I have a list of graphic novels and comics I want to start making, things from a serious, poignant love story set on a Mars colony to a dick joked filled bromance comic strip set in a bar but I have one small problem; Im afraid to draw. Now this fear is totally self-inflicted and, quite frankly, totally irrational. When I picked up a pencil again a couple of years ago I realized that I wasnt as good an artist as I used to be. Its not really surprising since I hadnt drawn in ages, but it was disappointing nonetheless. The problem stems from I have so much emotion invested in these ideas that I dont screw any of it up. Now this is a completely ridiculous notion because as I improve I can always go back and fix my mistakes, but as you may be aware, reason has nothing to do with fear. I was at my dead-end job yesterday trying to think of a way I can get back on the horse again since its my intent to go back to college in the fall and work to get a degree in fine art. Thats when I had that stupid little idea that could prove to be my salvation. What if I randomly created a comic for the specific purpose to screw it up? I figure if I do that and do a crappy job with it, so what? After all, if its just a practice run, whos gonna care if its badly drawn? I thought for a minute and came up with this idea:
Synopsis: A manga about a group of five super-powered/magic girls who fight crime across the galaxy with their male manservant.
Due to the nature of the created to be screwed up factor and the general idea I figured that a serious approach would be out of place. So
Genre: Comedy/Adult
Yes, there will be adult content; probably a lot of it. This is going to be stupid, campy, and possibly pornographic with a healthy dose of random stupidity thrown in. If youve ever seen the Excel Saga, particularly the last episode entitled Going Too Far, youll get the idea. The best part is I have no artistic standards for this. None. Nadda. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Well, you get the idea. This could be Stick Figure Theater for all I care. So bearing all that in mind thats when I went to a little website called Seventh Sanctum. Now if you dont know, Seventh Sanctum is a site for artists, writers and other creative types and is chock full of random generators, from characters to props to settings, bother serious and humorous. My process for this was pretty straight-forward. Each generator I used I copied and pasted the data into an word document until it reached 5 pages or so, then I went through what I had and copied over anything that caught my eye. Now keep in mind I reserve the right to add, subtract or rework any of these descriptions as I see fit. The randomness I started off trying to figure out what the title will be so I went to the Marketable Cartoon Title generator and found a few useful possible titles:
Possible Titles: Betty Maximum And The Laserbats
Cassandra Incredible And The Dinonoids
Gyronoids
Bionicats
Mouse Fighters
Vicky Atomic And The Battle Masters
Prince Cosmic And The Magic Wizards
Midnight Foxes
Nancy Star And The Bionitrons
Vicky Thunder And The Foreverhawks
Dawn Danger And The Silver Knights
The Kids Of The Universe
The Teens Of Justice
Lady Danger And The Troopers Of Space
Star Girls
Vicky Ultimate And The Blaster Toads
Pretty cool, huh? I will pick these over, rewrite them until the perfect title coalesces. Of course a snazzy title isnt enough, you need characters. I used two different generators for the ladies, the first was the random fanboy fantasy generator and the second was the magical girl generator. The titles, for lack of a better word, and whats in the parentheses are my own idea; the descriptions are the random bits.
Girl 1 - Leader
Description: The seductive curvy secret agent with guns!
This sensual magical girl has almond-shaped red eyes and medium-length, curly, luxurious, brown hair worn in an odd style. She has a muscular build. She has gravity powers that are invoked by a sceptre. Her semi-transparent costume is mostly black.
Girl 2 - Second in Command
Description: The loving panty-flashing dragongirl who wears a chainmail bikini!
This laid-back magical girl has round red eyes and waist-length, curly, thick, peach-colored hair worn in an unusual style. She has a leggy figure. She has ghost powers that are focused through a scepter. Her outfit is mostly red and orange, looks like a fusion of a southern belle's dress and a shameless pop singer's skimpy outfit, and it seems to be blown by other-worldly winds. .
Girl 3 - Military Nut
Description: The sophisticated double-jointed half-alien martial artist with high-tech underwear!
This brave magical girl's almond-shaped eyes are the color of sapphires. Her medium-length, curly, silky hair is the color of burnished iron, and is worn in a businesslike style. She has a plump build. She has avian powers that are activated by sheer willpower. Her impractical outfit is gray and red and it includes a mask that suggests a beak.
Girl 4 - Voracious Eater
Description: The innocent panty-flashing android alien tech-girl!
This proud magical girl has slitted white eyes and long, straight, thick, cherry red hair worn in an impractical style. She has an Amazonian figure. She has reptile powers that are invoked by sheer willpower. Her non-euclidian outfit is mostly green.
(Sister to Girl 5)
Girl 5 - Childlike Innocent
Description: The cuddly half-alien bunnygirl! (Dad came to Earth and banged a rabbit)
This witty magical girl has almond-shaped gray eyes and very short, straight, fine, aquamarine hair worn in an attractive style. She has a lithe build. She has computer powers that are focused through keys. Her sexy, elaborate outfit is black and gray.
(Sister to Girl 4)
Of course our daring damsels need an ever-faithful guy hanging around to, um, Im not sure, make sandwiches I guess. Hell, maybe I can make a few statements about gender equality with this. Anyway, heres our manservant.
Guy 1 - Devoted Manservant
Description: The compassionate, unpredictable samurai. His sensuous hair is chestnut. His burning eyes are like two pieces of ivory.
This intelligent magic knight has narrow soot-black eyes and short, curly, thick, red hair worn in a complex style. He has an athletic build. He has ghost powers that are activated instinctively. His uniform is mostly red, and it looks like a fusion of a mysterious emperor's formal wear and a gigolo's shameless clothing.
And you cant fight crime without a criminal mastermind, so kids, here he is, our bad guy:
Guy 2 - Evil Baddy
Description: This confident magic-user is motivated by a need to compensate for personal inadequacies. He uses demonology in his plans, always bargaining with demons to achieve his goals. He has uncanny abilities.
As you can see, the two descriptions I chose for each character dont really go together; I just randomly selected things that caught my eye. I plan on keeping and expanding the bits I like and discarding the rest.
Now starting tomorrow I will give myself one week to come up with a design and background information for one character, which I will post here. That means I should have all seven characters finished in about two months time. Keep in mind, that once I have a character finished, that doesnt mean its locked in, I reserve the right to mess with anything and everything for as long as I want; I am designating this little slice of insanity as my personal playground and all of you are invited to play along and watch the stupidity fly. Hell, got a silly or warped suggestion? Let me know, Im more than happy to share the madness. Is it weird that Im getting giddy thinking about how bad this is going to be?
I now return you to your originally scheduled SG madness.
Synopsis: A manga about a group of five super-powered/magic girls who fight crime across the galaxy with their male manservant.
Due to the nature of the created to be screwed up factor and the general idea I figured that a serious approach would be out of place. So
Genre: Comedy/Adult
Yes, there will be adult content; probably a lot of it. This is going to be stupid, campy, and possibly pornographic with a healthy dose of random stupidity thrown in. If youve ever seen the Excel Saga, particularly the last episode entitled Going Too Far, youll get the idea. The best part is I have no artistic standards for this. None. Nadda. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Well, you get the idea. This could be Stick Figure Theater for all I care. So bearing all that in mind thats when I went to a little website called Seventh Sanctum. Now if you dont know, Seventh Sanctum is a site for artists, writers and other creative types and is chock full of random generators, from characters to props to settings, bother serious and humorous. My process for this was pretty straight-forward. Each generator I used I copied and pasted the data into an word document until it reached 5 pages or so, then I went through what I had and copied over anything that caught my eye. Now keep in mind I reserve the right to add, subtract or rework any of these descriptions as I see fit. The randomness I started off trying to figure out what the title will be so I went to the Marketable Cartoon Title generator and found a few useful possible titles:
Possible Titles: Betty Maximum And The Laserbats
Cassandra Incredible And The Dinonoids
Gyronoids
Bionicats
Mouse Fighters
Vicky Atomic And The Battle Masters
Prince Cosmic And The Magic Wizards
Midnight Foxes
Nancy Star And The Bionitrons
Vicky Thunder And The Foreverhawks
Dawn Danger And The Silver Knights
The Kids Of The Universe
The Teens Of Justice
Lady Danger And The Troopers Of Space
Star Girls
Vicky Ultimate And The Blaster Toads
Pretty cool, huh? I will pick these over, rewrite them until the perfect title coalesces. Of course a snazzy title isnt enough, you need characters. I used two different generators for the ladies, the first was the random fanboy fantasy generator and the second was the magical girl generator. The titles, for lack of a better word, and whats in the parentheses are my own idea; the descriptions are the random bits.
Girl 1 - Leader
Description: The seductive curvy secret agent with guns!
This sensual magical girl has almond-shaped red eyes and medium-length, curly, luxurious, brown hair worn in an odd style. She has a muscular build. She has gravity powers that are invoked by a sceptre. Her semi-transparent costume is mostly black.
Girl 2 - Second in Command
Description: The loving panty-flashing dragongirl who wears a chainmail bikini!
This laid-back magical girl has round red eyes and waist-length, curly, thick, peach-colored hair worn in an unusual style. She has a leggy figure. She has ghost powers that are focused through a scepter. Her outfit is mostly red and orange, looks like a fusion of a southern belle's dress and a shameless pop singer's skimpy outfit, and it seems to be blown by other-worldly winds. .
Girl 3 - Military Nut
Description: The sophisticated double-jointed half-alien martial artist with high-tech underwear!
This brave magical girl's almond-shaped eyes are the color of sapphires. Her medium-length, curly, silky hair is the color of burnished iron, and is worn in a businesslike style. She has a plump build. She has avian powers that are activated by sheer willpower. Her impractical outfit is gray and red and it includes a mask that suggests a beak.
Girl 4 - Voracious Eater
Description: The innocent panty-flashing android alien tech-girl!
This proud magical girl has slitted white eyes and long, straight, thick, cherry red hair worn in an impractical style. She has an Amazonian figure. She has reptile powers that are invoked by sheer willpower. Her non-euclidian outfit is mostly green.
(Sister to Girl 5)
Girl 5 - Childlike Innocent
Description: The cuddly half-alien bunnygirl! (Dad came to Earth and banged a rabbit)
This witty magical girl has almond-shaped gray eyes and very short, straight, fine, aquamarine hair worn in an attractive style. She has a lithe build. She has computer powers that are focused through keys. Her sexy, elaborate outfit is black and gray.
(Sister to Girl 4)
Of course our daring damsels need an ever-faithful guy hanging around to, um, Im not sure, make sandwiches I guess. Hell, maybe I can make a few statements about gender equality with this. Anyway, heres our manservant.
Guy 1 - Devoted Manservant
Description: The compassionate, unpredictable samurai. His sensuous hair is chestnut. His burning eyes are like two pieces of ivory.
This intelligent magic knight has narrow soot-black eyes and short, curly, thick, red hair worn in a complex style. He has an athletic build. He has ghost powers that are activated instinctively. His uniform is mostly red, and it looks like a fusion of a mysterious emperor's formal wear and a gigolo's shameless clothing.
And you cant fight crime without a criminal mastermind, so kids, here he is, our bad guy:
Guy 2 - Evil Baddy
Description: This confident magic-user is motivated by a need to compensate for personal inadequacies. He uses demonology in his plans, always bargaining with demons to achieve his goals. He has uncanny abilities.
As you can see, the two descriptions I chose for each character dont really go together; I just randomly selected things that caught my eye. I plan on keeping and expanding the bits I like and discarding the rest.
Now starting tomorrow I will give myself one week to come up with a design and background information for one character, which I will post here. That means I should have all seven characters finished in about two months time. Keep in mind, that once I have a character finished, that doesnt mean its locked in, I reserve the right to mess with anything and everything for as long as I want; I am designating this little slice of insanity as my personal playground and all of you are invited to play along and watch the stupidity fly. Hell, got a silly or warped suggestion? Let me know, Im more than happy to share the madness. Is it weird that Im getting giddy thinking about how bad this is going to be?
I now return you to your originally scheduled SG madness.