Dana Claire Simpson dot com

New Raine Dog pages

Bet y'all thought I'd never get back to it.

The thing is, I've started it over. I just think the last couple years have made me a much better storyteller, and as I've settled into pixels instead of ink as a medium I've learned a lot of new tricks as an artist.

Plus, I don't know, I was conscious working on Raine before that I actually had no idea how to do what I was attempting.

So, here are the first four pages of the new version:

 

More Ozy and Millie art

 

It's not always in your head

I was talking with an artist friend the other day, and he mentioned to me that he like to experiment a lot when he's drawing--to just sort of start drawing with no precise idea of what's going to happen.

I told him, yeah, I do that too. And it reminds me of something I've heard a number of times from artists who are starting out.

This one I found is typical:

When an artist views their work, they are comparing it to what they had in their head. In their head every line is perfect, every bit of color is spot on, every bit of anatomy is correct, and every little detail shines through. To compare what they see in their head to what they have on paper can be devastating. Your hands have to learn to depict what your mind sees, and unfortunately, that is a very long process.

I can imagine that would be frustrating. It's not how I create, though, and apparently not how my friend creates.

I think there are as many different ways to be an artist as there are ways to be a human being. There's no such thing as "doing it wrong." All advice, as they say, is autobiographical, and with that in mind, here is mine:

Don't try too hard. Don't hold what you create to a rigid standard of perfection and then get angry with it for failing to meet that standard. Make it as good as you can make it, and let it be itself, and over time it'll get better and better.

YMMV.

Mice on the Moon

Sometimes you make art for money, or to make a point, or because you're bored and you have a pen.

And then sometimes you do it simply because you want to and it makes you feel happy.

This is a set of panels I did with my friend Ribnose. He wrote it and did the pencils, I "inked" and colored it. Actually, everything I did, I did in Manga Studio, which has become my main software for making comics.

I think you'll be seeing more collaborations between us in the future.

Click to see the whole thing.

New E.P.

 
 
I finally decided to just put this batch of songs from the last few years out as an "E.P." It's not enough for a whole album but anything I make now is going to sound pretty different; these tracks gotta stick together.

Champagne

Expect more O&M art. I'm having fun drawing the characters again.

Watchin' the detectives

The latest direction in which the development process has taken me. I'm actually pretty enthused about this twist. Hope the syndicate is too.

Because I need to draw these two more

Because a personal web site should include a portfolio

Subject to updaying of course, but here are 12 pieces that I think represent the range of what I do.

Rumors, o rumors

Reader MM writes:

There's a rumor going around GoComics.com that Girl was dispqualified by dint of the fact that some of the strips were reworked Ozy and Millie 'toons.

If there is such a rumor, there's no truth to it.