Posts Tagged ‘Game’
40 items.
Ahh Silicon. At Silicon 2007 I was still trying to find my creative outlet. I was attending, half-heartedly trying to sell some (rather poor) prints and talking with more than a few people. It was my first Con as an exhibitor, and I must say that my expectations exceeded my reality… or really, my expectations of what I thought people would want or even be interested in had little bearing on reality.
This time around, I had an absolutely wonderful time, I visited with friends, drew some pictures and comics, chatted with con goers about everything from politics to art to other cons and more. I think the difference was not so much that the CON was different as much as I was different. Silicon will always be my anniversary or birthday con, and like your first sip of liquor or your first kiss, it’s something I will always remember with fondness.
That said, I HAD A FANTASTIC TIME. I chatted briefly with Larry Niven, at length with Peter Beagle, and I moderated a panel on creating fantasy worlds with Mr. Beagle, Christy Marx, Verna McKinnon, and Diana Paxson (these are their websites, you can find all of these author’s books on Amazon. The panel went swimmingly, and quite a bit of fantastic information was shared. I was also on the What’s New in Comics panel with Ric Bretschneider, Derek McCaw, and Brian Kolm. We talked about the trends in comics, webcomics, graphic novels, and movies.
I also spent some time chatting with my buddy Chris Garcia of Drink Tank and actually promised to do a cover for him (silly me), watched a fantastic singing performance by the lovely Chase Masterson (there’s music on the front page there), where she was singing pieces from the album Songs from the Holosuite.
Of interest to HHFM, we gave away over 120 Con-exclusive comics. If you’re a new reader, WELCOME
As always, don’t forget to VOTE for HHFM. New PDQ is available NOW!
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I’ve been working diligently at rebuilding my buffer this week, since it shrunk from 2 months down to 2 weeks while I was sick and dealing with other issues. No worries though, I’m back to drawing more comics than I’m posting.
I’m blame the TV.
I mean really, couldn’t they spread out all the good shows so that there’s no more than 1 or 2 per week… all year long? Instead they’ve got to fight back and forth for viewers, put up tons of shows that I have no way of being able to watch them all, even if I had a TiVo, a quantum bubble time-freeze device and an anti-aging injection. THEN they throw in this whole election thing, with the ‘must-see’ debates, the financial melt-down with the ‘must-panic’ analyses, It’s just TOO MUCH.
That said, did any of you watch the Biden-Palin debate? As much as I’d like to see one of the candidates doused in gasoline and lit on fire, I’ll refrain from talking about it… everyone knows how preachy cartoonists can get when it comes to something they care about, and no one likes preachy people. Once again, however, I’ll point you all to Factcheck.org since it does a decent job of giving an unbiased view of both sides of the fence. Everyone lies, and politicians do it more.
Isn’t it sad that we seem to be looking for the candidate that lies less? Peggy Noonan hit the nail on the head the other day on The Daily Show. Scrub forward to 19:50 and just listen to her for a few moments (you may have to sit through a mandated commercial, sorry)
Ok, enough of that. I hope you all enjoy the weekend! Don’t forget I’m at SILICON giving away another Con-Exclusive comic for freee as well as hosting a panel with Peter Beagle!
And, as always, don’t forget to VOTE
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A new week, and a new story arc!
Fun fact: Aleric feels really guilty that he didn’t get ANY comics done this past week… At least I had an excellent excuse… or at least, I’m told that being sick and feverish is an excellent excuse. Either way, I’ve got a lot to get done this week in preparation for Silicon. I won’t be there Friday, but I’ll show up all day Saturday and sunday.
Not too much else to bend your ear about today, just the same-old “remember to go VOTE! There’s a new PDQ up at Buzzcomix!” and… oh yeah… I just wanted to share my work method with you for a moment. Below, you see a scan of several pages, scribbled and crossed out… that’s all the drafts I went through for the current PDQ… Yes, that’s a total of 5 pages, 4 re-writes and a layout sketch.
With the PDQ challenge, I’ve been going through the list in order. This has caused me some trouble, as I’m not always really prepared to write about the next comic.
gentle reminder: COME SEE ME AT SILICON! (Because today, I’m drawing the Con-exclusive comic for it!)
See you there!
Aleric
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Ah, Elise, that’s really the best outfit a guy could ask for… err, well… hm.
So I went down a local burrito dispensary, you know, one of those wildly popular chains that sell fairly ‘Americanized’ Mexican food, and placed an order for quick burrito. In my bag, my napkin was printed with this:
WTF. I really hope this is a joke. I mean, really. Who would need an instruction manual on how to eat a wrapped burrito? Does someone think that you might be stupid enough to not notice the metallic sheen of the aluminum foil wrapped around your burrito? When was the last time that ANY food tasted good with a side of sheet metal? Heck, even the written instructions tell you when to use the napkin. I felt like I had just stepped into the world of Idiocracy. Which is a fantastic movie, by the way!
Well anyway, I wanted to send you out a reminder to VOTE for us on TWC, and if you haven’t seen this week’s PDQ, it’s waiting for you.
Silicon Update:
When I’m not sitting on my sweaty hands trembling like an overeager fanboy in the presence of Larry Niven or performing as moderator for a panel on Creating Worlds with Peter S. Beagle, I’ll be sitting at a table in the Artist’s colony giving away another unique Con-exclusive comic. Silicon runs from 10-3 through 10-5 and is only $50 (until Sept 14) to attend for the whole weekend!
Silicon has a lot going on for it this year, and I’m really looking forward to it. You can browse the events here, so check it out!!
See you all there!
…Aleric
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Being the packrat that I am, I’ve always kept my old computer and video games around. It’s kind of disturbing actually: I have games dating back to the old Atari 2600, and I still keep a copy of Star Control on my computer. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy more current games like Dawn of War and WoW. Heck, I even just picked up a copy of Spore and I’m looking forward to Star Wars: Force Unleashed!
Still, I find it difficult to reconcile why I keep all these old games around, safe in the knowledge that I won’t run out of games to play any time soon. I can’t imagine today’s kids would find anything remotely interesting about Space Invaders or Combat.
In Other News:
I’ve been confirmed for Silicon! In fact, I’m actually going to be on a panel with Peter S. Beagle. For those not familiar, you may recognize him as the author of The Last Unicorn. Silicon runs from 10-3 through 10-5, and when I’m not pretending I’m actually cool enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Mr. Beagle and other Guests of Honor such as Larry Niven, I’ll be at a table in the Artist’s colony giving away another unique Con-exclusive comic.
Silicon has a lot going on for it this year, and I’m really looking forward to it. You can browse the events here, so check it out!!
Finally, the PDQ is going to be available a little later today, so if it’s not up when you VOTE, just check back. Sorry for that.
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Ever have those moments when you’re SURE you can win, that you’ve got the game in the bag and it’s suddenly swiped from your grasp? Exhilarating and frustrating at the same time, but you’re not sure if you want to do it again? Well, James doesn’t deal with that well.
So when was the last time YOU logged into a case-sensitive website? How about one that doesn’t tell you that their registration service is case-sensitive?
Yeah, it’s been a while for me, too.
Turns out there a BIG difference between “aleric” and “Aleric”… at least as far as buzzComix is concerned. Now, did I learn of this difference because someone at buzzComix actually got back to me? As much as I wish it was that way, the more likely explanation would be that I was staring at the account confirmation email their system sent me and I had a sudden flash of understanding.
But enough of that. Let’s move on to more interesting subjects, like me giving you free stuff (entertainment).
First, you may have noticed that the comic switches between arcs and single gags.
To date: 49 comics (50 on Monday!!)
4 total arcs, being 32 individual comics total
17 individual gags.
So far there are 2 different ongoing gags, Advertisements and Lookits.
You might look at these numbers and think, “oh, it’s a story-arc comic” or “oh, it’s a gag-comic”… but you’d be wrong. Short arcs are easy. I generate 3-10 strips for each arc and they’re a great way to make a ton of content. Strangely, single gags are harder, because I feel they need to be self-contained and funny on their own. Arcs have a slower burn and help expose the characters more. Single gags leave you wanting more. Which is better?
Well, I’m an on-the-fence kinda guy and see the benefits of both. I love doing both for different reasons… I’ve had more than a few people tell me my comic can’t have both styles. You know what? I reject that idea entirely. Just as I reject the idea that I MUST have panels. and that I MUST have word balloons that encircle all the dialog. I know I’m not a visionary, nor am I arrogant enough to assume that I’ve stumbled upon or invented a new way to do comics. But I’m also not so meek to let other people tell me how my comic must be. Of course, I also know that the final test is that of YOU, my audience. If I do something you don’t like, well, I get fewer readers.
Why am I bringing this up? Well, just to remind you all that if you like arcs and hate gags, don’t worry, more arcs will be coming soon. If you hate arcs and love the gags, well, don’t worry, I’ve got more of those coming up soon, too.
And don’t forget to vote at Top Web Comics and buzzComix! Since I’ve gotten the buzzComix thing straightened out, I’ll be uploading some incentives there for you as well (probably Saturday). I’d LIKE to put something different up from what’s on TWC, but I’m not sure my schedule can handle it right now.
anyway, See you Monday, with Comic # 50!!
Scott Aleric
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If you haven’t noticed already, I added a link to my latest Deviant Art images. It’s over there to the right, and will be updated at least 1/week. Yeah, you heard me…
At least once a week.
Needless to say, I’m a busy guy. Or maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment. Either way, you win!
Also, next week, I’m looking at putting up several links to various social networking sites, but I’ll plug one right now: Fan Johnny Frandsen has made a Hell Has Found Me group over on Facebook! Go ahead and join up! I’ll pop in over there periodically and say hi, and we can discuss just about anything your heart desires.
Also, I started a Twitter feed that I can update throughout the day, so come on by and start following me.
HHFM has been floating around the 215 range all last week on and that could only happen if you are voting, so THANKS to those who have voted! Remember, you can vote every day, and it just takes a few seconds. There’s a new PDQ up for your viewing pleasure, so I hope you enjoy it!
Aleric
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