Dungeon Warden Studio

Working out a Painting Design

2011-04-28T22:40:00.000-03:00

Here is my process for designing a painting. I started with a few very rough sketches and tried different angles and points of view that might get the message across.

The last two drawing were done in my sketchbook with a fine point pencil and that's why they look different from the others, which were done on scrap paper using a charcoal pencil

I'll keep thinking about what I want the final painting to look like before I put paint to canvas. I'll need to do a tonal study and work out the perspective but I'm getting closer to a final decision and that's the whole point of the process.

Life Drawing

2010-09-14T01:05:00.005-03:00

The local art groups decided to get together and offer art classes for the local communities of Kings County, N.S. Tonight they sponsored a life drawing class and I got to attend. There was such a good response that they're thinking of making this a regular thing. Let's hope so, I can really use the practice. I did 8 hours a week of life drawing at college and my art skills went down hill quickly when I graduated. I've greatly improved since then and it was a great joy to find that I took to life drawing like a fish to water.

It took a few tries to get back into the swing of things, so I'll spare you the warm-up drawings, but here are the rest of the sketches that I did.

This was a 5 minute pose that I drew too quickly. The waist is too long but overall it's not bad
I switched to a 3B pencil and it adversely affected the line quality. That blob on her shoulder is supose to be her right hand
I switched to a charcoal stick and filled the whole page on this one. There is some distortion caused from scanning the image in two parts and putting them together in Photoshop. The image on the left is a quick sketch I did with a 2B pencil

This time the woman was lying directly opposite me, causing a lot of foreshortening. I just couldn't get the hand right, so I started over again. The second time (on the right) I did the hand first and then fit everything around that. Still not perfect but it looks much better.

We switched to a 10 minute pose and the instructor put a strong light on the subject. This is the best of all the sketches since I had the time to do it right.

The final sketch of the night was a 15 minute pose with a strong light like the last one, but it didn't come out as well. The odd angle of the left leg threw me off a bit. This was also a fill page drawing and combining the two haves in PS once more distorted the image a bit.

I drew a small thumbnail in the corner before drawing the full size image but I should have paid more attention to the anatomy. Getting the pose right in the thumbnail can help you to avoid mistakes in the finished drawing. I'll have to be more careful next time.

Well, that was my first life drawing class in 5 years. Not bad for being so out of practice. I hope they'll keep this going. I'll let you know if and when we have another session.

LBG vs NNN 6

2010-04-28T02:53:00.003-03:00

I'm continuing to redefine my art as I do each page. There are many background elements I could have done without for the rough draft, but I felt they added something to the art. Do you like seeing the semi-finished art or should I go back to the very rough blue pencil drawings?

I guess the nun decided it was a better idea to call her friends then to fight alone; unfortunately for the biker girls. However, it will take time for her friends to arrive and the biker girls just need to get through that door. Can she fight them off now that she's thrown away her weapon?

LBG vs NNN 5

2010-04-27T14:16:00.003-03:00

I seem to be adding more detail to the characters, but these are still quick sketches. The character designs aren't finalized, so they will likely look different as the comic progresses.

One of the advantages of doing the whole comic rough first is that you can develop your art style and the look of the characters as you go along and then go back to the beginning and use what you learned when putting in more detail. The art will therefore be more consistent throughout instead of changing from beginning to end as it does in my regular webcomic.

LBG vs NNN 4

2010-04-26T00:16:00.005-03:00

I though I'd make it easier to see the art by using a black pencil. The lines need to be blue when doing a sketch so you can redraw over the lines easier, but for now you can see my rough sketches.

Up until now the Biker Girls have been dominating the encounter, but that is about to change as they need to deal with the first Ninja Nun. However it is three to one (4 to 1 if you count the traitor) and they're riding motor bikes. All the nun has is a broom.

Check out this video of a Nunja fighting off attackers with just a rake. Maybe the fight is not was one sided as it seems.

LBG vs NNN page 2 & 3

2010-04-22T22:56:00.003-03:00

I did two pages today. In page 2 we are introduced to the Mother Superior while on page 3, the abbey is under attack. I wanted to get into the action right away without much exposition. I'm not sure how much exposition you really need but some people like to have some context in which to set the scene.
Let me know what you think of the story so far and if you want more background for the story. Readers of this blog will get more information then anyone else so consider yourself special for reading this.

Sketch of page 1

2010-04-21T01:05:00.003-03:00

Here are the pencils for page one. It's in blue-line to make it easier to ink. I can send someone the full-size version if you want to ink it. I'm going to do a bunch of sketches before I finalize anything.

Comment below if you have any suggestions or questions.

LBG vs NNN project

2010-04-20T13:58:00.005-03:00

Here are a few character sketches for my new comic project, "The Lesbian Biker Girls verses the Nighty Ninja Nuns" (LBG vs NNN)

This idea just popped into my head as most ideas do, but for some reason it hit home harder then some of my other ideas. The story reminds me of "Macho Women with Guns", a pen and Paper RPG from the early 90's, so I'm going to use that source material as background for the story.

The story is set in an alternate future where most of the male population has died off and the women have taken control of what's left of society. The few men that are left are of low intelligence and lacking in moral-fiber, which is a problem for the woman.

Understandably, lesbianism is common place now, but still frowned upon by the Church. The Macho women who have taken control and the religious groups who want to restore order to the world are constantly at odds, which is where my story comes in. My graphic novel will deal with one of the many conflicts that take place all over the world in this time period.

I plan on drawing the roughs over the next month or so, and see that happens after that. If anyone wants to help ink or color the pages let me know. I would like to be able to publish this book and any help getting it done would be welcome.

Social Media

2009-01-17T11:32:00.001-04:00

Today it's all about easy to digest content and socialization. Blogs and Twitter allow you to get the message out about what you are doing. Facebook allows you to create fan clubs that people can join and comment on your material. YouTube can show people what you are up to. Actions speak louder then words, so a visual presentation is more powerful then just writing about it.

If you want people to support your activities, you need to join the conversation. Go to where people are instead of hoping they come to you. People are very cynical these days and money is tight. People need to know you and understand what you're about. You Tube is a good way to get your face out to the world and show some of the projects your working on. Social activities like Blogging and Twitter allow you to talk to people in a comfortable environment. TalkShoe is great for talking directly to a lot of people at the same time (you can use it like a party line that anyone in the world can join).

People have been so bombarded by ads that they just tune them out. You need to advertise in a more friendly open method these days so people can feel comfortable with your message. Shouting and shoving things in peoples' faces just doesn't cut it any more. It's a brave new world out there and you need to embrace it or be left behind. The choice is yours.

Comments For the ARW Epilogue

2008-08-27T11:44:00.003-03:00

And so it ends where it began. Hopefully that will give everyone closure on the story. Sad to see it end but I'm on to bigger and better things now.

I used a few picture references when drawing these panels as you can probably tell. I wanted this page to look nice since it will be the first page people see on the site from now on. I may change it in the future but that won't be for a long time.

I used a real cat to draw Racheal's eyes in the last panel. I worked on them until they looked natural. I think I made them too natural looking. I'm worried that people can't even tell they are cat's eyes now.

I guess it's time to say good bye - but not for long. I hope you'll all come visit me over at my new webcomic, http://www.dungeonlegacy.com I'll be blogging there along with the comic, so no more loading in a separate page just to read the blog. The Comic will have it's grand opening on September 1, 2008, so come join me then.

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Comments For ARW Page 500

2008-08-25T01:46:00.003-03:00

It's all over except for the epilogue. A weird ending to a weird comic.

I'm not sure if it's clear, but in the third panel Racheal has reduced her hand to the size of a cat paw in order to get it under the eye lid. Once there, she enlarged it again and extended her claws; destroying the eye and the creature.

It was kind of fun redesigning the characters as they return to the way they used to be before wearing the tokens. Ann is going to suffer the most since she's lost her power to fly. New recruits like Slara, Racheal, and 'bunny' will be happy to return to normal.

There will be an epilogue on Wednesday and then this comic will close for good. Despite the huge number of people coming to view the comic in the last fer weeks, only a couple of people (and maybe it's all the same person) had anything bad to say about it. Not that anyone had anything good to say, most of them were pretty quiet.

Note that the comic is being hosted on a new site because the old server was over loaded. I'll keep this site as a mirror site. I'll switch over completely when my old site account dies. No need to pay for a site that's hosting a dead comic.

Comments For ARW Page 499

2008-08-22T01:22:00.003-03:00

Is this the end? Well, Monday is the last comic, so it's going to end one way or the other. Whether it's a happy ending or a sad ending is the real question.

I think I did a pretty good job with the posing on this page. I like how Racheal is slumped in Ann's arms in the second panel.

Ann finally gets to kiss Racheal. She's probably been waiting a long time for this. Too bad it might be a goodbye kiss.

Hard to believe ARW is ending soon. After working on this for over three years, I'm finally ending the story and moving on to other things. I hope my next story will have a more general appeal then this one.

ARW is about being weird and doing whatever I want. Dungeon Legacy will be about writing a good story and telling it through pictures. I'll do what I can to do things right this time.

Comments For ARW Page 498

2008-08-20T01:22:00.004-03:00

Out of the frying pan and into the elemental creature. Racheal just can't get a break. There is only two pages left to this story. Is everything going to end badly? Find out on Friday.

I'm not sure it really works to put a translucent water elemental over a gray background. You can see it clear enough but it doesn't really stand out from the background.

Horese is being absorbed by the creature in panel three. Is that clear or does she look like a slug or something? I tried to do something weird looking but I'm not sure it worked.

I found out why page 497 didn't work. I ran out of memory. Only three pages short of finishing the comic and I run out of memory. What are the odds. Fortunately there were a few pictures I could downsize (I don't know why I uploaded them so big in the first place). There should be enough room to finish the comic now.

I've been doing crafts with 6-12 year olds this week. It's hard to keep the young ones occupied while keeping the older ones in control. It helps that most of them are girls and thus interested in doing crafts. The boys tend to just want to get it done and move on. There is one boy in the group that is creative and a couple of girls that are not, so there are exceptions on both sides.

Comments For ARW Page 497

2008-08-18T00:51:00.002-03:00

Oh no!, Not Racheal. Anyone but Racheal. How is she going to get out of this one? Oh, well the comic is ending but it can't end with Racheal's death, can it. Check Wednesday's page to find out.

I really wanted this battle to be more chaotic but I didn't want to spend a lot of time drawing a bunch of characters that were just there for dressing. Oh well, the story's moving forward at least.

Didn't really do anything special today. Kept the page simple and got it done quickly. I don't want this comic to go out on a whimper so I'll try to do better on the next page where the battle really ramps up.

I'm having a problem getting the page for 497 to work, not sure what the problem is. I'll try again in the morning.

Comments For ARW Page 496

2008-08-15T02:48:00.005-03:00

And so the final battle begins. Who will live and who will die? We will soon find out because the casualties will begin Monday.

With all the background details and multiple characters in the last panel, I though I wouldn't be able to get this page done until later in the day but I managed to sketch it fairly quickly and kept the details simple.

It's hard to make different sized characters look right in perspective. For example, Ann is much bigger the Brihena and so looks closer to the camera even thought they are almost beside each other.

Still working on the 30 Day challenge, which involves creating interesting content on the web. My new blog is at http://howdraweyes.qarf.com It's all about looking at the details when drawing, starting with the eyes. I'll try to put up content when I can, at least once a week. I really want to improve my art style and this project should help me do that.

Comments For ARW Page 495

2008-08-13T01:45:00.007-03:00

Racheal seems to be the only one who is enjoying herself. Why does she get the easy job? What is she doing any way? She is actually trying to tear through a wall of paper to get to the other side. Only a cat would do something like that.

More gaming goodness. Georgena is searching though the mud for a key, Bunny is doing some platform hopping, and Wanda is pulling a chain to activate a switch or open a door. What a weird collection of ideas.

After doing all those multi-character panels, these one character per panel pages are easy to draw. Even though this is the first time I've drawn these characters in full animal form, the drawing went fairly quickly. It took a while to get Wanda's perspective right as I'm not used to drawing a 3/4 overhead view of an animal. I had to break the design into basic shapes and try to figure out the perspective that way. I still don't think I got it quite right, but it's better then it was.

Someone mentioned my comic on Something Awful in passing on Saturday and I got over 800 hits in one day. So far I've been getting over 100 hits a day. Someone else said they loved how weird my comic was (yeah, a positive comment at last) and I got another 400 hits yesterday. Great, my comic is becoming popular just when it's about to end. Hopefully people will want to see my new comic and I'll be able to build an audience there.

Dungeon Legacy is a much better concept then ARW but not as weird; although, I'm thinking of adding some weirdness, can't have it getting too dull or predictable. I'll be starting on Dungeon Legacy full time starting September 1, 2008. I was hoping to get more pages up before ARW ended but I was really struggling to get organized. I should have some time over the next couple of weeks to finalize the story before September. I'm going to start by improving my art style.

I've started a new blog at How Draw Eyes, which is designed to practice the little details like eyes that can really improve the overall look of your characters. The name comes from the fact that many people don't bother typing "to" when searching for an article on how to draw eyes. Unlike many articles of this type, I'll be looking at all aspects of design not just the ones I personally favor. If you're interested in learning to draw or improving your own art style, give How Draw Eyes a look. There isn't much there yet but I'll be updating the site over the next few days and in the weeks ahead.

Comments For ARW Page 494

2008-08-11T02:02:00.003-03:00

That's eight girls down, four more to go. I wonder what challenge Racheal is facing? Can't be worse that what anyone else is facing, can it?

If any readers are gamers they will likely get some of the references in the panels. I'm sure many people have come across those annoying block puzzles in one game or another.

Brihena is more goat then ram in this picture. The better to break the walls down. This is the first time you get to see her in full animal mode.

Slara would probably do better in full monkey mode but since she was the last to change, it will be some time before she'll have control over her powers, that's assuming she even survives the confrontation ahead.

A may need to do page 501 as an epilogue so that people know what happens to the survivors. I need to give some closure to the story.

I'm going to try to get a nice wallpaper done today and offer it to anyone who donates $2 or more. I really need to start making some money.

Comments For ARW Page 493

2008-08-08T01:07:00.002-03:00

The girls are on their way. What other crazy challenges are they going to have to face? Each challenge is designed so that only that girl's special abilities will allow them to make it through.

I thought all these complex backgrounds would take a long time to draw, but this page was finished much quicker then expected.

The blades in the third panel are designed to allow a small rodent to run around them but a snake would be cut in half and a bird couldn't dodge around them.

The rod in the forth panel requires someone who can grip it tightly and the hole is too small to fly into.

The air tube requires someone who's small and agile enough to fly through the holes as they are pushed through the tunnel.

The Sequential Artist's Pub is tonight at 10 PM EST. I'm going to try to call in on the Shoe phone and hope that I can get a clear connection. The connection has been bad in the past but if I shut down everything on my computer except the talkshoe window I should be able to get a clear connection. It should be an interesting talk if they use the discussion topics that have been suggested so far.

Comments For ARW Page 492

2008-08-06T02:55:00.004-03:00

Horese is jumping hurtles. What trials with the others face in their respective tunnels? I'll just say that each trial will be based on each girls individual powers.

Since there is only one character per panel (except panel 3 which has two) I had more room to work on the design of the characters. I like how kat-rin looks almost as good on the page as she looks in my head. I really surprise myself sometimes. I've always wanted to be able to draw the images I have in my head and now I can. Wow!

Panel 4 is designed to show how small Horese has gotten. She now has a smaller pony/colt-like body and the background expands around her, showing her loneliness and isolation. At least thats the effect I was going for.

I like Horese's curves in panel 5. Sometimes the pen just moves the right way when I keep it loose. She is also in mid-transformation which is interesting as well.

In panel 6 those red/orange hurtles are rising out of the floor requiring someone who is fast and a high jumper. There is also suppose to be a barrier coming down from the ceiling to prevent anyone flying over the hurtles (i.e. Penny). I thought about that when I designed the challenge but I forgot to draw it in.

The next few pages will show the girls moving toward the center chamber and then the big fight will begin on page 496. You don't want to miss it.

Comments For ARW Page 491

2008-08-04T11:14:00.003-03:00

Seems that the girls aren't so indestructible after all, but what about the tokens themselves? They must have survived somehow or the twelve wouldn't be around today.

I put in a few different versions of the girls in this page since these are the precursors to the current lineup (except for Horese, of course). I kept the colors the same so it would be easy to see who's who, but there is no reason they would look the same at all other then having the same base animal.

I wanted to show what happens when the girls are hit by the creature but I didn't have the time to figure it out. I'll do a better job when the girls fight the creature in the present.

I created this picture for the Art and Story Big Contest. The idea was to hand draw a cartoon using three random news headlines and three random items. The panel boxes were only 2x2" which added to the difficulty of designing the page. I had some fun with this even though it was a challenge.

My news stories were:

New evidence of danger to the atmosphere
Writer completes game show history book
Ukrainian leader poisoned

The items were:

A Coffee cup
A Club
A Space Shuttle

Comments For ARW Page 490

2008-08-01T11:28:00.002-03:00

The token war? Is that when people throw game pieces at each other? Somehow, I don't think so. I suspect the weapons used were a lot deadlier then that.

I put a lot of work in the first panel, but not so much in the others. The backgrounds in the middle panels are just gradient fills. Since this is a flashback, I figured I didn't need a real background. The idea was to just show what was going on. I didn't have a background in mind anyway.

Notice the two holes in the wall in the first panel. I wonder what those are for. All will be explained soon.

The 30 day challenge starts today. This is a marketing challenge where you try to sell a product on the Internet in 30 days. Every day you learn something new about marketing and by the end of the 30 days you'll have a much better idea of how to sell to people on the Internet. Even if you don't make a sale, you'll still learn a lot of valuable tips that will help you in the future.

Comments For ARW Page 489

2008-07-30T02:34:00.003-03:00

Don't you just hate it when you're trying to tell a story and everyone is looking out the window. Horese obviously doesn't know what's happening behind her, but she must know that it has something to do with Balap and Obitckert.

In the original design of this page I planed to draw Horese in every panel (except panel two), but I had already drawn her a lot on the last page and I didn't want to use the same picture over and over again in the last four panels. After some thought, I realized I could draw one big picture of Horese that connected all the pictures together. This unfortunately left a blank space in panel one where Horese would originally be standing, but overall the page design works.

I've noticed that a lot of US companies won't show there free promotional materal outsite the US due to copy right issues. What I don't understand is that these same companies have no problem selling their products in Canada. Why would they not want to promote their products in countries where they sell those products? It doesn't make any sense to me. These are free promotions so what do they stand to lose? I readly don't understand what the problem is.

Comments For ARW Page 488

2008-07-28T12:36:00.006-03:00

Why does Horese hate Obitckert so much? She doesn't seem to have a problem with Balap. Or does she? I have a feeling she'll want to clear the room of all the men before she starts talking about some of this stuff.

Sorry for the delay. This page took longer to draw then it should have. I guess I should blame the first panel. This is the first time I've drawn all the characters in full detail. I was surprised to find that some of the characters (most notably, penny) had never been fully drawn (we still don't know what her feet look like in humanoid form).

I uploaded an application for Facebook that allows you to see the RSS feed for Dungeon Legacy. I know I haven't updated the site in a while but now you can see when I do update anytime you log into facebook.

Facebook: Dungeon Legacy updates

You can get the feed directly at Feedburner

You can also get the feed for this blog and keep up on ARW updates.

Comments For ARW Page 487

2008-07-25T01:24:00.003-03:00

Wait, didn't Horese want to control the fountain? Is there something she hasn't told everyone yet? Before she said that the fountain can grant wishes so why would she want to kill it?

I didn't quite get the first panel to look like it looked in my head. I guess the important information is there but it lacks detail. I expected to spend a lot more time on it but I guess it's good enough. I like the creature at least. I needed to get that right.

I have a new RSS feed for my webcomic, Dungeon Legacy. If you have a facebook account you can download an application at Dungeon Legacy Comic. If you don't have facebook, you can go directly to the feed at Dungeon Legacy Feed. I've been trying to get this to work for Jarmo at FinnStrip.com but his server wasn't set up for it. Hopefully he can get it working tomorrow.

Comments For ARW Page 486

2008-07-23T01:21:00.017-03:00

What does Racheal see? I have a feeling that getting to the fountain will be easier said then done. Friday's page is going to be very difficult to draw.

I though that the middle panel would be harder to draw then is was. I messed around with different angles but I felt that this angle probably worked best. It gives a sense of space without giving away what the place actually looks like. If you look closely you'll notice a plaque over the doorway. That's your first hint of what's coming next.

I put a kiss on Racheal's face for the first scene and then promptly forgot about it when I drew the other panels. I had to copy and paste the kiss on at the last minute. It's a good thing I always double check everything before I finish up.

Below is an mp3 of the song Kriss Straub of Starslip Crisis did for me on one of his podcasts (the Kriss Straub show episode 5). He was drunk at the time and started writing songs about everyone in the chatroom. He did about four or five people before giving up. I was one of the lucky ones.

Comments For ARW Page 485

2008-07-21T13:30:00.005-03:00

Who are these people that Racheal has stumbled upon? Think of all the possibilities. Could it be a man with he's wifes and child? Maybe a rich noble with four slave girls. Maybe the two beside the bed are slave girls and the two on the floor are a mother and child. Are they his wife and child or someone else's? So many possibilities.

As you can see, I cheated on the first panel and just copied that background from the last page. But is it really cheating? Animators reuse backgrounds all the time. I hate it when people use the same character poses in every panel, but there is nothing wrong with reusing backgrounds as long as then make sense.

I think the last panel makes up for it with all the new characters and the background. I would have liked to have pictures or tapestries on the walls, and a few more pieces of furniture or some statures on the floor, but this page was getting late as it is.

Do you like what I did with the cat women? All four of them have different body builds and ages. Not to many artists that can do that without references. It may have taken me a long time to get to this level of skill, but having the ability to draw a wide range of body types is worth the struggle. You really need to understand the underlying principals of design if you want to do any kind of storytelling with the pictures. Look at that least panel again and tell me you can't tell what they are thinking by their facial expressions and poses.

Here is the picture I did for the Jenny Everywhere contest. The picture isn't currently in the contest for some reason. I contacted Fes and I hope to get an answer why soon. You can find the contest entries here: Draw to Win contest

I've included the cover to Dungeon Legacy I did a few weeks ago. I don't think I posted it here before. At least I can't find the entry. Visit Dungeon Legacy.com

Comments For ARW Page 484

2008-07-18T10:38:00.003-03:00

Water pipes with electrical wiring? That's an accident waiting to happen. Nice of them to include a light switch though.

Got to love the anachronisms associated with Alternate Reality stories. For the most part the comic has been a pseudo-fantasy story. In fact, there are currently exploring a castle. Now all of a sudden they are in a room with water pipes and electric lights. What next, hover cars?

Originally I planed to do panel two completely dark with just Racheal's eyes showing, but I though the image would be more effective if she was back lit by the doorway.

It's a subtle thing, but did you notice that the room in the last panel is designed for someone at least a foot taller then Racheal, who is over 6 feet tall. Notice how the valves and fuse boxes are set over her head. The huge valve would require a large person to turn it as well. I wonder who lives here?

I really need to make some money somehow. I have ideas but I don't take the time to implement them. I wish I had a front man who can do PR for my comic. Maybe I can get paid to be the front man for someone else's comic. Who knows.

If anyone wants to buy high quality prints of any of my comic pages just let me know.

Comments For ARW Page 483

2008-07-16T02:16:00.002-03:00

Now where did that door come from and where does it go? It's the only exit so there's not much choice. I hope it leads somewhere interesting.

Still keeping things simple. Got to love those group shots though. Drawing a bunch of small people is no harder then drawing a big picture of one or two people. There is very little detail to worry about with the small versions.

The bank is getting a bit antsy about the money I owe them. I wish I could make money creating a web comic. I'd hate to have to look for a "real" job.

It's getting late so I better say good-night. I'll see you on Friday.

Comments For ARW Page 482

2008-07-14T10:42:00.004-03:00

Ann to the rescue...or not. That can't be good for the old noggin. Now who's going to rescue her?

Another page with simple backgrounds, although I messed up the perspective. The ceiling should be more oval then round. It looks odd in the middle panel.

Another thing that's odd is how quickly I can draw people now. It hardly took me any time at all to draw the first and second panels even though there are several people in each one. However, I don't have Racheal quite right in the second panel. She should be leaning over Ann's leg but she almost seems to be standing in the air. Maybe if her left foot was at more of an angle it would look better.

I've got lots to do and little time to do it so I better sign off and talk to you Wednesday.

Comments For ARW Page 481

2008-07-11T21:17:00.002-03:00

Trap activated. A long slide into the jaws of death ... or something. Just what is waiting down below?

I kept the background simple because this is my first time back to the drawing table after a week and a half of being without my computer. As I mentioned below, my computer was at HP being repaired.

Sorry for the delay in getting this comic to you. As you may have noticed the site has been down since last night. I should be back to regular updates next week.

Comments For ARW Page 480

2008-06-30T00:14:00.003-03:00

Why is there such a long spiral staircase in the middle of the tower? One might think it was a trap or something. Sliding staircase anyone?

Kept the page simple this time (like a huge staircase was simple) because I knew I'd have to pack up my computer tomorrow and ship it out to HP for repairs. The girls have kind of a chibi look because of the top down look. I kind of like it. Maybe I'll do a poster with all the girls in Chibi form just for fun.

As I said, I'm sending my computer to be repaired tomorrow, so I'm taking a little vacation while it's in the shop. I haven't had any offers to send me filler art, so I might have to put up some old art or something.

I'll see you in a week. ... Actually, I'll probably still pop in a few times with some stuff like this...

Comments For ARW Page 479

2008-06-27T15:05:00.002-03:00

Wow! This place is huge. Take a look at Page 470 and see if you can figure out where the girls are. You can see some clues in the shapes of the towers. Note that they are only seeing a small portion of the tower.

Sorry the page is late but that can be expected. Between my failing computer and the more complex art it's just taking me longer to get things done. I should be sending my computer out on Monday so there likely won't be a page on Wednesday or Friday unless someone wants to send me some filler art. I should take a week off and recharge my batteries anyway. Everyone needs a vacation sometimes.

I'm going to get a new page for Dungeon Legacy done this weekend as well. It should be up on Saturday, but it may be Sunday morning before I get it up.

I'll see you on Monday.

Comments For ARW Page 478

2008-06-25T02:36:00.005-03:00

After that long trip through the underground tunnels, It's no wonder Ann was confused about how high up she was.

I recorded some of the session of me drawing this page on Ustream.tv I was probably more careful in the details because I knew people would see the video. The first video shows me drawing the first panel. The second video is me coloring the whole page.

Just look at that forth panel. A year ago I would never have been able to draw someone laying on the ground so naturally. The contrast of scales between Wendy and Ann is quite interesting. Note that Wendy is about 6 feet tall here. That makes Ann about 15 feet tall.

In the last panel it looks like Ann was knocked clear across the yard. In truth, her body covers most of the distance on it's own. I should have drawn her feet near the shattered glass so that this would be made clearer.

You can expect to see more amazing scenes like this as the comic counts down to the finale.

Comments For ARW Page 477

2008-06-23T02:33:00.003-03:00

Racheal had a good idea? Has the world gone all topsy turvy. Not that Racheal has made any really bad choices in the past.

Check out the previous post if you haven't already seen it.

Comments For DL Page 3

2008-06-22T15:09:00.005-03:00

Here is the cover for the new Dungeon Legacy webcomic. Chapter 1: Enter the Dragon

The cover shows the final version of all the characters. It's not a lot different then the previous version of the cover, but there are a few changes.

This chapter will explain how the characters meet and set up the interactions between them. In their first adventure they must learn to work together before they are all killed. This is not as straightforward as it seems. Expect a few twists as the characters are not your typical adventures.

You may notice from the date on the cover that this page is a week late. I had originally planed to have it up last week but things didn't work out. Hopefully I can get another page done this week. However, since my computer`s acting up I might need to send it to the shop; so I might not get anything done at all.

Here's a video I did of me drawing page 475 of ARW. I spead up the video so that you see about an hour of drawing in 6 minutes. I also added a few music clips to make the video more enjoyable to watch. You can always play your own music while you watch. I don't say anything in the video.

You can also watch this video on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j0vMEZlIn8

Comments For ARW Page 476

2008-06-21T00:51:00.003-03:00

I guess sneaking all the way to the top was unlikely but they didn't have to bring the whole army down on them. This battle could take a while.

Sorry for the delay. I'm a whole day late which is the latest I've ever been. SO much has happened this week that has just killed my chances for getting this page done on time. The biggest thing was that my computer has been acting up. I'm afraid that it may crash for good one of these days. I should get it repaired but I don't really want to be without my computer for a week.

I know, how about a filler week. Send in comics featuring my characters and I'll put them up while my computer's in the shop. How about that? I could use a bit of a vacation. Otherwise, I may have to do my own fillers while the computer is in the shop. Post a message if you're interested so that I know how many people are making fillers for me. Thank you.

Comments For ARW Page 475

2008-06-18T11:20:00.003-03:00

I guess no one though about getting a map to this place. It might have been better then being told to go up. There are likely guard stations all over the place, so a map may not have helped. Of course, if they knew where the guard stations were, they could have avoided just wandering into the room.

Sorry the color version took so long. My computer decided to be temperamental for some reason. First I couldn't get it to start and then I lost my wireless for good. I have to plug directly into the Internet in order to post this.

For some reason I've been off my schedule all week. I've been trying to get a new page for Dungeon Legacy done, but I just can't find the time for some reason. Now my regular comic is suffering. Something is very wrong and I don't know how to fix it. Even my regular habits are off kilter. I need a vacation.

Comment For ARW Page 474

2008-06-16T12:24:00.002-03:00

Horese is as commanding as ever. What plans does she have for the swine girl? She may have more then one reason to want to stay behind.

Lots of details on this page. Redrawing Penny over and over was bad enough, but having three people on her back just made me more work then necessary.

A couple of odd errors have crept into the artwork that you may notice if you look closely (click the image for the larger version). I'll give a reward to anyone that can find them (there are at least three errors).

I have been given a last minute commission that needs to be done before the end of the day. I better get to it. If I get it done in time, I'll work on a Dungeon Legacy page for tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll see you Wednesday.

Comments on ARW Page 473

2008-06-13T11:34:00.004-03:00

Wonder what's keeping penny? Swimming through sewage can't be good to her feathers. Is she going to be alright?

Painted the walls and pool this time. Makes for an interesting look to the page. Maybe I should paint backgrounds more often.

I tried to make it look like Racheal and Toi were in mid- transformation in the second panel. It is interesting how their clothing appears from under the fur. It's all part of the magical effect of the tokens.

My neighbor asked me to change the taps in her bathroom yesterday and it took most of the afternoon to do. I needed a long nap afterward, so that pretty much killed my day. Fortunately, I was able to get this page done before noon today.

I'm going to work on some Dungeon Legacy stuff for the rest of the day, unless she calls me back.

Tonight, I'm hoping to join the "The Sequential Artists' Pub" podcast. This is a new group that was started to allow sequential artists to get together and talk about their craft. They get together twice a month, with tonight being the first open meeting. Two weeks ago, some artists got together to discuss the idea. This included cartoonists Jerzy Drozd (www.sugaryserials.com), Krishna Sadasivam (www.pcweenies.net), and Mark Rudolph (www.cvcomics.com). The call starts at 10 PM EST (7 PM PST), if anyone reading this wants to join in.

Comment For ARW Page 472

2008-06-10T23:46:00.002-03:00

Flying up a waterfall through a whirlpool has to be a harrowing experience for anyone. Hopefully the others will make it through safely.

Painting the whirlpool was kind of fun. I kept this page simple because I was working on a page for Dungeon Legacy today as well. It is really tiring to try to do five pages a week. I may have to rethink this.

Not much else going on. See you Friday.

Comments For ARW Page 471

2008-06-09T00:12:00.002-03:00

The final assult has begun. Who will live and who will die? Will this place truly be Racheal's tome or will she finally get her wish and go home?

I though this page might be a little tricky, what with all the characters and stuff, but it really wasn't that bad. Most of the characters are in their animal forms and those were easier for me to draw.

In case you haven't figured it out, Racheal and the others now have the ability to fully shift into their animal forms and back again. That's why Toi is a cute little mouse and Racheal is a house cat. I'm skipping ahead in the story so that I can end it sooner and focus on my new webcomic. We'll just say Horese trained everyone and leave it at that.

The clouds were painted using a big fluffy brush. Not quite as fancy as the pre-rendered clouds I was using but I have more control over the shapes. It's hard to get clouds right.

The next Dungeon Legacy page should be done on Tuesday. I hope to do one on Thursday as well. I think I'll do Two a week and see how that works out. The sooner I can get ARW done, the sooner I can get the story going. Right now I'll just see how many pages I can do in a week.

Comment for Dungeon Legacy page 1

2008-06-06T01:34:00.004-03:00

Wait, what's this. What happened to the newest ARW page?

Well, In case you weren't paying attention or are new here, I need to explain that this is the first page of a new webcomic I'm making called Dungeon Legacy. It is a fantasy based on the new Dungeon and Dragons forth Edition which will be released today (June 6, 2008).

In case you're wondering where the color is, let me tell you that it took a day and a half to draw this page. That's more time then I've spend on any page for ARW. If someone wants to color this page, then please do. I could use a colorist to help me keep up with my production schedule.

Edit: I really felt this page needed to be colored, so I said what the heck, it's too late to work on a new ARW page. I'll just color this and be done with it.

Comments For ARW Page 470

2008-06-04T00:33:00.002-03:00

Going out the hen's butt of Ulta mountain. Sounds painful. If you remember the first time Obitckert told the story (way back in the first chapter) then you'll know it was.

Still getting ready for the grand opening on Friday, so I decided to just do talking heads for this page. As soon as I sketched it out I realized it just wouldn't work. The page was too dead. I could have redesigned the page using Wally Woods 22 Panels that always work, but I decided to take a different route.

In order to speed this story along, I decided to show the top of Mt. Ulta, since the characters are about to spend a lot of time there searching for the fountain. This is a good way to set the scene without taking up a huge panel doing so.

Enough set up, it's time to get into some action.

Remember, Dungeon Legacy opens on Friday. I'll see you there.

Comments For ARW Page 469

2008-06-02T00:05:00.003-03:00

Looks like Horese has revealed her master plan. I don't think anyone is really surprised. Angel and Ann are certainly not happy about it.

This page was much easier then the last two. I started it much earlier then usual and so got it done in good time.

I still surprise myself sometimes. Panel five shows a nice scene with Angel and Ann. I like the way they actually look like they are upset at what Horese said.

Horese really looks upset in the last panel. It's not like I'm doing anything different, it's just all this practice.

The good news is that means my new webcomic should look great. I'm going to be very busy this week getting ready for the grand opening on Friday. I might end up putting Friday's ARW up on Saturday. Or I might put them both up on Friday. It just depends on how much I can get done this week.

I added a new post about Social Marketing on my other blog: Social Marketing Websites

Comments For ARW Page 468

2008-05-30T11:21:00.006-03:00

Balap is going to have a hard time living with his treachery. At least everyone is on the same side again - or at least seem to be.

The previous page was bad enough, but drawing everyone around the table was murder. I though it wouldn't be too bad because there was less detail in the smaller images, but in many cases I drew more then just the head - especially with Ann in her dragon form. I was a bit disappointed that I had to draw Ann again in the second panel. If I had been thinking ahead, I would have rearranged the sitting order to prevent that from happening. I also thought that the word balloon would cover Racheal in panel two, but it was smaller then I had planned. Usually drawing the word balloons is the last thing I do (I write out the words freehand at first), but in this case the last thing I did was draw Racheal.

One week from today, Dungeon Legacy officially opens it's doors. I've got a lot of work to do to get ready. I better get to it. I'll see you on Monday.

comments For ARW Page 467

2008-05-28T03:52:00.002-03:00

Here they all are for the first time. It took a long time to get to this point. Now we can finally find out what this is all about.

Although regular readers would have heard the name Georgena before, this is the first time she has showed up in the comic other then a shadowy form on page 313.

This is the very first time Peniniya has appeared anywhere. In fact I had to name her for this page. Wanda was also named for the first time when she appeared a few pages back. However, I just used the first name that popped into my head with her.

Peniniya's name took a little longer. I wanted a name that really fit her. I though of Henny Penny but thought better of it. I looked through a book of baby names and found the perfect name. Not only is Penny short for Peniniya but Peniniya is Hebrew for hen.

Since this page is just a bunch of heads, many of which I've drawn before, I figured I could finish off this page very quickly. I failed to factor in the fact that there were twelve people and two of them have never been drawn before. I sort of modeled Georgena after Miss Piggy but Peniniya was a totally new design. Also I had only drawn the new forms of Angel and Ann once before and ended up redesigning them as well.

This page is interesting because you can see a lot of my cartoon influences in the drawings. I took some time drawing and redrawing the portraits using some of the techniques I've learned in school. As I said, I though I could do this page quickly and so put more effort into each drawing because of it. You'll also notice that I put the highlights back into the hair.

You may notice that the page works as a whole. I took some time arranging the direction the characters are facing and where the eyes are looking. Horese and Slara really dominate the page because of this. It helps there their panels are bigger as well.

I added some new information to my Dungeon Legacy development blog. I had hoped to post regular updates on my progress but I really don't have a lot of progress. I wrote a lot of notes about the story and characters but I don't really what to spoil anything by releasing that data. It's nice to have some flexibility to change this as well.

As I've said before, Dungeon Legacy is based on D&D 4ED and I plan to create character sheets and other information that will allow you to use my story in a D&D game session. I'm hoping to get gamers interested in my comic and capture part of that market. I'll also market to people interested in Fantasy novels and short stories.

Someone else had the same idea because there is a webcomic being displayed on a fantasy/ Sci-Fi book website that started just last week. There is only one page so far as the comic only updates one Fridays. I'll have to see if I can get my new web comic on the site as well.

Comments For ARW Page 466

2008-05-26T03:17:00.004-03:00

Are we actually going to finally find out what happened to Racheal and the others? Come back Wednesday and see for yourself.

I got to draw the early version of Racheal again. This time it was a little easier since I had the last picture as reference. Note that panels four and five are recreations of panels two and three on page 29 (Wow, that is pretty early in the story).

Balap looked very different on that page. He had a very beastly look for some reason. He quickly lost that look - it's gone in the last panel of that same page. I can't remember what I was thinking when I designed him. Perhaps I wanted to suggest that he might be a danger to Racheal in the first two panels and then made him look like an innocent child in the last panel to show he was the complete opposite of dangerous. Later on he revealed he was dangerous but in a different way.

I really should be working on Dungeon Legacy today, but "On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness" beckons me. Maybe I'll just play for an hour ... or eight.

Comments on ARW Page 465

2008-05-23T02:43:00.003-03:00

What's this about Balap? Why would he do anything Horese would ask him to? Is there something he hasn't told us? Find out on Monday.

Yeah, that statue of Horese doesn't really look like her. She's trying to make a statement and look sexy at the same time. It is a bit pretentious, isn't it.

I had a hard time scripting this page. I just needed a transition from Slara and Balap entering Horese's domain to entering her audience chamber. I originally thought of having a long series of scenes showing them traveling from one end of the place to the other, but I thought that would be dull to read and would be a lot of drawing as well. I decided to save myself a lot of work and just have them take a quick portal to Horese.

For some reason I laugh when I hear Balap saying "Whee!" Is it just me?

I'm going to play "Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1" now. I really should be doing some work on my new webcomic but I really want to check this game out. Is that so wrong?

Comments For ARW Page 464

2008-05-21T01:03:00.004-03:00

Whoa, Wanda must have grown at least as tall as Birhena used to be. Look at the last page and notice how big she'd have to be to open the door like that.

Do you remember Birhena? The last time she appeared, she had been turned to stone. There are a lot of loose ends like this I'm going to have to wrap up before the end.

In order to show how big Wanda has grown I had her expand right out of the page. She actually dominates the whole page. I'm not sure how clear this is. I tried to use the R's to link the giant image to the forth panel and show how big she is in the fifth panel, but it might have worked better if I actually showed her growing. She is bigger then the chair in panel four then she was in panel three, but this might be misinterpreted as poor design on my part.

I've finally took the time to work on my characters in my next webcomic, Dungeon Legacy. I have a pretty good idea of who they are and how they interact with each other now. Unlike ARW, each character has been designed to push the story forward with character development and interactions between characters. The characters will fight amongst themselves, make plans, and enjoy each others company. Basically they will act like real people, with real problems and expectations. Their back stories will affect the main story line and help you to get to know them better.

I'll talk more about Dungeon Legacy as it gets closer to release.

Comments For ARW Page 463

2008-05-19T00:48:00.002-03:00

Slara doesn't realize how different she looks right now. Her hair keeps getting longer every time we see her. On the other hand, dogs are suppose to have a good sense of smell - couldn't Wanda recognize Slara by her scent?

By the way, this is the first time Wanda appears in this comic. Slara is referring to something that's happened in the past. Maybe she'll talk about it later, but right now she needs to rescue her friends. What will she find on the other side of the gate? Come back Wednesday and see.

I used a simple cloud filter to do the fog effect. It was simple and made it easy to do the backgrounds. I got this page done pretty quickly, although coming up with a design for Wanda took some time. I had an idea in my head but it's hard to get what's in your head down on paper.

To see another new dog character, go to my new website at http://www.dungeonlegacy.com and check out Coolie, the groups pet dog. Note that this Illustration is 100% hand drawn with pen and ink. No digital correction or trickery done here. I put up a few more hand-drawn pictures on my deviant art page as well. Check them out.

Comments For ARW Page 462

2008-05-16T00:03:00.003-03:00

The final chapter of Alternate Reality Worlds. This is it. After this, I never revisit this story again. Since this is the final chapter, you can expect things to get very crazy from this point on as you can tell from the cover.

Anyone familiar with Japanese adventure games may recognize this scene. There are several platform games and RPGs that use the floating island concept. There are a few Manga and Anime that also have this image incorporated into the story, most notably "Castle in the Sky," a studio Ghibli film. Because this idea is common in Japanese culture, I believe I'm free to use the idea myself as long as I don't copy any specific story.

Drawing this page was easy but the coloring took a lot longer then I though it would. I still got the page done early, but not as early as I though I would. I like how it turned out.

If you look closely, you can see Horese siting on a throne. She isn't much smaller then a typical background character in a regular panel, but because this is a full page panel, she looks very tiny. Compare this image to Slara siting on a throne on page 457.

I got my project proposal done. Now is the long wait for approval. I'm sure my idea is a good one, it's more of a matter of if they think I can actually do it. I have the training and the skill, I just hope I made that clear enough in the presentation. All I can do is wait and see.

Comments For ARW Page 461

2008-05-14T02:36:00.003-03:00

Now that they have the satchel, they can escape this world. But what new horrors await them when they return to Horese? Will the gang finally get back together or are they doomed to stay separated? Don't miss the exciting final chapter of Alternate Reality Worlds.

Nothing special on this page. I hope people recognize the scene in panel four as the same area that the group fought the giant lizard in. There is a jump in time here and only that background gives you any clue to that fact. Would a box that said "later" or something have helped?

I have to write up a project proposal today. It's is due tomorrow and so should have been done before now. Sometimes a last minute proposal can be better then one you over think but I still would have liked the time to read it over and make sure it made sense before presenting it.

The cover for the final chapter will be up Friday. It's less then 40 pages until the finale. I only have a couple more weeks until my new web comic starts, which means I'll be doing both at the same time for a while. I wonder what the best arrangement would be? Should I keep ARW to MWF and do Dungeon Legacy on Tu,Th, Sat, or switch the schedules? That's a lot of work and I have other things to do. I guess We'll just have to see what happens.

Comments For ARW Page 460

2008-05-12T13:56:00.004-03:00

Looks like Slara has shrunk down to half her size. She's smaller then Toi now. All she needs is to have fur grow all over her body and she'll become a cute little monkey. How embarrassing.

As you can see the page has nine action packed panels and that's why it's up late. I tried to get it done last night but I was too tied, so I though I'd get it done this morning but I slept in. Even now, at three in the afternoon, I'm still tired. It would have been better if I had gotten to bed earlier and woke up early this morning.

I can't think of anything else to add, except that I'm very busy trying to get some projects done. I hope to secure my future and therefore need to work hard for the next few days.

Comments For ARW Page 459

2008-05-09T02:28:00.003-03:00

Oh oh, Rhino man is upset about something. Slara just can't get a break. Well, those spears might break some bones, but that's not the kind of break that she wants.

Monkey Girl Slara. This has been a long time coming. Slara was going to be the snake girl before all that mess with Terra. I don't know how she's going to deal with the change. She has hair for the first time in her life.

Another difficult page done on time. It is late but I managed to get it done before I went to bed. I guess there isn't a whole lot of detail, but it's still a lot of work.

I was offered a few hundred dollars to do a few minutes of simple animation. That might not sound like much but it's the biggest job offer I've gotten to date. I hope I'll be able to keep up with my webcomics at the same time as I work on the animation. I think my new comic will suffer the most.

Speaking of which, my new comic finally has I name [a drum roll please], "Dungeon Legacy." The story of a group of adventures trying to make the world a better place. The new website is currently under construction but I'll give you the web address in case it goes live this weekend. Use the URL "http://www.dungeonlegacy.com" and see if the web page appears.

Comments For ARW Page 458

2008-05-07T00:14:00.003-03:00

Slara was trying to get the Monkey token but she didn't want to get it this way. Will she get away or become the next monkey girl? Come back Friday to find out.

This page was much faster to draw then the last one. I don't know if I'm getting better at this or if this page was just less complex. There is still a lot of detail so I much have improved somewhat.

Nothing much to talk about. Nothing interesting has happened since Monday. I'll just have to keep plugging along. I hope to get more done tomorrow. I'll see you Friday.

Comments For ARW Page 457

2008-05-05T13:15:00.003-03:00

Join the celebration. ARW had been online for three years today. Starting into the forth year, we can look ahead to Page 500 which is only 43 pages away. After that ARW will come to a final conclusion and I'll start concentrating on my new web comic, which will be starting in another month (June 6th to be exact - the same day Dungeons and Dragons 4th ED comes out, which is what the new comic will be based on).

For now lets enjoy the celebration, although I don't think Slara is too happy with the situation. It looks like the Rhino King wishes to take her as his wife and queen. She might be honored if she wasn't in a hurry to save her friends.

What will happen to Balap? Hopefully as her friend, he might be allowed some freedom. We'll just have to wait and see.

Sorry the backgrounds are a little plain. I spent a long time just drawing all the people into each scene. Crowd scenes always take a lot of work. If I had unlimited time I might have put in more people and had decorations on the walls. As it is, it took 10 hours just to draw everything I did draw.

My foot is starting to heal. It's still painful to walk very far on it but I can get around the house well enough. The swelling has gone down. I just have to wait for the new layer of skin to be thick enough to protect my nerve endings. I'm sure it will be tender for a few more days at least.

Peace, love and happiness to you all.

Comments For ARW Page 456

2008-05-02T11:03:00.002-03:00

Who is the Volcano Queen? What difficulty have our heroes gotten themselves into now? The cliche answer is that they (or at least Slara - assuming she's a virgin) will be thrown into the volcano. I wouldn't use that old troupe now, would I.

I would have had this page up last night but several things conspired against me. Not the least of which is that my computer decided to slow down considerably and then stop all together. Fortunately I was able to save, being alert to trouble, but I still lost precious time restarting my computer and Photoshop.

On top of that, I had a second degree burn on my right foot where I had dropped a hot cup of tea. I should have been watching what I was doing and blame myself for the whole accident. I was not the one to boil the tea or to set it on an unsteady surface, but I should have been aware of the danger and been more cautious.

There is a large blister on top of my foot which doesn't hurt or cause me pain. It does prevent me from wearing shoes which makes it hard to go anywhere. It's better that I stay home and rest anyway.

Comments For ARW Page 455

2008-04-30T03:28:00.003-03:00

whoops, looks like the natives are unset that Slara has removed her disguise. Maybe Chahex should have maintained it a bit longer.

Now that Slara has her snout back, I'll have to reacquaint myself with how to draw it. Her ears are different in her normal form as well. The head shape is the same for both so the transition from one to the other is mild. Which look do you like better? They are both similar, but I find the human head easier to draw.

I've reused the cage once again. I hope no one minds, since it is a lot of work to redraw it. I flipped it this time so it doesn't look the same.

I also reused the skulls on sticks. I was worried that the rows of identical skulls would look weird, but the symmetry works. It would look worse if they were all slightly different. I'd either have to completely redraw them of leave them the same, and I did the lather since it was less work. It takes me too long to do a page as it is, so the simple solution is the best solution.

Nothing to report on other fronts. It's been quiet . . . too quiet.

Comment For ARW Page 454

2008-04-28T13:15:00.004-03:00

Looks like Chahex won't be much help until they can wake him up. Does Slara really want to remove her disguise anyway? Of the three, she is the only one still disguised. We'll have to see what happens when Chahex wakes up.

Instead of redrawing the cage, I duplicated it and used it in panel 1 and panel 5. However, it took considerable work - almost as much as if I had redrawn it - to close the cage door. I also put a bottom on the cage since it's clear that Balap and Slara would just fall out otherwise. Kang is too small for the cage and was allowed to go. Presumably he is following the procession.

I tried to get a head start on this page as I had done with the previous one. Unfortunately, it was not to be and I was delayed more then I would have liked. I should be able to get Wednesday's comic up earlier but we'll see. The group should reach the native village by then and who knows how hard that will be to draw.

Not much to report. I continue to try to make connections but It's hard to talk to people. All I can do is keep trying. I'll see you Wednesday.

Comments For ARW Page 453

2008-04-25T02:25:00.004-03:00

There's only one cage, so it looks like Balap and Slara are going to be in a tight space for a while. Not a very private place either.

I got the page done tonight but it's late so I'll wait until tomorrow to blog. For now just enjoy the comic.

Edit: Sorry for the delay. I forgot I hadn't finished this yet.

I started this page earlier then normal and was able to get it finished before I went to bed. Because of this I spend more time on the drawings, especially the cage in the last panel. If you've see my last attempts at drawing cages, you know how much of an improvement this is. (although some of my drawing of the steel cage in Slara's house were okay).

I can't guarantee that I'll keep drawing the cage like this, but I'll try to keep the art consistent.

If your not reading Dandy and Company then you're missing out on some great comic stories. The art style looks like a kids comic but the action and adventure is something anyone can enjoy. The story can get serious in places but usually it's a laugh a day riot.

The reason I bring Dandy&Co. to your attention now is that the creator, Derrick Fish, is planning to animate the characters and needs your help. Check out the note below the current comic for more information. Because I'm a trained animator, I offered to help with the animation. It would be good to work on a small independent project like this. I hope everyone loves the idea as much as I do.

Comments For ARW Page 452

2008-04-23T01:27:00.004-03:00

Looks like our friends have been captured by some African bushmen or whatever the equivalent is on this planet. They are very effective hunters, whoever they are.

I started working on this page earlier then I normally do since it has been taking me longer then normal to do the pages with the busy backgrounds. I also knew I wanted to do the large panel at the top. I'm glad that I was able to get the page done in time.

It actually wasn't as hard as I though it would be. It's nice to be able to capture the vision in your head and translate it to the page. The background is simple but effective. I believe I got the perspective right as well. Perhaps it's a little off, but it's not noticeable unless you really look for it, which most comic readers don't do.

Speaking of perspective. How do you like the little visual trick in the second panel? Since Balap is shorter then Slara, I turned the camera on an angle so that they would be at the same height. I think it works. Do you?

Between working on my webcomic and working on a logo for a client, I really haven't had much time lately to work on anything else. Since I have tomorrow free, I will spend most of the day working on my new web comic. I really must force myself to put more effort into my comics if I want to be a success. June 6 is only a little over a month away and I want to release my new comic at the same time Dungeons and Dragons Forth Edition is released. With any luck I'll be able to get my comic into Dragon Magazine. I know it's only a slim chance, but I can dream can't I?

Comments For ARW Page 451

2008-04-21T12:36:00.004-03:00

What could they be looking at? You'll likely be as surprised by the answer as they are. No, Kang hasn't invited the creature to tea. I said it was surprising not bazaar.

Once again I'm late getting this up. Besides all the extra work that's been going into the comic lately, I've been having a lot of computer problems that are getting annoying. I think it stems from the fact that my hard drive is getting full. I'm going to have to clear out some old files so that I can free up some space. Hopefully that will fix the glitches I've been having lately.

I've found a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories on audio tape that I've been listening to as I've worked on this page. I've listened to three stories so far and they closely follow the old Sherlock Holmes mysteries TV show. Or I should say the TV show must have followed the books very closely. Interestingly each story is about 44 minutes long, the same length as a hour long TV show (not including commercials). I should try to follow one of the stories in the printed version to see how closely the tapes follow the original words. Perhaps I'm actually listening to an audio version of the TV show.

EDIT: I've listened to another recording and can now verily that the audio recordings don't follow the short stories at all. Much of the dialogue is the same but some additions are added and text has been rearranged. A set up scene was added to the beginning of all the stories in order to make them seem more dramatic. I don't have any of the TV shows to verify if the recordings are the same as what was on TV, but the fact the the stories seem very familiar to me and that the recordings are all about 44 minutes in length seems to suggest that is the case. At the very least, the audio recordings have more in common with the TV show then with the original text.

Comments For ARW Page 450

2008-04-18T12:25:00.003-03:00

Well, that didn't work. Now Balap and Slara are trapped. What are they going to do now?

Once again the complex artwork has made this update late. I'm sure no one minds since this is all a free service anyway. There are likely many who only visit once a week or month anyway.

I like the scales on the lizard's nose in the last panel. I'll have to use this technique in the future.

I'm currently working on a Logo for a caregiver association. It's not much money, but it's local so maybe it will lead to more work in the area.

I'm still struggling to manage my time better. I'll post more when I've got something to report.

Comments For ARW Page 449

2008-04-16T09:53:00.003-03:00

What does Slara have in mind? Seems kind of dangerous to stand so close to a cliff. She's going to have to time this pretty carefully.

I hope my fan(s) enjoy this page as I spend a good 10 hours putting it together. This is only the second page that's taken me all day to create. As the backgrounds get more details, the length of time grows longer. However, there is a certain sense of accomplishment to doing some nice backgrounds.

Sorry there are no scales on the reptile this time. That would have taken way too much time. It would look better with scales, especially the forth panel, but I'm really too busy right now to even consider fixing it. If people ask me to, I'll put them in but I don't think too many people will care at this point.

As I said before, not many people seem to read my comic. I don't know if it's because it's a long form comic and people want to read it when it's done or if it's just because the story sucks and no one wants to read it at all. It can't be the art since its as good as most comics out there and better then a lot of more popular comics. I know there isn't a strong story line and little reason to care for the characters and I think that's what's putting people off. Since I'm not getting any feedback I can only guess at what the problem is.

I'm going to fix all the story issues in my next webcomic. Then I'll know for sure whether the problem is the story or the format. Maybe I'll need to advertise more. I'll wait until I have the first story arc done before I'll go that route.

Comments For ARW Page 448

2008-04-14T12:16:00.004-03:00

Slara looks a little shocked at seeing a giant lizard standing behind her. I'm sure anyone would wet themselves if they were in the same situation. Good thing She's a trained warrior. She might actually have a chance to survive this encounter.

A lot of work when into the page, as you can see, so I hope you can excuse it's lateness. It took a while to put the scales on the lizard in the last panel. Originally, I had planed to just leave the skin flat, but I felt it would look better with scales. I'm glad I added them as it really brings the creature to life.

Originally, I hadn't drawn backgrounds for Slara in the two left-most panels. As you can see there is no black outline around the colors. It looked weird to see just a single color behind her (even though I've done this many times before) and so I colored in more detail to make the scene look better.

I've done some more work on Dungeon Warden and Dragon Lady (working title). There is now a nice inked picture of the characters on the Word Press blog and I've written the first 5 pages of the comic. I'll try to get some more pages written today. I'm hoping to get the comic up and viewable Sometime in May or Early June. I may be getting a new website for the comic which is exciting. I'll let you know when I have the details.

Comments For ARW Page 447

2008-04-11T10:59:00.004-03:00

Slara seems to have bad luck whenever she tries to land on her feet. Remember back on page 336 when she had a perfect 3 point landing and then slipped on a rock. This is much worse.

As you can see this page has more detail then I usually draw, so the page is late because of it. Thursday's are pretty busy for me anyway, so I didn't have the time to devote to this page was I would have liked.

There was a major error on the last page (page 446) that no one seems to have noticed. I hadn't colored Balap's hair in any of the panels he appears in. It was only after I nearly made that mistake again on this page, that I realized I hadn't colored his hair on the last page either.

I'll fix the error in a minute, but my question is this, "Is anyone reading my comic?" Most webcomic artists have readers who take great delight in pointing out any minor errors in a webcomic, but no one points out even major errors on my site. I realize I have a small reader ship, but I have to wonder if I have any real readers at all. Maybe I'm just getting a steady stream of people who are finding my comic while surfing the net and none of them come back again.

Well, I'm hoping that will all change when I release my new webcomic. I'm trying to do the next one right. I'm developing the characters so that they all have interesting personalities that will clash with and support each other. I'm also writing the story ahead of time so that I know what's happening on each page long before I actually draw it. The first story arch will be a 32 page comic book style that will introduce the characters. Once the arch is finished, I'll make it available to purchase online (probably through Ka-Blam). We'll see how it goes after that.

I'm getting excited to start my new comic. The characters are much more interesting this time and the interaction will hopefully make them more appealing to the readers. My current comic is kind of blah, and I really don't know how to fix it. It's better just to end it and start something new.

Comments For ARW Page 446

2008-04-09T01:39:00.002-03:00

Slara seems to be in quite a hurry. Now, why would that be? Was there something Horese said that would indicate that she didn't have much time? Is she trying to gain extra time in order to trap or outwit Horese? Could she maybe have something else in mind? We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

The first panel took a long time to draw, not just because there are four people in it, but because there is one person I rarely draw and two people I've never drawn before. I do seem to be getting better at drawing random people.

Other then a extra bit of work, there wasn't too much to this page. I think it gets the point across.

I put some of my freelance work in my Deviant Art gallery. I've been getting a few good projects lately, but nothing that pays very well. I anyone has any commission work I could do let me know. My rates are pretty cheap.

Comments For ARW Page 445

2008-04-07T01:25:00.003-03:00

Balap and Kang are at least safe, but how long can that last if they must go to Monkey Island? By the way, this is a completely different Monkey Island. Nope, no relation to that game at all.

The colors are really vibrant because it's full daylight now. The candle burned out long ago.

I've used the motion blur before, but I really should use these special filters more often. I wanted to blur Kang so that you couldn't tell who was attacking Slara, but it's still pretty clear. Oh well, you learn the truth in the next panel anyway.

I like how Slara looks in the last panel. That serious face has a lot more character then the other versions. I'll have to see if I can do that again.

I finally finished the freelance project I was working on. I'll put the drawings on Deviant Art sometime later. I've done quite a few drawing I haven't put up. I'm going to have to start scanning some stuff in for you to see. Maybe I spend some time tomorrow doing that. That's assuming nothing else comes up first.

Comments For ARW Page 444

2008-04-04T11:46:00.005-03:00

Things just keep getting worse. What has happened to Balap? Looks like Slara's journey is off to a bad start.

Lots of backgrounds on this page. Nothing too complex but it always takes more time to do backgrounds.

I put Slara in a few odd positions this time, so it took a few redraws to get it right. I'm not entirely happy with the way she looks here, but I did the best I could.

This page is up latter then normal, but it isn't entirely my fault this time. I mean the page did take extra time because of the extra detail, but the main reason the page was late was that my wireless Wi-Fi connection disappeared. I don't mean I lost the connection, I mean it was completely gone as if it had never existed.

After restarting my computer five times, I was able to get the connection back. But the next time I went into hibernation it disappeared again. I did a web search and found out that this is a common problem with HP laptops and the Broadcom Wi-Fi card. I spend several hours looking for a fix that didn't involve sending the computer in for repairs (many posters said they had a nightmare trying to get HP to fix the problem, including sending the computer in four times to fix it and losing access to the computer for four months in the process). I did find a solution that involved making the WLAN drive files read only so they can't be over written (which seems to be part of the problem). This solution seems to help. I can still lose the connection but it's not as hard to bring it back.

This problem has make me late getting my other work done as well, so I haven't gotten much done with my new webcomic project. I did sketch out the characters, so I'll put that picture up on the wordpress blog later today. I'll see you Monday.

Comments For ARW Page 443

2008-04-02T00:50:00.003-03:00

Slara's gone from the frying pan and into the fire. It's a long way down. I wonder how she's going to survive?

I've been drawing a lot of people lately and I think it shows in my drawing of Slara. It was almost too easy to pose her for this page. I'm amazed at how good I'm getting at this.

I'm most surprised at the last panel. I just pulled that perspective completely out of my head. Then I added the waves and some highlights and the whole image just pops from the page. If there is one problem with it, it's that Slara looks like she's way out over the water instead of falling out of the window. Maybe the cliff face slants under the castle - yeah, that's it.

I've been working on a new freelance project that requires me to draw several young woman, which is kind of nice. I feel that I need to put more effort into the project then I do in my webcomic because I'm doing it for someone else. Because of this, the project is taking a lot of time. This means I can't do any work on my new webcomic, which I'm disappointed about. I have been thinking about it during my breaks, but it's not developing very quickly. I should be done by this weekend, so I'll try to get something done then.

Comments For ARW Page 442

2008-03-31T02:08:00.002-03:00

Hey, Slara you might want to look behind you. This scene may not actually happen but it's fun to think about.

I think this is the most work I've put into a cover. That's not to say it's the most work I've put into a drawing. I have done a few pictures that have taken a few days to complete while this page only took 6 hours to make.

It's has a nice cartoon look to it, so I kind of like it. The idea was to copy a cover from an old children's comic book. The title comes from an old movie title, which I'm sure most people recognize. This is a hint about what the next chapter will be about.

I'm still working on my new comic but things are going slower then I had hoped. Other things keep interfering with my time and I really need to focus on what's really important. I hope to be able to put something on the wordpress blog tomorrow. I have a few things to do but I should be able to do something. Go over to dungeonwarden.wordpress.com and see what's going on.

Comments For ARW Page 441

2008-03-28T01:54:00.002-03:00

Slara is all alone. What is she going to do? Get out of there as fast as she can, that's what she's going to do.

Thus ends another chapter of ARW. The next chapter will be the first one that Racheal is not the central character. The story will follow Slara as she tries to decide what to do next. Monday's page will be a nice cover image that will hint at what is going to happen. I'll leave that for you to imagine for yourself.

For my next web comic, I'm still debating if I should go completely for the laughs, completely serious, or somewhere in between. I want to do the comic in a different style with well constructed characters, but I also would like a simple style that will allow me to make more updates. I want to go completely black and white so I can use a looser style, but I also what the pages to look nice. I'm really going to have to play around with this for a while until I get the perfect mix of quality art but nothing too stressful to draw.

This will be a very character driven story as well, so I need to write the characters in a realistic way and have lots of interaction between them. They are very different people but their goals are very similar, so that they will work together but will step on each others toes as well. I want to do this right so it will be a while before the first page ever goes online. When it does, I hope to release a full 30 page comic book to introduce the characters.

Comments For ARW Page 440

2008-03-26T01:48:00.004-03:00

Oops, looks like Racheal's down. The girls actually lost the battle. Looks like this is the end ... or not.

This cold/flu thing is still hanging on but I'm recovering my strength. This will be the last page without any background detail for a while, so it's good that I have my strength back.

My next chapter will have lots of different backgrounds so I can practice them. The characters will be moving outside again, so expect more details.

I'm also working on a new comic and I put a short description of the main characters on a wordpress blog. This isn't a finalized list but I think it's a good mix. I'll draw up some character designs and some story details as I continue the blog. This blog is mainly for ARW, so I felt a development blog dedicated to the new comic would be a good idea.

I'll see you all on Friday (sooner if you go to the other blog).

Comments For ARW Page 439

2008-03-24T01:28:00.003-03:00

Looks like Racheal pulled a fast one on Horese. Can she keep it up or will Horese slam her. Return Wednesday and find out.

Nothing special about the art. I'm finally over my cold (or flu or whatever it was) but I'm still a little drained. Hopefully a good nights sleep will cure that.

I should have some new information about my next webcomic tomorrow. I've been thinking about the characters and I'll write them up soon.

I want to help others get better with their art, but I need to get better myself. Does anyone what me to teach them at my current skill level? I doubt it. I'm going to put a lot more effort into my next web comic and hopefully learn the skills I need to be completive. I've gotten so much better, but I still have a long way to go.

Does anyone know if there is an online artists support group? Maybe I should start one.

Comments For ARW Page 438

2008-03-21T11:53:00.003-03:00

Racheal has cat-like reflexes. Odd how that works. Strange how Horese keeps calling her Katt. Long time readers should know why, but that brings up a whole other series of questions.

This page took a long time to draw, especially the first panel. That one panel took as long to draw as the whole last page did. The rest of the page took that much time again.

I'm thinking of ending ARW after the next two chapters and finishing up the story. The comic has been running about three years now and hasn't been having a lot of success. Lots of people have been reading the archives, but I don't get many people returning on a regular basis.

I tried to do a strip comic (split shift) but we all know what a mess that was.

I'm going to write up a story and develop characters for a new webcomic based on the new Dungeon and Dragons forth Edition RPG. I've been reading about the rules changes and new character classes and races, and there are some interesting developments in the game that would be fun to draw. I especially like the new battle tactics rules. I can see being able to do battle scenes that would make great drawings because of all the interesting things you can do each round. I'm going to take my time and do this right.

It will still be a few months before the new rule books are released, so I'll spend that time developing the characters and story. In the meantime I'll keep working on ARW and finish up the story. I hope people will support me during this time of change.

I'll see you all on Monday.

Comments For ARW Page 437

2008-03-19T02:07:00.003-03:00

Find the simian and take her to the gate. Sounds easy enough . . . not! Where is the simian? What is the gate and where is it? These are things Slara will have to answer if she wants to see her friends again.

Still sick so the page is still simple. I tried to keep it from being just a bunch of talking heads.

I had originally planned to have Horese throw Slara against the wall in the second to last panel but it was too much effort. Instead she just knocks her out and drops her to the floor. That's clear in the last panel, right?

I really can't think straight. I'm going to bed. I'll see you Friday.

Comments For ARW page 436

2008-03-17T01:15:00.003-03:00

What! Lady Elise is actually Horese! who would have guessed it? Okay, maybe you might have guessed. I did leave a few clues.

When Slara called Elise whore on page 424, she was really saying Horese but was cut off before she could finish her sentence.

I'm still feeling the affects of this cold/flu/infection thing, so I kept the page simple. Not much going on here anyway. I suppose I might have advanced the story further if I was feeling better, but it's probably good to spend a moment to reveal Elise's real identity.

I played the new Sam and Max season 2 episode 4 game and it's one of the funniest games in the series. I don't know how many people are playing this series, but you should search it out. You can play it on Gametap.com or go to the Telltales Games website and buy the series. Pick up season one as well.

Comments For ARW Page 435

2008-03-14T03:08:00.003-03:00

What can Lady Elise do in a fight? Wait and see. Does she remind you of anyone you might have met before?

I tried something different for the middle panels. I think it would work better if the tail was actually moving or at least had action lines.

I like the smirk on the girl's face in panel 3 (first of the three triangle panels).

I put more shadows on Elise's face in the last panel but the face isn't as dark and evil looking as I had planned it to be. I need to work more on faces and shadows.

I also wanted more action as Racheal leaped at the tail in panel 6. Some action lines might have helped here as well. I originally had planned to show the poison barb just missing Toi as Racheal grabbed it, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time working on the drawing. I did get the page done on time, so maybe I should have delayed it a little longer and do it up right. Better late and action packed then early and lame looking.

My cold is still lingering on but I'm recovering. I should be back to full health by Monday. Take care.

Comments For ARW Page 434

2008-03-12T11:25:00.003-03:00

Looks like Racheal and Toi have a new look. They were transformed all along. This battle just got a lot more interesting.

I found an action script to create jaguar fur that I used for Racheal's new look. The first time I ran the script it destroyed my page and I had to load an old save. I had to recolor the whole page, which was frustrating. I then ran the script in a new file and then saved it as a pattern. I then used the fill command to fill the area with the pattern. The pattern was non-repeating so the overlaps didn't line up, so I had to recolor the fur where there was over lap in the pattern. A lot of work but it does look pretty good.

I'm still not feeling well. I have a sore throat that makes my jaw hurt. I probably have an infection.

I'm looking into making a game to go with my comic. I'm just in the planing stages, but it will likely will be a simple text adventure kind of game. I'd like to do a fighting game or an RPG but that's way too much work. Maybe if I can get this game done, I'll do something more complex but for now I want to do something I could actually finish.

I'll post again Friday.

Comments For ARW page 433

2008-03-10T10:24:00.004-03:00

Why aren't they transforming? Oh yeah, maybe they have. Remember what happened on page 420.

I've been fighting a cold this week, so it was hard for me to get this page done. I'm feeling better so I was able to get it done, but I still need to recover fully.

I have a couple of projects to work on. Part of me wants to get them done and part of me wants to sleep and worry about it later. Maybe I should take a nap. Arg, I need to push harder to get better.

I'll talk to you Wednesday.

Comments For ARW Page 432

2008-03-07T01:59:00.002-04:00

That really is one scary transformation.

I'll give a cookie to anyone who figures out why the girls aren't transforming. It should be pretty obvious if you've been following the story.

I just finished presenting my comic over at the 910CMX webcomics podcast. Check out episode 26 to hear me pimp my webcomic and to hear the rest of the gang talk about getting negative feedback and about making a videogame to promote your webcomic. There are interesting discussions like this every week.

Have you seen the New Members link on the main page? I wrote out a description of every character and a short summary of every chapter. There are now more chapter breaks in the archive as well so that the first 250 comics or so isn't one huge chapter.

I'll post again Monday. Take care until then.

Comments For ARW Page 431

2008-03-05T02:35:00.003-04:00

Oh no! Things aren't looking good for the party right now. You know they aren't going to die, so that means the fighting is going to get a lot more intense.

Is the new girl dead or will she power up as well? Wait and see.

Have you heard of this little pen and paper game called Dungeons and Dragons? There is a new 4th Edition coming out in June. I've been reading up on some of the new changes and it sounds like the game is much improved over previous editions. Check out D&D insider to learn more.

I should add that E. Gary Gygax died today (March 5, 2008) at the age of 69. His contribution to the realm of Fantasy Role Playing Games can't be denied. As the most outspoken of the creators of Dungeons & Dragons, he will always be the Father of RPGs to me.

Comments For ARW Page 430

2008-03-03T00:52:00.002-04:00

A thousand needles doesn't sound like a very comfortable spell. Anyone remember this spell from the Final Fantasy series?

I put this page up pretty quickly. Drawing people standing around talking is a lot easier then having them fight. Unfortunately (for me) the characters will be fighting again on Wednesday.

Not much interesting happening right now. Just waiting to hear if I got the commission I applied for. Remember, if anyone whats me to do any art work for them, just let me know. I'm willing to do just about anything for money at this point.

I'll see you on Wednesday.

Comments For ARW Page 429

2008-02-29T02:49:00.002-04:00

Why is Slara unset. Does she understand something the rest of us don't? She'll explain all on Monday.

I'm really busy so I did a very simple page. Time for a little break in the fighting to give some exposition. Monday will be the same since I need to get my project done this weekend.

Nothing to say about the art. Just kept things simple so I could get it done.

I don't know what I can say about my project. Once I get conformation I'll talk about it.

I need to get to bed. I'll post again on Monday.

Comments For ARW Page 428

2008-02-27T01:40:00.003-04:00

If she can throw Racheal around like a rag doll then the girls are going to have a hard time beating her down. Of course then haven't "powered up" yet, but they need to nearly die first. Not a good situation.

Feeling better now so I did a full page as you can see. I like all the action shots. There are a little more work, but it really pushes my ability to draw the girls at different angles.

In panel three, Toi is being hit by Racheal as the girl swings her around. Toi pulls the whip at the same time, tripping the girl. In panel 4 the girl is flipping Racheal in the air as she falls, sending her into Slara in the last two panels.

I got a job offer today. I still have to do an interview, so the job's not guaranteed. It's not full time, so I'll still be able to work on my comic. I'm not sure how much work I'll get at first but it's all art based so I can only help me get better.

I'll keep you informed. See you Friday.

Comment For ARW page 427

2008-02-25T12:28:00.004-04:00

Looks like Racheal will have to defeat this powerful new foe first. That is, if she can escape her clutches.

Sorry for the late update and the B&W page. My brother came to visit over the weekend and I've been feeling really burnt out lately. It took forever to draw the characters and they still don't look right. Some parts look okay, like the under the chin view on panel 3 but others look wrong line Toi's Legs in panel 4.

I'll try to get the color version done before tonight. Coloring isn't as taxing as drawing so I should be able to get it done in a few hours. I'll post again when I'm finished.

Edit: The color version is now up. I can't believe how many errors I found in this picture. It's hard to believe it took over five hours to draw. I'm going to go to bed early and try to recover from whatever is zapping my strength. I'll try to get the Wednesday comic up early. Maybe I'll do a poster of the girls fighting instead of doing a full page. It all depends on how I'm feeling tomorrow.

Comments For ARW Page 426

2008-02-22T14:40:00.002-04:00

Seems kind of callous to kill her just because she won't activate. What will happen if she does activate? She'll need to if she wants to avoid death but I'm sure the girls would rather she didn't. Then again, they wouldn't want her to be killed either. What to do, what to do.

Sorry for the delay in putting up this page. Even without a real background it took a long time to draw four characters fighting in three panels. I just copied the foreground characters to add a border to the fight. No real reason I'd need to draw them over and over again.

I don't know how many people look at the art, but you can see the characters slowly get better as the art goes from top left to bottom right. This has to do with the width of the brush I started with and the fact that I was rushing to get the page done and then just gave up trying to get it done in a night and decided to work on the drawings some more.

I'm going to put a new reader page on the site and change the first button to a start of chapter button, so people won't have to go through the archives to understand the story. I really don't what people reading the first 200 pages or so if I can help it.

Here you can see my newest painting. I copied this from a photograph and then colored it like a page from a Dark Tower graphic novel. I'm not 100% happy with it (I think it needs darker mid-tones) but it looks better then most of my art work. I'll probably work on something like this again sometime.

I sent in Split Shift to the Webcomic Beacon pod cast in hopes of getting some new readers but Aaron, the reviewer, says "Please fix everything now," so that doesn't bode well for my comic.

You can listen to Episode 12 and hear his comments for yourself along with the rest of the pod case, which is about printing serials and Anthologies.

Now I'll need to decide if I want to start Split Shift over or do a new comic. His main complaint about the story was that it was moving too fast, so maybe it could be fixed, but he did swear a few times at the characters, so maybe I should just scrape the whole thing.

Actually, while writing the comic I had a few ideas about where I could take the story. As such, maybe it would be better to redo the story from a new point of view and incorporate the new elements into it. I'll need to work on a more realistic art style and maybe stick to black and white to save time.

A more comic book like style might work, but I'd like to stick to a strip format. I'm not sure what I should do. There may not be a Split Shift comic this weekend - or ever again.

Comment For Split Shift page 21

2008-02-21T00:32:00.003-04:00

A shiny kitchen is a healthy kitchen. Better not let Misty near the knifes.

It's nice when I don't have to worry about the backgrounds. I can get the page done much quickly with blank scenes. The swinging door was the only thing that took any time.

Sorry for the lame joke. This page is just a transition between the café and the managers office. Expect some fun conversation as the manager tries to find out what Misty knows about working in a café (hint: almost nothing).

Comment For ARW Page 425

2008-02-20T02:48:00.005-04:00

The new girl seems to be quick and strong. What evil plan is Lady Elise up to? Keep reading to find out.

Since the characters are fighting in a big empty room, there aren't any backgrounds to speak of. Because of this I spent more time on the characters faces. I'm quite amazed at how realistic that faces look in these panels. Remember, I don't use references. All these drawing came completely out of my head.

A few years ago, I envied people who could draw realistic people and wondered how they could add so much detail so quickly. Now I can do it myself. Wow, imagine what my art would look like if I had an actual model.

Well, you won't have to wonder long because my next project is to paint a picture directly from a reference photo. Note that this doesn't mean the painting will look like the photo. The camera always lies. The lighting is wrong and shapes get distorted. I'm going to just use the figure as the basis of the picture but I'll make adjustments to add my own touch.

In my last picture (see the Comments For ARW Page 423) I indirectly used references for the people (hair from one person, clothes from another), but in the next one I'll try to mimic the form of a single person to see how closely I can render their image (with some artistic license).

I'll sure some people are saying, "That's all backwards, you should learn to copy something first and then learn to mix several images together and draw from your imagination last." True, but in the beginning I never though I could draw and I hated all the time and effort it takes to copy a picture accurately (I mean to look at the picture and copy it. Tracing is always easier but I feel that's cheating). I always liked the freehand style and feel that many technically accurate pictures are too stiff because the artist hasn't taken the time to add any life to the image. I'd prefer a cartoon over photo-realistic art any day.

So I've just been drawing and drawing over and over again until I'm finally at the skill level where I feel I could do a realistic portrait justice. We'll see how it goes. I'll probably post something Friday or Saturday.

Comment For Split Shift page 20

2008-02-19T00:45:00.002-04:00

Misty pulled Nancy over with one hand. That's gotta hurt. Misty must to be stronger then Nancy thought.

The first panel took longer to draw then it should have. It's not that the image was hard to create, but more to do with my getting the characters into the chairs in a realistic way. The chairs, table, and characters are on separate levels to maintain the separate symbols.

I'm still not getting a lot of views for this comic. I'm going to try promoting it tomorrow and see what happens.

Comments For ARW Page 424

2008-02-17T22:30:00.002-04:00

What powers could the girl have? Wait and see.

I got quite a surprise yesterday. Over 220 people visited my website on Saturday. This is the biggest group of people that has visited me in one day. I didn't do anything special so I don't know where they came from. I'll have to wait until tomorrow and see if I get some return visits.

I started working on this page early so I got it done earlier then normal. I'll have to try to start early more often. It's nice to be done and still have a few hours to relax before going to bed.

I didn't do much with the art this time. There should be some fighting next time, so expect some action scenes on Wednesday.

Comment For Split Shift Page 19

2008-02-17T01:01:00.002-04:00

What kind of test might Amy be suggesting? I doubt it's pie eating contest.

You will notice that these are no tables or chairs in the backgrounds. This is because I fear that they would clutter the image. When I have more time, I'll do a blur effect or something to the background so that I can add tables and chairs without them being too distracting.

Not much else to say. I'll see you Monday.

Comments For ARW Page 423

2008-02-15T11:28:00.004-04:00

I wonder how long they were waiting in the dark for the girls to show up? Had they been waiting every night or did they know that the girls were coming? There will be some answers on Monday.

There are two major differences in this page that are not my normal style. First the page is darker then normal since everything happens at night. I had to use three different tones to do all the shadows plus a highlight color to show lit areas.

Second, there are text boxes in every panel and only one word balloon. This allows me to have the group making plans while showing the plans in action. I'm sure that has been done many times before in other comics but this is the first time I've done it.

Here is the drawing I've been working on. You can see how it's more realistic then I usually draw while still being somewhat cartoon like. Adding color can push the image either way depending on how I do it. I may work on it some more or work on something else next week. I'll let you know. See you tomorrow.

Comments For Split Shift page 18

2008-02-14T09:57:00.003-04:00

Anyone get the feeling Misty has never been to a goth café before? She doesn't seem to want to go at any rate. She'll get to meet some new 'friends' won't she?

This page took a long time to make. Close to five hours in fact. I still need to add some customers, but let's just say the café hasn't opened yet. I'll need to add customers in later scenes.

Since I'm adding a few new characters to the story, there is going to be a period where the pages will take a while to make. I still need to add a kitchen scene as well as a few more characters. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll get it all done and the comics can start updating five days a week.

I'm still not sure if this comic is a success of not. My view count is slowly going up but I still need to reach a larger audience and see what the reaction is. I really need to start doing more social networking to drum up interest in the comic.

Comments for ARW Page 422

2008-02-13T03:04:00.004-04:00

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party. Looks like Racheal and friends are planing to invade the castle and look for their friends. But what will they find there and how will they escape? Find out in the next exciting chapter of ARW.

It's late, but I got this done before I went to bed. I copied the line work from a few pages ago to do the background in the last panel. I still had to fix it up to fit the new page so it wasn't a quick fix but it was easier then drawing it all over again.

It seems repeating details in a page isn't really a big deal since most people just read the text and skim the images. The only place I really notice reused art is when it's side by side in a page. Especially if someone seems to be frozen in place from panel to panel. I always try to rework an image so it doesn't look the same. For example, I used the same line work for Toi in panel four and five but a changed a few things so that she doesn't look like she's frozen in the same position in both panels.

Comments For Split Shift Page 17

2008-02-12T01:46:00.000-04:00

Where would you wear a goth dress to work? Where was it that Amy works again? Oh yeah, Brewing Emotions Café. Must be a coffee shop for Goths. You'll get to see it on Thursday.

Lots of new art on this page. I hope you like the new dresses.

Not much to add to my last post except to say I finished the line work of the picture I'm drawing. It's an interesting mix of my cartoon style and a more realistic style. I guess there's no way to get away from my style of doing faces, especially the eyes. I could draw them more realistically but they don't look good unless the eye is large enough to see the detail.

I'll post again tomorrow. See you then.

Comments For ARW Page 421

2008-02-11T02:25:00.000-04:00

What did she just do to Balap? I don't think Balap was just having a nightmare, but he wasn't in his right mind either. At least he's still alive.

Used the last panel from the previous page for the first panel of this page with a few alterations. I should have changed Toi's mouth. I change the eyes and mouths of everyone else but not her for some reason. I guess it still works.

In the center panel at the bottom of the page, Ruth is spraying a liquid into Balap's face. It actually looks like she's spraying his eye.

I'm slowly adding backgrounds again. It went pretty quickly this time, so I'll keep at it. I think it was all the little detail elements like the picture on the wall and the window shutters that slowed me down last time.

I wonder how Phil Foglio can update three times a week at the level of quality he maintains. I would think it would take all day just to sketch out a page and then he'd have to ink and color it. Some pages have very complex art which would take most artists days to complete. Either he's some kind of robot, or he has a team of inkers and colorists working on his pages.

Oh well, I shouldn't complain, I'm sure there are many people who would love to have my ability to draw anything I want without using references. My art looks better with references, but many people couldn't draw a stick without a reference. This allows me to be fast and loose with my compositions. I hate a lot of art that other people call "quality artwork" because it's so stiff and lifeless. So what if you can paint a picture that looks like a photograph, if it doesn't have any feeling or life to it it's worthless in my option.

I am currently working on a more detailed drawing, using references, which I'll put up when it's done. I like how it's looking so far.

Comment For Split Shift Page 16

2008-02-10T01:14:00.000-04:00

It's Goth not golf, Misty can be so silly sometimes.

It looks like a nice dress, but what is it for? Find out on Tuesday.

Can't think of anything to say. I'll see you tomorrow.

Comment For ARW Page 420

2008-02-08T11:03:00.000-04:00

Whatever Racheal did, the girls looks very beautiful now. If chahex could really change them into humans, why did Racheal ask Slara and Toi to change her back to her near human form first? That will be explained on Monday.

I like how the girls look in the final panel. It will be interesting to draw them as humans for a while. I wonder if Slara should get a wig or stay bald. The bald look is interesting so maybe I'll keep it.

I'm going to spend the day drawing and looking into comic websites. As I said in the last post, I need to increase interest in my comics and that means getting then out in the public eye in as many places as possible.

I also need to keep improving my skills as an artist and that means doing more advanced, time-consuming pieces that I can't do in the comic without slowing down the updates.

Well, I better get to it. I'll see you next update.

Comments for Split Shift Page 15

2008-02-07T00:51:00.000-04:00

Looks like Amy has lost all track of time. Maybe the two of them will be good room mates after all.

They were suggesting on the Half-pixel forums that it might be a good idea to mirror the comic on other comic web sites like Comic Space and Drunk Duck in order to get more traffic to the site. I really should do this as well as getting involved in other social network sites to spread the word about my comic. It's likely harder for someone to find my comic when it's on an independent site like this. I do try to advertise, but putting the comic somewhere that people can stumble upon it is a good idea as well. I'll have to make sure that there are links feeding back to my Split Shift Home Page so my advertising dollars will grow. I'll have to see if I can advertise on some of those sites as well.

Dave is right, if I'm serious about being a web comic artist, I need to focus all my energy into being a success. I spent several hours today learning how to paint like a professional and I'm going to do that the next chance I get and post it as a donation incentive. Once people see I can create professional quality work, maybe I'll get more commissions and freelance offers. I've got to work hard and prove that I'm a professional web comic artist and not just a hobbyist. ...starting Friday. I'm too busy on Thursday.