[Project] Comics

I'd like make a comic about working on the JET program. I think that last week's adventure about:

1. Not getting paid
2. Getting my vacation days taken away
3. Being asked to work overtime

...would make a good strip. Just one thing after another, and when you think it can't get worse, of course it does.

You know, when I was a kid, my mom used to tell me that I had "Charlie Brown Syndrome". Things go bad for me, in big ways, frequently. Of course, this is the same mom who left me behind, locked out of the house while she and the rest of the family AND THE NEIGHBORS all went to Reno for a quick vacation, when I was 12. So, some of this is her fault.

Not that I'm complaining. Whom else has such stories to tell? "The Time My Roommate Tried To Kill Me" is probably my favorite. I mean, sure the police were involved, and I hid at my brother's for three days, but you have to look back and laugh. ^_^ Said roommate and I are still friends, and it's not like he succeeded in killing me. It was more of a threat. And it makes a great story. ^_^

I wonder if that comes across to people whom don't know me... It's hard to convey tone in text, but when I describe these incidents, I'm not trying to get pity or sympathy, I just want to tell an interesting or funny story. I try to emphasize the ridiculous or extreme, and exaggerate things for comic effect. For example, it wasn't that they forgot to pay me, and then took my vacation days away, and then asked me if I would mind working overtime, all in a row. Those events were spread out over two days, and happened in a different order.

Anyway, I think incidents like this would make a nice comic, something I can put online and leave for future JETs to read and ponder. Something like ESID, for example.

The problem is, I have absolutely no artistic ability. I look at webcomics like Penny Arcade and Mac Hall, and I know I can't do anything like that. So it's intimidating. I don't know if a megatokyo-style "stick figure rant" would be effective enough, but that's about the limit of my drawing skill.

Sigh. How come no one has made a software solution for this yet? Something geared STRICTLY toward comic creation? Draw your characters once, and save them. Or better yet, design your characters once, and save them. Easy character creation; choose features, colors, etc. Automatically generates different views for different angles. Pre-built facial expressions, postures, gestures... Making a strip becomes as simple as:

1. Choose background
2. Choose characters and positions
3. Input witty banter

You could even do things like render to different styles. Sketch, line drawing, water-color, etc... You know, it's a real shame that someone with a DEGREE in computer science isn't going to follow up on this.

Sigh, again. I have too many projects.