You may or may not have noticed that I haven’t posted a whole lot to the blog this week. The reason for that can be summed up in two words, Jade Empire. I have been totally sucked up into this game and when the decision comes down to posting about web comics or playing more Jade the choice invariably comes down to which activity involves swinging fists of fury. Hopefully I will have it beat soon and I’ll be able to return to my normal life. Love the game, highly recommend it.
Time is ticking down folks. You have one week left to get us your contest entry. We are giving away over $120.00 worth of web comic books we have been collecting over the last few months. All you have to do is create a comic that has something to do with us or our show, send us the image or link to where it is posted and you will be entered into the random drawing. Anyone can enter (except Daku). The contest ends next week, Friday April 29th. Better get sketching!
The NYU paper Washington Square has a simplistic view of the world of web comics spurred by the two students. These students are Ryan Grim and Dave Gonzales and as you can find from the article they create the comic Dos Factotum. The article continues to go on and explain how web-based comics are becoming a popular “hobby” for art and writing students. They mention another strips called Lunchtray Ninja by Greg Mourino and continue on discussing the difficulties of keeping a strips up and running. The main hurdles are the cost of hosting and simply staying with the comic and consistently posting.
I’m starting to understand why News shows report about the local fire unit saving Mrs. Frisbee’s cat. Finally there’s something news worthy for web comics. Over at E&P there is a great article about the web gaining ground over newspapers. There is a recent Carnegie Study that found the “new generation of technology-savvy young people are getting their news in ways that threaten the very viability of newspapers.” The end result was a trend that 25-34 year olds are twice as likely to use the internet and consider it just as trustworthy. Probably the most interesting tidbit was mention of The Northwest Voice, Continue reading
We start the show off reminding everyone about our ongoing contest. Only two more weeks to get us your submission, so if you haven’t finished it yet better get cracking. We’ve gotten some excellent submissions so far and every one of them has made us laugh.
This wee we discuss the following the comics:
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Yes I realize most cartoonists are actually Mac Users but it’s hard not to use such a catchy title. I was reading through The Beat when I came across this lonely little link. It’s for a program called Comic Life for OS X. This is such a fantastic idea but it begs the question of is it truely more useful then Photoshop. Its hard to ignore a price tag of $40 though. Has anyone taken a look at this? As a PC user on the verge of getting a Mac I love hearing about such useful programs for creating web comics.
24 Hour Comics Day is fast approaching. If you fancy your cartooning skills tough enough you are stocking up on non-photo blue pencils, Bristol board, and Jolt Cola in preparation for a real show of doodling might. Comic shops, schools, and community centers across the world will host a single 24 hour session for artists to try and create 24 comics in a single cycle. At the time of this post there 74 locations signed up to host the event in 28 US states and 5 Canadian provinces plus France, Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia, and Thailand.
I just wanted to make a quick post and say thanks to Steve over at The Outer Circle, a web comic that was my pick on the show last week. He posted a strip in which his characters give us and our show a mention and it is pretty funny. His comic will be entered into our ongoing We Love Web Comics Contest. Thanks Steve!
In one of those rare moments of complete sanity a young cartoonist is to be syndicated based solely on his skill. Imagine that. The creative mind behind F minus, Tony Carrillo, is poised to be syndicated by winning the first-ever mtvU STRIPS contest. Tony’s work became popular through being printed in the ASU run State Press and was considered so good that everyone believed it to already be syndicated and hte paper was merely piking up. It looks like the printed world may actually have found a clue in this method of finding fresh new and entertaining talent. I guess I now have to find more information on this mtvU Strips contest.
The master nominee list has been released for the 2005 Eisner awards. We reported before over the possible creation of a ‘Best Digital Comic’ award and it looks like the category made it past the judges. The nominees for the first ever Eisner award for best digital comic are:
Athena Voltaire, by Steve Bryant
Bento & Starchky, by zer0 (Peter Branting)
Copper, by Kazu
Jonny Crossbones, by Les McClaine
Continue reading