c.w. says:

yeah, so i'm two months late. i guess i'm a webcomic.

Wed, 28 May 2008 05:07:23 GMT

So, it's taking me a little long to finish up the next comic. Well, finish up the writing anyways. But, i'm getting closer, so i figured it was about time to start taking an interest in the website again. So, i'm gonna tell you a bit about the new project.

It's called Cross Words, and it's about... a lot of stuff actually. Remember This Is:? While i was doing it, a lot of ideas crossed my mind as to how it could actually apply to more "normal" comics, with plots and stuff. Cross words is sort of the culmination of that thinking. It takes in interesting structural parts of this is:, shrinks the entire thing and tries to form some sort of coherent piece. The problem with plots and stuff is that i'm a terrible horrible worthless writer, and would like the writing in Cross Words to be somewhat decent. So, over the course of How the Dinosaurs Died, i got an outline and some writing done.

(Speaking of HtDD you can still buy How the Dinosaurs Died - The Complete Collection.)

Basically, instead of having hyperlinked sections, the entire thing gets laid out in a manner not dissimilar to a crossword puzzle. You can see the difficulties that lie therein - all the moving parts of This is: with none of the "screw it, i'll figure out something when i write the stupid paragraph" attitude that made the whole the so gosh darn nonsensical.

But enough about the structure. The plot revolves around... well, i'm not sure i want to give it away. If you email me, i'll tell you more, but lets just leave it at the following for now.

A writer and his book.
A girl and her life.
A couple and their curse.

Cross Words.

Man... that sounds stupid. I'm going to have to think of a better tagline thing. Actually, a lot more stupid if you imagine Don LaFontaine saying it over explosions.

I'm gonna say it like i'll sell one.

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:45:58 GMT

Okay, it's finally finished - now avalible for purchase:

How the Dinosaurs Died - The Complete Collection.

It's available for $12.75 USD from Lulu as a 9x7 inch, perfect bound, black and white book. It's also avalible as a download for $2 USD. If you're feeling charitable, i'll also put it up in the contributor's area.

Speaking of which, if you do buy the book, you have access to the contributor's area - you just have to follow the instructions at the beginning of the book.

I thought i'd be able to finish faster, but unfortunately Lulu is exceptionally bad at simply telling you how to send them files. It's spread out over this gigantic mess of FAQ pages. A great example of this is why the book is more expensive than i planned. You see, i was originally going to use a different size, but after poking around the site for hours i found that the size i was going to use consisted of a cheap cream colored paper. I'm kind of obsessed with paper, so i went with a larger size with nice white paper.

So... yeah. I thought i'd be able to put up some kind of interim comic, but writing the next project pretty much takes up all my time - which is pretty absurd, since i started almost a year and a half ago. Hopefully it'll all be set by April - if not... well... i don't know what i'll do.

and so ends another year.

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:17:10 GMT

And that's the end of How the Dinosaurs Died. As for what the next project will be, i have absolutely no idea. I do have some ideas for the site though. I'll definitely be simplifying the next layout - less rant space to never use, less wasted space. The one thing i want to get feedback on is the tagboard - i'll probably get rid of it unless there's some big outcry.

In a few days, the How the Dinosaurs Died archives will be moving to the "other comics" section, so be sure to update your bookmarks when that happens. That sounds like something you'd see on a geocities page from 1994, but just do whatever it is you kids do these days.

If you want a printed version of HtDD, i'm considering doing one on Lulu since i actually have all the high resolution scans this time around. Copies would be about $10 USD, plus whatever they charge for shipping and all that - and would include some commentary, possibly a making of section... and whatever else you guys want me to throw in.

In other news, i think i need a writer, because i've been reading through This is:, and it makes no sense.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

i should sue them.

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:14:37 GMT

Okay, if you're an old timey reader, you'll remember This is:, and possibly you remember the one about the book. Here's the thing - it actually exists. Oddly, it is exactly as tall as i described, and presumably just as heavy. The only differences are really the cover and the contents. If someone made a cheaper, hollower one, i'd buy it.

I actually found it in my search for a good fountain pen that isn't priced as though it is made of solid gold. I finally found the Lamy Safari, which apparently is the least expensive "good" one you can get. But then there's Ackerman pens, which sound really cool because you can put india ink or paint or whatever the heck you want in them.

In other news, the archive and transcriptions updated, but no ones cares because i am a prophet.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 04:42:16 GMT

No more brush pen for me. Well, in the comic anyway. It was just way too unwieldy. I don't have a lot to say, other than that the archive got updated, and that there's transcriptions for last month's stuff. Of other artistic note, i tracked down some skin toned markers - although it's a pretty funny set. It's a "multicultural" marker set. It has the "colors of my friends". It's a rather silly way to say, "nobody makes any skin tones but pasty white" to which anyone could simply reply, "well, the pasty white ones suck". Although really, all it makes me think of is how certain cartoons will occasionally have blue or orange or hot pink people.

On a more comic related note, because of the way the comic works out, there are two extra weeks to fill at the end of February. In case i haven't said it enough times, i'm only going to make 50 HtDD comics, then i'll take a month off (march) and start the next year's project. Here's the thing though - if i make 50, there will be two weeks in February where i have nothing to post. I'd feel kind of bad taking an extra two weeks vacation, so has anyone got any ideas what to put in it?

How the Dinosaurs Died.

i miss you companion cube.

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:31:22 GMT

You'll have to excuse the craptacular art today - i've recently been adjusting my inking style to use real pens and real paper, and well... it's hard to get used to. I bought a set of Prismacolor marker pen things, and a set of Faber Castell marker pen things. I like the Prismacolors because they scan much much darker than the others, but the Castell set came with this totally sweet brush pen that i completely and totally suck at using.

Also, i got a giant marker set, but it makes me mad, because it has about two skin tones that really aren't skin tones. I don't understand why if you want to colour a person with markers you have to go online and find some crazy special set of skin tones. I mean, come on, you'd think they'd include at least a couple in a package of 100.

The new year is starting to get close, os i've been trying to think of what next year's project will be. I have some ideas, but since i've been busier this year and haven't gotten a chance to really explore my options. How do you guys feel about something with more of a storyline?

Also: one last thing - Occasionally, i've been seeing ads for fullbloomtea.com. I ordered some, and i have say, it's pretty neat. Unfortunately, it technically means i'm in the hole on advertising. (I'm really not though - advertising is great. I might have enough for a domain name before i start next year's project. Don't hold me to that though.)

How the Dinosaurs Died.

i dont even use this stupid social junk.

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:45:42 GMT

New site feature! Okay, so i added some social bookmarking junk under the comic - just click the "Share This" button, then choose whatever you want to use - I included del.icio.us, Furl, ma.gnolia, Spurl, Yahoo MyWeb, Google Bookmarks, and StumbleUpon. If you like the comic and have a StumbleUpon account, please click the StumbleUpon button, so everybody knows about the comic! I don't really use social bookmarking stuff, so i wasn't really sure which ones to add. If the one you use isn't on the list, leave a message on the tag board and i'll see what i can do.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:40:06 GMT

Hrm. Now that i'm back i suppose i should put something here, like "oh wow, my vacation was marvelous bla bla bla." but i have no idea what to say. I suppose i could talk about the comic for the 13th. It's not often i get to do timely jokes. See all the black? I coloured it in on the computer. Amazing, in know. I have a 4x6 Graphire - it doesn't get a lot of use.

Well, actually that's not true - it gets a lot of use, just as a mouse and not as a pen. My normal mouse is ah... misplaced. I know a lot of people use tablets really really well, but i just can not get used to the stupid thing for inking. I tried for about a year, and i just never could get decent lines with it.

Since the whole point of the comics is to keep me drawing (and hopefully make me better), what do you guys think of the art? Like it? Don't? Corn dog?

---edit!---

So ten minutes after i finish this i finally think of something to write. So i was looking through the site statistics, and occasionally i'll see someone has made a blog post about one of the comics. I often wonder what the appropriate course of action is for such a thing. It's rather flattering, and i'd like to say, "hey thank you very much for approving of my horrible horrible pastime" but then i start to wonder if that comes off a little stalkery. Stalker-y. Stalker-ey. Whatever. Anyone have any thoughts on the appropriate actions to take?

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 06:51:51 GMT

I have to be gone for almost two weeks, but fear not! Comics should update until i get back.

The replaced tagboard seems to be working out much better than the old one. I don't like it quite as much, but it'll do. Actually, i'm considering just getting rid of it entirely - i mean, it doesn't get much traffic, and it takes up a lot of space. Not to mention it would make a dandy place for a skyscraper ad, which seem to do quite well. Really, there isn't much to talk about with the comic, is there? It's either funny, or it isn't. I suppose you could talk about which joke you got. That reminds me of when i was drawing up the chiropractor comic.

If i have enough time, i usually try to incorporate as many jokes as possible into each strip. Sometimes i'm rushed or i can't think of anything, so it doesn't happen. The chiropractor comic makes sense, but there's a hidden joke in the fact that he's forcing the little guy into a position dinosaurs are often found in. (Minus the open jaw.)

I dunno. Maybe that was interesting. Probably not. I never know what the heck to write here.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:59:16 GMT

Seeing as the last time i updated this space was almost a month ago, i suppose it's time i wrote something here.

Of course, the only really pertinent thing i have to say is that the ads are up, but you can already see that. Of course, along with it the donation section has gone up, in case some one wants to donate and have me turn off the ads.

If you're an old timey reader and remember This is: there's actually more stuff relating to that than HtDD in the contributor's area right now (of course, there won't be in about a week once i finish these other wallpapers and stuff - having 100 laying around makes it easier to find stuff). Spurred on by some articles written by Mr. Fagin, in the contributor's area there is a downloadable version of This is:. Apparently people are willing to pay for that sort of thing.

Of course, when i started all this advertising business, i wasn't really thinking about new readers. To most of them, it must seem sort of odd - a comic that's only numbered into the twenties having ads and donations and stuff. I'm genuinely curious as to how many readers started when i was doing the old comic, This is:, and how many of you are only familiar with How the Dinosaurs Died.

Let's do this - can everyone post on the tag board if you're an old time reader, or a new one? That's be cool.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 01:11:21 GMT

Sorry guys - DNS is propagating still, so some of you are getting the old server, some the new. If you're on the new server, you're fine - if not, here's the comic that was supposed to go up today.

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 05:33:34 GMT

Firstly, i'm sorry the comic has been down a bit recently, but our gracious host has been migrating servers, so it's to be somewhat expected. Things should be a lot better from here on out though.

I got transcriptions for all the comics up (including the ones in the buffer), so now the search box to the side is somewhat useful again. If you want to see what the heck i'm talking about, just click the toggle transcription button under the comic.

I've been quiet, and no one has said anything, so the ads go up whenever i get my ad code - which should be at the end of the month sometime. Along with it, i'll put up a donation button. If people donate enough to get and keep domain name for a while, no more ads. Pretty simple really.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 04:30:36 GMT

If you don't normally read the news posts, please read this one
First off, no, i did not plan to have this show up just as Mr. Wizard died.

So, lately i've been thinking - hey, it would be nice to have a domain name. So i've been thinking of putting up some sort of way for me to get enough cash money dollars to purchase one. Turns out there's a lot of options, so i'd like to get feedback from you folks about it.

I've got three options - donations, merchandise, and ads.

Donations are pretty straight forward. I put up a Paypal button, you put in how much money you want to give me. I'd hate getting something for nothing though, so i'd at least put some wallpapers up for donors, maybe something else if i could think of anything. Wallpapers seem to be pretty standard.

Ads are the option that seems most viable. I'd put up a little block of ads just above this news post, and hopefully i'd make the ten dollars a year necessary for a domain name.

Merchandise seems awkward for me, but people really really seem to like shirts, so if you're interested i can put up some shirt designs.

I am actually considering one bit of merchandise right now, domain name not withstanding. If you want a This is: book, you should e-mail me straight away. Here's the deal: it's a significant amount of work for me to put together a This is: book, so i'm not gonna do it until i have at least 25 people who are willing to at least email me and say "I would like a This is: book". This is mostly because i'd have to go through and re-scan a good deal of them.

If it winds up being an actual book, i'll have lulu.com print it, and it would wind up being like $15 - $18, which is sort of steep. I've also thought about just printing every single one on a big poster, but i'm not entirely sure i can get them all to fit, so it might wind up being only a selection of them. That would be more like $5 - $10. I'm not really sure, i haven't looked into the poster as much. I wouldn't get your hopes up about either books or posters though - not a lot of people are into e-mailing me.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 05:34:36 GMT

Woah! Okay, sorry to everyone who got the weird front page in the last day or so. I'm not sure what screwed up, but something sure did. What you saw was the front page to the webpage genrator, which is odd, because the files don't even have the same name.

Comic Genesis (where the comic is hosted) has been having some issues lately. If that's still the case come thursday, i'll just post the comic on the blog. If there are ever issues like this again, just come on over to the blog, at cwsays.livejournal.com.

In other news, comics one through eight now have transcriptions - something i have been slacking off on since the start of HtDD. I also updated the archive. I'll get the rest finished soon, but i'm sick as of now, so i'm going to go to bed.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Thu, 24 May 2007 04:31:19 GMT

Three more comics in the buffer. No one seems to care one way or the other about the Wii navigation, so i'm just gonna leave it as is.

In other news, if you're a webcomic creator yourself, especially one that uses Comic Genesis, you might have heard of my Comic Genesis webpage generator. Well, now i'm offering custom templates, in addition to ones i have up. So if you're a webcomic person who needs a new site, shoot me an email.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Thu, 10 May 2007 05:31:45 GMT

Here's an odd thing. I got bored the other night, and coded up a special Wii interface for the site. If you have a Nintendo Wii, try it out and give me some feedback in a comment or e-mail. If you guys like it, i'll add it to the other comics i have on the site, and if you hate it, i'll take it off.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Tue, 01 May 2007 07:19:26 GMT

Newspostage ahoy! I don't really have much to say. Actually, i don't have anything to say at all. Except maybe that Comedy Central has the worst commercials ever. I just feel that i should update this space on an occasional basis, and since i added the next three weeks' comics, i felt it was a good time. I've had livejournal open for about two hours now, and this is all i've come up with, sooo.... i think i'm gonna call it good.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:38:31 GMT

Weekly updates freak me out. I had gotten so used to bi-weekly updates with This is: that every time i turn around i think "Holy poo! i forgot to update" but then i remember that i have quite a bit of buffer. HtDD is also different in that it's much harder to write, but takes less work. I could just sit down and write This is: but i'm very discriminating with HtDD. I think it is giving me more time to draw, and if i could just keep my fine motor skills more four hours at the end of a weekend i might get a short second comic finished. Of course, i'd have to write the darn thing first. Writing is not my strong suit.

How the Dinosaurs Died.

How the dinosaurs died

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 05:56:53 GMT

Surprise! I'm putting up the site a bit early. I noticed that thursday (the new update day) fell on the fifth, and since the new one is #5, i figured it would work out to have an update every day until then.

The site is much more colourful than before. I'll likely fiddle with bits a pieces of the layout over the course of the next month, but it's pretty well finished.

I can't think of much more to say other than that solar flares suck. Oh! If you didn't read the interim blog post, i linked The Nineteenth Century Industrialist, which has the art of Ren and Stimpy mixed in with a good dose of humour on a subject i enjoy. And you missed some not so terribly exciting sketches.

Enjoy the reruns.

Also: Dear Google: Google Paper is something you should actually consider developing, if only for the fact that you could get pictures printed and sent to you for free, which would pretty much be the bee's knees.

because i'm just so gosh darn dependable.

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 02:43:31 GMT

If anyone looks at this blog, it'll be a miracle. But i said i'd put up some sketches, so here are some sketches.

Oh, and you can check out the new 404 page for How the Dinosaurs Died.

If you're wondering how every thing's coming, it's going much smoother than anticipated. Moving the archives was really easy, and my redesign is about halfway finished. It looks a lot like the other comics pages, and i'm working on doing up the colors and backgrounds and stuff. I'm leaning heavily toward a sort of brown theme, but i might go with green.

As for making comics... it's amazing how fast your buffer fills up when you're only doing weekly updates. April's comics are all done. I was planning on launching the new site on the fifth, but i'll likely do it the first, and run the four previous HtDDs before.

Also: Check out The Ninteenth Century Industrialist. It really reminds me of Ren and Stimpy art wise... actually humour wise too.

That's all for now.

This is: the end.

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 04:54:01 GMT

And so, This is: comes to a close. 100 comics. 120 connections (not counting the Suzie Franks stuff, as it's a dead end.)

Since this post will be up on the main page for a while, let me explain to new readers. The one you see now was an experiment within an experiment. This is: experimental to say the least. If you want to start reading, don't worry about the archive. Don't worry about next and previous buttons. Just click the "You haven't seen:" link in the black box, and start reading and clicking connections. (If you don't see such a link, you have javascript disabled. Click the first button.) Give it a chance. If you really hate it, click the Toggle Chronological Navigation link to get back to your comfort zone of next and previous buttons.

Of course, this is cwcomics.comicgenesis.com, not thisis.comicgenesis.com. Things will happen. Dinosaur things. On April Fifth. (In case you don't get the hints, How the Dinosaurs Died starts weekly updates on April 5th, 2007.) If you're confused about this whole dinosaur thing, check out the few i already have up.

If you're wondering why i'm going from twice weekly to once weekly, well... let me put it like this. This is: was supposed to be simple. It was in the beginning. This is: became complicated at the end. It was a pain to keep track of everything, and it bogged the entire process down. Instead of having extra comics occasionally like Hello, My Name is _____. i got bogged down with spreadsheets and crap. And that isn't exactly fun. So - Dinosaurs. Once a week. Simple.

So, in the meantime, you might keep an eye on the blog. I won't update the site, as i'll be doing a redesign, moving all of This is: from it's place in the automated pages to a static set of pages. But, if i get off my butt and do something, you might see some sketches and crap. It's a remote possibility.

If you've been reading for a while, or even if you just made it through this whole post, thanks.

This is: how it's all connected.

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:54:17 GMT

Friday is the last one. I might have some big post then, but not now.

If you're wondering who that kid in the jungle is, take a gander at Lionel Sherman.

This is: how it's all connected.

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:22:24 GMT

Two left.

Sorry about the double this is: error last time - i didn't notice it until the update. It's fixed in the archives.

This is: how it's all connected.

not a bad thing

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 06:47:31 GMT

Four left.

In case you're hankerin' for the good ol' times, today's part of the Suzie Franks experiment deals with the following characters -

Mr. Stetson
James Flannen
Cyrus Bilford
Owen Schlimensen

I'm curious as to how people are liking the slightly altered format. Maybe i should have run these a long time ago?

This is: How it's all connected.

Suzie franks' story.

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 06:32:18 GMT

Alright, so this marks the final chapter of This is:. It's been... interesting.

For the final experiment, you should know it's all about Suzie Franks. She's literally the only dead end in the mesh. No wonder she has no esteem.

It's also the only time i've written the story before i've drawn the picture. So i guess we'll see how it goes.

5 left.

This is: How it's all connected.