Muse Academy - Frequently Asked Questions

Muse Academy-Related FAQ - General FAQ
How did the idea for MA pop up?
I guess I was thinking about how people (usually artists) often say they're uninspired and missing their muse, or that their muse was taking a holiday. I'd never heard of the subject of muses being tackled before, so I used the idea of 'the nine muses' of Greek mythology as sorts of coaches in the arts. And it grew from there.
Why a webcomic?
Once I had the idea for Muse Academy in my head, I had to decide on the right medium for it. Webcomic just works better: I have more control over the story, can work one-to-one with fans to try and improve it, and can combine storyline and art to tell the stories. I'm not skilled enough to be a cartoonist and wouldn't want each story arc to be condensed into 30-minute slots. Even though there are actual textual stories written for MA, they're too advanced to be kiddie books and too simple to be adult books.
What are the classes going to be like for each of the students? We have the muse classes/majors/minors, but are there going to be any other classes available for them to take?
Technically speaking there are only nine subjects (Comedy, History, Romance, Tragedy, Dance, Astronomy, Sacred Poetry, Music, and Epics) which the Muses teach. But students like to make up their own clubs for any form of the arts, not just performing ones. There's a photography club, painting club, a poetry club that meets in a coffee house in Prie Village, etc.
How many stories for MA are written?
So far, the concept ideas for 45 arcs are written up. There will be a lot of chopping and changing and the chances are a couple of those will be dropped, but that's how they stand right now.
Can I draw you some fanart?
Absolutely! I love to receive fanart. If you send it to my fanart address I'll put it up in the Guest Art Gallery ASAP with a link to your own gallery (providing it is child-friendly). Please send them in the biggest size you can (I like to print them out & pin them on my study wall 8D The bigger the pic is, the best quality it prints out at) and make sure it is in .jpg, .gif or .png format; any bitmap or photoshop documents will be way too big for me to open, I'm afraid.
What about fanfiction and fancharacters?
Same goes. I love to receive both. Muse Academy has earned a multitude of fancharacters so far, and I'm working on creating a place to upload them all.
Will you put my fancharacter/me/my auntie's second cousin thrice removed in the comic?
As much as I'd like to (heck, it would save me a lot of time in designing background characters) I'm going to have to say no for now, simply for copyright reasons :( Durn copyrights spoil all our fun. But I'm looking into the possibility of having fancharacters give cameos in the future.
OH! Can I do a guest comic for Muse Academy?
Absolutely you can! Guest comics are featured on one of my update days (or two if it's long enough) and include a link back to the original creator's website. The comic will have a permanent home on the Archive page. Whether I'll be able to do one back for you depends entirely on my time constraints.
How much are you going to value the input and participation of yours fans?
A lot. Fan input is absolutely crucial to this project. There'll be a forum eventually, so to anyone who joins I'd encourage discussion of characters and plotlines, whatever that may be.
What are your favourite and least favourite parts of making your own project?
Favourite - characters, writing the stories, dropping hints/red herrings of new plot twists & watching peoples' reactions when they see it.
Least favourite - the explanatory work. Ugh. I just want to get into the action but I know I have to explain how they got there is the first place. It's a pain.
What do you use to make your art?
My artwork is mostly hand-drawn, or occasionally sketched in OpenCanvas. The lineart, colouring and shading of the main characters is done in Macromedia Flash 8. Background colouring and special effects are added in Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0. If you're looking to achieve the same effects as Photoshop but can't afford the software, I'd highly recommend The Gimp. It's a free download that allows you to touch up your artwork without resorting to stealing software.
Do you do art trades/commissions?
Due to lack of time I only ever do art trades with close friends and if time permits me. However, if I need the money I will sometimes open art or plushie commissions.
Commissions are currently CLOSED.
Who taught you to draw?
I pretty much taught myself. Since my school focused on the academic studies rather than artistic, I dropped art in favour of German and couldn't pick art up again when I decided German wasn't for me. It wasn't until I was eighteen that I started drawing properly again. If you have a love for the arts and the opportunity to take your skills further, please please PLEASE do so, or you may end up regretting it like I did.
Can I use some of your art?
If you mean for non-profit means such as wallpapers, forum avatars, icons etc, then go for it. I'd rather there was a 'copyright JJ Shippen 2005-8' on there somewhere just to prevent anyone getting in trouble. However, if you use any images on this site for the purposes of making profit & selling them (t-shirt transfers, Italian Charm images etc) I will not be happy in the slightest, as this will breach copyright law.
Can we do a link exchange?
Sure thing :) As long as you have a webcomic of appropriate content. Muse Academy is PG-rated, which means it is suitable for just about all audiences. I reserve the right to not agree to a link exchange if your comic has excessive violence, sexual content, foul language & other inappropriateness.
How do I link back to TheMuseAcademy.com?
Just take your pick of the available buttons on the links page and below and, to save bandwidth and keep TheMuseAcademy.com young & pretty, save it to an image-hosting site. Photobucket.com is perfect, and has been invaluable to me in the past. To put the button on your site, just type in the following code:
<a href="http://www.themuseacademy.com"><img src="YOURURLHERE" border="0"></a>