Misadventures of a Comic Fan

As you may have noticed there are some visible changes here at Cactus Comics. Although I’m happy to have made them, the changes were forced due to some technical difficulties. I’ve upgraded some stuff which has changed potential functionality of the site. Basically there are some behind the scenes things I need to explore. I’ll be doing that little by little and it really has nothing to do with why I’m taking a little time off. The reason for the break is simple, I had to spend so much time fixing technical glitches that I didn’t have time to draw any new pages. This week will be dedicated to getting new pages completed so I actually have something to post. I will have new pages posted on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. There are about 10 pages to go until the end of Book one. When Book one is complete I will be taking some time to prepare it for print and get Book Two started. While that is going on, you can expect to see some anthology type stories posted here. I will also take advantage of that time to do some formatting changes. I think that’s all for now.
Have a great day.
Dave

I decided to take a little time off over the holidays to rest up and relax. Things should get back to normal with a new page on January fifth. In the meantime, I’ve been doing some sketching and playing around with markers. Take a look, if you have an interest in any of them, or if there are any requests, let me know.

Prices (shipping not included):

5×7 – $5

8×10 – $10

9×12 – $15

As always I can be reached at Cactus.comics@yahoo.com.

Miracle Man/Marvel Man

Green Lantern

Hulk

Cyclops

More Cyclops

Flash

Peter Parker

Very Angry Mockingbird

Hey there comic fans! Welcome back. Last time, I started waxing poetic on inspiration, where ideas come from, and how my brain cramped up from reading Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”. Of course, my curiosity on the subject didn’t end there. It went dormant for a bit, but even in that dormancy stuff would grab my attention. There was that thing where all these people were claiming the world was going to end because the people at CERN (I think it was CERN) were colliding particles that protestors feared were going to create black holes, a brief bit on some TV show I was watching, probably on the Discovery Channel, about multiple dimensions. That one really got my imagination going. One of the scientists was talking about how a dimension might be curled up on the tip of your finger. I love that idea. It’s very “Horton Hears a Who”. By this point I had started “Misadventures of a Comic Fan”, but hadn’t yet decided where I was going with it beyond the idea that I wanted the main character to have some very strange comic related experiences. Then I stumbled across a video on YouTube called Imagining the 10th Dimension. That started solidifying my ideas. The comic shop would become the center of all these multiple dimensions. Why pick the comic shop? Well, it is a story about a comic fan after all. For many comic fans, Wednesday is a big part of the week. That’s the day new comics arrive, and whether they actually go to their store on that day or not, they know the comics came. As I took that metaphor further the owner of the store began to enter into it. The storeowner is the guy in the know. He knows what’s coming in on any given week, what’s going to be delayed, and has an informed opinion on what’s going to be hot. As the idea of the comic shop becoming the center of multiple dimensions with the owner operating as some sort of gatekeeper began to really take form, I recalled writing a very short story I called “Inconsequential Trivialities” that I felt would make a wonderful origin story for the owner. It’s appearance in the comic can be found here.

Once that was all in place I started playing with the reality I had set up for the characters. I have read in several places that when novelists write, the stories frequently take them in unexpected places, characters will almost start to write themselves. I love that statement, especially when taken literally. It’s almost as thought the writer has a window into another dimension and he or she is merely recording what they see. So I had Pat, the storeowner, aware of all the novelists, and storytellers out there, including myself. Not only is he aware, but he’s trying to make the main characters aware. I figured that in order to function on a day-to-day basis, you’d have to ignore or deny something like that. So Mike, the titular comic fan, is in complete denial. He’s seen evidence of this and ignored or forgotten it. Cracks in his disbelief are starting to show, but he hasn’t really accepted the nature of his reality. I’ve tried to walk a balance beam with Mike. He’s wrapped up in the comic experience and appears to believe that it’s real, that it not only exists but that he wants to be one of the superheroes he reads about. His subconscious has known all along that he’s seeing other realities, but his conscious mind denies this. The opposite end of the spectrum is Lucas. He just accepts things as they occur. He’s still at a stage in his life where he hasn’t tried to deny his imagination. He still sees monsters in the closet and under the bed. Everything he sees in books and on TV is real to him. Tom is somewhere in between.

I think I’ve taken enough of your time for one week. Next time I’ll cover the remaining characters and get into the plot.

Have a great week comic fans!

Dave

Hey there comic fans! Welcome back. Last time I did a bit of a review on “How To Make WebComics” by the Halfpixel.com collective, and I still can’t say it enough, if you’re doing a webcomic read this book first. This week I thought I’d focus on inspiration. If you’re the creative type and you draw, paint, write, create music or dance at some point you inevitably get asked something along the lines of “where do your ideas come from?” That’s always a bit of a tricky question to answer. Sometimes you just don’t know. Other times it may be that there were a bunch of things twirling about in your head and everything got blended together. And sometimes the muse stopped by for a chat. When I was younger I had a standard answer to the question. Whenever asked about where my ideas come from I would reply that I had purchased the idea from “The Idea Store”, a secret outlet know only to a select few, where you could purchase any idea. There were variations on this theme, sometimes I would get really detailed talking about famous ideas that had been purchased there, perhaps Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, the seatbelt, or bread. Anything to flesh it out a bit.

Getting older I try not to be so glib. People are genuinely curious and so I try to give them the best answer I can. I point to the world surrounding us and explain that I take what I see and filter it through my brain. Or perhaps filter isn’t the right word. I often think the only difference between “creative people” and  “non-creative people” is that “creative people” lack or ignore a filter. There’s a certain degree of free association involved in idea development. The degree varies, but I think it’s always there. Now here’s where the filter goes away: that inner voice that shoots down the idea before it comes out of your mouth or through your pencil or whatever? You know, the one that says, “That’s stupid”, or “That won’t work” or “now one will like that”. The “creative person” either ignores that voice or doesn’t have it. Speaking for myself, that voice is there I just choose to ignore it.

Although I’ve become more straightforward in discussing where ideas come from with those who ask the question, the storyteller side of me has never quite stopped turning this one over. “Misadventures of a Comic Fan” is where that thought process has led me. It’s my creative way of answering “where do your ideas come from?” The idea for the story comes from several places. I’ve always been interested in Einstein’s Theories of Relativity. I even went so far as to create an artwork I titled “Einstein’s Theory of Aesthetic Relativity (Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder)”. Looking back I’m somewhat dissatisfied with the end result, but it came from that place. Anyway reading about Einstein led to reading  Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History Of Time” and a few other books dealing with Quantum Physics. After my brain uncramped and I was sure that my misunderstanding was complete I started applying my thoughts on the subject to the world around me. It still feels as though I might be able to reach out grab reality between my fingers and pull it apart. I frequently wonder what would be visible between the torn edges. And that is where “Misadventures of a Comic Fan” started.

Before I go I’ll give you a brief update on the publishing front. Although I’m still seeking a publisher, I’ve decided to look into the cost of self publishing and have contacted a few printers to see what the cost would be. I haven’t heard back yet, and I’m not sure that’s the path I’m going to take, but I figured it was worth a look.

Anyway, that’s it for this week. See you next time Comic Fans!

Dave

Hi, I’m back. Last Saturday I posted a brief blurb about trying to get my comic published. As a brief update, I’ve started preparing another submission. This one is more detailed and will take some time to assemble. In the meantime, I thought I’d give you a quick review of some of the resources I’ve been using throughout the process of creating my comic and attempting to bring it to print. Today I’ll focus on a book that has had a big impact on my behind the scenes decisions on creating the comic. If you’ve been reading my comic from the beginning, and there are a few of you out there, I’ve been prepping pages for print, and in doing so I’ve made some changes–added some color here and there, improved image quality where needed, and made a few other changes where possible. This was intentional. I wanted people to get something for their money. I’ve even redrawn a few pages and added a panel or two to clarify things.

One of the reasons for the changes I made is the book I’m going to talk about today. “How To Make WebComics” was written by four guys who make their livings as webcomic creators. Brad Guigar (Evil Inc.), Dave Kellet (Sheldon), Scott Kurtz (PVP), and Kris Straub (Starslip Crisis), collectively known as Halfpixel.com, are vocal proponents for webcomics and financial independence through the use of the internet as a publishing tool. This book is an awesome resource for anyone just starting out in webcomics, and it even has something to offer to the individual hoping to go straight to print. This is not a “how to draw” book. It deals with everything after the ability to draw has been achieved. It does offer suggestions about design and layout, but spends most of the time discussing the business side of things. The book is very readable with interjections of humor and examples based on each of the writers’ experiences.

As a result of reading this book, I made changes to my scanner settings, which greatly improved the appearance of later pages. Of course, then I had to go back and rescan my older pages with these new settings. I also picked up a few tips for working with Photoshop that made things easier, faster, or better. If you’re skilled in Photoshop, some of the tips in this book are fairly basic and function as good reminders. If you don’t already work in a field with publishers or printers, there is a ton of information here for you. You can find everything from how to set up the pages for the printer to storage of books once they’re printed. There is also a section on working at cons with practical suggestions about small details you might not think of on your own. They even give a blueprint suggestion for booth design and materials needed for set up.

The downside of the book? It’s written by four guys who all do what are essentially gag strips. Each strip is similar to what you would find in a newspaper. Much of their advice assumes the reader is creating something similar. That doesn’t mean you can’t use what they offer. However, and they are quick to point out that most successful webcomics follow this format, and they don’t really have much knowledge about other formats. This presented a slight problem for me since my strip is done in a traditional page layout, and the story stretches out. I try to give the reader some kind of payoff with each page, but it doesn’t always work out that way. My biggest problem is that I do a lot more cliffhanger than I do payoff. The only other weakness I could see was a lack of attention to web hosting. There is more info on how to do print than there is on how to set up and run a website. So, if you don’t know anything about hosting a site, don’t rely on this book to get you through that part of things; it won’t help.

All in all, “How to Make Webcomics” is a great reference tool I strongly recommend. If you are interested in creating your own comic for the web or print, get this book. You won’t be sorry. That wraps it up for this time.