Jeet-Sweezus! It’s like a constant parade of bitter little people who want use a public forum to nit-pick and tear somebody down.

Really? The FONT?? REALLY???

Yeesh. Of all the piddly, ridiculous things to say…

Brian is too nice to say this, so I will…

Stop sitting at your keyboard, needling at someone else’s work with your smug sense of self-satisfaction to tell the guy who is GETTING his comic strip actually noticed how he’s “doing it wrong”!

Really??? …The Font?

Haha! Wow, thanks for being my Knight in Shining, Jaavik! People love to pick apart every little thing, tee hee. Can’t win them all! But having you as a fan makes me feel like a winner!
Big hugs!
Brian

Furthermore, I’d like to note that, by posting his work on a public forum, Brian Andersen /is/ opening himself up to criticism, as well as praise. Just because a comment is somewhat negative in tone doesn’t mean it’s any less valid than one congratulating him for everything.

Worked up? Not exactly. But lettering is part of the product–are you suggesting that it doesn’t matter?

Hi Shane!
Thank you for commenting and sharing your insights. You are probably right, the font I choose might not be the best font in the world, hell it might in fact show my “greenness” in the comic industry. But you know what? I’m ok with that.

I’m a self-taught artist (which shows), a self-taught colorist (totally shows), and a super self-taught font-er (which seems to really, really show). To be honest, the font was the last thing I had on my mind when creating my comic. I never thought it would be something people would hate. Usually the negative comments I receive are targeted to my “crud” art and my “offensive” portrayal of gay people. So this is a welcome new one! Haha. But I have duly noted your remarks for my future comic endeavors.

And you are correct, I put my art and my story in a public forum and I need to brace myself for the feedback, the rare positive and the overflowing negative. And I do, actually, always welcome all comments. Being my first effort I have A LOT to learn and boy-oh-boy am I! So thank you for taking the time to comment and to share your insights and impressions. I can only go up from here! (I hope)

Much love and respect!
Brian – horrible font-chooser.

Hey Shane- you really sound like a guy who has spent a great deal of time composing and laying out comics. I would really like to check out some of your work. What comic font do you use?

Brian,

I really like the attitude that you use to address people. If I came off as offensive or rude at all, I really do apologize, it was never my intention.

To be perfectly honest, I always get a chuckle out of your script. Things aren’t perfect, but you do have talent. Your panel composition and “special effects”, while simple, are very well done. I’m certainly not a hater of the strip–it may not always be for me, but I appreciate what you’re trying to do, as well as the way you’re attempting to do it.

JohnnyFreedom – Actually, I’m simply just as much interested in lettering, coloring, and inking as I am writing and pencilling, so I’ve simply tried my best to experiment with all of those art forms. I’ve toyed around with several of the easily-obtainable fonts, but to be honest, I prefer to create my own.

Archie: What reason would I have to make up a conversation?

Believe it or not, I’m /not/ trying to be rude, I’m trying to offer my own viewpoint on the matter. Regardless of what experience anyone has, they’re welcome to say if they enjoyed something, and why. That information can then be used by the creator, should they so desire.

>>Comic Sans is not a good font for this. It implies unprofessionalism and laziness.<<

Okay, i realized that I came off a little aggressive the first time I made a comment. But, I’ve always had a problem with someone who criticizes someone elses artwork.

The statement you provided was not phrased like,

“I was curious why you chose to use comic sans as your font?”

Your statement was that it was a “bad choice” unless he was parodying bad comic strips, which says that if it was not his intention to “parody”, then it WAS, apparently, a bad comic strip.

And now, once again, you seem to continue in the same line of criticism with words like “lazinesss” and “unprofessionalism”. Now, maybe it’s just me, but unless you are some close personal friend of Brian’s, or an “actual professional” in the business whom is providing advice that was “sought out”, I find it to be kinda low-class to be advising anyone on what you think could be improved.

Yes it’s a public forum, but was your intention to actually HELP Brian with some kind of difficulty he was struggling with, or was it to make you look good, by coming off as if you know the FIRST THING about what makes a successful comic strip?

Here’s a hint…
It’s NOT the font…
It’s NOT the artwork…
It’s NOT the coloring…

It’s the writing! It’s about coming up with an idea that makes a connection with the readers! If he doesn’t make the connection, the strip fails… He could cut out letters from a cereal boc and paste them in the panels, upside down, spelling every other word incorrectly. And so long as people can identify with the material, and people want to continue reading it, he’s a success.

Don’t get me wrong. I totally believe in you having your own opinion. And you should be free to express it, just as we are free to express our reactions to it. I’m just curious as to why you think we want to hear it in this particular forum?

I am amazed at how resistant/belligerent some people who aren’t even involved with the comic are being to someone trying to offer some simple constructive criticism.
It’s even more surprising since the creator himself seems to appreciate the sentiment of taking the time to offer said constructive criticism.

I’ve seen plenty of comics with the most amazing art, but if the story is terrible, nobody cares.

>>>I would go so far as to say that this is beyond the realm of opinion and that you are, objectively, wrong about this.<<<

Yeah..that absolutely drips of objectivity…

The story is always the backbone of ANY successful comic, movie, cartoon, television show, etc. A comic strip can have horrible art (i.e. Cathy, Dilbert, Ziggy, The Wizard of Id) all of which have unremarkable art in them, but they are nationally syndicated, and love them or hate them, they connect with somebody and that makes them successful.

Now I’m not saying that bad art won’t turn someone off of a comic, that would be silly. It just depends on what someone comes to expect from a comic. One of my all time favorites is Usagi Yojimbo. I love Stan Sakai’s art (which is simplistic by many standards) even though I don’t believe he’d have a successful run making X-Men comics.

Another great example is the television series of Batman (4 seasons), Superman (Three Seasons), Batman Beyond (Three Seasons)and Justice League (4 Seasons), Teen Titans (5 seasons). VERY simplistic artwork but great writing with enjoyable characters kept people coming back series after series.

Good writing won’t guarantee success, but bad writing with unrelatable story or characters can guarantee defeat.

Don’t get me wrong, some of the greatest artists out there are normally paired with the greatest writers. So chances are rare that, in the mainstream realm of comics, you’ll find one of note without the other, at least not for very long.

In other words, you show me a comic with the most intricately detailed and beautiful artwork and I’ll show you a comic with artwork nowhere NEAR that level that is outselling it like mad! Especially in the world of independent comics. Independent comics depend on the strength of the writing to flourish.