Long Beach Comic Con and the Neuropsychosis World Tour

Hey lo. Last weekend I finished up the Neuropsychosis World Tour with the Long Beach Comic Con. The Con was a fun experience and my first at a big Convention's artist alley. It was completely different from A.P.E. I felt it had a similar vibe to it as an Anime Convention. I did poorly sales wise, but did very well as far as making connections and learning stuff was concerned. I made one connection that may get one of my short stories into print, so that was pretty cool. I was surprised though, because I expected A.P.E. To be the show that I did poorly at. Aside from my exhibiting I found some cool new comic stuff, visited with my neighbor from A.P.E. Josh the artist from "Assholes", and got a drawing from the amazing Dean Yeagle. I also got a hold of Mobieus' new Arzack series which will probably be written about here later. Long beach seemed to be a big cosplay show, which is cool, of course that might be due to the fact that it was on Halloween weekend. All that plus a weekend with my cousin equals a great time.
With the first Neuropsychosis tour finally wrapped up, I can reflect. It was a good learning experience in how to promote your book. I learned that you need to have a single sentence in which you can entice someone into picking it up. After looking around I decided that I need to go with some form of print house for my comic as the 'zines just aren't attracting people, in fact most people figure them as freebies. So that was the Neuropsychosis World Tour. See ya on the next go round.

A.P.E. Was the Shit

This year I decided to broaden the scope of the promotion of my comic, and so I decided to do two new conventions. The Alternative Press Expo (A.P.E) and Long Beach Comic Con. I just finished A.P.E. And it was a blast. A.P.E. Is a quirky little con, put on by Comic-Con International. In San Francisco. And it is a really fun show. It takes place at the concourse event center, an old wood framed Looong convention center that looks like it was once a shipping depot or an abattoir. Which makes it quite suited for the very self aware “indie” event that it is. The event is a very laid back convention, in fact it doesn't start until 11:00 and most people don't really show up until 1:00 (at least where I was). Also this is the first con that I've ever been to where there have been a number of people drinking, there was even a bar on site. This all led to A.P.E seeming more like a party than a con. Bur the biggest thing I liked about A.P.E. Is that about 90% of the exhibitors are artists. Not that I mind toy sellers and companies but this is the con that I feel is the most about comic books and their contents.
The drawbacks are that it is a mostly artist con in San Fransisco, you probably know where this is headed. This means that there was the blight of smug artsy types to contend with, but for the most part it was comic book readers (note reader not fan) and artists sharing their love and shootin' the shit.
You ask me how I did, well sales wise it was not my best con, but it was better than my recent ones, but nearly everyone that came to my table talked with me and actually looked at my stuff (believe it or not this was a victory). Many people took my card so hopefully that will pan out into some online readers. But I did meet some cool people and traded for some good books (that's a cool thing about art exhibitors we don't tend to by each others stuff we trade), The people around me where cool, and I will probably write about their stuff in future posts. So all in all A.P.E. Was a good experience and I will be doing it again next year.

neuropsychosis is now online.... finally

Many months ago I sent out a message stating that my comic Neuropsychosis would soon be presented Online. Well after many months that is finally happening. I first tried a very popular web comic hosting site that shall remain nameless, and I'll just say that it would be easier getting a dinner date with god than getting that #^@(ing system to work. so I left them and found another hosting site that will also remain nameless, because I'm not advertising. But needless to say it's working for me and you can now view Neuropsychoisis at neuropsychosis.thewebcomic.com

Updates are on Tuesday and Thursday.
David

The Lure and Peril of Web Comics

Hello Again.
Recently I have decided to take Neuropsychosis to a place new and different for the series. Online. That's right soon Neuropsychosis will be a web-comic at ComicGenesis.com. I have come to this decision after realizing that, while I don't personally care for reading comics on the internet, That is where I will reach an audience that appreciates a work like mine. The internet been an interesting place for comics over the past decade. It is the place where things that are different are the norm. I've also noticed that it seems more people read comics in serialization online than from trips to the comic shop.
Looking back I find it interesting that I actually thought about the internet as a forum for my comics back in the late nineties, When I'm sure there were already online comics, but I had never really heard of any. But due to the combination of my lack of knowledge in making websites and my own observations of the attentions spans of the readers of my friends' online comics I opted to go the old school route and print 'zines. Since my comic unfolds slowly (to say the least) I wanted nothing to do with online delivery. That is until I read Mega Tokyo. When I noticed how popular this comic was and having read it myself (admittedly in print not on screen still have problems with that). I realized that there is in fact an attention span amongst online readers. Here was a comic with all my values of storytelling not just vacuous video game based gag strips that I always saw as "shining examples of web comics". So I decided that I should give things a shot by putting my comic on the old "inter-web".
The Internet version of Neuropsychosis will begin with, "Attack of the Killer Cheeps and continue in order as I keep making them. It will be a twice weekly single page upload going up on tuesday and thursday nights. It will be on time because the work will be done long before the post date.
Now those of you who like my 'zines or don't want to wait until the web version catches up to where you are, rest assured i am going to keep making them. I like the idea of Making a comic from the moment of writing to the moment of sale all by myself, It is very rewarding when you meet someone at a con who buys or obtains my work. I also love it when I buy a 'zine from someone at a con. I feel that this is something that should not be lost.
So come on over to my comic online and I hope you enjoy....

David

I believe that the Url for my comic will be

Neuropsychosis.comicgenesis.com I'll let you know if it ends up different.

Introduction to Killer Cheeps and Neurotic Weeks

Hello Everybody! (all two of you)
I am yet again postponing part three of my favourite comics. I write these blogs as text files and then upload them so that one's still being written. But I bring you news I have just finished the seventh issue of Neuropsychosis, and I am now working on my first trade paperback, "Killer Cheeps and Neurotic Weeks", which contains all seven of my comics in one swnaky package. And so I've decided to print my first draft of the foreward to said book here.

Courage....

Introduction
by David Arroyo

It has been over ten years since My brother and I had our first Ideas about the comic book you are now reading. and the fact that you are reading it now is a great joy. As mentioned earlier the first inklings of Neuropsychosis occcured. just over ten years ago but the story goes back even further. My brother Daniel and I have always loved making up stories, and once while I was in junior High school my we made up a comic book world inhabited by the children of the Marvel universe. Each character the byproduct of one of the many relationships between marvel heroes at the time. Remember this was the early nineties when marvel was "soap opera central" we were so interested in this that I even drew some pictures of the characters. This was the first time that I had ever drawn without copying. Eventually, some have said inevitably, these stories started taking on a life of their own separate from their marvel origins. to the point where Daniel and I decided that not only were we going to have characters but we might as well make it a comic. So we made up, first I believe (though the names may have come first), the concept of a all girl, I could not draw men well, rock band who were also a superhero group "Kinda like Gen 13", our favourite comic at the time". we named the four characters the first and last names of girls that we where hot for and gave them bold stroke character traits. The first time I remember drawing any of them was one night when we rented the movie "Strip tease" and I drew the characters with my brothers guidance while the movie palyed. In Fact I can honestly say that I have never actually seen this movie as my face was in sketchbook almost the whole time. To further the goal of drawing this book I took my first art class in my senior year of high school. after this the stud of art became a constant in my life. Eventually leading to my desire to be a professional artist. So in a way you now hold the byproduct of the spark that lead to most of my adult life. It was sadly not long until my brother let me handle all the writing and Soon being full of piss and vinegar I wrote and drew my first comic a 34 page pile of excrement that none of you will ever see. I needed to work more on art, I somehow always felt good about story, before I could proceed.
. . .

In 2002 after four years of sketching writing stories and taking art and a screenwriting class. I felt I was ready, well actually I still didn't feel I was ready, but if I didn't start then, I felt that Neuropsychosis would never start. so I began my work on "Abduction" the first story in this little collection. The process was long and hard, I never expected drawing a comic to be so much work! after drawing it for months I began my first semester at CSUN. While at CSUN I began taking classes from the teachers that would shape my work especially my first proper figure drawing class tought by master draughtsman Ken Jones. When I returned to work on this story my drawings were tremendously better. and it can be seen in the work. "Abduction" was by far the hardest single work of art that I had ever worked on. It's fifty pages were drawn between may of 2002 and october of 2003. And it came to fill two printed 'zines. the frist which premeared at The ani-magic convention october 2003. I had toyed with may thoughts of how to print my Neurposychosis. Everything including lofty plans of a maga style Anthology magazine that would change Amercian comics forever to online publication, this was before keen spot and their ilk so this was a hard road for me at the time. But Inspired by seeing the mini comics of Tom Beland at my first comi-con I chose to go the DIY method. My plan was to release Neuropsychosis 1&2 simultaniously but in a unwise desision to start on them, scanning, lettering, compositing, copying and stapling them in two day led to them being printed half a year apart. But my first comic was done and I was walking on air. I was then ready to begin another. The second story by far the most favourite amongst readers. "The Attack of the Killer Cheeps.
KIller cheeps had a smooth creation but it ended up taking me almost a whole year to draw. Because I Developed severe Tendonitis in my ulnar region. I then had to undergo a lengthy bout of Occupational therapy. And my elbow still aches from this upon, occasion, to this day. I also Had to redefine my drawing style. Not that I ever lost my ability, I was lucky in that respect, but I had to re educate myself in how to go about my job. Upon printing Killer cheeps, Which was retitled "Neuropsychosis Episode III Attack of the Killer Cheeps" to make parody of the recent release of George Lucas' "Revenge of the Sith" , Turned out to be quite a hit for me. Being the first 'zine I sold out of at a convention.

Almost immediatly after "Killer Cheeps" was done I began on my little experimental comic. "The AV's Boring" I wanted to introduce the characters that I would be expanding the cast out to, But could not for the life of me come up with a plot based story. So I decided to write four short stories, draw them independently and then edit them together like a film editor would a movie. It is probably because of this process, which I am thinking of using again on the next story, that this chapter is my favourite comic I've drawn to date. It also came together very smoothly taking only two months. After finishing "The AV's Boring" I realised That superheroics where really not a part of my book any more. So I got rid of them. And threw myself into the Big Story.
The final chapter in this book titled "That Dirty Black Cloth" is the most recent story, Having just finished it two weeks ago, and it is still awaiting serialization at this writing. I feel I've finally hit my stride with the book. The characters are finally taking their final shape, both physically and pesonality wise. I figured this would be the perfect way to close the book.
As You will be able to see in the following pages. Neuropsychosis has grown and changed with time. As all Things do. And this book represents, I guess you can call it, the "research and development phase". The characters subtly change in personality and appearance, often in the same chapter until it finally gets into as consistent of a work as I can possibly handle in "That Dirty Black Cloth". "Killer Cheeps and Neurotic Weeks" is to me not just a collection of comics but a sort of "snapshot of those last ten years. It is a great way to close off this chapter in "Neuropsychosis" as well as this chapter in my life.



David Arroyo
Lancaster California
May 9 2007

first pic

here is a picture of the main charcters of the comic it is also the cover of issue 4