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Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

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Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#81

Post by throwaway1980 »

egypturnash wrote: post #78
throwaway1980 wrote: post #5

Strange, I've never heard the term "figure drawing" used in the context of comics or animation. Maybe it's common within the field, but the artists I know generally associate it with drawing human models. Wikipedia doesn't mention it either. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_drawing Interesting post though. I liked seeing the Cowboy Bebop characters again, and the point about the need for the body to be identifiab…

Ex-animator, now doing comics, here. My experience has always been that "figure drawing" refers to sitting down in front of a live model, probably a naked one, and drawing them. You'll see people referring to drawing from pictures of naked people as figure drawing as well. Diaz only uses the term once, at the beginning of this article: "Figure drawing is a pivotal tool to any artist, but being able to effectively ren…

So that's my understanding of figure drawing too, but in his final paragraph he says it again: "Figure drawing isn’t easy." as if he was talking about figure drawing the entire time. I guess it just needs clarification or something.

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#82

Post by saraid216 »

covingkj wrote: post #72
angersock wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funded, to the tune of a half million--I'm curious if he'll actually be able to deliver. I hope so.

Dresden Codak has been a fully sustainable job for Aaron Diaz for years now - this is his profession. He has also participated in at least one collaborative Kickstarter that has already delivered. Given that the professionals that have been doing the Kickstarter thing this year have largely done very well, and he already has a track record of delivering, why are you so skeptical?

The Erfworld Kickstarter pretty much bankrupted its author. FYI. He started a new Kickstarter with blessing from the KS people, which... I can't say I am happy with. Especially since he's already promising stretch goals again.

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#83

Post by saraid216 »

kaybe wrote: post #59
scotty79 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Mary Sue is only when character is posed as in any way ordinary.

No, Mary Sues are really awesome, in all aspects. "The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may posse…

Then I'll just quote the first paragraph:

> Mary Sue is a derogatory term primarily used in Fan Fic circles to describe a particular type of character. This much everyone can agree on. What that character type is, exactly, differs wildly from circle to circle, and often from person to person.

Also, http://adventuresofcomicbookgirl.tumblr.com/post/13913540194...

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#84

Post by falcolas »

marshray wrote: post #80
falcolas wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that it takes is one person to complain that they were offended, irregardless of the work environment, and a company with "zero tolerancy" towards sexual harassment will toss you out on your ass. Frankly, it would have been easy to remedy - I was browsing a game forum with image signatures, which is where this image appeared. Of course, at the time, the HR person didn't like me (I mistook her for my bosses person…

So it took more than "one person to complain" - it took that and the HR person not liking you.

Which, in an ideal world, shouldn't have had any impact. Of course, it's not an ideal world, etc etc.

However, the original point stands - even "liberal software companies" will fire people for less than nudity on your screen.

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#85

Post by jessedhillon »

falcolas wrote: post #73
jessedhillon wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that such a firing is defensible as a sexual harassment claim. If you are creating a hostile work environment, someone first has to complain about it and you have to be given a warning and instructions on how to remedy the situation. However, of course, you can always be fired for demonstrating questionable judgement.

All that it takes is one person to complain that they were offended, irregardless of the work environment, and a company with "zero tolerancy" towards sexual harassment will toss you out on your ass. Frankly, it would have been easy to remedy - I was browsing a game forum with image signatures, which is where this image appeared. Of course, at the time, the HR person didn't like me (I mistook her for my bosses person…

No, you're wrong. A firing on the grounds that sexual harassment took place has to go through a specific sequence of events, and a number of lines have to be crossed. If you were actually told that you are being fired under a sexual harassment claim, and none of these intermediate events took place, then you may have been improperly terminated.

Sexual harassment isn't just "someone did something that made me feel uncomfortable" -- it's a set of specific and defined offenses, with measurable impacts. You have to have done something which created a hostile environment for your peers, they have to report to management that you are making the environment threatening for them, management has to raise this to your attention and instruct you to stop the offending behavior, and you have to have failed to remedy the situation when you were instructed to.

A zero tolerance policy like you describe would just be a reiteration of the nature of your at-will employment agreement, as what they're saying is that they reserve the right to fire you for doing anything that is questionably dumb. But if you were told that there is a sexual harassment claim against you, you have rights too.

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#86

Post by falcolas »

jessedhillon wrote: post #85
falcolas wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that it takes is one person to complain that they were offended, irregardless of the work environment, and a company with "zero tolerancy" towards sexual harassment will toss you out on your ass. Frankly, it would have been easy to remedy - I was browsing a game forum with image signatures, which is where this image appeared. Of course, at the time, the HR person didn't like me (I mistook her for my bosses person…

No, you're wrong. A firing on the grounds that sexual harassment took place has to go through a specific sequence of events, and a number of lines have to be crossed. If you were actually told that you are being fired under a sexual harassment claim, and none of these intermediate events took place, then you may have been improperly terminated. Sexual harassment isn't just "someone did something that made me feel unc…

At will or not, I was terminated for sexual harassment.

Rights or not, it wasn't realistic to pursue it (an inexperienced 20-something against a multi-million dollar internet giant), and it was enough years ago now that I've gotten something more valuable out of it - experience.

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#87

Post by Pxtl »

BoppreH wrote: post #3

Aaron Diaz is amazing. The time travel/transhumanism comic Hob is greatly recommended ( http://dresdencodak.com/2007/02/08/pom/ ).

Yup. This is why I prefer comics done by a solo artist/writer. His update pace is horrifyingly glacial, but he fully exploits the form - his panels are packed with visual information, creative designs, etc. He writes for what he wants to draw, and the imagery pushes the story without being simply a meaningless parade of neat-looking-stuff.

Comic art is wasted on an endless parade of spandex and soap-operas. Using the most visually creative narrative form to tell genre-bound stories about people punching each other is just such a damned shame.

Dresden Codak isn't the perfect webcomic by any stretch, but it's definitely a must read if you want to understand the potential of the medium.

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#88

Post by Pxtl »

sp332 wrote: post #75
mogrim wrote: post #60

What a surprise: the only naked figures are a) women and b) cute.

They are also c) the main characters in his webcomic.

To be fair, it is a reasonable criticism of Aaron Diaz - he frequently posts feminist-commentary and lambasts others for using sex to sell comics, but he throws a lot of pin-up worthy cheesecake in his work.

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#89

Post by roryokane »

jholman wrote: post #35
roryokane wrote: post #14

If you’re interested in reading more tips about cartoon drawing technique, there’s a relevant book I’ve read some of, How to Make Webcomics: http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Webcomics-Scott-Kurtz/dp/1582... . I sampled a few chapters in a bookstore and remember that the author of PVP gave very similar advice, which I found interesting reading. I’m not skilled enough to evaluate the book’s drawing advice, but it looked…

Did you just point out that Scott Kurtz (one of the authors of that book) gave some advice similar to that given by Scott Kurtz (author of PvP)? (hopefully the humour/snark part of that comment doesn't overwhelm the information part)

No, I meant that Scott Kurtz (the book co-author and PvP author), in his book, gave very similar advice to Aaron Diaz, the author of this “Figures” blog post. But I see how my wording was ambiguous.

Re: Figures: They Speak For Themselves (mildly NSFW)

#90

Post by jholman »

roryokane wrote: post #89
jholman wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you just point out that Scott Kurtz (one of the authors of that book) gave some advice similar to that given by Scott Kurtz (author of PvP)? (hopefully the humour/snark part of that comment doesn't overwhelm the information part)

No, I meant that Scott Kurtz (the book co-author and PvP author), in his book, gave very similar advice to Aaron Diaz, the author of this “Figures” blog post. But I see how my wording was ambiguous.

Then my apologies. =]
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