It terrifies me because it feels like I just drew this page yesterday and it is already up. I’m back working on Axe Cop again right now and every time I work on something non-Bearmageddon I watch the comic catch up to me and it freaks me out. The other thing that freaks me out is the amount of Bearicature orders I got. I had to shut them all down except for the bystander level. I’m going to be drawing a lot your mugs!
It is exhausting and thrilling to be pumping out so much work. I think I have produced more comics in the last two years than I had in my entire life before that. The biggest struggle I had creatively as an aspiring creator was actually coming up with a comic to draw. I wanted to draw lots of comics, but I just didn’t have a solid idea. When I would try to write them I would get stumped. I would labor over the character designs, the scripts, every detail and never be satisfied enough to start drawing panels. It amazes me how fast that changed. One day I just started pumping comics out. Part of it was demand, part of it was probably not only a growth in my own abilities, but also that I let go of trying to make the ultimate project and just started making stuff as much as possible. The only way to make the ultimate project is, most likely, to make a bunch of non-ultimate projects first. If you realize that the pressure is off.
So just make something already!
See you Wednesday.
Ethan
We love the comic. The story is going great! I think people would understand if you needed to skip a day here and there to get caught up.
I want to know what Dickinson knows. That seemed like a pretty serious bear attack and it wasn’t even close to the worst in all history. I know things are going to get worse and I can’t wait to find out how. Good stuff, makes me even more interested in Dickinson’s backstory.
I’m still rooting for “Bears attacked his group when he was a Boy Scout/Webelo, and he’s the only survivor.”
Judging by the blue neckerchief (that of a bear cub scout), I doubt that Killdeer ever made it to Webelo . . .
*has no idea what neckerchiefs mean in regards to Webelo status*
If I remember correctly, the Webelo neckerchief was more of a tartan-y pattern. Cubs were yellow and blue. The fog of memory is foggy.
the single open eye in panel 2 makes me suspect that Dickie simply wants to get rid of these hippies
Is Gogs carrying the bear’s head in that Wow Mart bag?
Judging by the round shape and the blood in Panel 5, I guess yes.
seems legit to me.
foreshadowing anyone???
He’s probably going to have his buddy at that gun counter get it taxidermized for him, because he seems like the kind of guy who would pay good money to get a bear head mounted on his wall.
I literally laughed out loud with the alt. text.
2Kings 2:23
And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
24And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
I’m still waiting for my church to sing a worship song about this passage.
But those bears were just following orders!
Yeah, I appreciated the Biblical reference as well.
I retell it to my kids all the time. Keeps ’em nice, polite, and obedient.
Dickinson’s post bear slaughtering recharge process is…interesting. Another reason this would make a great video game!
panel three dickinson has got some serious Sockarang level crazy eyes going on.
Another clue that Dickinson is Sockarang either before his arms became socks or after becoming fully human.
Ooooookay, I didn’t see _that_ coming…
That must have been one helluva spicy fish… 😛
Man, truer words have never been spoken. If you haven’t seen Ira Glass talk about the creative process, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbC4gqZGPSY – I prefer the video of him actually sitting in a chair talking about it, but I’ll let you google that for yourself 🙂 Anyway, you’ve done an amazing job in the last couple years, so congrats on realizing your goals! I’m right there with ya – I’ve made plenty of non-ultimate video games, so now I’m trying to hit that ultimate mark myself 🙂
yeah I love that quote from Ira Glass. Very true, and I don’t feel I have achieved that great project yet if it puts any perspective on things.
“The only way to make the ultimate project is, most likely, to make a bunch of non-ultimate projects first. If you realize that the pressure is off.”
EXACTLY! You have got to DO SOMETHING. 🙂
That’s how I’ve approached my songwriting for the last 5 years or so and I’ve never had as much fun as I have now.
It applies to all creative endeavors. Possibly ALL endeavors. 🙂
thanks for blogging your process, ethan.
Man, I’m really on the edge of my seat wondering what’s going to happen next. Our protagonists are leaving the scene thinking it’s all over, not knowing it’s only the beginning, and they just left behind the one guy who has any clue what they’re in for.
Ethan, you dog, you’ve done it again. Wednesday can’t come soon enough.
What Adam said! 🙂
I wonder where they’re going next?
I totally understand what you’re saying about just getting over the hump and creating. It’s the same way with freelance writing, which I started doing.
Totally looking forward to seeing what happens next, too. The road to civilization is covered with bodies and construction equipment.
Thanks for the insight into creating and confidence.
Loved the detail in Dickinson’s mouth with missing teeth and everything.
Hey where did sexy ester go?
Oh and the comic is awesome as ever.
Ethan don’t worry we’ll all love regardless.
Somehow, I don’t think Nigel actually knows that much about psychology or mental health. I also don’t think he’ll develop that much character-wise. At least, not in a good way.
Is it just me or is Gogs walking of with a bear head in a bloody Wow-Mart bag?
(:
By some optical illusion, I keep seeing a bald eagle in place of the bag.
Elisha and the bears–badass.
Also, it’s rather ironic that Burton thinks Dickinson is on Shrooms.
Stoners just can’t comprehend anything without drugs being involved. Typical stoner comment on Axe Cop: Dude your bro must be high. No stoner, my brother is 7, which makes him infinitely more creative than any stoner.
oh man, ideas are ALL I ever have.. it’s the execution I have trouble with.
so.. did that bear just transfer some kind of horrible mutant virus?
I guess to be more clear I should have said that it was connecting all my ideas into something worth making was the problem. I had tons of disjointed ideas (and still do). Learning to make something tangible out of those ideas is the skill that takes time and practice.
It like a T-virus of some sort. A B-virus if you will…
I think final panel take the prize for ‘most intense in comic’
so far….
ayyyyy
keep it lit
He’s having bear flashbacks…
Nigel and his crew remind me of a short story by Mercedes Lackey called “Last Rights” about animal rights activists trying to “free” genetically engineered dinosaurs.
One was eaten by a dinonychus, one was stomped by a “BrontoSaurian”, leaving the last to be treed by an angry triceratops.
Good intentions, little brains.
Calm before the storm?
Great advice on creating. I’ve been in the stumped mode for almost my entire life, and now I’m just starting to plug away on a non ultimate project. Hopefully, my results are similar to yours. Which brings me to the point: this book/web comic is freaking unbelievable! Love it.
Awesome advice in the blog there, Ethan. I’m a writer who tends to get caught up in all the little details of my craft to actually get any real writing done. The few projects I actually have finished only ended up that way because I told myself that I would ONLY allow myself to worry about that stuff once everything else was finished, and guess what? I finished it! And people really liked it!
Sadly, as I’ve also found out, it is a lesson easily forgotten if you don’t practice it enough. I’ve got to get back to that sometime…>_>
am i forgetting some one or is the third dog in yesterdays axe cop the same as fwinky dog but not green? i dont remember a third dog…am i just stupid?
that’s Presty the Pug. There were originally 4 dogs.
good call. good call.
Will you tell us when the Bearicatures show up?
So thanks to you, Doug TenNapel, and Five Iron Frenzy, I am finally, after ten years of putting it off, going to do a comic. Stop twisting my wrist, already!
Wednesday!