I made a WordPress.

Been meaning to for a while.

On this blog I’ll mainly be writing about my comics and things relating to music. Kinda like an open journal. But I guess that’s the point.

So let me introduce myself:

I’m Ben. I go by the username Dincorta for pretty much every site I sign up to. I’m very easy to find. I’m in my mid-twenties and I’ve been drawing since my early zeroes. I’ve been working on a little comic series called Meridian Six for close to a decade now (it’ll officially be 10 years on 28th January 2019 – random fact!) You can actually check that comic out in several places on the ol’ internet. Most noticeably (and most conveniently), above this post in the navigation menu!

That link will take you to Cold Reset, the first story in the series.

Also in the series is a novel-in-progress called The Blood and the Quill. This is a prequel/spin-off set within the Meridian Six universe. Sort of. I’ll be updating it on and off whenever I get in a writey mood. Like now.

I have a few ideas in the works for other spin-offs but I don’t want to get too distracted from the main series so I’ll be working on that most of the time.

The artwork of my series between 2009 and 2013 is somewhat atrocious. Partly because I didn’t always take it as seriously as I do now, and partly because my style is still changing and improving with each page. As much as I’d love for people to read my series from the beginning, I am extremely aware that the early artwork is a bit of a #struggle #eyesore #nightmare #justshit

So my latest endeavour has been a total revamping of my original three chapters – in ALL aspects. I have rewritten the scripts, changed around story beats, redesigned new characters and everything. Just an overhaul. The bare bones of the story is still there but otherwise, I want it to be easy on the eyes for newcomers, and I want people to not be immediately turned away like I know I would be.

Here is a contrast of styles for ya:

The same scene, reworked. Left was drawn in 2009 and right was drawn in 2017. You can see how much effort I used to put in and how much I put in now. At least, I hope you can see that.

So, the first half of the Chapter 1 remaster is done and up for your reading pleasure. The second half is getting there slowly. Two pages are fully done, and the remaining ten-ish are in skeleton mode.

But I’m moving closer to work next week, so I should have a lot more time and energy to spend on drawing. And I’ll be living with other creative people. There’s nothing more motivating than drawing with people who are also drawing.

You also may recall that I mentioned being in a band.

We’re okay. We aren’t gigging yet, it’s all practice. Cause we’ve had a shaky formation and I think it recently crossed the line from jamming to band practice. This implies actual real genuine shows in the near future I think. There have been opportunities to gig, sure, but there are a few synchronicity problems and other such stuff to overcome first.

This will, again, be fixed when I move next week. (YES.)

I’ll write more about that in the future.

Musically, I’m mega into metal and rock. I like a lot of different stuff but the heavier genres really speak to me. I go to see bands live quite often. A few days ago I saw Alestorm live (they’re a pirate metal band that I’ve been in love with since doing my GCSE’s). They’ve been my main gateway into the folk/death/black metal side of the genre and are likely responsible for my discovering most of the bands I love. I also knew an important person who was another gateway into awesome music.

You’re out there somewhere, but with me in spirit at every gig, still.

And a few weeks ago I also went to see Wintersun! My second time seeing them and they were just as awesome this time around. So much love for that Jari. Even though he’s a massive oddball.

Anyway, in short, that’s me, that’s this blog, that’s what you’re in for. Hope you stick around.

SONG OF THE DAY: