I’m not sure what the original post for this page was, but looking back, it’s pretty clear that this was around the time where I’d gotten really comfortable with the tablet.

I still wasn’t sure what to do with my very large cast, so I decided that Stan would make occasional cameos and not say anything.

I like the way that the first panel gets across the sort of show-stopping effect that such a statement would have on a crowded room, and Ladybug’s expression is priceless in Panel 3.

It looks like a stream or two got crossed, and the original comment for this post was either eaten or swapped with that from a preceding page. I’m not really in the mood to dig through and try and figure that out, so here are my thoughts on this page now.

Again, lack of planning hurts the comic to an extent- if I’d had it to do over again, I might not have made the cast quite so big. It does make sense with my original idea of Amaranth being a sort of counselor to the newly Forgotten, but it was just rough to draw and place everyone, as well as make them relevant to the story. I’m still not sure that I did this with all of them at this point. I ought to make a flow chart or something, but that never seems to work out.

Watch the next few pages for Roy’s evolving mane-puffs.

Hey Internet.

The last time we spoke, there were some announcements made at what was probably the worst possible time to be making decisions that don’t involve holiday cheer.

While we stayed mostly on schedule (I think), we could have done a lot better. In fact, there was a fair amount of stuff that just didn’t get done.So we’re starting this year off right, albeit a week late. I resolve to have weekly updates, for CottonFluff as well as MegMan, and artwork for major holidays.

(Edit 1/16/07 – This is the first page where I tried to ink the comic in Photoshop, as well as color it.)
***

Or so I said a long time ago. Since then, I have held to those resolutions with varying degrees of success, although there were some stretches where I was posting regularly. Those were the days…

This is another post that had its comments eaten by the ghosts of Not Backing Up What You Write (something poetic about the ephemeral nature of content on the Internet goes here), so here are my thoughts from about 5 years later:

I wish I were one of those comic artists who did all the layouts and designwork ahead of time; this kitchen must be 100 feet wide or something.

The yellow tile was not only a pain to put into each frame, but now that I’m looking at it, only adds unnecessary visual “noise” that doesn’t really improve things. I’m really proud of the last panel, though, and I rather like Amaranth pouring cocoa from the stove. If I had the luxury to do it again, I’d probably have made the stove look more like an Easy-Bake Oven , although not a modern one like the link has.

Whew. The [2005 New York] Comic-Con was exciting and just a wee bit intense. I would like to give a great big “Thank You!” to everyone that stopped in or took a flier, or what have you.

We met a truckload of exciting people (I’m still sorting through all the swag, business cards, and other paraphernalia that I picked up), and our game continues to step up as we prepare for Anime Boston ’06.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got comics to do.
-P

Annnnd that’s what I had to say back when this was first published in ’06. I was never sure if this made any sense to anyone aside from me; the idea that the two “Amaranths” were similar, but different thoughts, and as such, had different mindsets, or might even regard one another as kin. But they do, and hopefully this explanation will prove to be a little helpful for you down the line.

While my original thoughts on this page have been lost to antiquity (if there were any at all,) looking back I have to say that the top 2-panel spread (something that I hadn’t done before) is still one of my favorite things, design-wise, that I’ve done with the comic.

I really like the feeling that the dialogue between Percy, Amaranth and Amaranth’ is going on while Cuddles is frantically writing all that out (or at least I hope that that’s what comes across), and I’m also a big fan of breaking a border, like how Percy and Amaranth’ are doing.

Sorry we have fallen a couple weeks behind…� Computer issues and dsl connections and such.

Thanks,

-P
***

Looking back, I can’t believe that that was all I had to say about Percy’s first appearance in the comic, considering that he was one of the first characters that I came up with when making it up.

I must have been in a hurry or something; that just seems odd.

Complex panels and sad characters. Who wins? you do.

Thanks,

-P
***

Back in 2005, that was all that I had to say about this page. The point of that was that I had very little experience with laying out comic pages, and this multi-panel layout was actually something of an accomplishment for me, but I was not as articulate then as I am now.

So who wins? You still do, five years later.

Thanks,
-P

…Or so I said back around the time when this first went live. Has it really been so long? Well, here we go again.