I got carried away with the colors and forgot to make another post. Sometimes when I'm working I just sort of space out. I was having a lot of fun with this one.
Someone in the previous thread suggested that it just be a regular bird and I thought that was awesome. So I took out the crazy bird and just made it a pigeon. I think it’s much funnier this way so thanks for the idea.
Honestly I’m not sure if I even want to touch the background. Kiko just came in and told me it’s done and I trust his opinion a lot. He’s going to work on the logo now. When he has something I’ll post it here.
98 comments:
I agree... Leave the background the way it, it puts more emphasis on the bird, and the look it's recieving. F***in birds.
I concur. I find myself staring blankly at the bird much the same way the characters do. There's just something about it. Great work on the shading, and the lighting effects on the hair. The reflection in the puddle looks nice as well.
I think the normal bird is a nice addition, it really makes it seem more normal yet funnier. Love your art. Keep it up.
Why are birds evil? Is it going to be a comic book?
That pidgeon is captivating somehow... It fills me with some kind of fantastic terror I cannot describe. I cannot look away...
The reflections are really nice. Great job on the whole thing.
I really like the background as it is, especially with the foreground implied by the puddles.
Very, very cool, sir. "PA, The Tippy Hedren years"
Love it.
Just something I noticed: The two chairs don't match. Gabe's chair has a heart-shaped back with two archs, Tycho's chair has one arch.
How do you make that water reflection effect?
Very cool peice dude.
If I may request good Sir, I'd like to ask for a wallpaper of said scene as it is just that good. Just like the beach poster/wallpaper that it still my favourite. Great work!
why does Tycho have a large chunk of his pants (and possibly leg) missing just above his shoe?
As two fellow compatriots before me mentioned, I think that this one would be amazing as a wallpaper. Please indulge our fantasies Gabe!
I love the way this cover looks, and how understated it feels compared to the covers for the other ones.
And now for an unsolicited suggestion:
I actually think that the cover would work better exactly as it is, with no logo. The people who will buy it probably already know what Penny Arcade is anyway... I mean, it's not exactly what I would consider an impulse purchase.
Perhaps leaving it as such, with the logo on the spine would give the cover a greater effect. I think that the logo might crowd out the real power of the picture and kill the real understated mood.
I just wanted to make a request. I was wondering if you could color and possibly wallpaperize that drawing of Balthier from yesterday
The bird reminds me somewhat of the penguin in Wallace and Gromit in: the Wrong Trousers. It has the same slightly sinister anthropomorphism.
Birds *are* weird.
Any chance you can do another version horizontal for a desktop?
It's fantastic!
As it stands it'd make a great poster.
is it just me, or do those light bits on the nose look somehow wrong ?
love the image though ... it makes me wonder what the bird just did to make them look at it like that.
maybe you could put a saint being martyred in the background, for that nun you mentioned :-)
I love the pigeon. The detail in the chairs is also nicely done, and the approach you took to the light source in this is particularly neat.
I strive to get my webcomics to look as good as yours, but I know I've got several years to go... You're a huge inspiration Gabe!
p.s. I love how mortified Tycho looks.
It's definitely done; good job as always; can't wait for the 3rd and 4th books! :)
That reflection in the puddle is so Web 2.0.
He's right. It's done. Perfect the way it is.
I kinda liked the crazy looking bird because its feathers were in a similar shape to the two guys hair which added a whole nother demention to their comment. Great work though!
Very cool. Out of curiosity, why are the bottom of both of their pant legs so different from the rest? (I think Tycho's front pant leg is different from the back.)
Very slick, though. And the pidgeon is great.
Kiko's right. It's done, and it's great.
Pidgeons are winged rats.
I also agree about the bird. By making it your average ordinary pigeon, you begin to wonder who _really_ is weird. Those two dudes sipping cafe au lait at the table often have an odd outlook on their environment. Awesome.
Gorgeous. I love the balance -- the color, line, and brightness giving the image a nice left-to-right motion.
(I'd use a bigger version of this as a wallpaper, too!)
The background looks great the way it is, and if you're using it for the cover of the next PA book, it leaves room for the text without interupting the subject of the picture.
One of the things I've always loved about Penny Arcade is its awesome use of silence -- this is an excellent example.
In fact, I'd say that's my only real complaint about the comic these days: it's getting a bit too talky. I love what you guys do, but I miss the awkward puases.
Otherwise-- the art is excellent, as usual.
Holy crap that pigeon is hilarious! I am still laughing at it. Something about a plain old pigeon in that context is perfect. Also I'd have to agree with some other people in that it might not even need a logo. The barren grey void adds to the bizzarity of it all.
I like how Gabe's holding his coffee mug somewhat protectively.
it is sublime, very Twisp-and-Catsby-y
I agree the background needs to be plain, but I don't like the color of that one. I don't know what to suggest though, except that the lighter part of the gradient should be on top, not at the bottom.
This thing looks nice. If you were to put a background in it (as your past covers have been much more extravagant) make sure it's very, very faint. The cautious eye they are keeping on the pigeon is priceless.
I am almost tempted to suggest a tiny hat on him (a fedora specifically) but I worry it would be less-funny. I'll leave that out there in the open though if anyone has any feelings for it.
I can see the hat idea working... but I think it should be left as is.
The background is fine, as has been said already the silence conveys a lot. Also it puts the focus on tycho, gabe and the bird, nothing else.
The gradient of the background is fine as it is, keeping in mind there is going to be a title on that page, and that the dark part of the gradient would be best behind the words.
This is nice. It's always more interesting to me to hear the stories behind the art in the podcasts and such; it'd be fun to hear where this came from though I suppose I'll find out when I get the book.
I have a question though - are the shadows on the legs not matching the shadow on the ground a choice, an artistic license thing? It's the only thing I noticed that seemed out of whack.
Anybody else noticing the weird Animal Crossing vibe here...I mean, Pidgeon...Coffee...Pidgen who serves Coffee...OMG, conspiracy!
gift like yours should be used to draw attention to the lives of the zaintz, mazn!
oh, and the leg seems to be floating
Possibly a conspiracy if pigeon actually had a "d" in it.
Otherwise - Something about the shading on the faces is jumping out at me the more I look at it - but I'm a big fan of the plain background - and the regular pigeon is the ticket.
I made a wallpaper version for all you beggars. Gabe will probably do his own, and these will go offline when that happens. 800x600 up, and some widescreen resomolutions thrown in too.
Click Here (k3vin.net)
It was definitely the correct decision to go with a normal bird. With the weird bird, the message would have been that weird birds are weird, but everyone already knows that. Now, it says that all birds are weird, and I think it's something that has needed to be said for a long time.
God damn packbawkies!
I would just like to say that after reading through the childs play thing, finding the links to drawingboards.com, and seeing your blog, I was finally inspired to make my own :). I'll be filling it with my portfolio soon if you'd like to take a look, I'm a photographer btw :).
As for your picture, to be honest, I would like to see a background on it. Nothing too complex, maybe a brick wall, or you 2 are next to a street, with a taxi driving by, maybe none. I love the pigion, it almost looks like the 2 species are sizing each other up :).
Another fantastic ink, the bird looks awesome, hilarious :)
Wallpaper please?
Gift like yours... :P
I agree with Kiko. It's perfect.
I wonder why the characters seem so "French"?
Gabe has a Franquin touch to him, while Tycho is moving towards Corto Maltese country...
Maybe the scene inspired some Parisian Café gene in you, maybe I need another coffee...
If you made this into a wallpaper, I might have to buy some clean underwear.
Or other witty comment encourageing you to make a high rex wallpaper out of it.
Great work as always. Keep it up!
This is a great piece - visually minimalistic, but it still manages to be hilarious. The minimalism makes the humor seem more pure. Nothing is there that doesn't need to be.
The first thing thing I noticed was the depth of it - the puddles, the low light source, the gradient background -- really cool. The depth makes it very visually pleasing.
Their expression looks something like cautious curiosity to me, and the dim lighting adds an ominous tone to the situation. Good call on the pigeon, too. Its subtlety definitely adds to the humor - the wacky bird was too loud.
I think it's a great first impression for your book, I can't wait to see it finished off with the text.
Very nice -- I like the subtly confused expression on Tycho's face, and the quietness of the piece makes an interesting contrast to the very active covers of the first three books.
I honestly think a title and a logo would ruin the beauty of that negative space. This is gorgeous, and I think it would stand on its own without a bunch of embellished lettering marring its serene surface.
Just a thought.
Great job. Love the colors and the reflections. The change of the bird is great. The only thing you may want to toy with (and you probably already have), would be having the pigeon looking back blankly at tycho and gabe. Keep the awesome update coming.
Cola makes a good point. A title and logo on the front cover will ruin the feel and composition. I vote you simply put the title on the spine and on the inside cover of the book. Either this or give the book jacket a title and cover, leaving the image on the hardcover exactly as it is here.
Please, please, please, make a wallpaper of this.
I'm getting a definite Tintin vibe here, it reminds me of a lot of french and italian graphic novels. Very nice work, love it.
Nice art mate, although Im not much for the background color (its a bit dark, why dont you try light grey/white?)
I do like the pidgeon much better than the original, but it's not ... weird. It'd be cool if the pidgeon also had a cup of coffee and was standing around like nothing was odd, or it was wearing a Catsby hat, or... you know.
Inks and colors are nice, though. And I love gabeart in the same way I love Tycho's posts.
I'm loving the way it looks. You aught to posterize it for the Penny Arcade store...
This is fantastic just as it is. I actually took the liberty of mostly matching up the gradient to generate a wallpaper sized image for myself with Tycho and Gabe in the lower-left corner, and it works brilliantly. Here's another vote for not putting anything else on the cover; the negative space conveys the tone of the title perfectly.
I think this would look great as a poster or cell. I did minimalist...
- riv
Nice work Gabe. I love the more subtle PA stuff, like this one. It's a priceless image.
I agree with some other people here, this makes an awesome desktop.
I used your image to make my own (same format, just adjusted to my resolution).
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b240/
wraith88/birds_are_wierd_desktop.jpg
I'll use it in the mean time, but if you make your own, that'd be great.
Thanks,
Daniel T.
Much better with the pigeon.
Bacon robots is still my favorite cover because it's completely absurd... but this is a great balance.
Great picture. I agree, the pigeon somehow makes it funnier.
I'll add another request for a wallpaper. Please? Of course, I could make one myself, but being the lazy guy I am...
OMFG I hate pigeons. I was sitting in Union Square about 7 years ago working on a journal or whatever, and someone spooked the flock of pigeons there. All of a sudden there was 300 beady-eyed balls of evil flying around the square dive-bombing people.
Scariest thing I've ever experienced in my life.
F***in pigeons. I'd love to see a bit more fear in the characters eyes or maybe some blood or evil eyes on the pigeon. Maybe that's just my own fear!
I think that this is a great cover. If people really felt it a need to have a background I think a light grey on dark grey line drawing of a street scene would be great, showing all the weird things people do (road rage, over eating, crazy jazz)
I think that kiko is right and it is done now though. I though that the funniest thing I could think of would be on the inside cover of the book have the roles reversed with two pidgeons at the table drinking coffee (or pecking at birdseed protectively) and looking at a little Gabe or Tycho where the bird is now.
I think that would be great!
I think there is something that you're missing on this. You've got the puddles as the foremost objects in the scene, closest to the viewer, and yet they're not there for any identifiable reason, except to perhaps define the ground line, which the shadows do already.
Every other element in the drawing has a purpose in forwarding your idea. Perhaps the puddles were a futher idea that you didn't touch in the final, but they take away from the rest of the minimal effect that your picture has. Were the pigeon to have something to compliment the puddles, they would make more sense. Or were they just gone, I feel it would more complete the picture.
Just as in writing, in visual arts every line you put in should be there for a specific reason. If a line does not further the purpose of the drawing, it should be gone. You've already gotten the sky defined by the gradient and the amount of blank space dedicated to it.
And so, I'd say look at the puddles again and see why you want them in there, then explain it in the drawing to those looking at it. And also figure out who took a scythe to Tycho's left pant leg and patched it with Gabe's pant's material.
And that is what I would say were it part of my job to do design for websites, brochures and marketing materials.
Fantastic. As a fellow (and lesser) cartoonist, I find myself hoping that one day I will have a tithe of your talent.
And your friend is right, changing the background is a no go. I think the simpler background sort of pays homage to the surreality that is pidgeons, which you have captured gloriously.
Hail our pidgeon overlords.
I agree with the positive comments about the blank background, however, I also think having some serious choas and destruction in the background would be cool. That would put even MORE emphasis on the regular bird--here is all this extraordinary in the background, and yet, the regular pigeon commands your attention, which makes your mind reel even more. Just a thought.
I do like the bird. It has an Aardman quality to it.
In tone with the minimalist background (which is great btw): Awsome, truely Awsome.
I can't help but picture the pigeon with a pimp hat and covered in bling. I don't think it would be as good for the cover, but picturing it brings a smile to my face.
You should totally put a little white highlight on the edge of the puddle. Something that makes it pop into 3D ever so slightly. I think it'd read much more like liquid don't ya think?
NICE BACKGROUND / WALLPAPER:
Download & center the image, use the following settings for background color:
Hue: 160; Sat: 24; Lum: 151
R: 151; G: 151; B: 170
This purple matches the lower-middle range of the gradient behind the image. Tweak the numbers to taste.
Those k3vin.net wallpapers posted above are perfect. I just made the largest one into a 2560x1024 for my 2x LCDs at work and it looks super sweet. THANKS!
As a comment to our resident design expert, John...
No, the puddles should stay. This is comic art. Sometimes you need pointless stuff. However, I think the puddles are a good addition, they create solid balance to the image. Otherwise, Tycho's head would be sticking out past the base of the main image. Wouldn't as good.
To the person who commented on the mismatched chair backs: I have a feeling that was intentional. Gabe choosing the heart-shaped chair is just so appropriate for his character, I think. XD
To [the real] Gabe: I think a background would be good, actually, although not a "full" background. Perhaps just a sketchy outline of a café, drawn in a slightly darker shade than the background -- thus preserving the minimalism while adding a little flavour?
Oh except for the spelling error: weird not wierd. *twitch*
To anonymous:
The shadow already blocks out the lower edge of the picture, which matches Tycho's head.
Another solution to the puddles, to me, would be tossing something on the bird that would be indicitive of the rain - maybe rain boots or a little frilly umbrella.
Something to recognize them. And of course, birds are weird, why wouldn't they wear rain boots?
Feels to me like you just nailed Seattle. The whole vibe. Wrought Iron coffee tables, cup of joe, gray, rain puddles, pigeons. Nice.
Alright I made my own version of the background image for 1280x1024 resolutions. It conforms to the way my icons are set up (some left, some right) so that the characters are balanced in the off-center but not obscured.
http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jricci20/personal/wierdbirds.jpg
I hope some of you enjoy it.
@John
The puddles are there to add depth. If you cover up the puddles w/ your hand, or photo-chop them out you'll notice you've lost the nice 'set in' feel of the scene. It won't be more complete - it'll feel flat and unfinished. The puddles make the image bounds feel like a frame more so than the shadows alone. The specific feel of this 3D framing effect is something like you're looking onto a stage. While visually it's very subtle, it's really a very complex trick to pull off this well.
Short/Condensed explanation -
This 'framing effect' is caused by the angle of the reflection in the puddles and their horizontal and vertical positions relative to the rest of the elements in the piece. The specific relationship of depth between the puddle and the table (created by reflection angle), combined with the relative relationship of the pigeon and the puddle (created by canvas position), invalidates our would-be assumption (if there were no puddles) about the depth of the pigeon relative to the depth of the table.
Lengthy version --
This works because the angle of the reflection in the puddle tells us that it is a specific distance 'out' from the table. Because the canvas position of the small puddle visually separates the pigeon and the table, we tend to associate the pigeon as being relative to the small puddle, not the table. Without this separation, we would gauge the pigeon's depth by how high/low it and its shadow are relative to the table and its shadow. Because our mind assumes the pigeon is relative to the small puddle, the small puddle is relative to the large puddle, and the large puddle is a specific distance from the table, the depth of the pigeon is ruled by the specific distance of the puddle from the table. And because this distance is governed by the angle of the reflection, by changing the angle of the reflection, Gabe can vary how far out the pigeon is from the table.
This rule wouldn't be created if the puddles weren't there. Also, our minds tend to weight geometric relationships like this heavier if the visual elements that convey them have more detail. That means that the importance of the relative alignment of the table's shadow and bird's shadow is further lessened by the presence of the puddle.
As to the viewer's reaction/impression --
Adding this subtle depth makes my impression of it feel a bit more intellectual and curious. It adds to the viewer's suspicion of the bird by making it the front-most character. If you were to look at it as cost vs benefit, being that the puddles ‘cost’ is a minimal amount of visual noise, the benefit, increasing the humor of the piece and improving people’s ability to 'get it,’ far outweighs the cost.
Finally, this brings up a great point. I love how Gabe uses very subtle tricks on the subconscious to achieve very precise depth from uniform color fields (and sporadic gradients). The subtle geometry tricks he uses to create very specific and often complex depth form the base of the subtle psychology tricks he uses to create very specific and often complex emotion. While the second skill is dependent on the first, they’re still very unique in and of themselves. Gabe always seems to know how to use just the right amount of both to get his desired reaction. No other comic has ever made me laugh like Penny Arcade -- and it's largely due to the balance of his artistic abilities.
John, I think there’s something that you’re missing on this: the point… Despite the visual elements you mentioned in your first comment, you go on to even further demonstrate your ignorance in your second by suggesting adding something outlandish to the bird in place of the puddles. Did you bother to read Gabe’s post?
Your comment, after removing the thin veil of its constructive wording, actually reads (in an arrogant and condescending tone), “You screwed up with those puddles… Yanno, writers... I think you’re an amateur… Go think about what I just told you, buddy… My art is more important than yours."
In his recent PA post re-announcing gabeart, Gabe mentioned obnoxious comments causing him grief. If I were Gabe, I’d be kicking myself now for mentioning the change of the bird was due to a reader comment’s suggestion. Now everybody wants in on the action :-)
If you actually appreciate the art that's shown here, why don't we all stop trying to put our own spin on it, and instead comment on our reaction to it. If an artist is trying to build a specific reaction, commenting on what the art makes us think/feel and how we react to it is way better than commenting on specific elements through a warped lens built on assumption.
Sorry this wasn't brief...
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