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elephantblue — Here Comes The Nightmare
Published: 2011-03-07 00:24:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 5095; Favourites: 91; Downloads: 19
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Description
I did this three page comic as a sort of extra feature for my comic, Snap Crackle Pop. I did it for fun, because I love monsters, but also for practice. I do enough of the same four-panel schtick every week with the usual comic strip, and I wanted to see if I could break away from that, and from the usual goofiness of the strip. Sometimes it's fun to put your characters in a completely different tone and setting.I also need serious practice with shading, and I set this as a challenge to see if I could come close to my hero, Jeff Smith's style of dramatic black-only shadowing. I still need a lot of work, but I had fun doing it.
All credit for the ending to this comic goes to my big sister, who actually used to do this with her Calvin and Hobbes books to ward off monsters as a kid. I fully believe it would work.
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Comments: 53
It was like using a thermonuclear weaspons just to swat a house fly.
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Calvin and Hobbes RULES!!...and I DO like your comics. I started to read them today in the morning, and it is almost noon and I have not stopped..jejejeje...not even to feed my own demons...hell, they are gonna give me the crap tonight...anyways, keep it up, really, I am enjoying so much!
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I'm so glad you like them! It's such a pleasure to hear when people read them all in one go! I hope you continue to read and enjoy. Good luck with those demons!
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JAJAJA...I haven't finish yet...yup, in Costa Rica we tend to have really nasty demons...by the way, I like those strips when you make rimes, jajaja...anyways, will keep reading, have a Nice Thanks Giving!...
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Ooooh, you're from Costa Rica! That's been on my list of places to go since I was maybe 10! Quite jealous. Nasty demons, eh? I'd love to hear about them! I like nothing better than creepy stories from around the world.
Glad you like the poem toons! I have fun with them always. Have a good one!
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Calvin and Hobbes FTW XD This is great! I really like how the black-only shadowing worked out with this, it went really well with it XD
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Thanks a bunch! It's touch as hell doing that kind of shadowing, but I needed the practice.
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This is so cute!!
I love your style of drawing. Very nice.
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Hey, Ihave that volume of Calvin and Hobbes! I lurf that one!
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Y'know, for a second I thought the book was going to be "There's a Nightmare in My Closet". It's nicely surreal, I think I love it. I also question Bacon's motives for inviting the...creature into the house.
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Wow! This is awesomeness to the extreme! I don't just love it, I ADORE your layout! The pacing is wonderful, the black and white contrasts - how you made the monster move gave such a slow but dreamlike quality to his leaps. And I love how finn and the teddy bear become fierce protectors! And so true, oh my gawd, so true, calvin and hobbes are monster repellents! I guess my only question is, what's up with bacon? did he let in the monster?
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Thanks! I was really hoping the movement of the monster would look natural. Glad you liked it! My sister used to leave open copies of her Calvin books out around her bed to ward the monsters off, and I fully believe it would work.
Finn and Bacon, as you've probably read, are my personal demons, whose intentions are to make my life harder. Over the years, they've developed their own personalities, and Finn is less inclined to do his job than the evil and snide Bacon. Bacon let the monster in, but he's having a twinge of guilt in the last panel.
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Oh gods...not only am I blown away by how marvelously the art and the story flows so smoothly in this, but I'm in awe of your monster - that is one seriously cool looking beastie! I have to admit, when I saw that powerful I-don't-take-no-crap-from-anyone stance you have in one of the panels, I was expecting you to pull a Labyrinth : "You have no power of me...SUCKER!"
I remember when I used to line of all my stuffed animals along the sides of my bed, like little army squadrons, in order to "seal up" the cracks that the monsters could slime/wiggle/crawl through...if only I had been introduced to Calvin and Hobbes sooner, I needn't have gone through all that trouble
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Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I love making monsters, but I'm like a kid in a candy store with it -- there are so many options to good monstermaking that I feel like I can't choose, and so I wind up blanking! I love Labyrinth, and the tone of the world within, so it's grand to hear that comparison.
I think stuffed animals make the best protectors!
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Wow. Just amazing. It's an epic, and such a natural sense of the whole black and white balance. Striking work!
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Gee whiz, thanks! I know it will take a hell of a lot of work to get to the masterful level of Jeff Smith or Mike Mignola, but it was fun to do!
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This is superb. The pacing, the shading and black-and-white, the C&H twist, the monster's proportions - I love it all. Simply fantastic.
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Thank you! I'm glad it wasn't too disturbing a departure from my regular junk.
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Pshhhhh disturbing. The things you say. I like adventure just as much as silliness.
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This is brilliant! I love everything about it. And I would definitely enjoy seeing more like this.
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Thanks a bunch! I had a lot of fun, so I'm sure I'll be doing it again.
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It looks great! I like the narrative and the textures a lot. You might want to re-work the levels of your images in photoshop (or whatever program you use). when I scan full inks like this myself, the ink gets a little faded (you can see the brushstrokes). You need to deepend the black digitally to really get that jeff smith darness effect.
Man, I love this. You should do more adventure short comics!
I'd see snap taking on a bit of Calvin and Hobbes idea... mostly jokes, with a few extra imaginary adventures thrown in...
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Thanks! Yeah, I did up the contrast and try to deepen the black a lot after I scanned it, but it certainly is tough to get it just that right solid shade. The Boyfriend always uses India ink, and he always gets a great result, so maybe I should upgrade.
Glad you liked it! I was inspired, in part, by you and your excellent dynamic style of inking. It was fun, and I certainly will do more of these.
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Thank you! It was a lot of fun to do.
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The Jeff Smith influence is really clear, in the best way. I'm looking at, like, the panels that have the same backgrounds from the same perspectives, giving a nice movie-style break from following the running, you know what I mean? Not just a perspective change, but a pace change, and that's nice. That's something I don't think about when I do comic pages.
This is a really interesting change for you, a new kind of style. You do well with just black and white, you manage to maintain dimness and brightness, you know what I mean? Like per scene. Very nice.
And of course, you know, I love the concept. 
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Thanks! I had some trouble with all the black, I have to admit. I promised myself I wouldn't use my grays, and I messed a few things up, but Andrew gave me some tips and his white pencil to help clear things up.
I may do more of these, as I find that now I'm finished, I'm kinda bummed that I'm not still drawing it.
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I really liked it!
I love the tone of it. The black/white contrast is really nice. I also like the different box shapes.
I think you did an excellent job!
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Thanks! It was a challenge, but it was fun to do.
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I love it! It was just adorable, and sweet, and awesome.
I liked the new style,it was different and fun and worked really well. I wouldn't complain if you used it again.
Great job!
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Thanks! It was fun doing something new and different. I want to include stuff like this when I put together a book for SCP, so I may do more.
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Oooo, I hope you do. I really liked the style change. I can't wait to see more.
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Thanks! I'm glad you dig.
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You're welcome! ^^ I was actually inspired by you to do a comic where one day, I clean my room (which is usually messy) and find Micheal Jackson, Tupac, Jimmy Hoffa, and Elvis have been hiding under all the mess. XD I hope to get the first page up soon.
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Ha! How cool! Let me know when you do.
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Nice work!! I like this a lot. Great job communicating with images only
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Thanks! Sometimes it's nice to stop yakking at folks and just draw.
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teehee i never expected C&H books would be so useful vs monsters. glad i have mine near by
an interesting switch of style for this. it looks great
keep up the good work
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Oh yeah, they are full-on monster repellent. Dig.
Glad you like the style! I was trying to do it a little differently, try some things with patterns and shading that I couldn't get away with in my regular strip, and it was fun to do. My nose is pretty wonky in real life, so the comic version fits.
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Thank you! Gosh!
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Thanks! Glad yo dig it.
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I dig everything you do!
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