Frequently Asked Questions
updated August 12, 2004
What the heck is a "reddie"?
A "reddie" is the official mascot of
Henderson State University.
It's not an animal of any sort, in fact it's not something you can actually
see. Instead it's a "spirit", but not one of the ghost persuasion. To
actually understand what a "reddie" is you need to know a little
history of the campus. In the early 1900's our school uniforms
consisted of red jackets which earned the players the nickname "reddies".
In 1914, a
terrible fire
struck the school and all of the students and faculty gathered in the night
to help save the school. Even though most of the school was destroyed, the
students bonded and refused to go home. It was then that the reddie spirit
was born. Basically the reddie sprit is the student body's collective
love and passion for our school.
Our school enjoys using the word "reddie" in the titles of many of
the school programs. Our student webpage is called "Reddie Connect", and one
of the many school advertising slogans is "Are
you Reddie for HSU?" If a sentence can be constructed that uses
the word "ready" than you can be sure our school will twist it around so it
involves our school spirit. Finally, since all of the students are
considered to be reddies, it seemed only natural that I call my ranting page
Reddie Rants.
Why don't you post comics more often?
The real question is why don't you post comics instead?
You seem to have enough free time :) When I first started drawing
these comics I had a specific style for them laid out in my head.
Unfortunately, it can take me nearly 14 hours to create a comic that meets
my strict style-standards. In the early days, 14 hours was easy to
come by, it seemed like I had all the time in the world. Now I'm lucky
if I have three minutes of free time. I am also the sole person behind
this page. I write, draw, and color each comic and code and maintain this
entire website. So when I suddenly don't have free time, nothing on
this site gets updated. I would actually love to create a comic everyday and
entertain everyone on a regular basis, but until I win the lottery and no
longer have the need to work two jobs and pass all of my college classes you
will have to accept my random updates. This last situation is highly
unlikely since I have yet to buy a lottery ticket.
Well, <insert famous webcomic> updates their comic
<insert large number> times a week. If they can do it, why can't you, you
lazy <insert expletive> bastard?
I'm quite aware others are able to update their comics more often
then me. In fact, I love reading their comics whenever they come out.
But I also notice many difference in what they do and what I do. Most
of the truly famous artists are actually doing their comics as a full time
job. They earn a large part of their income from the comics, thus they have
the free time to work on their comics every day (and I truly envy them).
Others webcomics have simplistic styles which are easy to create and update.
Some people reuse their same pictures each week and just change the text to
create something new. Others only use black and white or very simple color
schemes. Some use four or less small panels which are easily filled
but hinder larger comic ideas. Most have more than one person working
on the
writing/drawing/coloring/coding aspect of the comic. And finally, some
artists are just that good. While there is absolutely
nothing wrong with any of these comic techniques, I prefer not to use
them myself. I am trying to learn as much as I can from each comic I
draw. If the comic took little to no effort to create then I'm
obviously not learning anything, and am probably not having any fun in the
process. Don't forget, I'm getting as much out of these comics as the
rest of you are, if not more. Also, I have this problem of being
involved with everything and having time for nothing. Most of my
comics were drawn while sitting in a classroom being bored out of my mind.
When I am at home I usually have a plethora of things to do (piano, computer
science, gaming, etc) so it takes a lot of effort to force myself to ignore
everything around me and draw. Hopefully once the school year rolls around
once again I will be bored and draw more comics in class. If you truly want more comics and less
quality then keep e-mailing me about it. I might resort to giving you
"cookie cutter", black and white, simple drawing comics just to satisfy your
daily needs...
Are you one of those
depressed/bitter/evil/angry-at-the-world artists?
Actually, no I'm not. (I would say Brenna is, but she just
bought a 4 foot steel sword, and I like having my head attached to my neck) In fact at times I seem to be too
happy. Most my friends claim they have never actually seen me mad (and they
haven't), and some people who do fit the above description actually get mad
at me because they don't see why I'm so darn happy. Personally, I just
feel better when I smile. Even if I feel like utter crap, I'll try to smile
around others because I have a better chance of making them happy by smiling
at them than if I were to give them an ice-cold stare of angry death. And
when others are happy, I'm happy. But.... I do have a bitterly
sarcastic sense of humor which I love to use on others and which doesn't
always carry over to the internet very well. Sometimes I say sarcastic
things on the net which people take WAY too seriously and think I am a
terrible, hateful person. Anyone who does this does not deserve to
live and should die a horrible death.
What is RR dark?
Reddie Rants Dark is the original version of this website.
Before I created this current layout, RR Dark was how people saw the comics.
I created it just to spite my design teachers because I knew it broke all
laws of design and was too flashy for my "old school" teachers. Of course I
also knew it would never last in the real world so when time came to become
serious, RR dark had to go. Some people are habitual and hate change so I
left a link to RR dark for those people who want to see RR only in
it's dark form. While I'm not creating comics that match the dark
layout anymore, I will continue to update the links so (almost) all of the
new posts can still be seen there.
What's up with the
dinosaurs as teachers?
I chose to make the teachers dinosaurs for numerous
reasons. For one, I couldn't bring myself to draw an actual character based
on one of my teachers. The last thing I need is to have a teacher with
a vendetta against because I humiliated them in a comic. So I needed
to create a generic teacher symbol that could not be associated with any
real teacher. To do that I had to "draw" upon my youth. When I
was a small child, I had the same interests as every other kid my age:
airplanes, ninjas, and dinosaurs. Especially dinosaurs. In fact
that's what I drew all the time. Heck, I even won 2nd place in the
nation for a dinosaur drawing I did when I was 7 or 8. I created a
comic character in 2nd grade called LTR (Little T-Rex) and he has appeared
in some of my schoolwork every year since then (sort of an
inside joke to myself that I pull on all of my teachers). Basically, I
decided to put all my years of drawing LTR to use and used his frame as a
basis for my teachers. I did not intend for my teachers
to be perceived as old dinosaurs who shouldn't be teaching anymore, but some
people found humor in that so I'm not going to dispute it. Just as long as
all of my teachers know that it's not them I'm making fun of...
"Mom Approved"? Do I really need to ask...
Actually this is put up as a joke, because you won't
find very many sites that have the official "mom approval" symbol.
It's just another way I try to differentiate myself from other sites.
And in truth, my mother did approve it, which anyone who has ever met her
knows that is very hard to earn (just ask her students). Like
most other teenagers' (or 20-somethings) mothers, my mother never approves
anything I do, so when she approved of my site I knew I had to boast about.
Thus, the seal of approval showed up and all were happy.
Can I draw a guest comic or do a guest rant?
Actually you can. You can even send it to me when you
are finished. Now, whether or not I'll post it here is a different
story... In truth, if you go to the trouble of actually drawing a
comic or writing a long rant, I'll probably post it. Now if I really think
it needs work or is just not the type of thing I would endorse I will e-mail
you and give you some suggestions on how to fix it so I can post it.
At the very least I will post a link to your comic/rant, but that
link might be harder to find than you think...
Do you make any money off of this site?
Nope, I earn nothing from this site other than
something to put on my resume' and the satisfaction that I am entertaining a
lot of people. HSU hosts this website so I don't have to worry about
paying anything to keep the site up. Until Reddie Rants starts costing
me money I'll probably won't put up advertising spots on the main page.
And no, HSU does not pay me to run this site, I'm not even sure if the
faculty/administrators outside my own teachers know about it. And if
they did, they would probably be happy that I am spreading the word about
HSU to people outside of Arkansas, which is always good for public
relations. Plus if
I were to start making a profit off of my work, then how would I divide the
profits among my friends who also post here? It's just a bunch of trouble I
don't want to mess with, so I plan to have nothing monetary involved with
this site.
How does everyone know each other?
Well, all of us go to HSU (except John) and at one point
or another each one of us were in Band and Honors classes together (except
Leigh Anne who was in Choir). Our paths were bound to cross eventually.
Let's see if I can explain the relationships without confusing you too much:
Jay (yay for third person) met James and Bucky in 2001 when they moved
into the crappy Honors dorm as freshmen. They were all in marching
band and James would constantly flirt with Jen who was also a freshman in
band. The next year Paul, Robin, and Brenna arrived to HSU and met the
others through band and pure bad luck. Leigh Anne also arrived at this time
but she was a prissy choir girl so no one knew her (except Paul whom she
shot down repeatedly). Robin moved into the brand new
Honors Dorm where Jay, Bucky, James now lived. Jay lived with Bucky
and two others (depicted
here
and
here) while James lived with
Ryan Dickson. The next year (Fall '03) Bucky and co. moved out of
the dorm so Paul and James moved in with Jay along with a freshman named
Marcus. Leigh Anne moved into the Honors dorm as well and
started hanging out in Jay's room (a decision which she now regrets).
Leigh Anne and Jay started dating as did James and Jen. In the Fall of
'04, Jay, James, Ryan, and eventually Paul all moved into single rooms
together (as in suitemates) while Leigh Anne and Robin remained in their
current rooms all in the Honors dorm. Bucky disappeared into a vortex
of anime and MMORPGs when he moved off campus and no one has heard from him
since. And finally, John has known Jay since Jay was a wee tyke
and has always been a part of Jay's schemes in one form or fashion. And that
is the Reddie Rants soap opera as told in 30 seconds. When told in two
minutes the RR story becomes like a season of Melrose' Place, except with
more cat fights.
.
