Showing posts with label Birdo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birdo. Show all posts
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Eulogy
I'd blog today, but the shorty wants to get on the computer. That's how it goes, folks. As a parent, whatever it is that you want to do, you must share or outright relinquish it instead to your offspring. It doesn't matter if they are, say, watching TV, if you begin using the computer, your offspring will immediately want to use the computer. Furthermore, if you then go and do something involving the television, the likelihood that the offspring will then alter her or his desires to involve said television is quite probable.
I pulled the strip out of my ass this week, but you know, I like how it turned out.
I pulled the strip out of my ass this week, but you know, I like how it turned out.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Avicide
I'm still trying to find the middle-ground between artwork that most resembles my own "style," a more simplified "cartoon-style version" of it that works well and can be drawn quickly in Illustrator, and what continues to be enjoyable to work on by the time I've gotten to panel three and it's 2:00 in the morning. I'm not quite there yet, but I think I'm getting closer.
Time to insert the comic, methinks.
(It was tricky inserting humor into this one.)
I think I'm failing in my attempt to keep this blog professional, because I need to dump on you again. This is the best place I can do it; I'm not about to do it on Facebook, and there are scant few people I can talk to about this sort of thing, yet things need to be said so I can get said things off my chest. You are in no way compelled to read any of it. In fact, I'll make it tiny, so you're even less inclined to.
A person I know once declared, "If you don't like where you live, leave." I understand the sentiment behind that statement, but frankly it makes me furious. At the risk of being a hypocrite and putting some of my "bizness" on the internet, I have to say that statement does not apply to me. I do not like living in Florida. I don't like being in tourist / vacation / retirement hell, where it is sweltering most days of the year and you feel like you need a cold shower after every time you spend more than five minutes outdoors. Where it seems your only employment options are in the "hospitality industry." Where there is no culture. None, unless you consider driving a poorly tricked-out (read:. loud muffler and mismatched oversized spoiler) Honda Civic and blaring reggaeton "culture."
And yet I cannot leave. I'm trapped here. We came here out of necessity, because we had to save ourselves from financial ruin and we knew there were jobs for us down here. Yet now that we have gotten ourselves on our feet, more or less, I'm faced with the fact that my wife isn't inclined to pick up and move and find another job. I can't really blame her. Her bringing in the stable income (which is also significantly more than mine), I'm not in the position to make financially responsible, life-changing choices that affect my whole family.
What's more, I somehow have managed to be an extremely unqualified person to be hired for, well, just about anything. The odds that I'll find a job somewhere great somewhere else in the world, and essentially reversing my role in the family with my wife's, are pretty much zero. I'm still confused how this happened; I guess I'd always assumed growing up that being smart and a talented artist would see me through.
Possibly some of that is that I have a need to be creative at a job, and cannot be happy in a job otherwise, and yet I have incredibly high and specific standards that don't allow me to be content at most jobs that would otherwise be available to me. Having a pretty low self-esteem, I really have no clue where those standards came from. I suppose it could be fear, too, that I'll waste away designing logos or web pages or digitally-painting grass for a year, and being stuck behind a computer day in and day out.
I can't consider going to school to improve my situation. My wife and I still have her school-debt to deal with, and I'm not about to add to that shit. Plus, and possibly this is just the realist (read: pessimist) in me, the likelihood that I'll build up tons of debt and get some degree and then find myself right back to exactly where I am now is pretty high. Most of my peers have degrees in art, even master's degrees, and have way more impressive resumes than my own... and they're stuck in down in the trenches with me.
Up until recently, I had been entertaining the idea of relocating my family to Portland, Oregon. Strong art and music scene, good place to raise a child (because, fuck, I do not want to raise my daughter in the piss-hole state), pretty chill in comparison to other large cities, moderate weather...
But I just don't think it's going to happen. My wife's current job will ultimately become something substantial, and I'll be both happy for her and slip a little further down the spiral at the same time.
I'm told, "that's what they make anti-depressants for." I understand, now, why people take them. They spend their entire lives being told they can do and be whatever they want, and then they become a responsible adult with a family and realize that they're no longer able make choices for themselves, but for their children. That all of their friends are gone. That they're in a situation they are powerless to responsibly change, and all of their dreams are just dreams, and all they can do for the rest of their lives is cope.
Wow, sorry. That was a bit more venting than I intended.
Time to insert the comic, methinks.
I think I'm failing in my attempt to keep this blog professional, because I need to dump on you again. This is the best place I can do it; I'm not about to do it on Facebook, and there are scant few people I can talk to about this sort of thing, yet things need to be said so I can get said things off my chest. You are in no way compelled to read any of it. In fact, I'll make it tiny, so you're even less inclined to.
A person I know once declared, "If you don't like where you live, leave." I understand the sentiment behind that statement, but frankly it makes me furious. At the risk of being a hypocrite and putting some of my "bizness" on the internet, I have to say that statement does not apply to me. I do not like living in Florida. I don't like being in tourist / vacation / retirement hell, where it is sweltering most days of the year and you feel like you need a cold shower after every time you spend more than five minutes outdoors. Where it seems your only employment options are in the "hospitality industry." Where there is no culture. None, unless you consider driving a poorly tricked-out (read:. loud muffler and mismatched oversized spoiler) Honda Civic and blaring reggaeton "culture."
And yet I cannot leave. I'm trapped here. We came here out of necessity, because we had to save ourselves from financial ruin and we knew there were jobs for us down here. Yet now that we have gotten ourselves on our feet, more or less, I'm faced with the fact that my wife isn't inclined to pick up and move and find another job. I can't really blame her. Her bringing in the stable income (which is also significantly more than mine), I'm not in the position to make financially responsible, life-changing choices that affect my whole family.
What's more, I somehow have managed to be an extremely unqualified person to be hired for, well, just about anything. The odds that I'll find a job somewhere great somewhere else in the world, and essentially reversing my role in the family with my wife's, are pretty much zero. I'm still confused how this happened; I guess I'd always assumed growing up that being smart and a talented artist would see me through.
Possibly some of that is that I have a need to be creative at a job, and cannot be happy in a job otherwise, and yet I have incredibly high and specific standards that don't allow me to be content at most jobs that would otherwise be available to me. Having a pretty low self-esteem, I really have no clue where those standards came from. I suppose it could be fear, too, that I'll waste away designing logos or web pages or digitally-painting grass for a year, and being stuck behind a computer day in and day out.
I can't consider going to school to improve my situation. My wife and I still have her school-debt to deal with, and I'm not about to add to that shit. Plus, and possibly this is just the realist (read: pessimist) in me, the likelihood that I'll build up tons of debt and get some degree and then find myself right back to exactly where I am now is pretty high. Most of my peers have degrees in art, even master's degrees, and have way more impressive resumes than my own... and they're stuck in down in the trenches with me.
Up until recently, I had been entertaining the idea of relocating my family to Portland, Oregon. Strong art and music scene, good place to raise a child (because, fuck, I do not want to raise my daughter in the piss-hole state), pretty chill in comparison to other large cities, moderate weather...
But I just don't think it's going to happen. My wife's current job will ultimately become something substantial, and I'll be both happy for her and slip a little further down the spiral at the same time.
I'm told, "that's what they make anti-depressants for." I understand, now, why people take them. They spend their entire lives being told they can do and be whatever they want, and then they become a responsible adult with a family and realize that they're no longer able make choices for themselves, but for their children. That all of their friends are gone. That they're in a situation they are powerless to responsibly change, and all of their dreams are just dreams, and all they can do for the rest of their lives is cope.
Wow, sorry. That was a bit more venting than I intended.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The Caged Birdo
This week's strip is going to end up, by coincidence, going along nicely with next week's Saturday Super Story. Well, mostly be coincidence. I did actually write a small part of next week's story. Jason's done a great job of tying things together and developing a background for the Super U-niverse, and next week's story actually leads right into the very first Super U. strip. I'd insert a hyperlink there, but no. There's an Archive menu right over there.
I had an episode. My game froze while playing Mass Effect 2 (I was very nearly done with the game), and when all was said and done all of my save data got corrupted. I had to start over. I wasn't completely enraged, however. Now, at least, I had the chance to watch for all the potentially story-changing quick-decision button-pressing that I had missed the first time around.
Turns out, even with those, my Commander Shepard is still pretty much unromanceable / unable to find love that meets her high standards. Maybe that will change in Mass Effect 3, but probably not. Either way, she's a badass while maintaining a strong moral code, and I really enjoy the character I'm helping to create. Also, Jennifer Hale's voice-acting has been top-notch since the beginning.
I've just started 3, but so far I still strongly recommend you buy the whole trilogy. I got all three on the PS store for sixty dollars, which is a steal considering part 3 alone was sixty dollars only a few months ago. I understand there was some outcry over the ending of the game. Even so, I doubt I will change my recommendation once I've completed it.
The part that I find the most interesting is that the events in 3, at least in the beginning, seem very strongly effected by choices I made in the DLC I picked up for 2. Now I'm extremely curious... would the beginning of this game be at all like it is if I hadn't bought that DLC? I may just have to start at the beginning again, once this is all over, and find out.
This, my friends, is why I find games superior to movies and television. As games like Mass Effect become more and more prevalent, we will find ourselves crafting our own stories and characters and universes with the tools provided to us by the game developers. Doesn't that sound infinitely more interesting than being subjected to a thing you have no control over, interspersed with commercials?
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
All Up In It
Busy as hell over here with the move, a few sicknesses, and all sorts of other situations that keep me from doing really important things like sharing my feelings and profound insights with you on a blog. So instead, I'll just give you the funny, and you like /share / join, and together we'll agree that, today, it is good enough.
Click It or Stick It
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Initiative
Hey hey, managed to get the strip done! Things will be crazy around here next week too, so I make no promises, but I will try my best.
Don't forget this weekend, in a celebration of sorts of the 25th strip, we'll be starting the Saturday Super Stories. If you're interested in learning more about the Super U-niverse, check it out. Jason's got some really great ideas, and you might enjoy to learn that the Super U-niverse is more than just a satirical look at a world that contains superheroes.
As I've said before, beyond the funny, there's a story being told. My challenge is to tell it in a world where punchlines are mandatory and your window into the world must be summed up in three or four rectangular panels each week.
If you have a moment today, please take the time to send some good thoughts my nephew's way. Today, more than ever, he and his family really need it.
Please continue to help me keep the comic going. I'm still struggling with the fact that Facebook has done pretty much jack-squat to help me get this thing off the ground (so much for "networking"), and Google + is... well, whatever. Just today I gave in to the all-devouring creature that is Google's demands and linked up my Blogger with my Google + page, so that way the five guys on my Google + page who don't read the comic will have a more ample opportunity to not read the comic.
It pains me to consider the next step is going to be making fliers and business cards and trying to figure out how to make online ads and all that stuff. Guh, marketing.
Share / Like / Join, and thanks.
-Matt
Don't forget this weekend, in a celebration of sorts of the 25th strip, we'll be starting the Saturday Super Stories. If you're interested in learning more about the Super U-niverse, check it out. Jason's got some really great ideas, and you might enjoy to learn that the Super U-niverse is more than just a satirical look at a world that contains superheroes.
As I've said before, beyond the funny, there's a story being told. My challenge is to tell it in a world where punchlines are mandatory and your window into the world must be summed up in three or four rectangular panels each week.
If you have a moment today, please take the time to send some good thoughts my nephew's way. Today, more than ever, he and his family really need it.
Please continue to help me keep the comic going. I'm still struggling with the fact that Facebook has done pretty much jack-squat to help me get this thing off the ground (so much for "networking"), and Google + is... well, whatever. Just today I gave in to the all-devouring creature that is Google's demands and linked up my Blogger with my Google + page, so that way the five guys on my Google + page who don't read the comic will have a more ample opportunity to not read the comic.
It pains me to consider the next step is going to be making fliers and business cards and trying to figure out how to make online ads and all that stuff. Guh, marketing.
Share / Like / Join, and thanks.
-Matt
Keep it gutter. Keep it grimey.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Happenstance
Just a fair warning... I'll be picking up a lot of actual work in the next couple weeks. I'll also be relocating to a new apartment, and there is much packing and sorting and throwing away of things to be done. I'll do my best not to let the strip suffer, but I thought I had better state this now in the event that a strip or two ends up late, or looks a bit rushed. I did manage to pencil next week's strip already in anticipation of how hectic things will be around here in the near future.
Next week will be the 25th strip, and to mark the event, the following Saturday we will be starting Super Saturday Stories, which Jason has dubbed the SATURDAY SUPER STORIES. I like that name better.
These stories will focus on the blogs of Black Sapphire, a secret protege of Mr. Walters, the former Dark Avenger, outside of Super U. Through these stories we will learn along with Black Sapphire about the past of the Super U-niverse, when the washed-up faculty of today were the Earth's protectors, and maybe some behind-the-scenes and side events as well. Jason will be writing these stories, and I will be editing them and adding commas and shit (because I have a thing for commas) and we'll be putting one up every Saturday.
I've gone back on the South Beach diet again, so I can lose 40 lbs. that I can immediately gain back when I go off the South Beach diet. It's day two, and I could already murder someone over a potato.
Commentary on the current set of strips: I'm having too much fun raiding Google images for jungle backgrounds during this Dangerous Room segment. I like the realism of the hologram environments juxtaposed with the sad, simple backgrounds that I draw when they're in the "real world." The fact that the holograms looks so much better amuses me.
You may have seen on previous strips that I occasionally just insert a real image like a poster on a wall or a lunch tray. I actually do this because I'm still experimenting to find ways to make Super U. unique among the veritable plethora of webcomics available on the web. I can't tell if it's working yet, but I've had fun with it, and in the end that's what it's all about, right?
Share / like / join, and thanks!
-Matt
Next week will be the 25th strip, and to mark the event, the following Saturday we will be starting Super Saturday Stories, which Jason has dubbed the SATURDAY SUPER STORIES. I like that name better.
These stories will focus on the blogs of Black Sapphire, a secret protege of Mr. Walters, the former Dark Avenger, outside of Super U. Through these stories we will learn along with Black Sapphire about the past of the Super U-niverse, when the washed-up faculty of today were the Earth's protectors, and maybe some behind-the-scenes and side events as well. Jason will be writing these stories, and I will be editing them and adding commas and shit (because I have a thing for commas) and we'll be putting one up every Saturday.
I've gone back on the South Beach diet again, so I can lose 40 lbs. that I can immediately gain back when I go off the South Beach diet. It's day two, and I could already murder someone over a potato.
Commentary on the current set of strips: I'm having too much fun raiding Google images for jungle backgrounds during this Dangerous Room segment. I like the realism of the hologram environments juxtaposed with the sad, simple backgrounds that I draw when they're in the "real world." The fact that the holograms looks so much better amuses me.
You may have seen on previous strips that I occasionally just insert a real image like a poster on a wall or a lunch tray. I actually do this because I'm still experimenting to find ways to make Super U. unique among the veritable plethora of webcomics available on the web. I can't tell if it's working yet, but I've had fun with it, and in the end that's what it's all about, right?
Share / like / join, and thanks!
-Matt
Enlarge FTW
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)