#96!

So who wants to try and figure out everything Cypress said first?

Currently at Dragon*Con and taking advantage of a slight pause in the fun/chaos to post this. If you're at the Convention, get off the freaking internet (you're at a CON!) and come to the second floor of the Hilton in the "Reality Wing" where all the cool technology stuff is.

Take care!

#95!

And now we see why Cypress was willing to wear that haircut.

For those who'll be doing convention-hopping in Atlanta soon:

• I'll be working at Dragon*Con in Atlanta next weekend -- literally, I'm on staff. Don't expect much if you find me, but if you're hanging around the Space/Science tracks anyway, say hello -- I'm bound to have something on hand, after all, and I doubt you're the type to pass up frozen liquid nitrogen ice cream* anyway.
  
• However, my working at Anime Weekend Atlanta is all for the comic. Still putting together what I can to make the table awesome, but as I said before, speak up and you'll be rewarded.
• Hope to see you there!

* Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream is made WITH liquid nitrogen, not made FROM liquid nitrogen. Never consume liquid nitrogen. (Seriously.) Available whenever the schedule says it's available -- my best guess is Sunday -- and while supplies and sanity Last.

THIS JUST IN: Last Resort At Anime Weekend Atlanta!

Last Resort's movin' on up, folks!

Just yesterday, I secured a table in the Artist's Alley Marketplace for Anime Weekend Atlanta (Sept. 19-21, 2008), which is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin -- except it's not only filled with plenty more artists, it's also a good bit larger than MomoCon (and if my success from the spring is any indication, this is a VERY good thing!)

For those that'll be there, now's the best time to sway my opinions on what ought to be offered at the table, (or suggest something you want me to make especially for you!), so if you've got a great idea, send me an e-mail -- and even if it's something that I won't be able to get done in time for AWA, a good idea could still end up being something I make and offer later!

Here comes #94!

Fun Fact: I actually drew #94 before #93. You'd never notice, though.

The summer's officially over for me, though, and while I didn't end up completing enough strips to last me through graduation . . . it's into November, easily. Hopefully that won't take too long to correct.

See you all next week!

We're on Facebook! (again!)

Everyone else is on Facebook. The comic should be, too!

To prove my point, I've gone and made a nice, new, shiny Facebook Page just for Last Resort. Much better than the old group, yes?

Check it out, say hello, and become a fan all over again today.

New Wallpaper!

Because nothing says "I'm getting ready to go back to school!" quite like cartoony wallpaper, eh?

I've just added this blue beauty of a Black-and-White Jigsaw (complete with some interesting sticks) and dressed to fight in some odd armor we've not seen in the pages yet. Is it a teaser for this upcoming episode, or just an excuse to draw Jigsaw in a new outfit? Maybe it's both!

Either way, you can snag one of the full-size versions of these (available in five different resolutions!) for a token donation through the Last Resort homepage.

The Idiot's Guide to Backing Up Your Webcomic

The world ends tomorrow, and your computer may die!

Scary, isn't it? But let's be honest here; between the statistics for laptop theft, catastrophic viruses, crotchety webhosts, Hurricane What's-Her-Face, or even good old Mother Nature sending 50,000 volts of "Why don't you ever call me?!" through your machine, the message is clear; sooner or later, your machine WILL bite the dirt, and when the Grim Hacker comes, if you are not ready, you will pay. And whether that be 50 strips from now or 500, you will NOT be happy.

Fortunately, the solution is readily available to all, and involves one or more of the following:

• An External Hard Drive ($100 or so, but will offer the most storage)
• A Flash Drive (best I've seen is $30 for 4 GB)
  
• A CD/DVD Burner and the appropriate -R discs (Do NOT get -RW discs. These have a higher chance of failure) (cost varies based on whether you already have a burner or not - if you don't, then don't bother with this route)
  

Here's how you do it:

1. Determine all files that need to be backed up. (PROTIP: If you're going to need it for publishing your book, save it)
2. COPY (do not transfer) the files onto the media of your choice.
3. Repeat with a new piece of media.
4. Keep at least one copy of your backup separate from the rest. Leave it with your parent(s), your best friend, a safe deposit box... the idea is that if something truly catastrophic were to occur to your current abode (like a natural disaster), there will be another copy of the necessary files somewhere in safekeeping. Especially if that somewhere is somewhere else.
5. Do this all over again as often as you think you need to -- At least every three months / 10-20 strips, depending on which occurs more often. I like to do a backup before any traveling with the computer occurs as well, not just for the obvious chance of something happening while on the trip, but also because of the chance the travel itself causes problems as well.

The "doing it all over again" part is one of the most important, as the idea is not that you will need it tomorrow per se, but at some point in the future. Which also means you'll need to repeat this all in the future. But hey... the more you do it, the less you'll worry about losing, right?

Have any other good tips for backing up your files? Comment and let me know!

Ooooh, it's #93! I'm so scared.

Good things happened this week! Unfortunately I can't tell you about them yet. At least, I don't think I can.

Please accept this nice color page, just like all the others I bring you each week, as penance to help tide you over in the meantime. ;)

7 Reasons you need to START YOUR COMIC ALREADY!

"So I've been working on this great new idea..."

Fewer things have induced so much groaning when they come from the right kind of people. And by "Right Kind of People" I mean "You know how rare it is for you to even finish a sentence?" The ones who have great ideas, and heck, they might even be some of the brightest folk you know, but for some reason, when it gets to actually doing it it either doesn't happen or it all gets forced into existence within the last 24 hours?

There's nothing wrong with having ideas. But there's a certain level of idea hoarding that's not productive to you or anyone else. Yeah, I'm guilty of doing it a little myself, but whether it's some great new merchandise I've been plotzing around with or a pack of half-written blog articles I have to force myself to go ahead and actually finish, At least I'm still getting a page a week up (which is also the only one with an actual deadline, which may be part of my laziness elsewhere). And for that alone, I have to say it:

Start. The. Comic.

There's no time like the present, and there are plenty of reasons why, if you've got a comic on the brain, you may as well get started right the heck now:

1. You Need a Big Archive.
   Very few comics receive attention and acclaim when they only have a few strips, unless they're doing something incredibly awesome or they're made by someone who already has some built-in star power behind them. Besides, the more you have whenever an eventual reader comes along, the more they'll have at their fingertips to hunt through so they can decide for themselves whether you're worth their time or not.
   
2. You Need the Name Recognition.
   I'm not talking about YOUR name -- unless, y'know, you're really good at propping up your own ego as is -- but the name of your comic and 2-3 of your main characters. It's not everything, sure, but when you're starting out, they can't very well make a decision about you if they don't know who you are. Sean Tevis gets it, and he's not even trying to make a name in webcomics!
   
3. You Need to Stop Sucking So Much.
   Okay, we get it, your art isn't what you want it to be. Making a strip per whatever timeframe you work in will force it to improve by sheer habit. Well, it'll improve if you're actually drawing every page instead of depending on clipart or Poser. The whole idea of your art improving is that there is some sort of new art being made, after all.
   
4. You Need to Stop Putting it Off.
   Nobody likes a "I'm not quite done yet." And as much as you shouldn't be thinking about your competiton, you're not getting anywhere while you're not finished, and everyone else out there IS. Unless there's some great payoff to waiting any longer (like, say, having X amount of comics already completed by launch), why wait?
   
5. You can always improve later.
   Heck, people EXPECT you to improve, practically. Take advantage of this. (Note that an improvement in art doesn't count if you do what Exiern did and claim improvement by hiring a new artist. It's one thing to START with an artist/writer combo, but hiring one later on makes it look more like a business transaction and interrupts the artistic flow of the comic to boot.)
   
6. You can always do more research later.
   Learning about Marketing is important when starting out, sure. Learning about Sales and merchandising? Not as much. Unless your entire plan hinges on shamelessly whoring your webcomic as a way to get people to buy into your high concept movie script (*cough*), odds are good you'll have a couple years to get things up to speed, which dovetails nicely with the idea that . . .
   
7. It's going to take you X number of years ANYWAY.
   Proof? Look at all the webcomics you already like. Look at when they started. If you start noticing that pretty much all of these comics took 5-7 years to get where they are... well, you're starting to get the idea. It's very unlikely that you can do a whole lot those first two years, so if you can spend the first couple years getting your kinks worked out while still gaining the additional archives and profile from that time . . . then good on you.

In short, there's no good reason why you shouldn't go ahead and get to work on that new comic, unless you just . . . really don't want to work on it. And it's not like there's anything wrong with that, except that if you keep telling yourself you're going to (and don't), it's just going to annoy the rest of us who either want to see some actual work or just want you to stop talking about it.

And for those of us that alreasy have a comic in some form, stop thinking that putting your magnum opus on hold is going to earn you any more bragging rights than the rest of us.

Get to work on it, monkey!

#92 is UP!

Because nothing says "Great Team Chemistry" like arguing with your lieutenant.

The end of the summer is looming, and... I still have a ton of comics I want to get done before school kicks back up again. (It sure as heck isn't for lack of drawing, through -- just that there's something really satisfying in having the entire semester knocked out of the way first. Ah well.)

I also have some blog articles on the back burner, so 'hopefully' I can finish them up and have them ready later this week. And this is all on top of / aside whatever (minor) preparations for Dragon*Con I ought to have in store.

Is it just me, or does the whole "it being August" thing catch everyone else off-guard too?