Category: cursed

Sadako or Samara? Doesn’t matter, they both scare me

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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]

some scars never heal

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This is a completely true story that happened while I was living in Prince George, about ten years ago. It was one of those situations where you throw something and regret doing so just after it leaves your hand, because while the bag was in the air the guy stood up from inside the dumpster.

Thankfully, the trash was not particularly heavy and no injuries were sustained. It was still incredibly awkward. I did not know what to say and merely hurried away. [November 4, 2011]

INTERESTING TIMES 1ST BIRTHDAY COMIXTRAVAGANZA

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Suddenly, an entire year had passed! And I knew I had to do something special, so I just started linking the standard frames together and told a rambling, nonsensical story filled with callbacks and pop culture references. Also, in typical I.Times style, barely a third of it is true.

Honestly I’m not crazy about this comic and have had a terrible time trying to come up with anything to say about it. I don’t hate it either, it’s just…hm. Hard to put into words. And isn’t that exactly the kind of insightful commentary you were hoping for??

Okay, fine! Let’s try. It’s pointlessly long and not particularly funny. The artwork is serviceable but why did I bother bringing back the masked man? And the last two panels are only there because I was re-using the entire three-panel frame each time (you can see the curves in the corners) and rather than lop them off I decided to fill them out with, well, filler.

But don’t listen to me. I am sometimes my own worst critic and have a long history of utter disdain for my own work simply because time has passed between writing it and re-reading it.

Let’s focus on the positive. I like my imaginary Tom Selleck moustache and accompanying expression. I like the panel where I threaten that guy with a knife. And I like what should have been the final panel (the one with the date in it). [May 22, 2011]