o^.=.^o

Any time I see this kind thing - bigots defending themselves from the “threat” of not being in a position of perceived superiority - it makes me wonder if they’re doing it because they legitimately understand how crappily they treat the targets of their sexism/racism/homophobia/etc, and automatically assume that they will be treated the same way if the tables are turned. If your brain knows no truth other than “bigot”, of course you’re going to assume everyone else thinks the same way.

I don’t see any issue with white people not being the majority in America anymore. Maybe there’s logistical, non-horribly-racist reasons why this would be a problem, but I can NOT see any. So when I see that someone is justifying their homophobic desire to limit the rights of homosexuals in order to protect some race status quo, all I can think is “Wow, dude. So you’re a racist, and in your head you assume that, the second the percentage of white people drops to 49% and below, it’s suddenly gonna be the 1950’s again except you’re the ones on the receiving end of the fire hoses. Because that’s going to happen.”

I would just like to send some reassurance out there, because it seems to me so much is being motivated not by hate, but by pure, unjustified fear….

If you let gay people get married, it doesn’t mean that Adam and Steve are suddenly going to start campaigning to have your marriage rights revoked, or prevent you from visiting your spouse in the hospital, or that it’s ok to get fired from your job or kicked out of the military because of your sexual orientation. If you stand behind women’s unique health issues, women are not going to suddenly revoke your right to testicular cancer screenings, ban Viagra, and declare that if you are sexually assaulted and violated by a huge woman who you have no interest at all in even talking to that it’s your fault and you were asking for it because your pants were a bit too tight. And if you do allow pure white people to drop to less than 50% of the US population, Latinos are not going to start deporting you non-descriminantly, the Japanese are not going to take away your possessions and lock you into work camps because of atrocities people sharing your skin color did in another country, Middle Eastern men and women are not going to demand that your Christian churches harbor violent and war-mongering theologies and demand they get removed for being “offensive”, and Black people are not going to force you to drink at separate drinking fountains.

True, there might be lingering animosity, but it’s never going to get even remotely as bad for you as you made it for them. But if you do get knocked down a peg, maybe you should have thought harder about maybe treating people different than you with respect and dignity. If you had been nicer to your “lessors”, you wouldn’t have to be so afraid of then gaining equal status to you now.

This is NOT about you. This is about them. ”Rights” and “Freedoms” aren’t a pie that has a limited amount of slices. If you give someone else more, it doesn’t mean there’s less for you.

Apr 25

Apr 23

Apr 06

Mar 01

Horse Face

Just started playing Pathfinder tonight for the first time (it’s basically like a streamlined earlier edition D&D from what I’m told). The character I decided to run is a Dwarven Barbarian named Helga Stonefist, who has the nickname “Horseface” from the large iron helm she wears. The helm has a simple T-shaped slit in front for vision, and rising from the top of it is a horse head looking vaguely like this:

12 generations ago, the helm was a gag gift, given to her great, great, great (etc) grandfather purely for a laugh. However, in the years it’s been passed down, this fact has somehow been lost and it’s now become a treasured heirloom in her family, with her being the one who is “honored” to wear it. Of course, it still looks like an old helm with a goofy horse head on top, but don’t you dare tell that to Helga. She gets very angry when you insult her precious family treasure.

The nickname also comes from the fact that her face is rather hideous to look at. When given the choice between looking at her or the horse helm, most sensible people pick the helm.

She also has a large warhammer that she has been using to bash in the heads of bandits and bears (and, as of tonights, zombies and an evil cleric). She has lovingly named it “Diplomacy.” This has unfortunately lead to one or two misunderstandings when she’s been asked to use diplomacy to solve a dispute.

Feb 26

The Future of BPD: The Plan

First off, Book 4 I’ve decided will conclude at the end of April instead of the end of May. It’s going to be thicker than the previous books anyway, being that I’ve been going 3-a-week since about two thirds the way into Book 3, so in the end length wise it will still be a bit longer but not freakishly thicker than the others. This will also (hopefully) be the end of the current website layout design. I’ve been meaning to redo it for a long time, and switching up the format & schedule for the comic is a perfect time to do so.

Future updates to the BPD site will be as follows: Two days a week, there will be a comic as usual. Comic formats will vary; some days, they will be newspaper-stype strips. Some will be landscape pages as they are now. Some will be tall comicbook-format pages. For the most part they will be short, one-comic gags. Most will be back to black and white line-art, though grayscale and possibly even color will pop up from time to time. A 3rd day each week will be dedicated to sketches. They’ll range from silly doodles to sketch previews of up-and-coming purchase exclusive comics (more on those later). A 4th day will be dedicated to blog posts. Things like reviews, how-tos, recommendations, highlights of cool stuff i found, and other things I’ve been musing over doing but don’t want to give too much away in case they don’t happen. And a 5th day will be sort of a wild-card day: it could be more sketches, a 2nd weekly blog post, or even a 3rd comic, sponsor willing (again, more on this later)

So 5 days a week, you guys will have stuff to check out and enjoy, 100% for free.

On top of the free comics posted on the site, I will also be doing full-color long form comics which will be available to purchase one-at-a-time in PDF form (readable on your computer, iPad, or other color e-Reader). My goal is to have 1 a month, though longer stories may take longer to complete. Prices will range from $0.99 to $4.99, with most in the $1.99-$2.99 range.

I’ll also be experimenting with doing a “sponsor” program. For $4 a month, you’ll get every bonus PDF comic that comes out, a discount code for any other product you may want to purchase in the future from the BPD store, first dibs on one-of-a-kind or limited run stuff, and a bunch of members-only previews and bonus content. The main reason for this however is community driven; if enough people sponsor the comic, I’ll start doing extra free stuff for the site as a whole; an extra comic in the week, for example. If you sponsor the comic for a year in advance, there will be an extra reward in it for you as well (it’s a surprise for now!)

In the realm of products, I’ll still be looking to do a book a year. However, the book format will be changing up since I won’t be doing just landscape pages. The books will include all previous PDF comics as well as all the comics & sketches posted online. I’ll be looking for a new book printer since Lulu sort of rapes you on color printing. But all that means for you guys is Yay, color books! I’m also looking to debut a new non-book piece of merch once a month. It could be a t-shirt, stickers, buttons, keychains, posters, or whatever. I’ll probably do a few smaller items at first and work my way up to bigger stuff (plushes anyone?).

So in summary: New website at the beginning of May with 5 days of free updates with a mixture of comics, sketches, and blog posts, purchasable long storys in PDF form, and a monthly sponsorship program with additional extras and rewards.

I understand there may be some resistance to this, since some people may feel slighted they aren’t able to see everything I produce for free anymore. Any comic content I do “hide behind a paywall” will never be more expensive than your average Starbucks coffee. If you still feel that’s too expensive, all I can say is I hope that the stuff I do post for free is fun and entertaining for you. I appreciate your interest in my work, and hope you can understand and appreciate why I’m making these changes.

For everyone else, I look forward to your feedback and support, and hope I can make the transition over to the new format as smooth as possible. ^_^

Feb 17

Clearly this is a poor representation of my musical interests; I didn’t hit one MJ song during the 20. My first one would have been #22, with “Jam”. Man, if you went by this you wouldn’t know that the majority if what I actually listen to on a daily basis is MJ. So yeah. Meme FAIL. lol

Feb 07

Make that Change

Something’s gotta change.

For a long time now, I’ve not been very happy with my life or my work. It’s been extraordinarily frustrating for me because, at a glance, I am doing exactly what I always wanted to be doing. I’m writing and drawing my own comic, which has been fairly successful and continues to grow each year. I’m a self-employed artist who sets her own prices and her own schedule. I’m in control of my career 100%.

Most of the time though, in practice, it doesn’t feel that way. While I do enjoy working on BPD, there are definitely times where the 3-a-week posting schedule has forced me to churn out pages I was less than happy with, to produce content simply so there would be content to post. When I’m not working on BPD, my time is spent working on commissioned work for other people which, while rewarding and satisfying to a point, it drains all of my creative energy to the point where I have hardly anything left for when I DO get the time to work on personal projects.

I’m not at my burn-out point. I passed it months ago, and have been running on fumes ever since.

I have no intention on quitting BPD forever. I enjoy writing and drawing these characters, and have a lot of stories I would still like to tell with them. However, I’m slowly coming to the realization that the daily format just doesn’t work for me anymore. When I have a long story to tell, I feel forced to rush through it in order to not spend half a year on one plot line. And if I do let a story run for months (as the most recent “Shadow in the Basement” storyline), I’m not able to do short one-off gags or topical jokes because I don’t want to interrupt the main story.

I’m just not sure how I want to proceed from here. The main idea right now that appeals to me is, once year 4 finishes at the end of May, to continue doing BPD comics as self-contained stories, releasing them in PDF form for purchase (VERY cheaply, around $1.99-$2.99 I guess) and possibly collecting them in book form whenever there’s enough of them. I’d also like to start doing them in color, and maybe change up the format a little bit.

One shot comics would still be posted for free to a blog for anyone who wants them, as well as other content: reviews for games, movies, or TV shows, art how-to videos, animations, and other stuff. Heck, if I can find someone who knows how to develop games for smart phones I’d love to work with them on some stuff (if that’s YOU, get in touch!) I know I want to do SOMETHING else along side the comic, I just haven’t settled on exactly what that thing (or things) would be yet.

The other elephant in the room - something which artistic types typically don’t like to discuss, but it’s still extremely important - is the financial aspect. 3 1/2 years I’ve been working on BPD and 90-95% of my income still comes from commission work. Commissions eat up a LOT of my time, which provides something for one person. I’d much rather be spending that time and effort on artwork and content LOTS of people can enjoy that also allows me to pay my bills and my rent. This isn’t to say I want to stop doing commissions forever, but I’d like it to be supplementary income to things like comics, merch, and other more reliable sources. I’ve even considered the idea of an optional subscription service for a few bucks a month that would give you access to bonus content or deals, but again that’s still up in the air.

Whatever I do, 3 things need to change: (1), The current schedule, format, and pacing of BPD just doesn’t work with where I want to take it anymore, (2) I need more flexibility in my day-to-day work so I’m not just doing the same old thing week after week, month after month, and (3) I need to rework my business model to lower my reliance on commissions to make a living AND make my income more reliable and predictable. And I’d like to do those 3 things while pissing off as few people as possible. Because let’s be honest; I wouldn’t be doing what I do without the support of everyone who reads my comic, checks out my artwork, or buys a book or drawing. I want to make sure YOU guys like where I end up just as much as me.

I am 100% open for your input, questions, and suggestions. If there’s something your concerned about, tell me. If you have something you’d perhaps like to see, suggest it. If you’re a creator who is or has been in a similar situation, I’d LOVE to hear from you. I still haven’t settled on what I’m going to be doing, or even when, but any outside perspective is definitely welcome. When I make the chance, I want it to be the RIGHT change.

Thank you in advance for your support and understanding. ^_^