Ain’t That a Kick in the Head
on 06/17/2018
at 11:29 pm
The more comics I create, the more I realize that this strip has become a vehicle to carry my art. The story I’m creating is important, but as an artist, the story seems to be taking a backseat to the art. My drawing skill has improved over the years, but it’s only made me realize how much more I have to learn when it comes to telling a story, both visual and written. Both should work hand in hand as a balanced and coherent creation. I’ve been at this for about 5 years now and I still have no idea what I’m doing, but I’ll keep doing it till I get it right. See you here next week!
Great fight scene, by the way. Trudy delivers a telling kick, the pose and hair of her evil twice clearly show she’s being defeated, followed by the dramatic “I’ll get you if it’s the last thing I do!” pose. You may not have any idea what you’re doing, but you sure have us fooled!
Thank you, pachristian! You guys always boost my confidence and make me feel like I’m on the right track. My readers are the best!
I have a feeling it’s a bad idea trying to attack Trudy in close combat…
Storytelling is a tricky business. Even more than with artwork, there’s no One Correct Way of doing it – so much depends on what *kind* of story it is, the format(s) in which it’s told, whether there is an “assumed reader”, and so on. And of who’s telling it; what works for one guy may not work for another, for no other reason than them being different people.
Still, I don’t see that as a big issue for OA. The characters are solid and the plot seems to know where it’s going – if anything, the comic has *improved* on those points in later years. (Well, maybe the pacing can be a bit uneven at times, but that’s not a problem with webcomics unless you read it through the archive in one sitting.) There’s a lot of comics out there with a way worse “art vechicle” problem.
It has, not unexpectedly, developed in a manner similar to your go at Barwench Tales; weekly gags growing into a larger and darker epic story, without losing the occasional gags. That seems to be your modus operandi in comics and it’s a good one. What OA has shown, I think, is that your characters get more fleshed out and the *scale* of your story grows larger as time goes. (Which might also mean that BT was better off having a limited run; being centered at the Wet Gill tavern was an inherent leash on what kind of tales could eventually be told about Sarah.) Other comics have been seen to go in… other directions that were not a pretty sight.
Hi khelatar, first of all thanks for the great comment! You’ve mixed some compliments in there with some really constructive comments that will be help me in creating the strip. I’ve tried different ways of creating story while working on the strip, but flying by the seat of my pants seems to work the best for me. I have a very general idea as to where I want it to go, but from week to week I wing it for the most part. I try to keep in mind storywise what has occurred before and what will eventually happen and come up with something exciting or interesting or fun that particular week to get me there. That might be the reason for the pacing issue which you brought up. I think it keeps me engaged and the strip itself fresh, but I could do with just a little more discipline in that respect. I’m glad that you brought up Barwench Tales as well. I noticed the inherent weakness of that series pretty early on; that Sarah’s stories would be limited because of the character being ‘leashed’ to the tavern. The dimensional gateway in the caverns underneath the tavern was supposed to remedy that flaw to a certain extent by allowing characters from elsewhere (and elsewhen) to drop into the Wet Gill Tavern bringing new and exciting plots and devices to her, keeping things interesting. Oh, I had plans 😉 I’m glad that you’re enjoying the story that’s unfolding here. I like to keep it light, yet delve into some heavy events all at the same time, hopefully building a decent story as time goes by and making the characters as interesting (or fleshed out, as you said) as possible. I’m enjoying taking my time and weaving this whole tapestry and I’m overjoyed that others are enjoying it as well.
OK, I needed to have a proper think before replying. I agree with khelatar (except about some of the BT-specific stuff since I never read it so can’t agree or disagree) (and that saves a me a lot of typing 😉 )
Hey paws4thot, I could have sworn that you came over with me from Barwench Tales. I am posting the Barwench Tales strips that I did for Legend of Bill over on my patreon site for free. You don’t have to be a patron, they are posted for everyone to see, so if you’d like to check them out head over to http://www.patreon.com/jimcollins and see them there.