1293 Our Story.

by

I wrapped up the conversation on the roof pages today and can’t for the life of me find where I put the script for the next part. I know what is supposed to happen, but I had some good words already planned. I’ve checked all my notes and just can’t find them. Unfortunately I think they’ve just been lost. Deleted on accident, or overwritten. Perhaps lost in an update. Who can say. Regardless, it’s always a shame when you remember a ghost of the idea you already had. A lot of the time as soon as I write something down my brain frees up that space for new things and that information is dumped. It’s kind of like in Last Crusade when Henry tells Indiana he has the diary so he wouldn’t have to remember the location of the Grail. Of course, since I can’t exactly remember what I wrote I might write something better. I’LL NEVER KNOW! DX

My PC has started randomly forgetting/deleting/losing/I don’t know what my tablet drivers. On startup sometimes they just aren’t there. I have to reinstall them and then the computer remembers what does what. I hope this isn’t some kind of weird ass cascading failure. I mean, this system was built specifically to make digital art on. If it suddenly can’t do that then all it’s good for is talking to anyone on the planet who has a similar device and having access to the sum of all human knowledge and lies. What good is that? Hopefully someone somewhere has also sent reports about this to Microsoft and their squirrels in suits are scrambling to help the many, many, artists out there struggling to get by. I know we’re a top priority. He said, including himself, perhaps, where he aught not. X3

I really worry about my drawscreen becoming obsolete to the point where I can’t use it anymore. A person can’t just randomly drop the cash for one of these things anytime. That goes triple for an artist, generally speaking. People are trained almost from birth to simultaneously venerate and devalue art and artists. It’s one of the weirdest things that happens in the life of an artist. When you’re in school, or whatever, people are fucking mesmerized by your art, even if it’s painfully amateur usually. The second you suggest your work has a dollar value though… people flip their shit. Of course there are those who actually value artwork, but they are rare gems from the perspective of an artist. Which is not to say that I don’t understand the desire to get a good deal on work. You want to find a happy place between seller and buyer. Maybe it’s the subjectivity of art that makes this harder. I dunno. Anyway, I just fear the potential loss of my tool and the income it generates, especially in light of the YEARS it took to get to that point. I used to think buying ink, paper, and that was expensive…

On the bright side, having to constantly tweak my setting has at least caused my lines to look nicer. At least I think so. I haven’t messed with them in ages since for the longest time minor changes seemed to have no noticeable effect on line quality. Now there is one. Maybe you guys will notice.

As long as I’m at this, how many of you are artists, writers, or creators? In your spare time, or whatever. I’m curious about how many of you are art students, or animation students, and what your expectations are for the future. Also, I feel like there’s a lot of art isolation going on in my world…

Oh. I just remembered the scripting I forgot.

33 Comments

Writer in my spare time, which is pretty light these days – I’m old and cranky and running a farm and winery while going to school full-time. The only writing I get to do much of is some collaborative fiction with a friend of mine, which we edit and add to through Evernote. I have lots of scribbled memos to myself for story ideas which maybe some day I’ll circle round to, but for now, I’m too busy keeping everybody fed when I have spare time!

I used to draw a lot. A LOT. Then I had kids and went back to school and got a job…Now I only doodle on post-it notes. (single tear*) They’re pretty good doodles though.

There was a cartoonist that did all their cartoons on post it notes some years ago. I forget what happened to them. I’m going to say… potted plant on the head from a high building resulting in a pile of soil and a single flower on their head. Then death. It’s only funny in cartoons…

There’s a guy who makes great illustrations solely on post-it notes. He’s called John Kenn Mortensen. Is he the guy you were referencing, maybe?

I write occasionally. I go for months where I agonize about how difficult writing is going to be (when it’s usually easy once I get over the mental roadblock), and then I pump out a few thousands words in an evening and feel all special and happy I did the thing…but then they cycle repeats. D:

Otherwise, I doodle a bit? I dunno. I never was very good at drawing. I took an art class when I was a freshman in high school hoping that I’d y’know, be taught how to draw? But instead it was taught by this woman who seemed to expect everyone already had talent or something. I dunno. I’m good with colors. And shapes, and generic things. Just not so good at putting them all together.

I used to write poetry and stories…but nothing I’ve written in years has been any good and I’ve lost most of my old works…que sera, sera?

I’ve been working on a comic book series the past two years, I’m happy to say I got an issue printed (even sold a few) and am working on the first issue in the connected storyline.

It’s so fucking hard. My depression makes it to where I have a hard time cooking for myself, let alone drawing, but I recently finished a double-spread 22″x14″ (It’s so hard to line up) and I really wish I could afford a big damn scanner.

Everyone keeps telling me to get a dead-end job, but A) I loathe paperwork, ESPECIALLY online (I guess being charged for print was the only thing holding them back) B) I get anxiety attacks easily and C) I’ve gotten fired/quit from getting depressed before and just not showing up.

So going pro is my best shot, even if it’s a long one.

It’s really irritating that even mentioning money gets my watchers like “uhp!” <>; but I guess I just need to find people that value what I do. (Honestly a lot of my fans are kids, which yeah when I was a kid I didn’t have income and I took everything for granted)

Though it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock n’ roll.

I’m a writer in my spare time. I love the novel format, but I’ve also been doing some work in comic writing. Sadly, I have almost no skulls with the visual arts, so I don’t really see my comic going anywhere without an artist. Is fun to write though. :D

I’ve recently gotten into writing sonnets in blog and webcomic comments. The Lab Lemming’s “geosonnets” inspired me, so I wrote a couple there, then a few on Nimona – I started a thread a few days ago that I’m quite proud of, with four other people inspired to write poems, including two first-ever sonnets! http://gingerhaze.com/nimona/comic/nimona-chapter-11-page-40#comment-1601633094

The sonnet form comes easily to me,
Now that I’ve writ a few, and have no fear;
If I know what I want to say, I’m free
To juggle words until the rhymes appear.
A sonnet isn’t always poetry;
Much of my work is doggerel at best,
Yet what I do is good enough for me,
And in the end, that is the greatest test.

And if, perchance, I please some other folk,
And if more poems come forth, inspired by me,
Then my small efforts may yet be the yolk
From which may hatch new creativity.
I think that is the best that one can do –
Inspiring others to be artists too.

I’m a writer. I’m published.

But other than that, I’m not overly successful or anything. My book only did slightly well for a few years and then I haven’t seen anyone mention it like they do Harry Potter or anything.

I’m considering writing my own version of 20 Shades of Gray just to prove a point about what makes a book “famous.” LOL

And there’s the genesis of Jo’s movie. No matter what happens in real (comic) life, her movie can be about a person finding an unmarked graveyard, tracking down the villains, and finding justice (of a sort) for the family.

Movies may be “exquisite lies”, but they can sometimes bring a closure not found in mundane reality.

I happen to be a writer/artist/game designer m’self.It’s like I picked the most time consuming things to never make money at. I spend what little free time and motivation I have writing a Pen and Paper RPG and when I draw, I usually draw for that.

The problem that most consumers of art have – me included – is that we lack the talent to accurately evaluate the value of the art. Most of us are stuck at the *ugh* *me like* or *ugh* *me no like* caveman (or simian) level of art appreciation. As a result, we become uncomfortable about paying worrying that maybe we are overpaying – or not appreciating the great value presented to our vulgar (lacking sophistication or good taste; unrefined) eyes and minds. That’s probably a big part of the reason that “starving artist” is such a ubiquitous cliche. Note that many famous artists whose work is renowned and revered struggled to sell their work when they are alive.

For example: Vincent Van Gogh and Edgar Allan Poe

During his lifetime Van Gogh received hardly any acclaim for his work. While alive, he only sold one of his paintings, and that was to a friend for a very small amount of money. Despite this, he continued working throughout his life, never seeing success himself, though his paintings now are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. Poe, throughout his attempts to live as a writer, repeatedly had to resort to humiliating pleas for money and other assistance from friends and family. Because of a lack of international copyright laws, publishers often pirated copies of British works rather than paying for new work by Americans, so he had difficulty getting publishers to pay for his work. Even when authors got their work published, publishers often refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised

I’m a writer, currently in my senior year of college for an English degree. I’m actually hoping to finish up a novel by the end of this year, with dreams of being published before I leave college. I write mostly science fiction, fantasy, romance, pure smut, and a little bit of thriller and non-fiction.

I use to draw in my spare time. I’m majoring in history, but got an active imagination and love telling stories (figures, eh?), so I gotta focus the more subjective part of that somewhere outside of my academical work. This means pushing all those ‘epic past’ and fantastical thoughts into paper, which is usually fun (and a good release). I’m also trying to start working with woodblock printing techniques, since it’s a form of art that’s very relevant to the culture I come from.

Woodblock prints, hey? Would you be German, by any chance?

And yeah, something about physically hacking an image out of something resisting your every action is so… cathartic or something along those those lines. It’s an awesome technique! I really do think there’s a tension it leaves in the work that you can definitely see in the finished product.

No, I’m not german, I’m from Brasil! We have a whole culture of woodblock printing here, very characteristic of the region I live in. If you want to take a look at it, google “J. Borges”, “Oswaldo Goeldi” and “Gilvan Samico”. Three of our greatest woodblock printers, with wildly different styles. Each a master in his own.

I totally agree with you, the carving process is so very interesting. Shaping the wood to match your thoughts as best as you can, chanelling your creativity in something so solid… It’s a great release and makes me proud to dabble in it. You’re totally spot on with the tension thing. It’s very noticeable, specially when you start making carvings yourself.

I’d really like to keep contact with artists from other countries, it’s always an enriching experience. If you’d like to, send me an e-mail at gustavomanu@gmail.com!

I’m totally an art student! I’m in my… oh god… sixth year of it. (Last semester!) I’m pretty average-bad at drawing, painting–basically visual arts in general. What I’m really passionate about is craft… textiles, specifically.

One thing I love about craft is the way it sidesteps that subjectivity of what something’s worth, to a degree. It’s like, suddenly if I’m making a thing people recognize as something they can use for a thing, no one flips tables about the idea of paying money for it. (Hey, that’s a jacket! I wear jackets! I’ve paid for jackets before!)

…Except the issue when it comes to making clothing (or any hand craft at all) is that it’s impossible to compete with the prices of stuff made overseas (or mass produced). Like, seriously, you could buy clothes from walmart, cut them up for fabric, and it would just about be a better deal then buying the same amount of fabric from the fabric store. So, in that sense, people have a wildly skewed idea of what clothing is worth, if you look at it in terms of materials plus time (even if you calculate your time at minimum wage, it’s shocking how high the price you’d have to charge for something ends up being)

So what you end up doing is going back to the art side of it, where you hope people will except that it’s kind of art, too, and that people pay for things that are art beyond just what their functional use is. So yeah… it does come back around to that! (At least with fashion it’s not a foreign concept–you can find high fashion shit that sells for thousands of dollars and stuff. I can make stuff for cheaper than that, that’s for sure!)

But I can sew really good, dye fabric, screen print, weave, spin yarn, knit, all that stuff. I’m not too picky about what I start out doing–like working at an alteration shop or something–and try and get stuff going gradually. There’s actually a fair amount of demand for people who can sew junk, or whatever. So in that regard, I’m not too worried about my future prospects at this point!

No doubt about it: Alex is a genius. What a beautiful, amazing summary.

About six weeks ago, a friend and I went to one of the Big Box Stores (the warehouse club operated by the same company that runs the most notorious discount house in America) and we each bought new 17″ laptops. These were expensive ($1,000), touchscreen models with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB hard drives. Once I transplanted the 1 TB data drive from my old laptop (large laptops can accommodate two drives), everything was fine… for a while. I started having minor problems: peripherals mysteriously stopped working; programs that were fine days before suddenly starting to hang. It hit a head when the network stopped working; both the WiFi and the Ethernet (hard wire) were blocked. Fortunately, I had made the rebuild disks, so I started over from scratch, reloading Windows and all my programs. My guess is it was some sort of worm or virus; I’m just glad I had everything backed up. Good thing I had the past week off.

So how did you back everything up? I’m running a Windows PC with a 1 TB drive and need a practical way to back it up. My experience with external drives hasn’t been good, but that may have been a cruddy drive.

(Sorry for the late response). I have a 3 TB Toshiba desktop drive I have the World backed up on. I used to be a big Western Digital MyBook fan, but two of them have died on me. I bought one little (500 GB) drive for backing up my work machines and another to keep my NetBook backed up; the company bought me a 1 TB to test (and keep) and all three of them are Toshiba portables and 100% reliable [/advertisement].

I initially used the built-in Windows RoboCopy to build a copy of the drive (unless you have a fast drive and connection, it will take most of the night) and then I regularly use Scooter Software’s Beyond Compare to update the backups. BC is expensive ($50) but I’m a geek by trade so I use it for a lot of other things — an investment. Microsoft also has a free utility called SyncToy that can synchronize files between two paths (think, your hard drive and the backup folder on your external); it might be worth a look.

I write short stories, and it looks like I might get published soon. So that’s cool.
Just chiming in because you asked. A lot of people create when nobody’s looking.

I admit I don’t know much about art appreciation. I love following webcomics and occasionally, when I can budget for it, try to buy their books or sometimes posters. What I know fairly well is computers, though.

Disappearing drivers and files are a strange problem to have. If you haven’t already, try running an anti-malware program like Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/ It has a pretty good free version. If you have used it before, try redownloading it and reinstalling it.

If you’re a little more advanced, you can try AdwCleaner: https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewdownload/1-adwcleaner/ It sometimes picks up on things Malwarebytes doesn’t (Conduit particularly) but you need to review the things it’s going to delete after the scan, before you tell it to “Clean”, because sometimes it wants to kill something legit. I wouldn’t suggest an ordinary computer user try anything more powerful than this themselves.

If you don’t find anything there, make sure you have the most recent version of the driver for your device that is available. Don’t rely on Windows Update to provide it, find out the manufacturer of the tablet, its model number, and check their website yourself. They often will have more updated drivers than Windows Update will.

Good luck.

I just design racecar paintschemes for the virtual race team that I’m on. Passes the time when I’m not driving trucks for a living.

been following the comic for about 3-5 years now, maybe longer. Keep up the good work!

Just want you to know I’ve re read this comic probably five times now in its entirety and I’ve never gotten sick on it. Becoming emotionally invested in the characters you’ve created is one of the best things I’ve ever done. Keep it up and thank you for all the fine hours of great story that I enjoy reading.

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