Tally Road (the novel version) begins with this same scene, but you get to see what Jennis is thinking and what motivates these remarks- and it goes on, through countless very Tally Roadian scenes and dramas.
And this strip- plus another one that was never finished, and looked REALLY shakey- wrapped up the first Tally Road comic run. It’s interesting to look back and think about what happened, now that it doesn’t sting so bad.
Ambition and desire to perform is okay, but when you look at what happened it’s obvious what was wrong. I went over to a VERY intense writing workload, whistling merry tunes- it was never the devotion to an audience, it was not so much the discipline of working every day (mind you, normal people take weekends and vacations), it was two things really. One, learning to draw in public and pushing it so hard that it wasn’t fun to do- and two, wanting to reach an audience and entertain people, but choosing subject matter that was so intense that it was beyond the pale for almost anybody.
I did a survey once, seeing what people generally wanted. I set it up well, with extreme positions and middle positions, and a range of possible plots underway to pick from. What I found was, you Tally Road readers come in all types. Every single dangerous topic I picked- whether it was Allie’s rape and victimization by mind-games, or Nifi hitting puberty and potentially getting in trouble- there were people who were like ‘Make it stop NOW’, a middle ground, and people who were like ‘MOAR’. I exaggerated some of the ‘sicko’ responses to see if people selected them, and some of the ‘you’re evil for drawing this’ responses. Mostly it was middle ground, but all the polarized stuff- split.
Tally Road isn’t going to ‘split’ off the nice aspects into another strip- it’s already gone as dark as it’s going to go. In a lot of ways the strip went darker than the ensuing book did… what’s beginning to happen is, the character part of the story is continuing. We’re following Mags, Finn and Perre, largely because it’s such an ill-fated combination that I can’t NOT follow it.
And the drawing thing- it’s going to happen, too. Turns out that without pressure, I am still interested in art- though mostly in studying it ;) but I eventually started drawing my kitties and such again, and putting the pieces of my shattered life back together.
I’m exploring the possibilities of not being an angsty, tortured, driven motherfucker :)
Who’d have thought?
I’m still alive! I had to dig my day job out of a hole over the last year, and did a LOT of novel writing. When I can draw better I’ll get back to some form of it :)
And this strip- plus another one that was never finished, and looked REALLY shakey- wrapped up the first Tally Road comic run. It’s interesting to look back and think about what happened, now that it doesn’t sting so bad.
Ambition and desire to perform is okay, but when you look at what happened it’s obvious what was wrong. I went over to a VERY intense writing workload, whistling merry tunes- it was never the devotion to an audience, it was not so much the discipline of working every day (mind you, normal people take weekends and vacations), it was two things really. One, learning to draw in public and pushing it so hard that it wasn’t fun to do- and two, wanting to reach an audience and entertain people, but choosing subject matter that was so intense that it was beyond the pale for almost anybody.
I did a survey once, seeing what people generally wanted. I set it up well, with extreme positions and middle positions, and a range of possible plots underway to pick from. What I found was, you Tally Road readers come in all types. Every single dangerous topic I picked- whether it was Allie’s rape and victimization by mind-games, or Nifi hitting puberty and potentially getting in trouble- there were people who were like ‘Make it stop NOW’, a middle ground, and people who were like ‘MOAR’. I exaggerated some of the ‘sicko’ responses to see if people selected them, and some of the ‘you’re evil for drawing this’ responses. Mostly it was middle ground, but all the polarized stuff- split.
Tally Road isn’t going to ‘split’ off the nice aspects into another strip- it’s already gone as dark as it’s going to go. In a lot of ways the strip went darker than the ensuing book did… what’s beginning to happen is, the character part of the story is continuing. We’re following Mags, Finn and Perre, largely because it’s such an ill-fated combination that I can’t NOT follow it.
And the drawing thing- it’s going to happen, too. Turns out that without pressure, I am still interested in art- though mostly in studying it ;) but I eventually started drawing my kitties and such again, and putting the pieces of my shattered life back together.
I’m exploring the possibilities of not being an angsty, tortured, driven motherfucker :)
Who’d have thought?
aww but angsty, tortured, driven motherfuckers can be cute hehe
Dude, when will you get back to this? I hope ya haven’t forgotten ’bout it. D:
I’m still alive! I had to dig my day job out of a hole over the last year, and did a LOT of novel writing. When I can draw better I’ll get back to some form of it :)