What I will say is that I have re-aquainted myself with my old tablet, that I handed down to my dad (who uses it quite a lot actually) when I got my big shiny new one. The sensitivity is higher, but after a few days now it’s like I never stopped using it. So I might finally start inking some new strips soon. It’s hard to go back an draw that first comic when story-wise you’re already about half a year ahead. But there is some good material in there. I like to entertain the thought it’s already better than anything I’ve done with dinerdate before. But I guess you and I will have to wait and see.

In closing, here’s a piece I’ve been sitting on for a while. It’s a drawing of the new cafe.

If you’re wondering how the storyline would have progressed, I might share it with you some other time.

In closing, a look ahead:

The setting and the cast have been determined, and I have a month worth of strips written. But I want to have everything figured out before I put anything up.

The plan was to make the new cast all-human, but after I posted that on twitter I got a couple of reactions saying that the talking animals were, quote, “awesome sauce”.

I’ll keep you updated.

Dinerdate died. I let it. I apologize.

I don’t know what happened, but I think somewhere along the way I lost interest. Not in the comic itself, but in the direction it was going. The response was minimal compared to the effort I put into it. But I can’t blame anyone. To tell you the truth, I don’t think it’s that good either. It’s pretty decent for something that started on a whim 5 years ago. But you have to know when it’s time to cut your losses.

So, let’s start anew.

When Dinerdate starts again, it will be different. In style, in tone, in cast. Some things will be familiar, some will be new. Think of it as a reboot. A clean slate. A new beginning.

See you soon.

I’ll fill you in on those projects soon. One is for school and one is a little pet project that will hopefully be in print later this year. I’ve never really printed anything, so this is making me have to consider all sorts of things that I never had to think about, like page margins and having clearly legible fonts at any size. Very interesting.

I like how Big D’s expression turned out in the last panel. It perfectly captures his mood.

The online video service Ustream has been catching on like wildfire in the webcomics community recently, so I’ve decided to try my hand at streaming the creation of my comic aswell. If you’re interested in watching me draw Dinerdate or whatever else I’m working on at the time, you can look me up at Ustream.tv.

I’ll post here, aswell as on my twitter, when I broadcast.

Keep an eye out.

Phew, guess it was just Browny that they heard outside.

Or was it…?

I’ve been working my way through HTMW, and so far I hadn’t really read anything too new (just a lot of confirmation that I’ve been doing things right), until I got to Dave‘s chapter on Interacting with your audience. I don’t know if it had to do with the fact that I’ve been a bit of a superfan myself the past few weeks about another artist that I’ve mentioned previously (I met her! I met her! I met her!), but what Dave said really clicked with me.

He talks about the notion that what you represent in your work represents what kind of fans you’ll get. He says:

“The readership you build up over time will be a reflection of the work and the words and the sentiments you put out there. And after a few years of filtering out this type of reader and that type of reader, you inevitably end up with a reader that reflects your basic personality.”

That little nugget of wisdom really opened my eyes! He goes on to comment:

“Think about that next time you’re tempted to say “my readers are lazy” or “they don’t support me”. Are they a reflection of you?”

I’m inclined to say yes, haha!

So I’m going to put together some ideas to stimulate readers a little more, and I’ve recently become involved with a small group of very talented and passionate artists aswell. This is really the next step.

update:
Starting with the return of the advertising and linking page!
update 2:
And a new, easy to use, no-nonsense forum!

I could’ve split this up into two seperate comics, but this is a scene that just works better when you throw it all together.

Wow.

I don’t want to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m still sitting here awestruck that I just drew the above. I totally wasn’t planning to go crazy with the art; I wasn’t even looking particularly forward to churning this one out today (hence it was late), but as soon as I sat down, it just sort of…came out.

I started with Sarah in panel one, and right from the start she turned out exactly like I imagined, darting across the sidewalk with a sort of playful innocence and wonder. Women are pretty difficult to draw right, especially in a minimalistic style, so that was a big motivation booster right there.
Then I did all the backgrounds. I looked at two photographs for reference, but I made a case of it not to trace anything, or even copy it, I wanted to do this all by myself. So I looked at them once, taking in the general layout, and went to work. And it’s…I just can’t believe I really drew that. Everything just felt right.

This is what making comics is all about.

If you want to take a closer look at the art, you can click here to see it in it’s original size, or here for just the background art.

I enjoy getting a little philosophical sometimes, and it’s something that I want (harhar) to convey in my work more too. I’m a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes & Cat and Girl who both employ similar writing techniques. It’s hard work, but very satisfying.

Back to traditionallly drawn. Didn’t have a lot of time this week so this method is much quicker, and I’ve gotten to a point where you can’t really tell whether it’s regular or tablet-drawn.

This is all about how to take your webcomic to the next level, so I can’t wait to start reading! Looks really good so far. This will surely reinvigorate my motivation. I’ve got a few other comic projects lined up, and I’ve been listening to the Art and Story podcast which offers some very concise advice and insights on the whole process of putting together a comic too.

Finished making a 12 second animation for a college assignment aswell yesterday, you can check that out here.

So good stuff all around.

And as you may have read, the update schedule changed to Monday and Thursday. I’m enjoying drawing the strip completely digitally with my tablet, but I’ll need the time to do so, so I’m going to try to have the weekly strips done in the weekend so I won’t have to rush it at the last minute.

Traffic also seems to be increasing again. There’s about 1500 people a month coming through here now, and my ranking on TWCL has gone up too. So thanks to everyone for dropping by, I hope you enjoy the comic and continue to do so! I certainly enjoy making it (most of the time ). Spread the word!

True story.

It’s another fully digital strip! It was nice to have two days off this week so I could spend a few hours straight putting these together. I can imagine how much fun it must be to be able to do this every day when you’re a pro.

This is the first DD strip that was made completely digitally.
I was watching how Meredith draws Octopus Pie, and I was thinking I’d love to do it all digital like that. So I did. It took forever, but it turned out good. I think I finally got to the point where I can draw my characters just as well with a tablet as on paper. I was surprised at how good Nicole and Sarah looked on the first try. Now I just need to somehow speed up the whole process.

I also ‘fixed’ Nicole. In the past few strips she was starting to look more like a female version of Alphonse. Whenever I’m unclear on how a character should look, I refer to the cast image on the About page. I didn’t realize it when I drew it, but it’s become an invaluable reference for shapes and colors.

The update schedule has been a little wonky lately. I’m thinking of moving the Wednesday back to the Thursday, so it’s a little more spread-out across the week. And I’ll start inking again soon.

I noticed wrapping up this strip that I had forgotten to make gutters for like the last four strips. Oops.

My hobo caricature catalog is a little limited.

I’m liking these sketch editions. They may not be that flashy, but I can cheat a little bit on details by just scribbling a bit, and it still looks good.

Get your minds out of the gutter people!

I DID plan out the storyline for the next month however. It came surprisingly easy once I sat down. And I think it’s pretty good stuff. It’s a bit of a direction I haven’t explored yet with DD, although Vendetta touched on it a little. For that, I AM excited.

Another sketch edition. For some reason I thought I’d be funny to give Big D a baseball cap. He seems like the sort of person who would wear that on his spare time.

I don’t know if that is actually an expression in English -the title I mean-. In Dutch, we say “duidelijke taal”. I guess it means unambiguous.

The ‘sketch edition’ thing is a bit of a joke. I just didn’t have time to ink and color it, so I just put it up as is.