How are you doing, comic-wise?

[Fading Aura]

You can't see it, but my face is contorted in rage right now.

Cope Angry.jpg (13.64 KiB) Viewed 3148 times

[Cope]

Yeah, that's pretty accurate.

ALSO I SAW THE PUN YOU MADE IN THE SUBJECT LINE DON'T THINK I DIDN'T

[McDuffies]

Yeah, but it seems too idealistic to me. In a perfect world, maybe you'd have a lot of webcartoonists doing stuff like Forbidden Zone and David Lynch's movies, but actually you end up with very, very few even attempting it. And it doesn't seem pragmatic to say, "Everybody's a bad creator for not being like David Lynch." I'd rather try to be more relevant by suggesting a creator aims for more originality while still being familiar enough to be comfortable for them.

If you said "Every creator should have style similar to David Lynch's", that would definitely be wrong.
However if you said "Every creator should have the kind of artistic integrity that David Lynch has", that would be very close to truth.
Lynch, of course, had the benefit of the fact that his second film was a considerable success. Though I don't think that he would have acted different even if he was not successful. Maybe he's make less movies. We at webcomics have benefit of not having to think about financial side of thing. We very seldom use it.

We are taught to believe that creators with integrity and originality are less akin to become successful than opportunists of various kinds, but I seriously doubt that. Graveyard of forgotten art is littered with stories that were commercially minded and patched up from familiar pieces to more or less extent. I suspect that ratio of successful/unsuccessful works is pretty much the same on every level of originality. But the belief that derivative works have more chance to succeed persists much like any other urban legend.

[K-Dawg]

I think I just made a drug deal with Sortelli regarding comics...

[Sortelli]

hey listen I think I'm also going to need a sack of oranges are you carrying

[K-Dawg]

Very soon sir, I'm trying to build up a bit of a buffer for that one.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

Update #3 and I think I'm finally back to my pre-hiatus readership stats

It feels like when you haven't exercised in a while and have your first workout where you don't feel like shit

[LibertyCabbage]

However if you said "Every creator should have the kind of artistic integrity that David Lynch has", that would be very close to truth.

But the belief that derivative works have more chance to succeed persists much like any other urban legend.

I guess that's where webcomics is at now, and there ain't really much we can do about it besides make original works ourselves and generally encourage others to do so as well. But that ain't such a bad situation, and as I mentioned earlier, the creative freedom the Internet allows makes a lot possible.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

You got so country in that post, LC.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

Printing 8 pages worth of reference pictures. This must be a little like how it is to be a real artist.

[McDuffies]

That is the curse of US historical fiction writers. (no, actually when I was doing kill'er now I was always printing pictures of cars).

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

That is the curse of US historical fiction writers. (no, actually when I was doing kill'er now I was always printing pictures of cars).

There's never enough reference images and yet always too many.


Stayed up til 3 last night working on sketching the last panel of one page and then the next two full pages. Doesn't sound like much to accomplish for having stayed up that late, but it was a lot of nonstandard poses, and I don't think I got a single facial expression right on the first try, so I had to repeat a lot of work. But I'm really really proud of the way it turned out ;u; It was one of those nights where I had to bring the pages next to my bed when I finally went to sleep so that I could look at them first thing when I woke up in the morning to bask in my own vanity. (Is it vanity if it's about something you drew? Or does that go back to just being normal hubris and pride?)

Hoping I can maintain this momentum. If I can sketch out a fourth page and then start finishing everything, I'll have two weeks worth of updates set to go. It'd almost be like I was a real person

[McDuffies]

once, I tried downloading references for everything I might need. that's how I ended on hoarders.

lwk brought this obsession to be informed about everything I write about. two months ago I thought I'd write a small, undemanding project about magic because with magic, everything can fly, right? three months later here I am, reading this book about modern magic, which is completely serious about possibilities of performing working magic spells, and that's about the last thing I'd want to read about in my private time. and I've set the story near Montreal for no particular reason, so now I'm writing dialogues thinking "is this a Canadian sort of thing to say?"
lesson is that I would probablymake the easiest job in the world complicated.

[RobboAKAscooby]

Yeah, reference pics, my google image search history is a little weird
But at the moment I've got to find a good body match for Nol, I did a pic of him yesterday based off a martial artist pose but he came out looking too thin.

I'm currently two weeks ahead on the art for Flying Tigers and about 12 weeks off finishing the first story arc (which would've taken a whole year in comic form ), hopefully I can keep it up at this buffer.

And, I have a rough idea for a Sh!t Happens reboot, along the lines of the more "comical" first version (before the craziness) with a different set of 80s cartoon references/tropes than before. Just a matter of working out specifics...

[LibertyCabbage]

You got so country in that post, LC.

Yeah, I just get, like, bored and feel like changing up my style once in a while, especially after I just finished writing a semi-formal review.

[robotthepirate]

Yeah, reference pics, my google image search history is a little weird

Bizarrely (because I can't remember how or why it happened) I switched to using DA for my reference material. I think it's something to do with their being less to trawl through and if I choose an image to base something on it'll hopefully be a little less obvious that I just googled the subject. Of course my final images look nothing like the source (for obvious stylistic *cough* reasons) so it feels less like plagerism.

RTP should be launching again on Sunday. I really should be excited but I only have a 3 1/2 page buffer and I'm struggling to sit down and get on with it. There is the slight consideration that I'm busy being about to move house but mostly I'm just feeling disconnected from the comic. I like my audience to experience the comic at the same time I do but that means working without a buffer which just isn't a good idea.

Meh, I'm probably just making excuses. I'll start the comic on Sunday and force myself to work harder. On the plus side the comics about to get creepy in a good way.

[IVstudios]

The latest thing in the LiveDraws is people have been using Sketchup to create 3d models of environments for helping with panel layouts. So I jumped on the bandwagon and did a layout of Kame and Claire's apartment:






And Satsan Burger

[robotthepirate]

Whoa, that all seems very complicated. I've heard of people using similar things. Is it time consuming or not?

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

Satsan Burger sounds like a Japanese Burger King.

That's neat, I've been using my Sims game for the same purpose, but Sketchup probably runs faster and has more customizability, I'd assume.

I really want to buy some more instructional books, but I've made myself promise not to do that until I'm making money again. My bank account has become a toilet whose tank doesn't refill when you flush it.

[IVstudios]

Whoa, that all seems very complicated. I've heard of people using similar things. Is it time consuming or not?

Both layouts took about 4 - 6 hours each. It's actually not to complicated, the program is a bit clunky but once you get use to it, it's easy enough to use. I advise watching a few of the tutorial videos though.

Satsan Burger sounds like a Japanese Burger King.

That's neat, I've been using my Sims game for the same purpose, but Sketchup probably runs faster and has more customizability, I'd assume.

Ah, that should have been "Satan" Burger.

It's more customizable that the Sims, if you have the patience to make everything from scratch (I don't, I imported all the furniture and stuff). For simple layouts the Sims might actually be easier to use though.