I dislike every illustration in that post. Why do they sometimes have human lips and other times they have Sonic mouths?
I'm reminded again how terrible this is that both the speech bubbles in this panel are references to better pieces of work (namely Planet of the Apes and Star Trek (well, Star Trekkin', but same difference)) respectively. Such a hack.
He really loves using that soft gradient-style shading, doesn't he? I remember abusing the fuck out of that in my early Photoshop days, until I started doing more hand-drawn flat shading as I started looking at other artists and animations I liked. I think soft-gradient colouring/shading can be good for subtle lighting, but not when you're literally drenching it on anything and everything just for the sake of it. It can sometimes add an unintended 'uncanny valley' look at times which is probably the last thing Ken wants at this point... Is he trying to purposefully make something that looks more realistic? Does he not get on with stylised 2D art? I get the impression he's thinking of this like a live action TV show instead of an animated piece of work...
The way I'm going to look at it is this: Ken Penders can be an inspiration to any aspiring indie comic artist in that he is a long term industry professional who also happens to be a low bar as a milestone. If people can look at your comic and say it is better than a Ken Penders work, that is a small accomplishment that nobody can ever take away.
I disagree, for that bar is so low that even my latest drawing is better than a Ken Penders work: It's called "All the Work That Has Been Done on the Lara-Su Chronicles."
Oh come now. It takes SOME effort and experience to make those uncanny valley monstrosities he does. It just doesn't take self awareness or a lot of effort to improve. Lots of indie comics people can use the self-esteem boost. Still, funny in a 'a better move is not to play' sense.
Want to know what would be a great use of Penders’ time? If he collaborated with Chris-Chan to make a Lara-Su/Sonichu crossover. Now that’d be something I’d read.
I'm 99% sure this is from earlier in this thread but I couldn't find it, so I had to track it down from elsewhere. I made this, please do not steal my original creation.
I’ve been watching Chris Chan: A Comprehensive History, and I’m surprised by how many parallels I see with Penders.
Exciting news! Just kidding. It's more tweets from Ken Penders. ========== 06/01/2020 These quotes are always funny when juxtaposed against what we have already seen/have been conditioned to expect will be appearing in his forthcoming magnum opus THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES, not the least of which is the probably copious amounts of space echidna Echyd'nya fanservice, including revealing swimsuits and "sexy" sleepovers. I didn't make those up. ----- 06/04/2020 Do you know the story behind the infamous Duke Nukem Forever? It was a video game intended as the latest entry in a white-hot series, one that intended to be the best one yet. But instead it would become one of the greatest examples of something lagging in "development hell," in any medium. The short story is that they would work on the game, a new technology or feature would be developed in the world of video game making, and then they would dump what they'd done to start all over from scratch with the new technology or feature, a cycle that would keep repeating. The long story, which I would recommend as a good read, can be found by clicking this sentence. This is what Ken is doing if you give him the benefit of the doubt. If you aren't giving him the benefit of the doubt, he's claiming to be developing something in a suboptimal way to mask the fact that he's not. So pick your poison, dumb and/or lazy. ----- 06/07/2020 In a single tweet/image combination, Ken manages to denigrate the English, Spanish, Ancient Greek, AND Latin languages, the last two through connecting the phrase "The die is cast" to his art. ----- 06/09/2020 This tweet is very hypocritical of Ken considering that releasing the LSC would apparently kill him. ----- 06/16/2020 At first I was ready to tear into Ken for managing to sink to a new low vis-à-vis hypocrisy in demanding that someone else put out art on a strict timetable, but upon closer examination that's really not what he's doing here. Still, should the man who is eight years and counting from COMING SOON IN 2012 be lecturing anyone about releasing anything? ----- 06/17/2020 This was apparently in response to this tweet: "Sonic the hedgehog currently lacks an identity. Sega has no vision and as a result pander to what they think people want the series to be, instead of their own vision. Sorry if Jeb hurt your precious little feelings coz he hates Mania Adventures, but he’s speakin the truth." Yeah, the Iron-Y-Meter isn't built to take that kind of overload. Anyway, Ken has two things to say: 1) He is thoroughly repulsed by outdated, undeveloped characters; and 2) COMING SOON IN 2012: THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES! ----- 06/18/2020 Another film implies that you've already finished at least the one. The only candidate I know of for that would be THE REPUBLIC, which I think is in the seventh month (at least) of being stuck in the fairly important stage of "finding a distributor." I don't know if you can quite check that one off yet. ---- 06/19/2020 In no particular order, and in fact in totally random oscillations, Ken will talk about how the LSC DOES relate to the real world, then talk about how he's taking the time (in between setting the dialogue bubbles and soliciting freelance Xhosa translators so that the LSC will be available in each and every South African language), then mention a mysterious, unnamed superfan of his work who asked a question Ken had never thought of before, how does the LSC relate to the real world? I implore my fellow Retrobians in the comments of this thread to continue the piling-on so elegantly begun by NOT KENs #1 and 2. ----- 06/25/2020 Ken is commenting on something I don't care about; what I care about is how Ken's choice of words implies that the reason he does not currently work for DC or Marvel is because he, Ken, has too much artistic integrity. I wonder if this thread might suggest an alternative explanation. ========= That's it, folks. That's June. If it seems a little thin, I had to cut out what might be Ken's vilest political vitriol yet. It involved comparisons to the Nazis and quite literally calling for the death and incarceration of his enemies. And also how the Sonic Movie featured a song that Ken liked when he was growing up, isn't that wild? COMING SOON: Nothing. We're all caught up to the present day on Ken's twitter. And since Ken will never finish anything (or, in the case of THE REPUBLIC, "finish" something then never release it), we're just going to have to wait for more exciting tweets. Will Ian have stolen yet another amazing idea from Ken? Will Ken tell the heartbreaking story of how Ian literally ripped up Ken's contract (from Sega to make a Sonic movie) because he, Ian, hates children the world over? Or will it be the chilling tale of how Ian ruined Ken's dynamic work on the comic by introducing his, Ian's, bland Sonic derivatives? Only time will tell.
Okay see like, those illustrations are better. it doesn't use the stupid burn-shading the rest of the stuff uses..
oh my god. the echidna designs were that bad even back then? I thought the weird cybernetic bits and bobs was shit Penders added in an attempt to seem more like an actual creator instead of someone coasting off of a lawsuit he won LMAO
Hey, just a question that's been bugging me: did Penders leave Archie on his own accord, or did he get fired? Cybershell's video on how utterly bizarre the Archie Sonic comics were claims that he got fired, but I haven't been able to find a concrete answer from where I've looked. If he was, it could certainly help explain why he was (and, based on his Twitter rants, still is) so salty and spiteful towards Archie.
Isn't a major 'problem' with present day DC and Marvel that they rotate artists and writers every few issues? It's virtually impossible anymore for an individual creator to make an impact, or ensure tone consistency in a longer story run.
For once he admitted something that isn't his? Is this a miracle?? https://twitter.com/KenPenders/status/1284022983921528832?s=20
I don't think ownership of those particular characters is a hill he ever tried to die on. But such a sentiment strikes of the old conman's trick of making truthful statements so that a less truthful statement may slip by with less scrutiny, e.g. his old claim, if I remember correctly, of owning Robo-Robotnik (to give just one example). Quite literally the equivalent of recoloring Sonic and claiming you own the result (which he may also have done, if he was the one who tried to claim ownership of Scourge, AKA Evil Sonic). I should also note that your post may very well be the July Penders Twitter Roundup, considering that he may have one tweet besides the one you quoted in the whole month that isn't openly and bitterly political.
