Otter Disaster

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00036

2012-02-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00035

2012-01-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00034

2012-01-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00033

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00032

2012-01-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00031

2011-12-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thumbs...

2011-12-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

You know this guy...He's Oh so clever...

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00030

2011-12-21T10:00:00.002-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00029

2011-12-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00028

2011-12-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Sporks

2011-12-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

I don't really know what this is. Sometimes an idea will get in your head and you just have to get it out. Sporks have always been funny to me. The word itself is humorous. Spork. Spork,spork, spork. Here are some fantasy sporks:

...and here's the Wikipedia page for 43 Man Squamish.

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00027

2011-11-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00026

2011-11-23T10:00:00.001-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00025

2011-11-16T10:00:00.001-07:00

Pop Culture and Predictive Programming: A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole

2011-11-16T09:17:00.001-07:00

Today I stumbled across this clip from an old G.I. Joe cartoon:

and was amused by it's odd criticism of paper currency, and the economic themes present, especially for a children's program. Now G.I. Joe was certainly a jingoistic/militaristic show in Reagan's decade of the 80's, but I never really considered the themes explored to be out of the ordinary until I stumbled across this article that looks at several weird plots by Cobra (the Joe's main bad guys):

How the Animated Series G.I. Joe Predicted Today’s Illuminati Agenda

This article introduced me to the notion of 'Predictive Programming' which is:

a technique based on planting ideas and concepts in the brains of viewers in order to make them seem normal and easily accepted when they actually happen

Interesting. I Googled the term and was immediately dragged down Alice's rabbit hole into a conspiracy Wonderland.

The idea is that Predictive Programming has been inserted into television, movies and music videos, sometimes decades in advance, to prepare we, the people, for the ultimate results of the Illuminati's dire plots. Here is another article concerning predictive programming, and YouTube is littered with video examples from all sorts of sources.

For example, during the Pro Wrestling boom of the 1980s Hulk Hogan and the 'Macho Man' Randy Savage united as a tag-team named the Mega Powers. For a high profile match they were set to battle an evil tag-team comprised of The Big Boss Man and Hakeem the African Dream. The name of that tag team? The Twin Towers. Now in fine wrestling tradition lots of interviews were given by the Mega Powers about how they were going to 'bring down' the Twin Towers, how the Towers would be 'demolished,' and how the Twin Towers team had committed a 'terrorist attack' on Savage and his lovely associate Miss Elizabeth. Even stranger, Hogan and Savage would later join another wrestling stable, this time in the 1990s, called the New World Order. The term 'New World Order' is a favorite of conspiracy theorists and researchers. It is used frequently in 9-11 conspiracy theories concerning that event being carried out, not by Islamic terrorists, but by Illuminized elites. Here's a video hitting the high points:

I will admit it's weird when it's all put together like that, but the context of history can make all sorts connections and coincidences into seeming conspiracies especially when you go looking for them. I'm a big fan of conspiracy theories, and I find them a window into an alternate reality (a Wonderland, if you will) that can make you wonder what the hell is really going on.

Do I believe that the Illuminati conspired to destroy the WTC and announced it via the WWF in the mid 80s or that G.I. Joe was predicting hordes of mind controlled celebrities? Not really, but it's entertaining to take a trip down the rabbit hole and visit Wonderland once in a while. And it'll probably have me looking at my favorite TV shows from a different perspective for a few weeks.

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00024

2011-11-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00023

2011-11-02T10:00:00.000-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00022

2011-10-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

Walt Disney's Sin City

2011-10-20T07:53:00.000-06:00

I like a clever fake trailer and post these mashups from time to time. This one is particularly well done.
Walt Disney's Sin City:

hat tip to Neatorama

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00021

2011-10-19T10:00:00.001-06:00

Stardust the Super Wizard

2011-10-18T16:37:00.000-06:00

Did a quick exercise today just for fun, and drew Fletcher Hanks' Stardust the Super Wizard. I drew him as quickly as I could, then inked with a brush pen. I played with some halftone screens and newsprint textures to try to get a retro/vintage look. I threw this all together in a little over an hour and a half. I'm reasonably pleased with how it turned out, except that Stardust's head is WAY too big. If you aren't familiar with the immortal Stardust the Super Wizard, look HERE and HERE and HERE.

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00020

2011-10-12T10:00:00.003-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00019

2011-10-05T10:00:00.003-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00018

2011-09-28T10:00:00.000-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00017

2011-09-21T10:00:00.000-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00016

2011-09-14T10:00:00.000-06:00

You're the Last Airbender Charlie Brown

2011-09-10T10:00:00.001-06:00

I'm a big fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was recently reading a Charlie Brown collection while my wife was watching the show, and the connection of two bald kids with the weight of the world on their shoulders clicked in my head. I drew this little mashup immediately. Apolgies to Charles Schulz

I thought of doing Linus as Sokka, and my daughter suggested Snoopy as Appa, which would mean Woodstock as Momo I suppose, but I never got that far. I'd watch this show, if someone ever made it.

Update: Apparently I'm not the first person to have this notion. Dragonstar10 at Deviant Art beat me to the punch by 4 whole years.

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00015

2011-09-07T10:00:00.001-06:00

Brain Teaser Comics #1 from Otter Disaster Comics Group

2011-09-02T14:07:00.000-06:00

Here's a fake comic cover for a fictional series called Brain Teaser Comics. The 'brain teaser' image popped into my head, and I decided to take it a step further with some color and a fake trade dress for the Otter Disaster Comics Group...Who knows, maybe someday it'll be a real thing! (Click image for full size.)

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00014

2011-08-31T10:00:00.001-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00013

2011-08-24T10:00:00.002-06:00

Lars: Bringer of War...IN COLOR!

2011-08-19T09:35:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd add a splash of color to the Quanto Comic I did earlier this week:

Quanto Comics and Lars: Bringer of War

2011-08-17T12:04:00.001-06:00

Twitter friend and fellow Major Spoilers contributor @larrykingundead (aka Earthman Prime at Deviant Art) and I are creating some Quanto Comics. What are Quanto Comics, you ask? Its an exercise where artists exchange comic titles and create a one-page comic using the provided title. Quanto Comics are described on page 57 of Scott McCloud's Making Comics.

Yesterday I provided the title, 'The Taming of the Glue' to Larry and here is his comic:

Today Larry provided me with the title, 'Lars: Bringer of War'. Here is my comic:

This was a fun exercise and I hope we can make it a regular thing.

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00012

2011-08-17T10:00:00.000-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00011

2011-08-10T10:00:00.002-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00010

2011-08-03T10:00:00.001-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00009

2011-07-27T10:00:00.001-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00008

2011-07-20T10:00:00.001-06:00

Stop me if you've heard this one...

2011-07-19T16:25:00.000-06:00

Here's the trailer for The Change-Up starring Jason 'Silver Spoons' Bateman and Ryan 'Waiting' Reynolds:

Seem familiar?

Apparently this is the go-to concept when the well runs dry for a Hollywood screenwriter.

Did I miss any?

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00007

2011-07-13T10:00:00.001-06:00

Thirst-Teminate!

2011-07-09T14:38:00.000-06:00

@MajorSpoilers, the proprietor of majorspoilers.com has a son, know as 'The Boy'. The Boy inspired this hastily drawn comic.

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00006

2011-07-06T10:00:00.003-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00005

2011-06-29T10:00:00.001-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00004

2011-06-22T10:00:00.000-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00003

2011-06-15T10:00:00.003-06:00

Mind Your Manners

2011-06-11T13:43:00.000-06:00

Here's a little comic I did about table etiquette:

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00002

2011-06-08T10:00:00.004-06:00

Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00001

2011-06-01T10:00:00.001-06:00

Watch This Space! Discordian Quote Comix Coming Soon

2011-05-25T10:00:00.028-06:00

I've been using Bitstrips.com to make comics since March of 2008, and really enjoy the tools available there. I've used Bitstrips to produce 24 Hour Comics in 2008, 2009 and 2010. I also use Bitstrips to produce Major Spoilers Adventures each week for my friends over at Major Spoilers.

I love the tools at Bitstrips, but find certain limitations with the art frustrating. The character builder is really great, but still leads to a fairly homogeneous style. There are just some things, art-wise (objects or situations) that are more difficult to do in Bitstrips than they'd be to just draw them in pen and ink.

With all that in mind I've come to the realization, in the last year or so, that I really want to do my own comic art, and am working on developing a cartooning style that I like. I've tried developing some characters for a couple of specific concepts, but don't feel I'm consistent (or fast) enough yet to kick off a regular strip. Still I want to get myself working on a regular cartoon project to get in the habit of drawing daily and having a deadline so I'll be forced to produce.

Since I want to focus on the art aspect I decided to assist myself with concepts from the always amusing Discordian Quotes. My process is simple: I'll find a quote from the site that conjures an amusing image in my head, and then draw it. That quote will often be the caption for the gag, and the cartoon is done. I discovered the cartoon can sometimes be made much funnier if I find a different quote that still applies to the situation in the comic and use that quote instead. This setup allows me to explore lots of different situations, and experiment with art styles and character types, screens, light and shadow, and maybe even color.

Each episode of Discordian Quote Comix will be a single panel gag where something horrible (and hopefully funny) is about to happen, is happening, or has happened. In the spirit of the Principia Discordia, the great holy book of Discordianism, I'm releasing the strips under the same copyleft as the Principia:

"Ⓚ All Rites Reversed - reprint what you like"

Seems like the right thing to do given the sources of my inspiration.

As of this writing I have 11 strips done. Artistically they seem to be heavily influenced by Gary Larson's The Far Side, and otherwise seem to come from some pretty dark and profane places in me, but I'm having a ball making them so I got that going for me...which in nice.

Watch this space every Wednesday morning starting June 1 for Discordian Quote Comix!

Otter Disaster #47: BLT, Hold the Theatrics

2011-03-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Disaster is what we call a 'picky eater'...

Context is Everything #39: H.P. on the Highway

2011-02-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Read a quote from Lovecraft the other day and it inspired this strip:

My dad was a big fan of the Burma-Shave road side rhymes and had dozens of them memorized. They were long gone when I was a boy, but dad taught me a few of them and used to crack me up reciting them. I have a couple of books compiling all the known signs from the Burma-Shave campaigns. This one is the best.

Otter Disaster #46: World Domination

2011-01-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

Bitstrips Design Challenge: World Domination

Otter Disaster #45: I've Ruined My Child Part XXVI

2011-01-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

Being a nerd, I've exposed my daughter to all kinds of geeky stuff from which she will likely never recover...

Otter Disaster #44: Abstract Dess-Art

2010-12-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Todays Bitstrips Theme of the Day: Abstract Art.
Here's my entry:

Context is Everything #38: Pure Cellynous

2010-12-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

Otter Disaster #43: Throw!

2010-11-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

This was a frequent, and more-or-less true occurrence from my college years inspired by Bitstrips Theme of the Day-Throw:

Art Students...whaddaya gonna do?

Dingy #13: Haunted House

2010-10-29T16:58:00.000-06:00

Dingy #12: Politics as Usual

2010-10-29T16:56:00.000-06:00

A lady who knows how to get things done...

24 Hour Comics Day 2010: FINISHED!

2010-10-04T09:23:00.000-06:00

I once again completed the 24 Hour Comics Day Challenge using the wonderful tools at Bitstrips. I began at 9:00 am on Saturday October 2 and finished at about 6:30 Sunday morning.

I made a conscious decision this year to avoid the romance/relationship theme of my last two 24 Hour Comics, from 2008 and 2009, and decided in advance to try to do something more action oriented, possibly with a sci-fi or fantasy approach.

I began with no script or preconceived characters, and once again used a random song title from iTunes to give me a title. The first track to play on Saturday morning, Wish I Had An Angel, by Nightwish, inspired the notion of guardian angels. My initial idea was that there are these space pilots aboard a space station and their technicians are sort of like the pilot's guardian angels, keeping the ships running, communicating with the pilots and protecting them from 'the heaven' of the station. With that in mind I decided that the characters of this tale orbit a planet named Midgard, from a space station named Asgard, and went with Norse naming scheme for the solar system in the story. This Nordic inspiration was due in part to the fact that Nightwish is from Finland.

Unfortunately I misspelled Yggdrasil, the name of the sun and solar system in the story, in the first caption in the first panel of the tale. Later I named a moon Mani' continuing the Nose Mythology naming conventions, but a couple of hours later I mentioned the moon again and called it Madi' which it remained through the rest of the tale. These things happen when you're 12 or so hours into the process, not completely lucid and working improvisationally.

As usually happens with these 24 Hour Comics, my initial idea mutated pretty quickly, turning into a friendly rivalry between two techs, and their pilots. I had decided on the darker aspects of the ending of the story early on, but I surprised myself in exactly how I got there.

Changing genre made for some difficult artistic choices. Spaceships are difficult to do in Bitstrips! Otherwise, I found the work moving along really quickly. This is due in part to the advances made in the builders in the last year, and also to a new computer, purchased over the summer. I did 166 panels total, well within my goals of 144 to 180 panels. The ability to do more complex art continues to get easier, kudos to the Core Matrix team for continuing to make Bitstrips so great!

I once again had a great time doing this comic, it is certainly not without it's flaws, I tried something different this time, and was pleased with the result. Here is page one of Wish I Had An Angel:

Otter Disaster #42: Bass-ically

2010-09-29T16:36:00.000-06:00

A goofy little strip testing a new feature at Bitstrips:

Dingy #11: Cocktails for Cottontails

2010-09-26T09:26:00.000-06:00

Dingy #10: Bake 10 Minutes at 350

2010-09-26T08:59:00.002-06:00

Dingy #9: Credit

2010-09-26T08:55:00.000-06:00

Dingy #8: Mutant Jean

2010-09-26T08:54:00.000-06:00

Dingy #7: Quality is Job One

2010-09-26T08:53:00.000-06:00

Star Trek Fan Portal: The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition

2010-09-21T17:52:00.001-06:00

Cafe Press home of Otter Disaster Designs has teamed up with CBS to create a Star Trek Fan Portal, allowing shop owners to create and sell Star Trek themed merchandise.

Here is my first offering featuring some of my favorite Ferengi Rules of Acquisition:

Being a free market libertarian, I always thought the Ferengi were the coolest aliens on Star Trek, and that their quest for profit was far more noble than portrayed on the shows. The Ferengi were featured heavily on Deep Space Nine, which is my favorite of the numerous Star Trek spin-off series. I loved that in the so-called Utopian Trek future (where there was no money) there were still merchants using a medium of exchange (gold pressed latinum) to conduct business.

The shirts feature five different rules, I'm sure one of them will be to your liking!

24 Hour Comics Day 2010 is Coming!

2010-09-19T15:32:00.000-06:00

24 Hour Comics day is right around the corner and once again I'm planning to participate.

The date:

Once again, I'm encouraging Bitstrippers to join me in the monumental task of creating a full length comic story in a single 24 hour window:

Some people, can't commit to the whole day, but there are other options:

Of course the whole exercise is about spontaneity, originality, and creativity:

Context is Everything #36: Short for Fanatic

2010-09-16T17:41:00.000-06:00

Dingy #6: 80-88

2010-09-04T17:40:00.002-06:00

Dingy #5: A Love Triangle

2010-09-04T17:39:00.002-06:00

Dingy #4: ...and Shinola

2010-09-04T17:38:00.000-06:00

Dingy #3: One Wrong Turn

2010-09-04T17:37:00.000-06:00

Dingy #2: I Can't Believe...

2010-09-04T17:36:00.000-06:00

Dingy - A Dingbat Font Based Strip

2010-09-04T17:34:00.000-06:00

I'm terribly excited that Bitstrips now allows users to utilize their own installed fonts in the comic builders. This was hinted at last year, and I wrote about the possibilities presented by such a feature. I am planning a prop font right now (a series of swords, guns and other weapons), and hope to have it finished in a week or so. Fonts can now be layered behind other objects in Bitstrips, something not possible when the font feature was first teased, making the use of font-based custom objects even cooler.

In the meantime I've created a Dingbat Font based Gag Panel Strip called Dingy to play with the enhanced graphic possibilities of this new feature. Kudos to the Core Matrix team for all the recent additions to the Bitstrips experience.

Here's episode 1 of Dingy inspired by the lovely Mrs. Disaster-1955:

Otter Disaster #41: True Story, My Mother Swears

2010-08-28T16:32:00.000-06:00

My mom visited a while back and this strip is 100% non-fiction:

Otter Disaster #40: Discretion is One Part

2010-08-25T20:13:00.000-06:00

Bitstrips Theme of the Day: Discretion-

Page 100 Project: Illuminatus!

2010-08-08T12:20:00.000-06:00

Canadian cartoonist Jason Turner invented the Page 100 Project, where one adapts page 100 from a novel into comics form. I thought this sounded like a fun idea, and used Bitstrips to adapt page 100 from Illuminatus!, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson:

Aangst of the Orphans

2010-08-03T16:06:00.000-06:00

Bitstrips Theme of the Day: Orphans

I take a little poke at the Hero's Journey at the expense of Avatar, Harry Potter and Star Wars:

Otter Disaster #39: Revelry Revelation

2010-07-23T17:31:00.000-06:00

Bitstrips theme of the day - Revelation:

Otter Disaster #38: Acceptin' to the Beat

2010-07-16T15:47:00.001-06:00

Bitstrips Theme of the Day: Acceptance from July 14th:

Otter Disaster #37: Bathroom Habits

2010-07-09T17:49:00.000-06:00

Today's Bitstrips Theme of the Day is Habits. Here is my entry:

Otter Disaster #36: Vegetable Guardin'

2010-06-28T16:49:00.000-06:00

Here's another entry in the True Life, Two Fisted Tales of Otter Disaster!

Otter Disaster #35: Six Legs and Hurts

2010-06-19T15:39:00.000-06:00

My Little Disaster has been pre-occupied with this game of late...

Otter Disaster #34: Numbers

2010-06-17T16:57:00.000-06:00

Here's a true life Otter Disaster adventure:

Context is Everything #35: Barriers for Buriers

2010-06-08T17:02:00.001-06:00

Bitstrips Theme of the Day: Barriers:

Memories and Thoughts as the VHS Format Turns 33!

2010-06-04T16:47:00.003-06:00

Today the VHS format turned 33! I was only four years old when VHS was introduced to the world in 1977. We wouldn't have one for about five more years, but I remember when we first got a VHS VCR in my house, we hooked it up and one of my sisters had rented an American Werewolf in London.

It must have been 1982, I was only 9 at the time, but I remember watching that movie with my family, all the nudity, and violence intact from the theatrical release. I was used to watching movies that had been cut to pieces, edited for content and length and appearing on network television. We did not have cable so we had to drive 20 miles from Selden to Oberlin, Kansas to rent movies. I don't remember too many of the films we rented, but I recall seeing Trading Places, one or two of the Friday the 13th films, and 16 Candles. I specifically remember watching the George Romero/Stephen King comedy-horror masterpiece, Creepshow while a friend was over for a sleepover, and that we stayed up pretty much most of the night scared out of our young minds!

We didn't rent a whole lot in those days due to the distance involved in obtaining and returning videos, but mostly used the VCR for it's most revolutionary aspect, time shifting television, and allowing us to record one channel while watching another. It's sometimes difficult to remember what a life-changing concept this was in the 1980s given the current age of DVRs and streaming web video.

As the youngest child of four it became very apparent that this was a tool designed for me. I was often low man on the totem pole when it came to choosing viewing material, so the VCR guaranteed I'd never miss Automan, Misfits of Science, or Manimal, shows that my Knots Landing, Dallas loving sisters despised.

Once we moved to Oberlin in 1986 I had my first crack at Cable TV, and the VHS once again proved to be a world changer for me. For whatever reason when we got cable we were not given a cable box for the channels beyond 13, but I quickly discovered the tuner in our VCR went up to 188, so all those upper tier channels became available. I found the Discovery Channel (16) and Nickelodeon (33, I think). Nickelodeon at the time featured the awesome, You Can't Do That on Television (check out the Pythonesque intro), Mr. Wizards World, and the surreal animated French adventure show Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea. I wish they'd release that one in an English language DVD set, but alas, no. Check out the awesome opening credits:

Check out some Spartakus episodes HERE!

I also remember using the VCR to record NBC's Friday Night Videos, and Night Flight on USA Network. We didn't have MTV in my home town (not even on the upper channels) so those two shows were my only real outlet to view music videos. Here's some Night Flight video about the movie Krull if you've forgotten this awesome 80s show:

Night Flight featured all kinds of video weirdness aside from music, and was my first exposure to the Church of the Subgenius.

I used the VCR to sample and save all kinds of shows and movies and I still have a collection of movies on tape, as well as three working VHS players (one is a DVD combo). Somewhere in my stacks of old tapes I still have the pilot episode of Twin Peaks from the night it premiered, commercials and all.

VHS tape is truly a buyers market these days. Thrift stores often have movies on videocassette for as little as $1 each, not just junk either, but major releases. There is also a lot of stuff that was released on VHS that hasn't made the jump to DVD, so visit those thrift stores. You can probably pick up a standard definition TV and VCR while you're there.

Last year the awesome website/podcast The Retroist did a great show on the VCR. You can listen to that show HERE.

Happy Birthday VHS, I'll never forget you!

Otter Disaster #33: Stoneware

2010-05-14T21:18:00.000-06:00

Context is Everything #34: A Corrupt Butcher

2010-05-04T18:57:00.000-06:00

Context is Everything #33: Amanita Minute

2010-04-18T14:54:00.002-06:00

Another horrible pun...I'm sorry.

Four Bitstrips Creators You Should Check Out

2010-04-17T15:25:00.002-06:00

I post a lot about comic creation site Bitstrips, and for good reason. It's a ton of fun to make comics, it's a great creative outlet, and there is an awesome, creative community there. I try to do at least one strip a week, outside of Major Spoilers Adventures, but am not as prolific as I'd like to be just because of personal time constraints, work, life, writer's block, etc. I've posted a lot of my own comics here, but today I want to show some of the creators that I really like.

This is by no means an all inclusive list of great creators, just the ones that I thought of today as I was putting this post together. Here are four Bitstrips authors whose work inspired, influenced or impressed me along with some of my favorite series of theirs:

1. Playtime with Perko by Uzi Bazooka

Very cool character designs in simple (but brilliant) microadventures. Uzi Bazooka uses a masterful storytelling style with minimal dialog to tell sweet, surreal, and funny tales. Uzi was my original friend on Bitstrips' social networking component. Always encouraging to new users, he's also one of the site's most prolific creators. He is also the bane of any trolls who find their way to the site.

Check out just a few of his many, many series: Average Joe (not for the faint of heart or easily offended) and 1-800-LUNATIC.

2. Boom Times By BoomMike

My personal favorite strip by Bitstrips master and all around nice guy, BoomMike. Mike makes great characters, and uses Bitstrips to it's fullest for really great layouts in all his strips, but it really shines in this series. The story is really great as well, as Boom is used as a pawn in a surreal and conspiratorial game where he has to learn the rules as he goes. It's very funny and suspenseful too.

The Skiordians from this series were the inspiration for Major Spoilers Adventures housekeeper, Edna.

Also check out Producteria, and one of Bitstrip's longest running and most acclaimed series, Local Patrol.

3. Art House Movie by ogreoregon

A fun little limited series that riffs on noir movies. Only 15 episodes. Ogre is a great Bitstripper with an eye for detail, effects and lighting. She makes wonderful use of the available props to bring all sorts of wonderful things to life.

Also Check out Life in Asteroid City, and Joe's Meat Bar

4. What Makes Acea, 'Acea' by Acea

One of Bitstrips' original bio-comics, Acea tells tales from his youth that made him the person he is today. Very personal stories, funny and often sad, are coupled with a 'soundtrack'. Each strip has a song title and artist attached to it that sets the mood of that portion of the tale. Kicked off a whole bio-comic fad on the site after it first appeared.

Acea has been doing short stories, told in 12 installments. Check out 12 Strip - All Beauty, No Brains... and
12 Strip - I Hate This Comic Shop

Schoolhouse Rock! Fan Portal: Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here!

2010-04-11T16:35:00.009-06:00

Cafe Press, home of Otter Disaster Designs, is continuing the ABC/Schoolhouse Rock promotion, allowing Cafe Press Shop owners to create designs based the beloved educational cartoons of the 1970s. Here is my offering, a two-sided shirt advertising Lolly's Inc. the Adverb selling establishment in Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here:

Here is the Original Video:

Context is Everything #32: The Write to Refuse Service

2010-04-11T15:25:00.001-06:00

Bitstrips: New Builder Features Fully Pose-able Characters

2010-04-03T14:49:00.001-06:00

Early on April 1st the Bitstrips Comic Builder started bringing in characters with nothing but stick figures for bodies. Upon further investigation it was revealed that these stick figures were pose-able limb by limb outside the standard Bitstrips poses usually available. A long awaited feature was being unleashed!

Bitstrippers the site over build dozens and dozens of stick figure strips with characters in all sorts of fantastic poses. I myself created this simple Cowboy vs. Clown strip:

It was done in anticipation of the ability to create decent fight scenes, something that was very tough to do in the then current builder. Later that day characters started appearing fully fleshed out, and still pose-able!:

As I pondered the possibilities of this fantastic development I began thinking about the importance of body language in communication, and how it is a powerful tool in comics. Body language can convey a lot of information wordlessly. I built this simple strip to show some of the possibilities:

I was also lucky enough to have it placed on the Editor's Pick page which hasn't happened to one of my strips in quite some time. I can't wait to exploit this new tool, and give my characters more 'character'.

Cafe Press Fan Portal: Hot Tub Time Machine

2010-03-19T09:04:00.000-06:00

Cafe Press has also partnered with MGM allowing fan created products for the much anticipated Hot Tub Time Machine:

Here's my t-shirt design inspired by the greatest movie of 2010:

Get yours here!

Cafe Press Fan Portal: Schoolhouse Rock!

2010-03-18T15:24:00.003-06:00

Occasionally Cafe Press, home of Otter Disaster Designs, partners with certain media outlets to create fan portals allowing Cafe Press Shop owners to create designs based on existing media properties. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a fan portal had been opened featuring the much beloved Schoolhouse Rock!

I put together this design based on my all time favorite School House Rock! song, No More Kings:

Purchase Here!

Here's the song and video:

I also did this design for another personal Schoolhouse Rock! favorite, Interjections!:

Purchase Here!

Here's the song and video:

Understanding (Online Services that Let You Build) Comics

2010-03-17T16:33:00.001-06:00

Yesterday at comics guru Scott McCloud's website he posted a link to this video at Pixton.com, and asked creators their opinion. A pretty interesting debate ensued in the comments thread, from haters, lovers, and the indifferent alike. Bitstrips developer BA (you'll notice in the link to his profile that he is user 3!) jumped in to defend Pixton and Bitstrips as simply another tool with which to enjoy comics. I threw in a few opinions as well as Bitstrips super-user and all-around nice guy BoomMike.

One commenter left this response to BA and mentions lo-fi web sensation XKCD:

BA: “accessible to everyone, rather than an elite few with the rare combination of talent and patience”

Yes, the elite world of webcomics, where there are absolutely no barriers of entry. Give me a break. Have you ever heard of XKCD? It has stick figures and gets like 40 million hits a month. That’s because he is a funny writer and knows his audience. I’m sure you know that, but the whole “access” angle is part of the sales pitch for your website.

If Pixton 2.0 allows people to scan in their own drawings and work with those, that might be something worth noting. This is just lame.

Here is my response:

Jesse, isn’t XKCD exactly the point? That it doesn’t necessarily matter what tools you use if the ideas, writing, and execution are solid, and you communicate effectively?

Bitstrips and Pixton are as capable of conveying a message in comics form as XKCD. It’s the user of the tools and the message created with them, not the tools themselves. If there were 10,000 stick figure strips out there (and there may be) would that diminish XKCD? I could also mention Get Your War On and Dinosaur Comics as strips with a simplified artistic approach that communicate really well.

As BA mentioned there is a high signal to noise ration on these sites, but that is largely because they serve as a clearing house offering both a creative platform and storage/hosting for the strips. Maybe not everyone wants to get a blog or develop their own site and deal with hosting/coding/etc. These sites/services do lower that particular barrier to entry.

There are are probably more bad webcomics out there than good ones created using ‘traditional’ methods, but that is no reason to question the tools used to make them.

I’ve read some really good stuff at Bitstrips (among a lot of bad stuff), and there are some extremely creative and clever creators there. I’ve watched people start simply, and become more sophisticated in their approach to their strips in both the writing and the art. I hope I’ve made some enjoyable stuff there myself., and as I mentioned I’ve learned a lot about comics from making them that I wouldn’t have learned simply by reading them.

I’ve also seen a large sector of the user base push the tools in directions I’m not sure they were initially intended and I’ve witnessed the developers respond to the needs and desires of those users. Bitstrips continues to improve, and I hope there will come a day when I can use my own custom art as part of the experience.

I work to make my characters and scenes as distinct as possible to put my own stamp on them (a constant challenge for me). And believe it or not, there are certain creators who have a ’style’ and I can often pick them out of the crowd, even with the homogenized ‘house style’ that Bitstrips currently offers. BoomMike, who commented above is one of them. These sites are really in their infancy at this point, but they will increasingly become customizable and eventually you will be able to personalize the art to the point of making it uniquely your own.

Context is Everything #31: Monkey See, Monkey Doo

2010-03-14T12:58:00.000-06:00

A few shameful puns in this strip. I apologize in advance:

Context is Everything #30

2010-03-10T17:22:00.001-07:00

Bitstrips runs a Theme of the Day on occasion, and this was my entry for today's theme, Consternation:

Otter Disaster #31 & #32

2010-03-10T17:15:00.002-07:00

Mrs Disaster and I are out walking in a couple of strips. This is a true story:

This is not:

The Power Cosmic - In T-shirt Form

2010-02-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I posted about a cool Photoshop Filter that creates Kirby Dots. After playing around with it for a while it inspired a new comic book themed T-shirt design for Otter Disaster Designs called the Power Cosmic:

You can purchase this design HERE. I've also created another Secret Origin shirt, this one inspired by the mutant X-men.

One last design, adapted from a sketch by my Little Disaster is this Doodle Skull and Bones:

She drew it in pen on a scrap of paper a few weeks ago and I decided it would look great on a shirt. Basically I just scanned the drawing, added some color (her choices), dropped in the circular background, and it was done.