Monday, February 26, 2007

Random placement


One of the things that drives me nuts about Alley Oop today is how the characters are just randomly placed from frame to frame. Today’s strip gives us a perfect example.
First, why are all the characters always standing around with their backs to one another when they are talking? Is it easier for the illustrator to draw full-frontal shots of the characters each time?
Now look at the first frame in today’s strip. We have Oop standing and looking at the podium he just built, while Oola is directly to his right and Umpa is further to the right. Meanwhile, Guz is in the immediate foreground with his back turned to everyone.
Now jump to frame two and it is enough to make your head spin! Notice the podiums still in the background for perspective. Now it appears that Oop and Oola have suddenly switched places with Umpa ending up in between them and Guz has been magically teleported directly behind Umpa - still with his back to everyone but now reversed. No wonder he has a question mark above his head! He’s saying “How did I end up here?”