Comics. Comics comics comics.

I have a dilemma. I have the bug to write and draw a webcomic again. The problem is that I stopped doing the last one because life was just too action-packed to be able to draw a comic on a regular basis and if I start to slip and say "oh, it'll update when it updates" then it'll just never get done.I also am a little annoyed at myself because I have broken a promise from my last comic. I promised people that donated money for me getting the laptop fixed that I would draw some custom artwork for them and send it to them as a thank you. I haven't even done that yet. So I'm a bastard. :-(

The other thing I wanted to do was put the whole collection into a book, complete with annotations and some funny stuff. That did get started, but when the book file was 23Mb and took ten minutes to load it had to be shelved until I could get a computer with enough power to open it and allow editing without a ten second wait between actions (currently the only computer I have access to with enough power is my quad-core work PC). So that again has been shelved.

And now I want to start another one. Madness.

Thing is, I really enjoyed writing Battlebarge. It was fun. My main problem with the actual comic was that there was no real story to it. I came up with the final "arc" in an effort to see how I would be able to cope with a storyline rather than just one-off jokes. To be honest, it was fun. At the end of the day I'm more of a writer than an artist so it was a little more rewarding. I think I regret the fact that EVERY character had a happy ending, but at the time it was important to me that the characters got their rewards for the crappy life that we all have to lead. Pragmatic in life but romantic in fantasy.

So what's this big idea? Well, it again ties into the website concept, same as Battlebarge was named for my Warhammer discussion forum back in the day. In the new idea for a comic there would be a company called DaftWorks that the "patriarch" of the comic would found as a multimedia consultancy company. He would recruit the staff from his family. Hilarity ensues. There are a few more twists to it that are going around in my head, but that's the core of it. I have been able to roll a couple of other concepts that were never explored in Battlebarge into it too, so it has quite a rich background already.

The question is, should I start doing it? I still can't draw particularly well (HANDS!!) and still have issues with time at home. So many things are up in the air right now. That said, drawing does tend to relax me and help me unwind so maybe it's a good idea.

I've been playing with Inkcape and drawing some stuff and seeing how well my drawing style can be refined. The goal is to make simple-to-draw characters that can be manipulated into different positions easily but still have a range of movement and expression. Not an easy job. I watched South Park one night and realised that the character designs don't have to be complex in order to be good characters. It's the writing and characterisation that makes it. I had the same thought during the Battlebarge run. I think that's why it got boring to do - the characters were quite one-dimentional until the very end.

I refined and modified the designs of Battlebarge character templates originally, then came up with a new design. I already had one design for a character style that had been intended for a sci-fi illustration idea I had, and I think that one could just as easily be used for this comic idea. 

Anyway, it's about idea number #361874.8 in my head at the moment. Will it come to anything? Who knows...