Modesty Studios

Oh 2012, what new exciting things can I hope for in this year. Here's what's going down now. 1) Corvidology is working on a fashion app. 2) I'm still chipping away at my VN Line of Heroes. With only minor updates since the last one. 3) I'm also working on a few Dating Sims. I've finished scripting one. I'm so proud of me for figuring it out. 4) 7 Eldest is in book 2. I still don't give it all the love and attention it deserves. 5) Also kind of looking for a new job. ^^

How many stories do you know where there is a male protagonist out to save his kidnapped girl? There are quite a lot and I think it's a tale as old as time. Men are expected to defend their women. However, why does the story feel so alienating in a video game? The Analogy As I said the "save the princess" story is very old and deeply rooted in our culture/instincts. In animal terms, it is the story of winning females away from a rival and gaining exclusive mating rights. It speaks to our basic nature of males proving themselves to a female by show of strength. And there is something in us that accepts this. Women want strong men who can defend them. Men feel the need to show off their strength to impress said woman. Where the analogy falls apart is that in a story, the attention is always split to focus on one party or the other. If the focus is the captured princess (a la Sleeping Beauty/Snow White), then the Prince is not given much of a personality. He's just...

-Introduction - Heroes are a fascinating topic. There are many stories and adventures especially interested in exploring the anti-hero. I intend to explore the topic of a hero character with particular interest to adventure stories in various visual medias with a focus on comics and video games. For another discussion on the topic of heroes, check out this episode of The Dish . This thought bubble was inspired in part by an opinion blog on Gamasutra about the New Prince of Persia characters with focus on the general opposition to the new "prince" character. So we shall start with what is appealing about a hero. -Universal Appeal- There is something about a hero that is appealing to the audience. In general, people like to see a happy conclusion where the character over comes a conflict of some sort. So the act of the hero vanquishing evil is a very clean-cut representation of this ingrained (perhaps even cultural) pleasure of seeing "the good guy" win. So there...

In an earlier blog post I discussed various relationship types and how they are handled in stories. Well, I'm mostly taking that same subject but going on a deeper perhaps more philosophical method. And by philosophical method you know I'm going through the 3 loves. Knowing the three loves can help in the understanding of relationships between characters and people. Introduction Now the 3 loves are a very Western Philosophy rooted subject. Being as most of my education in philosophy is western based, I can not vouch for any Eastern or New Age Equivalent. The three loves are: Eros, Philia, and Agape. There are also other philosophic and sociology based love types or styles including: Stoge, Ludus, Pragma, and Mania. In this I will first start with the classic three and make notes on the other styles. Because they're all important when considering love between two characters. Eros Plato was the one who wrote down the philosophy behind the 3 loves. (Based on Socrates teachings...

What are mature themes? Have you ever heard of the "three subjects never to be discussed at the dinner table"? They were: Religion, Politics, and Sex (Which some say are actually good things to discuss with the family.) Anyway, these three things are generally the subjects people feel very personal about and very passionately. It is sure to get a reaction when posted for public viewing. And usually that's what the artist/writer intends. Mature Themes used in media Including these topics in your story is guarantee to bring eyes to your work. Sex Sells is a phrase often thrown around, but it's true. Controversy also sells, particularly political or religious controversy. To me at least, it seems like Mature Themes are used as an advertising ploy to get the most attention. Because attention means money. Similarly, the idea applies to Indie media too! Web-comics are the medium I'll focus on in this blog. Sex is certainly a seller if you want people to read your comic...

Since the podcast was canceled this week and I had a rant I wanted to get out, I'll vent here. Today we were suppose to review a comic called "GG-Guys". Don't ask what "GG" stands for I couldn't find out. :( I won't give my full review for this yet but here's what I first thought after reading through the archives: "Another one?" Yes. Another clone of the ever popular formula of "gamer comics" as set forth by the Gamer Comic Gods of Penny Arcade. The formula can be expressed in colorful/non-work-safe language here: Zero Punctuation . In My words, which will be work safe here is what the formula is. Two guys, usually roommates living out their gaming fantasies. Usually there is one angry girl character to represent the entire female demographic of gamers. (insert many frownie faces). She will also be one of their girlfriends. Two Male-Dominant Industries in One Comics and the Game industry are two largely male-dominant industr...

This has been pent up for a bit and recently I had a chance to kind of speak about it on a Podcast (in which I sound like a robot). We only touched on the some of the obnoxious things that annoy me about angel character in comics or manga. But first, I'll explain what I find acceptable when having angel characters. Things that are easier for me to accept despite me not believing it is true. Dead Friend Angel - A common belief is that when someone dies and is good they become an angel. There was a sitcom with that theme where the teen angel haunted his friend and basically acted the same as he did on earth. I forget it's name...I'll look it up...Lol...it's called "Teen Angel" it ran from 1997-1998. I had a friend make a manga with the same theme. It's also the theme from "A Wonderful Life". Guardian Angel - There was a web-manga called "Shelter of Wings" that was about her girl and her guardian angel. This person also did lots of rese...

Introduction In this short how-to article, I'm going to go over some character development and writing tips for comic artists specifically. I hope to cover things like, building a character, writing dialog, and some exercises for you to try. Beginnings of a Comic Character Comics are a very visual medium so most people will care first about what your character looks like. However, I'm not going to cover visual design of a character but what we can do is get a basic idea of what this character looks like in words. First, despite the style of comic you are going for, character development will pay off in the long run. Not every character needs to be super in-depth but it doesn't hurt to make them pop off the page a bit with development. Even gag comics can have endearing characters. So let's hop to it and work on building that character. When I first create a character, I usually don't have a story in mind or only a vague idea. But I do know at least that I'm goi...

Recently, I've started writing a character that is completely unlike who I am. It worries me if I write a "gay" character in a convincing way or not. In general I write males in a fairly similar fashion. They're either family oriented (which a majority are) or very singularly focused. Part of this problem is that I don't like loose ends like "open relationships". But this isn't about relationships...I'll write that later, this is about sexual orientation. I have had one character that I've written for online role play who is a gay character. At the time, I was just experimenting and ended up going on some very cliche routes. Most of it was for reaction purposes because I was role playing with many young, straight males. The character, Demonycus, was openly and flamboyantly gay. He'd be flirty with other males, cross-dress, wear "alternative" clothing and had an obsession with snakes. As the role play progressed other players wer...

So the first thing that usually happens is this: You get hooked on an anime series or video game. Then because you have a slight talent for art draw some short comics and decide to post them online. Voila! You're a webcomic artist. And now you're addicted. People like what you drew and you decide it's time to become serious and not just make random comics but make it a series. In the beginning you make lots of mistakes and usually after awhile you get bored with your idea and abandon it. Such is the fate of many a beginner. I think it's how nearly everyone gets started. It's certainly how I got into it. Although for me, I was unaware of this concept called web comics. I just liked posting my pictures online and some of them were short fan-comics. This was back at the new millennium when telnet MUDs were the MMOs and geocities the only real place to upload a free website. Around this same time I discovered my first few web-comics by veterans NeonDragon and Luka Delan...

I'm going to take some time to be nostalgic and share some lessons learned from my first web comic venture, "My Shining Knight" (MSK). This was not the first comic I started during that period of my life (age 16). There were many attempts at a comic. One of the first was trying to make an "A Bug's Life" manga based off one of my fanfictions. Please groan. I do. The art is actually pretty Dece. I took time to really ink in all the details. ...it was only ever 1 page long. :( *sigh* The next comic was a blatant rip-off of Sailor Moon. (I intend to post that up some day. I just gotta be NOT lazy and scan it in). Again really good detail on backgrounds, inking and there's some color. It looks cool but oh lord the story...I only got like 16 pages in before I abandoned it. There is a point to this really. Most of the story or comics I dreamed up had a theme at that time. Boarding Schools (private schools), socially repressed female leads, French boyfriends...

While preparing for yet another web-comic adventure I constantly keep an eye on others to see what they're doing, what works for them and if I could make it work for me. My current comic work "7 Eldest" so far has taken a very "serious" tone, which is not like me at all. Well, perhaps not "serious" but more mature. And by mature I don't want you to jump right to the conclusion that I mean "porn". But you already did, didn't you? Ah wells. The thing is that serious comics appeal to an audience that I don't think I know very well. I read serious/drama web-comics but there's always some sort of humor splashed in. Like the occasional EXTREME emotion or exaggeration. I suppose I best define what I think is expected of web-comics. Web-comics are fast paced, funny, and kind of like newspaper comics...only better. Or they should be for the most part. Let's admit the more heavily trafficked web-comics are the ones that do the gag-...

Last night I spent more time brainstorming on my "Egg World" story and have sketched out three basic "Acts" or chapters to draw. Act 1: is the Creation story and events leading up to the "hatching". The 7 Eldest divide into factions over the sayings of the youngest who is a prophet. Act 2: is the beginning of civilization that happens immediately after the hatching. The faction still exists so there is the first war. Act 3: is the beginning of domestic trouble. There are no more factions but their is one Eldest who feels left out of the group. We have our first affair! :D So far I've only conceptualized the 7 eldest characters. (They're not even developed yet.) I still need to flesh out a few new characters to add. And I need a new title. Eggworld is stupid. That's just a working title. Let's brainstorm some new titles based on themes in the story so far. Themes: Birth, Origins, Eldest, Wonder, Hatching Title Ideas: Seven (it was the name...

I'm not sure what I will do with this idea. It may become a game or it may become a comic or novel. Probably a comic. It'll be fun. A world growing inside an egg that is almost ready to hatch. Such a process that will change the structure and peoples dwelling/growing on it. Terra-Angels are human like beings with feathered wings. Within the embryo world of the egg, Terra-Angels can fly regardless of their wing-span. The size of wings denotes the greatness of heart which can grow or shrink throughout the course of life. Terra-Angels may look masculine or feminine, but they have no sex and can not reproduce. The egg world has merely been producing them. However, it has been a long time since the birth of a Terra-Angel...which means the world is about ready to hatch...which will change the appearance and everything they know to be true. There are 7 eldest Terra-Angels. They were the first 7 to be born and as such were given authority. Their role is shepherd-like since the world is...