Monday, February 20, 2017

John's Cartoons Returns

Today's blog post isn't a game development related post but it does involve HTML and CSS coding with some Bootstrap.

I'm going to talk about updating my old comics web site johnscartoons.com. I created the site way back in 2002, which is 15 years ago now... man, that sounds like a loooong time ago.  Anyway, the site was where I published a whole bunch of my cartoons that I made during my *cough* younger years. A few years ago the site got out of synch and stopped pointing to the right sever, or something like that - internet stuff has never been my strong suit :-) But I decided enough was enough and figured it was time to work out what the problem was and use the site as a great little project to apply my new JavaScript skills (step 1 is to get the site back up, step 2 will be JavaScript - so don't expect much at the moment).

So as you may have guessed I used to draw single panel gag strips and write comics back in the nineties while I was making games. In fact, after I quit my original day job around 1992 I actually supplemented my savings by selling the occasional gag strip and co-writing a comic series with Pete Mullins.

So while I was programming/designing/writing Flight of the Amazon Queen and designing Halloween Harry I was writing and drawing comics for money. Not a lot of money, but enough to cover rent.


Yes, they are kinda corny - I was influenced a lot by Gary Larson's The Far Side single panel strip.

Anyway, I've set up the site again and built it with some basic HTML and CSS using Bootstrap. Previously I had used some drag and drop web site builders - but now I can go crazy and test out my JavaScript skills to do some interesting stuff.

I have a big backlog of cartoons, so I'll try and update the site with new "old" strips every week and slowly build the site out as I learn new stuff.

At the moment the site only has 12 cartoons and the links in the menu bar don't go anywhere, but they will soon.


Anyway, if you're keen to see more, head over to www.johnscartoons.com. Be warned, as well as being corny some can be a little rude.

Enjoy!

- John