Progress

(Originally posted May 19, 2011)

Not too much to report this week. I've been crazy busy with family stuff, plus I've been trying to cram some extra drawing time into every spare moment. I've finished a couple pages of the big graphic novel, "Draconis Wicked," but I'm not quite ready to post them yet. It's still too early to give you an exact launch date yet. I've seen that blow up in the faces of too many artists. When things get a little more certain, I'll give you plenty of advanced notice and we'll do a countdown and serve punch and do all the other things that go along with launching a new project. Okay?

I will tell you that I'm pleased with how it's coming together so far. At this stage, Draconis Wicked is more tedious and time-consuming than Urban Underbrush, but in many ways it's easier to draw and the art is an improvement. I'm hoping that I can apply what I've learned to Urban Underbrush and kick up the quality of the artwork around here.

Drop in next week. I may have some teaser pics up.

In the meantime, Wave Tyrant is still going strong. Have you been reading? Have you made friends on Facebook yet?

-Marj

Spring Cleaning

(Originally posted Mar. 31, 2011)

Right now, I'm trying to tied up any loose ends before I start pushing on the Draconis project again. I've made some nice little changes to the site that I've been thinking about for a while. I've cleaned up the site banner and the links. Plus there's some new comic banners on the Urban Underbrush page and the Draconis Wicked page.

In my efforts to make improvements, I've broken one of the webcartoonist rules. Webcartoonists are often told not to go back and make adjustments to old work. It takes time and energy that should be devoted to new stuff. But there's been something bothersome about my old comics that was pretty easy to correct, the dingy backgrounds. When I switched the comics to color, I wanted to keep the background in shades of gray. This would make the characters look more vibrant by contrast. It might have worked if I was using a different art style, but it turns out that this comic looks better with colorful backgrounds. Plus, when I was working on the Grass Roots Blueprints it occurred to me that if all of the former residents were hippies and artists, then I would have an excuse to color all my walls in bright, uncommon colors. In fact, it would be wrong not to have a weird paint job. I started showing hallways with purple walls around comic #45. recently, I've gone back and "corrected" all of the backgrounds in the comics that came before #45, so the story has a consistent look, which should make it easier on new readers.

Old Version

New Version

I'm probably going to continue making improvements to the backgrounds in the new comics, but I don't plan on going back and changing any of the old work again, unless I ever need to make changes for a print version.

Also...

As you may remember, last week I ran the ad for Brock Heasley/Marc Lapierre's webcomic, The SuperFogeys. Well, it turns out that I won a free autographed comic book from their big give away. So I think I'm just gonna let that poster stay up for another week.

-Marj

This Looks Familar

(Originally posted April 30, 2010)

This was the only possible way that I could introduce Clayton and Scatter (the iguana).

As some of you already know, most of the characters in this story are borrowed from comics I wrote in middle school and high school (although I like to think that the drawings have improved). Clayton, Cassidy, Vincent, and several others were taken from my eight-page graphic novel "Small Town Showdown." One of the most memorable scenes (according to my friends) was Clayton trying to hide a dozen various animals in a hotel room for safekeeping. I decided to revisit this scene for my new audience.

Speaking of which, some of my relatives have been asking me if I plan on re-releasing my old comics on the website. Someday, I may put the old comics up in the Art Gallery so that everyone can see where these ideas grew from. Or I may re-draw new comics from the old scripts, giving the stories the benefit of my improved drawing and storyboard skills. I had considered re-drawing the old comics and making adjustments to the script so that they tie in to the new stories. This idea was rejected for being "too George Lucas." I think most cartoonists who borrow from their student works end up weaving a lot of their old ideas into the new stories, without trying to replicate them exactly. Right now, that sounds like a pretty good idea, but I'll let you get to know they characters a little better before I bludgeon you with back-story.

Anyway, if you remember the original comics then you probably have some idea of what we will find on the other side of the door next week. If not, you can probably guess.

-Marj

New and Improved

(Originally posted April 16, 2010)

Many of you may have noticed something different about this week's comic strip. The lines are a little sharper. The words are a little more legible. The expressions are more vivid. (The sky is a little clearer, the water's a little bluer, the road's a little bumpier...) This is actually the way all of my comics look on paper, but when I scan them they get a little blurry. Did I buy a better scanner? No, I am much too poor for that. I have simply switched to a larger and higher quality paper. This comic is now drawn on 14 inch bristol board (what the professionals use) then shrunk down to 800 pixels, touched up in Photoshop, and delivered straight to your internet. My comics are usually drawn with the same proportions as newspaper comics. That way, if I ever print a book, I can use the standard presets and I won't need to pay extra for custom printing. However, I made a small error in measuring the new paper so this week's comic and next week's comic are a little bit taller than usual (think of it as a bonus). The following week (April 30) the comics will appear in what will be our new standard size. The lines and letters will remain clear.

Learning through trial and error is funny. I have been drawing cartoons for years now. My comics won some awards in high school (okay, it was "Honorable Mention" - happy now?) and I received a good deal of professional training in college (in both graphic arts and fine arts). I worked as a part-time animator for a number of years and read all of the standard Scott McCloud and Christopher Hart books that cartoonists are supposed to read. What is surprising is how many new things I have learned in just a few months of running this site. Was my previous education worthless? Absolutely not! But there are a good many things that are taught better by experience. And different kinds of experiences bring different lessons.

If you are an artist then you probably should practice until you are ready to go public, but don't waste your time polishing your art until it's perfect. There is something different about making art just for yourself and preparing art for a larger audience. And you will never learn exactly how to prepare presentable artworks unless you try it out and make adjustments as you go. If you spend too many years creating art in a vacuum, then you will end up disappointing yourself.

Whew, that was a preachy one. Anyway, enjoy the new style.

-Marj

Greetings from beautiful "Not PAX East"

(Originally posted March 19, 2010)
I had the opportunity to go see PAX East in Boston next weekend (as a ticket-buying visitor, not as a guest or anything fancy). I was reluctant to take time off from work until I was sure that Kris Straub and/or Scott Kurtz would be in attendance. (I have no business with either of them, mind you. I would just be resuming my greatest role as "That Awkward Fan-Geek.") Back in January, when tickets were on sale, Straub's convention schedule said "maybe" for several months while Kurtz's schedule was suspiciously silent on the subject. Sometime after weekend passes sold out, both cartoonists announced that they would indeed be attending, leaving ticket-less me to sit at home and curse the darkness.

This entire incident is reminding me of what an immeasurable gap there is between myself and the established cartoonists; cartoonists who attend conventions as guests instead of having to buy tickets or climb in through a bathroom window. I have never been able to refer to myself as a "web cartoonist," even though, technically, I do have a website and a comic. But for me to try to put myself in the same box as the professionals... imagine that you are watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Now imagine that after the last float has passed, someone from the crowd darts out and starts chasing the parade. Also, imagine this person is wearing homemade float built from corrugated cardboard and glitter paint. This should give you some idea of where I stand.

I may sound discouraged, but I'm not. This is probably a very normal part of starting a website, or starting anything new for that matter. If there was a master checklist for success, it probably begin something like this:

Item One; Educate yourself.

Item Two; Develop your ideas.

Item Three; Chase the metaphorical parade for awhile.

You get the picture.

On an optimistic note, I should mention that I have put a good deal of work into these comics and a good deal of study into designing this website. Now that I am here I am NEVER GOING AWAY. To get rid of me at this point, you would probably need to get rid of the internet. And even then I would probably go around attaching these comics to telephone poles. Some of you comic readers may have been burned before by good comics that start strong, then disappear as the artists lose interest. I promise that I will not desert this project. Event if I run out of "Urban Underbrush" stories (maybe ten years from now) I'll probably have another story ready to take its place. Don't be afraid to get attached. You will not be abandoned.

If you like knowing that Lepus Studios will be here forever then you may thank me the next time we meet. I'll be the one cursing the darkness.

-Marj

"Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be this hard." - Coldplay