Behind the Scenes: ASMURR (Patreon)

Hi everyone!

Hope this update finds you well. I've had some experience working on 3-4 panel comic strips in the past. The setup, buildup and punchline all have to work in a very compressed timeframe, so choice of words, dialogue and visuals all have to be economic and efficient. Meatier Showers has always been designed for longer formats, where moments can linger, stretch out and generally have more leeway in terms of pacing. The biggest challenges embarking on the short format was identifying what kinds of gags worked best for which character in Meatier Showers, and one of those experiments was ASMURR.

By and large, the whole basis of the gag was Pridestar trying to deliver a memorable ASMR podcast as a folley artist. It was a conscious gamble on my part, knowing that the mid-section required more panels and beats than the 4-panel format allowed. This gag would've played out visually clearer in a full-page spread. Still, I took it as a personal challenge to see how far I could push things within the format limitations. Alas, the Twitter post itself had far less engagement than I'd like. Taking the nature of Twitter into consideration, and observing what other creators have done, usually gags that can stand on their own visually without a slew of dialogue works better, especially for an international audience.

All in all, it was a good exercise. One thing I've learned from this lesson is that, in comparison to the longer formats where I'm deeply emotionally invested into everything I put into the product, I'm starting to realize that the shorter formats are something you have to put out faster and more efficiently. Not every gag is going to be gold, as much as I strive for them to be, so it only makes sense to keep at it and increase my probability of landing a few good punchlines, as in the case of the Valentine's Day comic strip that had a better success rate.

It's not easy since every work I do is a child of mine, but I have to stay focused on producing content. I've planned out something for April and we'll see how that turns out. I should have something ready hopefully by 11 April.

Thank you for your support and feedback!

Snares
Apr 2021