002 - Original sketches

Publiseringsdato: 26.sep.2014 13:57:15

Oh look, old backstage stuff!

In celebration of Com'c first anniversary, I present to you: The original sketches that started it all!

The beginning: Victor and John

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I was clearly just doodling in the sketchbook. But then I tried to see how simplistic I could make a pair of characters while still making them recognizable - and easily redrawable by hand. At least I think that's what went through my mind. In any case, the result was Victor and John. (This is why noses in Com'c can get rather special, especially for the oldest characters.)

Character drawings: Main Four

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Man, John looks laid back.

I then got the idea to make a comic using the art style I'd come up with on the previous page. The name Com'c was filled in after the characters on this page, if I recall correctly.

One thing that is important to note about the character notes is that most of them don't apply anymore, and several never did. Some are really awful ideas that fell out quickly, others were pushed down as characterization took over. Still, some of these traits can be seen in the very earliest str'ps, such as Marc's stereotypical teenager attitude towards Mozart in str'p #2.

One such idea was the concept that each character would swear using words related to their personality. (I added this note on each character a little later.) This means for example that Marc would swear using music-related words, one instance of which made it into the comic: "...who the chord was that?" However, I've never been one who swears much (in fact, I've only relatively recently started using minor swear words like "damn"), and as a result, my characters didn't either. They didn't have reason to either. Thankfully, the personalized swears faded away fairly quickly, because seriously, past me?

(By the way, "Swear: RWG" means that Vee's swears would come from a random word generator.)

It's also a bit interesting, for several reasons, that John and Vee are described as "based on me" and "based on NNF" (which stands for Name Not Found, who I've mentioned in some of the commentaries, especially early on). For one thing, "loosely inspired by, among others," would be much more accurate, and in the case of John, that really applies to most characters to some extent or other. I guess that explains why I've always had the feeling that John is the non-Krixwell character most like me.

The first, hand-drawn str'p!

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Ah, the first str'p.

When I had the four main characters ready, I needed to try out how some of them interacted, layout, the difficulty of making a str'p, etc. The only inter-character dynamic I was certain enough about to make a str'p out of at the time was the Marc as a music lover pitted up against Victor's awful singing. That's why the first str'p dived straight into character interaction without an introduction first. Instead, the introductions became the second str'p, which also established that strange things happen around here by having none of the characters realize they've known each other for years. Oh, and it established that they've known each other for years. (Really, past me? How long had Marc lived there? Probably not more than a year.)

Later that day, one year ago today, I would sit down by the computer and recreate this str'p in Paint.

Character drawings: Second Batch

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The following day, I started doodling some other characters. These are who I wound up calling the Second Batch in the early commentaries and on the characters page.

I'm not sure why I described Block as "unusual". Maybe I was referring to his cynical attitude, or to the wall breaking. Maybe to the fact that he was originally not meant to be a human, with one option being a rather blocky robot (you can still see the eraser marks from robot Block in the scan)? On a related note, "What the generic word that fits my personality?" is intended as his swear, a (terrible) lampshade on the entire idea. It's ridiculously long, so in the comic, it's rendered as "What the generic word?". Because of Block's personality, this was the most prominent of the personalized swears.

Puppylover350 is a character that never happened. I intended to introduce him around New Year's, mentioning a new character in some commentaries around that time. However, I realized in time that he wasn't a good enough character, on account of a restrictive personality and virtually no joke potential. He would have been an orphaned (by zombies, giving him a fear of Jane... yeah) gamer, addicted to the extent of forgetting his real name. The authorities would have problems tracking down who he actually was, so he'd move into the apartment building... and promptly become a recluse, further lowering the joke potential. He could have become a decent character in a different sort of work, but there's a reason he never made it into Com'c.

Nope Guy originally had a mustache. Also, it amuses me that there are no notes for him.

Jane's character has been based around the words "brainy zombie" from the beginning. Looking at her nose in the sketch, I think I hadn't decided that she was Marc's sister yet, but I'm not sure.

Character drawings: Krixwell and Asafei

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I didn't make many str'ps with Block before I found out he needed a physical representation of me to talk to. My author avatar, Krixwell, was created to serve as his foil. Making Krixwell both a representation of me and a foil to Block wasn't difficult, seeing as Block was designed to be a bit of a foil to me in the first place. Even so, it did lead to Krixwell acting a little differently than I would.

I'm not entirely sure why I've struck out ""Coexists" w/Block". I guess I hadn't worked out how their presence worked in relation to the rest of the comic yet. Krixwell and Block do not exist "outside the comic" either.

It amuses me that one of Cal's defining traits is apparently "epic moustache". He also apparently wore glasses in the sketch. I don't know why that didn't carry over. Maybe I simply forgot them. Also, Cal is not a redhead.

Ella was apparently meant to be the Asafei equivalent of John, in terms of illogic. However, the only str'p that displays this has since been declared non-canon on account of extreme OOC-ness, so I don't know what to say about that. But more importantly: ELLA, WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH YOUR HAIR?

Other sketches

Finally, after the initial character drawings, I started using the Com'c part of the sketchbook to write down scripts when I didn't have access to my phone (read: at school). A few more drawings can be found among those scripts:

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The original sketch for the emergency entrance sign, featuring a moose dinosaur! :-D

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Table tennis! :-D