Love On The Rocks
These personal ads are a lot of fun, and I can do them quickly enough that I don’t need to rely on guest strips! I’ll probably do one more week of these and then get back into some meatier comics. I miss Charles.
In book news, I’m slowly getting material together for a print collection of the first ‘Abominable’ chapter, which means producing a bunch of new artwork and some supplemental stuff, as well as reviewing paper stock, figuring out distribution, etc. More about this as events unfold. If you have ideas about things you’d like to see in the book, let me know in the comments!
And lastly… the Wednesday Comics Contest is underway! Many of you have sent in your entries to win an original sketch, but there’s still time! I won’t be choosing a winner until all of the issues are on the stands. See below for the deets…
August 12th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
LOL. brilliant! (that’s me!)
August 12th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I really think ACC trading cards or even an ACC card game is in the future. I’m excited about seeing Chapter/Part/Act 2 get underway.
August 12th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Lovin’ this!!! HA! “Salt”!
August 12th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
All thanks to the hot new iPhone app “bleater”!
August 12th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Super excited for the 1st book! This talk of new artwork and supplemental stuff… well, that’s just awesome! Please totally put in a bunch of concept sketches, really, anything you have from the development of the strip I would love to see, and some pin-up type extra art would also be spectacular. I do hope you’ll do it in a nice large-ish format. Width around 11″ would be great. I would LOVE hardcover but will understand if that’s not possible. Sounds like it’s moving along nicely as you’re considering paper stock and such… I’m going to need to buy a few for Christmas which, let’s face it, is practically around the corner! This probably wouldn’t be possible, but because I love your colouring… it would be amazing if the cover art was your original line art, and then the dust jacket was transparent and had the colours printed on it. It would actually be amazing if there was an ultra special edition (maybe when you’re rich and famous?) and the whole book was like that LOL… on the left side you’d have the original pencils, on the right side you’d have the inked line art, and then a transparent overlay with the colouring to lay on top of the inked line art. LOL… sigh… I’m full of crazy ideas for things like that. It’s just that your strip, more than most others, would work so beautifully like that.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
wow, i didnt see this one comin, whats next, a squid?
August 12th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
HATES: “The word ‘No’.”
Ladies: DO NOT GO OUT WITH CLANCY.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Some great ideas, Brandon! I think you’ll like the direction the book is taking, but I want to make sure I get enough cool extra stuff in there, so keep those suggestions coming.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I was lucky enough to look through your sketchbook/workbook during the last TCAF. I’d like to buy that please.
;)
(LOL Clancy billy! But isn’t he being a bit forward giving horn measurements?)
August 12th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I’m actually considering buying the book, I love the artwork.
Great comic, as per usual.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Haha, I love these so much!
August 13th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Is there any chance of there being a coffie table edition? Larger pictures make me happy ^_^
August 13th, 2009 at 8:00 am
I just bought my first web comic hard copy. I only wish my first time could have been ACC. This is one I will def be purchasing.
Love the work.
August 13th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I have a small suggestion for these personal ads, actually.
One of my favourite aspects of them is the way the title of the post, here “Love On The Rocks” heightens my enjoyment and appreciation of the personal ad, with that said when you do run these in print it would be amazing if you could incorporate those titles in the ads.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I want to see a prairie dog ad!!
August 13th, 2009 at 10:31 am
I’m sorry to have a small criticism, but here goes. This is the first animal characterization I’ve seen of yours that doesn’t look “right”. Mountain goats have a very different profile and body shape than you have given this one … different enough that I had a pretty negative reaction to this drawing. The personality, however, is spot on!
August 13th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Maybe it’s the angle, Lillian. His sexy, over-the-shoulder pose is distracting you.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Lilian obviously has no clue what a mountain goat looks like and its so easy for people who can’t draw for jack to have things to complain about people who are good at it. Karl,i dont see any fault with this drawing and i am speaking out of my own artists’ experience.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:53 am
We gotta link him up with the walrus. Let’s see him keep up with her! And she’s salty enough.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Hmph. I’ve seen bigger horns.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I don’t mind if Lillian has a negative reaction to a drawing I’ve done. Not everyone is going to love every strip, and I respect her honesty.
I have noticed, however, in my mountain goat image research, that they vary greatly in coat shagginess. Some are quite svelte while others look like white balloons!
All are cute.
August 13th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
hahaha… give me a bleat.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I’m absolutely made up about the book, my only suggestion would be bigger. I’ve recently enjoyed the Hellboy Archive Hardbacks and I was happily suprised by how much more I enjoyed that artwork given a little more room to breathe. It really made a huge different – and I have to admit, I’ve always been a cynic at the suggestion of enlarging artwork from where I originally saw it. Also, the strip titles are a must, please reassure me that they will accompany each strip in the book?
Please?
They’re part of the narrative, missing them out would give a new ‘book only’ reader a lesser experience in my mind.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
/ew/ rapist goat
you’re a genius
August 13th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
WOW. I just found this today. I’m speachless. This is by far my favorite web comic. You’re characters’ acting is wonderful! I think a print copy is a great idea, and coming to Portland Oregon’s Stumptown comic’s fest with it would be an even better idea! cough cough hint cough.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
huh ? a “bleat” ? °3° are you sure it’s not “beat” ? it see that you added an extra letter in this word… ^^;
August 13th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
for the book, how about a page or two of pop-up art?? probably a lot of work, but if you hook up with the right pop-up artist, it could really be something special!
August 14th, 2009 at 12:46 am
Well, with Shadowclad’s mention of your sketchbook, it sounds like you have a TON of material. You never know, some artists have lots of material, some have less. Some don’t mind releasing behind-the-scenes material at the same time, some do. Keep in mind – and I’m sure you’ll know this from being a fan of other artists – us fans LOVE the artwork. Even a little scribble is a cute little scribble to us, and we want to see it. So really, I wouldn’t mind AT ALL (even as it gets reflected in the price tag) if the amount of supplemental material was just as many pages as the comic itself. That’d certainly make for a wonderfully thick book…. think of it this way – you’d be creating the definitive collection of ACC material for this first chapter of his adventures.
The downside of course is the price tag… more pages = higher cost. Since this is the first ACC, you might want to make sure it’s very affordable to get it into as many hands as possible. Maybe you could make a paperback edition, and then a hardcover edition with all the goodies and the higher price tag? Of course, creating two editions also takes time and money.
Some artists that I’ve encouraged to make an art book, or something similar… they say they’ll wait until later, when they’re more well-known, or something… when there’s more demand for it… Well, I believe there’s always no time like the present. Put it all in there now. Then you don’t have to do it later. Later, when you’ve forgotten things, misplaced sketches, etc., you won’t have to dig them all up again and try to put them back into order. As you’re crafting the first published volume of ACC, it’s really the perfect opportunity to include absolutely as much supplemental material as you can.
Final idea for the moment. There’s one webcomic I read, and when the author published it, at the back of the book they wrote a bunch of their comments about the comic, referencing the page # of the comic that they are commenting about. This was cool, but kinda annoying that it’s all at the back, so I’d be flipping back and forth the whole time. Rather, if you have a nice, large-sized book, you could add supplemental information and otherwise fun and insightful comments along with the strip itself, below each comic. A kind of author’s commentary track. Would be pretty awesome I think.
Lastly, two comments. Totally with you, Mike, on just discovering the comic. When I discovered it some weeks ago now, when David Petersen linked over here re: his guest strip from his blog, I literally stopped everything I was doing and read ACC from beginning to the most recent comic. It was a magnificent experience… only problem is, now I have to wait a week for every new strip, just like everyone else has been doing all this time!
And I am in complete agreement with Robin about 1) the strip titles and 2) the book should be definitely a decent size… i.e. big-ish. I too have enjoyed the Hellboy Library Editions immensely – some more larger-than-usual books are Mouse Guard 1152 B&W Limited Edition and RASL #1 The Drift (both trade and limited hardcover) – these large format books, especially Hellboy and Mouse Guard, are frankly too incredible for words.
August 14th, 2009 at 12:50 am
Hey maybe the cover could be a hologram of Charles Christopher LOL!!! I remember amazing quality holograms from National Geographic and stuff. I thought by the year 2009 there would be holograms everywhere!
August 14th, 2009 at 5:22 am
I would totally like a book of ACC.
One thing I’d like to see in there is an introduction by Vivol.
Maybe also some fun/games/activities type stuff at the end by Townsen,…kinda like Chris Ware does sometimes in his books.
Keep up the awesome work!
August 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Yeah….I don’t know the anatomy of goats so I’ll not comment on his looks.
When one stops to consider you’re getting ideas for the ads from actual personals this one does leave one a bit chilled hehe.
I think I went on a date with this guy back in college…ruined a perfectly good laptop using it as a bludgeon….
August 14th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
i like these ones a lot. i picture two female mountain goats sitting on a clifftop reading the newspaper.
“what about this one?”
“ah gawd, irene. you’re not actually considering mating with HIM, are you??”
August 15th, 2009 at 1:06 am
hey, uh, Karl-
awesome art, adorable character, love love love your comic to the end of the world- but what does “hates the word ‘no’” mean? Like the poster up-thread said, that comes off sorta… rape-friendly. Maybe I’m reading it all wrong?…
August 15th, 2009 at 9:42 am
I am SO with iAmSam – an intro by Vivol would be amazing. But more amazing? Promo ads for the book by Sissi Skunk. For serious!
August 15th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Yikes. I guess he does come off as a bit creepy.
I imagined him as a thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie – the ‘hates the word no’ line was meant as more of a ‘don’t tell me it’s impossible’ attitude.
Oh well. Clancy seems like a bit of a self-obsessed jerk anyway, so the more warning signs the better…
August 16th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Change it to “Hates: the word ‘impossible’”?
That’s how I read it.
I still think he’d be a great match-up with the walrus.
@Brandon: there ARE holograms everywhere. Sticker packs for pre-teen girls turned out to be a bigger market than anyone expected.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I was doing fine until “bleat”. I don’t know why, but I cracked up on that one. Great work, as always.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
@argent… or rather in regards that comment…
don’t change anything, it is fine the way it is, don’t get politically corrected
August 17th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
@ollie Inter-species dating is SO not politically correct.
And probably embarrassing and awkward, just like regular dating.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
haha! Cocky.
August 18th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Wow, I read through the entire archive tonight, I saw this and simply could not stop myself. I think this comic would be touching and beautiful in a book. I wouldn’t overdo it with the supplementary material, the comic stands wonderfully on its own. The only thing I would suggest is perhaps changing some of the order of the strips… putting like strips together may help with continuity. Of course, left as is, it really reminds me of reading newspaper strips when I was a kid.
August 19th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Brandon mentioned that it’s good to have supplementary material where people can access it, next the the story it relates to, instead of the back of the book. I would really recommend that as well. I’d certainly love a copy of the book with comics and any other material you have, your art is brilliant, your humour is just my cup of tea, and even these little adverts you’re writing “as a filler” are of top quality.
August 19th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Whoa hey…I was *not* suggesting that Karl change anything. I think it should be left at “hates the word ‘no’” specifically *because* it’s creepy. Ever read the personals? Some of them are definitely off-putting and I thought it was quite clever to capture a little of that darkness.
As for the book, I’d really like to see more “words of wisdom” from the owl to his son, and maybe more dancing bees :)
August 21st, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Oh no, I thought the creepiness was great! The implications just make it funnier, in my opinion. Sorry if it came off wrong.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
“Once there was a silly old ram, who tried to put a hole in a dam, “…. Frank Sinatra Reference? Coincidence? maybe.