Interesting question posed by Merv, of all “intelligent” people… No my comic will go on for some time. Once in a while I get tired of it; but only when the world tugs me in 1000 directions. Still, ideas keep coming and I keep drawing.
What happens to cartoons? The print aspect is all but dried up and gone back into the earth into the compost of human ideas. The trees are rejoicing for sure. I don’t blame them! Logically, cartoons have gone digital. Some of us diehards, including myself, still draw by hand. Yet, we are compelled to use scanners and PhotoShop to finish our work. It is a little more complicated, yet somehow easier. I will never again paint in a black background, grey tint, or color my comics with a brush. THANK GOD we don’t have to use those adhesive tone papers to make greys for the printing industry. As an old-school graphic designer, my distaste for that process is pretty strong. It was a grand, laborious time waster.
But, I ask again, where do we go from here? It seems to me the static of comics will eventually give way to animation. We can see it already with Flash advertisements. I am eager to put Entities-R-Us in motion. My only fear is losing the stop motion of the expression. The simple panel cartoon causes us to focus on the emotion of the moment. You can do this in an animation, but the audience would get pissed after several frames… The motion can actually accentuate the characters feelings, so animation can win out… Yet, I still love the simplicity of three or four frames of information, which allows the viewer to fill in the blanks. There is more creativity required of the reader.
I will not stand in the way of progress, but I will wade through it carefully, choosing what works for my creative process and delivers the most laughs and interest to my readers.
Thanks Merv for the discussion prompt!
BTW: I just found out I was Valedictorian of my Masters Degree Class at Full Sail University. Thought you all would get a kick out of that! 🙂
Eat Cookies, Hunt Ghosts!
Tj
