| Stok and Hark #018 |
[Mar. 10th, 2007|03:54 pm] |
About Stok and Hark #018 I have to say the following: No, grandma Rose is not groping Stok. She’s shaking her stick figure-ish fist. |
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| Stok and Hark #015, #016 and #017 |
[Jan. 19th, 2007|04:36 pm] |
I've kept from posting Stok and Hark #015, #016 and #017, because I felt that it would be better if you read this miniature story arc in one go. Therefore I waited until I had finished all three comics before putting them online. I hope people will enjoy it.
The joke in #015 is the reason I came up with the shady salesman. I thought it was funny in an absurd way and the shady salesman turned out to be useful for introducing Grandma Rose in the comic. I admit that Jeff Smith's Bone was an inspiration when I had to name this character. I love Bone. ^_^ |
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| Stok and Hark #013 and #014 |
[Dec. 3rd, 2006|03:46 pm] |
It took me so long to make a new Stok and Hark comic, not because I'm out of ideas (I have plenty), but I was faced with a gap between Stok and Hark #012 and the ideas in my head. Many different ideas to fill that gap have passed and didn't make it, but when I finally got one that felt right I had to draw it right away. Now that the gap is filled with #013 (yes, sometimes only one comic can block your way) I can continue with the story.
I don't feel very certain about the English grammar in the first panel. I'm not certain it should be "I heard you've adopted a child." in stead of "I've heard you adopted a child." Perhaps someone else will enlighten me.
#014 isn't really the greatest piece of art, but so is the rest of the comic. Nobody will lose any sleep over it. I do like the background. So empty with mocking festivity. |
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| Stok and Hark #012 and a new #002 |
[Oct. 21st, 2006|05:24 pm] |
I have replaced Stok and Hark #002 with a new comic, because I feel this fits the story much better. I've mentioned before that the old #002 didn't completely agree with me and now I've fixed it to my satisfaction.
About #012 I don't have much to say when it concerns the story. I've tried something different while making the comic (zooming in), but I don't think it a difference can be seen as the images on the website are really small. It might make a difference if I ever want to print the comics. If I ever want to do that. |
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| Stok and Hark #011 |
[Oct. 4th, 2006|09:34 pm] |
Drawing Stok and Hark comics really makes me happy from time to time. I don’t know if anyone likes the jokes or the story, but drawing the faces make me smile. A little bit of taking care of my own wishes.
Stok and Hark #011 was inspired by the fact you can adopt almost anything these days. Trees, zoo animals, villages and towns, street tiles and building bricks, you name it and you can probably adopt it. |
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| Stok and Hark #010 |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|04:40 pm] |
Stok and Hark #010 brings the return of the shady sales man.
I need to update more often. |
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| Stok and Hark #009 |
[Aug. 24th, 2006|09:44 am] |
Stok and Hark #009 is one of those situations in which the punch line works better in English. Or in other words I feel the English version has a punch line and the Dutch version simply continues the story without something witty.
I could have let Stok say the English text in the last panel of the Dutch version. Most people understand what "make love, not war" means, but for some reason unknown to me, I didn't.
The story continues. |
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| First painted feather |
[Aug. 14th, 2006|03:44 pm] |
A while ago I joined the featherartists community and though it’s a bit quiet over there, I’ve not lost my interest in trying something new. I must say that painting feathers is very satisfying to me, combining different techniques in one art form.
My last acrylics painting was over 1,5 years ago and I had to get used to working with acrylics again. It was a bit harder than I remembered, especially because I’ve never worked this small before, but as time and the painting progressed things became smoother.
It’s painted on a pigeon feather I found (cheap!). I have several larger turkey feathers, but I didn’t want to ruin them with a first try and the small size does have its charm. I liked the exercise and I hope I’ll make more painted feathers in the future. Perhaps I’ll combine it with some chain mail weaves.
Link to the feather. |
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| New Oekaki images |
[Aug. 13th, 2006|01:49 pm] |
The oekaki gallery has been updated with old and new oekaki images. Some of them are very old (made in 2004) and or very new (made yesterday). I thought it would be nice to have this gallery reflect different subjects, styles, colour schemes, etc. |
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| Stok and Hark #007 and #008 |
[Aug. 10th, 2006|01:15 pm] |
I felt good this morning, so I’ve made two Stok and Hark comics. #007 is not funny. I’m well aware of that. The joke is supposed to come much later and I hope I’ll be able to pull it off. We’ll see about that. Just for clarity, because many seem to have trouble to distinguish between the different characters: Lex is the figure with the watch and Lex is not Stok. The shady salesman is not Hark with a coat. His head is also a rectangular shape, but I’ve hoped to have made it different enough to make him not look like Hark. As much as that is possible with simple stick figures.
#008 comes at a weird point in my life. I’ve made up the subject of the story line in Stok and Hark months ago, but now that it is finally showing the top of its head, several acquaintances have a newborn baby or are starting a family. Which reminds me I still need to congratulate one of them. ^_^
And I think Stok is really scary in a way... Perhaps because she looks a bit like me. |
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| New commissioned art |
[Aug. 7th, 2006|07:19 pm] |
As the illustrations have been published by the client who commissioned them, I can now publish them on my website.
Take a look, if you like.
I originally thought Pure Fantasy would want black and white illustrations, because at the time I took the commission I had only seen black and white illustrations in PF. However after I sent the three drawings, I was asked for coloured pictures and I coloured one of them. (The one with the castle as I like that one best.)
I think it shows the image with the castle was not made with colour in mind and it is a nice b/w illustration without the colours.
I'm looking forward to a new story to illustrate for PF. |
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| New water colour painting |
[Jul. 27th, 2006|04:58 pm] |
I’ve tried to ignore the soccer world championship this year and I’ve done amazingly well. The event did provide me a really good reference picture which I’ve used for my latest water colour painting.
The painting depicts a NPC from my online text RPG. It’s not really an interesting NPC, but I felt like painting and it turned out nice. I hadn’t painted with water colours in a while and was intimidated to pick them up again. You can’t mess around, add and redo things with a traditional medium as I’m used to do with digital media. Once I lowered my expectations, painting was enjoyable and it turned out quite to my liking.
I have to add that this was done on A3 paper and the painting doesn't fit entirely under my A4 scanner. However once I visit my parents, I'll make a new scan with my father's A3 scanner.
The link to the painting. |
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| Stok and Hark #006 |
[Jul. 27th, 2006|04:48 pm] |
As some might have noticed, I’ve merged the separate English and Dutch versions of the Stok and Hark comic. I’ve done this because I find it important that those who can read it, read the Dutch version. That’s the original version anyway and I’d hate to see that people miss the comic as it was intended while they don’t have to.
I don’t have much to say about Stok and Hark #006 except that it is the start of the story telling thing I’ve mentioned before. I don’t think I’m good at making a string of jokes, therefore telling a light story might be a better goal for me.
Stok does look scary in the last panel. ;) |
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| Stok and Hark #005 |
[Jul. 2nd, 2006|07:15 pm] |
Stok and Hark #005 shows Stok and Lex in a store and Lex tries to improve Stok’s appearances without success. This comic is based on my notion that Stok barely looks like a woman. She has the same amount of curves as Lex and Hark (not that much) and her clothes can’t be called feminine. I didn’t want to give Stok a total make-over, but simply express that it will take a lot more than just a bra to make her look more feminine.
Anyway you can read the comic yourself and don’t need me to tell it for you.
About the creative process I’d like to say that the first panel was drawn with the familiar, grey rectangular shape in the back. At first I was content to keep it that way, but then I noticed it was unclear where Stok and Lex were. If you don’t imagine them at a store, you might think Lex is giving Stok a bra from his own wardrobe, something I certainly do not want the reader to think. Therefore I added the poorly drawn clothes rack in the back of the first panel and a price tag attached to the bra. I hope that I’ve managed a clearer story with these additions.
Read Stok and Hark #005 in English and Dutch. |
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| Stok and Hark #001 to #004 |
[Jun. 30th, 2006|01:46 pm] |
With the first four comics of Stok and Hark I introduce the first comic consisting of a sequence of two to four panels I've ever made. It is a commonly used format for many (web) comics and instead of providing gags with each string of panels; I’d like to try to express a narrative based a certain theme. Right now I’d rather not elaborate about this theme as I have no idea how things will evolve. In the worst-case scenario these four comics are all there’s going to be and I hate to disappoint people because I made promises I couldn’t keep.
First I'd like to explain my motivations to make this comic. It is a comic with a very simple look. Actually the stick figures drawn with squiggly lines give the impression the comic is drawn by a child or a very unmotivated adult. I know I can do better than this art wise, but the focus is on story telling. I can write stories, but I’m not good at telling stories and therefore I should focus on that. While reading Neil Gaiman’s the Sand Man graphic novels, I learned that pretty pictures aren’t an essential to a pleasant read. The story and way of telling the story through pictures are very important. I’d even dare to say that they are far more important than the quality of the art. In short a good story and good storytelling can make up for a lot of bad art.
That’s what inspired me to draw stick figures. It has all been done before though, with the popular web comic the Order of the Stick as example, and I don’t claim I’ll win a price for originality with my style. Yet the style offers many options as well as limitations that will ask the best of my creative mind. It is a challenge and it will be interesting to see where this road will take me.
The style is also closely related to the name of the comic. Stick figures are called "stokpoppetjes" or "harkpoppetjes" in Dutch. This small fact leads me to mention that this comic was originally meant to be in Dutch only. However when I made a few translations for non-Dutch speaking Internet friends while I was gathering feedback with some preliminary sketches and pilot comics, I decided to rewrite the Dutch ones in English. I say "rewrite", because I’m a poor translator. Though I have some grasp on the Dutch and English languages, translating doesn’t come natural to me.
About these first four comics I can say that they were four of many comic ideas and they were not drawn in the chronological order I had in my head. Comic #002 for example is something that should happen much later on story wise, for example after the reader has had the chance to get acquainted with the main figures Stok and Hark. Placing #002 after #001 also leads to two similar jokes in a row, namely Hark's confusion about the gender of other stickfigures. A spread of similar jokes, would have been better. However I opted to number the comics in the order they were drawn. I could have saved #002 to use it in the future, but after 4 comics I already noticed a glaringly difference in style between the first comic and the last. It would be too awkward to add #002 in the future where it would be an oddball when it comes to style. A better option would have been to redraw the comic when I would feel the time would be right for it. However I’m lazy and don’t feel like redrawing stuff unless I really have to.
My laziness has already born the fruits of "failure" as I’ve received the first complaint about lack of clarity. The figure Hark is talking to in comic #002 is not Stok, but a third character I’ve named Lex for now. I had hoped that the round head, the watch and the clothes, despite their simplicity, would be enough to distinguish this character from other characters. I still need to make a profile for Lex in the Stok and Hark cast section and hopefully that will help.
This is all a learning process for me. With a bit of luck I can actually learn from it. |
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| New Stok and Hark comics |
[Jun. 30th, 2006|12:50 am] |
I really want to tell a long story about creative processes, but it's past midnight and I have to get up early in the morning. For now check the new comics. I'll tell more about them when I've slept and have finished my work.
If you happen to stumble upon broken links or images, I apologise. I've been working without a break to get the first comics up and I might have messed up here or there. |
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[Jun. 29th, 2006|11:53 am] |
| [ | I'm feeling |
| |  happy | ] |
| [ | I'm hearing |
| | noise | ] |
The JL for all the things you never wanted to know about what happens at microwavedcoffee.com is now (not so) officially oppened. |
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