Crystals Dagger

[Onyavar]

Has anyone else noticed that this dagger of Crystal is strangely different in size (compare to the diameter of heads, and you will notice it)

current strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0853.html) (smaller)
Haley "delivers" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0715.html) (bigger)
Haley kills Crystal (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0648.html) (smaller)
Roys Golem retrieved (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0645.html) (bigger)
First appearance (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0580.html)

I'm not sure, is there weapon shrinkage involved? Is my perception distorted? Minor copy+paste mistake?

[ThePhantasm]

I'm not sure. In the current strip, the dagger is embedded in Tarquin's back almost up to the hilt, so it is tough to tell. In the first "bigger" strip you cite, the dagger looks bigger, but so does Haley, as she is "closer" to our view. Proportionally it looks fairly consistent, although it does look smaller when Haley holds it than when Crystal does (maybe Crystal is smaller).

Short answer: seems pretty consistent to me.

[Onyavar]

Well, it's not terribly obvious, and it's surely not massively shrinking/exanding. But it really feels to me that sometimes its length equals more or less the diameter of a head, and sometimes it is larger than that, around 10-20%.

More or less consistent, sure.

[zimmerwald1915]

Well, it's not terribly obvious, and it's surely not massively shrinking/exanding. But it really feels to me that sometimes its length equals more or less the diameter of a head, and sometimes it is larger than that, around 10-20%.

More or less consistent, sure.
Perspective, and how the Giant has developed his use of it over the comic's run, is a wonderful thing.

[dtilque]

Perspective, and how the Giant has developed his use of it over the comic's run, is a wonderful thing.

I think that's exactly it. Perspective, which is exaggerated in his style. If the knife is in the holder's near hand, it's larger; in the far hand, smaller. It's the same as shoes in the comic. The one on the near foot is always significantly larger, much larger than the foot or three difference in distance would cause in a non-exaggerated style.

You can probably find the same effect in other objects held in the hand.

[Onyavar]

Perspective, and how the Giant has developed his use of it over the comic's run, is a wonderful thing.

I think that's exactly it. Perspective, which is exaggerated in his style. If the knife is in the holder's near hand, it's larger; in the far hand, smaller.

:smallbiggrin: You haven't bothered to check this theory with the links I posted, no?
current strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0853.html) (smaller, near hand and far hand)
Haley "delivers" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0715.html) (bigger, far hand)
Haley kills Crystal (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0648.html) (smaller, far hand)
Roys Golem retrieved (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0645.html) (bigger, near hand)
First appearance (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0580.html) (bigger, near hand)

:smallwink: I'm really not complaining about this, I am just curious.
I first thought the reason was Haley holding the dagger (Crystal is always holding the larger version, Haley most times the smaller version), until I found the delivering comic. Then I considered and discarded perspective, too, based on evidence. Perspective has been used since the first strip, if you simply look at the eyes, and the giant is expressing the most amazing things in stick-figure style.

[ThePhantasm]

Haley "delivers" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0715.html) (bigger, far hand)

Far shoulder, certainly. But her near arm / shoulder looks short, why? Because it is bent forward, ahead of her. Her knife hand (far shoulder) is curved backward, away from her, poised to strike. So technically I think the knife hand is closer to us.

[ThePhantasm]

Haley "delivers" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0715.html) (bigger, far hand)

Far shoulder, certainly. But her near arm / shoulder looks short, why? Because it is bent forward, ahead of her. Her knife hand (far shoulder) is curved backward, away from her, poised to strike. So technically I think the knife hand is closer to us.

[Bulldog Psion]

:smallbiggrin: You haven't bothered to check this theory with the links I posted, no?
current strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0853.html) (smaller, near hand and far hand)
Haley "delivers" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0715.html) (bigger, far hand)
Haley kills Crystal (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0648.html) (smaller, far hand)
Roys Golem retrieved (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0645.html) (bigger, near hand)
First appearance (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0580.html) (bigger, near hand)

:smallwink: I'm really not complaining about this, I am just curious.
I first thought the reason was Haley holding the dagger (Crystal is always holding the larger version, Haley most times the smaller version), until I found the delivering comic. Then I considered and discarded perspective, too, based on evidence. Perspective has been used since the first strip, if you simply look at the eyes, and the giant is expressing the most amazing things in stick-figure style.

I'd say it's just a function of drawing and making it whatever looks about right for the frame.

[King of Nowhere]

:smallbiggrin: You haven't bothered to check this theory with the links I posted, no?
current strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0853.html) (smaller, near hand and far hand)
Haley "delivers" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0715.html) (bigger, far hand)
Haley kills Crystal (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0648.html) (smaller, far hand)
Roys Golem retrieved (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0645.html) (bigger, near hand)
First appearance (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0580.html) (bigger, near hand)

:smallwink: I'm really not complaining about this, I am just curious.
I first thought the reason was Haley holding the dagger (Crystal is always holding the larger version, Haley most times the smaller version), until I found the delivering comic. Then I considered and discarded perspective, too, based on evidence. Perspective has been used since the first strip, if you simply look at the eyes, and the giant is expressing the most amazing things in stick-figure style.
Actually, I got the impression that in the current strip the dagger was in the far hand (panel 6, the only one where it's clearly visible) while in 715 it was in the nearer hand - it also made sense for it to be behind her back, since she was preparing to throw it.
In fact, it is very difficult to understand which hand is behind without that kind of details.
So, I'd go for "perspective, and you discarded it because your perception of it is different from ours".

Alternatively, I'd go for "artistic rendering" - the same reason people has one eye and one foot bigger than the other, even when they're looking at the reader. It's not supposed to be realistic but to give the feeling of what's happening, and for this it works very well.

[NerfTW]

Has anyone else noticed that this dagger of Crystal is strangely different in size (compare to the diameter of heads, and you will notice it)

current strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0853.html) (smaller)
Haley "delivers" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0715.html) (bigger)
Haley kills Crystal (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0648.html) (smaller)
Roys Golem retrieved (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0645.html) (bigger)
First appearance (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0580.html)

I'm not sure, is there weapon shrinkage involved? Is my perception distorted? Minor copy+paste mistake?

I think you're ridiculously over thinking the situation. Notice that there's over a year between 715 and 853. In all likelyhood, this is just a mistake or a style change due to how huge the dagger was in earlier scenes.

[Steward]

Is it a sizing weapon?

[Dr.Epic]

I think it's just an optical illusion because half the thing is stuck in someone in the most recent strip.

[dtilque]

:smallbiggrin: You haven't bothered to check this theory with the links I posted, no?


Actually I did and came to the same conclusion ThePhantasm came to.

But I think I misstated the actual phenomenon here. It's not which hand is closer to the viewer but rather if the knife is closer to the viewer than the body of the person wielding it. So the knife could be in the closer hand, but still small. And vice versa.

[Oppolo]

Just to put a theory to rest, it's really not going to be perspective. Why? Just look at one of the strips in question, the most recent one (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0853.html). In the panel where Haley is running inside, holding the dagger, she's exactly the same size as Elan in the far background. In fact, Belkar in the far foreground is exactly the same size as Elan in the far background. In the next panel, Haley in the foreground is the same size as Roy in the background. Open up a paint program and move the heads next to each other; there's no perspective there. I find it beyond unlikely that Rich has put Haley's knife into careful perspective while completely failing to realise the characters should be in perspective too.

That said, it could still be artistic choice (as with one eye smaller than the other) or just an optical illusion. It doesn't really matter.

[King of Nowhere]

Just to put a theory to rest, it's really not going to be perspective. Why? Just look at one of the strips in question, the most recent one (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0853.html). In the panel where Haley is running inside, holding the dagger, she's exactly the same size as Elan in the far background. In fact, Belkar in the far foreground is exactly the same size as Elan in the far background. In the next panel, Haley in the foreground is the same size as Roy in the background. Open up a paint program and move the heads next to each other; there's no perspective there. I find it beyond unlikely that Rich has put Haley's knife into careful perspective while completely failing to realise the characters should be in perspective too.

That said, it could still be artistic choice (as with one eye smaller than the other) or just an optical illusion. It doesn't really matter.

I disagree. prespective in rich's art works different from "realistic" prespective. It do not distinguish between charaxcters in background and foreground, but it distinghuish between far and near hand.
As well as distinguishing between far and near eye.
If you look at the examples, you see there's a logic iin it. If you don't like calling it perspective, use antoher name. But surely it's clear it's not something done at random.

[Bulldog Psion]

Wouldn't it be most accurate to say "it's got some perspective but not a huge amount"?