A few new things

I've secretly been working on a different comic which is, I admit, why I've been a bit slow with rewriting the script for RDV. But I haven't put it on hold or anything. RDV is still being worked on, and I'll continue to draw it despite this new comic.
Red Dog Venue is definitely going to be a bit longer than I first anticipated, by the way. So I guess that's good news for you RDV readers.

Here's a preview of the new comic:



This time I'll be a bit cleverer and actually wait until I've got a reasonable amount of pages before putting it online, heh. With this comic I stay true to my love for the dark and gritty themes, though the style is somewhat different and more kid friendly I suppose. That is, there is no yaoi or even the slightest hint of romance, but it's hardly tame. ;3

In other news, I need a pen name change, something a bit more professional I guess, so I'll be signing my work with 'Bella Roi' from now on. Hopefully I can stick with this pseudonym. xD I'm not too sure if people will know how to pronounce Roi (It's pronounced 'ruah', with emphasis on the 'r'), but it seems to suit me, so oh well.

Oh Brother.

I used to hang out at this one particular forum, it was all about (well, mostly about) the creation of "original" comics. I use quotes because half the things posted on there (which were only in the form of half-baked, poorly described--usually in poor English or even chat speak--ideas for comics) were completely cliche and generally just crap. This used to anger me, for a reason that I can't quite remember now, as it's been quite a while since I've been active in that forum.
It got old though, and I left as I calmed my ass down when I realized that for every moron you destroy, two more pop up. Sometimes five. It was completely pointless, and in the end, I decided that 'to each his own' is just a healthy idea to live by.

It doesn't surprise me to find that a few more people popped up (perhaps even in my place) to critique every bit of tripe and the occasional comic proposal with potential that passes through this one forum.

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I was occasionally very cruel, and sometimes unjustly so. These new people are cruel, and also unjust. But at least I never quoted or linked to stupid things or gave bad advice, and I certainly never followed any critiquing trends and enforced them as if they were the Law. One of those trends which has lasted is that anyone who uses a Japanese setting (including names and words/sound effects and the dreaded right-to-left format, of which I am guilty myself hah hah!) even though he or she is not Japanese or living in Japan, is subject to having torn a new asshole. Probably in their skulls to release all the flatulence trapped in there. It seems that those 14-year-old Japanophiles will never cease to indulge in their fantasies and attempt to force it upon others after being so thoroughly inspired by another painfully drawn-out episode of Inu-Yasha. But it is also these particular Japanophiles who will have their dreams crushed. Not by you, or by me, or by any other person full of hot air. But by reality or perhaps even by realizing, in time, that their stuff is pretty unrealistic, and cliche and generally just not worth pursuing.

I've realized that it's just not worth it or even my place to tell these kids to grow up and realize they're just spouting shit. Hypocrisy is a very sly thing: Before you know it, you're guilty of it. The point is I've grown up. Some of the same people I hung out with back then are still there, still full of hot air, and still no better at their own comic. For those of you who enjoy ripping apart the work of others, because they're too wanna-be Japanese or their comic is too poorly executed/drawn or too poorly whatever, if you spend the time it takes to thoroughly chew someone out and focus all that energy on say, your own projects, I guarantee you that 1) you'll like yourself better and 2) you'll actually improve a bit on your own skills (or lack thereof?) and not seem like such a big, hypocritical douchebag when you point out another person's errors.

Phail.

I've been kinda busy lately and I'll be pretty busy again this week prepping the house so that it looks presentable when it goes on the market. So you guys can have a WIP picture of a character that'll show up in RDV a bit later. :'3





Now for a random thought:

I vaguely wonder if some of my readers are aware of the fact that RDV is a gay comic. As in, it contains homosexual men doing homosexual things. Sometimes it just seems like they don't have a clue, even though there's been plenty of hints, some more blatant than others.

Update fail

Ugh, just when I get ready to attempt regular updates again, the shit hits the fan. It's a bit typical, and I'm not going into a rant about it. Just know I'm still alive, and that I'm still working on RDV. I've just been in quite the rut and frankly, right now I'd much rather spend my free time playing stupid games to get my mind off things. XD




Come next week though, I'll be back home. Granted it's to take care of my parents, but I should have considerably more time on my hands then. Which means I can get back to updating RDV on a regular basis, and actually poop out a page for Soil once in a while too. I'm leaving on the 28th. And frankly, I can't wait to be back home. Fuck England. And fuck the recession.

Huh. I used to be a pretty hardcore YAOI fan, but I haven't read or watched anything in a long time (mostly because it's extremely difficult to find something even slightly original). I always knew YAOI was intended for women, but after watching Fish in the Trap and Level C only just recently, I realized that I hadn't realized just how much. Granted I found Level C to be especially appalling, to the point that it makes me want to rip out my hair and bang my head against the nearest wall until it's naught but a mass of blood and bone, that's how cheesy and unrealistic it is.

And lawd, invisadicks, it really doesn't help the whole 'too damn girly' problem. =/ I'm glad I stopped referring to RDV as a YAOI comic. XD;


Speaking of, I have a few WIP screens:




(I tend to watch videos while drawing, FYI)




I was actually going to make some sort of tutorial for this, or at least a guide on how I make my pishas. But damn, it seems so repetitive that I don't want to anymore. XD

Lul whut

Time and time again, I'm caught off guard by how little people outside of the [digital] art community know about the actual process of making a drawing. And yes, I'm talking about that old "can't you just click a button and it'll do it for you?" question.

Being an Au Pair, having my work seen by the kid I look after is inevitable (and no, I don't show him my pornographic art). Cutely enough, the kid really likes what I do, and at some point, he brought me a letter, which was really meant for the parents, from his school inviting anyone doing anything artsy to come and demonstrate their skills/talents to the kids at school.

I rebuffed the offer, the main reasons being that one: I'm horribly protective of my laptop and tablet, especially since they can't be so easily replaced as I'm not made of money, and two: Being asked that very question is inevitable.

This spurted a discussion with my host dad, and something I had never stopped to think about until it was brought to my attention:

Digital art is complicated.

To the point that not even some adults get it. I tried explaining how things work to a variety of people, including friends, parentals, and a bunch of random folk. Most (but not all) of them just didn't get it. Now that could be because I absolutely fail when it comes to explaining things, but if you really think about, to the fellow digital artists: how well did you know what you were doing when you first started? Programs like Adobe Photoshop are extremely complex with their many features, and it can get overwhelming. So if adults don't get it, there's no reason anyone should expect kids to. I certainly don't, never did.

Kids however, have an excuse for asking such question, because they're just not capable of deducing more than half the time (and I'm talking about kids from 4-10). So when they ask 'can't you just click a button?', it's because they know that clicking a button does something, but apparently unless you try and explain it to them, they can't consider the possibility that while it does do something, it doesn't do everything.

But an adult should be able to realize this. Why else would artists need a tablet, something that's remarkably like a real pen/pencil and paper? Artists wouldn't take so long with each picture, and their profiles would have been filled to the brim within only a day if it was as simple as clicking a button. And that's the thing that ticks me off when people ask me that question: If they took a moment to observe, to look at the tools I'm using, they'd be able to come to the conclusion that no, it doesn't do everything for you. Damnit.

I will probably go anyway, because the boy I'm looking after really wants me to, but I'm not taking my laptop. Instead I'm going back to good old paper and color pencils. Because hell, how do you explain to a kid what layers are and how they work?

A random WIP.

And now for random thoughts:

--Kids suck.

--Dogs are stupid.

--I really want to re-watch Silent Hill.

--There aren't many things in this world that creep me out, but that baby sun in Teletubbies? Creeps the shit out of me. Damn.

--Going home on Friday--Going to be great, except that 12-13 hour flight I have to endure first, whilst sick and PMSing! What bad luck. I'll be looking forward to spreading my cold cooties all over the plane, though. ... :D

--While RDV is far from finished, even as I first began to script it I was considering a sequel. That's becoming more and more of a possibility, now.