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Well here we go… a behind the scenes, as-it-happens “blogumentary” of the making of a webcomic! I’m Larry Merrill and I’ll be collaborating with Steve Campbell on this blog AND on the final product - our webcomic The Boids. Many folks have been dropping in to find out more information on our strip and [...]
when i tell you that we’re putting something special together.
The idea:
In the midst of all of our other web comics Larry came up with this awesome idea for another comic. There are these scientists, see, who are studying birds and the way they interact in large flocks. They construct a flock of their own [...]
For me, character design is either very easy or very difficult - there’s never any in-between. A great, appealing chacater will slide off my pencil or pen instantly fully realized, or else I doodle and sketch for days/weeks and finally get there - or not. Coming up with characters for The Boids has been a [...]
I was in a meeting one day, doing what I normally do - doodling in my notepad - when I sketched a simple little geometric bird. And I kind of liked the simplicity. I wasn’t thinking anything about a comic strip, I was just escaping the meeting by moving a pen around on the pad. [...]
I’m getting close to the feel I want for the artwork - just making the transition from realistic to cartoon and finding common ground. I have worked out Boid to my satisfaction, now I’ll move forward with more expressions and then inked sketches and see how the pencils will translate. Oh, and I need to [...]
We’re shooting for April of 2007. Hopefully early April (like the 2nd) rather than later. That should give Larry time to decompress from his dog-each-day duties and get some of the stuff done around the house that he has been neglecting. Like taking down the Christmas decorations. And the Halloween decorations.
We will begin with [...]
The actual bird is more realistic than I want, but I am happy with this piece. I will push the cartooning more as I go along and get the rhythm of the strip. In order to more accurately display the species of birds in BOIDS, we decided that some gray tones are necessary.
GAAAH! I am unhappy with my progress. I’m sure this happens to every artist/cartoonist who carefully sets out to define his style, researches the subject and proceeds to over-think the project to the point of meltdown…
I envy young kids that just sit down and draw for the sheer simple pleasure of it. THEY don’t worry [...]
Yeah, I did some more sketchin’ and experimenting and I think I’m satisfied - for this week anyway! Here’s a look at what the characters will look like. I still need to work on the backgrounds, but they will mostly be tree limbs and various perches. Until Steve writes the script where they fly into [...]
Apologies for the lack of recent updates - too many irons in the fire! I have been drawing some strips and building up the buffer. Steve and I have met several times and discussed about 30-40 more ideas we can introduce into The Boids, so count on flocks of fun in the future. I haven’t [...]
Okay, so we’re going to be late. I hope that doesn’t affect any of your plans. It certainly screwed ours up, I can tell you. Our new launch date looks like May 7, unless some miracle occurs and we hit April 30. We’ll keep you posted.
Personally, I hate these “oh, so sorry we’re late” blog-whines [...]
Been working the strips! Since I don’t want to give anything away, I thought I’d post some rough character sketches of part of the research staff. There will also be a female grad student, but I don’t have her sketches handy.
So far, looking good for a launch on May 7 and then an update on [...]
Hey, another update? So SOON? Sure! Today is Earth Day and since Boids is all about birds, you can bet on an ecological slant to the strip. Steve and I are both into helping the environment and hope to keep Boids as “green” as possible. That doesn’t mean we’ll get all preachy about it, just [...]
The Boids take flight tomorrow! We start with FOUR WEEKS WORTH – you’ll get 8 strips in one day! After that, we will update on Thursday, May 10 and then regularly on Mondays and Thursdays. I want to thank the “early birds” who read our development blog which is now a part of this site [...]
When I started coming up with the style for The Boids, I wanted to stay with black and white artwork. Not only is it quick, I felt I could improve my cartooning skills by forcing myself to simplify the characters as much as possible. Well, after the first half-dozen or so strips, I realized that [...]
That’s right - build your own life-sized Boid in only a few minutes. With a little paper glue, a hobby knife and a ruler, you too can own your very own Boid! It’s a little tricky, but my son put one together without any assistance and did a fine job. This is a jpeg file [...]