Well then... what is Totems?

This page is a trial run, if you will, for a very long-term project that's been nagging at me for quite some time. It's a comic, of a sort. Those of you who know me know that in my time I've done both pictures and written work before, and I enjoy producing both. Both of these things in essence try to tell a narrative, and both have different strengths and weaknesses. I've decided to try my hand at combining these two into a graphical storytelling format. As a European currently in my mid-twenties, I was brought up on Asterix and Tintin, and what I have in mind is much more in that vein than more recent interpretations of what a comic is. That said, this definitely falls into the tradition of anthropomorphic art rather than anything else.

I'm also of an age where, as I was growing up, I coincided with the first generation of computer adventure-type games: Monkey Island, Loom, Myst, Grim Fandango. Games that were just beginning to take advantage of graphical storytelling, and pretty much the first computer games I really remember. The graphics for the most part weren't good, but they had SUCH imagination behind them. Those games and a few others enthralled me with the weird and wonderful worlds they showed me. They still have a power behind them that most modern games that I've played lack. People who had the chance to play these games before what's now on offer was around may understand what I mean. Totems is a story from an imagination that grew up under these influences.

Thirdly, Totems IS a story. It isn't an excuse for pornography. Some people want that kind of thing in their comics, that's up to them, but I'm in this for the escapism and for the characters that seem to have taken up residence in my head. I've got an idea, and I'm going to run with it. And there's a pretty broad remit. I have a lot of plot in my head, but I'm going to let things grow organically. Lets just say that one of the unifying themes is about friendships. A topic far more difficult and involving than love or lust, possibly, and something that in the real world I have always found mysterious and hard to fathom.

Fourthly, one of the things I've felt more and more recently is that the rise of digital media isn't always a good thing. I prefer to draw things by hand- I'm better at it that way and there's no screen between me and my imagination. I also feel that there is so much potential for emotion and nuance in traditional media that I've still yet to get out of my own rather lame computer colouring attempts. Nothing can replace holding a piece of art in your hands and having it there, so palpably in front of you. So, this comic is also something of an experiment in that I deliberately intend for it to be drawn and coloured entirely by hand, to the best standard that I can possibly achieve. So, kindly bear with me as I'm still getting to grips with the techniques. I trust that the quality will improve over time. I also now apologise for the scanning quality of what is to come. I'm not a professional printer, and don't pretend to have that standard. I'll do my best on a fairly limited budget, and hope that the virtual copies I put up here will be relatively true to life.

As you can imagine, this is probably one of the more challenging and large-scale tasks I've set myself to date. It has to fit around the rest of my life, and I'm trying not to let it become a complete obsession, as I tend to burn out on those. However, if it's going to be a waste of time I don't want to put all the effort in for nothing. A few of you who have seenbits and pieces of this project before have been very kind in giving feedback, and it's all been very gratefully received. Now I want to test the waters a little more broadly. So, this page will host the start of Totems as a trial run, for people to give me feedback and constructive criticism, and for me to decide if I truly want to commit to all this work. After all, I get to see everything in full colour, real-time with sound, texture, taste, smell and special effects inside my own head for a whole lot less effort than drawing. Translating it onto paper is always going to be something of a disappointment after that. But I think it's a story worth telling, and for those of you who want to join in with this experiment, welcome. I hope that you won't be disappointed.

So, a disclaimer: this story is about people, and I'm a cynic. It will not be all sweetness and light, but nor will it be wrist-slashingly wretched. I want to include as much about life that makes it worth living as I can: laughter, mystery and tradgedy combined. There'll be thrills, spills, and maybe even just a little humour along the way. If you want porn you'll find you're really wasting your time here, but if in the course of the story sex crops up I'm not going to be prudish- we're all mature adults here. From as far as I've delved forwards into the plot, there will be violence at points, but not gratuitously so. I don't guarantee a hard and fast plotline with an ending (I could well die of old age before I get that far), but I hope the point about this journey will be the journey itself. Please all consider yourself warned.

Welcome to Totems. Welcome to Nuevo Mundo.