So Thursday was Animus Funnies #200. Back when I started, I didn’t know if I’d really be able to go the distance. Well, two years in and I’m still going strong. It’s funny, because as I’ve said before, I always thought that the Funnies would just be a little extra thing I’d do for the site. I thought that the written “serious” stories would be the meat of the site. Well, the stories took a back seat to the Funnies a long time ago and while I’d like to write more, I don’t regret shifting the focus to the comics. I really feel that the Funnies (and the mash-ups) have helped me grow as an artist. I still have some weaknesses that I’d like to improve upon, but I’m leaps and bounds better than I was two years ago.

Just looking at strip #200 I did some things that never would have occurred to me when I started. I used a brick wall for Zoë to stand on so that she can be at eye level with the taller characters. It seems so simple now that I’ve done it, but I just never made the link in my head. I can’t use it all the time, because well there can’t always be a convenient wall for her to stand on.

Another thing that I like is again just a little touch. I had Cyran sitting on the wall. It just makes a group scene a little different ya know?

I’ve also been playing with depth. In that last panel, I had Tomaw in the foreground and I used a thicker brush to try to sell that he was a lot closer than everybody in the background. I like how it turned out.

I have a number of storylines I can’t wait to get to. The problem is actually coming up with one-off gags now to separate the storylines. I’ve only got two before we dive right back into another story. I’d have done a few more one-offs but I’ve already had to push back this story because the Tomaw storyline stretched out so much longer than I thought it would. There’s something big I need to get to. I’ll talk more about that when we get there in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Thank you for being here with me for the first 200 strips. Let’s hope the next 200 are even better!