Julie pitches, and it's a straight, no...a curve ball!

Julielight · Post by **Julielight** » Mon May 16, 2005 3:19 pm

Greetings and Salutations!

After much hard work, and some minor problems, I think I'm ready to publicly pitch my comic.

Her name is Julie, and at first glance, she seems your typical newbie-Wiccan, full of fluff and naivete. It's her comic, though she isn't always the main character in every strip.

The comic centers around Julie's trial-and-error search for spirituality, but there are also side stories that do (or will) include: Role-playing, geek humour, love, body image, kids, family - and really all that good stuff life can be made of.

Like puppies. It wouldn't be right to make a comic without puppies.

Karen is Julie's best friend, and helps keep Julie's imagination from getting too far away from her. Karen, though Christian, is supportive of her friend, and struggles with her own view of an ever-changing religion to which she feels she doesn't really belong.

More characters are in the process of being introduced.

The comic updates on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There will be 18 comics in total in the archive come tomorrow.

This is the first post where I am attaching a promotional image, so I hope it works to specifications. I have added it as an attachment below. If there is another way, please inform me, and I will be happy to change it around.

I must send my thanks to the hardworking admins of Keenspace, without whom, Julie would still be a sketch in my book at home. Thanks!

So without further ado:
<a href="http://julielight.keenspace.com">Julie Light</a>

AsterAzul · Post by **AsterAzul** » Mon May 16, 2005 4:16 pm

Your comic is the cuteness.

KathleenJ · Post by **KathleenJ** » Mon May 16, 2005 4:36 pm

I just read through it. I liked it - it's cute, and the premise of the Wiccan and the Christian as friends is interesting. Your art is obviously manga-influenced, but it looks like it's got its own style happening rather than falling into a cookie-cutter mold.

I think your hand lettering is nice and clean and integrates really well with the visual style...and it actually gets weaker and loses something when you introduce a font, such as here. Not only does that lettering not mesh as well with the style as a dialogue font, it's kind of awkward to read with the letters skewed off the baseline at an angle. It's fine where you've used it as a title font, though.

It's a nice start. Keep it up!

KODAMA · Post by **KODAMA** » Mon May 16, 2005 6:12 pm

:o hmm.
The first page kind of made me feel like I should close the browser (this is my reaction to pretty much 95% of comics, including popular comics like megatokyo, but excluding tsunamichannel), but I started from page one, and it wasn't so bad.

Mind you, I'm not a huge fan of reading online either... XD I need to see something pretty before I read. I think the first page pulled that off somewhat well. It gave me soemthing interesting to see....

... I'm not too familiar with the subject presented in the comic other than stereotypical ideas that have been shoved into me by the lovely surrounding community here which is extremely liberal, proud of homosexuals and advocates of illegal drug use being legalized.....
but eh, that's my problem. XD

I think I would probably bookmark and continue reading this comic if it were a different subject - but really, if your comic presents a subject in an interesting manner, even stubborn conservative folk like me can learn to take interest in your comic. :o... best of luck.

PS - you might want to work on where you place your text so that it is
1. less cluttered
2. more easier to follow.
The current page took me a couple tries to figure out which word was first and exactly what was going on.

Bass Master Fei · Post by **Bass Master Fei** » Mon May 16, 2005 8:12 pm

It's very cute, but it kind of reminds me of those old PSA announcements they'd run at the end of cartoons like Captain Planet or Ninja Turtles. It got too much for me by the "We should focus on our similarities" page. Artistically, though, it's much better than average. Just not my thing, I guess.

Kodama, do you really feel that way? I don't recall reading any illegal drug use comics lately, but I do draw a comic with s-ai elements. Even so, I never thought it was "proud of homosexuals" (not sure what that phrase there means, honestly)... Did someone force you read a comic or something?

Subhuman · Post by **Subhuman** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:41 pm

It's cute, but a bit angsty. I think you introduced the more serious elements (Julie and Karen's religious tiff; Karen's poor self-image) a bit early. You're essentially asking the readers to care about people we've only just met and know little to nothing about. Wait a while, let us become more familiar with the characters and their various quirks. Then the emotional stuff really makes an impact.

I love the art, though. It's manga-influenced, but you've put your own twist on it. Simple and effective.

Julielight · Post by **Julielight** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:44 pm

kathleenJ wrote:I just read through it. Your art is obviously manga-influenced, but it looks like it's got its own style happening rather than falling into a cookie-cutter mold.

Thank you very much for your feedback! I am very influenced by anime and manga, but I'm glad that my personal style is still showing through.

I have tried hard to take what I've learned from others and create something unique to me.

I think your hand lettering is nice and clean and integrates really well with the visual style...and it actually gets weaker and loses something when you introduce a font, such as here.

I really appreciate the feedback on the lettering/font issue with Julie Light. It is actually the part I have worried about the most - whether or not my handwriting is legible vs my lame skills at photo paint.

I have opted to keep up with hand - writing the captions, as I agree, that it flows well with the style. Your words have helped put my mind at ease about this, thanks again!

PS... I love your forum name, my middle name is Kathleen, and my first name is Jodi.

KODAMA · Post by **KODAMA** » Tue May 17, 2005 4:30 am

Bass Master Fei wrote:It's very cute, but it kind of reminds me of those old PSA announcements they'd run at the end of cartoons like Captain Planet or Ninja Turtles. It got too much for me by the "We should focus on our similarities" page. Artistically, though, it's much better than average. Just not my thing, I guess.

Kodama, do you really feel that way? I don't recall reading any illegal drug use comics lately, but I do draw a comic with s-ai elements. Even so, I never thought it was "proud of homosexuals" (not sure what that phrase there means, honestly)... Did someone force you read a comic or something?

Eh, I'm sure homosexual relationships are intersting to some people, but I find it overhyped.

Bass Master Fei · Post by **Bass Master Fei** » Tue May 17, 2005 4:50 am

Yeah, I guess I can agree with that.

Wow, the latest comic is pretty good. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped reading >__>.

Julielight · Post by **Julielight** » Tue May 17, 2005 7:25 am

Thank you to everyone for your feedback and comments. The help is really appreciated!

Kodama - I will definately keep your advice in mind when working on the text. It's the one thing I have been struggling with, and am trying to improve with every strip.

I can understand that the subject matter of religion (more specifically Wicca) will not appeal to some people. I am working with the stereotypical views of Wicca to begin with, but am planning on Julie's path taking a deeper, spiritual turn in the future as she learns. I am working on presenting the basics in an easy to understand way, so that those with little understanding can still enjoy my comic - as well as having storylines that have nothing to do with religion and/or Wicca since IMO spirituality is a big part of life, but it's not ALL of life, and Julie's life should reflect that.

Bass Master Fei - I see what you are saying. I have gotten that feedback, and am working on not being so cutesy-preachy in the future. Thanks for your input. Glad you liked today's comic.

Subhuman - That was actually something I had been pondering (whether introducing Karen's self-image problems was too soon). It's good to have input such as this, as I can re-work storylines and such for the future, to enhance the reader's connection with the characters before dropping more serious life situations in the comic. Much appreciated.

Again, thank you all. Your feedback has given me much to think on for future artwork and storylines. I believe I am on the right track, but do have some learning to do yet.

Jodi

Ida · Post by **Ida** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:16 am

I really liked your comic, it is cute and funny. Wow, that was deep. Okay, real critique: As everybody else, I really liked your art. It's manga-influenced, which I actually like, but also individual enough to be 'your' style. More importantly, you seem pretty secure in your drawing despite the slightly sketchy look, which is really nice to see, since most 'sketchy' comics I've seen had very weak art. As for the content, I'll have to agree with Subhuman that the angst came a bit too early - We've hardly gotten acquaintanced with the characters yet, so drama is a bit off-putting. On the other hand, I actually really liked that sequence - this is a problematic I'm often thought about when talking to wiccans, so it's nice to see it in a comic.

On a general note, I find your jokes pretty amusing. So far, they've all seemed fresh and interesting (I particularly liked the 'afraid of bunnies' thing) with none of those old trampled-down cliches. Summary: keep up the good work!

Mimo · Post by **Mimo** » Fri May 20, 2005 3:09 am

I really like this

Julielight · Post by **Julielight** » Fri May 20, 2005 1:43 pm

mimo wrote: I am on a dial up and was expecting a full page comic to take ages, but the pages downloaded pretty quickly for me.

Thank you. I have a close friend up North who is on dial-up, so I had her check and re-check my images/pages for me to make sure they were dial up friendly. I'm glad all the work has paid off for dial-up folks.

Nicotine · Post by **Nicotine** » Sat May 28, 2005 8:07 am

This is really cute. Kinda ironic how the gothy lookin' girl isn't the wiccan