If you didn’t already know my “sister site” (for lack of a better term) StatisticalFact.com is up and running and cranking out new comics Mondays and Thursdays through April. The site is currently in what I’d like to call beta or “soft launch” mode as I continue to tinker with it and get feedback. Hopefully I’ll do some heavier promotion once I’ve filled out the comics archive and am confident that everything is running smoothly.

For those of you familiar with my previous comic work, you know I like to experiment with style and format and the Statistical Fact series is no exception. The obvious change for this series is the adoption of a more traditional webcomic format: short-form humor “strips”, comics featured on the front page, weekly updates, etc. I know this is the basic format of the most popular webcomics and I know the short-form comics are much easier to share on Facebook and other social networks so I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see if the new format translates to a wider audience.

The other “draw” that got me interested in this series is the freedom it gave me to do more drawing! I know that may seem like a silly/nonsensical reason but as an artist I find it difficult to motivate myself to draw anything that’s not related to a comic project. I’m not the type of person that can sit in a coffee shop and fill a sketchbook with random drawings for hours on end (although I wish I was because I know that type of experience can be rewarding). My other quirk/shortcoming/flaw as an artist is I tend to lose motivation when I’m working on long-form comics that involve drawing the same characters and environments over and over again. Statistical Fact, at least from my current vantage point, seems like it would be a nice compromise: ongoing motivation to create sketchbook-style comics and short-form so the work always feels fresh (one day I’m drawing a baby playing tennis, the next I’m drawing “Jellysaurus”).

Anyway, that’s enough borderline egotistical platitudes for one post. Please check out StatisticalFact.com, if you like what you see and want to support the site tell a friend, click an ad, “like” it on your preferred social network.

I grow weary of typing, time to freshen things up with some disgruntled pirate drawing.

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Barring any unforeseen technical calamities, my new ongoing webcomic series Statistical Fact will debut on April 1st at StatisticalFact.com.

Mark your calenders, update your bookmarks, delouse your chinchillas, it’s gonna be a wild ride folks.

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Happy New Year!

As hinted at in the previous post I’ve been working on a new webcomic series. It’s called Statistical Fact and it’s intended to be an ongoing collection of one-panel comics featuring dinosaurs, pirates, babies and whatever else I feel like drawing. Here’s a sample comic from the series.

Aside from the planning/writing/drawing, the aspect of the project that’s been taking up most of my time has been designing a website to host the series. After the better part of a month researching/tinkering/coding I’m happy to report that the site is shaping up nicely. Only a few more minor/cosmetic code tweaks and I should be able to focus on the much more familiar territory of comic making again (and hopefully make an announcement of the debut of the Statistical Fact comic series shortly thereafter).

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It’s been a whirlwind of (mostly good) activity ever since I moved to the Pacific Northwest back in April. Hiking, biking, rafting, kayaking, exploring, road trips, working, eating, thrifting, dodgeball, volleyball, wallyball, bouldering, trampolining.

Unfortunately all this surplus activity hasn’t left me much time for doodling funnybooks but that’s all about to change now that the weather’s cooled off and I’m finally caught up on my work deadlines. Stay tuned in the upcoming months for the debut of a new webcomic series…

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Currently wrapping up my post-move unpacking and in the midst of a marathon manga lettering catch-up session. Figured I’d take a moment to tally up the stats on my manga lettering work history since I had all the applicable materials handy (and I was kind of curious myself): 8 years, 10 titles, 65 volumes, approximately 13,000 total pages and a whole lot of “BA-BOOM” sound effects.

Gotta get back to work to make sure volumes # 66, 67 and 68 get finished by next month. Beyond that I hope to post an update on my webcomic production stats soon.

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Over the past year and a half I’ve posted five new webcomics, redesigned the website and taught myself some new digital art techniques that will certainly come in handy down the road. It has been one of the most productive and creatively fulfilling periods I’ve experienced in a long time. Unfortunately, due to elements I could not have foreseen, it has also been a period where my savings dipped to a record low. With no signs of a financial recovery I realized that something would have to change if I wanted to continue living my dream of simultaneously working in a profession I enjoy, creating comics that change the way people look at the world and make time to maintain some semblance of a social life.

Thus I’m currently in the process of moving from Santa Cruz, California to Portland, Oregon. The lower cost of living in Portland is obviously a draw but the other major factor is the opportunity to work in a city with a thriving comic community. For the unaware Portland is home to a great number of comic creators, several comic book publishers, multiple comic conventions and is, to the best of my knowledge, the only city that has an entire month dedicated to the medium. It’s a city that I’d be eager to explore, a place where I could certainly enjoy living for a year, after which I’d be free to reevaluate my options.

Anyway that’s basically my long-winded explanation as to why the website updates have been scarce lately. Once I’m settled into my new office I can catch up on my deadlines and finally free up some time to work on new webcomics. In the meantime thanks for checking in and wish me luck on the move!

The post Moving to Portland, Webcomics Delayed appeared first on Eric Erbes' Comic Blog.

Had some extra free time this weekend as a result of the wet weather. I was inspired to make another dog-centric diversionary rootin’ tootin’ picture post (who knew this was going to be a reoccurring theme?).

You can find my new “Lost Dog Photo Comic” here. I didn’t know what section to put it in so I created a new one titled “Photoshop Fun.”

Happy browsing and stay dry!

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Just in time for the holidays, my Random Bonus Ramble webcomic is finished and ready for your digital-package-opening, experimental-navigating pleasure/displeasure. As much as I’d love to go into greater detail about the trying trials and tribulations leading up to this momentous occasion (and, yes, I say that with a hint of sarcasm) I’m unfortunately woefully behind on my sleep/Christmas shopping so I’ll keep this brief:

Happy Holidays and hope you dig the comic!

Random Bonus Ramble Reading Tip- I recommend viewing the webcomic on a touch-screen device if you have one handy (the bigger the better). If you’re on a standard computer hit the F11 key (ie full screen mode) for an easier to read, more engrossing experience.

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Slowly but surely making progress on my next experimental Rambles webcomic. I emphasize “experimental” this time because it’s the first comic I’m attempting to illustrate entirely in the computer (as opposed to drawing and inking traditionally with pen and paper).

In order to achieve this goal I dedicated the better part of last week familiarizing myself with new comic illustration software (Manga Studio EX 4) and was able to use the program to digitally pencil the first few panels of the latest comic. I was very impressed with the results but unfortunately I didn’t get much further in the production process before the program started crashing due to memory issues. Convinced that my “memory hog” operating system known as Vista was at least partially to blame I went ahead and upgraded to Windows 7. When that didn’t solve the problem I jumped ship and started to learn ANOTHER illustration program instead (Corel Painter 11).

When attempting to digitally pencil the next set of comic panels in Painter I was initially impressed solely by the fact that the program seemed much more stable than Manga Studio (ie no crashes). After extended use though I found Painter to be lacking the features I’m looking for in an illustration program (it’s focus is on painting and my focus is on pencil and ink). I particularly found the Painter pencil tool to lack a natural look and feel, especially when compared to the one in Manga Studio.

After deciding that the penciling process was taking longer than necessary with undesirable results in Painter I decided to jump ship BACK to the more appealing interface/toolset (and more buggy) Manga Studio EX 4. Determined, once again, to fix the memory crash issue I did some in-depth googling, document file size reducing and extensive computer cleaning/defragging and ultimately, finally (hopefully, fingers crossed) solved the problem. Phew.

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. Like I said before I’m slowly but surely making progress. The first major hurdle (setting up my computer for digital comic illustration) is behind me and I’ve just cleared the second hurdle (finished the digital pencils). Next hurdle: digital inking, which I’ve already had some experience with so I don’t anticipate any major issues (double fingers crossed). Wish me luck and stay tuned for the new webcomic later this month (double fingers and toes crossed).

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