ryanmakescomics

Other people are talking about it, so I might as well too

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:53:46 GMT

You can read the hullabaloo here:
http://www.fleen.com/archives/2009/12/22/some-days-i-feel-like-a-real-goddamn-journalist/#comments

Essentially I'll be leaving Keenspot pretty soon and moving AD!, FF and whatever else I wish to a new server. It'll be fun and exciting and full of glitchy pages being made from Comicpress! ;D

An alert when the move will be made as it happens, possibly the beginning of January.

Keep watchin' the news!

No one tells me anythin'

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:54:39 GMT

While at San Diego Comic-Con, the creator of Dreamland Chronicles came by and asked a variety of us to make sketches for an auction. I assumed it was something for the convention and quickly doodled him Coven.

(I always feel bad doing stuff like that, because I very much doubt people will spend money on my material.)

I just found out now by accident that my sketch, along with a truck load of other sketches, are up for auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/DREAMLAND-SKETCHCARD-RYAN-SMITH-FIRST-BOOK-CHARITY-NR_W0QQitemZ160386748231QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2557cb8f47

It's for charity and all, but I'm mostly interested in more bids because of my ridiculously competitive nature. ;D

You should check out Dreamland Chronicles too:
http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/
99% of the time I can't stand the appearance of CGI comics, except these guys go the extra mile to create a series that looks like it leaped off a movie screen! Very pretty to read. I heard on a podcast that it's quite possibly the most expensive comic to create too...

Accursed Dragon news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
Just a reminder that there will be no new comics next week...followed by MORE no new comics the week after that. Hurray for national holidays! :D
There's no horrible cliffhangers to worry about, so the wait should be tolerable.

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
Since it's near the end of the year, time to start rearranging the archives to accommodate the new comics. I'll group the Prequel, Flink's Hot Date, and whatever else together so they're not spaced apart so awkwardly. That means there may be some choppy updates here and there, but things will work out in the end. You be sure to alert me if it doesn't!

Coldest Vacation Ever

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:05:32 GMT

*YAAAAAWN*
Work is nice n' busy, there's a variety of festive parties to attend and then all the Christmas presents have to be wrapped and family visited. Is it any wonder I want time off for Christmas and New Years in order to fit sleep in?

(Plus I have it on good authority I'll be getting Left 4 Dead 2 and Borderlands this holiday and having time available to play them would be nifty!)

Earlier I was debating whether to take the Christmas week, or New Years week off, but if you haven't guessed yet I'm taking both. If I don't get my two weeks off I swear I'll go on strike, freeze my hands in the sub Celsius-like weather and then you get NO comics. You'll have to read...Goblins, or El Goonish Shive. If I REALLY hate you, it'll be Sheldon.

ha ha! Anyway, AD! comics continue this week, stop for 2 weeks and start again January...4th, is it? The first Monday of 2010? Just keep checking everyday to play it safe.

Accursed Dragon news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
I actually have only one AD! book left, except I haven't received the money in the mail yet. If I don't sell that last AD! book by the new year...tough! I'm going to keep the thing and use it for something else. I'll keep it by the toilet for guests. Maybe a gift for Mother's Day. If you're all "Oh! Now I want one for MY bathroom or mother", tough! It's mine now (assuming this is 2010 when you read this).

BTW, Coven only lost some of his clothes maybe 3, or 4 times in more than a year. That doesn't seem unreasonable. I mean, Rawn was buck naked for more than one comic.

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
Of course people go all bonkers about Coven losing his clothes, meanwhile the new Boe storyline entitled "Boe Loses All His Clothes" gets nothing.

Crucial info I forgot to mention

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:27:05 GMT

Of course I'd forget the most important part of the AD! books.
They're $12 (postage included). Pay by paypal or through mail.

Be the proud owner of one of the last seven AD! books EVAR!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:20:50 GMT

Perhaps they won't be the LAST last AD! books ever made available, but more ain't gonna' be printed out any time soon. They're in my house right now (leftovers from Central Canada Comic-Con), so I'll mail them out to the seven who send me an email.

AN EMAIL!

Don't go using some other method of contacting me for them, please.
As an added bonus, I'll sketch whatever request you wish. If you wish for some pretty risky subject material, be warned! I'll edit the request into something more appropriate/in continuity with the comic and you might not like it. ;D

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
Holidays are coming and I imagine there'll be another week off vacation for the strip. Thing is I plan on being away on Christmas and New Years. I'm still deciding which of those weeks will be stripless. You'll know plenty of time in advance.

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
A lot of introductions are about to take place with characters whose influence carry on to the very end of FF. It's touching in a way...
People seem unfamiliar with what "jorts" are, but they'll all become aware soon enough as one of the weirdest FF stories ever starts Friday.
Actually, since jorts appeared in last Friday's comic, the story technically started then. It was merely to ween you onto the whole jorts idea.

Blame Central-Canada Comic-Con!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:04:51 GMT

Ah! My very first convention by my lonesome is happening in two weeks. It'll be scary because I
don't really know a soul there and the prospect of sitting at a table for an entire weekend isn't appealing! Not when surrounded by toys and comics!! D;

I'm taking time to prepare, however, so I won't be updating the AD! site with new comics from Monday, Oct. 26th through to Friday, Oct. 29th. If I had reader submissions, I'd be happy to put them up during that time, but that's not likely to happen.

Aaaalso, there were very few books left available at the online store, so I'm having them all shipped to me to sell in person at the convention. Maybe trick a few unaware attendees to buy them. (wrings hands like an 80's cartoon villain)
If I sell them all....no more AD! books. If the demand is great enough, perhaps more will be made.

To repeat:
1) no new comics the last week of October. They will resume beginning of November.
2) no more AD! books available. Whatever is left from the con, I'll try to sell off the site.

A week off for Halloween and New Years

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:24:47 GMT

My head feels awful, so I'll have to make this brief.

(a normal person would wait until they felt better, but I know I won't write anything unless I do it this very second...)

I wasn't planning on this originally, but I was accidentally added to guests at a local comic convention. I've never been to one all by myself so I figured I'd go along with it. If you happen to be visiting Canada Central Comic-Con, I'll be there all weekend sitting at a table...doing stuff.
The Keenspot folks are sending me what remains of the AD! Book 1 collections to sell, plus I'll do sketches and simply chat in general (and maybe play Bowser's Inside Story).

The convention takes place the last week of October (Halloween weekend to be specific), so I probably will take time off from the comic to prepare.
I also have a trip scheduled for New Years, so that week will be a no-new-comic period too, but more on that as it draws nearer.

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
I'll be selling what I can of the AD! books during the convention. There's not that many left, so whatever is left over is it. There won't be anymore books for a very long time, so if you want a copy, that will be the time to act.
If you are interested, I'll put up a note as to how many are left post convention.

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
The same book news applies to Funny Farm, FYI. No one cares as much, however, which is why I'm not making a big deal out of it. \:)
Flink's Hot Date storyline is complete. With it ends one of the dirtiest stories I've made. Will I do dirtier? Probably!

Banished! news:
I'm not linking to the site, because I think someone hacked it with all sorts of virusy badness. Chances are I'll remove everything completely and re-upload the strips later on. Possibly finishing the story I gave up on out of frustration. More on that later....

Windows Reinstalled

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:50:45 GMT

This week has been mostly spent getting my computer affairs in order. All the practical things should be working fine, so I can work on updating the comic site stuff once more next week. Impractical things like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead still freeze, however. More time for sweet Professor Layton action, I reckon'.

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
This is the last part of the introductory phase for AD!. Once this story is complete, I can start getting into the major story arc stuff. OooOOooOO!

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
I was hoping to rearrange the archives so the "Funny Farm Prequel" story would be at the front, but that'll be a project for next week. Today is a new story featuring Flink (and Tanya). Not what I originally intended to air today, but I felt inspired. The Sunday comic can wait until the current story is finished.

Slight improvement

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:00:52 GMT

I had the essential files salvaged from my devastated desktop, so I may continue working using my laptop. Even though the Friday Funny Farm comic is now mine again, it's not finished and I don't have time to properly complete it by update time. Instead I'll be saving it for next week and a Laptop & Ferret comic will go up in its place.

The commentary tracks for the previous two FF strips will be up as soon as I can too...

Technical problems

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:47:04 GMT

It's possible my computer has a virus that did something to the Windows registry and "blah blah blah". Now my Windows won't boot.
I still have my laptop, but recently made files only exist on my desktop...and my motivation to recreate them are slim. We'll see, however. Perhaps a friend can get the 'puter working again so that I can backup the files, reinstall Windows and start fresh.

The one definite negative is that the Funny Farm strip I'm halfway completing might not get finished in time (if at all). I don't mean to ruin any surprises, but it's a "Sunday" style strip...which I hope sees the light of day. ;(

I'll keep ya's informed!

Post Con Podcast

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:12:50 GMT

A few good friends I made at Comic-Con (Calle, Joe, Alex and Mindy) invited me on their podcast Guttertalk for a post convention round-up. Thing is, I wasn't able to contribute much on account of:

a) I had to work that night, so I joined only to leave frequently to do...well, work.

b) My connection was horrible and laggy. I hesitated to talk much out of fear I'd cut someone off in the middle of their anecdote.

http://www.guttertalkpodcast.com/

Give it a listen anyway and you'll get an idea what us 'toonists have to go through during the week of the con. :D

Visit the other's websites while you're at it too!
http://www.zapinspace.com/
http://www.noneedforbushido.com/
http://wncomic.com/

(They're already more popular than I am. I dunno' why I need to direct you to their sites)

As you guessed, I'm back from Comic-Con

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:16:57 GMT

After all the work I've done leading up to Comic-Con, on top of ENDURING Comic-Con itself, I took an extra week off just to relax. Fortunately I didn't get any nerd-illness while there, like lots of other attendees. I guess I just know how to avoid it, what with working in a hospital and all. Thanks to everyone who came and visited me, and sorry to those who arrived while I was in the loo. The books looked great, I got to hang out with some great people and I didn't have to participate in any of the ridiculous line ups Comic-Con is famous for. Looking forward to next year!

Accursed Dragon news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
The comic resumes where it left off and during my mini-vacation I finished the story. It's always a relief to finish a story arc and begin something fresh. The book is still available for purchase too! I got the idea from the Zap! comic folk to draw in the remaining Comic-Con books supplies, so that random signed copies will be received by those who purchase online.

Will you be one of the lucky ones? Most of the sketches resemble who they're supposed to...

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
Not much new to mention here, except that the prequel story is almost over. What to do next....?
Perhaps something with Flink, since he was just recently introduced.

Laptop and Ferret news:
http://laptopandferret.keenspot.com/
Now that AD! and FF are updating, time to put L&F on hiatus again. I always miss them when it's over. ;(

Another vacation for Accursed Dragon!

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:18:52 GMT

July is San Diego Comic-Con month, which is the only convention I really ever attend as a "professional cartoonist". Note the quotations. ;D
Let's see...the convention is during the week of 20th to 26th, so that's when AD! won't be updating. Also, since it's summer, I'm adding the 27th to August 2nd in there too.

So!

The two last weeks of July until August 3rd, AD! will be on vacation! Take the time to go outside and get a tan, or something.

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
The first book should be available for purchase in person at Comic-Con. I'm not certain when it'll be available to buy online, however. If you won't be at the con and really want a copy of the book, give me an email and perhaps something can be arranged.
If you're at the con, come say "hello" and I'll draw something extra nice in it for ya'. :D

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
Funny Farm has 3 lil' books for purchase too, don't forget!
You may have noticed the Sunday strips have begun to air, but I'm still updating only 5 days a week. That's because I'm adamant about having weekends off. The archives may look weird because of this, but it shouldn't interfere with your reading pleasure. ;)

Laptop and Ferret news:
http://laptopandferret.keenspot.com/
Remember! When AD! isn't updating Mon-Thurs, L&F will.

May Vacation

Mon, 04 May 2009 21:12:50 GMT

Finally have a bit of news that's worth mentioning. I'll be heading down to Pasadena; visiting BotCon and some friends from May 26th to June 1st. That means I won't be updating Accursed Dragon! for the last week of May. Instead, Laptop & Ferret will update in its place.
The same thing will happen in July when I fly down to San Diego Comic-Con and probably another week in August. More info on that when it happens.

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
A new story with new characters. Scarrow is the ranger people are comparing to a ninja, which is fine! His role in the comic might not go far beyond this particular adventure, however. You folks who REALLY enjoy the comics may want to start saving up $12-$14 now, because I sent the files away and a book will potentially become available by the end of summer. Should be ready for purchase in person at Comic-Con (with me there to sign/draw in it) July. Has some bonus content included, but time didn't allow me to make as much as I'd like. More info when it becomes available...

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
Major villain Pete has been introduced and the Prequel story of Gulius' introduction is proceeding well. Once that tale is told, I'll begin a new story to take the place on Friday updates.
Readership is understandably down since FF originally ended. Less than half the viewers. I'm not making a 4th book because of this. Maybe next year, once I gather up more potential buyers.
In the meantime I've started rescanning the old strips again and maybe, just maybe, I'll have enough to print a mega sized collection. That really depends on how substantial the readership is at the time, though. :\

A whole lot of me being lazy

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:26:18 GMT

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
Crap. I forgot to do the site updates, including starting the bio page.

Funny Farm news:
http://www.funnyfarmcomics.com/
Crap! I forgot to fix up this site too, including starting the bio page!

Resident Evil 5 and Mad World are out this week, so if I don't start them now, don't expect the updates until summer. ;(

Funny Farm Five....days a week

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:15:45 GMT

Just a brief note here.
Did you know that Funny Farm originally operated under a 5-days-a-week schedule? That's the way it will continue now until the Sunday strips start.

Fridays are going to be a special prequel story that, once completed, will be moved to the beginning of the archives. FYI!

In case you haven't noticed, I can be VERY hermit-like.

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:16:25 GMT

Long time no post.

This here LJ is supposed to be updating when ever there's something newsworthy. I guess I just didn't feel there was anything going on that fit that description. :\
I could post stuff that's going on in my life, but I'm just not that kind of guy. I like to hide in my secluded cabin, nestled deep in the woods and clean things out of my wiry beard while grumbling how I hate the outside world...

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
We're still in the introductory phase of the comic, if you can believe that. What's left to be introduced? You shall soon see!
I have planned out some vacations this year and I'm giving y'all advanced warning that AD! will not update during these particular times:
1) Last week of May, as I'll be off to Pasadena.
2) The 2nd last week of July, since I'll be in San Diego for Comic-Con
3) A week in January 2010, when I'm hopefully going to be on a cruise.

I'm toying with the idea of taking July and August completely off. School's out, readership is down and I could use the time to build up a backlog of comics (and enjoy the time to recharge cartooning batteries). WE SHALL SEE!!

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
I haven't made any official announcements yet, but Funny Farm has re-begun!
There's over 3,000 strips drawn, or so I'm told. If that was too intimidating before, or you just want to re-read the material, now's the time.
(Psst! I'll be creating new strips every Friday)
I'll make more of a big deal about this next week when I have enough comics uploaded and I fix the bugs on the site.

Maybe alter the color scheme a bit, since people don't like purple. :p

My last entry for the year!

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:37:53 GMT

I wasn't in the mood for writing a lot this month, but while I was away at home for Christmas I and felt the urge to update this, all internet goes kablooie! Of course! :p
I'm at home again and now's a good time as any for typerings.

I got some good loot....and some very practical items. So practical I'm stifling a yawn now just thinking of them. No games (if you don't count the translated copy of Mother 3 that got put on my laptop), which is kinda' alright. My Xbox 360 red ringed on me...so Microsoft gets the belated present of a broken console to repair this January.
Guess I'll be busy with Brawl and Left 4 Dead during that time. Y'know, I should be posting my identification stuff on the site so that more people can join me online. I should be doing a lot of updating on the site, in fact.
That'll be my resolution for the New Year!

now for news:

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/d/20081229.html
I took the week off, but it starts up again today! The story may seem to be dragging on, but I'm trying to squeeze in as much characterization and background plot as I can. Things will start picking up relatively soon.
I was thinking about next summer and how I intend to take another break from the comic for a month (or two). I might make up an art contest to help use as update material. The prize being stuff I pick up from Comic-Con. We shall see once spring hits!
If you feel like getting a head start on this, go right ahead! ;D

Banished! news:
http://banishedonline.com/
Still in limbo at the moment. I don't enjoy experiencing artist woes anymore and it's too big of a project for me to handle alone. I may try giving it a proper ending soon and worrying about continuing the series another day. You'll know when I do...

Laptop and Ferret news:
http://laptopandferret.keenspot.com/
Last week is was 5 days of this strip. It'll continue on Fridays until Accursed Dragon! goes on another break.

More news later!

Schedules Christmas Vacation

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:53:32 GMT

I'm still indifferent to Das Bot and Banished!, but I'll mull over their futures as Accursed Dragon! and Laptop & Ferret continue their updates.
No time to worry about them now, however. Too much Christmas stuff to organize. Tonight's the work Christmas party, then I go to my home town and then I work nights the following week and then more parties....

And so on!

Laptop and Ferret news:
http://laptopandferret.keenspot.com/
More Friday updates, although the comic will update on the 22nd through to 26th this month.
If you ever saw a wet ferret, you'd appreciate the horror.

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
The real adventure is about to start!
I'll be taking a week off from the strip for the holidays. 22nd to 25th, to be exact. In the meantime I hope to have some filler artwork. Maybe..... :\

Laptop and Ferret update

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:20:22 GMT

Seems like I'm making a habit of updating this comic once a month. ;D
http://laptopandferret.keenspot.com/

Friday is supposed to be when I'm updating Das Bot....buuu-uuuut...I've hit a snag.
Seems I'm not having fun making those comics. It's like work and I'm certainly not making comics because I love work. :p
This is why I haven't fully announced Das Bot, or completed the web site, because I'm just not ready to show this work to strangers on the internets.
Maybe it's the format I'm making the strips in, or the characters, or whatever. I'd hate to abandon the series, because I do have some fun story ideas. I'll experiment and see.
In the meantime, L&P updates for Fridays.

Don't worry about this affecting AD!.
I'm having fun with it that series at least. ;)

What the heck is up with Banished!?

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:37:32 GMT

It's been over a week since I wrote anything. When that happens, rest assured it's because I'm distracted with too many RL things. With my attention span the way it is, it's not hard to feel unmotivated to do these write ups. :p

Banished news:
http://banishedonline.com/
I don't know what it is about this time of year, but the artists always feel burnt out at this point. Not knowing when the next update is going to happen kinda' makes me stressed too. I guess I'm not comfortable relying on others to get the comics done.
With that in mind, changes must be made! It might be time to put Banished! to bed and I'll just concentrate on the comics I write/illustrate on my own....unless I can find a new artist to continue with a reliable schedule.
I dunno'. Come January I'll know for sure. :\

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
At least you can count on this comic updating! I'm pretty diligent when it comes to strips I personally take control of. The series introducing (what you're reading now) is nearing completion. That emans the real story will soon be set to begin. ;D
That means a bio page should be created. Yay! More work!

For now, just the color update

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:57:00 GMT

I wanted to wait until I knew what was going on before making this post.

Banished! news:
http://banishedonline.com/
Brandon is super busy with his various art projects, so I just got the new comic now. I figure I'll use it for next Monday's update. In the meantime, Vincent is starting to get back into coloring for us. Enjoy the last strip in it's color form for now. ;)

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/d/20081112.html
It's back-story time. We'll learn a little history about each of the characters introduced so far. Not everything, mind you. Just enough to get by. I figure there's LOTS of time to go all the details, rather than bombard you with them all at once.

Funny Farm news:
http://funnyfarmcomics.com/
I should be updating the site with this, but there's a lot of things I should be doing with all these web pages. ;\
The third book is available to buy online now:
http://www.ihavethepower.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=27
The site will reflect the URL changes to the store eventually....

Another Half Update for Das Bot

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:53:13 GMT

I had a headache last night, so that really hampered my enthusiasm for completing today's strip.

http://dasbot.net/

I'll finish it up completely tonight, though.

So much snow got dumped here today. I'll be busy shovelling and napping after work today. ;(

So distracted

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:09:57 GMT

I'm sure people are too busy checking up on the elections to notice my lack of news updates, right? :)
It'll get worse for me next week, as Gears of War 2 plops into my hands with Left 4 Dead soon to follow!

Lately I've been simply reacquainting myself with Smash Bros. Brawl...

Anyway, Banished! news:
http://www.banishedonline.com/d/20081103.html
Tough luck for the Boscis. In their defense, no one would have anticipated some being of horrible power taking displeasure in their presence.
No colors yet, as Vincent is still busy, I imagine...

Accursed Dragon! news:
http://www.accurseddragon.com/
New characters, besides Coven and Rawn, have been introduced. They have nefarious plans for the unsuspecting heroes too!

My Halloween Update Sucks

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:06:52 GMT

I dunno' what it is about Fridays this month, but by the end of the week I've been just wiped!
Thankfully Accursed Dragon! has a buffer. Unfortunately, Das Bot does not.
After a full day of cleaning up leaves and other chores, I just didn't have the energy to finish today's strip:

http://www.dasbot.net/

I'll finalize it up on the weekend. For now, I must get some rest. Tomorrow I'm doing all sorts of Halloween stuff and need my energy! :D