ROGUES GALLERY
Just a quick recap on the cast of creeps before we move on. One of the villains on this page is going to play a major role in the next story, but I’ll let you guess which one it’s going to be (and no, it’s not Little Miss Miserable).
But first, your creepy Uncle Aidan wants to tell all of you sweet girls and boys some delightful news:
Starting next week the comics will be displayed in an even bigger size than before, so you’ll all have more to enjoy! It seems in these tough times that the only way to compete with all of the other fine distractions on the internet is to make a superior product, so therefore I’m doing whatever I can the make the Scapula comic more enjoyable to all of you loving readers out there.
So spread the word around, in the classroom, the office, the discotheque or the abbatoir: SCAPULA, every Sunday, ever improving, onward and upward to glorious webcomic heights! Excelsior! Nuff said! Don’t have a cow, man! Cowabunga! SPOON!
NEXT WEEK:
GANGWAY
Does Jemini chew Doublemint gum while playing double dutch??
Where can I find the Babirus website?
You block out “shit” but have scapula reading a magazine with a naked woman on the cover?
Who is Little Miss Miserable? I want to see more of her and I want to know how you did that to the picture. Very cool.
@Bearman Well, let’s go through your thoughts one by one and see if we can get to the root of your mania:
Jemini chews Trident, because it’s hard to stop and brush when you’re a busy gangster. She did, however, eat Doublestuff Oreos on a double bed while watching “W”.
Babirus’ has an Etsy account.
There’s nothing wrong with the sight of a naked woman’s body (as agreed by thousands of years worth of artists), so don’t give me no shit about that! Oh, wait, I’m not supposed to cuss. Look what you made me do!
‘Little Miss Miserable’ is an artist friend of mine, who, contrary to her supervillain moniker, is a super nice and cheery person.
Thanks for stopping by, Bearman, and I hope I’ve helped you with our little sessions.
I love Knuckle Sam looking like she’s on David Letterman or something. 🙂 And Jemini is my favorite. What can be bad about a chick with two heads?
Awesome! Babirus is my favorite. In case my comics don’t make it clear, morbid things like that are my favorite. The human skin outfit looks perfectly creepy in that panel.
You did an excellent job answering my questions except for my step by step on making Little Miss Miserable. haha
Hahaha … what a line-up! And kinda’ frightening (as if I needed another excuse to stay locked away in my apartment home)!
Brilliant work, D.H.! 🙂
What a motley crew. Hilarious!
@George You have a peculiar, yet, awesome, taste in women. I don’t know if Knuckle Sam would be on Letterman…hell, I don’t even think they’d let her on “Woody After Hours”/
@Dan Long Awww…Babirus actually has a fan! You’re free to borrow the little freak for a Edmund Finney crossover, if you wish. Actually, you’re free to let him come over your house and sew new outfits with you, if you REALLY wish!
@Bearman Well, excuuuuuuuuse ME!!! Hey, I’ve always wanted to respond to a comment like that!
If I remember correctly, take a photo of a crazy person into Photoshop. Use the Levels layer adjustment to balance out the lights and darks to a simpler degree, merge it on the photo, then desaturate the whole thing with the Hue/Saturation layer adjustment (so it’s B&W). Set this photo layer to ‘multiply’, then make a new layer beneath it for the color you want to use (you’ll notice Little Miss has pale olive skin and gray-blue clothes…well, she didn’t in the photo!).
Simple use of contrast between lights and darks will draw the viewer to where you want them to look first. In this case I surrounded her eyes with dark brush marks, then completely whited out the whites of her eyes (as in they’re exactly 255 RGB). It’s actually all pretty simple stuff; just play around in Photoshop ’til you find something that works best for you.
Hope that helps!
@SpilledInky Don’t worry; a simple locked door would tax the combined intellect of these idiots! Glad you enjoyed, bud.
@David Sorry I skipped you; I was typing all the Photoshop instructions to Bearman above when you suddenly left a comment. Thanks a lot, Bearman! Look what you made me do!
Thanks for the comment, Brilliant Boy!
Babirus is pretty awesome. Jemini reminds me of that Farrelly Brothers movie, “Stuck on You.”
I really enjoyed reading this first page of the new story. It’s weird but I like reading reviews of things and persons I already know about…
I hope the hero who plays the major part in the story is Hypnausea. Personal favorite
What’s the deal with Miss Miserable? You say she is an artist and friend of yours, but why did you put her pic in the comic? Sorry, not even remotely funny…
I almost never leave a comment, mainly because I think it’s a very boring thing to do. But I think sometimes it’s necessary just to point out the negatives. Also a comment is some kind of moral reward for the artist…
Anyway, I believe Scapula is a very nice comic. It has a sympathetic hero, lots of other supportive characters, interesting dialogues and a very clever sense of humour, which is rare among webcomics and comics in general.
My complaint is that this comic is not updated very often. One week is kinda long mate, especially for such an interesting comic like this one. I understand that you have others things to do in your life besides posting comics but perhaps you want to do sth for it when you find sometime.
Biggers pages mean more fun for the reader and more effort from the writer and the artist. Congratulations
From my part, Im trying to return the favour by promoting Scapula to people i know. Unfortunately, very few people are interested to read a webcomic and the majority of those who are not, simply don’t have the time to check it every now and then.
But it’s really astonishing the fact that very few people know abt Scapula… I discovered it completely by accident…
Another thing I wanted to ask you abt is if you could write some presentations for the not so main heroes. Im talking abt the presentations you have written abt Scapula, Hypnausea, Jenini and Throgor. You can do that for all the characters that have appeard so far not just for the villains.
DON’T write one for Babirus. Disgusting.
Hope the female psychologist gets a bigger role too. I know I should not like her for what he did to Scapula (damn it was pretty funny) but she’s hot.
That’s all for now.
@David I never saw that movie, but I’ll assume that was a compliment! Thanks!
@montecristo Whew! You said a mouthful, there!
Incidentally, I want to take this moment to tell everyone: CRITIQUES ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AROUND HERE. I appreciate the nice comments like you wouldn’t believe (they really lift my spirit), but constructive criticism really helps me out a lot. I come from a lot of art training, and the feedback you get that’s the most helpful isn’t always sugar-coated.
Remember, the worst thing you can be is ignored. If someone has taken the time out to give you feedback, even negative, it means someone actually cares.
Now then, down to Monte’s comments and feedback.
Updating more often is definitely #1 on the “to-do” list for SCAPULA, and, although I didn’t want to announce this so early in the game, the plan was to increase SCAPULA’s update schedule in 2011 to four times a week: three dailies and the traditional big color Sunday. For here and now it is a little tough (I make a living as a freelance artist and it’s not an easy living). Still, SCAPULA is a project that I’ve come to take very seriously, so if more frequent posting is needed to please the fans then that’s just going to have to be the plan.
I don’t want to make any promises that I can’t keep, so for here and now I’m sticking to Sundays only. However, 2011 is my planned date to increase the output. I’m hoping I can do it.
Moving right along: Little Miss Miserable is something of an inside-joke, which is funny to folks on the inside but a little frustrating to readers out of the loop. I don’t do this so much anymore, even though most webcartoonists have no problem making comics about their everyday lives without much of an explanation. I take’em as they come.
Babirus will appear in the story following GANGWAY. It looks like other readers are getting a kick out of him, so we’ll just have to see what others feel we we get to him next.
Thanks for taking the time to tell us your thoughts, and again: comments, positive or negative, are always welcome…unless you’re just going to write a big fat “F__K YOU!”. I can do without those!
that is a super spooky pic of the Layer of Laws. i’m spooked that she can look that spooky. vurgh.
@Saturday The one and only Kate Saturday of DeatHat, lads and lassies!
Ash may be sweets and smiles on the surface, but you never know what lurks beneath…for one day, when mankind least suspects it, she truly shall become…LITTLE! MISS! MISERABLE! Bluh ha ha ha haaaaa!
It’s cool you worked in a little tribute to Dick Tracy!
I can relate to the once a week update… there’s a lot of effort put into Scapula, and you have to dedicate creative energy to the paying gigs.
@Jerry It’s been really tough, especially since I started yet another new job to try and make ends meet. Still, the possibility of updating SCAPULA more frequently is still up in the air, and I’d really like to attract more readership.
Thank you for understanding.
This is awesome!! You did a great job of making Little Miss Miserable scary looking. I’m also a fan of Toxsick.
@Charles You think she’s scary? Awww…everyone over here seems to think she’s adorable!
Glad you enjoy Toxsick; poor boy never seems to get a break.
Toxsick reminds me a lot of the pyro. I like him so far 😀
@evandenoob Pyro from “X-Men”? Hmmm…yeah, I can kind of see that. Maybe a little bit of Mysterio thrown in there.
@DadaHyena No I mean from team fortress game thingy… But you do have a point. Search team fortress and pyro and you might find what i mean.