And the story marches on, and on, and on!  We’ve got a new page up, and another one is almost complete. We are trying very hard to get back onto a regular schedule here with our updates, folks, so fear not!  Eventually, all will work as planned, and we will get back to a regular, twice  a week update. Can you imagine such a world?  I can!  It is a world where milk and honey flow like water, and the streets are paved with gold (or cheese, I cannot remember which).  Anywho, we will continue to fight the good fight, and our characters will continue to fight as well. So tell your friends! Tell your families!  WTB Dignity is kikcin’ it old school, just like we used to.

-Mr. Sinn

We here at Hawk vs Pigeon are not what you would all “trend setters”, so much as “trend followers”.  And here we are, following the trend with a short featurette of LA Noire comics.  So, if you’re a fan of the game, or not, you will more than likely be amused.  That means that if you are anyone, anywhere, you will probably enjoy this strip.  I like to keep my audience broad, you know?

-Mr. Sinn

Here comes the big boss man Harold to fix things up right!  Perhaps.  We’ll be moving along from the crash site shortly, I promise.  I know we’ve spent several pages dealing with poor Raz’s condition, but it’s a pretty serious ailment, so it’s worth the time.  Only one more page or two in this spot, I promise!  Then we’ll be moving on to where exactly our noble crew is, and how they plan on getting out of there.

In yesterday’s very brief post, in case you haven’t read it, I mention that we now have a mobile friendly version of the site.  This is absolutely true!  Go ahead, see for yourself.  Load this bad-boy up on your iphoney, or your strawberry, or whatever hi-tech gizmo you have that I don’t know about.  Go ahead.  Do it.  I’ll wait right here.  It’s okay, I’ve got time, check it out.

-Mr Sinn

Shaboom! That’s kind of the sound that Regerar’s flash bomb made. Probably not, I just like saying things like “shaboom” for no real reason. Also, in case you haven’t seen it, please scroll down to the post below this one for a look at our new video. You people like video content, right? I mean, who wouldn’t?

The video itself grew out of two things: the first being the fact that I needed to play around with my new camera before taking it out on jobs with me, and the second being my desire to play around with some picture-in-picture editing to create multiples of myself. All in all, I think it turned out okay. There are some glitches and errors, but they are largely due to me making a small mistake here or there during shooting, and can be easily rectified in the near future.

Also, please do stick around for our animated series debut. It won’t be long, and it will more than likely be located over at We Live in Atlanta, although we will no doubt post it here as well. All I’m going to say is this: if you like the Fallout Series, or even just Fallout 3, and you like humor, then you will more than likely (as logic dictates) enjoy our animated series immensely.

Also, we are well underway to creating our first series of WTB Dignity books. They will include all of the pages up on our site thusfar as well as brand new, never before seen story lines involving our characters pasts, and futures as well. See? We aren’t those sorts of people who just want to sell you all the stuff we already give you for free. Oh no, we will give you so much more than that, by giving you exclusive story lines that you simply cannot find anywhere else. We are mean and sneaky like that.

At some point, I will write more about writing web comics, and how that process goes. I like to think that I have some authority on the matter, seeing as how I have been hired multiple times by major corporations to write them. I really will get to it, I promise.

-Mr. Sinn

Believe it or not, I’ve been writing comics for over three years now. In fact, the first one I wrote was for Blizzard’s World of Warcraft Comic Contest. Mr. Weisner and I entered four entries together, and we were never even featured in any of the months. We felt cheated, as we believed our comics to be simply above and beyond the caliber of the other entrants. At this point it should come to no surprise to you that our entries were the start of “WTB Dignity”. Yes, we created the characters and (very loosely) the ongoing story arc of WTB Dignity in April of 2006. For the WoW contest, though, we named it the “Warsong Gulch Chronicles“. It features Harold, Razputhen, and a third character (who will be introduced in WTBD very soon). We also had a few other minor players who will be brought back to life in later episodes of WTBD as well, mainly on the human side… you know, cannon-fodder.

All that aside, I have learned a great deal about webcomics, comic, writing, and story structure since then. Hell, I’ve even had two paying, professional comic gigs in that time (woo hoo!). Needless to say, in a story like WTBD, it is absolutely crucial to, at the very least, have a strong outline of your entire story arc before you even write your very first page. That’s my method of writing, and I find that it helps me to prevent plot holes and loops before they ever have a chance to happen. If I know exactly where I’m going before I start, how can I get lost? It’s the same as plotting your route to your destination before leaving home.

Another important step was fleshing out the characters in great depth. This may seem silly to a writer, since they “know” the character already, but sometimes you can forget the little details, and it never hurts to know as much as possible about each and every main character before you dive into them. This is a little outline that I have been using to help me define my characters since my college days:

Where did they come from?
What happened to their past/family?
Who are they currently?
What are they currently doing?
What is their current life situation?
What is their physical appearance?
What is their dress?
What is their belief system?
What kind of personality do they have?
What is their current psychological makeup?
How do they act in social situations?
What kind of attitude do they have?
Who are their current connections/friends?
What kind of changes will the character make?
What is this characters immediate story arc objective?

I know that’s a lot of information, and takes a lot of work on your part before you even begin writing your actual comic, but hey, it is absolutely worth it. This isn’t amateur hour over here.

Another thing I find crucial to these long term stories or graphic novels is what I call a Fact Sheet. A Fact Sheet is, simply put, a collection of important Facts for your story. I use it to keep characters names (and proper spellings!) along with brief descriptions of who they are. I also use it for major events, past and future; as well as the names and geographical information about different continents, regions, towns, villages, and cities within the world I have created. It really helps as it allows you to go back to the Fact Page at any time to check spellings, geographical location, and importance on any number of items as you progress through your story.

All of this information, of course, only really pertains to progressive storytelling. In fact, the first main story arc, as outlined on page one of WTBD, was originally planned to last AT LEAST three years before it was done. Three straight years of two posts a week. Remember, it started off as a paying job, and I was contractually obligated to start with a three-year long story arc. Intense, huh? So, if you think about it, the story as it stands currently, at 53 pages, is far from the end. Hell, we’ve barely even scratched the surface.

If you want to write daily comics, or something of the like… you know, along the lines of We Live in Atlanta, Penny Arcade, or Rooster Teeth… then you can pretty much disregard most of what I’ve said here, because daily, singular jokes do not require three years worth of foresight. Just another reason why they singularly rock, and are totally awesome and entertaining.

I hope you have found all of this information useful or helpful in some manner of way. Stay tuned as I bring you more nuggets of wisdom regarding your comic, and how to get started. Cheers, and keep writing! Or, you know, drawing… if that’s your thing.

Today marks two historic events.  One:  It’s our 30th page.  Huzzah!  Two:  It’s the first likeness featured in WTB Dignity!  That means that we have introduced a character that has been modeled after the generous Aaron Waltke, of Moon County notoriety.  His character shall be dubbed “Gorgeous Waltke, Self Proclaimed Bandit King”.  I really like this page, Mr. Weisner is really doing a kick-ass job with the lighting effects and character designs.

Keep on reading, and remember to check out We Live In Atlanta as well, as we have a new page up there too.  We’re also pretty proud of that latest page, as it’s pretty damned funny.

-Mr. Sinn

Upon a recent venture into a local comic store, Mr. Weisner and I found out one thing:  That if we start printing WTB Dignity, they will start to carry and sell those issues in their store.  Now that, truly is, a novel concept.  We’ve been dabbling with the idea of creating a longer version, i.e., a hardback year one volume sort of deal… but the thought of doing that *plus* producing comic books entices me in a rather big way.  I think it is probably something that we will have to give considerable thought to.  I have already done a good deal of printing research, but honestly think that printing on demand would be the best road to take, for the moment, since we don’t really know how many people would be around locally to buy the book.  That would also give us the ability to have issues printed on demand for internet readers and have them shipped to your doorstep.  So, that is definately something to keep in mind.  Maybe something of a pre-order can be done for such an occasion… we shall see what we shall see.  I shall be sure to keep you posted.  But more importantly, what do you think?  Please feel free to jump onto the forum post I made about this and share your thoughts.  DO IT!

-Mr. Sinn

We have entered… the swamps!  Seocnd story arc, here we come!  It’s pretty exciting.  Also, got another video up on the Our Work page.  That’s three now, baby.  Oh yeah.

-Mr. Sinn

The thrilling conclusion of our team’s first foray into battle!  But a dark cloud still looms overhead.  Sorry about the late post… it was scheduled on time, but I forgot that if I do not add a post such as this one, the comic itself will not show up on the main page.  Oops, my bad.  It won’t happen again, I promise.  Sort of.  You know, I mean, I don’t want to forget at some point down the road, say, two years from now, and then be called a liar and a promise breaker.  That’s just not who I am… I’m just forgetful.

-Mr. Sinn

The first fifty pages are now up on TNT’s website for your viewing pleasure.  There’s some pretty nifty stuff going on there, so I would recommend checking it out, and not just because I had a hand in it… no, not at all!

On a side note, I’m researching putting together a small sound studio in my home, which has been made much easier due to the insights of Tom Kane and Brian Lee.  They’ve done a good deal to enlighten me as to what I need and where I can go to get good deals on them, which is much appreciated.  I can’t wait to get it all up and running, so I can start to do some voice work once more, not to mention just make some fun little sound-bytes for my radio shows.  Also, it will come in handy when Mr. Weisner and I begin working on animated shorts once more, once this project with TNT is complete, as well as more freelance commercial work.  So, if you’ve got a need for some art, short animations, or commercials, feel free to dro pus a line.