[jho]

cool, weird flash site, just random dude doing stuff. nicely done
http://nails.hoogerbrugge.com/

another cool, weird site, kind of like storybook of some sorts but without any real goal, very nicely made. absurdist humor
http://www.book-of-numbers.com/

[Kuro]

do images count? because...




-J

[Kevin Birtcher]

Kuro, that is hilarious


Close observers may note my love of Top Shelf Comics, which has a free shipping deal going currently:
For the next 7 days (until Sunday December 14th), Top Shelf is waiving all domestic shipping charges on our new releases. Place an order of $40 or more and get free PRIORITYMAIL shipping to any US destination (guaranteed to arrive before Xmas).

OMGOSH, HERE'S A LIST OF THEIR BOOKS:
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/specialdeals

I bought a bunch of books during their last sale, and will likely buy more now.  Some of those comics are a STEAL at their prices.

[PONBIKI]

here are the funniest and worst movie rip offs ever made .... like Metal man, and When the day the earth stopped.

http://www.theasylum.cc/

http://www.halcyonpix.com/movies.php

check em out have a few laugh.

[King_Pong]

Not really cool exactly, but here's an interview with the CEO of Darkhose that I thought some of you may like to read

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13524.html

that covers the graphic novel market, the decline of individual comic issue sales, how economy effects the sales of comics, filesharing vs comics (manga scanlations and such, you people and your 50GB of manga scanlations know who you are), etc.

Mike Richards is an asshole.   Nobody would know WTF Gantz was if there hadn't already been a million people reading it online before darkhorse snatched up the rights.

There's similiar sentiment in the recording industry, where the companies don't seem to get that their sales suffer because of the truly epic quanitites of shit they try to pass off as music these days - they then say it's because people download stuff off of the internet.  Interestingly there was an article about a year or so ago about a shop in Denver where the owner said he believe's he's gotten more business because of sharing/pirating instead of in spite of it.  He claims it's basically free advertising, people download crummy MP3s off the internet, decide they like the music and come in to buy the real recording.
It's kind of like how I go to the library, find a book I like then buy a copy for myself if I think it's worth it.

The comic industry has unloaded heaps of shit on the public, and ignored/abandoned potential markets.  That's why sales today are miniscule compared to what they were decades ago.
It's too bad the automakers can't claim their current state is because people have been downloading cars off of the internet...  and not just that they've been producing the same old shit over and over again while overseas competitors have pursued new technologies and markets.

[Angie]

Pong, that would be the case if..



Gantz wasn't released on DVD a good few years prior to the manga getting released over here. I found out about Gantz through the anime, it's very likely a good number of people did too. The success of the Berserk manga probably helped DH want to take a chance on the series as well.

Obviously scanlations do help in some cases, that's how I test out a lot of series prior to buying them to see if I want to get into a 50 volume money sink or not. But when it comes to anime/manga fans, a lot of them are too cheap to spend money on stuff and just pirate everything. Look at The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, it was HUGE online but when Bandai licensed it, it didn't sell very well at all. As far as I know it's a similiar case with Lucky Star which had similiar internet fame.

Of course comics are cheaper than DVDs, but in my experience a good chunk of anime/manga fans are leeches who don't pay for anything.

[spaceninja]

Mike Richards is an asshole.   Nobody would know WTF Gantz was if there hadn't already been a million people reading it online before darkhorse snatched up the rights.

There's similiar sentiment in the recording industry, where the companies don't seem to get that their sales suffer because of the truly epic quanitites of shit they try to pass off as music these days - they then say it's because people download stuff off of the internet.  Interestingly there was an article about a year or so ago about a shop in Denver where the owner said he believe's he's gotten more business because of sharing/pirating instead of in spite of it.  He claims it's basically free advertising, people download crummy MP3s off the internet, decide they like the music and come in to buy the real recording.
It's kind of like how I go to the library, find a book I like then buy a copy for myself if I think it's worth it.

The comic industry has unloaded heaps of shit on the public, and ignored/abandoned potential markets.  That's why sales today are miniscule compared to what they were decades ago.
It's too bad the automakers can't claim their current state is because people have been downloading cars off of the internet...  and not just that they've been producing the same old shit over and over again while overseas competitors have pursued new technologies and markets.

That's ridiculous. The "try before you buy" aspect of freely available media, be it music or comics, can't compare to the loss of sales from a completely free alternative. With regard to music, people have a limited amount of disposable income so there's only so much more music they can buy, even if they are able to find more music they like. The preview aspect cuts the other way, too: the ability to preview music and buy songs individually allows people to avoid paying for things they don't want. That's not even considering the many people who simply choose not to pay for music at all, or only buy the music they really, really like.

Share of music purchases by age group, pink is youngest and the dark teal that is above all the others for the second half is oldest:


Unless you think music suddenly went to shit in 1999 it's hard to explain share of purchases dropping for the young and rising for the old with anything other than music piracy. Tech-savvy youngsters learned about it quickly and knew how to use computers, but  older people were set in their ways and continued to buy physical media. It wasn't older people buying more, overall sales started declining in 1999 as well.

Also, people have been saying new music sucks for decades and the constant is not that music quality is in permanent free fall but that tastes change and people judge older music selectively, by the songs that keep getting played years later, and forget all the shit that no one liked because it doesn't get played anymore.

Comics sales are similarly hurt by freely available substitutes online like scanlations. Additionally, alternate media have become more competitive, putting pressure on the comic market. In the heyday of comics in the 40s the media alternatives were books, movies, and radio. Since then television was invented and programming has increased both in quantity and quality. Home video makes it much easier and cheaper to watch movies. Video games take up a lot of kids' leisure time, and adults as well now. Comics used to be cheap entertainment for kids but today there are many alternatives to fill that niche.

What do you mean by "heaps of shit", anyway? What are the markets the comic industry has ignored or abandoned?

[King_Pong]

Girls for one (a big big one).  And the adoption of the comics code authority basically helped kill off all interest adults would have had in comics - since it basically regulated the industry to making children safe comics - under the assumption that only children are/should be interested in reading comics, a sort of self fulfilling prophecy. 

[justarhymes]

What a coincidence...  Napster started in '99.

[King_Pong]

Obviously Napster is the reason old folks started buying so much more music at the end of the 90s. 

[spaceninja]

Obviously Napster is the reason old folks started buying so much more music at the end of the 90s. 

The baby boomers aging and replacing previous old people who were less numerous and didn't buy as much music is obviously a factor but that would not create a stark change in a single year and it would cause sales to rise, all else equal, when in fact sales growth plummeted and sales began falling for years afterward.

I just don't get why you're so quick to pin all the blame on decisions made by industry executives in both cases. I'm sure they made any number of stupid decisions but there are other factors outside their control that are probably more substantial. Industries that have boomed have to deal with leadership that isn't perfect as well.

For example, in the case of the comics code the industry wasn't responsible for puritanical 1950s society and the moral panic surrounding comics that arose from it. What should they have done? Taken a defiant stance and provoked government regulation that would have been even more stringent? The code probably could have been phased out more quickly, but it couldn't have been avoided entirely no matter how wisely the situation was handled.

What I'm saying is that you can't just blame everything on poor decision making by individuals or even companies -- a lot of what happens in the comic industry and in other industries is outside the control of anyone inside them.

[King_Pong]

For example, in the case of the comics code the industry wasn't responsible for puritanical 1950s society and the moral panic surrounding comics that arose from it.

Just look at the sales they were making, society was not puritanical. Their audience was not puritanical. A few stupid people who didn't even know anything about comics were making a lot of commotion, and the industry over reacted to them.

What should they have done? Taken a defiant stance and provoked government regulation that would have been even more stringent?

The government likely would have done nothing, the industry thought they would save sales to young people by appearing to care and make "safe" comics that parents would approve of, but in turn lost their adult audience which a big was a big mistake in the long run, and something that would hurt them even more later  (for instance, an adult audience, if it had been maintained would not have suffered as much when video games became popular compared to the youth audience.)

The code probably could have been phased out more quickly, but it couldn't have been avoided entirely no matter how wisely the situation was handled.

The code never had to exist.  It could have been phased out immediately, but they were trying to use it as a sales tool - and that's also why it existed for such a long time.  They said we'll put the "seal of approval" on our comics, parents will see they're approved and safe, distributors will see they're approved and safe, and they'll keep buying them.  It was their way of negating the paranoia that had been created with Seduction of the Innocent.
There have been parallels in other industries too, an even more shallow exampled of which was the "BMA 6" sticker American bicycle companies used to put on their bicycles.  The sticker claimed that the bicycles were inspected for safety and quality - it appeared on bicycles made by companies that belonged to the BMA, and no others.  So salespeople could point out that the Huffy, Iverson, etc. were "approved" and "inspected" but the imported bicycles weren't (they did not have a sticker, not because they were unsafe, but because they were not made by companies in the BMA).  It was a sales gimmick, and like the comics code was created by the industry itself.  It did not make their bicycles any better - it just made them "approved" and thus apparently safer in the eyes of the consumer.  The CCA was basically the same gimmick, but in the long run ended up hurting the industry.

Actually there's another interesting parallel between these industries, at about the same time comic companies gave up on adult readers, so did bicycle companies.  They stopped making finer machines and started making sloppier ones because they thought only children would ride bicycles (and children don't care whether a frame is brazed or cheaply welded, or if the bike weighs a ton).  So when bicycle riding as a sport became popular in the 70s, they were caught with outdated poorly designed products that were of no interest to adults - and foreign companies had exactly what the market they were ignoring wanted. 

[Angie]

http://blasterkid.deviantart.com/journal/22128034/#comments

an inker who is working for DC I think, answering some questions DA people throw at him. Technical info on pens/paper/digital inking, advice on breaking into the biz, stuff like that. Probably nothing new but it's interesting. I don't know if he's still answering questions but it's still worth checking out

Here's an example

"How can I go from zero to famous in comics?"

"Funny this is one of the easiest and toughest questions at the same time.

The best bet is to work in a commercial style. Some people take that to mean copy someone else....but the reality is...and I'll use Drew Struzan as an example.

You have to really hit that main demographic which is the middle of the road.....Your stuff can't really be very challenging, or too far one way or another. If you can idealize each character in a very easily digestible way...more people are likely to be into your work. Drew Struzan, Norman Rockwell, Alex Ross all draw this very iconic version of reality....and millions of people love their work for that. It's consistent, it's always nice looking, and it's not going to change.

They still say the most popular flavor of Ice Cream in America is vanilla.....and the same goes for art and music. yeah some odd ball things will happen but overall....a fairly detailed, heroic, dynamic style is always popular in comics...and if you draw pretty people...well you'll have even more fans.

Your work should be exciting, but not chaotic, it should be clear and easy to digest in one quick glance....if you start getting really crafty with layouts you are going to immediately lose people.

There are a few guys who's work I really don't like...but they are very popular in comics. I understand why...they are artistic vanilla....and for a commercial field that is perfect.

It's nothing really 'new', the drawing is solid enough, and they don't really do anything that is going to challenge the medium or the main slew of fans that collect the books.....

so you really want to go for that middle of the road thing.

if you find yourself being a little more edgy, or out of the box....you just have to be really, really good at what you do.

hope that helps."

It's something that's very obvious but damn it sounds depressing haha unfortunately it is the reality if you are looking to go for one of the big companies

[King_Pong]

It's simultaneously good and bad advice.  You have to look at what he works with and what perspective he has on the issue.

For instance Tin-Tin is super popular - it is vanilla in terms of style but it is not  really "a fairly detailed, heroic, dynamic style" compared to American comics.  By contrast, Robert Crumb's comics have all of those qualities, but aren't vanilla - but are still pretty popular (considering).

Of course like he mentioned, if you're just really good at what you do, you can afford to be more off center artwise than most.

But then again, Jamie Hewlett probably has the ultimate mainstream style - a fair amount of detail, dynamic (and unlike tin tin - he varies his line width, and unlike Crumb, he draws pretty people sometimes too) - if he had paired with somebody that was capable of writing a mainstream story we probably wouldn't think of his art as being edgy at all.

[spaceninja]

For example, in the case of the comics code the industry wasn't responsible for puritanical 1950s society and the moral panic surrounding comics that arose from it.

Just look at the sales they were making, society was not puritanical. Their audience was not puritanical. A few stupid people who didn't even know anything about comics were making a lot of commotion, and the industry over reacted to them.

What should they have done? Taken a defiant stance and provoked government regulation that would have been even more stringent?

The government likely would have done nothing, the industry thought they would save sales to young people by appearing to care and make "safe" comics that parents would approve of, but in turn lost their adult audience which a big was a big mistake in the long run, and something that would hurt them even more later  (for instance, an adult audience, if it had been maintained would not have suffered as much when video games became popular compared to the youth audience.)

The code probably could have been phased out more quickly, but it couldn't have been avoided entirely no matter how wisely the situation was handled.

The code never had to exist.  It could have been phased out immediately, but they were trying to use it as a sales tool - and that's also why it existed for such a long time.  They said we'll put the "seal of approval" on our comics, parents will see they're approved and safe, distributors will see they're approved and safe, and they'll keep buying them.  It was their way of negating the paranoia that had been created with Seduction of the Innocent.
There have been parallels in other industries too, an even more shallow exampled of which was the "BMA 6" sticker American bicycle companies used to put on their bicycles.  The sticker claimed that the bicycles were inspected for safety and quality - it appeared on bicycles made by companies that belonged to the BMA, and no others.  So salespeople could point out that the Huffy, Iverson, etc. were "approved" and "inspected" but the imported bicycles weren't (they did not have a sticker, not because they were unsafe, but because they were not made by companies in the BMA).  It was a sales gimmick, and like the comics code was created by the industry itself.  It did not make their bicycles any better - it just made them "approved" and thus apparently safer in the eyes of the consumer.  The CCA was basically the same gimmick, but in the long run ended up hurting the industry.

Actually there's another interesting parallel between these industries, at about the same time comic companies gave up on adult readers, so did bicycle companies.  They stopped making finer machines and started making sloppier ones because they thought only children would ride bicycles (and children don't care whether a frame is brazed or cheaply welded, or if the bike weighs a ton).  So when bicycle riding as a sport became popular in the 70s, they were caught with outdated poorly designed products that were of no interest to adults - and foreign companies had exactly what the market they were ignoring wanted. 

Sorry to continue a derail that no one else likely cares about, but I got back from the holidays and have a few more things to say.

It simply isn't true that the comics industry created the code happily and without coercion. The code was a response to not just Wertham's book but to the televised senate hearings on comics and juvenile delinquency where industry leaders tried to defend their comics and were publicly excoriated. The hearings concluded that the industry needed to self regulate. When the senate tells you to self regulate while their constituents are literally burning comics it's not just friendly advice. Many states and cities had already banned crime and horror comics, so regulation was not just a theoretical concern and had already begun to hamstring the industry. Aside from that, you yourself mention that the industry did this in part to please distributors. A business where the product will not be distributed cannot function, and distributors and retailers refusing to carry objectionable comics was a mortal threat to publishers and part of the reason the code remained important long after the moral panic subsided.

Here's an article on the subject I found interesting:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/03/31/080331crbo_books_menand?currentPage=all

I understand your analogy to safety licensing in bikes, and licensing is certainly a common means for producers to both instill confidence in their product and exclude competition, but the situation with comics was very different in that the code was created under severe duress. It was a boon for companies that only published inoffensive comics, and I'm sure they were delighted with what happened and did all they could to encourage it, but the code drove many publishers out of business and hurt even more. To say the industry as a whole created the code to out of the misguided belief that the they would become more successful only selling inoffensive fare to children is a very hard sell and I really doubt that the code, or at least such a restrictive code, would have been created if not for the enormous furor and threat of legislation.

[King_Pong]

To some extent, buy when the movie industry, the music industry, the game industry began to "Self regulate" - instead of effectively banning their own products they instead opted to just give their products ratings indicating what was appropriate for which audience....  rather than just cutting those audiences off all together.

[Rah]

http://www.pimpthatsnack.com

Most people probably already know about this site, but i wanted to throw it in here because it always gives me a good laugh...also my friend made this one http://www.pimpthatsnack.com/project.php?projectID=348 and I am proud :]

For those of you who don't know, people get ordinary snacks like chocolate bars and such, and make them HUGE. HUUGGE.

[Nibbles]

Freaky owl...

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es52WQKLumI

...seriously, watch the whole thing.

[Elio]

http://www.posemaniacs.com/

Might be useful for some.

"Pose Maniacs supports all artists, including art students and people who study illustrations and mangas on your own. This blog is for uploading variety of poses for nude sketching, and introduces other FLASH training tools for drawing."

[(Pi)]

pose maniacs rock, i've used it for so many drawing sessions to just practice. they have an app for the iphone, which i would literally use everywhere.

[Kuro]

pose maniacs is pretty good. but that's what poser's for.

i've been without internet but getting it in small installments here & there while i should be working. the last time i was working i saw this. my favorite (non-fictional) astrophysicist talks about pretty cool shit for almost a half hour

Neil deGrasse-Tyson On Death by Black Hole

[CrimsonViper38]

pose maniacs is pretty good. but that's what poser's for.

i've been without internet but getting it in small installments here & there while i should be working. the last time i was working i saw this. my favorite (non-fictional) astrophysicist talks about pretty cool shit for almost a half hour

Neil deGrasse-Tyson On Death by Black Hole

I saw that guy on a history channel show about super disasters like megaeruptions in yellowstone and the methane content of the ocean rising high enough for it to spontaneously combust. You can tell he looooooves to scare ppl with science, and he loves to make it entertaining. Big kudos to him.

Idk if this has been posted yet. Its called "Imagining the Tenth Dimension". Blew my mind, but I got lost around dimension 6 or 7. I've kept it bookmarked all these years because I once had the intention but not the work ethic to draw a character in the 4th or 5th dimension.

Watch it- it's pretty damn cool. http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php

[(Pi)]

Ahhh, I remember Neil deGrasse and the tenth dimension, fun stuff. I think Stephen Hawking is still my favorite, but deGrasse takes a close second.

[Kuro]

Hawking's a punk. deGrasse Tyson all the way.

[Angie]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1141588/Holy-Smoke-Batwoman-makes-comic-book-comeback-red-headed-lesbian.html

yep, pretty cool in my eyes