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thrashermaxey · 6 years ago

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Ramblings: Gardiner, Bozak, Roslovic, Gourde, and More; Couturier Injury – August 23

Time is flying. It’s been a little over three weeks since the Dobber 2018-19 fantasy hockey guide has been released, which means we’re just a little over three weeks away until the start of training camps. If you haven’t purchased your copy, head to the Dobber Shop right now! We have projections, articles, and a whole lot more waiting for you.

Those Erik Karlsson trade rumours are swirling again, as Elliotte Friedman reports there is interest coming out of the Western Conference. Stay tuned.

There was a report that came out Tuesday evening from Jonathan Bernier (no, not that one) in Le Journal de Montréal that Sean Couturier had re-injured his MCL, the one he injured during their first-round series with the Penguins. This was further expounded upon by David Isaac, a Flyers writer for the Courier Post. He did not explicitly say the injury had reoccurred, but that Couturier had indeed returned to the Flyers’ training facility in Voorhees. His inability to report on the injury was because the Flyers would not comment just yet.

This situation was clarified Wednesday afternoon:

#Flyers say Sean Couturier will miss four weeks with what is reportedly a re-injury to the MCL in his right knee. That puts him at Sept. 19, the fourth of six preseason games.

— Dave Isaac (@davegisaac) August 22, 2018

This is kind of bad news for fantasy owners. Re-injuring a knee ligament is a huge concern, even if the team says it’s just a one-month injury and he should be back for the start of the regular season. It makes me nervous to draft both Couturier and Claude Giroux.

Last week, I had a Ramblings covering one player from each team that I would likely be targeting ahead of most for this year’s drafts. On Tuesday, half the league was covered with one player from each team that I would likely be avoiding in drafts this year. This will cover the second half of the NHL.

Remember that a lot of this is tied to ADP. In fantasy sports, whether season-long or daily, value is the predominant factor. A player likely being able to, or in this case likely not being able to, return a profit on draft investment is what matters most. Also, things could change once we get more solid ADP data, or someone is injured, traded, or demoted. This is just as of this moment.

This column will cover skaters only and is for standard Yahoo leagues.

Nashville Predators – Ryan Ellis

Last week I covered at length why I probably won’t be drafting Ellis this year. As I’ve alluded to, it’s not because he’s bad or won’t be fantasy relevant, it’s about his ADP.

I will say this: his rankings right now might put him in my range. He’s currently the 122nd-ranked player on Yahoo and NHL.com has him at 116. My concern had been that he’d sport at top-100 ADP. I’ll have a better idea of where I’ll draft him once we get more reliable ADP data and my projections are finalized but a top-125 player could be palatable.

New Jersey Devils – Will Butcher

This is where the league will matter. If we were talking about points-only leagues, I would have significant interest in Butcher. But it’s not a points-only league, we need to consider hits, shots, plus/minus, and goals, all four being major concerns. He averaged just 16 minutes a night last year and though he should earn more minutes this year, I don’t see him jumping from 16 a night to 20-21 a night. He’s probably going to be drafted as a third or fourth defenceman in 12-team leagues and I’d probably only draft him as a bench defenceman. He’s a great talent, I just don’t know if the peripheral stats will warrant his draft position.

New York Islanders – Josh Bailey

Most people are expecting a step back for the Islanders wingers this year because of the loss of John Tavares. Except, at least at five-on-five, I’m not sure going from Tavares to Mat Barzal will be a significant downgrade. The problem for Bailey is he might not stay on the top line; there’s a very real possibility that Jordan Eberle jumps to the top line and Bailey is playing with Jan Kovar or Brock Nelson. Anders Lee will probably be fine in fantasy this year, especially in formats such as this, but Bailey will take a huge step back. Even at his likely discount, I will be passing.

New York Rangers – Mats Zuccarello

I am very much a fan of Zuccarello so this is more a question of lineup slotting. By Corsica’s expected goals for, the line of Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich was one of the best in the league last year (seriously, ahead of lines like the top lines in Edmonton, Toronto, and Pittsburgh). They were fine defensively as well, believe it or not. With a new coaching staff, I think Pavel Buchnevich gets another shot on the top line and with it the demotion of Zuccarello down the lineup. With lower-quality line mates, it’ll be hard for Zucc to reach the fantasy heights of which he is capable.

Ottawa Senators – Erik Karlsson

There are enough red flags here. The team will be awful which is going to absolutely murder his plus/minus, possibly worse than last year’s -25. Even a rebound in goals won’t be enough to make up the deficit. He’s not one to rack hit totals so that’s two categories where he will be a hindrance. Even as a third-round pick and the likelihood of 60-plus points, it’s not enough to make up what he will lack elsewhere. This is a guy you trade for mid-way through the season when there are only 20 or so games until the trade deadline and the owner wants to move on, not a guy you draft.

Philadelphia Flyers – Claude Giroux

Were I to be drafting today, Giroux would not be on my list, especially when he’s likely to be a second-round pick. This is a guy who might not manage 200 shots or 40 hits and is coming off a season with a 17.6 percent shooting, where his previous career-high was 14.8 percent back in 2010-11. Not that I think he’ll be abysmal, but even a 25-goal, 75-point season, with his lack of certain peripherals, won’t be enough to return value. Combined with the uncertainty with Couturier, it’s a pass.

Pittsburgh Penguins – Jake Guentzel

Guentzel will probably be a top-100 pick and will be drafted there without top power-play minutes; unless Patric Hornqvist suffers a lengthy injury, he’s not losing his spot. Consider this: last year, in this format, even with his hit totals, Guentzel was just inside the top-150 players. Assuming constant peripheral rates, he probably needs to be a 60-point player just to break even on a top-100 draft pick. In other words, without top PP minutes, we need Guentzel to increase his production by 25 percent just to break even. If we get some sort of indication he’ll be on the top PP unit, this equation changes. For now, he’s being drafted at his likely ceiling.

San Jose Sharks – Logan Couture

Whenever shooting percentages spike, it’s worrisome. Couture set a career-high last year with 16.7 percent. His three-year average before that was 11.7 percent. He was used more often in a defensive role last year and that likely continues this year. Even with a career-high 34 goals he finished just inside the top-100 players. Unless fantasy owners think he can improve on last year, he, like Guentzel, will likely be drafted at their ceilings (for different reasons).

St. Louis Blues – Tyler Bozak

He’ll come cheap in drafts but there’s just not much reason to buy into him this year. He’s not a player who contributes in peripherals so he’s reliant on point production. He may get the chance to skate with guys like Alex Steen and Patrick Maroon, which is fine, but he won’t be on the top PP unit, a unit which will be heavily-used. In Toronto, he was at least in a split-PP situation, and his particular PP unit was lethal. That won’t be the case in St. Louis. A 40-point player with no peripherals is an easy avoid.

Tampa Bay Lightning – Yanni Gourde

Some people may get upset by this, so let’s clear a few things up: I have Gourde in a salary keeper league where I’m keeping him, he’s a good player, and he’s obviously in a good situation with the upper-tier offensive prowess of Tampa Bay. I can’t help but feel, though, that last year was a year where everything went right for him: he shot over 18 percent(!), he registered a point on over 73 percent of goals scored by the Lightning at even strength when he was on the ice (third-highest among all their regular forwards), and the team scored at a higher rate on the second unit power play when he was on the ice than the first unit when Kucherov/Stamkos were on the ice. Even a step back to 20 goals and 30 assists, which would still be a really good year for him, will result in a big loss from his likely ADP.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Jake Gardiner

Much like Ryan Ellis, I’ve also covered, at length, why I won’t be drafting Gardiner this year. There isn’t much need to go any further.

Vancouver Canucks – No one

This might be a cop out, but there’s no one that I’m really avoiding because there are only a handful of guys I’d want to target. I’m fine with Brock Boeser in the fifth or sixth round (probably), Bo Horvat somewhere outside the top-10 rounds, and Alex Edler even later. Maybe a late-round flier on Elias Pettersson. Those are all reasonable to me, and outside of that quartet, I don’t know if I’ll target another Vancouver skater in 12-team leagues.

Vegas Golden Knights – William Karlsson

I know, this is obvious given his shooting percentage. Anyone with even a basic working knowledge of fantasy hockey will understand that. Beyond the shooting percentage though is the plus/minus; he was plus-49 last year. That was the highest plus/minus for a forward since 2002-2003 and no forward since the 2012 lockout had even managed plus-40, let alone nearly plus-50 (H-Ref’s Play Index). That is going to crater. Even if Karlsson doesn’t regress massively in goal-scoring and still manages to score 30-35 tallies, his plus/minus could easily cut in half. I’d rather draft Jonathan Marchessault.

Washington Capitals – John Carlson

In a season where everything broke the way of Carlson, and he managed career-highs in goals, assists, and shots, he was still just outside the top-50 players in this format. He’ll likely be drafted as a top-75 player, which means he’ll more or less be expected to replicate his 2017-18 season. Call me skeptical that he can do it.

Winnipeg Jets – Jack Roslovic

Another player who should be fairly cheap in drafts, I will say I’m a fan of his long-term prospects. For now, though, he’ll be stuck in the bottom-6 and likely off the top PP unit. That’s enough to make me stay away for 2018-19. It will be a different story a year from now.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-gardiner-bozak-roslovic-gourde-and-more-couturier-injury-august-23/

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joejstrickl · 7 years ago

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How Brands Can Convert Noise To Signal

It’s the next thing out of most people’s mouths the moment I tell them I work in marketing. They hate ads, there are too many of them, and who’s got time to watch television these days anyway?

One of the great media myths is that television is dead. It’s not—the numbers around audience reach show that—but the idea persists. What has changed markedly is how we engage. I saw some research last year that claims only 35% of the average paid TV break is actively watched. For the rest of the time, around one-fifth of viewers channel surf, roughly the same number look at other devices while the ads are on, others distract themselves with other things or fast forward through the commercial breaks. A small number – three percent – even take the opportunity to interact with other people.

Yet ads still make their way into conversation, either because we like them or not. And of course they are a mainstay of events like Superbowl. Even Vogue gets in on the act.

So why do we say we hate so much advertising, and yet there are clearly ads that inspire us? Is it just a quality thing, or is there more to it than that? Partially I believe social media and the ready availability of news, views and entertainment has shifted how we categorize what we are seeing. Increasingly we mercilessly sift the streams of all the content that presents itself to us into two categories: noise; and signal.

Noise is the stuff that clutters up our day, that interrupts and annoys and where we see little worth. I’m not surprised that only one-third of most ad breaks get watched, because the majority of the advertising seems to fall into this category. It’s loud, imposing, uninteresting selling. It has many of us reaching for the mute button within seconds, or hitting Skip Ad as soon as we can on the videos we watch online. When people tell me that advertising doesn’t work and that they don’t watch them, this is what I think they’re referring to: the 65% of content that we opt to dismiss.

Signal is different. It’s the stuff, from a range of sources, that we choose to form an opinion over. It does more than inform us. It entertains or provokes us. It makes us proud or angry. As we check our screens for things to take our eye��up to 150 times a day according to author Nir Eyal—increasingly it’s this content that forms our talking points on a daily basis.

Much is made these days of our shortened attention spans, and that our ability to concentrate is now 0.5 seconds shorter than that of a pet goldfish. That, some commentators rush to explain, is why marketing increasingly doesn’t work. It’s an attention-seeking headline in its own right but a dubious correlation because, as Andrew Porterfield has pointed out, there is no agreed definition on what it means to “pay attention” and it underplays our natural abilities to adapt to the changing speed of life.

Signals explain how we can choose to love two babies bouncing on a Powerfit machine, Jean-Claude Van Damme straddling a Volvo truck, the latest Air New Zealand safety video, TED talks, box sets of our favorite TV series and so much more. It’s not about what form it takes, or even what the subject is. It’s about what’s interesting to us in the moment and what we perceive others will be interested in.

Signals are what people share, because they’re made up of items that are conversation drivers, because we agree with them or not, because they’re trending, because they amuse us or they bring us together in some way. And the format of that content is becoming less and less important. It may be an ad. It may be an interview. It may be gossip. How and why it was created is less important than whether or not, to borrow a concept from social media itself, it’s ‘pinnable’—something that we want to attach ourselves to—through sharing, commenting or liking.

Jonah Berger, in his book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, argues that we are drawn to what affects us and to ideas that we remember and that we believe others will be interested in. He suggests six factors:

Social Currency – we’re fascinated by things that are remarkable, literally, in the sense of worthy of being remarked on. Commentary drives contagion, but to attract commentary a signal must be more fascinating than other things around it. In other words, signals are competitive. They are only as interesting as their ability to rise above the surrounding noise.

Triggers – this one will be no surprise at all to marketers. We like things that we can remember easily and where the associations are well known, because they act as shortcuts (acronyms) for life. You say “Kit Kat”. Everyone around you gets “have a break”. But the flip side to this is that different demographics can also instill different meanings into words (even brands) that are well known. Check the Urban Dictionary for some amusing examples of this.

Emotion – similar to social currency, in that we’re drawn to things that affect us. Berger suggests asking the three Whys to understand why something will move us deeply. Again, there’s a strong tribal element to this as well. The emotions that a group share around an idea—for or against—can be a powerful cohesive factor.

Public – these are the ideas that are easily replicable and that gain strength as they are adopted. Think of the Ice Bucket Challenge. They work because they enable people to share in an activity and at the same time provide their own interpretation.

Practical Value – this, says Berger, is the news that makes living easier. It’s why YouTube is so popular – simple, visual, practical.

Stories – again, no surprise to marketers. The power of shareable narrative is now well established. Increasingly brands are looking to stories rather than just “spots” to weave a longer , more intricate view of why they matter and the value they add.

We all look at Berger’s list, and, four years on, I don’t think there are any surprises here. And yet turn on the television and in your average commercial break, it’s getting harder and harder to find advertising that has any of these qualities. There’s very little that is remarkable. The ad campaigns that build on great ideas seem consigned to the awards showreels because very few of them seem to make their way into ad breaks on a regular basis. There are very few good stories. It feels to me that brand owners have failed to see that they are competing in a new context, and that media presence is, by default, noise—unless a brand makes specific effort to make it more than that.

It’s tempting to believe that the products you promote and are responsible for, the ones that occupy your day and that are integral to your career advancement, are interesting. That’s a false assumption in my view. I believe marketers have to assume that their brands are inherently unexciting to consumers—and brief their agencies on that basis. The onus is on the marketing team to make their brands fascinating, associative, moving, contagious, problem-solving … And the way to do that is to reverse the question that seems to dominate so much of the thinking.

The question is not: “What can we get for $X?”, which really translates to: how interesting can we be on our budget?

Because reach too is noise.

The real question is: “How will we send a true signal, and what is that signal worth to our brand’s immediate and longer term value?” But that question is only valuable in itself if the metrics that define success are commercially real. Sadly, too many ad metrics are commercially meaningless in terms of seriously evaluating a brand’s progress from noise to signal. They don’t explain how a brand’s advertising has presented an idea that is so compelling that it is competitive against all the other ideas that are hitting people’s devices through their various feeds.

A brand can be meaningful today. It can represent ideas that are powerful and inspiring. But it can only do that if it has a mandate to send true signals.

The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

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davisgordonc · 7 years ago

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How Brands Can Convert Noise To Signal

It’s the next thing out of most people’s mouths the moment I tell them I work in marketing. They hate ads, there are too many of them, and who’s got time to watch television these days anyway?

Yet ads still make their way into conversation, either because we like them or not. And of course they are a mainstay of events like Superbowl. Even Vogue gets in on the act.

Signal is different. It’s the stuff, from a range of sources, that we choose to form an opinion over. It does more than inform us. It entertains or provokes us. It makes us proud or angry. As we check our screens for things to take our eye—up to 150 times a day according to author Nir Eyal—increasingly it’s this content that forms our talking points on a daily basis.

Practical Value – this, says Berger, is the news that makes living easier. It’s why YouTube is so popular – simple, visual, practical.

The question is not: “What can we get for $X?”, which really translates to: how interesting can we be on our budget?

Because reach too is noise.

A brand can be meaningful today. It can represent ideas that are powerful and inspiring. But it can only do that if it has a mandate to send true signals.

The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

from WordPress http://ift.tt/2uhtKws via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

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glenmenlow · 7 years ago

Text

How Brands Can Convert Noise To Signal

It’s the next thing out of most people’s mouths the moment I tell them I work in marketing. They hate ads, there are too many of them, and who’s got time to watch television these days anyway?

Yet ads still make their way into conversation, either because we like them or not. And of course they are a mainstay of events like Superbowl. Even Vogue gets in on the act.

Signal is different. It’s the stuff, from a range of sources, that we choose to form an opinion over. It does more than inform us. It entertains or provokes us. It makes us proud or angry. As we check our screens for things to take our eye—up to 150 times a day according to author Nir Eyal—increasingly it’s this content that forms our talking points on a daily basis.

Practical Value – this, says Berger, is the news that makes living easier. It’s why YouTube is so popular – simple, visual, practical.

The question is not: “What can we get for $X?”, which really translates to: how interesting can we be on our budget?

Because reach too is noise.

A brand can be meaningful today. It can represent ideas that are powerful and inspiring. But it can only do that if it has a mandate to send true signals.

The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

from WordPress https://glenmenlow.wordpress.com/2017/08/07/how-brands-can-convert-noise-to-signal/ via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

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markjsousa · 7 years ago

Text

How Brands Can Convert Noise To Signal

It’s the next thing out of most people’s mouths the moment I tell them I work in marketing. They hate ads, there are too many of them, and who’s got time to watch television these days anyway?

Yet ads still make their way into conversation, either because we like them or not. And of course they are a mainstay of events like Superbowl. Even Vogue gets in on the act.

Signal is different. It’s the stuff, from a range of sources, that we choose to form an opinion over. It does more than inform us. It entertains or provokes us. It makes us proud or angry. As we check our screens for things to take our eye—up to 150 times a day according to author Nir Eyal—increasingly it’s this content that forms our talking points on a daily basis.

Practical Value – this, says Berger, is the news that makes living easier. It’s why YouTube is so popular – simple, visual, practical.

The question is not: “What can we get for $X?”, which really translates to: how interesting can we be on our budget?

Because reach too is noise.

A brand can be meaningful today. It can represent ideas that are powerful and inspiring. But it can only do that if it has a mandate to send true signals.

The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

0 notes

zak-graphicarts · 7 years ago

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Review & Reflect: Week of 08/05/17

Aims

Four-Panel Workshop

Panel Layout Workshop

Produce a series of drawings exploring emotion through line/print to use as backgrounds

Create a test lip sync cut out stop motion animation

Develop drawing skills through “Daily Strips”, create 5 slice of life, four panel comics

Gather primary research for narrative and character inspiration

This week I focused on practical developments, experimentation and workshops. As we only have a few weeks left, I have to allow suitable time for practical developments, continuous research, reflection, refinements and creating a final outcome. Working within a time-demanding specialism such as sequential art and animation means I have to plan ahead to make sure I have adequate time to complete the work.

Monday

The week started with the Four Panel workshop, in which I created a four panel comic, in response to the narrative theories explored by Vladmir Propp and Claude Levi Strauss.

Working on the ideas of Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice, to begin this workshop, I timed myself drawing two subjects (a car and a castle), reducing the amount of time each drawing. Through this activity, I noticed that the quicker drawings became more simplified and linear. The book asks us to consider how when we have an extremely short amount of time to think about the drawing, we get closer tho the “idea” or essence of the subject being drawn. In this, we begin to see the universal, symbolic and visual language that is comics. These quick line drawings convey all the essential information about the subject, just with much less detail.

My second task was to design a character, using only simple shapes, then to draw that character in different poses/expressions in preparation for the comic. I created a scientist character, made almost entirely of rectangles, who sits on a bench, on his lunch break. I was then asked to consider an object in which my character could interact with: a sandwich and a bird.

My idea was to have the character go to eat a sandwich, hear a bird “squawk!” loudly, turn round to have a look, and then another bird flies past, grabs the sandwich, and leaves. Final panel is the character looking down at his empty hands in disbelief.

Tutor Feedback: Four Panel Comic

My first four-panel comics was more of a “gag strip” than an actual four panel narrative. Initially, I focused on creating a funny story, using speech, sound effects and emanators to enhance the humour, working on ideas from Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.

However, it was suggested that if I want to reflect everyday life in my comics, I should try and avoid using emanators as this creates a cartoon-like effect.

In the same vein, I should avoid the gag format: leave it ambiguous enough that the audience determines if something is funny, sad or scary. Real life isn’t a cartoon, and I should try and capture that monotony of reality in my comics to effectively reflect everyday life.

An artist introduced to me was Adrian Tomine, a creator known for his literary comics exploring stories of everyday life. His minimal, clean and monochromatic visual style in his book Killing and Dying is inspiring, and I will try to incorporate that style of clean, minimal calligraphy in my own comics.

Also, for my main developments, I will maintain the monochromatic colour scheme to my comics as I feel it reflect the boring regular monotony of life I was talking about earlier. It gives my comics a sense of visual relation and I could exhibit a series of comics grouped by this visual style, at a later time, if I wanted to.

Working on a task set in Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice, I decided to set myself the task of generating “daily strips”, four panel, slice of slice, monochromatic comics exploring a rang of subject matter.

This would help develop my drawing skills, understanding of the 4 panel structure and understand Propp’s theory further.

In these comics, I could also respond to the research I have done on the Third Place, setting comics in public informal gathering spaces such as the library or town center.

The basic idea for the four panel comic, based on the narrative theories explored by Vladmir Propp and Claude Levi Strauss is this:

Situation (introducing the character/place/establishment of the realms of the sequence)

Complication (a problem, and unexpected opportunity, or any other complication thrown into the situation, a change that is a problematic for the main character)

Resolution (a partial or complete response to the problem by one or more of the characters, typically a solving actions or linger process and its effects. This stage may repeat one or more times in a longer comic. That is, the simple narrative may present several incomplete attempts at resolving the problem.)

Denouement (The aftermath of the response, which makes clear: the success, partial success, non-success or uncertain success of through the reactions of the man characters. The fourth stage may also show how the original situation has changed due to what had taken place in the complication and Resolution stages of the narrative: a new situation or state of equilibrium.)

This workshop was valuable for me as it enabled me to incorporate the ideas of Propp and Strauss, in response to my research. I was introduced to the idea of effectively reflecting everyday life through a monochromatic colour scheme and how the use of emanators can actually detract from the effectiveness of my work.

Tuesday

My main aim for Tuesday was to complete a new daily four panel comic (daily strip) and experiment with re-drawing and inking yesterday’s strip.

First, I redrew yesterday’s strip, without any text, emanators or motion lines in response to my feedback. This meant that the story is conveyed entirely through the visuals. An absence of these factors also toned down the gag effect I wanted to avoid, and creates a stronger sense of everyday life.

The structure of the setup and punchline is still present because I didn't want to alter the story and how it plays out. The newly redrawn strip is a much more effective comic, told purely through visuals which capture the character’s emotions.

For Tuesday’s strip I wanted to link it directly to the idea of my project- an idea- by having it be an autobiographical strip about an experience I had at work (I work in a library.) My plan was to have the character of me, come in the door, take my jacket off, and see someone waiting by the door. I proceed to grab the keys, quickly unlock the door. The customer then enters, and mutters “last guy opened the doors early..”

As I am restricting myself to a four panel democratic layout, this was a lot to fit in such a small amount of frames, involving time-based problem solving. The two main problems I faced were:

How do I show the character grabbing keys and show the customer waiting by the door in the same panel?

How would I avoid the “gag cartoon” effect created in the last strip?

My solution to the first problem was to use a point of view framing composition, only showing my arm and hand picking up the keys, looking forward to the door. I composed the panel so that most lines direct the reader’s eye towards the center of the panel; the main characters eye line. This solution taught me how to effectively compose a panel in order to lead the reader’s eye, and is a subject I am planning to explore further in a later workshop. As in any art form, composition is a large, important element to consider in comics and can be the difference between a “good” comic and a bad one.

Although the next panel is still a singular frame, I have effectively broken it into two, a montage panel showing the main character quickly unlocking the doors. Composition is clear, and the calligraphy of the panel is effective.

Initially, for the final frame, it was going to be the same “camera angle” as the previous, with the old man walking past our protagonist, showing his disapproving face.

This is the denouement stage: the aftermath of the resolution.The speech from the customer is not comical or funny, rather sad and melancholy showing his lack of empathy/gratitude for the main character’s actions. Before, in all of the previous panels, the main character had been smiling, which makes it a subtle but effective change in the final panel.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, I wanted to create a series of abstract line drawings and digitize these, experimenting with different backgrounds for my comics.

I used a range of materials for this, including brushes, inks, bamboo sticks charcoal, cardboard and string.

In response to Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics chapter Living in Line, I created a series of drawings/prints trying to evoke emotion or a feeling to work as a potential background for my comics. After writing a plan of what I wanted to do, I began working on the first print: anger/hatred. For this, I used a bamboo stick and cardboard to create quick, sharp lines, focusing on mark making and trying to incorporate the emotion into my approach.

Using the pages from Understanding Comics as reference, I produced 15 experimental drawings/prints exploring a range of subject matter including anger, happiness and calm.

These prints relate to my idea as these will be digitized and used as backgrounds for my comics, slice-of-comics exploring my own experiences. These backgrounds are experiments exaggerating emotions felt by the characters within each panel. A background such as this adds dynamism, a sense of “larger than life” to the illustrations.

Earlier on in the year, I began to experiment with this approach to drawing looking at gestural mark-making with a range of experimental drawing tools, the most being a bamboo stick. This tool allows for a fine, scratchy line quality which is useful to my work.

Whereas before, I had just drew objects with these “drawing machines”, in this session I challenged myself to work more abstract: non-representational drawings purely meant to evoke emotion in the viewer.

Another notable tool that I used was crumpled up paper and cardboard, which proved to be quite versatile. It allowed me to create large, bold and thick marks whilst also allowing that fine, scratchy quality similar to the bamboo stick, with less precision.

I worked quickly and with purpose, paying attention to gestural mark making: slow, calm if i was reflecting a happy, calm emotion and quick, violent strokes of the brush / bamboo stick for anger or hatred. This approach reflects a series of emotions / feelings through experimental mark making, and I have learnt how a simple lines shape and direction can evoke a mood/feeling.

After scanning the print into Adobe Photoshop, I then proceeded to add in some of the drawings to a few of my comics, looking at how this affected the narrative.

After a few tests, I have come to the conclusion that backgrounds such as these successfully evoke the specific emotion and make any panel more exciting, dramatic and dynamic when added. they exaggerate and visually show how a specific character is thinking or create a sense of context to the panel. The prints are effective to cartoon style comics, where everything is larger-than-life, and to standalone illustrations (not necessarily in a comic).

I experimented with the idea of standalone illustrations juxtaposed with relevant emotional backgrounds and I think these outcomes were successful. For these digital illustration tests, I developed on my primary observatory sketches and drawings.

Through this test, I realized that in order to reflect the sense of everyday life, that I aim to do, I need to avoid such backgrounds and only use them when deemed absolutely necessary and when it would enhance the storytelling. Like emanators, these type backgrounds detract from the slice-of-life effect and make the comics too cartoon-like, which is something I am actively trying to avoid.

Thursday:

After planning this weekly reflection post, we visited The Minories art gallery in Colchester to look at the other artists work in the exhibition, gather some research/information about a few of the works and consider how we could link this to our project.

At the Between Things exhibition, I looked at three pieces by Sharon Leahy-Clark, which at first I assumed were a series of work but then found they were individual pieces.

These pieces were water colour illustrations on silk, frame and presented next to each other. Even though they were individual works, there was clear a sense of sequence to the images. Leahy-Clark had clearly intended for the pieces to be viewed as a whole, a series rather than individual pieces. This is clear due to the continuation of the same red colour palette, visual style and materials.

I think the pieces relate quite well to a previous workshop I did on this project, exploring non-linear graphic narratives. The pieces shown here are non-sequitur transitions. (not sequential).

Each work features different “characters”, yet the idea of the continuous narrative is created though the shared use of the same colours, techniques, frames and composition, The pieces feature some very bizarre characters / creatures not unlike The Flanimals, a series of books discussed/explored on a previous project. The idea of a common, non sequential graphics narrative was a key element in my early developments in this project, so I consider her work relates nicely.

In the afternoon, I gathered some primary research walking around the town center, the photos acting as narrative and character inspiration.

I also followed my self led/ created workshop Layouts, in which I broke away from my visual 4 panel comic structure and explored different layouts and effects of these. After looking at examples, retelling a story using different layouts, I reached the conclusion that using sequential dynamism in a comic layout detracts from the real, slice-of-life aspect, and that large, splash panels are effective and can be used successfully in a slice-of-life comic, but only if used sparingly, and at an appropriate moment in the story.

The final task in my workshop was to experiment with changing how time passes in my comics. For this, I penciled an 18 panel comic page of a character waiting for the Library to open, then takes the bus home. I found that repeating panels with very similar composition, or repeating the exact same panel, made time pass slower than it normally would. Repeating panels allows us to effectively slow down time to suit the needs of the comic. It is an effective technique which I plan to in incorporate further in my comics.

The panel layout workshop was a valuable experience as it allowed me to realise the impact that a dynamic, alternative panel layout has on telling a story. Slanted, sequential dynamic panels reflect excitement, a sense of pursuit. In the example I looked at, this suited the needs of the narrative: a high speed car chase. For my comics, however, such a layout directly contrasts to the themes of the narrative: a slice of life story. I discussed earlier how a regular, standard grid of panels reflects the monotony of life more accurately, and this exercise cemented this understanding.

To finish, I completed my “daily comic strip”, this time inspired by a situation experienced earlier on today, when I was gathering primary research. In one of my photographs, I had captured the image of an old man walking, isolated to everything around him, and seen a child on a skateboard. It was the combination of these events that inspired the narrative of this strip.

As with all my comic strips, the comic was monochromatic, black and white, in the four-panel format, drawn using blue/red mechanical pencils and inking pens. Each strip follows the ideas explored by Vladmir Propp and Claude Levi Strauss, mentioned earlier. In this comic, I decided to use a finer ink pen (02 instead of 03), which works on the ideas of Adrian Tomine’s art: the clean, minimal, almost invisible quality his calligraphy possesses. The final panel, is again, left ambiguous. We don’t see the older character’s response to the newly-given wallet, making it unclear if it even was his wallet in the first place.

Due to the composition of the older character in the panel, how far away he is to the child in comparison to the previous panel, he walks away quickly. This sense of urgency suggests a darker theme to the comic than perhaps initially considered, exploring that idea of moral and narrative ambiguity to accurately reflect reality.

Friday

Friday was another day spent on practical developments. My main aim was to begin experiments with lip syncing in cut out stop motion animation, and continue sketching out ideas for comics.

To create the animation, I recorded myself speaking the dialogue with different voices, and began looking for a mouth reference chart. Initially, I wanted to animate the entire conversation, but I felt that it would take too long and would act more as an outcome, rather than a test animation. I decided to animate one line of the conversation, a commonly hear phrase: “fancy a coffee?”. This was from the final panel of my existence-questioning comic, taken directly from a snippet of conversation I overheard waiting outside a cafe. I think, when taken out of context, it represents a regular, common phrase: a slice of everyday life.

youtube

As a test lip sync animation, I think it somewhat works: the voice work and animation are almost in sync, however this was a difficult task. This was mainly because I was just estimating the timing of the speech, as opposed to timing it correctly. As a result, some of the words sync with the movements, but longer pauses are not accounted for, and as such, the animation moves ahead of the voice acting.

As a test, it allowed me to experiment developing my work with cut out stop motion animation into a different use, which uses the technique of substitution, where I created a different mouth for each sound. I feel like experimenting with an Exposure animation sheet, noting each word’s phonetic sounds down into frames, which should help more with synchronization. In my developments to test this, I will do so and attempt to add a head to the animation, making it so that a character is speaking, rather than just a floating mouth. An easy way for me to do this would be to add a character illustration digitally, and overlay the animated mouths on top of the character.

For this animation development test, I was responding to my own comic I created earlier, using that for the lines of dialogue, and some plan sketches I did in my sketchbook. Working on the mouth reference sheet, I created the six different mouth shapes needed for “fancy a coffee?” and animated it using the software iMotion Pro on my phone, held steady by a tripod.

My idea hasn’t changed, I am just exploring an alternate response/direction and experimenting with a different medium. I was pleased with the outcome, and think it is a visually interesting development, which I plan to work on next week.

Additionally, I sketched out some potential ideas for comics, some based on original narratives and some based on my own experiences. I also walked around my local village, gathering more primary research for narrative and character inspiration. I penciled both comics, “Late” and “Paranoid”.

“Late” became my daily four-panel comic strip, focusing on a worker at a gas station at night, exploring how lonely a job like that could be. I was inspired by my own photograph of a gas station in my village. The idea of a gas station late at night, detached from society just interests me from a narrative standpoint. It’s also an informal public gathering place, which is an idea that I am exploring for my project.

In this comic, I emphasized on the strong black and white elements, in comparison to my previous comics which primarily were just line illustrations. In this strip, I was influenced by Adrian Tomine’s use of solid black fills, further stressing the idea and effective value of the monochromatic visual style.

The first panel of this comic is a shot of the gas station, lit up in the dark night. This is the Situation panel, establishing the location, time and atmosphere of the story: a quiet, isolated station at night.

The second panel presents us with our main character, suggested through the lines directing our eyes to the employee, and having his face be the only one shown in the panel. The customer walking towards the employee (Jacob) has his back facing the camera, and is totally emotionless. This emphasizes the readers identification with Jacob, he is the only character shown with any possibility to identify with. Having the customer hardly move in position in the next panel is the Resolution narrative stage: Jacob scans the item and completes the transaction, which also continues the sense of isolation that he’s facing, which sets up for the final panel.

The fourth panel is the Denouement stage, the aftermath of the resolution. This is often the emotional response to the resolution action, showing Jacob’s sadness and feeling of isolation through visuals only. This comic represents the monotony of life.

My initial feedback from my first four-panel comic to avoid the need for closure within a narrative, avoid the use of emanators and, if possible, tell the story purely through visuals. I made an effort to avoid making the story “funny”, and keep to the black and white visual style.

My comic, Late, does all of this, and I consider it to be an effective slice of life comic, exploring a single character, without the need for emanators exaggerating emotion. I achieved the sense of isolation and sadness through the juxtaposition of the previous panel and the fourth one, body language and facial expression: purely through the visuals.

Research

This week I continued my research into the Third Place and narrative theory by looking at Dan Harmon’s story circle and the importance of a Third Place in an internet-focused society. Looking at Harmon’s Story Circe allowed me to compare modern theories and classic ones, to consider if there were any characteristics which carried over between theorists and their ideas. I found that most traditional stories, even if they do not follow this specific order, tend to follow these events:

This is an interesting discovery, and one which my 5 comic strips are based on. Looking into the Third Place with more depth allowed me to consider the purpose and what my Third Place would be. I have incorporated these ideas in my comic strips as a narrative setting, combining writer Harvey Pekar’s autobiographical idea of sequential art and illustrating the reality of a Third Place.

I was also introduced to Adrian Tomine, who I will look into further, for his black and white slice of life comics.

Aims for Next Week

Lost and Found Sequential Art Workshop

Construct a six-panel comic based on lost characters within found photographs, considering the narrative theories of Propp and Todorov.

Composition in Comics

Explore the use of composition in comics, looking at examples, composing a page of an already written story, comparing my version to the real one and use these principles to create my own comic.

Gather Primary Research

Continue to sketch regularly, developing drawing skills, in sketch book.

Begin to consider ideas for a final outcome

Cut Out Lip Sync Development

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thrashermaxey · 7 years ago

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Ramblings: Flying High, Duchene Rebounding, MacKinnon for Hart? (Jan 7)

Flying High, Duchene Rebounding, MacKinnon for Hart?

The Philadelphia Flyers might be right where we expected them to be in the standings. But it’s fair to say that two Flyers that have stuck together for most of the season have exceeded preseason expectations.

Many fantasy owners were loath to drafting Claude Giroux, as his point totals have declined for three consecutive seasons. But this season, Giroux is not only proving there’s lots left in the tank, but he’s also one of the NHL’s top scorers. With a goal and two assists, Giroux has three goals and 20 assists in his last 14 games, which places him third in NHL scoring. It may have been about finding the right linemate, though.

Last season, Giroux and Sean Couturier spent virtually no time on the same line, as both were used as centers. This season, however, Giroux and Couturier have been used on the same line over 90 percent of the time, which has benefitted both. With two goals on Saturday, Couturier has reached the 20-goal and 40-point marks for the first time in his career. And he’s done so in just 41 games.

Can Giroux and Couturier keep this pace? Or are they both potential sell highs? Both are seeing pucks go in the net at about a 16 percent rate – much higher than the roughly 9 percent career rate for both. Couturier would stand to lose more from regression, as he is more of the goal scorer and has taken 125 shots compared to Giroux’s 80 shots. Giroux has more of a history of high-end scoring, so I’d be more inclined to retain his services. And although you can’t argue with an x-factor like chemistry, Couturier would fetch a much higher return via a trade now than you would have had to pay in a draft or from waivers.

Alexander Radulov, Tyler Seguin, and John Klingberg were kind to their fantasy owners on Saturday. Each banked three points before the Stars have to go on their bye week, which works out to a one-week break. The Stars play just once next week (against Colorado on Saturday), so weekly leaguers may have to consider sitting Radulov, Seguin, Klingberg, and/or Jamie Benn. Adam Daly-Frey has more schedule-related start/sit recommendations, as well as a bye week schedule, in this week’s Looking Ahead.

The Stars have at times split up their big three of Radulov, Seguin, and Benn in an effort to generate more offense throughout the lineup. But it worked wonders for them on Saturday, as someone from that line was in on four of the Stars’ five goals. Deploying this super line snuffs out the fantasy value of every other Star save for Klingberg and Ben Bishop.

Al Montoya made his Oilers’ debut in this game, entering the game in the second period in relief of Cam Talbot. Montoya stopped 13 of 14 shots he faced after Talbot allowed four goals on 19 shots. Even though Talbot has not been the same goalie as he was last season, don’t expect Montoya to see a whole lot of starts in an Oilers’ uniform.

I can say this firsthand: this was the wrong day to add Cam Ward for the purposes of starting him. Ward was pulled after allowing two goals in 5:43. Scott Darling wasn’t a whole lot better, allowing five goals on 28 shots while the Bruins feasted. The B’s now have a 10-game undefeated streak, a streak that I blindly and willfully ignored when adding Ward.

So which Bruins hit paydirt? Try the top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak, who combined for a whopping 12 points in this game. Bergeron led the charge, scoring four goals and adding an assist. To give you an idea how big a game that is, Alex Ovechkin is the only other player to score four goals this season. Bergeron now has goals in three consecutive games.

Surprisingly, Pastrnak entered this game with a 10-game goalless drought before scoring his goal. In spite of the slump, Pastrnak is still on pace for 32 goals, so not to worry if you own him.

Marchand recorded four assists, a career high for him. Marchand has 1.23 points/games played, a number that places him in the top 5 of the league.

To add injury to insult for the Canes, Sebastian Aho left this game late in the first period with a lower-body injury. Aho’s six-game point streak also came to an end.

Things are finally looking up for Matt Duchene. After scoring two goals and adding an assist on Friday, Duchene scored again on Saturday in helping the Sens to wins on back-to-back nights. How much of a bust has Duchene been since the trade? Prior to his four points this weekend, Duchene had posted just six points in 24 games as a Senator.

Is Duchene due for a rebound? Since joining the Senators (including this weekend), Duchene has scored at 9.5 percent accuracy, about 2.5 percent lower than his career average. This doesn’t suggest a huge rebound, but maybe a little bit of one. If you’re thinking of adding Duchene, though, keep in mind that the Sens play just twice next week and twice the following week because their layoff starts on Thursday and lasts an entire week. If you’re a Duchene owner, hopefully that break won’t dampen the positives from the last two games. In addition, a possible Mike Hoffman trade could hurt Duchene’s value.

Ryan Dzingel scored two goals, giving him goals in three consecutive games. He is benefitting from playing on a line with Derick Brassard and Mark Stone, which should make him a possible waiver-wire add in deep formats. Stone scored a goal and added two assists with a plus-2 on Saturday, matching his total from Friday. Even though Stone scoring at a point-per-game pace (40 points in 40 games), he could be considered a buy-low candidate himself considering the sorry state of the Senators.

Erik Karlsson was doing Erik Karlsson things in this game, recording three assists with a plus-5 in 29:30 of icetime.

Nathan MacKinnon is Exhibit A on why you don’t want to give up on a player in a keeper league too early. I answered literally dozens of questions about him last season asking if it was time to trade him or cast him aside. Fantasy owners can do whatever they want to with their player, but one common statement in my answers was that he was only 21 – still way too early to think about that. Now at age 22, he’s now second in the league in scoring.

With a goal and two assists on Saturday, MacKinnon is already up to 52 points in just 41 games. He has absolutely gone off in his last five games, scoring 12 points (3g-9a). His season 13.2% shooting accuracy is higher than his 8.7% career average. But like the aforementioned Giroux, his point totals have come mainly in the form of assists. Most of those assists (26 of 34) have been primary assists, which is another positive sign.

So as MacKinnon and the Avs put the 2016-17 disaster behind them, fantasy owners shouldn’t have to worry that the fun won’t last. Unless the HNIC crew just jinxed him by calling him a potential Hart Trophy candidate.

Lost in the attention that MacKinnon has been receiving is the recent success of linemate Mikko Rantanen. With a goal and two assists of his own, Rantanen has eight points (3g-5a) in his last three games. Rantanen also has five goals in his last six games and points in 11 of his last 12 games. With 41 points in 41 games, Rantanen has already surpassed his total from all of last season with half a season still to go.

Corey Perry returned to the Ducks’ lineup on Saturday, just in time for a game with the Flames that turned chippy (not that the Ducks need Perry in order to play with an edge, though). Perry was held without a point with a plus-1 and three shots on goal while playing on the top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell.

Dougie Hamilton has not delivered for fantasy teams as expected. His game-winning goal snapped a five-game pointless drought, while he entered this game with just one goal in his past 17 games. Hamilton is still on pace to take over 200 shots on goal, but his scoring is down (17 points in 41 games) and he has just four power-play points all season. Hamilton doesn’t play on the first-unit power play, which doesn’t help his cause. Dropping from 50 points last season to 34 points (which he is currently on pace for) would send him into fantasy bust territory, not only in pure points leagues but also in multicategory.

In case you missed the news about Jaromir Jagr, see below. Possibly the end of a first-ballot Hall of Fame career.

From Headlines: CAL/Jagr working on an exit. Jagr deserves to be treated w/respect and agent has permission to talk to other clubs. Nothing materialized yet, but time in CAL is drawing to an end. There is believed to be European interest.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 7, 2018

A brief scare for Jonathan Quick owners:

Jonathan Quick looks injured.

— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) January 7, 2018

Puck hit calf of left leg, where there is no padding…stays in game https://t.co/HiRV0l64uG

— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) January 7, 2018

That would be a disaster for the Kings if he were to miss time. Fortunately, he remained in the game.

Brock Boeser scored goal number 22 in his fine rookie season. You probably know by now that he leads all rookies in goals and points (39), as well as the players he compares to statistically already. But here’s one more for you: Boeser also leads the entire NHL (not just rookies) in goals/60 with 2.03.

Matthews chirping Boeser after he misses his shootout attempt. pic.twitter.com/PzDdw0dTEW

— Flintor (@TheFlintor) January 7, 2018

These two have been going at it all night pic.twitter.com/FVMuwtih8f

— Flintor (@TheFlintor) January 7, 2018

And to think, these two could be linemates for the Stars and Stripes at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Loui Eriksson, meanwhile, has just two assists in 15 games dating back to the beginning of December. I can’t see how the Canucks don’t buy out his contract (4 years remaining) at some point. Especially when it comes time to give Boeser his fair share.

For more fantasy hockey information, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-flying-high-duchene-rebounding-mackinnon-for-hart-jan-7/

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