Of Books and Barbarians

[t209]

Originally Posted by Darklord Bright

Strip 32

Spoiler

>_>
<_<

Reminds me of Warhammer Orcs (or WH40k Orks).

[HalfTangible]

Originally Posted by t209

Reminds me of Warhammer Orcs (or WH40k Orks).

............

How... and... why?

[t209]

Originally Posted by HalfTangible

............

How... and... why?

British Hooligan accent and "oi".

[Darklord Bright]

Spoiler

No ya bleedin' 'umie git, if I's woz goin' for da orkish accent I'd be writin' it wot like dis! Now keep quiet 'fore I krump ya!

Coincidentally, that's also near to how one of my homeless courier characters sounded once.

[Teutonic Knight]

Why the change, might I ask? Is this style easier to portray the story you had in mind?/easier for you to draw now that you've gotten used to this style?

[Darklord Bright]

Originally Posted by Teutonic Knight

Why the change, might I ask? Is this style easier to portray the story you had in mind?/easier for you to draw now that you've gotten used to this style?

Played with the OotS style for a bit. Easy, but far too boring to work with. Prefer to have a comic with a bit more of a personal touch to it, so I whipped this style up instead.

Strip 33

Spoiler

[Elemental]

It's going to wind up becoming a thing.
I can feel it.

[Darklord Bright]

Latest strip inspired me to modify the cover image for the first post a bit.

[Prince Zahn]

Originally Posted by Darklord Bright

Latest strip inspired me to modify the cover image for the first post a bit.

That's awesome, I can get used to the style change. I just love how you did their eyes, though. It looks simple, yet it looks like it should've always been like that.

As always, I look forward to more.

[Darklord Bright]

A conundrum:

I am having extreme trouble staying interested in this comic. This is something that has probably been incredibly easy to determine for the last 6 updates or so. I have been trying to continue updating regardless, because people do read this comic and are interested in where it is going. The difficulty comes from two directions.

Firstly that I chose a standard fantasy universe to frame this story in, which makes it difficult to enjoy any sense of discovery on my part. Secondly that I have already started and abandoned two comics on these forums (One due to being an irritable teenager hounded with constant criticism, not a good combination when hormones are raging and pride rules as king.) and the other was based off the first. The second felt much too reliant on the rules established by the first (which I was trying to distance myself from at the time) while also being unable to really answer all of the questions left behind by the premature ending of the first. This made it too attached to something that I already had a lot of bitter emotions about at the time.

I made Of Books and Barbarians once my head had cleared some and I had gained some wisdom. Three years doesn't seem like a long time, but between the ages of 16 and 19, a lot of a guy's brain chemistry changes. I figured I had matured enough to be able to try my hand at comic making again.

But...

If I myself am not able to stay invested in this comic, how can I justify continuing to make it? Don't get me wrong, I love making comics. I still want to make comics - but not this one. And it makes me feel terrible, because I already feel like I've abandoned too many projects to justify dropping another. I feel terrible because I have fans who like this comic and want to see where it goes, and they may never do so. Even if I continued to make the comic, there wouldn't be that energy and discovery in it that fans deserve.

So I've hit a wall. Where do I go from here? I've tried to make myself enjoy this comic, but as much as I try I just can't seem to sum up the enthusiasm. Even an art change wasn't enough to do it (Though that was fun on its own!). I don't want to force myself to do something like that, but on some level I feel bad for you lot. I know more people read this than comment, so I know I'm not talking to only three to six people.

I've learned a lot from this comic in the last 33 pages, surprisingly. Getting back into the game taught me a lot of things in a short amount of time. Would you, as fans, be able to forgive the loss of this comic if I applied that knowledge to a totally new one? Even if it were a new genre to explore entirely?

So that's my conundrum.

[SamBurke]

Aaaah. This moment. I know that feel... I've seen PbP die that way.

1. But you know what? See that little banner in my sig, for one year of playing in the SAME CAMPAIGN, with all of the players staying (save for one who got banned, RIP Hansi) the same. Thing is, the DM lost interest. Halfway through the campaign, he just couldn't feel it. So, I told him that we'd all be there. We did. We waited for a month, and lo and behold, he had found that spark again!

So I'd wait for a bit. Look into the world.

2. Shake things up. Play the Homestuck "This Crap Doesn't Have to make Sense" card, and throw a race of dimension traveling ancient dwarves with two hearts and no names into the deal. Make a ninja appear. Blow up the house. Then try to explain it all. Congratulations; you've just added an [unintended, slightly random, possibly storybreaking] twist to your idea!

3. Ask for help, rethink things. Why is this so? Why not change it? I mean, you did it to the art style, so you can do other things, too.

I'll be here. I won't delete this thread from my subs, and I'll watch hopefully. If this helps, I"m glad. I wanna see this comic succeed, mate, and I love it.

[Prince Zahn]

Wow, sorry to hear that...

I'll tell you the same thing I tell my fellow players(revised to match, of course):

“A story is a tentative entity, everything in it can be changed 180° at any moment, anything the story lead on could be a lie, half truths and secrets can surround and overpower the heroes' wills to turn back to the way things were.

“alternatively, lost dreams can be rekindled as a strand of hope or self epiphany appears before the character. Heroes who have lost their sense of trust and hope will decide to pick themselves up after indulging in anguish and tragedy. And the horrible, unscrupulous b*****d might have latently desired the feeling of having people by his side...

“Now I'm not trying to sound like a jerk with that monologue, but the bottom line is: if you don't like something about your character story — change it's aspects to what appeals to you, if your judgement is true, loyal fans are bound to follow.”

Now sorry if I sounded like an oversized fortune cookie or something, but that's my 2 cents, while not the exact same experience, I've played D&D characters of whom I lost that "connection" to, you know, be it unwanted circumstances or unfavorable development, and I applied this to them and refreshed them as what I REALLY wanted from them, and by golly I made some of my best character experiences this way.

[Akrim.elf]

aww.. that schade, this comics is realy interesing, fun, mystery...
but is you way, maybe, one day, you remember for this comics, you found some energy and i am still be wait for that day of his revive...

[Darklord Bright]

Question:

I've been fiddling with templates, trying to make something more visually interesting than my current style to allow for some more varied character designs, or at least more stylized ones, but I'm stuck on the eyes so...

Spoiler

Any ideas? I don't want to re-use the previous eyes, as they don't really fit with the current headshapes and I'd like the current style to look uniquely different to my normal one. I like the beady-eyes stylistically, but I'm not sure if they'd allow for enough character emotions.

And yes, this means the comic may resume sometime soonish. I have some templates to work out, however.

[t209]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVkUvmDQ3HY
Hoozah! Now I can start shipping Kagra and the boy!

[Lord Magtok]

I prefer the beady eyes, but I could see why you might be concerned about a limit in expressions.

[HalfTangible]

Originally Posted by Darklord Bright

Question:

I've been fiddling with templates, trying to make something more visually interesting than my current style to allow for some more varied character designs, or at least more stylized ones, but I'm stuck on the eyes so...

Spoiler

Any ideas? I don't want to re-use the previous eyes, as they don't really fit with the current headshapes and I'd like the current style to look uniquely different to my normal one. I like the beady-eyes stylistically, but I'm not sure if they'd allow for enough character emotions.

And yes, this means the comic may resume sometime soonish. I have some templates to work out, however.

I prefer the ones with the whites in their eyes.

[Prince Zahn]

Originally Posted by HalfTangible

I prefer the ones with the whites in their eyes.

+1, I've grown to like it that look on Kagra, looking at the other one just seems unnatural compare to the other one.

The whites of their eyes were a step up since OOTS-style, I wouldn't go back were I you.

Also, I'm glad your bringing it back! I just hope you'll make it in a way that YOU can enjoy it too, DLB.

[Szilard]

So the title caught my eye and I just went through the archive. Great comic you've got here!

[Darklord Bright]

Strip 34

Spoiler

[t209]

Originally Posted by Darklord Bright

Strip 34

Spoiler

The evil elves are back again!

[HalfTangible]

Originally Posted by Darklord Bright

Strip 34

Spoiler

[IMG]http://s19.postimage.org/9puxmrjpf/OBAB34.png[IMG]

I love the magic effects, and overall the art is excellent, but the guy looks kinda like a keebler elf for some reason...

Also, how did the fire go out?

[Darklord Bright]

Originally Posted by HalfTangible

Also, how did the fire go out?

Wind, hence being blown one direction shortly beforehand.

[HalfTangible]

Originally Posted by Darklord Bright

Wind, hence being blown one direction shortly beforehand.

...So, the fact that those two attacked him right at that moment was pure coincidence?

[Prince Zahn]

Originally Posted by HalfTangible

...So, the fact that those two attacked him right at that moment was pure coincidence?

How I see it:
"The wind blows strong as the crackle of fire turns silent and cold. a lone, cryptic hermit sharpens his senses to hear swift footsteps rushing his way. Though swift was he to react, an armored elf struck him before he could cast his magics, and using her magical training the elf conjured a purple hex flow which caught the mysterious figure."

[Darklord Bright]

Strip 35

Spoiler

Words cannot describe how frustrating inkscape was being when I made this. About half-way through I just gave up.

[Prince Zahn]

Originally Posted by Darklord Bright

Strip 35

Spoiler

*Awesome comic!*

Words cannot describe how frustrating inkscape was being when I made this. About half-way through I just gave up.

That third panel is wicked!

Zooming in on it I can see all the effort in this - the glowing hold magic, the faces, the armor... I'm impressed

[Darklord Bright]

So, after having attempted once again to revive my interest in the comic, I've been unable to summon any. I don't have any ideas for future comics at this time, and I've been trying to figure out if may be I could work with the title of this comic in order to create something related instead of having to make a brand new project and wait for its approval.

On the bright side, you can have this:



It's a thing.

Beyond the occasional template work, I really haven't been able to make myself care at all about this comic's world or about at least half of the characters. As I mentioned before, that's no good for making comics interesting for anyone else. I've been spending most of my spare time writing lately, so I haven't even considered creating comics. Maybe it's just the fantasy setting, or maybe it's the plot - but really, I tried to make something of a generic macguffin plot and failed. I'm just. Not. Interested.

Since even a break and an attempt to keep going hasn't worked, I can safely say it wasn't just burnout. I definitely need something different. Unfortunately, I've got nothing. Nothing I'd be able or willing to keep running for an extended period of time, anyway.

So I think we can conclusively and sadly say that this comic isn't going anywhere any time soon. Apologies to all.

[t209]

Originally Posted by Darklord Bright

So, after having attempted once again to revive my interest in the comic, I've been unable to summon any. I don't have any ideas for future comics at this time, and I've been trying to figure out if may be I could work with the title of this comic in order to create something related instead of having to make a brand new project and wait for its approval.

On the bright side, you can have this:



It's a thing.

Beyond the occasional template work, I really haven't been able to make myself care at all about this comic's world or about at least half of the characters. As I mentioned before, that's no good for making comics interesting for anyone else. I've been spending most of my spare time writing lately, so I haven't even considered creating comics. Maybe it's just the fantasy setting, or maybe it's the plot - but really, I tried to make something of a generic macguffin plot and failed. I'm just. Not. Interested.

Since even a break and an attempt to keep going hasn't worked, I can safely say it wasn't just burnout. I definitely need something different. Unfortunately, I've got nothing. Nothing I'd be able or willing to keep running for an extended period of time, anyway.

So I think we can conclusively and sadly say that this comic isn't going anywhere any time soon. Apologies to all.

Maybe you can try out many small stories but large universe building, like My Little Pony or Main Story less version of Wheel of Time.

[SamBurke]

Well that's sad news. You have future plans for a new comic, or...?