Thunder Punch Daily

This time I respond to an Art SoundOff entry by Owen Jollands, who submitted some thoughts on how we might apply more scientific thinking to our art analysis. Having no scientific background of my own, I share how teaching comics classes has improved my own journaling and reflection. Links mentioned: Owen Jollands’ Art Soundoff #7 […]

It’s dawned on me that I haven’t done any proper “art journaling” for this Art Soundoff challenge, so I take a break from my essays to share and reflect on some of the things I’m working on today. Links mentioned: The Art Soundoff Challenge Owen Jollands’ 6th entry into the Art Soundoff Challenge Music for […]

This time I share a few thoughts on the experiment I’m running with the Boulder and Fleet webcomic. I’m posting the comic natively to several different channels and observing different results from each of them. Tapastic, in particular, has presented some interesting challenges in terms of interface and surprises in audience interaction. Links mentioned: Boulder […]

After going through my weekly ritual of digitally gathering inspiration reference materials (in prep for this week’s LIA Cast), I realized that I haven’t quite solved the problem of cataloging and reviewing digital reference files. Today’s TPD is comparing the benefits of physical “reference morgues” vs digital ones. Links mentioned: The Galaxy Note 10.1 Microsoft’s […]

I’ve been shifting gears a lot today and facing the challenge of keeping focus. So I share a few of my thoughts on how I try to stay focused and get through my to-do lists. Links mentioned: The Art Soundoff Challenge Trello The Warren Commission Report Music for this show is by Eliott Drozd. Audio hosting […]

This time I share the surprise I’ve felt in how relaxed I’ve been about the Boulder and Fleet webcomic. Surprise invites the question “why,” so I explore what is different between this webcomic and others I’ve run, which leads me to some thinking about goals, vision, and an author’s expectations in terms of audience. Links […]

Thunder Punch Daily is back for a month of daily updates! Why? Because Rob Stenzinger and I have launched a creative challenge for the month of November, that’s why! In this episode I talk about my experiences with Inktober, the reasons behind the Art Soundoff Challenge, and how I prepare for a journal microcast. Links […]

For the 150th episode I break format and answer an email rather than come in with a formulated essay on comic-making. But I think there’s an essay in there somewhere as I give a report on what tools I use to make comics as of September 2013. Links mentioned: Manga Studio Ray Frenden’s Manga Studio […]

Today I explain my thinking process behind the design of He-Man in that big Masters of the Universe pitch I recently put together, and use it as a modeling exercise to highlight the various elements of communication in character design. If, as Dan Mishkin once said, everything in a comic is unreal, making everything real, […]

We often look back on our old work and groan. Why is this? Is it humble to talk our old work down, even when someone is responding to it positively? What changes when we approach our body of work (big or small) with a sense of respect? Links mentioned in this episode: Joan Didion on […]