Starting with Jung’s archetypal motifs, I think it’s best to remind why they’re called ‘archetypal’ first:
Archetypal motifs replicate themselves in stories across time and culture, in all human endeavors to create.
Motifs in general are tokens in a story that appear several times and symbolize something ...
Archetypal Motifs (Carl Jung, part 2): Apocalypse
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 29, 2017World Building Is Ubiquitous
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 8, 2017
image from The Art of Veiling, by yours truly
There have been posts before (I think) about how to go about creating a world, especially when it comes to fantasy settings. You’re supposed, if you want to do it right, to build everything that makes up the world in ...
Basic Shapes in Character Design
Banes at 12:00AM, April 6, 2017
From the Best of Banes Collection…
CHARACTER SHAPES
I've never consciously designed characters this way, but I recently remembered hearing about this notion some time ago, on the dvd special features for an animated movie or show. I don't remember which one.
Characters derived from basic shapes can ...
Them's the rules, bub.
HyenaHell at 12:00AM, March 3, 2017
Well last week we had chaos and disruption, so reckon it's high time we reestablished some order around here. And to do that ya need rules, right?
Rules. Yeah… Oh boy.
Well fine, we ain't got to call it “rules”; we can think of it as a set ...
Good Starts: Beginnings, again.
HyenaHell at 12:00AM, Feb. 17, 2017
Welcome back, gang! Er, can I call y'all “gang”? Is that too informal or too assumptive about your willingness for complicity in my extra curricular activities? Eh, too bad. Once you're in the gang, there's only one way out. Now, while you're letting that sink in ...
Displaying Intense Emotions Subtly
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 21, 2017
Art by Pit-Face and Tantz Aerine
Expressions are key when drawing characters in webcomics- it’s understandably the acting portion of the creative work, and it has to be done well to engage the reader.
In my opinion there are no easy or difficult expressions- only expressions you as a ...
Nemesis
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 14, 2017
Just the name inspires awe, a level of attention and gravity. Because it was a name before it became a noun: she was the ancient Greek goddess of revenge and retribution against those who committed any kind of hubris.
In stories though, a character that takes the position of nemesis ...
Chekhov's Gun
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 7, 2017
To me this is one of the most fascinating elements of storytelling. The idea behind Chekhov’s Gun is to employ parsimony in the information comprising a plot and content: If something isn’t essential to the story, just don’t include it. Little by little, it became more “if ...
Beginnings
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 31, 2016
Happy New Year’s Eve!
Thinking about the new year that is just about to begin, I thought to talk about beginnings in stories, and especially in webcomics.
How a story begins, the very first pages of it, are key for catching the audience’s attention and keeping it. The ...
Quackcast 301 - Let it snow!
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, Dec. 13, 2016 LISTEN!
Art by Ozoneocean
Banes and Pitface live in a parallel world to me where this time of year involves water falling from the sky in the form of fluffy white crystals. When it hits the ground it piles up on top of itself into huge white piles! Freaky, I ...