…trying out shading without lining first. this might need a little more experimentation.
Quarterly Co.™
“Quarterly Co.™ is a subscription service that enables people to receive physical items in the mail from influential contributors of their choice.” I am kind of falling for the idea of receiving a package with fantastical items that I never would have come into contact with otherwise, but I am also in a place with my home where I do not need anything more. Except perhaps shoes. I will come back to this, I know, when I am making things again and looking for inspiration.
Ghost
This turned out mostly like I wanted it to.
The Webcomic List or where to find webcomics
I ran into this a while ago, when I was searching for webcomics and webcomic social areas online. I must admit, at the time I did not give it the attention it deserved.
The Webcomic List is an index of webcomics, but its more than that. It automatically scrapes the web for updates on all the comics people have added to the index. And, the best part…which I really didn’t know until I returned to it just recently…if you create an account and mark some favorites it will recommend more comics for you. See:
This is especially important if, like me, you find yourself kickin around the interweb looking for something new to gawk at.
But lets not fool ourselves by thinking that the Webcomic list is the only such engine out there.
Belfry webcomics index isn’t just a list and recommendation machine, it is also a forum and has an area where members can share reviews of comics.
Komix! also indexes webcomics and provides a way for users to bookmark their place in each comic they are reading.
Comic Rocket also offers bookmarking by importing the entire site of a webcomic within a frame that keeps track of the last page read and any pages the reader has saved.
And let us not forget webcomic hosting sites like smackjeeves, where webcomickers without sites of their own, or perhaps to tap into the community, can post. Webcomic hosting platforms often come with a rating mechanism, track most popular comics, and include forums for discussion. I mention only one here; be aware, there are many. So go forth and read comics.
Valentin & The Widow
Do you like Ms. Marple? Detective stories? Old time radio shows? I haven’t given Valentin & The Widow as much attention as it deserves, yet, but even the tiniest listen shows it is something special. In addition to buying the books in various formats you can listen to them read to you: Valentin & The Widow – Paris Pas De Deux: The Complete Audio Collection.
URBANCE
Dystopian future animated movie: URBANCE looks fabulous. Go look! Go look!
printing addiction
I never knew how much I needed to have physical volumes of my comics until I made a print order. They are so much more real now…I can put them on my shelves and begin filling a library full of me! I realized after Levi Levi Chapter One and the Monster Girl’s School Zine came in the mail that I have many more finished chapters and comics living ethereal lives in digital form.
I printed up the short comics of the lot myself: Lighthousemen of Eilean Mor, Death Goes to Octoberfest, Grimm’s The Wolf and 7 Kids, and Flip Side. These are really just mock ups, but don’t they look pretty with Levi Levi and the Monster Girls? Ooh, and my Levi Levi stickers came yesterday.
Tattoo is my choose your own adventure story, also a mock up. I sew bound it with some glue support but then cheated and used duct tape to cover the spine.
Perhaps I will take my short comic mock ups to the copy store. I am starting work on making the first chapters of No Evil and Unlikely Bedfellows print ready as well. Soon I will have an entire table’s worth of comics for sale.
Wolf and bunny
I’m not prone to drawing anthropomorphic animals, but these two just came out of nowhere and demanded that I give them some space. That and, I got to try out some environments I have been drawing.
You see, I had this idea, that for a bunch of the character drawings that I do, I could have them live in a world of environmental drawings and after assembling the two, wind up with pictures that are more complete than either picture is alone. Yes, it’s kind of cheating and no, I’m not going to do it with everything.
I really like how the two dancing pictures came out, the stability of the background really makes it look like the two characters have moved across the floor. I’m sure I could’ve done that manually, but this was easier. Another added bonus to assembling character and environment drawings is that sometimes you are forced to crop and re size in a way that results a photographic quality, where shoulders, feet, and outstretched limbs are cut off in order to capture the middle of the arrangement. It makes me think of how many painters where inspired by photographic framing after Daguerreotypes came to popularity.
As you’ll see with Levi Levi on Thursday, I am trying something new that is similar to this for the flashback portion of the story. I am really liking the results too.
Coming up
Now that fall semester has started again and chaos of midterms and first projects starts to blend with the warm feeling of the approaching holidays, it’s time for artists, comickers, and writers to commit to insane goals. Let’s review:
- Inktober: celebration of drawing with ink from October 1 to October 31.
- 24 Hour Comics Day: create a complete 24 comic in 24 hours.
- NaNoWriMo: write a 50,000 novel during the month of November.
- Optionally AcWriMo: November long write-a-thon for academics and scholars.
Are you ready now?
Marcus Trapp
You may have begun to wonder what was happening to good old Marcus Trapp. The idea has not vanished. In fact, it may end up being my magnum opus. One of the things on my list of to dos for Marcus Trapp was some site artwork. How do you like it? It’s kind of hard to draw a character who will look completely different every time he is re-incarnated. I should give him a birthmark and incorporate that into some site artwork too. I mean, a comic ‘s got to have a logo.
Surviving Whole Foods | Kelly MacLean
Surviving Whole Foods | Kelly MacLean = hilarious article.
Marketing me
I was talking with a wonderful and wise friend who’s first thought on seeing my newly printed stack of Levi Levi and the Monster Girls’ School zine was that I should have a table at a comic-con or some such. And I thought, ‘if I were to have a table I would probably need to print up the first chapters of No Evil and Unlikely Bedfellows as well as have some flyers and whatnots so people could remember who I was.’
Well, I haven’t booked a table and I haven’t made any more printing orders, but I have ordered Levi Levi stickers, LeEMS business cards, and made some mini-flyers:
My Daguerreotype Boyfriend
I’ve talked about how I like Daguerreotypes before, so of course My Daguerreotype Boyfriend would be much beloved by me if only to gaze at the marvel of historical science. If you like looking at portraiture of people you don’t know, or you, like me, love a good gander at Daguerreotypes then you should also check out My Daguerreotype Boyfriend.
Cyberoptix TieLab
I found these ties while I was searching for a straight razor tie tack for Richard. Instead, I got him a straight razor tie. The ties at Cyberoptix TieLab are gorgeous and truly do not suck, as they say.
Levi Levi commercial
Okay, so I made a commercial for Levi Levi Chapter One. And I am only hesitant and a little embarrassed because I don’t hear my recorded voice very often.
I am also planning on making a commercial for Chronicles of Plastic Deer, because that’s what people do now a days–make commercials for books and all. And because no one has read it yet and it’s my responsibility as the writer and web master to advertize. And because I had all these drawings of the characters and nothing to do with them…