Session One
This is one of those days I am glad I did away with the comments section, because I know of uproar. But, look… I said I was going to do this, and I did it. It is done.
The urge to come back to comics hit me in late February, but within three strips, I was struggling. The art was tedious, and the jokes were even moreso. As early as this past Monday, I knew it wasn’t going to last, I had no feel for anything. I was drawing dudes on a couch strips. I mean, come on.
I know who I am. I know I’ve started so many things, only to revert back to the safety of four panel Aikida, mostly because it was safe (as mentioned), and popular. Now, I don’t give a crap. The people who read Aikida for tits and easy pay-off gags are gone, and I can rebuild.
(…I feel like I’ve made this speech before.)
So what is different? Pepperwood is the one project I regret not staying with. I never fell out of love with it, rather, I was swayed by the readership numbers and fear of becoming obscure (Even more obscure).
I loved the characters, even though in retrospect, they are in dire need of sweeping changes and depth. Still, I think the energy I have for them shows in the cover page today. Eamonn is still a bit rough, but Cherry looks great. Aside from reader feedback, the best feeling I get in making comics is doing what I think is a picture that turned out nicely, and just sitting back with a satisfied sensation. I have that today, and suspect I will again soon.
So what is Pepperwood? It is, in essence, the story of a guy (Eamonn) and a girl (Cherry). It has a lot of musical ideas, a lot of dialogue, and a lot of that emotional crap we pretend to hate now. But we don’t. We eat that shit up.
Some familiar Aikida characters were born in Pepperwood, including Tito and Pepper (though she was named Naumie). The hook for me, though, has always been Cherry. I love drawing her, and love her character. Flawed, but unapologetic. Sexy, but not an amazon.
The art style is different as well, being raw pencils with no ink, and usually black and white. This allows me to saw a few hours off the comic creation progress, and adds a little “grit” that I find fitting. I think it looks pretty good when colour is added, as well.
The problem right now is I am not keen on migrating the comic to a new site, so for now, Pepperwood lives here. It will fuck up new readers, but if they can’t figure that sort of thing out, they’re not going to enjoy a comic that quotes Ambrose Bierce.
I promise nothing, but if the art process seems fast, this could be daily. MAYBE. Until then, I have a shit load of writing over the weekend.
TITO LIVES!
EDIT: Apparently I have Facebook. I blame Jesse Eisenberg. Also, I might add another image to the donation file. While I like the one up now, I want to do more.
