We've all seen the cringy dialogue. The weirdly stereotypical and awkward situations. The sheer effort of the script writer, the novelist, or the comic book writer to write someone they don't know: a woman, or a man.
Too often the problem is very stark when comparing character designs ...

Writing Women, Writing Men
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, July 31, 2021FOMO and comic creation
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, July 30, 2021
Creating a webcomic can become akin to a second job. Although you set your own hours, it can lead to an underlying sense that you’re not “doing enough”. Balancing this anxiety can be challenging. Here are some tips to help you manage the feeling of “not doing enough”.
Recognise ...
Interviewing Miranda of "Into the Swell"
damehelsing at 12:00AM, July 25, 2021
Hello ducklings! I’m back with another interview, and this time we’ve got our wonderful sea captain Miranda! So, Captain Miranda, please introduce yourself!!
Miranda: Hello ducklings! I'm Miranda! I'm a full time computer engineer and in my spare time I enjoy baking, doing puzzles, playing video ...
Mind Games
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, July 24, 2021
Sometimes the arch villain of the story is the one pulling all the strings in the background, and the protagonists don't know about them until the endgame.
And other times, the arch villain gets to clash with a protagonist (or an opposing character) that is also a mastermind pulling ...
The Test of Character
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, July 10, 2021
If you are in a fairy tale and encounter an Old Woman… never take that meeting lightly. It's usually a test of character: the manner in which you respond to her will be a measure of how kind, decisive, clever, obliging, evil, rude, crass, abusive, or idiotic you are ...
Comic Prep Work
damehelsing at 12:00AM, July 4, 2021
One of the things I love the most about comics, is the prep work, which may not be obvious by the countless amount of times that I’ve stated that I’m doing absolutely no prep work as of now for Scorned; but when I worked on Scarred Eden, that ...
QUACKCAST 537 - Historicity
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, June 29, 2021 LISTEN on our new player!
Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/drunkduck-quackcast
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/
We have a chat about historicity in this Quackcast. What IS historicity? It's historical authenticity basically but a nicer way of saying it! It's pretty ...
An Ode to Sidekicks (Part Deux)
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, June 28, 2021
Photo: Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter during a Cold Open for San Diego Comic-Con International (2016)
Seven years ago, on November 17, 2014, I wrote a Monday article on the Duck following the final taping of the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. It was around that time that ...
Is it Luck?
damehelsing at 12:00AM, June 27, 2021
Have you seen ”The Road to El’Dorado”? If you pay attention to the movie, the whole thing is pretty much based on luck.
Spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched the movie!
We witness luck happening from the start of the movie when Miguel and Tulio have been using ...
On Using 'Shortcuts'
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, June 26, 2021
One of the latest twitter dramas seem to be around artistic shortcuts, and how consumers of comics and webcomics (often non-artists) tend to scoff at any artist that dares admit they use them.
Comic shortcuts could include pre-rendered backgrounds, using 3D programs to arrange spaces or make sure perspective is ...