MATEO #5

MATEO #5

The last colored Mateo strip. The rest of the commentary as follows:

Don't really have too much to say, except that this strip is a bit of a mockery of those Burger King commercials with the Whopper Jr. Anyways, I thought that this gag was funny and so I threw it in there. Simple, but nothing really special. By the way, Gabe reminded me to re-ink something, and I did. Also, the table is out of perspective (in fact, it looks more like a meteor...) but it was more experimental for me to try and add a background/foreground to the picture.

On the coloring side, it took a considerable amount of time to do. I finally figured out how to drop other images into each other (therefore getting the background). The background image was taken from:

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj175/godamreborn/restaurant-modern-interior6.jpg

So if someone was gonna sue me over this pic, I've posted the link where I got it. It actually turned out pretty well, though I really didn't do anything too special with the coloring, just some basic effects. I also bumped up the image size, and haven't viewed the picture yet, so we'll see how it turns out. I'm also going to leave the black and white (bnw) strip up as well, though this one should be easier to read.

As always, read, comment, and enjoy.

MATEO #4

Mateo #4

This strip is pretty out of date now, about 21 days out of date. I thought that this was pretty funny, though, and I hope you do too. I really put an effort into the color scheme, and this is actually the second-to-last Mateo strip to be in color. If I had more time, I would color them. Since I am inherently lazy, though, I feel like I'm better off leaving them in black and white and adding a little bit of gray and backgrounds here and there.

Here is the rest of the commentary:

A few notes about this one, aside from the obvious: the background is supposed to be fireworks going off. The text is the same as the previous one, and I did have to make some color choices, color choices I will probably never do again (because I don't want to color again). Anyways, enjoy the fully colored strip.

This strip is to ring in the New Year. I actually drew and inked this on New Years day as a little bonus when I posted the other couple of strips, but then my scanner and my computer didn't work and I couldn't get it uploaded.

A couple of notes: I went through a semi-stylistic change and used a brush to go into the black. Also, I tended to simplify the designs and use less line work so that the strip is more streamlined. Also, there are a few additions to the strip that I address in later strips (such as Mateo's black shirt...)

I upped the resolution to try and make it easier, so we'll see how it works. I do want to post it in color, so when I have the time I will color this and the other one.

The plot for this strip came from my brother, who had been on a huge Terminator kick recently. Of course, since he's obsessed with it, he brings his obsession home and I end up watching Terminator 1, 3, and the Sarah Connor Chronicles. So that's where the inspiration for this small strip came from.

As always, read, comment, and enjoy.

MATEO #3

Would like to say more about this one, but I'll just drag comments:

I did modify my technique slightly, especially in the background. They are indeed in a car, and instead of highlighting all of the gritty details of the car, I just left it all one neutral color. Likewise, most of the background colors are the same, which I doubt I'll do again. I thought I'd try something different and it didn't work, though I do like the way the lights on the backgrounds turned out.

The biggest mistake: I forgot to color Floyd's fuzz. Well, I'll get it next time; not too much a stickler for those nitty details right now. Otherwise, a pretty decent outing of this one.

The gag comes strait from a person I know. I find texting (or txting, or whatever it's called) to be a bit (well, a lot) of a hassle and can't really think of any particularly good use aside from cheating on tests (I don't do that...). Someone then pointed out to me that it was good for a quick note, but as most people know, this happens not very often with TXT conversations.

Well anyways, this is the end of my overly long comments.

As always, relax, read it, enjoy it, and comment on it!

MATEO #2

MATEO #2

This one is the second MATEO strip I did. The art is a bit more sloppy since the first one, a trend that really continues for a while... The tail to the lettering is now done by hand instead of using french curves to produce the tail, which freed me up a little bit more than in the first one.

I tried some interesting things with the coloring on this one, and almost all of the things I tried I hated. Firstly, I tried to show escalation of conflict (no matter how minor it is in this strip) reflected through the colors. We can see everything is cool in the first panel, but as Floyd becomes more and more desperate, the colors gradually shift toward warmer, hot, and then back to cool when Mateo finally gets the money from him. Likewise, Floyd wants the money because he wants to call his girlfriend, but because he doesn't have any minutes, he's feeling fairly "blue", as reflected in his shirt. Mateo, being greedy, is wearing green, the color of money. Also, Mateo envies Floyd, he's basically "green with envy".

Not too much to say about this one. The plot comes from back when I was in Italy, and my friends would always hit up my phone because I had a bunch of spare minutes on it since no one would call me. I never really charged them, but finally one day one of the guys paid me some money to use the phone, and I (of course, needing the money myself) accepted. Unlike Mateo, however, I don't believe I forced them to pay me. Then again, they are using my minutes.

Ah, capitalism and the genuine capitalist model of supply and demand.

Matt R.

MATEO #1

MATEO #1

This is where the whole thing began. The characters (If you couldn't already guess) are MATEO and FLOYD (you should be able to acquire this information after reading the whole thing). Anyways, this probably isn't the greatest "initial" strip to run, partly because the main character isn't introduced until the end, but also because I never really give any firm indication of what these characters are or who they are, they just appear out of nowhere. In fact, even to this day the characters still remain as a sort of amalgam, not really well defined or anything. However, whenever I write for them they all have a clear, strong voice, and I can anticipate pretty much what each character is going to say before they even say it, for the most part. Therefore, writing the characters is pretty easy, even if they aren't defined at all (by most people's standards).

The art itself, well I went through a few phases. Looking back on this strip is pretty strange to me, because the characters are HUGE by comparison. The camera is really close to both of them, and I felt like I really had to cram them into the panels. As I worked on the strip, I became lazier and lazier and my characters, while still retaining their basic look, began to lose a bit of the reality they have in these strips (as well as most of the rest of my art).

I colored this one for God knows what reason, realizing that, later, coloring each of the strips is a pain in the ass and something I never want to do again. However, I'll probably continue to color the strips, though the colored strips will fall far behind the black and white originals pretty quickly, especially by the time I begin to employ black and white photoshop techniques.

I really don't consider myself too funny, and in fact there haven't really been that many people who look at my strips and laugh out loud. However, I find my own sense of humor rewarding, and the fact that I can come back, day after day, and still enjoy the punchline to most of my strips is great, to me. My written humor plays strong off of irony and predictability, while, like most humor, the constant is the timing. Again, I don't think I'm particularly funny, nor thinking that my timing is great, but I enjoy them and I hope you do as well.

Matthew Randall.