The Big Date
Just four more pages till chapter three of The Indies comes to an end! A lot can still happen, so stay tuned!
~Jer [11/14/2011]
Rage as an Energy Source
I love Hyperbole and a Half. Allie Brosh is a quintessential comedian of modern life. It is delightful how often she'll sum up a concept on a level we can all relate to, like when she articulated the source of human rage using the most scientifically accurate drawing ever made of the human anger organs.
~Jer [11/17/2011]
Opinions and Omissions
I drew a bunch of The Indies on the plane back from Virginia, where two of my Microns exploded - thankfully away from the paper. Anyhow, this was one of those moments I've had in mind for a long time. Enjoy!
~Jer [11/28/2011]
The Cricket
Something very weird happened today, and it deserves official recognition. The TV was on while I waited for my car to be fixed this morning, and a TV ad actually made me want to buy something. The something in question is the Cricket, which looks to be a printer that cuts things instead of prints them. The ad in question really isn't very good, but a quick glance at Youtube shows it was better than their horrendously corny old ads that I can't even sit through. Sadly, I probably will not buy this object. I'm quite handy with an X-ACTO blade, so it won't enable me to do anything I can't already do. Also, a little research shows its abilities are limited to pre-set shapes, which would be insufficient. Still, I gotta hand it to the company for moving their advertising in the "less obnoxious" direction, enough so that I could say "Huh, that looks like an interesting device that I had never heard of." Well done, Cricket.
~Jer [11/29/2011]
It's the end of the Calendar as we know it.
German researchers suggest that the hieroglyphics of the Mayan calendar say it doesn't schedule the end of the world. It denotes the completion of a 5125 year cycle that begins and ends with a visit from the god Bolon Yokte. So, the end of the Mayan Calendar really just tells the Mayans when to make a new Calendar.
~Jer [12/01/2011]
The Indies, Seriously
I want to go on record here for a moment. On Sunday, I will draw the 89th page of The Indies, leading up to a moment I've been planning for almost a year. I know I really don't have that many readers, but I really hope someone out there realizes how much I'm agonizing over getting this right. I am a man writing a story with a female lead, a challenge I chose deliberately to push myself as a writer. I want everyone to know how important is to me that this chapter ends being about Natalie and her art, and NOT about the guy or her relationship to him. I'm taking this very, very seriously, and I really hope I do it well, or at least well enough that people can direct me in the right direction for the future. Please people, you have no idea how much I care about this.
~Jer [12/03/2011]
Baggage
There's just one more page of The Indies before the end of Chapter 3. I don't think I have much more to say about this week's strip. I guess I should mention that I don't carry nearly as much baggage as Natalie does here, but I am writing from feelings I've felt. I can roll with criticism, and I know what haters are gonna do, but when someone close to me digs harshly into my creativity, the wound lasts years and the relationship seldom survives.
~Jer [12/05/2011]
My scrolls are slightly more elder
Okay, time to own up. The other day I ranted about how most games disappoint me. I mentioned that - thanks to finding it in the $5 bargain bin - I intended to give Elder Scrolls IV (released in 2006) a shot while the rest of you are playing Elder Scrolls V. Now that I'm finally able to play it without it breaking my computer, I really am enjoying it. It kind-of reminds me of Ultima back in the day, before someone stapled the word "Online" to it and everything else. On that note: For anyone having trouble playing Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion on Windows 7 / 64bit, Rick discovered that there's a bug when you try to run the game with two monitors plugged into your PC. Rick's deduction is that when Oblivion detects your display, it's not testing for a number other than 1. I unplugged one of my monitors, and the game has run fine ever since.
~Jer [12/07/2011]
THIS
Dylan Ratigan loses his temper at 4:25. A lot of folks are posting just his rant, but the leading conversation frames it magnificently.
~Jer [12/08/2011]
And So...
And thus we wrap up chapter three of The Indies. Two more chapters to go. I rewrote this page about 15 times. I don't think I'd ever feel like it was perfect, but I think I got it pretty good.
~Jer [12/12/2011]
Surgeon General's Warning:
Missing your Saturday morning cartoons can lead to inexplicable grumpiness, even in adults. Symptoms of cartoon deficiency include poor humor, argumentativeness, general jerk-like behavior and sour grape syndrome. If you or someone you know isn't getting enough cartoons, contact your cable provider, youtube or newgrounds. This has been a public service of STOP BEING GRUMPY AND WATCH SOME CARTOONS.
~Jer [12/12/2011]
Networking
Facebook is like being close to your friends the way caffeine is like sleep.
~Jer [12/15/2011]
No-one Understands Me
Saying those words is like a curse, it's a surefire way for artists to dig themselves into an emotional pit. The truth is, ALL artist feel like no-one understands them, which is a large part of what drives us to express ourselves through art. So despite the compelling urge to take a break, we start Chapter 4 of The Indies with Jet growing up a little.
~Jer [12/19/2011]
Working full time again means vendors are sending christmas gift baskets full of food. It's kinda neat to be able to EAT the food, after three years of being a contractor who SENT the food.
~Jer [12/21/2011]
On Progress
On the topic of finance, we're the first generation of America that can say to our parents "You don't know how great you had it!" I have an overwhelming desire to walk to work barefoot in the snow uphill both ways and like it.
~Jer [12/22/2011]
Writing
Drawing is easy when I write first. Writing is hard. I wrote a bunch of scratchy notes on Chapter 4 of The Indies exactly one month ago. I'm at Wayward this xmas day, working on organizing them into an actual plot. My process for The Indies is weird: I know what's going to happen and where I'm going with the story, but all the details and dialogue I write as I go.
~Jer [12/25/2011]
Take my advice
Don't try to do your hobby job on Christmas day. One's undying dedication to weekly entertaining his or her tens of fans is not worth being awake for 26 hours. That is not hyperbole. 22 of those hours were spent trying to write and draw this sketchy clustermuck of a comic page I call my art. Did I just completely fail to heed the message I painstakingly crafted into my own story? Maybe! But I'm really tired, and I'm pretty much going to sleep from now until I have to go to work Tuesday morning. What a neat 4 day weekend I got. FOR THE LOVE OF JESUS' BIRTHDAY PLEASE READ MY COMIC oh god I need some sleep.
~Jer [12/26/2011]
Dis Ability
Like many nerds, I've been watching The circus over the Avenger Controller unfold. It's been fun, but I especially enjoy the fact that it gives me the incredibly rare opportunity to invoke the fact that I am a gamer who is literally missing an finger, and say with professional experience that - regarding a device designed to provide accessible gaming for all - I don't get it. Though, if this plastic squid-beast is a good thing for some people, I certainly wouldn't mind an explanation.
~Jer [12/28/2011]
...as we know it.
Happy new year! I'd like to dedicate tonight to the end of the world, just like the world ended in 2000, 1994, 1975, 1941, 1925, 1920, 1919, 1918, 1915, 1914, 1891, 1881, 1856, 1850, 1844, 1843, 1832, 1830, 1794, 1792, 1783, 1736, 1689, 1669, 1533, 1524, 1496, 1346, 1284, 1205, 1179, 1147, 1033, 1006, 1005, 1000, 968, 500, 400, 375, 365, 90, 60 and 30. [1]
~Jer [01/01/2012]
Comic Coming
Working on the comic now. Took a lesson from last week about working on holidays and took it easy yesterday.
~Jer [01/02/2012]
