About the Giant's skilled use of characters...

[Dolash]

If there's one thing (well, there's many things) that really impresses me about the Order of the Stick and the Giant's writing skillz, it's how he handles characters. He brings them alive with nothing but a few appearances and a couple lines, he juggles their screentime effectively so that everyone seems to get plenty without it getting confusing, and most of all, he has so many of them.

Seriously, even a real DM would be pulling from their stack of generic no-names by now if they had to juggle this many NPCs. Characters as minor as O-Chul give a sense of themselves to the reader with only a handful of appearances. Heck, remember the ninja-waitress? She was a throwaway character from a single comic, and she was amusing enough that a joke fanclub was made for her during the fanclub craze.

I don't know exactly how he manages it all short of taking incredible pains to plot out and rewrite his story and comics in order to get everything perfect. He may have a few advantages though, that make this possible - his art style, for example. Everyone heard of the 'Uncanny valley?' That's when something fake, like a cartoon or a painting, looks a little too close to real yet not real enough to blend in. It looks 'off' and often very unappealing.

The Giant has a sort of reverse-uncanny-valley going on. His art has developed its' own indicators and rules, and is so very far away from normal comic art in appearance that it becomes its' own little universe. I mean, look at the horde of avatars and bits of art in OOTS style that have been inspired by it. Clearly the simplistic approach appeals. Not only that, but the ease of the style is condusive to large shots with many characteres, large pages with plenty of room for conversation and action, and the comic's own visual language built around the unique artstyle.

Of course, it also helps that he's a good writer. Even his generic cookie-cutter characters can have a lot of personality - remember when the hobgoblins rushed the ruined wall? There was plenty of character amongst the soldiers who either decided to stay or run, despite them all being drawn from two character models.

I admit, I'm praising more than analysing, so I invite you to say wether you agree or what you think about the Giant's many characters. Do you think there are too many? Do you like how he characterises them? Why do you think his work is so effective - or not?

[dehro]

I agree that the Giant truly is a giant in many respects concerning this comic..
and this applies also to the managing of background, characters, NPC a.s.o.

I think however that a big part of the success of certain characters is due to the tendency of forumites to over-speculate, and to bysect every panel looking for things that maybe are not even there.

[fangthane]

I hate to say it, but you're unlikely to get any kind of balanced discussion on this subject here... After all, most of us who are motivated to the extent we register on the forum are fans of the comic to begin with, so we're unlikely to have a substantially negative perception of just about anything, and are likely in fact to subconsciously give Rich a "pass" on anything which doesn't quite work.

That said, it's all in the eyebrows and the eyes. Rich has obviously got a good handle on how to illustrate the eyes and eyebrows of even skeletal characters, to the extent that he's able to portray fairly distinct emotional states through their use (not that the mouths are unimportant, but they're less so than the eyes which are the first draw in terms of 'reading' a character's emotional state). I'm not sure this could be said to be a completely novel thing - Binky and Sheba, Calvin and Charlie Brown aren't particularly intricate comic characters, compared to (say) a Dark Knight graphic novel, but their creators likewise managed to convey emotional content in a similar fashion. I think it's more a matter of a general stylistic difference in terms of the figure simplifications, but I think it's fair to say that a lot of the same techniques are in use, if slightly modified. Work out 'iconic' emotional templates, and use them consistently seems to be the method.

[Wolfman42666]

i think that in a comic making the character's character is done using two things: story, which rich has grasped better than most great poet's (I mean have you ever tried to read the Aeneid, or the divine comedy,*shudders* if i ever find myself quoeting those i'll shoot myself, wheras rich's work rools off the tongue, as i read oots i want to say half of it just to *hear* what it sounds like) the second is style, and rich has mastered his.

.. and as an after note, onbody else has mastered the stick figure style, legendary's had a good crack at it but sometimes the size of the characters faces looks off, so its practically unique which also helps.
and no i'm not a fan boy because i think this:smallmad: looks horrible
...
what more to say?

[InfernusTribble]

I love the giant's comic because it combines the visual cleanliness and subtle simplicity of the art and the storytelling into a coherent and deep read with massive plot threads running through it which I can really enjoy - it made me realise why some people prefer that their comics be called graphic novels instead



Hmm, made halfling rank by praising the giant some more, i've seen the light!

[Omicroncubed]

There have been many diffrent kinds of posts so I'll just say it as short as I can:

I agree with the first post


.. and as an after note, onbody else has mastered the stick figure style...
True that also

No other comment :smalltongue:

[mockingbyrd7]

I agree 99%, the facial expressions he uses and the depth of the characters really attaches you to them. Most of them get plenty of screen time. *cough hack cough* Most.

*COUGH*Durkon!*COUGH!*

If we were to rank the protagonists in order of screen time, it would almost certainly go: Roy, Elan, Belkar, Haley/V tie, Durkon. Durkon doesn't really do anything. Okay, yeah, he smashed the huecuva and beat up Leeky, and solved the bandits thing. And he heals people. But I really can't connect with him because we barely see him, and all we know is that he usually does the right thing, is a cleric, is super-lawful, loves beer, and fears trees. Oh, right, and every once in a while he has a cameo appearance of 1 or 2 panels in Order of the Stick.
I don't mean to offend any Durkon fans with this. To each his/her own. But I'm just saying, if Roy or Elan or Belkar weren't in the group, the entire structure would fall apart. (Died in a battle doesn't count.) If Haley or V weren't part of OotS, people would notice. But Durkon? If he didn't show up for 100 more strips, I wouldn't notice. And I probably wouldn't care.

[Great Dane]

A buddy of mine showed me this website and I was skeptical at first, only having read Penny Arcade tri-weekly. But I was hooked three comics into it because it was so plainly evident that each character's personality is brought to the forefront. Like many have said before, if a character is sad, you can look at his simple little stick face and tell, not even having to read the dialogue. Look at Haley when she's saying jibberish -- how easy was it to tell what she's feeling based on body language and facial expression (which normally consists of a few simple lines!)

[Sir_Norbert]

If we were to rank the protagonists in order of screen time, it would almost certainly go: Roy, Elan, Belkar, Haley/V tie, Durkon.
Close. Haley actually comes above Belkar.