From the sketchpad 3

Well, looks like it's time for another view from the sketchpad. Or in this case, from the computer. And today's theme is "Just how much does the artwork change before we see it?"

As you might guess, the general answer is "it depends." We'll look at a particular example today and maybe make this a semi-regular feature. Perhaps.

In any event, what I've got for you today is Friday's strip in two versions. The first is the way it looked up until the day (or two) before launch. Something had been bugging me about it but I let it simmer while I worked on other things and only got serious as the deadline approached. And what I decided was that it needed more action. It was the 3rd in a series and the level of activity in it was really pretty similar to that of the second installment (Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010.). This wasn't surprising since that's the way I originally approached them. But now, looking at them both, it seemed like Wednesday had raised it up a notch from Monday and therefore Friday should do so as well. Take a second to examine both and see what differences you can find.

comparison pic

There are several distinct changes. Let's see if you got 'em. First of all, I cmopletely redid the dog from the neck back. His original pose was the same as Wednesday's (essentially) and I wanted him getting even madder. And what I did was have him running like crazy, but not getting anywhere because of the chain. He's so frantic that his hind legs are actually elevated in the air.

Second, I finally let us hear him growling. On Monday and Wednesday he was silent. But now he's mad! So mad that he's knocked his water bowl over.

Is that all? No. A change you might not notice at first, but which works to enhance the flow of the piece, involves the blue sky. In the first version it's a single shade of blue. But in the lower version there's a horizontal gradient. Deepest blue on the left and progressively lighter as you move right. This does two things. It emphasizes the word bubbles by enhancing contrast. And it subtly draws your eye right, onto the action.

All in all, a fair bit of change that in my opinion raised the toon to a higher level. What do you think?

- And that's today's word from the bird