Hopelessly Lost, But Making Good Time #92
Hello, and welcome to
Hopelessly Lost ..., the series about making your own comics by an author who is determined to keep up with modern technology, and all those readers who are polite enough to avoid muttering the word "geezer" while pretending to cough.
A while back, I revealed my Pleistocene origins by discussing the contents of the bookshelf over my desk. Yes, I really do own books (thousands of them, to be honest) and I use them, too. But I also have a computer, a powerful one, and it's even hooked up to the Internet. I don't think I will ever step forward and say that the Internet has replaced print as either a medium for comics or a resource for their creation, but I certainly acknowledge that these days the bookmark list is at least as important as the bookshelf to both readers and creators.
The Internet Bookshelf
Whatever Internet browser you favor, it certainly offers you the opportunity to collect links to your favorite sites and organize them into files for your convenience. Old Netscapers and new Firefoxers are used to calling these link collections "bookmarks," and I will use that term here; it has a retro feel that I find pleasant.
It's certainly possible to keep all of your bookmarks in one long list, but most of us have eclectic enough tastes (and enough favorite sites) that this soon becomes unwieldy. The solution is to set up a file scheme, similar to that which you use to organize your work files within your system's larger file management software.
Discussions of file management theory are far beyond the scope of my limited expertise, and I don't think it matters all that much anyway. No one is going to grade you and as long as you can find what you are looking for, your system is working. My only advice would be that if you share your computer with other users, start with separate large bookmark folders for each person and make sure you use distinctive names for your subfolders. (And no, I'm not going to tell you how to hide your "adult entertainment" links.)
What's much more interesting than your bookmark folders and how they are named and arranged? What's in them. Here are a few selections from my own bookmarks, arranged according to theme. Note that this is not how I have them arranged on my computer.
Some of these are genuine practical recommendations that I think every cartoonist should at least learn about, while others are simply the usual "your mileage may vary" recommendations. Every link here is to a free site or free service; I don't feel comfortable plugging commercial businesses in this series.
Ads, of course, will be encountered, and probably an occasional pop-up. Please, use caution and take steps to make sure you are protected against malware and spyware as well as viruses. Close all pop-ups and stray windows from the taskbar and don't click on anything unless you are sure you know exactly what it is and where it comes from. Safe browsing, everyone.
1) Personal Stuff
Everyone has bookmarks that relate strictly to their personal interests: friends' websites and blogs, webcomics, boards were you frequently hang out, or news and commentary sites for subjects you enjoy. The personal category also includes the websites and online catalogs for stores and suppliers with whom you regularly do business.
I don't read a lot of webcomics, since I strongly dislike the way most comics look on a monitor and the time they take to load. But I do read some, mostly those by people I know. My two current favorites are Rich Watson's
City Mouse goes West and Jane Irwin's
Clockwork Game.
My laptop is a mini Eee PC. I'm always interested in learning more tips and tricks for working with it, and instead of the manufacturer's site, I've bookmarked a very informative unauthorized user site:
Eeeuser.com.
And since I am a car buff who likes to keep up with all kinds of car news and car talk, I can't go more than a day or two without visiting
Jalopnik.
2) Image Related Stuff
Like anyone who draws, I love to look at pictures of stuff. And if the Internet is anything, it is a rich source of pictures of stuff.
I make very few blanket statements of fact, but I think the most valuable Internet tool for cartoonists is
Google Image Search. Enter a term and collect pictures of anything from tipis to nebulas to praying mantises. What used to require a trip to the library (or an expensive collection of reference books) and hours of skimming now takes 10 seconds. If I could only have one web resource this would be it.
Oobject is the best picture site ever, posting images of human-made objects of every kind and organized in list (or chart) form, such as eight Skyhook helicopters, seventeen found object chandeliers, and twelve claustrophobic torpedo rooms. A new chart is posted almost every day. I adore Oobject and have wasted many, many happy hours getting ideas from it. You have been warned!
Specific subject sites: The web is full of "fan" sites put up by enthusiasts on just about every subject, however obscure. I love extinct animals, so I've bookmarked my favorite
coelacanth site — full of coelacanth pics, vids and articles and data.
3) Words and Images
I was going to recommend my favorite
heraldry dictionary as an example of a site with good information and good images, but apparently I never bookmarked it. I found the link, but it took a long time, and I was very hassled. Here it is, and bookmark your sites!
Wordle: This beautiful and useful site makes "word clouds" from any piece of prose, with the words sized according to the frequency they occur in the sample. Try it with anything you have written.
Link to a Wordle of this essay.
4) Words and Writers' Tools
Wikipedia. This is iffy to mention, since even mentioning its name can cause horrible fights. Some people love it; some people hate it. I like it, I use it, I don't fully trust it. I'm there almost every day. I would never use any fact I find there to support an important point unless I confirmed them somewhere else.
Nothing provides real-time data better than the Internet. If you shop or trade online, or just follow international news, then you need a
real-time currency converter.
For learning slang, checking for slang meanings of seemingly innocent terms, and as an aid in inventing original slang for world building, nothing beats
Urban Dictionary. Little details create the illusion of reality. Warning: some entries feature cursing and discussions of adult subject matter.
5) Random Very Cool Things
Some things are just so cool they make you want to curl up into a ball and give up doing anything creative for the rest of your stupid life. Every bookmark list needs several of these; when you are in a more confident mood, you will find them inspirational.
This ... steampunky robot thing is well worth exploring, since it is so outrageously well imagined:
History of Robots in the Victorian Era.
And every cartoonist needs to
laugh at comics themselves every once in a while. "Here, let me describe in great detail the building about to collapse on us."
Plus, of course, the ongoing coolness that is
Sequential Tart.
Next time: more stuff, online and off. Now get off the Internet and make some comics.
Pam Bliss has been making comics since 1989, and the minicomic, in all its infinite variety, is her favorite form. Her cartoon short stories are set in the perfect Midwestern small town, Kekionga, Indiana, where just about anything can happen. Her new ongoing series, KEKIONGA, explores the mysteries of that most mysterious place through the eyes of an innocent young superhero. For more about all the Kekionga stories, visit www.paradisevalleycomics.com. Or, for updates on work in progress, essays on storytelling and other subjects, auto industry comments and random stuff, including a thrilling weekly adventure serial, read Sharkipede's LiveJournal No Silver Cars at http://www.livejournal.com/users/sharkipede/.
© 2001 - 2007, Pam Bliss