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DCLeadboot — Dan Clan 01 - Problems
#ferret #frederick #hare #danbuster
Published: 2019-02-02 22:11:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 1459; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 0
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Description
Trying to start a possible comic idea here - short comic strips about the Dan Clan.
High time I actually did something beyond just creating characters and drawing pictures without them going anywhere!
Hoping I might be able to make this a regular thing... say, every two weeks, depending how much free-time I can get to work on these, beside full-time work and my other art projects?
Anyway, starting off simple... introducing Danbuster and Frederick first; the comic and the foil.
Archive: The Dan Clan
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Comments: 42
Poor Frederick!
This says a lot about them in such a concise, clever and amusing way.
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Hehe, yeah they're certainly quite the opposites in personality, despite their common bond...
Thanks very much!
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Frederick: He may be a complete goof at times, but he means well. He's me best buddy an' I love 'im.
Danbuster: Platonically, of course. 
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Never underestimate or be afraid to express that brotherly love
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Frederick: Aye...
Danbuster: Hehe...
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A perfect intro to these two and their oddball friendship. 
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Heh, heh... thanks very much!
Frederick: Here's what I have to put up with, matey...
Danbuster: And here's what I have to put up with... 
Frederick: Heh, wouldn't trade him fer anything, though. He may be crazy, but he means well. *returns the hug*
Danbuster: Yeah, and who says ferrets stink? To me, this musky smell is friendship.
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Solid work there. Thanks for linking it to me. Seems you have some OCs as well.
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Thanks very much!
Hopefully, after having them around for years and only now trying to do something tangible with them, they've had time for some solid character development...
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Yep. That's a big problem.
The face at the end conveys the facepalm-style reaction clearly.
It's pretty good.
But question; Are these guys brothers? Roomates? Living in the same dorm?
A little clarification on the relationship between these two will not only clear things up, but might contribute to the emotion conveyed.
Well done. I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with "this will be a great comedy series"
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Heh, yup... Danbuster running out of carrots is a proper disaster...
Frederick has a range of reactions to express strained patience, but he knows there's no point in reasoning with Danbuster. He goes with the flow, because he knows that the hare means well, despite his eccentric ways.
There is perhaps a bond between these guys that borders on brotherly, but they are nothing more than best friends. (And straight too, I hasten to add)
Although I probably haven't made much clear by just the first page here, they co-own the house. (There are older pictures in my gallery actually, if you looked up Danbuster's House) The idea being that when Dan left home, his parents were concerned that he should have somebody with him to keep an eye on things. Frederick volunteered, being his best friend, so that his own otter foster-family could also be relieved of an extra mouth to feed. In everyone else's eyes, Frederick is Danbuster's restraining bolt... but to Dan himself, Frederick is basically company for him, since he doesn't like to be alone.
I sure hope to keep something good going, yup.
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Okay. That makes some sense
Thanks 4 da clear-up
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Frederick: Huh, when Danbuster's awake, nobody sleeps...
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See, this is the problem with furries. They always complain about that one food they stick to. (I'm joking don't worry. Great comic by the way.)
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Heh, heh... thanks!
It's true though, Danbuster can't do without his carrot cheesecake!
Frederick would be pretty disappointed if he felt like a snack and found there was no cold chicken leftover in the fridge... though he'd take it rather more maturely than Danbuster.
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I love your fresh new comic, saw this in Project Comment
The characters and colors are good and funny. Just enough background information to read what's going on. I love that. You don't get obsessed with too much background but you don't slack where it counts.
I hope that it's okay if I comment from a critique perspective. It's a really minor quibble and doesn't reflect poorly on the comic at all, which is perfectly funny and an awesome intro as is.
The thing is about motion lines is I think you don't have to have too many to get your point across. The mind fills in the blank often enough that unless a character is agitated in a particular way you can let the reader understand some things just from the differences between panels. Instead of adding lines for Frederick moving his arm up to his glasses, I would consider getting rid of those and seeing if it reads just fine since the next panel he has glasses on. For Dan, it's definitely funny to have him so bent out of shape with motion lines, and you might consider even switching up how he appears motiony at times. (The old multiple arms trick, or blurry fists or other borrowed funnies from animation).
For example, in the panel when he bursts in the room you might remove all the lines around him because his dynamic position indicates exactly what the lines just redundantly re-describe and even take away from his dynamic and surprising burst into the room. I think removing those would make it so in the next two panels it adds humor to the motion lines around his arms because the implication is that he rushed over to get in Frederick's face and Frederick is like wtf is with this uptight rabbit dude, he's jittering in place
I don't want to direct your characters; you act through them perfectly wonderfully. Probably most people will just get use to your motion line choices no matter what they are.
They'll pick up on it all without thinking too consciously about it. But I thought I would offer this comment because you might find it really fun to play with different styles of motion and stillness in different panels and see what happens "in the space between" (in the reader's imagination) rather than needing to give them too many specifics in the panels.
The placement of your word balloons is very good, and follows the "Z" rule of reading a page left to right (down left) left to right (down left) left to right etc., and that's something many people placing word balloons don't quite get, so awesome work on making the legibility immediately awesome and therefore the delivery of the humor so good. The expressions are not annoyingly over the top, but are very funny and great, and have an admirable and sympathetic humanistic quality to them. I would really enjoy reading more about Fred and the Dan Clan!
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Thanks very much for the critique!
I must admit, backgrounds are an area I struggle with, being more focused on the characters themselves. For the purpose of making a regular comic doable, I want to try and keep things simple, if I can. (Without losing too much quality, hopefully)
Good point about the motion lines, though. Perhaps the action of Frederick putting on his specs was a little redundant. Danbuster is certainly the more fidgety one, being a March Hare full of eccentric energy.
I've been working on a second instalment (hopefully to be ready for next Saturday) so it may be worth thinking about what actions are needed.
Certainly all more previous artworks and occasional comics have been a sort of practice for character poses and expressions, I guess. (Not to mention character development) Also comics like Asterix have been a good reference for framing dialogue and action.
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Asterix haha great reference! Those Euro comix are great fun.
Your backgrounds and characters work for me! I can't wait to read more!
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Heh, indeed! The modern comics are a bit hit-and-miss, but there are some good stories even from the new producers.
Sure hope to continue working on ideas, so long as I can get the time and the ideas...
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Hehe, you sure know Danbuster pretty well already...
Frederick: Here's what I have to put up with, matey...
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I'd rather put up with Danbuster than my sister, but that's another story that I don't want to get into.
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This is a serious issue! Carrot cheesecake sounds delicious
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Hehe, well I never had a carrot cheesecake - at least, not the way Dan makes it, with a cheesecake smothered in grated carrots and garnished with a whole one. (Fresh raw carrots, of course - none of that chemically-fertilised rubbish)
Carrot cake or various flavours of cheesecake, I've have had.
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Same here. I'm sure it would make a good combo
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Yeah, possibly...
Carrots are supposed to be sweet, after all. They were a sort of replacement for sugar during the War when everything was rationed...
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Oooh nice comic idea! I'd like to see more 
Love Fredericks face at the end there,
Maybe Dan ought to try growing his own carrots, that way he will have a nice supply.
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Hehe, thanks very much!
Once I get some time again, I should start on the next page among other things... but being Monday (catch-up day), I've had no time to do a thing... 
Frederick: This is what I have t' go through, matey...
Danbuster: Grow my own?! 
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Danbuster: Is there a problem?
Frederick: Aye... an' it's standing right in front o' me.
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I like this comic strip idea here, looks like a pretty good start with this one.
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I wouldn't have thought there was THAT much resemblance...
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Oh jeez, I love how you did the facial expressions! X3
Love the use of clean lines and flat colors, too. Looking forward to more of these, Danny! ^w^
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Why am i laughing at this at 1 AM in the morning....
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Possibly, that's empathising with Frederick?
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