Dark Bay SIX (3 of 6)

Art ... yet another excuse for nudity. There just aren't enough of those.

Playmobil do not, as a rule, take their clothes off. Unlike Barbies.

Dark Bay SIX (2 of 6)

The colours, man!

Filters are fun.

Perhaps too much fun?

Dark Bay SIX (1 of 6)

More playing around with filters, especially on the next page.

I'll post a page a day on this blog, and collect them as episodes on the website at the end of the week. So the blog is where you can see them first, but the website (www.virtuallycomics.com) is where you can see them best.

I'm a little short of spare time this week, so comics will have to take a backseat for a bit. Hopefully I'll squeeze in a little writing, as there's a script just itching to burst out of my head.

Dark Bay FIVE (6 of 6)

The final page of episode five, and out come the 'special' effects. The final panel was stuck through a couple of filters until it looked drawn-ish.

Many thanks to my wife for sketching up some Playmobil themed and sized art.

In other news, the website is now up...

www.virtuallycomics.com

There you can find all the episodes of Character Development and Dark Bay that have appeared on this blog in a more reader friendly format. There is also extra content in the form of Straitjacket Ninja episodes, raw scripts, and other bits. The website will be updated at least once a week.

Dark Bay FIVE (5 of 6)

The website is almost live. Frantic coding and corrections for the last few days. It would have gone a bit smoother if I could have remembered how to do a few simple things, but I'm out of practice. Still, I think the finished product look pretty good. I'll post the address this weekend.

Dark Bay FIVE (4 of 6)

Making the sets can be fun. Sometimes, though, I seem to be all thumbs.

Bash! Swear! Knock! Swear!

Rinse and repeat.

Dark Bay FIVE (3 of 6)

The interview with Mrs Hobson concludes ...

So that's all for the wall pineapple for now.

Dark Bay FIVE (2 of 6)

The website is almost ready to go online ... must code faster ...

Dark Bay FIVE (1 of 6)

Back to Dark Bay for a while. I've finished writing episode eleven, but I'm a while away from photographing it. After a late night discussion with my wife and common sense editor there is now a solid direction towards a conclusion. Well, a conclusion of a sort.

Dark Bay is a little different from most of the other things I've been writing. Most of it is unplanned. Or rather, I know what has happened in terms of the bodies, but how the characters react and solve things is a more 'organic' process. I let the characters tell me what's going on.

Utterly Rucked Poster

We played with tomato sauce and food colouring today ...

Character Development FOUR (7 of 7)

The end of another episode, and the last one for now. Character Development will return soon. The good news is I have already photographed the next two, and have written the following sixteen episodes, so it'll be continuing for some time.

However, I'm limiting myself to one posted page a day, so it doesn't get too out of control, so it's time to switch titles.

Starting in two days will be a new episode of Dark Bay.

Character Development FOUR (6 of 7)

Here's the page with all the arty camera angles ... I went mad, mad I tells ya!

I've been writing rather that photo-taking the last few days, but I've built up a good buffer of completed pages to last a while.

Character Development FOUR (5 of 7)

Brain melting ... can't think ... must post page ...

Character Development FOUR (4 of 7)

Playmobil spikes were a lucky find. They come from a siege tower. The pit itself is the inside of a wine cask painted by my wife.

The Plank is one of my favourite TV moments. Eric Sykes was a genius. A genius surrounded by many other geniuses. If you've never seen it go and find it (if you can).

Character Development FOUR (3 of 7)

The pit caused me some problems, especially when my wife refused to let me drill a real one in the kitchen bench.

Character Development FOUR (2 of 7)

"I check for traps," is a common roleplaying refrain, and a lot has been written about how false and contrived this particular game mechanism can be. I have found a great way to make players even more paranoid than normal is to give them 'obviously trapped' areas that are not trapped. Did we miss something? Did we roll to low on the dice? Should we search again? Go back? Or just send in someone we don't like very much to go first?

Character Development FOUR (1 of 7)

The start of another CD ... this one has some arty photo angles in it, and was rather a lot of fun to make.

Character Development THREE (7 of 7)

The final page of episode three. Another Character Development starts tomorrow, then it'll be back to Dark Bay for a few episodes. And soon there will be a website, so you can few these pages in a more pleasing setting and order.

Character Development THREE (6 of 7)

It's almost Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere ... the birds are singing, the rugby season drags eternally on, the weather is a little warmer, and the family has what will hopefully be the last of the winter bugs.

Character Development THREE (5 of 7)

I had a flashback yesterday to something I started writing about 15 years ago, and I think I may just resurrect it. Hopefully my execution will be a little more polished this time around.

Character Development THREE (4 of 7)

Ah, the goblin queen ... Many songs have be written about her beauty. Ballads were the PR of yesteryear.

Character Development THREE (3 of 7)

It's 5:40 am ... I have nothing to say except, zzzzzzzz.

Character Development THREE (2 of 7)

A general rule of thumb in roleplaying is that if the creature encountered tries to seduce you, you should run! They'll turn out to be a vampire or something evil and draining, and it'll all end in tears and blood rather than any intended bodily fluids. Of course, some players (and characters) just can't say no, no matter how obvious a trap is.

Character Development THREE (1 of 7)

The start of another episode of Character Development.

Continued tomorrow ...

Character Development TWO (7 of 7)

Episode Three will begin tomorrow ...

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, I'm taking Dark Bay pics. So more of that soon.

Character Development TWO (6 of 7)

You may have guessed that I'm a fan of OLD jokes ...

Character Development TWO (5 of 7)

As I may have said before ... it's difficult to get Playmobil to run.

Spent yesterday taking pics for another Dark Bay episode, writing and laying out the panels for the 21st Character Development and building a wee set for the 4th Character Development. I just need to find time to code some webpages at some point.

Continued tomorrow ...

Character Development TWO (4 of 7)

BTW: If you spot a typo or some other error please tell me ...

This page contains the world's lamest fire elemental. So it's my favourite page so far.

Character Development TWO (3 of 7)

Spent quite some time yesterday looking for tiny, little Playmobil flowers to use for a page. Tiny, tiny, tiny. The things we do ...

Character Development TWO (2 of 7)

Woke up this morning with an idea for another strip ... superhero Playmobil almost comic. Don't hold you breath though.

Meanwhile I've been busy snapping pics of these characters.

Continued tomorrow ...