Long time reader, first time poster.

toddleaboo

Hey everybody, my names Natasha and I've been a big fan of Penny Arcade for a long time. I love web comics and I've always wanted to make one to show off my sketches and showcase my characters. I finally got a website up, (you can find the link in my signature) and would appreciate some feedback on my first comic!

Thanks and I love you all.

Metalbourne

Somehow I'm outraged because the link in your signature is not a link at all.

Even though its a rare day that I actually do click on someone's webcomic through this forum.

Now: One tip: Keep construction in mind when you're drawing. Also, you need to cultivate quite a bit more confidence in your lines. Plan your panels so that you're not wasting space with drawn and computer-added speech bubbles.

Okay, that was like three tips.

melting_doll

There is a lot of negative space between and outside of your panels, making it feel kinda...sloppy. As if you just made four random boxes and drew some pictures to fit them.

And the tiny triangular purple panel at the very beginning doesn't really..make any sense to me.

I'm sure someone will give you elaborate advice on anatomy so I'll refrain and let them do it instead.

But remember that even though you're going to receive a lot of feedback, don't let it get you down and keep it up (:

Stupid Mr Whoopsie Name

Welcome to the forums, Natasha. It's great you chose to share your work with us, and I will be honest by saying it's certainly a little rough around the edges. Fortunately, there are a lot of brilliant artists here that can offer you some great tips and advice.

I encourage you to stick around and wish your art the best.

toddleaboo

Thanks for the advice. If you read the latest comics, you can see I am working on filling in all the dead space. I really appreciate the time you all took to give me constructive feedback.

I know i have a long ways to go, but I'm looking forward to improving.

Recoil42

It's spelled cubicle.



edit: The hell?

Chilly

It's probably because of the way you went about telling her, I can only imagine?

I'm not the brightest dude ever, but I think it's because saying it that way could be interpreted as kind of nitpicky and mean?

DirtyDirtyVagrant

I'm guessing it's that plus the fact that we are more or less focusing on the visual here.

Also we have kind of a hard time retaining new posters as it is. Just be cool.

Stupid Mr Whoopsie Name

It's because Recoil's original post consisted of just the italicized word cubicle. After catching an infraction for having a poor ability to provide constructive criticism, the chucklehead tried covering his tracks and actually included an "edit" acting surprised by the infraction. The best part is, it's still a shitty way to critique someone's work.

Look, I don't really want to take the focus away from this thread by focusing on how retarded some of our members are, but it's pretty simple: Be polite and offer constructive criticism or don't participate at all.

toddleaboo

Hey, thanks for sticking up for me there.... I fixed the spelling.

I took your advice and changed the first comic a little... moved around a couple frames so it makes more sense. I couldn't do much about the empty space, but it's better in the rest of my comics.

:P

Mustang

I know it's fairly early on but it's something you might want to think about as it struck me almost instantly. The use of cats seems completely arbitrary in this strip, the point you've made could have just as easily been achieved using human characters. So you may want to think about employing some feline characteristics in future.

PeterAndCompany

Mustang wrote: »

The use of cats seems completely arbitrary in this strip, the point you've made could have just as easily been achieved using human characters.

This, right here. This is one comment I'm tired of hearing people give as a "critique," since it is entirely as arbitrary and subjective a point as that which is trying to be spoken against.

She made the characters cats because that's what she wants them to be. She needs no reason or logic behind choosing cartoon animals as her design archetype. Animals can be used just as accurately to portray emotion as humans -- if not moreso, thanks to additional physical capabilities and features -- so honestly that should not even remotely be a problem.

toddleaboo: That being said, Mustang is entirely correct in saying that you should push the animal features further if you decide to go that route. Like I just mentioned, you have an entire range of additional conveyances of emotion at your disposal: ear positions, fur ("fuzzed up" in fear, etc.), tails, other instinctual traits (habits, physical features like claws/fangs, etc.). Do some homework on the animals you want to use and just go wild -- pardon the pun -- with your character designs. You're really doing yourself a disservice if you simply treat the "animal" designs as entirely cosmetic.

Additionally, you should be prepared to deal with people belittling or diminishing your work simply because you choose to draw "furries." Until such time that the whole furry fascination in the public eye can be distilled a bit, it's something that you need to somewhat expect to happen at least once. If this sounds completely foreign to you then that's perfectly fine, but I mention it just so you're not deterred and keep going with your work; as long as you see yourself improving and having fun with it, that is what counts.