The Big Site Update (Part 2)

by on April 11, 2018

After the Death of Phillip Mk. V

It was time to switch gears and work on something else for a little while. Up until that point I’d managed to do a few revisions to some of the comic pages that are up as well as first draft pencils of the rest of the 1st chapter. With that in mind I decided to start working on the site again.

If you scroll through the blog archives you’ll probably come across my “devlog” that I was writing as I first started putting this site together. It’s not the most ground breaking or beautiful thing in the digital world, but I’m fairly content for now. I’ve wanted my own site since the olden days in middle school when everyone was off on the net making their own Angelfire and Geocities.

I was hooked from the moment I found Angelfire’s old html editor and learned

<html>
<head>
<title>Mage Punk Archives</title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>

I think I still have an old website from my high school web design class stashed away on a hard drive somewhere. I’ll revisit that in the future. But for now, let’s outline the changes I’ve made since the update that didn’t happen in November.

First, I reformatted the website a little.

  • Created new icons for the menubar
  • Reformatted the website.
    • Changed the site width. Made it a little more compact.
    • Removed the sidebar
    • Recent posts on the front page are now more compact in appearance.
    • Added a Gallery and a placeholder page for the Shop.
    • Revised the About section a little.
      • Might just move this info to the bottom of the front page and turn this space into a Profiles section.
    • Tidied up the Archives page a little.
  • Uploaded comic revision and wrote full posts for each one
    • Created new comic title cards (seen on the front page)
    • Added published dates to the comic page titles to account for reordering.

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Absent But Not Gone

by on February 13, 2017

Final Flame HQ in some of its glory.

Staying alive and fed takes a lot of time and work.

Things have been so busy in my life that its been difficult to keep up with this comic of mine. Probably because I seem to insist it should have fully detailed environments on every page. Combined with working a full time job to evade poverty, it’s pretty difficult to scrounge that kinda time.

As a result of my hubris I’ve been completely absent from this site I call my baby. Thankfully, next week I’ll be taking a vacation from work that I’ll be able to use to finish more Mage Punk related work.

 

Building a world from scratch can be pretty arduous.

Since I’m trying to introduce readers to a fictional world that my partner and I are building from scratch, it feels extremely important that there be environments that can help anchor it as a believable place. I think that as the comic goes on, and I get to introduce readers to more of Chaos City and more of Orbyss in general, I’ll be able to take it easier on the environments and focus more on character focused pages.

Not that I don’t love doing the enviromental drawings, but it’s a major drag wanting to tell a story only to get bogged down by having to spend so much time on so much detail on a single page. Especially when I have so little time as it is. The next page after the one coming up has one more big set piece and after that the rest of this chapter will be mostly character interactions.

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More City; More Drawing

by on January 2, 2017

A Less Chewy Perspective This Time

You can get a lot done in 30 minutes with good references and Clip Studio Paint’s perspective ruler.

I’m working on getting the next MP out as soon as manageable. Here’s a sketch of an important building in this chapter in the meantime.

 

Until Next Time,

 

Thanks for reading

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Isometric Perspective is Chewier than Anticipated

by on November 21, 2016

Isometric Perspective WIP

Isometric Perspective Proves More Difficult Than Originally Believed.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I originally intended the next page to be a simple exchange of dialogue between characters. Then, I decided it would also be a great opportunity to show more of Fahrenopolis. Inspired by classic RPGs, using an isometric perspective seemed like a great way to focus on texture and color; particularly, Fahrenopolis’ affinity for brick and mortar masonry. It also seemed like a fun way to move the characters through the city. Since an isometric perspective is uniform in all directions, it’s easier to draw than a scene with a traditional view. Unfortunately, even though it’s an easier perspective, extra attention has to be paid to rendering all the extra little details.

Anyway, I’m working on it now. I ended up in a heck of a slump last month and progress fell to the wayside. With that in mind, if you ever come to the site and wonder, “where the heck is this guy??”, I’m pretty active on social media. Twitter especially. Tumblr sometimes. I often produce gems like this:

 

If you ever get tired of me not ranting in your feed about things or want to know if I’ve abandoned all hope, follow me.

With that, I leave you to build my city; brick by brick apparently.

 

Til next time,

 

Thanks for reading!

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This Site Isn’t Dead Yet!

by on October 28, 2016

MP 1-5 Jake Is happy to see you!

I’m not dead yet either!

This month has been a rollercoaster ride from start to finish. What little time I’ve had for Mage Punk has unfortunately been scarcer than usual. At the very least I’ve managed to spend the brunt of my free time thumbnailing the rest of chapter one. MP 1-5 is definitely on the way sooner rather than later and I’m hoping November treats me better than October did.

Additionally, I’ve made a few minor updates to the site. I’ve added graphics for the subheadings on the front page. There’s some actual info on the About page, though I have to rewrite it a bit. I also want to add some info about Orbyss Archives and yours truly. Eventually I want to add a Profiles page for character and location info; and a gallery page for showcasing artwork and graphics.

Suffice it to say that this site wasn’t at 100% when I released it. But I was so excited to put it out and I always feel so excited thinking about it! I just can’t wait to show you guys what I have in store! That said, I’ll leave you guys with a teaser for the next page.

MP 1-5 Preview

Until Next Time,

 

Get Some Sleep!

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Comic Panels Blurb

by on September 21, 2016

wp-image-1302968362jpg.jpg

I have a mental numbering system for the sizing of comic panels. The system based on how many panels of a specific size can fit on a single page. It’s similar to sizing for paper except that mixing and matching panel sizes is possible on a single page.

It’s also pretty modular but it’s hard to explain without using illustrations. With a little effort it could make writing formats for comics super easy.

Like any rules of thumb I imagine this system becoming super easy to break once learned thoroughly.

I’d love to write more about it in detail someday, once I can make illustrations and word it more clearly.

We’ll see in posts to come.

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