Why I Read This: A Girl and Her Fed

I had a bit of an uncertain start with A Girl and Her Fed. The art was a very strange mix of crude line drawings and, well, gray blobs. But over time the art style grew on me. The very simply drawn faces, just three lines for the eyes and mouth, take on the expressiveness of emoticons, if I can wax nerdy for a moment. But it worried me that the art style never seemed to evolve or grow.

Art quality isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me when I'm deciding if I like a webcomic. It's pretty common for an artist to start publishing their comic as soon as they have the idea, and maybe a few character sketches and storyboards ready. And that's fine. It's the nature of the internet to let anyone publish, even if they don't have the artistic skills that would get them published in the physical industry. There are comics that remain stagnant and ugly, where the artist doesn't even try to improve their skills over time. But it's the comics where the artist DOES put in the effort that I watch for. I love being able to wade through a comic's archive and watch the art quality improve over time.

So, I was a little worried that the art wasn't improving. But happily, it was all a trick. Instead of a gradual improvement of art quality, there would be sudden bursts of higher quality art. Backgrounds, facial features, and everything would suddenly appear when Sparky, the Fed, would activate the chip in his head. Good art became a visual indicator of the world of the chip. Sure, it's the Wizard of Oz trick, but I still like it.

Eventually, the comic shifted to the new art style, although with a simpler color scheme than the painted quality of the chip scenes.  It looks a lot better, there's no getting around it.

The thing is, though, is that now Otter is redoing all of the art. As I understand it, it's largely because the strips have to be redrawn to be print suitable anyway, so they're getting a facelift during the process. And it's neat to see the old strips in the new style, and to see the little changes to details as the story gets tweaked to match the new art.

Sooner or later, Otter's going to get back to the part of the story where Sparky learns how to use the chip. What's going to be the visual cue then? I'm torn. See, I really like the new art style. Having a consistent look for the whole series is a good thing when it comes time to make the dead tree version. But I really liked the impact that the contrasting art styles had.

The story recently ended its first major art, and the current updates are a mix of an interim story and remakes of the old strips. And honestly, I'm more interested in the remakes. Even though I know what's going to happen, I don't know what's going to happen. That's a pretty neat trick to pull off.