The difference isn't really large enough to matter. I really like how their collars are done, too. They don't remind me of giraffes. I mean, they didn't before either, but... well. U: Shut up. More realistic neck-sizes. I like that. And big thick collars look cute.

Delayed Reaction
I like Peanut's eyes here. I have to admit that even though you can achieve a better range of angles with the new style, they still look best in good ol' 3/4ths, which is what this strip is. Entirely. U: Except for Bino's head in two of his three panels, but. Uh. ; n; Anyway, of the things I didn't like so much, I thought that Bino's eyes looked odd in the first two panels, but I really couldn't put my finger on why 'cause it's not really affecting my enjoyment of the strip enough to care. Though in the second panel, Bino's mouth confused me, and now when I think on it I can see what's wrong - his teeth. In theory his mouth is wide open, like Peanut's is in the first panel of the next strip, right? Or at least that's how it seems to me. If he had his mouth that far open, we should be able to see teeth... I dunno. Either way. Just teeth. And I don't think that's even something really stylistic. Have I mentioned that Peanut's colouring is really, really nice yet? U: I don't think I ever have. ;Â âˆ†; He looks absolutely adorable in the third panel.

Wellâ€¦ That's Over Then
Peanut is pure and simple cuteness in this strip. ; 3; I've seen lots of people commenting on Grape's eyes, pretty much consistently from this strip onwards. I actually like them a lot, here. Her expression in the first panel fits to what I'd expect (I was a but confused by people saying they thought she looked weird), having just shown up Peanut by not actually being asleep for once when he came crying her name. It gives off a "yesthat'srighti'mbetterthanyou" feeling if you ask me. U: Anyway. Second and third panel, Peanut continues being sweeter than syrup, and Grape made me giggle because I find annoyed cats funny. U: So sue me. Last panel, I find the positioning of her ears to be a little odd. She was annoyed in the fourth panel and she has them down - but not back. And that's what I find looks odd. I'm used to cats putting them back moreso than down when they get annoyed, so as if you're looking straight on you can't even really see their inside hair of their ear. Maybe that's just my cats though, and it's just a case of reality does not look like reality. I dunno. I don't look at other peoples' cats much, to be honest.

And then onto the Fall of the Pridelands arc we goooooooooo:

Book Smarts
I like this strip the absolute best for me in terms of the new style. I love her smile in the first panel, it give the perfect impression of the fanaticism of Grape. o 3o To be honest, I have nothing but good things to say about this strip in terms of how it looks, which means I can't really say much to help you improve, beyond "keep doing this!" It does seem a little toonier than some, though. Not as toony as Delayed Reaction though, which you also mentioned as particularly toony. Yay, well done Ebly for picking that up. <3 /proudface (Man, we need synonyms for toony that aren't cartoony or else I'll use the same adjective three times in a row again.)
Feline eye candy. <3 I want some.

Hey, It's That Cat Again
Man. I forgot who Fiddler was at first, so I checked the taglink, and boy that was a trip. I can't believe how it's changed. I remember it being a lot less toony than that for some reason. That was amazing. U: Like a complete and utter. I dunno. Insert your own colloquial phrase here. Either way. Wow, yeah. I wonder how Keys would look, too. Anyway. In the first panel, Peanut's right eye (actual right, not viewer's right) looks too tall. Grape's eyes look fine to me. Fiddler's eyes look fine to me too, they make him look a little more feminine, but not really like a straight up girl. I find it just mostly looks to me like he's of a different breed, or glaring, or both. The second of which I would be doing too if someone was standing on a part of me for five minutes and not even paying enough attention to notice.

Impenetrable Wall Of Text
Same thing in the first panel as last time. The actual right eye seems off, but not for the same reason - this one looks at the right height, i just don't think that it's wide enough. U: It doesn't really matter, though, these are all small things. I find the things that I don't like are all shaping up to be little things and nothing actually affected by the style. Though I have to admit, it appears as though the ears have gotten taller and thinner, and I don't really like it much, compared to before - though that's probably me just perceiving it weirdly, I still think the ears would look better if they were changed a little. A-ah, excited Grape and Max conversation is making me giggle again. ; n; The collars appear to have gotten thinner. I dunno if that's again just how it appears to me or if they actually have, but I would prefer them thicker.

Five Weeks Of Allowance Down The Drain
Oh man, five weeks of allowance. I could buy something really nice with that. U': Poor Peanut. I have to admit, I like these eyes more than earlier ones, but I like these in the sense that my own cats appear closer to this in terms of eye shape. I have nothing negative to say about this one besides what's been mentioned in the last one, really. The collars seem to have gotten thicker again, which gives me the impression that I was just looking at the previous comic wrong. U: I bet the cat eyes must be hard to deal with. As you said, they're not as mutable... but really, thinking about it, we're comparing these eyes to the dog's eyes, as well as the eyes from the old style, and that's not really right. It's just that we're not used to it. If people were to compare angry Grape eyes to happy Grape eyes, they'd see a huge difference. If people were to compare happy Grape eyes to happy Peanut eyes, it wouldn't be fair, because Grape and Peanut are totally different animals, so totally different eyes. U:
GRAPE LAST PANEL FFFFFF HOW IS IT THAT STICKING OUT A -TONGUE- MAKE EVERYTHING FIVE TIMES CUTER U:

I'm noting now that in your comments of the latest strip you said that the compromised eyes are difficult to get balanced, so that would explain Impenetrable Wall Of Text.
Man, Marvin. And one of the Bigglesworths. <3 I remember that the two BWs whose collars we actually saw had stop signs on them, or something red and seemingly octagonal at least. o 3o I'm proud that I remember that. xD
To be honest, the bookworms I know? If someone were to shout out something like that, yeah, they'd get the snot beaten out of them. But, the thing is, if they then proceeded to say 'just kidding, i actually haven't read it', they'd get the snot and the tar beaten out of them. Not because they were joking, but because they hadn't read it. U: But that's by far just the people I know personally. = 3=

yeah i have no idea why i put the links in really
ebly why did you do that
i don't know okay
ebly you're stupid
i know okay
okay
okay
okay
U:

Don't hate me </3

He Changed It And Now It Sucks: Character Design

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