HOME | DD
kevinbolk — The Dark Allure of Copy and Paste
Published: 2011-11-28 05:45:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 73467; Favourites: 2485; Downloads: 331
Redirect to original
Description
So I prepared a couple of new slides for my "10 Things I Hate About Webcomics" presentation at Anime USA. The idea behind the whole thing was to poke fun at common webcomics tropes, cliches, and/or bad habits and to help new creators recognize them and then either avoid them or exploit them (because anything, even tropes, done well can still make for good entertainment). This stuff can be applied to a lot of other media as well and I think most creators (myself included) have been guilty of them at one point or another.This one illustrates copy & paste abuse. I often tell people that a little bit of C&P for background elements, certain gags, and tight deadlines is okay. However, repeated use of this will not only make your comics boring, but it can really handicap you as an artist. Learning to draw things consistently is an essential skill for anyone considering a serious career in cartooning and it's a skill you can only learn through MASSIVE amounts of practice. Remember, kids, you learn to draw by drawing!
Check out some of my previously posted art slides for the webcomics presentation below:
Related content
Comments: 212
I don't know if this means anything, and I hope no one jumps on me for it, but there are quite a few Japanese games where the hero is blond with blue eyes. It's kind of an under lying theme that people with blond hair and blue eyes are special because the traits are less common. ESPECIALLY in Japan. Naturally, the hero of time would be given these traits eventually.
I'm more confused as to why they brought it back. But maybe it's for variety. Maybe because it's different generations of Link? I couldn't say myself.
Also, don't quote me on this, a friend of mine once told me that the Japanese view people of blond hair and blue eyes as special? She told me that when she went to Japan, she was constantly asked to get her picture taken because of her blond hair and blue eyes.
I don't know if her statement is true but I do know this much. When you can't have something, you want it more right? Then it becomes special right? Well, in schools at least, hair length and color is regulated in Japan. No real products can be in your hair. No major changes in your uniform either. (girls get away with it by rolling up their skirts slightly.) You don't want to look like too much of an individual there. But a lot of kids would love to be just that.
That's where anime/games comes in. The crazy hair and unnatural clothing? I can infer that those came from the desire to be free. Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh is a PRIME example of that. Also, a lot of the rebellious styles and fashion as well.
Ah... long reply is long. If you forgot what my point was, it's that link probably got blond because he's supposed to represent the individual you could be ya know?
👍: 0 ⏩: 3
.look at characters like Squall from Final Fantasy VIII, his hair is pretty regular and brown;
To be honest, Square has always been the worst offender in that category. Other than Squall, how many main characters had black or brown hair? Almost none of them. The original team in the first game had a blonde swordsman as part of the default. They did that once and every since then their main characters have had bright blonde, dirty blonde, rose blonde, or even pink hair. (please note I don't count the MMORPGs because I've never even bothered to pick them up and the characters are customizable).
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
There's that, but there's also a few underlying design methods people tend to go for x)
The Japanese view most gaijin (what they call non-Japanese) as something special. but I've known others who were bullied by their peers because of their blonde hair and blue eyes. They saw them often as ditzy and idiots.
All that is more for disciplinary purposes, I mean...look how the Western world, especially in English speaking countries, turned out because they got to do 'whatever they wanted' to themselves in school. There's still schools here that regulate hair, colour and products in the UK to try and keep kids straight and not wobble into stupidity and arrogance.
Heheh yeah, they have quite a lot of designs to show its the main character in cartoons from all sorts of countries, but Japan do take it even further x) Not all characters have special hair though, I mean...look at characters like Squall from Final Fantasy VIII, his hair is pretty regular and brown; however, it's his outfit that makes him the main character xD
Although...actually, they gave Link blonde hair because it made him look more attractive, apparently >.>" So I've managed to find out along the way. He really does look a lot better with blonde as opposed to brown. Blonde hair and blue eyed boys are pretty attractive x)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
.look at characters like Squall from Final Fantasy VIII, his hair is pretty regular and brown;
To be honest, Square has always been the worst offender in that category. Other than Squall, how many main characters had black or brown hair? Almost none of them. The original team in the first game had a blonde swordsman as part of the default. They did that once and every since then their main characters have had bright blonde, dirty blonde, rose blonde, or even pink hair. (please note I don't count the MMORPGs because I've never even bothered to pick them up and the characters are customizable).
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well, they are in a fantasy world, so why not give them fantasy hair? x) A lot of the characters had black, various browns and chestnut, silver and completely white. They've been varied throughout the years in Square. I think people forget the older generations too x)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
The main characters, and I mean the ones that everyone remembers, are very rarely brunettes/variations of black and brown. Yes they've been varied, but the point is, how many people with brown or black hair are truly iconic?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Most of their celebrities? x)
Well, they're people and they're iconic. They even used to die their teeth black for beauty >.>
As for main characters, Capcom's characters (Megaman, Dante, Resident Evil cast etc), Lelouche Lamprouge, Simon from Gurren Lagann (who's hair is blueish, but that's usually the result of a deep black, plus it matches a theme)...I could go on forever naming anime characters, like Light and L from Death Note D:
Hurr, I guess you catch my drift...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
We're not talking about Square anymore are we? -_-
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You didn't specify Square.
Lets say Yuna, Auron, Lulu, Sora, Kairi, Neku (The World Ends With You), Bartz, Jecht.
Have I made my point yet?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I was assuming that's what were talking about since I haven't been talking about anything else.
The knight from the first game, Cloud, Tidus, Vaan, Penelo, Balthier, the onion knight, Rosa, Roxas, Larxene, Seifer, Zidane, Terra, Rufus, Elena, Cid Highwind, Rikku, and probably some others, but I can't thikn of them right now.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You can put a connection to most of those people (except Onion Knight since they could be brown and silver haired if you chose it, then there's Zidane who turns pink in trance); that they're all idiots in one way or another x)
Ooh, speaking of Cids, Cid Kramer is brown haired too. Seifer and Zell are the only blondes in that game that are main characters, the rest are brown haired or chestnut.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thanks for the reference.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Will we ever get a recording or at least some sort of in-depth list of what was covered in the presentation? I think it will be really helpful for some of us.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Planning to put together a Youtube presentation some time soon. Just a matter of finding a hole in my schedule. Thanks for your interest.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I found your channel on YouTube, but there are no videos uploaded, and there doesn't seem to be anything like it in your playlists.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Yeah, I do that too much. I need to stop being so lazy.
Another reason why traditionally drawn comics are better.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is actually one of my biggest pet peeves. Sometimes it's okay, but I know a few too many artists that use it for the majority of their strips and it doesn't seem to do the punch line as much justice as it could. Glad to see it pointed out and IN a rather funny way XD
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
LOL!!!
(is it sad I do this with my friends in real life?)
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I once commissioned a comic from someone who made moderately funny EBA comics. For $15, I got one panel copied and pasted 4 times with different dialogue. And the panel was from a comic she had already made. And the comic wasn't even that funny.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
Should have asked for your money back. lol
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I would have, but I was 95% percent sure she'd not only refuse to, but she would then ban me from the board she was an admin on. And I kinda liked that board. She was kind of a crazy bitch. I don't wanna talk bad about the Scottish, since they gave us Karen Gillan, but damn, you guys breed some nutty women.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Karen Gillan AND David Tennant. <3
But shoot, $15? For most people these days, that's quite a lot. It would hurt so much to lose it like that, having pretty much nothing to show for it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
She actually negotiated that number up from $10.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yep. My first and last paid-for comic commission.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
this made me laugh so hard, i used to do it so much lol
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This has always made me want to punch someone in the face whenever I see it. Because of it's prevalence in webcomics I avoid the internet while in maternity wards.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
...I draw by hand...there is no real-time copy and paste button
XD I see a lot of comics like this...sadly. It really does make the characters seem DEAD and really difficult to relate to.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I don't suppose there's any chance that this webcomic presentation got recorded and uploaded somewhere? XD
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I wish there was a podcast or youtube video of your presentation. I think it would be well worth watching
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
LOL!!!!! it's one thing if the person wasn't SUPPOSED to move, but really now, just back and forth to the EXACT same pose gets annoying, and looks rather unprofessional to boot!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Guilty. D:
But I'm not so bad as to make all of the panels complete copy-paste-as. XD
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I did copy paste once. What I did was to cp one character across nine panels with another character doing different things around him, trying to get his attention. I altered the facial expressions slightly, but it was the same drawing in each panel. I was trying to get the consistency my own style usually lacks, and the interesting thing was how much effort it took, contrary to the usual intention of copy paste.
👍: 1 ⏩: 0
or the artist was to lazy to draw more then one panel.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I still love it...I guess I'm a shallow comic reader x3
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I think the last panel proves the whole "Every trope can provide entertainment" thing. I laughed so hard.
👍: 1 ⏩: 0
<= Prev | | Next =>