School Unity! ...Sorta

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So yeah... That last comic I posted? Here's what it turned into.

I came to the realization last week that between having too many characters, too much build up, and too little payoff, that other comic wasn't going to work. I needed to cut the fat (even though I kinda loved the prefect...he might be making a return ;D) and refocus on what really mattered; mainly my main character and her story(s). Sound familiar to anyone?

But yeah, here's Hallow Chandler. Named halfly from my username (HallowSpell149) and halfly after Tris Chandler (who you should totally recognize by now), the most awesomest red-head ever. I debated showing her first reactions to the sorting, but I figured that was nothing new. A lot of people have been surprised/disappointed at their sortings, and I don't think I could bring anything original to the table. So instead we have Hallow a little while after settling in. Not to worry, we'll no doubt encounter some of her misgivings in the future.

Possibly a major factor in creating this comic is the fact that the majority of my RL friends (including my sister) are Slytherins, and it's really fun to egg them on. The next comic may or may not address some retaliation. It's so much fun to torture characters.

So, what do you think? Have an idea for a fun (and easy to draw) story line? 

Feel free to leave a comment below!

Also, if you do feel inclined to friend me on Pottermore, please comment or contact me somehow to tell me your username so I can nickname you first! 

I'm really trying not to have random nameless friends on there.

No Shortcuts

Ever since I joined Pottermore and was sorted into Hufflepuff, much to my initial surprise and disappointment, (I've since come to terms with my placement and embraced it) I've wanted to make a comic about it. I mean, what better premise than a girl who hates sunshine, plants, and yellow who is thrown into an environment filled with all three?

Unfortunately, I was not blessed with the artistic bug - at least not visually - and my sister, the artist of the family, is busy with her own projects, so mine fell by the wayside.

Until last week when I decided I'd give it a shot. Hence my absence...

I mapped out the first comic completely. So it was on the back of a library receipt, it didn't have to be perfect, right? Here's basically what the first panel looked like.

Then I took it to paper.

I figured I should be able to sketch out my comic then photograph/scan it in and do only minor tweaking. Thing is, I'm a little too much of a perfectionist and my 'minor tweaking' turned into completely re-tracing it. Which would be fine, if I had a tablet or something, but no, I just have a standard mouse.

So there I was, panel one completed, except for the text. It had only taken 8 hours.

Yeah, 8 hours.

UGH! At that rate, it was going to take forever. Might as well scrap it.

But then I thought, maybe I could streamline everything, just use the line and circle tools to cut out some of the steps. And then I'd be ahead of the next panel through the magic of copy/paste.

So I started over and came up with this.

Not very pretty. And the real kicker is that it took me just as long to do! And I'm still not happy with it.

Serves me right for looking for shortcuts and still expecting quality work.

Now I just have to decide if I'm still willing to put the effort in, or if I should scrap it and leave it scrapped. Why does XKCD make it look so easy?!

O is for Originality

What does it mean to be truly original? The Dictionary defines Original as

2. new; fresh; inventive; novel
3. arising or proceeding independently of anything else
5. created, undertaken, or presented for the first time
10. a person whose ways of thinking or acting are original

But is that even possible anymore?

As I touched on in my Inspiration post, we get our ideas from past knowledge/experiences. If we don't get our ideas out of thin air, can we produce something new/fresh/original? Have our ideas been thought before? Has anyone put these four notes together before? These three words?

Okay, obviously not every idea has been thought before, and no one has a copyright on any one word or short series of words (barring, of course, "See Spot run"). And even then, it's perfectly okay to borrow these words and use them in a different context, a different genre, a different style.

One's style, one's voice is all their own. One person may be completely OCD about grammar rules, while another takes them only under advisement. You might prefer the first person narrative, or the third, or even the second. And then there's vocabulary, which not only has to fit your characters but your audience. 5th graders don't want to be reading about glaucoma or systemic civilization declines, just as college grads probably want more stimulation than "Mr. Kangaroo hopped happily to the store".

Just as each person experiences things from a slightly different vantage point, so too can a story be told from one. There are millions of unique tellings of historical events, depending on what each person saw at their location.

And then we have parodies, which take an idea or a story and turn it completely on its head. Nightlight, which parodied Twilight, was a major hit because of its 'fresh take' on the phenomena. The recent monster-mashup, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, was a completely innovative idea that spawned a landslide of new works.

Of course, one of the struggles I hope I'm not alone on is the thought, "If I've never seen anything like this...does that mean it's a flop of an idea?" I think it's healthy to keep a little perspective in your thoughts, and really look at an idea before presenting it to the world. Then again, too much pessimism and self-control and we might never get any new ideas!

So, any original ideas you've been toying with recently?

A Couple O Books I've Read:

An Oregonian O Group:

The O Font: