Hey guys! Remember that poll? D&D was the overwhelming result, so I’ve pondered over the topic. I’ve thought about telling old stories, how to play things, a chibi project, a bunch of things. I realized, though, that I wanted to challenge myself with a couple of comic things I’ve not done before.
First, I use color as a crutch. Now, I’d do some shade color things, but that’s not the same as my bucketfill colors I’ve been using for like, 7 years. This isn’t quite the effect I want to do, but for this comic experiment, we’ll e rocking B&W (okay, maybe grayscale)
Second, I’ve thought about newspaper comics. They do something a little different in story and writing, where they rehash in basic terms what has gone before, keeping the reader in the NOW aware of what is going on, so they can understand this strip without seeing others. This is a small change, but it’ll feel different from my standard writing. Maybe. (*Shrug?*)
Third, as for content, I started filling my sketchbook with D&D ideas and minotaurs came up rather often (for good reasons). I realized my m’taurs aren’t very consistent as I’ve like them to be. The best way to learn how to draw something well, in my opinion, is to draw it every day for a comic. So m’taurs will be the main characters, so I can figure out how to draw them, y’know? (I can tell you right now: hooves and horns. Those will be the tricky bits)
Fourth, on a meta level, I’ve not been happy with the amount of readership. In part because I can’t tell who reads off of Patreon (although only 3 people did the poll), but really, in general, I’m not gaining readers. So I’m going to be posting these on another site, most likely drunkduck, but I haven’t settled on that. I’m also not sure of exactly how I’ll be presenting it, but, ideally, I’ll build a bit stronger of an audience off of it.
Fifth, on the nature of the schedule: Ideally, I’ll have 30 of these D&D based comics. Not only is that a nice round number, but it will carry me through November and NaNoWriMo, which will be a thing again. I might do something special in December, but I have no idea what quite yet. I did make strides on Chapter 3 of RiGP this week. Short strides, but it’s starting to come together. It’ll take a firmer writing job than I’ve used, to make it all come together just right. But, Ideally, we’ll ring in 2018 with that.
Sixth, on the title. it was just a working title for a while, but the name ended up sticking. I think, like a lot of my stories, it’ll be a bit familiar in concept, but really unique in execution. That’s the goal, anyway. It is very similar to an older comic called Dungeon Denizens, but that’s not online anymore. I’d love to get a copy though, of that and of the Gaming Guardian’s comic. Classic stuff that really made me a cartoonist.
I’m not worthy, yet, but I would love to take on a project like that. I think it would have lasted longer in today’s Patreon filled market. Of course, it probably had a following mostly because there were less games in town… I dunno. I find it entertaining. (i found the first 3 years of it are still hosted on a falling apart site on comic genesis. That ate up a bit of my time writing this.. Good stuff.)
Anyway, one of their problems was that they couldn’t keep an artist in their later years. I wasn’t up on the drama, but they changed a few times, then it died off. I’d love to be that creative force behind keeping good projects from death. No idea what the right way to make that a business would be.
First, I should get good at drawing I guess. That’ll be it for this super long commentary.
Cheers
PS: I still owe you 2 random filler arts that I did not get done this week. Next week looks a little more open, especially since I have content rollling out. Keep an eye out
TL:DR? We’re doing a black and white minotaur comic for a bit. Enjoy!