Trying something new for this page! ANIMATION, dun dun dun! click here to view (the old animation version)
The thing about character development, especially when it comes to a comic that is posted once a week, is that it can have the tendency to feel slow. I’m doing my best to push the early character development of Eydis along as quickly as possible while still maintaining the integrity the core of the story. That said, I’m working to create a really strong visual environment in which you can still hopefully get lost as I try new things along the way. Example being the 6th panel animation, just for fun times. My only issue with this, which will more than likely discourage me from doing this in the future, is that I had to lose a bit of quality in the image JUST to animate that panel. The only way to created an animated image (other than flash) is by saving it as a GIF file, which is a limited format when it comes to color; it only has 256 colors. JPGs and PNGs on the other hand, though they tend to be bigger files, maintain pixel perfect colors! It’s a drag, but what can we do? NOTHING! …that or make a new animated file format… Someone want to do that for me? 
In case you are interested to see what I am blabbing about, click here to view the none animated JPG version of this same strip. I’m probably just to picky and you wont even notice. Obviously when this comic goes into a print down the line it wont matter anyway; We unfortunately don’t live in Hogworts so the images in a comic release will be the only be the highest quality versions with no web fun animations.
Reading this is like taking a shot of a drug. I love it.
Well get ready to overdose cos this story is gonna last a few years. :]
Nice touch on the little animation. Enhances the expression there
Do you know orneryboy.com? He does great stuff with animation in his comics as well.
I hadn’t ever heard of that comic before but I’m really impressed with the fact that his colors are not being lost when saved as a gif. That’s a really great comic suggestion man, thanks! And thanks for the compliment.
wow, I’ll say! that guy really uses animation well. normally I hate animated comics, but his are so smooth and unobtrusive. liking the comic thus far joenis!
Someone on twitter informed me that the guy who draws orneryboy actually uses flash for his animations. I’d like to do that, but i don’t want to have one of those sites where you annoyingly need a flash player to even view the comic, you know?
yeh makes sense. personally, it’s not something i recommend, specially not if you have any future plans of publishing or anything.
Right, it almost seems like if i make the animations TOO nice that it would hurt sales of a future book due to the fact that people wouldn’t see the point when they could get nice animations online. At least this way, when you purchase a book the trade off is that you get the higher quality stuff when you buy it. I didn’t think of it on the publishing standpoint. Good call sir.
Hello Joenis,
I prefer the higher quality picture instead of the animated page.
Little animations like this one only distract me while I am concentrated reading and looking at the other panels. (Because of this I have decided for Union of Heroes that I will present my animations only as splash pages with nothing elso on them than the animation – like today for example.)
Anyway, keep up your cool work and go on experimenting!
Heroic regards from Germany!
thirtyseven / ancire / arne
Thanks for the feed back. Honestly, I probably wont be doing another animated gif page after the experience with this one. I had one more planned page, but I’m not sure if I’ll do it now. I wasn’t 100% pleased with the concept once it was implemented. I too, greatly prefer the higher rez version and could see how it could be distracting, hence I just went for a subtle animation.
Thanks for the comment and keep up the good work over at Union of Heroes my friend. :]
very nice good sir, and an excellent job on the scenery (that delicious scenery)
If i was ever to do a guest strip for Nerf This, I’d probably draw immensely elaborate background and some really shitty characters in the foreground just to spite you for not drawing background but having beautiful line art on your characters.
I like the way you do your comic though.
pfft, there is plenty of backgrounds in Nerf This, like a yellow wall, a green wall… sometimes an off whitish yellow wall, all of which don’t have pictures… and I drew a door once
its not “nice comic though” silly, but I need to get on your guest stuff for UI, i’m horribly late already! Plus I’d think you’d make bank if you sold your original work 
LMAO! At least your good at making yellow walls, green walls… and sometimes off whitish yellow walls!
If I wasn’t horribly attached to the originals I would consider selling them. Also, at the moment all of the originals are part of my portfolio to supplement my lack of life drawing pieces.
must say I prefer the non animated version… but thats just me being dull
Me too… I’ve already considered switching it for the high resolution and having the animated version as the link you can check out. I’m not sure yet though.
Thanks for taking the time to comment to let me know your thoughts, its appreciated.
I’m normally the one to break with the pack and go for what’s new and different, but after comparing the two images, I have to say that I also like the non-animated version.
I will try to brainstorm a way for you to have animations but at the same time have it in a non-gif format.
Exactly why I may not try it again, and why I posted both so people can experience the higher res version and check out my experimentation. When the comic goes into print at least the only option is the pretty one. :]
You could always stand there and flash both copies in peoples faces like really fast!
Haha, nice, point taken.
Also. Bonus points for this: link
DUN DUN DUN, you know the setting of my comic now! I was sorta leaving that for people to figure out on their own if they cared to, which you apparently did. Though, the point of reference in which your link shows is actually the wrong side of the street. If you view it 180 degree’s from the default that Google maps gives you (which I’m sure you may have already done), you’ll see exactly where Eydis is walking.
Oh wow yes, that corner is an even better match! lol
As far as the animated part goes, meh, it doesnt bother me. And DONT change it!! Its your art!
LOVE the last frame of her waiking. Keep it up duder!
Thank you sir!
It could be the loss of sleep but I didn’t even notice the animation. -_- I was really engrossed in the imagery and totally laughed at the animated cell but probably thought I was imagining the flashing and moved on.
LMAO, that’s awesome! It was meant to be subtle in the first place, so it’s good that you barely noticed it, I didn’t want it to be a major distraction or anything.
Love it!! Got my fix! *drools*
Gotta agree with most people too. I like it better without the animation. different things scare me.
haha, alright, well I guess for the main part I will refrain from future animations. I do have one more sorta planned but I may just leave it out then.
::Shoots a needle of comical drug into your veins, “I’ve got you right where i want you… MWAHAHA”::
I am digging the animated part of the strip! And I’m also noticing as pages are added to the story, the bottom of the page frame gets more detailed. I’m really looking forward to what you have in store for this, as I will be buckled in to go along for the ride!
Thanks! I’m trying my best to make this comic and it’s website as visually interesting as possible so that the ride stays smooth and enjoyable for all you guys! Thank you so much for your continued support. :]
i like her face in the animated one. cute. also of course coffee solves everything. and the last frame was very cool.
Thanks! :] Glad you like it.
The animation doesn’t disturb me.
It’s actually a nice touch. The loss of quality is a bit of a drawback, but that’s not a problem, as you posted the original page too.
I would like to see the other animation you have in mind,
curiosity…
The last frame is great. I really like the fact that it’s a real place. I tried to find her front door, but no success
I’m wondering what she’s listening to…
The other animation I had in mind was actually the first one I thought of, so a large part of me really still wants to do it. The annoying thing is that all my animation ideas are very simplistic, yet they do a lot of damage to the quality.. so its teetering back and forth in my mind if its worth it. I do think though that, like you said, the least I can do is supply the original so people can still see the effort i put into the art work.
haha, did you actually check out the link someone posted with the Google Maps images, or did u investigate the street names on your own?
I’ve had a “working soundtrack” building on my iTunes. I personally know what she’s listening too and have thought about finding a way to post that online. Do you think I should find a way to implement that?
Thank you for the comment, I appreciate you taking the time. :]
I think it could add an extra dimension to the current character development. We would know if the disconnection she feels has an impact on her taste in music.
Besides that, I’m just curious.
Interesting idea. Originally when i first came up with the concept of this comic I wanted to do a little music widget with Eydis holding a boom box and each week I would add a new song for people to listen to…partly for the character development but mostly cos I love music. Once the time came to launch the site I realized I never learned enough flash to make it work..plus the music development stuff would only work in the beginning when she actually has an opportunity to listen to it regularly. As the story unfolds you’ll see she wont have time for music anymore… tragic right? lol
Either way, I’m still brainstorming a way to do a play list in a nice, non tacky way.