NoRights Productions

Status of the Blog: 1-31-12

Ben — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:12:57 +0000

I’ve been retooling the home page for awhile and I’m starting to like the changes. Basically all the stuff in the sidebar was looking off balance to me so I decided to change the layout. It’s really my goal to make this something of a hub/landing page for people to find all the stuff I put elsewhere on the network. When I blog you can still get to it and I suspect most people will find my blogs when I link them anyway.

Remember blogging? Yeah, I’d like to do some more of that but I’m disciplining myself to finish working on comics first before I burn any energy writing here. As for comics, 2071 has updated all of January so far and I’m pretty happy about that. Still working out the kinks of a regular workflow but we’re getting there. There’s something about the equilibrium of a weekly and daily routine.

Site changes include a couple of things. There’s the portfolio which should be self-explanatory. There’s also an events section where I’ll be listing all my upcoming convention appearances.

2071 Returning in 2012

Ben — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:00:35 +0000

Starting January 1st 2071 will be updating regularly again. I’ll run the last page of chapter 1.0 on Sunday, the first, and 1.1 starts that Monday.

Commissions Open – Gallery Added

Ben — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:00:26 +0000

If you’ve ever been interested in getting some art from me I’ve put together a nice commissions page with a handy dandy form for requesting, complete with some rough price estimates. I also put up a gallery with some examples of my work.

Don’t let the prices scare ya – I’m flexible depending on the piece you have in mind. And if there’s something specific you’d like done that isn’t listed feel free to ask.

NoRights Podcast: Episode Seven – The Posh Panda and Dori-Mingu

Ben — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:00:38 +0000

This weekend I had a fun skype chat with some friends of mine from Twitter – Amanda, AKA The Posh Panda, and Jordan, AKA Dori-Mingu. We talked for over 2 hours and even though I trimmed it down it’s still kinda long.

Stuff we talked about:

I’m exhibiting at Mid-Ohio Con October 22-23. I’ll post my artist alley table info once I get it. Visit the convention’s site for more info.

I showed them a fun computer game I’d recently heard about, Kerbal Space Program. We discussed our love of BMAR which has sadly been on hiatus lately. We also expressed our love for synchtube and for Kolchak the Night Stalker (including a weird scene in the 2005 reboot where the original Carl Kolchak is digitally inserted into a scene with his modern counterpart) and the Russian Winnie the Pooh.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We also have a chuckle over some videos by Rob Liefeld. One where he’s talking about an infamous drawing he did of Captain America and another where he’s drawing while driving.

Click here to view the embedded video.

EDIT: MP3 quality changed to reduce file size

Poster by Gerry

Ben — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:00:03 +0000

I’d like to show you all this awesome poster by my friend Gerry Swanson.

Some of you might know him from his glorious bad movie night BMAR. Gerry is a man of many talents – video game design, comics, and most recently scrimshaw. He’s currently doing commissions and selling some of his rad art on Etsy.

Funny cellphone pic gallery down for now

Ben — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:05:27 +0000

I moved off of the Wootumblog plugin because I wanted to change themes and the functionality it added wasn’t worth fussing with code. I originally added it in the hopes I’d blog more. I think I made maybe 2 posts since I installed it. (Of course that has more to do with my anxieties about blogging in general but that’s neither here nor there) Regardless, the fact that disabling the plugin makes any image posts made with it barren is a good enough reason to stop using it. I might just start posting the gallery again on tumblr, I don’t know. I really don’t want to rely on a plugin that can break or become outdated but I haven’t done much with WordPress’s built in media handling functionality.

Really I think this all comes down to how I’m going to be using this blog. I feel like I should be on here posting about the cool stuff I’m working on but I don’t have a routine for writing posts that doesn’t eat up my time to work. Then again I discovered yesterday that my daily work flow could probably be extended if I take more regular breaks so I should probably just retool my day.

Status of the blog 5-26-11

Ben — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000

I’ve been working on chapter 1.1 of 2071. I scanned all the pencils I had and have been drawing digitally this week. I went from working in 600 dpi to 300 which has made both file sizes and actual drawing sizes more manageable. I really like the stumpy pencil photoshop brush (V2) though I’m still trying to settle on a proper inking brush. I downloaded this one but haven’t tried inking anything with it yet. There’s a lot of stuff I’ve known about in photoshop but never used that much until recently. I made an action that expands a selection by 2 pixels and fills it with the foreground color. Right now I’m using it to fill spaces while inking though it should come in handy when I’m coloring again. I know folks who swear by the flatten and multifill plugin. I also really like the floating lineart and convert white to transparent actions.

I’m trying to get into the habit of waking up at 5 and working on 2071 until noon or so, then winding down by experimenting with pin ups and stuff for a gallery. Problem is I tend to be in the starting frame of mind early in the morning. Once I’ve been drawing a few hours the part of my brain that decides how to lay out a new image shuts off. It’s hard to get out of render and refine mode. Usually I get stuck looking for references and don’t start drawing again. I need to get better at giving myself assignments for the day. I’ve got lists of images to draw I just need to rough them out enough so I can transition to them later when I’m starting to lose it.

In other news, I’m enjoying following people on tumblr nowadays since there’s a bunch of people on it. Haven’t posted anything on it since I stopped feeding my twitter into it but I might drop some of my experiments in there. It’s neat for following inspirational image accounts and I actually talk to people I know on there. Really I’m just looking for real conversation at this point. So many people set these things up as little outposts for themselves and it’s like seeing a bunch of billboards that all say “Buy my book!” Either that or I get the feeling people are talking to me while they happen to be checking their iphone and doing 5 other things. That’s sort of convenient I guess but I’m not a game for people to pause.

Feeling like you’ve done something

Ben — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Something I struggle with fairly regularly is the need to feel like I’ve accomplished anything. Certainly there’s the macro sense of what have I done with my life; does it have any meaning; will anything I’ve done matter 5, 10, 100 years after I’m gone – that sort of thing. But then there’s the micro, the question of whether I’ve wasted my day or not, whether I’ve spent too many hours on something, even down to the hour and minute in some cases. I find if I look at the clock and think I won’t have enough time to do something great and extraordinary I won’t even attempt. You put enough non starts up against each other and that’s useful hours and days that aren’t happening out of fear. Is it the same fear I had when I would start a sketchbook, draw on a couple of pages, then decide the book wasn’t one whole and perfect thing and stop? There was a time when I would start a sketchbook, get frustrated, and turn it upside down and start on the other side. Neither times would I finish and I would feel disappointed that I didn’t create anything of real value.

As a creative individual there are stages through the process that we need to learn to embrace. First comes the brainstorming stage. You could also think of it as brain spilling or dumping. You plop everything you have out of your mind. You empty it. This will give you the first draft, the general. From there you begin editing and refining, tuning and making precise, forming the specific. The specific is the difference between the bland or stock and, say, the unique. If I was asked to draw a picture of a wagon wheel I could draw something that meets all the technical requirements of a wagon wheel. It can have all the spokes, the circular shape, and even be very proficiently rendered. On the other hand, if you asked me to illustrate an image of a wagon wheel from a wagon along the Oregon trail that would be a very different wheel than our generic archetype. Now we’re sure it would be made of wood, we figure the quality of the woodworking would vary depending on what kind of wagon it came from, it might be new and fresh if the journey is just starting or it could be worn and ready to fall apart. There’s so many variables and characteristics to put into the visual information now. That wheel, as big or as small a part of the over-all thing being created, tells a story now. It’s not the same as reaching into our stock file and selecting “wagon wheel” anymore. It’s a matter of rendering that specific wagon wheel.

Part of my brain has to be concerned with the general to the specific. Another part has to be concerned with the procedural. I need to decide what I’m going to be illustrating, what I need to be writing, where is this all going. Am I drawing a sketch for my own amusement? A study to help flesh out a bigger piece? Is this a one shot stand alone book or will it be a larger collection? Determining scope and scale is something I have trouble with sometimes and I think it goes back to that same fear that gave me trouble in finishing or even functionally using a sketchbook. Every project doesn’t have to be some magnum opus that will become one of the great wonders of the world. Sometimes the thing I’m working on right then should just be the thing I’m working on just then. There are creatives out there who have to produce on a schedule, who have to have so many words a day, so many articles a week, so many pages of their next book done. If you’re doing 365 comic strips a year it is very easy to slip up and only do one a day too close to that day when you have no ideas. Can you fall behind and just not have a strip the next day if you don’t have an idea or you’re sick and can’t draw it? Not if your daily bread and butter comes from having that new comic up. That’s an entirely different bear to wrestle. I wouldn’t say quality versus quantity because you can spread quality out. I could dedicate my entire life to this one thing, this one work, this one piece – but how stressful would that be? Should a life’s work be one thing people could either take or leave or should it be a body of different work and different projects over time?

A person can get consumed with thinking too much and not actually doing or starting. That nagging little fear can creep into your mind while you’re working. Many is the day I come down to my studio, ready with my slingshot to take down Goliath only to spend my day searching the pebbles for the one perfectly aerodynamic rock that I plan on hurling through the air some day. It’s too easy to get interested in something else when you’re working on a project. It’s too easy to develop Next Big Thing-itis. What part of a relationship does everybody like the most? The early part, the one where you’re just discovering and learning about each other, where there’s all potential and things are going to be awesome this time. It’s like making a New Year’s resolution. Starting tomorrow you’re going to hike 10 miles a day, eat better, and save the world. And so it goes with working on something else. The grass is always greener on the project you’re not working on now but could be, maybe tomorrow. Or maybe never. Maybe you’ll get a week or a month into that project and decide, nah, you’re not feeling this anymore. Better to trash everything and start somewhere new. Now there’s a time and a place for putting things down, yes, but what do you do if you’re habitually starting new projects? People can spend years on false starts and feel lost.

Maybe our next big project should be keeping our current project exciting. Maybe we need to put on a nice suit, take our project out to a fancy restaurant, and remind ourselves why we’re so good for each other. (Metaphorically speaking, of course) One project can have so many different angles and approaches that you can make yourself excited about it for years to come. Or you could use it as a springboard to something you do have that passion and longevity for. Say you’ve been doing a comic for a year or two about a couple of guys who sit on their couch and play video games, (Because we all know that’s never been done before) and you discover you really like making up the intricate stages of the imaginary games these guys play. Maybe you really want to write a fantasy novel. Maybe you really want to design a game. Or maybe you just enjoy making witty and amusing parodies of current games. Whatever it is and whatever you do, find what you enjoy about something and do it. And if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing maybe you shouldn’t be doing it.

Status of the Blog 3-24-11

Ben — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:00:55 +0000

It’s been awhile since I’ve written one of these. I’d probably try to record it as a podcast but I’ll get to why I’m not doing that later. First thing’s first – Hi. How’s it goin’? Things have been busy. I’ll try to break it down.

Comics

I’m working on chapter 1.1 of 2071. I had hoped to bring it back early in March but the advertising campaign I was planning for it on that date fell through. I decided it’s better to try to make the best pages I can instead of trying to stick to some arbitrary deadline. That said I really want this comic to go live again as soon as possible.

Rebuild

If you’ve been following me on twitter you’ve most likely seen my highs and lows of working on the site. Google marked it as serving up malware because I had an iframe injection issue. I decided to rebuild the network entirely so I could clean up directories, make things work a little smoother, and safeguard against future problems. Though my hand was somewhat forced I’m glad I did it and all my sites should be running better now, save a few finagling details.

Minor Issues

You’ll see the occasional weird text character pop up in archived posts. This is because WordPress’s post importer, though improved from the time I split the sites up originally, is still imperfect. It’s just gonna happen with archived posts whenever they get imported. I’ll try to clean them up when and where I can.

The cellphone photo gallery isn’t displaying in the sidebar anymore because all the widgets I used for it aren’t compatible with Woo Themes’ Tumblog plugin. Posts made with that plugin don’t act like other posts which makes converting them a pain. And so far it’s the best solution for simple content posting. I figure I’ll find something that’ll work eventually. For now they’ll just run on the site like regular posts.

Podcasting

The mic on my headset died. I have other mics but they’re not as easy to use (long cables requiring adapters, requires batteries, yadda yadda) and doing episodes quickly/regularly relies on simplicity. I’m picking another one up soon.

I finally submitted the podcast to the iTunes directory. This should make it easier for people to find and share. Just subscribe in iTunes or whatever podcast catcher you prefer and you’ll get the latest episodes when they come out. I know I wouldn’t be able to keep up with online content as well as I do now (which is still pretty poorly :/ ) without feeds.

Retro Gaming

I’ve always been a super casual gamer but I do like to tinker with stuff. I’ve gotten into watching Let’s Plays and other old school game reviews online and it’s made me want to check out games I’ve missed. I’ve been playing around with stuff in Boxer which takes DOSBox and flavors it for OS X.

My first computer was a Performa that ran System 7 so finding ways to run that old OS and the programs I still have for it is a nice nostalgia trip. Still sorting out the best setup for that though I’ve found several good solutions.

Minecraft

Still love this game. I’ve been building on a survival multiplayer server most of the time. I also have my single player game blinged out with all sorts of mods to keep it lively. There’s just all kinds of different gameplay possible with it. I’d like to do a video tour of my SP game though I might just make that another Crafting Mines episode. We’ll see.

That’s some of the stuff I’ve been up to, excluding family/friends and a few things I’d like to do some dedicated blogs about. I definitely want to go into detail about the system I’ve been using to get organized and some new stuff I have here in the studio. Basically the plan these days is to work in the studio early on comics and then do other stuff to unwind. I’ll post more about it as more stuff gets done.

NoRights Podcast: Episode Six – Ben Talks RSS

Ben — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:00:53 +0000

On this episode of the NoRights Podcast Ben talks about stuff. Particularly reading webcomics with RSS, what he’s looking forward to with WordPress 3.1, and of course he talks about Minecraft’s 1.3 Beta.