With the new layout of smack jeeves, I’ve decided to take advantage of the News page. Normally I would post all details in the latest comic because it was convenient to see the relevant news post with the latest comic. I noticed that a majority of readers tend to read the comic and the first few comments (Speaking from experience). So, I figured this would be a great place to discuss the random blurbs of thought that come across my mind. These thoughts have a relationship to the comic because they deal with the video games I play, how I see smack Jeeves, and just anything that might remotely interesting to read.

So with that, I wish to talk about sprite comics.

I know, a topic beaten to death just about everyone and everything who stumbles across this site. Yet, I feel that I should leave my opinion on such a genre. Sprite comics are an excellent source for learning how to create a comic. You don’t need to be artistically great to create a decent looking sprite comic. With it you can learn which positions a character is placed, how to created speech bubbles, how to layout and panel a comic, and learn how to use the various types of tools that come with paint/paint.net/gimp/photoshop (to name a few). Yet, it deprives the user of artistically advancing their own art skills at creating a comic. Sure, you can add all the effects you want, give the characters new clothes, and create new sprites for the comic. It doesn’t do anything more for the comic other than add sparkles and shines to a bland genre.

My issue with spriting (the ones who use popular video games to create it) is it feels almost bland. I know there are a few comics that stand out from the crowd. Some of these comics even have engaging stories that is fun to read. However, the visual appeal is quite boring. If you have seen one sonic sprite comic, you’ve seen them all. The positions and expressions are so universally used that it is impossible to experience anything new from a sprite comic. I’ve tried to even look at some of the most popular and new sprite comics. However, I wasn’t able to find anything remotely unique out of any of them. Some had custom sprites, but soon paid their homage by having the same expressions as sonic and tails.

It got so bad, that eventually I created a comic called “Sonic Author Adventure Hang-Out 6” (sonic 6 for short). Sonic 6 is a satire poking fun at the blatantly obvious mistakes many sprite authors make. It was to point out that some people are not ready to make a comic, it points out the drama that sprite comics occasionally cause, and ultimately are just stupid. What happens when anyone under 16 years of age see when they first visit smack jeeves? They catch their favorite video game character in a random banner. The person is then warped into believing sprite comics and author comics are a popular and fun thing to do. “Making a sprite comic isn’t hard”, the guy/girl will say to themselves. They then fuel the ever growing genre that wasn’t that good to begin with.

One big reason why I draw is because I don’t have to pick and choose what sprite I’m going to use next. It not only saves me time making a comic, but I don’t have any blocky restrictions in making it. I started off pretty bad at making webcomics. Today, one year after fine tuning my technique, I have something unique that belongs to me. If you put my comic up to someone else’s work, you can tell the difference between the two. Even more so, you can tell which art belongs to whom. Sprite comics can’t do that.

To wrap this up, I’m just annoyed by the spriting genre. They can update at ridiculous speeds, and clutter the front page. It makes it difficult for those who take the time to make a comic to get notice. In the end, the comic style doesn’t appeal to me.

TL;DR: I don’t hate it, I’m just annoyed by it.

Anyone willing to comment?