Content Accumulation...

...is hard work! I know I haven't been very consistent on this blog, but my consistency is about to change...

Not on this blog though.

Sorry, I'm afraid this blog will be coming to an end. I'm going to actually transfer it over to my new site, and re-direct the domain eventually, but for right now if you want to check out the new stuff that will be appearing soon, look no farther than my new site, JetPacksAndTimeMachines.com where I'm going to actually try to keep a regular three day a week comic schedule (other content appearing at random) in an attempt to further develop my comic.

We'll see how it goes.

How Much Future is Too Much?

That's the question... As I've previously mentioned, my strip takes place in the future. What I'm dealing with now is, how futuristic can I make it without making in inaccessible? I read a lot of science fiction, and play a science fiction themed video game on occasion, and it seems to me that a whole lot of science fiction involves explanations and descriptions. This concerns me because I don't have a lot of room... and I'm afraid that I could easily slip into really deep and inaccessible nerdery if not careful. What I'm dealing with right now, is how to properly render the homes and neighborhoods of tomorrow. I've also just been messing around with landscapes, which I think are far too often ignored in most strips, much to many strips' detriments. There is no better way to add atmosphere and flesh out a world than to add the occasional landscape or establishing shot.



In other future news, I think I'm getting ready to get more serious about this comic. And no, I'm not concerned that I seem to be talking about my comic strip like other guys talk about their girlfriends. I really like the direction I'm heading, and I think I might want to consider taking it to the next level. I might set up a web comic and all that entails. That's right, I might set a schedule and actually try to keep it. I might look into how I could begin promoting myself, and I might look into whatever else I need to do to attempt to generate some sort of income from this thing. I don't know... I'm scared... I'm not good at things like commitments, or consistency... I'm an artist... I can't help it... But I think the time may have come.


...Unless I change my mind tomorrow.

Endurance

Well, I'm almost out of comics. I've got to make some more. I've got excuses of course, I've been busy with work, and I went on a vacation for a while, and I've been playing more video games recently. All this has made me realize, I have nowhere near the endurance needed for syndication at this time.


Will that change? I do have to work for a living, but regardless... I just don't think I could come close to keeping my day job and making seven strips a week (and I don't even work full time!) Supposedly the test would be to attempt to make a month worth of strips in two weeks - according to Wiley Miller. That makes sense I suppose.

Just thinking about that makes me want to take a nap.

It doesn't matter though... Maybe I won't be syndicated, maybe I'll do something else. Maybe I'll just set up a website to pedal stuff from while making cartoons... Maybe I'll get off my ass and go find myself a wife with some earning power who would like to pay me an allowance... It's all irrelevant... cartooning is just something I do and I'm going to continue in my goal of making trying to make the best cartoon I can possibly make.

Right after this nap, and maybe some videogames.

Issues Upon Issues

I'm going to have to get blogging more, because I've started to forget what I've talked about before...

Eh, like it matters... Here's another comic sample:

I think I'm going to have to add noses to my characters. I can't pull off a successful profile any other way, and I just can't have two characters talking to each other that successfully without showing them in profile once and a while... and I don't want to stylistically limit myself this early on.

I'm going to need to write in a couple of female characters too...

Jet Packs & Time Machines

And so, the title has changed yet again... I liked "Partially Robotic Boy" but I didn't feel like focusing on a single character, so I needed something more all-encompassing.

As things stand now, jokes have been written and strips have been made (a handful anyways). I'm not kidding myself that I'm ready to jump into full scale production yet though. There is much refining to do. The biggest question at this time: Nose or not to nose? My characters don't have noses right now... but can I keep them that way? It impairs my attempts to draw them in the round, and I'm not sure that I'm willing to make that kind of sacrifice for style.


This is the first strip I've made since I set out to create a new feature (from the bones of the features that came before it). I've become aware of a number of technical issues that I'll need to address in the future, but all in all, I'm pretty satisfied with it.

The Interior Landscape.

For a while I've been working on finding the best way to draw landscapes... Then I wrote some jokes that took place inside. Boy was my face red. I had no idea how to draw furniture. I mean, obviously I know what couches and tables look like... But I couldn't render them with any character. (I'm still working on it.) Drawing backgrounds is at least as important as drawing the people who interact with them. I know that since comics began, plenty of artists kept the 'camera' in a fixed location, and only draw their characters from the front, and then they'd draw back drops from head on. This is the easiest way to do it, (and faster) but I think it can be a good way to stifle the life of a comic... it's not a world then, it's just a shallow stage. Not to say that it should be avoided at all cost, but it's got to be an intentional decision, not a decision based on the fact that I just can't properly cartoon a television set.

Visual Language

For the longest time, I've been hung up with rendering. I always thought the most important thing was how well something was drawn. I would always compulsively "fill the space" whenever making any cartoon, and I'd draw everything in the cartoon with equal care to make it look as good as possible. This lead to some nice looking comics, some nice looking, utterly incomprehensible comics. People would look and my comics, and say "they look good", followed with, "I don't get it." I often found myself explaining things. It's because you could look at a single panel, and have no idea what was important, or what I was trying to communicate. (but they looked sharp)

What does this have to do with the sketchbook page? Well, I've been trying to figure out a variety of ways to visually communicate some of the internal workings of Adam's brains, and one thing I was playing with was having the panels shrink down around his friend's head while he was talking, showing him starting to be ignored. What's on the page is the last panel before his friend is phased out with a 'pop' or some other sound. Those little things are robot ninjas (running around Adam's imagination.) All this just goes back to exploring ways of visually communicating a story without having to spell everything out in dialog. The only question is, how far can I push the visual language? It really depends on the format I suppose...