Bat's in the Belfry Webcomic

About Bat's in the Belfry

I began drawing comic strips mainly in sixth grade, beginning with stick figures and then moving on to basic shapes.
By the time I got to high school and then college, I played around with art, but never really considered myself
to be that good. By the time I really decided to start dedicating myself to artistic endeavors, it was 2006 and
I was married. My wife had a lot of experience with painting, having worked primarily with watercolors. We
had always wanted to do some sort of project together, so I set about working up a story.

I wanted to use anthropomorphic characters, having always enjoyed anthro comic books and characters, so I began
thinking up my primary cast. I wanted to pick something a little off the beaten path, rather than use the species of
animals that are usually featured. The idea of a bat came to mind, since bats are one of my wife's favorite animals.
A reindeer counterpart came next since I thought it was a bit unusual that female reindeer actually have antlers. So,
with that kernel of a story, the rest began falling into place.

I began exploring my artistic style around this time and we just went ahead and jumped headlong into doing the comic. Heather
had started using Photoshop Elements to color her works and I had begun learning how to use it as well. We purchased a scanner
(since I prefer to draw and ink on paper) and we tried playing around with a format of me doing the story and drawing while
she would color the black & white product. We did pretty well for awhile, but I think we had put the cart before the horse,
so to speak. So, we stopped work on the comic and simply began working on our own individual projects as we refined
our styles and techniques. Once we felt we had achieved a better level of proficiency, we looked back at Bat's in the Belfry
and wondered if anyone would be interested in us picking it up again. The response was enthusiastic. With that support
backing us up, we set about beginning Bat's in the Belfry anew.

We've definitely both come a long way since beginning the project and if you look at the most current episode and compare
it to the very first episode, I think you'll agree. I've found that I've become addicted to art and I have gained a sense of
enjoyment out of it that I never possessed before. Doing a comic on a weekly basis has really helped me enhance my skills
quickly and Heather's painting expertise has made everything really come to life in a way that I hadn't dreamed possible. We
love working together and the BitB project has definitely helped us stay close and keep our companionship strong.

As a writer, I am very much a fan of rich and interesting characters, so there's a lot of drama and development that the
characters undergo as we learn more about them and share in the struggles of their everyday lives. Also, I love science fiction
so there's an element of that which pervades the storyline as well. The morality on display in the characters' lives is derived
from my Christian beliefs and the short stories I am developing delve much deeper into these topics than the regular weekly
comic. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the interaction that occurs in the short stories would be way too much to
attempt to produce in a comic format without slowing the progress of the story considerably.

So, that's Bat's in the Belfry in a nutshell and we hope you enjoying reading it and that you'll be one of our regular
visitors to our site! If there's anything else you would like to know about BitB, please feel free to check the FAQ,
visit our forum, or drop us a line.

Thank you for your interest in Bat's in the Belfry!
- Eric Alexander

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