Comic Fury Webcomic Hosting - Please critique Don't Look In That Bucket

With seventy comics under my belt I thought I'd go for a critique. Here's the link: dontlookinthatbucket.thecomicseries.com/

Simple gag-a-day comic drawn in MS Paint. I've tried focusing on the humour rather than the art since I suck at drawing.

Well, from what I can tell with a cursory review:


Do you draw the border lines manually? I think I saw some stray pixels somewhere.

This isn't about the art or humor, but rather the layout of the comic, Try to find a set format to use, having a square panel comic, then a horizontal line comic, then a vertical line comic can be confusing. One thing I've been told in comics is to "do each page as if the person reading it is completely new to reading comics". it leads to thinks like guiding the eye, making certain talking characters stand out, but it also helps to have consistency in how its being read, that way you don't take the reader out of the experience.

But Duchre! You don't have hair! and you're blue! Are you a witchdoctor?

The humor, I find it to be hit and miss. Don't hate me for saying this, but I can see myself reading this in my local newspaper it it matched the small format with more concise jokes. But that wouldn't help, the restrictions are too stringent for this. In fact there are many strips that are quite clever. and I do like the Crazy Robot sections. In fact:

1. Crazy Robot- This has potential!
2. random gag characters- This is what the comic was made with in mind, the art stems from these characters the downside is they are random characters, and I dunno, I don't get attached to steve and bob, especially since they die every other week.
3. Star Trek lookalikes- I'm a Star Trek fen, and I get most of the nerdy jokes here in this comic. but---eh, that current page just turned me off to him.

And Steve C. disliked Duchre, and rejected his friend requests for all eternity.

In summary, I think theres more you can do with this. It may be a gag a day comic, but even gag a days need consistency and measurements. With some polish to the characters and the comic. You'll see more of its jokes hit, and characters that will leave us wanting more.

I HATE YOU YOU JUST DON'T GET IT

Nah, thanks for the review. It's about time I got a few pointers, since I've never really had an honest, more in-depth impression of the comic before. I think I'll take you up on the characters; I've been trying to come up with newer stuff recently anyway, which you might have noticed (the "Steve and B" stuff thins out about fifty strips in or so).

So yeah, cheers.

Steve, I personally like your random and outside of the box thinking. I do find the common complaint about using simple forms for the characters to be present where I have a harder time keeping track of who's who especially when it's b/w. Some the strips would greatly benefit from using more expressions thru mouths, eyebrows, hands, etc. I'm always amazed by artists such as yourself who change plot themes on every page. That's a lot of brain power being used. I feel your art shines a little brighter when you put more effort into mixing it up with different backgrounds, angles, colors. Overall, great job!!!