Character Development Nominated

Character Development has been nominated for a Drunk Duck award in the photo-comic category. It's up against some stiff competition, but as they say ... it's an honour just to be nominated.

Mid-year Secret Santa contribution (3 of 3)

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As so concludes my secret Santa pages. Not sure DevanMuse liked them all that much, but I had fun doing them.

Mid-year Secret Santa contribution (2 of 3)

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Part 2 of my mid-year secret Santa homage to http://symbiosiswebcomic.blogspot.com, which was my random assignment in the Drunk Duck event.

The hardest part about using Playmobil to recreate a comic is finding a figure that looks remotely like the comic character. We got lucky, in that a few years ago we'd purchased an alien encased in an opening plant set (really, not kidding) from a bargain bin.

Oddly enough, the alien Playmobil figure didn't have an eye coming out of its shoulder, but thanks to my wife's ingenuity that was easily solved.

Mid-year Secret Santa contribution (1 of 3)

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I was assigned Symbiosis for my recent mid-year secret Santa, a comic by DevanMuse that can be found at http://symbiosiswebcomic.blogspot.com

I'll post the remaining pages over the next two days.

Many thanks to DevanMuse for letting me use this.

Darkest Day: Comics for Christchurch anthology

A special Funtime Comics anthology was released yesterday, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross in recognition of the support they gave in Christchurch after the earthquake of 22nd February 2001.

It's a 72 page spectacular with comics from Dylan Horrocks, Chris Slane, Tom Taylor, Colin Wilson, and dozens of others. The cover graphics are by Lee Yan Marquez. It was all put together in a massive hurry by editor Issac Freeman, who did a fantastic job.

You can buy a comic online, at http://funtime.comics.org.nz

Here's my two pages worth (in reduced size and resolution). Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version.

The Making of ... (4 of 4)

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My wife asked for her face to be cut off. She's shy. Which is a shame because you miss seeing her eyes sparkling with success as she surveys the completed set.

The Making of ... (3 of 4)

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It may have disgusting, but it was edible.

The Making of ... (1 of 4)

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For the next four days I'll be posting pages that show the behind the scenes activity of the making of Character Development 31, which features the Pools of Flatulence.

Secret Santa strip (4 of 4)

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The conclusion. Thanks to Darwin for allowing me to post these pages, and for sending people in the direction of my comics. And thanks to Drunk Duck and all those who organized the Secret Santa webcomic exchange for 2010.

Secret Santa strip (3 of 4)

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The secret Santa project was a lot of fun ... I'm looking forward to seeing what I get out of this process.

Secret Santa strip (2 of 4)

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The brooding (half) vampire.

It's difficult to get Playmobil to brood ... they have smiles fixed as firmly as any campaign politician or beauty pageant contestant ... so I had to play with angles a bit.

All up it took 85 photos to make the 4 pages. There's always a few out of focus, but I experiment with odd angles and ranges just to see what I get. Sometimes, if the lighting is right, you can get a little bit of brooding from a plastic figure.

Secret Santa strip (1 of 4)

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The webcomics community Drunk Duck has an annual secret Santa project, and I took part in this years one. I was assigned an webcomic creator's work to do something xmasassy with, and got an interesting vampire story, Only Half (the other story option by the same author/artist would have been too difficult with Playmobil). I think I was just meant to draw a single panel, but I went a little overboard and set a story within the timeline and universe of the comic.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the four page results over the next few days.

BTW: Over at the Character Development blog you'll find the end of episode 18 today, and the start of episode 19 tomorrow ...

Character Development THIRTEEN (7 of 7)

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Always read the fine print.

A new episode starts tomorrow, but only on the Character Development blog (http://goo.gl/YACg). I'd rather you were reading it there so the visitor stats help the various ranking sites it's linked to.

However this blog will still have updates, and a new episode of Dark Bay starting soon.

Character Development THIRTEEN (6 of 7)

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The Bard's night of debauchery.

Character Development THIRTEEN (5 of 7)

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It's the little things you miss when you're away from home. Like drunken debauchery at your favourite sleazy watering-hole.

Once this episode finishes I'll stop posting the daily pages of CD on this site, and direct you over to http://itscharacterdevelopment.blogspot.com for them. That way I can start putting some other things up on this blog.

Character Development THIRTEEN (4 of 7)

I've said it before ...

I like old jokes.

Character Development THIRTEEN (3 of 7)

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Some days I just don't have anything to add.

Character Development THIRTEEN (2 of 7)

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A bar in a dungeon. Not the most original of concepts, I'll admit ... but I do have an origin for it on the next page.

Character Development THIRTEEN (1 of 7)

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Drinking games ... it's amazing how often alcohol features in roleplaying. Buying a round to gain information from the locals. Plying someone with wine to loosen their purse strings. But it doesn't always work out for the best ...

Character Development TWELVE (7 of 7)

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Reading (and hence writing) are often overlooked skills, in the comics world as well as the roleplaying.