It is now 2012.

I am now going to be posting a new strip every week.  I will not miss a week from this point forward.

There is, however, some changes.  I have decided to jump the strip ten years in the future.  I wanted to be able to tell more mature jokes and storylines.  I also felt as though if I were to do that with them still in the fourth grade it would feel too similar to “South park”.  I am very excited as the people whom the characters are based off of are now helping out creatively.  If I can I am going to get them set up so that they can now post messages and comments here on the site.  I am hoping they will post about the strip, the story behind the strip, or really on just about anything.  I am living back in Kentucky, to be around my family.  It has been a “weird” transition but one well worth it.  I am also going to be using this site to highlight many aspects of what I like to spend my free time doing.

You will see there are new “tabs” available which include paintings, books, and Lacrosse.  I once said, that i have three A’s in my life.  Art, Athletics, and Academics.  If I am doing any of those things, I am genuinely happy.  I am blessed as I get to do all three of those on a regular basis.

Look forward to hearing insight from Bubbles, Patty, and Zach…you may even get some great stories from Thomas, (who does live in Costa Rica)  I am also looking to include myself in the series.  I have felt a bit left out and truly, we as a group work much better than just a primary focus on Zach and Chris.  Plus, i found that I was not really being true to the greatness of Chris’s personality as I was putting some of my own characteristics into his character.  I believe you will be seeing me soon.

Again, thank you all for the support and emails asking when strips are going to be back up.  I might even be able to get strips going twice a week.  Writing and drawing Ragamuffins really hopes increase my happiness.  Thank you all again!

Jones!

You may have noticed that there has not been a new comic for some time now.  The reason for this is that I have spent a huge amount of my free time working on my first novel.  It has been a dream of mine for a number of years to write a novel, I am approximately five paragraphs away from finishing my first book.  It is called “Golden Rule: Book One of the Books of Phi”  The hope is to submit this book to agents and publishing companies and one day have it published.  I have also done all of the illustrations for the book.  I am very proud of it, so far the feedback has been spectacular.  We shall see what the future holds for it.  Even if it never sees the light of day, I am very proud to have accomplished one of my personal dreams.  Hopefully sometime soon I will get back to writing and drawing some new Ragamuffins strip.

I have been drawing on the side, you can check out some new work in “Sketchbook and other works” page.  I have also started posting work on my Facebook page “S.A. Jones” you can check it out there.  Thanks for all the support!

Jones

So this week I tried something new.  Instead of going with the solid shapes and hard lines like I have from the beginning.  I did the comic as a sketch, left it in pencil and colored it using washes rather than solid colors.  I am curious to see if you (the viewers) prefer the new way to the old or vise versa.  So please leave me your comments and let me know which one you prefer.  Feedback from viewers will determine how I continue to create the strip.

Again thank you all for the support, and I hope Ragamuffins continues to put a smile on your face each week.  Please vote using the Poll below.  Thanks!

Living with 5 other guys, can be a lot of fun.  Especially when you have     rock band.  Rock Band three does not change the mold that has been so successful with the music genre games, but what it does do well, it does really well.  With over 2,000 songs available either through download or game disc the music library is extensive and almost never boring.  I challenge someone to try to find at least one song that they havnt dreamt about rocking out to.  With the addition of up to 7 people participating this is the perfect gathering game.  I have played all of the guitar hero and rock band games and this is by far my favorite.  The graphics are very similar to that of previous games, but really if your really worried about that, maybe you should pick another game.  The music is great and the game play mechanics are solid.  Still, in my opinion one of the most fun games to play.

What to say about Black Ops.  Back in college I was addicted to Counter Strike…this formula continues in Black Ops and I love it.  The campaign is good, a little too “over the top” but still worth playing.  The multiplayer is great!  It enhances elements from COD 4 and expands on them.  I love this game because you can pick it up, play a few rounds and then get off and still feel a sense of completing something.  The addition of being able to play with a friend online from the same console is nice.  The only other game that I have even the slightest desire to play is Assassins Creed Brotherhood.  For the moment, these two games are all that I need. Jones out.

I have played (almost) every Final Fantasy.  To be honest I was very dissapointed with Final Fantasy XIII, and from what I’ve heard XIV is not what we all hoped for it to be.  Other than the original Final Fantasies(I,II,III, and IV), VII, VIII, and IX were the golden age for me.  I played them all through middle and highschool almost everyday.  I have for the past few years wanted to replay them but was utterly afraid my fondest memories of them would be squandered by jaded adulthood.

I decided that with no money for the (overly high) priced new games I was going to revisit my favorite game. (Go ahead argue that seven is better, but to me eight is MY favorite, you can have your own favorite) I loaded up FF VIII and was imediatly reminded of what games are supposed to do.  Entertain.  My amazing girlfriend (Sara) was watching and we talked about how games have changed.  How young adults today would be completely bored with random encounters, slowly grinding through levels, and READING TEXT instead of voice acting.  I agree with her, teaching high school has proven to me that we have raised / influenced a group of young adults with very short attention spans.  But playing through the first 2 hours of VIII has brought to me a lot of joy.  It is actually better now, than it was before. 

I explained to Sara why I love video games so much.  I told her it is for the same reasons why I love books and movies.  A form of deep, interactive, enjoyable entertainment.  A form of escapism.  An imaginary world, to rest and escape from the worries and woes from the every day grind.  Give me a good book, a great movie, or a fantastic game and my “down” time can be spent enjoying a good story.  I love it when old things become new again. 

Jones out.