Commedia dellArte

Author notes

Page 64 - The End

Litindir

on Feb. 3, 2008

The End.
I suppose this call for a longer comment.

First: about this page.
When I first planned it I thought I would make it much calmer. Then I decided that was boring, and made it passionate instead! I wanted it to be the best page in comic book history (by aiming for the impossible you reach the highest level of the possible!) and I actually made a sketch on a separate paper before drawing the real page. I never do that… The background was also supposed to be purple and not blue, but then I happened to colour Colomine's dress red couple of pages back, and suddenly purple was out of the question!
That's what happens when you plan a page months before you draw it…

Secondly: evaluation of the whole comic.
This was my first actual comic. Of course I have drawn comics before Commedia dell'Arte, but never anything this serious. I began with one in the summer of 2006, but I only finished three pages or something.
I got the idea for this comic spring 2007, in Swedish class, when we read about CdA. I was then confident that I would draw a comic, and I had just learned to colour in the computer. I was working on another project back then, a comic that would consist of several short stories set in the same world but with different characters. First I planned to make the Commedia dell'Arte crew a part of that world. Had I done that, this comic would have been around five pages long! Fortunately I realized that it was better to let go of my first project and draw CdA seriously instead.
One could say Harlequin has changed my life. Nowadays I can find myself, when I walk around in the town, smiling only because I'm not sad. I have realized that being happy is not the only reason to smile. Not being unhappy works just as well! Think about that.
In fact, it is rather impossible to draw Harlequin's face without smiling. Even if he's just a comic book character his is mirth is indeed infectious!
Another interesting thing is I had drawn far more than half of the comic before I even found DrunkDuck. I uploaded it on the internet though, on a webpage of my own, to which no one knew the address. And even if somebody did read the comic, I would never know, because you couldn't comment it or anything. I was just pretending that I had readers!
Then suddenly I discovered DD, and I was beginning to get feedback. That was absolutely wonderful! You guys are great.
I guess DD literary saved this comic. Before DD I was stuck in the forest, and nothing really happened from one page to the next. As nobody was reading the comic anyway, I was close to give up. But I didn't, I found you!
And then I got featured… That truly came out of the blue. I got a text message from a friend of mine, saying "congratulations on the feature", and I didn't understand what on earth she was talking about!

Thirdly: future plans.
I've been working on Commedia dell'Arte for almost a year, and I have become rather attached to the characters. I'm getting more and more convinced that I won't be able to say goodbye to them.
Basically, I have some great ideas for a part two!
I do however intend to take a brake for about a month. I have some details to figure out in the story and some new characters to develop. I also would like to finish a couple of pages before I begin uploading.
Don't be too quick on unfaving this comic though, even if it's finished, because I'm going to notify you through here when part two gets out. Which I estimate will be in about a month from now. If I manage to stay away from you that long. I am going to miss you…
I have a small archive of a strip comic I might decide to upload in the meantime (a sprite comic, can you believe it?!).
What I am also going to do this month is trying to get Commedia dell'Arte printed! After my unexpected success here on DrunkDuck I figure I might as well try. The problem is I live in Sweden and we have like two publishers that give out comics, so my opportunities are limited. On the other hand, it is written in English, so maybe I could send it across the Atlantic Ocean and try my luck in the States. It's a small world, after all.

If you've managed to read this far without falling off your chair, congratulations. It is now time to say goodbye, but I won't be far. I will answer you comments, and I will be back soon.

Fare you well!



The End.