http://www.drunkduck.com/Crazy_Duck/index.php

SONICBOOM!

Art -
Consists mainly of simple lineart. The characters seem kinda stiff, and the art isn't particularly eye catching, especially with a lack of color. However, I can't say that the comic really needs improvement in this area, as the art style seems to work for what is, essentially, a simple comic strip. Not especially good, and not especially bad, but a bit of color may help make it look a bit more attractive. (3/5)

Writing -
Structurally, it greatly resembles newspaper comic strips, like Peanuts or Garfield. Most strips are short, one-shot jokes that follow a light storyline. Unfortunately, I never particularly cared for those kinds of strips in the first place, so some of the appeal of CD is lost on me. Like other strips, the jokes aren't exceptionally funny, but do serve a purpose of ending on a humorous note. I got a chuckle out of a few strips, but overall, it's nothing to write home about. (3/5)

Overall -
Crazy Duck is a lot like simple newspaper comic strips. The art is simplistic, but not bad, and the same goes for the writing. About average in my book. (3/5)

~Basics~
When you're not using color, it helps to have some variation with your lineart. Variable thicknesses, crosshatching, that kind of thing. It's there in the first few strips, but just kind of disappears. To me, the comic feels a bit unfinished.
It looks to me like you're scanning in a strip that was inked by hand. A few of them are grayish in the white areas, so I'd consider tweaking the brightness/contrast to nix that.

~Style~
Overall, it's very consistent, which is great. I can't stand when characters' faces, in particular, vary too much from strip to strip or even panel to panel for that matter. However, if you're going to cut and paste images, you need to work on making sure the edited expressions fit the constraints of the original face. A jawline should look different if a person is yelling as opposed to pouting. An example of this would be panel three of 05-29-07.

~Anatomy~
You've got this one pretty much nailed, there's no awkward poses or things that make a reader go "bodies don't bend that way". My only complaint would be the four-fingered hand. If they're going to be drawn in great detail (fingernails, creases) I think five would be better. If you were going for a more cartoonish, chubby look, four fingers would fit nicely.

~Story~
No complaints here, the humor's really cute and the story (the work aspect, not the angel) is really relateable. Everyone's held a crappy job and had to deal with crappy clientele, so that works well here.

~Summary~
Really, I only found small, nitpicky things to critique. Overall I think you're doing awesome and should continue in the direction you're going.

I hope this helps!
~Kris

Thanks for taking the time to read through all my archive and reviewing it, Kris and Hijuda. I appreciate it. :)

Yeah, I really suck at the copying and pasting ones...those were the days I felt REALLY lazy. And someone showed me how to pretty much get rid of the grey patches a few weeks ago so hopefully that'll be gone from now on.

Thanks fo' da reviews!

This is an interesting comic. The characters all work in a Fast food place called (you guessed it) Crazy Duck. The main character, Mike, is the son of the CD's owner, but his dad isn't... well... much of a dad. Mike works as the guy who stands around in a duck suit.

The art is pretty consistent, and does a decent job with the telling the story. The comic itself, while there is a single, unifying plot, is written in the form of gag-a-days. This suits it just fine.

Now here's where Crazy Duck really shines: the characters. Each character is well developed and interacts with the other characters in ways that are quite... you know what, that sentence I just wrote is getting kind of awkward, so I'm going to just say this: Character interaction = good.

Oh, and Ted is awesome. I'm not sure what kind of animal he is exactly, but he's awesome nonetheless.

9.5/10

Okay, just read through the entire archive, and wow are ya a hard-worker. Way to stick with it. I can see your improvement, and I'm sure your comic will continue to improve as time goes on. Don't be afriad of trying something new, a new technique, or utilizing the computer more. I also want to say, that the fact that you're just outta HS may have altered my critique a bit.. maybe that's a good thing or a bad thing.. but I think I just see your work where it is now as very similar to mine at the age of 18 or so. I don't want to keep saying, "But, It's good for your age" (and I think it is for an 18-year old!)... so I guess the best method of critiquing is to just offer areas to improve on, especially ones that I found worked for me and helped progress my style and writing when I hit college-age. So, here we go...

Concept: This could have been another simple roommates/friends strip, but the addition of the gaurdian angel and the strange talking animal (if it ain't a hamster, then what the heck IS it? lol) makes the concept more interesting. The crazy-duck costume and that side of the concept is amusing, definitely. Good idea of slowly introducing new characters to the cast, no need to pummel the audience with them all at once. Just be careful of not having wayyy too many... it may be hard to follow for new readers. The main guy is a solid geek, very Charlie Brown in that he never has it easy, and is relatable. The other characters are thought-out and amusing. pretty decent, 7/10

Artwork: here's where I think you have a huge potential to improve, with just a few steps in computer-land.

#1 The hand-written text is hard to read at times, and often looks awkward in the bubble. The couple of comics done by your brother were easier to read. I suggest diving into whatever application you have & doing the text there. Map out the bubbles like normal and even pencil in the text if needed, but finalize on the computer.

#2 A touch of grays may give the page a more finished feel, more depth.

#3 And try to get rid of the scanned look by using brightness/contrast... really sharpen your lineart. It'd make a world of difference, presentation-wise.

As I said before, don't be afraid to experiment and work outside of the box, literally... maybe break out of the harsh borders if applicable and let the structure be a bit more playful. Seems very rigid to me. The character design is good and consistant, and you do a decent job of laying it out. You have great potential in your artwork. 6/10

(those 3 steps I mentioned would bring the score up to a 9/10 for me, so you can can see what I mean, a little effort can mean a lot!)


Writing: pretty good, you have the set-up and punchlines down pat. There were a couple that actually made me laugh, and a couple I didn't necessarily get... but overall the jokes were decent. Somehow it lacks oomph.. not sure how to improve that though, humor is as subjective as anything else. I wouldn't call your strip "hilarious", and "hilarious" is what gets you noticed. Like they say, excellent writing will beat out excellent art anyday. It's what keeps people wanting to read it. "Crazy Duck" is cute and laid-back funny, to me at least. I fav'd it, I'll keep reading. With time and practice, I think your humor and writing will flourish. 8/10.

Overall, 7/10. A little improvement here and there and your comic will be top-notch! I know I was very critical, I hope you're not easily offended by it.. I wish I had someone tell me these things when I was younger (like, using a font for instance, MAN did I have awful handwriting), I could have improved my comic at a much faster pace! Good luck to you, and I'll keep readin'!

Writing; I was overtaken by a feeling of melancholy reading this, with a side order of depression. There is not much that is uplifting but that is the aim of the strip. This melancholy is managed well by the guardian angel who offers light at the end of the tunnel. The overall narrative is pretty strong and the strip clearly has a direction. Things happen and that keeps it fun. There is development. I haven't laughed once, or even smiled, but that isn't unusual anymore for me. It wasn't all that fun to read though but again that is probably down to my expectations as a reader. The jokes aren't particularly funny and lack the clever, original edge that they really need. (6/10)

Art; TIP; Scan your strips in black and white because at the moment it looks like they are scanned in color leaving blue "clouds" around the place. Generally it is all very clear giving you a good start and the lettering is very readable as well. The dynamic and overall look lacks energy and a proficient edge. Perhaps due to the nature of the format I feel your art hasn't really developed and it all feels far too 2D. The anatomy feels slightly unnatural and forced. I don't feel that you could draw anything if you wanted. That's what you need. (7/10)

Overall; needs an edge and sharpening up if this strip is going to become something really special. (6/10)

I find this comic cute and really original. Kudos. :)

Art:
The art is pretty straight to, no real depth, contrast in colors or anything. Lineart can be cool at times. Just a little more shading. It doesn't even have to be color. The character designs are awesome. Scrony dude gets a buffed, tough lookin' guardian angel. XD I really like your style of cartooning. :) A few brushing up and it'll look awesome. (4/5)

Story:
The story is clean and understandable. The humor is cute. I love the hamster... gerbal... thing. >.> WE all have evil, sedistic animals in our homes. :) Not much to say here, other than I like the flow of things. (4/5)

Keep this comic going. :) You're doing great.

Thanks for the reviews LIZARD_B1TE, dgriff13, dantheman, and Chris chris. I'm happy there were some things you liked about my strip (whether it was a little bit or a lot), and I'll try to apply some of your guy's advice.

I may try to add color or greys if I can find a way to do it in a timely manner that also looks good. I've kind of got the whole story mapped out and the timeframe so I can't spend too much more time on each strip (each one takes two-three hours or more as it is)...but if it makes it look better, who knows. Maybe I'll try it.

Hopefully I'll get better at being funny too. You never know.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews, once again. I really appreciate that you all read my archive, as its getting a little long and if you have regular speed internet they may have taken a while to load. Keep it realsies, homies. :)

-Mathew

Art: The art can be a bit messy looking at times. I'd recommend scanning the strips in at black & white, because it looks like they're being scanned in at grayscale. Backgrounds can also be unnecessarily busy, and somewhat dark-looking, which contradicts its otherwise cartoonish, light-hearted characters and story. Otherwise, characters all have their own distinct look, and the artist usually does a good job of getting the message across visually.

Story: I think the great thing about this comic is, a lot of users can really relate to the main character. He's the poor dupe who never throws any parties, and just can't figure out why he's popular (C'mon, admit it... we've all been there.) At times, the story can seem just a bit confused, though: overly-cartoonish themes like a talking gerbil (/... hamster?) and a guardian angel (Although to be fair, the writer is ambiguous about whether or not the character really is an angel or not) seem to clash with some otherwise serious moments, but to be fair the oddly out-of-place "serious" moments aren't a common occurrence. Also, some characters seem to take a back seat to others - Mike, Ted, and Gary seem to overshadow the other characters. I'd like to see more of the minor characters have their own story arcs to learn more about the Crazy Duck universe.

Overall: All in all, the strip is a little imbalanced - some things are done a little roughly, while others are nicely done. It has potential, to be sure, and holds the reader's interest, and I think with a bit more attention to detail it can be a great webcomic.

Just checking the first few strips, and the thing that leaps out is the cross-hatching. If you are sticking with this style, you might want to look at Duoshade (http://www.grafixarts.com/duoshade.htm), a special paper with pre-screened lines or dots. You use a special developer to bring out cross hatching for shading.

I would also agree with the comments above- the lack of contrast in the scan is distracting. That happens if you scan in grayscale. If you scan in black and white you won't get that. It looks like all shading is being done with cross-hatching anyway, so give that a try.

I like the drawings themselves, particularly consistency from day to day. The hand-lettering is difficult, in part because it is all at an angle different from the cartoon itself. Also, it looks like everything is done with the same sized pen or nib. You might want to try thicker pens for things up close, and thinner for background; thicker for major lines and thinner for texture effects, etc. It will give depth and variance to the pictures.

Okay, I'm going to skip ahead to the end.

Hello, color! Big difference, and better. I still suggest different sized pens for your outlines- give it a try.

Computerized text did not work, but the hand-written isn't the answer (in my humble opinion). Play, instead, with several different fonts.

Finally, I note that all the faces are either full-on or sillhouette. This forces you to do things like eyes rolled all the way over to get people looking where you want them looking, like the 6-02 'toon. Try some 3/4 head shots.

My $0.02, and worth exactly what you paid for it.

Art: I like how consistent it is. You have a truly stand out style. The characters, however, really don't stand out to me. Nothing about their appearance really catches me. This comic may benefit from some color. I also didn't like the weird greyish texture thing over pages, but you fix that later on so there isn't anything to complain about there anymore. I'll give the art a (3/5). It is a great art style, but is suffers for not having color to make the cast stand out more.

Writing: Once again, nothing really stood out. There are some "hah hah" moments, but nothing like "OMG! That was too funny!" I don't think there are any other problems outside of that. I'll give that a (4/5). I think I'd like this more if you had something truly funny and with the story concept, I think it is easily possible. Try looking at like the Clerks 2 or something. Not copy them, but may help.

Overall score: 3.5 out 5
Plus: Art style is consistent and stylized
Minus: Writing is not as funny as it could be

Thanks for the reviews Frae, dhonig, and Hapoppo. 'preciate you guys taking the time to do this for me.

Need to work on fonts, different sized pen nibs, and "OMG" funny moments. :)

Hopefully I can improve all this soon. I've already taken the color and getting rid of that messy grey background stuff to heart, so I'm sure I'll be able to work towards the other suggestions too.

Thanks for the critiques, homies.

Crazy Duck looks like it has potential. I'll admit, I read more recent material but also, it's good that there's already a lot of material up.

Art

The art is solid and the linework is appropriate for a daily strip. The addition of color is a plus in recent strips. Anatomy is good and expressions have really been improving over the course of the comic. Characters do look distinct from one another and there are good backgrounds. The only critique I have on the art is that the angles and zoom don't vary a whole lot, so it seems a little flat and has to work harder to pull me into what's going on.

Writing

I realize that writing for a daily strip is a lot different than writing a 70-page graphic novel; the gag by the end of the strip is the main point and what everything builds towards. While there's some good humor here, the writing hasn't done much to grab me or resonate. I think a lot of this has to do with the characters. They're not very developed yet in terms of their personalities and so it's hard to relate to them. Also, a lot of their expressions are pretty stiff, so it's hard to tell what they're really feeling. I think that will change in the future, since you're most recent strips have more range of expression, so great job in that!

I am intrigued by the dysfunctional father-son relationship story that's developing. That shows a lot of promise! Keep it coming.

Conclusion

Crazy Duck is a solid daily comic with a lot of strips and a lot of potential. The art is its own style and with some improvements in character angle, zoom and expressions, it could become quite interesting. The writing seems to still be getting established and the characters need more depth and personality development but that should come in time. It should be interesting to see where Crzy Duck goes!

Art

The style is more like a newspaper strip and it starts out with some solid lineart that slowly branches out to contrasting black-and-white to full colour which is an incentive because it adds more life into the comic. There's effort put to drawing the backgrounds and the characters are clearly distinct from one another. The personality of each character is very clear to me. I could tell what kind of person they are just by looking at them. At times, I found that facial expressions worked along with the dialogue or mood. It's good effort, all in all and there's always room for improvements in terms of art.

Writing

The story starts out with your everyday Geek working in a fastfood restaurant, Crazy Duck. The story was quick to emphasize his relationship with his father and his interaction with others. There's slight, wry and the occasional dark humour at times where I let out a chuckle but other than that, the impressions are normally fleeting and don't last. I do agree with previous reviews that it's easy to relate to the main character and I admit, it does portray a sense of reality in the comic that worked. At the beginning, there was nothing particularly striking enough in each strip that keeps me wanting to read more, however, when the story progressed on further to go in depth into the father-son relationship, his increased interaction with Jill, there's a spark of interest that kept growing.


Conclusion

Crazy Duck is consistent in its style where it starts off slow but gradually steps its plot up that's becoming quite interesting. There's definitely more room for improvements and has potential in developing both art and storyline further. It lacks that extra edge that leaves an impression on readers but all in all, it's still a good read.

Thanks for reviewing 'Crazy Duck', insanelysane and dueeast.

Well! I have to say, overall, that was fairly pleasant. It's not often I find a comic on DrunkDuck that I'm willing to add to my favorites, but this was one of 'em. The art was not top-notch (we'll get to that), but I loved the writing. It was, in a way, familiar writing; words were well-placed, and the punchlines, although sometimes a little weak, were good overall. That's why I faved it, after all- it was good!
Back on the subject of art... It's clear it's not trying to be realistic, and I'm not a fan of realism most of the time anyway, so I'm not gonna give ya a hard time on that. Personally, I do think there's a little room for improvement; some things I would suggest would be really practicing drawing expressions, so that you can convey exactly what you want in just a few lines (it's one of my few strengths), and maybe adding a little more to the backgrounds. Most of the time, they feel a little sparse, which is honestly a problem that plagues a lot of the more daily comics. You could also stand to vary the thicknesses of your lines, but this may or may not be feasible, depending on what media you use to draw. And, on a completely unrelated note before I switch topics to the story, I love the coloring; it's a massive improvement over the black-and-white in the beginning, and gives it a little more of a professional feel.
The story as it is is good, too. In a way, it sort of reminds me of Questionable Content. It develops at a nice, healthy pace, doesn't add in too many unnecessary characters, and doesn't progress so slowly that one loses interest in reading it. Actually, that was part of what kept me reading through the whole thing. Some of the characters can get a little cliché at times, though; Mike is your standard mousy, non-confrontational protagonist who's bad with women, Gary is the well-meaning, but slightly... dim pal, and Ted is the... talking animal. Etc. They work great in the story, to tell the truth, but they really don't feel like anything "new" to me. Of course, making any alterations would be up to you, and any story arc that changes those personality traits would have to be reeeeally careful about not making the comic "jump the shark", so to speak.
My next point of review would be the quality of writing. As I'm sure I've mentioned, the writing is great. Your punchlines aren't overstated, the humor isn't needlessly random, and in general, everything just... sort of... works, you know? Now, I said the punchlines aren't overstated- by that, I mean that you don't try to stuff as many jokes as you can into that last panel, thereby killing the humor; on the other hand, you never really go out of your way to make it hilarious. With one or two exceptions, most of it wasn't really laugh-out-loud funny; sure, I got a good chuckle out of almost every page, but you could really benefit by doing something like looking over your scripts (assuming you use them), and maybe retooling the punchline a little to maximize its humor potential. But, I may just be making an ass of myself at this point, heh. It'll work for now, yeah, but like the art, it would really be nice to see it improve over time, as far as humor goes.

Well, that's about all I had to tell ya. Overall, great comic, and I encourage you to keep up the good work. One resource I would wholeheartedly recommend that I think would help a lot, assuming you can afford it, is Scott McCloud's "Making Comics"- it's a bit of a thick read, but it helps a lot.

Thanks for the review and favoriting my comic, Blackmoon!

Crazy Duck is definately the better of the strips I've read here on DD.

Art:
Lots has been said about the black and white strips, I'm happy to announce that Crazy Duck is now in brilliant full color and is looking much better. The character design is decent and understandable, although not really all that innovative.

Writing:
I don't really know if Crazy Duck can be called a "gag a day" strip really, since its emphasis is so much on long story arcs and character development. The jokes are pretty tame and mostly serve to keep the mood light, rather than aim for a huge laugh. The things that shine in Crazy Duck are things that so many other strips or stories often get wrong. The pacing of the story is very well thought out and the characters are all pretty likable. The author clearly did a lot of thinking and planning in advance to ensure that everything ties together well. A lot of story authors could learn something by reading this strip, if you ask me.

Art: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Thanks for the review, Exzachly! I really appreciate it...ecspecially the postive comments. :)