5. QDC#5: May 8th, 2009 - "Loss"

The following is from the quarterdown.com article of the same name and can also be found here.

I feel it is in the interest of my reputation (whatever that’s worth) as an artist to say a little something about this comic. First of all, I did not have a seizure or a stroke of any kind that led me to draw and color in this manner, despite appearances to the contrary.

This comic is for the twelve or so fans of “Ctrl+Alt+Del,” a web comic by Tim Buckley, as well as for everyone who bet on Duke. Now, I really do have to give credit to Mr. Buckley. Anyone who can make a living off of web comics clearly can’t be entirely bad, and to be fair I’ve only read about eight or nine of his comics. That being said, we still intend to make fun of him.

This fifth installment of the QuarterDown Comic was actually really challenging to draw. Not only did I have to emulate a style which I’m unaccustomed to, but it was a style that makes very little sense to me. I literally had to restrain my hand from adding shadows and highlights where I actually thought they should go and instead had to force my brain to go against all of the art training that it’s been exposed to. On top of that, I had to change Buckley’s characters into George Broussard, lead developer for Duke Nukem Forever (laughter is appropriate here), and, of course, Duke himself. The comic is, if I do say so myself, quite an accurate representation of Mr. Buckley’s style; from the amazing variety of facial expressions all the way down to the innovative light sources. Speaking of light sources, what the hell is up with panel two? In order for those shadows to make sense, either the doctor or George would have to be creating some sort of sphere of magic light energy from his hand.

In all seriousness, I don’t think I’ll be taking Mr. Buckley’s style up any time soon, but it was interesting to try it out, even if it does seem ass-backwards to me. Remember kids: when aliens and dinosaurs and all sorts of other bat-shit crazy nonsense that prevents you from watching your damn soap operas starts going down – always bet on duke. P.S. If you'd like a little more context, click here and here.