Saturday, May 31, 2014

Just Stop Trying, People

Every once in a while, somebody tries to - I dunno - "hurt" me online, or at least my work. Which leads to the following conversation from a very nice reader of mine, Danny Sichel:

From Donny Sichel, email:

"So I'm reading the Terrible Webcomics megathread on Something Awful.

Someone posts a page of Stinz." (I dunno which page; Danny just said, "a page.") 

"Responses: "Somehow, I can't bring myself to hate this. It's not even pinging my 'fetish-sense'. Please post an example of this comic sucking, because so far I don't dislike it."

"What is this, Lil Abner with centaurs? I kind of like the oldschool feel of the art"

"I am really really happy this thread introduced me to Donna Barr
because she is a fucking genius"

"Can't stop my fascination with Barr's work. There's something so
incredible here I don't fully understand "

When I said I thought this was funny and gratifying, Danny, like the decent guy he is, tried to get it through my thick skull that somebody hated my work:

Danny: "It's still the 'shitty webcomics' thread. Your stuff is being a work of insane genius. A given page of the Afterdeath stuff may totally insane when seen out of context, but it's not *lousy* - the art is vivid and competent, and there's actually a reasonable storyline. And you're someone who genuinely enjoys what you're doing. Yes, there are people who produce webcomics but don't like making art. They see it as a tedious obligation that's necessary for the rewarding experience of receiving praise.)"

That made it even better. You see, I'm an original - I solved all the artistic problems myself, instead of being a fake and a copy-artist. I learned to write in colorful letters home to my family from the army and college. I still base everything I do on stuff I've seen, researched, or been told stories about - not something I cribbed and barely changed from somebody else's (too-often cribbed-and-changed) fake stories. I'm not one of those legion of comics people whose work you pick up and go, "I can't tell which writer or artist this is, because they all look the same." You see Donna Barr, you KNOW Donna Barr. Nobody else can actually copy me, although there have been some adorable attempts - and some ridiculous steals. I think of the well-intentioned as good puppies, and the bad ones as abused puppies.

However, the thought the, no matter how old I get, I'm STILL the class weirdo is something I've learned to live with and appreciate.

I just thought - since the last pages of Stinz are done by very practiced friends, perhaps they're being hated on - and getting the free publicity! Yay! Win-Win, Cin Cin.

6 comments:

Samuel John Klein said...

You are made of equal parts awesome and extra awesome, and your artwork conquers Something Awful without even trying.

It's your world, Donna. We just live there.

Danny Sichel said...

That wasn't *quite* my point. My point is that despite *one* person posting your stuff with the intention of it being held up for mockery, the general attitude about your stuff is positive.

Unknown said...

Hey Donna. It's Jerry from the beach. Cool story. So I guess I'll have to check your work out :)

Unknown said...

Hey Donna. It's Jerry from the beach. Cool story. Gonna have to check your work out :)

Anonymous said...

What's up with stinz.com? it won't load in my browser any more. Also are you still doing "Afterdead," but at a new website? If so, I'd love to know the URL, please!

hudsongray said...

Thanks for being original in a see of mundane 'copy everything' artists. It takes a ton of work, but for those who follow through it's their creative life that is being fed.

What passes for comics today is maybe 10% wonderful and 90% meh crap.