I've noticed I textwall a lot more when writing off the cuff or doing last-minute rewrites to a storyboard. I'm trying to have my thoughts better organized before I begin pencilling. I bought some notebooks and wrote most of seasons eight and nine longhand, and it's really working. The pages look
much better now.
But in all honesty, I could do a whole comic with no speech bubbles (
and have), and these pinheads would
still find something to bitch about, because they are sad, broken little people who cannot
look outside their narrow little definition of "normal" to embrace new ideas.
Would
this be a good example of your most recent work? If so, there's definitely a significant improvement on the formatting. The words flow much more easily from bubble to bubble. Aesthetically, it's still jarring to have no speech in the second panel without at least bolding it. I'd strongly recommend investing in a mid to high quality tablet if you haven't done so already. If this work is truly your life's mission, you need to be able to invest in it as such. If you can't, then you need to find ways.
As for your speechless strips, the idea flow is decent. You can follow the action and understand what's going on pretty well in the gun chase scene. I had a little difficulty with the underground cables one, but that was more due to it being low res and having some small text.
But, of course people are going to have their opinions "even if" the one thing they call out the most isn't there. When you put yourself out there, you subject yourself to outside opinions. I, personally, don't love some of the character designs (
this baby looks off) or color choices (In the brightest light, some seem to be just a few shades darker than what's welcoming- it feels...dingy). There also is very little sensitivity to lighting (how that girl's face is lit up) and
An inconsistent sense of shadows (last frame.)
The thing is, you're right about certain things. Your comic
is better than Sonichu. But it could be more than that. You do have some sense of stylization and a practiced hand. You've been doing this for a very long time, and so there's a level of comfort and ease with what you draw. You're much closer than I think you think to getting a clean, polished look if you would just learn the tools to do it. Don't become complacent. Read your critiques, if they aren't worded unnecessarily cruelly. Compare your comic to others and ask "Could I afford to do more of______? Could this help my comic?" Try embracing new ideas.
Regardless of what you think of Garfield, Jim Davis made huge changes to the designs over time and people kept reading. I seem to recall it making the franchise even more popular.
You have a very negative view of the opinions of others. It seems to goes beyond "I don't give a fuck." and extend to "Fuck you for thinking things about my work that haven't occurred to me." It makes sense with what you've experienced in life, but it's extremely detrimental if you'd like to create anything that appeals to a group of people, of any size.
By the way, I think you'd find that many of us on this forum are actually terribly open minded people. If anything, we're more jaded than average to the perverse and controversial because of the very reason we joined. You've already seen on this thread people from all over the political spectrum, all over the world, from different socioeconomic backgrounds, and many many different interests. The vast majority of us get along without a hitch. Even when there are hitches, it gets resolved. People are willing to apologize and compromise. If we were all as broken and afraid of new things as you think, this community would have gone down in flames after the first few months.
Anyway, you need to make a choice: Do you actually want to make a successful comic, or do you want to make comics for yourself alone? If this is just a hobby to you, and you would prefer The Belch Dimension stays in its own insulated bubble, then you can ignore everyone and carry on. If not, you're going to have to start thinking objectively about your own work and welcome the opinions of the world in.
If you feel like you can't welcome those opinions, but you still really want that success, then it would do you worlds of good to step away from your comic for awhile. How long is up to you: a week, a month, a year or two, ten, it doesn't matter. Take however long you need to focus on other things, going back to just being a reader, even daring to critique other artists, taking up a completely different hobby, dedicating all your time to finding employment, whatever you need to do to make your life better and expand your worldview. Then, you could go back to your passion with fresh eyes and reevaluate where you are and where you'd like to be.
