… And he Looked to the Sky and Cried “Fanart!”
By John on December 17th, 2010Posted In: "art",blog,sketch friday
So you’ve noticed that the next comic has been slow to appear. Nobody panic! You may not see it, but if you listen closely, you can hear its steady approach from beyond the horizon—like a herd of buffalo, or perhaps a horrifying war machine.
This next comic has had a couple of false starts, and after a night that yielded zero usable material, I said to myself, “Screw it. Screw this noise. I am going to draw Lucca Ashtear.” And, lacking a gavel, I pounded my fist upon the desk. The heavens thundered in assent. It was rad.
I will admit that I have played some Chrono Trigger these past few weeks on the DS—hence the picture. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Chrono Trigger is a game that both Greg and I have played1 and enjoyed and remember fondly. It’s easily one of the best RPGs I’ve met, which is a meaningless statement considering 1) how many other people say that and 2) how few RPGs I have in fact played. That doesn’t diminish its influence on our work, though.
In fact, when Greg and I find ourselves in a tough spot (with regards to story or characters or perhaps both at the same time), invariably we will ask ourselves “Why doesn’t this feel more like Chrono Trigger?”2 And for good reason! It’s a fun story with fun dialogue and fun characters3—do you sense the subtle pattern here?!
Funness is, after all, the essential element that we strive for. Sometimes we succeed more than other times, and I know that, for the long-term, we are headed in the right direction. All I have to do now is finish the next dang strip so that I can prove it to you.
tl;dr ct 4 lyfe
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1 Perhaps not so long ago as you’d expect—I didn’t touch it until my freshman year of college (!) and I don’t think Greg completed a full playthrough until he was well into high school.
2 Other inevitable comparisons include Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Back to the Future Part II, and Dresden Codak.
3 Lucca strikes me as one of the story’s less engaging characters, actually, but she has a fun look. (Fun!!) You know who has a flippin’ weird look? The protagonist. What is up with that hair, somebody please tell me what is up with it. (Aaand here I am, bewildered at the hairstyles in a JRPG. I am 65.)