Megathread The Lara-Su Chronicles and Ken Penders topic - READ PAGE 164, POST 4096

[RetroRy]

Hmm...looks close enough.  I believe we found our traced stock picture.

Edited September 2, 2015 by chaosjam

[horridus]

And of course, our first look at the book does not involve Lara-Su in any capacity, but THIS guy. Cause you know, nobody at all reads a book for the titualar protagonist.

I'm not sure what's more painful; the imagery, or that dialogue. 

[Toby]

Perhaps he's hoping for a Samuel Jackson/Nick Fury situation with this character.

[Gatestormer]

Hmm...looks close enough.  I believe we found our traced stock picture.

Wow.

Just wow.

Ken even left in that little bump in the shape of the left ear, it's just traced. I honestly didn't think even he would stoop that low.

 

[horridus]

 

Wow.

Just wow.

Ken even left in that little bump in the shape of the left ear, it's just traced. I honestly didn't think even he would stoop that low.

 

Never, ever, EVER underestimate Penders ability to disappoint you. I thought I'd seen everything from him, at one point, but then he just went on his merry way proving how little shame he really has as an artist.

[antyep]

Never, ever, EVER underestimate Penders ability to disappoint you. I thought I'd seen everything from him, at one point, but then he just went on his merry way proving how little shame he really has as an artist.

It's rather amazing, really. Brings a tear in your eye. Though the reason why pretty much boils down to you, really.

[SBR2]

There's a Red vs Blue quote that fits this perfectly.

"That is really really disappointing and also not shocking which is also really really disappointing."

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

And of course, our first look at the book does not involve Lara-Su in any capacity, but THIS guy. Cause you know, nobody at all reads a book for the titualar protagonist.

I'm not sure what's more painful; the imagery, or that dialogue. 

I'd say both. 

[Zaysho]

I find it hilarious that Pen has copied his model's exact expression and it doesn't fit at all with the spoken dialogue.

And would it be fair to guess the background images are lifted from somewhere else too?

[Verb & Noun]

I'd like to see him actually draw his own comics without using stock items and traces.

I guess this proves my theory of him using 3D models for his pages wrong then. Unless he somehow melds them together and then claims it's 'seamless'.

 

That said that wouldn't make sense. He has a model of this guy and chose not to use it.

Oh well. I was wrong.

 

Quick edit-

I've realized something right now. All those times he drew decent faces in the Star Trek comics it was because he was likely second-hand copying faces just like he did here. I had been confused at why his Lost Ones faces tended to be all over the place. It was because he had no reference photographs to work off of. He can only draw a decent face if he has a reference in front of him. Otherwise their facial features wander all over, like nostrils moving to the center of the face. He's a worse artist than I had given him credit for and somehow that makes me sad. How much farther can one man disappoint me?

Edited September 2, 2015 by Verb & Noun

[Zaysho]

Yeah, actually, if you look at the convention sketches he's posted to his Twitter, you see a similar pattern. Anything that's pulled directly from a reference, actually looks decent. Stiff, but it at least pulls off a decent likeness. Anything that's drawn from memory or his own interpretation though? Forget it.

Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with using reference, and I defend tracing as a learning tool, but this? No. This is some Greg Land bullshit right here.

[horridus]

Gotta also love how it looks nothing, nothing at all like his earlier posted designs for the guy. 

I know, it's a bit of a minor quibble in the face of him, well, fucking *tracing*, but still. 

[Verb & Noun]

Tracing is a learning tool for young artists and is defensible on that grounds as it allows them to become familiar with forms. This is a grown man who considers himself an industry professional but uses it as a crutch. That's not really acceptable. Especially not for work that's going to be sold.

Looking away from the face, the hands look like mittens.

This is extremely poor quality and this has basically destroyed any hope for there being any redeeming features to the art. By using 3D models I thought I could at least depend on there being consistency in shading and forms, but we don't even have that.

The only thing left with the possibility of holding my attention is story but... well.

[Zaysho]

I completely forgot he even released a model for this character.

And it's even more shocking (maybe it's not, he just keeps sinking further and further...) to me that he didn't just reference the face his modeller did. For that matter, weren't these models meant to be for promotional purposes and reference? Or were they supposed to be used in the comic as well? I really don't remember.

[horridus]

I completely forgot he even released a model for this character.

And it's even more shocking (maybe it's not, he just keeps sinking further and further...) to me that he didn't just reference the face his modeller did. For that matter, weren't these models meant to be for promotional purposes and reference? Or were they supposed to be used in the comic as well? I really don't remember.

Who knows, man, who knows. Penders has been so inconsistent about everything regarding this project, trying to get a straight story is just borderline impossible. He's claimed that this was exclusively going to be a digital release, and yet here we have him saying that this new page is for the PRINT release. I don't think even *he* really knows and just says stuff to appear like he has an actual game plan. 

[Sunwalker]

So I made these comparisons with the pictures posted here earlier:

[MightyRay]

Oh man! I wake up this morning to find Mr. Penders has graduated from using photo backgrounds from Google to using celebrities' photos from Google! Holy fish I can't contain my laughter this is just pure comedy gold. 

Seriously though why did he get SpringytheSnake to make that 3D model if he's just going to steal photos from google? Is Michael going to wind up with a bunch of different black guys faces all pinched from Google because Penders can't be arsed drawing his face over and over?

[Shaddy Zaphod]

So I made that joke about insulting Eddie Murphy, but now Anthony Mackie? How long until we see him use another different guy, and have the fact that they're all supoosed to be the same character be used to call him out for racism?

Fuck it, he deserves it if the evidence shows anything. I bet he's going to have some sort of racist symbolism and pass it off as something else "because ALIENS GUYS IT'S NOT A WATERMELON, it just LOOKS like one". I have no standards in the shit he isn't willing to pull anymore.

[Jason Berry]

So I made these comparisons with the pictures posted here earlier:

Isn't that the actor who recently played Johnny Storm in that Fantastic Four movie?

EDIT: No, it's Anthony Mackie http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1107001/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

 

Edited September 2, 2015 by Jason the Jackass

[The Tenth Doctor]

Wait, that's page 2 of the actual comic right? The one he's selling, not the web comic? So what's stopping someone alerting Anthony Mackie that someone is using his likeness and going to be profiting from it?

[Jason Berry]

Wait, that's page 2 of the actual comic right? The one he's selling, not the web comic? So what's stopping someone alerting Anthony Mackie that someone is using his likeness and going to be profiting from it?

Bingo! This goes way beyond using public domain images of space because you can't be bothered to fucking draw. This is an actor's image he traced and is using without the man's consent. He could get into legal trouble.

JUST FUCKING DRAW CARTOON CHARACTERS! WHY IS THAT SO HARD FOR YOU?! (Oh wait, I forget he can't draw worth shit.)

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Drawing cartoon characters isn't even that hard. I understand wanting to have a style, even a more realistic one, but there's such thing as working within your limits.

That reminds me, I really need to work on making this icon a little less derpy...

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Bingo! This goes way beyond using public domain images of space because you can't be bothered to fucking draw. This is an actor's image he traced and is using without the man's consent. He could get into legal trouble.
JUST FUCKING DRAW CARTOON CHARACTERS! WHY IS THAT SO HARD FOR YOU?! (Oh wait, I forget he can't draw worth shit.)

Because it would require actual effort, and clearly, Penders doesn't believe that his ''so called fans'' deserve effort.

Penders, there really isn't no level you won't stoop to is there? I'd say you've hit bottom of the barrel at this point, but being honest, you've destroyed the bottom of the barrel, and then began making your way underground.

This is nothing but complete and utter laziness and complete shit. Not only did you have to resort to tracing over a fucking person's face, but you made it that somehow, it still looks super crappy, the art in general looks like complete shit, and the writing? I think this puts it best.

This writing is absolutely awful. This is one fucking page at the fucking beginning of the book and already, you're making idiotic references (so Planet of the Apes is now canon to the TL-SC lore. Nice to know). Your writing down a load of Sci-Fi shit that I don't give a shit about because of course you haven't introduced any of this stupid crap, and of course, there's the final line which in general is stupid. Oh and that's not to mention the fact that the lines are desperately trying to sound serious and yet Mr. Generic Spaceman is smiling like an idiot. But hey, I guess trying to find a picture to trace that even matches the emotion your character is trying to have would be too much work for you Penders.

In the words of Buzz Lightyear:

 

[Disonoid 3000]

I don't get why he's showing us this to begin with. If he's trying to show that he actually is getting stuff done, using the second page probably wasn't a good idea. If he's just trying to build hype, he should be continuing the prequel.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I don't get why he's showing us this to begin with. If he's trying to show that he actually is getting stuff done, using the second page probably wasn't a good idea. If he's just trying to build hype, he should be continuing the prequel.

He claims it's the first page in the actual storyline.