001 - Lost & Found

SO as part of my schedule that I've been sticking to remarkably well as of late, I'm having Sunday as blog day. I'll expound on some of the issues I've been thinking about most / learning about / suffering from, type things on my keyboard, and stick some pictures in next to them. 'EERE GOES NUTHIN'

Week 1 (er, .5) went great. Since I came into this planning to do the whole thing as a big fat book to suddenly dump on everybody at once, I already had a handful of pages ready - but I just couldn't find the motivation to keep going without any feedback or confidence that I'd get any exposure. Went to Katsucon, listened to a bunch of guys doing webcomics talk about their experiences, and decided that, since I intend for this to be a cheap-as-free book with on-the-side print sales to cover expenses (hosting, advertising, etc), I may as well go the webcomic route. And the first two "updates" have been great. I get this awesome feeling of ... something hard to describe when I get that page onto controlshiftblack.com at 7:00 p.m. EST. And the response is great from my bros on Facebook and Twitter, and dorm-mates - so cool to hear guys get excited about it and show their friends "hey man I know this guy who's doing this comic" and all that jazz. Good stuff. I'm not used to the feeling of actually accomplishing something... so many years of either doing what I'm told to do, or not doing anything at all.

Doing these pages, I'm finally getting to do things I've been scared of doing - seriously applying textures - and loving it. Followed some advice from m dot strange, doing things I've avoided doing in the past... feels good man. I've experimented with textures before using my own (bad) pics, usually from my cellphone. I like the low-res feel, and it's better than not doing anything at all (not having a big expensive camera and whatnot). But I came across this site, Zen Textures, and sister site Lost and Taken... and I'm in texture heaven. Super-awesome dude, Caleb Kimbrough, providing these textures free of charge for commercial and non- projects. I don't even know where to begin, I'm just getting so much mileage out of this guys stuff he's giving for free. Expect to hear more praise about them textures as times goes on. Hopefully I can make a few bucks from the print sales of Hoshen so I can return the favor.

I couldn't get anywhere trying to do this as one big book... just too much work for me. But I can tell I've got something good going here now, something driven by short-term goals to work up to a long-term one. Found something awesome, and I'm running with it.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become. - C. S. Lewis