SPQR Blues: CXII

[spqrblues]

Here's the first row. Second row after I do a little more inking and see if I can figure out what's making the computer so sluggish. added.

This comic featuring Things I Find Awkward to Draw: landscapes, horsies, sound effects, and shading.







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Comments

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

I am going to lock all of my artistic LJ friends who denigrate their own work in a room together and tell them they can't say anything negative about their own work.

I like your landscapes, horsies, sound effects, and shading. The landscapes are "Oh my ghod The Appian Way!". The horsies are spirited. Sound effects are spot on. And the shading lets us know that there is a lot of movement in this scene.

Meander looks so nervous.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Edited to be maybe a little less self-denigrating :)

I'll keep working on those horsies :D

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

It is just frustrating for me because there are three on-line 'comics' (graphic novels) authors who are also on my f-list - you, ta_creator and ironychan - that are darn good artists and fantastic storytellers.

I can't draw, but I have been around artists most of my life - my mother worked in a silk screen shop before such things were so automated and all artwork was done by in-house artists. (As a matter of fact, she was the first female silk screener in the union on the West Coast.)

sordak went to school with Kara Sherman (and I think I just mangled her name) and we have a lot of her early art.

I know decent art. And, to me, decent art is many times much better that the supposed 'collectable' stuff.

So, I tend to get extremely frustrated when I see what you three draw and then you poke holes in it. I can really understand why you are not satisified with the product, but you are gifting us with the vision you see in your mind. Apologizing for it makes it seem like you don't trust your audience enough to form their own opinions.

Um, getting off the soapbox now. But, thank you for letting us enjoy your story. It makes up for some very shakey times.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Soapbox comments are noted and under consideration :)

I just want to be... PERFECT!!

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

But you are perfect. Perfectly you. Anything else and you would be a deity.

I will not quibble with "awkward to draw" because I find some phrasing tasks in my stories very awkward to parse out. But we do the best we can and then go from there.

[droolfangrrl.livejournal.com]

PERFECT IS DEAD.

Gah.

[oneangryrabbit.livejournal.com]

I just hit her on the head when she denigrates herself. Seriously. I may trick her into having lunch tomorrow just to do so.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

A tasty long lunch discussing comics and science fiction? I'd even go out in the drippy nippy weather today :)

[pikku-gen.livejournal.com]

Be sure to smack her for me, too. I wish I could draw as well as she does.

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

Not too hard of a smack, please. We still need her mind and hands intact for the rest of the story.

[frostedelves.livejournal.com]

Oooo, Menander. Are you talking back? :D

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

This is what happens when the master of the household's idea of disciplining his servants is ducking behind the curtains for a cuddle! Anarchy! :D

[http://users.livejournal.com/_w_o_o_d_/]

Horses are known to be hard to draw (see the movie "Mazeppa"), and I think yours are all right.

So it looks like Menander has made up his mind. That's not like him at all...

[(Anonymous)]

Plus, you can tell the horses are all cantering, because their feet aren't touching the ground! :) They're rushing to get somewhere, aren't they? So yeah, they'd be cantering. (Though not for long distances - that'd be trotting or walking)

Go Menander!

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

How long is too long for a canter? Or, rather, how long would you canter before giving the horse a break, if you're in a hurry? Pompeii and Herculaneum are fairly close to each other (though Menander might disagree).

[historicula.livejournal.com]

It's been a little while since I've ridden seriously, but I seem to recall that going at a lope/canter is relatively easy for a horse (less work then a trot or gallop) and I belive they can keep it up for several hours depending on how in shape you and the horse are.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Ah, good. Then that makes sense if they're in a bit of a hurry to get to Pompeii and put the smackdown on our hero, but not racing against time.

Luckily for our hero, he is currently loping in the opposite direction.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

It is surely a sign of the end times.

[kyleen66.livejournal.com]

::smiles at Meander::

He is a cutie.

I like the panel with the horsies. The sound effects along their feet works too.

Kissies

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

And the sfx aren't even just there to hide the feet :)

[amedia.livejournal.com]

I just adore the leftmost panel on the second row where Felix is acknowledging Menander's ability to make himself small.

And the penultimate one, where you can SEE Menander screwing up his courage to the sticking-point, as it were, and the FINAL ONE!!!!! *wibbles*

Pretty horsies, too!

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

What with the world about to end and all, maybe he decided he'd might as well :D

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

Second row, 2nd panel -- Felix is a man who knows how to make up his mind. What a great semi-profile.

All hail, Klio and her wonderful thundering horses!

Dr. Phil

TQ :)

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Too bad he is completely wrong about who's in town. At least Titus wouldn't try to, er, leave his mark anywhere on Felix's poor delicate self. Okay, not-so-delicate, really. Anyway, probably best to avoid both brothers.

Not trying to be evil (Really!)

[nwithers.livejournal.com]

First time posting, and I really like your strip, but the placement of the legs on the horses are wrong, especially for the time period. the bent knees with the toes pointing down are the position you would have if you were wearing stirrups. Stirrup-less feet would be hanging down or clamping "bow-legged" (thought I really haven't ridden w/o stirrups).

I think (not sure) that the mongols were the first inventors of the stirrup, but I am sure the Romans didn't have them, that's one of the big reasons why they never found cavalry important, but from the middle ages on cavalry became the supreme shock troops until the wide introduction of machine guns and mobile armor (WWI).

Other than that another great post, and happy to have you back from summer vacation!

No stirrups here

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

No, these riders don't have stirrups. My intention was to depict exactly what you describe--the Roman method of clamping the horse and guiding it with thighs and knees while sitting in the curved Roman saddle on a small (to our eyes) Roman horse. There was an occasional ancient stirrup, or foot loop to aid in mounting, but it was not in common use the way we think of and use stirrups today. I guess I'll have to think more of how to draw the legs so that no one mistakes them for being in stirrups.

And I should also add: Thanks very much for reading, and for commenting. Feedback is always welcome!

Re: No stirrups here

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the feedback, I did some digging and it looks like the legs did clamp a lot like that, with the rear legs a bit further back. did a quick google search and found this pair of roman carvings. I always thought the legs would be hanging down, learn something every day I guess.

http://www.livius.org/a/italy/rome/lacus/lacus_curtius1.jpg
http://media.photobucket.com/image/stirrupless%20riding/peronis/cavalry3.jpg

keep up the good work!

BTW

[nwithers.livejournal.com]

the message above was mine, forgot to log in.

Re: BTW

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the image refs. I might have to try drawing that first pose!