Digital Ask Laurence (Old Messy Thread)

A very interesting question for you today: http://tapastic.com/episode/281709

 

Well, Laurence had a good run, but as you might've noticed, I've stopped updating; here's a post that explains it (after one last jokey-joke): http://tapastic.com/episode/289957

 

Aw Man....that sucks...

 

Chin up, dear friend; Laurence has had his time, and he steps down only so that greater stories might be told! Who knows? Maybe some might even involve our favored fox man.

 

I wish to say three things in this post:
1. I will never regret creating a coffee golem.
2. Laurence reminds me of this guy from twokinds. (Coincidentally, his name also starts with an L)

3. Aww, seeing Laurence go is almost like giving up on my tea in the morning. I'm feeling the need to shave my beard off while playing scottish funeral music. That's how sad this will make me.

 

It's good to see that I make work people enjoy enough to shave their beards to Scottish funeral music for. And don't worry, I plan to make more work in the future; in fact, I'm thinkin' up a story about Laurence that just doesn't use questions.

Oh, also, this happened:






http://tapastic.com/episode/289957

heheheheheheh

 

Oh my.

 

Hang on, I need more resources to craft enough braces for everyone!

 

Wait, I thought this thread was dead.

Is there some sort of seance that is being held without me? I am quite frankly disheartened to think that folks would do such a thing.

 

Oh no, here we go again.

 

*Maniacal laughter*

 

Iiii um, i may have caused a spatial and temporal rift, which unexploded the box

 

Well hello.



Things are certainly happening.

So as those of you who read my initial and final posts for everyone's favorite coffee-infused fox-man, Ask Laurence was an experiment intended to help me practice drawing characters. In the end, my artistic ability increased drastically--however, my story-telling ability kind of laid around in a ditch covered in spontaneous chaos (Laurence turned into a freaking lizard, guys). So! I've decided to make a relatively short comic story starring Laurence after the events that ended Ask Laurence. I'm gonna be primarily experimenting with layout and story-telling--art is gonna have to take a backseat here so that this remains a fun hobby, not a tedious chore. There will be several references and in-jokes along the way (some of you may recognize that liberated beastie that flies by Laurence in the third panel), and should be an overall good time.

Feel free to discuss and ask me any questions (though the crew of Ask Laurence is currently off-limits, for reasons which will be made abundantly clear in the next few installments). Here's to fun and adventure!

--Ethan

 

It appears that i am happy, peculiar

 

Oh my... This is certainly interesting isn't is?

 

Observation Protocol Engaged.

 

Hey! That's my line. =3=

 

Hehehe

 

Ah crap sometimes I feel like everything's falling apart at the hinges and I just sit there watching the ship collapse like "Well that's unfortunate I guess I'll just let everything get dashed to oblivion."

Anywho, I haven't been able to draw anything new for Ask Laurence (with the exception of fox-man doodles on my physics assignments). However, as it is National Novel Writing Month, I decided to give writing up a story about Laurence a quick go (based on the story I had planned for the dinky sketch-comic I was previously planning on making). It's no Tolkien or Martin, but I hope it's semi-decent.

Well, here it is before I start rambling too much (for whatever reason I can't make any sense of my mind).

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Part 1: What an Entrance


Laurence found himself in quite the pickle--he was floating freely about in some sort of space-like field filled with distant clouds of pastel and swimming streams and flashing lights. A brief glance around revealed that he was surrounded by quite a good deal of stuff, including a bench, a giant book, several over-sized cookies, and a coffee pot that seemed to be viscously spewing an infinite pool of joe.

Well would ya look at that.

Laurence tried turning around in search of more strange nonsense to gawk at, or, should he dare to hope, something that might give him a hand in his current free-floating state. However, it turns out that floating about in space, even when there seems to be a readily available source of oxygen, is extremely difficult when all you have to your benefit is a pair of flimsy arms. After some twisting and turning, Laurence promptly found himself upside down.

Shoot.

Just as he was giving up all hope of ever doing anything ever again, he started to realize that there was a noise which had been building up in the background. Not like a waterfall that you’re getting closer to, more like a screaming idiot that babbles nonsense about murdering tigers behind your back coming ever so closer with what can no doubt be a vengeful bloodlust.

Here he comes…

Laurence pulled back reflexively as a large, ethereal form suddenly whizzed by his head, screaming something about “Freedom” and “Liberation” and other such ludicrous garbage. Laurence, who found himself once again spinning aimlessly, glared at the thing’s slowly shrinking form, until his attention was suddenly caught by something rather odd.

It seemed that, in the general direction that the crazy ghost creature had flown, there was a vast sea of floating islands, topped with grass and trees and rocks. Nearby the islands seemed to be small, sporting only a small handful of arboreous life, while further away into the distance the islands seemed to sprout forests and fields and even mountains. What most caught Laurence’s eye, though, was a nearby island with a small outcropping of trees and stones, as well as a pleasant level of grass and shrubs. Intrigued as he was by what appeared to be signs of civilization (a carved rock and a little lamppost), plus its proximity to his general location, Laurence decided to venture for the island.

Laurence took a moment to ponder that, if he could breathe, there must be some form of atmosphere around him, and since he was still weightless in this form of atmosphere, he might just be able to pull off some kind of space-swimming maneuver. It took a great deal of flailing, kicking, squirming, and other such shameful behaviors, but he did, indeed, find a way to push himself through the air by flapping his arms like a crazy chicken. The good thing, he found, was that he was moving ever closer to the island. The bad thing, he found, was that he could hardly maneuver and could not stop himself at all, meaning that by the time he reached the large floating mass of earth and plants his face made forcible connection with the coarse turf.

Laurence picked himself up from the ground, dusting off his blue shirt and checking to make sure he hadn’t torn anything. His bushy tail felt fine, as did his large ears. He took a glance around at his surroundings. He was obviously in the midst of some ancient circle of stones and stuff that had probably been built by an ancient race of milk farmers, or some such similar nonsense. The two objects that stood out most were a large pillar of stone covered in strange inscriptions and an old, wooden lamppost with a gentle, golden light.

“What--”

Laurence cleared his throat, then took in a massive gulp of air.

“What the heck is going on?!”

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If anyone's interested, I can give you the Part 2, though it's a bit dinky; it's based on how the comic would act, which doesn't translate perfectly to written paper (Laurence has a lot of interesting facial expressions I like to try and portray).

 

I'm presently in a dry-spell of creative juices, and haven't been able to really make anything story-oriented. However, overcome by a bout of madness in the late hours of the night, I recently attempted an overhaul of my artistic style, and I gotta say, it doesn't look like complete trash. Plus, a drew Laura and Laurence, which is always a neato thingo. I took a few pictures off of my webcam, which means they now look about ten times worse than in person, but it's better than if I were to try making them on my tablet (I have a very finicky hand when I can't press my pencil exactly where I want it).

Here they are:

Here we have Generic Boy, alongside Legless Caline (a character from another story of mine). Here I realized the power of bubbly chins, big, round eyes, and lanky limbs.


This is dear Laura, whom I attempted making digital below. I've grown very fond of Laura in a way, imagining her as the only nice and optimistic person in The Box (other than Amelia, though she also plots French Revolutions every now and again). Here I discovered the power of not drawing feet. And of giving females curves to make them look female. Who'd'a thunk it.


Laurence, trying to look cool with his legs crossed and his hand half in his pocket. I had a bit of difficulty with his chin's length, alongside the constant struggle that is his hair (it just doesn't want to comply to proper physics). Didn't discover anything drawing this, though as I side-note, I included the line on his shirt that I've un-officially tried slipping onto him in every picture I make (it's a weird thing and I don't know how it started).


Laura in glorious digital. I still despise using my tablet these days because of how inaccurate the pens can be compared to good ol' paper (plus I can never find one to fit my needs perfectly and don't know how to make one to fit my needs perfectly), but I felt like I might as well give it a shot. I don't like a lot of the lines on and around her face (they're too finicky for the reasons outlined above), and I didn't do much shading or highlighting because I couldn't find the right pen, but I think it looks pretty decent (better than my older work).

Have a good one,
--Vurrunna