The Journey

[Allan_ecker]

Well, after about a year of sloshing ideas around, I'm beginning to think that I'll never have another comic quite like Umlaut House. Here's why:

For one thing, I've become far too interested in experimenting with the format of comics. As a result, the comics I do from here on out are going to represent my attempt to completely dissect the question of panel layout, at least from the standpoint of the fixed canvas.

(The infinite canvas is an interesting idea, but frankly I'm not gonna touch it until the tools improve, and shut it up about that free infinite canvas software McCloud's been promoting, the fucker only works on Mac, and that null-upgrade-path user-patronizing company can blow me.)

Okay, where was I?

Right. Technical aspects of comics. Because I'm so interested in the various things that can be done with comics outside the four-panel joke-a-day, it's doubtful that I'll settle down back into a four-panel joke-a-day any time terribly soon. Maybe I'll do runs of them, but there's going to be a lot of work aimed at breaking free of Exactly Four Panels.

Also, story.

I have, curdling in my mind, an Epic. It's big, it's hairy, and it's really, really PAINFUL. Well-liked characters will DIE. Governments, corporations, and other organizations will do horrible things. Individuals will do horrible things. There will be suicides, murders, and bad, bad stuff. There are lots of good reasons for this. Primarily, I have some feelings about bioethics that I think really -are- best expressed in graphic novel format, but there's also the issue that, to appreciate light, one must know REAL darkness. (The Epic will also have many happy moments which, hopefully, will be much more appreciated because of the pain that surrounds them.) This story is nothing, nothing, NOTHING like Umlaut House at ALL, and to get to it, I'm going to have to practice with stories that are darker than Umlaut House by degrees. Unit Zero was an attempt at making part of this transition.

In addition, the Epic will require a vastly more realistic art style. I'll be trying to mimic more the artwork of silver age comic book artists like Jack Kirby and Neil Gaiman than Chuck Jones and Eric Schwartz. To get there, I'm going to have to draw some relatively realistic comics. (The art of Unit Zero, I hope, represents at least one baby step in that direction with more realistic eyes, hands which often have fingers shown, and the more extensive use of backgrounds.)

All that said, and boy is this getting to be a long post, there will be room for cute and fun comics. I really enjoy them. A lot. And, I can fairly safely say of most readers here, you do too. But as the sainted McCloud said of a different genre:

For me, superheroes are like those chocolate pies with whipped cream on top and that Oreo cookie crust... you know the ones, right?

They taste great --

-- but who wants to eat nothing but chocolate pies for the rest of their lives?!

Sure, this website is just one place you come to. You go somewhere else when you want work that speaks to you deeply, hurting so it may help. But I'm kind of stuck here. The comics I make are the comics I make are the comics I make. So from now on, I'm going to make them -diversely- and that's just going to have to be that.

But to get all this done... I'm going to need a lot of help.

And you, the forumites, are that help. It is your praise, and (perhaps to an even greater degree) your criticism that will make these bigger and more difficult projects possible. I think of this first run of Unit Zero as a fairly big success, if not in terms of fan gushing, in terms of useful criticism.

The more often that criticism takes the form of useful hints, the better, by the way.

Thank you everyone for telling me what you really think instead of what you think I want to hear. I'm going to need a lot more of that if I'm going to get what I want done, done.

[Andrick]

So much for the angst-free furry bi/homosexual comic characters.

It's good you are looking at doing different things with your art, Allan, but remember - story first! If you do not have a good story then nothing else really matters.

[Allan_ecker]

As always, Andrick, your advice is quite wise.

The only reason I'm thinking of changing my art is the story. There are at least three occasions in Unit Zero where poor art has prevented the story from getting through to its full potential. It is true that there are problems with the story itself (not enough exposition and too many scene transitions), but the artwork has detracted in some places from the telling of the tale. This is why I care about the art.

And I wouldn't say there won't be any more angst-free bisexual furry shenanagans; as I said before, I like those, and I'll keep doing them every now and then. This website just won't be a pure safe haven from bad stuff much longer.

[Randyg]

I have, curdling in my mind, an Epic. It's big, it's hairy, and it's really, really PAINFUL. Well-liked characters will DIE. Governments, corporations, and other organizations will do horrible things. Individuals will do horrible things. There will be suicides, murders, and bad, bad stuff. There are lots of good reasons for this. Primarily, I have some feelings about bioethics that I think really -are- best expressed in graphic novel format, but there's also the issue that, to appreciate light, one must know REAL darkness. (The Epic will also have many happy moments which, hopefully, will be much more appreciated because of the pain that surrounds them.) This story is nothing, nothing, NOTHING like Umlaut House at ALL, and to get to it, I'm going to have to practice with stories that are darker than Umlaut House by degrees. Unit Zero was an attempt at making part of this transition.

In addition, the Epic will require a vastly more realistic art style. I'll be trying to mimic more the artwork of silver age comic book artists like Jack Kirby and Neil Gaiman than Chuck Jones and Eric Schwartz. To get there, I'm going to have to draw some relatively realistic comics. (The art of Unit Zero, I hope, represents at least one baby step in that direction with more realistic eyes, hands which often have fingers shown, and the more extensive use of backgrounds.)

I was pondering an epic myself, as one of those "god I wish I could do this" projects... except I was pondering it as a work of CG animation. (and on rather different subject matter... drugs, organized crime, rape,... rather than bioethics). The best medium I could think of to express it was as-close-to-photorealistic-as-possible CG... just wouldn't look right as anything else. so I know what you feel about needing a certain medium to make it work. But, since I'm not nearly capable of producing such a thing, just a dream.


And I had something to say here, but forgot what it was.


--Randy
(who now feels stupid as hell for forgetting what he was planning on saying, and sometimes wonders if he should bother saying anything...)

[Allan_ecker]

I was pondering an epic myself, as one of those "god I wish I could do this" projects... except I was pondering it as a work of CG animation. (and on rather different subject matter... drugs, organized crime, rape,... rather than bioethics). The best medium I could think of to express it was as-close-to-photorealistic-as-possible CG... just wouldn't look right as anything else. so I know what you feel about needing a certain medium to make it work. But, since I'm not nearly capable of producing such a thing, just a dream.

I will refrain from the usual "art needs practice" rant and give another, related piece of advice:

Little projects are great confidence builders. Umlaut House started out as a very little project. It's growth into a Very Long work was something I hadn't planned for. If it had ended after a few dozen strips, though, I would have had the confidence to try another one, maybe bigger, and so on. I'd thought of doing an Epic many times before, but it is only now that I even suspect I will -ever- be capable of it. I know that I am not capable of it -now- for example.

Art is a journey. The biggest mistake you can make on it is deciding not to go.