Ever heard of the “starving student” stereotype? Or is the term “starving artist” more appropriate in this situation? Six years ago, I was given the opportunity to experience life as a starving student even though I was unaware about it at the time.

"Once upon a time you dressed so ...

Hello all and sundry!
I am Ozoneocean as most of you know and I've been around this place for quite a while now. I joined up in 2003 and then again in 2004 and started posting my comics. I got more and more involved with the community over time ...

I check the DD forums pretty often even when I feel more in the mood to be a lurker than say anything. I might even check the forums at the same rate that I check hs my email.

A long time ago, I thought the forums were reserved for people ...

Hey there, gang! Here we are again, another Friday, another ramshackle collection of anecdotes and tangents in the guise of comix-related blogging from yours truly! This week we're gonna jump right into another exciting episode of “aw, crap, well lemme think… what have I been up to recently? I ...

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The most important thing when doing your comic is to maintain your enthusiasm- THIS is what helps you keep working, not feedback, not praise, not fans, but your own internal passion. Feedback is great, but you can become addicted to it and when it's not there or there ...

But and Therefore

I'm a fan of user-friendly, practical advice on things, especially writing. It's why I dig the Banes Method (it's not my method; it's just named after me).

Anyway, I came upon some dandy advice from Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park ...

So last week we started off talkin' about rules and why we might need em, right? But what exactly do these rules apply to, ya might wonder. Ya might not wonder, actually, but too bad, I'ma tell ya anyway. We'll start where any comic starts: with your basic ...

It’s something so often encountered and/or mentioned in stories (be they comics or novels or film) that it’s becoming in itself a cliché: Heroes aren’t interesting because they’re straight arrows. Villains are fun because they’re the ‘bad boys’, the ones that can do all ...

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Art by Ozoneocean

Tantz Aerine, Banes and Pitface join me, Ozoneocean, to talk about back stories, histories and all that extra knowledge you can come up with when creating your story. It can inform your comic story in a really clever way… but don't be tempted to vomit ...

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Art by Ozoneocean

What makes the “meat” of a story? What makes you fall in love with it, keep coming back for more watches or reads or whatever? I contend it has nothing to do with conflict or culminations or climaxes, those are merely generic structural plottings that are ...