I am not a sappy kind of person, but this seemed appropriate.

Anyway, as I see by the little counter on my DA page that offically I hit 1,977 pageviews. Now, if you look around DA, some folks have millions, or hundreds of thousands of pageviews, and bully for them!

I came here to learn, observe and improve. I've done all three. Along the way, I've managed to entertain a few of you with my comic. Joy!

I get emails from time-to-time from the "offical" comic site and they are always friendly, uplifting words of encouragement from folks. I do get the occasional "Hey, try this..." or "What?! No Rush?" and I enjoy those as well as folks actually took the time to tell me something.

My point is I started doing "1977" last June 1st and as I look at those first comics, I can tell I had no freakin' idea what I was doing. I can go back to January's comics and go "crap, why'd I do that?" or "Damn, I sucked at (hands, feet, bodies, etc.)" But every month I pick up something new, I see a drawings done in like 45 minutes that I can't do in 3-days, I meet a new friendly DA'r, and I hopefully inspire someone else into following their dream.

I waited 30 years to do this, don't you wait that long. This is a lot of hard work and sometimes at Midnight when I'e been up since 5:30AM and I'm still doing the comic for the next day, I wonder what the hell I'm doing. Then, I get another fan email and it's all worth it!

Keep on rockin', man!

I don't often have the time to revise my cartoons when drawing my comics on a 3-times a week schedule, but "The Return" had plenty of time and I re-drew 3 of the 5 panels (or parts thereof!) and I'll describe my process a bit with this entry!

In the first frame:



I wanted to show Bud's feet as he's going to get a cramp in his leg in the next frame and I was bent on having his feet in the frame. It just looked weird so the After has him in a more "natural" position.

In the Fourth Frame:



I had "Hulk-out Bud" with his arms in the arm more like a traditional Hulk pose, but it left Debbie's right boob exposed, and as I self-censor, I didn't want to show a fully naked breast (come on, it's a cartoon! Less is More). Having her hand over her breast and her looking at it seemed a bit odd, especially since her sex partner is in the middle of transforming... she'd be looking at him and not caring about her nakedness. So the After is better in that she's looking at Bud and has her arms out in "surprise" mode. I then drew "Hulk-Bud" with his right arm extended to satisfy my "censoring" of the comic. I had to sketch in her complete body to get the overlapping correct and it was more than weird drawing Debbie naked.

In the Fifth frame:



My first sketch of Debbie's face was horrible in my opinion. I hated her eyes, and her cheekbone was just not right, plus her hair didn't match the other frames. I did this frame late at night and once I'm tired, I'm a shitty artist. I actually did this version in ink and color before I finally went "screw it, I'm changing it" and I'm glad I did. The After matches her general look better and I like her somewhat pissed off expression Well, Bud did just LOSE the one thing she was interested in!

Her hand holding the torn sheet sucks. I am bad at hands, but I'm getting better, but that one sucks. Ick. And I was too lazy to change it. So there.

There you go! A little Before and After! Yea!

Found this at who found it somewhere, else, etc., etc.

Anything tied to music is cool with me, so I figured I'd give this a whirl and actually put up a Journal entry. I'm not one to do this sort of stuff... so bare with me.

RULES:
1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, ETC on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.
5.Put this on your journal.


1.If someone says, "Is this okay?" You say?
"Shotgun Rider" Bachman-Turner Overdrive


2.How would you describe yourself?
"Witch Wolf" Styx
(Now that's a weird one!)


3.What do you like in a guy/girl?
"Waterloo" ABBA
(No jokes, okay?)


4.How do you feel today?
"Brass in Pocket" Pretenders
(Lots of meanings there, but pretty close!)


5.What is your life's purpose?
"Spooky" Classics IV
(LOL! This is too funny)


6.What is your motto?
"Breakdown" Alan Parsons Project
(Well, this is true in many ways)


7.What do your friends think of you?
"Metal Guru" T-Rex
(Son of a bitch... this is getting close to home)


8.What do you think of your parents?
"You've Got Another Thing Comin'" Judas Priest
(The music Gods are in full force... I'd probably only say this to my Dad)


9.What do you think about very often?
"Stay In Time" Off Broadway
(This soo fuckin' true... as a musician this is so KEY and it applies to life in general. Get in line boy!)


10.What is 2 + 2?
"Blue Letter" Fleetwood Mac
(Can't win them all....)


11.What do you think of your best friend?
"Somewhere, There's A Someone" Dean Martin
(No Dino jokes... the man ruled. But this is also sooo true.)


12.What do you think of the person you like?
"Call Me Back Again" Paul McCartnery
(i-Tunes is in my head, man. Far out...)


13.What is your life story?
"You're A God" Vertical Horizon
(In ways, I am!


14.What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Can't Buy Me Love" Beatles
(A pimp? hmmmm...)


15.What do you think of when you see the person you like?
"It's Easy" Boston
(Fuck me, this is great... LOL!)


16.What will you dance to at your wedding?
"December" Collective Soul
(What?)


17.What will they play at your funeral?
"Medicine Jar" Paul McCartney
(Wow, an anti-drug song written for a friend of Paul's who overdosed! EEK! My life just passed before my eyes. AAGGHHH!!)


18.What is your hobby/interest?
"Out In The Country" Three Dog Night
(This is SOOOO fuckin' true, man. Give a small spread where no one can hear my stereo...)


19.What is your biggest fear?
"America" Yes
(I am afraid the the American way-of-life has been shot to hell by King Bush, so this is true.)


20.What is your biggest secret?
"Someday" Nickelback
(Wow, karma, man. Pass that joint...)


21.What do you think of your friends?
"Back On The Road Again" REO Speedwagon
(Nice. Perhaps a road trip is in order... oh, yeah, who can afford the fucking gas!)


22.What will you post this as?
"Feelin' Satisfied" Boston
(Says it all...........)

Fuckin'-A, man, this was kinda cool.