Wow, what a neat little issue you guys are in for...
No time for me today? Here are the highlights:
I drew a page!
First episode of a new webcomic
Should I pick a fight with a lettering legend?
The kid became a man.
Here is a test page for Ronin Digital Express, the webcomic I've been harping on:
You didn't think I was going to draw juice boxes forever, did you?
It's important to be honest here and admit that I had a couple of false starts, including a boring 4th panel with a floppy boner sword:
And a terrible color experiment:
In fact, I'd say the colors were probably the hardest, least-enjoyable, and most-revisited part of the process for me.
I loved everything else. It made me feel alive.
Oh, and this was just for practice, folks. It's not an official page I'm using in the webcomic. I wasn't planning on sharing it at all. It's just for you.
What's next?
I have pledged myself to a couple of short comic projects for friends of mine, and want to do a couple more test pages for Ronin Digital Express. Probably a fight scene.
First, I think I want to try something I've been thinking about for a while.
Fun fact: Batman and Joe Chill actually met and had a little climactic confrontation in the Golden Age in Batman #47.
I always wondered how this dialogue might read against a more modern art style.
So I think I'll give it a go. And I'll give you guys a look. Hopefully next time.
Trigger warning for letterers.
Okay, I have mild rant about letterers. I've worked with a couple in my time who were absolutely phenomenal (go see Micah Myers if you ever need anything). Creative, easy to work with, really demonstrated what letterers can bring to the process and why it's a separate job.
What I did not know at the time and am slowly coming to realize is that letterers can be pretty protective about their role in comic creation. To the point where some can be pretty defensive. Especially on Twitter (Twitter? Conflict? Nahhhh).
I get it. Some people assume lettering is not a real job, or that letterers don't bring anything to the table someone else on the creative team can't do. I used to be one of the people who thought that when I was a writer.
Then, I needed a letterer.
Thing is though, lettering is probably the easiest job in comics to learn. That doesn't mean it's *not a job*, or that anyone can learn to do it well.
It's probably really frustrating to be a letterer. Especially when your biggest competitors are assholes like me who think they can do it themselves.
Still, I have a lot of sympathy for struggling creatives whether they're letterers, colorists, inkers, whatever.
What I have hard time sympathizing with is elitist, ivory tower thinking. Not just with lettering, but with anything artistic.
This tweet was going semi-viral a while back and caused a bit of fuss:
Now, I love Nate Piekos. I use his fonts, he's a legend. He's the guy.
But, this is bullshit, right? Letterers?
I get it if there's too much white space, or the text isn't centered, or any of the usual letterer gripes. But come on. Oval templates? There isn't any other way?
Seems to me I see a lot of unconventional stuff with lettering or bubbles lately. My reaction is usually "ooh, cool." But is there some kind of letterer puritanism I don't know about? What are the rules, guys?
Anyway, I've been trying to figure out an aesthetic for lettering Ronin Digital Express (sorry letterer friends, but I insist on doing it all myself, even if I do it poorly).
I didn't quite freehand it after an 8-ball, but here's what I think I'm gonna do:
Shame me if you must. Call me out on Twitter. Make me look bad.
I'm probably not going to change this balloon, though. I like it.
Last time I announced that I am working on a new webcomic with writer Milton Lawson called Event Fatigue Podcast.
Nothing is public yet. We're trying to "bank" some episodes now so we can stick to a weekly or biweekly release schedule when we launch it on Instagram.
But what the hell, here's the first episode.
You get the idea.
Don't share this anywhere, it's just for you. We'll release this and more starting in 2020 on Instagram (follow here).
Milton has like 50+ ideas for episodes here, and they're all pretty funny. We'll do a few dozen and see how people react to them and figure out from there how regular to make it.
That's it for this week's adventure.
As always, thank you for your support.
I don't have a Patreon, nor do I ask for donations. If you want to help me, the best thing you can do is share this content with your followers if you enjoyed it.
I'm going to stop saying "I love you 3,000" because I find it pedantic now. But thanks for being here all the same.
Back to work.
*rent