Go 'head, enjoy da comik.

Why the title, "Argot?" Argot is streetspeek, the dialect of the secretive, those in cliques.
It is a mish-mash of slang. This comic is argot. It is representative of all my various
influences in the comic world, from Krazy Kat to Calvin and Hobbes. It is meant to be
simple, straightforward, and (I hope) fun.

The comic is also heavily inspired by two divergent styles of animation. First, the
minimalism of UPA, which relied on symbols and limited animation techniques to tell its
stories. The other is the Bob Clampett era of classic Warner Brothers Cartoons. Flashy,
smooth, and set in a new realm of physics, the cartoons were wacky and imaginative.
These two styles are represented in the two main characters of Argot, Hubley and
Rodney. Hubley is a rather simple shape, and wants his life to be predictable and
controllable. He lives in New Orleans, and has been trying to get rid of his Yat accent
his entire life and adopt a more "refined" newscaster dialect. He doesn't like to interact
with the outside world very much, instead trying to focus on intellectual pursuits, even if
he doesn't understand what he's doing. Hubley especially doesn't like the rest of his
family because they remind him of what he's trying to escape. And, they are, for the
most part, more successful than he is.

Rodney is Hubley's cousin, who has moved from Hollywood California to "make it big"
in New Orleans (much like Gonzo moving to Bombay to get his big break). Yes, that
doesn't make much sense, but neither does Rodney. He loves indulging in cartoon
physics, taking advantage of his own cartooniness. Hubley hates that, and always tries
to get him to obey the forces of "the real world." Rodney tries to get Hubley to loosen
up and take part in the cartoony fun. Perhaps Rodney is smarter than he seems...

The names Hubley and Rodney are my tributes to two of my favorite animators, John
Hubley and Rod Scribner. Hubley was an animator for UPA and Disney, and won
several Academy Awards for his cartoon shorts. Rod Scribner was the top animator in
Bob Clampett's unit and helped make what I feel are the most fun and interesting
cartoons ever made. He also collaborated with Hubley on some UPA style commercials
for Bank of America.

March 16th (sorta):

 

Well, I've gotten a full weeks worth of dailies done on the restart of Argot! I'm very
satisfied with how the comic is coming out, and everyone that's read it so far loves it.
The scanner is the only thing between me and a massive update to the comic page, and
I'll get it working in the next week or so.

What's new? Just about everything. The character models haven't changed much since
the newest comic here on the site. The main difference is that everything is drawn
better. There are also new, more well rounded characters. The composition and
perspective have all been improved upon.

My hope is to finish 24 strips, or 4 weeks of dailies, and submit them to a syndicate.
Why? Well, as enamored as I am with the freedom allowed by the internet, I'm not
making any money off the strip, nor do I have any external motivation to keep it
going (deadlines, fanbase, and the afformentioned money). I figure I can do the strip
for ten years, get hugely popular, pull a Bill Watterson and demand a half page Sunday
strip, battle for larger daily strip sizes, and retire. Or, what's more likely, I can work
my butt off to make something that has an average chance of being picked up in the
first place. So there.

 

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