Pink Towel Blogs

Hey everybody, we’ve made it to our third year anniversary! As of today this blog is decommissioned. We’ll be handling all the news updates for the Devil’s Gate right on the main www.devils-gate.com site. Thanks to everyone for their support of this blog. I hope that you all continue keeping up with the Devil’s Gate and other Pink Towel projects at our main sites:

www.devils-gate.com

www.pinktowel.net

Hi everybody.  I’ll make this short.  We are still set for the site and story relaunch on March 8th, tomorrow.  I know the stepped updates didn’t happen this week like I said they would.  I’m very sorry about this.

This past week has been hell in many ways.  Thwack has had to adjust to a new job, which has delayed him a bit with some of the coding.  And then there is this: my mother passed away this past Saturday.  It was a all quite a shock, and has kind of rocked my world to it’s foundation.  Thwack has been around trying to help me through this, which has delayed him further.

But, the world must go on, and so to will the Devil’s Gate.  My mom was very proud my artistic endeavours, and though she will never get to see how far I go with them, I hope to make her proud in my attempts and perserverence.   See everyone Saturday, for a much happier event.

Wow, less than two weeks away now!  Thwack and I are getting pretty excited.  I just wanted to stop by to let everyone know what’s going to be happening over the next 9 days.  Also to advise anyone wanting check out the comic pages again to DO IT NOW!  I’ll explain that in a minute.

In the past we’ve always just waited until March 8th to do EVERYTHING for the anniversary.  Well we’re going to try it a little differently this year. This year we’re going to have a lead up to the anniversary. It begins next Tuesday, March 4th.  On Tuesday we’ll be taking the old site down and debuting the brand new site layout!  Now, when the old site comes down, the current comics there will come down with it.  Forever.  Okay, I can’t promise you’ll never see them again, but as of right now once the old comics come down on March 4th, they’re not coming back.  So this weekend is your last chance to see sections 1 - 9 of chapter 1 in comic form.

Then on Wednesday we’ll re-upload the Introduction.  The intro will have a brand new cover image and will be converted to our new illustrated story layout.  If you’ve read the current into pages, you’ll already have the gist of what’ll be there, but actually writing it out and publishing it as just text has given me the opportunity to expand upon some of the ideas and provide more information, so it’s worth re-reading if you’re interested in the background information.

Then on Thursday we’ll re-upload the Chapter 1 cover.  I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, this is still the same image as what we have now.

And then on Saturday, March 8th, sections 1 - 10 of chapter 1 will be uploaded, marking the official anniversary of the Devil’s Gate.  From there we’re diving right into our new updating schedule of new sections every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  On Tuesday March 11th, section 11 will go up, and so on and so forth.

Ah, the anniversary is so close.  I’m really exited now.  And hopefully soon after the relaunch hopefully we’ll attract some readers again!

Hey everyone! Just stopping by to give a little monthly status report on the Devil’s Gate and it’s related projects. Before that though, I’m bringing a little gift for everyone. Since it’s around Valentine’s Day, I thought I would put up last year’s V-Day Vote Incentive for everyone to see. You don’t even have to vote this time around. It’s quite cute, and went over awesomely last year. Last time it was up for a mere 2 days and garnered us some 170 votes, and contributed greatly to last February being our best month on Buzz EVER. So hopefully you can enjoy it again.

Now, onto business. Everything is looking good for our March 8th restart. We’ve been hard at work getting the new site and new content and everything ready. And by we I mean me and Thwack. I know it seems like he’s been absent forever around here, but he’s been busy, as he explains here. What’s that you ask, a new Pink Towel.net? Why yes it is. As Thwack explains on his post there, the new pinktowel.net makes use of the WCat and Rat Tail web applications he’s been working on. Applications that will be implemented in the new Devil’s Gate website.

So where does that leave the blogs.pinktowel.net site? In the dust I’m afraid. As per the norm for our site revamps, the news posts will likely be wiped as we start with a fresh new method of posting. Worry not though, until March 8th this is still THE PLACE to look for Devil’s Gate news, and after March 8th it’ll remain up for some time to direct people to the appropriate place for DG news. (hint: it’s going to be devils-gate.com. Yeah, look to see news posts returning to the front page of the Devil’s Gate)

Okay, for those that only cared about the news, you can stop reading, I feel like ranting a little on the year that was for the Devil’s Gate. I’ll be the first to admit, the Devil’s Gate’s third year went very poorly. But remembering how it started off, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ll be honest, I can’t bring the same amount of wide eyed enthusiasm that I did this time last year, when our votes were shooting through the roof and our stats were on a continual upward climb. It’s been a trying year for both me AND Thwack, both in terms of the Devil’s Gate and real life. I’ve never wondered if this was worth the time, but I have wondered if I could really continue to do it. And I know that we’ve been shuffled to the very bottom of the webcomics industry once again. We have a long, uphill battle ahead of us, again. I can tell you, having done it once before, that earning even a modicum of success is excruciatingly hard.

But in a way, that makes me even more hopeful. The fact is WE ARE STILL HERE. I mean, even with the physical rigors of drawing constantly, doing this is EASY when everything is going great. Something I’m sure you could say about most things. But it hasn’t been going great. At times over this past year it’s been downright terrible. Shit, our year started with our account being suspended! But we’re still here, and we plan to be here for a long time to come. Which to me, in some ways is more impressive than what we did in the first two years.

Hey everyone! Happy belated New Year’s to everyone. Hope everybody is having a good year so far. So here it is everyone, the big news update about the future of the Devil’s Gate. And the first point of the news post (man this sucks to say) is: wait a little longer. Yeah, I know, it’s been… Forever now it seems since the Devil’s Gate stopped, but unfortunately I’m not ready to start it up just yet. The Devil’s Gate shall resume (yep long time readers, I’m sure you’ve already guessed it) March 8th, 2008, our 3 year anniversary. I’m really sorry to anybody who’s actually stuck around waiting, although I’m sure most have (rightfully so) moved on, I’m not toooooo worried. I fully accept that any and all of our previous momentum has gone away now, so I’m looking at this as a fresh start.

So the DG is resuming on March 8th, but what exactly is it that’s coming back? Like I’ve alluded to (or flat out mentioned) before, I don’t think I can, or should, go back to just doing a flat out comic. The main reasons for this still are (a) doing more than 1 a week is viritually impossible for me unless I KILL myself which leads to (b) doing a full comic makes the pacing go to slow. I would love to keep doing it as a full comic, I really would, but it’s just not feasible.

Keeping that in mind, on March 8th the Devil’s Gate will be returning as a Mixed-Media Illustrated Story. Yep, the back bone of the Devil’s Gate will now be written text. I’m going to splice in panels here and there, like real comic panels, not just illustrations, but for the most part it’s just going to be written out. The format of the panels will vary, some will be in black and white, some in color. My ambition is to eventually even have a few little flash things tossed in here and there.

Let me try to answer some possible questions right off. Yes, the content already done in comic form (pages 1 - 30, some parts of chapter 2) will be converted over to this new format. I know, most would prefer we just left them up as they are. Sorry, but I’m a sucker for uniform formatting. But no, this isn’t a relaunch! When we come back March 8th, the same amount of story will be up as there is now and we’ll be picking up where we left off.

Our updating schedule, for only the second time ever, is changing. From March 8th and on, the Devil’s Gate will update on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays of every week. Each day we will put up a new section, which is basically a scene. Why I started titling them sections I have no idea, but that’s just how we roll.

And now that you all know that, let me expound upon why I think this format will work so much better for us in the long run. Well quite simply, it lets me achieve one important thing that I’ve been upset over since the beginning: It lets us get farther in the story faster. Much faster. Like I said, we’re going to be putting up three sections a week, one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and one on Thursday. For the average of 12 sections a month. I’m really happy with that.

Let me use the current chapter 1 as an example of why this is going to be awesome. Currently there’s 30 pages up (plus the cover and two introduction pages). Those 30 pages went up over the course of 8 months. So, 3.75 pages a month. Well those 30 pages were basically sections 1 - 9 of chapter 1. And they’re pretty indicative of how big the sections will be, so simple math says that each section is worth about 3.3334 of my comic pages. Let’s just say 3 pages. So under this new format we’ll be putting up the content equivalent of 9 comic pages a week.

Also, as long time readers know, hell, as anyone who looks knows, we’re still in chapter 1, if you take the stuff from the first run of the Devil’s Gate, that means we’ve basically gotten through 2 chapters in 3 years. As an illustrated story, we should get through 6 chapters in the next 1 year alone. Now that’s the kind of pacing I’ve always wanted, and the kind of pacing that, quite frankly, the Devil’s Gate needs.

So, for the few faithful that’s stuck it out this long, THANK YOU. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everyone that is, and even everyone that was, interested in the Devil’s Gate story. Hopefully by this time in 2009 we’ll be going strong again like we once were. I have a good feeling about this year. Here’s looking forward to March 8th, hope to see some of you there!

– Stan

Hey everybody.  Just thought I’d stop by and show off a new Devil’s Gate pin-up.  It’s a holiday themed picture featuring Youmi and, well, a pink haired girl that some of you may recognize.  Hope everyone likes it!  There’s also a desktop wallpaper version of it over on the Wallpaper page in the Extras section.

Expect another Video Feed or two during this holiday season, but not much more.  Still expect an official update on the Devil’s Gate’s future in early January.  Not to get into it today, but you can rest assured the Devil’s Gate does have a future, even if it takes a little time to get ready.

Happy holidays everyone!

Oh my god, this is so funny! Today’s Video Feed features Snake of Metal Gear fame, as he battles “cave demons”. Just watch it, it’s hilarious.

I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for Christmas lights synced up to music. So here’s a few videos to get everyone into the Christmas spirit.

Frisco Christmas Lights - Wizards in Winter by the Trans Siberian Orchestra

Christmas Lights - the Peanuts Theme

Saks Fifth Avenue Snowflake Light Show - Carol of the Bells

Hey everyone.  I just wanted to give everyone a brief update as to what’s been going on in my, and by extention, the Devil’s Gate’s world.  I hope everyone’s having a pleasant start to the holiday season.  For the holidays I may try to do a sketch or two to put on the site.  Figure I should toss something new for those of you who still continue to come to the site.  I really want to thank everyone for the kind words of support over the last month.  It’s been appreciated, it really has.

I’ve been doing decent enough, I’ve taken the last month and a half to rest up basically and enjoy having free time. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about the Devil’s Gate though.  I’ve been brainstorming quite a bit over the last couple of weeks.  Honestly, I still haven’t really figured out what I should do.  Part of me wants to keep going on as the full color comic, but for reasons I stated last time, that’s probably a horrible idea.  I’ve thought about just doing a b&w comic, which would be faster, but really my art only has personality in color.  I’ve kicked around the idea of doing an illustrated narrative, basically an online novel with a panel here and there.  It would tell the story at a decent pace, but I’m not sure how that would go over, so I’m not sure.

But I am working on the Devil’s Gate.  So don’t think I’ve forgotten about it, it’s still a big part of my life.  I’ll try to be more active on the Blog so the sites don’t seem so quiet.  I’ve been playing a lot of video games in my time off, so expect some video game rants!

Well, that was helpful….