The Daily Davis

I’ve been extremely curious about this movie, so I am going to see it later tonight. Expect some thoughts afterwards.

Okay, everyone is on-board. Need to ink this, as well as get back to working on the rest of Shmoofyland Robot Rampage. Thoughts are appreciated.

Unfinished sketch of part of the new image for the redesigned Cosmic Dash website. As you can see, Dorian and Blu are missing for now. This will be fixed.

A couple posts from a forum thread I have started, that will likely be updated for a while. Posting my two major posts here thus far as blogging because I am scrounging for content. The thread is titled “I am giving up on webcomics. I am going to do web comics“.

Yes, you read that correctly. I’m no longer doing a webcomic. Instead, I am going to do a comic that is posted on the internet.

I’ve struggled with the webcomic model for years, and it’s never really clicked. Perhaps I lack the discipline, or maybe I’m just not cut out for it. How do I justify my decision?

I am crafting a long-form, episodic narrative. The page-by-page update style of a webcomic is non-conducive to this. In many narratives, in order to enjoy a story, you must digest it in larger “chunks”. I face the problem that a sequence in my story, or a scene, can go on for a number of pages, and this page by page system will break the flow, ultimately forcing me to make compromises, or confuse readers because pages do not end on a clear note.

Thus, I have decided that instead of a page-by-page comic, I will be drawing/writing full stories to post at once, in full chunks. What this means is that I won’t update very often, but the updates will be large when present. Ideally, I am bringing an actual episodic and publication model to my stories, which I feel might work in my favor.

Am I going to have a popular site with a comic that is checked on daily? Likely not. Instead, I hope to have a tighter narrative in larger installments that I just happen to post online as a distribution model.

I think many more narrative comics can and should take advantage of this method. Instead of dragging stories out over time, just post and entire story or episode, rather than dragging these events and adventures over time. Non-narrative comics benefit more from a page-by-page structure. You wouldn’t watch a TV show in one minute installments over a week, why do something similar with stories? Imagine if Novels were given to you, a page at a time, a couple times a week. Would you bother reading it?

Followed up with another plan later that includes brainstorming and continuing thoughts.

Ultimately, I am kind of lazy, and would rather post a complete product, even if it takes a while, than force myself to adhere to any sort of schedule and do “progress reports”. I can tell you that I am much less stressed out now. Even though I always say I do my comics for myself, trying to do the page-by-page method always struck me in the back of my mind as doing comics for others. This is a bit of a breath of fresh air for me, one I feel I needed.

The real problem now, however, is if Comicpress is the right solution for my posting needs. As of now, I am considering very low-tech specialty webpages for each story, decorated and designed to match the corresponding episode.

So my Egg MacGuffin story site would be decidedly low-tech as far as it’s technical construction, such as simple html and hyperlinks between pages, but I have the opportunity to use the website itself to enhance the story.

This excites me actually. Instead of having a stock layout for all my stories, I can mix things up quite a bit. Each collection of pages for a storyline can be themed to reflect story content, or maybe even reflect the beats of a story. The site itself, potentially, can become part of the reading experience, as design and color cues can influence a reader’s experience of the pages within.

It’s exciting stuff to think about really. I won’t sacrifice ease of navigation and readability, of course. However, perhaps the site itself should be an extension of the narrative experience.

Am I lazy or what? Your thoughts are appreciated, as always.

By party, I mean, just me.

Tonight is the season finale of Mad Men, and a brand new Venture Bros!

Now if only I could work up the desire to write my papers!

Something that has always confounded me about myself. I am not in any sense religious, at all, and yet, I love Paladins.

It’s a quandary.

As far as it goes in World of Warcraft (the image is of my paladin, Aluia, before the Argent Coliseum was finished), it’s probably a gameplay thing. That being said, I think it goes even deeper then that.

While the paladin is typically associated with the concept of Lawful Good, and championing a deity, I see them as simply the quintessential defender. The paladin has always been, in my interpretation, the first and fiercest in the battle, drawing the fire to defend his or her charge. While many paladin champion a deity, I think that the paladin’s strength is better represented in their convictions. To me, the concept of a paladin is that as long as one has belief in their cause, and seeks to ensure the safety of their charge, they are a paladin in every sense.

This is, of course my own interpretation, and your mileage may vary, but I think I have made a good point.

So, why did I feel like writing about this? Well, based on my concept of a paladin, I came to the realization recently that all of my projects feature a character who I refer to as The Paladin. It seems that in much of my work, The Paladin is often the lead character.

In Cosmic Dash, I would say that Dash, clearly, is the paladin. He is the key character, and takes it upon himself (though it is more often thrust upon him) to defend his charges, his coworkers. Dash’s ideals are very much based on his interpretation of balance, and what is right. Ultimately I hope to explore what those beliefs are. One of Dash’s strengths is his devotion to his friends, and I hope that I communicate that as I continue the comic. As he defends them, constantly, he would have to be particularly devoted to them.

I of course I have other projects and characters who fit this mold, but that is a discussion for another time, when those projects take on a life of their own. That being said, I believe every character in my works has the potential to be a paladin for their perceived good.

Yes, I just implied a paladin could potentially do evil, from someone’s perspective.

I suppose an example is needed. Fortunately for those of us who write such horribly geeky things, Star Wars once again provides the answers we need.

I would like to focus on two characters who I consider paladins. Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader.

Luke Skywalker, you are probably thinking, makes sense. As a jedi, he has a belief in the force, and maintains his ideals. Naturally, in The Empire Strikes back, he puts his friends before his own safety, heading into an obvious trap to defend them.

The interesting one here, however is Darth Vader, a kind of dark paladin. He definitely has the look, huge, imposing, armored. But what of motivation and defending. For this we have to dip into the prequel trilogy, particularly, Revenge of the Sith.

This, of course, is a subject for another time.

You have your orders. Enjoy.

Long story short, my East Asian History instructor is covering the Kamakura period of Japanese history, which is one of my favorite historical periods to study.

Now, I do not consider myself to be a Japanophile, and least not, a “weeaboo”, but there is something inherently fascinating about Japanese history in general. Compared to China, Japan was almost entirely isolated throughout it’s existence. This is not to downplay the importance, and my love of Chinese history, but this aspect of isolation in Japan had created a very interesting, and at times, a little odd, cultural and historical landscape. Note that my judgments of oddness are dictated by my entirely Southern California sensibilities and perspective, and thus must be taken with a grain of salt.

I’ve elaborated before on my fascination with Feudal societies, and the developments of Feudalism in Japan and Western Europe. I find these developments to be more interesting than the developments of similar art and architectural in isolated countries. The most obvious examples of these being pyramids and depictions of “space men” in ancient culture. These concepts have a geometric and deity-conceptual basis, respectively. Feudalism is almost a complete cultural and political de-evolution for societies that were, arguably doing somewhat well. This is of course barring the neglect and abuse of the lowest rungs of society, but what successful society does not do that? Indeed, Feudalism is ultimately the result of societies that are working, who eventually pause to reflect, and then immediately decide to make terrible governing choices and decentralize.

These terrible governing choices almost always boil down into a single concept: don’t let your military personnel become surplus. So much of Feudalism is a response by poor, bored warriors who jump to the logical conclusion that they can change their lot in life by force. Combining these thrill-seekers with a perpetually unhappy lower-class, and you have a powder-keg of decentralized government ready to explode in the face of the society you have built up. Explosions are messy, much like the Feudalistic mess that follows.

I was intending to write more about Japanese history, but it became something about Feudalism. Oh well.

This was my first today.

Slower day today

bad haiku is brought to life

boredom dawns the odd

This was my second today.

wikipedia

reading about the dogu

not academic

This was my third today.

evening lrc

when I am here you are slow

I must ask how come

Just a sample of an upcoming set of brushes I will be making available for anyone who wants them. More details later.