Hey now…
(From Narbonic, by Shaenon K. Garrity)
Wait… Wait.
Is that a use of Infinite Canvas that’s not only Aesthetically Pleasing but Narratively Pragmatic?
I never see that!
57 Awesome Points™ to Shaenon K. Garrity for reminding me that sometimes experimental technique is successful. Good show!
(Note: I’m not being sarcastic at all. I hardly ever see IC used practically. Shaenon did damned good.)
June 14th, 2005 at 2:50 pm
It is so true. I love it when IC is used for a purpose and done well and HERE IT BE! But most often it’s one or the other or neither.
June 14th, 2005 at 7:47 pm
Yes, she used the IC concept really effectively here even if it smacks of being a simple gag — well, it IS a gag strip.
The Infinite Canvas is one of those things that I really don’t buy into. I agree that one of the possibilities of web-based comics is the fact that there is an infinite canvas I just feel that just because you CAN use an infinite canvas doesn’t always mean you SHOULD. Here, it makes sense because visually it works with the gag. Creating a side-scrolling comic that has no aparent end, on the other hand, for the sake of being avant garde is just retarded.
June 14th, 2005 at 9:50 pm
Which is the same argument I use during my film classes. Experimenting is great. It’s healthy, and I encourage it. But I don’t consider experimentation a final product. It’s good for you to screw around with whatever materials are part of the job, picking up new techniques and stuff. But if you say, held up a glass plane over a camera, and spilled juice all over the glass… That’s not a final product. That’s a trick. And the trick becomes useful if you can use it applicably.
Like the Infinite Canvas. There’s been ones I’ve seen where it’s nothing more than a gimmick. A follow the line exercise. A “Where did Billy go today?” And I fucking hate scrolling right. That’s me personally. But in one example, Delta Thrives, it was used right. Because it conveyed the story as it was: One long, seemingly endless trip into the unknown and farbeyond. It works in Delta Thrives.
In Will G’s It’s About Girls, during the older issues, I have a mixed feeling on that. The material was good enough to put up with an infinite canvas. But there wasn’t any real reason I could see that warranted it. Will got the right idea with issues 12 and 13, where he uses the Window System (for lack of a proper term). Everytime you click it, it turns the page. It suits the comic much better, I say.
The Tarquin Engine I think is so far the most effective use of Infinite Canvas. Because it not only gives the user a feel of X and Y axis, but also the illustrious Z. And Mimi’s Last Coffee is a perfect example of that.
June 15th, 2005 at 2:11 pm
You know, in a lot of cases the experiment IS the final product. Pretty much all art from the invention of the camera on has been about seeing where the limits are. What is at the end isnt as important as the process. And the thing is, it’s something that artists have to try for themselves. Not every attempt at their own “Nude Descending A Staircase” is going to work, but it’s important to help the artist expand their own abilities. Playing with infinite canvas is just this same effect in webcomics.
About my shit: For my original four (I think it was four)chapters, I had that “window system”, but it was for individual panels, not pages. If you look, you’ll note that the resolutions and line thicknessess from one panel to another vary wildly. I kept getting readers telling me that they hated the approach, so I decided to switch to using the expanded canvas.
I think it worked to a degree, because it alowed me to pack a fair amount on information on one “comic page”. And yet I started to realize that unless I start getting clever with tables or CSS, or flash, I couldnt utilize the full potential of the thing. And, like the last format, I kept getting readers whining about it: “THE SIDE-SCROLLING! OH THE HUMANITY!”
So, while I was off on hiatus, working on my skills, I decided to make the comic fit within the browser widnow )mine, anyway). Looking around for examples, I noticed how Amy Ganter does her archives for Reman Mythology. It seemed to work, so I took it and applied it for the last two chapters. I’ll stick with it until I see a need for the Tarquin Engine… Which is a beautiful thing… Mostly due to the fact that my art tools are more suited towards that form of presentation anyway. Something a lot of people seem to forget factors heavily into how comics get presented on the web. Should I ever bite the financial bullet and go Mac + Cintiq, you betchya ass I’ll change things again.
But do you know what’s super funny? I’m now getting people whining to me that they prefered the side-scroll.
You can’t please everyone, so just please yourself.
June 15th, 2005 at 2:14 pm
To be clear: My tools are suited for the method I use now, not the Tarquin. Though I think it could be applied to any comic.