Alexander Shen's Art Bloghttp://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012-05-25T20:00:42ZSquarespacehttp://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/5/23/mister-goh-348-where-those-coins-came-from.htmlAlexander Shen2012-05-23T22:21:06Z2012-05-23T22:21:06Z This is totally where the coins came from.

Related Link: Mister Goh #348 - Where Those Coins Came From]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/5/8/mister-goh-347-through-the-desert.htmlAlexander Shen2012-05-08T17:24:06Z2012-05-08T17:24:06Z I really enjoy the board game Through the Desert. I had purchased it while looking for a game like Ticket To Ride, a game both my wife and I enjoy. The game plays similarly in that you lay down your pieces (camels, in this case) to try to claim 1) the longest camel chain, 2) get camels to watering holes for points and 3) get camels to oases (that's the plural of "oasis"!) for even more points. The difference between this game and Ticket To Ride is that you don't need to draw cards to lay down pieces, but simply choose one of the five colors you control and place two camels. It takes away the luck component of the draw and focuses on path building.

It's a game that only takes one game to learn and is quite fun with anywhere from 2 players to 5 players.

The comic here illustrates my first gameplay experience with a friend of mine. We were playing on the smaller, limited, 2-player setup and I simply did not grasp the full understanding of spreading your camels out across the desert. Because of that, I didn't put any of my camels on one half of the board nor did I pay attention to that side of the board. Within a few turns, my friend had placed a line of his camels across half the board and essentially captured the land for 15+ points. Absolutely hilarious, no?

To this day I curse his name.

Related Link: Mister Goh #347 - Through the Desert]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/5/1/mister-goh-346-sunglasses-indoors.htmlAlexander Shen2012-05-01T23:35:03Z2012-05-01T23:35:03Z They wear their sunglasses at night so they can, so they can, drink PBR.

Related Link: Mister Goh #346 - Sunglasses Indoors]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/4/30/mister-goh-345-electric-shaver.htmlAlexander Shen2012-04-30T23:16:40Z2012-04-30T23:16:40Z Hey, it's Mister Goh! I haven't seen him since January.

Related Link: Mister Goh #345 - Electric Shaver]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/4/25/copy-cat-page-8.htmlAlexander Shen2012-04-25T20:04:16Z2012-04-25T20:04:16Z Look! Another page I did at lunch today.

Read Copy Cat: Copy Cat on Wandering Panda Comics]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/4/24/copy-cat-page-7.htmlAlexander Shen2012-04-24T20:52:27Z2012-04-24T20:52:27Z Hey, look what I did at lunch today!

Read Copy Cat from Page 1: Copy Cat on Wandering Panda Comics]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/4/20/comic-dog-vote.htmlAlexander Shen2012-04-20T19:38:02Z2012-04-20T19:38:02Z Josie and I have decided to add a new animal member to the family. Now we just have to take the time and properly select a proper breeder or shelter to find the pooch.

My biggest concern in all of this is how the cats will react and interact with the new dog. We can read all of books and apply all of the methods to 100% accuracy, but it won't guarantee that a nuclear fallout won't befall the Shen household.

Here's hoping it works out!]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/4/11/check-me-out-in-the-new-issue-of-atheletics-magazine.htmlAlexander Shen2012-04-11T15:51:59Z2012-04-11T15:51:59Z A new saga of comics begins.

Related Link: A's Magazine - MLB.COM]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/3/23/the-new-comic-is-called-copy-cat-for-now.htmlAlexander Shen2012-03-23T20:18:56Z2012-03-23T20:18:56Z You can go read the first six pages by clicking here.

Can't think of a better title right now. I just need a cute and clever name for the cat and then I'll have my title.

Any suggestions?

Related Link: Copy Cat]]>http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/2012/1/31/webcomics-and-flash-distribution.htmlAlexander Shen2012-02-01T00:54:23Z2012-02-01T00:54:23Z A thought came across my brain this morning regarding webcomics and distribution. I was thinking that it would be a good idea to package up my comics, either in volumes or complete archives, and then place them all into one Flash file for easy distribution.

Now this isn't to say that I'll change my site to a Flash based one. No, that would simply be awful and an SEO nightmare. It's to package it so people can enjoy a huge chunk of it at their favorite portals or simply download the SWF so they can enjoy the comics on their computer at their leisure without an internet connection.

Does anyone remember webcomic lists? It's definitely a very useful service, but navigating through those directories is a horrible experience. There's just too much content and it can be overwhelming. Webcomics can also fall victim to "horrendous web design", like your comic is buried 900 pixels beneath the fold where you've pasted your blog, tumblr, three ads and picture of your cat. It's not that you're a bad comic artist, you just may not know better.

In any case, I hope this idea is something that works... but is one that is only used for good. I can see it quickly taken advantage of and worthwhile distribution networks getting spammed up to their necks in these "comic compilation Flash travesties".

Are there any other avenues of distribution for content like webcomics? I'd be willing to give up all of those ad impressions (one per comic view) on my site if I can simply reach more people to just read the dang thing and minimally utilize ads at all (maybe one at start).]]>