Rosscott, Inc.

Obsidian drew me into his comic!  I’m the one in the green shirt.  Also included in the photo are Marty, Kev and Blondie, Dern and Kendra, Lar and Spike.  I hear there may be others.  Can you spot them?  Post in the comments!  LINK.

A Little Backstory of Why I Love Being a Webcomic Artist

This summer I attended Connecticon and got a chance to hang with Colombia’s own premiere webcomic artist Obsidian.  I have been listening to him on Extra Life Radio and reading his comic for years, and since we were doing a Super Art Fight as part of the convention, the chance to meet him and include him in the show was like wish fulfillment.

The amazing part about it all is that he didn’t really know anybody (that wasn’t amazing for him, mind you).  As such, I met him at the very beginning of the con and got to hang with him and his cohort Lord Ebo pretty much the whole time.  I showed him around what the con was like and he quickly fell into the group of webcomic friends that I’ve been lucky enough to form over the last couple of years of convention touring. The great thing about a group like this is all you need to do to join is have a website and be a nice dude (or fem-dude) and you’re pretty much in like Flynn.  Next thing you know you have another person to talk to online, another person linking to your site, and every once in a while someone does something cool like draws you into their stuff.

So thanks, O! You rock.  I hope you come back to Connecticon or some other convention I get to do, and the Super Art Fight stage always has a place for you.

Yesterday I started making a series of bad jokes on Twitter that went like this:

Designers do it intentionally.

Designers do it with client approval.

Designers do it in italics.

Designers do it with Photoshop.

Designers do it under budget.

Designers do it with Pantone (TM).

Designers do it with typefaces.

Soon, others started joining in!

@konistehrad: Extreme Programmers do it two to a monitor … man we’re a sad race.

@spkr4thedead51: Designers do it on a wire-frame.

@MattMelvin: Designers do it the right way, until the client requests otherwise.

@spkr4thedead51: Designers do it in layers.

@AngelicHapa: Designers do it in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black?

@nocommayes: Designers do it thanklessly.

@MattMelvin: Freelance designers do it at home, alone.

@Sekelsky: Designers do it with white space.

@breegeek: Web designers do it in RGB

Have any more you’d like to add? Post them in the comments!

Systemic Scottie C sends in this one, a tattoo describing how skateboarding poop is a crime.  Yes.  I wrote that correctly.

Before you get all freaked out, it’s a tattoo.  Also, I do not think skateboarding on poop is actually a crime, but I haven’t checked.  You might want to.  Actually you probably don’t.  I would Google search “skateboarding poop crime” for you, but I fear what Google would return.  Anyway, enjoy?

Enjoy I have, I hope you do too.  But who got the picture?  LINK.

I have this picture slotted, and I’m pretty sure it must’ve been sent in my Systemic Slonie.  It’s a t-shirt that I don’t sell (as opposed to these) but it still is pretty cool.  But Impact? Really?  Go with a Helvetica or an Interstate.  Keep it classy.  LINK.

Finally this one comes from the blog There I Fixed It, a blog where people kludge together scrappy solutions to everyday problems.  More often than not it is cutting a hole in a wall to make room for a door handle, but sometimes it gets a little more creative, and this is one example. LINK.

Remember, if you find anything like this, send it over to systemcomic at gmail and I’ll post it here, and you’ll show that you are a true Systemic!

I read all the comments and emails that come in. I’m not one of these sunglasses-wearing hot shots that relies on interns or something.  No, it is me in the trenches making things happen.  This is why it warms my heart when I see comments like this on the site:

pegpeg66: i hope you dont mind but i used the basis of your Ross’s law (the faster the cumputer the faster it will crash or something similar to that) on a social studies test. the sad part? it made sense to the question.

NO I do not mind! In fact, that’s awesome!  What’s also awesome is that this law is now on Urban Dictionary, thanks to one of you amazing readers. That is a citable source an therefore up for usage on any and all Social Studies tests. And if you really love it that much, get Comic #197 as a print in the Hilariawesome store!

A great piece (via Kottke) all about the creation of typography for the London Underground.

The typeface that had helped inspire Eiichi’s choice was, of course, Johnston Sans – a typeface created by Edward Johnston and unique to the London Underground. It was this that had helped motivate him into becoming a typographer and this that, upon graduation, had helped ensure that when Colin Banks (one of his course assessors and the “Banks” part of Banks & Miles) offered him a job working on a new typeface, he had leapt at the chance.

It was also this typeface, Colin Banks finally told him upon his arrival at Banks & Miles, that Eiichi would be working on.

He had been hired to redesign Johnston Sans.

“That morning,” says Eiichi, “was a bit of a shock.”

It gets better from there.  LINK.

Today’s SDJC seems to be very “System-Like”.  So since you read this, I’d read it too.  LINK.

For all those graphic designers out there, 1pt Rule is a comic all about graphic design and the subjects around it (freelancing, typography, coffee, yknow, all the normal stuff).  LINK.

Not like they need my help, but Johnny Wander by Yuko and Ananth is awesometastic, and makes me want to revisit some of my earlier projects.  Sometimes little stories and sometimes slice of life cuteness, JW is pretty awesome.  LINK.

I’m always looking for new stuff to read! While I can’t promise I’ll like it, if you find something cool send it my way! Systemcomic at gmail, or @rosscott on twitter.

This has been going around the internet for the past week or two. I think it’s based on this comic I wrote, but I’m willing to admit other people have good ideas too. LINK.

It looks like even the Hadron Collider has caught System fever! Thanks to Systemic Geoff for the pic. LINK.

Systemic Cledwyn sends along this one. It’s from the cover of Alphabet City’s Trash. Thanks, Cled! LINK.