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Note that the most recent comments appear first in the thread below.
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Thanks for swinging by!
May 17th, 2008 at 2:16 am
hi,how do you do like a that comiks?
can i now?by the wy i cm frm phl,im 11 years old
thanksfor your comiks
byebyebye
a1 is the best music in the world……………….
August 6th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
I’d say I’ve used photo backgrounds a little less than 50% of the time. Sometimes it’s easier to create 3d backgrounds to tell my stories, but sometimes it’s easier to use photographs.
Unless you own your own helicopter, you’re limited in the camera angles you can use with photographs. Also, with models, you have more control over the lighting.
You could do a comic strip completely with photographs of course, but then you would need to put together a cast. I imagine finding and paying the large group of people I would need to tell my stories would be far more trouble than it is worth — I’d rather work with 3d people.
I’m NOT making money with this, but I’m very interested in possible profit models for webcomics and may blog about this in the future.
I’ve given some thought to joining an existing collective, but it isn’t clear that that would help me much. I’m already getting plenty of traffic over to this story.
I’m not going to stress myself out to make money with this right away. I’m content with the basic approach I’m taking to promote this story and will not be making drastic changes.
I’ll be blogging more about these kinds of issues in the future.
Thanks for the compliments.
July 31st, 2006 at 9:13 am
WOW! … I guess I’m a graphic wimp … (photoshop only) How often do you biuld from a photo? The 3D render stuff is fab … my thought, would re-touching photos be less work intense? (it’s what I’m leaning towards)
Even though this is near-perfect visuals … do find the story takes more work?
Lastly, are you making money … printing? … interested in a ‘co-op’ type web site with multiple comics and subscription based?
Really great work,
Dale
March 28th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Thanks to everyone for the compliments! I see there’s a question waiting for me that I haven’t yet answered, sooooo ….
Mike was wondering about the software I use to create the story. All the figures are created in Poser 6. The majority of the scenes were lit and rendered in Poser 6 too, but I’ve made occasional use of both Carrara and Bryce (mainly for backgrounds). I also use some photographs created with my digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4300. I mainly use PhotoImpact — similar to Photoshop — to composite the various renders I do into the final scenes and pages. (I also have and use Corel Photo-Paint and The Gimp.) The lettering is put on in CorelDRAW.
Before I start creating the 3d art, I design the pages by hand — sometimes using my Wacom tablet and sometimes in a sketchbook. I sometimes tweak the page designs after I start doing the 3d work needed.
Renderosity is a great online resource site with loads of information on creating 3d art.
March 25th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Great comic – enjoyed it. Revelations of “emotional turmoil” and the vulnerability you felt (which we ALL really feel sometimes) juxtaposed with the realities and trivialities of life created an unique and hauntingly addictive presentation. Keep it up.
Chas
March 13th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Hey, Ben, way to go on doing this thing.
I was a science-y kinda guy for a long time who thought that was the only way to accomplish anything. Went to a great school undergrad, got out and worked in technology for a lot of years. I made big dough ’til the turn of the century, but never cared about the job–only in the past few years have I had any trouble earning the best living. (We’re roughly contemporaries.)
Nevertheless, I’ve come around to thinking that my real calling is art, and I’m currently trying to get back to a level of economic survival that will let me explore that.
All this personal stuff wasn’t really what I had in mind when I started posting, tho–I have a simple question: how’d you generate the images? Do you draw all the characters using a one-off tool like Illustrator, or are you working with a character generation/animation package of some kind?
Email a reply if you don’t want to get into those details here. Heck, email me telling me to mind my own business if it’s like a secret or something.
Meanwhile, definitely keep up with what you’re doing. It’s great to see.
March 12th, 2006 at 10:17 am
Hello Ben,
Excellent comic strip! I remember going through similar ups and downs after finishing college. Come to think of it, I don’t know anyone who has found it easy to find his way in the world.
The graphics and writing are engaging. Your story really strikes a chord–our everyday struggles may not be the stuff of DC comics but they’re no less important and meaningful.
Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing the next episode.
Cheers,
Lyse
March 11th, 2006 at 8:50 am
I’d be lying if I said these comments don’t mean anything to me. Thanks, everyone!
This site is continuing to get a lot of traffic, and I strongly encourage anyone swinging by to let me know what you think of the story.
March 7th, 2006 at 12:50 am
Great comic!
March 6th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Wow… great story – good use of graphics – not over done. It looks great really, did I say it looks great?
looking forward to new installments.
I tried to go to college and it just didn’t work out for me, that you went and then tried to do MORE speaks volumes about you. And Brains are Uber-sexy. Just so you know, if ya didn’t.
March 6th, 2006 at 1:58 am
This is really good! I’m a grad student and I know what it’s like to struggle through, sacrificing all other areas of life to academic work–and it’s not worth it! Looking forward to reading more of your adventures.
March 5th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Love the comic. I’m looking forward to the next one.
March 4th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Nice work, I’m 24 but I always had the fantasy of living the gen-ex life in a city somewhere. Now, I don’t know what I want.
March 4th, 2006 at 10:55 am
Thanks for all the compliments!
I’ve had the narcissism charge thrown at me before. (See the big discussion on TCJ.com.) I’m proud of this episode, but I see some degree of truth to the charge.
In this first story, you don’t see me interacting a lot with people who I do like and feel comfortable with. I sort of wish I had given Russ and Elizabeth at HOA somewhat larger parts in the first story. (You’ll be seeing more of them in future episodes — I guarantee it!!)
You also haven’t see me selflessly giving to other people yet. You’ll see more of this in future stories. There are sides to me that didn’t really come out in the first episode.
March 3rd, 2006 at 11:16 am
Ben, I like the comic and the story that you’re trying to tell. The anomie you felt with your loss of direction and uncertainty about your future is something many people have gone through and gives your readers something they can strongly relate to.
However, I kind of feel that your writing can be a little narcissistic at times. I think you need to be careful when you blow your own horn because that sort of thing can easily alienate your readers as quickly as you’ve drawn them in.
Anyway, nice work, the whole 3D comic concept is very cool.
March 3rd, 2006 at 2:09 am
Aww shucks. Thanks.
March 3rd, 2006 at 2:05 am
Ben,
I want to congragulate you on your first installment. I stumbled upon the comic by mistake, and it felt like one of those “destiny” experiences, where you think you were led there by a higher intervention. You ever had one of those? Of course, I don’t believe in that crap, but for a second, it really felt like that.
All I wanted to say was that I really connected with your story. You could say it made me think about a few things. Never before could I have said that about a comic, serious or not. That’s all, I just wanted to tell you that. It means a lot. Oh, and keep up the great work, I’m looking out for the next installment.
February 25th, 2006 at 11:11 am
I very nearly put a Howard The Duck reference into the story but decided to “name-drop” John Sayles’ BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET instead.
February 25th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Thanks for the comments and compliments, gents.
I read First Comics in the early ’80s — mainly E-MAN, JON SABLE, and AMERICAN FLAGG! — but I didn’t see the need bring them up in this story. I don’t recall ever reading any GRIMJACK/John Gaunt actually.
However I did meet GRIMJACK co-creator Tim Truman at a show around the time he was working on the first JONAH HEX series he did with Joe Lansdale. He seems like a great guy. (He’s a Grateful Dead fan like me too!) Later on, we both had out work appear in Joe Zabel’s MURDER BY CROWQUILL anthology (which I talk about on this page).
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Howdy,
Very open and honest. Only way that growth is possible is by making yourself vulnerable, I’m afraid. In several ways, my life parallels and perpendiculars (not really a word, I am sure) yours. Maybe if I integrate, it’s more like skew lines. Grew up in a big town, ended up in a smaller one (Portland). Started out somewhat interested in sciences, and eventually (after some faltering) completed 2 degrees in it. Work as a teacher in that field. Love them comic references, but no First comix? Were they not around by ’91, or you just hadn’t met John Gaunt? Anyhoo, nice job. I appreciate your work.
February 23rd, 2006 at 11:06 am
Great strip, I’m really intrigued by the story. 3D comics aren’t really that interesting to me, but I can relate very well to the characters…
And grad school is looming…dooom…doooom….
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:29 am
ATTA BOY!!
February 20th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Thanks for the compliments! Stay tuned for news on the second story!
February 17th, 2006 at 9:23 am
Wow… You tell and illustrate a great story. Many of the points you make about how you feel and what went through your head at various times are very familiar to me. I’ve not done the whole college degree thing, but have certainly been sold short many a time by my looks alone, for example (not to mention the isolation and bookwormishness). You manage to pull off a difficult type of storyline by managing to keep the pace of the story interesting and brisk in the right places, yet giving pause for reflection in others where the depth of how you feel is genuinely needed. In addition, there’s no false bravado or an attempt to hide your fragility either, which is refreshing in an age where many webcomic authors tend to keep their personal lives out of their productions, even their rantspaces and/or blogs. Good work!
January 16th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Hi Jerry…!
Thanks for the compliments! It’s nice to hear from you … I enjoy reconnecting with old friends over the internet.
I’m familiar with TOUCH OF SILVER, but I’ve only read bits and pieces of some of the issues. I’m probably going to be reading a lot of different autobiographical comics in the the weeks and months to come, since I’ve become more interested than ever in the different approaches creators take to them. (Pekar and Crumb are currently my two favorites in this department.)
I have read Jim’s VIGNETTES paperback and enjoyed it. I find a lot of his normalman work amusing too. I’ll have to get the TOUCH OF SILVER paperback.
It would be fun to talk to him some day because I suspect that he and I have gone through a number of the same life experiences. Back when I published PRISONOPOLIS in ’97/’98, I heard a lot of nice things about him as a person through the “small press grapevine”. (I’ve often suspected that he was the nicest guy in the Image partnership.)
I’ve long believed that autobiographical comics could do much better on the web than they do in comics stores. Part of the reason I’m doing this series is to test some of my theories.
January 16th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Congratulations!
Finding you online is a bit like time travel…like I’ve come 25 years into the future of 2006, only to find that you’ve gone back 15 to 1991 !
You definitely have skills. The 3-D stuff is used quite well.
You don’t seem to have sugar coated your life. And you are willing to share what you’ve learned.
Autobiographical studies are a niche market. Alot of readers are stuck on sex, gore or superheroes.
Have you seen Jim Valentino’s A TOUCH OF SILVER ? Five issues, one great autobiography. I’d recommend it to anyone.
I have your site under my favorites.
January 14th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Thanks for the compliments, Dan! Yes, you did write back. Actually the story took place before we did “Pseudobohemian Leather Princess” and “Doin’ Art”. I was just starting to reach out to the COMICS F/X comics community when this story took place.
I had thought about mentioning Matt Feazell in the story too, since he wrote me a couple of nice letters around this time. (I’ll have to mention him a future story.)
I want to show myself sitting around reading AMERICAN SPLENDOR in one of these at some point too.
January 12th, 2006 at 12:23 am
Ben,
I really enjoyed the first installment. It gives me an insight on what you must have been going through in those days. It seemed as though you were living several different versions of yourself, as I suppose many of us do at that time in our lives. Very well done. Nice graphics and flow. You’re sense of storytelling is easy to follow and compelling. I’m looking forward to seeing more. (I hope I got around to writing you back).