Copy and past. usefull time saver or lazy and off putting?

Jeffy · Post by **Jeffy** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 7:24 am

copy and paste is the best way to do things, no matter what

Bekka · Post by **Bekka** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 7:29 am

I do it VERY occasionally. In

http://thenoob.keenspace.com/d/20040927.html

the last two images are copy-pasted, although I changed Tacobell's expression and shortened the candle to give an idea that time had passed. However I didn't do it to cut corners, I wanted to give an idea of a very, very long moment of stillness from the moment that she asks the question in the image on the left to the realisation that Ohforf is not answering in the image on the right.

Other times though I just do it to cut corners (again, rarely). Lord Ironman in the last image of this strip:

http://thenoob.keenspace.com/d/20041216.html

will reappar with changed expression and different context in the first image of tomorrow's strip. I did it to save time, in this case

Hopefully it won't be too noticeable because there have been a few strips in between.

Lyren · Post by **Lyren** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:02 am

Ah, see I draw a large background and paste sections of it in the comic. That way, when the camera pans, you get a different view. I won't make a new background for everypanel. I tend to put a lot of detail in it, so I don't need the headache. And I hope that my characters are expressive enough that you don't notice the background too much...

War · Post by **War** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:06 am

As far as I can recall I've used copy/paste twice. Once was when the entire comic was based around each frame looking identical and it was integral to the gag (and it's one of peoples favourite strips) and another was more recent, the comic where McDuffies got hit in the balls (the first time).
I do not like copying and pasting, it's lazy and it doesn't look too good. You end up with the anathema of webcomics, talking heads. I make sure I avoid talking heads at all costs nowadays, give people something more interesting to look at.

Godoftarot · Post by **Godoftarot** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:39 am

I have never used copy and paste. I have, however, used a clone tool when I've lost something in the comic. There was a point where a ton of space on the ground disappeared, so I cloned it and patched it up. Worked like a charm.

Birdie · Post by **Birdie** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 9:59 am

Man my comic lives off of copy + paste. That's the backbone of my strip, and I think it hurts my comic in some aspects, but I think for the general humor of the strip it's okay. Once I get a new computer I fully plan on doing hand drawn strips with new poses and such. But for now it, it's me imitating Garfield or Redmeat with just monotone action and cut and paste glory.

Ghastly · Post by **Ghastly** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:07 am

It's a useful time saver and it's lazy too.

I've been guilty of it in the past more than once. I've made it my new year's resolution this year not to take excessive shortcuts with my artwork anymore. I really want to begin to learn how to actually freakin' draw now so I can move on to other works.

Vorticus · Post by **Vorticus** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:39 am

It's laziness, and also much of my comic. However I'm trying to move away from it.

Alschroeder · Post by **Alschroeder** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:46 am

I've only used it occasionally...for instance, at the end of this storyline, it seemed to fit. http://mindmistress.keenspace.com/miracle67.htm....or here at the other end of a storyline at --http://mindmistress.keenspace.com/horror54.htm---and there was the storyline where I used a recurring image of an eye to be a link between realities, like http://mindmistress.keenspace.com/imagine35.htm (click on the eye, you'll see what I mean.)---Al

Stinkywigfiddle · Post by **Stinkywigfiddle** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:49 am

I've never used copy and paste in a serious comic and I don't plan to. There was one time I made a crappier version of my comic by drawing it in MS Paint and copy&pasting everything.

The Neko · Post by **The Neko** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:53 am

Sometimes it works. I've been guilty of it. Awkward pauses are often better as a repeated panel than a newly-drawn one.

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:22 am

As a general rule? NEVER EVER EVER!

I tend to disslike comics that use Cuting and pasting. It's lazy and even worse when they try and move arms and such to "fool" me into thinking it's different. It doesn't work. People just don't bend that way and it ends up showing how little they know.

I do make one ecception to this and that is drawing a background separately and pasting it in behind characters or even better drawing the whole frame with characters and all separate and pasting it into a blank frame. I accept this because on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper you really can't do decently detailed backgrounds. Forget adding any decent kind of perspective drawing for more than one frame in such a small page. It's part of the reason pro's work on larger paper. As long as you don't shrink it too much or squeeze the immage to fit the frame as McDuffies mentioned (crop it instead) it looks great. But that requires MORE work to do so I doubt it's really the same kind of thing we are talking about.

Genesis_13 · Post by **Genesis_13** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:34 pm

I only think it's acceptable if it's for a purpose, such as showing small differences between panels (in which you change something small, such as an expression) where only a copy of a panel can show it.

Wow, that made a lot of sense...

Luprand · Post by **Luprand** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:38 pm

Sometimes, copy/paste is useful for a quick sight gag; otherwise, it can get old.

--Sij

[geoduck] · Post by **[geoduck]** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:41 pm

I think that straight cut-n-paste does get old fast, but I do a lot of "trace and paste"; lay a semi-transparent layer over an old(er) character image and draw the new image on top of it, altering the expression and position of limbs as needed. It's faster than doing it from scratch, and if you're a deliberately a little sloppy in your tracing, it changes the result enough that it looks better than just a straight copy.

And I do the "one big background" thing as well. You can work on more detail, and do one (relatively) nice picture. In a recent background pic, I kept extending the length in both directions and adding more stuff, so I could pan across it in a series of panels.

TheSuburbanLetdown · Post by **TheSuburbanLetdown** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 2:47 pm

The Neko wrote:Sometimes it works. I've been guilty of it. Awkward pauses are often better as a repeated panel than a newly-drawn one.

This is true.
I sort of did this once. But I actually drew the same scene from the same angle four times because it's what the scene demanded, and I couldn't copy and paste because there were slight differences in the characters' body language. I find that trying the draw the same scene more than once from the same angle is actually kind of hard because you need to make everything line up.
It's here if anyone wants to see.
Stragnely enough, this little filler strip is a favorite among many people.

Psiogen · Post by **Psiogen** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:53 pm

chibiartstudios wrote:I do make one ecception to this and that is drawing a background separately and pasting it in behind characters
[...]

This is something I experimented with at one point, but I hated it. It was more time-consuming than just drawing it into the original layout, and it never looked as good. I'd end up with things sticking into the characters (or the panel borders) in weird, visually jarring ways because I hadn't been able to see both the foreground and background together as I was drawing. It just made it impossible for the foreground and background to interact in any useful way.

It's here if anyone wants to see.
Strangely enough, this little filler strip is a favorite among many people.

That's an awesome strip! And a great example of how NOT using cut 'n' paste can enhance a gag, even when it would be so easy.

HeDanny · Post by **HeDanny** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:08 pm

How come no one has mentioned Sortelli? EOI is a shining light of genius where Copy / paste was conscerned. He turned an oft overused shortcut into an artform.

In all honesty once EOI strayed from the copy / paste (around the time W00t showed up) I started to loose interest.

Do not get me wrong. I think Sortelli is a really good cartoonist and the drawing skills of the later EOI strips was great to amazing, but that specific comic has held together by the copy / paste. It gave it soul.

Anyone out there read a SNAKE TAILS by SOL? That is another example where Copy / Paste works wonderfully. I am quite sure that is an Aussie Newspaper Strip only, so most of you may not know it.

Cope · Post by **Cope** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:15 pm

HeDanny wrote:How come no one has mentioned Sortelli? EOI is a shining light of genius where Copy / paste was conscerned. He turned an oft overused shortcut into an artform.

Just out of curiosity, didn't Sortelli say at some point that he stopped using cut & paste because the cleaning up took longer than redrawing the characters in every panel?

Anyone out there read a SNAKE TAILS by SOL? That is another example where Copy / Paste works wonderfully.

I disagree politely but wholeheartedly.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:02 pm

I did mention Sortelli, you missed it.

Cope wrote:
HeDanny wrote:How come no one has mentioned Sortelli? EOI is a shining light of genius where Copy / paste was conscerned. He turned an oft overused shortcut into an artform.
Just out of curiosity, didn't Sortelli say at some point that he stopped using cut & paste because the cleaning up took longer than redrawing the characters in every panel?

He did consider switching for a long time. His major reason for copy/paste was, it fitted comic's topic and somehow it was a logical way. But at the end he did go hand-drawing after everyone told him what we just said in this thread. I don't remember that exact quote that you mention, but it seems likely.