What you working on?

TOM: Ah, I see. Good to know we wouldn't have to reboot the forum or anything :3

For the book: I think it's a great idea to re-draw some strips, but to include the old ones. It's a treat to me at least to see how artists develop (and you've developed a lot in the run of the comic so far) and comparing those strips with the new ones would be cool.
Also a bonus comic is good. There should be some extras for those buying it (speaking in my own interests here, of course, but my point is still valid! )

I'm a little undecided when it comes to drawing paper. For now, I just use my drawing pad (cheap-o thing) or copy paper (some kinds of copy paper solve the bleeding issue, too). I'm thinking of whether I should make the effort of using better material when I start drawing "real" comic strips. I don't really know if I can foresee any pros and cons with it. I'd want one of those hardcover sketch pads either way... Mine are wimpy soft things and they tend to get dented and bent.

Fanservice is always good!

(also, "Alone in a Crowd: Alone in A Book!" is a good title.)

Aww, thank you so much You guys are awesome! It's good to know other people like seeing how artists develop. I see too many people out there who are like "Yeah, I just restarted" or "oh, just nuke your archives and start again." NOOOO! Keep learning from mistakes and continue on makng it better as you go. Otherwise, I don't think you can TRULY grow as a creator. Sure, your art's better, but you're just rewriting the same stuff. You need to let that creative side flourish too, ya know?

Hey, I WANT you guys to speak in your own interests in matters like this. You guys are the fans, so you're the target audience. I want this book to be something you all can be excited about and really want

The bonus story will feature everyone just in their underwear then

Hehehehe, seriously though, I'm thinking of saving fanservice for donation incentives, when I finally getting around to doing those. Well, aside from fanserivce I decide to throw into the comic itself

Are you hoping for fanservice? Huh? Huh?

"Alone in a Book." I sure hope we aren't overdoing the "Alone in a..." thing, heh. That's certainly a possibility though. Keeps with tradition, or whatever you want to call it But the inside title page could say that and have one of the characters standing blankly in a big open white page.

You cant overdo that phrase!

maybe just hope sitting playing with the imaginary sand on a plank page with 'alone in book' in smallish letters near the top! that would be great!

You cant overdo that phrase!

maybe just hope sitting playing with the imaginary sand on a plank page with 'alone in book' in smallish letters near the top! that would be great!

You know, that would be really cute!

Oh, and here's the best fanservice you'll ever see ANYWHERE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im3GLvYTYXo



Couldn't resist.

"Where did everybody go?"

"Oh, 'Alone in a Book', I get it. Ha ha ha..."

"Guys, this isn't funny anymore..."

"...guys?"

that actually gave me a good idea for some fanart! to the drawing board!


pad!


whatever!

"Where did everybody go?"

"Oh, 'Alone in a Book', I get it. Ha ha ha..."

"Guys, this isn't funny anymore..."

"...guys?"

Hahaha! Yeah! Then the first 20 pages of the book is just Hope walking through the pages looking for everyone

Did somebody say FANART!?



YEAH DAWG!!!

TOM: I always like to see that! I like to look at comics where a lot has changed during its run - art and premise. Some comics start off as silly day-to-day antics, and then the artist decides they want a more serious outlook and start planning. Retconning is an art form in its own right! (ask any fanficcer...)
Good examples are DMFA or EGS, where art improvement and reinvention (or evolution) of premise happens simultaneously.
Either case, I prefer when the old archives are left up, in the case of re-drawing the whole thing.

There's also the odd example of Mat Sherer and Badly Drawn Kitties. When he restarted it (probably to write stuff out) he let Kat draw it deliberately "bad" to keep the gimmick going. It's not like the new style is actually bad, I would've just preferred if she'd drawn it more like she does the side art on it, because that would've added to the emotional depth of the characters. (and frankly, would've made bits of it really hot) They could've renamed it "Better Drawn Kitties" or something...
Otherwise I don't really see the point in re-drawing the strips he didn't change at all. (he also deleted his entire old archives including all the shout-outs to other artists)

Those book ideas are sounding better all the time it'll be fun to see the final product!
(and, yes: Konata fan service XD )

Yeah, I know people tend to bring up "Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures" a lot when disusing this topic. I've, unfortunately, never read that one, but clicking on their first comic and comparing it to their current one, I can certainly see why. That's QUITE the improvement there! (and yes, this one is on my "to read" list )

As a fan of Badly Drawn Kitties from back in its original run, I know exactly how you feel. I was sad to see the original archives disappear as well. Yeah, they were quite badly drawn, as the title suggest, but that was the charm. It worked as the gimmick.

Though I do know he had very particular reasons for restarting the comic as he has. The main reason was that he wanted to repackage it to sell as a book (or books), as most webcartoonists do. The problem was the original Badly Drawn Kitties run had quite a few characters that were created by other artists. They were sort of "permanent guest stars," I guess you could say. Trying to sell a book with other creator's property in it would have been VERY tricky, with royalties and things of that nature. So Matt opted to redo the archives and replace said characters (and tweak certain stories, I think). The most significant of these character's was Lucy's brother Fisk, who was created by Jay Naylor and one of the main characters in Better Days. Naylor and Sherer used to be loosely associated with each other, now they basically hate each other. So Sherer wanted any connection to Naylor out of his comic. Naylor still includes Lucy in his comics, claiming it to be a different character.

All of that really is a shame, because I'm a fan of both of their works (admittedly, I lean more to towards Jay though )

I agree though, Kat has a REALLY nice art style when she puts all her skill into it. I would have loved to see a "Better Drawn Kitties," or something to that effect. (Heh, and if I'm thinking of the bits you are, then yeah, hot ) I honestly don't read the BDK updates, because of it being just the same stuff over again (I just check in from time to time). If the art was THAT much of an improvement, I think I would. Plus it would be much more incentive to buy a book.

After all:

http://www.badlydrawnkitties.com/new/50.gif

DMFA is one of my big favorites. That's one of the reasons.
Funny thing is, I started reading Abel's Story (which is a side story; background to one of the supporting characters) before the main storyline - so when Abel showed up, I already knew bits of his past that weren't revealed at the time those main strips were posted. Funky.

Yeah, I think that pretty much sums up his reasons as I remember him explaining them on the blog at some point... Though I didn't know that much detail about him and Naylor (I did know Naylor's got a bad rep for having attitude problems). I got no idea who invented Lucy's character first, either. Lydia was in the early bits of BD, too. Who of them made the characters up, anyway? (and yep, I've read BD, more than twice in fact. It's one of those comics where I strongly disagree with the author on some things and strongly agree on others. And it's inspiring, especially a lot of what Lucy and Beth have to say.)

Well, let's say that despite being a Zig Zag fan I didn't mind the replacement. :3 And now that you say it, with Kat's better drawings I might've bought the book. Now I'm pretty much "meh, I can read it online".

...would you believe that I never got that Garbage joke before?!
And that the morning I get it is the morning when I've run on coffee alone for 23 hours?!

Hey, the important thing is that you got it now

Yeah, Naylor is a rather curious case. On one hand, I adore his art and he's one of the webcomic artists I site as having some of the most influence on me. Yet at the same time there's a lot of views he has that I completely disagree with. I guess that's just when you have to separate the artist from the art. I've read through BD a few times as well. As far as I can tell from various places, Matt created Lucy, and because Jay and Matt were friends, Jay made a characters named Lucy into Better Days that essentially looked the same (but MUCH MUCH more refined). However, if you read both comics, it's arguable whether they are really the same character, because they're VERY different from each other. I mean, how else was Jay going to handle that, without scrapping his entire archive as well? It doesn't matter though, they're both cool in my eyes.

Oh man, Zig Zag is another reason I'm not as keen on the re-doing of BDK. I'm a big fan of Zig Zag too! So I was disappointed to see she had been removed and replaced with a new character. She seems to show up in a lot of places though. I guess Sabrina Online and the Fur After Dark site are the most significant (rarrr Of course I've never seen the stuff on FAD....nope....never.....*whistles*)

Heck, I'm sure I'd be lying if I said Zig Zag didn't have an influence in some way on Desirae Passions



It's not easy to find too many good pictures of Zig (outside of actual comics) where she has clothes on

Mm, second that about Naylor. I'm like that with a few authors actually. You can always get your own enjoyment and inspiration out of what they do even if you wouldn't get along with them in person or subscribe to all they have to say.

Nooo, of course you haven't been to FAD...
Well, it's hard not to think of Zig when you get to know Desirae's business, simply because the setup is similar - and their attitudes, to an extent They're also both interesting characters that go against the cardboard "porn star" outline.

(this made me read up on the last months of Sabrina Online)