Ha! So Much For "Tradition"

I was at the Half Price Bookstore the other day, went to their graphic novel/comics section and made a point of checking about that letter "I" needing serifs when used as a pronoun.

While all of Marvel and DC used it with serifs, half the other published works, including Persepolis and Maus, did not use serifs so even though it's touted as an 'amateur' mistake, I believe it's not as rigidly held a rule as has been implied. 

So There, grammar Nazis (or serif Nazis, or whatever). I will continue to use san serif I's for my pronouns.

(Rant over.  There, I feel better now).

Argh! Beginner Mistake

Well now, I've just discovered that I'm making a beginner mistake in NOT making the word "I" with serifs, while the letter I in a word is done san serif, when it stands as a pronoun it always gets the serif on the ends.

Who knew?

Supposedly it's a major beginner mistake. However NONE of the books on cartooning and graphic novel art have ever mentioned it.

Nice going guys.  What are we supposed to do, take a class in this to learn the tiny details? Then why isn't it in any of the many books out there on the subject of cartooning?

Got Another Mini-Comic Designed

All the previous ones have been about the little cats. This one is featuring Marcus as a private investigator in a cliché version of a hard boiled 1920's PI.  I got the idea thinking about 'It Was A Dark And Stormy Night' while sitting at a traffic light, got maybe 4 panels into a strip on it and then pulled paper out when I got home and kept going.

It came to an 8 page booklet/mini-comic size and I still have to finish the last two panels so they have the same strength as the rest, but it's all sketched in on paper now.  Just the redrawing and inking left on it.

Do I Need To Add More?

I've been looking at the setup for the booklets. I HATE to leave space wasted, but am not sure if doing something on the back of the cover or inside back cover is too much.  They've been left blank so far. 

Do I add a picture to the back? An advertisement?  An extra mini-comic? A maze or mini-game?

The inside of the front cover will have a sort of intro on it, at least the first two issues did.  Since they're already being printed double sided on the paper I think I need to do something with it and not leave it blank anymore.

Bonanza - 10 Strips Off One Idea

The 'owner leaves for a convention' idea did end up being a good continual story after all.  I had a cat sitter show up, take digital pics of the guys, clean the box, put down food, do all the standard things and showed how the guys all dealt with it.  Then the owner comes back home and gets the familiar snub like some cats offer when their human returns days later.

I think I nailed it pretty good.

Form Follows Function

I was at a Steampunk event (with my catnip toys and stuffed toy squids & Steampunk owls for sale) and it got pretty boring at the end of the day.  Dealers room was open till 7pm which is sort of late given the fact a lot of people left around 5pm and the programming was pretty much over with. 

Good thing I had a notebook with me. I started doing a strip with Marcus watching his owner going off to a science fiction convention to sell at a dealers table.  It morphed into 8 strips and I still have to finish the timeline on it (maybe another strip yet, not sure).  The group has to deal with the cat sitter that comes in to feed them.  Food trumps all, except in Marcus's case.  He's the only hold out.