A Little Sneak Peek at “Mage Punk and the Final Flame!” Now in the Works

by on January 5, 2021

Between regular daily tasks, teaching myself UI/UX, and just being an adult in general, I’ve been taking the time to work on Mage Punk Archives in piecemeal here and there. I just wanted to take a quick moment to give you guys a little peek at the next comic that I’m working on.

  • Mage Punk and the Final Flame Part 1 WIP

Mage Punk and the Final Flame! Part 1

If you browse through the blog, you’ll find evidence of my trying to start this one years ago; then it never happened. At the time, I wanted Mage Punk to be this long, ongoing comic series; but I think maybe that was a little too ambitious for past-me. There’s a lot of story I want to tell; but I think it’s best if I tell it in shorter segments than originally planned. I also want these comics to read as their narratives that can be independent of the whole. Interstellar Mage Punk: Epilogue x Prologue was a way for me to experiment with said shorter format. Beginning with the end of the world is my way of saying that nothing in Mage Punk Archives is a spoiler; it’s all a part of one big story and now you know how it ends.

There’s already a lot of work that I did in the past for Mage Punk and the Final Flame; when it was being written as a longer project. Rather than being wasteful and abandoning it, I’m going to break it down into something more manageable. I do have to change a few things around so that it can standalone. as its own narrative.

Unfortunately, the amount of previously finished work combined with the new work I have to do would mean a much longer comic than the format I’m aiming for. To that end, I have to break Mage Punk and the Final Flame up into parts. If I can mange it, I’d like to keep it to just two parts but I can’t promise anything. The first part is going to be 12 pages long; the next part after could be as long as 16 pages depending on rewrites, but I don’t want to think that far ahead yet; lest I psyche myself out.

I’ll try to dedicate a future post to outlining the specific work that needs be done; complete with work-in-progress pics and examples of old work that needs redoing. As with Epilogue x Prologue, I’ll be holding off on posting any finished pages until they’re all complete. Until then, you can keep up with updates by subscribing to email notifications and following me and/or Mage Punk Archives on Twitter!

 Comment 

MPA’s Homepage isn’t living up to its full potential

by on January 5, 2021

In my previous post, I mentioned wanting to learn more about UI/UX Design. I’m actually in the process writing up another post on some it. The topic of that particular post is concerned with the overlaps between UI/UX design and graphic design as whole. It covers what I already know about design and how it can easily translate over to UI/UX. One thing that’s glaringly obvious as I study examples of good UI/UX design is that this site’s homepage is a mess.

In my humble defense, this website is built on a rather antiquated model of how most webcomic sites are designed. It’s something I’m definitely planning on addressing in the near future. Since my last post, I’ve made a few minor changes to the look of the site. For one I’ve changed how post titles look; added my gravatar and some non-menacing rounded corners. I’ve also decreased the number of blog pages on the homepage from 3 posts to only one; having a home page blog while there’s a perfectly good dedicated blog page just seems a little redundant.

It’s possible that I’m working with the hammer and chisel equivalent of modern web design tools; but I’m proud of the progress I’ve since beginning this site and everything I’ve learned so far. I’ve been messing around with site building since the dawn of Angelfire in some of the earlier days of the internet. I think this is as close to having a real hobby as I’m gonna get since playing Magic the Gathering in high school.

I’ve thought of taking this hobby to a more ridiculous levels by building satellite Mage Punk sites on other web builders. Maybe I’ll construct a whole site in Notepad using all the HTML and CSS I’ve learned until now.

 Comment 

New Year’s Wishes from the Mage Punk Archives

by on January 2, 2021
If Mage Punk Archives is anything, it's an archive of humanity's potential.

An Archive Off-topic

I’m dreadfully aware that a lot of the stuff I blog about here isn’t very relevant to the themes of Mage Punk Archives as a whole. There’s a lot of me ranting into the void and not enough actual content. Some of that is due in part to my personal and work life; the struggle to keep a roof over my head makes creating the aforementioned content a bit difficult. Rather than virtually thinning myself out by posting on various platforms, I find it easier to stay focused by keeping everything I do in one archive. Unfortunately, this means the lines between my goals for this site, my personal life, and my professional life will need to stay blurred a little longer as I continue to navigate through life.

Tying it all together

Eventually, I’ll do my best to tie it all back into the themes of Mage Punk Archives; but I won’t make any promises. At the time of writing this post, I’m certain that I’m mainly chatting into the void by myself; but that’s okay! I want this site to continue as a learning experience for myself; and any curious souls that may one day find themselves clicking through and browsing the more pointless stuff that I’ve put up here.

I think one lesson that I want Mage Punk Archives to impart is that one never stops finding their voice. The World around us is ever changing and one way or another we ourselves change along with it. It’s important that we never quit striving to reach our Maximum Potential; the best way to achieve that is by always aiming to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be.

Thank you kindly to anyone that has taken the time to read this or any other post on this site. I know the new decade of this millennium got off to a rough start; but every year, month, day is a new opportunity to make it incredible. There’s nothing humanity can’t achieve when it works together.

♥ Happy New Year ♥

 Comment 

Self-Teaching UX/UI Design in an Evolving Tech World

by on December 13, 2020

Lately, I find myself interested in learning more about UX/UI design. Scrolling through my older blog posts, it’s no surprise that I pride myself on the design of this site; granted, I’m using a self-hosted WordPress installation with ComicPress running ComicEasel to achieve what I needed. I also taught myself some CSS, HTML, and how to use a web browser’s inspect tool to get the site to look how I wanted. Looking at it now, I’m proud of my progress on the site so far.

As recently as a few years ago, I noticed a rising interest in the field of UX/UI design. Every other ad on social media was for a UX/UI design certification. I didn’t think too much of it at the time; and as someone who already has a Bachelor’s in an art/design field, I didn’t consider pursuing it formally. At the time, building this site was more of a hobby than anything.

The work I’ve put into this site has me wondering about a career in UX/UI. Maybe I can use what I’ve learned to help create some interesting websites for any interested clients. It might be fun to work as part of a group towards towards creating some compelling and effective UX designs.

Reflecting on old UX design decisions

  • Mage Punk Archives before considering UX
  • Mage Punk Archives after considering UX

A before and after look at MagePunkArchives.com early on VS today

Later in the site’s development, I decided to use a single column layout instead of using a side-bar as in the initial layout for the site. I like the thought of my illustrations being a driving force behind the user experience on my site. As such, I thought a single column layout would be the best way to achieve this.

Though it initially began as primarily a webcomic site, I later decided I could also present the other content here in a kind of storybook fashion. The idea was that the content of the site, this “archive” was being presented on this “scroll”. There needed to be a certain harmony between text and image to compel readers into scrolling down the site. I hadn’t yet realized that I was already thinking about my site’s UX before I actually knew UX was a thing.

As of current, I’m content with the site’s layout. I can easily upload my comic, make a post, or add various other types of content to any of the other pages here. With that in mind, I want to take things to the next level and learn more about UX/UI design on a professional level. I think it might be fun to blog about what I learn here and apply it towards improving this site further.

 Comment 

Some New Art and a Quick Update

by on October 11, 2020

Hello all~

I just wanted to chime in real quick to say I’m still very much alive and working on stuff. I’ve created some art and put work into other things that aren’t yet ready to go out into cyber world; (But I’ll give you a little preview in this post~)

First, Some New Fan Art: The Eighth Holder of ONE FOR ALL; All Might!

  • The Eighth Holder of ONE FOR ALL
  • All Might!

I’ve been wanting to catch All Might in my style for a while now. I have strong feelings about the dichotomy of his two designs; and how they’re portrayed throughout the story of My Hero Academia. Eventually, I want to create a new piece that portrays Strong Might in the same mood and tone as Skele-Might.

Rating: 3 out of 3.

Then, A Quick Look at the Things I’m Working On…

Finally finished the back cover; and and finishing inside back cover illustrations for Interstellar Mage Punk. While I was at it, I finished the inside front cover; I may go back and fill the rocks in.

I want to give my comics the feeling of being like short individual books. With that in mind, I think I should put something on the “insides” of my covers. Something similar to manga publishers put certain panel art for the filler pages they use to ensure chapter covers start on the correct side of the book. I guess that makes these one page comics?

Mage Punk and the Final Flame (part 1?)

I also went back and organized some earlier pages that I’ve already begun work on into separate shorter books. The goal, is to tell to tell the story in smaller chunks. I want each comic to stand on it’s own as an individual narrative while still being part of a larger sequence. For anyone who happens upon my site, I want their time here to be a small adventure for them. When I have far more stories up than I currently do, I want them to read my comic without feeling like they’re behind in some way.

Mage Punk and the Final Flame (part 2?)

To that end, I was originally gonna try to set stories to an eight page minimum; but it doesn’t feel like I can easily break this next part into smaller sections that can stand up well on their own in a satisfying way. At the time, I created this part of the story with the idea of trying to build up momentum for a larger story. Now, splitting it up into parts doesn’t feel right; so my goal here is to figure out how to gracefully slam the breaks on this one and bring it to a satisfying conclusion. This one’s probably going to take a while but I’ll keep you posted.

Rating: 3 out of 3.

I created a Twitch avatar and some color variants commissioned by my best friend! Go check our her Twitch channel, RhiLimePie!

Rating: 3 out of 3.

Also, I’ve revisited my old tumblr.

It’s not important, but if you wanna check it out, here is link.

Rating: 3 out of 3.

That’s about it.

I have a few more small commissions to work on and then I can get to the other stuff. I’ve been having a lot of fun making the things that I have this year and I’m so happy that I’ve been able to make as much progress as I have despite everything that’s going on The most important thing is keeping up the momentum while trudging through the thick plagued jelly that is 2020. But I believe in us.

 Comment 

New Video: “Let’s Draw! With Tables! The First Video!”

by on September 28, 2020

Jake Fox! On Video!

Hello all~ I made a time lapse video of a sketch I did in one of my smaller sketchbooks. Give it a look below and let me know what you think in the comments section!

Creating this was a major learning experience. I hope to release more videos in the future, as I get more familiar with the process of video editing. My end goal is to create art time lapse videos, featuring music playlists with a focus mainly on chiptune and other video game music. A big thank you to the music artists that lent their talents to this video.

Video Playlist

↓ Read the rest of this entry…
 Comment 

What a Wild Year it Has Been!

by on August 22, 2020

The Year 2020 Rings in the New Decade Chaotically

It’s been about a year since the last time I posted and I can’t believe just how much has happened/changed in such a short span of time. Around the time of my last post, I was working at Blick Art Materials in Miami as an Associate Manager; and we were just getting around to the busiest part of the year for art retail. Back-to-back it was Fall Back to School, the Holidays, and then finally Winter Back to School as we went into the new decade. Needless to say that it was a very busy year as usual.

2020 marked the start of my seventh year working art retail at Blick Art Materials. 2020 also marked the turn of a decade; it also marks the chance for mankind to experience the old browser-based pandemic game first-hand. Needless to say, Covid-19 has been a devastating and divisive force to get the ball rolling for the new decade. As a result of COVID, I’ve had more time to work on art, this site, and putting more content up for visitors to enjoy.

Here’s a brief rundown of all the new content you can find on Mage Punk Archives as of writing this post:

Interstellar Mage Punk: Epilogue X Prologue

Interstellar Mage Punk was initially a side project inspired by the album Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar by Disasterpeace. Listening to that album I imagined what it would be like to see the characters of Mage Punk Archives re-imagined in roles appropriate for a space opera type of story. I imagined a future in which the people of Orbyss are forced to live in outer space. Up to this point, I only ever thought of telling the story of Mage Punk Archives in a very linear manner. Mage Punk was to be this epic story that spanned generations of Jake and the other character’s families. We were to see Orbyss evolve through their eyes. Unfortunately, telling Mage Punk that way would mean having to wait before getting to all the cool parts. I didn’t want to spoil anything for myself or my potential readers.

↓ Read the rest of this entry…
 Comment