Books and finale: some stuff

[Steve the Pocket]

Well, for what it's worth, if you start over with a whole new method of drawing your characters, an abrupt shift in style is to be expected. It really is like learning to draw all over again, and the effect is that the method you're most comfortable with bares little resemblance to your regular style and looks like nothing so much as the product of another artist altogether. And that's not a bad thing; the new Raine Dog designs are wilder and more expressive than anything else I remember seeing from you.

The problem came from trying to recreate your normal style in the new medium. The result looked like a whole different person stepped in and tried to draw it. (That happens a fair bit in syndication, but usually by promoting assistants who'd already had years of experience drawing the characters.) Hence, the Uncanny Valley effect we've been witnessing.

You say this is similar to when you redesigned the characters in 2000, but really, no intentional redesigning took place this time around, at least that I noticed. And maybe that's what needs to happen between now and the flashforward spin-off you're planning: a thorough reimagining of the character models that's calculated to cater to your new techniques. As various fan art, guest strips, and ... whatever you want to call Muninn's work on this forum can attest, different character models can have a charm all their own.

[Dr. Sticks]

haha, I don't want to openly criticize your work DCS but you totally should have ended the strip like Muninn did.

[Segovia]

DCS, I was just about to try to find out what you're doing these days. Last I heard, you weren't employed or in school, so I'm relieved to know it won't be long before your next comic. Otherwise, I'd worry that you were wasting whole months of your life.

I have no idea what people think is going on with me; just bear in mind that the internet is usually wrong.

Actually, in addition to working on Raine, I've begun writing and illustrating children's books. If I can get them published, I might actually get, you know, paid.

Actually I told about your situatuion to my friend Marco and he said that you are heading in the same direction of the guy who make Opus. He started making Bloom county and stop that then came out with outland and then Opus. Between all of those he was illistrating childrens books too. Is this what you are going for?

[Jakkal]

And we would want new members...why? I dunno about you but I've had my fill of Segovias and cougartigers.

HEY and what about me? I'm one of the newest in here ^^

[Segovia]

And we would want new members...why? I dunno about you but I've had my fill of Segovias and cougartigers.

Oh well. You don't know what you're missing.

[Ibun]

And we would want new members...why? I dunno about you but I've had my fill of Segovias and cougartigers.

HEY and what about me? I'm one of the newest in here ^^

This is a good counterpoint. I like you so far. Still the majority of new members tend to suck. But nobody pays any mind to my opinions anyway. /BITTER

[Dr. Sticks]

that's because you don't believe the DC 'Zine exists.

[Ibun]

Correction: I think it's a retarded idea.

[LewisTheTank]

Someone asked a while back why I'd drawn the final storyline "in a completely different style."

I don't actually think I did, but there's also a reason it was a bit different: I did the last storyline digitally, after a decade of doing comics on paper with ink.

I had meant to finish the strip out on paper, not least of all because you can't sell originals when the original is just pixels, but I was just *so* into doing my art digitally by that time that I reasoned that doing it that way was about the only way I was actually going to finish it.

I didn't really mean to become a digital artist--there's a reason I held out for so long. But, a year ago, Orv got me a tablet for Christmas. At first I just used it for things like coloring. But, the more I did that, the better I got with it. And, when a friend gave me an extra copy she had of a program called Manga Studio, I was pretty hooked, and I started doing some of my inking digitally, too. Finally, I started doing everything, from sketches to color, with the tablet, and never putting ink or graphite or anything else to paper at all.

And the fact is I love it. I can redo or undo anything I want, I can copy and paste images and alter them for consistency...it's an enormous time-saver.

I suppose it did make the closing strips look a bit different. But, if the models seem to have drifted in the past year, it's also because my drawing style has evolved enormously in the last year. Partly it's all that working with a tablet. But also, it's partly because drawing in one style exclusively had become a bit stifling. A drawing style is something to grow within, and, at least in my case, eventually you've grown as much as you can within it, and you're like a plant that needs to be moved to a larger pot to keep growing.

That's what happened when I redesigned the characters in 2000; I was still into th strip as much as ever, but the style I'd developed several years earlier had become limiting, and so I spent a month redesigning the characters into a broader style that I could continue to grow within. (Fans at the time were not thrilled, but I think most people came around--though I still know plenty of people who prefer the original look of the characters.)

I reached that point again, finally, and that was part of my decision to end the daily strip, and to do future stories involving the characters in a format that might allow me to flex my art muscles a bit more. I hope people will enjoy those.

(My new project, "Raine Dog," will be debuting on Keenspot very shortly. Watch for it.)

DCS, I was just about to try to find out what you're doing these days. Last I heard, you weren't employed or in school, so I'm relieved to know it won't be long before your next comic. Otherwise, I'd worry that you were wasting whole months of your life.

I have no idea what people think is going on with me; just bear in mind that the internet is usually wrong.

Actually, in addition to working on Raine, I've begun writing and illustrating children's books. If I can get them published, I might actually get, you know, paid.

See? I TOLD you all she was busy with things IRL! I also mentioned this would influence her work! HA!
Glad to see your text, DC, and hope to see more of it! Don't listen to many of these other posters, the ones who are always cynical! Listen instead to us loyal fans who are cynical towards them!
Good luck with your books! Keep us posted! (And THANKS!)

[Dr. Sticks]

Don't listen to many of these other posters, the ones who are always cynical!

Define "cynical"

[Segovia]

Still the majority of new members tend to suck. But nobody pays any mind to my opinions anyway. /BITTER

That's what everyone says about me, but they change their minds when they actually get to know me.

[Fritz]

Of course they do Johnathan. Of course they do.

[Ibun]

Doog lives in a Pepsi Max plant.

[Segovia]

That's awesome! Do you think Doog could hook me up?

[Baree]

I did notice the characters heads were getting a lot bigger. But that's been going on for a while.