Last words

Author notes

Revolution starts with a protest

lba

on July 14, 2008

I do believe that I did mention dinosaurs in todays comic.

This particular one sat in my sketch book as something almost completely different for a couple of years until I finally decided I wanted to do something with it. I partially chose to use it for the chance it represented to see what effect I could use the text to in the comic when it came to identifying the major focus of each line. For the most part, I generally try to avoid thinking at that level about what I do, considering that it usually winds up with me hurting myself, but while thinking ( A dangerous activity. ) about the little experiments I often try with things like this comic's text, a conversation I had with someone about my work, comics and critiques, came up in my memory. In what little bit I remember of that conversation, the other person gave the serious and wholly amazed admission that they never knew such an amount of thought went into such simple little drawings as Last Words and most of all comics in general. Many people are amazed at the realization that happens to them when I explain things like progression of time within a comic. They are subconsciously aware that time cannot really progress without that simple little line that we call a panel border ( There are rare instances, but they're few and far between. ), but most people are shocked when the concept is actually stated. Go back through the archive and you'll see what I mean. There are only rare instances where it feels like time is progressing in a particular page, and those times usually involve more than one panel. For the most part, the chicles live in a single panel that doesn't move. The progression of their lives comes a day at a time with each new page, not within the page itself. Admittedly, a lot of that never really occurred to me either. It was always something I had just understood without considering it. Similarly, a lot of people never realize that they willingly ignore reality to enjoy the comic they're reading. Again, a concept we all understand deep inside our heads, but never truly consider.

All in all, what all this means, is that you don't have to have a clue of what the hell you're doing to do well in comics. I sure don't. You just have to know how to make it sound more important and important than, "I make people laugh with phrases like 'snotmonkies'". Especially if it's your high school reunion.