kotor
| Real Name: | Matt Loffhagen |
| Age: | 25 |
| Gender: | Male |
My Webcomics
Recent Comments
Comment on Epilogue: Journey's End of SPECIAL LEVEL
kotor, 21 May 2013 07:16 am
And that's the end
Thank you all for joining me. Thus ends three years of intermittent work on this project. I'd like to thank you all for your support and encouragement.
So, yes, starting next Monday, Runt and Candy return! More details next week. In the meantime, I'm afraid I've got a Mandarin exam to prioritise, which is why they're two weeks later than I promised! Sorry!
I'm feeling quite emotionally fragile with regards to my art at the moment, so giving you more Runt and Candy is a choice I don't make lightly. But I want to tell the story of their next adventure, and so I'm going to try to put my perfectionism aside and hope that I can push to keep drawing. Any encouragement you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
In the meantime, a new comic starts today: just for funsies, I'm making a Wild West Pokemon comic:
<img src="http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/3382/smallbanner1.png">
This isn't the first time I've tried a Pokemon comic, but last time I was making it on someone else's terms - long episodic strips don't suit me very well. This time I'm going back to my roots to create a three-panel comic that'll update twice a week.
Can I just say, super huge awesome thanks to Surfersquid for finding it in under 24 hours without my having advertised it anywhere? You rock!
Anyways, This is it for Special Level...at least for now. I've got ideas for future adventures, but I'm taking a break for a while because three comics is a bit too much to handle. So in true webcomic form, let's not call this an ending: this is an indefinite hiatus.
Until next time, adieu.
kotor, 21 May 2013 07:16 am
And that's the endThank you all for joining me. Thus ends three years of intermittent work on this project. I'd like to thank you all for your support and encouragement.
So, yes, starting next Monday, Runt and Candy return! More details next week. In the meantime, I'm afraid I've got a Mandarin exam to prioritise, which is why they're two weeks later than I promised! Sorry!
I'm feeling quite emotionally fragile with regards to my art at the moment, so giving you more Runt and Candy is a choice I don't make lightly. But I want to tell the story of their next adventure, and so I'm going to try to put my perfectionism aside and hope that I can push to keep drawing. Any encouragement you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
In the meantime, a new comic starts today: just for funsies, I'm making a Wild West Pokemon comic:
<img src="http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/3382/smallbanner1.png">
This isn't the first time I've tried a Pokemon comic, but last time I was making it on someone else's terms - long episodic strips don't suit me very well. This time I'm going back to my roots to create a three-panel comic that'll update twice a week.
Can I just say, super huge awesome thanks to Surfersquid for finding it in under 24 hours without my having advertised it anywhere? You rock!
Anyways, This is it for Special Level...at least for now. I've got ideas for future adventures, but I'm taking a break for a while because three comics is a bit too much to handle. So in true webcomic form, let's not call this an ending: this is an indefinite hiatus.
Until next time, adieu.
Comment on Page 1 of Pokemon: Dust White
kotor, 20 May 2013 12:52 pm
Here we go! Comic number one.
This is a project that I've been tinkering with for a while, but the idea has been in my head for years. After finishing Special Level, I started playing around, drawing this just to see how easy it'd be to hand-draw a comic instead of spend hours slaving in front of a computer.
When I started drawing comics they were very minimal, and I drew them very quickly and in great quantity. As I've learned more and more about drawing, I've got myself stuck in a stupid perfectionist mindset and as a result I've only been able to create a page a week at best.
By hand drawing this, the aim is to have fun, loosen up and explore new directions. Because I'm awfully sick of drawing on a computer.
Hope you like! Let me know if the grimey paper texture is too garish on the comics!
kotor, 20 May 2013 12:52 pm
Here we go! Comic number one.This is a project that I've been tinkering with for a while, but the idea has been in my head for years. After finishing Special Level, I started playing around, drawing this just to see how easy it'd be to hand-draw a comic instead of spend hours slaving in front of a computer.
When I started drawing comics they were very minimal, and I drew them very quickly and in great quantity. As I've learned more and more about drawing, I've got myself stuck in a stupid perfectionist mindset and as a result I've only been able to create a page a week at best.
By hand drawing this, the aim is to have fun, loosen up and explore new directions. Because I'm awfully sick of drawing on a computer.
Hope you like! Let me know if the grimey paper texture is too garish on the comics!
Comment on Epilogue: The Pain that Distance Brings of SPECIAL LEVEL
kotor, 13 May 2013 05:27 am
Almost there
There will be a second epilogue next week, but yeah. That's the story.
The whole point of the story is that sometimes things don't go as you'd expect. Sometimes love doesn't triumph, sometimes saving the day is all you can hope for and afterwards you return to your ordinary life, sans greatness.
Basically the message is this: events don't change you. You change you. So if Winston's too cowardly or Allen's too quiet, if April's too pushy and Larry can't get the girl...they're not going to shine just because they got given an opportunity. It takes a lot of courage and inner strength to reach out and grab your destiny and become queen of Avalon, as Apple did, and in her case that strength was a part of her long before she got involved with a magical adventure.
This hasn't been the perfect story. I've failed in a lot of ways, but hopefully you enjoyed those elements that I got right.
I honestly don't know what to do next. This is a big period of transition for me in a number of ways: my university degree's nearly done and so I've started job-hunting. To be honest, I have less time than ever for drawing comics, but more potential projects in my mind than I know what to do with. More Special Level, Runt and Candy, a Pokemon Wild West story based on Taken, the charming feel-good story of a girl and her six-year-old clone, Kung Fu adventure comedy... I don't really know what to focus on next.
I know I promised more Runt and Candy starting this week. I'm just not sure if I need a bit of a break first. If maybe there are other projects I need to work on. I've made a few Runt and Candy pages ready to go, but the time involved in making them is more than I can spare on a biweekly basis - I think I'm the victim of my own perfectionism and I've made the art so complicated that I just won't be able to find the time to make them regularly enough.
I think I'm a bit burnt out.
Watch this space, perhaps I'll make an announcement soon.
kotor, 13 May 2013 05:27 am
Almost thereThere will be a second epilogue next week, but yeah. That's the story.
The whole point of the story is that sometimes things don't go as you'd expect. Sometimes love doesn't triumph, sometimes saving the day is all you can hope for and afterwards you return to your ordinary life, sans greatness.
Basically the message is this: events don't change you. You change you. So if Winston's too cowardly or Allen's too quiet, if April's too pushy and Larry can't get the girl...they're not going to shine just because they got given an opportunity. It takes a lot of courage and inner strength to reach out and grab your destiny and become queen of Avalon, as Apple did, and in her case that strength was a part of her long before she got involved with a magical adventure.
This hasn't been the perfect story. I've failed in a lot of ways, but hopefully you enjoyed those elements that I got right.
I honestly don't know what to do next. This is a big period of transition for me in a number of ways: my university degree's nearly done and so I've started job-hunting. To be honest, I have less time than ever for drawing comics, but more potential projects in my mind than I know what to do with. More Special Level, Runt and Candy, a Pokemon Wild West story based on Taken, the charming feel-good story of a girl and her six-year-old clone, Kung Fu adventure comedy... I don't really know what to focus on next.
I know I promised more Runt and Candy starting this week. I'm just not sure if I need a bit of a break first. If maybe there are other projects I need to work on. I've made a few Runt and Candy pages ready to go, but the time involved in making them is more than I can spare on a biweekly basis - I think I'm the victim of my own perfectionism and I've made the art so complicated that I just won't be able to find the time to make them regularly enough.
I think I'm a bit burnt out.
Watch this space, perhaps I'll make an announcement soon.
Comment on Special Runt and Candy Preview of SPECIAL LEVEL
kotor, 30 Apr 2013 09:28 am
Sith Inquisitor, I didn't know you were from Argentina! Awesome!
Don't worry, there's no love lost between me and the late Mrs Thatcher. It's just a pun, nothing more: I don't think it's right to put my own political opinions forward in comic form. I'm certainly not trying to present Thatcher as some kind of hero. The Falkland war just seemed like the best event to hang this joke on.
So we can still be friends :)
kotor, 30 Apr 2013 09:28 am
Sith Inquisitor, I didn't know you were from Argentina! Awesome!Don't worry, there's no love lost between me and the late Mrs Thatcher. It's just a pun, nothing more: I don't think it's right to put my own political opinions forward in comic form. I'm certainly not trying to present Thatcher as some kind of hero. The Falkland war just seemed like the best event to hang this joke on.
So we can still be friends :)
Comment on Who Needs Friends? of SPECIAL LEVEL
kotor, 29 Apr 2013 05:10 am
I'm sorry this page is a week late - actually, though, looking at it, I think it's far better for my having pondered it for a little longer. Good to know.
Originally they were going to reappear in the middle of their living room, but then I remembered - I'd drawn a house for them, well over a year ago, for the purpose of another comic I'd scrapped, which I'd never shown off. So I figured, when am I ever going to use this again?
It's based off my house from my second year of university - I say based off, our house didn't have a nice garden or a tree, it was just one of a long row of terraces. So I decided to make this one look slightly nicer.
I drew another Tumblr comic. If you're not following me yet, you should be:
<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/78b7f8b7557ba8b58db75d30684261e7/tumblr_mm0hcb SgAo1rphxw2o1_500.png">
kotor, 29 Apr 2013 05:10 am
I'm sorry this page is a week late - actually, though, looking at it, I think it's far better for my having pondered it for a little longer. Good to know.Originally they were going to reappear in the middle of their living room, but then I remembered - I'd drawn a house for them, well over a year ago, for the purpose of another comic I'd scrapped, which I'd never shown off. So I figured, when am I ever going to use this again?
It's based off my house from my second year of university - I say based off, our house didn't have a nice garden or a tree, it was just one of a long row of terraces. So I decided to make this one look slightly nicer.
I drew another Tumblr comic. If you're not following me yet, you should be:
<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/78b7f8b7557ba8b58db75d30684261e7/tumblr_mm0hcb SgAo1rphxw2o1_500.png">
Comment on Special Runt and Candy Preview of SPECIAL LEVEL
kotor, 22 Apr 2013 04:46 am
Apologies for the lack of Special Level comic: I have a Mandarin exam in a few hours. Please instead accept this preview strip for my new Runt and Candy comic, which will begin on the 16th of May - that's less than a month away! Woo!
So, decision-time for Special Level. The story will wrap up around the same time that Runt and Candy's comic starts, so I'm switching over to make that my priority. I'm not going to say that Special Level is finished - I have plenty more ideas for stories with these characters, but it's not the right time right now. I have too much else going on, too many other ideas I want to explore. So after the end of the current story, Special Level will go on hiatus. BUT, I'm going to do something similar to the end of Totally Crossover and post a unique story in its own universe after things wrap up. This time it's going to be my university Intro to Comic Arts 16-page story Drop Dead Gorgeous.
So, to recap: Special Level finishes soon, new comic story afterwards, Runt and Candy back in May. Whoop whoop.
Now, a couple of shout outs: first, fan art from Surfersquid:
<img src="http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/106/8/9/95__advertisement_by_misao _chan-d61u3f4.png" width="500">
Surfersquid is awesome. You can read her comic by clicking the banner below:
<img src="http://www.smackjeeves.com/images/uploaded/banners/3/d/3d1ee7863o1ib.gif& quot;>
And, finally, my Tumblr! I'm posting regular exclusive comics on it again! Follow me!
<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/59ac51d74d1b0462b2218535dac233d0/tumblr_mlebtx hkdd1rphxw2o1_1280.png">
kotor, 22 Apr 2013 04:46 am
Apologies for the lack of Special Level comic: I have a Mandarin exam in a few hours. Please instead accept this preview strip for my new Runt and Candy comic, which will begin on the 16th of May - that's less than a month away! Woo!So, decision-time for Special Level. The story will wrap up around the same time that Runt and Candy's comic starts, so I'm switching over to make that my priority. I'm not going to say that Special Level is finished - I have plenty more ideas for stories with these characters, but it's not the right time right now. I have too much else going on, too many other ideas I want to explore. So after the end of the current story, Special Level will go on hiatus. BUT, I'm going to do something similar to the end of Totally Crossover and post a unique story in its own universe after things wrap up. This time it's going to be my university Intro to Comic Arts 16-page story Drop Dead Gorgeous.
So, to recap: Special Level finishes soon, new comic story afterwards, Runt and Candy back in May. Whoop whoop.
Now, a couple of shout outs: first, fan art from Surfersquid:
<img src="http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/106/8/9/95__advertisement_by_misao _chan-d61u3f4.png" width="500">
Surfersquid is awesome. You can read her comic by clicking the banner below:
<img src="http://www.smackjeeves.com/images/uploaded/banners/3/d/3d1ee7863o1ib.gif& quot;>
And, finally, my Tumblr! I'm posting regular exclusive comics on it again! Follow me!
<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/59ac51d74d1b0462b2218535dac233d0/tumblr_mlebtx hkdd1rphxw2o1_1280.png">
Comment on Goodbyes of SPECIAL LEVEL
kotor, 16 Apr 2013 12:17 pm
TUMBLR!
I'm back on Tumblr! New account now:
kotorcomics.tumblr.com
Follow me for exclusive comics!
kotor, 16 Apr 2013 12:17 pm
TUMBLR!I'm back on Tumblr! New account now:
kotorcomics.tumblr.com
Follow me for exclusive comics!
Comment on Goodbyes of SPECIAL LEVEL
kotor, 15 Apr 2013 05:50 am
Hey everyone! I wanted to draw your attention to a fun comic I found a few weeks ago. The story changes according to reader input, so go over there and suggest what should happen next!
<img src="http://imageshack.us/a/img191/7052/bannerzv.png">
Anyone else who'd like me to pimp their comic out, send me a private message.
kotor, 15 Apr 2013 05:50 am
Hey everyone! I wanted to draw your attention to a fun comic I found a few weeks ago. The story changes according to reader input, so go over there and suggest what should happen next!<img src="http://imageshack.us/a/img191/7052/bannerzv.png">
Anyone else who'd like me to pimp their comic out, send me a private message.
Comment on Aftermath of SPECIAL LEVEL
kotor, 24 Mar 2013 08:43 am
Thanks, Beast! Yeah, to be honest, I've not made up my mind what to do with Special Level. I have dozens of other story ideas, but I'm finding it a lot of work to create the new Runt and Candy, plus I have other ideas for new comics. So I'm still pondering. There will be a few more comics before I've made up my mind.
kotor, 24 Mar 2013 08:43 am
Thanks, Beast! Yeah, to be honest, I've not made up my mind what to do with Special Level. I have dozens of other story ideas, but I'm finding it a lot of work to create the new Runt and Candy, plus I have other ideas for new comics. So I'm still pondering. There will be a few more comics before I've made up my mind.Contact Info
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kotor, 23 May 2013 06:12 am
I think that now is probably a good time to admit that I've never seen the movie Taken. Yes, I claim that this comic is inspired by the film, but it's more inspired by the sentiment - that father-daughter "I will do anything, climb any mountain, yada yada to get you back" idea.
I suppose that if anything, his comic is really inspired by a story my wife told me - she has seen the movie: in fact, she watched it with her dad, who seemed to agree with Liam Neeson's decisions, and told Kayleigh, "That's exactly what I'd do if you were kidnapped." This comic aims to explore the sacrifices we're willing to make for the loved ones in our lives, whether they be daughters, parents, spouses or friends. What sacrifice is too great? How much of yourself can you honestly give? Also there will be some punching and a lot of Pokemon fights.
I should also admit at this point that this comic is a Hard-Mode run. A Nuzlocke. A comic based on a real playthrough of Pokemon White where characters die if their digital equivalents faint in battle. That's where this whole sacrifice element comes in. Is Dusty, our hero, going to be willing to sacrifice the lives of his Pokemon if it means getting his daughter back? Will favouritism among his team lead to casualties? What friendships forge when you are literally fighting for your lives? This comic moves slowly, and while that's partly because it's a three-panel action comic, it's also to give you plenty of time to get attached to the characters before they die. Because I'm cruel like that. And because when death is ever-present, you learn to better appreciate life.
By now if you've bothered to read all this, you must suspect that I overthink my comics a bit. That's not true. I think about them exactly the right amount.
I've been enjoying making this comic so far, I hope you enjoy reading it. Let me know how you think it's going: critique is always welcome.