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Stu
Versus San Francisco, Part 10
Tuesday,
August 26, 2008 - 7:45 PM
[Update by Brian]
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| Well,
here we are at comic strip number 75. I hate to make a big
deal out of all of these supposed little milestones, but
believe me, if you take into account my lack of productivity
over the last eight years, it's definitely worth it to me
to point them out. This is also the 30th comic strip I've
done this year. Wow, 30! The most strips I'd ever done in
a single year before 2008 was 12, so that's pretty exciting.
I hope to keep them coming!
Also,
for the record, I very easily could have cheated on panels
two and five, since Stu kicking down doors has become something
of a running gag. I thought about stealing a panel from
a previous instance of the gag, but decided to do some real
drawing and hone my skills instead.
A
friend of mine at work is going to let me borrow his Wacom
tablet. For years, I've sworn off Wacom tablets because
I really enjoy hand inking. But now that I have a real opportunity
to use one, I might do some sketches and try my hand at
digital inking. I'll be sure to post the sketches here for
your perusal.
Thank
you very much for reading, and here's to 75 successful comic
strips. See you next time!
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Stu
Versus San Francisco, Part 9
Tuesday,
August 19, 2008 - 7:02 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Well,
the first panel took an incredibly long time to draw, but
other than that, things went pretty smoothly with this strip.
I still need to learn a combination of editing my dialogue
down a bit and planning and structuring the panels to better
accomodate the dialogue so the word bubbles don't cover
up too much artwork. Seriously, I spent a lot of time on
that artwork--I want people to see it!
Honestly,
I don't have much else to report this time around. Maybe
this week I'll have a chance to do a little "more"
for the comic, like I talked about a couple of weeks ago.
I'm
gonna go find something to eat. Thanks for reading, and
check in again next week for strip number 75! Wow, that
seems like so many comics, and yet so few at the same time.
Ah well.
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Stu
Versus San Francisco, Part 8
Tuesday,
August 19, 2008 - 7:25 PM
[Update by Brian]
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| Ah,
no opportunity for cheating this time around. Lots of drawing,
and it felt good to really have to work hard at it for the
first time in a few weeks. Not only could I not copy and
paste anything, but there was also a fight scene. I must
admit that the fight scenes never look quite as
good as I envision them, but this one is still all right.
One
of the advantages of doing a long-form comic like CNMB is
that there's not always a need for a punchline at the end
of every strip. While I always prefer to end any given strip
with a really good zinger, the fact that CNMB reads more
like a comic book or graphic novel than a strip allows me
to move the funny parts around if I need to. This strip,
for example, starts off with a (hopefully) humorous sight
gag, and then there's a fight, and then there's story progression
at the end. My original idea for this particular strip did
have a punchline at the end, but then I came up with this
idea and liked it a lot better, so I went with it, instead.
I think it turned out okay.
Once
again, I failed to do a mid-week blog entry last week. I'll
go ahead and say this week isn't looking good, but you never
know.
We're
getting into mid-August here, so a number of my friends
will be heading back to school (either to learn or teach),
and the more summery activities will be slowing down soon.
I must say it was a pretty good summer, and I can honestly
say I was never bored. If I wasn't at a wedding, float trip,
barbecue, ball game, movie, on a road trip, or just generally
hanging out with friends or family, I was keeping busy doing
my own thing--making comics, writing, exercising, taking
a solo road trip, fulfulling other responsibilities, or
something along those lines. It's been a few years since
I've had a summer in which I've gained so much appreciation
for my friends and realized how great it is to have them
in my life. On top of that, I feel better about myself than
I have in years, probably since 2004, which has gone on
record among my friends as being the greatest summer of
all time. I worry less and find myself overcoming more and
more inhibitions. I'm still not quite to where I want to
be, but for once, I feel really good about where
I'm going. I was even so lucky as to attract the attention
of a very special young lady, which has made summer that
much more wonderful. :)
But
now that things are probably going to slow down a little
bit, it's definitely time to further devote myself to the
comic strip and hope that the positive feelings I have now
carry on into the remainder of the year and help to keep
me passionate and motivated about what I'm doing. I think
back to how much progress I've already made this year compared
to years past, and it's really exciting to think about where
I might be able to go with this if I keep at it. I still
have a lot of improvements to make, but at least I can face
them with a smidge of confidence.
Let's
go.
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Stu
Versus San Francisco, Part 7
Tuesday,
August 5, 2008 - 7:55 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Yeah,
okay, so it's pretty clear that I blatantly cheated on the
artwork on this one, but this strip has been in my head
for awhile now, so I swear it wasn't a matter of me being
lazy or anything like that.
Life
has been pretty crazy for the past couple of weeks. I was
out of town for the second straight weekend, and now I'm
even more exhausted than I already was. However, it looks
like things are going to slow down a little bit now, and
I'm hoping that I'm finally going to have more time to devote
to the comic. In this case, I'm not just talking about trying
to get to a point where I'm doing two strips a week, but
also just doing more for the comic. Because right
now, I'm not doing enough. I haven't done any promotion
for a couple of months now, and things just feel stagnant,
despite the fact that I'm still making strips. I want to
bring in more readers and develop a better rapport with
the readers I have now--be more personal, write more blogs,
try to come up with some extra little goodies, etc. The
only problem is I'm still not entirely sure how to go about
doing that.
Sounds
like it might already be time to re-read How
to Make Webcomics. I'm kinda looking forward to
it.
I'm
done here for the evening, but maybe I can find some time
to return before next week with a blog, if nothing else.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!
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A
Villainous Interjection
Tuesday,
July 29, 2008 - 8:00 PM
[Update by Brian]
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| Hello!
After fulfulling my other, more pressing responsibilities
and taking a much needed vacation to Chicago to visit my
brother and sister-in-law, I have finally returned with
a new comic strip. I already feel like I have to apologize--there
is so much dialogue going on in this one that it's
hard to even see anything, but hopefully you still get the
gist of it. I'm gonna have to start doing a better job of
editing things down. That or just planning things out a
little bit better.
Also,
I hope you don't think all of the silhouettes of the Goonish
High Council are just copouts because I'm too lazy to design
some new characters--that's intentional. I've always liked
the idea of an evil, mysterious council of doom that's all
dark and shadowy, even when they're standing in broad daylight.
It
took my awhile to get back into the groove of drawing after
taking a week off. But once I got into it, I remembered
how much I like it and got excited again.
Next
on the agenda is working ahead on the story--I'm still at
a point where I know what's coming, but I don't have it
planned out strip for strip. I would feel much better about
where the story is going if I did that.
Sorry
once again for the missed update. Thanks for your continued
support! I'll be back next week with another new strip.
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IMPORTANT
ANNOUNCEMENT - no new comic strip this week!
Tuesday,
July 22, 2008 - 12:59 AM
[Update by Brian]
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| Well,
I hadn't missed an update since April, and I was feeling
pretty good about my consistency here lately, but all of
a sudden, things just piled up a little bit too much, and
some other, more important responsibilities took precedence
over the strip. Therefore, the next installment of Chewy
Ninja Monkey Bars will come to you next Tuesday, July 29.
Despite this minor setback, I still feel really good about
the direction of the comic strip, as well as my dedication
to working on it every week. (I'm also still on pace to
reach my end-of-year goal, although I have a little less
leeway to work with now.)
But
man, it still sucks to have to miss an update. I'd go ahead
and do it, but I really, really need to get some
sleep. I know that even the best webcartoonists miss an
update here and there, particularly the ones with lives
and dayjobs away from their strips. But it still feels like
I'm letting you guys down. I'm really sorry about the delay,
and I hope I'll be able to make it up to you with some quality
strips in the coming weeks.
Thanks
for your continued support of the strip! I will see you
next week!
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Stu
Versus San Francisco, Part 6
Tuesday,
July 15, 2008 - 7:37 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Can't
talk--All-Star Game.
I'll
be back later this week with a REAL blog entry.
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Behind
the Scenes 3
Tuesday,
July 8, 2008 - 7:27 PM
[Update by Brian]
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| I
thought maybe I would give you guys a break from all of
these drama-heavy strips with a little behind-the-scenes
hijinks.
A
little backstory on this one: on a Monday last fall, my
friends Katie and Cole and I were going to meet at my place
and go see our friend Josh coach a JV football game in Scott
City. My doorbell rang, and I answered it thinking it was
them. It turns out it was this meat salesman. Allegedly,
a regular customer of his down the street, the Vernucci
family (or something like that), had a completely full freezer
and couldn't accept their entire order. Thus, the salesman
was going door to door trying to sell off the part of their
order they couldn't accept. Well, I love meat, but my suspicions
were aroused by a number of factors:
1)
I could not verify the existence or non-existence of the
Vernucci family.
2) The salesman could produce no documentation proving the
legitimacy of the business.
3) The truck was unmarked.
4) It was raining--if it was a scam, nobody in
any of the other houses would come out in the wet to help
me if I needed it.
I
refused everything and just sent the guy on his way. As
we headed to Scott City, I told Katie and Cole about what
happened and considered the possibility that the dude wasn't
a meat salesman at all, or perhaps a seller of human meat
products, and that he was probably trying to kill or kidnap
me. In hindsight I thought the whole incident was pretty
funny and thought it might make a good comic strip in the
future. And here we are.
And
nobody take this thing the wrong way just because it appears
as though I am to become mincemeat in the last panel. I
assure you I'm really not that morbid, nor do I have any
desire to die or anything like that. It's all in good fun.
:)
Back
to action next week. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you
then!
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Rise
to Power, Part 6
Tuesday,
July 1, 2008 - 7:36 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Finally,
the epic conclusion to our flashback.
Okay,
if I wasn't already out of it last week, I definitely am
this week as I recover from an absurdly awesome camping
trip over the weekend. I was already suffering from an incredible
lack of sleep, and the camping trip compounded that even
further. And with the 4th of July occupying the coming weekend,
things may get even worse before they get better. Ah well--it's
all worth it. The only problem is I'm still having problems
finding time to do site promotion and all of that good stuff
that goes along with making a webcomic besides...y'know,
making the webcomic. But pretty soon, maybe I can really
get going again.
I
got nothin' else! Thanks for reading, and maybe we'll be
getting back to some serious action pretty soon now.
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Rise
to Power, Part 5
Tuesday,
June 24, 2008 - 7:29 PM
[Update by Brian]
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....
As
if making this comic strip wasn't sad and poignant enough,
Don Henley's "New York Minute" came on my .mp3
player as I was working on it. I don't know what it is about
music always seeming to sync up appropriately with things
that I do or things that happen around me, but it can't
just be coincidence.
This
comic strip comes at an interesting time for me--I feel
like if something like this happens in the story, it should
come at a time when I'm feeling all depressed and in the
dumps in reality. But it turns out I actually feel better
than I have in a very long time. My good friends Katie and
Andy got married over the weekend--it was bound to happen
for these two sooner or later (well, we had known
it was coming for awhile now), and to see them finally seal
the deal and to see them that happy...well, maybe the feeling
is a little contagious. For me, anyway. On top of that,
I had more fun at the reception than I've had in a long
time, so that didn't hurt, either. They're wonderful people
and they deserve absolutely nothing but the best. Congratulations,
guys!
I
don't have much else to report as far as the strip goes.
I really need to get back on the promotion trail and get
the strip out there for people to read. I've been slacking
off a little bit lately--there's been a lot going on. So
I'm gonna try to work on that, and on that note, if you
ever feel the need to tell your friends to check out the
strip, please don't hesitate.
That's
all for now! Thanks for reading and I'll be back soon.
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Rise
to Power, Part 4
Tuesday,
June 17, 2008 - 7:45 PM
[Update by Brian]
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New
comic is up, and before the 8:00 hour, even! I think that's
only been done once or twice since switching to the Tuesday
schedule. This one ain't too funny, and the next one won't
be, either. But I hope they are compelling, at the very
least.
Astute
readers may recall in Strip
#5 that Stu mentioned an incident involving trolleys.
Perhaps some light will be shed on this mysterious event?
Next week, mayhaps? I dunno...we'll see!
Also,
if you're dedicated enough to have read some of those past
issues, you'll notice the actual words are only barely legible
(if that). I'm thinking about maybe going back and replacing
all of the lousy, hand-drawn word balloons with digital
ones so that new readers interested in familiarizing themselves
with the archive can do so with ease. In those
days, I just didn't consider the appearance of the word
balloons to be so important to the strip. However, I foresee
this endeavor being potentially difficult because some story
details may have changed since some of the early dialogue
(namely some pieces of Stu's origin), and I'm conflicted
on whether or not to change things in the older strips to
reflect what eventually happens in the more recent strips.
I probably won't, because in a comic strip like this in
which ideas have been perpetually bouncing around in my
head like a years long game of Pong, I think some
ideas and story elements are just naturally going to change
and evolve over time. It still stinks, though, because to
me, it doesn't feel like everything is coming together perfectly.
I feel like I've retconned,
which isn't a horrible sin or anything in my mind, but it's
still not perfect. In all honesty, I should probably just
not be so hard on myself.
Also,
the fact that I was an English major will tempt me to change
bad grammar and such. But if I do end up going back and
essentially "cleaning up" the text, I think I'll
be able to resist all of these urges and leave things the
way they are. Just more readable. Aesthetic changes are
okay, but other than that, things need to stay the same.
That's
all I know. I'll be back next week with a new strip, and
maybe sometime in between with a blog or some minor updates.
Thanks for reading!
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Decided
not to add Twitter...for now.
Thursday,
June 12, 2008 - 11:42 PM
[Update by Brian]
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So
I was about to put one of the little Twitter feeds over
on the side bar. If you don't know what Twitter
is, it's a social networking service in which you basically
sum up what you're doing at any given moment in 140 characters
or less. It's like the little status update things you can
do on Facebook or Myspace, only you can show off your status
updates wherever you want by adding a little widget to your
website that updates itself whenever you update your status.
It
seems like sort of a fun thing to do. I went ahead and signed
up, and it's cool that I can see what people I'm interested
in are up to. But as far as putting on the site, well, maybe
now is not the time for the following reasons:
1)
I don't know anybody personally on Twitter.
2) I don't know if anybody who looks at this site uses Twitter.
I want to use Twitter at least in part for promotion of
the comic strip, and I don't see that going too well at
the moment.
3) I'm already inundated with social networking services
and obsess over them on a daily basis--adding another feels
like I might be overdoing it a bit.
I
believe it may be more useful in the future, but for now,
I think I'll limit my use of Twitter to personal amusement
only. Also, I looked at the site with the Twitter widget
applied, and it sort of made things look messy. I had it
over on the side bar, and if I'm going to add anything else
over there, I may need to make some graphic or layout adjustments,
because it was starting to look like a Tetris board when
the blocks get near the top and you start to panic and throw
stuff everywhere. I may need to add some sort of
box or containment unit over there to keep things looking
a little neater and more professional. I will revisit the
idea in the near future when time allows it.
Welp,
I gotta get to bed. I should do these blog entry things
more often.
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Rise
to Power, Part 3
Tuesday,
June 10, 2008 - 8:05 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Again,
I apologize for all of the narration. However, I assure
you that it's all worth it, so make sure to read every last
word of it, you lazy bums!
This
strip is the 20th of the year. I'm well on my way to doubling
the production of my most productive year. Sad, isn't it?
Yeah, I know. My actual goal for the year is to double the
number of strips in the archive. There were 45 at the start
of the year, so I need to get to 90 by the end of the year.
If I keep up my current pace, that shouldn't be a problem.
Hooray!
I
wasn't too thrilled with the artwork in this one, but to
be honest, there just wasn't a whole lot of artwork to begin
with, so I guess it doesn't bother me too much. I am, however,
extremely proud of the logo for the Hired Goon Association.
If the strip ever becomes popular enough for its own line
of merchandise, you can bet there will be some HGA items
for sale.
My
comments last week about possibly switching to a twice-a-week
format generated some discussion on the forum,
which I then followed up with a question about the current
pacing of the strip. I was wondering if the pacing has improved
at all--I know it used to be a problem and I've been putting
legitimate effort into improving. So check
it out and let me know what you think!
I
plan on adding a Twitter feed to the site within the next
week sometime. I don't know if anybody who comes here uses
Twitter or not, but you should follow me when I get it set
up. I'll let you know.
That's
it for this time around. Thanks for reading! I know there
was a lot of it this week.
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Rise
to Power, Part 2
Tuesday,
June 3, 2008 - 8:10 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Well,
as long as he admitted it was stupid, I guess I can let
it slide....
I've
fleshed out the story of the strip for what will probably
end up being the next couple of months, and it looks like
we're going to learn even more about Stu's mysterious past
than I originally thought! What can we expect to find out,
you ask? That's a good question that may or may not be answered
next week.
Sorry
about all of the narration--it's just gotta be done sometimes.
I'm
really starting to put serious thought into switching to
a twice-a-week format. Before I do this, I'm going to need
to build up a bit of a buffer so if I get really busy in
the future, I'll have some strips to fall back on if I don't
have time to draw two comics every week. Right now I do
all of my work on Monday night and Tuesday evening. But
if I can put a couple of hours a night a few additional
nights a week into the strip, I think I'll be able to manage
two a week once I have a buffer. This is a sign that I'm
getting better with managing my time, and I'm proud of that.
Only drawing one strip a week was an incredible and frustrating
grind at first, but it has definitely gotten much better
since then.
Now
that I have the strip planned out a little better, I'm really
excited about where it's going, which is probably contributing
to me wanting to do two strips a week so we can get rolling.
However, it's going to take some time to prepare for the
change, and then even more time to settle in to the change
once it happens, so bear with me. I really hope I'm able
to do it!
Thanks
a lot for stopping by! I'll be speaking with you again soon!
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Rise
to Power, Part 1
Tuesday,
May 27, 2008 - 7:48 PM
[Update by Brian]
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| We
interrupt our current story arc, Stu Versus San Francisco,
to bring you the exciting flashback, Rise to Power. Looks
like we're going to find out how Mayor Pratt gets away with
what he does, how Stu got on his bad side, and perhaps a
little more of Stu's mysterious past, as well. Stay tuned!
Or whatever the internet equivalent of "stay tuned"
is.
That
last panel looked a lot cooler in my head--it still turned
out all right, I guess, but not quite how I originally envisioned
it. Astute readers may recognize the design of the building--it's
based on something in one of my favorite video games.
Also,
if you missed the update on Saturday, you might find a couple
of new and updated character bios on the cast
page.
As
always, thanks very much for reading, and the next installment
is coming soon!
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Cast
page updated at last!
Saturday,
May 24, 2008 - 2:49 PM
[Update by Brian]
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The
cast page has been totally revamped
with some all-new character entries, some updated character
entries, and new pictures! It looks a lot better now--all
the pictures are the same size, which gives it a much more
polished and professional look (sorta).
Also,
at the request of some readers, I removed the "WHO?"
from below my name on the title graphic. They told me I
should be proud of my work (and I am) and to let others
know that I'm proud of my work, and that self-deprecation
shouldn't be included in one of the very first things you
see when you look at the site. And they're right, of course.
That's
all for now! More comics are on the way!
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Editorial
Changes!
Wednesday,
May 21, 2008 - 11:30 PM
[Update by Brian]
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You
know how I was disappointed because the most recent strip
was sloppy? Well, I went back in and added three things
that I forgot to do, and I feel a lot better now. I don't
really like doing that, but it was really driving me crazy
that I had forgot this stuff! See if you can find the changes!
(Hint: They're all in the last panel.)
With
Memorial Day coming up, as well as some more free time here
and there, I'm going to try to make some long-anticipated
(by me, anyway) updates to the site in the next few days.
Will it really happen?! Stay tuned to find out!
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Stu
Versus San Francisco, Part 5
Tuesday,
May 20, 2008 - 8:50 PM
[Update by Brian]
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Ugh...sorry
this one is so late. Let's hear it for last-minute script
re-writes.
This
one is a little sloppy--I was running out of time, plus
I'm not very good at drawing people sitting down. Also,
I forgot to ink a bunch of lines in the background and ended
up doing it in Photoshop. Hopefully this will be something
of a lesson for me in spreading my work out more and not
trying to do everything in two nights. You would think I'd
have this figured out by now, but things just never seem
to work out the way they're supposed to, and everything
gets left until the last minute.
Anyway,
self deprecation aside, thank you for your continued support
of the strip. I will be back soon enough with another update!
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