Where the Comic Came From:
When I was young, I became a fan of movies. I loved how the movies could tell a story so well that you were immersed by it. Since then, I've always wanted to direct, write, or doing anything that could portray a plot like a movie. Even though most of my hopes were far fetched, I'm still determined to get behind a digital camera and make a masterpiece. But until then, all the ideas in my head have to come out in some form to people, I have to tell a story, and one of them is Being Seventeen. I've never actually sat down and written a script or anything related for this idea, but I have always known how I wanted it to be from start to end. Every important event in my teenage life is in Being Seventeen, with a little fiction to make it better.
My life as an artist for a comic were very erratic. Everything I drew wasn't up to my expectations, I couldn't find the right feel to portray the strip though. So the idea for Being Seventeen was put off for almost a year, with the occasional attempt but always the same result. Recently, I visited a strip called Avalon, and my feelings toward trying to do a comic totally changed. The way the creator, Josh Phillips, is able to portray the lives of a group of Canadian teens in high school is simply amazing. Thanks to his comic, I knew it could be done and I was determined to do it. So, I spent almost a week coming up with the write style to draw the cominc, characters, story, and web page. I almost gave up a couple times, but everything came together and know I can happily say that I'm satisfied with the outcome. I hope you enjoy Being Seventeen as much as I enjoy drawing and writing it.
The Plot:
The setting of Being Seventeen takes place in a small part of Kentucky called Northern County (fictional) and revolves around the life of a group of teens that attend Northern High, a relatively small high school. Many of the characters and themes of the comic are influenced by personal experiences in my life, but a little fiction was thrown in to balance everything out. To learn about the cast, go here.
The Future:
What is to become of Being Seventeen is totally unknown to me. My intial plans are to stop the comic when the characters graduate, and then I would consider starting a spin off or create a new comic. But right now I'm not sure if that's what I want to do, though; if at any time I feel Being Seventeen is losing it's spark, I'll definitely stop the strip for it's own good. As for anything else, we'll just have to see.
