Back in the Strike Team HQ – where our hero appears to be doing even better than expected!
Also a peek at what’s being developed for the weaponized Strike Suit 2.0 – we’d been toying along the lines of a sharpened tonfa but we both agreed that we didn’t want Countdown to have a lot of gear dangling from his belt. So it’s being added directly into the armored forearm brace and activated by a polyetherimide spring mechanism. No metal, of course; Strike Gate rules still apply.
As stated, our updates will be sporadic for a while (lots of freelance gigs piling on) but we’re working from a script so we know where we’re going. We’ve paused the Patreon during this period, but we’ll continue to post high-rez images and other free goodies there for those who signed up!
And hey – FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!
More below!
Bobservations
Using Your Words
3 Minute Max has always been a collaborative project, with myself doing the writing and Max doing the art. That’s not too unusual. But of course I wanted to do the effects wherever I could, so we began developing a workflow to allow me to do that. Then, just as a way of helping out, I offered to start doing the dialogue and balloons as well. It’s not like it’s hard, but it is surprisingly time-consuming. Often, dialogue has to be restructured just because it isn’t pithy enough or there is a long word in an inconvenient place and it messes up the balloon symmetry.
The balloons themselves are also tricky; we’d always had rather free-form balloons, done primarily by taking a fat brush in Photoshop and filling in behind the text area, and then using a smoothing filter to round out the edges. I still rather like the organic quality that method gave our balloons, but while I could rough them in and draw a line to indicate who was speaking, I had to rely on Max to do the finishing touches on them, including the tails.
During the Interludes I finally made the switch over to the more standard method of using the Ellipse and Warp tools to create smoother, more symmetrical balloons and tails. It wasn’t quite as stylized-looking, but I was able do the whole thing myself and take that task off the artist’s plate.
In the process, I began to notice that there’s a whole art form to the words and balloons that I hadn’t realized. Not just making them look nice, but there are subtle dynamics that have a psychological impact on the reader as well. The stacking of the words, whether to cram them all in one balloon or separate them into multiple connected balloons to give specific emphasis. A balloon higher in frame will often read “lighter” (playful, flirtatious) than one lower down. (Imagine the word “Really?” in a word balloon being spoken by a character. In a high balloon, it appears hopeful. Lower down, it has a more cynical feel.)
The balloon tails themselves can make a difference. Something as subtle as curving them up or down can affect the reader’s perception of mood. Naturally, all of this has to be balanced by the need to fit the text around the art, and I’m still a rank beginner at the whole process. Still, it would not surprise me if it turns out there are whole treatises on the Psychology of Word Balloons. If not, there should be.
Of course this particular page really brought it home, because it was rather a complicated layout and we wanted to avoid that cheat where we draw arrows to tell you which panel is next – so I tried to use the positioning of the dialogue and the balloons carefully bled across borders to help “usher” the reader along the correct pathway. Max also helped by tweaking the borders slightly. Hope it worked.
It’s a collaborative process.
— Bob out
Art Notes: Thank you all for being patient; as Dad has already explained, I’ve blessedly been very busy with work, but it comes with a cost. Hopefully things will get back on track soon. – Max
“Looks like it’s safe to pass through boys, they’ve filled in some of the plotholes”!
Am I correct in translating VBIED as Very Bad Improvised Explosive Device?
Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device. Suicide bomber in a car or truck loaded with explosives. Used to have a picture of myself driving one into a convoy (using propane and fullers earth effects) but I’ll be damned if I can find it now.
EDIT – NVM – found it. This was taken at the Ft. Irwin training facility. I’m in the white truck. Thanks to Lt. Gray for sending the picture.
Was it warm in the truck? I keep the heat on, but I’d bet your chestnuts were roasting in that one.
“Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device”
what sort of non-metallic mechanism allows for the operation of the spring-loaded spike in that suit arm? o.O
Rubber bands are a wonderful thing, my friend.
I guess I’m missing something wonderful in my life :p
If you find the video of Robin Williams with his mother on you tube you can see another use of rubber bands as well.
Woohoo! Update! And a very interesting and curious one to boot. 😀 I am seriously curious how you guys end up explaining these supernatural upgrades, because if a “rookie” spirit like Sophie can do this kind of stuff, what does an “experienced” one like Letoa’s (or her new boss’s spirit!) know how to do? I’m betting on, they can do it, but had reasons why they don’t go all out like Sophie appears to be; yin & yang, cause & effect, benefit & drawback and so forth.
Honestly, if updating once a month is what the schedule allows, I’m fine with it so long as I know it will happen, that way it keeps my obsess…OCD… in check. I can’t believe I’m actually saying that, because I am a greedy consumer of this comic who always wants more, but I’ve learned to be pragmatic in the face of reality, especially when I -know- that the creators are self-employed. Pay the bills, eat, take care of the family, sleep (not necessarily in that order, mind you), and THEN comic. I can be patient when the wait is worthwhile, and in case I’ve never mentioned it before, the wait is —definitely— worthwhile for me. 🙂
Letoa is already demonstrating some preternatural physical abilities in her own right.
Plus, I get the feeling that more time has passed for Sophie, than what has passed for the others. Like she died and experienced a hundred years or more afterlife, before coming back for Max’s recovery.
I’m on the same page as @Thracecius on this…in more ways than one. Of the years I’ve lost some exceptional reading material as artists get over worked, Injured or just loose the ability to update. The artist Dirk I. Tiede, who wrote is a good example.
I know what you mean – Dirk’s Paradigm Shift was one of my favorite webcomics. I waited a very long time in hopes that he would finish his story, but he has admitted he has neither the ability or the desire to continue. Please continue moving Forwards (sorry), but don’t let your story turn into just another task in a long week.
Last phrase made me to lough so hard… 😀
Surprise! it Was Eekto all along and all that is required is physical contact…
…much like what’s happening Right Now.
Much love to the Forward clan and very pleased you’re busily employed! We can wait and watch out here in the cloud and do so happily because the quality is truly great! Keep on keeping on, we will still be here!
I suddently had a thought… wouldn’t it be much easier for Max if they juste made an actual knife rather than these forearm blades? A combat knife is much smaller than a tonfa and Max already know how to use it. It really wouldn’t take that much space at his belt…
Well I guess when the mad scientist and his nerdy assistant are calling the shots being cool is more important than being practical, like with his first armor.
page soon?
At least a new Vote Incentive, please.