Oh geez, guys, I’m sorry for missing Webcomics Wednesday this week! (It’s still not midnight in my state, but I don’t think that really counts.)
Today I’m going to introduce you to my webcomic-in-the-works:
Ta-da! Yes, I’m still in the sketching process, but it’s a start. Since I’m usually busy (or just terribly lazy) I want to produce a dozen or so strips before I start posting them online somewhere so I have backlog to go through while I produce more strips. It’s going to be anecdotal because I really like those kinds of webcomics and I don’t have the art skills to undertake my more serious ideas. (I’m going to save my frustrations about trying to find an artist to work with you in a future post.)
As you can probably guess, my boyfriend is going to be a main character. He’s a really funny dude, actually, if you can’t tell from his webcomic Lumia’s Kingdom. And you can pretty much blame this whole project on him since he’s the one who keeps telling me my art is good (read: not the scribbles of a four year-old) and I should do more with it.
Maybe if I thoroughly embarrass him enough online, he’ll want to work on one of my more serious projects? ^_~
It’s so cute!! Now ink it, color it, and slap it on the internet! XD
(Side note: I can’t bring myself to feel one way or another about Gaga. I have a lot of friends that like her so I tried to, it just didn’t happen. But I don’t dislike her. I’m just indifferent.)
Slowly but surely, I will do so. Actually, now that it’s up I keep seeing problems with the flow of the comic, so I will probably re-draw it. (I think half of the problem is that I regularly read right-to-left and so left-t0-right looks unnatural to me.)
As for Lady Gaga, I like her because I like her open-mindedness, catchy tunes and artistic vision. She truly means well, loves her fans and wants to use her music to bring equality to more people. Some of her early stuff (like Just Dance) you can tell is really under the thumb of her record label, but she’s really managed to break out of that. So, for that, I respect her.
So draw right-to-left.
I know a lot of people in the comics industry are of the opinion that english comics MUST be left-to-right, but my question is, why? Sure, the language reads left-to-right, but comics are a visual storytelling medium. Even if you are reading the words left-to-right, it doesn’t matter–if they are laid out on the page correctly, and if the artist does their job of directing the reader, the reader will not have a problem following the layout.
I’m going to use one of my pages as an example, just because I can say I purposefully chose a right-to-left format and gave visual direction to the reader so that they would not have any problems with the movement of the comic:
http://circlon.smackjeeves.com/comics/973856/002-003/
Before posting that page, I showed it to friends that were not used to reading right-to-left. They did not have any problems following the layout of the page.
Anyway. Sorry to get on that tangent! It is a strong belief of mine that if a medium (like manga) is traditionally printed right-to-left and writers find it easier to right that way, then they should. F*** convention. ^_^
(Oh and also about Lady Gaga: I do agree that she is a genius! I respect her. I just can’t get into her music. I’m not trying to be a hipster, it honestly doesn’t click with me.)
Ahhh, that’s not quite what I meant. It’s just that I’m starting off going left-to-right and then my right-to-left sensibilities take over and you sort of have a jamming of signals, making the flow of the comic confusing. I speak two different languages that go right-to-left and two that go left-to-right, so I sort of have this confusion in my everyday life where I pick up left-to-right books and open them up from right-to-left.
I’d prefer to stick to left-to right just because I don’t really want to have to explain things or have people get pissed that it’s right-to-left (for whatever dumb reasons they might have for that.) But also, I just don’t really care. I’d prefer to just do what comes naturally in the language I’m writing in, in order to make it easier for the readers. It takes no time for me to switch ways, but I know not every potential reader is going to have that ability and it helps to make one’s comics easily accessible to the readers. This certainly isn’t a manga to me anyway, it’s a webcomic.
As for Gaga… OK, I understand. Her music can’t be for everyone. ^_^
Well, I guess it makes more sense when your comic is a page-a-day kind of thing. With something like a manga/ongoing story, once the reader starts and figures out which way to read, the rest of it just flows that way. If you did a webcomic right-to-left, you’d probably have to tell them every time you post it.
Wish it was easier for you though ^^;;
Yeah, it certainly is easier when it comes to webcomics’ style of sporadic updates of usually one page at a time.
Plus, I don’t feel like I’m making manga here, so it’s also a very mental thing. My style might be influenced by manga, but I feel like what I’m making isn’t one (except in the most direct meaning of the word, manga = comics.)
Reminds me of “My Darling is a Foreigner”.
Make more!
…How so? I mean… Tamar was born in Germany, but he’s definitely American.
The dynamic, that is. Of this particular comic. Not specifically that anyone’s a foreigner or anything. haha
Ahhhhh OK. I guess I’m probably going to enjoy “My Darling is a Foreigner” when the English language version comes out. ^_^
Anyway. In the process of making more!
Hey, nice work! Keep it up – yes, once it’s inked (do you plan on colouring it?) it’ll look sweet.
I feel sorry for your boyfriend … Lady GaGa before bed, that’ll give any man nightmares!
I don’t know! I honestly never really got into coloring and I’m not really good at it. (I know, I know, practice.) Plus, it’s a lot of work and I can’t really see myself devoting oodles of time to this project yet.
My boyfriend said Lady Gaga’s never given him nightmares. I think he just didn’t want the songs stuck in his head.
Oh man, I did the exact same thing the other day to my BF. I linked him to a video of a couple of guys singing Bad Romance acapella, and he was humming the song afterwards. It was hillarious XD (I’m not a fannnn but the songs are catchy)
Heheh. She definitely writes some catchy tunes.