TWCL

[vaslittlecrow]

I normally try to keep updates about this comic to its update thread, but I felt this announcement was significant enough to put it in its own thread.

The new Rasputin Barxotka story has begun with a new inker, a font set chosen by our readers and a stylistic shift. I am pleased with how inker, Narphy La Mancha, and our colorist, Mandarr, are interpreting the story Loki and I wrote and I cannot wait to share more of their work.

You can see the first of these pages here:
http://barxotka.com/comic/good-company-and-good-weed/

(Contains drug use and frank conversation about adult situations)

Also, in case anyone is interested, I am doing a commissioned art fundraiser to upgrade the mobile site: http://barxotka.com/2012/09/15/help-us-with-our-mobile-site-and-well-make-you-art/
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Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.

[Gual-kun]

Thanks for the info
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[Uncle Greedy]

Now that's my favourite:
http://catnose.com/comic/beer-samples/

(Although from 2011)

[vaslittlecrow]

Uncle Greedy: Beer Samples is actually a true story that happened at a beer sampling event at a liquor store in St Cloud MN. Normally people are great about just being content with a single sample, but it was INSANE that day.

Gual-kun: My pleasure. Loki and I are incredibly proud of the ladies who helped make that page possible.
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Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.

[Uncle Greedy]

[quote="vaslittlecrow"]Uncle Greedy: Beer Samples is actually a true story that happened at a beer sampling event at a liquor store in St Cloud MN. Normally people are great about just being content with a single sample, but it was INSANE that day.


I'm sure it wasn't that funny then as I found it in the comic. I also wanted to say although the catnose comics appeal more to me then the Barxtota ones, I found that the Barxotas have a much more serious and realistic background then all other comics I have found in here, so that I was impressed even if the gay theme doesn't appeal so much to me. Strangely I thought that they were autobiographic when I first read them without knowing the background (they just don't look or read like something that someone just has made up for fun), but I am much more pleased that you are actually catnose instead, nevertheless.

[vaslittlecrow]

Uncle Greedy
Actually, it was pretty funny, even though I was annoyed when it happened. That comic practically wrote itself.

The Nine Lives of Catnose was fun to do, but I did it for over a decade (it was a print comic initially) and I just got completely sick of it. It felt like a chore. So when Lemmecheck decided that they were no longer going to publish it, I was absolutely thrilled to quit. It's a really cute series and honestly my most marketable in terms of story, but I was doing it for the money and to complain about my job. I leave the archives because it is charming, but my heart really wasn't into it. Catnose is mostly autobiographic, and it holds a lot of memories for me.

As for Barxotka and RaspCat, I really never set out to create a gay comic, so I don't think of it that way. I just think about it as a lusty crime drama where the protagonists happen to be gay. And actually, your observation about them being semi-autobiographical and not necessarily made for the fun of it is correct. I use historical metaphor to hide the true meaning. To give you an example, each of the male gay characters actually is a very exaggerated caricature of men that I had a relationship with. For example: Sasha is my ex-husband, Tsar is my current husband, Dmitri is a boyfriend who became a stalker, Lucky was an older man that exploited me horribly, Camello is wonderful guy that I was almost engaged to, and so forth. Additionally, each character represents a facet of myself.

I depict these characters as gay, because I prefer women and always considered myself to be masculine in my personality. It's less threatening for me to study those relationships and aspects of myself in that way. The events in that comic are nothing like what happened in reality, but they are parallel, as if I were in an alternate dimension. I also make a lot subtle of commentary about American politics without actually mentioning America -- again parallel historical metaphor. I also let the characters tell the story themselves. I don't feel like I have control of the situation and I like it. It's very cathartic and I love telling the stories. This project is truly my passion.

I hope this made sense.
_________________
Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.

[vaslittlecrow]

In addition to today's update...
http://barxotka.com/comic/dont-leave-me-this-way/

...I have some cool bonuses to share this week:

Some art from the Slave-Butt for Satan days:
http://barxotka.com/2012/09/30/from-the-slave-butt-for-satan-archives-the-upirs-mark-forest-3d-set/ (NSFW)

A bonus comic:
http://barxotka.com/2012/09/30/site-updates-a-bonus-comic/

The September Sketch Dump:
http://barxotka.com/2012/09/30/september-sketch-dump-sasha-loves-gangnam-style-edition/

Please tell me I'm not the only ones who forced my characters to do homages to Gangnam Style.
_________________
Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.

[Uncle Greedy]

vaslittlecrow wrote:

Uncle Greedy Actually, it was pretty funny, even though I was annoyed when it happened. That comic practically wrote itself. The Nine Lives of Catnose was fun to do, but I did it for over a decade (it was a print comic initially) and I just got completely sick of it. It felt like a chore. So when Lemmecheck decided that they were no longer going to publish it, I was absolutely thrilled to quit. It's a really cute series and honestly my most marketable in terms of story, but I was doing it for the money and to complain about my job. I leave the archives because it is charming, but my heart really wasn't into it. Catnose is mostly autobiographic, and it holds a lot of memories for me. As for Barxotka and RaspCat, I really never set out to create a gay comic, so I don't think of it that way. I just think about it as a lusty crime drama where the protagonists happen to be gay. And actually, your observation about them being semi-autobiographical and not necessarily made for the fun of it is correct. I use historical metaphor to hide the true meaning. To give you an example, each of the male gay characters actually is a very exaggerated caricature of men that I had a relationship with. For example: Sasha is my ex-husband, Tsar is my current husband, Dmitri is a boyfriend who became a stalker, Lucky was an older man that exploited me horribly, Camello is wonderful guy that I was almost engaged to, and so forth. Additionally, each character represents a facet of myself. I depict these characters as gay, because I prefer women and always considered myself to be masculine in my personality. It's less threatening for me to study those relationships and aspects of myself in that way. The events in that comic are nothing like what happened in reality, but they are parallel, as if I were in an alternate dimension. I also make a lot subtle of commentary about American politics without actually mentioning America -- again parallel historical metaphor. I also let the characters tell the story themselves. I don't feel like I have control of the situation and I like it. It's very cathartic and I love telling the stories. This project is truly my passion. I hope this made sense.

Oh yes, makes perfect sense, although I think it could be unpleasant if anyone recognizes his alter ego as a gay character.
I only used my own alter ego in comics (and presented as straight, as I am myself) to be on the sure side, or prominent people.
Just as curiosity, aging the "alter ego" makes some sense in my language.
The german word "Alter" has nothing to do with the latin-based english verb "to alter", but means "age" or short for "old guy". The younger people adress themself as "Alter" with no regards to age today, and only the few literate ones would know the term "alter ego" in the correct sense. The other ones use it sometimes as insult, as "Ego" is an unofficial abbreviation of "Egoist", so calling someone "Du alter Ego" roughly translates as "You damn egoist!"

[vaslittlecrow]

It's funny you should say that about the characters. My husband recognized his alter ego right away and he was actually very amused. He knows I'm very masculine in the way I act, so it didn't even surprise him that I would draw him as bisexual. He actually used to frequent gay clubs to find bisexual or Lesbian women who had broken up and wanted to get revenge on their exes by sleeping with a gay guy. Seriously. For years he cultivated a reputation of being sexually ambiguous in his tastes, and even acquired the name Loki. He's actually straight, but he has a reputation as not, which is funny to him.

The guy who I modeled Camello after, would probably laugh it off -- he too used to say that I was a dude trapped in a hot chick's body. The guy who I modeled Lucky after is actually promiscuously bisexual and has such a huge ego, that he probably would feel flattered that I would even acknowledge his existence by making a comic character based on him. As for the other guys, they know I dislike them, so their opinion frankly doesn't matter to me. My ex-husband knows Sasha is based off him, and that's part of the reason he will not talk to me.

Thank you for sharing the story about your alter ego. I love how you used language to more or less create him in such a literal manner.
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Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.

[Uncle Greedy]

vaslittlecrow wrote:

It's funny you should say that about the characters. My husband recognized his alter ego right away and he was actually very amused. He knows I'm very masculine in the way I act, so it didn't even surprise him that I would draw him as bisexual. He actually used to frequent gay clubs to find bisexual or Lesbian women who had broken up and wanted to get revenge on their exes by sleeping with a gay guy. Seriously. For years he cultivated a reputation of being sexually ambiguous in his tastes, and even acquired the name Loki. He's actually straight, but he has a reputation as not, which is funny to him.

Now he has a strong selfassurance, I would feel extremely offended to be portrayed that way, but it's great if you go along with that. Although I love insider jokes based on real or historic characters.

[vaslittlecrow]

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Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.