L.A.W.L.S.

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Before I begin this blog, I just wanted to say, I think from time to time when I get the chance, I’m gonna try to put together little posts like this to feature comic artists I enjoy, possibly with a piece of fan art for them, and an explanation of why I like their comic. In hopes to spread the word about another artist I feel should get recognition. That’s really what the web-comics are about–community and sharing. So I felt this would be a good way to do my part in the matter. ANYWAY, without further ado, let me tell ya about this one:

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COMIC: Story of the Door : Toilet Genie
ARTIST: Cari Corine
URL: StoryoftheDoor.com
DeviantART: Blix-It

From the moment I laid my eyes on this comic, I was astounded by the artwork. Without even knowing a thing about the story, the characters, or that it was even a comic, I wanted to know more about what I was looking at. Cari’s artistic skills pretty much scream “LOOK AT ME I’M PRETTY,” and even if you were to only see one of her watercolor paintings from the corner of your eye, you’d almost always have to do a double take on it. Why do I say this? Well, the first time I met Cari was actually at Emerald City Comic Con last year, and I must say, I was pretty jealous about the number of heads that would turn, then stop, look at, then buy any number of her prints without knowing anything about her, her comic, or any of her work. To me that says a lot about her talent, even if she doesn’t know that, it’s there. I myself would sometimes stop what I was doing at that convention to sit and admire her work, and I barely had time to think those few days… it was a very busy event. But enough about her, and my envy of her awesome skills, let’s talk about her comic.

So what is it about? Pft, like i know! (j/k) But I will admit, at the moment ,I’m still trying to work out all the details and am anxious to find out what it all means.

The story starts you out with a little pug named Skittlez, it’s cute and stupid looking (like most pugs) and it’s running away from it’s annoying, snot-nosed, bratty owner. He (the owner) apparently no longer wants to keep her and disowns her, leaving her in a gross bathroom to die and be sad and stuff. So what does she do? Well, she thinks like a dog and decides she’s thirsty, looks over, and sees a glorious never ending fountain of water–a toilet. So, she jumps in the disgusting ass toilet to drink the water and finds out that this toilet is a bit more than JUST a toilet, it’s actually the home of a Genie! Long story short, he grants her some wishes, she becomes a smoking hot babe, and we are thrown right in the middle of this deep story about life, creation, and spirit animals.

This is where Cari’s ability to write really shines; alongside her goofy fun moments (which keeps the story light hearted) she takes you into the depths of mythology and how these characters play a role in it. It’s extremely obvious that she had a plan with this story the moment she jumped into her watercoloring back-story! Not only has she thought out the purpose of her characters in relationship to one another, but also how they are an integral part of the stories central plot and mythos.

Her comic makes me happy because Cari is NOT a lazy bum just trying to jump on the web-comics bandwagon, with the mentality of “If XKCD could do it, so can I,” but because she has a deep passion for storytelling and for her art. I mean, the simple fact that a large percentage of this comic (to date) was done in water color, not just Photoshop Wizardry, says a hell of a lot about her need to put her all into this story. It’s amazing, really, and I admire her deeply for this. Just to clarify, not dogging on Photoshop or comic artists who chose to use it, obviously, my comics are (now) done 100% with Photoshop. What I am saying though is that what she is doing goes completely above and beyond what a web-comic artist needs to do to tell you their story, especially since, essentially, we as comic artists are providing you our work for free. A lot of people (i.e. the old newspaper cartoonist) would never consider such a thing–hard labor for no money. Webcomics are, and always will be a labor of passio. We know this when we get into it, yet still do it! Why? Because it’s what we love to do, and even if its just to get a few comments from you guys from time to time, it makes it worth it for us to know that you are enjoying it.

This is why I wanted to take the time to point her comic out to you guys. I hope that you can take the time to check out her comic, or at the very least skim through her DeviantART archive. Even if her comic may not be your thing, she’s a fantastic artist. :]

Oh, and before I forget, Cari likes dog buttholes…

And she did this: