THIS is why you hire a REAL artist!

So... I laboured over several concept sketches of NinjEel on my own before I decided I might want to try and find an artist.  I liked the sketches I did that were more "hero-realistic", but they took me hours just to sketch, there was no conceivable way I was going to be able to stay consistent throughout an entire comic book and still manage to get the first episode finished before the decade drew to a close.  I also tried a more campy, cartoonish look but I was never really happy with it - I'm just now learning how to create purposely disproportionate characters and, while I really like the look, it's just not natural for me yet.  So (as you already know) I went ahead and sent out a feeler tendril to my first-choice artist for the project, Nate Hammond of Jazz and Jess, who eagerly agreed to join forces.  We had our first concept meeting this last weekend, and after a few rounds of questions and some quick sketches he held the final sketch up to the webcam:

This sketch took him somewhere around three-minutes.  I didn't realize it was possible to so intensely hate and love someone all at once.

Nate did an amazing job at asking the right questions, not only nailing down the look of the character but also what types of gadgets he'd be using, how he'd carry them, how his personal powers would be used, and how those powers could be represented in the costuming.  My only regret in the entire process is that electric eels are so damned ugly - not exactly an aspect within our control to change.

Now, I was already a big fan of Nate's work and I became an even bigger fan after browsing through his deviantART page, so I wasn't surprised by the detail and skill in his sketches.  What did surprise me was how instantaneously looking at the final character design sketch solidified the writing style for me.  Now that the character is in my head visually he's talking to me much more clearly, setting the tone in snarky shades of Sarcastic Scarlet and Ostentatious Orange.  He's taken a clear side-step from what little I know about @NeuroPunk's personality and walked boldly into his own.  The whole comic has taken on a slightly darker tone, less silly and more sardonic, but there's still plenty of humor to keep the education flowing and stomp my ever-present urge to preach the good word of Science.

I'll be sending him the character profiles for NinjEels team next - three fellow scientists who keep him informed, keep him in gadgets, and sometimes... keep him alive.

More updates to come!



* Side note - I'm spending waaaay to much time with the UK, Australian, and Canadian blokes.  I actually added "labour" to my spell check because it's become a force of habit to add the letter u to everything.  Or... since proper English started in, you know... England, perhaps I should say it's become a force of habit to stop omitting the letter u from everything.

Update updates

Here's the skinny:

The Daisies and Shit Blog

The company actually hired someone which should free up some time for blogginating and such once he's been good and trained.

The Daisies and Shit YouTube Channel

I've started playing with the new video camera and software in preparation for my introductory video. I may need to invest in some lighting as I'll likely be filming in my bedroom, which is a den of sweet, sweet darkness. I'm also working on some simplistic into/outro graphics.

The channel is currently populated with my favorite videos made by some of the brilliant people I subscribe to. Check it out here - http://youtube.com/user/weofui

The Daisies and Shit Comic

My eyes still suck, but I'm working on it. I became disgusted with the comics I had started work on and binned them. The new ones, while still in their infancy, are more in line with my intentions. I'm still not giving a promissory start date, but I'll be sure to tweet when the new comics go up. (http://twitter.com/daisiesandshit)

BetaPwned Book

Not going to happen, nor will a "farewell to BetaPwned" comic be posted. I simply can't stand the thought of working on it any more. In the welcomed words of @KO_Myers, "If you're done, move on. Take it behind the shed and bash its head in with a shovel. Don't torture yourself."

Advice accepted.

NinjEel

Rather than delay any longer I approached an artist with a pathetic offering of pennies and percentages and he accepted! Nate Hammond of Jazz and Jess is on the job! WOOT!

The potential awesomeness of the series has skyrocketed now that Nate's on board. I've a great deal of respect for his talent, and he's a stand-up guy to boot.

Dr. Higgins

I've been accepted and fully intend to start classes in the fall... but I'm having a hard time scraping up the cash. Ideally, I'd like to quit the job and go to school full time but I may have to part-time it for a year. My kids would really like to eat, and it's hard to study in a cardboard box.

NinjEel

As I mentioned in the last blog post I have a superhero comic series in the works that will cover a number of topics kept in cages like potentially lethal pets by skeptics everywhere. The hero, NinjEel, sprung forth from a bizarre mating of a static electricity Tweet and the combined mental powers of fellow skeptics @NeuroPunk, @briandgregory, @qaphsiel, and @ymberlenis.

Snowball + hill... that kind of thing only with radioactive isotopes and no access to a puma.

I have a lot of work ahead of me on character designs alone, but I think I've decided to go with a kind of campy, exaggerated retro style. Kind of like if the Tick had been drawn by Shane Glines. I think that's my best bet for bringing in the dynamic movement of a superhero comic without killing the silliness of the whole thing. I mean... we're talking about a superhero with electric eel powers and a ninja shtick who fights against the most ridiculous aspects of our society. This isn't Shakespeare folks, though I do hope to pepper in enough actual information to be subversive.

At this point I'm tentatively looking at a ten-comic run, here are the titles and a brief synopsis of the first five:


Issue 1: Common Origin

Every hero has an origin. Follow NinjEel and his team as he attains his super powers, organizes in the fight against the forces of Woo, and tries to find a solution to the chaffing effects of spandex without resorting to powders that cake.

Issue 2: AntiVax Anarchy!

The anti-vaccination forces are primed to release a plague on our fair city! Can NinjEel disarm the Toxins Gamut in spite of the Big Pharma millstone around his neck?

Issue 3: When Crockoducks Attack!

Beneath the scientific veneer of the ID Institute lies a meaty underbelly of deception. Can NinjEel dig to the bottom of their motivation barrel and discover the truth before it's too late?

Issue 4: H2Oh No!

Can NinjEel save his team from a threatened homeopathic overdose... or will he simply offer them some iced lemon for flavor?

Issue 5: Ghost Hucksters!

Ever wonder how the ghost investigators on TV know their instruments show paranormal activity? NinjEel knows the secret, but will he live to tell the world?


So, there you have it. Five camplicious issues in their chubby infancy. I'll keep you posted as things progress.

Let's Start With An Apology

I know it's been a ridiculously long time since I posted. I think we've finally gotten a handle on the Scleritis that was happily blinding me and I'm just now starting to dig out from under the pile that has accumulated while I was essentially down for the count. Rather than leaving you all to assume I've abandoned everything, here's a little update:

The Daisies and Shit Blog

At this point, blog posts are primarily written at work between assignments. While this arrangement allows the blog to exist (there's no way I'd get any substantial writing done at home with the distractions of family life), it means the blog is at the mercy of my work schedule. For the last couple of months I've been doing both my job and a job I'm completely unqualified for and dislike immensely. The company assures me that they're looking for a replacement and they're conducting scattered interviews to keep me hopeful, so I'm tentatively optimistic that I'll be able to post more frequently in the near future.

The Daisies and Shit YouTube Channel???

As much as I hate appearing on camera, I'm seriously considering posting on YouTube. Serious enough that I've played with the channel settings and started researching digital cameras, mics, and editing software. Fluttering around me at all times are the ghosts of blog posts that were briefly given life and then mercilessly killed when I was unable to train them up into a form that pleased me. I try to be very conscious of my writing, I try to bend the words to my will, shape them into an exact replica of my thoughts... and when I can't do that, I kill them. I see dead blog posts. They're everywhere, and they're pissed. *shudders*

It's a frustrating truth all writers face at some point - some expressions are better suited to visual media. Waxing poetic? I'll write. Illustrating a point? I'll film.

A YouTube Channel will also allow me to respond to (and highlight) a number of troglodytes who've no doubt been spared the burden of literacy.

The Daisies and Shit Comic

I'm aiming for a three comic buffer before I start posting again. I've one ready for color, one 60% finished, and dozens scripted. Now that my eye works my biggest hindrance is getting back into the habit of creating on a daily basis. I'm doing what I can and I get a little closer to optimal every day. I don't know when the next comic will go up (a little label pontification), but it will be followed shortly by a small "farewell to BetaPwned" page before gliding into the first proper Daisies and Shit comic (Q & A).

Other Stuff

BetaPwned Book - As time allows I will be rewriting and redrawing all the old BetaPwned strips for publication. I made the horrible mistake of saving the vast majority of the BetaPwned strips at 72 dpi - leaving them far too small for publication. The rewrite will be constrained to breaking up the early strips which were far too verbose.

NinjEel - My first foray into superhero comics, NinjEel is the defender of logic, skepticism, and the scientific method! Intended as campy goodness, the series is being written and drawn for print rather than the web (though it's likely I'll make a digital version available for download as well). These are stretching my capabilities quite a bit, so they're going to take some time. The Preview Episode: Origins, Episode One: Antivax Anarchy!, and Episode Two: When Crockoducks Attack!, are being written now while I work on the cover art.

Dr. Higgins - I've decided the thirty-seventh year of my life is an excellent time to begin pursuing a degree in Astrobiology and a doctorate in Evolutionary Biology. Why the hell not, eh? This is going to do weird things with my time - the first couple of years I'll likely have more time for personal projects, followed by a few years of steadily decreasing amounts of personal time, until I'm eventually swallowed up by the dark and terrifying hole known as graduate studies. At that point my entire world shall consist of some wretched bit of scientific minutia which I shall cling to like an abusive lover. *coughs*


So... there you have it. See you again soon. *smiles*

Just a little something for @GRSkeptics