Did you see it? The nearly perfect word balloon tail on the second balloon of panel 4? Finally, something I can put in my portfolio.

Man, it’s been an exhausting week. MoCCA’s coming up and the preparations are totally eating into my comics time. But, if you happen to be going to this fantabulous comics celebration, you can see me and my Rarebits compatriots there (Go check out my new article on our site if you like…it totally involves skulls. Which are fun to draw.) Actually, it’s not until April 10th and 11th – but you should plan ahead. Like me. I think I might try and do some postcards.

In the meantime, leave me some comments you guys! They make my happy meter fill up and when it hits maximum a bell rings. So it’s good for the angels. And don’t be shy about becoming a fan of Billy on Facebook, or following my boring self on the Twitter.

The next new comic will be up sometime on next Tuesday. I’d gun for Sunday (but most likely fail in a blaze of snoring and back pain) but that means that puppy up there wouldn’t get enough time in the limelight.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with a short

Billy the Dunce Strip #63 Playlist:

• NewsRadio, NewsRadio, NewsRadio: For like, the last two weeks. Nearly non-stop. It’s amazing
• Yeasayer, Odd Blood: Really, really good. Sam over a HCE describes it as being like a cross between the new Flaming lips album and MGMT. I think it sounds like the Pet Shop Boys with Peter Gabriel doing the instumentation. Either way, good stuff.
• And of course, Mega Man 10 – in my down time. It’s way harder than 9, but with much more diverse and challenging level design. Super-duper.

Alright – I’m out! Have a good weekend!

J.

One more strip, and one four panels closer to…well there isn’t really any sort of end in sight, is there? Deeper character development and all that. Neat-o!

I’ve been trying to get some fan art made for friends lately, and I though you all might want see the first finished piece. It’s for Sam, over at Here Comes Everyone.

You should read it, by the way. It’s quite good.

Why are you still here? I enjoy the company, but really – go read some HCE.

Later,

J

Holy cow. You’d think that a strip that’s as (relatively) simple as this one wouldn’t be so mind-rendingly labor intensive. Lately I’ve been trying to pull together the layout of the kid’s dorm, so as I wind-up to begin drawing each strip I’ll work out the floor plan of the section of dorm the action is taking place in, and then do a quick perspective drawing so I can wrap my brain around the space. Yeeaah. This is actually a fair amount of work. Take, for example the drawing I did for this strip:

Nothing too intense, but I’m not exactly an old hand when it comes to perspective drawings like this. It takes me an hour or two to put the whole thing together. Photoshop and the straight-line tool certainly helps, but check out this mess – the same drawing with all the layers turned on:

On top of this, tonight of all nights, I decided that I’d finally figure out how to do duo-shade textures digitally. I found one helpful tutorial, but there was still a bit of trial and error involved. (by the way, if any of you are interesting in trying this out, feel free to ask me if you have any questions.)

All that being said, it’s a nice looking strip and all that jazz. Worth the extra work.

Now that all that boring stuff is over with, why not skip on over to the Rarebits blog and read my latest? It’s about Blaster Master, a very good if somewhat musty old game. It’s pretty much the Citizen Kane of videogames.

Later all,

J.

Well, loathe as I am to replace the last comic, this one doesn’t look half bad. Granted, it’s not a basement – but I’m still trying to integrate more texture into the strip. Of course, this adds to the over-all labor involved in inking and penciling, but I’m trying to find new ways to get faster where ever I can. You gotta admit, Billy has gotten quite a bit better in the time it’s been on the web, and I’d be remiss if i didn’t credit Evan Dorkin for helping that happen.

For those of you not in the know, Evan happens to be my thesis advisor for my senior year at CCS, and he is an amazingly astute critic. If it weren’t for him, I’d probably still be struggling to figure how to direct my efforts in making the strip better. But with the focus he’s given me, I feel like I’ve managed to make this thing something worth actually reading, and I’m willing to say I’m proud of what I’ve done so far.

So as a favor to me, go check out Evan’s blog, and marvel at what he’s done to make all of our lives brighter(along with partner, Sarah Dyer. I’d be shitty not to mention how much they team up). All you nerds have no idea how deeply you love his work – probably without knowing it. Hell, I have my suspicions that Adult Swim wouldn’t exist without him. All the best Space Ghost Episodes are his.

Anyway, it’s late. I’m off to drink a bit more and read an old X-E interview with Evan.

Later,

J.

Without a doubt, bar none, the best looking strip on this site right now. I don’t know what kicked in this week, but I think I just got a little sick of leaving all that white space alone for the last month or two. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve been making floor plans of the kid’s dorm, as well as a 3D model in Google SketchUp. It makes building believable environments that much easier.

Well, I didn't say it was finished.

Oh, I also love basements. I probably spent way too much time in them as a youth. I know, weird — right?

Not much else to say, really. Just, if you like the strip you can become a fan of it on facebook. Or if you enjoy inane and sparse chatter, follow me on twitter. And if you really like this webcomic, maybe tell a friend? Get a few more regulars in here? Oh, yeah – RAREBITSRAREBITSRAREBITSRAREBITS. Anyway, pimpin’ time is over.

Later,

J.

Yeah, it’s in color. My brain gets weird at after 1 am, so I decided to do a full color strip. It’s quick and dirty, but honestly – that’s the way I like my color. Makes it feel more like a sunday strip from the 80’s.

I’m actually pretty dang tired right now, so I’m gonna cut and run – but don’t forget I’ve got a RareBits post going up on monday — and if I can find the time, I’ll drop a blog entry here to catch y’all up before the next comic. It’s been a busy few weeks, but darned if I’m not having a whole lot of fun.

Later,

J.

So, this is the second time I’ve had to write this because I am an idiot, and tried to publish this entry without actually adding the comic. Not a good idea, it turns out.

Anyway, sorry the comic is a bit on the late side. I’ve had a bunch of side projects lately, and excuses aside — I really need to get a comic or two ahead. Especially by this summer when I’ll be moving 1200 miles back to the midwest. That kind of thing tends to cut into the free time a little bit.

Speaking of side projects — have you checked out the RareBits blog yet? It just happens to be the neatest little thing this side of a Jace and the Wheeled Warriors remake (best obscure cartoon and toyline ever). It also happens to be the online home of the comics collective I belong to. I’ve been having tons of fun lately writing articles (with illustrations) for the blog, not the least of which is the one I wrote today. I won’t ruin it for you, but let’s just say it involves Roseanne’s short lived Saturday morning cartoon and and Aliens VS. Predator Babies drawing – among other things.

Alright! I’m off to a meeting of the minds with my compadres.

Later,

J.

Hi Everybody! New strip, new day, and a new forum. What? Forum?

This is what I look like every time I speak. No joke.

Yeah, a while back I was invited to join the Rampage Network by the supremely motivated John Hernandez. It’s a pretty sweetheart deal, not the least of which being they host a section on the rampage forums for my little comic. Thank god, because I used to have a forum on the old version of this site, and it is a NIGHTMARE dealing with all the spammers. Nile had to eventually find me a custom greasemonkey script just so I could delete them fast enough to keep up.

Starting now I’m going to post some of the thumbnails and pencils for the strip there, with the earlier draft of the strip and everything. So, check it out! And feel free to start new topics or whatever. I’m sure it’s going to be a slow burn on this thing – but it’s good to have a place to hang out other than the comments, you know?

And don’t be scared to check out some of the other Rampage strips as well. I’m particularly enamored of a few…

Wow. That’s a lot of links.

J.

Hey all, welcome back! You finally get to see the incident that lead to Billy getting sent to the school…in flashback at least. Someday I want to tell the whole sordid origin story, but that might have to be in a bigger, stand-alone comic. I’m hoping to one day be able to do a 32 page Billy comic here and there – just to be able to tell some larger stories.

I’ve been listening to and watching some interesting stuff lately, so before I sign off I thought I’d rattle off a small list…

Billy the Dunce Strip #55 Playlist:

The Everybodyfields, “Nothing is Okay” – great, great alt-country album. Reminds me if some of my favorite slow-core acts decided to buy steel guitars. I can’t recommend this band enough.

Five Go Mad in Dorset – awesome little half-hour with some great british comedians playing at being a pre-teen mystery team.

I’m also newly addicted to Better off Ted and Bizarre Foods, but I’m sure I’m really late to those parties.

Anyway, as always please feel welcome to leave comments – we’re a kindly household, with nary a negative soul in the place.

Later,

J.

Hey everyone. Happy Monday! Late Monday, anyway. Hope you enjoyed the new comic up there. I’m feeling pretty good about this thing lately. Drawing looks pretty decent, and the characters are wooden little dialogue delivery devices anymore. Hurrah!

While we’re speaking of comics, check it out:

That my friends, is FAN ART. And great fan art, to boot — all courtesy Mr. S.P. Burke of webcomic sensation Oh Goodie! Personally, I see a bit of the Hernandez Bros. in his comic, and that is high praise indeed. It can seem like a sea of mediocrity out here in the internets, so it’s nice to see someone doing such high quality work, especially three days a week.

Do you want to create some Billy the Dunce fan art? I guarantee it’ll go up on the fan art page. Just email it to me here.

To top all this nonsense off, I also did a little post over on the rarebits blog wherein the less savory details of Boba Fett’s personality are disected. While your there, take a look around. We’re slowly but surely building up some reasonably interesting stuff.

Later,

J