Leaping Into Action

If one were to look, one would surely find page 8 of The Word Smith's fourth episode is now online and it would seem that things are afoot...

And it looks like today's sketchbook entry is...

And attempt at some chibi-style drawing, or something.  The expression on that one at the end might be a tad creepy.  Oh  well, I'm sure you can all handle it.

In other news... not much!  It's FASS show week this week which means general business and stuff, but it'll be all over this weekend and then back to the regular routine next week.  So, stay tuned, and stuff.

Freak Out,
-TFitC

Slippery When Wet

Page 7 of episode 4 of The Word Smith has made its way online.  In this episode, stuff happens!  More specifically, we see the reappearance of the cat back on page 2 (included specifically to set up this joke) as well as hints of things to come for the remainder of the episode.  I'm sure that sense of impending doom is just some grand paranoid delusion. ... Or is it...?

I thought, today, it might be interesting to show some thumbnails, which I've not done in some time.

These are the thumbnails for pages 4-7 and were drawn on the back of some paper I printed out a while ago (recycle!)  As you can see, my thumbnails are pretty rough.  I mostly use them for roughing out the basic composition though, as can be seen, the middle row on page five (where Nyrissi is introduced) was left blank as I didn't decide on how I wanted to handle her until I got to that part of the page.  I also sometimes leave notes for myself on things that I want to modify for the final page (because I'm too lazy to actually redraw the thumbnails...  or something.)

In the context of todays page, it might also be interesting to note that neither the script nor the thumbnails for page 2 mentioned or showed a cat anywhere.  In the script, the first mention of the cat is on page 7 when The Pen mentions that she let it play for her.  I only decided to put the cat into page 2 as I was drawing that page, partly because I wanted to put a little something extra in some of the panels, and partly because I decided that I didn't want the cat to just come out of nowhere on page 7.

And that's all for this week.  Tune in next week when stuff happens!  Or stuff.

Freak Out,
-TFitC

According to Plan

Page 6 of episode 4 of The Word Smith has found its way onto the interweebs revealing the plans of t3h g4m3rz.  This also marks the half-way mark for the episode (it will be twelve pages).  Go marvel at it, or just mar at it, without the vel.

And here is today's exciting sketchbook entry, for some definition of exciting:

It's a slight redesign on a character that has appeared in this blog previously.  I had had some plans for the character, but there's not really been enough time to follow through on them.  Perhaps when FASS has finished up I'll have the chance to revisit things.

In other news, I forgot to mention last week that I saw a license plate that read "LOTR4EVR" which I thought was cool (of course I'm a huge Tolkien geek, so I would think that).  I also had the opportunity to see The Hobbit in 48 FPS mode (I originally saw it in regular 24 FPS).  That is, of course "frames per second" and not "first person shooter".  I thought it was neat!  It didn't take me very long to adjust to the high frame rate and didn't cause any issues for me.

And that is all for this week.  Until next time,
Freak Out
-TFitC

Aaaaaand.... We're Back!

It's Tuesday again which means it's time once again to inflict my peculiar brand of commentary and artistry (perhaps for some loose definition of the word) upon the interweebs.  This also means that there's something new posted over on the Word Smith site and it's an actual new page rather than an interlude.  Enjoy!  In the imperative!

And for today's sketchbook entry... hmmm, well, lets see...  the sketchbook has sadly been a little neglected due to focusing on the comic of late, but there's still a few things to dig out for the moment (though I'm going to have to set aside some time to do some more sketchbook drawing!)

Four different poses for Gillin, one of my recurring FR characters and probably the one I tend to sketch most often, for some reason.  I intentionally left the first (top-left) one a little unfinished as I thought it looked kind of interesting and I occasionally like to see the rough, construction work that leads to the finished drawing - she's not actually a mannequin, automaton, homunculus or anything of that sort.

Anywho, that's all for this week.  Until next time,
Freak Out
-TFitC

It's a Mystery to Everyone

Aaaaaaaaaand, here's another interlude for the Word Smith.  I could have had a page ready for today (I could almost have had two pages, even), but I decided to go with the interlude since it should hopefully let me get through FASS without falling behind.  *crosses fingers*

 As with the previous interludes, here's the sketchbook version:

Viewers might notice some slight difference betwixt the pencil version and the final version.  And who is that guy in the middle?  We haven't seen him since the episode's title page.  Hmmmm....

Anyway, the holidays are official over and the nose is back to the grind stone (such as it is).  I might actually talk a bit about one of my other projects in this blog some day, but not, it seems, today.

Freak Out,
-TFitC

New Freak, Same as the Old Freak

I appear to have stepped into a time warp and found myself in a completely different year.  Odd that that seems to happen at about the same time each year...  surely it must be just some sort of cosmic coincidence?  Perhaps it is best not to think too much upon it.  However, if one were to check, one would likely find a second Word Smith interlude has been posted.  Time works in mysterious ways.  Freaky.

As with the previous interlude, here, also, is the pencil version from my sketchbook:

Hopefully (?) I'll start posting actual pages again next week, though I might do another interlude to give myself a bit more of a head start.

There is nothing else to report at this time; New Year's happened, games were played, and in the end the world appears to still be here, much the same as it was yesterday, though one can never entirely rule out the possibility that it's all just a rather persistent illusion.  One, however, does not worry much about such things, especially when one refers to oneself as "one(self)".

Anywho, signing off or something.

Freak Out,
-TFitC

Interloping Interlude

No new Word Smith pages this week (as I mentioned before, things are on hiatus until sometime in January), but there is an interlude (in colour) up for viewing (dis)pleasure.

And because I feel like babbling a bit more, here's the original sketchbook version:

It's showing The Pen and her brother having a sibling moment with their in-game characters pictured behind them.  As revealed in episode 3, The Pen's real name is Samantha; I actually agonized over this for a while before settling on the name as nothing was really jumping out at me as an obvious choice.  However, once I'd settled on The Pen's name, it was relatively easy to pick her brother's name:  Samuel (I don't know if it will ever appear in an actual episode as he's a relatively minor character).  I also rather suspect that they're twins, also a fact that seems unlikely to surface in an actual episode.  Oh well, we shall see.  We shall see.

That is all for today.  With a little bit of luck there may be another interlude next week, but no guarantees one way or the other.

Have a Freakish holiday,
Freak Out
-TFitC

Posting in Space

Aaaaaaaaand page 4 of episode 4 of The Word Smith is online.  Phew!  Guess I managed to get it done by my target time, but introductions will have to wait until next year.

I'm not entirely sure when I'll resume posting The Word Smith in the new year; that may depend somewhat on how much (if anything) I get done over the holidays.  Hopefully the next page will appear before the end of January - that seems doable, but no promises.

While The Word Smith will be on hiatus over the holidays, there may be some interludes of some sort appearing in the interim.  Watch this space, or stare off into space, or something, whichever seems most productive and/or least painful.

And, as is my wont, here are some recent entries from the sketchbook.  Like last week, they are both Word Smith related.  Enjoy!  (Or don't, it's not like I can force anyone to, after all.)

Here's another picture of The Pen's in-game character in a sort-off running-ish pose.  At least, that's what it was meant to be.

And here is The Word Smith, brandishing the Grammar Hammer.  He hasn't been seen since the first page of episode 4, but don't worry as he shall be putting in an appearance.  Oh yes.

Anywho, that is all for this week.  Stay tuned for something sometime in the indeterminate future.

Freak Out,
-TFitC

Googly Eyes

The next page of The Word Smith is up.  Go read it, or else... you won't have read it.  Hmmm.... I wonder if I need to work on my motivational techniques.  In any case, I should be able to get page 4 done before disappearing for the holidays for some unspecified length of time.  And after that?  Who knows?  (Not me, that's for sure.)

Page 3 was based on the "comic with no people" I posted about a month ago.  The actual layout for this page was done before that in thumbnails, but the people-less comic was used to flesh out the locale from what existed in the thumbs (the bottom panel from the people-less comic will be the first panel of page 4, when it is done).

And this week I think I feel like posting two pictures from the sketchbook.  Excitement.

It's The Pen, looking someone put upon as she often does (and is) in both "civilian" clothes and her fencing/sidekick gear.

And next up is The Pen's in-game character, Taramir, crouched and ready to spring into action (no, she's not constipated).  Taramir last appeared in this blog about six months ago (unnamed at the time).  She also appears in the title page for episode 4.

Well, that is pretty much it for this week.  The pantomime is over and seems to have been a success so no I return to my regularly scheduled life, or some semblance thereof.

Freak Out,
-TFitC

No, It's Not Done Yet

Hey, it's time for another page of The Word Smith!  It looks like there'll be another page next week as well, but after that, all bets are off.  Maybe I'll stop early for the holidays.  Or I'll say that, anyway.  Yeah.

And I think for this week's sketchbook entry, I'll just leave this here:

This was drawn about a week before Hallowe'en (so I'm posting things out of order - gasp!) as part of this terms comics workshop.  It's a word ladder comic based on a simple word ladder thingy.  The words in my ladder are underlined.  Naturally, I ended with CAPE.

That is all.
Freak Out,
-TFitC