Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

Hmm ... I had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to finish two parts this month.  But I wanted to hold out hope until I knew for sure.  I went out of town for over a week, and have been pretty busy besides.  So it's no surprise I only got this part done this month.  Looks like I'll be finishing up the last part during school.  That's right - next update will be the last!

Wednesday, July 25th, 2007

Phew! Just made it before the end of the month! I kind of cheated this month, I guess, since I only delivered six pages instead of my proposed eight, but at least I updated twice. The trick is that this sucker has about eight to ten pages to go. Which actually should be perfect, if I can keep on schedule in August. And then -- well, I'll be done for a while, I think. Once school starts I doubt I'll be updating, unless I just post occasional drawings or something.

Oh, I went in and George Lucased a few pages, by the way. A few panels seemed kind of barren, so I just added a few background details. A bantha here, a jawa there. I didn't alter the order of any sequence, or replace anyone's voice, or add in any unnecessary scenes, so it shouldn't be too much to complain about.

Sunday, July 1st, 2007

Happy July, everyone!  Surprised that I updated so quickly?  Me, too!  Although, it is notable that this scene is half as short as the others so far.  Most scenes I broke down into four page segments, but this one just seemed like two pages was enough and it also made more sense for the next four pages to be their own scene.  I am going to try to start drawing two pages a week, which, if I'm successful, would mean this comic will be wrapped up by the end of the summer.  That's kind of my goal.  We'll see how successful I am at achieving it. 

Saturday, June 23rd, 2007

Well, it's been exactly a month since my last update!  Which means I worked exactly half as much as I promised to work.  Which I am not in love with.  But it's OK!  I have excuses.  I went on vacation for a week.  And I started working more hours.  And I'm lazy.  And I hate this comic and all of you readers out there and my life and everything that could go wrong did and I promise to do better next time and I hope you'll forgive me because I'm very emotionally fragile and this is the only thing that's keeping me going even though I can't keep it going and wah, wah, wah.  

...right.  Not really.

I'm just lazy.

OK, and I did go on vacation.  But only for a week.  So I should be a little more ahead than I am.

Anyway, the point is, Part Two has arrived!  I hope you enjoy it.  I will actually try to get two parts done before another month passes.  Just keep in mind that I did "try" to do exactly the same thing last month, so that really doesn't mean a whole lot, apparently.  But pretend it does and we'll all feel better!  OK?  Pretend washes away pain.  

ESCAPE INTO FANTASY.

Very healthy.  Trust me.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

Welcome to the relaunch of theNinjaPig.com! There have been some major changes since the "Cretaceous Park" storyline was updating. First of all, I will no longer be updating by page. I will now be updating by scene. This means that instead of semi-weekly updates, I will update about twice a month (depending on the length of the scene and the length of time it takes to complete each scene).

The reason for the start-over for this comic is that I came up with a fundamental new system in the process of writing. I used to write in a pretty disorganized way, pretty much just writing what came off the top of my head and tweaking that a bit along the way. I've finally embraced structure, though, and I've started creating storylines driven by key ideas and scenes instead of random inspiration.

Some other changes have been in the process of drawing. I found the restart a good time to switch gears and try some new things art-wise. I am now inking by ink and brush, which I'm not that good at yet, but I still think is a marked improvement over what I was previously using (mechanical pens). I also went back to shading my characters and drawing intermediate backgrounds between character and computer created background. The art to me isn't as important as the writing, but I still try to make it look the best I can and new techniques can help achieve that aim.

This comic is going to be a little "edgier" than anything else I've done. I didn't set out to make it that way; it just happened, due to my new process of writing. Basically, my new process encourages me to make each scene as funny as possible, and part of that, for me, was pushing things further than I've done before. I'm sorry if it's not to your liking. It's really not for "shock" value as much as it is that I just find it funnier personally. 

Let me know your reactions to any of these changes, if you have some. I'm always interested to hear what you have to say about my work and/or its direction and how it affects you.

You probably noticed I retitled the comic, "A Little Larceny." So ... I guess I don't need to mention that, then.

Well, that's all. I hope you enjoy! And I'll be keeping a status bar on this front page so you know when you can expect the next scene and how far I've progressed on it.