Rain Down On Me

Ireland, as I like to tell people, is called the Emerald Isle because it’s always bloody wet and everything is covered in moss.

Went to go for a run this morning, and it’s bucketing down and has been all week so I turned back. Now, I actually like the rain, I think though the constant dark is getting to me now. The sunset is getting later, but when the hours during sunlight it’s overcast and grey, hooboy.

I mean, as befits a Norn Iron native, I will always complain about the heat and too much sun, but I promise this summer I will not. I welcome it. I welcome light. I welcome warmth. I welcome ice cream.

But, again, a joke I’ve told a billion times, sure if you wanted nice weather you wouldn’t live in Northern Ireland.

Patreon Hits 350!

That’s it, the headline is the news. We’ve hit 350 followers on Patreon. Now, I would love, before I launch a kickstarter or take Terran Omega further to keep pushing that number til it hits 500. I think it’s possible. (And oh lordy,

DC GOES MAD

I don’t have a lot to add to this, but yesterday it was announced a 64 page Mad about DC. Mad Magazine, which I’ve loved for a very long time, though getting it in Belfast was largely a question of luck, when you did stumble across on, hooo boy!, is gonna be filled with DC Characters. I can’t tell you what I’m doing, or who I’m doing it with or … well… can’t tell you much (but I will say; my bit is very very short)

Yesterday In Social Media

On Writing

Turns out writing every little disconnected notion for all sorts of stories means that when you've got a story and you want it to be two parts but can't quite figure out what would make it interesting enough sometimes that little notion becomes a crucial part.

Ah! Yes! Nearly forgot. So, I have a notes app on my phone and I’ll just add little notions as they occur to me, thinks like “Terran Omega faces off against a space Gorilla” – largely they’re simply visual ideas that I think will be fun (I mean that was a silly example, but Terran Omega faces off against an army of space gorillas, that’s got something.

Anyway, been thinking about the next Terran Omega story and I have a delicate little 11 page story that is more poem than story, and I had mulling it over and thought about how to extend that out and I did, I got to something like a 22 page strip (by also using it as a way to explore her backstory) but it still felt a little conflict free, like it needed something (the back storyu filled with conflict, the present just a nice little journey). So I was rereading some ideas and ahaha! there it was. A foil. A thing that was visually striking that would have present day implications that turned it into a two parter. And it was an idea as simple as “Terran Omega meets …”.

So ideas are not wasted, they just need to find their moment.

Tron

Was gonna watch tron Ares. And thought maybe I should rewatch tron. 5 minutes in and I’m thinking oh wow. This film is terrible. I loved tron when it came out. LOVED IT. Visually still knocks the socks off all the sequels. (For me).

I persevered! And actually, despite a very rocky start (and very silly metaphors that I suspect worked because people didn’t know a LOT about computers in those days – imagine a world where people didn’t know what a network was!) I really enjoyed it. I’m still 20 minutes from the end (watched it in bed and was just knackered) will finish it at lunch time.

I am going to watch Tron: Legacy (which I remember being sort of meh about) and then the animated series (which IS great) and then Tron: Ares (ugh). I think the thing Tron has going for it are the arresting visuals (though in the original sometimes scenes just seemed so weirdly empty). I think the later stuff sort of loses a lot of the charm of the first one. (And Jeff Bridges¹, who I love, in CGI is weird and uncanny)

Make Stuff

And via Dennis Detwiller (creator the RPG Delta Green)

Morning, bitches! 

Some upsetting statements on #creation from management 
-The larger the creative team the less likely the work will be notable 
-Great #art is almost always created independent of corporate requirements 
-Art that changes the world is usually what no one knew they wanted at the time

Continued: 
-if you create something great for a corporation it’s far more likely you’ll never get the credit or the money for it as opposed to making it on your own 
-corporate creative jobs are neither stable or a method of “making it” as an artist 
-owning your work is key to success as an artist

Dennis can be very forthright in his worldview, but actually I don’t think you’d go too far wrong paying heed.

That said, with the “You should own all your work!” statements I always think of Survivor Bias. We’re not all Kirkmans, or Detwillers… but I DO think the smart money is keeping something back for yourself. If not for the money (which will likely be small) but for your soul.

BBC Bits

And as a final out, a couple of delightful things for you – BBC’s Winterwatch is taking place in Northern Ireland, in Mountstewart on the banks of Strangford Lough. I’ve been up there quite a few times on the hunt for a red squirrel sighting, Like Marshall Law though, “I hunt heroes. I’ve never met one yet”.

Anyway Winterwatch has some live cameras you can keep an eye out for them, but the website is here.

And I leave you with another BBC offering (look, it has it’s problems and I know lots of people deeply resent the bbc licence fee arrangements, but actually I think it does a lot of great things and I don’t mind paying it…. I certainly resent paying it less than I do paying for amazon prime… )

It’s the Traitors Soundtrack! Good dramatic, over the top! Perfect for writing/drawing to!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0mvgzkg

1. Accidentally typed Jeff Goldblum when I posted this originally. But that’s fine. I also love Jeff Goldblum. ↩︎