Dinosaurs Dream

Davi What??

2010-01-23T21:30:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone. I know, long time no see. Long time no new Crossovers page, too, ne? A lot of stuff has happened since I last posted. I've been kinda of keeping up on dA, every now and then, but I took almost a year off there, too. So what happened? Well..

First my landlady went nuts and thought I was a spy so I left really fast like that same day and then it was really hard to get to work and capoeira practice and life just sucked but then I met someone kinda cool and we started dating and then before we knew it we were living together and I also started working at another job in an office for a lawyer and then I got sick and had to have surgery and quit working at that dirty cafe and started working at a nice clean cupcake place while also trying to keep up with fifteen credits at school so I could stay on my parents' health insurance and then our roommates started stressing us out and also my bf actually had two kids already so we needed our own place so we moved and then the shit hit the fan cause we found out I was pregnant and my parents went berserk and I couldn't afford to stop working so the baby kept wanting to be born and finally I had to go on bed rest and we almost ran out of money cause I wasn't working and then the baby popped out and 3 weeks later I started a new job as a Chinese teacher in the county next to ours which meant a 40 minute commute every morning or more if I had to take the baby to grandma's and then we moved again to a place that was closer to work but farther from everything else so I got really depressed and wanted to kill myself but I didn't I just slept on the couch all day and then finally it was summer but I didn't do anything all summer because of the baby and then school started again and I also signed up for two graduate classes which kinda had to do with my job but they took up tons of time and I never ever got to sleep and then I decided to do NaNoWriMo too which probably saved my life cause it cured my depression at least sort of and then I went back to dA and started drawing again and then I read someone's blog and went oh wait I used to have a blog and yeah so here I am.

Confused?

I am. Never mind. I'm writing and drawing again, that's all that matters. I don't know if/when there will be new Crossovers pages. Right now I'm obsessed with finishing my NaNo novel In Thy Name and making art related to it. I do want to do comics again eventually but maybe not Crossovers and probably not till at least summer. So. In the meantime, check out
my dA account. I might also blog on here though mainly my dA journal serves as my blog these days. Though I dunno..maybe all the really random stuff belongs here. We'll see.

Welcome to the World

2007-05-30T07:52:00.000-05:00

Well..I am purportedly a full-time artist now.
I've been kind of slow getting into it, though. I had to slave over my thesis for a lot longer than I expected (pretty much right up until graduation). After graduation I spent a week doing nothing (except eating. a lot. mostly peanut butter). This week my summer art class began (Art History I) and I've gotten into the full swing of working at Savory. (Oh..I moved closer to DC, right as Juan Valdez closed..but I got another job 3 blocks from my new abode before I even moved here.) Next week I may start working for MITRE Corporation again, too, because I need some $$ to pay rent and start chipping away at my student loans.
I have been reading over a story/thinking about/doing a little storyboarding for something for the short shorts site (though this won't really be that short, in the end..I'm just not cut out for it, I love my worlds and characters too much). I may do some arrangement like I used to have for Crossovers, where I would work on it for at least an hour every day. Perhaps on those long commutes to MITRE :|

Stop the Madness!

2007-03-03T09:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. My real life is sort of out of control right now and I've just been trying to wrest a little time to do some artly things from it. I don't have time to do both comics and other artly things, so while I doodle SSMA characters and make art for deviantArt contests, I've kind of been neglecting comics.... This weekend should hopefully see the completion of that pic (as well as my art homework!!) and the start of the next one (new contest every 2 weeks man! I am going to get my hands on a dA subscription, whatever it takes..), and then I should have a bit of time to devote to short shorts. At work, because at home whenever I'm doing something that's not homework, my mom asks me why I'm not working on my thesis :\

Lost

2007-02-19T14:12:00.000-05:00

Well. Katsucon was fun. I danced a lot and spent a lot of time sitting around in the halls (and also worked eight hours on Saturday >.<). I didn't do any cosplaying, drawing or photographing, which was sad. But I did get super inspired!
Just that, not on Crossovers.
Right now I'm in an art fit over the Lock 33 storyline from the world of SSMA. And I'm trying to think of some short comic storylines.
I feel kinda blah about Crossovers. Maybe it's just because I haven't gotten to the really exciting parts of the story yet. I don't know. I do know that I want to work on other things. And I'm going to do that. I'll see if drawing the characters from Lock 33 will lead to me writing more of that story. And I'm going to start another comic website for short comics, because I need to hone my skills more before I start on some of my really super graphic novel ideas. I'm talking like really short shorts, 2, 3, 4 pages long, just to practice drawing, layout and storytelling. I'll try to keep working on Crossovers, because there are things I like about it, and stories in the Davi world yet to tell; besides, I would hate to disappoint my dear readers--but I don't know how often I'll be updating.
Of course, you guys will now have dA and the short shorts to entertain you :)
Oh right! PLUGXXORZED! new pic on dA

Dead on my sketchbook

2007-02-11T17:21:00.000-05:00

hey, so..sorry, no page this week.
Art class really kicked my ass this week. Stupid gigantic pastel still lifes. I really don't get the point of spending hours coloring a 18x24 sheet of paper. I can learn about shading fruits and vegetables just as well without having to draw them the size of cats or color the whole rest of the paper solid black, thank you very much! >.< I may very well decide not to finish something, cause I like sleep better.
So..so far art class has not turned out very useful for comic drawing. If I can get more research done at home, maybe I can try after-work before-capeoira lounging (napping :/) time instead. Otherwise, I don't know when I'll do it. Home is not suitable cause the feng shui is bad or something, I'm so unmotivated at home. I think it really is the feng shui..the lack of space. All my stuff is crammed onto the kitchen table. Computers, research materials, art stuff, reading books, things I want to do something with at some point..So I can never spread out my sketchbook, sit back and revel in my mental and spatial freedom..instead I sit there with a million things impinging on my consciousness and just drown in the confusion!
Perhaps I'm a little adhd :/
Ok so anyway I'll try to get some drawing done around work this week..as katsucon is next weekend. One of the shift supervisors expressed interest in seeing my work..maybe that can get me motivated.

Back in Business, Baby!

2007-02-07T22:51:00.000-05:00

Yeah so adding to the list of things that get in the way of my drawing the comic..I have a job now. I'm working as a barista at Juan Valdez Cafe..which is a pretty cool place. Very sustainable development and fair trade-y..so I can feel good even as I spur on the American consumer lifestyle. Yes! It's also another of those jobs that leaves your feet sore, your skin smelling like grease and your whole self so tired you just wanna sleep forever on the Metro (or go to capoeira practice? O.o) And coffee..whee. I can just feel my bones dissolving. Osteoporosis my love..I'll sleep in your sweet embrace.
Anyway..back at the ranch..I haven't had a chance to work on page 23 yet, because I toiled through all class today and Monday, shading a gigantic pastel still life. Soo delicious. And by delicious I mean horrendous. I need to buy softer pastels; the black and gray I have simply don't stick to the paper, for some reason. (At least my white was behaving itself.) So, I have to finish that by Monday. *And* do a gigantic portrait of a bell pepper. And do four sketches of bottles of liquid (don't ask me..it was the teacher's idea)
But, I will try to have page 23 by Friday. Cause I have to go to Gtown then anyway to buy my cap and gown. Aiya, my savings! :( Somebody should sue Jostens for their outrageous prices on articles made for 25 cents in China and their silly bourgeouis class rings.
So, I guess I should go draw now (or maybe sleep....)
Oh yeah and I wanted to explain my new and exciting characters page. Why, you might ask, are there random facts on there like the color and consistency of Maria's hair? Well..rather than making some silly summaries of things you could surmise about the characters just by reading the comic,I decided instead to give y'alls some insight into their inner lives by including random lines from my character profiles. I wanted to know more about my characters than just what they looked like, so I asked them to fill out one of those email surveys (actually, I think I got it on Elftown..) So far I only have Maria's and Eugene's. As other characters (some of whom have already appeared anonymously..) become more prominent, I'll have to start pressing them for details about their personal lives to fill out the rest of the profiles..
So yeah. I'll update everyone's excerpts every time I add a character, just to entertain you lot.
Now, I'm going to entertain my poor tired self by going to bed >.<

Wainbow Tyres...

2007-02-04T00:17:00.000-05:00

I think only one person who would read this would know what that means. and she probably forgot about it. Oh well :p
Anyway, I finally did for the Crossovers site; it's purdy and pastel-colored now. I..didn't intend for it to have such a pastelly color scheme, but I'm just gonna leave it for now. It was a coloring experiment that didn't turn out quite as expected.. (I don't think I've ever cg'ed something before..not since the pixel-painting MS Paint era..) Maybe sometime I'll feel like trying my hand at it again. Until then..I give you pastelicious Muharu and the cotton-candy colored website....
I guess I have to do a 'realistic' pic of Muharu to make up for that..since he's actually dark grayish in color and kind of gothy in personality. tehe. (Originally the color scheme of the website was gray and green..but I liked the sketchy Muharu so much that I kept it and its attendant color scheme.
If I had more readers I would make several versions and put them to a vote..but with my readership, I'd probably get one vote for each version..and then I'd have to decide anyway.
Well, I pick the lazy option. Leave it the way it is :p

Time Travel

2007-02-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

Notice anything different?? Like..that my blog grew exponentially? :D
I retroactively added all the updates from the old homepage (enjoy it now before it disappears forever!!) as blog posts..so, if you were going..huh? she just started her blog a month ago, how come there are posts from 2004??? well that's where they came from. They are all labeled ODL!!ll..no, actually they are just labeled "old". Augh. Elf Only Inn (back when M'Lady, Goku etc. were more regular characters) had a terrible influence on my English :(
Well..mostly the old updates consist of excuses for why I wasn't updating on schedule..but there were a few interesting tidbits. I (re)found punkvoter.com and a useful page on copyright (conveniently marked at the section most relevant to my comic..cause it's the part that says yes, EVERYTHING is copyrighted the moment it's made). Also, the FLYING BAGEL OF DOOM!!
Ah, the good ole days.

Photoshop is for n00bs

2007-02-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

Finished page 22 and have it all set up to update automatically at the stroke of midnight.
I thought it'd be more convenient just to upload the page directly from school..instead of emailing it to myself so I could basically just add text at home before uploading it.
Boy was that ever a terrible idea.
Cause it meant I had to use Photoshop.
Which doesn't rotate layers, or selections..but the whole image. No matter what. >.< >.< >.<
And also only lets you undo about ten times.
>.< >.< >.<
I'm just gonna have to figure out how to install the GIMP on this machine..else I'll just have to keep sending the pages home to finish them off.
Oh yes and the scanner..teh suxxorz. Top of the page is dark, bottom is light. And everything is all smooth and grayed out looking.
I'm going to go crazy if this has to keep up much longer!!!!!

Arrrggghravation

2007-01-29T23:33:00.000-05:00

It has not been a good day for art.
Mostly.
We had a homework assignment due for Intro to Drawing today..and since I only got my materials yesterday, I started it this morning. Pastels, pos/neg space; I was gonna take a photo and post it, but by the time my camera batteries were charged, the light was no good, and using an artificial light caused blinding glare off the fixative (more 'bout that in a bit..), and now the teacher has claimed it.. But anyway, so when I left for my driving lesson, I picked up the pastel drawing, but I left some newsprint lying on the floor. Terrible idea! You see, our dogs are a bit..well, spontaneous about doing their business, so we often leave newspapers on the basement floor to minimize the damage. And with the newsprint lying there, I guess Mozie thought his litterbox had moved upstairs..because when I came back, there was a puddle there. Right by my backpack. Which contained my comic sketchbook. Yes..my comic sketchbook now has dog pee along the bottom edge >.<
It's been such a crazy day, even up till now I haven't had a chance to fully assess the damage. At first glance, it seemed relatively minor. But still..I think I have to trash that sketchbook, save the comic pages if I can and cut off any..er..colored parts..
That wasn't the end of it, though. That pastel drawing? I spent about three or four hours on it total. It wasn't great, but it looked pretty good, and pretty much like what the teacher had indicated. Then I went to spray it with fixative. Well..I don't know if I sprayed too heavily or what..but by the time I was done, the whole thing looked chunky and nasty, like it had been done with crayola crayons or something! I was upset for quite a while. I even tried coloring over the fixative, but that didn't work so well.
I was sure everyone would scoff at my gunky drawing and the teacher would have some harsh words. Turned out my terrors were unfounded, though. This is gonna sound terrible but most of the other kids' homework assignments looked like they were made by elementary schoolers. They didn't even follow the teacher's directions. I guess there are only a few people in that class who actually know or care about drawing..this may be a long semester :\
But anyway. At least a new page goes up today! And page 22 is almost done.

It's over! It's over! Strongbad says it's over!

2007-01-26T19:31:00.000-05:00

Everybody died 'cept me.
Well, thats not true really..Actually I think most people passed driver's ed. Congrats to them, congrats to me. I have one more in-car lesson next week and then I'm done (so it's not really over..but having to go to that dumb class where we do nothing for half the time is now SO LAST WEEK!!11
Which is a shame because in the past few days I got more work done on my comic, there, than I have in the past few weeks. Almost two pages in as many days. Which takes a lot of empty time and boredom, believe me! (I paid $295 to lounge in a chair reading and drawing?? WTF?)
So yeah. Maddening pace of page drawings. But I've heard that a mangaka has to be able to do a page a day, so maybe I should try to keep it up. Yeah, and not have a life and not finish my thesis! As if! But still..it's inspiring. If I could do just a quarter of that speed, not only could I update on time every week, I'd be working way ahead!
So. Things look good for the comic right now. Page 21 is pretty much done..it needs to be markered, but that hardly counts, cause it's just a swish and a swoosh and it's done. Page 22 is almost all drawn (just the gorilla guy is missing..you'll see what I mean when it's up) and that means it's practically done..cause inking and coloring, while requirous of time, don't really require a lot of thinking. And it's the thinking that always dissuades me from starting a new page :p So. I will take those two with me to Gtown on Sunday and scan, then you will get one new page immediately, and one sneak peek of the other, which will update automatically on Friday!
Yayxx.
God, I hope I can keep this productive streak up.

Updatxxorz

2007-01-24T02:20:00.000-05:00

It's so long since I've used these silly spellings that I've forgotten how to do them. Is that right?
I finally got everything scanned and fixed up (as best I could after MK's lone scanner did a number on the page), and Crossovers is supposed to update at some point tonight..the update queue on ComicGen is always ginormous in the middle of the night, since that's when most automatic updates are scheduled. I'm going to sleep and I'll just have to see tomorrow whether the page is all right.
I did apply to Borders, finally. What a massive application! And it included a 37-question personality quiz. I'm terrified that now they won't hire me because they'll find out I'm introverted, temperamental, perfectionist and self-centered. Augh!!

Yayxx

2007-01-23T00:22:00.000-05:00

Some good news..I've pretty much finished up page 20 (though it's in a couple pieces..I'll just have to patch those together..) but, hay problemo: the scanner is broken. My sister's cat jumped off it, it fell down, and the port for the USB connector broke. But tomorrow I'm off on a quest to MK, where there may be scanners. If not, I'll just have to grit my teeth and go to Kinko's (yes, I hold a grudge).
I also have a nice picture (well..I think nice..since I haven't really drawn anything in about a year) but again..the scannerlessness. It also is in pieces as I made a mistake and have to patch it. Augh. the skill-less-ness.
Life is..inching along. It's the last (well..second..but also last!) week of driver's ed, and I get my in-car instruction out of the way this week too, despite weather and time management mishaps. I went to capoeira (and a capoeira party..) and am looking forward to going again next week, or even Saturday if I can change my art class. The art class is confusing me as I already adjusted to it being Saturday, and now can't figure out which time to change it to. And then..there are some assignments I need to get motivated to work on. And then there's the job, too, that I still have to apply for. I feel kind of like life is ganging up on me! Filling up my time..when I would really like to be free to pursue people aspects of my life. Well, whatever. It'll all work out somehow!

Uh..what now?

2007-01-19T21:21:00.000-05:00

Well, I am running out of excuses. Other than that driving school takes up an inordinate amount of time in the middle of the day, which makes getting things done a big bowl of blargh.
Well, next week "school" starts (even though I don't have class until Saturday) so maybe I'll buckle down. And go back to those freakin schedules! I obviously need them. But seriously..the past few days I've been all over the place, with appointments and errands and all sorts of goodness. And without a car it all takes forever.
Besides that I'm feeling bummed about my art again. None of it is actually significant in any kind of way I feel: So I drew a pretty picture. So what? So I wrote a story about some elves running around and fighting each other. So what? They're all just idle fantasies, something people look at for a moment and then forget about. I don't want to be another Mercedes Lackey or Anne McCaffrey! (No matter how famous that will make me..) I want to change the world. So why do I just keep drawing pretty elves?? Why do I write silly stories about demons and faerie, and not really important stuff?? Am I doomed to be a hack???????

Oops, I didn't do it..again

2007-01-15T10:12:00.000-05:00

Well, some update.
I'm working on it though. Yesterday I drew something...not at all comic related, but hopefully it'll help me get me going again. Actually, I started drawing something; I did the figure doodle, today I have to trace it and add features and clothes. So I guess that's what I'll be doing...
I was supposed to go to Montgomery College (community college around here) to register for an art class..then I realized they're closed today for MLK Jr. Day. I was a bit flustered because I thought it was the last day to register. Then I realized that it was just the payment deadline for people who already registered; but since I hadn't, I was safe. phew.
Oh yes and I'm learning to drive. I went round and round a parking lot yesterday. whee. I think I can hold the car inside the lane now, aren't you proud of me? XD

Can you believe i am using my thesis to procrastinate..

2007-01-11T13:37:00.000-05:00

Yes, I really am. Rather than draw or answer emails, I am..looking up Chinese scholarly articles on zhezixi (opera highlights) and "The Palace of Eternal Life" (an opera). Super blargh. Those who know me know I can only do one thing at a time. Two weeks ago the something was my comic and its website. Last week it was indeterminate and thus I was depressed and unmotivated. Now it's my thesis. Yargh.
This is why I tried to use a schedule. Forces me to break up my time into chunks. Spend some time on checking work email, some on research, some on my comic..only whenever I started on something obsessorizing like my website, I didn't stop after the alloted time was up....And now I haven't used a schedule in, like..a week..and thusly, not much has got done..
I guess I'd better schedule some time for my comic. I'm sure I can update tomorrow if I really try....

mnarf?

2007-01-09T00:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't get page 20 done before I went to Pittsburgh.
But, I am back from Pittsburgh now. And motivated.
What a wild..72..I think..hours it has been. More, if you count what led up to this..fiasco. It didn't go so badly, actually. At the start at least. For last minute planning and not letting certain involved parties have a say in said planning, it came off pretty well. But I think I was expecting too much, tried too hard and wasn't very patient. I got frustrated and in a fit of upset decided to come home. The day after I got there. I still can't figure out if I did right or not. I feel like perhaps not. But what's done is done..
And how life changes. A couple of hours ago I couldn't have imagined working on my comic. But since seeing my site mentioned on my favorite webcomic, I think I'd better.
Perhaps some more concept art to put me back in the creative mood. I have some Davi characters I've been wanting to draw forever..
Also, my dad suggested another (not so) secret mission. Not going to say much more other than that it appeals to me immensely! Am I little bit obsessed? Possibly. But this is it..I can't give up..and I won't. So there.
Feeling good enough to even work on my thesis now!

Off to see the wizard..

2007-01-06T17:32:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I wish.
But actually, I am going somewhere. I'm leaving for Pittsburgh tomorrow on a top secret mission to save my love life. So..the comic and site upgrade will be on hiatus for about a week. I'll try to finish page 20 tonight before I leave. It'll be just like before I was leaving for Hong Kong, except much more tragic :\
I don't really have much else to report. I think I spent most of yesterday reading about driving laws, cause I hoped to get my learner's permit this Monday. Well, that will have to wait. Sorry Greg. and thanks too.

Blargh..

2007-01-05T10:28:00.000-05:00

As in, blargh, an expression of exasperation, not blarg, the new code word for blog..
So, looks like page 20 won't be on time. It's nearly done but I'm severely lacking motivation. Right now, I don't want to do anything; I just want to run off and join the Coast Guard. Or at least go get some books from the library and read about my wonderful future.
Since all the fun things, like my bday and new year's, ended last weekend, I've been feeling singularly depressed. Now there's nothing to look forward to except long dreary months of writing my paper. God, how I wish now I had never applied to write it. What was I thinking??!!
And something else is dampening my spirits too..but I still have a last-ditch plan to try and fix that..just have to figure out how to get to Frederick without a car >.<

And out with the old!

2007-01-02T23:02:00.000-05:00

Well, almost. The new site is almost ready to go. I worked on it most of the day (though I did do some other things first! Yes, I have discovered the secret of getting things done..do them before you start working on something compulsive-making like the website or devArt.
Ah yes devArt. I started uploading some of my work there in preparation for Katsucon, because I wanted to buy prints to sell in Artist Alley through dA because I have a grudge against Kinko's. Then I found out that Artist Alley was full and we didn't get in. Boo.
Oh well. Not like I have much to show off anyway. 20 pages of a comic, like 5 print-worthy pics all from several years ago.. Yeah. I had better put the 7 months until Otakon to good use. Especially if I'm going to join the Coast Guard or go to Taiwan after that!!
Ok, in other news I finished the sketch of page 20 yesterday. Aside from the two panels featured in the preview, I'm not too pleased with it. Trouble implementing my vision. Blargh.
Well, I'm going to try and take an art class this spring. I haven't "studied" art since elementary school. Scary, right??!! I feel like I could use some help with my human figures and other things, and am too lazy to take my destiny in my own hands, so I'll just hand it over to a teacher lol.
Ok, I think that's all. A belated happy new year to y'all!

Happy birthday to me!

2006-12-29T14:57:00.000-05:00

Yay, it's my bday. I'm 21, yay me.
The update went up with no problemos. Not much progress on page 20 though. Not enough to even post a sneak peek (unless you want to see my page layout..) cause all my sketches so far are in blue pencil.
Ah right, I discovered the joys of blue pencil earlier this week when I was doing page 19. This way I don't have to erase my figure doodles when I draw the real pictures. The only problem is that the blue pencil is so light, I have to press pretty hard and it leaves dents in the paper. Oh well..
Anyway..I started figuring out how to redesign the comic pages, so that may be looking good sometime soon. Not today though. Lots of madness planned for today. Lasertag, dinner, cake and drinks. And my friend's bday is tomorrow, so there should be even more madness forthcoming.
Well, I have a whole week to the next update day, right. At least I'm not on one of the grinds! Haha!
(the Daily Grind / the Lazy Grind)

This close to quiting Blarger..

2006-12-27T15:30:00.000-05:00

This site has been giving me hell all afternoon. Posts not showing up, not letting me log in..If it weren't for the fact that I'm too lazy to do all the set-up all over again on a different site, I'd have left Blogger's ass by now.
Hm. I guess the blarg is not G-rated :p
Anyway, I was going to make the big announcement that I finished page 19 and scheduled it as an automated update for Friday, and that was supposed to be exciting because I've never been so on top of things with this comic in living memory. It's probably because things have pretty much ended with a certain someone and so I've just been at home working on my comic for a week.
I did look for a job yesterday..at one store, the comics store in the mall near my house. They weren't hiring. So I guess I have to go work at Borders. Yay for giving in to the evil corporations. At least it's not Starbucks.
I also have to start working on my thesis eventually. Maybe I'll start today. Keep myself busy. I thought I was over him, but since coming home and having to see him, I'm a wreck again. (That "terrible relationship experience"? Yeah, it got better for a while, and then I messed up..several times..and lost the love of my life.) Oh well. I just have to keep doing things and maybe someday I'll be happy again.

Aloha

2006-12-25T15:47:00.000-05:00

It is my blarg. Welcome. Soon I'll transfer all my old ramblings here for safekeeping...and all new musings about how RL keeps getting in the way of my comic will also go here. And, I will make it look more like the rest of the site. I guess.

12/24/06

2006-12-24T15:10:00.000-05:00

So who is this cute little kid?
This is what I was doing Friday when you all wish I had been working on page 18 and 19. This is Antasha, a character who shows up later. I felt kind of bummed about the comic, like I was just slapping together pages to get them done, and I wasn't happy about that, so I thought I'd better play around for a bit to get some creativity and fun back into it. So I did some concept sketches of the Davi and some characters. So now I must needs add an art page to my site, so that you all won't feel left out of all the sketchy madness.
And in hopes of fan art XD I asked Ulrich for Crossovers fanart for my birthday, but she said she would do yaoi fanart of these (sadly neglected) guys instead. O.o
And well I did manage to get page 18 up today. Page 19 is all sketched up and page 20 is plotted, but I'm holding off on those as I want to try and build up a buffer. Because as we all know, real life is not kind to my comic.
Well, I still have to bake star tarts for my family, so I'd better get going. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, a belated happy Winter Solstice to all the pagans out there and joyous December to most everyone else!

12/21/06

2006-12-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

The homepage of the new site is ready! It even works on two different browsers. Ah the joys of CSS. I guess I'm just going to have to convert my readers to Firefox and Opera..
To be fair to my dear readers, I think I'll try to finish a comic page or two before I keep working on the site. Kinda alternate between the two. If I can find the motivation :p I love doing webdesign--well of course I love my comic too, just that I don't draw as much as I should and so I have to work pretty hard at it to make it nice. Oh well. Maybe I can do something about that this spring..
Anyway, so how about an update schedule! Something this comic hasn't seen in a while. I used to do Fridays, so let's give it a try..look for a new page tomorrow!

12/09/06

2006-12-09T15:08:00.000-05:00

Well, I did put something up on 110mb (and if my mom knew she'd kill me..) It's nothing fancy, the main point of looking at it may be to see the sketch for the new graphic. That caught your attention, right?
Madly writing my seminar paper. I decided to stay on another semester and write an honors thesis then, but I won't be taking any classes..and my two exams next week will be pretty easy..so once I turn in this paper on Monday, I'm done! Then I can finally make some nice things for y'alls to look at.
Oh, and the tagboard seems to have fallen off the edge of the world again. But I don't have time to fix it now..I'll take care of it when I do the site revamp.

11/26/06

2006-11-26T15:04:00.000-05:00

Haha! Screem is so convenient. I might never have to type a close bracket again. :D
Now if it would just include the slash automatically. And insert breakline tags automatically. And...
Anyways..a belated Happy Thanksgiving, to those who celebrate it, and speedy writing to those participating in NaNoWriMo (I'm not. stupid thesis.), and to everyone else..enjoy your last few days of November! (And if you don't use the Gregorian calender..then I don't know what to tell you.)
Well, my dad and I had Thanksgiving dinner, and I made *two* pies (but I don't get to brag about making pumpkin pie from scratch this year, cause the stores were all out of pumpkins :( ). And then I signed up for a site on 110mb.com. See, you knew comic stuff was going to show up sooner or later :p Well, according to their regulations I'm supposed to have a "functioning homepage" within 15 days. My thesis is also due in 15 days! I don't know how this is going to work out :(
Well, I guess I can throw something up there. As if I wasn't spending enough time procrastinating on Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders. Well, I work best under pressure anyway. Um, or, I only work under pressure. heh.
So, keep an eye out for the new site within the next two weeks....
Oh yeah, and just in case you didn't notice, I'm on hiatus. My undergraduate thesis. But it will be over soon..I hope.

09/11/06

2006-09-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

First of all, I am so sorry about those terrible popups. Things didn't used to be like this, believe me. Anyway, the site is moving to 110mb.com (totally AD FREE) next week. Their registration is closed for updates now, otherwise the site would be moving right now! As it is, you'll just have to bear with me until then (I don't think people are urgently checking this site anyway :p)
During that week's wait I'll probably get the site redesign done. Yes, I'm doing at over, again. I learned about the wonders of CSS recently, and want to clean up my site. (Though it's pretty clean already. A very simple table, some pictures and text. Worry not, I can simplify further. I will amaze you all with the presentation I can put on with the barest html.....)
And now, the part you are all waiting for--where's the next page, and what's that doodle up there? That, my friends, is a half-finished panel from the page 18 that I began in June. Yes, page 18, in the works. Yes, IN JUNE. What happened between then and the page appearing on ComicGen, you might ask? Well, two summer classes and a full-time job is what happened. Lame excuse, I know. I was also trying to get used to speaking English again and getting over a really terrible relationship experience, if that helps.
Anyway, so I'm back at school now, playing with the website again, and if you're lucky, there'll be an unmarkered sketchy page by the end of this week. Unmarkered because I forgot my marker paper at home, and don't even know where it is, actually. Possibly ~~Linda~~ Ulrich took it.

06/12/06

2006-06-12T14:56:00.000-05:00

Or I can keep procrastinating until I set off for China again, where I have no time to work on a comic, and a language pledge that prohibits me from using English to boot...
Which is pretty much what happened.
I did have this idea to make some comics in Chinese which I might or might not be allowed to provide translations for, but I never thought of a story, so that never got off the ground. I did start writing a short story in Chinese, but it was not comic material.
Anyway, so I spent the semester studying in Harbin in northeastern China, as well as visiting some other places (photos here!). At first, I was so bummed about not being able to read or write in English or communicate with my friends or bf that I just studied a lot to try and get rid of my depression. Then I realized that the workload was so humongous that I really did need to study 24/7 just to get close to getting everything done (I think this is because I always had tons of reading. Reading for literature class, reading for newspaper class, reading for my one-on-one research project class...and consulting the dictionary every other word in the beginning...) Then I made some friends and started this bad habit of not studying and staying up till 4 in the morning chatting. And then during finals week I hardly slept at all and did badly on my oral, but the continuous party (and the sound sleep on the train to Beijing, lol) more than made up for it.
So that's what I was doing instead of working on my comic. Now I'm home, taking two classes at GU this summer and starting work next week. Work will be a doozy if I have to go in to the office every day, as it is ~2 hours away from my house by bus and train and bus again. That time could be put to use for comic drawing if it weren't for the constraints of rush hour public transportation; as it is, considering what my work will be (translation) I doubt I'll even want to read by the end of the day...
That pretty much leaves weekends and late evenings for the comic. And class time, of course! I always find I'm most inspired and motivated when I'm in class, for some reason. I've theorized before that it has something to do with the forced idleness of my hands and mind. Any other time I could find something else to do (and usually do), but when I'm stuck in class, with only half my brain occupied by what the teacher is saying, there are few things I can do to occupy the other half, asides from writing or drawing. Ironically, this kind of distraction helps me pay attention, as it keeps my mind from wandering too far or from just shutting down altogether and going to sleep.
So, teachers, please don't take offense! If you see me drawing, it's not because I find your class boring--quite the contrary, I love it and so want to make sure I stay awake! Just like I have to listen to music when I study (or paint, for that matter), I have to keep my mind occupied in class as well; I just get distracted too easily!
Well, with all that said, it seems like there is hope that some comic pages will finally make it onto paper and eventually onto the web. As long as my linguistics class is not too enthralling, lol.

01/07/06

2006-01-07T14:55:00.000-05:00

Um, yeah.
Then this uber-difficult class called Fiction and Film killed my free time...er, what little free time was left after I spent most of it bumming around in the dorm with my friends ^_^ Constructive use of time all right....It's just that I hadn't had a weekend in two years, and so I had no idea what to do with them!! Hence, I didn't do much. Including working on the comic :\ Didn't even look at the site for the last few months...then I come back to see that the tagboard has died. *tear*
Now I'm back stateside, and knee deep in more Chinese fiction...going through it with a dictionary and collecting confusing bits to ask my friends or teachers about...and kind of procrastinating on the comic, Star Wars rpg, contacting my friends, and all kinds of other good stuff. ATM I'm obsessing about a *censored*, and then the next thing on my list is to hit up Eastern Market for some things to send to my flatmates back in HK, and maybe after that I can start thinking about my comic again.
Send me hate mail, I need some motivation here!!

09/20/05

2005-09-20T14:54:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I lied. I don't know what I did all last week, but it wasn't comic drawing. Actually, I lied again, cause I do know what I did--I talked with my boyfriend on internet phone every free moment, and on the weekend I played with my friends. And I almost didn't finish my homework.
But to make up for it, today I happened upon scanners in the main campus library! So I can give you pencil sketches of my pages, if nothing else :D

09/11/05

2005-09-11T14:52:00.000-05:00

*sigh* It's that day again...though no one around here seems to notice. Sad Sept. 11, everybody.
Anyway, I finally got all my classes sorted out, I have two Mandarin classes (one for reading, one for speaking), a Cantonese class (Elementary Cantonese for Putonghua Speakers :\), a Japanese class (Japanese through Media...right now we just read newspaper articles, but eventually we get to watch anime!) and a class on Chinese music to fulfill a requirement. Since each class is only once a week, homework load is not bad at all. I spent a lot of time last week, however, doing reading for the Chinese music class. It was a gigantic reading assignment, though, and I don't think we have anything more on that scale, so comic work should be forthcoming soon!

09/01/05

2005-09-01T14:52:00.000-05:00

Wow, I'm in Hong Kong! I'm so incredibly tired at the moment that I can't really think of anything to say. Nothing hugely exciting has happened anyway, mostly just administrative junk here on campus. And a lot of transiting around campus because the place is frickin huge. And on a mountain nonetheless. So yeah. Right now I'm just trying to register for classes and get all my stuff in order. Tomorrow we have to switch dorms :\ And I have to go and see if I can finally register for a Cantonese course. As in, probably no comic tomorrow. We'll see about the weekend/next week. *whisper* I hear classes here are pretty easy...so I should have plenty of time to draw my comic, without cutting into my time for enjoying HK. Right? Right. Ok, I'm off to sleep now.

07/29/05

2005-07-29T14:50:00.000-05:00

ComicGenesis is up again, you can read the comic anyway. But the tools for fiddling with the site are down, so I don't know when the new page will go up, maybe midnight (ftp and automatic updates are still working).
Cause yes, I did upload a new page! Not two like I promised, but one's a start, right? Actually, I decided I'm going to drop back down to one update a week already, for a couple of reasons: 1. I don't seem to be able to make two pages a week, I think because I keep insisting on doing other things like running, studying Cantonese, reading books, reading webcomics, napping, going to karate and cooking, to name a few, instead of drawing. 2. Three weeks out of four in August will be even more full of non-comic life (one because of karate camp and the other two because my boyfriend will finally be back in town), and I haven't even been able to start on a buffer for that time, or for when I leave for HK (and I'll need to add reviewing Mandarin and Japanese to my list of non-comic duties soon as well...) So, basically, I can't keep up this pace. I am not a super-fast mangaka. :( Sad me.

07/28/05

2005-07-28T14:46:00.000-05:00

Keenspace aka ComicGenesis seems to be down atm, so if you're trying to access the comic and it's not working, don't come after me :b This is really annoying because I want to make birthday art for Dutch of School Spirit (hopefully that link will be working soon :b) but I'm not sure what the characters look like. And he lives in Australia so it's already Friday there. RARGH!! Get your *** back on online, silly servers!!!
Um, yeah. Yesterday's update is still in progress. I could use the excuse of ComicGen being down, but the truth is I haven't traced and shaded the page yet cause I spent last night chatting with a buddy I hadn't talked to in a while and checking out his comic, Spare Time (I know, useless atm, but hey, maybe in a few hours it'll be working again? At which point you should all read it cause it's hilarious) And now I'm working on Dutch's birthday art. Not like I could upload a new page now anyway. So maybe there will be a double update tomorrow. Until then...check out the links page and go read a comic that's not on Keenspace. ComicGen, whatever. Just don't forget to come back in a while, they might fix it at any moment :b

07/27/05

2005-07-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

'K, no new page yet, but I should have one later today. (If not, slap me! :b) Instead, I've been spirffing up the site again. I decided the graphics were too big and the navigation links confusing, so I tried to fix it a bit. If anyone stumbles by, let me know what you think on the tagboard there.

07/22/05

2005-07-22T14:44:00.000-05:00

Yay, on a regular update schedule. Kind of. Wednesdays and Fridays works all right, when I'm home to draw the comics. Going to Pittsburgh for a week was not conducive to that though. But now I think all is well and comics will go up regularly twice a week. I might cut it back down to once a week if it looks like I won't be able to cover the next couple of busy spots (karate camp and departure for Hong Kong). Hopefully I can make enough of a buffer to cover those though. Anyway, after I go to HK (end of August) I'll definitely go back to updating once a week. Not spending all my time in the coolest city on earth drawing comics! :b

07/06/05

2005-07-06T14:41:00.000-05:00

The cover for the whole comic is finally done!! I couldn't wait to show it off, so I just replaced the yucky old chapter 1 cover with it. Soon there will also be a prologue and new cover for Chapter 1.
My progress may seem slow, but I really don't do much other than work on this comic all day. Drawing, painting, planning, sketching. Sometimes napping, going to karate, reading webcomics, or listening to my Cantonese tapes. Working on the weekends. No life really, though. But I'm not complaining, I like my easy life! :D
Now that all the tough stuff like the site and the cover are done, I'm going to try to set up and stick to an update schedule. Right now I'm thinking Wednesday and Friday. We'll see how well that works out.

06/29/05

2005-06-29T14:40:00.000-05:00

New page 3 with the bootifull new 'castle in the sky.' I also sketched page 11, *and* I'm pretty much done composing a Prologue in my head which I just need to get down on paper.
I also have to scan my whole comic all over again.
Because realizing that Paintshop's resizer was not as craptastical as I had believed, I decided to begin scanning my pics at a higher dpi and resizing them, which results in much nicer lines. So now I have to do that for all 9 pages (other than page 3). Oh and I have to draw a new cover, and fix a couple other things :\
It never ends. I thought once I had the site up I could relax and just draw my comic. Nope! That would've been too easy.
Well, I'm tired of sitting in front of the computer, so I'm going to go and do something else for a while. Maybe draw one of those gazillions of things I need to get done :|

06/28/05

2005-06-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

W00t! The new site is online. Finally. I hope it looks nice, cause it took forever to set up. It's better than the old one, anyway.
Well, I bet you're sitting there going, "oh, new site, fine and dandy. but when are we going to see some new COMIC PAGES???"
geez, calm down. Maybe today if I can get up the motivation to sketch, trace and color a page all in one day (not likely unless very caffeinated, very high on crazy music, or feeling very guilty about not having updated for so long...all of which are actually quite possible today :b) and otherwise, tomorrow. My plan for the summer is to work on the comic every morning, after Cantonese tapes, before lunch and...I don't know, I haven't done anything anything else for a while. I've been working on the website every free moment for nearly a week now.
So. Anyway. In other news, I just read Vol. 1 of David Mack's Kabuki yesterday. DAMN!! What an awesome comic. He would have me horrified and laughing at the same time. And sometimes I would look at a page and just gasp because it was so...I don't know. Not beautiful, but...it just came together so perfectly. The art wasn't just there to show the action, but it was really art. I know all comics are *supposed* to be art, but most of them (however much I still love them :b) just don't have that level of complexity and symbolism. Wow. As though I didn't feel inadequate enough already :b
That said...I haven't yet listened to my Cantonese tapes today! So, before I slave away even more for this project, I have to go and do that or it'll be tomorrow before I know it!

06/22/05

2005-06-22T14:36:00.000-05:00

Extra, extra, read all about it! New Crossovers page!!!!
So, yeah, finally, an update. There should be two revised pages as well within the next few days, and then new pages and new pages and more new pages! I'm hoping to have Chapter 1 (~40 pages) done by Otakon, just in case I'm going to get an artist table there (highly unlikely). I also like I said want to change the site design, cause Teike there is lovely but just slightly inaccurately drawn now, and the titles are just plain ugly. And the Crossovers keenspace site is HORRENDOUS (besides that I decided I want it to match this site now).
Looks like a have a lot to do, so I should stop babbling here and get to work!

06/21/05

2005-06-21T14:34:00.000-05:00

So much for being 'temporarily motivated'.
I actually was, really, but since it was during National Novel Writing Month there was no way I had the time to do anything about it. I did finish page...8? during the first week of November, and then realized there was no way I was writing 50,000 words by Nov. 31 *and* keeping up with my comic. So the comic dropped for a while...and wasn't picked up again, mostly I think because of the insane assignment load spring semester. I guess that's what I get for taking all humanities classes :\
But anyway! Now it's summer! I finally have time! I have a page I did over spring break as well as some revisions to older pages drawn out, they just need to be traced and colored and should be up soon...
In the meantime, for your entertainment, I have acquired a tagboard! Right now it's under Teike (the links dude on the left), not an ideal place, but since I'm redesigning the site soon anyway it will be relocated shortly. So if you have stopped by, let me know what you think. Cause right now, I have no idea if anyone even reads my comic at all...

10/09/04

2004-10-09T14:28:00.000-05:00

That's the flying bagel from the older version of the newest Crossovers page O.o I complained to my mom that there was a gigantic space on one side, then she asked what's this, pointing to that thing you can see in the bottom left of the picture, and I said, that's Maria's bagel, it fell out of her hand. She said, well make the bagel bigger so it fills up the space. With cream cheese flying off it and stuff. I said, Maria didn't even put cream cheese on her bagel... But since I was going to throw that page out, I drew this on there anyway.
So yeah. My hiatus is hopefully over. Now I'm temporarily motivated again.

08/29/04

2004-08-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

Trying really hard to stay on schedule, but it's not happening.
There's now a picture of Maria on the Characters page, in case you forgot who she is :b
I want to get a tagboard but now I have to go to work.

08/16/04

2004-08-16T14:24:00.000-05:00

Well, now the Keenspace site is pretty much done, not much more to do with it besides putting up lots of comic pages! Got to draw them first, though :/ I put the chapter index in the archive on the Keen site, so the old crossovers.htm page is going bye-bye, and all those lovely links now point to the Keen site.
Palpatine says: "I'm afraid the site will be fully operational when your friends arrive." :b
Also, I've been thinking about Kehanutar...Once school starts I'll see how much time I have and then decide whether to start work on it yet. First, though, I have to get a tagboard, so I can find out if people are interested, cause I'm going to need some "help" on it. Mwahahaha...

08/15/04

2004-08-15T14:22:00.000-05:00

This is a bit of a bs update but oh well. There *are* a few noteworthy things:
1. Page 4 is actually functional today.
2. The Keenspace pages are tiny bit less aesthetically horrifying now.
3. My Elfwood art update has finally gone through! (completely irrelevant, I know, but hey, there might be someone wondering what keeps distracting me from the comic :b )

08/13/04

2004-08-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

And again, long time no update. Well, I was gone for a couple weeks but I know that's no excuse. Anyways, a new page, which will be visible this weekend...and I finally have Crossovers up on Keenspace, see here! I know it's not very beautiful yet, but I'm working on that. Anyways, I don't think I'm going to put too much on the Keenspace site, cause all kinds of links and character infos and background are already on this site. That doesn't mean it has to look like a POS lol but don't worry, I'm working on it. Just too lazy to draw a banner right now that's all ^_^

07/25/04

2004-07-25T14:08:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay. Not only was I not looking forward to drawing page 3 because I hate backgrounds and scenery etc cause I think they're boring ^_^ but also I got distracted by my elves (though the update won't be there for about a week or so because Elfwood is so slow :b). Yesterday, though, I had to defend the very concept of web publication (this *IS* copyrighted, read here) and that reminded me to draw the page lol.
Now I have a Keenspace account but I still have to 1. get the password to work and 2. learn how to use FTP. So until then I'll still have to slave away with manual updates that involve redoing *ALL* the pages every time I upload something. Ja it's a lot of fun :b
Oh, and everyone please register to vote before it's too late. Yes, I mean like in the actual November election. Damned if we have to live another four years under a terrorist. Check out punkvoter.com

07/09/04

2004-07-09T14:07:00.000-05:00

Now a third page of Crossovers is up. I'm really tired, it's past midnight and I have to go to work tomorrow morning, so I will write something witty when I put up the next page.

07/07/04

2004-07-07T14:04:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm working on getting a Keenspace account, but it takes a looong time. So in the meantime I put up a few pages of Crossovers ~~here~~ (you can also click on the two other "Crossovers" links on this page lol) Check back often cause since it's summer I have much time on my hands and the pages will be going up fast and furious!

07/05/04

2004-07-05T14:02:00.000-05:00

Woohoo, I'm finally getting down it to...what I've been looking forward to for nearly a year now...making a webcomic!
Crossovers is actually the third comic I've ruminated upon in the past year, but right now it's the first in line. The schedule will be something like a page a week, but maybe over the summer I can churn out more XD I've already scripted five chapters, so nothin' to do but draw 'em, right?
Kehanutar will have to wait a bit, because not only is that idea barely even developed, but I want to launch Crossovers first, and then maybe start alternating work on them...