Too Many Cooks: The Comic (fun art jam project)

[captainspud]

Too Many Cooks: The Comic

What is it?

A fun art challenge for the community. Users take turns producing single panels of a comic book. The story and characters are not worked out in advance-- each participant produces his panel based on where he thinks the next logical step for the story is.

Can I participate?

Of course you can! This is open to everybody, whether you make oil paintings or stick men.

So how do I play?
Follow this procedure:

1. Find the most recent panel posting.
2. If no spot has been "reserved", post a reply that simply says "RESERVED!" or something of the like. After you submit, double-check that nobody ninjaed you.
3. Download the last version of the current page of the comic.
4. Make and upload your panel.
5. Edit your "RESERVED!" post to instead show the current version of the page.

And that's it.

Is there anything else?
A couple rules:

1. No hinting on where you want the story to go. Let people decide on their own as they sit down to make their panels.
2. After you RESERVE your slot, you have 6 hours to make and post your panel. This should be way, way more than you need. If after 6 hours your panel still isn't up, you lose your place and someone else can grab it. Note that if you're doing a large splash and you think you'll need more time, you can request another 6 hours, for a total of 12.
3. It is PERFECTLY OKAY to crop other people's panels to fit your new one. If you want to put a kind of long diagonal panel, and one of the corners is going to sit on someone else's, or otherwise cut into it, GO RIGHT AHEAD. Dynamic panel arrangement is something I'd like to see people play with in this excercise, and as long as you're not obscuring crucial details or dialog, it's perfectly fine to cut up previous panels a bit.
4. Only opload a .jpg, don't give us your PSD. Even if someone asks for it.
5. FEEL FREE TO PLAY WITH YOUR ART STYLE! You don't need to try to make your art look like the previous panels. In fact, I outright ENCOURAGE every panel to look radically different. One can be painted, the next inked line art, the next a Poser composite. Whatever you feel like doing.
6. Try to make the story make sense, at least a bit. Keep the characters' appearance (hair colour/style, clothes, etc) the same, don't suddenly drop a new character into the story unless his arrival makes sense, and pay attention to make sure the dialog links up with previous panels. It doesn't need to be perfect, but give this SOME thought.
7. The font is Comic Sans. I picked something everybody will have. If you introduce a new font (for a certain character's dialogue, for example) that isn't a Windows standard, please pick one that's available on a free font site and post a link to it.
8. Frequency: leave at least 2 panels by other people between your own, OR, if after 24 hours there's no response or not enough responses to your panel, you can post again.

And that's about all I can think of. I'll post the first panel in the next post. Par time for making a panel should be around an hour, so I'd like to see at least four or five panels a day. When we get to the bottom of the page, just start a new one. I'll make a gallery to show all the pages once we get a couple.

Alrighty! Get arting! ;)

[captainspud]

[Reepicheep]

DIBS! RESERVED! SHOTGUN!

What is it I say?

[Reepicheep]

[Cardmaster]

[captainspud]

Great job, guys.

Who's next?

:)

[Sevenforce]

 :blink:

Wow, Spud, this is...an amazing idea. Kudos. ^_^

[Alaric]

[captainspud]

[captainspud]

Coming up on a full page... I'm so excited. :D

[Rick Battlemage]

[captainspud]

By the way, I love that we're injecting a potentially dangerous experimental serum into a guy who's ALREADY bright yellow with spikes coming out of his body. :D

[Nymph]

a guy who's ALREADY bright yellow with spikes coming out of his body.

He is an Asian with Hair Gel.

EDIT: Oh by the way i'm not participating.....just watching you guys because I find it interesting.

[MJB]

Nice! So, do we wait on Spud to start the next page or...

-MJB

[captainspud]

Nope, just go ahead and move onto a new page. Keep the same size as the first one... or DOUBLE IT for a two-page splash. :P

[Glitch Girl]

My fastest poser image ever.  (I started it about 15 minutes before I posted "dibs" if yu want to work out the time)  Thank goodness for post.  ;)

[Tomato]

I've got an idea... Dibs!



Definately not my best work, but whatever. Time for sleep.

[MJB]

Ugg. It's too late to do quality work. :P

-MJB

[captainspud]

[Outcast]

Just want to say, this is a very fun thread that Captain Spud has started.  :lol:

I'll be following this comic thread for sure! Great idea!  :thumbup:

[Alaric]

[style]

What's happens next!!! What's happens next!!!  :blink:

[catastrophe]

[captainspud]

 :huh:

[Glitch Girl]

Damn, I was too slow.  Knew I shoulda called dibs but I wasn't sure if I was going to have time to slip it in between work or the ability considering all my Poser stuff is at home.

Ah well. 
(for those interested: this is it, it is considered non-cannon to this project though.)

[captainspud]

Actually, your panel would work okay as the first one on the next page.

[Glitch Girl]

You sure?

Okay... I guess in that case... dibs.



Created with photoshop and some shameless manipulation of the existing frame I did.  Hence the poor image quality.

Plus I was a little tired of Mutant Ex Machina.  Sorry Catastrophe.

BTW: the text in the little yellow boxes is Courier New.  Should be available on pretty much every computer, including Macs. 

[captainspud]

[Sgt. Friday]

reserved!

[Sgt. Friday]

A huge thanks to Spud for hosting this!

Spud, you are the man!  :thumbup: