Munch Chunky Issue 3b

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I think this is the first time I have put out an issue of this comic on time.

like it was 100% finished before the clock hit 12.

I think it has to do with this new schedule. 

suddenly my stress is low, and I'm blasting through pages and having a ball while doing it.

I'm thrilled about how the colours in these last few issues have been coming out.

there's very little to no fighting for attention in any one frame.

i think now that I'm coming up on four issues, and I have introduced a ton of characters I should begin a Munch Chunky Databook. I figure if i start now, I'll be able to update it as the issues come out.

yeah?

we'll see.

haha.

also... new song this week for the Munch Chunky OST

Ixia beat.

it's named after the big blue creature they meet in the forest

an Ixia beast. 

it's fuzzy, and twilight foresty, and fun.

the song, not the beast.

Munch Chunky Issue 3a

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WOO HOO!

the first issue of Munch Chunky on my new weekly wednesday schedule.

this one was a cool down from the momentum of the last few issues.

a lot of running in those other ones.

of course the next issue just starts the running all over again

hahaha!

but I can tell I'm getting more comfortable with MC and really starting to have fun with the colour pallet.

that's good, because i was really worried that things would look really bland. it's a slightly simpler looking book than Goblyn, and the colours have fewer passes and gradients as well.

i wanted to play with symbology and symbolism in this series a lot. both in shapes and in colours.

Munch Chunky Issue 2a

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------All the stars are lining up and Munch Chunky is really taking shape.

I had quite a bit of fun working on this issue.

I even streamed me making this issue.

even tho I  was using photoshop 6, which is so totally nerfed in comparison to CS3 

(which I normally use to make comics)

it wasn't bad. MC isn't very heavy on the dynamic layers and such.

it's just straight forward drawings, with colour, and a good solid story about friends and adventure.

what more could you ask for?

oh, the link to the livestream videos?

done and done.

--> http://www.livestream.com/smars <--

here's a little embed action for you too.

smars on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Munch Chunky Issue 1b

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so, introductions to all the major protagonists of the series have been made.

rivalries have been set in stone.

now that, that's out of the way... 

we can really get this avalanche of adventure 

rolling over people and causing all sorts of chaos fun.

this issue definitely went over my 50 to 55 page rule.

but I really had to get the rest of this part of the story out.

so... justifiable self rule breaking?

idk...

the set up for the entire series is always the tallest hill to get over.

everything else from that point is just letting the story flow through you.

time to flow.

live, love, & eat fruit.

Munch Chunky Issue 1a

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So I’m finally going to tell this story. 

Not in the way I had wanted to a few months back 

(which was animated) 

but the way I had originally conceived the project in 2001, as a comic book.

I learned a lot about storytelling and pacing when I decided to make Munch Chunky into an animated series. 

I could get away with things that would fall apart in a comic book scenario. 

Because of that, I had to change the beginning of the story 

and the way it plays out for the comic.

Another of my problems was my limitations in animating. 

I only know how to animate so many things, and I often hit walls 

I couldn't get around. 

In comic book form I hit a lot less walls with the images being fixed. 

It’s hard to explain, but what it came down to in the end wasn’t the expense of animation, 

but the time. 

I’m able to commit the same amount of time to the comic form as the animated form, 

but i yield more story from it, 

for my effort.

and ultimately I just really want to tell my stories, 

and I can’t let the process of building the body of that work be 

the part that breaks down the ability for the story to be told 

consistently and fluidly.

Trongo Bongo

Trongo Bots.

I've been drawing these goofy looking mech suits for so many years.

I'm a big mech, super giant robot enthusiast. seriously.

I spent a huuuuuge chunk of my childhood reading watching stuff like Voltron, Tranzor Z
(or Mazinger Z if you want to be a purist about it) and yes... of course, Gundam.

 but of all the mechs and robots out there i say that i was most influenced by Shirow Masamune's Appleseed manga series when i was a kid, which was filled with all these wonderful personal sized mechs he called landmates.

Shirow would used these really great organic shapes that often reminded me of insects, and that just pulled me in further into his magic. seeing smaller, one man, personal mechs was a revolution to my mind, and I immediately was drawing personal mechs in everything I created.

with Munch Chunky i wanted to continue with that tradition, but since MC is a lighter more fun story i didn't want the designs of the mechs to be too overwhelming.
Since the series is about things like food and adventure, i wanted them to be very organic and bouncy in shape.

for me, they had to have a look of functionality without being to visually complex. I wanted them to look like they could run around, while still looking funny, but not absolutely cumbersome.
Silly, but still kind of cool. like the G generation SD Gundam model series.
C:

they're also made this way so that i can customize each one for a new rival team at the drop of a dime and without the design really slowing me down.

they all have the same basic shape underneath, and then i start slappin' on all the extra bits that make them fun and flashy, as I go.

i did decide a while back that some teams would customise their mechs to the extent that they would have very specific advanced functions only used by that team.
it's all regulation of course.
ha ha

live love & eat fruit.

cute animals...BIG, BAD, ROBOTS

just sharing a couple of designs for some of the secondary background charas in issue 1b of Munch Chunky.

(they're fairly loose sketches, but still comprehensible i think)

the tryout sequence is full of lots of random animals driving around in big hulking robot suits.

i did think for a while to have everyone's suits reeeeeally customized and unique, but it quickly became a headache. 

i still slip into fantasies about how much fun it would be to have a bunch of cool designs and weird shapes for all the different suit. but then i snap out of it with the reality of how frustrating it would be to keep up with all those varying shapes. so i standardized the base shape of the Trong Bot suits. 

and from there, they can be customized by the individual as they see fit. 

So i still get a good bit of variation, while still being able to not lose myself in the details.

i'll show some of those different yet similar Trong bot designs next post.

till then.

live love & eat fruit.

Trongo ball Positions

The active playing positions of members of a Trongo ball team

OVERVIEW:
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 In the game of Trongo ball, there are three major positions playable to a teammate, they are Striker, Mugger, and Chef. each of these is an important part of the whole team both functionally and historically.
The two ground positions are played by team mates in Trongbots, while the third, the Chef, is mostly (but not exclusively) played from the team's ship. The teammates on the Garden floor actively playing the game are only allowed a specific number of spells they can carry at any given time received from riot cuisines (RCS) either deployed to them via a Chef, stolen from another active player, or found as a rare drop item on the Garden floor.

Striker, The lead playing position of a Trongo ball team and is usually a position played by the fastest member of a team of three. The Striker position is a reconosance position that relies heavily on a Cuisinauts abilities to survey and assess their surroundings and make quick movements to retrieve any point based items obtainable by the players. The Striker has the ability to carry a maximum of 3 offensive RCS on them and 1 defensive RCS during a game. Strikers are the most active of all the players on a team, they protect the teammate in the Mugger position from any danger as they retrieve artifacts and bring them back to their ship. A Striker must be alert at all times and be willing to "sacrifice" themselves to allow the Mugger to make it back safely to the ship with the artifacts.

Mugger, The secondary playing position of a Trongo ball team, and is played generally by the slower member of a team of three. Their Trong bot is usually (but not always) a larger model, for defensive purposes which makes it physically slower during a game. The Mugger is the counterpart of the Striker, they are the teammate who physically carries any and all artifacts found or stolen during the active game. The Mugger's Trong bot is granted a bonus item by the Meister Guild members who oversee all active matches called a "Gimme' Bag."  The Gimme Bag is an item that can only be used on the active Garden field which allows the user to hold numerous items in it at any time without feeling the effects of its  size or weight. The Gimme' Bag is where a Mugger keeps the teams artifacts while teammates are active on the Garden floor and until they can be transported to a Chest where the points are counted and collected. As the Mugger is the one teammate who carries the most intricate portion of  the game, they are also the most targeted members and in turn the most heavily protected with the ability to carry a max of 2 offensive  RCS and 4 defensive RCS. Muggers are generally the more cunning, strategic and stealthy teammates often guiding the activities of a Striker from a position within guarded range of the teams Chef.

Chef, The third playing position of a Trongo ball team, played by the only member who does not use a Trong bot. Chef is the linchpin of the team, the most powerful player with both unlimited numbers of offensive RCS and defensive RCS at their disposal so long as they actively have or are able to collect the resources. The Chef assists their teammates on the active Garden floor during a game, from the teams ship and in rare occasions on the ground, by deploying riot cuisine to them via Odee cannon. The Chef has the greatest wealth of knowledge of Trong and its inherent values and uses this to help their teammates gather as many artifacts as possible to win the game ultimately for their region.
The position of Chef is usually backed up by a line crew or pit crew. Line cooks are usually not mentioned or considered as part of the team, as they are more often than not Koba. The most notable exception being team Munch Chunky who fully recognize the Mints as fully registered members of the team.


MORE DATABOOK:
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