Some of you have noticed that one of my pet projects went silent in 2007. “Things Unsaid” (which many people have been delighted to tell me they do not like at all) came to a quiet stop right around the time I had my second Kinetics midterm.
That was not entirely a coincidence, but there was more involved than that.
I was actually really enjoying the project. To repeat, most people hated it. This was not unexpected. Many people are needlessly scared of me as a person too. I’m a little different.
Some people, on the other hand, were with me on “Things Unsaid.” For every handful of people who didn’t like it at all, there was a person who loved it. That’s actually better than I could have hoped for.
The thing got a lot of criticism. I like criticism. It’s informative. Most of the criticism about “Things Unsaid” came from people who didn’t like it. Some of it came from people who were actually scared of it. While I liked hearing from these groups, their advice had a common theme: “We don’t like this at all.” Suggestions from those people were many and diverse. I did not act on them.
From the people who did like the comic, one theme popped up a few times: “The art is kind of weak.” That point, I took seriously. The art WAS weak. The entire comic started as another inexplicable coffee-fueled high. (Don’t use drugs, kids.) The first forty-four strips were compiled from a handful of sketches I created in under an hour. Total. That’s it. The rest was just placement and the occasional expression tweak. I was doing edits in Microsoft Paint.
That was working remarkably well (all things considered), but as far as being a pet project of mine, my friends all know that that’s well below my typical quality standards. As I grew to like the project (rather than growing tired of it, like I expected), I knew more and more that I needed to fix a few issues. Most of those issues had to do with the art and resolution.
That work is nearly complete. I have completed an entirely new generation of drawings that make the old ones look… Well, they make them look terrible. I have been steadily updating the old comics into entirely new versions that are both more readable and prettier. I have moved the entire production into Photoshop, which has given me a great deal of control over final product quality.
The entire series will be transitioned to the new format by the end of the month. Once that’s done, backdated material will be uploaded at a rapid pace, also using the new quality standards.
A new character is right around the corner, and new scandals are brewing that might seem ironically familiar to anyone who reads newspapers regularly.
But by far the most interesting thing is that the entire comic suddenly looks shockingly professional.
At the time of this posting, I have three “Transition” posts at the top of the page where you can compare before and after strips. This will help you recognize the suddenly-attractive cast. Also, the first eight comics in the archives have been completely updated, along with the banner art.
Comics will continue to be updated start to finish. When all forty-four old-style comics have been converted, the “Transition” posts will be deleted. At the same time, the story will pick up where it left off, posting eight strips per week (instead of four) until I’m caught up.
You have until then to make additional suggestions on the new direction.
Please remember that the project is now hosted at a new location:
http://lakeunsaidit.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!
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