Welcome to Comics News, I'm Jeremy Kayes.
Today in comics news, We have a report that my face hurts from smiling all the time. Aid will be sent soon in the form of additional news-post icons. No word on when these new images will arrive.
Here are some new additions. In the Splurd Freelance page, my Portfolio has begun construction. It is not complete as of this date. In our Illustrations page, you will find that My art page is now online, as is Big Josh's. My art page is stocked with a set of portraits I have drawn while exploring the world (and by world, I mean the DC area night club Clarendon Ballroom). If you look at Big Josh's page, you will see a set of characters that will star in a new comic that both Big Josh, and the elusive Little Josh are working on.
We have reports that there are, in fact, three Joshes in the extended Splurd organization, the third known as Medium Josh. It is unclear as of yet if there are actually members of Splurd besides Chris who's names do not begin with the letter "J."
I'm Jeremy Kayes, this is Comics News. (Play theme song, begin advertisements)
HOLY MONKEY BUTTER! I have a new icon!
Two, actually. And Jay would, too, if I hadn't fucked up with Photoshop and saved the gifs without deleting the alpha channel. Its always something.
Happy Thanksgiving all.
Click on my image! CLICK on my IMAGE! CLICK ON IT!!!!! The power of splurd compels you! The POWER of SPLURD COMPELS YOU!
Hiya Splurdlings.
There's a new Blah, right on schedule. Its starting to look cooler, I think.
I don't feel good. I think Maritza Campos said it best: I feel like my soul is in backwards.
Today marks the end of our little Japanese Animation Convention trilogy in Backstage. Today also marks the end of a remarkably successful ad-run with MacHall, and to celebrate, I give you one god-damned huge Backstage.
We also have a new Blah. I don't think I'll be announcing that anymore, it seems extraneous.
It's been a slow week here at Splurd. Not a lot of updates, so not a lot of newsposts.
I read Give Me Liberty by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons—beautifully twisted. I plan on writing a review for it soon. I was also was totally mystified by Eric Drooker's Blood Song - A Silent Ballad. The book is very left-wing political, but the artwork and style was astounding. There is not a single word in the entire story, the tail is entirely told with pictures. I have almost finished my review, that should be up real soon.
The other big thing in the works is the Splurd links page. Now, I'm a workaholic psychopath, so I always thought that making a links page of comics I like was just too... well... easy. So I thought about it.
Part of the point to splurd is to help people who normally wouldn't be interested in comics find stuff they might like. That is why I write reviews—not so much to tell comic fans whether they will like a comic or not, but more to help people who don't know anything about comics discover the art form. If I were to make a links list, it would be with this in mind.
Thus, my latest toy. Its still a prototype now, but here is my plan. A database driven list of web comics. This is very similar to the programming behind pages like top web comics, only there will be no voting. The comics in the Splurd Database will be listed alphabetically, and will include information on the creators, the genre, the art style, its rating (based on the adorable web pets created by Amber Panyko) and how often it is updated. WolfLady and I have started with a bunch of the comics we read, but I intend there to be a subscription page. Since there are SO many comics on the web, I will set this up so that people can submit a request to be added to the list, and Jenn or I simply needs to approve it and upload their minibanner.
Now the really cool part: because its driven by a database, all you out there will be able to search it. Say you want to see all Sci-Fi comics rated web-14 or below that are updated at least three times a week and drawn in an anime style? The toy I'm making will give you a list. Just like that.
The toy is about half programmed, and once it's finished we're gonna need to test it. If any of you out there would like to help out with testing, (especially those of you who draw web toons!) drop me a line at crew@splurd.com and I'll let you in on the process!
SplurdLink! is coming along nicely. I think I'm about 60-70% done. This is my task list:
- Build a database that can hold a name, author, URL, synopsis, rating (based on Amber Panyko's Censorship Pandas), update frequency, and small banner of an unlimited number of webcomics. Status: Done.
- Build a search engine that can generate a list of comics in database, based on any specified element. Status: Done.
- Build a results page that lists all the comics searched for. Status: Mostly Done. Right now it dumps all the results on one page, which might be a problem if there are a couple hundred results. Once I add that, it's done.
- Build a submit form so ANYONE can add their comic to the database. Status: Done, but needs to be tested. Jenn's gonna try and break it tonight.
- Build an account management page, so once your comic is added to the list, you can come back and change stuff. Status: To do, but is should be a simpler version of the "Add Your Comic" page.
- Build an admin page for us, so we can double check entries before they get added to the master list. Status: Shouldn't take long. It doesn't have to be pretty since only we'll be using it.
- Build a donations database, and integrate it with PayPal. Status: I haven't even started that.
- Decorate the whole thing, make it look nice, give it a Splurd-worthy look and feel. Status: Finishing touch, will be done at the very end.
- Test the shit out of the fucking thing.
Just a few new things to report. A couple more cool names have signed up with SplurdLink. A few to note are Scott Ramsoomair's V.G. Cats, and the only truly G-rated webcomic I have found yet, Alice Otter by Miguel Estrugo. (note: at time of writing, the Alice Otter site was down. I wish I knew why, but that is the correct address) Also, if you look the left, you will see we have added Jenn's Artwork under the features list. It seems Jenn's portfolio is becoming as popular as either of our toons, so I thought it deserved some props up front.
The next Backstage is 70% complete. It's a very long one. Once I polish that up, my next project is FINALLY updating the newspost icons for Jason and myself, and making some new ones for Josh.
Final Note: STAY TUNED! The next Backstage comic is going to introduce TWO NEW ARTISTS into the inner-circle that is Studio Splurd, and a THIRD COMIC will follow shortly after that!
Another night of insomnia pays off.
If you look at the upper right hand side of your screen, you will see a delightful little SplurdLink search box. SplurdLink Feedback is dying down, which means I am going to finalize it soon. I've already got the preliminary design done, and it looks smooth.
That's not all, though! BEHOLD! You can put a SplurdLink search bar ON YOUR OWN SITE! How fucking cool is that? Here's the code:
| <textarea name="textfield" wrap="VIRTUAL" cols="60" rows="6"> <table width="200" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"> <tr> <form name="splurdlink" method="post" action="http://www.splurd.com//sections/links/searchresults.php"> <td bgcolor="BFBDEA"><input type="text" name="search_keyword" style="font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; color: black;" size="8"></td> <td bgcolor="BFBDEA"><input type="image" border="0" name="imageField" src="http://www.splurd.com/images/search.gif" width="128" height="20"></td> </form> </tr> </table> |
Thou shalt dig it.
I'm going to talk about something other then war for a moment. In fact, I'm going to talk about comics, cuz I think that's why I started Studio Splurd. Don't quote me on that though.
SplurdLink is now totally finished. The design is smooth, you can now Donate To Us or Amber Panyko for her Censorship Pandas. No rush on that, it'd just be really nice if I could get this site to pay for itself without irritating the hell out of my viewers with popup ads. I don't plan on ever putting ads on Splurd, it's just the way I am.
A lot of new stuff got done this weekend.
First, there's a new Backstage today, which marks THREE Mondays in a row I've had a new comic. I think I'll be keeping up the weekly schedule.
Second, the walking comic encyclopedia Mr. Seffinga has finally been added to the Splurd roster. His first post shall appear shortly.
Lastly, I invented the Graphitobox. It's a new site I started as a part of my plan to KILL ALL BANNER ADS FOREVER. The site explains what it is, and SplurdLink now contains the first working one. Please check it out and play with it. I'm rather proud of the idea, and I am looking forward to helping artists put simmiler tools on their sites.
It might look like nothing new happened on Splurd today, but in truth I just got a Forum installed. Jenn and I are gonna be redesigning it—making it look Splurd worthy—but by this weekend there may very well be a Splurd Forum waiting for you.
I also must pester Seffinga to make his first post.
New Backstage up. All I really have to say is that I almost screwed up the continuity by having Jeff point to the wrong spot on the globe, but I managed to get it pretty close in the end.
Jenn is still working on the images for the Splurd Forums, but I think I'll open them up soon as is, just so folks can get registered and start playing with them.
There are rumors floating around that Mr. Seffinga will be starting a section of Studio Splurd devoted to Video Games. He, with the aid of Jason, Big Josh, and Studio Splurd's official extra "MIKE" will be rating and reviewing games with the intent to entertain you. More on this as it develops.
IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!!!!!! The splurd store thing has been debugged and redesigned with much blood, many tears, and more blood. Now it's time to test the living crap out of it. Wish us luck.
Things have gone better for the mighty splurd than they have these past few weeks. Everyone seems to be dragging in their own special way lately. I built Splurd to be a project/toy my friends and I could play with, but lately it's demanding more energy than any of us can put into it.
We're not without hope, it's just hope seems an awfully long way off at the moment. Right now, It's 1:00AM, I'm only finishing inking the Backstage that was supposed to be up Monday morning. Again I'm wondering why I bother with all this shit. With luck, the answer will miraculously come to me. I'm not counting on it though. I'm going to bed.
More Stuff to Read
- Treatment for Heavy Metal Poisoning
- Eat a Fucking Apple
- Giftmas 2012
- Thanksgiving Turkey Soup
- The Vote
- World of Fucking Warcraft
- Lies are like fire, facts are like stone
- iPad Sized Pop Tart
- On Development
- A God Damned Piano
