Thanks to my favorite game blog Kotaku, I learned that this week's Time magazine tackles the issue of webcomics. In New Zip for an Old Strip we learn about the webcomics revolution that has been underway. Currently there are thousands of artists working on redefining the genre. I guess that McCloud guy is ahead of his time.

But the most compelling point to note in this article is the subject matter these comics have taken.

Time goes out of their way to make comparisons to the birth of syndicated newspaper comic strips like Krazy Kat and Nemo, and each of these strips tend to cover wildly different grounds. Time's webcomic samples on the other hand are of two varieties: With Video Game references and Without.

So why two distinct groups?

I feel this is the interesting question that needs answering. Especially as I continue to plug away on my own webcomic which clearly falls into one of those categories. I think Peter Moore (leader of Microsoft's Games Division) hit the nail on the head while addressing the audience of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2006, "Games are our shared heritage".

Never before has a society had a chance to collectively experience something. Games are vivid representations that transcend movies and books in the sense that a user has the perceived ability to act. This option makes users feel invested as the actions of a hero aren't merely of a third-party but of their own.

On top of this we add the modern myths games have created. The ancient Greeks had magnificent Gods to wrap epic stories around that were ultimately parables. Today we have game icons that do the same thing. Solid Snake as the stoic freedom fighter. Link as the plucky youthful hero to defeat evil. Mario doing whatever it takes to save his love. Joseph Campbell would swoon at the rich retellings of age old ideas. These aren't new concepts, but they have never been wrapped into such a compelling engaging package before.

We have an entire generation that can speak the same language, so it is no wonder that when we branch out to other forms of communication we attempt to add to and repurpose these tales.

In other words - Go Webcomics Go!

So, near the end of the video NYU Researcher Jeff Han mentions this technology is available for purchase. Anyone willing to go half-sies with me?

So this is how my comics start out.

They fill up any scrap of paper I can get my hands on. The thought is if I can purge my silly ideas onto napkins/sketchbooks/notepads enough I might find an idea worth using. This sketch was one of 30 I did on my morning train ride on Chicago's Metra. I find the closer I am to being asleep the better I write, so mornings are perfect writing times.



A few days will pass and now I have the clarity to decide which of the crap I'll highlight. For the Pixelton strips I'm drawing everything into the computer using my fab new Wacom tablet. On average, an inked page will take about 4-5 hours. I usually pull up a documentary online to help the time move faster.



In a cruel twist of fate the coloring process takes about this long as well. In this case we now have the color layer over the Black & White art, but it wasn't doing it for me...



So I added in the trademark DigDug ground and called it a day. Hooray for useless pop-culture references!




Finally I lay in the type and word balloons. If I've learned one thing when not sketching these out fully it is: Always leave more space for text then you'd ever imagine! There is nothing worse then needing to redraw a section (or shudder, a page) once you've run through the illustration gauntlet.

See you Thursday!

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

-- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1999), 9-10.


FOUND HERE

I hate to join in the article thieving bandwagon, but the article below is being heavily passed around - and It should be. It deserves every ounce of praise it receives. I hope it inspires!

The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School
by Michael McDonough

1. Talent is one-third of the success equation.
Talent is important in any profession, but it is no guarantee of success. Hard work and luck are equally important. Hard work means self-discipline and sacrifice. Luck means, among other things, access to power, whether it is social contacts or money or timing. In fact, if you are not very talented, you can still succeed by emphasizing the other two. If you think I am wrong, just look around.

2. 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work.
Only 5 percent is actually, in some simplistic way, fun. In school that is what you focus on; it is 100 percent fun. Tick-tock. In real life, most of the time there is paper work, drafting boring stuff, fact-checking, negotiating, selling, collecting money, paying taxes, and so forth. If you don’t learn to love the boring, aggravating, and stupid parts of your profession and perform them with diligence and care, you will never succeed.

3. If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important.
You hear a lot about details, from “Don’t sweat the details” to “God is in the details.” Both are true, but with a very important explanation: hierarchy. You must decide what is important, and then attend to it first and foremost. Everything is important, yes. But not everything is equally important. A very successful real estate person taught me this. He told me, “Watch King Rat. You’ll get it.”

4. Don’t over-think a problem.
One time when I was in graduate school, the late, great Steven Izenour said to me, after only a week or so into a ten-week problem, “OK, you solved it. Now draw it up.” Every other critic I ever had always tried to complicate and prolong a problem when, in fact, it had already been solved. Designers are obsessive by nature. This was a revelation. Sometimes you just hit it. The thing is done. Move on.

5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
In design this means “draw what you know.” Start by putting down what you already know and already understand. If you are designing a chair, for example, you know that humans are of predictable height. The seat height, the angle of repose, and the loading requirements can at least be approximated. So draw them. Most students panic when faced with something they do not know and cannot control. Forget about it. Begin at the beginning. Then work on each unknown, solving and removing them one at a time. It is the most important rule of design. In Zen it is expressed as “Be where you are.” It works.

6. Don’t forget your goal.
Definition of a fanatic: Someone who redoubles his effort after forgetting his goal. Students and young designers often approach a problem with insight and brilliance, and subsequently let it slip away in confusion, fear and wasted effort. They forget their goals, and make up new ones as they go along. Original thought is a kind of gift from the gods. Artists know this. “Hold the moment,” they say. “Honor it.” Get your idea down on a slip of paper and tape it up in front of you.

7. When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
Overconfidence is as bad as no confidence. Be humble in approaching problems. Realize and accept your ignorance, then work diligently to educate yourself out of it. Ask questions. Power – the power to create things and impose them on the world – is a privilege. Do not abuse it, do not underestimate its difficulty, or it will come around and bite you on the ass. The great Karmic wheel, however slowly, turns.

8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
The world is not set up to facilitate the best any more than it is set up to facilitate the worst. It doesn’t depend on brilliance or innovation because if it did, the system would be unpredictable. It requires averages and predictables. So, good deeds and brilliant ideas go against the grain of the social contract almost by definition. They will be challenged and will require enormous effort to succeed. Most fail. Expect to work hard, expect to fail a few times, and expect to be rejected. Our work is like martial arts or military strategy: Never underestimate your opponent. If you believe in excellence, your opponent will pretty much be everything.

9. It all comes down to output.
No matter how cool your computer rendering is, no matter how brilliant your essay is, no matter how fabulous your whatever is, if you can’t output it, distribute it, and make it known, it basically doesn’t exist. Orient yourself to output. Schedule output. Output, output, output. Show Me The Output.

10. The rest of the world counts.
If you hope to accomplish anything, you will inevitably need all of the people you hated in high school. I once attended a very prestigious design school where the idea was “If you are here, you are so important, the rest of the world doesn’t count.” Not a single person from that school that I know of has ever been really successful outside of school. In fact, most are the kind of mid-level management drones and hacks they so despised as students. A suit does not make you a genius. No matter how good your design is, somebody has to construct or manufacture it. Somebody has to insure it. Somebody has to buy it. Respect those people. You need them. Big time.

Originally published by The Architect's Newspaper. Copied(with permission) by the Design Observer. Copied without permission by Blog about Advertising. Stolen by me (with love).

Stefan Sagmeister's list: Things I have learned in my life so far.

Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
Being not truthful works against me.
Helping other people helps me.
Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Assuming is stifling.
Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
[Josh- Hey, wait a minute...does a blog count?!]
Trying to look good limits my life.
Worrying solves nothing.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
Having guts always works out for me. 

On a side note, haven't seen anything from Sagmeister that makes him worthy of his massive following. When you peruse their work it is a hodgepodge of the exact same grunge ideology. I'm sure this is fine for some, but I always feel you should judge an artist by their scope. Anyone can play in the grounds they are familiar with. It takes a pro to head out alone into virgin ground only to come back with something they never knew they were capable of...

And yet for all of my trash talk, another friggin link. This selection is a rundown of some common questions about design, studios, and the commercial arts. Damn your marketability Sagmeister. Damn it straight to a grid-based layout.

What is Pixelton?
A secluded tropical island of refugee 8-bit heroes. Join Kirby and Fil as they learn the power of choice beyond the TV screen. There is much more, but that is the elevator pitch.

When?
Every Monday and Thursday we'll have new strips.

Sign me up!?
Um, thanks! Check back here for more info as it hits. I'll be releasing lots more fun goodies and info over the next few weeks. (And our current books under Creative Commons!)

Do me a favor would you? If you enjoy it please tell a friend, or bookmark it. You have no idea how much this sort of thing helps!

What about the "Welcome to Pixelton" graphic novel?
It is more exciting than I imagined when I started it three years back...but it is taking time. So you can check out the mini-web adventures until the main course hits.


PLEASE PRESS START

A few weeks back I submitted a story at random to Digg while looking at freelance offers on Craigslist. I found a great article from a graphic designer giving all the reasons why Craigslist was bad for artists and buyers. For the first time ever my story got featured on the front page of Digg and racked up nearly 2,000 votes. Best of all was that it started a debate about the value of design and the usefulness of so called "spec" work. Pretty fucking cool.

And then I found another amazing rant on the kind CL, this time by an old man giving advice to young men on the rules of life. It is just as profound as the one I'd seen before. But then I realized a scary problem...




The problem here is that Craigslist erases their old posts, so in a matter of days they are lost to the world. In the case of these two great mystery editorials I felt they had to be saved from internet obscurity...so I'm posting them here. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Both are right, whether or not we're willing to accept them. I tip my hat to both of the authors and hope more people spread the word:

Graphic Design Hero Tells Off CraigsList

Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.

But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.

To those who are “seeking artists”, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?

More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.

And this is not really a surprise.

In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.

So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?

Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)

Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?

If you answered “yes” to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane. If you answered “no”, then kudos to you for living in the real world.

But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?

Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.

A few things you need to know;

1. It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a “great opportunity” for YOU to have their work there.

2. It is not clever to seek a “student” or “beginner” in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be “students”, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a “student” once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.

3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their “portfolio”. They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It’s not compensation. It’s their right, and it’s a given.

4. Stop thinking that you’re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.

5. Students DO need “experience”. But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the “experience” they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother’s house when they were seventeen?

If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.

6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to “submit work for consideration”. They may even be posing as some sort of “contest”. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the “contest”, or be “chosen” for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or “spec”, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit www.no-spec.com.

So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are “spec” gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.

And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you’re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.

Advice to Young Men from an Old Man

1. Don’t pick on the weak. It’s immoral. Don’t antagonize the strong without cause, its stupid.

2. Don’t hate women. It’s a waste of time

3. Invest in yourself. Material things come to those that have self actualized.

4. Get in a fistfight, even if you are going to lose.

5. As a former Marine, take it from me. Don’t join the military, unless you want to risk getting your balls blown off to secure other people’s economic or political interests.

6. If something has a direct benefit to an individual or a class of people, and a theoretical, abstract, or amorphous benefit to everybody else, realize that the proponent’s intentions are to benefit the former, not the latter, no matter what bullshit they try to feed you.

7. Don’t be a Republican. They are self-dealing crooks with no sense of honor or patriotism to their fellow citizens. If you must be a Republican, don’t be a “conservative.” They are whining, bitching, complaining, simple-minded self-righteous idiots who think they’re perpetual victims. Listen to talk radio for a while, you’ll see what I mean.

8. Don’t take proffered advice without a critical analysis. 90% of all advice is intended to benefit the proponent, not the recipient. Actually, the number is probably closer to 97%, but I don’t want to come off as cynical.

9. You’ll spend your entire life listening to people tell you how much you owe them. You don’t owe the vast majority of people shit.

10. Don’t undermine your fellow young men. Mentor the young men that come after you. Society recognizes that you have the potential to be the most power force in society. It scares them. Society does not find young men sympathetic. They are afraid of you, both individually and collectively. Law enforcement’s primary purpose is to suppress you.

11. As a young man, you’re on your own. Society divides and conquers. Unlike women who have advocates looking out for them (NOW, Women’s Study Departments, government, non-profit organizations, political advocacy groups) almost no one is looking out for you.

12. Young men provide the genius and muscle by which our society thrives. Look at the Silicone Valley. By in large, it was not old men or women that created the revolution we live. Realize that society steals your contributions, secures it with our intellectual property laws, and then takes credit and the rewards where none is due.

13. Know that few people have your best interests at heart. Your mother does. Your father probably does (if he stuck around). Your siblings are on your side. Everybody else worries about themselves.

14. Don’t be afraid to tell people to “Fuck off” when need be. It is an important skill to acquire. As they say, speak your piece, even if your voice shakes.

15. Acquire empathy, good interpersonal skills, and confidence. Learn to read body language and non-verbal communication. Don’t just concentrate on your vocational or technical skills, or you’ll find your wife fucking somebody else.

16. Keep fit.

17. Don’t speak ill of your wife/girlfriend. Back her up against the world, even if she’s wrong. She should know that you have her back. When she needs your help, give it. She should know that you’ll take her part.

18. Don’t cheat on your wife/girlfriend. If you must cheat, don’t humiliate her. Don’t risk having your transgressions come back to her or her friends. Don’t do it where you live. Don’t do it with people in your social circle. Don’t shit in your own back yard.

19. If your girlfriend doesn’t make you feel good about yourself and bring joy to your life, fire her. That’s what girlfriends are for.

20. Don’t bother with “emotional affairs.” They are just a vehicle for women to flirt and have someone make them feel good about themselves. That’s the part of a relationship they want. For you it is a lot of work and investment in time. If they are having an emotional affair with you, they’re probably fucking someone else.

21. Becoming a woman’s friend and confidant is not going to get you into an intimate relationship. If you haven’t gotten the girl within a reasonably short period of time, chances are you won’t ever get her. She’ll end up confiding to you about the sexual adventures she’s having with someone else.

22. Have and nurture friendships with women.

23. Realize that love is a numbers game. Guys fall in love easily. You’re going to see some girl and feel like you’ll die if you don’t get her. If she rejects you, move on to the next one. It’s her loss.

24. Don’t be an internet troll. Got out and live life. There is not a cadre of beautiful women advertising on Craigslist to have NSA sex with you. Beautiful women don’t need to advertise. The websites that advertise with attractive women’s photos and claims of loneliness are baloney. All they want is your money and your personal information so that they can market to you. The posts on Craigslist by young “women” seeking NSA sex, and asking for a picture are just a bunch of gay troll pic collectors. This is especially true if the post uses common gay lexicon like “hole” as in “fuck my hole” or seeks “masculine” men, or uses the word cock (except in the context of “Don’t send a cock shot.&rdquo There are women on Craigslist. They are easily recognizable by their 2-5 paragraph postings. Most are in their 30's or older.

25. When you become a man in full, know that people will get in your way. People who are attracted to you will somehow manage to step in your path. Gay guys will give you “the look.” Old people will somehow stumble in front of you at the worst time. Don’t get frustrated. Just step aside and go about your business. Know that these are passive aggressive methods to get you to acknowledge their existence.

26. Don’t gay bash. Don’t mentally or physically abuse people because of who they are, or how they present themselves. It’s none of your business to try to intimidate people into conformity.

27. If your gay, admit it to yourself, your parents, your friends and society at large. Be prepared to get harassed. See rule 14. If someone threatens you or assaults you, call the cops. Have them arrested. You have no obligation to self sacrifice because of who you are. As a gay person, you’ll have more social freedom than straight men. Use it to protect yourself. Be prepared to get out of Dodge if your orientation makes your life unbearable. Move to San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, or New Orleans. You’ll find a welcoming community there.

28. Don’t be a poser. Avoid being one of those dudes who puts a surfboard on top of their car, but never surfs, or a dude with a powder coated fixed gear bike and a messenger bag, but was never a messenger. Live the life. Earn your bona fides.

29. Don’t believe the crap about the patriarchy. More women are accepted and attend college. More degrees are awarded to women than men. Women outlive men. More men commit suicide. Men are twice as likely to be victims of violence, including murder. If you consider sexual assaults in prisons, twice as many men are raped as women (society thinks prison rape is funny). The streets are littered with homeless men, sprinkled with a few homeless women. Statically, women are happier than men. The myth that girls are being cheated by are educational system is belied by the fact that schools are bastions of femininity, mostly run by and taught by women. Girls outperform boys in school. It is the boys in school getting fucked over, and prescribed ritalin for being boys. Real wages for men are falling, while real wages for women are rising. Just because someone says something enough times, doesn’t make it true. You have nothing to feel guilty about.

30. Remember, 97% of all advice is worthless. Take what you can use, and trash the rest.

So this has nothing to do with the crappy comic Love Is (though I do love these creative knockoffs from The End of Humor ). It does have to do with a wonderful new start-up that seems to blowing the doors off of online documents. I hate to say it, but they have done everything right out of the box. I'm talking about Scribd.com.

I could gush endlessly about what they nailed, but you need to play around to see the beauty of their design. The tactile feel of using print is kept even with the exciting Web 2.0 goodies that allow you to seamlessly flow from one document to another. For a library geek there is no greater pleasure then to find a unique read you never knew existed.

Sometimes Mondays, but only if I eat Mexican.

Take a trip back to the lighter days at IUsedtoBelieve.com. This website has warmed even my cruel dictator-like heart that there may be hope for the future. Hope...how I missed you.

Here are two things I used to believe: 1) That animals thought that they'd grow up to be human but would slowly realize as they grew older that they were wrong. 2) I thought that when I went to sleep I would travel through the world and live everyone's lives. If I caused harm to someone I would soon experience the harm through their eyes.

I was a real strange kid.

Nope, but hmmmm....I do feel a bit launchy this week. We're in a very rough Beta right now but it is exciting to see the idea come to life!

Welcome to Pixelton is launching in web comic form this weekend! It is going to be a bi-weekly addition to the big book and an experiment to see how folks react to the idea.

Along with the snazzy comic goodness will be a site refresh where I release all of my books in digital format for free under Creative Commons. I've also finally collected the full PSP versions of each, along with our font collections, and even some experimental storytelling tools for authors I'd created a year back. Most of this has been unavailable for quite some time and people have been kind enough to email me to re-release, so consider it (almost) done.

Please stop by let me know your kind thoughts or suggestions!


UPDATE: BOOO! So I missed this weekend apparently. Who knew. I have a reason, and it is quite exciting. Check back in the next few days for the full scoop of Welcome to Pixelton and "the exciting mystery project" that I shoved into Beta on Tuesday.

Nothing like a nerdy white middle class comic geek to fawn over graffiti to prove the value it has as Art.

The best part about graffiti has nothing to do with the final work pressed against some corporate structure; it is the act in which it was made. Those fleeting minutes spent weaving in the layers paint while constantly looking over your shoulder. Graffiti is the greatest performance art of them all.

GRAFFITI SHOWCASE

GRAFFITI SHOWCASE II

And last but not least, my favorite artist of all time:
BANKSY