Yet Another Web Comic

There`s a lot to talk about today. First off — Cheap Photoshop Trick for the win! Lens flare! I thought I`d never stoop to it, but it was exactly what I wanted and it was easy. Oh, well. I`m falling into the cheap Photoshop tricks of 13-year olds. Next comic: Page curls! Yet Another Web Comic: Now with 60% more Photoshop filters!

I really liked drawing and writing Eddie Vedder. I had a lot of reference shots of him, and listened to / read a bunch of interviews. I know I can`t produce his response to a situation like this, but I wanted to remain as faithful as possible to his style of speaking. He`s pretty well spoken, if you`ve ever heard him. Not overly verbose, not large words, so he doesn`t sound pretentious, but he really is quite well spoken.

This little series is actually a response to the Webcomics Weekly Podcast, episode 20. Dave Kellett of Sheldon Comics said that, when asked for criticism by artists at a convention, he always tells them their work is good. He says it`s dishonest, but it`s okay, because nothing he says will make a difference, and he quotes Charles Schulz as saying if you can`t recognize the faults in your own work, you shouldn`t be doing it.

To be fair, I`ll bet he gets a lot of people who are just looking for kind words from an artist they respect, or want him to say it`s great whether or not it is. He`s probably used to people who would ignore criticism, later blogging, “Who does Dave Kellett think he is?” (The obvious answer to the rhetorical question being a very successful webcomic artist). Also, it`s not Mr. Kellett`s job to help out other artists. It`s great that he does things like the Webcomics Weekly podcast, but he`s under no obligation.

However, my experience with conventions is that established artists can not only point out what`s wrong with your work (you probably can already see it), but they`ll give you advice and even explain WHY artists do things the way they do. Years of experience tell us, in pretty much every field, that we usually do things a certain way for a reason. You need to know what the rules are, and why, before you can go breaking them successfully. Otherwise, you`re just reinventing the wheel.

When Dave Kellett said that, it really made me think. I was going to attend several cons this year and get advice. I`ve decided to cut back on soliciting criticism that way and look to some other venues as well, and now I`ve moved art classes more towards the top of my priority list. I still disagree that criticism isn`t helpful, and you need to know how to fix your own work. However, I think I get part of what he`s saying, and I agree — You do need to see what needs improvement, and you need to be ready to hear your work is crap. That`s part of the process.

Oh, and you need to stay away from Dave Kellett if you want to show off your work. It sounds like he`s not interested in seeing it. At all. But he still does a cool comic (hint http://www.sheldoncomics.com/ and seems to be a genuinely nice guy.