The Last One

I'm pretty sure this'll be my last post, anyway. Think I'll hold on to this for a rainy day.

So I never did post those practice pages, but who really cares about them, anyway? I'm a comic artist; all you want to see from me are comics! Well if that's the case, I guess you're in luck, because I've been working on one!

As I said, I'm doing a couple one-shots before I start working on Author again. But I think there's a lot that can be done with the Author setting that I won't be able to touch upon in the story proper. That's why I've decided to set these one-shots in that universe, even though they aren't connected to each other save some similar concepts and a familiar character here and there. For this one in particular I've decided to make Richter the protagonist so that the change isn't so jarring, and because I really wanted to use his new design.

The series of one-shots is called Metafiction. It was what I wanted to rename Author after I had already restarted it. It's a lot less generic-sounding, isn't it? Basically, the stories are connected by the theme of characters that are aware or become aware that their current setting is really someone's form of entertainment. For instance, in this first story, Richter unwittingly becomes part of a family sitcom from the 1960's, and tries to get himself kicked off. Speaking of which, I should probably post some pages!

I need to redo that logo in vectors. It was a rush-job, so I guess it was bound to happen. Anyway, would you look at that? It's my first proper splash page! Really only happened because I was so rusty that I didn't really think of the page layout, though.

The Producer looks so much like Gary Callahan in that fourth panel that it makes me want to punch myself in the nuts. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't have him in mind, but he's really supposed to be based on the archetype, not a specific character. I think there's someone similar in that Kirby anime... Well, I'm having some trouble creating proper depth of field. I'll see what I can do about it, but hey, I'm still practicing! Think it would look better with color? Not that I'm in a rush to open that can of worms again.

Yeah, he's different. I have to say, I love the third panel. It's one of the best, "Just try me, motherfucker," faces I'm aware of.

This page would be a lot funnier if I put a censor-bar over his curiously shaven pubic region with the word "DONG" written on it. But I'm an artist, and I will not stoop to such low-brow humor! Yeah, I didn't have a whole lot of trouble creating depth here, but look at how much room I had to fuck around with! I'm just squeamish about putting black anywhere on the figures. This page already saw tracing paper once. I guess I'll practice with it a bit.

And that's all you get! If you want the rest, you'll have to check the main site every once in a while. But like I said before, I'll post it when I damn well feel like it.

Good day.

Come Back Down to Earth, Major Tom

Wow, what the fuck was I talking about down there? I really shouldn't write when I'm angry, it makes me sound retarded.

You know, when I said that I'd write a post on April first, I didn't take in to account the possibility that I wouldn't have access to a scanner, but my broken hand brake saw to that. So I'll just give you an explanation of my plans today, and post what I've been working on later. I've made up my mind and decided to go back to black-and-white, ink-and-paper like when I first started /Newtrul, except now I have a better grasp of what I'm doing. Want to know why the pages had been taking so long after I went digital? Because drawing on a tablet is fucking boring. I'm on a machine that can boot up Super Metroid or show me any number of a billion vaginas, and instead I'm drawing the same contour over and over and fucking over again. No thanks.

I thought a lot about why I started drawing comics in the first place. Did I think that crap looked any good? Well, considering that I was a sixteen-year-old wapanese faggot (and good GOD was I a huge wapanese faggot- you heard it here first), so probably yeah. But more to the point, it was fun as hell. I didn't give a shit whether or not I could draw a sword fight, I did it anyway because I never was able to do that in the margins of my math tests. Only when it became SERIOUS BUSINESS did my attention in it begin to wane, and despite what I've been telling myself for the past few months, that has nothing to do with the tone of the comic itself. It's all in attitude, and as I've started teaching myself to use ink effectively, I find myself drawing random shit completely useless to the comic because it's fun. Before that, I never drew a damn thing unless it was either a panel or a character design.

Oh, and I'm going to update with full chapters, and whenever the hell I feel like it. Fuck off up a mountain, it ain't your comic and since no one ever read it before, I'm sure as hell not about to start giving a shit. I'll post the results of my practice in inking later. It's certainly not art-school-chic, but it's serviceable for what I need. It kind of reminds me of old newspapers' political cartoons or something.

And if it wasn't obvious, I spent my shift reading Transmetropolitan. Why does every character in that comic talk the same way? Because that way is fucking infectious, that's why.