The Drunk Duck Quackcast

We're having a chat about characters that differ from the source material and turn out crap because of it. Characters where the people adapting them didn't care, understand, or even take time to read the original stuff because they thought they knew better. There are a lot of instances where characters are adapted from source material and get totally messed up because the writers either don't understand or care about the source material they're taking from. Were not talking about being exactly true to a book, we're talking about understanding and respecting the characters so you can translate them to another medium and still have them recognisable and be themselves. There are many examples of poor character translation… apparently this is what happened with The Witcher in the 3rd season of the show. The story is that the led actor, Henry Cavil is a fan of the character from the books and games and took exception to the character's dilution and sidelining as the series progressed. We've been told that the writers for the show would openly laugh at the source material, something they're not really qualified to do since even the well regarded first series is extremely badly written and only gets the praise it does because of Cavel's portrayal of the lead character. An example that's very near and dear to me is the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. This is a sort of a special case since the author had SOME involvement in it before he died but not enough apparently. the characters of Arthur Dent as played by Martin Freeman and Ford Prefect by Mos Def are terrible interpretations, so much so that they end up actively damaging the movie and harming the story. The essence of Arthur's character is a bemused, suburban British superiority: He has an expectation that as a British citisen his rights should be respected, his opinion should be listened to, people should understand his language, and things should conform to his suburban understanding of what is normal and good, all this is signaled by his wearing of Pajamas, a dressing gown and slippers the whole time. Whereas Martin Freeman's version simply doesn't understand what he's seeing and goes through the whole movie with an affronted frown on his stupid face. This is absolutely incorrect! Rather than not understanding anything Arthur is suppose to believe that he understands everything, but only in simple, suburban British terms,so that he can go through the story with a sense of befuddled superiority. Ford Prefect is supposed to be cool. He's easy going, and just meshes with whatever situation he's in, even if he doesn't understand it. He's very smart and quick to adapt. Mos Def's version is just a moron who looks good. All that said,Sam Rockwell's version of Zaphod was more perfect than perfect, and Zoe Dashenell was perfectly fine as Trillian, but that character was never ever written well to begin with in the original. What characters do you think with translated poorly in an adaption? Adam West's Batman? Hernry Cavil's Superman? Who? This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Oi Tales of Bardic Fury - A Jangling, reverential, exotic, evocative sound of places far away, the smell of sweet spices, mulled wine, and cured meats on the warm breeze in the salty air… Topics and shownotes Future cast: TRON and TRON 2 Links Featured comic: RATKIDS - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/aug/01/featured-comic-ratkids/ Featured music: Oi Tales of Bardic Fury - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Oi_Tales_of_Bardic_Fury/ - by Omeow, rated E. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

Drawing fight scenes is damn hard! One of the best ways to deal with this is to use references, but that's hard too because it's a pain to find the ones you need! So today we're talking about making your own reference pics for fighting because that's what I just finished for Tantz- I stripped shirtless and wielded some of my many antique swords in fight poses for Tantz to use in her new fantasy webcomic. You can also look at movie versions of stage fighting but those are pretty unrealistic usually and don't have a follow through of action. You can use fight manuals but actual realistic fighting isn't very exciting or interesting to look at. There's footage of training and sparring with people doing fencing, kendo, battle of nations or HEMA but those are all unrealistic in certain ways too because they're forms of stylised fighting designed to earn points- real fights would never have gone down that way. Even with HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts), which is supposed to be the most realistic, it really isn't because people rely on their protection too much and always rush in fast for killing hits because they wear advanced protection, when in a real historical fight people would be more careful to avoid injury, which would slow the fight a LOT. My solution was to pose in semi realistic ways that still look theatrical and heroic enough, so it's a balance between reality and theatricality. How do you do fight scenes? This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Echoes - A mystery is about to be uncovered, by how deep does it really go? This highly cinematic tune delves deeper and deeper into the shadow and windy, dusty dark spaces to find out things we never suspected or even dreamed of! When oh when will Peter Jackson hire Gunwallace to write the scores for his films? That’s what I want to know. Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Oi Tales of Bardic Fury - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jul/25/featured-comic-oi-tales-of-bardic-fury/ Featured music: Echoes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Echoes/ - by Usedbooks, rated T. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS Future-cast: Comic read though -We will ask Kawaii to pick a comic for us to read through on the cast

We're chatting about the current state of AI, it's use, abuse, and the moronic way it's typically being utalised by mid-level businesses to screw over creative people and save money in the short term. “AI” is the current big thing on the market, specifically “generative” AI that's been illegally trained on copyrighted datasets like chat GTP, Mid-Journey, Stable-Diffusion and more. This sort of AI could be extremely useful IF used in the correct ways: things like sifting through masses of data to filter results in crucial and important ways, instead it's being criminally abused by completely untalented, uncreative, pathetic, greedy losers with nothing more than a business degree, to steal work from their creative superiors and produce mindless pablum in the form of copy-editing, scripts, illustrations and more. And that's just scratching the surface. The biggest problem with the technology is that it can't actually create and it can't understand what it produces. It simply gives you a remix of existing data as an image, script, sound-file, or video. A moron might tell you that people do this as well, but they'd be completely wrong. The way humans create is far more complex and is never simply based on things that match a theme like it is with AI, but on things we actively WANT to represent. We have layers of intention, reasons, justifications, and even things like cultural background having a strong influence behind the sources we draw on. AI is the direct opposite of this as much as it's possible to be, there IS zero intent behind any of it, it's totally and absolutely mindless. The closest it gets is the human “prompter”, and their contribution is utterly laughable because the “prompts” are so limited, basic and stylised compared to the vastness of actual creative influence and skill. What this means is that the “creative” possibility of AI is extremely limited since it HAS to draw on real creative work in order to fake its own. If it comes to dominate the market it will kill off genuine human creatives and then it won't have any new sources to steal from, which will be its downfall because it will be forced to draw from the crap it produces itself and we will get degenerated copies of copies of copies. We're already seeing all sorts of interesting a terrible abuses. Production companies want to be able to digitise actors images and voices in order to keep them working forever but not have to pay them. They're doing the same with scripts from certain authors. This will kill off creative jobs, but it will also harm ALL of us as viewers. The harm this cheap, commerce driven garbage can do to culture is immeasurable and could be generational. There really need to be laws in place to govern the abuses of “generative” AI. An idiot might say “the cat's out of the bag now, we can't go back”, but they'd be wrong and stupid: society always has the ability to correct for abuses. This is why we haven't had the use of a nuclear weapon in anger since 1945, people can't just use full auto machine guns willy-nilly whenever they feel like it, people aren't walking around nude in the cities and having sex where they feel like it, and you can't just steal what you want. When the internet became popular in the later half of the 90s, illegal downloading of music, movies and software was universal and endemic, but now none of that is a big issue anymore. The “cat” is never irreversibly “out of the bag”. You can tell what side I'm on :) This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Domestic HellLand - Full of optimism and hope! Great things are jusssst around the corner. Life is amazing and wonderful things are about to happen. This is a very positive sounding piece, it’s all synth, piano and electric guitar. It’s full of happiness and light. Topics and shownotes Future cast: TRON and TRON 2 Links Featured comic: Eco Crew - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jul/18/featured-comic-eco-crew/ Featured music: Domestic HellLand - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Domestic_HellLand/ - by SheepSheket, rated M. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

We're talking about the pop-culture myth of psychopaths and sociopaths and other stuff like serial killers. Yes those conditions do exist, well sort of (not exactly with those names), but the pop-culture versions we know from the media are mostly myths. The real things aren't as exciting or flashy as the versions we know and love/hate from movies, comic, books, TV shows and podcasts. In fact even though people with antisocial conditions we know as psychopathy and sociopathy are over-represented in prisons they still only make up a small part of population there and there are many many more who live free among us and never even think of killing people or committing crimes. Ironically when they DO commit offenses they are not smart about it or devious the way the pop-culture versions are ALWAYS shown because that's not part of the condition. If a deviously, evilly, cleverly planned murder is committed then it's very unlikely to be a psychopath. We all tend to have the idea that a psychopath is some cold, calculating, very intelligent, evil person. a predatory wolf who observes and preys upon the passive sheep that are the res of humanity… This is pure fantasy and invention. The reality is that psychopaths tend to be less intelligent than most people because the condition they have directly stunts their social interaction and learning ability. They also don't plan out evil schemes because the condition is characterised by a lack of control, impassivity and an inability to delay gratification. These people are not the evil mastermind super-villains popculture makes them look like, instead they are mentally ill, damaged, and not fully formed. The only thing pop-culture sometimes gets right is the lack of empathy. Anyway, Tantz is the expert, hear her talk about it on the cast! What are your fave or least fave things about psychopaths? One of my least favourite shows in Psycho-pass. It's a cyberpunk anime about a police force that uses psychopaths to hunt down criminals because of their “unique” abilities, as well as an all-seeing administrator who controls everything and who has to be a psychopath. They're of course assisted by AI. This is a moronic anime that gets everything wrong about the future and is a total disservice to the entire cyberpunk genre. While Ghost in the Shell is quiet genius, this is simply a fart. This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Comfur-Chan - A bouncing, warm piano lead, rock road-trip. Burning down a hot highway, streaking past the scenery at a fair clip. This tune knows where it wants to go and it wants to get there fast! Topics and shownotes Links DSM entry on “psychopaths” - https://www.psi.uba.ar/academica/carrerasdegrado/psicologia/sitios_catedras/practicas_profesionales/820_clinica_tr_personalidad_psicosis/material/dsm.pdf Featured comic: Oni x Fox - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jul/11/featured-comic-oni-x-fox/ Featured music: Comfur-Chan - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Comfur_Chan/ - by Ksteak, rated E. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS Next week AI cast

With the release of the new Indiana Jones film comes some questions… We haven't seen it yet but we hear a lot of people don't like it and it's already being called a flop. But is that because it's actually bad, because people want it to be bad, or because it doesn't match people's expectations? What's the real story? It's hard to know at this point. That got me thinking about cult classics, which are usually things that don't find an audience right away and instead pick them up over time. And then there are things that only YOU like but everyone else seems to hate for whatever reason. And lastly things that everyone loves but you dislike. Some of the films we chatted about were Solo, Tank girl, Kinky Boots, The Rocky Horror picture show, Sucker Punch, TRON 1 and TRON and more. Tank Girl was my pick. When it came out it wasn't a big success mainly because audiences didn't know what to makes of it, it wasn't well marketed, it twisted its source material too much so that the relationship with it was thin, and it wasn't mainstream enough to work well as a major release. But along the way it found its own audience on video and DVD because even though it wasn't a good representative of the comic it was based on, it was something special and unique in its own right. Tank Girl is a beautiful representative of mid 90s alt culture and the Riot Grrrl movement. And in the end it was responsible for bringing many new readers to the comic it was based on. Another film I picked was Sucker Punch. This film was pretty much universally disliked when it came out and is still broadly disliked. I think the main reason was that people were lead to believe it would be a comic book action fantasy film instead of a heavy and heavy-handed physiological allegory about severe mental issues, depression, sexual abuse, trauma, and self sacrifice contrasted with cartoonishly sexy outfits and insane fantasy sequences. Though I really loved it and it's still one of my favourite movies. Over time I believe it has started to find its own particular audience. What are your fave cult classics? What do you think should be a cult classic. and what do you think does not deserve to be a classic? This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Blessed Days - Pale chartreuse blurs in the foreground. Bright light glimmers and sparkles through crystal clear water droplets. Yellow sun rises majestically.Energy infuses the day as the world vibrates ponderously into action once more. Gunwallace has given us an evocative, throbbing piece of highly reflective electronica. Topics and shownotes Next week's topic: Psychopaths. Future cast: TRON and TRON 2 Links Featured comic: Nordmand - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jul/03/featured-comic-nordmand/ Featured music: Blessed Days - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Blessed_Days/ - by InkyMoondrop, rated M. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

Gatekeeping can be a pretty dickish practice… but not in every case. Generally we see it as a social pop culture trend where older established fans of something will try and put down new people and discourage them from joining a fandom. This can stifle a fan community and really kill discourse, not to mention shutting out new members and new perspectives which is actually what a fan community needs in order to flourish and grow. Where gatekeeping isn't a bad thing are fields where people need to submit to standards to join. ie, becoming a doctor, or plumber or electrician for example. Or where there's a limited scope: i.e. you shouldn't join a discussion based on Homer's Odyssey unless you've at least read it. Gatekeeping is more justifiable in any field that requires some reasonably objective expertise in a subject… but then lines do begin to blur and people often have a tendency to be arseholes about things. Gatekeeping is a natural tendency that we're pretty much all guilty of perpetrating from time to time. The more you get to know about a subject or get into a fandom the more you'll be drawn to gatekeep it… Or you'll find you know so much you don't really care anymore and then you become to opposite of a gatekeeper. :) What are you a gatekeeper about? At the end of this Quackcast we indulge in gatekeeping over Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Sell Outs - In the words of Gunwallace: Here's my somewhat lame attempt to do a ‘ska’ theme with ukulele, drums, keys, bass, and horns, as per the characters in the comic. Probably a bit tame compared with the comic, but it sort of works. - I like his description best.This tune has a light, after-hours party feel to it. Wearing your hawaii shirt and sipping margaritas on the deck in the evening. Topics and shownotes Links Inspired by Tantz's Gatekeeping art newspost - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jun/23/gatekeeping-art/ Featured comic: Tales of Omnizari - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jun/27/featured-comic-tales-of-omnizari/ Featured music: Sell Outs - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Sell_Outs/ - by Terralopod, rated T. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

Injuries, especially to the head can be extremely bad but people are hit over the bonce and knocked out in popculture all the time. In violent sports like boxing or MMA it's often a goal, it's a common thing in games too, the “KO” is a staple. In TV shows, movies and comics it's seen as a kind way to deal with an enemy, people will even do it to their very best friends to protect them from going through with some scary activity, often knocking them out and tying them up and then taking their place or something. Knocking people out has become so memed that the fantasy version has replaced the real version and it's even influenced how we think about it. We do the same thing with spies (no spy mission is ever like James bond, Mission Impossible, Kingsman or Archer, which actually tackles the knockout meme realistically), the concept of losing one's virginity (no, “popping a cherry” in not a thing, hymens do not need to be broken), Ninjas (nothing at all like popculture), and the idea that anyone would ever wear a giant sword on their back to go into battle (no one ever did that because it's impossible to use). The reality is that loss of consciousness caused by sudden force to the head is incredibly dangerous and can lead to brain damage and even death. Even “putting someone to sleep” using a sleeper hold, a pill, injection, or gas is dangerous and not to be taken lightly, unlike the moronic idea we have of its safety from pop culture. The inspiration for this cast was my own experience with unconsciousness due to a riding accident I had last week where I fell off an cantering horse, was knocked out and then had amnesia till I came back to full awareness some time later with no memory of the incident. So we're chatting about injuries in webcomics and pop culture and how the handling of them is different from reality. i.e all those times people get shot harmlessly or dig out bullets from their shoulders… (doctors will often leave bullets inside a person and not dig them out unless there's a safety issue). What stupid pop culture versions of injuries are you aware of or have you used yourself? This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Conscripted - Wiry electric guitar burns into the hot desert sands with this metal meta version of the classic “Arabian Riff” (also known as “The Streets of Cairo”, “The Poor Little Country Maid”, and “the snake charmer song”). A very interesting tune popularised in the late 19th century by American Sol Bloom and has since become the characteristic sound of the middle east in pop culture. Gunwallace’s version for Conscripted is heavy, fiery and strong. This is Gunwallace’s second take on Conscripted, the first was a more calm and contemplative piece in Quackcast 545. Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: The sagas of Seelhoe - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jun/20/featured-comic-the-sagas-of-seelhoe/ Featured music: Conscripted - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Conscripted/ - by Dragonsong12, rated E. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

We base our images of aliens in comics on aliens in TV shows and movies mostly, because those are the ones we all know. But movie aliens have been generally based on humans because it's less expensive, easier to come up with a costume and makeup for an actor, and it's also easier to make those aliens relatable. “Aliens” even THINK the same as we do, have the same motivations, wants, needs, prejudices, opinions… Almost 100% of the time aliens in media are US, just a weird version of us: distorted reflection. As comic makers we're not restricted by makeup budgets, prosthetics, CG issues, or actor comfort levels. We have a HUGE advantage. We can actually explore TRULY alien creatures in a way that is only really done in novels. Consider- all the assumptions that we have for aliens in TV and movies are wrong: 1. scale- There's no reason at all that aliens should be our size or even slightly taller or slightly smaller. They could be MUCH tinier or MUCH bigger (as large as a house or a building or a planet) 2. Bilateral symmetry is an earth based genetic thing that evolved specifically only to animal life on this planet and not even all animals have it. Plants, fungi, viruses, bacteria and all other forms of life (which are all related to us) don't have it. 3. Four limbs, one head, and a few main sensory organs ON the head is something that only certain forms of earth animal life has, the rest evolved differently in various ways. So it's pretty much absolutely impossible that any alien life will ever have that structure. 4. All forms of life on earth are related and all developed from the same DNA, a process that took 100's of millions of years of weird false starts, accidents, specific adaptations to all sorts of different strange circumstances, and all those things were just added up on top of each other to create the life that's here. Without all of those things being exactly the same there's no possible way that any alien life will ever resemble any earth creature in any way, be it human, insect, cephalopod, pine tree, sea slug, or slime-mold. Even “convergent evolution” which produces the same features in unrelated things isn't as unrelated as it often seems since those creatures often share earlier precursors to develop the same thing: like eyes in cephalopods and eyes in other creatures. 5. Why would aliens think like us or even think to talk to us? To a truly alien creature there wouldn't be much difference between us and a housecat, to them we're both earthlings Even a tree and us would be much the same to them in a lot of ways. We have everything in common with a cat or a dog in the way we think VS what an alien would think about. 6. Alien motivations could not be the same as ours, They'd have to be based on the aliens themselves and how you chose to structure them. But they couldn't be anything resembling our needs unless it was very basic and elemental- the need for sustenance, survival, fuel, supplies etc. Things like lust, love, hate, ambition, competition, religion shouldn't really factor in because they're too human-centric. It's a complex and interesting topic! If you want to continue to make human type aliens though go ahead.It's more fun to do and the audience will have less trouble relating to them that a truly alien creature like The Thing. Special mention to one of the most truly alien aliens: the planet in Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem. Special mention to the least aliens ever: the native American blue cat-humans from Avatar. What are your fave aliens? This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to THE SQUIRREL MACHINE - Slow to develop, creepy, atmospheric, and unsettling… This will keep you on edge, uneven and unbalanced. Dark, hideous monsters wait just around the corner, lurking at the edges of your vision, ready to drag you deep into a dirty, shadow filled, earthy crevice. Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Drunk Duck Awards 2023 - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jun/13/featured-comic-drunk-duck-awards-2023/ Featured music: THE SQUIRREL MACHINE - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/THE_SQUIRREL_MACHINE/ - by Hansrickheit, rated M. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

Today's topic is Nudity: Nudity in comics, censorship, self censoring, what you can get away with on DD, ratings, nudity on other platforms and how it affects the reach of your work, and more! There are a lot of reasons for using nudity in your creative work, it can be fun to draw, it catches audience attention, it can be quite dramatic or funny or shocking. Nudity is a useful tool, but it can really limit the reach of your work so you have to be very careful with it because ironically even though lots of people like to look at it there are very few ways to show it to them. This is because most platforms out there have restrictions on what they allow to be shown. Drunk Duck is one of the more open and accepting sites when it comes to nudity but even WE have to have restrictions! We have two levels: a Mature rating where nudity is allowed as long as it's not the entire comic and it's not openly and graphically sexual. Then we have Adult rated comics that are restricted to only people who're over age and logged into the site, where you can show far more. If your work has nudity you have to be aware of ratings on the platform you're showing it on and even where you can print it. In addition to that those rating can change and you can face bans to your account for stuff that was previously allowed! This has happened many times on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Webtoons, and more. What tends to happen then is that we self censor and eventually internalise that censorship so that we just avoid nudity in our work all together. Nudity is a part of normal human existence, there's nothing essentially wrong with it, BUT we don't exist or create in a vacuum- there are all sorts of cultures and societies around the world that have different attitudes towards nudity for various reasons. There are laws, taboos, ratings, customs and lord knows what else so for that reason you'll always find it easier to get your work out to more people the less nudity it shows. What do you think about nudity in webcomics? Do you use it yourself, or a variation of it like partial or implied nudity? This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Nordmand - Dance a jig and slap your leatheren heels into the wooden floorboards, kick up dust and jump to the infectious rhythm! Garb a partner, hook your arm into theirs and take a spin. This is a fun folkish, high energy dancing tune made with traditional instruments. Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Gaia Comic - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jun/06/featured-comic-gaia-comic/ Featured music: Nordmand - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Nordmand/ - by Hart, rated T. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

Beginners at webcomics make mistakes, rookie mistakes. In fact people tend to make a lot of the same mistakes and we're going to chat about some of those in the Quackcast, but there are certainly a LOT more! A few common mistakes of first timers: - They have too many comic panels so it takes ages to draw and artwork and text become too small. - They plan way too much, sometimes for month or even years before starting the actual comic. Planning is good but not when it prevents you from actually starting. - Their art or designs are too complicated so that they can't sustain it for more than a few pages and they give up. - Their story is too complicated so that it's too hard to translate into a comic or it would take too long to draw. - The cover art doesn't match their artwork in the comic. Great way to turn off readers. - Too much expository text. - They make their comic too raunchy (when it's not a sexy comic) and limit their potential audience because it needs a higher rating and can't be displayed on most comic sites. - They think they'll get popular and famous right away. - They think people will just “find” their comic and rely too heavily on Google and the internal promotion system of their comic host. - Filler pages, especially generic ones are a huge turn off. If you MUST do them show a BTS thing like a rough version of your comic page. - Aggressive marketing. Don't be a one-eyed dick when promoting your work, it can have the opposite effect and make people avoid you. - Giving up when you don't get feedback or if you miss a few updates. Keep working at it, people will come eventually, especially if you're a bit social. And people will still come back after missed updates. Stick with it! Did you fall victim to any of those? Tell us some of your own rookie mistakes? :) This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Mirage - light dances around the sparkling surface of a smoothly curved, shiny object. Our view shifts and we dive through its hollow centre, observing the complex geometry of this unusual three dimensional object. Overlaying synthesised sounds. Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Plusum - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/may/31/featured-comic-plusum/ Featured music: Mirage - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Mirage/ - by InkyMoondrop, Rated E. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS