KellyKomics

I guess I've been wanting to make a comic for ages but have been scared that doing it traditionally just wouldn't keep up with the modern industry. (Tho I suppose there's a difference between working on a whole book at once rather than something serial) Anyway I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I love asks like this! Although I'm gonna answer it in two parts, and the second part is more important so it comes first.

"I've been waiting to make a comic for ages but I'm scared that--"

Listen. Listen to me. I am like you. My brain is so good at dissecting all the reasons it might not make sense to do a thing in a particular way, which is often a way to get out of doing a thing at all. I have practiced this my whole life. I am talking to myself as much as anyone else when I say that art is very rarely practical and even more rarely efficient and it is desperately important to fall in love with the impractical, sensual, un-plan-out-able parts of making pictures come alive.

If you're at a stage in your career when you need to become economical with your work in order to make a living from it, we can have a different conversation, but I don't think that's what this question is about! If you've never made a comic and you want in your heart of hearts to make a comic and the fear of "keeping up" is stopping you from doing that, I want to help you set that fear on fire.

Art is about pleasure. If it is pleasurable for you to draw on paper, MY GOD, DRAW ON PAPER! If it is pleasurable for you to ink by hand? To rule out the lettering guidelines with an Ames guide? To lovingly render all the individual links in a chainlink fence? Who am I to stop you?!

Some of the most popular webcomics from my youth—comics that still enjoy massive followings today—ran on unfathomably erratic update schedules. Hell, I just reblogged a post from someone coming out of the woodwork to share some art for the first time in three years and people are going absolutely feral over it!

Sometimes making art takes a long fucking time. Sometimes being alive stops you from making art for a long fucking time. There are circumstances where making efficiency your god is necessary, but your first comic doesn't have to be one of them.

Figure out what brings you pleasure and draw from there. Start with something short. Let yourself play. I say this like it's easy and I know it's the hardest thing imaginable some days, but I'm always trying to remember. Every artist you know is trying to remember.

don’t fall in love, don’t go by the river, don’t go to the sea, don’t talk to sailors, don’t gamble, don’t ramble, don’t go North, don’t go North-West, don’t stand in the wind, don’t dance with anyone named Sally, Sue, Mary, Ann, or Barbara, don’t go to the pub (but if you do go to the pub at least don’t drink, and if you do drink at least pay for your own drink, and if you are absolutely broke and have to let someone else pay for your drink then at the very least do try not to forget to toast everyone you know whom you think might be there very loudly and possibly multiple times), don’t lend money, don’t borrow money, don’t wish you had more money, don’t make plans to make more money, don’t start working for a new employer, absolutely do believe anyone who says they will try to kill you, curse you, or maim you, absolutely do believe anyone who says you might die, turn down every invitation to go a-hunting, horse-riding, or a-courting, be wary of flute players you meet on your path, don’t dance with satanic men in black coats, don’t marry off your daughters to the first man who’ll have them, and don’t promise your true love any herbs you can’t readily plant and gather in your own garden. 

Broom, as in the plant, should be given a wide berth.

Stay away from the greenwood side, too.

If your name is Janet, change it.

But not to Margaret, or any diminutive thereof.

If you are an unmarried lady and have sex, you will get pregnant. No good will come of it.

If you are a young lady and a soldier promises to “marry you in the morn,” it means he’s already married. And has kids. And he’s not going to marry you anyway. Even if you’re pregnant. Which you will be.

If you’re a young unmarried lady with child, and your pregnancy embarrasses or inconveniences someone else, consider yourself a sitting duck. Don’t meet with your young gentleman alone, or at odd hours, or in isolated locations, even if he says he’s taking you to be married. Next thing you know your Doleful Ghost will be telling your mother all about it.

Bill Watterson – Calvin and Hobbes (1986)

Hergé – Tintin (1947, Tintin Magazine)

Albert Uderzo – Asterix (the cover of Uderzo l'Irreductible (2018), but originally much older)

Jeff Smith – Bone (1993, Bone Holiday Special)

Walt Kelly – Pogo (1950, Maclean's Magazine)

And a bonus:

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

However, a friend once had an extremely premature orphan lamb born in December who had to live in the house for a couple of months with leg braces and all that, who due to spending her lambhood with dogs instead of sheep came out of the whole experience convinced she was a livestock guardian dog! She would patrol the perimeter of the fields every evening with the actual dog, stand watch in the barn door at night like the dog, and was more than willing to throw down if she saw something scary coming towards the flock the way the guard dog did. Tragically orphaned lamb did a convincing job at being a guard dog without actually having any of the biological advantages a dog has over a sheep.

One of my cats was pawing at the door and meowing loudly, an indication she REALLY needs to use the litter box.  I let her out and decide, hey, I’m hungry, and decide to the kitchen.  I forgot to shut the bedroom door. 

Next thing I hear is the group going completely silent.  My husband very calmly asks me to come over and help him gather our two cats up.  I go over to where the group is and my black cat, Cacoa, is rubbing up against the guy’s leg, purring, and doing her “let me on your lap” meow.  The other cat, Jasper, is sitting at the window, chilling out.  I go over and pick up Cacoa and tell the big dude she’s harmless, loves laps, and would be thrilled if he pet her.  Very slowly he touches my cat’s face, and she leans right into his hand.  He then pets her back and sighs because she’s really soft and purring like mad.  After a few minutes he asks how to pick her up and if it’s okay if she sits on his lap.

in this same thread, olewheat asked about another silver piece; uncle_vic explained that blades were not made from silver, because it'd be too soft - often carbon steel would be silver plated, and eventually get pitted.

after a volley of questions, several users asked if they could contact uncle_vic directly. vic responded, very kindly:

I am always, always charmed by a clearly veteran hobbyist helping out new people on a forum, and i wanted to see what else uncle_vic posted, what other nuggets about his life i could learn, and it turns out he was a pillar of the community:

He joined in 2006, when the website was only 2 months old, and throughout the next 6 years, he helped many identify their silver pieces, and welcomed them all with: "Hi there and thanks for joining us", and always ended with a "Regards, Uncle Vic"

He helped so often, he'd post on the social thread to let people know he'd be gone without internet access for an extended period of time!

These often didn't get many interactions, but he did so anyway, like a journal made public: one about how a hurricane was reaching him in Baton Rouge; several about his fishing trips, like this one in 2011:

A year later, he wrote a similar vacation post, which became his final topic on the forum, titled: "Gone fishin'".

In May 2012, 3 months later, a newer user asked Vic what type of fishing he liked.

Vic replied: (content warning for cancer)

This was Uncle Vic's last post on the silver-collecter.com forums. Unflinchingly honest, and this time, instead of his usual "Regards", he ended with "Keep the Faith".

According to the obituary posted in the same thread, he passed away the next day, at his camp on the Tickfaw river -- well known for fishing.

--

This isn't the first time I've come across kind, dedicated forum users, usually knowledgeable retirees, who suddenly stop posting; it certainly won't be the last. But everytime I fall in love with them, and in turn, with humanity even more, to see what we leave behind.

A retired Cajun lawyer from Baton Rouge found a silver collecting forum from a hobbyist magazine in 2006, and decided to spend the next 6 years, up to his dying day, sharing his life, his love, and his knowledge with strangers.

Thank you, Uncle Vic, for the forum users you helped; thank you for the countless, anonymous users who found your posts through search engines like me.

What sorts of things, you ask?

A printable 11x17 poster of all possible formal divisions of a nine panel grid. That's 322 layouts!

A digital sizing reference guide to make sure your pages are being drawn at the right resolution before you find out they're too small the week of the deadline!

Loads of great brushes for Photoshop, ClipStudio, and Procreate, including these Micron pens!

When the public health emergency around covid-19 ended, vaccines and treatments became commercial products, meaning companies could charge for them as they do other pharmaceuticals. Paxlovid, the highly effective antiviral pill that can prevent covid from becoming severe, now has a list price of nearly $1,400 for a five-day treatment course.

Thanks to an innovative agreement between the Biden administration and the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer, Americans can still access the medication free or at very low cost through a program called Paxcess. The problem is that too few people — including pharmacists — are aware of it.

I learned of Paxcess only after readers wrote that pharmacies were charging them hundreds of dollars — or even the full list price — to fill their Paxlovid prescription. This shouldn’t be happening. A representative from Pfizer, which runs the program, explained to me that patients on Medicare and Medicaid or who are uninsured should get free Paxlovid. They need to sign up by going to paxlovid.iassist.com or by calling 877-219-7225. “We wanted to make enrollment as easy and as quick as possible,” the representative said.

Indeed, the process is straightforward. I clicked through the web form myself, and there are only three sets of information required. Patients first enter their name, date of birth and address. They then input their prescriber’s name and address and select their insurance type.