New Website!

Attention, all Yellowhats. My buddy Josh just finished the overhaul on the website. It's a sight better than the old one, and Josh made the navigation and layout much more user-friendly. Thanks, Josh!

If you have any web projects you need done, Josh is the man to do it. Contact me and I'll pass along your info to him. (Don't want to go giving away his email address to complete strangers, you know. Especially the kind of completely strange people that would be reading this site.)

Look for the next issue of "Yellow" to hit newsstands (aka the website) in late June/early July!

Commentary is Go!

After a couple of reports from people I consider to be rather intelligent that they were unable to figure out how to post on my blog, I did a wee bit of research. Turns out, it was unnecessarily difficult.

No longer!

I changed the settings on the blog and now you no longer have to be a registered user to post comments. Anyone--and I mean anyone (that includes you) can now post their hatred by simply clicking on the "comments" line on the bottom right of each post.

So just to test that it's working, why don't you leave a comment for me right now?

Go ahead. I'll wait.

New Middles

Well, if you read my last post you know that I've decided to start the latest issue over. That's not really as big a deal as it sounds. I hadn't gotten very far...at all.

I wanted to update you and let you know that I've indeed decided to ditch the digital--at least for the time being--and I've just today broken ground on the re-imagining of Issue #5. I'm a little disappointed that the style is going to change in the middle of an "epi

sode" (That's what I'm calling each 3-issue collection.), but we do what we must.

The good news is that I think this change will be for the better. Not only am I going with a different style, inspired in large part by the great Will Eisner, but in going back to pen & ink I'm also switching to using full-size comic board, rather than the piddly 9"x5" sketch paper I had been using for everything so far.

I had been very adamant about

drawing in that small format for so long because I felt it was how I was at my best. The fact of the matter is, though, I think it was a way to keep myself from having to try harder. But when you've done four issues and everyone still tells you your artwork is the weakest element, it's time to just face facts: You need to be better.

And if I'm going to continue to draw "Yellow" on my own, better is someone I have to be.

So I've set up a drafting table in our until-now-unused home office, and I think having a special spot that's all set up just for my comic will (hopefully) go a long way to making the whole creation process less tedious. I can leave everything out when I am done for the day, and pick it up again at a moment's notice when I can steal a few minutes from the day to work on it.

This is theoretically much better than even having the l

ittle sketchpad, which I could carry around with me, because using that meant that I had to also carry around all my pens/pencils/rulers/sharpeners/erasers/etc., and that's just not convenient.

Above: This is my "Wall of Inspiration." From right to left: An awesome zombie by my friend and someday-collaborator D. Ryan Allen; actress Mira Furlan as Daniel Rousseau on LOST, who actually autographed a page of my comic and hopefully will become a regular customer (see previous post); the man himself, Alan Moore--or at least a cool drawing of him, done by S.P. Burke; and a drawing of Frankenstein's Monster by local comic artist Steve Daniels, of Dark Hopper fame (Thanks, Steve!); There's more, and once I get it all officially put up I'll take another photo.

So my goal still stands: At least two more issues done by March 2011. And with the new set up, the new approach, and the new inspiration I believe I can make it happen!

Will Eisner, Thanks for the inspiration.

Just got done reading the Contract With God trilogy. Eisner is better than I expected. Much better. His stories seem to be very much grounded in reality, but he really does capture emotion and character excellently. I was under the impression for some reason that his comics were very quaint and G-rated. Not so! I don't know why I thought that, exactly, but it probably has something to do with the time period in which they were made. I guess the 40's and 50's just seems like a much more innocent time, and I think of comics like Peanuts and Archie and stuff.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised. Moreover, I decided I need to model my drawing style after Eisner's. I know that saying I want to draw like Eisner is like when I said I want to write like Alan Moore. It's obvious, really. But it gives me some direction. I realized after looking at Eisner's stuff that I had been trying to draw my black and white comic as if it were in color, rather than playing to the strengths of the black/white contrast. I don't even need gray tones, frankly. Just pen and paper.

Anyway, it's given me new hope that I can continue to draw this myself. However, it's also a bit depressing because I might have to start my new issue over completely. But I haven't gotten very far anyway. Just finished my first page the other day, and technically it's not even finished. I think I just feel like after so long I should have more to show for myself than...nothing.

Eh. In the long run it won't be a big deal, and it will be worth it if it means I can create a more consistent and respectable style.

So, next step: Ditch the digital and start over!