3278 Gathering Storm
on November 20, 2019
Chapter: Gathering Storm
Characters: Francis the Falcon, Lady Sidonie of Falconheim
Location: Friggid Jarledom
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No offense Rich, but that episode title is pretty much unreadable. Even the large letters.
Well, the large letters still can be read… and the rest is easily guessible for long-time readers.
But I agree.
I’m with you!
It says Gasdlajfalkd Stj*&^%kfj… I think.
… Gathering Storm. But nice try. (Also, it’s in page title … and below the comic …)
Captain Fang is lettering your titles?
It clearly says Gaiherng Stomn by Firh Meciis what are you on about
Nah, just practising shaky cam.
Should have gone to Specsavers 😛
No, I have said "feed me"
Wow she looks different. i like that she’s willing to adapt, and that she keeps up on the falconry 🙂
Its also been 8 years since we last saw her. She’s a lot older now.
Rich really has a talent for conveying passage of time in stride…just subtle updates of character models, tiny life details in the background. I love that about his work.
Agreed! He is an amazing artist- it looks so simple at a quick glance, but there is an incredible amount of nuance that comes across in that quick glance that conveys so much! It’sa like magic or juggling, where if it looks simple or easy, it’s not 🙂 And we are the lucky ones who get to view so much of this effort- and that’s not even mentioning the story 🙂
And wearing the local Northern clothing
Either I need to get new glasses, or the chapter title is broken.
I’m not going to try to guess which.
Francis and Lassie, both able to communicate complex information through a few simple noises. Wish I could do that.
"No, I said Timmy’s fallen in the well! Again!"
wow- memories!! thanks 🙂 now i wanna see the movie again. i’m so glad i still have it on vhs!
Wait, they did a cross-over with Francis the Mule and Lassie? o_O
oops i meant to type that it was the francis movie. as much as i liked lassie herself, the plots even as a kid were so obvious that i wanted to push timmy myself- off a high cliff. Same with flipper- loved the dolphin and scenery but the plots left a lot to be desired.
heh. a cross-over movie… would be a lot shorter, when francis translated point-blank what it takes the humans too long to get what lassie means. or… a lot longer cuz Timmy’s behind enemy lines… 😀
Guess I wasn’t the only one to have a Lassie flashback.
PING PING PING
"What’s that, Mother Box? Lightray fell down the Fire-Pit?"
I dunno – Rich uses artistic creativity on the title layout and immediately gets mocked – HE IS SUPPOSED TO DO THAT being an artist an all
I admit, it makes me cringe a little when people nitpick, too.
If I encounter a typo, I attempt to read the sentence as intended. If something in the story bothers me, I process those feelings and accept them. If something creates a bit of cognitive dissonance, I trust that Rich has answers, and it’s okay that I don’t, at time of press.
A big part of my posture and identity as a fan is remembering that I’m here because I love YAFGC, and Rich’s ideas of what YAFGC is and should be are the only ones that matter, in my eyes. My love of YAFGC must allow it to be what it is, not be what it isn’t, and respect its right to surprise, startle, or fail to reflect my ideas of what it might be. Otherwise, it’s not really love.
I do wish we could, as a body of fans, simply accept that typos are going to happen, and this is a thing we just accept, compensate for, and don’t rock the boat about. I wish we could stop complaining that our own visions of the characters don’t always reflect the reality in the strip. (Turg shocked me with his turn on Runt, frankly, but I respect his, and therefore Rich’s, right to shock me.)
I wish, in short, that the ways we chose to show our love for YAFGC were more categorically, uniformly grateful and positive. I wish we’d spend less time and energy being critical and skeptical.
I don’t think I’d call it "mocking," but I’d definitely call it "criticism." Fair criticism? Perhaps. I choose not to judge that, myself, so I concede judgment on the matter to Rich, entirely. But I wish, when we opened our mouths at all, it was to thank this man for telling us such wonderful stories more often, and that the things we can simply roll with, we roll with.
I don’t pretend to speak for everyone, but I speak for me. I try only to speak to say "Thank you" or "Wow." We’re getting a free story from a master storyteller, and it’s amazing. I worry that we forget, sometimes, what an honor this is…and how to gracefully and gratefully accept it, going forward.
This is not, specifically, an observation on the specific concerns about legibility in the title block above, but more of a longterm, general observation that followed from reflecting on your comment above. Not calling anyone out, and not trying to suggest that any particular action was inappropriate. Again, broader mile-high view reflections on what being a fan means, to me, and what sort of energy I feel fans ought to bring to the table of fandom.
It wasn’t a typo, he went for a special blur effect (to tie in with the stormy part), it just… came out a little _too_ blurry, and to some people, it could possibly give them a headache looking at it too long
I find it *very* hard to look at.
To me it looks less like a blur, and more like its out of focus, and because of that my brain/ eyes are trying to compensate, and failing which is where the discomfort comes from.
Specifically it looks like a small image that is being displayed at a much higher resolution, and the software had a very tough time figuring out how to fill in the blanks and that image was the result. Which is what I thought it was, and therefore an error, not a deliberate design choice.
And while an artist is supposed to use creativity, if it fails to accomplish what they intended, then the artistic attempt has failed. It happens, life goes on, learn from it and improve, don’t take it personally. To just declare everything someone does as wonderful because they did it, is just to be a blind fanboy, which is a disservice to an artist.
An artist wishes to improve, and if they try something that doesn’t work, they need to know that. Having a bunch of sycophants telling them everything is wonderful is only useful at stroking their ego, but it does not allow them to learn from mistakes, because they never know when they make mistakes. If they wish to improve so that people beyond their small group of existing fans likes their work, then they need to know what does and doesn’t work.
Of course art is subjective, so what is good for some, is not for others, but you still need to figure out what is most likely to work for most of the audience you are aiming for, or expresses the emotion/ image/ concept you are trying to express to the most people.
The blur was a deliberate design choice. It’s effect was not what I thought it would be, so therefore it was a mistake by your own definition. Reactions to such things are generally how I decide whether to ever do a thing again or not and in this case I shan’t attempt this effect again. Unless I’m trying to dole out crossed eyes and headaches.
Yes, ‘out of focus’ is what I meant by ‘blur’
@Rancourt: I on the other hand see what you describe as a tremendous failing in fandom. Blind devotion, declaring everything that is part of X is great simply because its part of X, does no one any good (I go into that further in my other post in this thread).
I will agree that story choices should have a waiting period on criticism because you don’t necessarily know the full picture, there may be details yet to be revealed. This is an unavoidable problem of a serial work like this, especially where the updates are small. In a book, or watching a movie/ TV show you can think "WTF?" but can continue to read/ watch until it plays out – but it could still turn out to be stupid. With a webcomic you don’t have the option, and so people sometimes react to only what is available.
I do think you’re misrepresenting my argument a bit there, Eric, but I can see that our perspectives and priorities are sufficiently different that I think it best we simply disagree. No worries. We get to.
Agree with you, that an artist needs people willing to point out errors, so that they can fix them and grow, not just "yes men" who praise everything
Also, if someone is confused about something, it doesn’t make them a bad or ‘ungrateful’ reader to ask "What?"
It also doesn’t mean the writer is bad for leaving the readers puzzled, sometimes it is deliberate and will be explained in time, other times they have just been a little _too_ clever (or forgot something that would explain what is going on)
"No, Sidonie, that would be ‘skriieee’ with only two i’s. I just meant I’d like some gopher legs with my field mice tonight."
"Oh, of course. Sorry, Francis; my mistake."
"Also, I almost forgot: SKRIIEEE!"
I love the cozy, bustling village you created with just three simple panels.
t!
I understand what Rich was trying with the Title Page, and to me at least, the chapter title is readable. The small text around it… is the same on every other title page Rich has produced, we should know those words by heart by now.
. . . comes a tall handsome man/In a dusty black coat with a red right hand
Lift your skinny fists, like antennas to heaven.