Arrrggghhhh! That is all I will say. This strip took nearly 5 hours to do. Part of that was I had to build a couple of “sets.” However, getting down to the core of it, the main reason for the delay was simply that I cannot cheat anymore. I had to do it right.
When I first started doing Bitmap World, it was okay to do things super-simple. We had very minimalistic panels and it was okay to have white backgrounds. 2 1/2 years later, that just isn’t the case. The interior of the bus first appeared in Issue 40. Given my skills then, I think it turned out well. I’ve mentioned that Jim and I had a theater company when we were younger. When you are building sets, your goal is to create something that looks real enough–it simply is not going to be 100% given your limitations. For me, pixel-art is the same. Even moreso when you are when working exclusively with smileys that are 15×15-ish. Given the limited space, there are things that simply cannot be done. So I have had to come up with ways to do things effectively, yet still within the limitations. The difference is that now I’m more detailed. It was okay for a set to be stark years ago. Now, even though it is far from a fully rendered scene, I want panels to have more detail and scope. Case in point is the bus. There is now color to it, windows, floors, and the illusion of walls. Getting the perspective was extremely difficult–I literally re-did that panel 5-6 times before I got it right. Then there is the side view of the bus, when they are talking to the driver (with his hat he kinda reminds me of Ralph Cramden). I have avoided side-view scenes like this in the past because I simply wasn’t sure how to do them. I needed to create a standard that we could use in future strips as well, but I just didn’t really know quite how to pull it off. However, as our storytelling has gotten more detailed, I realized I needed to finally bite the bullet and do it. I considered doing a faded background of the street behind the bus, but that just looked too busy and distracted from the action inside the bus. I tried a dark background, but that was too stark. I finally settled on a greenish-tint, which we use a lot to indicate the computer/server this comic takes place on.
Despite the excessively long time it took to do all of this, it was a good exercise for me. Not to mention, much-needed standards have been established which will be helpful moving forward. For those who have asked in the past, I do NOT have plans to go back and edit the earlier strips to make them match the scenery of later issues. I happen to like looking back and seeing some of the older stuff. I am proud of it, because it was good considering my skill back then. It’s even better when compared to the newer stuff, because I get to see how far I’ve come as a pixel-artist.
That said, the next strip is a very standard one–no new sets. That said, I am going to try to pound it out tonight so that it is up on Friday…on time for a change!
P.S. I’ll do one more groan for filling that bus with smileys. It’s more difficult than it would seem, believe me.
