Epic FailA page from my sketchbook. I am practising drawing sword-fighting by copying freeze-frames from combat videos. When we get some actual fighting in Epic Fail I want it to look right. Don’t be suprised if you see some of these poses used in the comic.
Oh! And for those who want to pre-order Epic Fail #1 today is your last chance, after that they are closed.
I was interviewed about Epic Fail on Y2CL Radio and you can listen to or download the podcast here. Aside from me talking about fascinating things you can hear some great music by Sam Letts (my sister) and Dave Letts (my Dad).
A quick warning – it’s 18+ and deserves that rating.
Epic Fail is one year old today and Amuletts and I are fighting over the cake! So wish us a Happy Birthday in the comments below and at the end of today I’ll randomly select five people from the commenters to receive a piece of gift art. Yes, it’s reverse Birthday – I’m giving the presents!
Thanks to everyone in the webcomics community for a great first year especially those of the Webcomic Planet Collective for being so helpful and supportive.
And if you want to give us a pressent pre-order our first comic book and help raise money to get them printed by our convention in March. As always, thanks for reading. I hope this second year will be even better.
Last year I missed a couple of Cameos so I thought I’d take this opportunity to play catch-up and show that I appreciate them.
First up Tinuvielle appeared in LOVEFEAST, hanging out in the Institute for Training in the Arts of Death and cheering on ‘delicious conflict.’ Well well, isn’t she a dark horse?
LOVEFEAST is a webcomic by Senshuu about former mortals training to become Shinigami: Gods of Death! The characters are learning to cope with their extraordinary new powers and responsibilities whilst struggling to retain their humanity. They are just starting their journey and it’s sure to be an interesting ride! LOVEFEAST is an adult comic and has adult themes delivered with a smidgen of dry humour. Interesting and worth checking out.
Next we have Amuletts turning up in Dungeon Legacy tucked behind Minos the Minotaur there. She’s checking out a trial (probably hoping to see the law perverted) along with characters from several other webcomics credited here.
Dungeon Legacy by George Ward (aka Dungeon Warden) is, like Epic Fail, is based on Dungeons and Dragons and has been running for, oh, simply ages. It’s a comic I enjoy and have read almost all of it. Dungeon Legacy actually gets on with the story instead of telling stupid jokes! There’s a lesson in there somewhere…
Thanks to everyone in the wonderful webcomics community who have supported Epic Fail and done such great Fan Art and Cameos. It really made my first year a good one. That’s right – Epic Fail is one year old tomorrow! Granted I haven’t updated every week of that year… but I started on January 9th and it’s almost January 9th again. Hurrah!
On the 27th of March this year I will be taking Epic Fail to The UK web & mini Comix Thing. It will be my first time as an exhibitor so I am both excited and nervous. And, of course, if I’m going to show at a Comics Convention I will need some comics! That’s where you can help out. By pre-ordering your copy now, in advance, it will help pay for the printing costs. In addition to the 32-page full-colour comic book everyone who pre-orders will also get a unique, signed sketch, free, as a thank you. If I raise enough to make buttons, etc. I’ll be throwing them in as well!
I’m working on improving the pages for print – shading them all, fixing spelling mistakes, continuity errors and generally making them pretty. Oh! And I have to make a cover, a proper cover, not just a bit of interior artwork stuck on the front! There will be 30 pages of story and 2 of bonus content. I’m hoping they’ll be off to the printers sometime in February.
Come along loyal readers – Epic Fail needs you! Pre-Order your copy today! (please?)
This week in Epic Fail: Amuletts is shopping with Dirk (who’s a bit bored) and is aghast to discover her minion, Andy Roid, is so overloaded with shopping that he cannot carry her latest acquisition! Or can he?
Creator’s Commentary: I had dialogue scripted for this, but decided it wasn’t necessary, the visuals say everything. Well, enough to tell my very silly joke.
At this point I cannot resist quoting Red Dwarf:
Rimmer: I never agreed with my parents’ religion, but I wouldn’t dream of knocking it.
Lister: What were they?
Rimmer: Seventh Day Advent Hop-ists. They believed that every Sunday should be spent hopping. They would hop to church, hop through the service, then hop back home again. I tell you, Sunday lunchtimes were a nightmare – we all had to wear sou’westers and asbestos underpants. You see, they took the Bible literally – Adam and Eve, the snake and the apple, took it word for word. Unfortunately, their version had a misprint. It was all based on 1 Corinthians 13: “Faith, Hop and Charity, and the greatest of these is Hop.”
Anyone think Andy might be a closet Hop-ist?
This week in Epic Fail: Dirk goes to see Amuletts to ask if he can accompany her on her ‘shopping’ trip. He believes she will simply steal what she wants if he is not there to supervise. Amuletts interprets his concern as adorably chivalrous.
Creator’s Commentary: I actually drew this page a while back, when Tinuvielle had just met Yoru, but then I realised there were explanations needed that could not wait. So this page got moved back.
A lot of the comic so far has been just talking, and I keep trying to think of new ways to make the frames interesting. Having the characters do something whilst they talk is one way, so here we have Amuletts applying her make-up. Yes – it’s different than normal, she does that occasionally. Not to mention I wanted to show that it is make-up an not a permanent tattoo. She always favours red and black colours because they are the colours of Loki.
This week in Epic Fail: Yoru becomes impatient. Tinuvielle explains her decision to leave him in the temple’s care.
Creator’s Commentary: Aww, wasn’t Yoru a cute baby?
In the original, pre-photoshop version of this page the final frame was the smallest. It clearly needed more prominence so I made it bigger, but in doing so lost the space in the ‘flashback’ frames I had left for text. This resulted in the cleric’s face in frame 7 becoming obscured. Though not intentional, I actually quite like this – Tinuvielle handing her child over to some unknown, faceless priestess kinda adds something.
There’s a fair bit of dialogue in this scene so I tried putting some of the speach bubbles behind the characters since I didn’t want it covering all my pretty artwork.
This week in Epic Fail: Tinuvielle explains to Yoru that he is adopted and that both his Parents are dead, but won’t elaborate on how they died. Yoru’s reaction is impressively calm.
Creator’s Commentary: I thought Yoru would be hell to draw and surprised myself by doing a pretty consistent job! Expressions were quite a challenge, mainly because they’re so keyed down. This was an exercise in subtlety. Both characters are being very controlled; Tinuvielle because she’s worried about upsetting her son, and Yoru because… well… that’s what the nuns have been teaching him these past six months. He has demon blood, can you imagine what that’d be like if it wasn’t controlled?