The old way vs. The new way
I finally did it. I created a small library that lets me generate this type of cartoons faster, without repeating code (or not as much) and I used it to create next week's comic.
It's about doing things the "old way" (lengthier, simpler, craftier) vs the "new way" (more complex, but faster after the fact). And an allegory to the library in itself.
Creating comics is now considerably easier, faster, and cleaner... But, at the same time, using HTML5 web components feels like it defeats the purpose of comiCSS a little. It’s no longer purely an HTML and CSS project. This is because web components require JavaScript to work, even if they are static (which is kind of ridiculous, but it is what it is.)
Here's another cartoon I made with the library based on a silly joke I shared the other day:
It showcases how easy it to create characters. I "barely" started adding options, and because they compound, there are already over 3,000,000 different combinations:
75 mouths
25 eyes (working on this currently)
6 different hairs
5 different skin tones
5 different facial hairs
4 different ears
3 body types (mainly width, but I'd like to add some shapes too)
Some of them don't play nice with each other, so the number is considerably reduced (while still in the thousands). I have also added props and accessories: tables, computers, notes...
As part of the web component, I also added a header with the cartoon title and a footer with the comiCSS motto (slightly modified) and a link to the site (maybe I should add a link to Patreon and other social media platforms.)
As for the comic, I may need to change the name. I named that character Al (like myself), but the lowercase L (l) and the uppercase i (I) look the same, so it looks like I'm say AI (Artificial Intelligence) instead of Al (from Alvaro, my name).
These cartoons are neat, I hope I keep getting ideas and expanding the library. One concern I have is that I may see it as "complete" and stop drawing them altogether. Something like what happened with the Batman CSS library.
