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  1. Panel 1:
    Piro:
    In today's 'The How and Why of MegaTokyo' we will talk about MegaTokyo's 4-panel layout.
    Also shown:
    Largo
  2. Panel 2:
    Piro:
    At first, Largo wanted to use a 'horizontal' format - which is typical for American comics. I wanted to use a 'vertical' format, which is standard for Japanese comics. Eventually, we reached a compromise.
  3. Panel 3:
    Largo:
    It's a cube!
    Piro:
    Technically, it isn't really a cube, but we like to think the third dimension is implied. In effect, we are creating space.
  4. Panel 4:
    Erika:
    <The only space I see is the space between their ears.>
    Kimiko:
    <Uh huh.>

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< Piro >

fredart ...

"in motion"

Wednesday - April 18, 2001

[Piro] - 10:54:00 - [link here]

Ah, I've been waiting to do this particular strip. i don't know why. I've just drawn myself in a ridiculously silly outfit reacting probably the way i would if in the same situation. There are a number of spoofs in here, ranging from the play on cats chasing tails, to my real life experience of knocking over a display of shoujo manga in a book store in Ginza, to one I didn't even realize till after I had drawn everything. I think i subconsciously spoofed one of Waterson's wonderful 'Hobbs chases his tail' strips. Oops.

I'm hurting a little this morning because i was up way too late last night doing this strip. Wanna know what was most frustrating? You'd think it was the 3 panels of piro bounding about trying to catch the wayward tail - but those drawings actually came out pretty easy and pretty clean. All three of them, including piro sitting on the floor after finally catching the tail took about 3 hrs. Not bad.

For the life of me i couldn't draw Kimiko at all last night.

What you see is the best of the worst of the three attempts to draw her last night. NOTHING is worse than artists block when you are actually in progress. Hey, everyone has bad art days - but when you feel you are on a roll, and have three pretty decent drawings, and the last panel is not looking good... ugh, it's enough to make you want to tear your hair out. i spent 2 hrs drawing kimiko last night. One stupid drawing. It was so frustrating. By the time i finally started scanning and getting the final comic done, it was 2:30 am. This morning, the final panel doesn't look quite as bad as I feared, but i guess Kimiko is far cuter than i drew her today. Perhaps that's what's frustrating me. We'll see how well i can draw her over the next few weeks.

Someone once asked me what kind of 'motion lines' i liked to use - you know, lines indicating motion, running fast, shaking, etc. Honestly, I don't like to use them. If you are going to show motion in your drawings, what you really need to do is imply it with your character's stance, balance, rotation, etc. I don't know if i was really successful with drawing piro spinning around chasing his tail, but at least you can see that i tried. ^_^ I approach motion lines from a cinematic/photographic point of view. You do get streaks in photos and film (which is why i do draw some motion lines) but the motion you are trying to get across has to be implied by the drawing - you can't just rely on motion lines.

I'm keeping this short today because i have yet another of those wonderful deadlines tonight (yay -_-) So i need to get back to work. I'm going to be making a few trips next month - I'm going to Anime Central on the weekend of the 12th (we have a MT panel on saturday for anyone who has any questions about MT), and I am also going to E3 the following weekend. Yea, the Electronic Entertainment Expo in LA. Largo and I have decided that we are going to see what we can do to sneak in this year. Pretending to be Ion Storm employees didn't work, maybe if we pretend we are Bioware employees we might be able to sneak in.... Nah, it'd never work.

< Dom >

sakuraaa..

"time for some domitage"

Monday - April 16, 2001

[Dom] - 10:33:00 - [link here]

Earlier today, as I was frantically scrambling around my apartment trying to find my DC GameShark so I could fire up Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2, I couldn't help but look at my fat pile of Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast games and wonder who was dumb enough to think that the MegaTokyo people hate Sega. I mean, really, now. Largo has played through Grandia II, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and Phantasy Star Online. Piro likes Sentimental Graffiti and Kanon. Ed and I are fans of the House of the Dead, Virtua Cop and Fire Pro Wrestling D. What do these have in common? Why, they happened to appear on a Sega console. And only a Sega console (I don't count the PC ports of these games into the equation).

Oh. Yeah. We're really Sony whores here, aren't we?

Listen. We are gamers. Doesn't matter what platform it's on, if it sucks, we'll say so, and if it doesn't, we'll shut up and play it. Comprendé? Yes, we've drooled on the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo. But who hasn't? And if we haven't been talking about the Dreamcast much lately, well, that's because Sega hasn't really been talking about the Dreamcast lately. The future's in the hands of Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, and while Sega will continue to make great games, they'll get about as much mention as Capcom in these pages. Like it or not, Sega isn't one of the Big Boys anymore.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to stop looking ahead and look back. My Smash Pack finally came in the mail today, and hasn't left my Dreamcast since. Ever since my Genesis (may it rest in piece) stopped working, and even before that, when the battery pack on Phantasy Star II died, I've been relying on Genecyst to play my carts, but it's not the same

on a keyboard, nor does it feel right without a Sega-made controller in my hands.

Now, I'm weird in my view on emulators. I suppose I'm one of the few guys out there who uses emus the legal way, only for carts that they own... which, for me, means Gunstar Heroes, Streets of Rage 1 and 2 (3 was an abomination and I refuse to play it), the Shining and Phantasy Star series (See: Streets of Rage), Herzog Zwei, Altered Beast, Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3, Sonic and Knuckles, and, um. *cough* mickeymousecastleofillusion *cough*

Which, of course, means the Smash Pack is a godsend. Anyone who hasn't experienced the joy of the smash pack, go and play it! Altered Beast is still a good beat-em-up (Weeelllcome to your dooooom), I'll play Streets of Rage and Golden Axe over The Bouncer and Fighting Force any day of the week, and... well, what is there to say about Columns? It's crack. Pure crack.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and find my credit card, I think I need to stop mucking with the GameShark and buy me another Dreamcast, Japanese this time.

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