Musings of a CreepKnight
If you don't know what the following is, I'm okay with that...
O' Death
Sit down. Let me buy you a drink.
Tell me about your problems. No really, I've got all the time in the world. I don't even wear a watch anymore; it's proven to be counterproductive. All things in their time, by which I mean in my time, and by that I mean whenever I damn well feel like it. And right now I feel like a drink and I'd like you to have one with me. And while we're drinking I want you to tell me about your problems.
That's really interesting. No, seriously, I think she's going to leave you. Probably tomorrow. Maybe next week. I'm not sure exactly but the signs are clearly there: the late night phone calls, the long evenings at work, the way she won't look you in the eye anymore-- how did I know about that? It's obvious. Look in the mirror sometime friend. You've got these dark circles around your eyes. No, of course you haven't been sleeping. If you could sleep you wouldn't be worried. And you wouldn't be worried if she were looking at you. And if she were looking at you then the late night phone calls and the long evenings at work wouldn't be cause for insecurity. You're not thinking she's working hard to get a promotion; you're thinking she's looking for a new place to-- or that. Sure, it could be someone else. It wouldn't surprise me. I mean... look at yourself. You're tired. You've always been tired. That mind of yours can't relax; creative minds rarely can. Long hours in front of a computer, even more in front of a desk. I bet your right arm's getting sore.
No reason. Let me get you another. A double. Seriously, my treat.
No, we don't know each other. Not yet. But we will. That I promise you. Sooner or later I get to know everyone. I buy them drinks, they tell me their problems, and I tell them what I think. And I think you're too good for this. No... not for her. She's beautiful. She's smart. She's kind... when she's not fucking you over. She's terrific. What you don't deserve is this. This pain. This torment. This whole... not knowing business. You should just talk to her. Confront her. You should go to her office right now and ask her what's going on. I bet she'll tell you. And then you'll know. Yeah, maybe it'll hurt but that's okay. It's not like you haven't been hurt before-- because we've all been hurt before. Love sucks that way. All it does is hurt you when you don't have it, when you do have it, and when you want it. It's like counting sheep; it doesn't actually put you to sleep, it just distracts you before you go to sleep.
But you can't sleep without counting those fucking sheep.
Love is a habit, an addiction, so profound and strong that there's no overcoming it. Cocaine, heroin, and nicotine are just training for love. And we're all junkies. Say it any other way you like but that's the human condition. And you know what the only other cure is? Being an animal. A sociopath. A piece of plastic. And therein lies the problem; humans like to be human. So they love, and they hurt, and they die a little inside. They feel. And then they drink. You want another?
I understand. Two's my limit any way. Yes, I know I only had one; I meant two is my limit on how many I'll buy a stranger. Next time, it'll be three. We'll get to know each other better. Hey, maybe I'll tell you a war story. I've got lots of those.
And sure, we'll talk about your problems. I've got all the time in the world. Because in the end, it's all I've got.
No, I've never been in love.
You have to be human first.
Pleasant dreams, liebchen.
-- CreepKnight
41 thoughts on “Multiple Meanings 1”
Grymm
Due to popular demand… the return of Napoleon and Professor Kaboodles! Because everyone loves belligerent pygmy cows and badgers that may or may not dabble in super science!
Muleface
CK, whatever thats from, it’s some seriously well written work. Who wrote it?
Grymm
Muleface. Remember. CK’s a writer. An actual, practicing, writes 8 hours day even if its something that gets trashed and never sees the light of day writer. All of that? That’s all him.
Muleface
Then CK, I take my metaphorical hat off to you sir. That genuinely is some beautiful writing. I think I may be able to convince a few of my more well-read accomplices to convert to the Walrus when I show them this. Keep up the brilliant writing!
Ticker
That poem was great. And I HATE poetry. I think it was poetry. I’m wearing a hat right now, so I literally take my hat off to you good sir. But, how can the listener not be human?
Muleface
I thought it was implied that Death was the listener by the title
Mirth
Beautiful CK
Giggles
Wow. Just wow CK.
Dolly
Good work, VW!
and I love the writing CK!
Akonite
Beautiful work, CK, and quite thought evoking.
Super-science and badgers… was there ever a better pairing? I think NOT!
Rose
Just wow CK. I envy you your bard, and yet not at all. *offers a rare strings free hug* I hope you’ll let us see more of that genius of yours.
As for the comic…Kaboodles does not approve of Pygmy cows eating the Crispy that should be hissssss!
Ticker
Kaboodles loves it when the who-mans give him the crispy.
Grymm
So true. So very true.
Rose
I am seeing Kaboodles retaliating for the stealing of his Crispy!
Marchosias
Excellent, Herr CreepKnight. Reminds me of Alan Dean Foster and Richard Matheson at their best.
May I humbly suggest you begin posting on devantart?
In personal new, my commissions – they are done! (rips open shirt for +5 manliness)
Any advice on commissioning, Grymm, CK? I give you a free commish for solid tips.
Grymm
Well first, never use the words “free” and “commission” in the same sentence. Commission equals money. Let no one tell you otherwise. It doesn’t matter what kind of commissioned work you’re doing: Art, writing, storytelling, song writing, scripting, sculpture, or costume making. The creator’s time is valauble and they should be paid well for it.
At the same time, don’t set your prices to the point of gouging wallets. Set your prices to be fair to the work you put into your craft and make sure you’re covering any and all production costs.
Be willing to accept commission subject ideas that may not necessarily be your natural cup of tea and see it as a chance to try something new. Something challenging. Don’t just let yourself stagnate in one little genre.
Spread your work out. This is easier done with art these days than writing due to the multitudes of art gallery sites out there, but a good number of them accept prose as well. Dig a little. Sad fact of the matter is, posting to just one place like Deviant Art is like a drop in the bucket. Unless you churn out nothing but anime fan art cheesecake, its hard to attract a big audience there. But spread around.
For example, Elfwood is a sci-fi/fantasy art/prose gallery that’s well moderated against rubbish, but has a nice attentive user base that enjoys slightly more polished work than what passes as the average at DA.
I’m told there’s also a few sites out there made with the exact purpose of being the equivalent of the gallery community for prose instead of art.
Make sure people are aware that you’re accepting of commissions. Also make it clear what genres you enjoy to work in, that you excel in, and let them know you’re willing to experiment and try new stuff. Make your contact info well visible. Retain good communication with commissioners and keep them updated on the progress of things and give them the opportunity to ask for slight tweaks and changes to WIP materials. But don’t let them walk all over you and force you into making change after change after change. Give them two or three points over the course of things maybe to request changes.
Do not become frustrated if you’re not getting the attention you think you deserve. Not everyone is going to enjoy what you do. Some aren’t even going to acknowledge your existence. But give it time and an audience will lash itself together out of bone and gristle.
Promote yourself, but don’t be tacky about it. Don’t spam people. Don’t ride coattails. Don’t put down others in your field to make yourself look better and attempt to steal their audience. Generally, just be a decent person and that can make all the difference on whether or not people enjoy what you wish to share with them. On that same note, don’t let assholes walk all over you. Remain the bigger man. Take critique into consideration. Ponder if you can use it. Really consider if its worth listening to, and if it is, apply it. Better yourself.
But if someone is just out to troll you, shut them down with intelligence and charm and then if possible ban the fuck out of them from ever commenting/contacting you again.
Grymm
I dunno guys. Is it a little too obvious that I’ve spent close to a decade making a living via commissions?
Rose
All words that are wisely spoken~! Though I must add that the definition of a troll has apparently changed, I myself was dubbed one for giving a clear and concise argument. *shrugs* So~! Don’t be surprised if someone calls you one for being intelligently creative critiquing.
Marchosias
Well thought out, and worth much consideration. I thank you.
I am handing out commissions alongside my personal work to gain a following. Eventually, I’ll be asking a small fee, but I am setting up art trades for the moment. But for now, it’s all just for fun and broad vistas.
Never done sexy stuff before the last one – felt good.
I am serious about the commission. Trade or payment – your call.
Vensik
“It doesn’t matter what kind of commissioned work you’re doing: Art, writing, storytelling, song writing, scripting, sculpture, or costume making.”
Let it be known that I’m open for kinky sex commissions.
Grymm
Just as long as you still have those leather pants and those nipple rings, you’ll never be short on customers Vensik. Speaking of which pencil me in for a Thursday. And don’t forget to ice down the peach gelatin and and heat up the curling iron.
Akonite
….Is it wrong I’m aroused by the passionate ranting of artists?
Curator
Amazingly put Grymm… that is some good solid advice there!!!
Sandra
Geez, Grymm, not only are you good at real-estate, but i bet you could probably make a living on making manuals of information to inform peopole about stuff they already know. And then you’ll get so good at this tha you’ll be educaing the masses about stuff that is college material and then passed that, and the people would actually understand it. Then you could BS your way to billionaire status. either that or I’m BS-ing.
I love you guys (girls), don’t hurt me. :)
Grymm
Nah. I prefer to stick to the whole “gain a massive cult following by making comics” plan. Not as lucrative, but way more fun!
Grymm
@Rose I’ve discovered such attitudes to be all too common in the online artist world (note: when I say artist in this sense, I mean any creator of an artistic nature, from writer to organ sculpting). Many people don’t know how to handle being critiqued and end up lashing back and becoming defensive throwing up justifications of “You don’t get it!” or “Its just my style!” instead of owning up and realizing that there’s always room from improving themselves and someone else simply saw a way in which they could improve first.
Rose
Indeed, the point of art is to keep evolving, much like mankind should be doing but it seems content as a whole to stagnate where we’ve left it. I can understand having a style, but when its blatant animu copy paste? Errrr…I think you can improve.
Grymm
Fuuuck… You’re opening the Pandora’s Box of conversing with Grymm here…
Anime… is quite possibly the worst thing to ever happen to the creative world since the Dark Ages. I may be exaggerating though. It may only be the worst thing to happen to the creative world since animation began using CGI as a crutch.
ANYONE can draw anime. Look back at Eggrolls. The CreepKnight hallucinating Grymm turning into an anime cat girl panel. That panel took me a quarter of the time to draw than even the quickest, simplest normal panel I’ve ever drawn. And everyone loves The Animes. So 13 year olds draw fanart of the animes and people give them attention. Then other people want attention so they draw the animes. Then you get American artists claiming to be “manga-ka” of whatever the fucking name is for a comic artist in Japan and they starting layout out panel direction backwards despite the fact that they’re a twelfth generation American child of Polish/German descent living in fucking Wisconsin in a country where we READ OUR FUCKING COMICS TO FROM THE LEFT TO RIGHT, COLOR THEM, AND DON’T RELY ON USING THE SAME TWO BASIC CHARACTER MODELS FOR EVERYTHING.
You can try to copy the art style of Naruto or DBZ as hard as you can. But guess what? At the end of the day? You’ll still only be second rate toe the artists drawing it in the first place. And you’ll never be able to surpass them because all you’re doing is feasting on their scraps.
Amd the kicker? The thing that tops it all off? The thing that I just want to hold over the heads of every single person that defends manga as an art form….Japan fucking assembly lines that shit. The majority of it holds no artistic core. They slap preprogammed grey scaling tones on it. Have entire teams of pencilers and inkers creating each book and they flip it out to for maximum profit.
Fuck. Okay. I’m going to stop now. Or I’m just going to keep going. And I have things to do.
Rose
Wow~ that was amazing~<3 What a rant~ I do agree, most artists are copy paste wannabes. Though, gasp and shock their are a few I like~ though they tend to be non mainstream and unpopular with the vast majority…EH, anywho~!
I like unique, one of the reasons I'm sticking around here.
But yea, Japan churns out manga to feed the masses, meaning one is much alike to another, even the characters look similar and tend to fall under…ah *snickers* Classes: Shojo Heroine, the hero, etc~
Sandra
WOOOO! WISCONSIN!!!
Grymm
@Marchosias Trades are a great route to take. I was fortunate enough to have a close friend get me into the online commission gig years and years ago and impart knowledge like doing gift art and trades to drum up business. And that’s exactly what I did. I can’t do that any more even if they are fun. You have a perpetual list of a dozen or more commissions to do at any given time, a half dozen personal projects, and a webcomic to update twice a week, you kind of run out of time.
I don’t really commission things. Mainly because whereas other people might have ideas they want to see brought to life but don’t have the skill to do it themselves, I have the skill in art. And I have CK or myself for wordsmithing. And as a poor, bedraggled artist type I can offer no compensation, but how about I give you an an opportunity to practice and play?
Browse through the Surrealis Grimoire at http://grymmgrymmowski.deviantart.com/gallery/10555544. Pick three different pieces and then use all three to inspire you to write one single narrative.
Fucking Christ. See what happens when I spend two weeks not really saying much at all around here? I come back and start writing fucking essays. See this is what you get when you ask me about the ins and outs of commissions work, making art, creating comics, or what I think is wrong with the animation industry.
Rose
We missed you too Grymm~ And we love your essays they are both informative, entertaining, and something to be contemplated over a glass of Champagne and a box of fine chocolate with my latest plot brewing on the back burner.
Grymm
I missed me too! But yeah. The extent to which I can ramble on about comics and animation be they Eastern, Western, mainstream, indie feature film, direct to video, or made for TV is slightly ridiculous. Hell, everything I’ve scrawled here in the comments is probably only me showing everyone the tip of the oh so often invoked iceberg.
Marchosias
Very well.
And thanks again for the advice. A rookie needs all the help he can get.
Grymm
Hey, I do what I can. Any other questions you might have feel free t’ask!
Mirth
I totally want to see what can be done with that!
Marchosias
Nice to hear.
My name should be linked to my writing page
– or my tech-gremlins need to be culled. With fire.
Ticker
You should totally do a pic of Grymm with a flamethrower standing back to back with Creepknight holding a giant wrench. This is just an idea that randomly popped into my head, and you might like it if you have free time.
Marchosias
Ticker – Yeah, I can’t draw. I’m damn good at making skin crawl with the power of the written word, but I’m lucky if I can get a ritual circle to be circular.
Ticker
Then make a story about Grymm with a flamethrower.