The Last One 20 Jul 2013 9:11 PM (12 years ago)

And they lived happily ever after!

If you want to stay updated on what I’m doing, join my newsletter below!

Enter your email address

Will there be more Princess Planet?
No. But if you enjoyed the series, I’ve made a 12 page pdf, called The Danger of the Dinosorcerer, with a self-contained adventure for Princess Christi and Princess Boo. It’s as pay-what-you-want download (minimum $1 Canadian) of all new material. So, if you want to use it as a tip jar, and give me some money in exchange for the enjoyment you’ve received from the strip, that would be much appreciated. If you just want to buy it to get 72 new panels of Princess Planet, that’s cool too. If you don’t want to pay anything, you’re not missing out on an integral story line or anything.

What else did you do?
I made an ILA-award winning book on making comics Draw Out the Story: 10 Secrets To Creating Your Own Comics

A picture book

And you can find me writing Alex & Charlie comic every month in Owl Magazine.

THANK YOU!

I want to thank all of the readers who have been involved in making this a fun experience. I really enjoyed the banter we got going. I enjoyed seeing you riddle out the extra gags. I think there was only one troll in the run of the strip. So I want to thank all the commenters, especially those who got into the double digits: Ribuprissin, RavenBlack, ColdFusion, Golux, mdf, Lars, Hoppy, Reynard61, Nonsensicles, Lightbulb, Scarodactyl, Proteus, Alice Quinn, Anonymous, Bok, Anton Sherwood, Blue Night, Daniel, Dante Wynter, Varkarrus, USB, Sam, Kim, The Blonde One, das, littebeast, sirbacon, Emma, Toner, DSil, Aeonsama, Tamfang, Jai, KNO3, Mary Tee, Philosopher Zurg, CatzCradle, and Fat Sweaty. And thanks to everyone who drew Fan Art for the strip: Lars, Daniel, Hambot, and Kathleen! Big up to the people who covered the strip, El Santo at Webcomics Overlook, Alice Quinn at TDot Comics, Hansel Moreno at ReadComicBooks and Jenn at The Dragon podcast. Thank you to the readers who came back to read the strip but didn’t feel the need to comment; the silent majority is much appreciated. A HUGE thank you to everyone who referred a friend and recommended someone else check out the strip. I want to thank my friends and peers for supporting me with encouragement, and guest strips, especially Steven Charles Manale who put up with me calling him for help with punchlines a lot. All the Transmission-X crew. And of course to my amazing wife, who helps me figure out what is funny and what is not. You are all awesome wizaardvark warbarian typhoonicorns!

The post The Last One first appeared on The Princess Planet.

The king is dead. Long live the king! 13 Jul 2013 9:11 PM (12 years ago)

I see the “posthumous letter good-bye” trope in so many films and tv shows, that I wanted to get back at it. To me, it highlights how the author is manipulating the reader/viewer while still expecting a powerful emotional reaction. They’re giving their characters a super power, but one that serves to make a dramatic story, not one that helps the character. Sorry, Character X but you can predict your own death, write a message good-bye, record it/write in a perfect first take, time it perfectly so your loved one reads it as you are about to die and can’t stop it, but you can’t get out of the enemy base before the self-destruct goes off or whatever. Boo. Hiss. At best, it means the dying character is a fatalist who wanted to die, and not even try to escape. And that sort of suicidal character is not an archetype I want to celebrate either. Boo. Hiss.

Anyone seen this trope done in an interesting way?

Also, get ready, because next week is the final strip!

The post The king is dead. Long live the king! first appeared on The Princess Planet.

King vs Flags: Trees 6 Jul 2013 9:05 PM (12 years ago)

When I started this gag so many years ago, I knew I didn’t want the King to ever find the right flag. But when I was writing this piece, it just felt right. After looking to animals for so long, it made sense to look to flora, since his current flag was already green. I wanted to give the King some success, and yet leave him ultimately losing. The perpetual underdog deserves some hope.

The artist in the first panel is Benjamin Rivers, the third panel is Claude Bordeleau (who draw the Alex & Charlie comic I write every month for Owl Magazine – check the banner link!), and Matt Daley. In the fifth panel, the guy in red is Scott Chantler, who wrote Two Generals (a biography of his grandfather) and the Three Thieves series (a medieval adventure – maybe right up your alley!).

When I had to choose the artist of the winning Oak Tree flag, I was stumped. It couldn’t be a peer, but someone I looked up to. I realized that AJ Casson, who was my favourite landscape painter, would be perfect. I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with him a couple of times as a child. He was very encouraging, and told lots of entertaining stories about being an illustrator. When I was studying comic artists after college, I realized that none of them simplified backgrounds in a way that resonated with me. Then I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario and saw the Group of Seven’s work again. Casson, in particular, was the perfect blend of simple shapes and evocative colours. Here’s some of his work, and me getting to meet the master.

If you want to check out Scott’s work, you can buy them here:

[AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”1554534151″]

[AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”0771019599″]

The post King vs Flags: Trees first appeared on The Princess Planet.

King vs Flags: Albatross 29 Jun 2013 9:11 PM (12 years ago)

More guest stars this week. We have Steve Murray (who is awkwardly kissing the edge of the pillar, which I feel is appropriate for his sense of humour), Jon McNally, Matt Smith (Not the guy who played Doctor Who, but the guy who’s got a great comic called Barbarian Lord), and CTON.

I used to be a big fan of the band Kiss when I was in elementary school. I chose to ape Paul Stanley’s makeup in this strip because it’s an easy shorthand for rock and roll star. There is literally a star on his face. It’s a double whammy that an ocelot is wearing it, since the drummer wears cat make up.

I think the reason I thought of the albatross was from studying Rime of the Ancient Mariner in the winter semester. It was that and Monty Python that really brought the bird to my attention.

The post King vs Flags: Albatross first appeared on The Princess Planet.

Green Man art show 29 Jun 2013 10:17 AM (12 years ago)

If you’re in Toronto this week, you can swing by an art show I’m part of. I was pretty excited to draw this guy because we learned about him in while studying Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He might have been part of the inspiration for the poem. The show is being put on by the same people who organized the Krampus show a while back.

GREEN MAN ART SHOW
156 Augusta Avenue, Kensington Market, Toronto

Summer is here â€“ celebrate with your favourite pagan symbol, THE GREEN MAN!
The Green Man is an ancient motif representing the cycle of the seasons, transformation and the rebirth of spring after a long winter. Most often found carved in wood and stone in European gothic cathedrals, he is represented by the face of a man made up of foliage or spewing leaves.

He is enigmatic. He is misunderstood. He is benevolent. He is a primeval archetype. His origins are shrouded in the mists of time…

We’re opening up all three floors of our space to make room for the 40+ artists taking part â€“ YOUR FAVOURITE ARTISTS!

Featuring but not limited to (in alphabetical order):

Kalman Andrasofszky, Matt Barnett, J Bone, Julia Breckenreid, Michael Byers, Johnny Cobalto, Rob Collinet, Jay Dart, Willow Dawson, Mat Den Boer, Katy Dockrill, Rob Elliott, Andrew Foerster, Matt Forsythe, Jessica Fortner, Ron Gervais, Alex Gorodskoy, Clayton Hanmer, Scott Hepburn, Ian Herring, Jen Hsieh, Elaine Hsu, Beatriz Juarez, Jeremy Kai, Jamie Kaiser, Beth Kennedy, Janice Kun, Jason Laudadio, Hyein Lee, Aaron Leighton, Steve Manale, Craig Marshall, Winnie Ma, Steve McArdle, Brian McLachlan, Kagan McLeod, Gillian Newland, Ian Phillips, Jen Prior, Luke Ramsey, Kyle Reed, Pete Ryan, Thom Sevalrud, Ben Shannon, Drew Shannon, Arvydas Slabosevicius, Carey Sookocheff, Chris Stone, Richard Storms, Anthony Swaneveld, Kristen Swanson, Tin Can Forest, Daniel Turner, Emese Ungar, Charlyn Wee, Gordon Wiebe, Carl Wiens, James Wilkes and Steve Wilson!

The post Green Man art show first appeared on The Princess Planet.

King vs Flags: Piranha 22 Jun 2013 9:01 PM (12 years ago)

This week shows a few more of my comic-making peers. We have Brian Fukushima, Hamilton Ward, Eric Wight, Colleen AF Venable, Eric Colossal and Jess Fink.

My son’s first word was “Bags!”, but it was very much a case of monkey at a typewriter. He was just babbling nonsense, and sure he used the word “a”, but most of it was gobbledygook. Then, clear as day, after a nice pause he yelled “BAGS!” Then went right back to nonsense words. My wife and I can’t hear the word “bags” without laughing.

The post King vs Flags: Piranha first appeared on The Princess Planet.

King Vs Flags: Yak it Up 16 Jun 2013 9:09 AM (12 years ago)

After I sent out invitations to my friends and peers to draw guest strips, I started on some flag comics to draw the contributors, and the polite decliners, who had not previously appeared in The Princess Planet. Today we have Julie Faulkner, Brian Evinou, Jason Loo, and Arthur Dela Cruz as flag presenters. There will be a few more of these, and I think a few more guest strips trickling in too. Then a few story strips to wrap things up.

Who’s going to take a shot at identifying the last two flags?

The post King Vs Flags: Yak it Up first appeared on The Princess Planet.

Guest Strip: Eric Colossal 8 Jun 2013 10:00 PM (12 years ago)

Eric’s webcomic is called Rutabaga: Adventure Chef, and I really love it. It’s about a little chef who likes to cook things with exotic ingredients. It’s a great idea, because in a world where there are cockatrices, wyverns, and death spiders, you’d figure someone would have a recipe for them, right? But no one seems to write about that. Humans eat pretty much anything, once they clean it and cook it. Why not mythical plants and animals? Rutabaga’s adventures are very fun and you should give them a read. Eric even includes recipes for you to try on your own.

I like that Eric packed so many panels of gags into the strip. I’m also indebted to him for helping inspire my comic about Smirkulees’ journal, from our conversation about video game tropes. Thanks, Eric!

The post Guest Strip: Eric Colossal first appeared on The Princess Planet.

Guest Strip: Brian Evinou 2 Jun 2013 3:07 PM (12 years ago)

I like watching hockey but Brian Evinou is a much bigger fan than I am. While most comic creators couldn’t care less about sports, Brian and I can lament the Maple Leafs losses together, (and occasionally cautiously celebrate their progress). While I don’t consider Brian’s art is “realistic”, when I read his comics I feel like they are all rooted in a real world. His characters have form, shape and shadow. That’s a real difference from my flat shapes. Brian’s used his talents for comics about space cops, horror stories set in Toronto, and supernatural teenage drama. They all seem like real places, despite having unreal elements. I like how Brian stuffed multiple play on words into panels, and I hope you do too!

The post Guest Strip: Brian Evinou first appeared on The Princess Planet.

Guest Strip: Hamilton Ward 22 May 2013 10:26 AM (12 years ago)

Hamilton is mostly self taught when it comes to art, so his work has the fearless energy that comes with that. He’s sought my advice in writing his own comics over the past few years and I’ve tried to help him punch-up his already funny punchlines. I’m flattered that he’s actually enjoyed my input. It makes me feel good about the fact I’ve written a book about how to make comics. I think I’ve got a different take then other authors, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you all, very soon. I’ll blog about it in a few weeks. In the meantime, you can judge for yourself if I help make fun and funny comics via Ham’s guest strip. After writing a strip that he felt wasn’t working about Blackbread the pirate, he scratched it and wrote this, and I had to remind him to not throw out his great joke with the bathwater. Ham think of Blackbread as a pirate who eats burned toast, or maybe is burned toast?

The post Guest Strip: Hamilton Ward first appeared on The Princess Planet.

The Princess Planet View RSS