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Hi everyone,
I just wanted to write a quick note to bring you all up to date on what’s going on with Doodze. First of all, my apologies for taking so long to get back on track. I make no excuses…
I’ve lately been re-thinking the future of Doodze, on several levels:
1. Tools — I’m re-thinking the pencils-only approach because of the long time it takes doing digital clean-ups. I’ll be experimenting with some digital techniques soon, and hopefully can get back to drawing pages before too long.
2. Story — I’ve been working hard on some long-term/big-picture plotting, trying to come up with a clearer sense of direction. I’m definitely making progress here.
3. Distribution — I’m debating whether or not to continue releasing Doodze as a page-a-week webcomic. Would it be better to release a chapter at a time? Posted on-site or download? On it’s own (as it is now) or as part of a larger project (anthology, etc) I’ve been discussing with others?
I hope to have answers to these and other questions soon, and will re-launch when I do. Follow the RSS feed, Facebook page or Twitter feed if you don’t want to miss it when it happens.
Thanks,
- robin
December is a transition time for me, with much to keep me busy, especially last week and this week. That’s why there was no update this past Friday. I’m going to take the rest of the month off of regular weekly Doodze updates, and hopefully when I’m settled into my Canadian home and have some down time I can catch up and work ahead. In the meantime, I hope you all have a good month and happy holidays. See you in the new year.
Today, the last page of chapter one went live here on Doodze.com. As I said in another recent blog post, this is a significant achievement for me, personally. I grew up wanting to be a cartoonist, and other pursuits got in the way. Some of these things were just distractions or discouragements, but some things were very important and fulfilling in their own right, so that’s OK. The last time (not including stickmen comics) I finished a complete story (or chapter at least) was in high school (I’m 33 now — ouch). That was a 10-page introduction to a cyborg superhero cop I’d created and intended to (but didn’t) keep creating. As I said, other stuff got in the way… and now, many years later, here I am, ready to take the craft more seriously and finally, with this webcomic, making some progress.
All that was just a long, rambling introduction to the following list. Reflections and lessons learned on my Doodze journey so far:
1. I needed to give myself permission to “break the rules” before pursuing any ongoing comics project was possible. I think one of the things that held me back from doing a long-form comic all those years was after I learned how the professional did it. You would think it would have the opposite affect, that I would be inspired. But I think it paralyzed me, in a way. Sure there’s tons I can learn from the pros, but I think it was the “requirement” to work at a certain size, with certain tools, in a certain style that held me back. Going “punk” — doing things MY way — gave me a sense of freedom to just DO IT. That’s one of the reasons you see this comic being done in pencil, not ink… just ’cause that’s what I wanted to do.
2. Another thing that helped me “get off the pot” was deciding to play to my strengths. Honestly, one of the reasons this thing is in pencil is because I wasn’t happy with my inking. It’s in a cartoony style because I do that much better than realism. It’s in a fantasy/medieval setting partly so I don’t have to draw cars, modern buildings, and so on. Now, I do want to improve my inking and expand on my ability to draw real world stuff… But focusing on my strengths, and developing a concept in which to use those strengths, is a huge part of what helped me get this thing off the ground. It’s like I’m choosing my battles — right now I’m focusing on being a better storyteller. Maybe later, with another project, the battle will be digital inking or something… who knows?
3. Both of the above, in addition to the overall fun of the concept and characters, have really brought back the fun to making comics. I think having fun has been a real key to being able to keep doing it.
4. Having the weekly deadline of a regularly schedule webcomic is also helpful. If I was making this for print first, and it was a graphic novel, and my publishing date was like a year or two away, I don’t know if I could make it. Even though my deadline is self-imposed, the fact that it’s online makes it public. And my audience, even if it’s still relatively small, deserves to have me keep my promise of a weekly installment.
5. Having said that, I did break that promise when my buffer ran out and things got busy. After a short break, I was back, though. I’ve learned that having a buffer is preferable, but it’s hard to keep. Right now I have no buffer, which is a little scary… but hopefully I can keep up.
6. I think I work better in “chunks” – if I do a bunch of penciled pages, then scan and do the digital stuff later. The digital side (clean-up and lettering) is easier to do a little at a time, and doesn’t require as much energy or inspiration. I can work on a page for a half hour here, an hour there, or even just a few minutes at a time if I need to. With penciling, it’s better if I have a whole afternoon or evening to kill, so I can bang out a whole page in one or two sittings. It takes more focus, warming up and inspiration.
7. Speaking of inspiration, listening to comics/art podcasts — often while drawing — has been really inspirational, too. It’s the next best thing to surrounding yourself with creative people in real life. I’ve learned a lot too, and gotten a lot of encouragement. I’ll have to blog about all these fine podcasts in another post sometime.
8. Have I ever mentioned that this comic started out as an experiment, with no real sense of direction? Yeah… I’ve pretty much been making it up as I went along. Actually I did a really rough plot outline for chapter one, but that was about it. Now I’ve got an over-all direction in the works (though it’s not fleshed out yet). And the next chapter is going to much more tightly plotted… though, of course, to keep it fun, there will always be room for improvising.
9. Doodze started out from a bunch of doodles I was doing while actually working on another concept entirely. You just never know when or how an idea is going to emerge. I just started drawing these little… well, dudes, and before I knew it, I had Doodze! The lesson here: It pays to doodle.
10. Over all, I’m pretty happy with how the first chapter has turned out. There are a few panels I’d re-do if I had time, but in general I’m happy with it. I’ve definitely learned and improved since those first few pages, and that’s got to count for something. I’m looking forward to playing in this world more in the weeks, months and hopefully years to come.
Phew. That was longer than it should have been. If you enjoy behind-the-scenes stuff, maybe you’ve enjoyed this rambling post. If not, well, at least I took the time to reflect on what I’ve learned from this process. I think that’s an important thing to do once in a while… in the arts and in life.
Continue reading "Reflections on Creating My Webcomic Thus Far" »
Just one more page left of Doodze chapter one! Actually, I just finished the pencils a few minutes ago, and you can preview it HERE.
By the way, I’ve set up a new Twitter feed for Doodze updates, previews and other related content. So you can follow @Doodze for all that stuff now. It occurred to me that some readers may not be interested in my personal life, and some of my Twitter friends may not want to see all this behind-the-scenes Doodze stuff, so there you have it.
Finishing an entire chapter — 25 pages in all! — is a pretty huge milestone for me, considering I haven’t that since high school, which was a lot longer ago than I’d like to admit. And that was only about 10 pages as I recall. My previous webcomics were humor strips, with not much continuity. Starting Doodze has been a good challenge, and a big step in the right direction.
So… Thanks to everyone who’s been reading thus far. Tune in Friday as we wrap up chapter one, and come back next week as we begin chapter two.
If you’ve been reading Doodze thus far, it may not surprise you to find out that I’m a fan of Bone. When I call Doodze “Smurfs meets Lord of the Rings”, what I’m really saying (aside from the tiny characters) is that it’s going to be a (hopefully) huge epic told in a simple, cartoony syle. And I’d have to credit Jeff Smith with showing me that such a thing is even possible.
I was an avid reader and fan of Jeff Smith’s Bone for almost its entire 12-year (ish) run as an ongoing series. I’d already read the whole story, in one form or another, but back in ‘07 I decided to pick up the One-Volume edition and read the whole 1300+ pages, enjoying it over the course of a week or so rather than over a 12-year period. Reading it this way really brought the story to life for me, and made it seem more cohesive and complete.
In the off-chance that you’ve never heard of it, Bone tells the story of the three Bone cousins: Fone Bone, Phoney and Smiley, who get run out of Boneville after one of Phoney’s failed money-making schemes, and end up in the Valley — a beautiful place full of strange creatures, dangerous enemies, adventure and mystery…
Bone is an epic fantasy story that looks, at first glance, so simple and cartoony that it could be mistaken for “kid’s book”. As a friend of mine used to say, it’s “deceptively simple”. To be sure, it is a kid-friendly, all-ages book, with lots of comic relief. But it’s got a well-crafted story, with interesting characters and plot-lines that adults can enjoy on a whole other level.
From a creator’s standpoint, Bone is a great example of what can be done in a simple, cartoony, black and white style. I could learn a lot from Jeff Smith, as his line work is so clean and mine is, well… not. The series is also a great example of one creator telling one big story from beginning to end — something you get from the independents, but not from the Big Two.
I wonder if Smith would have done things differently if he’d been starting out 10 years later. He was one of the real self-publishing pioneers back in the day. I wonder, if he was starting out now, if he’d been doing it on the web? His original plan was to do Bone as a daily strip, after all. The results may have been a lot different, as far as pacing and size, though I’m sure the characters and the overall story would have ended up the same.
At any rate, there are a lot of principles that us webcomicers and wanna’be’s could learn from and apply to our comics, publishing and self-promotion. Probably the biggest is a stubborn determination to get it done, do it well, and succeed at actually getting people to read the thing. Jeff did great doing Bone basically as a one-man show all those years.
If you’re new to Bone, check out boneville.com for more on the comic and its creator. There’s a lot there about his history and creative process too, including links to some interested and insightful interviews (audio and text). And if you haven’t read Bone yet, try reading one of the trade paperbacks, or, if you’re really interested, grab Bone: One Volume Edition and immerse yourself in the world of Bone like I did. It’s a fun world.
Continue reading "Another Influence : Bone, by Jeff Smith" »
In my continuing (slowly continuing, that is) series of blog posts about my influences, I want to turn now to an influence that should be obvious if you’ve read the About page, where I describe Doodze as “Smurfs meets Lord of the Rings”. It’s been a couple years or so since I’ve read the books or seen the movies, so most of this post is actually going to be re-posted from a review I did on my old blog way back then. I’ve been thinking it might be time to dig out the DVDs and watch the films again, and if I do I’ll post any fresh thoughts that come to mind. I’ll also try to say more about how the story actually influences my work. In the meantime, here’s what I wrote on my old blog…
Having read all three Lord of the Rings books now, over the past few months, as well as having watched all three movies last week, here now are some random thoughts on both the films and novels.
1. These are some long books. I mean the movies were long but they left a lot out. There’s over a thousand pages to this series! And it’s all one long story, not three related but separate tales.
2. The first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, was by far the slowest read of the three books, especially the first half. After getting through the first half of Fellowship, I found it far more enjoyable the rest of the way through.
3. I was one of those people who saw the movies before reading the books, so my opinions may be swayed by that fact.
4. I know there are Tolkien purists who will disagree with this statement, but much of what they left out of the movies it made sense to leave out. There’s a lot of stuff Tolkien wrote that gives depth to the book but isn’t strictly necessary from a storytelling point of view.
5. One thing Peter Jackson and his people left out of the movie that was very noticeable was the extra story within the story at the end of Return, about the scourging of the Shire. The movie ending was more than long enough. In the book, however, it does add more depth, showing the reader how the Hobbits have changed and “grown up” during the course of their adventures. It’s also just a good twist to have them thinking everything’s okay now only to come home to find that Hobbiton is not what it used to be.
6. Something I really liked about the books was Tolkien’s use of non-chronological storytelling. Take the Two Towers for example: The way the entire first half of Two Towers focuses on Aragorn and company, while not telling you what’s up with Frodo and Sam, really puts helps you see things from the characters’ points of view. One group of characters doesn’t know what’s going on with the others; in fact they don’t have a clue if the others are even alive. This works really well on paper but may not have been easy to pull off on film, so I’m not surprised they didn’t do it in the movies.
7. Overall, I think the movie makers did a great job translating the piece to film. They had a lot of great source material to work with, of course. But in a way that’s the problem — there was too much! But as I said, what they left out made sense; they didn’t leave too much out, though. Plus, the actors were well chosen, and the special effects and music were amazing. Most of all, they kept the movies in the “spirit” of the books, even if they did change specific details.
8. Loved the movies. Really liked the books. But I’m much more likely to watch the movies again than I am to read the books. If I do read them again, it won’t be for a long, long time.
Continue reading "Thoughts on the Lord of the Rings — Movies & Books" »
I said the other day I wanted to start making use of the Doodze blog more often, and that one thing I’d like to talk about is my influences. This week’s pick is one that I just discovered in the past year or so, but it influenced me in that it showed me a good example of a comic done primarily in pencil, which is the direction I went when I decided to launch Doodze.
Eekeemoo is what creator WillyMJ calls a “sketchbook adventure” — each page drawn in his sketchbook all in one sitting. So it has a sketchy, unfinished look to it, but is (I think) beautifully drawn and really interesting. It has the look of a dark, scary children’s book, with simple, cute characters in life-or-death situations. It’s a big adventure, and it’s big fun.
One of the interesting things about it is that it has no dialogue. The artist does a great job of conveying what’s going — even implying dialogue between the characters — with no word, just art. And his use of pencils for shading, along with ink for some of the details and big, black areas, gives it a unique look and feel that works great in black and white.
You’ll also notice, that the page format is not typical strip-style or long-form comic style, but something particularly suited for the web, with its infinite scrolling capability. It makes for an interesting reading experience, but I wonder how it would translate to print? What I do like is that there are no panels; it just fades to black and then out again. Pretty interesting format, anyway.
So go on over to WillyMJ’s site, navigate your way to the Comics section, and give Eekeemoo a try. You’ve probably never read anything like it.
Continue reading "Recommended Reading: Eekeemoo, by WillyMJ" »
Hey all. Hope you like the latest page. We’re just a few pages away from the end of the first chapter, and this page may give you a hint of what lies beyond…
On another note, I know I haven’t made very good use of this blog, but I do hope to in the near future. I’m thinking of posting some thoughts on my influences and such, maybe some more process-related stuff… But what would you like to see? Drop a comment here if you’ve got some ideas.
In the meantime, if you’re a Facebooker you can head on over to the official Doodze Facebook Page and click on “discussions” if you’d like to share your thoughts, questions, etc, on the story so far. I’ve just opened up the discussions page today with its first topic, which is of course Chapter One. Have at it.
With page 15. And a good buffer built up over the past month. In fact, page 16 is already uploaded and scheduled to automatically post next Friday. So keep reading. This is the fun part.
I hate to do this already, but I’ve decided to put Doodze on hiatus for the month of August.
I’ll be away a lot in August, so keeping up to date will be tough. However, I do have some vacation time I’m using, and hopefully can have a some penciled pages in the can so that in September I can start posting again and not fall behind.
In retrospect, I probably launched the site too soon and should have had more pages in the queue before going live. Like I said, once I get back into a routine in September, hopefully I can stay ahead.
To make sure you don’t miss the return, you can subscribe to the RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or join the Facebook group (or all 3 for that matter). See you in September.
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