Happy Accidents

So, here we are, post #1 of my new webcomic. I’ve been saying for months (maybe even more than a year), that I’ve wanted to get one started. The delay can be blamed on any number of things, but it’s all some variation of either a lack of time or confidence.

Over the last few months, I’ve posted several pieces of artwork to my Deviant Art account, and have been doing a ton of practice work, and watching how other artists are doing their strips. After I spent a lot of time doing some cartooning work for my employer, it was obvious I really wanted, and needed to do this.

I’d started off by creating a little service called Avatomics, where I’ll do a custom cartoon avatar for you from a photograph. I’ve done a few of those so far, and it’s helped me build up some more practice and confidence, enough to actually take the leap.

So here it is, the first one. Not sure what it means that the first strip features Jesus, but the point is that I’ve passed this major hurdle….getting started. As for the name “Happy Accidents”, it’s a name that I’d wanted to use for something for a while, and I’ve never been able to find anything better. It seems almost like the story of my life, in a way. Things just kind of happen accidentally, and they end up working out. In my art, I think my best output is the result of happy accidents. You turn off the wrong layer, or apply the wrong color, and voila, you’ve stumbled on something even better.

Will the strip have regular characters? At first, no. Some characters may be based on myself or people I know, but right now, I just want to dive in without the added burden of having to create new character models, back stories, etc. However, I’m sure as things evolve, regular characters will start to appear.

One last thing I’ll say is regarding regularity. At the absolute worst, I’m shooting for one strip a week. I would absolutely love to do two. Right now it’s taking a long time to do one, but as I find shortcuts and get a system down, that will get shorter. So for now, I’m not committing to a schedule, but I think over time, a schedule will present itself.

So welcome to my little venture. I hope these will be at least mildly entertaining, and I absolutely welcome feedback and critiques. Welcome!