I’ve discovered that saying “Fantastic!” when people ask how I am often catches them by surprise, which is fun. And if you’re sincere about it — which I am, because, I am! — it seems to brighten others up a little too. All those pithy motivational posters your schoolteachers had about happiness being contagious might actually be true? [November 9, 2011]
I don’t think I’ve talked about Words With Arrows in my comics! Let’s talk about Words With Arrows.
There are two primary reasons I incorporate WWAs, and both are crutches. One reason is clarity. This one’s slightly less necessary as my drawing skills continue to improve, but sometimes there are times when I look at something I’ve just drawn and I realize that the reader may be confused as to what exactly I’m trying to get across. Either because the artwork is no good, or they just don’t have the frame of mind that I do while creating it. So I throw in Words With Arrows to explain, as I have in this comic.
Now maybe that’s insulting to you as a reader, having your “hand held” like that, but it isn’t mean to be so! It’s mostly just me being unwilling to do my job better.
The other reason is purely as panel filler. It’s when I’ve drawn something and there’s a lot of white space that I’m not sure what to do with. More often lately I’ve been trying to fill that with simple backgrounds, but sometimes I just throw in Words With Arrows just…because. (As of this writing, there’s a recent comic about maturity that relied on WWAs for that). [November 8, 2011]
Tooting my own horn: That is a pretty nice Wasteland of Pain in the first panel. Toot toot! [November 8, 2011]
I think I had more fun constructing that little game than I ever did playing it. I tried it a few times with different friends, and it’s ridiculously difficult for whomever is controlling the “Human” side to actually win. Even so, to this day it sits in a little plastic container with my other board games. [November 8, 2011]
