=======================================================================
			Brief Information
=======================================================================

The 7z archive containing this document is a release of the source files used to make the Brogo webcomic (https://icculus.org/mwm/brogo/) for its twentieth anniversary on January 1, 2025. This README is written by the webcomic's creator, Malcolm Wilson.

The folder organization is structured on each comic's initial release date. Most of the files have inaccurate file creation metadata dates. This is a result of the file copying method used to backup these files.

All files with the filename extension '.CDR' are made with CorelDRAW! Version 5.00.E2 (AKA version 5 Revision E2) from 1994.
All files with the filename extension '.BAK' are automatic backups created by CorelDRAW!.
All files with the filename extension '.WMF' are Windows Metafiles that were exported using CorelDRAW!.
All files with the filename extension '.bmp' are Windows Bitmaps made by opening the Windows Metafiles in IrfanView, saving them as bitmaps, then editing them in Microsoft Paint (mostly version 5.0).

There are also three files with the filename extension '.svg'.

At times, I added clip art from Microsoft Office and possibly other sources (such as clip art CDs). The first example present in Brogo is the pointing hand graphic in the comic for January 5, 2005. The clip art is probably under the restrictions of royalty free copyright. This makes any clip art in Brogo exempt from the free culture licensing (CC BY-SA and/or GNU FDL) that applies to the rest of Brogo. This exemption also applies to:
The real photos in the comics for November 29 and 30, 2005.
The Irregular Webcomic! graphics in the comics for February 20 and 21, 2006.
The dancing cow graphic in the comic for June 17, 2006.
The Garfield graphic in the comic for November 23, 2006.
The Casey and Andy graphics in May 16, 17, 30, 31, June 1, 6, 2006 and January 2, 2008.
Unfortunately, I did not clearly distinguish when I used clip art. This means that anyone utilizing Brogo content will have to determine themselves what licence(s) that content is under. If I actually had the right to release the content, it is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License and/or the GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.3 or any later versions of these licenses. Plain Text versions of these licenses are included in this 7z archive (as CC_BY-SA-4.0.txt and GNU_FDL-1.3.txt respectively).

The rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh art in the June 30, 2013 comic (and the file Pooh-Brogo.gif) apparently depend on what country you are in; the original Winnie-the-Pooh is public domain in the United States but not in the United Kingdom (as of the release date of this document). The blog post I sourced the art from (https://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/11/original-winnie-pooh-drawings.html) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License.

The source files for the April 3, 2007 comic through to the April 10, 2007 comic are missing as they were deleted in a backup accident.

I did provide many of the comics to my mother, Laura Warman, for copy editing suggestions. However, I was sometimes too lazy to implement those suggestions. It can therefore be assumed that I am culpable for errors still present. Some comic ideas originated from other members of my family; this is what "the Brogo staff" refers to on the website.

=======================================================================
			Supplementary Information
=======================================================================

	When I try to open the .CDR file for the July 31, 2005 comic I get an error. This is a result of the fire clip art graphic present being copied directly from the later CorelDRAW ESSENTIALS 2 from 2003 into version 5. I was able to keep editing and export the .WMF as usual, but I found that after exiting I could no longer open the .CDR file with either version of CorelDRAW. Interestingly, a preview can be generated by either version of CorelDRAW and the CorelDRAW! Graphic Import Filter from 2000 by Access Softtek. The same fire clip art is present in the next comic for August 1, 2005 but was copied from ESSENTIALS 2, to PowerPoint, then to CorelDRAW! 5.

	The final Compuserve GIF files uploaded to the website were converted from the bitmaps using IrfanView (particularly to select the colour used to represent transparency). Later on, I noticed the conversion to a GIFs palette of 256 colours done by IrfanView was not to my liking. The default dithering made it seem like a texture rather than a colour in my cartoon art style. I started using Corel PHOTO-PAINT Version 5.00.E2 to perform the colour down conversion using the options of no dithering and an optimized palette type.

	The SVG, or Scalable Vector Graphics, files were made in Inkscape running on Linux. The file 'messed tree.svg' is the source for the artificial tree for the December 23 through 25, 2013 comics. The file 'MTreeS1.svg' is a simplified version where the individual plastic needles are merged into four layers. The final version in the comics is further simplified to a single layer. I converted them both to Windows Metafiles, which I could then import into CorelDRAW. The source version would render very slowly, so I made the simplified version to be more practical to work with. Incidentally, the file 'EXTRA.CDR' in the same folder contains tinsel and baubles that I tried putting on the tree. I found that this made it look too good for the joke. The file 'Pussy Willow bloom.svg' is the source for the pussy willow for the April 3, 2022 comic. I remember drawing the trunk and branches in the GNU Image Manipulation Program and using the 'Trace Bitmap...' function in Inkscape to make a vector base. I then made a few random shapes in yellowy-green colours that I copied and pasted to represent the blossoms.

	The file 'NEW.CDR' (and 'NEW.BAK') in the 2011/October folder contain cover art for Bob's 'Aliens Used My Bog Roll' before altering for perspective (and Michelle, for some reason).

	Most of the comics were made with the software running on the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. The first comics up to July 5, 2005 were made on Microsoft Windows XP (you can tell by the anti-aliased text). A few were made on Microsoft Windows 95 (such as the May 17, 2006 comic) and Microsoft Windows 98SE (such as the July 31, 2011 comic). The operating system used depended on what computer I was working on. As far as I can remember, my household always had multiple computers, which I gather was not typical for the time.

	I used Microsoft PowerPoint to generate speech bubbles, thought bubbles, WordArt, and some other vector objects. I used the Microsoft Office 97 version and then later the Microsoft Office XP version. Around 2008 I discovered I could manipulate the bubbles (in ways other than scaling) after copying them into CorelDRAW by using the Shape Tool. By 2009 I was refining the speech bubbles, by moving the edges in, to get less unnecessary white space. I now find I can get better results making speech bubbles in CorelDRAW. I use the Ellipse Tool to create the base, the Freehand Tool to make a triangle, and then use the 'Weld' option in the Arrange drop down menu to combine the two. I was word wrapping by manually adding line breaks until 2024, when it occurred to me that CorelDRAW would be very unlikely not to have a method of automatic word wrap. Sure enough, the Paragraph Text Tool has always been available for that purpose.

	There are a few differences in the .CDR files when compared to the .GIF files. For example, the .CDR file for the January 2, 2005 comic has a 'Two-Color Pattern' applied to the Advanced Electronics store sign. CorelDRAW! 5 does not incorporate patterns into exported Windows Metafiles. Thus, it did not end up in the uploaded GIF. Another example is in the .CDR file for the January 6, 2005 comic; it has a different speech bubble in the middle panel. I can remember replacing the text in that bubble in Paint to correct an error. I then made a new bubble in PowerPoint so the text would be the same. At the time I did not know how to change the text in a speech bubble copied from PowerPoint into CorelDRAW. As it turns out, I just needed to ungroup the bubble. There are probably many other similar small differences.

=======================================================================
			Personal Reflections
=======================================================================

	Some of my earliest memories are of drawing randomly in Paintbrush running in Microsoft Windows for Workgroups Version 3.11. This is something that seems to have been common for children in the 1990s that had access to a computer with a paint program. The YouTuber Clint Basinger (on his channel LGR) said in the video "Broderbund's Print Shop Deluxe - An LGR Retrospective" (YouTube ID: BxL7-XLGfDg)
"I often ended up farting around in Windows 3.1 with something like Paintbrush, idling away an afternoon drawing delightful digital doodles with the mouse."

	I have always liked how, in digital drawing, removal and addition of any element is complete. There are no faded lines left over, unlike drawing with an actual pencil. At some point, my father purchased CorelDRAW! 5 without a specific use for it, but with the impression that a suite of drawing applications might be useful. Software was less abundant then than it is now. I started playing with it, just as Clint Basinger played with Print Shop Deluxe. Although, for making things like banners, cards, and calendars we had Announcements 4.1a by Parsons Technology from 1995.

	I was impressed with CorelDRAW's vector graphics' (not that I knew that term) ability to cleanly change shape, size, and colour. The easy control certainly had an edge over bitmap graphics. In bitmap graphics, changing an element was either incomplete (such as when filling an object with a different colour, when it had multiple pixels of any other colour in it) or would negatively impact other elements (if you wanted to move an object, you would have to cut it out and recreate the background yourself). Granted, this was when bitmap editing with a basic application that did not have a layer function. However, that is also a good example of how CorelDRAW is easier for me to use. For the most part, clicking and dragging will have the desired effect.

	To this day (when I aim to use free software on Linux), I prefer clicking and dragging in Inkscape over the layers system in GIMP, even for bitmap editing. I find it intuitive, then and now. I do not need to learn how to achieve a certain manipulation; I can just get started using the mouse. There are doubtlessly inefficiencies and things I am missing by not methodically going through instructions and learning properly. It does, nevertheless, make it more engaging and fun for me.

	On that note, I was pleasantly surprised to see something apposite to Brogo when reading "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art" by Scott McCloud. In this comic book about comics, there is this quote:
"not everybody takes the long way around. Some artists have no trouble setting goals and achieving them without any detours... Especially if their goals are modest ones."

	Brogo is the result of my undisciplined self teaching in digital image production; of just playing with the tools at my disposal. I put in only the amount of effort that I wanted to at any given time. This does show in many ways, such as bizarre story and illogical perspective. Often the top half of characters are side view, with the bottom half 3/4 turned as you can almost always see both legs. Mixing of perspectives is known as a composite view, and it was used extensively in ancient Egyptian art. I certainly did not know that when I was drawing Brogo characters for the first time (at the age of 11), though seeing ancient Egyptian art may have influenced me. Of course, one could say that Brogo simply leans into the abstract. Creating heads using the Ellipse Tool, then adding other features (but not ears, for some reason) produces something more representational than natural. Perhaps this complements the aforementioned bizarre story; itself a result of the same voluntary amount of effort (especially in the early comics). Yet, for all of Brogo's surreal aspects (e.g. Bob to Frog), there are plenty of ordinary every day ones.

	I could also produce Brogo in a more efficient manner. Exporting to WMF files is unnecessary. Initially, I thought WMF files might be used to distribute Brogo, but was disappointed to discover that web browsers do not support them. Using SVG files would work now, but at the time support was limited (and CorelDRAW! 5 predates SVG). Since this means it needed to be a bitmap format, I could export to bitmap directly. I would still have to edit the disagreements I have with the renderer and use another program to define transparency. Just the same, exporting to bitmap with CorelDRAW results in a slightly different scale (a different OS also does this). I could even use newer software (like Inkscape), but I think the aliased appearance suits Brogo's style.

	I have refined my technique over time. For example, I used to draw with exclusively straight lines, finding curves hard to control into the shapes I wanted. I now convert any lines that are supposed to curve into curves, as they scale and fit together better. I also did not realize, for awhile, you could make a shape with holes in it, like a doughnut. I would fake the hole or holes using objects on top, either mimicking the hole or hiding a seam. Now I use the Combine or Trim options in the Arrange drop down menu. These can merge two or more shapes into the desired shape with a hole or holes in it. Another thing is when I discovered two useful selections in the Effects drop down menu: the Transform Roll-up and the Lens Roll-up. The former was particularly useful for mirroring (the mirroring I did before by hand was not very good), and the latter for a semitransparent effect. This effect tends to be slow to work with and save, at least on the old hardware I am using (though notably newer than CorelDRAW! 5).

	Most of Brogo was made using an eMachines eTower 366i2 (placed in a different case, with upgraded memory and hard drive), with a TriGem Florida-TG motherboard, Intel Celeron processor running at 366 MHz, 256 Megabytes of RAM, and ATi RAGE Pro Turbo AGP graphics. Oddly, the motherboard incorrectly identifies as a TriGem COMO3 in software. It can not be a COMO3 as they have a Single Edge Contact Cartridge slot for the processor and my motherboard has a Plastic Pin Grid Array for the processor.

	I am proud that a Brogo comic is quite difficult to confuse with anyone (or anything) else's work. What began as the limitations of my skills and tools became Brogo's signature look.

	I anticipate that, in future, Brogo will continue to appear sporadically when time and inspiration coincide.