Sunday, September 10, 2006

Ah, everyday on the blog is like a day on the farm. Every meal is a banquet, every pay cheque a fortune, every formation a parade.

Item One: Let's start as we mean to go on - lovely Greg Nichols She-Hulk.

Item Two: Another She-Hulk.

Item Three: A boob related parody of Million Dollar Baby - Million Dollar Boobies.

Item Four: Oh, another bosomy superheroine - Power Girl.

Item Five: Manic has clearly been replaced by a time travelling robot - as he has produced a whopping SEVEN page sequence AND his regular Stellar page AND he has a 4 page She-Hulk classic up for sale.

Item Six: I just found this page interesting... though it's not photo heavy, it's about large breast implants.

Item Seven: GeoffK sent me this furry inflation site.

Item Eight: Hopefully, many of you will remember Skiff from his first foray... "Helix: The Ectasy Infection" he's taken a break from that and is now starting on a Growth orientated comic.

Item Nine: Archangel Dreadnaught draws some giant boobs - ace.

Item Ten: Oh, just large lactating breasts.

Item Eleven: Buddy Bunsen does some fan art for Polymer City Chronicle - busty, buff and awesome.

Item Twelve: Candy does a BE gif. Good stuff.

Item Thirteen: Tinkerbell the fairy... several pictures of her with giant tits.

Item Fourteen: Anime style catgirl stuff transformation... not bad.

Item Fifteen: Poser werewolf transformation.

Item Sixteen: She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch and The Wasp...

Item Seventeen: Paul Chabot is an artist - he's got plenty of superheroine (and can you imagine, She-Hulk) stuff on his site.

Item Eighteen: Busty catgirls - ace. Thanks Xenodora.

Item Nineteen: A collection of busty ladies.

Item Twenty: Another busty catgirl courtesy of Xen.

Item Twenty One: Clip from "Midnight Panther" - despite the title, the girl becomes a leopard.

Item Twenty Two: Last two buxom catgirls - and thanks to Xen, again for the links.

Item Twenty Three: Mammabliss illustrates a story - BE and FMG.

Item Twenty Four: FMG'd sailor scout.

Item Twenty Five: Evil Consumer delivers a BE manga.

Item Twenty Six: Warlock delivers a BE video.

Item Twenty Seven: Furry growth - what is with giant furries, eh?

Item Twenty Eight: Sutibaru and a BE manga.

Item Twenty Nine: Like Nagas? Look here.

Item Thirty: Dynamic duo - Femme Forte Fan and Shadow Ninja give us another 4 page spinach FMG treat.

Item Thirty One: Finishing off with some stuff from Ze Fly and AlexG - She-Hulk.

Item Thirty Two: Another She-Hulk.

Item Thirty Three: MORE She-Hulk.

Item Thirty Four: Even more She-Hulk!

Well, I've got a little treat for all of you too... It was suggested I widen the scope of the blog... so, here's a first - an interview with Lightfoot... here it is:

PT: First off Lightfoot, you've been running Stone of Adventure in one form or another for over six years now - what was it that made you start up SoA all those years ago?

LF: I was worried that my comics would be too tame sexually for many of the bigger sites like Wren, hooters.dk or the BEA. I had originally talked to Akiokid about having my stuff posted at the Mansion of Midnight Eyes, but that never happened.

I think Wolf conviced me to start a new site after I posted Pulse #1 to the BEA user gallery. At the time, free web space was very easy to find. I lasted almost a year on the first server. It was common then to put up a site on a free server, then if they deleted your site (for having nudity), you would then move to another free server. It was possible to last months,
or even a year or more before they noticed you.

PT: Perhaps ironic that only the BEA and SoA have survived the test of time... Anyway, six years is a long time for a "hobby" site to run - did you imagine you'd still be going now and that you'd be working on several different titles, as well as have a number of other artists on the site?

LF: I'm surprised I'm still around, I would have expected to only last a few years. I thought that I'd eventually move to doing just one comic of some kind at keenspace or something like that.

Having several different titles doesn't seem that strange. I originally "planned ahead" on a number of series. I planning out, and even listing stories and comics that never happened. It was a move only a novice would make. Even if I could have made all those comics, future plans for anything will change. The last few comics in all series are very different from what I expected previously.

With multiple authors, I feel out of place "being in charge". I'm probably best at being a follower, or a loner. I just let them do their own thing without getting involved in their work.

PT: Over the years, many contributors to the community have cut and run because they've perceived that people are not vocal enough in their praise. How do you feel the community has treated you over the years? Are there any particular acts of kindness or pieces of feedback that you'd care to recount?

LF: A person and their fans will never mix very well. A fan falsely giving praise on both things they like, and things they don't like will never be helpful to anyone. Even if a person managed to get the praise they thought they wanted, it still wouldn't be enough to convince them to do something they didn't want to do for themselves. How much praise is too much, or too little?

I don't think anyone is immune to praise, or lack of it. I don't think most people know how to react. Knowing what is the correct amount or type of feedback. You have to take what you get. Both feedback, and lack or feeback usually shape what a creator does. Things that get a good response are more likely to be repeated than something that does not.

Most fans will practially just ask for things. If you draw what they want too easily, they'll ask for three things next time. Any creator needs to have some kind of buffer or you'll be driven crazy.

Snoopy has always been good to us. He's been hosting the site now for several years. I suppose we're both a little quiet, I don't really even know that much about him, or what kind of stuff he likes exactly. The one time I contacted him to draw him a picture, he wanted Tifa popping out of a top (I did draw it if you remember it).

I remember one email a fan sent where he was commenting that my comics had less fan-service than usual, and he wrote this long, nice letter about it. The cool part was that he added links to specific words in his letter which linked to comic pages that displayed what he ment. The whole letter must have had 20-30 links. I still have the letter in my mailbox, but the links don't work anymore as I've changed the site since then.

PT: Well, I think all content creators crave the constructive feedback rather than bland praise or blunt criticism... For a moment, let's widen our attention... What do you think of the general art scene in the BE/big boob community at the moment and how do you think it's changed since the start of SOA?

LF: Most artists used to post in forums, or in Yahoo Groups. Now, DeviantART has taken over as an alternative to websites for most artists. There are more artists available (as it is easier to host your artwork), but posting artwork in such a public place isn't always a smart idea. I think it ends up discouraging artists when they get comments "from the
average person" who has something negative to say
about what they are choosing to draw.

Websites generally add some freedom for an artist, with most people visiting being of like-mind. DA can also seem very impersonal compared to a full website.

I think that fewer artists know each other. Most artists only communicate with their fans.

PT: Just how and when did you get into BE and when/why did you make your first foray into the world of BE art?

LF: I think Akiokid just added his gallery to the BEA, and there was some suggestion for fanart for his site. At least at the time, what I most needed was practice drawing. I started posting artwork to the BEA forum planning to try to have it posted in the Tifa gallery of artwork at the Mansion.

PT: Does being one of the most consistent, talented and prolific get you alot of attention from the ladies?

LF: Ah no. I know that there are a few female readers, but I'm not aware of any women finding me attractive based on my stuff.

PT: Heh, well - had to ask. Where do you get the inspiration for your comics?

LF: Video games, comics, old cartoons, anime. Everything is set in different enviroments, so it usually isn't needed to worry about similar items appearing in more than one comic.

PT: Possibly the most impressive thing about your art isyour sheer consistency, week >after week you hardlyever miss an update - how do you manage it?

LF: Most people have unrealistic goals for a schedule. Updating once a week isn't really all that much, but I like it because it allows me to work on other things as well, or I can use that time to do two pages instead.

The common wisdom for web comics is to update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Many artists can manage that, but only for short periods of a few months. Then they become burnt out, and disappear for a month or two, return, then start the cycle over. They might produce more pages in the long-run, but I've always thought it's better to keep to a predictable schedule instead. If you produce more one week, that's fine.

I think that after the first year or two it gets easier. You have some idea how much or little time things will take. You know when you need to have a page past a certain point. I know that by Saturday, I should have a page at least pencilled in time for Wednesday night. By Monday, if it's not inked, I should put some extra energy into it.

PT: Can you tell us a little bit about the man behind the art?

LF: Caucasian, Sagittarius, single, 5' 9", about 170 lbs, 27 y.o. Quiet, clumsy, distracted. I'm a pretty introverted person. Both of my siblings where very assertive and tried to be "the leader" in everything. I think it became a habit to follow and let other people talk.

I don't have a lot of art traning. I took art classes for "portraits in pastel" when I was about 13. I also did some mail order stuff from Joe Kubert at about 18. I suspect I would benefit from more training, but I don't really have the time or money with the other things I'm doing to invest in something like that. I know that there are artists with little training who brag about it saying they don't need it. I also know there are professional-level trained artists who have the opinion that every artist should attempt higher training. I don't know what I would suggest to other people. Probably to ask someone else.

PT: I'm a cancer myself... Ok, how about some little teasers for upcoming comics?

LF: Lucy finally gets introduced in the next Pulse comic, robot legs and all. It'll focus more on the entire cast, instead of just Annie. It'll be a little like the 6th chapter in that it's mostly helping to transition or to start new things that may not be resolved until later comics.

The ninja girls try out a number of different jobs inthe next PeEVEed comic. Nani will fall in love withsomeone.

PT: I suppose the obvious final question has to be... Who is your favorite character?

LF: That might be a little hard to guess. When I created Pulse, Annie was designed to be what I would consider to be an ideal match for me. I don't know if that makes her my favorite or not. There's also parts of me in her, which seems weird when you think about it.

I think that each comic both has a character that I'm most attracted to, and the character who is the most fun to write about (although they aren't always different people).

Well, thanks a lot to Lightfoot for taking the time to do that little interview... if you'd like to do an interview, or write an article or submit a link just e-mail me at prophet.tenebrae@gmail.com I'd love to hear from you.

That's all for this week.

End transmission.