Robot Beach by Matt Forcum

The Gang over at Tall Tale Features have just finished completely re-working their website and have started a feature where they review one webcomic every week, and I am flattered that they have chosen to start things off with a nice, in-depth review of my little strip!

David Reddick, Norm Feuti, and Scott Metzger all contributed to the review. These three are extremely talented and established cartoonists in their own right, and it is a huge honor to get an honest critique from them. They had a lot of good things to say, and some very fair criticism as well. I will be sure to keep it their words in mind as I work to improve my strip. Be sure to head on over to the new Tall Tale Features site and check out the review! And leave a comment letting them know how much their thoughts are appreciated.

In other news, I did a little test this weekend to see how I liked drawing my strip live on Ustream. Turns out it works pretty well, and so I have decided to make a regular event of it. I will be drawing live every Saturday starting at 10:00 pm eastern. Feel free to swing on by my Ustream channel and say hi! To make things easy, I’ve added a handy button in the sidebar of this site that will take you to where all the action is.

The Wishtales gang pointed us to an interview with Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes. It is a nice interview, but what is astounding is this happens to be his first interview in fifteen years! Edit: turns out that’s not true. I found an interview from 2005 right here.

So the question on everyone’s mind is: “Will there be another strip?” The answer is… Probably not. It seems to be a shame that an artist with so much talent would find more comfort in keeping it to himself. Calvin and Hobbes came into my life at just the right moment and kept me focused on the goal of one day getting paid to draw. During those crazy years of Jr. High and early high school life, when other kids were sneaking off to smoke cigarettes, I was sitting down to draw. (And yes, cigarettes were about as bad as it got in my school. Tame, I know.) There are many more kids struggling through life right now who could use Watterson’s guidance as much, if not more, than I did when I was their age.

Anyway, Check out the interview, It’s pretty interesting!

NOTE: I hear that some people may need to register (free) to view the article. Works for me though.

Hey gang,

Well, It seems everyone else had a coloring tutorial except me, so I decided to do something about that. This video is my first live broadcast ever! It is perhaps a bit long and a bit rough, but it is pretty informational I think. It kinda gives you a good idea of what goes into making a Robot Beach strip.

If you’ve got 45 minutes free, why not check out my digital process?

If your like me, (and I know you are) then you love robots. You also probably really love very finely crafted experiences that center around robots. If this is the case, then you are sure to love Machinarium. It is one of the most beautiful and meticulously created games I have played in a long while.

CGSociety has a very nice interview with Jakub Dvorský who was a chief designer for the game. He says:

“We felt we needed something warm with visible human touch in it to create a contrast to that robotic world that the character goes into, so we came up with an idea of hand-drawn backgrounds which are scanned and finished in Photoshop. Also the animations are mostly hand-animated frame by frame, the sounds effects live recorded and the music full of live instruments.”

The amount of time necessary to create a game in that manner is rather insane. It could be so easy (and must be terribly tempting) to use more “cost effective” methods for creating the art and animation, yet it is this carefully hand-crafted approach that gives the game it’s character and sets it apart from most everything else. It is really a marvel to consider the time and energy that went into the creation of this game.

Check out the interview, and please be sure to check out Machinarium as well.

The cartooning and animation communities recently banned together to help the family of Tim Hodge, a former Disney animator and a writer and director on the very popular Veggie Tales series. I don’t know Tim personally, but being a big fan of animation, and a HUGE Veggie Tales fan, his work has influenced me greatly over the years. I got to meet him when he came to speak at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and I was blown away by his enthusiasm and excitement in sharing his passion for art and animation with others.

Now we have an opportunity to help him and his family during a serious time of need. The following is from helpthehodges.com

On August 22, 2009 Matthew Hodge, the 17-year-old son of former Disney story artist and Big Idea productions director Tim Hodge, was in a serious auto accident. A train struck his car at 50mph as he was crossing the tracks. While Matt suffered neither broken bones nor any internal organ damage, he did receive severe head trauma causing him to remain in a state of coma today. Matt is a high school senior, a straight A student, and a drummer in his state championship marching band.

Being self-employed, the Hodge family has short term medical insurance that will not fully cover all of their bills. Additionally, with the care they are giving Matt, full-time work is not possible for Tim right now. This loving family is relying on their faith and the love of family and friends for their survival. This is a tragic accident that will forever affect their lives as the road to recovery for Matt may be a long one.

The National Cartoonist Society Foundation has set up an ebay auction in support of this cause. The list of contributing artists is too many to list here but many of the items for auction are simply amazing! (Original Charlie Brown art drawn by Charles Schulz anyone?) I highly encourage everyone to head over to helpthehodges.com for more information on how you can help today.