lba wrote:
Nah. I was thinking of Kiva. Kiva used to offer returns on their loans, just like Zidisha and most of the other microloan platforms did when they were relatively new. Apparently at some point during the last couple years they did away with that and turned it into what it is now, which basically amounts to interest free loans for banks so they can keep all the interest they charge the end customer. I just hadn't actually checked the site in a good while.

HippieVan wrote:

lba wrote:
I also just recently had a mildly insane idea I got from PWOT ( the Cracked forums.).

The Duck needs money right? Supposing that if everyone who is a regular on the site chipped in a few bucks and set up a DD Kiva account? It takes quite literally $25 to help fund a single loan so it's not a high barrier to entry, and it helps other people throughout the world, all while earning a small revenue stream for the duck. You'd have to work out who is going to manage the account and pick which loans to give to, but for $500, which is nothing in terms of starting capital, a group effort could potentially pool a decent enough bit of earning capital.

Plus, I've come to learn over the last few years that putting out a bit of goodwill to others has a decidedly karmic effect.

Could you be thinking of a different site with a similar premise? I don't see how money could be earned through Kiva.

From their site:
“Do Kiva and/or Kiva lenders receive interest on Kiva loans?
Kiva never collects interest on loans and individual Kiva lenders do not receive interest from loans they support on Kiva.”

I have no effing idea what you're talking about, but your nick always reminds me of Elba where Napoleon was imprisoned.

Hi guys!

Zaptoid56 wrote:
You're not older than me Mo. How did you get these mags? Also..National lampoon…have you read any of them? Beyond their time.

Well Zap old man, Apr 2 I will turn XX, can you believe it? As for the MAD's, most were bot by me brand new on newsstands for 25 cents. I traded for a few of the older ones (my first MAD was #37) and I completed the collection right back to #24 via EBay, or a few vintage comic book stores around town. The first 23 MAD's were 10 cent comic books but the McCarthy era made Wm. Gaines change MAD to a magazine format but he kept the numbering sequence so #24 is the first magazine. I concluded my collection at #74 which was the last Kelly Freas cover, I loved his work. So that's why the odd number of 51 rather than an even 50.

(I'm surprised Kiva is still around, I remember them plugging for it pre-kickstarter on Hulu/Crackle, I think Bill Clinton was in the ads? I was under the impression it's intended for poverty-stricken areas though…)

OH and youse guys talking about MAD comics! My experience with those was older relatives left a box of comics up at my grandparent's cottage, there were some issues of Magazine from the 70's perhaps, but mostly novel-sized publications of things like Al Jaffee's “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” (though my mom had also copy of Don Martin's “Captain Klutz” at home which I loved!) But for the comics, I hadn't realized that it started off AS comics until I read “The Ten Cent Plague” and the trials of Frederick Werth-less and his kooky crusade against good entertainment. I located a volume of MAD comics at my regular comic shop. (MAD archives, I only got volume 1 though) Glorious, hilarious and fine comic crafting!

As for National Lampoon magazine, well… I looked at one when I was far too young to handle it and thought I'd get in trouble! My parents had them in a box and I looked through them later as a teen, hilarious but a little too much for me in some parts! But ahead of its times is about right, I see a lot of the same things like the unintentionally dirty-sounding signboards collected online in a similar manner. It's too bad the brand is now more associated with really trashy movies thanks to their most recent lackluster output…

Life has been interesting of late. I'm massively busy helping out family and having started a new relationship and cannot get my head into comicking at the moment. I'm always amazed at people who still fit it in around busy lives. I have the time but I've not been in in a creative place. I load uo the software and stare at the screen not being able to convert the script into artwork.

GJ I hear ya!

Been stuck on my next pages for weeks now - things have improved in life a bit but I'm having trouble getting this scripted story drawn! Soon, though, it must happen!!

Congrats on the new relationship! Hope it's going well!

Recovery from more eye surgery has put my whole life on hold. To repair two retinal tears and a hole i actually had stitches in my eyeball. Thankfully I am not allowed to look up so I never saw them. I can get up about five minutes every hour and have to have my head totally down. The rest of the time it's lie on my side. And tons of eye drops. So much for restarting my comic.

But youtube has some real good documentary films. Real stuff like National Geographic and Nova and BBC as opposed to Annunaki and ancient aliens. :-D

I had to laugh at this-
A friend on Facebook described Chiropractic medicine as “non-western”.
I had to explain that YES in fact it IS Western (but not medicine), it was developed by a moron in Britain, completely based on bullshit, discredited long ago.
So then she described it as “non-traditional Western medicine”.
I didn't have the heart to tell her that it IS traditional. It's the very definition of that. Conventional medicine is based on science, NOT tradition, and it updates all the time. Stuff like chrio is only based on tradition.
(sure, some chiropractors try and modernise it, but at best all it is is non-scientific physio therapy).

Amelius wrote:
OH and youse guys talking about MAD comics!

Mad, along with Asterix and Tin Tin were the comics of my youth. :)
I have a lot of old copies around.
I used to hate the out-of-touch retro characters in “the lighter side” strips, but as I got older I learned to love those the most of all.

—————–

Bravo! Your poor eyeballz!!!! WTF is going on with your face man? ARe you rubbing glass in your eyes or something???

bravo1102 wrote:
Recovery from more eye surgery has put my whole life on hold. To repair two retinal tears and a hole i actually had stitches in my eyeball. Thankfully I am not allowed to look up so I never saw them. I can get up about five minutes every hour and have to have my head totally down. The rest of the time it's lie on my side. And tons of eye drops. So much for restarting my comic.

But youtube has some real good documentary films. Real stuff like National Geographic and Nova and BBC as opposed to Annunaki and ancient aliens. :-D

Oh man that so totally sucks!! My eye doctor says I have a retinal tear that he's keeping an eye on (docs and their stupid puns)!!

It was either immediate surgery or blindness. Don't fool around with retinal tears. I never even saw the sparks or stars just noticed a curtain descending very slowly in the right eye.

bravo1102 wrote:
It was either immediate surgery or blindness. Don't fool around with retinal tears. I never even saw the sparks or stars just noticed a curtain descending very slowly in the right eye.

My Doc said mine is minor, and shouldn't cause any problems unless I do something to make it worse (like getting in a fight and getting punched ;)) - Now you have me considering a second opinion…!

ozoneocean wrote:

I have no effing idea what you're talking about, but your nick always reminds me of Elba where Napoleon was imprisoned.

It's a micro loan lending platform that allows people to more or less donate money in increments of $25 to support small loans to people in the developing world; so they can do stuff like grow a business, go to school, build a village outhouse, etc. It's built on the idea that charity giving doesn't work and tends to actually negatively impact the local economy of a place, but a loan tends to act more like a stimulus on the local economy and is more likely to motivate people to use it for development rather than relying on aid to just get by instead of developing with it.

The platform used to offer returns to those people who ponied up the $25 to support a loan as an incentive for them to provide the support, but they've since killed that part of the deal, so now you're effectively just accepting the risks and giving a local bank an interest free loan that they don't have to repay if they aren't repaid.

Banes wrote:

Been stuck on my next pages for weeks now - things have improved in life a bit but I'm having trouble getting this scripted story drawn! Soon, though, it must happen!!

I haven't had time to lay out even a rough thumbnail for my next page. Too many paying projects and potential paying projects in real life. I'm going to attend the 2017 Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco as well, so that's another 10 days minimum before I can even consider getting back on track

Hi people! I'm a hobbyist with aspirations to become a hobbyist who also does a webcomic sometimes! I just posted this little creature: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Galaxy_Man/

and man oh man! I need some practice with digital coloring! But more than that, I was wondering if you guys had any tips as to layouts, speech bubbles, and the like? I only ask here because I only rarely have access to the internet, so I can't get super active and talk to very many people or ask them for advice directly/individually.

But anyway, this looks like an amazing and colorful community, and I look forward to becoming a part of it if I can!

ZachWilson129 wrote:
Hi people! I'm a hobbyist with aspirations to become a hobbyist who also does a webcomic sometimes! I just posted this little creature: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Galaxy_Man/

and man oh man! I need some practice with digital coloring! But more than that, I was wondering if you guys had any tips as to layouts, speech bubbles, and the like? I only ask here because I only rarely have access to the internet, so I can't get super active and talk to very many people or ask them for advice directly/individually.

But anyway, this looks like an amazing and colorful community, and I look forward to becoming a part of it if I can!

Advice…

With the colouring there are plenty of tutorials but you could try using a soft brush for highlighting and shading.


For speech bubbles, well a lot depends on the software you are using for it.

There are loads of free fonts online, check out dafont.com but check the usage license for ones you use.

I appreciate your internet access is limited so tutorials aren't always going to be an option but the best advice I can give is to keep at it and experiment with techniques.

Today is a drawing sort of a day! I just wanna draw!

ZachWilson129 wrote:
Hi people! - speech bubbles, and the like?

As per Genejoke's reply, definitely check out some of the more comic friendly fonts. Blambot also have a good starter guide and Comicraft really go into detail. You definitely don't wan't words creeping over the edges of balloons - It can be tricky to fit everything in I know. Personally I letter a copy of the page with a vector program (Inkscape) so I can move things around and nothing is ever set in stone.

The unemployment insurance ran out, so I'm officially mooching of the parents now.

I've had two job interviews, and my RV is being delivered home (from the campground in Chincoteague where I lived last summer). At least the dog and I can vacate my mom's office and give them a bit more space.

Money is tight here because my parents' bid on their dream house (10 miles away) was accepted, so they are coming up with down payment and closing costs. Then I found a tumor on one of my rats last week and put the surgery on credit. Which was after I put down a wad of cash to prepay for dog training classes.


Things are not boring around here. The job hunting has given me stress sores and acne. Writing, drawing, and daily dog walks are helping combat some of the anxiety.

I'm right in the middle of the process of hearing back from grad schools and ultimately having to make a decision. Exciting and also stressful! So far I've been accepted to every place I've heard back from, including Cambridge (still have to wait to hear about funding). It's going to be a really tough choice!

Hey everyone been gone for awhile. What did I miss?

MegaRdaniels wrote:
Hey everyone been gone for awhile. What did I miss?

The amazing Hippie Van left off doing Friday newsposts and we have the indescribable Hyena Hell doing them instead now http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/mar/02/thems-the-rules-bub/

HippieVan wrote:
I'm right in the middle of the process of hearing back from grad schools and ultimately having to make a decision. Exciting and also stressful! So far I've been accepted to every place I've heard back from, including Cambridge (still have to wait to hear about funding). It's going to be a really tough choice!

Go to Cambridge and you could move in with Ironscarf! (I am assuming it is that Cambridge)

The saga of Bravo Oneeye continues. The right eye is still healing. There is an air bubble in the eye to keep the retina in place so the eye is all blurry and distracting. So it's either keep it closed and squint like Popeye or wear a patch. I still can't keep my head upright more than a few minutes at a time so am still out of work.

bravo1102 wrote:

HippieVan wrote:
I'm right in the middle of the process of hearing back from grad schools and ultimately having to make a decision. Exciting and also stressful! So far I've been accepted to every place I've heard back from, including Cambridge (still have to wait to hear about funding). It's going to be a really tough choice!

Go to Cambridge and you could move in with Ironscarf! (I am assuming it is that Cambridge)

The saga of Bravo Oneeye continues. The right eye is still healing. There is an air bubble in the eye to keep the retina in place so the eye is all blurry and distracting. So it's either keep it closed and squint like Popeye or wear a patch. I still can't keep my head upright more than a few minutes at a time so am still out of work.

That's the one! I think it would be a bit far to commute from London to Cambridge every day, haha!

I hope you heal up soon! That sounds like…well, like a pain in the eye.

HippieVan wrote:

bravo1102 wrote:

HippieVan wrote:
I'm right in the middle of the process of hearing back from grad schools and ultimately having to make a decision. Exciting and also stressful! So far I've been accepted to every place I've heard back from, including Cambridge (still have to wait to hear about funding). It's going to be a really tough choice!

Go to Cambridge and you could move in with Ironscarf! (I am assuming it is that Cambridge)

The saga of Bravo Oneeye continues. The right eye is still healing. There is an air bubble in the eye to keep the retina in place so the eye is all blurry and distracting. So it's either keep it closed and squint like Popeye or wear a patch. I still can't keep my head upright more than a few minutes at a time so am still out of work.

That's the one! I think it would be a bit far to commute from London to Cambridge every day, haha!

I hope you heal up soon! That sounds like…well, like a pain in the eye.

I looked it up and it's 62 miles and a one hour and 20 odd minute commute by train. Many people in New Jersey routinely endure an hour commute to college. My commute was 45 minutes to an hour. And my part time job was a 30 minute commute in another direction. And of course in the US there is no option for public transportation so a car was a necessity and mine was breaking down every eight - nine weeks with annoying regularity.

Guess what! Both Tantz Aerine and Pitface are heading to the UK as well Hippie!
We should have a UK convention :)
Tantz will only be there to do a lecture, speach, or dissertation of some type though, not there to study like Hippie and Pit.

Hope your eyeballs heal Bravo!

—-

I'm currently off to pick up another antique sabre… This one is located in my very own city this time! It was going suspiciously cheap on eBay. I think that was due to the giant postage costs for overseas buyers though.
Speaking of which, I still haven't got my lovely flank officer's sabre yet :(

I'm so glad you fabulous Duckers from far away places are coming to the UK and making Britain great again! Take that Brexit brigade.

Hippie, if I can get planning permission for a loft conversion we might just be able to squeeze you in! Always wanted to visit Cambridge actually, to see the boring Semi where Syd Barratt lived, amongst other landmarks.

Ironscarf wrote:
I'm so glad you fabulous Duckers from far away places are coming to the UK and making Britain great again! Take that Brexit brigade.

Hippie, if I can get planning permission for a loft conversion we might just be able to squeeze you in! Always wanted to visit Cambridge actually, to see the boring Semi where Syd Barratt lived, amongst other landmarks.

It's only a possibility at this point that I'll end up there! I have some other good offers as well, and Cambridge hasn't offered me $$$ yet. (Unfortunately, I don't have 20,000 pounds just lying around!) It would be very cool though.

I was always surprised when I was in England how little people seem to travel around, given that everything is so close compared to here in Canada! You've never been to Cambridge which is only 1.5 hours away, and meanwhile I've been to Saskatoon - which is much, much worse than Cambridge - at least a dozen times, and that's a 9 hour drive!

HippieVan wrote:


I was always surprised when I was in England how little people seem to travel around, given that everything is so close compared to here in Canada! You've never been to Cambridge which is only 1.5 hours away, and meanwhile I've been to Saskatoon - which is much, much worse than Cambridge - at least a dozen times, and that's a 9 hour drive!

We don't get out much. I blame the weather!

Actually I think most Brits take the attitude that there's nothing to see here and the weather sucks and if they're going anywhere it should be hot and have a beach. A lot more have been to Ibiza than Cambridge I would think. Ask Genejoke - he'd probably prefer Barbados to Bournemouth.

Ironscarf wrote:

We don't get out much. I blame the weather!

Actually I think most Brits take the attitude that there's nothing to see here and the weather sucks and if they're going anywhere it should be hot and have a beach. A lot more have been to Ibiza than Cambridge I would think. Ask Genejoke - he'd probably prefer Barbados to Bournemouth.

It's the same in the US too. More people around me have been to the Outer Banks or Florida than Princeton. Many people coming to the New Jersey shore for the sun and sand don't even realize there's anything to New Jersey between the Outerbridge Crossing from NYC and Sandy Hook or Point Pleasant other than the PC Arts Center in Holmdel.

As the old New Jersey joke goes: What exit are you from? 114, I used to live at 92 but I moved north. I work up at 126.

All that reminds me of my city here: Perth
It's so huge and spread out, there are parts of it I'll never see.
Going to some parts just takes so looooonnng…

Like in Tuesday when I took a train and a bus and then walked and walked under the hot sweltering sun to get to the 4x4 business where the guy who had my sword was located.
It felt like I was on a mystic quest to collect some magic items.

And then to find that he had a whole treasure trove of 200 year old Napoleonic sabres in exactly the style I love! Wow. He really WAS like a character in an RPG- a sword merchant. He was an older bald guy, squinting over the top of his granny glasses XD

And just like in an RPG all the ones you really want are way too expensive to buy. :(

Looks like I'll have to do more low level grinding till I can get more.