OK folks, I have an idea. Yes, I’m still working on fresh pages; I’m up to five now!! However, I don’t like how this site is kinda stagnant while I’m working on this sort of alternative comicmaking method. Therefore, I’m gonna start posting some filler pieces in the mean time, just for fun. These filler pieces will be sketches, photos, stories, quick comics or any other visual piece I create that I feel is worthy of your time. I’ll maybe even combine it with a little “director’s commentary” of my comicmaking process, or even share with you little tidbits about the story that I can’t seem to figure out ways to put into the actual story. Sounds like a fun idea, huh? At least it’ll help me kill both our time. 🙂

Today’s picture is something I drew up in a friend’s sketch book. On the left is an incredibly hot Shea… at least, a mediocre attempt at drawing a hot Shea. On the right is a considerably plain Anne. Both, as you’ve probably noticed right away, are topless. And it seems Anne is bottomless as well. … Now I dunno if it’s intentional or not, but I really haven’t gone out of my way to sexualize Anne, have I? Every nudie picture I’ve ever done of her has always been this sort of minimalize style, totally unfappable. And even within the story, Anne looks really plain and average, right?

I think that a lot of it has to do with my own views about how women should be portrayed in movies, comics, etc. My mind and body is full of opinions and will work their way out in some form, much in the same way squeezing one those Martian Popping Toys will force the air to come out in some form. Take for example the book Shutterbug Follies by Jason Little. While I have enjoyed the book quite a bit, it had since come to my attention that Little wrote Bee a bit unrealistically, at least in terms of her femininity. Thing is, I lent it out to my friend Perla, who in turn found that Bee seemed less like a human being a more like the writer’s (and reader?) idealistic dream girl. Bee didn’t strike me as such within Shutterbug, but in Little’s second Bee outing, Motel Art Improvement Service, I’m starting to see what Perla was getting at. It’s not to say the story sucks because of this (honestly Bee’s design influenced Anne’s), but it is something to think about.

Concerning me and my own writing, while I may or may not be doing a good job at it, I strive for not just realism, but to not cave into portraying my women as idealistic, cookie-cutter characters that many other writers do. I could easily make Anne the ideal Indie girl, Shea the ideal Goth girl… but idealism is the polar opposite of realism in my eyes, and therefore totally detrimental to my writing goals. In turn, I’m not making Anne the ideal anything; while I’m not intentionally seeking her to be plain and boring, her personality seems to be naturally gravitating towards that. If there is any idealism I wish to invoke upon Anne, it’s that I want her to be the ideal unidealistic female character.

Uhm… concerning the boobies though… I like boobies. Sorry, I can’t help being a guy. Though I do try my best to be fair; we did see the tip of Emo’s weenis while he was jacking off to pictures of his ex. I really should throw in more weenises just to offset the amount of boobies I’ve put into it. I am surprised though that a lot of people at conventions almost always immediately notice the boobies when they flip through my book. I’ve tried my best to sort of forewarn potential buyers of the higher-than-average level of naughtiness of Moose River by comparing it to Trainspotting; in that movie we get to see Obi Wan Kenobi Ewen McGreggor’s weenis and plenty of tits as well. Most people usually don’t have any problems with it, but I’ve had a few people go “ew, nudity?” and leave. I usually try to salvage the potential sale by throwing in “no more than you see in real life, and this book IS about real life,” and even going as far as plastering “it’s a comic about real life” all over the place. I’ve also taken it upon myself to not really acknowledge an under-16-ish kid passing by my booth… but not only have I had reassurances that even 14 year old girls wouldn’t find anything I’ve written objectionable (I’ve never been one myself so I wouldn’t know for sure), but I’ve even had a few youngens come by my booth and tell me that they’ve read my comic online and love it, the youngest know of was 12. Weird, but I suppose it helps to know this information.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 03:48 and is filed under Bjournal Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.