It was only a matter of time before I finally found the right process and platform to start drawing again. Jumping on the decade-old webcomic bandwagon, I’ve finally set up my own in the sea of other webcomics:
I started with the name “Blue Screen” mostly because I wanted to focus on IT, but also wanted to freedom to branch out to other mediums – TV, gadgets, and general technology in society.
I added the article “a” to it because it was poignant,… but mostly because www.bluescreen.com was already taken.
The rest is just following suit with standard web comics. You’ll see Penny Arcade and others do a Monday, Wednesday and Friday post, which seemed appropriate (and more importantly doable), and a WordPress theme for “photo blogs” seemed to be just the thing for a webcomic. The rest is just doing it.
Sadly, this is half me promoting it.
The drawings and building attempts at humor are just the beginning of it all. The next thing to follow is watching site numbers and getting links to the webcomic. This is probably the first site I’ve really cared to see traffic coming in to. It’s sort of an ego cycle: I draw, I’m starved for validation, I see the numbers, I continue to draw. I can see how others get trapped in such a cycle.
This whole thing is really just my outlet. I think everyone needs something to work toward, especially as you get wrapped up in all the obligations of life and start losing site of the things you’re passionate about. Some folks have grander dreams, climbing Mt. Everest, becoming a celebrity cook, running a wildly successful company, doing good in the world, etc. Fortunately, I picked something that comes somewhat easy to me, and I can do it in my pajamas between 8pm and 11pm.
Obviously, drawing 8 pictures doesn’t give me license to speak about how people should achieve life goals. However, when I reach the 30-40 picture mark, expect an arrogant, pompous jerk who’ll go Tony Robbins on anyone in earshot.
How I understand the web comic medium so far
My starting point for all knowledge about webcomics comes from a funny bloke named Ben Croshaw who does a video game review segment called Zero Puncuation. Everything you need to know about gamer comics here:
Personally, I love this video, and clearly, I want to stay away from being “talentless, social pollutant.” Surprisingly, it’s a real problem. The medium of webcomics seems to often be a means for angst-ridden teenagers and man-children to vent their sickest head trips to the world. The whole gambit of fetishs and sub-culture can be found hidden in webcomic lists like www.thewebcomiclist.com. One comic I stumbled on was a 6 panel MS paint comic that shows a stick figure in a similar presenting pose for 5 panels against a solid color background, and in the sixth it shows the same character in front of some underground, vilely sick photograph. The kind you can’t mentally shake for days. Naturally, this comic was pleading the user to exchange links with other like-minded degenerates.
Of course, there’s lots of great ones too that have established the format. My goal is to get good without dropping F bombs in every other bubble. We’ll see how long it takes me before I reneg on that hope.
In other news
Georgie’s 9 months old and I think Elena takes the Bar exam on Thursday. She’ll be the youngest trial lawyer in Georgia, at the age of 2 1/2. She’s already got clients lined up; her first case has something to do with Elmo and the number 8, or something like that. This is what I’ve discerned from our conversations thus far. Kids are so advanced these days, aren’t they?
For those who’d like to hear more about my day – where I buy groceries, what I’m thinking when I’m standing in line, how tired I am in the morning, and other wildly interesting items (you can’t make this stuff up!) – I invite you to my twitter feed:
http:///twitter.com/georgekovats
Fascinating stuff, I asure you. How did I handle the peer review ticket I was assigned? Did the Monday meeting go well? Will Scott Baio make his long awaited comeback? All this and more in my yearly twits. Tweeters. Twipples. Twords. Something like that.