Converging to a Center

Bakuman: Manga for Manga-ka, by Manga-ka.

2008-10-28T04:12:00.000-06:00

Elicia has been pressuring me for the last little bit to read Bakuman. It's by Obata! It's about making manga! It'll totally inspire you! Etc. etc. And while anything combining those three things can never be wrong, I was busy with press deadlines and getting ready to head to Anime Banzai and such, so put it on the back burner. But Elicia reminded me of it last night, and since I wasn't tired after Melissa kicked me out of her apartment, I went back up to work to read Bakuman online.

And read the whole amazing thing in one sitting.

Seriously. My eyes were screaming to go to bed, but I couldn't stop until I had read all the scanlations I could find, which amounts to 11 chapters at this point.

There are so many reasons why Bakuman really gripped me, that have nothing at all to do with the artwork or story, which are great on their own. Personally, I really do feel like Leeshee and I are coming to a crossroads with our stuff; either we commit and do what it takes to get published, or we drop it as a pipe dream and go on with our lives, whatever that may be. Telling stories was always the thing I most wanted to do, even subconsciously when I was little, so it's hard to imagine NOT doing that, but if we don't start getting on with it, when those opportunities finally come we won't be ready; the parade will pass us by, as they say. But I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately, trying to figure out why exactly I haven't been doing the pressing forward I need to do. And funnily enough, it's been a lot of church-related classes and talks I've heard that have been really helping me out (will probably post some of that later.)

But Bakuman crystallizes for me some of the problems I've been having; worrying about normalcy, whatever that is, and forgoing that for a potential career that encompasses both dizzying heights and soul-crushing failure. Finding something to inspire you and catapult you to shooting for greatness. Believing in yourself and what you can do, in spite of the harrowing odds and fears you may have. Bakuman helped me realize, again, that making manga or some hybridized form of graphic novels—in short, telling stories, my stories, through illustrations—is what I really, really want to do and the only thing I can visualize myself doing, deep deep down in my being. And since that is so, I'd better get cracking.

But besides that, Bakuman is a practical tutorial of a rough path of what it takes to actually be a manga-ka; the practical side of the journey. Materials, stages of work, planning, marketing, meetings and critiques and deadlines—basically the toil and hardships that come from doing that. I'm up for all of those challenges—some of those I already face in my current day job—but it's a good reminder of the more toiling sections of doing what you love, which everyone has to face from time to time.

But one of the best sections of the manga is the rules for making manga that the two manga-ka sprinkle in, that hopefully will become a mantra for me. Here they are:

:: Kajiwara Ikki's Rules, from "How to be a Man"

1. Never create a superficial work. Pour your blood into the ink!
2. Never chase after popularity, which is as transient as a flower. Dig deep down in the earth and put up roots.
3. No matter how much status you attain, you must never have regrets. If the choice is between peace and the storm, choose the storm.
4. If you should fail, never cry. Study your failure and let it give birth to success.
5. Even if you obey the previous rules, never think you alone are right. Learn from everything and everyone around you.

:: Mashiro's Uncle's Rules (ie if you are not a genius)

1. Be conceited/have self confidence. Believe you can do better than anyone else.
2. Work hard.
3. Be lucky (ie a gambler.)

:: Editor's Rules (types of successful manga-ka)
1. Those who draw just what they want to and it happens to be a hit. Naive/geniuses.
2. Those who calculate how best to have a hit. (Info, trends, entertainment, questionnaires, composition, design, research)
The ones who hit it big are overwhelmingly not the calculating types. First types are stronger, less likely to fizzle out after one hit.
A Manga just has to be interesting to be serialized.

So yeah, really needed to read this at the moment. Cannot wait to read chapter 12!

The Art of Becoming

2008-02-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

*Post originally written Feb 06, 2007. More of an emotional rant than a creative tidbit post, just as a heads up.*

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"True happiness is not made in getting something. True happiness is becoming something. This can be done by being committed to lofty goals. We cannot become something without commitment."

— Marvin J. Ashton

::

I've been giving myself too much stress lately. Part of it is self-made, even what I would call self-sabatoge, and part of it is the crap being dumped on me by everyone else, good and bad.

I'm stressed manga-wise because, while being a graphic storyteller/manga artist is what I want to be more than anything in the world, I keep feeling like I am getting farther and farther behind in my goals and ambitions. Everywhere I keep reading that the window of opportunity for aspiring novice artists is shrinking rapidly—that a year ago was the opportune time, but the vacuum of jobs is being rapidly filled—and I'm so afraid that by the time I am ready to enter that window it will be gone. It just feels like a lot of things—my late start, my not up to snuff drawing skills, my real job, my wanting to have a life—have caused me to stumble at the starting line, and now I am in a mad rush to catch up.

Then I read about yet another artist being signed up to Tokyopop, and the waves of guilt just became a veritable tsunami of grief. Because while I am super happy for him, I want that to be me SOOOOO bad. And I looked at his style, which is unique and has this Ad-for-a 50's-housewife vibe crossed with House Industries' design, and I love it, and it jsut made me despair even more that I am nowhere near that level yet.

I think these feelings are exacerbated a little by the fact that I have felt mildly depressed for the last week or so, and that I have not been taking my meds for what feels like forever. (Side story: my ADD doctor's office says I didn't pay one of my copays—which is nuts because I always pay them up front, but I've decided not to contest it—so apparently they sent me these letters asking me to pay up, which I never got/opened because a lot of my bills are automatically paid, and suddenly last month I got served court papers at work, saying to pay up. Why they couldn't just CALL ME or send it to collections I don't know, but they didn't. I had stopped taking my meds shortly before that anyway, and then getting served and calling up an annoyed office aid to ascertain why has made me dread going back to see him. I love my doctor, a lot, but I'm so nervous about what he might say to all of this. And since it's been too long I HAVE to have another appointment before my meds are refilled, and I am so afraid that he will be mad or worse, disappointed, and refuse me as a patient anymore. Maybe that sounds dumb, but before this I would have thought that was dumb too.

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This post was written last year, Feb. 6 according to Blogger. I have a ton of old drafted posts I need to get up, but I felt like this one is quite poignant right now, because it's a little over a year later and I feel exactly the same way. EXACTLY. I can't even remember writing this, but it reflects the same emotions and problems I currently face. I haven't made any changes to its original version except for one clarification; I'm not even sure quite where my train of thought was headed. I assume somewhere positive but who knows.

Reading it has shown me that I really need to get back on ADD meds. I saw immense improvement on generic Adderal when I was on it; I didn't get bogged down in things and got so much done creatively. Most of my biggest spurts of artistic energy in the last couple of years occurred when I was on Adderal: Angsty Bishy, getting the random shirt ideas we'd joke about sketched out and actually done; starting up CafePress, DeviantArt, LJ, even this blog, to name a few examples. Not that the drug made me more creative (in fact I resisted meds because I was afraid they would shut that part of me away) but that I was able to channel all of my creative energies in a much more productive way. I really miss those days. And I've noticed changes at work too; I used to be much more organized and remembered the little things and got all the project steps completed at correct intervals. Not so much anymore; no major mishaps but too many close calls. I'm constantly late; I stay after to make up for it but it's frustrating. Plus my office is a complete wreck, much more than usual; most creative people are messy, but I can't find anything even with my own special messy organizational system and I'm sure I frighten the clients when they come in.

I went off my meds for a couple of reasons. First I would simply forget to refill my prescription; I had to run to my doctor's each time for one, and would forget until my pills had run out. The side effects were also hard to deal with; I got extreme nausea, basically morning sickness every day and feeling sick the whole day and it is horrible to contemplate living the rest of my life that way, and also had my blood pressure, which is normally somewhere between 110/70 and 120/80, skyrocket, which scared me a lot. I also couldn't afford the slow-release Adderal meds, which I do better on (regular Adderal is like drinking a caffeinated drink for me; a big spike, then by the end of the dose I've crashed. Not always the best thing.) Oh, and the served papers for my outstanding medical fees? Over $700 I paid out, for simple doctor's visits and copays, that my insurance should have paid for or that I swear I paid. I probably should have contested it, but there's no way I could have hired a lawyer and paid THOSE fees on top of everything else. My problem is that I'm a pretty honest person, so being on the wrong side of the law terrifies me. I would call the law offices for the doctors, and while I know I'm not their client they refused to tell me ANYTHING, even what I should do to pay them. It was ridiculous, and I would hang up the phone and just cry, I felt so lost. Thank goodness those days are behind me and all of that got taken care of somehow. But I refuse to put myself back in such a situation, and if I go back to my ADD doctor who I love it's possible the same thing could happen all over again. I should go talk to him. I should do a lot of things.

I'm also off my Synthroid because I switched obstetricians, from a cold woman who obviously didn't care about my concerns but at least prescribed me Sythroid (should I go back?), to a male OBG who thinks I don't need Synthroid at all (I have HALF A THYROID from my tumor-removing surgery and have all the symptoms of hypothyroidism, how can I NOT have it even when blood work is normal?), so my metabolism is basically cut in half. I feel really sluggish all the time, even when I get enough sleep. And no matter how much or little I exercise or eat my body shape refuses to change.

I feel so stupid sometimes. I'm in my mid twenties, own my own house and car, pay all my major bills (well, minus some of the medical ones I guess) on time, have a good job and great goals for the future, have two cats who love me most of the time, a church calling I love, and good family and friends. Yet I feel so helpless to fix anything; I'm ineptly juggling all these balls and I'm scared for the inevitable crash. Elicia has been bugging me about getting back on meds, quite vocally in fact. And I know I need to do something, and now. But It feels like I am swimming upstream, all the time, and someone keeps pouring more water into the stream and I keep fighting harder and harder, with barely the same results. I know I need to change my technique or I'll never make it, but part of me is afraid that if I try to change things too much at this point I'll just end up drowning instead. Okay, enough with the metaphors, I promise; I'm just not sure how better to describe what I feel.

All is not lost though; I just need to keep moving forward (yay Robinson movie, my new mantra for when I mentally beat myself up) and fix what I can. I'm just not sure how to fix everything in time for the con next month, the trip we are taking this summer, and all the work projects piling up. But hopefully I won't be repeating this same moaning and groaning this time next year; hopefully things will have begun to change at last, in big or small ways. That's all I could really ask or hope for at this point.

Back in the Saddle Again. . .

2008-01-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hi out there in the blog world! Sorry to not post anything in forever, but I'm back now! Did anyone miss me?!

:: cricket ::

:: cricket ::

Um, yeah it's been forever since I last posted anything, I know. Not that anyone reads this besides me, but I'm sure if you were you've all left by now. My fault completely. Plus the most aggravating thing is, there is lots to post about, so I feel super behind. Grr.

Lots of stuff happened since my last post to distract me from this blog and my DA page and the AB's. Work and freelancing were huge culprits of course, as is being off of my ADD meds because of the side effects. But I also got sucked into Facebook by a close friend, and have been putting a lot of posts and links there. Instead of posting something here on my breaks, I'd go post and/or waste my time there instead. Getting hyperfocused on a new, shiny thing is definitely an ADD tendency I have in spades, neh? Obsessing over one thing for a while, then moving on to the next; very very common, especially with no meds to temper that tendency. But it's not just people with ADD that do this, of course; I'd read somewhere that the majority of blogs suffer this problem; start strong at first but then the blogger tapers out, burns out, whatever, and the blog is abandoned.

However, the nice thing about moving on to something new after this blog is that I realized how much I DID miss blogging here and how important this blog really is for me; having all my artistic thoughts, resources, milestones in one convenient place is nice. And however fun Facebook is, it is still just one side of me that I present, and doesn't cover everything aboout me, particularly the side of me I show at this blog. Especially with old friends and acquaintances, I am still very much in the closet about just how much I love anime, manga, comics, etc. I don't know why, but I am, so none of that side of me is really revealed there at all, and is dying for a place to come out. I think part of it has less to do with the worry of being labeled an otaku or weeaboo whatever it is I am and more to do with the big goal that loving those things is leading up to: wanting to be a storyteller myself. I'm too scared to admit that to the everyday people I know; it's still too precious a dream for me, I think, and because of that I'm reluctant to hold it out so publicly for whatever ridicule (or praise) people might might want to heap upon it. (For crying out loud, I only told my best friend about this within the past six months; I'm just going to announce it on a page that random people I know have access to? Don't think so.) So to summarize, Facebook or any other web thing I might jump on can never replace for me the importance of this blog, or my DA account (which has also been neglected, bah.) So trust me, however often or little I post here, there will ALWAYS be posts here as long as I'm still working towards my goal and have new things to tell about that journey. So basically forever. =)

Gah, now to get updated on all the important posts I've neglected in that time! So much to talk about! But I'm excited to get them recorded here and out of my brain. So if anyone is still hanging around this blog, look forward to many posts soon.

iHack: Freeing the iPhone from its AT&T Prison, One Person at a Time

2007-08-24T15:44:00.000-06:00

Ha! This kid (working with others) has figured out how to break into the iPhone and free it from being restricted to AT&T. Good for him, though I'd never be able to do it in a million years. He breaks down the process on his blog; it invlolves soldering, energy drinks, freaking out, software I've never heard of, and jargon I've never heard before. Like I said, not for a mere mortal such as myself to attempt.

He is selling it on EBay, smart boy; as I am typing this the bid has reached 10,000, oh my! I think his college bills will be a little bit lighter, ne? I took some screenshots of the auction, in case it closes before you read this, and will post them eventually. I liked that he described neuroscience, his chosen major, as "hacking the brain." If major breakthroughs in understanding the brain come from him, I will not be shocked; the boy has shown he can be dedicated, patient, and extremely intelligent.

I don't think I ever talked about the iPhone, did I? Shame on me. Of course I was ecstatic when it came out, and watched the reactions closely. The TWiT people have lots of good podcasts on the subject, which I've been listening to. I want one, and do have AT&T, but SO cannot afford one at he moment. Besides, I've never been one to rush out and buy the latest new thing, Apple fangirl or no. I'm eagerly awaiting the 2nd/3rd generation; that is when I will pounce. =) Until then, am happy such a phone (and someone obsessed enough to unlock its secrets for us) is in the world. How wonderful, ne?

>>> UPDATE 3:50 p.m.: Wow, fast update! A group has figured out how to unlock the phone with software only. Wonder how much they will be charging for the service on their site. Alert your friends across the pond. =)

Love. Angel. Music. Thievery. Gwen "I'm So Original" Stefani and Her Shameless Ripoff

2007-08-17T16:58:00.000-06:00

I read this quote on a blog when researching for this post and just had to laugh:

"Gwen's the muse of the unconventional," said Michele Scannavini, president of Coty Prestige Worldwide. "She has a style that is unmistakable, different, so unique that she can really create trends in the world. We are impressed by how global she is." (Women's Wear Daily, 12/7/2006)

Why? While Gwen is fashion-forward, I'd hardly call her unique; she just has a good eye on what will be the next big trend and capitalizes on that before someone else does. She's not inventing the style, she's just wearing it first and acting like she invented it.

What's worse, is now she or someone on her design team is ripping off logo designs from famous anime/manga and acting all "We're hip and Original." Like real Japanophiles wouldn't notice! Yay for the Disgrasian Girls for bringing this to my attention, albeit indirectly.

Look at the Ads below. Does the "L" logo look familiar to you guys at all? (As always, click on the photos to make them bigger.)

Say, like a certain fave character of mine's logo, by any chance?

The font is unmistakeable, though slightly bastardized, and surely using that font plus the letter "L" canNOT be coincidental. Did they HAVE to pick that exact gothic font for her line? The answer is no. It's just. . . I don't. . . I am speechless. And if anyone ever overhears someone say that Obata stole the "L" from Gwen's perfume, I give them permission to stab that person with an ice pick. Multiple times. Until the pain goes away. I dont even know if there is any recourse for this that Obata could do; can he sue her? I'm not really sure he could, or that he would even want to, but it's just. . . unbelievable.

It wouldn't be so annoying to me, except for the fact that she is suing someone for basically doing the same thing. Her lawsuit makes me laugh because frankly she "steals" from a lot of different cultures and designers herself, just like everybody else in the fashion world, yet has the gall to say she is doing something original. (and don't give me that "fashion is cyclical" crap; while I get that it is, this is a totally different thing.)

Yes, I've looked at her real design versus the knockoff, and yes they are similar, but REAL designers, people who have trained their whole lives in fashion and design, put up every year with discount stores doing knockoffs of their designs and merchandise. As Elicia has told me, designers cannot copyright their designs, at least not yet. So why does Gwen think she's so different and special in this regard? When Stella McCartney did the horse silhouette thing, and everyone from high end stores to Old Navy copied her, she didn't get all huffy and sue. And yes, Diane Von Furstenberg is suing Forever 21 too, but she's Diane freakin' Von Furstenburg; She and Gewn are worlds apart in the fashion spectrum, however huffy that might make Gwen feel if she heard it. Methinks Miss Stefani has a big head, no? Below is a very good explanation of why designers cannot legaly copyright their designs, which I found in the comments section here:

"Copyright protection is denied to garment designs due to the fact that garment designs are solely useful articles without any copyrightable elements. Useful articles are granted limited protection under the Copyright Act, provided there are elements of the pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work that may be identified separately and can exist independently of the utilitarian aspects of the article.[6] Since 1914, several bills[7] have been handed down to Congress advocating the protection of the designs of useful articles through copyright.[8] Such protection of garment designs has always been opposed, however, for to do otherwise, would arguably grant protection to a purely utilitarian article and pave the way for a monopolies in the apparel market."

I would argue that garment designs have no "copyrightable elements"; surely the logos or elements on them could be protected to some extent, and that would be fine. And while I do think it's unfair that designers cannot copyright specific designs that are obviously theirs alone, I do get where the legal channels are coming from. The trickle-down effect of fashion, as so eloquently explained by Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada, might be affected profoundly (and yes, I'll include the whole quote, neh):

"This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff."

If the Furstenburg/Stefani suits are successful, yay for the fashion world's designers. And if not, yay for the millions of people for whom knockoffs of colors/patterns/design elements are a staple of their wardrobe.

(And no, I'm not a total Gwen hater, for the flaming fangirls out there; I loved Tragic Kingdom and No Doubt's ska sound a lot (still do!), and respected Gwen at the time; she seemed fun and feminine, yet strong and proud. And while I got annoyed when she did the whole sell-out pop thing, what can you do? She's not the first, and I get the lure of money thing. But I REALLY got annoyed when she started using four Japanese girls in a modern day minstrel show (ITA w/ Margaret Cho; she just needs them to dress up in ganguro fashion and the look will be complete), and had the gall to defend herself for doing so. She doesn't even allow them to dress in real Harajuku style, or give them the dignity of using their real names or having any personalities or speaking in English if they want; shame on her. Because she pays them, that makes this behavior ok? There's very little about them personally out there; here's some stuff at wiki, and this is the only site I could find that goes into them individually at all. But props to the Gwenihana blog; between that and Disgrasian at least there are some rational voices out there.)

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Sorry I haven't blogged much on any site lately! I've been prepping materials for 3 big work-related events, two of which take place this Saturday, wrapping up freelance stuff and ushering. Oh, and prepping my house for a roomie. =) Lots to do, not enough time for fun. But I'm pretty relaxed at the moment.

My Work :: Part 24: AngstyBishy Kenshin

2007-07-17T23:30:00.000-06:00

A huge burden has been lifted off me: I finally got Kenshin done!!!!!! It has taken forever, but he finally made it to the finish line in the end.

Not that MAKING him was a burden; he was tricksy but fine. No, the problem was the burden I put on myself for not getting him completed in a timely fashion. The cloud hanging over me of "oh, I am taking forever" and "it's been too long; will he look as good as the others?" and "I am so evil for taking so long" and other mindgames I play with myself. Ha, now *I* am angsting; enough of this.

Getting on the to REAL reason for this post; ever since Jess got me hooked on Kenshin I just knew he had to become an AB. She always said he would make a good AB, way before I knew the character well enough to agree with her, but of course she ended up being right. I mean, he has monstrous sins he feels he cannot atone for; his romantic past has scarred his current romantic relationship; he is always at risk of slipping into Battosai mode; and the list goes on. He is not as wangsty and self-pitying as some, but he most definitely qualifies.

If you look at the original sketch and the completed vector, you will see a LOT of differences. His hair reminded me a little too much of some guy in an 80's hair band, beeing so big and shaggy, so I flattened it a little. But a lot of his pics show him with hair like that; what's a girl to do? And then there was the tragedy of the hakuma; it looks decent in the sketch but kept loking like a white pleated dress in Illustrator, no matter what I did. Elicia helped me make it look more like manly hakuma pleats, thanks goodness, and while I keep feeling there is something more I can do, I'm content for now. Then Melissa noted, to my eternal shame, that I had completely forgotten to put the scars on his face! *headdesk* Of all the things to forget; I'm so glad she noticed in time! So all of these challenges, along with the fact that I had freelancing and other woes to tie up much of my spare time. Meh. So in short, I think he turned out darling, but I'm afraid every time I look at him, I will feel procrastination shame. We'll see how long that lasts. I can't wait to make him a pillow; you get the first one Jess! =)

Oh, and I'm working on a new AB; another classic anime character, before i take deep breaths and start attempting daunting AB's like Cloud. I go the reference pics last night, as a breather from my projects, and hope to sketch him tomorrow; maybe tonight if I can't fall asleep.

Comiculture Validated: Excerpt and Interview with Douglas Wolk

2007-07-17T22:20:00.000-06:00

So Whitney has a post (and her podcast this week focuses on) a new book that discusses graphic novels and the culture of comics. She includes an excerpt of the book in her post, which is so intriguing and well-written I just had to include it here. And she talks to the author, Douglas Wolk, in her podcast. He has a lot of great points; it's nice to know I'm not the only one annoyed by this stuff. =) I would LOVE to go to that panel of his at Comic-con if I could; ah well. Anyone take notes for me?

I like that in the podcast he recommends just jumping in to reading comics headfirst; because of their tactileness, just go to your local store, browse through the titles, and you are guaranteed to eventually find something—a style, a story, a character—interesting and appealing to you. I've never done that, but I bet I'd find a lot of series I've never heard of before that way. (And the best thing about this post is that it reminds me for the umpteenth time I need to read Persopolis; I've browsed through it but that's it, and I really need to read it before the upcoming movie.)

And I love that he defends the medium of comics itself: drawn stories visually translating a new world for us, with a different but no less important essence than the mediums of movies and books. (Sometimes I get the feeling that people think that comics are the poor man's movies—I don't have the cash to make a movie so I will draw it instead!—and that attitude is somewhat unsettling to me.) And while I think you can succesfully cross mediums sometimes, he has a good explanation of why that sometimes doesn't work, and that it's OKAY that it doesn't. Hear hear. I love manga not just for the story but because it is so gosh darn beautiful; it is one of the most gorgeous forms of storytelling there is. Sometimes that beauty translates into the live movies or anime, and sometimes it is lost, but the best manga (and comics too) will always be compelling on their own merit.

And we totally had a bunch of those Illustrated Classics books growing up, hah. I agree that they were pretty lame, though I see the good intent behind them.

Anyway, enough of me jabbering on, right? Below's the excerpt, and if you want to buy the book go here.

:: Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean ::

There's a problem with the way a lot of people talk about comics: it's very hard to talk about them as comics. One numbingly common mistake in the way culture critics address them is to invoke "the comic book genre." As cartoonists and their longtime admirers are getting a little tired of explaining, comics are not a genre; they're a medium. Westerns, Regency romances, film noir: those are genres-kinds of stories with specific categories of subjects and conventions for their content and presentation. (Stories about superheroes are a genre, too.) Prose fiction, sculpture, video: those, like comics, are media-forms of expression that have few or no rules regarding their content other than the very broad ones imposed on them by their form.

Still, there's a reason people make that mistake. Until about twenty years ago, the way almost everybody experienced the medium was intimately tied to a handful of genres. That's what made money for the big pulp-comics companies: superhero stuff, mostly, but sometimes horror or romance or science fiction or crime comics, each of which has its own familiar codes and formulas.

The box of "genre"-you can imagine it as a long, white cardboard box, the kind collectors store plastic-bagged back issues inside-is easy to close, and hard to see out of, once you're inside it. Occasionally, comics-industry types assert that comics are good at telling stories in lots of different genres, which misses the big picture in the same way as a dairy-industry type insisting that milk can be made into lots of different flavors of ice cream. On the art-comics side of things, there's even a backlash now: readers and critics dismissing genre-based comics out of hand on the grounds that they are genre-based. This is also known as the "I'm so sick of superheroes I could scream" effect, and even though I don't subscribe to it, I'm kind of sympathetic to it.

Another common error is to assert that highbrow comics are, somehow, not really comics but something else (preferably with a fancier name)—different not just in breed but in species from their mass-cultural namesakes. There's a certain nose-in-the-air class consciousness inherent in this particular argument; it's evident, for instance, in a review by Gloria Emerson in the June 16, 2003, issue of The Nation. "It has never been a habit of mine to read comic books," she writes, "so I was, at first, slightly taken aback by Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi. But she is such a talented artist and her black-and-white drawings are so captivating, it seems wrong to call her memoir a comic book. Rather, it is a 'graphic memoir' in the tradition of Maus, Art Spiegelman's brilliant story of the Holocaust." If you don't see what's wrong with that passage, imagine it beginning: "It has never been a habit of mine to watch movies . . . ," and ending by asserting that, say, Syriana is not actually a movie but a "cinematic narrative" in the tradition of Saving Private Ryan.

The genre/medium confusion is an error of ignorance, while the if-it's-deep-it's-not-really-comics gambit is just a case of snobbery (in the sense of wanting to make a distinction between one's own taste and the rabble's taste). But the most thoroughly ingrained error in the language used to discuss comics is treating them as if they were particularly weird, or failed, examples of another medium altogether. Good comics are sometimes described as being "cinematic" (if they have some kind of broad visual scope or imitate a familiar kind of movie) or "novelistic" (if they have keenly observed details, or simply take a long time to read). Those can be descriptive words when they're applied to comics. It's almost an insult, though, to treat them as compliments. Using them as praise implies that comics as a form aspire (more or less unsuccessfully) to being movies or novels.

When comics try to be specific movies or novels, they are indeed unsuccessful. Comics adaptations of movies are pointless cash-ins at best-movies that don't move, with inaccurate drawings of the actors and scenery. Why would anyone but an obsessive want to look at that? Likewise, comics adaptations of prose books are almost uniformly terrible, from the old Classics Illustrated pamphlets to the contemporary versions of Black Beauty and The Hunchback of Notre Dame; they don't run on the same current, basically, and they end up gutting the original work of a lot of its significant content.

I'm not trying to make the essentialist argument that the only good comics are the ones that avoid strategies from other media. A lot of great ones do use storytelling devices they've adapted from film, in particular. Think, for instance, of the deservedly famous opening sequence of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen: six panels of identical size, starting with a close-up image of a smiley-face pin in a puddle of blood and zooming upward until the camera is looking out a window many stories above. "Close-up," "zooming," "camera": not only the concepts but the words belong to movies. As readers, we imagine a stable, continuous Steadicam motion upwards (and also visualize the sign carrier in the "shot" walking at a constant pace, perpendicular to the direction the "camera" is moving). Still, that's a great scene that uses a cinematic technique, not a great scene because the technique it uses is cinematic.

Other comics actually do aspire to being movies, mostly for economic reasons: license your story or characters to Hollywood and there's a lot of money to be made. (A few comics imprints, whether covertly or openly, exist mostly to create and publicize properties that can be pitched as movies. Their comics tend to be dreadful, of course.) Still, that aspiration has to do with content rather than form. And nobody has ever wanted to write a novel and settled for making their story into comics: for one thing, it just takes too damn long to draw something when you could write it instead.

I'm even going to take issue with Will Eisner, the late grandmaster of American comics, who liked to describe comics as a "literary form." They bear a strong resemblance to literature-they use words, they're printed in books, they have narrative content-but they're no more a literary form than movies or opera are literary forms. Scripts for comics are arguably a literary form in exactly the same way that film and theater scripts are literary forms, but a script is not the same thing as the finished work of art. I occasionally find it convenient to refer to some kinds of comics as "literary" (essentially, the ones that have the same sorts of thematic concerns as literary fiction), but that's still a dangerous convenience. Samuel R. Delany's term "paraliterary" is useful here, if clunky: comics are sort of literary. But that's not all they are.

Comics are not prose. Comics are not movies. They are not a text-driven medium with added pictures; they're not the visual equivalent of prose narrative or a static version of a film. They are their own thing: a medium with its own devices, its own innovators, its own clichés, its own genres and traps and liberties. The first step toward attentively reading and fully appreciating comics is acknowledging that.

That said, it's not a bad idea, exactly, to talk about comics using some of the same language we use to talk about prose and film and nonnarrative visual art; sometimes it fits. (In fact, we have to, because the language of comics criticism is still young and scrawny-it's so underdeveloped that there's no good adjective that means "comics-ish.") It's just worth being careful about. Describing the viewer's perspective in a particular comics panel is entirely reasonable; talking about where the "camera" is has some loaded associations. On the other hand, borrowed language is sometimes a fair trade-off for clarity. As Hedwig said to Tommy Gnosis, it's what we've got to work with.

Copyright 2007 by Douglas Wolk. Book available at Da Capo Press.

Writing Manga :: Part 6: Ray Bradbury on Writing

2007-07-03T04:14:00.000-06:00

I was re-reading some of the stories in The October Country last night, (A collection of Ray Bradbury's short stories,) and on impulse flipped to the front and scanned the forward. And paused. And went to the beginning of the forward and read it all the way through. I had read it before, a long time ago, and probably read passages of it to Leeshee out loud, but it's been a while. It is one of the greatest forwards I think I have ever read, at least as far as its ability to communicate the purpose and importance of the collection, the importance of an author to find their own voice, Bradbury's own writing style and habits, and how the ideas for his stories came to him. It's worth re-reading over and over, and therefore needs to be included in this blog. Here it is:

:: "May I Die Before My Voices" (From His Forward to The October Country, ©1996 by Ballantine Books) ::

Now, what in the blazes does the above title mean?

It means voices have been talking to me on early morns since I was about 22 or 23. I call them my Theater of Morning Voices, and I lie quietly and let them speak in the echochamber between my ears. At a certain moment when the voices are raised high in argument or passionate deliberation like rapiers' ends, I jump up (slowly) and get to my typewriter before the echoes die. By noon I have finished another story, or poem, or an act of a play, or a new chapter of a novel.

It was not always thus.

When I was 12 and began to write, I was busy loving and imitating Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan, L. Frank Baum's Wizard, or Jules Verne's Nemo; if the morning voices spoke, they went unheard.

So the first 10 of my writing years were dumb stuff, hardly worth filing away as proof of my blind attempts to be something I could never be. Imitation was my way of life, so true creation couldn't raise its fine head.

To put it another way, there was an Undiscovered Country behind my medulla oblongata, but I never traveled there. Shakespeare's Undiscovered Country was Death itself. Mine, when I finaly charted it, led by my voices, was the territory of ideas, concepts, notions, conceits, all immensely personal, nowhere to be found in Burroughs, Baum, and Verne. I had to learn to reject them as models, keep them as loves, yes, but stop trying to live like John Carter, Tik-Tok, or the Nautilus's mad captain.

I came close to a breakthrough in high school. I remembered a dark place in my hometown and write a story titled "The Ravine," filled with terror and possible death. I was still too young to realize I had written my first original tale, something fresh from my nerve ending and ganglion. I put that story aside and went back to the road of Oz and Barsoom, which meant another 5 or 6 years delay in becoming myself.

I fell into becoming halfway excellent by the sheerest of word-association accidents. When I was 22, I began to make lists of nouns to try to jar my subconscious into sitting up and beg for delivery. It didn't work until one hot noon, when, sitting in the sun with my portable typewriter, I wrote this: "The Lake." And suddenly I recalled the summer when I was 7 and a blond girl companion busy building a sand castle ran into the lake and never came back. Death and drowning, drowning and death, what a mystery!

Swiftly, I set about remembering that day with my typewriter. By late afternoon, "The Lake" was finished and I was in tears. I knew that at long last, after years of dumb obfuscation, I had turned inward, discovered whatever might be original in my head, and caught it on paper. "The Lake," published in Wierd Tales some months later, has never been out of print and has been anthologized dozens of times.

From that day on I began to pay attention the the right, left, or perhaps lop side of my brain. I found I could provoke memories of odd notions or strange metaphors by listing my favorite nouns, though I didn't know why they were favorites. Some of my first lists ran like this:

THE NIGHT, THE ATTIC, THE RAVINE, DANDELIONS, MIDNIGHT TRAIN WHISTLES, TENNIS SHOES, BASEMENTS, FRONT PORCHES, CAROUSELS, DAWN ARRIVAL OF CIRCUSES.

Then, over a period of months or years, I grabbed those words, turned them over, filed them behind my face, and waited for my new dawn voices to give them shape, rouse them, and drive me to my Underwood.

I soon learned that while I had imagined at age 12, 16, 18, and 20 that I wanted to be a science fiction writer, I was for better or worse the illegitimate son of the Opera Phantom, Dracula, and the Bat. My proper home was Usher, my aunts and uncles descended from Poe. I wrote and sold most of the stories in The October Country to Wierd Tales in the following years for a half cent or a penny a word, fighting off the editors' warnings that my stories were not really wierd or ghost stories. Could I write something more, ah, traditonal?

I could not and sent them "The Skeleton" and "The Crowd."

I blundered into "Skeleton" through the kind servicces of my family doctor, who, when I complained of a strangely sore larynx, said, "That's all perfectly normal. You've just never bothered to feel the tissues, muscles, or tendons in your neck or, for that matter, your body. Consider the medulla oblongata."

Consider the medulla oblongata! Migawd, I could hardly pronounce it! I went home feeling my bones—my kneecaps, my floating ribs, my elbows, all those hidden gothic symbols of darkness—and wrote "Skeleton." It's been around ever since.

About the same time my morning voices turned nightmare, I recalled a car crash I had witnessed when I was 15 in which 5 people had been torn and killed. A crowd had appeared from nowhere, it seemed, in a few moments. The accident had happened outside the gates of a local cemetary. I wondered if. . . ? and wrote "The Crowd."

For some years I appeared in almost every issue of Wierd Tales, learning from these intuitive stories how I might write science fiction if I ever dared go back to that genre. The result was, of course, The Martain Chronicles, which is 5 percent science fiction and 95 percent fantasy. Purists have hated me since, for I dared put an atmosphere on airless Mars so that my eccentrics could walk around, breathe, and live without all those d***** airpacks.

"Homecoming" derived from my grandparents' next door house on those Halloweens when, as a boy, I rode out to the country with my Aunt Neva to bring home corn shocks and pumpkins to redecorate the house and stashed myself in the attic, made up as a wax-nosed, wart-chinned witch, to terrify relatives and neighbors. The names of the Homecoming Family are the names of my aunts and uncles. "Uncle Einar" is the name of my favorite loud-singing Swedish uncle, who was so much loved, I gifted him with wings and let him soar.

"The Next in Line," Finally, resulted from my being foolish enough to descend into the graveyard catacombs in Guanajuato, Mexico. I walked between twin rows of mummies, men, women, and babies wired to the women's wrists, evicted from their graves for nonpayment of rent and stashed in the tomb hall, stricken and silently raving, against the walls. Once in the catacomb, I found it almost impossible to get the h*** out. The mummies pursued me until I buried them in "The Next in Line."

So it went, story after story, once I opened the valves and acted out what Gerald Manley Hopkins once said: "What I do is me, for that I came." I tried to stay me from that time on.

The October Couuntry was first published under the title Dark Carnival. The title story was not finished in time to go into the book. It hung around, collected midnights and funeral trains, and was finally published as a novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes, in 1962.

Which brings us the long way around again to the title of this foreward: "May I Die Before My Voices." My voices are still speaking, and I am still listening and taking their wild advice. If some morning in the future I wake and there is silence, I'll know my life is over. With luck, on my last day, the voices will still be busy and I wil still be happy.

Ray Bradbury
Los Angeles, California
April 24, 1996

::

Simply marvelous, isn't it? I love his last paragraph a lot; I sometimes worry that with our own stuff, because it takes us so long to do anything with the stories we create, that we will die before all of those stories are told. It's one of my greatest fears, because it we don't tell them, who will? But I love the calming voice of Bradbury, saying that instead of fearing those voices not being told, to celebrate them, be happy that they are there and hope that, even on your deathbed, new stories are erupting from the inner recesses of your mind. Never wish for those voices to stop; and more importatnly, learn to hear the voices that are uniquely yours alone.

I have always loved reading Bradbury. His stories are sheer pleasure to read, and not even for the stories he weaves, though those are masterful as well. It's because of the way he uses words to evoke senses and convey emotions; the sounds, sights, and smells of the story open up that world in a dazzling way, and present a new way of seeing the world. He is a master of Imagery.

He is a master of the macabre as well. Something Wicked This Way Comes is my favorite Bradbury novel; I hate horror stories for the most part (mostly because my mind is too imaginative and takes horror visuals to frightening tangents), but this is one of the few that I adore, that I love freaking me out when I read it late at night. The very first short story of his I remember reading was Homecoming. It was in the back of "Monster Museum," one of those Hitchcock story collections that was perpetually sitting around our house. It was my fave story of the whole bunch; a wonderful new look on a family of mosters as seen through the eyes of the wonderful, flawed Timothy. I read it over and over, and it wasn't until a few years ago I discovered, to my joy, that Bradbury must have loved the characters in that story as much as I did, for he did several short stories about that family, which I happily now own.

(And I'll frankly admit that, because I love Timothy so much, he inspired a similar character in one of our own stories. She is completely different, of course, yet echoes a lot of similar frustrations and themes as she finds her way in the world. And in her creation she opened up a whole new world of characters and subplots for that story that now I cannot imagine being excluded. It is a richer story for them being in there, and for that spark I am deeply indebted to Bradbury.)

:: Bradbury on Fahrenheit 451 and the Importance of Story ::

Andy Inhatko on the This Week in Media podcast (#57) had a story about Bradbury from LA Weekly, and how Bradbury says that what we've been taught about Fahrenheit 451—that's it about the government limiting free speech—is all wrong. But what Inhatko said after that relates more to writing, so I'm going to talk more about that. He goes on to say that according to Bradbury, story is a based around a place. If you make the interesting by putting good things to eat and fun things to do, people are going to want to stay. If you don't have that, people will go somewhere else. His stories include that: Martian Chronicles is about place, familiar things, home. Something Wicked is about the familiar ferris wheel and fair that comes to town.

It brings up interesting ideas about writing—that every story, no matter alien its setting, will have some aspects that are familiar and comforting. Or inversely, that you can use the familiar and comforting to emphasize the strange and surreal. I also like the idea of needing stuff to eat and do, to keep the reader interested; good character/setting and plots? Or maybe I am just misinterpreting Bradbury too. ;)

Like Andy, I also got to met Bradbury in person! Well, if by meet you mean at a book signing after he came and lectured in our town. (Yes, our little town; I have no idea why he came but am so happy he did.) I brought Something Wicked, of course, for him to sign, and we were asked to just give him our book and have him sign it, no conversations or anything. But I was brave that day, and when it was my turn I asked if I could shake his hand! And he smiled up at me, reached his arm across the table, and let me shake his hand! I was so thrilled and stunned, I think I floated away from the table. It does the heart good to know that, according to the LA Weekly article, he is still hanging in there and writing everyday.

For more Bradbury fun, the LA Weekly article links to Bradbury's web site, where he has video clips up talking about his home, his stuff, his working area, and his stories. Really good stuff.

:: Don't Talk, Write ::

And lastly, from this blog, a good quote by someone who met Bradbury:

"“when I went up to talk to Bradbury later about a story I was writing, he held up his hand and said, ‘Stop! Shut up! Don’t talk about it! Go home and write that! If you talk about it, you’ll never write it.’”

Really good advice, if you ask me. Leeshee and I need to do less talking/preparing and more writing.

::

Wow, another super-long post; I need to learn how to do cuts like the ones you can do at LJ. But worth the length, I hope. And happy 4th tomorrow everyone!

Angsty Bishy + Anime Expo = Yay!

2007-06-13T17:04:00.000-06:00

GOOD NEWS! I found out we are getting a booth at Anime Expo's artist alley after all!!!!!! Well, around half of one, but that is SO better than nothing. Yay for friends with connections! We mailed off our sellers permit papers yesterday, so that to me means it's a done deal. And I really want to get Kenshin pillows made in time for the con, so am doing my best to get him Illustratored in time. Really truly.

One snag though: the Avery transfers we used before have a new formula, and now won't run on the color-rich laserjet printer we used before. And the colors when we print it on my inkjet at work are completely off, and I am struggling to get a good match that doesn't make the skins of the bishies turn a deep tan. So we are hoping my mom's inkjet will do the trick instead. Cross you fingers it works, or else Roxas, Kenshin, or Howls might not be available (plus multiples of other ones as well.) Sigh. It's always something isn't it?

Freelance Foibles :: Part 2: Photoshopping of DOOOM

2007-06-13T16:54:00.000-06:00

So my last big freelance project required me to do mondo Photoshop work of death, torturing both my soul and my sleep cycle. (Especially since I had to do it twice, once in a low res and then in a high res format. Meh. My photoshop tweaking is rusty, as our office's Photographer usually handles those things, and Illustrator has been my stronger program since college. Anyway, I'm begrudgingly surprised at how well it turned out, as it could have been a disaster, so I decided to throw up a before and after pic, and give a short explanation of how I did it for my own memory banks.

Here is the before pic.

In short, the project required me to became BFF with the clone tool. I also did a lot of burning, dodging, erasing, free transforming, selecting, cutting/pasting/moving other images into the file, changed levels, and had to replace color from grey to white.

Below is the result.

Basically I started off by selecting a black foot wheel from another image file (unusable for a box design but good reference photos) and moved that into the file. I used the clone tool to give the main front cylinder a longer shape and cover over the plastic feet. I used the little cylinders parallell to the floor to create the new front cylinder that the feet rest on, burning and dodging it so it would blend in to the other cylinder part. I then erased the part of the cylinder that overlaps the front cylinder so it looked like the two parts were connected, burning and didging some more. I copied the black back foot twice to give the front cylinder its two feet, erasing parts as necessary. I then worked on the back and underside, moving pieces to different angles, creating completely new pieces and blending them into the existing stepper. My biggest regret is that my skills were not good enough to save the floor; it got so wonky looking that I had to erase it. After all the major work was done on the stepper, I used the replace color option and made the grey whiter. Ta Da! (Ta Meh really, because like I said my Photoshop skills are rusty; hence even though the second time doing it was faster, it still took me over 10 hours to do. Grrr.)

On the plus side, I get paid for all that time (man, are they going to hate my invoice!), plus it made other Photoshop projects I was doing at work a breeze. Below is one example; we are making a bee poster, and I needed to remove the pins sticking through 30+ bees. While the ones I did before this project seemed harder, the ones after undertaking the mini stepper seemed like a breeze in comparison. Each one took only about 5-10 minutes to do, and most of that was spent cleaning up the spots in the background. I have a smaple of one below.

Before I Photoshopped:

After I Photoshopped:

Again, just simple uses of the clone tool. I used the healing brush a little as well, to really smooth out and blend some parts of the backgrounds, but it was mostly a clone tool job.

Everything worked out for the best, I suppose, but I'll keep a mental note to think twice for this company when Photoshopping is involved. Or at least try really hard to convince them to schedule a new photo shoot of the product.

That's all for now! I have to get pet products finished tonight as best I can. (Whimper.) My bed so misses me; we will have to totally get reaquainted when this is all over (meaning when I can finally take a day off and just SLEEP. ALL. DAY.)

110 Posts?!?! Golden Post Plus Ten, Yatta!

2007-06-04T22:08:00.000-06:00

So Blogger has revamped their site, and now you can specifically see the nunber of posts you have posted (instead of just the total number of published plus drafted posts , making you guess how many are actually completed.) So surprise, I passed my Golden Post #100 a long time ago! At "Brand New Year, Same Old Me," to be exact. So yay for that!

To celebrate, I am going home, fixing some food, and chowing down—which will give me plenty of energy for when I come back up here to continue working. (Sigh.) But let's just say that I am very, very happy right about now. =)

(And THAT gives me an excuse to go see the New York edition of Underworld on the History Channel for an hour. Exploring the dark recesses of one of my fave cities while sitting on a comfy couch? Sign me up! and Raddio Paradise is playing the "Fall from Grace" song right now too. Heh.)

Freelance Foibles :: Part 1: Freelancing is not Free

2007-06-04T21:50:00.000-06:00

So, as my friends know but everyone else does not, I am currently doing freelance work, which has sucked my soul and time away. Hence no AB's in forever, or any of the other project bunnies I had in mind to get done. Why would I sacrifice fun projects, frineds, fam, and the all-important sleep for freelance, you say? Two words: water heater. Mine broke last month, and as it is 30+ years old and rusting out the bottom, cannot be saved. So I have to get a new one. (I am eyeing an energy efficient one for four reasons: cheaper utilities, healthier earth, refund from gas company if buy one, and nice tax refund if buy one. Need I say more?)The problem is these babies are not cheap; at LEAST $500, with installation adding an extra $200 (and I'm not messing with that, I want my water/heat hooked up right.) Luckily for me, at just this time a bunch of freelance projects popped up on my horizon, which will help me pay for said heater, plus pay off money I owe my momma and others.

So it is good, but obviously not win-win, as I work during the day so the only time to do it is on evenings and weekends. Which I have been. I should make time for AB, I really should, but when I do get a spare few hours the LAST thing I want to do is be in front of a computer. I really DO want to get a Kenshin AB done though, so we can turn him into cute pillows. (Mmm, pillow Kenshin, so cute!) Plus ACEN really pumped me up for doing AB's again, and it's hard to resist that. So this is to warn you that this month, don't expect any AB's. I hope to get something up, but if not, you now know the reason why.

What are these all-encompassing projects, you ask? (Or not, but I'll say what they are anyway, keeping out specific details of course.) I just wrapped up a 32-page visitor's guide for the university (well, half is ads, but it was a ton of work), plus a repackaging for a dryer and a visual identity for a start-up business. (They love the logo, but I still have to get their bi-fold brochures, web site design, software design, and other things done though, yikes.) I also wrapped up the project of doom (repackaging a mini stepper), and have the Photoshpping to prove it (which I think I'll put up later, to share my pain with others.) Tonight I'm working on a new visual identity for some pet products, and coming up in the works is a DVD mailing project. I think that's all. Yikes, huh?

I'll be honest with you, for years I figured I was the type of designer who would never sucessfullly do freelance. The projects always fizzled out or I got royally screwed after doing the work, so I figured I'd only be able to do design for my current job, or family, or for myself/Ello. So this has been a blessing and a slight ego boost, to know that yes, I am making the freelance thing work (for now.) And that , while I could be faster, I am for the most part meeting all my deadlines and my clients are happy with the results.

Which comes back to that pesky "building connections" thing my profs always bugged me about in school. All of my current freelance jobs came from either the PR/Marketing department on campus, who had seen my work and knew what I could do, and a fellow design friend from school, who is on maternity leave and left my name as a referral for her clients. Annoying but true, contacts ARE king.

Oh, and I really want to write this down so *I* remember it, and if it helps anybody else, great. NEVER TURN DOWN A PROJECT BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU CAN"T DO IT. Ever. If you don't have time that's one thing, or if you have mislead them on your skills and truly don't have the ability, that's another, but NEVER say no because you are afraid the project is too big for you. Because it isn't really; it might be intimidating, but just do it one step at a time, using the skills you have honed, and you will find that you can accomplish it after all. When I got off the phone after agreeing to do the visitor's guide, I panicked and was like, "Liz, what on earth have you gotten yourself into?!?!?!" I mean, here I was agreeing to do a very important project, and if I failed spectacularly (and I was pretty sure I would,) I WORK with these people all the time, I'd have to stare at them across conference room tables and know I'd let them down. But I did the baby steps I always do on a design projects, was as professional as I could be at meetings in spite of trembling in fear inside that they would tell me "you don't know what you are doing, do you?" or something similar. But I stuck with it, set reasonable deadlines for myself in spite of only having a month to put it together, and somehow it got done. And not only did I make friends with all the people I worked with, but I now know that, when push comes to shove, I can stretch myself and accomplish whatever I set my mind to do. And seeing how much I have grown as a designer and a person over the past two months, from that project alone, has made it worth the sacrifices it took to get there. Truly.

Though not all is roses and rainbows, of course. The company I am doing the dryer and stepper and pet stuff and mailer for is more marketing based than any other group of people I've ever worked with. They have hard, fast deadlines, and are in the business to make money. From them I have learned sobering lessons. For instance, that, for some products, it REALLY doesn't matter which brand you buy, so long as you as a consumer are attracted to the packaging and FEEL you are getting a better deal or product. And that a lot of marketing practices are really to just get the consumer in the door and get their money, but offering them enough in exchange that they feel it is worth the cost. It may sound silly that this never occured to me before; in truth it has, but to hear someone just come out and say it like that across a desk was shocking to me. In truth the projects I'm working on are useful everyday items; it's not like I'm designing cigarette ads or something. But let's just say I don't think I'll be freelancing for them forever.

If anything, they have made me feel very blessed, actually, to have the full-time job I DO have. A lot of the people and groups I do design work for everyday would be considered pro bono groups for anyone else; in other words, groups you do design for at little or no charge, because they make the world a better place and your desing firm wants to give something back. Groups you can believe in, because they are in the business of educating and helping others and not just scrounging for the almighty dollar. It had never occurred to me before that THAT was the kind of place I work for, and combining that with the great people I work with every day makes me feel very, VERY lucky.

Okay, enough sappy stuff, sorry to get to sentimental there. Lastly, and tying this whole post back into the purpose of my blog, I think my freelance jobs are teaching me on-the-job lessons of how to be an excellent manga artist. Working hard to meet deadlines, juggling multiple projects at one time (magazine covers, product lines, drawing/inking/laying out pages,) attending cons, working with editors, pitching a concept; the list goes on forever of things a manga artist has to be prepared to do.
So all of this craziness, while it is maddening, is teaching me important skills. (I just hope I don't go mad with sleep loss before I get a chance to TRULY enjoy using those skills, heh.)

Wow, I used up a lot of my dwindling time today to write this, ack. But all these thoughts have been swriling wround in my brain, and hopefully by getting them out I will be better able to concentrate on my tasks at hand. And hopefully I will be back to blogging (and posting AB's!) again soon.

Harry Potter Cover + Wolf's Rain Poster = Love

2007-03-28T17:52:00.001-06:00

Ack! I haven't posted in forever! But I hope this makes up for it...

Yup! We finally have a new Harry Potter cover! Several, in fact, if you include the UK, but I love Mary Grandpre's illustrations a lot. (The German covers come a close second in being stylistically gorgeous and fun, IMO.)

Image courtesy of The Leaky Cauldron, and found via Digg.

::

This is old news to everyone but myself, but I still love it. We were at Tokyo's Anime House the other day (where I bought the bestest Death Note, accompanied with CD and feather, squee!), when a stunning wall scroll caught my eye. Now, don't get me wrong, I get why people collect and love wall scrolls, but in general they are not for me. I'm very picky about what can go up on my walls, and about poster design and what I will be subjecting my poor eyes to for years to come. Hence no scrolls. But this scroll was gorgeous, very Art Nouveau and well designed in spite of having to include a multitude of text and a logo title for a series. Yup, it was the Wolf's Rain poster! I didn't buy it, but was sorely tempted to. (Yeesh, another series I haven't watched yet and sorely need to. The list never ends.)

Anyway, poster is below. See the prettiness?

My Work :: Part 23: Swirly Fish Cake

2007-03-09T17:40:00.001-07:00

I had been sitting on this t-shirt idea since around October of last year, but never got it up from lack of satisfaction about its implementation. But in order to have it ready for next week's com, so Leeshee could order it, we finally got it up. Woot!

I'm lazy, so have not posted it up on DeviantArt yet, but will soon. In the meantime, you can check it out on the tees. The dark tee looks fabulous, particularly the blue one. Am very happy about that. The white one is great as well.

Our next week is looking busy; making buttons, plushies, costumes, etc. But am excited. I finally asked for the time off too; see how my laziness leeches out to all aspects of my life? On the plus side, we found good transfers for tees, FINALLY, so the plushies will be fab.

Anyway, a little about the design. The idea was Elicia's, a play on words with "naruto." I like it, because it's definitely an in-joke thing without being too obviously anime; those who get it can feel uber-special, and the rest, well, at least they have something attractive to look at. =) If they get it, cool, if not, hopefully they will ask you about it and you can have a discussion about Naruto and/or Japanese cuisine. So a win all around. The biggest challenges was finding an appropriate font and design for the naruto, to give nice visual weight and be interesting to look at. So basically the same challenges as always. =)

Go Team Venture! Season 3, Creator Blogs, DVD and More

2007-03-09T17:04:00.001-07:00

Scientastic!!!! Some great Venture Brothers-related news and blogs to feast on.

First, the good news: I'm super happy that Season 3 is definitely on, with a likely season 4. No word in the article whether we will be getting a full 13 eps a season or what, but for now I don't care. I'm a content woman. Bad news: we won't be getting season 3 until next spring. Sad, as I was planning on it returning this year, but oh well; it just means that 2008 has something great in store. I'm also super happy that the DVD will be released next month, at a reasonable price, and that the extras will feature a tour of the Venture compound.

Now, onto the blogs. Publick Nuisance is Jackson Publick's personal LiveJournal, and he posts fabulous things Venture-related. Even if you don't watch or like the show, it's worth checking out and getting a peek at what it is like to do a cartoon series. He has unused DVD packaging, character designs, news, and much more. Besides, where else can you find and download the Venture Brothers' Christmas tunes?

Doc Hammer is one more person to add to the list of legit artists/creators who actually have a DeviantArt account. No joke. Go and check out his paintings and posts. Two Deviations of note: a poster he did in Illustrator featuring Doctor Girlfriend, and Triana's character specs to make the best Halloween costume ever.

Lastly, the fun things. I may have posted this link before, but here is an excellent interview with the two "masterminds" (go there just to save the awesome pic of all the characters; does anyone have a larger res pic of that?) There is also a podcast that interviewed Publick; very fun. (Golden nugget of advice he gives: in writing characters, avoid pop culture references for references' sake.) And everyone's probably gone here already, but some lovely wallpapers and freebies are available at Adult Swim's Site.

There's been a tribute poster for Venture Brothers rattling around in my head for quite some time; because of the long hiatus until next season, next month will be the perfect time to buckle down and make it at last. I will have to go through every ep and take copious notes, but that is no great torture. =) Heh, I'm actually looking forward to it.

2D Or Not 2D: My Prayers Have Officially Been Answered

2007-02-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

OhMyOhMyOhMyOhMyOhMyOhMyOhMyOhMy. . .

Disney is going to revive their 2D animation department after all!!! It's Official! I'm just a little excited by this, if you can't tell. =)

The decisions the bigwigs at Disney kept making concerning their animation departments—axing animators, selling off equipment, closing studios nationwide, switching completely to 3D—kept breaking my heart. But once I had heard that the Pixar/Disney connection had been reforged though the New Deal of '06, and that Lasseter would be head of all the animation departments, I kept hoping news like this would come to light. I am so happy my heart is squeeing. Squee!

2D and 3D are two completely different mediums in which to tell stories; they are not and should never be in competiton with each other, which unfortunately is what ultimately started taking place in the 90's. But I think the glut of bad 3D films and the thirst audiences will always have for traditional cell-type, hand-drawn animation—a thirst currently being quenched, thank all that is holy, by Miyazaki—are reaffirming the worth of 2D, which hopefully will lead to a renaissance of this beautiful and vital medium. (Hint: have good stories. Whether they are original or, as Miyazaki did with Howl's, gleaned from children's storybooks. I don't care where they come from, as long as they are told well and look fabulous.)

The full article is below. Be still my still-pounding heart. And it also lists the upcoming Disney/Pixar movies in the works, which is exciting. =) One of my prime missions as a child was to always know what movies Disney had in production, at least 2-3 movies ahead of the one currently in theaters. While that has not been the case for a while, that part of my girlish heart is pleased at seeing such a long list of features to look forward to.

::

Walt Disney Rescues Hand-Drawn Animation

By Gina Keating 20 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Hand-drawn animation, out of fashion in the computer age, experienced a rescue worthy of a fairy tale on Thursday, when Walt Disney animators announced they would bring back the art form to the big screen.

"We will be bringing back hand-drawn (two-dimensional) films," said Disney's Ed Catmull, the President of Pixar and Disney Feature Animation.

Animators refer to hand-drawn animation as "two dimensional," as opposed to computer-generated animation, referred to as 3D.

Pixar created "Toy Story" and other computer animation hits, but was acquired by Walt Disney Co. last year.

Speculation has swirled since then over whether Catmull and Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter, who took control of the ailing Disney animation facility, would reestablish the art form that made Disney the world's preeminenent animator.

All of Disney's feature animation films in production at the time of the Pixar deal were computer animated.

"Now that's we're a year into it, people want to know how it's going," Catmull told analysts at a Disney conference monitored by Web cast. He said Disney would do both computer animation and hand-drawn animation.

Lasseter spent several years as a Disney animator, but left over creative differences to form Pixar, where he was considered the main creative force. He revered Walt Disney, who with a group of legendary animators known as the "Nine Old Men," made such hand-drawn classics as "Cinderella" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

When Disney bought Pixar to try to revive its flagging animation program, Catmull and Lasseter took charge of both studios, which are run separately.

At least 300 Disney animation staff were laid off or reassigned in the months following the leadership change.

Catmull and Lasseter gave the first descriptions on Thursday on how they reshaped story lines of Disney films already in production, canceled others and restructured how the Disney artists work.

"Pixar is still Pixar -- nobody left," Catmull said. "At Disney, you have these remarkable artists there ... they were not kneaded together in the right way. At the heart of it there has to be a director and the director has to have a vision."

Catmull said there were no plans to merge the studios or to limit them to a certain type of animation.

"We always believed that quality is the best business plan," he said.

He and Lasseter showed clips from upcoming films, including "Ratatouille," "Meet the Robinsons," "Wall-E," "American Dog" and "Toy Story 3."

Drawing Manga :: Part 4: 360° Jeans, Line Art Tutorial, & Links

2007-01-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of manga posts I just keep in the draft stage, which as part of my new year I am determined to put a stop to. So I'm going to try to shoot out all the posts I've been meaning to post but haven't. This is but one of those many posts, and I hope is super handy for any artists out there.

:: 360° View of Jeans ::

I don't really wear Diesel jeans all that much, but I stumbled across this site while researching "emo", and not only is it a good use of Flash, but I think it is also a handy reference tool for anyone who has to draw their characters in jeans (or any type of pant for that matter.) It enables you to pick a type of jean and view that from different angles, freeing up the poses available in which you can draw your character.

The site is here. You wait until the jean Cubiverse opens up, revealing all the models caged in their cubes. Look for a jean that matches the type of jean your character wears, and click on it; that specific cube will pop to the forefront. At the bottom left of the cube is a little button that says "View 360°". Click on that, and you can now move the mouse around and see this jean from all sides. Now you can draw with gusto, having a handy reference for where to correctly positon potential seam lines, wrinkles, and pockets. Sadly, you cannot view the jeans from all angles or sizes, but it is still a great help.

If you have a Mac, there are two ways to screenshot the jeans for future reference. My favorite is apple-shift-4, because you can precisely select what you want screenshot. Pressing those three keys simultaneously turns your curser into a crosshair; you then hold down the mouse and drag, selecting what you want to screenshot. When you release the mouse, you will hear a click, and voila! you have created a precise screenshot of, say, one of the pairs of jeans on your screen. The screenshot is saved as a png file on your desktop, called "Picture 1". (If you accidentally hit these three keys but don't want to screenshot, just click the mouse again without holding down and the curser will go away.)

The second way is like the standard way of making a screenshot in Windows: press apple-shift-3 simultaneously, and a screenshot of the whole screen is saved on your desktop. (For Windows users: pres the "Print Screen" key at the top of your keyboard, open up the Paint program in your accessories somewhere, and press paste. You can now save your screen shot.)

:: Line Art Tutorial ::

A useful tutoerial on the importance of good line art in manga and what to look for was done by Amy Reeder Hadley. You can find it here.

:: Links ::

Here are some useful links to just about every subject for drawing manga at Telophase's LiveJournal. Found through Amy's resource page.

Viral Video Melancholia? Cure: the Haruhi Dance

2007-01-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

So yay for serendipitous web surfing! I was searching for Death Note stuff and instead learned all about the newest anime viral video craze: the Haruhi dance! This is apparently taking over the cons in Korea and Japan, if all the horrible dances on YouTube are to be believed. (There are way too many to mention, so you will have to hunt for them yourselves. Send me alink of the best ones you find?)

Will catchy dances ala Thriller be the newest thing in the world of anime, so that even if the anime series does not last it will live on in the annals of anime pop culture? That remains to be seen, but hopefully this is the beginning of an exciting new trend of fun dances that make me laugh, which I will definitely enjoy for as long as it lasts. I would love to see TV shows in America do this, and not just in musical montage episodes (although those are fun.)

Embedded below is the original Haruhi Dance:

Here is a great blog that breaks down the dance for you, in case you decide that this is exactly what you needed for a killer convention skit. (Seriously, if someone got a group dressed up as the Host Club and danced to this, you would win my heart forever. Haruhi doing the Haruhi dance? Priceless.)

This is the blog where I first learned about it, and the guy has a great discussion about the idea of anime creators having savvy campaigns and character designs that encourage thrusting their creations into a pop culture mentality.

The same guy found a Death Note parody using the Haruhi Dance. The idea of Light dancing to such an upbeat pop song makes me squee.

Oh yeah, and don't forget in the dancing mania that there is an actual show as well: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This blog has really pretty pics from the anime, and interesting discussions about it, like this one on the rules of the number of episodes an anime will have.

The timing of this phenomenon makes me laugh, as the whole dancing-in-cosplay-to-viral-video has been a current topic for us in the last couple of months. My sis and some friends were going to go to the Boise con as the all-female Sanzo party, and do the "Million Ways" dance, since it deals with bowing and lots of fighting and gunslinging. (Sadly, the concensus is that this dance skit will not happen after all, though the female Sanzo party's cosplay prospects are alive and well. So look for them at a Boise con near you.) Maybe they should do a Haruhi dance instead! =) Or, er, maybe not.

::

Sorry for the lame title for this post; I've posted so infrequently lately that my brain is actually out of practice when it comes ot making these up. Hopefully it will be better up to speed for the next posts I do. (Not that all of my other post titles have been gems, but I feel like this one is exceptionally subpar.)

And yes, it's good to be back and posting again! I've been lazy lately, but hope to get back up to speed. I'm going to make some changes in what I post where and have new resolutions for my online stuff, and will have a post up about that soon.

I See Bending People: Avatar + Night = ?!?!?!?!

2007-01-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd add my two cents worth to the rumors flying about the Avatar Movie.

First off, the thought of a live action version is tricky to me. There is a lot at stake for the first movie, and the audience will either love it or hate it, a reaction that is completely dependent on the quality of the actors chosen and effects put into it. As far as actors go, I am skittish. The voice actors make the characters; their vocal mannerisms are what bring them to life, and that could go horribly awry when different actors are picked. (But both Elicia and I feel that the voice actor of Zuko could easily play him on screen; Rufio Rufio Roo-fee-oh! (Heh, ever since we figured out they were the same person I always think that when I hear the character.) But I do get that, unless the movie covers a brand new story, live action is the most feasible route to follow in bringing Avatar to the big screen. But as Eragon has proven, not every modern-day epic adaptation is destined for success; I hope The-Powers-That-Be are treading very carefully on this one.

Secondly, of all the directors available to shoot this, their first pick out of the gate is M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN?!?!? Don't get me wrong, Night is a terrific director in spite of his current hang-ups, and I get that he wants a franchise, but AVATAR? While I think he could bring great depth and play up the darker, more poignant themes of the show brilliantly, the joy of Avatar (besides seeing Zuko angst) is its humor; is Night's usually subdued playfullness of his movies up to the task? If he ends up being the sole writer on this, the answer will be a thudding, resounding no. But all is not lost; Alfonso Cuaron brought a dark and twisty Harry Potter splendidly to life, so there is a chance the same type of gambling is at work here. And heaven knows Night could use the job.

It's possible, however, that another director will eventually take the helm if the project gets at all delayed. The question is, who? Personally, I would love to see Peter Jackson direct it. Elicia and I were talking about this, and we thought that Jackson and Night should switch projects, swap The Lovely Bones for Avatar, but that will never happen as Jackson is too far into making Bones. But it would have been a fair trade, fitting the director's individual styles perfectly.

And for the love of all that is holy, if the production manager for the film is at all sane he will hire WETA or a similar shop for the props. Each nation in Avatar has its own style and history, and WETA would help provide a realistic gravitas that a live action Avatar will need. I almost drooled while watching Narnia, and that kind of detail would help bring Avatar closer to glorious life.

In short, this news is interesting indeed, and the bold choice in Night as director will make or break the movie, and all future Avatar adaptations. I will be watching with much intrigue to see if he is ultimately up to the task.

Writing Manga:: Part 5: Brian K. Vaughan's Advice for Comic Writers

2007-01-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Whitney over at Pop Candy loves Brian K. Vaughan, who has worked on such comics as Y: the Last Man and Runaways. She has given him props multiple times in her blog, and even made a podcast of a roundtable discussion of Y: The Last Man, in which he called in and joined in, to everyone's delight. So of course when he posted on his MySpace page advice about writing comics, she made a post all about it.

Below is his post in full. It applies to artists as well as writers, and was one of two perfect editorials on priorities that I needed to jump-start my new year. (The other was in my local paper; when I find it I will get it posted here as well.) Read and enjoy.

I'm totally in agreement with him about "write more, do other stuff less"; at the end of the day, it just comes down to having the courage/discipline/desire to just plop your butt down and write/draw/record/shoot/create, in spite of all the crazy stuff happening or your own reservations of doing so. I tend to overthink things and do my research to the point I put off actually putting those things into practice. The thinking and the research become an excuse, rather than an impetus, for getting the idea sketched out and completed. Understandable? Yes. Extremely flawed? Double yes.

I'm going to try to make this year my year of doing: getting webcomics up, character designs completed, fanart penned, colored, and posted online and at cons; putting more work into our CafePress site and designs. In short, do more and say less. Well, maybe not less per se; just have the doing part match up with the other parts of my creative processes already in place.

Because of his article, I actually had the nerve to draw the initial sketches of a webcomic idea that has been rolling round in my head for quite some time. And man, it felt so good to do that! It is just the first step, of course, but a vital one I keep putting off way too much. Yay for BKV to help nudge me on the right path to my goals!

::

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

BKV's Advice on Writing Comics and

A ton of new traffic here after this joint got plugged in WIZARD, and I've gotten over 1,000 new messages, many of them asking for advice about writing and breaking in. I wish I had time to respond to each, but unfortunately, I'm working on four to five books a month (on top of two screenplays for New Line), so I decided to post this one mega-response in the hopes of reaching as many of you as possible.

First, the disclaimers that will make me seem like a dick: I know it sounds like lawyerly bullshit, but for legal reasons, I ABSOLUTELY CAN'T READ YOUR SCRIPTS, PITCHES, IDEAS, ETC. Please don't send them to me. Even if I could read them (which I can't), I wouldn't be able to help you get work. Only editors can hire you, and I'm just a lowly freelancer. If I could magically get people on the payroll at Marvel or DC, I would have done it for my freeloading playwright wife ages ago. (Kidding, Ruthless).

Still, I love free stuff, so if you have a PUBLISHED minicomic, zine, or whatever, please feel free to send it to me. That said, I'm afraid I no longer write review quotes, cover blurbs or introductions. I felt too bad turning some creators down, so I stopped cold turkey a few months ago. Apologies, but seriously, that stuff won't help sell your books. All that matters is quality.

Anyway, let's begin with some general advice about writing:

WRITE MORE, DO OTHER STUFF LESS.

That's it. Everything else is meaningless. You can take all the classes in the world and read every book on the craft out there, but at the end of the day, writing is sorta like dieting. There are plenty of stupid fads out there and charlatans promising quick fixes, but if you want to lose weight, you have to exercise more and eat less. Period. Every writer has 10,000 pages of shit in them, and the only way your writing is going to be any good at all is to work hard and hit 10,001.

(And this isn't just some tired cliche, I believe that's a provable mathematical equation. I started writing five pages a day, every single day, when I began my senior year of high school. That means I hit 10,001 roughly a year after I graduated NYU, which was exactly when I pitched Y: THE LAST MAN to Vertigo. It took a lot of lousy writing to get there, but I'm glad I stuck with it. And don't worry, if you were busy actually having a life in high school and college, it's never too late to begin your march towards 10,001. Most writers don't do their best work until they're in their thirties and forties, anyway. Still, the clock is ticking, so maybe you old-timers should consider writing seven pages a day?)

Anyway, when people ask me for suggestions about writing, they're usually asking how to make it more fun. Well, writing might be fun for some people, but for most of us, it's an unholy nightmare. Writing is hard, lonely, frustrating work. I hate it more than just about anything in the world. Unfortunately, the thing I LOVE more than just about anything is HAVING WRITTEN, so I have to power through the misery to get to that sensation. For me, writing is like starting with six hours' worth of hangover to enjoy a few minutes of feeling drunk. It's a bizarre, unnatural way of life, and not everyone's cut out for it, but if you're born with this wonderful, terrible addiction, you'll recognize it soon enough.

(Oh, and "writer's block" is just another word for video games. If you want to be a writer, get writing, you lazy bastards.)

For those of you who've already figured out that you're writers, you're probably wondering if you can do it professionally. I used to be exactly like you. I desperately wanted to write comics, but I had no idea how to go about it. When I was a freshman at NYU (where I went to study film, since no universities offered courses on comics), I attended a Neil Gaiman signing, and asked Neil if he any advice for young writers. Now, I've talked to lots of other creators who've received pearls of wisdom from Mr. Gaiman over the years, and amazingly, they each got completely different—but equally life-changing—pieces of advice. It's like Neil has a mystical ability to look into a writer's eyes and tell him or her exactly what he or she needs to hear. (In other words, go bother him if my bullshit doesn't work for you.)

Anyway, Neil told me, "Go get published, because nothing will make you become a better writer faster than knowing that complete strangers are reading your horrible, horrible writing."

Now, on the surface, this is pretty crappy advice. How the hell is someone supposed to "go get published?" But as luck would have it, I happened to be in the exact right place at the exact right time.

When I was a sophomore at New York University in the film and dramatic writing program, I enrolled in a new elective called the Stanhattan Project (named after Stan Lee). A former Marvel editor named James "the Professor" Felder decided that he needed to look outside of comics for new talent, so he started this informal writing workshop at NYU to teach the ins and outs of the medium and the industry to young writers. James liked my work and threw me a little job or two to help get my foot in the door.

And yes, when I finally saw my first published work on the stands at Cosmic Comics in midtown Manhattan, I proudly started to reread my own writing, only to immediately experience the sense of horror and disgust Gaiman had warned me about a year earlier. That's when my career as a writer began.

I wish I could tell all of you to sign up for the Stanhattan Project, but sadly, it only lasted one short year. And that's the maddening thing about comics. It's not like becoming a dentist, where everyone attends the same amount of courses and takes the same kinds of tests to get where they want to be. No two people ever break into our medium in the same way.

Look at other "mainstream" writers. New WOLVERINE scribe Daniel Way got the attention of Dark Horse Comics editor Diana Schutz when he gave her a copy of a comic that he self-published with the help of a Xeric Grant (if you don't know what that is, get Googling). BIRDS OF PREY writer Gail Simone wowed major companies with the hilarious online humor column she did at Comic Book Resources. And ULTIMATE HULK VS. WOLVERINE writer Damon Lindeloff hooked up with Marvel after he co-created LOST, one of the hottest television shows of the last ten years. Three drastically different paths to breaking into "the majors," but all three writers have one thing in common: they were working their asses off while other wannabe creators were sitting at home, waiting for the phone to ring.

I think it was my pal Devin Grayson who first compared the industry to a medieval castle. As soon as one invader finds a way inside, that hole is immediately plugged. You'll need creativity and imagination to find your hole (heh), but if you didn't have those attributes, you wouldn't be trying to break in, now would you?

And trust me, breaking in is not half as hard as STAYING in. For every comic that came out with my name on it, there were a dozen pitches that never saw the light of day. When work slowed down, I tried to keep my skills sharp by writing other stuff, like short plays ( http://bkv.tv/pages/news.html ). When editors stopped returning my calls entirely, I started making my own comics. And when I couldn't even find artists willing to collaborate with me, I started creating graphic novels with photography ( http://bkv.tv/pages/news.html ).

In short, stop making excuses and start making art.

Finally, if and when you're ready to pitch your brilliant idea to someone, I suggest checking out this excellent site that someone from my message board (at www.bkv.tv ) recently posted, which lists every small to midlevel publisher out there that accepts unsolicited submissions, even if there's no artist attached to the project: http://comiccreatorservices.blogspot.com/

And if you're not sick of me yet, you can read more about my weird personal writing habits and rambling thoughts on the craft in the book WRITERS ON COMICS SCRIPTWRITING VOL. 2, which can be ordered from your local comics retailer, or online at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1840238089/sr=8-4/qid=1141431390/ref=sr_1_4/103-0088650-9726248?_encoding=UTF8

Best of luck,
BKV

Brand New Year, Same Old Me

2007-01-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time, no? Yay for the Holidays, except now I have been playing mad catch-up with my ever-pressing work deadlines, thus no AB this week; but keep your eyes peeled for next week.

Though the break was super nice; the university I work at gave all the employees a whole week off, plus I took extra time. So nice long break for me, which was spent staying up way too late, sleeping, watching a Venture Brothers Marathon, eating lots of holiday foods, and playing video games (Guitar Heroes—with visiting fam too! Nothing like watching your uncle play, hah!), Kingdom Hearts 2 (finished!), DDR, and Okami (still in progress.)) But I wasn't a total lazy person all through the hols; we entertained several relatives at my mom's house, went to parties, painted my bathroom, and got my house into some semblance of normalcy. (My vacuum works again!) I didn't sketch much, but I did come up with several ideas for comic ideas, and we got AB pillows made, so Woohoo.

(The pillows are awesome btw. Much smaller than we wanted, and we still need to play with transfer paper types, but they are cute and cuddly, which is really all that matters. We had a sushi/gyoza party last weekend, and if the glomping and sqealing were any indication, they should sell pretty well as is at the con. So look out, Boise!)

Elicia and I gave out some winning presents this year, and we got as good as we gave; yay for karma! The hightlights were a comprehensive book on weaponry though the ages that makes me drool every time I read it, an iPod/radio/alarm clock that is teh pretties, a Shikamaru plushie and keychain, a Totoro keychain, and super warm PJ's. I am drawing a huge blank on others I got (Sob! How ungrateful does that make me seem!), but will add other gifts as I recall them.

I gave Elicia Okami, a cow-shaped measuring tape, and a stuffed cat that looks and feels much like our very own Pip, which also coincidentally is named Pip! so now she can go to grad school and her Pip withdrawls will be hopefully lessened. I also got her a rather wierd, blobby green Tamagotchi stocking stuffer. Cute but random, so therefore a perfect Leeshee gift!

My dad I got an Eric Clapton CD, which he loved, a Bush humor calendar, which made him laugh, and a Lowe's gift card to help him and my Stepmom out with the restoring of the farm. My Stepmom I got a candle holder from Global Village Gifts, which I knew she'd appreciate. Elicia got them tons of nice things from England.

She also got our mom stuff from across the pond; I got mom snowman candles since that is the theme in her living room after christmas, a special box set of the Polar Express book complete with a bell; and other things I threw in at the last minute. Oh, we both got her nativities, yet another room theme. (My mom has a lot of room themes. But I can't complain, as my house has the Asian room theme thing still going strong. The rooms are all almost painted and look awesome, btw. Now to find the perfect super-long wall scroll...)

My biggest regret about the hols is easy: that my slowly depleting blog posts and AB pics turned nonexistent. I can't apologize enough about my laziness. And there was so much great news and art stuff happening, too! But I will do my best to catch up and get on track of everything again. All my little balls of stuff to do were dropped, but I promise to start picking them back up and juggling them all once more. Be patient, my fair ones! All three of you who actually read this blog will be nourished once more! =)

She's Not Going: Dreamgirl Hudson and Goodies

2006-12-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

I have been wearing out this track on TouTube lately; Jennifer Hudson is ah-MAZE-ing. (Is below too.) I went and watched the original from Jennifer Holliday when she performed it at the Tony's, and this completely does it justice.

Here are some clips from the movie. EW had a good article about making the movie a few weeks ago, which I will try to look up later. Oh, and how could I not include my fave Ugly Betty clip of Marc and Amanda singing the title track!

AngstyBishy Update

2006-12-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

Crap, life does not love me today. I think I shorted my keyboard: static buildup made my shock my mouse, which is attached to the keyboard, which now is malfunctioning; keys like the shift and alt (important, no?) are not working now. I'm gonna shut it down and later this eve see if it works again. Sad, but Kyo IS almost done, so not too sad. He may not get up till tomorrow, depending on how things go keyboard-wise. I'll hope for the best!

"300": Romans and Persians and Wolves, Oh My!

2006-12-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

Ooooooh, this movie looks so good. I caught the trailer today at Apple, finally, and was just blown away. It looks like a graphic novel brought to life, I don't know how else to ddescribe it: stylized, gorgeous, cinematography laid out like a comic artist would on a page. It's called "300," and is based of the graphic novel of the same name by Frank Miller (Dark Knight, Sin City.) I'm sure I can't find the novel online to read (pesky American copyright laws), heh, so there's ANOTHER thing I need to save my money up for. Sheesh.

Here is the trailer (iPod version available), the official web site with downloads and vids and concept art and stuff, all the front and back covers of the novel, and Wiki's page on the novel, with more stuff to enjoy.

My Hiro: X-mas Gifts for my Fave Superhero and More. Yatta!

2006-12-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

Is there any twenty-something out there NOT watching Heroes Monday nights? If so, shame on you, go watch it ASAP. Because Hiro is my new TV boyfriend (with Henry from Ugly Betty also duking it out, but he would totally lose to Hiro's powers, and this is SO a topic for another day), thus I am a wee bit obsessed with things featuring him at the moment. So here is stuff dealing with Hiro (and Masi Oka) for all to enjoy.

:: EW's Hiro Gift Guide ::

EW loves Hiro, hence I love EW. Here in this weeks issue is their picks for what to get Hiro, and Masi's own speculations about his gift choices from and for Hiro (Heroes Season 1 DVD from the future, portable electronic dictionary) and the lamest gift he ever got. (Getting snowed in alone on Christmas/Birthday.)

(And his b-day's Dec. 27, fangirls, a capricorn and a tiger, but like you didn't already know that.)

:: Time & Wired Magazine ::

I watched Hiro on late night the other day, and he was just brilliant! And the host mentioned this issue of TIME with Masi Oka on the cover. There is also a blur about him in Wired, too.

:: Brown Alums Unite ::

Look at how cute (and young) he looks in this picture!

:: USA Today Article ::

Great article I read about him last month in USA Today.

:: Masi Interviews ::

Great Interviews. I think he needs to teach me some freelancing skills, as mine totally suck and apparently his rock. But their boyfriend's fave char and not theirs? Please. Mohinder is smokin', as is Issac, but Masi is the best. I think if he went to cons, he'd see I'm not the only young adult fangirl out there, not by a long shot. Oh, and I'd totally go just to see him and chat with him, if poss.

:: Masi Behind the Scenes ::

Clips of him in Heroes intermixed with a video interview. Watch it here or below.

:: Hiro's Blog ::

See, it's brilliant stuff like this that explains why Heroes is doing so good and supposedly teen-centric CW is floundering. A blog for our fave superhero? My heart soars.

:: The Online Comic ::

Okay, now I'm just pointlessly mentioning stuff every Heroes fan knows about. but it's really good, seriously. Go download it and check it out.

:: Wikipedia ::

Has other good info about Masi. Also links from there to IMDB, where I first learned he is a digital effects animator!

(See, this proves why we should totally hang out in real life: having done computer animation and planning that as my career in HS/early college, until I changed my mind, he could discuss it with me and I wouldn't get overwhemed when he spouts off into animation-speak. (Well, maybe the math part I would, but on the rest of it I'd be solid.) We could actually have an intelligent conversation about it. And I would make him sushi, and then once we were fast friends he could go with me to Japan and help me get around in a country I am afraid I will get lost in yet am dying to visit. Doing Tokyo with Masi? Would be a blast, because we could go browse at the manga shops together and stuff. (He loves manga, but doesn't get to read a whole lot of it at the moment. Ooh, and he could translate it for me too. Ooh, and how lame and preteenish fangirly do I really sound?) Aaaaaaand fangirl daydream over, hee.)

:: Masi Oka Fansite ::

Because I am not the only silly fangirl.

And that's all (for now, hee.) Fangirl out.

My Work :: Part 22: AngstyBishy Yuki

2006-12-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

Woot, it's been a month but I finally am back on track!

Yuki has been on my list from the very beginning as the perfect candidate for being Angsty Bishified. And yes, Kyo fangirls, I hear you screaming "But what about Kyoooooooo! Whya haven't you done hiiiiiiim? It's soooooo not fair!" Answer: I was hoping to surprise you guys by doing TWO in one week, to make up for my recent slackerness, but alas it was not to be. I only had time for one this week, and Yuki's sketch came out with less probs, ergo he got done first. Kyo will be up next week.

I also don't mind doing him first, for the simple reason that he is one of my fave characters in the Furubaverse. Which I get is bizarre, as it seems in my conversations with people that between the two characters they tend to gravitate to loving Kyo more than Yuki. Does anyone disagree with me that this is the case?

(Spoilerage of the HP and Furuba sort)

And while I usually can guess which characters will eventually be shipped canonically (sorry, Harry/Hermione shippers, it was obvious from the Chamber of Secrets book which way JKR was leaning; if you make a char look like the protagonist's dead mum he's gonna prob end up with that char, but keep hoping anyways), but from the first I shipped Yuki and Tohru together, and even though I figured out which way the shipping would end up, I still am curently rooting for Yuki in vain. I hear he finds someone special though (and NO Hatsuharu/Yuki shippers, you are foiled once more), so hopefully I can get on board with that when I get to that point in the story. I'm only in the forties chapter-wise, so I have a ways to go.

(End Spoilerage)

I think my loving Yuki more stems from maternal instinct; every time I see Yuki I want to scoop him up in my arms and tell him everything will be okay. I don't know, but he comes across to me as a much more fragile person than Kyo does. Kyo is more persecuted, sure, but he is much stronger internally and already I think he has made the bigger strides in growing and maturing. Both boys are horribly damaged, but at this point in the story I feel like while Kyo is making great strides, Yuki is still stunted in ways that Kyo will never be.

I think it is easy to mistake shyness for stuck-upness; I know this has beeen the case for me on many occasions, and I think it is a trait in Yuki that is misinterpreted by many people. Still waters run deep; under that facade of calm perfection seethes the heart of an angsty emo poster-child. Thus why he and Kyo were some of the first AB's I thumbnailed.

(Though when you come down to it, aren't most of the characters in Furuba angsty? Because of this I'm trying to be picky with which Furuba characters I do, so I don't end up doing them all, but I think the only other ones I would do would be Hiro and Akito; the rest aren't quite so angsty compared to these four characters.)

Still can't believe that I now, since Nov. 30th, live in a world where Furuba is completed! And cannot wait for her next work.

Bringin' Sexy Book: Obata's Masterpiece and my new #1 Object du Lust

2006-12-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

In spite of my impulsivity, I try to be a rational creature. I find that the best way to curb my spending habits for my usual objects of lust (art books, home furnishings, manga, sushi) is to abstain totally (from the store, site, book section) or I will talk myself into buying things I desperately want but cannot afford. I know everyone does this, but when you have ADD like I do it is essential to resist the impulses as best you can.

Therefore, when I heard about Takeshi Obata releasing an art book earlier this year, I was extremely excited, but couldn't afford a new art book, so somehow I completely forgot about it and put it out of my mind until today, when I was hunting for reference pics for a DN fanart. I was like, "Hey, I think that art book of his should be out by now," so I googled it up.

HOLY ALL THAT IS HOLY. There are low end and high end art books, and Obata's is in the realm of the highest of the high. Gorgeous illustrations, well designed, and hugely thick. (Just how I lurv my coffee table books.) Just the book itself and the illustrations are gorgeous, but no, he also put out a limited edition Death Box, which comes with extra stuff. The figures and extra stuff, meh, those are nice but I'm not big into it, but the box is even more super since the book in it is even more fancy and special. (Yes, when I get excited my grammar suffers. Deal with it.)

Yeah, so now I am doubting my devotion to Obata since I didn't preorder this on the spot, and probably as a result will never be able to buy it. But it is a LOT of money, over $200, so I don't feel like such a tool for waiting so long but still feel crappy. And the art book itself is over $90, so I'm guessing the price tag will keep it from being nestled under my Christmas tree this year. (Leeshee loves me, but not THAT much.) So I will gaze at online images in rapt adoration until I make it mine one day.

Great scans of the book's illustrations can be found here and here, and the cover and spine here.

Speaking of Obata, does everyone know that he got arrested for possesion of a knife? Crazy. And again, I feel so out of the loop. I would curl up under my desk, except I have an annual report due which needs 4 extra pages designed and added to it STAT. So the licking of the wounds will have to wait till later.

::

AB out today! Soon!

Manga Artists :: Part 7: Amy Reeder Hadley from Anime Banzai

2006-11-29T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hah, it's been over a month now since I promised to post this stuff; how lame am I? But I am super happy to finally get all my notes up from the con.

Amy had two panels, both of which I attended. The first was on drawing, the second in getting into the manga industry. I'll post my notes and them my comments about each of the panels.

I do want to comment that Amy was super nice, which surprised me for some reason. I've read other articles, myspace/website posts, and/or comments by other emerging american artists, and their attitudes range from smugly superior to bff-next-door, aw-shucks goodness. So I didn't know what to expect, but Amy was great, very open about her skills and her progress. She was a teacher for a while, and I think that helped her panels be informmative, structured, and helpful. I had to attend a LOT of art seminars in college, in which the presenters NEVER showed you their earlier portfolio stuff, probably because it is embarassing to them now. But how does that help the students? If the students feel that good design and art springs from their head like Athena, fully formed and awesome, they will never be able to improve. So I lovedlovedloved that she willingly put in really bad beginning pieces, to show just how far she has progressed. Refreshing and the ultimate act of artistic humility.

Also, she has tons of resources at her site.

I apologize in advance for the notes; in spite of taking copious amounts, I often cannot read my rushed writing aferwords and thus guess at what I meant, and in the first panel was sketching as much as notetaking. So it might not make much sense or will seem scattered. I hope it is useful in spite of these things.

:: Facial Expressions & Angles: Join Amy Reeder Hadley (ARH) as she presents an in-depth, hands on tutorial on drawing facial expressions and faces from different points of view. (2 hrs)::

October 20, 2006

:Angles:

Face dynamics—when faces change; facial angles & expressions
Why care about? Knowledge, char. continuity, set out & know her pwr of the face; helps wrap u into the world to draw

Base Face: front view, base all off of
used to not do sketches; now she does
nose can be shadow triangle or nostrils only; whatever like
how diverse can u make it? So stylistic cannot draw anyway else? not nessecarily good

Shots of upside 3/4 view: lift head vs. angle standing below—both are angled diff
show lots of hair, nose & mouth lower
side view: err on giving too much space for hair (/), draw basics 1st, not concentrate on details (lips) till later
features change on the angle: face is not a balloon shifting view, but certain depths change as well when face shifts

3/4 Eye: top put near middle, bottom part out and shifts
iris elongated, space hit lid w/ eyelashes brows on guys in this posisiton are lower, forehead justs out more
noses tough
lips squish, not stay vert/horizontally front; side closest long, side farther away short

Downshots: eye 1/2 circles, curve upside a little
iris close to the eyes
when are looking rom below are at 45 degree angle; when just looking down is straight
eye: outside corner lower, inside is higher
iris tells a whole lot about the person

Upshot: eyes squish horizont.
lashes seen the most
eyebrows face down and are farther away
nose closer; can look upward into nostrils
mouth balls at the side, shaded below the lip
more chin seen

Side: is tricky
flatten the eye on front, not much face, def not draw same as frontward eyes
eyes look squished outside only
pupil—drawn inside the iris, revealing eye jelly
eyebrow squished
mouth turn up, then down

Looking Up: iris round when looks straight at u any position/angle
eyebrow still follows the rule of the angle though
model shot—face down but eyes looking dtraight at u; same as anger shot, only diff is the lips

:Facial Expressions:

good book: "Artists complete guide to facial xpressions"

Base Expressions:

Eyes: brows down (when does this, pulls the brow/muscle and pushes fat/skin down from the brow); brows together (pushes brow and pulls the fat/skin); brows raised; upper lid raised; bottom lid squint; upper/lower lid squint

Lips: base lip (can have mouth turned downward or stylized); mouth open (teeth?); mouth wide open; sneer (top lip curve is wider, outer lip edges shorter); sneer with teeth; sneer wide open; sneer 2 cry; frown 1; frown 2; frown to open; yell; smile (lips stretched); smile open (show teeth with black spaces at corner, not show teeth so big); smile wide open; pursed lips 1; pursed lips 2 (push lips in and down)

with a real smile, the eyes change: squint more

learn from other styles, pick & choose

Combine features to change perception/expressions
Scott McCloud: "Making Comics"

Darwin determined there are 6 main expressions every culture uses (can find derivatives of each one)
1: Fear (frown, sneer, brows together)
2: joy (eyes squint, smile)
3: dusgust (all features go to the middle of face; sneer, nostrils up, eyes close, brows tog)
4: anger (eyes down, mouth open)
5: surprise (lift brow, open eyes)
6: sadness (shut)

Expressions each take some of these 6 levels at different intensities, come together and make something (ex: fear+surprise+anger)

humans hold back emotions, so most time are not as extreme

examples of diff expressions: side+smile+upshot; 3/4 angle+surprise+anger (eyes open, brows down)

___ + ___ + ___ = final expression

Sample scenario expression: your boyfriend finally cooked for you, but says cooked your dog while you arte in mid bite: reaction?

surprise + anger + sadness + disgust; head down as eating; maybe fear

have a mirror handy to draw facial expressions

blush marks/sweat drops; commonly used but are cheating, since are used when in doubt is working; make it work instead and will get better

Places for further research:
use mirror
camera to take pics of self
use if can't do out of your head, digital especially helpful
photos: some say 3D not 2D the only way, is less inbred, but seeing angles in 2D can help a lot
do not trace from 2D images for final product, but is useful for learning/practice in order to see datails as they are
think in angles (a smile is 45 degrees, a shout 90 degrees)
impressions of things looking wrong (mouth not as big as u think)
amy's own site has helpful tools
3D imaging reps like Poser can look at to help
books ("Facial Xpressions" by Mark Simon: helps so not draw same thing over & over again)
Computer: helped her learn to draw out of her head, easy to fix probs
makes easier to forgive yourself for mistakes; experiment until right
do less on computer—not afraid to try
learn to draw by hand too, takes practice, less stale than comp sometimes
wacom for digital drawgin (feels the 6X8 too big ($300), prefer 4X5 ($60-100) to start

3 years ago she did a crash course in thinking out of her head to improve(has already graduated college)

there is time to be really good (no matter your age/skill at the moment)
she is serious about, wants to do her whole life

Her fave artists
Rockwell: realism + exact expression
Takeshi Obata (like me, woo hoo!): storywise, not gimmmick, way he tells it makes you care; even with stupid story loves the telling of it
bits & pieces of inspiration

she in bk for rising stars
osbury study (?) editor at TP liked her, now he works for DC comics

Stylisticaly: focuses on realism, takes what learns from studies and applies them to something cartoony
pick & choose

draw a lot; like office schedule: 40 hrs a week, 8 hrs a day, often work more than that, hand hurts sometimes

career: work for Tokyopop

pages do a week?
she slow; 1 pg a day for book
6 chapters is a novel—180 pgs, 30 pgs each
over a month, in addition do the story

screen tones: buy at art stores, comictones.com

resources: perspective grids, photoshop & how to use

dislikes:
crowd scenes
Likes:
side views, perspective grids for backgrounds she uses; likes ok

2 pt perspective; morph 4 any grid u want
print out for drawing by hand or keep in computer
dream up what wants to see, THEN the persp. grid helps after that
used to now, so is faster process
inking by hand takes time w/ rules(rulers?)

crosshatch/hatch
use dark corners
rustic, life we feel less so be flashy/alive (???)
not do TOO much
good inking—less tones, so not look grey and muddy

angle/expresson changes from 1 panel to the other
find what hang on to so has continuity (base face u set up, distinct features)
learn angles themselves; not do an angle just to do it

base face: what makes this char look diff than the others?
mouth turn down, smaller nose so go up lot or little; consider every angle

Lettering
she does lettering in photoshop, then tokyopop reletters
balloons: 1 layer 4 art, one for balloons, 1 for sound FX, then 1 for text
reletter in indesign—they redo so is not rasterized text (makes sense to me), she do 1st so is less chance they will screw up

Fonts
rooftop run from blambot.com
buy or get free fonts
nick piekos @ blambot: his stance on artist using the fonts: unless ur Marvel/DC/big comp, he friends w/ u and gives u right to use fonts =) =) =)
tokyopop has fonts u can use as an artist

payment
advance: royalties no see till see advance
pay while u do, by chapter (not amt time takes to do chapter)
do well: pay to create & pay 4 success; so technically can get paid 2X if are good and sell well

story currently on
is laid out for 4 volumes, she guaranteed 3
next vol out next july, 1 yr apart

format: FTP upload the raw PSD files

Thumbnails: plan out, incubation pd to think out layout
pre-write, so is better in the end
is better at improving things than starting things, so are useful
no blank pg w/ having templates
often end up very diff form final product, but getting done is crucial
editor go over them w/ her
like arough draft

why shift from comp to hand
does at 1200 dpi, 100% like 16X real size
inking by hand forces u to deal with your mistakes, work around them and improve
xper: comes alive more, base of impromptu things
not perfection
looks more "manga" that way
nibs_no use, use copic miltiliner, the skinniest
ink 2X size so lines look skinny
print out light, ink, scan
now sketching by hand too
lt blue template, panel lines/grids
lightbox & scan

::

Really super panel, which opened my eyes to the nuances of facial expressions in a way that hadn't presented to me before. Amy had a wacom tablet and projected it onto the screen, so we could watch her sketch for the demo. Very cool of her I thought; I've done that before when I did demos in Adobe, but drawing in front of people makes me nervous, even if it's just friends, so that to me was incrediby brave of her.

She also talked about the nuances of drawing for a company. Some questions she wanted to save for her next panel, but she was willing to answer everything. A lot of the things I was planning to implement or do with our manga as far as tools and process, are things she and/or tokyopop also do and endorse, which was a very cool hint that we are on the right track, even if it seems out train is stalled for the moment.

Oh, and I didn't get this until after I got back home and read her manga, but she wore striped leggings just like her main character wears, which was very cool.

:: Getting Your Manga Published: Join fool's Gold creator ARH for tips on how to get published ::

:Her start:

a student in her psych class wanted to turn in manga or a project. ("Uh,what's a manga?") So he turn in ("Oh, it's a comic then?") That was 3-4 yeas ago and now she does it!

:Getting Into Business:

many options to get into manga business (gomanga.com, tokyopop.com)
good time to get in wass 1 year ago; getting pickier as more approach them

Seven Seas Entertainment (Boogie Pop)
owner did title, discontinued doing it, says is publisher 1st and artist 2nd
web comic like: draw stories they've written right to left

Slave Labor Grapics .com (Johnny Homicidal Maniac, Invader Zim)
lots of styles
submit web: ab.us/submissions

OniPress
indie manga, scott pilgrim

Imagecomics

Dark Horse (Lone Wolf & Cub)
take submissions; from writers no
is harder as writer
good company, artsy manga
suff that not sell as well but they believe in

Marvel Mangaverse (Spiderman Loves Mary Jane)
she approached by to draw for existing series
samples, not want to u change style for them

Vertigo, Part of DC (Sandman, Fables)
critical acclaim
only read manga at present? then branch out and try their titles

:Getting There:

Photo realism: National Geographic, found a gift for copying
got into Sailor Moon as grad HS (98)
SM/Ranma were her only exposure but she thirsted for more, wanted to make up her own girl characters
college, ugly doodles, poses
continue faces & show off do in college, copy mags and change hair/ear
realism thru head (continue/combine to forward?)
took art class—process (listened to lots Bjork)
r u gonna b an artist? what do w/? draw?

became teacher, social science (sociology, psych, hist)
plan 2B, loves teens

sis got into as well and more people (paradise kiss)

:Rising Stars:

20 pgs and top 7/8/10 won; competitive
computer at work; maybe I can draw like this
like 1st place winnner (Priscilla Handley, blackmoontides.com)
drawing tablet on comp—found and learned Photoshop
comp allowed images to come out of her head and fix
make her learn a lot, experiment, swish/erase
xper necc to learn, no hands behind back
8 months after 4th vol
my char this guy back there (?)
most no like her style, found her long lashes obnoxious
1 editor believe in her, subtle jokes, so he end up allowing her a place in the book
8 months after that, book deal

editor—3 volume story 2 pitch to them
her editor assigned absent, no e-mail her 1X week, she fell betwen the cracks
kept improving, did art online
he told her editor at a mtng was a huge mistake she not signed yet
he got her 2 editors & signed a bk deal, her 1st editor fired

:Ways to Get in:

1. RSOM: prove do by deadline, read all pgs of all comics submitted (rare)
reg submissions allowed 6 pgs max at best
tokyopop: about section
2. submissions: info online, exactly what they want (plot, outline) done to letter of law or be tossed; bk deals (rising start or submissions, whatev) makes school a handy place to learn (deadlines, protocol)
3. collaborations great way; harder for writers 2 get in, hard to evaluate; requires brainpwr, takes less time 2 write than draw; can have 1 writer 4 many series so usually less of a demand for; find an artist to draw for u; often 1 gets the other in; psycomm/z apt/road song examples; like a team, but easy for 1 to back out of so B careful; like being in rock band (she in 1 in college), hard to get tog
4. Portfolio Review: Rivka from SteadyBeat do this; annual, find $/relatives for the CA convention to show your stuff; get straight-on feedback
5. Assistanceships: tone/ink books; Bizenghast originally a toner; way to get in; in Japan have contests for assistanceships
6. Awesome Web Comic: Sorcerors & Secretaries = she approached by because of comic

:Improvement:
they tell u 2 improve, no make rising stars, etc—don't get angry and talk crap, especialy online don't say something bad—others can see
don't be drama queen, pick your own battles

Improving art
3 yrs ago she started; computer
sketch diff angles
plan out
try new things so learn better

wks after, she compile 4 comic contest
no words, in color, like music vid
funky paneling, lots not know how to do then
each time, everything you learn, compile & b best ever
"this is awesome, I'm an art god!" later see w/ new eyes
room 4 improvement; brain do, strech and grow as imrove
her orig entry: cluttering, confusing
draw angles—mad studied in library, tutorials
people no like her RSOM entry 3pgs, new editor saw new pgs
bk deal—character illustrations for
pgs at end r diff

:amy's 6fold Recipe for Improvement (on back):

Objective: make sense; unique paneling done 4 specific reason; start simple then get complex; pyrite pacct: comcept breakdown; visual storytelling (Tokyopop link)

Educate Self about Industry: trim more, safety xone; don't be like her; know terminology; research other people in the industry; tone on computer

Get noticed: persistance; one guy for RSOM entered all, rejected, but now has bk deal; no throw tantrum, and they saw him improve; webcomics make good and no slack off; don't make fool of self & b professional

:Contracts:

not allowed to talk ab specifics
read bk on authors contracts; writer's legal guide so no get screwed; get a lawyer if poss since is complex (her uncle a rich laywer); memorize all definitions in contract; all implications and what do w/; decide what your limits are (tokyopop pay not fab but if value having your stuff published in big stores, especially if unknown, may be worth it)

:Process:

story bible: backstory w/ simple pages, sample cover sketches; char turnarounds (front, back, side); locations, objects

Tumbnail/Script
start w/ something

pencils for chapter panels, editor may change
ink
tone/letter
then next ch

Illustrations random
process: not a lot of; is specialized but lot want 2B artist

Company
pay
work w/ editor; get awesome 1, some picky, some contact u a lot or little
help, no bug w/ vision

deadlines
work at home bk deal; unmotivated after drawing time, work 50-60 hr weeks; do what u love

having stuff published is wonderful

hard/software
wacom (cheap on Amazon)
manga studio: debut version $50

Pitching story
themes of, be consice, find its selling points
she use char as fashion designer as visual appeal
catch: THIS make it diff, unique

she do it yourself/picky; they replace letters
print out panel line; grids on blue; panel over; cross out face an clothes/hair; lightbox & paper; tight sketch; comp; print out 2X size; 8 1/2 by 11 (2 pgs per 1 panel); light nonphoto blue; ink copic multiliner .5/.8 size; scan blue; put up pg w/ panel lines; tome on comp; photoshop; letter
impromptu nature of inking; draw on computer help learn but is now branching out

paneling: storytelling
doing quares often makes the angles more dynamic
way u show panles is storytelling in itself

come by her table in dealers room, talk ab. there & stuff

::

Also a good panel. We were already planning on entering Rising Stars in the future, but good to hear about how she went that route and things to watch out for. It was cool to know about the artists she was mentioning, having done my own research on them, knowing the processes she was using, and the importance of a good partner. Luckily I have one in my Leeshee! =)

I'll be putting up more stuff, but wanted to get these out. And DO plan on AB for Friday.

I'm Still Here, I Promise!

2006-11-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

First off, I have to apologize for not updating this blog for like ever. I have been sick, and busy helping my mom with her yardwork before winter (around 5, my default bloging time), and have been overworked by crazy psychopathic clients; all of these things have made me spiral down into blogger apathy, which shames me as I love this blog, a lot. I promise to snap out of my funk and get back to my reg self ASAP.

Also, AB update: I totally did my AB last week, and early too. I chose Prince Zuko from Avatar, because a friend requested him, and had him al sketched Monday. Super early for me, ne? But I'm still not happy with his scarred eye. Even Elicia, who berates me for my perfectionism, agreed something is off and to not put him up until he is fixed. So that explains last week's. This week, I've been super sick and have not had access to my computer. So none this week. But NEXT week. . . oh yes, next week I'll stick to doing a char with easy hair and normal eyes, so something wil be up. Promise. =)

My Work :: Part 21: AngstyBishy Kanda

2006-11-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Ah, what can I say to describe the angst and bish that is Kanda Yuu? The angsiest, cockiest, jerkiest exorcist on D.Grey-Man has a special place in the AB Hall of Fame. (for those not initiated in D.Grey-Man, picture Naruto's Sasuke and Sai rolled into one person. Yup, he's that crazy. And fun to watch as a result.)

Thus, the perfect choice to do as an AB. (Besides, I wanted to pick someone simpler after the monstrosity that was Roxas' hair. =) And all-black hair and costumes are piece of cake.)

For references I used the actual manga, since there are not many good-sized original references floating out there online. And I even got colored references, so bonus. =) As hot as his later costume is, I picked Kanda's original costume because that is where I first learned to love Kanda's angst, so I'm a bit partial to it. I wasn't pleased with the exact proportions in my original sketch, but those got smoothed out fine in the Illustrator. (That usually doesn't happen; I might tweak in Illustrator if things aren't working out, but usually am satisfied before the digital steps and don't wait for doing it in Illustrator to work out problems. It worked this time, but I don't see it becoming a regular occurence. Bonus: included initial sketches for another Kanda drawing in my scraps.)

Since not having a fully satisfying sketch made me nervous, I made sure Elicia stopped by for approval before I uploading it. (Elicia's squeeing was a huge reassurance; yay!) And good thing she stopped by too: I accidentally misinterpreted one of hte sketches, and drew in two buckles; oops. Lucky for me Leeshee notices costume details like that; I fixed it quickly and no one's the wiser (um, except for you, heh.) But you can see the two buckles in my original sketch.

BTW, yay for Kanda's costume design being black but still having unique, distinctive detailing! It makes an otherwise heavily black (and potentially boring) costume cool and smexy. Another btw: I originally wanted to do Kanda in his shirtless, bandaged form when he first meets Allen, and upon realization that I couldn't as my AB has arms folded, chest completely covered, made me want to cry a little. But I got to skip the other details, so yay for me.

That's all I can think of to mention I am watching TV and talking to people at the same time, and am not giving this the contriled, 100% focused attention I usually do, so if this is conming across as scatterbrained, my apologies!!!!!!! It is not a reflection on my losing focus on the AB, just that I am a terrible media multitasker. I willl have a fully focusedm, more concise post next week, promise. And fun posts about stuff about stuf I have been meaning to talk about for ages. =)

So I'll talk to you later, after I have a brilliant weekend. All-night hanging out tonight and Royal Shakespearian actors tomorrow night? Mmmmm, fun overload is loverly, ne?.

Tricks & Treats

2006-10-31T16:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

I've dressed up a bunch so far, and am going to the theater departmeent's annual Halloween show tonight. (Elicia wrote a script for the show, so double excitement.) And of course, when I can I have been a History Channel/PBS junkie and have been devouring their Halloween-related specials like mad. Mmmm, yummy.

Anyway, here's some fun Halloween-related stuff for ya in honor of one of my fave holidays of the year:

:: Pumpkin Carvings ::

These make me smile; I love clever pumpkin carvings.

:: BabyLondonStar Shines Bright ::

You know my bishies? Well, the above DeviantArtist does bishies too for fun, except they makes actual plushies! And what with it beign Hallow'e Eve and all, how can I resist mentioning Halloweentown Sora from Kingdom Hearts? (I'm not going to do a joke about how anyone who doesn't find him cute is "Heartless," because that would be L-A-M-E; but I couldn't resist mentioning the temptation.) I wanted Elicia do make plushies like these for our AB's, but she refused to, because she is L-A-Z-Y, so I will have to settle for pillows. But I'm glad someone somewhere is making the world a happier, plushier place.

:: Nightmarishly Cover-liscious NBC CD ::

I would love to be playing the new Nightmare Before Christmas special edition CD, but can't afford it until the earliest tomorrow, because that's when I get paid. So I will have to listen to the snippets at itunes of Panic! at the Disco, Fiona Apple, and She Wants Revenge, to name a few, doing covers of my beloved Danny Elfman songs for now.

:: I'm too Sexy for My. . . Costume???? ::

How sexy is too sexy for a Halloween costume? These articles allow you to weigh some of the intriguing opinions out there. Lots of people are commenting in op/eds and the forums at USA Today's site, with wildly different takes on the subject.

Personally, I think having a costume that is creative is much more important that one that is sexy. Too many of the sexy costumes out there—nurse, witch, maid—have been done to death, and frankly I find that boring. And I think people of every age can go too far—when you are over the legal age but are slapping on some saran wrap or teeny squares of fake fur and calling that a costume (I'm looking at YOU, attendees of our local university's Halloween bash), you cross the line from sexy to tastless, and Halloween should be all about the fun, not the skin. Young girls and guys buy the same costumes as us older folks, so while people should be allowed to have fun with their costumes, we need to think about what examples our costumes set. Mean Girls parodied it well. If someone's feelings of sexiness and worth are dependant on wearing revealing clothing, then they have huge self-esteem probs that should be worked out AFTER the Holiday.

My Work :: Part 20: AngstyBishy Roxas and Connage

2006-10-28T02:24:00.001-06:00

Yosh! Like I said in my DA comments, the AB this week is a wee bit late, but I hope I'm forgiven. He was a cutie but a toughie! And I'm stil sick too; I'm very proud.

Okay, on to the goods: this AB was an overdue request by a couple of people, espesh Trish, and I was fast running out of excuses. The biggest one still left is that I have yet to play Kingdom Hearts 2, as we are still not finished with KH1 and I refuse to buy/play it 'till we have, out of principle. (We aren't much for gaming, if you haven't guessed, but we do love the KH'ses, yes we do. That and DDR are the only PS2 games we have; is that lame?)

Anyway, what I am trying to get at is that I couldn't accurately judge for myself just how angsty the Roxas truly is, which I hate, and also what costume he angsts out the most in. But I trust my friends so I decided to do him anyway, after a little research.

Everyone loves/cosplays his black Neo coat, but let's face it, in the AB style that would be freakishly boring to draw, ne? Solid black costumes I am avoiding at all costs. So I decided to do his much more colorful and interesting costume when he goes to the world in Sora's mind or wherever, so I chose that instead. Forgive me if the costume is actually from his post-angst mode, I can totally redo him if necessary! I've already promised Leeshee I'd redo Howl sometime in towel, goo mode, as that is when his angst reaches its peak, and who doesn't want to draw Howl shirtless? Crap, now I'm totally off-topic; that's what heppens when you (read: I) type at freakin' 2 in the a.m. Back to the post at hand, shall we?

I found a really good pic of Roxas facing front in full costume, so that and a couple of other printouts were my guide. Of course, his hair was by far the most frustrating; I redid it three times I was so frustrated. What clicked for me was remembering how I did Light's hair, taking the strands all the way to the scalp, and also by looking at pics of him from KH and wanting a more 3-D aspect to shine through. So I hope people like the hair, I really did work hard at it. It's still not perfect, but as long as people look at him and instantly recognize him as Roxas I can be satisfied, I guess. The hair was a pain to do in Illustrator as well; my tiredness plus excruciating details aren't a good mix. But I'm super glad I chose to do his fun costume; who doesn't want to get a chance to draw pseudo-chaps? All in all I think he was a fun challenge for me, but next time I'm sick I'll pick a much easier character to work on.

::

I talked a bit about the con we just went to at our Ello Studios blog, but I'll mention it here as well: over the next few weeks I will be posting all the notes I took at the con, especially the ones concerning drawing and making manga. (Wow, at a blog about making manga? Go fig! =) Sorry, sarcasm ending now.) So look for those posts coming here soon.

Yes, the "I Must Be Emo" song by the Hollywood Dead just came on my iTunes! Mmmm, now that's good satire. I think I'll let the song finish 'n then go to bed, FINALLY. Love Ya!

Ello Studios Banner

2006-10-13T16:20:00.000-06:00

Hope this works. A banner and newsletter subscription banner for our CP site? Brilliant. We don't have a web site yet, so if you type your e-mail into one of the boxes, you can subscribe to a newsletter about what is new and happenin' over at our
CafePress sites. I promise your e-mails will not be used for sinister purposes, one because spammers are evil beings with a special place reserved in the deepest layers of Hell, and I plan to go to the other place, and two because I haven't the slightest inkling of how to spam in the first place. So there you go, totally safe. I think either of the two boxes will work.

:: AngstyBishy Shop ::

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Join our newsletter, and get the latest news from our website delivered directly to your inbox!

:: Ello Studios Shop ::

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Drawing Manga :: Part 3: Deviant Artists Dish

2006-10-13T14:28:00.000-06:00

As every DeviantArtist knows, there are some fab tutorials on DA and some gems in the journal sections; you just have to go hunt for them. Here are two about making manga that I really enjoyed.

:: Inking Tutorial by Messa ::

The video below shows how this artist inks her sketches with her trusty Wacom tablet. I do it pretty much the same way, but not as refined a technique. Again, there is no wrong way to Wacom, no defined process or technique or brush, but it does takes practice. I really want to practice making my technique for inking to stop looking Wacom-y and look like real pen, but that is tough, and to be honest there is beauty in digital inking, if done with a painterly touch. She has a whole series of these vids, including digital painting and so on. I have decided that I am an art voyeur; I LOVE watching people as they work, so I love these. There is something fascinating about the whole art process, no?

:: Kmye-Chan ::

An artist whose work I like a lot, giving solid advice in her journal about making art. Advice is also posted below, and good tutorials at her DA page.

::

First and foremost: I'm probably not the best person to give advice to beginners, since I'm mostly self-taught and I don't have a refined technique. So, yeah... this is not really a 'tutorial', but I receive more and more notes and mail to ask me what tips I would give to beginners... so I thought it would be more convenient to type all the useful advice I could give once for good and just have to point it out to people who ask, instead of re-typing it every time in a rather shallower way.

[And as, who knows, some of you might find this useful too, even though many of you are not beginners... I might as well post it here.
I'll keep a link to this journal in the 'Misc' section at the bottom of my journal for future reference.]

:Tips for beginners

Most of this is general advice. Everyone is different, and improves in different ways, so every of these tips might to apply to everyone. It's just... well, general advice.

+ Art supplies +

Good supplies are a key if you're trying to make nice artworks. It's very very hard to get acceptable results with bad quality supplies - actually, you have to be very skilled to get good results with cheap stuff. Good supplies can be a bit expensive, but it's a real investment that you won't regret.

On the other hand, art supplies will never, ever make the work for you. So basically, it's useless to buy some excruciatingly expensive, professional-quality supplies, if you don't know how to use them. Having a Wacom tablet, or Pantone markers, will not make your work become suddenly awesome if you don't master more basic medias and basic concepts of drawing. They're no magic wands. Don't fool yourself.

To make it short : use good-quality, easy-to-use, not too advanced art supplies first, and when you'll have mastered them, you'll proceed to something more advanced. That's how you'll improve best.

+ Be observant +

It's not as easy or obvious as it sounds. When you are looking at something, you generally consider it as a whole - but to draw it, you have to take it little bits at a time. You have to try and figure out how things really are, and that means trying to get a fresh look on things, which is far from being easy.

For example : colours and shadows. When you want to choose a shade for a shadow, anyone who's a beginner will just pick a darker shade of the base colour, making the whole thing look flat. Now look at something real. Is its shadow colour the same as the base one, but only darker? Usually not - it might have a twinge of green, blue, purple, grey... because it's 3D and reflects backlights from the walls, etc.

You need to observe and be as impartial as possible to be able to reproduce something.

+ Work on your basics +

I know, basics are no fun. But they're really something you will need to work on at one point or another, and the sooner the faster you'll improve. Without the basics, you'll soon be stuck anyway.

Work on your anatomy, your proportions, colour theory if you intend to work with colours, yada yada.
I can't stress this enough.
The old, worn-off tips might sound boring, but if they're still in use, it's because they're helpful. Always work from the most general shapes of your picture (general body forms and background elements) to details, never the other way (don't start a character with an eye and work around it, for example). It'll avoid you some painful proportion/placement mistakes. Use the old balls-and-sticks figures to draw proportionate and realistic poses for your characters. Reverse your picture to see its symetric and spot anatomy/proportion mistakes before you proceed to inking or painting.

And as someone said... "You have to know the rules before you break them". That's only too true. Stylizing requires skill, it cannot hide lack of skills.

+ Be patient and work hard +

The last and probably most important piece of advice.
It takes very long to improve, irksome as it is. We all start somewhere, though we might not all start fro the same point - and we don't all improve at the same speed. But with patience and hard work, you'll eventually improve.
So don't loose patience and don't get discouraged!

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

Manga Artists :: Part 6: Bill Watterson and Soup2Nuts Goodies & Advice

2006-10-13T14:08:00.000-06:00

Yes, they are not Japanese OR manga artists; get over it. They are still inspirations both. Bill Watterson is still my fave comic artist of all time, and the info about starting your own cartoon courtesy of Whitney at the Candy is golden.

:: Calvin and Hobbes ::

Rare merch and drawings from Bill Watterson. Link found via UtterlyBoring.com.

:: Making Cartoons from Pop Candy's Friday Mailbag ::

I've got some cartoon concepts and would like to get them illustrated, etc. Just wondering how to start the process and where to go from here.—Cassi F.

For the answer, I approached the folks at Soup2Nuts, a production company behind some very cool cartoons, including Dr. Katz and Home Movies. Here's some advice from Andre Lyman, the director of production:

"I'd write up the concept—synopsis with character descriptions (what is the story and who the characters are). Then, I'd find an eager artist from a local art school to do some sketches to go along with the text of the pitch. After the sketches are complete, I'd submit it to an animation production house or a producer or writer for feedback, revise and resubmit and repeat if necessary. The process can take some time and needs patience and persistence on the part of the creator."

Good luck—I really hope you take action, because the world can always use some great cartoons! Let me know what happens.

My Work :: Part 19: ES IST Fertig

2006-10-13T13:46:00.000-06:00

OMG IT IS DONE IT IS DONE EST IS FERTIG!

I finally got the magazine to the printer!!!!!

I do this magazine at work, and even though it is supposed to be the main priority of me, our editor, and our photographer, other departmental things have been causing us to push its publication date back to obscene levels. But we've got it done and it is getting blue-lined as we speak! Okay, okay, so it is possible there might be a few changes, big deal. It is out of my hot little hands and hopefully the next time I hold it, will be when it is a glossy, happy, shiny little mag all ready for distribution.

The coolest thing about it is that I get to do illustrations for the articles when appropriate. Fun, huh? I really think some of them could be t-shirt worthy, if given half the chance. Here are some of the ones in this edition that I did, all in Illustrator:

:: Animal Cloning Article ::

:: Grass Gene Research ::

::

Because of the Magazine taking over my life after the Celebration, prepping posters and fanart for a con we are going to next week, and my inability to add more stuff to my plate, I'm not doing an AB this week or next. I will get my fanart up next week though. =) Host Club all the way, baby! Look forward to it!

And Happy Friday the 13th everybody! Ironically enough it is my grandparents' anniversary, and they were married on another Friday the 13th way back when. My grandpa had a disastrous incident with the wedding cake, but other than that it was a good day for them. They have been married 50+ years, so it can't be all that unlucky, can it? =)

My Work :: Part 18: Temari Fangirl

2006-10-02T17:44:00.000-06:00

Woot! Am so happy to get another request off my back, this time asked for by Leeshee. It's Temari with a fun (and I hope not annoying) play on words. After all she is a fan girl, and if you download this or buy the shirt, so are you! How clever of us. ;p

Temari was trickier, as I wanted to capture her evil smile and make her like an AB but use a different concept.

And yes, we will have a shirt up at CafePress. I've been wanting to make shirts of my AB guys and gals available for a while, and I figure here's my chance. We (or rather I) are moving all the AB merch to a new AngstyBishy shop on CP, to make room for more ideas. And because we are afraid of copyright infringement and sue-age but really want shirts up and available for fans, all fanart shirts (AB and Temari) will be sold at the base price, meaning we won't make a dime off of them, we just want them available. We're gonna do what Glarkware does, and have a "Now or Never" type of shirt thing, (Maybe call it a "Hayaku Buy"?) where a new AB will be up in the discount tee section for one month only at a time. The ones requested the most will pop up more often, but I hope to make each one available over time. So Temari will be up for sale this month, woo hoo!

AB Weekend Update & Celebrity Dead-Match

2006-10-02T10:46:00.000-06:00

Sorry I didn't get up an AB on Friday; the work project enslaving the past three months of my life FINALLY took place on Friday. Made little time to get anything done, but I worked extra hard this weekend and got one made! So should be up by end of the day, And by the way, it's not an AB but very close. And will be for sale on CafePress too!

In the meantime, please enjoy finding out your dead celeb soul-mate, courtesy of Biography. It's very fun and toungue-in-cheek.

It was a touch call narrowing down my 3 bachelors, but I have to go with Edgar Allen Poe. Talented, sensitive, nice, morbid, and mysterious? Check. Now if I can only get him to forget Virginia and keep away from the booze...

Van Gogh is runner-up, because I weep at his paintings and he too is sensitive, but he has those nasty mood swings and appendage-slicing tendencies which are not so attractive.

And who knew that I could end up with Rudy Valli? (I suspect it's because under all my feministic modern woman-ness, I'm actually very romantic and housewife-y, which apparently was what he actually wanted in a woman. But playing housewife while my hubby charms other women does not appeal to me at all.)

When I tried it again I also got Da Vinci as a soul mate, but wasn't he gay? (Actually, since I often get crushes on effeminate though not swishy men, that doesn't sound too far off my normal romantic patters; meh to this quiz being horrifically accurate.)

The site's writing was so charming, I posted the info about each of my main bachelor picks below.

::

:Candidate #1: Raven:
Hair: short and stylish
Body type: Amazingly Average
Location: Big City
Interests: Sefl-reflection, Family, fine Arts, Writing

Up Close with Candidate #1
My most humbling moment...
When my cousin and wife, the love of my life, Virginia, succumbed to tuberculosis. Oh, Virginia! A day naught goes by but I hear your sweet cry!

My greatest accomplishment...
There was this bird bothering me for some time, but I finally decided to write about it and ended up making a decent amount of money.

My ideal date would include...
After dinner slow and stately, as have been my dinners lately, we would sit and over coffee share our thoughts a little more. 'Til I'd note with fearful gasping, how your voice was gently rasping, rasping in a dusty tone, like Virginia long before. I'd have to see you... nevermore!

The celebrity I resemble most...
Harry Dean Stanton

If I could be anywhere at the moment...
At Virginia's graveside.

The book on my bedside table...
A collection of works by Edward Gorey and the first couple of volumes of the Lemony Snicket series.

The things I can't live without...
A novelty skull with a candle sticking out of the top (I forget who gave it to me); my cameo of Virginia

Fill in the blanks.
Madness is sexy...
melancholia is sexier.

In my home you will find...
An unusually new-looking brick wall, which you must never go near. A soft, moist spot on the floorboards, which you must keep covered by the rug at all times. A black cat, which you must feed regularly lest he torment you with the madness-inducing mews of hell. I call him Fluffertop.

Make the First Move:
What will you propose for your first date?
IUnvite him to the cemetery to do tombstone rubbings
Make a friendship poster out of posterboard and photograpohs cu out of magazines

Edgar Allan Poe responds...
"Why, why, oh why must you haunt my waking nightmares with your presence? I shall go mad. Madness! It consumes me! I must give in and agree to see you, or else I shall never find peace."

What your date might be like...
You might end up at the local library, or you might end up at the local Goth club. Either way, expect Poe to be quiet, reserved, and a bit shy. He's an elegant speaker when given the opportunity, but will usually try to avoid standing out in a crowd. For a modest but more enjoyable evening, take him to a quiet, unpopulated spot-- for instance, a cellar or a graveyard.

:Candidate #2: Sunflowers:
Hair: short and stylish
Body type: amazingly Average
LKocation: Farm, Small town, Big City
Interests: Praying, Receiving Visions, Writing, Family, Fine Arts

Up Close with Candidate #2
My most humbling moment...
The whole time I was painting regularly, I was only able to sell one canvas.

My greatest accomplishment...
One of my paintings, in today's dollars, is now worth over $116 million.

My ideal date would include...
First off, I promise I will not cut off anything while we're together. We could check out some galleries if you're interested. We could also watch a movie (anything but "Reservoir Dogs").

The celebrity I resemble most...
Jack Palance with red hair

If I could be anywhere at the moment...
In Arles, Bouches-du-Rhone, France. It's the perfect place for an art colony, if only I could convince other artists.

The book on my bedside table...
"The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat," by Oliver Sacks

The things I can't live without...
Brush, blade, canvas, my gauze-wrapped and dried up bit of ear

Fill in the blanks.
A young woman walking down the street is sexy...
the burning essence of living color all around us is sexier.

In my home you will find...
A lot of canvas, my paints, and some fresh sunflowers... sometimes they help cheer me up.

Vincent van Gogh responds...
"You are as brilliant and vivid as the sun! Let us make devastating beauty together!"

Make the First Move
Send Him Depresing e-mail complaining that no one at work understands your vision.
Send him a copy of the 7 habits of highly affective people and invite him to a self-help seminar

What your date might be like...
Dates with van Gogh are unpredictable-- you might end up having a perfectly nice afternoon picnic with him in the countryside, or you might end up in a shouting match with him in his bedroom, dodging any small objects he might throw at you. Van Gogh is a very passionate man, so it's possible that you will end up on the receiving end of a manic diatribe if you're not careful what you say. Most importantly: hide any sharp implements when you're around him.

:Candidate #3: DeliciousSheik:
Hair: Short and Stylish
Body type: Elfish
Location: Everywhere and Everywhere, Small Town, Traveling, Writing, Fine Arts

Up Close with Candidate #3
My most humbling moment...
Being called effeminate by a cowardly anonymous journalist in a Chicago newspaper. Porca miseria! I will show him manly! He should box with me and feel my manliness strike him across the face!

My greatest accomplishment...
From nothing-- no fame, no money, no family in America when I moved to New York City at 18, no job-- I became the most famous sex symbol the movies had ever seen. And I did it without saying a word!

My ideal date would include...
Only the best and most romantic activities. I love to dance, so for me a date would not be perfect unless we were first able to join together and move as one with the music of passion. I would then enjoy reading to you some of my poetry while we listen to my recordings of romantic songs in English and Spanish.

The celebrity I resemble most...
He doesn't look like me, not so much, but I was the Brad Pitt of my day. I should have made "Troy!" It would have been much more believable.

If I could be anywhere at the moment...
In my house, with a devoted wife, beautiful children, and my adoring dogs. To the public, I am perhaps a bit of a rascal, but all I really crave is domestic bliss.

The book on my bedside table...
I find most books to be dull and lacking insight, which is why I write my own poems. In fact, I have published a book of poetry, "Day Dreams," which was a best seller. I like to read from it from time to time and think about romance... romance with you!

The things I can't live without...
Your love! Your adoration! The beauty of one such as you bringing light to my life every day! Also, exclamation points and forceful hand gestures.

Fill in the blanks.
A woman at rest is sexy...
a woman in motion is sexier.

In my home you will find...
My beautiful dogs, an Irish Wolfhound named Centaur Pendragon, and a Doberman Pinscher named Kabar.

What will you proposrs for your first date?
Tell him you’ve begun taking tango lessons and want to find a dashing young man to try your new moves with
Ask him if that’s a dance belt he;s wearing or if he’s just ahppy to see you.

Rudolph Valentino responds...
"Ah, cara mia! Your very words make me al dente with desire! I would be honored and delighted to escort you to dinner, and perhaps afterwards, if you will permit me, I can teach you how to dance the sensual Argentine tango Valentino-style. (Do not worry, we will leave our clothes on for at least the first lesson.)"

What your date might be like...
If you've ever thought that European men were sexy then you'll love going on a date with Mr. Valentino. He's passionate, at ease with himself and all women, confident, and a superb dancer-- and he has an Italian accent! Mr. Valentino can be a little hot-headed at times and might deal with a perceived offense from a stranger by challenging the man to a boxing match or other physical test--but you can easily distract him from such displays of machismo by simply asking him for an impromptu dance lesson.

::

Link found via the Candy ( I do go to other blogs, I swear!)

Oh No He Di'nt! Jared Leto Flogs Blogs

2006-09-25T13:54:00.000-06:00

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I have always had a thing for floppy brown-haired boys that are slightly dreamy, dark, and twisty, so Jared Leto on "My so-Called Life" was very crush-worthy during my middle-school/high school years. But now he's gone and put his foot in his prettyboy mouth by criticizing bloggers, thus spoiling any teenage memories I had and any enjoyment I got from listening to his "I'm-so-much-more-than-an-actor-see-I'm-also-in-an-indie-band" music gig thingy.

I'm sorry you want all the bloggers in the world to die, Jared, but the best things about blogs is this: we can quicky get access to interviews about celebs like yourself, and learn just how pompous a jerk you really are; how's that for educating the stupid illiterate masses? (Yes I know, I know, he will never read this post and could care less how I feel if he did, but it feels good to say that.)

I just think it's rich that the probably the greatest tool being uses to spread the word about his band and keep people updated on what they are doing is the very one he is flogging. You do realize your band has a MySpace page, right Jared? You do realize that that is technically a blog? I think Mr. Leto needs to lay off the hasheesh and get caught up with this "intrawebnet" thing the kids are all into nowadays, at least so he won't sound like a complete idiot in all his interivews. To paraphrase one of their songs, the most beautiful lie is the one you end up telling to yourself, and methinks Jared needs some honesty to come along and smack him down a peg or two.

I also think it's ironic that he is bashing bloggers as these immature kids falsely posing on the web and making up lies, when rock musicians do the exct same thing by creating a stage persona. Besides, I think in many ways you can be more of your true self on the web, not less. But that is just me. And he hates that "anybody" can post news on a blog now, but I would also quip that I hate that "anybody" can now start a band and because of the web be famous. (But I'm not really mad at all, I love it, OK Go you rock!) It is only because of the celeb culture that he is trashing and his fame as an actor that his little fledgling band got so much press the first place. Oh, how quicky the mighty forget.

This whole incident reminds me somewhat of when Metallica bashed people downloading songs for free (mostly because they are greedy jerks.) Both of these bands' fans most likely have blogs of their own/download free music, and you should NEVER bash your fans Jared, it always backfires in the end and makes you look petty and ungrateful. I realize you Gen Xers are into different things than us Gen Yers, but can't we at least be civil about it? Sheesh.

And his belief that blogging will die a quick death, that it is just a fad, is about as priceless at the senator's rant that the interet is a "series of tubes." You just can't make this stuff up, and I love it.

We Saw 30 Seconds ot Mars at a Music Fest last year. The band was fine, whatever, but the songs weren't really incredibly memorable (I forgot they were even there, Elicia had to remind me the other day when we went to the same fest last weekend), and even Elicia thought Jared was swearing a little too gratuitously, thus trying too hard to be edgy. But of course, Snow Patrol stole my heart that day, and they are tough competition to follow. So maybe I am just being unfair and biased, heaven knows it's happened before.

Anyway, I've trimmed down the article below, read and decide for yourself if I'm overreacting or it he truly it the pompous idiot I am painting him as. I still can't tell if the interviewer was agreeing with him or just egging him on, as he is all sarastic in the last line of the article. Tell me what you think.

::

Exclusive: Jared Leto Loves Rock, Hates Blogs
Posted by popculturekilla - Tuesday, September 19, 2006 4:08 PM
30 Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto Talks Rock, Beautiful Lies & Why Bloggers Should Die

Most folks know Jared Leto from his role as the hunky love interest on MTV’s My So Called Life and flicks like Requiem for a Dream and Panic Room. But these days, many are getting to know him through his rock band 30 Seconds To Mars, whose sophomore album, A Beautiful Lie, is a much-buzzed-about surprise hit...

The band’s self-titled 2002 debut album was produced by the great Bob Ezrin (Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, KISS, Alice Cooper) and sold over 100,000 copies. But heavy touring and Leto’s high profile as a celeb garnered them a slow but steady buzz, so that A Beautiful Lie came out of the gate strong in 2005.

Combining goth with alt-rock, yet with a glam sensibility, 30 Seconds To Mars (Jared, plus brother Shannon on drums, guitarist Tomo Milicavic and bassist Matt Wacther) sound more like a seasoned band, rather than an actor’s side-project, and are being embraced by the MySpace/YouTube-obsessed youth. Yet ironically, Leto is wary of the cyber world in some ways, embracing the reality of his music rather than the videogames and reality TV that so many are into these days. Any why not? Here’s a guy who can’t stay out of the online gossip sites, despite his desire to. It’s no wonder he’s dismissive of the celebrity obsessed online culture. He’s practically stalked by them every day...

G4: It seems like you guys have successfully gotten rid of the “rock side-project of an actor” tag and come into your own as a band at this point. What do you attribute that to?

JARED: Hard work, perseverance, determination, conviction, passion, an incredibly dedicated cult following that is a defining part of what 30 Seconds to Mars is, and a belief in what we do and who we are.

G4: How do you see yourself in relation to other rock bands out there at the moment?

JARED: We’ve always been kind of strange, musically and how we present ourselves live. We’ve always been kind of the odd man out. But we just played Warped tour recently, and quite often a lot of bands would come over and check us out. And that’s always fun when your peers respect what you do and have an interest in your art. We played an incredible time slot every day, and it was fantastic. It couldn’t have gone better...

G4: What does the title, A Beautiful Lie, refer to?

JARED: That’s the contradiction of life, basically, the contradictions of humanity…of what it is to be human.

G4: In terms of?

JARED: Every rose has his thorn.

G4: Well, I guess that’s kind of what I was looking for, some sort of a Poison reference...

G4: Do you do a lot of blogging from the road?

JARED: No, I think that blogging should die a sudden death.

G4: Why?

JARED: It’s just ridiculous. It’s like a playground for four-year-olds. People say and do things in the world of blogs that they would never do in real life, and I think it’s a false experience. You know, it’s, like, eating too much candy.

G4: So you don't read alot of the celebrity gossip blogs, I take it?

JARED: Well, you know, one of the things along those lines that bothers me about when people start citing blogs as news sources is that when people are writing on these blogs, they feel like they don’t feel they need to do any research or back up their opinions with facts or anything, you know what I mean?

G4: Why is there this inherent lack of responsibility when it comes to blogging as journalism?

JARED: I couldn’t tell you. Times have changed. It used to be, to be a writer you had to have experience and talent, and learn a craft. Now anybody with an opinion, which is anyone and everyone, feels that it’s worthy. Technology is allowing people to have access to things where before it required very great skill. So there will be some interesting developments from that, and also some things that are pretty worthless. Pretty soon anybody with a cell phone is going to be able to be a news reporter.The blog is yesterday’s parachute pants. It’s here now but it’s gone tomorrow.

G4: You no longer have to even know what news reporting is.

JARED: You really don’t. All you have to do is point your friggin’ Blackberry at somebody and get a picture and send it off to your favorite blog site.

G4: A celebrity goes to a Starbucks and there’s a picture of them 10 minutes later up on a blog somewhere and it becomes news!

JARED: Sometimes it’s interesting, but most of the time the bloggers themselves are just trying to get famous so they can make some money and sell advertising dollars and duping these poor people who are on the internet all day long.

G4: Yeah, those people are lame. Anyways, I gotta run and go post this on G4’s blog, TheFeed, so I can make some money, sell advertising dollars and dupe those poor people who are on the internet all day long. Suckers!

::

Link courtesy of Whitney at the Candy, another blogger I love who, according to Jared, as a celebrity/pop culturist should just die. (Never mind that she actually did graduate in journalism and works for a credible newspaper; her fifth podcast, posted 9/18, talks all about that.)

My Work :: Part 17: AngstyBishy Juri

2006-09-22T19:12:00.000-06:00

A lot of characters from Revolutionary Girl Utena are angsty in some form or another, but Juri (Jury, Julie) Arisugawa is by far the most poster child-y of the bunch. She is not mean and vindictive like some of the others, just full of rage and torment, which is how I like my bishies. Is there anything angstier than unrequited lesbian love? Probably, but she makes a good case to the contrary.

I have not seen the entire Utena series, only a dozen of the anime eps and the trippy movie, so was surprised in my research to find pics of her snogging with blue cruel-looking men. Who are these guys, and are they helping her become unangsty and whole again? Was so confused, so def will have to borrow the series from a friend and finish it, at least to get my questions answered.

I had to redo my first drawing of Juri because of the ringlets. Her ringlets are very stylistic and complicated, and I was using the mange as a reference, which was not working out at all. She kept looking like Shirley Temple, gah. But finally I did proper research and found great pics on the web of Juri in anime mode, which is how I first saw her and looks tons better. So the second time was the charm. Just kept widening and tweaking the ringlets 'till I was satisfied.

Usually my reference drawings are scattered all over the web, but this time I found one good site and stayed put. They have wallpapers, manga scans, anime/movie stills, doujinshi scans, the works, all on Juri. And not just thumbnails either, pretty good-sized images, so if you are a Juri fan check them out. The site is in French, but that is not necessary to snag the pics.

And in case anyone cares, the best Soi Fon references were from an image I found (can't find the link anymore but it is to the right) and music vids on YouTube, which showed her shoes and other clothing details usually hidden on posters. It was hard to find good images, mostly I think because I do not belong to any Bleach groups and because few people have probably gotten that far in the anime. But I did want to spread the wealth around if it would be possibly helpful.

NY Fashion Week: Queens of the Catty-walk & Much More

2006-09-20T16:10:00.000-06:00

I love clothes, I'll admit it. I have this innate gravitation towards clothing; it comes from a fascination with textures, patterns, and crazy designers. And since clothes make the man, I feel that if I really do want to become a serious manga artist and create relevant character designs, I should keep on top of current and future clothing trends.

This means that when I discover, to my delight, that the girls at my my fave blog for fashion snark, Go Fug Yourself, were hired by New York Magazine to blog at the NY Fashion Week, I couldn't help myself and clicked right over to their posts. The blogs are horrendously organized, but the info and opinions in them are great. (This survey of 100 models was a nice eye opener; am so glad all the girls like me are grossed out by Donald Trump.)

And the best part about the whole site is that they have created galleries of most of the runway shows, for the perusal of interested people like me. My fave shows so far? The ones by designers Rag&Bone and Caroline Herrera, in terms of character design and hat I would love to wear. (The clothes I think are all Ready-to-Wear lines, meaning that they are clothes that could be potentially picked up and stocked at the higher end stores, should said stores choose to stock them. Diff from Couture, which is specific to a person and often bat crazy and avant-garde.)

And the site allows you to create your own photo album for your fave images from all the shows! Click here to see my own album of my fave outfits.

The whole show reminds me that I really need to see Project Runway. Tim Gunn sounds a lot like Richard Wilde, whom I saw and loved at a design convention. (Here's a link to some of the keys he discussed at said place.) Both are gifted design professors, but Tim just so happens to have a cable show about his craft. (Seriously, any reality show creator out there who wants to do a show with Richard in the Tim role, I would so totally watch it; do you know the design challenges he gives his students? Example: gives students an old car, a real one, and they have to create an art piece. Design projeccts are crazy, it would be so fun to watch. But no one listens to me, so meh.) for Tim Gunn addicts, NY Mag also did an interview with him. And he has a photo album of his own to peruse.

Oh, and here are some posts from USA Today on fashion week.

::

I have to comment that I did not always feel this way about fashion, of course. In high school all models and ad campaigns were the enemy, the things I stared at with envy and enmity as I unfavirably compared my growing frame to that of the sleek, doctored sirens smirking at me from the glossy magazine pages. Fortunately growing up changes you; somewhere in between Elicia studying fashion and me studying graphic design, I discovered that I had moved beyond those feelings to a much better place mentally, where I now study clothes and ads with the eye of a designer instead of an awkward, impressionable teenager. That eye knows now that the women there are being used as a stylistic choice, a frame on which to hang a dress, purse, car, etc. And on runways the model is not the muse but merely the frame on which the designer hangs his canvas of clothing. The women in the ads and on the runways are not reality a the average person knows it, but rather a distorted form of humanity being used to present the message of the company or designer. It is not personal, just business as usual.

But, as I know all to well, telling that to a fourteen-year-old who destructively feasts on those images is like bashing your head into a brick wall: frustrating and painful. So I did want to counteract the inferiority complex that might ensue for some gentle readers by posting some interesting, body-related links.

In college I took a cultural anthropology class, from a brilliant prof who really helped me see culture in a new way. During the class she showed us the second "Killing Us Softly" video, which is a series of vids studying the effect of advertising on how women are perceived by themselves and by society. Really fascinating, and I highly suggest ordering them or checking them out at a library.

Have you heard about the model ban? Apparently a model died from heart failure related to extreme dieting for a show. As a result, the top shows in Spain, London, and Milan are banning models with a BMI lower than 18. While it was the government of each country who ordered the ban, I hope the fashion directors and designers truly take it to heart. Some people are cnarking about the ban, saying that models have nothing to do with girls developing eating disorders. Are they seriously that stupid? But I realize they, like the music and movie industries, are only trying to deflect blame, which is a natural defense mechanism. Apparently Spain's show went just fine with the new ban, although some designers had to replace some or all of their models. Here are pics from London's Fashion Week; the models are still skinny but perhaps less emaciated than normal? Crap, actually the London will not impose the ban for "aesthetic reasons." Shame on them.

Here was a stupid comment from Kate Moss's publicist. Apparently she is under 18 BMI and would be affected by the ban. The publicist apparently feels girls should just exercise, eat healthy and be normal. Has she told this to her client? Snorting coke does not count as eating, Kate!

::

Don't forget the two-night Andy Warhol documentary on PBS that starts tonight! Ever since I saw this exhibit about him, he has morphed in my mind from pop culturist to actual artist with a message. Am excited. Have been eyeing this for a while, but Whitney, bless her heart, also feels people should tune in.

My Work :: Part 16: Shakespeare Tee and AB Poster

2006-09-15T13:16:00.000-06:00

Ack, I forgot to even mention these!

:: Barbs from the Bard: Shakespeare Tee Redux ::

Remember how I was coveting this shirt and knew I had to have it to wear to our local punk rock fest next week? Well, it is currently sold out at Threadless, so I decided desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures. So I redid the tee in Illustrator and made it a tee I could buy at my CafePress site. I ordered it yesterday, so it should make it in time for the concert. (I suppose if there is no sign of it by next Fri, I will do a quick iron-on job, but I think all will be well.) I hate doing that, I really do, but it is at a shop I set up for my own personal use, so no one can order it other then me for this one time, because I don't believe in plagiarizing and it's not my own idea. In fact, here are the credits for it:

Slogan by: Ira Vogel
Typeface: Brokenscript Bold
Available at: www.threadless.com

:: Angsty Bishy Poster ::

I really wanted to get a poster of AB designed, in case we decide to sell it at a local con next month or whenever. So here is a tentative poster I am working on. It's tough to find a way to include all the bishies I've done, get across the idea of AB as a brand, and be visually interesting, but I think it is working out. Obviously if I have more chars done by the con I will need to add them as well.

::

Okay, that's really all for now, I so have to get back to eyeletting. Do look for an AB next week, from the way my sched is looking I really think I can get another done, and even know which one will be next.

My Work :: Part 15: AngstyBishy Soi Fon

2006-09-15T12:48:00.000-06:00

I have to write this post really fast while I grab some lunch, because I have to get back to binding, stacking, and stuffing into envelopes 650 invitations for a university function. (The invites look fab, I'm so happy how they turned out, but punching two eyelets into each 2-page invite is time consuming.) Anyway, sorry to rant but writing about it makes me feel better.

On to the real topic at hand: I ACTUALLY HAVE A NEW ANGSTYBISHY UP! And it is of none other than Soi Fon (or Soi Fong if you prefer, but I think the former looks prettier), the talented shinigami who shows us the dangers of idol worshipping. Namely, if you take it too far and your idol deserts you, you too can morph into super-angsty mode upon their reunion, thus providing an exciting action scene for the viewers. And a literal cat fight.

I was worried that not doing these for a whole month would result in losing the process, but she was surprisingly fast to do. One hour researching and sketching, another hour to draw in Illustrator, and voila. I had to make a few alterations, like modifying her hair wraps and bangs and making her pants look less Hammer-esque and more like a shinigami's.

Man, if I can get the subsequent AB's churned out this fast, life will be sweet indeed. But compared to some of the others which I stressed over getting right, like Light for instance, Soi Fon's design is less complicated AngstyBishy wise. Plus while I like Soi Fon a lot, I could handle her turning out less perfect than the other AB's; I think that also helped speed-wise. Leeshee thinks I overthink them too much; I of course view it as being detail-oriented, not overthinking, but I do see where she is coming from.

I went to a great conference last week that covered very subject, perfectionism and how it can be evil if used incorrectly. =) Words I needed to hear. I will post my notes up next week if I have time.

::

Great news!!!!! I don't plan on posting again today in spite of there being so much news out there, but I have to share this. Apparently Tim Burton is going to be directing the next Killers video! It is entitled "Bones," and will have his stamp all over it and be very Corpse Bride-esque. It is Burton's first music vid, but whether that is from his own reticence and discretion or simply from no one ever asking him to direct a vid, I cannot say. Apparently they just called him up and asked if he'd be willing, and he said heck yes. (Okay, Burton is too cool to utter the words "heck yes," but you get my point, he was happy to do so. Here, here, and here are articles about the vid. I for one am super excited.

You Think, Therefore YouTube: OK GO & Others

2006-09-13T13:28:00.000-06:00

Another post I started compiling last week on the eighth and polished off today, about my current fave music videos on YouTube.

:: OK GO ::

I saw a viral vid of these guys a long time ago; I forgot their name and the name of the vid, but the image of their dancing, the brilliant choreography stuck with me, taunting me with a "where the CRAP did I see it?" regret. Only later do I learn that they performed on the VMA's with a brilliant new song-and-dance. Apparently one band member's sister designed the footwork for them. Below are clips of OK GO, organized by song:

:A Million Ways:
The first vid of them I saw. I've embedded it below as well. While the lead singer is by far the cutest, I am also crushing on the balding guy, he is my fave dancer of the bunch.

:Here It Goes Again (Treadmill Song):
This is the song they performed at the VMA's. Here is Jack Black and what's-his-rapper introducing the group, the group's performance, and some YouTuber's response to the performance. People are giving them crap as a one hit wonder, since their choreography is what is getting them press, but their music is realy good and speaks for itself, as shown from their stint on Letterman. I love their sound, and they have an electric stage presence.

:Do What You Want:
They have done an actual music video as well, and I love the camera work on it. The multi-cameras gets a little tedious after a while, but would be brilliant in a 30 second commercial (which I am sure some company, perhaps Target or Coke, is ripping off as we speak.) Apparently one of the YouTubers worked on the vid and this is what he had to say:
"This video was directed by Olivier Gondry using stop-motion between cameras (22 cameras, I believe). I worked on this video during the summer of 2005 during my internship with Partizan in Los Angeles. I casted the extras, delt with the unruly ones, attached many cameras to many tripod heads, and ate some nuts from craft services. This shoot and the week leading up to it was one of the greatest and most fondly remembered weeks in my entire life."

And now, some other vids old and new that I like:

:: Gnarls Barkley ::

I cannot get enough of these guys lately; the only thing I hate is that for some reason, everyone else, even mindles popsters, like them too. Gah, I hate when things I like get trendy! Ah well, the Gnarls is worth the hype. Danger Mouse is unstoppable right now, no? Anyway, their vids are great, and their mod MoTown sound is fab.

:Crazy:
A Rohrsharch test on an acid trip. Just brilliant and truly beautiful. Vid is embedded below.

:Smiley Faces:
They did two vids of this. I like the second one done documentary style the best, very Forrest Gump-esque; though the first one is also intriguing, if only for its raunchy take on emoticons.

:: Bennie K ::

I just love this music video for "Sunrise," the style of it is so great that I am sure it will also get ripped off soon, probably by an up-and-coming director of a pop/rap video. Oh well, at least I will know the truth. And the ending reveals what realy happened to the characters on Lost! Vid also embedded below.

:: Gackt ::

Oh Gackt, you crazy, bishie-pretty man-doll. The music vid for Vanilla is great, but what is with the nutty candy commercial?

::

That's all for now. But guess what, I am blogging on "The LiveJournal" now with all the other crazy kids. (http://reezoo.livejournal.com/) Plus I got an AB of Soi Fon sketched and ready to scan! And got a major project off to the printer's yesterday. So a good, good week this is shaping out to be.

More News Fit to a Tee

2006-09-13T12:26:00.000-06:00

I wrote this post last week, 9/07, but computer died before got out. So enjoy in spite of its lateness.

::

Some more t-shirt news:

:: I Say HelloGoodbye, Courtesy of Threadless ::

One of my fave new bands, HelloGoodbye, had a t-shirt contest at Threadless, a site I've mentioned previously on this blog. Very cool, be sure to check out both the band's site and the winning tees.

:: Thievery Corporation, Indeed ::

Whitney a blog lhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifisting retailers who shamelessly rip off designs from other artists. (H&M, how could you!) She also lists t-shirt sites fairly selling artist's designs. I'm surprised she left off CafePress, especially since Threadless' designer rights leave much room for improvement. I would also include Zakka on the list, if I were making it, they ALWAYS credit the designers and have nice props about them.

:: Spicy Asian Tees (Wasabi Not Included) ::

SpicyBrown is a cute t-shirt site remommended my Meliss.

::

Super good news! My computer is completely fixed, and as my coworker who helped me fix it jokingly put it, is "much more better." Plus it now has all the sweet hookups: new updates like CS2, a brand new 250 GB backup hard drive, a working USB hub, etc. Basically all the features I've needed for a while but have been neglectful to add. It will be faster too. Am thrilled. But I have been without all my font-based programs (Adobe CS, Macromedia Studio, Microsoft Office, etc) for almost a week and all internet browsers for around two days; needless to say I am starving for info and desperately playing work catch-up! Will def have AB next week, in celebration of the newly happy computer.

News You Can Use...Or Ignore, Whatever

2006-09-05T17:36:00.000-06:00

I started compiling this list last week, and added a few touches today. I'd better post it before it breaks all the posting length codes known to man.

First, the art/design/photo/tech news stuff:

:: Scream Recovered ::

Finally! It's been two long years, and rumors were that the paintings had been burned or severely damaged. Whether the museum has beefed up security enough to deserve having the paintings back is another story.

:: Newest Design Trend ::

Using black-and-white photos everywhere. Funny, I did this for a fake clothing site years ago; no wonder it still feels so fresh!

:: Illustrating the Magic of Spirograph ::

I am going to download this as soon as my computer acts sane again. A program allowing you to create spirograph-like designs in Illustrator? My heart soars.

:: The Decade's Best Flash Sites ::

One of my fave Design Blogs, Eyes on Creativity (who are respnsoble for many of the design posts this time around), brought to my attention the fact that my fave Flash web site is having a poll on the most influential flash sites of theGdecade. go check them out and vote for your fave. Or just go to check them out; each one is indeed amazing in their own way.

:: Iconic Images ::

Speaking of icons, an article about the disappearance of the 9/11 flag launched a photo gallery of some of the famous photos taken over the decades. Without looking at the captions, can you recognize them all and what they were from? There are so many more that could and shoud have been added, but it's a good group nonetheless.

:: Smithsonian American History Museum Closed for 2 Years ::

I can see the need for this, but it is still sad to deprive people of seeing the treasures preserved within for two long years. I suggest a country-wide tour of the more movable objects, but perhaps no money was procurable for such an exhibit? Such a shame, I would have so gone it it had toured close by. The link is to the Smithsonian's news about the closing, by the way, so is by far the most accurate and even has an FAQ section.

:: Yes Virginia, the Camera Does Indeed Lie: Photoshopping Katie Couric ::

This story amuses me way more than it should, mainly because anyone who doesn't know by now or is shocked about the stealthy use of Photoshop by everyone (including me!) to spruce up people in photos ought to be shot. I guess any publicity is good though. The second link has before and after photos.

:: iTunes: Good or Bad for Music? ::

TWiT had a discussion on this a while back, but this article interested me so much I thought I'd bring back the debate. Personally, I listen to so much new and old stuff, that hiking the price of new songs but lowering that of old ones wouldn't benefit me at all. And no, I don't think that iTunes has hurt artists at all; the industry has done their fair share already. I love that Steve Jobs has so much clout against the music moguls, and liked learning that they really don't make a profit from the store after all: most of the money goes to the overhead and, I believe, the artists. The way life should be.

:: iPod Nano + Nike Sport Kit = My Next Apple Love: Exercise I'd Actually Like to Do! ::

I so want this for my exercise routine, which is currently non-existant but would be better if I had such electronic ambrosia to sustain me. A device that uses your trust iPod to track your every step, calories burned, and gives encouragement from Lance Armstrong, then plugs into your computer and helps you track your progress? Brilliant. You are supposed to buy specific Nike shoes that are custom designed for inserting the device, but lots of people are saying that you can either buy a pouch from a knock-off company or just slip it into the tongue of your current running shoe du jour. Now all I need is an iPod Nano to make this a practical purchase. . . This article sums up the features and gives a full breakdown on the cost and tech needs for the kit to work.

:: Alan Moore's New Project ::

I love the concept of his newest venture, but did he have to make it so graphic? The idea of viewing the sexcapades of Literature's most famous little girls—Wendy, Dorothy, and Alice—makes me nauseous, not intrigued.

Phew! Now onto entertainment news.

:: Lost on a Beach ::

Lost comes out today on DVD!!! Would rush out and buy except for two factors: I spent al my DVD money forthe month on Veronica Mars Season 2, which I hadn't seen and needed to catch up on before the new season begins this month. Next, I was was burned last year, rushing out and buying the DVD, only to learn that Best Buy released a bonus DVD with the set. I am holding off buying it just in case the same thing happens again, thank you very much.

anyway, My Lost link of the day is courtesy of the Candy, and is of some zealous fans crashing the set and snapping pics with pride.

And finally, as is the way of the word, entertainment news on a birth and a death.

:: Princess Kiko to give Birth Tomorrow ::

How exciting, that tomorrow will exist a possible heir to the Japanese royal throne! It will be by c-section, and rumors have been flying that it is definitely a boy. Though I am on the side that feels that the law should be changed to allow royal females like Princess Aiko (who is such a cutie!) to ascend if no male heir is born. And apparently most of Japan agrees with me.

:: Steve Irwin's Death ::

It is so interesting to me that the death of such a bizarre, lovable, passionate naturalist as Steve Irwin can elicit the same feelings as heads of state like JFK or Princess Di. It's a reflection I think on how much the world, especially us younger members of it, were touched by all the work he did to educate the public about the world's dangerous yet fascinating animals. I have links to a Yahoo site with numerous links on the story, the Wiki site on Steve Irwin (already updated of course), and a link to the Croc Hunter site and a tribute in his honor.

::

All for now. My computer is, for the first time in it beautiful life span , acting nuts. I think it is a font problem. So on Friday and today I couldn't work on AB, CafePress files, work files, or freelance projects as a result. Be patient, and I will try to get everything fixed and happy ASAP.

My computer is giving FontAgent Pro and virex errors, and refuses to open my Adobe programs, citing a Library error. Is this because they are connected to the fonts? Anyone have any suggestions? I have been burning copies of my files like mad, in case it crashes. While it doesn't seem like that is likely, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

AB Travesty: Lizzabell on Damage Control

2006-08-26T17:03:00.000-06:00

Ack! The worst possible thing has happened as far as AB is concerned. I have misplaced my entire AB folder. So all my sketches, drawings, printouts, reference images, etc. are nowhere to be found. I am currently in a state of concerned panic; where the crap did I put it?

This is what comes from traveling, having multiple bags, and using my office/library as a paper dumping ground; I am only reaping what I sew, and let me tell you it sucks. So basically my hopes to get up an AB today are totally shot. I will hunt like mad for it, but if I can't find it I don't know what I will do for an AB next week. I guess I will print off new templates and start sketching a totally new AB. Wolfram, Yamato, and Rukia will have to wait. On the plus side, it would give me an excuse to begin drawing Soi Fon or the ringlet chick from Utena. So more props to the ladies next week I guess. Pray to all that is holy and good that I will find it!

::

I finally ordered my Pirates of the Carribbean t-shirt! Between my "Always Take Backup" tee from Glarkware, a "Kern" zip-up from Veer (free because I bought stock photo CD, woo hoo), and now this tee from Hot Topic, I have been on a web clothes shopping spree. And I am still coveting the Shakespeare tee from Threadless that I mentioned in an earlier post, and might work up the bravura to buy it next month. (Would love to have it to wear to the big local punk show next month and see how all the emo kids react, but really cannot buy any more clothes at the moment.)

So wierd, as I never purshase clothes online. Ah well. Big sale online at Hot Topic right now by the way, for all who care about such things. My pirates shirt was $5 off!

Very Not-So-Good-Things

2006-08-25T16:10:00.000-06:00

Wow, lots of disappointments this week.

:: Pluto is No Longer a Planet ::

Not only does this mess up every space exhibit, science textbook, and "My Very Educated Mother..." pneumonic device worldwide, it is just very sad, as I always did like Pluto. But it has been classified as a minor planet instead, as will be the new celestial bodies of Xena, Ceres, and Charon. Don't know if I will ever truly give up thinking of Pluto as a planet, but I have consolation in the fact that Holst never got to write a sympony about the ninth planet, so therefore it was always of less prominence anyway. (The fact that Pluto didn't have the good sense to be discovered before his death makes no difference, it is not Holst's fault.) =) Though I bet if he had written a symphony about it, it would have been divine.

:: The Sad State of Strong Women in Love in Movies ::

I thought this was an interesting analysis by Time Magazine of the stereotypical roles currently being written for men and women on the silver screen. While I don't agree that that the antidote for the sad state of movie romance is to write more roles in which women must be saved by a good man to be happy (though it worked in Bridget Jones), or that witty banter is outdated, I do think a good point is made, that there is an overabundance of lovable male losers/slackers in movies and that more positive roles for men are in dire need. At least if Hollywood wants women like me (18-35, single, educated, moderate, middle-class white female) in the movie-house seats in the future (though my demographic is one they probably could care less about, to be honest.)

:: Ronald McHummer: Here's Your Sign, McDonalds, amd I Mean This Literally ::

It was bound to happen: A fast-food restaurant is giving away Hummers as a prize. I'll admit I expected something like this to come from a chain like Burger King instead, since they seem less apologetic about their fatty menu and make the creepy-odd commercials, but no, McDonalds takes the prize for asinine give-away of the year. But the good thing about this is that it inspired someone with tech experience to create a program with which we can make and send our own McDonalds billboards. If anyone has a good phrase they put on their sign I'd love to see it. I want to send signs to all my friends now.

:: Summer's End ::

School will soon be starting up again, so I guess it is officialy the last days of summer. Since I work year-round it is not such a travesty, but it means I will have a lot more student-oriented work and legislature stuff to look forward to piling up on my desk. However, I got a lot of the TV shows watched that I wanted to see over the summer, so that is excellent. Will do a post on all the media stuff that is inspiring me later.

:: No AB on Friday ::

Lastly, did not get AB up today because of work stuff. I said I would die trying; as work has almost killed me this week, I can honeslty say my threat almost came true. But I am coming in to work tomorrow to work on a new freelance job doing color palettes, and I plan on taking a break during the day to do an AB. So look for it tomorrow!

::

I found this just in time for the mindless weekend web surfing: a list of the "25 sites we can't live without" from Time Magazine. And on the list are both Blogger and Flickr! V. cool. A lot of the sites I already frequent with love are there, with plenty of new ones to check out as well. Just thought I'd spread the love.

Speaking of Blogger, some stupid politician called my work number this week trying to win my vote. Would have been completely uninteresting, except I noted that the address of the blog she listed in her call had "blogspot" in it, meaning her blog is on Blogger! So that was cool, even if automated calling machines are not.

Comics Free from DC

2006-08-22T17:02:00.000-06:00

This is very cool news, and shows how the comics industry is wising up to using, not ignoring, technology. DC comics is now allowing free downloads of the first issues of its classic graphic novels. So for a girl like me, who would like to read interesting comics but is too poor and doesn't know where to begin, this is a boon.

I've read three so far. Whitney recommended Y: The Last Man, and I can see why, it's well written and paced, and the drawing is pretty good. Am definitely going to read more. Sandman is interesting, very surreal but very gripping all the same. Fables is a brilliant concept, but the expositional writing, at least in the first volume, is very heavy-handed. Hopefully it gets better as the story goes on.

Story courtesy of Whitney from the Candy, of course. Oh, and she has podcasts now as well! The first one was short but excellent, and reconfirms what I've always believed: guard your story ideas as carefully as you would any tangible item of value, and you will never go wrong. TWIT's podcast was not up on iTunes this week, and am going through withdraw as we speak. Hope to hear them soon.

I will get an AB up this week or die in the attempt. And CafePress was still down as of yesterday. We will configure which items to put the stego on and get that up right away.

My Work :: Part 14: "Gao Gao" Stego T-Shirt

2006-08-17T13:00:00.000-06:00

I am running off to the mountains this weekend, so didn't have time to get up an AB like I planned. So I did the next best thing, as not to leave anyone completely empty-handed: I designed a new t-shirt! Woo Hoo!

As I child, I was not obsessed with dolls or ponies, as any normal little girl can be. No, I adored dinosaurs. I collected all the dino books and figures I could, draged my fam to the Natural History Museum in DC where we lived, learned all the dino names and habits, etc. The very first job I ever wanted was to be an archaeologist. Needless to say that is no longer my greatest passion in life, but I sure do love dinos still and love hearing when a new species is found, that kind of stuff.

So when we watched the anime "Air," I knew it would have a special place in my heart, in spite of its bizarre but cute surrealism, which can be confusing. This is because Misuzu Kamio, the cute blonde with the impractically long hair, is also obsessed with my fave reptiles; she gives Yukito a stego shirt to wear and makes dino noises to express herself. In seeing a kindred spirit, a bond was forged between the two of us, the likes of which shall never be broken. =)

So of course I wanted to recreate the shirt! But someone at CafePress has already done that, and besides, the original shirt is NOT all that pretty, no matter how cute the stego on it is. So I decided a reddesign is in order.

Click on the pic above to see the shirt I designed. I took a pic of the stego shirt from off the web and traced the lines with the pen tool. Then I took those lines and the text and created outlines for both. (text: Type>Create Outlines; stroke: Object>Path>Outline Stroke.) The font is the same one I used for a logo for my cousin; is very simple yet contempo, and matches the whimsy of the stegosaurus pic. I put gao gao in quotes because I love when she says it, and put it on the back because I've been wanting to do a shirt at Cafepress with words on the back. I'm hoping that even if someone doesn't know it is from an anime, they will stil think it is cute. It's nice to get the inside joke, but I really hope the shirt's design, simple yet adorable, stands on its own.

CafePress is down at the moment, but when I get back from my trip I'm sure it'll be up and running again, and I will upload the tee for all to enjoy.

Next week I will get AB up and two other posts I have been working on. Till then!

On being an AB Tease and Designer Tees

2006-08-11T16:47:00.000-06:00

Friday has snuck up on me again!!!!!! Suck. Sorry, I had to do emergency ushering, did a job interview, got my personal design web site up, and am going away at the end of next week to play but have had waaaay too much to do before then. Suck. I am not trying to be an AB tease, I just am one apparently at the moment.

But Elicia returns on Monday so yay!!!!! She will brave the Paris airport and liquid bomb threats to return to us. If she holds up the line because of questionable lip gloss in her carry-ons, I will laugh.

In place of this, the Candy had a great link which I will share: Threadless, a designer t-shirt site where you submit t-shirt designs and can get them graded by others and sell them as well. My fave thus far? A t-shirt which states that "Shakespeare Hates Your Emo Poems." Made me laugh out loud so must buy. Makes me want to come up with ideas to submit; should I just submit some of the designs I've already done? Will anybody at Threadless get them, meaning-wise and purchase-wise, if I do? Hmmm, decisions decisions.

Will get up an AB next week or will personally stick a needle into my arm tendons. ( Have a friend in a phlebotomy course; apparently this burns a lot, so is an appropriately painful threat.) Also will work on having enough willpower to leave friends' houses at decent hour and get some needed sleep. But the operas I have been ushering like mad for these past two weeks have fueled new passion in me to create, which is always good.

Have started but not published like three posts this week; hopefully I will get hem up this weekend or on Monday.

Hello Pus**

2006-08-08T11:52:00.000-06:00

I passed my 75th post last week, joy.

::

This is one of those posts you hope never to write. Actually, this is one of those topics that you never even contemplate writing, because the very idea of the topic envokes such scenarios as the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Ragnarok, and judgement day occuring simultaneously along with said topic. I can't avoid talking about it, because what is my blog for but to record such bizarre moments in japanese/chibi pop culture, but I desperately, desperately want to.

Before I start a soapboxy tirade, I will say that every company, big or small, has a brand, an image if you will of how they are seen by the world and, more importantly, their customers. Marketing campaigns change rapidly, but the essential idea of the company, its mission and goals, is usually constant from year to year, and hopefully decade to decade.

Hello Kitty, as a brand, has done remarkably well in its long and very cute career. I personally like it and when I have kids of my own will probably buy them all the Hello Kitty stuff they can stand; heck, it's better than having them buy a Bratz doll, after all.

So what does Hello Kitty do, to continue their legacy of cute, innocently hip, internationally known squishy chibis? They decide to do a Hello Kitty doll in the form of a pop culture celeb. And which celeb do they pick? Why, Paris Hilton of course, because what better celeb to represent the Hello Kitty brand than the very one who embraces such values as cattiness, sluttiness, vapidity, and misogyny? That makes perfect sense Sanrio, bravo!

It's true that in the past Hello Kitty has parodied celebrities—Elicia has a bobblehead of Hello Kitty as Marilyn Monroe, after all—but this is so awful, so incredulous that I can hardly breathe. And I can't blame the stupid American distributors, as the doll-spawn is only being sold in Japan; no, I have no one to blame but my beloved Japanese Hello Kitty makers.

As a devoted customer, I feel betrayed. As a designer, witnessing them chibi-fy a celeb who is the antithesis of all things Hello Kitty, thus sullying their brand, I am outraged. We can prevent a company from hawking dolls of the Pussycat Dolls, a burlesque group posing as the new Spice Girls, to little girls but can't prevent this? Sheer travesty.

Enough on this subject, I feel ill. If Hello Kitty makes a Cristina Aguilera or Olsen Twins Hello Kitty, we are so through.

::

On happier news, work and home have calmed down significantly, so I can do an AB this week! Am very excited as have missed doing them tremendously. Not sure who yet but am thrilled.

Belated Friday Fun & Games

2006-08-02T18:50:00.000-06:00

Ack. I originally wrote this post last Fri, but the fates conspired against my getting it onto the web. So here you go; a belated post on some of my current fave things.

AB is not looking good this week, by the way. Sorry to be such a tease about it and keep delivering empty promises, but it's beyond my control. NEVER let the president's wife of the university you sorta work for come up with a brilliant idea for your non-profit client, which YOU then have to implement in the space of two months; it will drive you insane, wreck all your other deadlines, and make you feel guilty when you take a sanity break, like I am doing right now. Just a word of warning to innocent designers out there; learn from my suffering and just run away, fast, when this type of problem springs up. You will be happier for it. Okay, rant over.

::

No AB today. I had invitation deadlines, the cleaning of my house in prep for getting a larger bed moved in, newly planted thyme in my backyard to nurture, and a meeting in which I had to present all the printed materials I've put out in the past year. And all this in the same week! So my days at work and home were equaly frantic; poor lil' AB guys just couldn't compete. Next week should be smoother, I swear.

So to compensate, I will instead post some of my fave new and old links and stories I've come across that have been brightening my days lately, in the few spare moments I have.

:: Eddie Izzard ::

As I have mentioned in the last post (?), Eddie Izzard is my new crush. (I love his new look; he is one of the few men in the world who look fantastic with facial hair.) And typing in his name at YouTube reveals a plethora of fun clips. Some of my faves: 90's Eddie ruling the Ambassadors with floppy hair, Eddie doing a Monty Python skit with Alan Rickman, Eddie with the not-so-full Monty Pythons, Eddie being awesome on talk shows, and pieces of his great standup from his DVD's, listed below. (I love that he got the humor of Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" quote, the mistake in semantics which all people who have taken or speak German know, and has made it really funny. But instead of just calling it a donut I would call it a jelly-filled donut, as that is closer to the truth. Just splitting hairs here.)

:: The cunning use of Flags
:: Stars Wars Canteen
:: Ich Bin Ein Berliner
:: Religion
:: Comic Aid Stint

:: Warped Tour ::

I only attend punk shows with Leeshee, as she lends my punk/goth poser-ness some credibility, so missed it this year. Sad to not see Joan Jett and other cool acts perform, but will get over it eventually. The thing am saddest about missing? The tribute to the Ramones at Tent World and getting to talk to their actual creative director/designer.

:: My Chemical Comic ::

Speaking of awesome goth bands at Warped Tour, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance is jumping into the fad of stars making comics and is writing one of his own, which will possibly come out next year.

:: Harry Potter Podcast ::

Because there are about a bzillion of Harry Potter Podcasts out there, I have been waiting to subscribe to them until I find a good one. And lo and behold, Scholastic has a podcast of discussions with the big web site HP afficianados, in which they discuss and ruminate on the plots set up by book 6.

:: Adult Swim Fixes ::

This is a site I keep checking back to, because it is awesome. (I'm sure everyone has already ben here at least once, so I am listing it just to list it.) The preview podcasts at iTunes are funny (What's Inuyasha up to now?), and best of all you can preview shows early before they officially air.

:: Venture Brothers ::

While I wait impatiently for new episodes to air, there are great episode summaries and trivia explanations at the Wiki, clips from the episodes at YouTube, and of course great Venture stuff like wallpapers at Adult Swim. Make sure to download the MP3's of The Monarch's phone calls he placed while in jail, which are legitimate VB canon.

:: Jeeves and Wooster ::

This show is on PBS in the late-night British comedies section, and it is hysterical! (But I actually like British humor; those who don't will wince throughout the entire show I'm sure.) Not only do I get to learn where the Jeeves from "Ask Jeeves" came from (who I miss, btw), but get to see a young and very funny Hugh Laurie (he of "Sense and Sensibility" and "House" fame) being very funny, callous yet endearing as is his trademark style of characterization. It wasn't on this week, but I hope it returns soon.

I'll Take Great Satire for $500, Alex

2006-07-26T10:38:00.000-06:00

So this little news story filled me with glee this morning.

Apparently Michael Starr, distinguished writer for the New York Post, wrote a diatribe attacking Ken Jennings (he of Jeopardy fame who pwned the game for so long) for a post on his blog supposedly attacking the very show that brought him fame and fortune. But, of course, the whole post was done toungue firmly in cheek, so the fact that Starr was so ruffled by it is not only baffling but downright silly.

I had been to Ken Jennings's site previously and had read a few of his blog entries. They are always witty and light-hearted, so I don't understand why Michael Starr was so confused at the post's intent.

And I think my extra interest in the article stems from personal reasons: one, I absolutely loved Jeopardy as a kid, watched it almost every night, so while I admire the show I can see how ripe it is for loving ridicule. Two, a girl I know from High School and who Elicia knows from the theater department has written some deliciously satirical letters to the editor for our own local paper, and the responses were priceless in their ignorance. It amazes me how satire can be so misconstrued. I myself have occasionally misinterpreted satire, but when done right, as Ken and this girl did impeccably, there should be no mistake as to the humor behind the message.

Here is a part of his blog entry, to give you an example of the satire in question, where he pokes fun at the categories used on Jeopardy:

::

First up, the categories. Maybe when Art Fleming was alive, America just couldn’t get enough clues about “Botany” and “Ballet” and “The Renaissance,” but come on. Does every freaking category have to be some effete left-coast crap nobody’s heard of, like “Opera,” or, um, “U.S. History” or whatever? I mean, wake me up when you come up with something that middle America actually cares about. I think it would rule if, just one time, Alex had to read off a board like:

* PlayStation
* The Arby’s 5-for-$5.95 Value Menu
* Reality TV
* Men’s Magazines
* Skanks from Reality TV Who Got Naked in Men’s Magazines
* Potpourri

::

I mean, come on, isn't that funny? "Left-coast crap like. . . U.S. History" is rather clever. And the comments about Trebbek as a robot/cyborg and the swarming bees made me laugh too. It's the same type of humor employed by Dave Barry (I miss your columns, Dave!), but doesn't have "Humor Column" stamped all over it. Aren't you supposed to be able to poke fun of the things you love best? If people at SNL can poke fun at Trebek, surely Ken, who loves the game, is allowed a shot.

Is this a reflection of our super-serius times, in which people must take offense at the drop of a hat and lose all sense of humor? I don't know, but really, Michael Starr should have seen this for what it is immediately. Unless his article is, in its own sly way, creating satire over a non issue?

No, no it is not.

I was hoping the New York Post would write a correction in their paper along these lines:

"Dear Readers, we apologize that Michael Starr has the sense of humor of a soiled paper bag. Ken Jenning's post was obviously satire, as we are sure our intelligent readers figured out if they bothered to read Mr Jennings' original post. Mr. Starr will be returning to school this fall to retake English 1010 and learn about this "satire" stuff that the kids are so into today."

But alas, no such luck. Instead we get a new letter from another Post writer, basically defending her colleague with the argument that Ken's sense of humor is so bizarre that it is easy to misunderstand.

Then she blasts him for poking fun at them for not getting his post. Oh New York Post staffers, just admit you obviously have no sense of humor, screwed up royally, and be done with it! Taking the high road for a mistake may be bitter, but it is the right and classy thing to do. A major publication should know better.

I got Ken's humor very well and thoroughly enjoyed it. But that could be for two reasons: 1) I am a woman who loves intelligent humor that makes you think, and 2) like Ken I am Mormon (yikes, can't believe I am admitting my religion on this blog), and as all Mormons know we have the wierdest, quirkiest sense of humor on the planet. So between the two Ken is my new hero.

::

Saw My Super Ex-Girlfriend over the weekend. I surprised myself by actually liking it, a lot. I thought the writing was smart and mostly funny (but again with the gratuitous sex jokes, sigh,) the plot moved along in a nice, sensical manner for such a bizarre storyline, and that the acting was great on all sides. Uma, Rainn and Eddie all made great characters that the straight actors played well against.

And as we learned in the Pirates of the Caribbean writing commentary (did anyone read that post? Anyone?), you have to take a great idea "lemon" and squeeze all the juice you can out of it. And I think, especially with the ending plot twists, that they did this rather well.

And the costumes of G-Girl are to die for; finally someone (Uma, I read) has taken into account that superheroine costumes can be classy yet stunningly lovely and somewhat reealistic for actual fighting. She is still wearing stupidly high heels, tsk. But I will concede that argument on account that high heels are a stubborn aesthetic staple of the superhero genre that refuses to die, and that the rest of the costume choices well made up for it.

My largest complaint about the movie centers around the underutilization of Eddie Izzard, one of my newly minted fave comedians. (Yes, Meliss, you did a good job in converting me!) His standup routine in which he is the king of the humorous yet intelligent ramble is superb. So the fact that he didn't get free reign to do his schtick as other (less funny) comedians get to do in their movies saddened me. (He did get some great lines in though; I am still laughing at the Switzerland one.) But perhaps he chose to reign it in himself to be true to the character he was playing; if so I admire him all the more.

Haven't seen Lady in the Water yet, because I am poor yet saw Pirates twice this month, and because have had little time to fit movies in my life. (Night, I still love you I promise!) But hope to see it soon, and Devil wears Prada before it exits the cheap theaters. Already missed seeing Tokyo Drift before it left, but am not too cut up about that.

My Work :: Part 13: AngstyBishy Princess Mononoke

2006-07-21T16:56:00.000-06:00

Yay for finaly getting an AB up on time! I have felt like such a slacker these past few weeks; in spite of the crunch time I am facing at work right now, I really like doing these and feel bad when I miss a Friday.

Okay, enough about that. Mononoke was fun and realtively easy to sketch, since I had borrowed in on DVD and had good images to work from. I had done the sketch long ago, and it was just a matter of getting it polished to scan. But I had to make adjustments in Illustrator, and for some reason it was tough this week to make each part of her work together visually, unlike some of my previous AB's. Maybe I'm just rusty from not doing AB's regularly? But I liked how she turned out anyway. Lots of litle decisions to make during the process, like how furry to make her wolfskin and whether to include the jewel's shiny texture on her forehead, but I think everything worked out for the best.

I'm so proud to finally have a female AB up! I have meant to make my drawings an equal-opportunity medium for both sexes, since angst knows no gender. But there are admittedly fewer women in anime and manga, for whatever reason. I plan to eventually get up such female bishies as Soi Fon and Rukia from Bleach, Asuka from NGE, Juuri from Utena, and maybe even Buttercup from PPG, to name the ones on my list so far. I'll have to scour the anime world for more, but there are surely enough out there that I can't imagine the AB females being grossly outnumbered by the males.

::

On a side note, Elicia is now in London, and I miss her tons. Though I have managed to get her files from work to evaluate, proving that even from across the pond she can still assist her nee-chan. And because of her absence I am back to drawing nearly every day (not because she is gone so I am free to draw, but because she asked me to do this before she left. I sketch each night before going to bed and am beginning to remember how much fun sketching can be. Just practicing poses and proportions for now, but might try sketches of potential character designs for our stories soon.)

Her Sasuke doll is touring the sites with her and while looking jetlagged and grumpy, is very photogenic. But apparently on the tube today returning to the dorms she lost the pink nalgene bottle I gave her, which she was very unhappy at doing. Those crazy tubes; hopefully someone will be nice and turn it in.

Whitney from the Candy is at Comic-Con. And here I thought the 41,000 at Anime Expo was mind-boggling; they are expecting over 100,000 people at the C-C. Yikes! Sounds cool but do not plan on attending it any time in the near future, though would love to see all the Losties there.

Am brainstorming my next t-shirt designs, next AB's, and of course all my work projects whose deadlines are fast approaching. Not going to work on Monday, so unless post from friend's house will not post more stuff till Tuesday at the earliest.

HyWire Me Up, Baby

2006-07-18T18:48:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'll admit that my real reason for including this is just because it is so freakin' cool I can't stand it. Watch the clip below.

Talk about sci-fi brought to life! The other hydrogen cars had fuel cells that required the hydrogen and oxygen in water to be separated by traditional means—ie coal, so not really saving the earth. If this uses a different process and is actualy fossil-fuel free as touted, that is really sweet.

I know I know, if "Who Killed the Electric Car" is to be believed this car will never, ever see the light of day. But a girl can dream can't she? This is very much the car for our generation: it drives like a game, had digital technology, and allows you to change its "skin" whenever you like. GM, I have my eye on you! Do not disappoint!

Link found via Geeks are Sexy.

Writing Manga:: Part 4: X Marks the Spot for Good Screenwriting

2006-07-18T17:28:00.000-06:00

So I cannot get enough of Pirates of the Caribbean right now (I'm practically dizzy with delight at how fabulous the sequel turned out.) So of course I have been wearing out my DVD of the first one every chance I get. Usually I devour everything included on the "Special Features" section, but for some reason I had never listened to any of the commentaries. So I started up the writer's commentary on POC, and lo and behold it was practically a round tale discussion between the four writers of the movie. Woo Hoo! so I took copious notes throughout the movie.

I decided to post those here, because all of my stories could benefit from the nuggets of wisdom these men poured forth. I've divided them into two sections, my notes relating to writing the film and those that don't. I have to warn you, I was a paid notetaker in college, so when it comes to notes I am very thorough and long. But that is a skill that comes in mighty handy sometimes. Read on and be inspired; I know I certaintly was. If the notes seem incoherent, check out the original commentary to hear what was really said and in what context.

:: Notes from Pirates of the Caribbean: Writer's Commentary with Jay Wolpert, Stuart Beattie, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio ::

Elizabeth Swann is the "access" character for the film, as in actuality the main protagonist since her actions propel the other characters forward (being kidnappped, calling herself Turner, etc.)

Balance = action, comedy, character

good writing lets you know all you need to know about a character by their intro (ie Jack's stance while on the sinking boat)

all dialogue and action should play into the character

all love stories are about conflict: emphasize this conflict each time the characters are together

personality of character not come from what is written but from the actor's portrayal, ie Depp's version of Sparrow: "Exactly how we described, nothing like we anticipated"

Sparrow is like bugs bunny and pepe le pew, in that he is a trickster character who lives in his own version of reality, his world different than it really is, always one step ahead

use quick, smart actions to get to next scene

whole film is about a corset. =)

historically innacurate part: the p branded on pirates actualy done on forehead, not arm

weave in important elements of plot and character so are seamless: ie jack's compass, an important part of plot, is introduced by norrington as a joke

audiences die for something fun and original, and if childhood dreams given life (what kid not want to be pirate?)

character interaction interwoven into the action; as fight trade beliefs, not just insults. writing the action in—the moves and elements in the room—instead of just leaving the scene entirely up to a choreographer helps create emotion on the page

best action beats informing the audience of the character, as can demo plot and char within the actions

can look back at elements used at the beginning and reuse them at end

movement in scene in opposition to the principle action/fighting is nice, ie the wheels and swords moving around jack and will as they fought in the blacksmith shop

one central relationship, two people and their tensions, is important; plots come and go, but good characters stay and rise above the story; as they grow and learn they make the story enjoyable

love writing strong women; not get their strength in easy or obvious ways to get out of situations like men do; their strength comes in subtler ways

things change draft to draft; can be huge or small

pirate conventions; untruths about the pirate world the rest of the world knows of (no walking plank, little buried treasure as use on drink/women mostly)

3 categories of pirate film: swashbuckler (serious like dungeons, count of monte cristo), stylish adventure (mask of Zorro, less involved in characters but enjoy), and rollicking high adventure (POC making this new category, care about characters but have good time)

slow reveal: hint at supernatural elements early in film with umbrella in opening scene

sourround characters with events or other chars to bounce off of

sergio leone westerns: if add great chars who are mythical legends, the quarrels of gods belong to the gods

barbosa and jack: both tricksters, but one light and one dark

in action films make the villain the biggest, baddest person you can to heighten the drama and conflict, to pitch hero into impossible odds and make audience ask selves how will ever succeed, ie david and goliath; creates triumphant win and gets audience involved

use background chars to hide lynchpin moments, ie throwaway conversation of two soldiers and norrington pushes will to go see jack in prison, sets off plot for whole rest of movie

if must use exposition, tradeoff is to provide great dialogue

Character in the how, not the what: WHAT is jack/will steal a ship; jack's wiliness and intelligence is revealed in HOW he does it

get the audience to trust in the hero and invest the story or lose whole thing

if audience learns something let the hero learn it as well; makes the hero at least as smart as the audience

know your predesessors; stand on their shoulders and study them, ie in genre

worst thing in the world bring romantic leads together; destroys the walls of separation (class, money etc.) keeping them apart

have moments where people tell stories

put the woman in the middle of the action and see how she does

most interesting villains have contradictions—deep down there is a different side they do not reveal

larger than life characters that know more than the rest

POC is raiders of the lost ark on the high seas—loved that movie as a boy—real action/jeopardy/stakes, real bad guy, impossible odds

audiences only need a plausible explanation to satisfy them; ie bruckheimer really wanted to explain to audience why jack way he was; writers wrote in the marooning to satisfy producer; but in reality cannot pin down and explain jack properly

depp's research revealed that pirates were the rock stars of their day; bigest rock star in his mind was keith richards, so went with that to create jack

the sideshow characters make the story complete; create laughs, help polish off the world

mark davis main creator for park ride; looked at his original sketches

barbosa is the dark sidde of jack

providing great turns for your sideshow character actors is something in all big old hollywood productions but is sadly missing in movies today; pretended thy had great actors under contract when wrote characters. ie gibs was allen hale, guards were vaudevilians, had laurel and hardy in two pirates

set up chessmatch of minds and strategy between the mythical figs in story: the two gods (jack and barbossa) come together to battle and the rest can only watch

how ted and terry write: divide up scenes betweeen them and each write; then trade scenes and make notes; then read over the notes. Always have the scenes worked out before the first draft so know where fit into overall story before begin

save the kiss until the end: creates tension all the way through in the love story.

No kill the dog.

no bookends.

Ignore all these rules as you like

change the rythm of the dialogue as much as you do the actual words

the two gods in the story have similar concerns, think and act similar

WB cartoon moments in the story are moments of great bravado

POC was "writing on assignment": company hires you to do their movie idea

learn enought to use real things in situations for historical accuracy (ie oars on Pearl, facts about real pirates. But also hired historical advisor, rigging master, ship masters for help)

movie meant to be an accurate reflection of the romanticism of piracy going back to Lord Byron—not a movie about real pirates but a "pirate movie"

all good stories: for a minute you think the hero is dead and you have no one left to identify with

flashy performances (jack) require real performances (Will) to anchor their craziness

wanted to hit all the genre bits in a genre film, things the audiences expect and love (mute, parrot, walking the plank)

If movie is a three act play:
Act one: set up story, catalyst for actions, raise questions
Act two: tell the story
End of Act two: lowest moment in story, answer to questions are no, get audience as low as can
Act three: bing the audience up as high as can, keep involved and give great ride, wrap up and answer questions

be exposition lite: visually show the past if must, otherwise limit its importance in the present; add comedy or tension in, make charaters angry at each other as one explains, or use to inform audience of character if must use

do the best with what you can do; best complaint was frustration from crew at artificial limitations; ie shooting going on for a scene in the movie and the actors upset are not part of it, instead have to stay at hotel

constraints and rythms = viola in dialogue

elements of the supernatural never before in a pirate movie, but are in ride, so included overtly

allowing reality of the movie to enter into the realm of the supernatural brought stylization to the movie of a different world. in reality no accept walking planks, parrots unless tell as a ghost story. then accept the crazy things like jack sparrow

not naturalistic pirate movie, rather is a classical swashbuckling romance

overlapping conventions in horror and romance genres through the gothic elements it descends from—lots of overlapping—hide in reality, but allow to do romantic

Anthony Hope: "Romance genre gives 2 ambition balance, courage to the high moment, and to love the ideal object"

High climax encompasses several stories at once, wrapped up at once, fun, exciting, little explanation/expos necessary by that point

writers are now part of the Disney legacy, on screen fo the first time exciting and scary

knew making movie on ride could work if done right

how to lower scenes from R to PG-13: keep actions offscreen and out of frame, but still hear them

tough: having several lines of action, yet audience still can tell which is happening where

"Squeeze the lemon" = amazing premise that you do all you can with it; for them it was getting the most out of undead pirates—jumping in the light, etc—don't regret that you could've done more with that dea, do it; squeeze the lemon dry, get everything out of what you have set up; the good stories do this every time

every single CGI character was individualized based on original actor

pirate code as "basically guidelines" idea gets transferred from char to char, becomes a reoccuring line; first Barbossa say to Liz, she transfer to crew and they to jack; that line is what gets crew to return and rescue Jack at end

cheesy hero lines: can write typical hero lines but need to be good and deal with the story/char

the writers figured out the whole blood/coin mythology, worked out all on the page; so when jack steals still makes sense (though aparently lots of critics missed that entirely though was done as overtly as possible onscreen)

irony: Barbossa finally feels, only to feel his own death

tales from the crypt-type comedy: irony, just desserts, what you did comes back tenfold, you are destroyed by what you want

effectiveness of onscreen

comedic pairs meet finally: abbott and costello on acid with laurel and hardy (two soldiers and two pirate buddies)

not typical act 3 paradigm; usually story kills villain and thus ends whole thing; usually that type of villain does not work on such a personal level as barbossa does (his only goal to become mortal, not to destroy earth or something huge), but this is a char movie, so story not over till all the char stories over, even though barbossa, main villain, already dead

in the early 1700's they cracked down on piracy

romantic pirate: a rebel, outlaw wiht a noble cause; by the end Orlando is the only true movie pirate

hero: does something at the end of the movie would never do at the beginning; in the middle growth for the char comes to allow that change. Will would never rescue a pirate at the beg, but at end risks life to save jack; learns the difference between a pirate and a good man and that they can be the same

lesson learned: that not all pirates are bad; not necc true in reality but is in our romantic version

norrington a representation of the unbending law

can break the law because it is wrong; not when is in your own personal interst or just because you want to feel good

if do not set up the char change, then characterization no carry emotions with it

kiss delivered at very end

fun star (Jack) ends movie like this with a laugh ala james cameron

"Bring me that Horizon"—Johnny added that the same day as the shooting

writers had to approve any ad libs by the actors

in the credits:
screenplay by: means you were on the set, added the wording
story credit: means you influenced how the story took shape

all scripts go to a writing guild; the one most like the finished film get screen credit, meaning you put enough into shaping the final story's plot and words

not a butchered script of the three; all worked with the same goal, translated eventually to a great fun film

writers also figured out timeline of whole backstory of Jack's crew, bill turner, etc:
10 years eariler Jack in tortuga to get new crew and go after the aztec treasure, with the compass he learned the island's bearing; knew about the curse and told his crew, but none believe same as jack; bill was on jack's crew before barbossa and tortuga; they sail out and first day out barbossa says all get equal share in knowing bearings; jack tells them; jack is betrayed when barbossa violates the code and mutinies; jack is marooned; bill stays on board with the crew but wants to do whats right by jack and stick with code; crew goes to Muerta and takes treasure (even monkey takes some); crew learns curse is real; bill says they deserve to be cursed and mails piece of gold to his son; barboss mad at bill and drops him immortal down into davy jones locker (probably still alive but a puddle); crew learns have to put all gold back (maybe was written on the chest itself?) and pay blood

8 years prior: pirates destroy will's ship, liz crossing to jamaica; liz steals coin; jack escapes

over next a years: pirates looks for gold; gold around liz's neck in the water calls to the pirates and sets off movie; also learn that the boat jack sinks in the beginning of the movie was anamaria's boat

touch of the supernatural in the pearl but still was blown up (sequel?); lose in unnatural fog

fine clockwork—all is there; was an odd way to do the story but it all works

::

I shouls also mention that none of these coments wer mine; all come exclusively from the writers. So if you disagree with anything take it up with them. =) And thus ends the writing lesson for today.

I will add other Pirates of the Caribbean links to this blog in time; I've been saving them up and hope to post them soon.

Yodelay-hee-hooey?

2006-07-18T11:00:00.000-06:00

Just when I thought Jewel was out of my life and I had moved on, here she is doing something appropriate to mention on my blog. Apparently she has a new kids' show on Nickelodeon premiering this fall called Punk Rock Angel Girl, in which she is the voice of the main character, a girl who uses her powers or righteous anger and yodeling to save the world from mindless media and popstar robots. (Nope, I'm serious.) Apparently she wrote the first episode and designed the main character herself. (I will forgive her, since she apparently was an art major so she has some legitimate background in art. And writing too, I suppose.)

In spite of everything I think the series would be interesting to watch, at least to see if she pulls it off. There are so many comics or animated shows based on or by musicians nowadays (Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, Princess Ai, and Hammerman come to mind), and it really is a crap shoot to see if they can be fun without turning insufferable. (Hi Hi? Cute and fun, though their bus' design scares me. Princess Ai? Too Courtney Love-esque for me; when she mentions the heart-shaped box I wanted to gag—leave your husband's legacy alone! Hammerman? An almost acid-trippy childhood memory best left forgotten.)

I still haven't forgiven Jewel for turning all slutty-pop with 0304 (she claims her Intuition video was a satire, but I don't buy it; you don't use a satirical song to hawk Schick razors, sweetie, it destroys your message.) But I do like the message of her show; with all the mindless young celebrity girls running around, and the odious Bratz culture thrust at little girls, we need all the positive female influences we can get.

And to be honest, I'm surprised that other pop stars haven't picked up on this idea and run off with it. I could see a cartoon Gwen Stefani fighting with her band of Harajuku Girls ala Kamikaze Girls meets Spice Girls, or Danger Mouse becoming an actual cartoon mouse! Think of the power of extending your music brand to kids and preteens. =( Um, on second thought, maybe it's for the best that pop stars leave the littlest ones alone; they will be exposed to the horrors of the mass branding and marketing of pop culture soon enough.

Credits for the article go, of course, to the Candy.

::

And I promise that once the craziness here dies down, I will get an AB up. I swear.

All Part of the Process

2006-07-12T15:36:00.000-06:00

I'm not one to read "smut manga," my own personal name for it, or "yaoi" if you prefer the real Japanese name. But Elicia does, and especially likes downloading the doujinshi done by professional artists. (I still think it's incredible that in Japan you can make a living by doing manga as fanfiction; way to go for the laxer copyright laws!) Anyway, every now and then she will find a yaoi artist whose work really is incredible artistically, and will show me a page or two so I can get inspired.

I can't remember if I've seen this lady's work or not, but one of those artists, Ebine Yamaji, wrote an afterword in her manga about the journey she had to undertake to redisover her artistic process. I read it not long after starting up this blog, I believe, and always knew I would have to include it here at some point because what she said was just fabulous. It really spoke to why I made this stupid blog in the first place—so that I don't forget the emotions, research, inspirations, and processes Elicia and I undertake as we struggle to get our stories and thoughts onto the page. To have a record of the joy we feel doing this and the things helping us along the way.

Anyway, Yamaji's afterword is attached above. Read and enjoy.

A Lotta Booty to Replace the Bishie

2006-07-07T15:07:00.000-06:00

After being so good last week and getting Light up on time, I feel like such a heel, as there will be no AB this week; the holiday and other things saw to that.

To make amends, I am posting awesome pirate links in honor of Pirates of the Caribbean coming out today!

I've already bought my tickets for a 6:30 pm showing tonight, and cannot wait! One of my coworkers is throwing a pirates party after work today, which she kindly invited me to, to my excitement. Maybe it's just a local thing, but her kids and my sister are dressing up for the movie; is anyone else around the country doing this? Elicia already has a pirate wench costume from the first movie, but she might change it a little. Any excuse to dress up for her. I will be borrowing her hello kitty piraqte shirt that says "it's all about the booty." So will be somewhat in the spirit of the evening. I have been eyeing a t-shirt at Hot Topic that has a POC emblem much like the theme park ride's illustrations, but may have to buy it online as is not in my size at the store. Too late to order it now, but I will wear it with pride when I see the third one.

Anyway, here are some choice links:

:: A guided tour of the new changes to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, complete with pics of Depp admiring his animatronic alter ego.

:: Nice large pics of movie stills at Rotten Tomatoes. (Click any of the pics on the page to get a slideshow of them all. Love the one of Kiera Knightley on the ground in her dishevelled wedding dress.)

:: Kiera Knightley's reaction about seeing hte film with Orlando Bloom for the first time (which struck me as really funny for some reason.)

:: Johnny Depp's comments about the character of Captain Jack Sparrow.

:: Movie Mom's review of the film, mostly because of her awesome pirate links at the end. (Also check out the pics and clips at Yahoo! while you are there)

:: Featurette on the movie from Apple's movie trailer site.

:: An interesting article by Brandweek on the movie tie-ins, and a link to the arresting Volvo marketing campaign.

:: IMDB's page for the film.

:: Last but not least, the movie's own home page.

Anything else of note I forgot to link to I'll post later.

I honestly think this movie will be the hit of the summer, but of course that remains to be seen. Even if it disappointing, just seeing Depp on the big screen for two and a half hours will be enjoyment in itself.

Deathnote Delectables: "Candy" Dish and Manga Fin

2006-07-03T13:32:00.000-06:00

Woohoo! Great weekend for Deathnote stuff.

:: Deathnote at the Candy ::

On a whim I sent an e-mail asking Pop Candy's Whitney if she had heard any news about Deathnote coming to America, since she has much better contacts than I do. so imagine my surprise when my question makes her Mailbag! And she seems happy to answer it!

Here is the massage I posted and her response:

::

I don't know if you read manga as much as you do comics and graphic novels, but here's hoping you can help me on this one. I read that the live-action movie of the manga Death Note -- a modern supernatural detective thriller that I adore -- was No. 1 at the Japanese box office this week. Since it's doing well over there and is partly distributed by Warner Bros., is there any chance we will get to see it on the big screen in this country? -- Liz L.

I'm glad you asked this question, and thanks for being patient with my scattered updates. (Just took some time out to interview a comedian -- you'll be reading that soon.) Anyway, since you're such a big fan, you've probably already seen the trailer, but here it is, just in case. Death Note is actually a two-part movie, a la Kill Bill. I have a call out to Warner Bros. about a possible release date, but I think a DVD release is much more likely than something in U.S. theaters. Here's a good roundup of the latest Death Note news, and you mention Warner Japan, which you can learn more about here. I'll let you know if the company provides any new info.

::

Cool, huh? And the links she gave are pretty good, so I'm glad I got the courage to ask. And maybe I'm the first to ask a manga or Deathnote related question! I haven't been reading very long so am not sure, but would be cool if it was true. To read my actual post at the Candy, click here.

:: Death Note Fin ::

Elicia and I downloaded the remaining chapters of Deathnote this weekend, so we have now read the entire series! But since we were reading it together, and I read manga slower so as to savor the whole page, she kept getting annoyed with me. It reminded me of the feverish days we spent when in our naivete, we only bought one copy of Harry Potter 5 and were reading it at the same time. Not an experience I ever want to repeat. (We learned out lesson when HP6 came out, and each bought out own copies. Great except Elicia again got to read it faster than I did, and so kept dropping hints about how good it was and how I'd better hurry up. What we will be like when book 7 comes out I do not know.)

Anyways, I'm so going to talk about Deathnote, but only in the comments section of this post so that I don't spoil it for anyone. I just have to get my feelings out! Man, what a good series. Sad it's finished, but we always have the movies and discovering the author's real identity to look forward to.

::

Happy hols tomorrow everyone! We get the day off from work, so I am so not posting anything. I'm seeing our local fireworks tonight with fam. Tomorrow I'm going to a scouts breakfast in the morning, helping my mom get the rest of her flowers planted, setting off sparklers and mini fireworks, and maybe going to a friend's house. Oh, and hopefully drawing, napping, and working on the diathesis for our first story. That should keep me busy, huh?

To celebrate the occasion, since I love learning bout history, I watched a play about Jefferson and Adam's correspondences and read Time's new article on Teddy Roosevelt; all are men I greatly esteem, so great stuff. Is it wierd to like US History so much? Maybe it's because modern politics depress me so much, it's nice to see things that remind me that politics, even with brilliant men at the helm, are always screwed up. Seriously, the more things change the more they really do stay the same. Yay for history.

My Work :: Part 12: AngstyBishy Light

2006-06-30T15:02:00.000-06:00

I have to tell you, I delayed sketching Light this week because I was nervous about how he would turn out. Obata is an amazing artist, and Light's character design intimidates me. But I think he turnes out pretty successful in spite of my fears, so I'm super happy today.

For the references, I used a mix of the manga in our possession and image-googled internet pics. I had done a quick comp sketch of him a couple of months ago, so I took that initial rought sketch and polished it up last night. I scanned him in and as usual, traced my lines in Illustrator with the pen tool.

Cake? No, because his hair took a lot of refining, but not as bad as the Sanzo AB by far. I stressed about his clothes, but since Obata used the beige-grey pants, white shirt, red tie ensemble in a couple of his color illustrations, I figured it would be the best outfit to go with. I was going to add belt loopholes and buckles originally, but they made it too busy so I just did a simple black belt. Same with writing Death Note on the book; just pretend he is holding it with the title facing in. And again, since I just reused parts from Touya and Howl (the entire bottom section and the sleeves, respectively), the rest of him excepting the hair was a cinch.

Man, he looks so cute! Each new one I make becomes my new fave for a time, but I think he will be at the top of my fave list for a long time. And since Light looks a lot like Gackt, any Gackt fans can pretend it is a chibi of him if they want to. (Except for the note being there, of course.) A lot of Gackt photos came up in my image search for some reason; man is that boy china-doll pretty! He's not my type but even I can see why he has a bunch of little fan girls running around.

I finally read up to chapter 104 in Deathnote! I have to wait for Elicia to download more, but MAN is it getting good! Light totally deserves to be an AB, as he's becoming so angsty it is scary. And funny. I don't know why but him losing his composure makes me laugh every time. And I'll try not to spoil anything, but I've heard positive rumors about L, which I so hope to be true! I tried to cheat and search online to find how the series ended, but no luck. I must be using the wrong keywords or something.

Anyway, I'm just glad to be back on a schedule again. Not sure what character I'll do next week, since there are a couple floating around the top of the list; I guess whichever comp sketch I like the best. And as always, requests by others for AB's are much loved.

Loli-Goth makes the Stars Shine Brighter

2006-06-29T14:26:00.000-06:00

I decided that I have to mention the gothic Lolita craze, simply because I love its cuteness and bizarreness, and because I've been wanting to talk about it for a long time. I'd say this post has nothing to do with making manga if I could, but of course that's crazy talk. As niche as the gothic Lolita style of dress is, it has permeated the manga culture, so I feel it has great relevance and deserves a mention. Plus, Elicia did a paper on it for her Psychology of Clothing class, and dressed Loli-goth for her presentation, so I think the post is very timely.

I do realize that while Elicia and I are fascinated by Loli-Goth, since we don't live in Japan and don't wear it ourselves we are both posers on the subject. But we are fascinated posers. =)

One of our friends gets the Asian (AZN) network on her cable package. And on it was the funniest movie I have seen in a long time: Shimotsuma Monogatari, or Kamikaze Girls. I had seen gothic lolita pics before on the web and read travel diaries talking about seen girls wearing these clothes on the street, but the movie made me aware of loli-goth's place in the modern Japanese youth culture. Apparently it was originally a novel, then a manga, and now an awesome movie. Elicia bought the DVD at Borders, and it is now one of her most prized possesions I swear. A fun feature on the DVD is that you can run the movie with little facts about the Japanese culture popping up every so often. There are blurbs about the lolita fashion and the Baby store. Speaking of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright: they have the cutest clothes on their site. I think Elicia spent two hours or more there yesterday, just looking.

Elicia's paper has good links about the clothing, the culture, the movie, and Baby. I can't find any of the sites I originally saw the style in, but her sources are really excellent. If I do find those original sites or other good sources I will add them to the end of this post.

Here is Elicia's paper on the topic that she wrote for her class:

::

Lolita Fashion

The Japanese Lolita style merges Victorian and Rococo clothing together in a delicate doll-like look. It is a very specialized sub-culture, and is often looked down on or seen as silly or even ugly by more mainstream Japanese society. Lolita is what’s known as a “street style.” This can be termed as what the youth wear on the weekends as they roam the city streets, seeking a reprieve from the homogeneity of school uniforms and all around conformity lauded by adults.

Around the late 90’s this look really started to emerge and gained a larger following after 2000. Credit for the fashion is often given to Mana, the guitarist of Malice Miser, a popular rock band in Japan. Perhaps it is because this style was started by an androgynous male that it is focused on elegance instead of sexuality, despite the fact that the name has been derived from Nabukov’s novel of the same title. Lolita stays an ultimately innocent look, and is supposed to make the wearer appear dainty as a little girl.

There are a multiple sub-categories of Lolita, but the main two are Gothic and Sweet. But the differences between are based mostly on the palate used. Gothic tends to be darker, with large amounts of black, white, and red. Sweet is more pastel with pinks, blues, and yellows being predominant.

It is interesting though, that a style born for escapism and individuality would enforce a strict code of acceptable dress. There are quite a few guidelines that simply must be followed when dressing Lolita.

- Skirts are worn at mini length to knee length, poofy and usually supported by a crinoline. Pants are never worn.
- Blouses, dresses, etc. should be elegantly ruffled
- Stockings are always worn, fishnet or opaque
- Headdresses are incredibly important, though they can vary from an elaborate hat to simply a large bow
- Shoes can be: Mary Jane’s, platformed shoes, feminine boots. If heels are worn they cannot be stilettos
- A purse is always carried, often times they’re large. It is also common to carry dolls or stuffed animals
- Parasols must be used on sunny days
- Hair should be curled, or worn long and straight
- Complexion should be pale, black and red lipstick and use of eyeliner is common though only for Gothic Lolita. In Sweet Lolita a minimum amount of makeup would be worn
- Gloves and opera length arm warmers are common, but are worn depending on the situation
- Elegance is key

An important factor in establishing and unifying this style in the magazine called “The Gothic and Lolita Bible.” It contains ideas, tips, pictures, patterns, and sometimes even recipes.

Though there are stores that carry this look currently, a lot of the fashion is homemade. A popular place to shop is Marui Young in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The store has four floors filled with Lolita style clothing. Another well-known Lolita store is Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, abbreviated sometimes as BTSSB or simply called “Baby.”
Located in Daikanyama, Tokyo, the label was originally founded in 1988 by Akinori Isobe, who hopes to expand business outside of Japan. Baby carries mostly Sweet Lolita, but also has darker versions available. Prices are around $100 for a blouse and $200 for a dress.

Lolita fashion is spreading slowly outside of Japan. There a few stores in Hong Kong that carry it, and it has popularity among anime fans across the globe thanks to shows like Cardcaptor Sakura, Paradise Kiss, Rozen Maiden, and Tsukuyomi Moon Phase. Another important factor in the international recognition of the Lolita style is the live action film, Kamikaze Girls.

Watching Kamikaze Girls is what made me personally interested in the Lolita style. I’d seen the Lolita dress before in anime and thought it was cute, but it wasn’t until watching this adorable little film, that my I became aware of Lolita as an actual style that I might actually enjoy looking at and maybe even wearing.

Sources:

Hell, Kyshah. “Elegant Gothic Lolita.” Morbid Outlook
http://www.morbidoutlook.com/fashion/articles/2002_07_gothiclolita.html

“Baby, The Stars Shine Bright”
Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby%2C_The_Stars_Shine_Bright

“Gothic Lolita” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Lolita

“Lolita Fashion” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_fashion

“Sweet Lolita” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Lolita

Avant Gauche. http://www.avantgauche.co.uk/

Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. http://www.babyssb.co.jp/index.html

Kamikaze Girls. http://www.kamikazegirls.net/story.html

::

Before I finish this post I thought I'd mention what Elicia did to dress Loli-Goth for her presentation. Keep in mind she doesn't dress Lolita but recreated it to give her class an idea of what it looks like.

Since she has a lot of black and red items, she went with the gothic look. First, she had a black lace cap-sleeve shirt with mandarin collar. Over that she put on her black corset (yes, she has a corset, don't ask.) She put on black fishnets and a black calf-length dress with lace trim. Over the corset I helped her tie on a long red sash and bow that she originally made for her Temari cosplay. On her hands she put on opera gloves with long lace at the hands. On her head she first tied a black crochet hair band thing, and over that wore one of our mom's black dress hats with a red bow tied around it. On her feet, she wore these red clog heeled Mary Janes she has, that really tied the outfit together. For makeup she did lots of eyeliner, red lipstick, and powered her face very pale (but like our complexions make that very difficult, really.) For accessories she had a silver cross necklace, an oversized purse and a black kitty stuffed animal. I'm not sure what people will think today when they see her, and I wish I could follow her around and see their faces. Elicia has a male friend who wears a long, almost scots-like black skirt thing to school, and I've heard about him in my department. This costume is like ten times more flamboyant than that. Oh well, Elicia will have to tell me if she got any fun reactions when I see her tonight.

My Work :: Part 11: Uchiha Fan and AngstyBishy Howl

2006-06-29T13:10:00.000-06:00

Man, am I really so lazy a person that I never wrote about Howl? (Answer: yes, which means I suck, especially since I forgot I never wrote about him. Oh Howl, you are loved, really and truly!) And I must talk about Uchiha Fan as well.

:: AngstyBishy Howl ::
I wanted Howl to look right so very badly, so the sketch took a while to get right. His hair especially, and his wonderful but extremely detailed coat. Luckily for me I had the artbook from Howl's Moving Castle, so I got to use really great, non-pixellated pics to help me out this time. Woo Hoo! His coat gave me the most grief, as I wanted to get the diamond pattern correct. I'm quite proud of it; look closely at it and you will see it matches the original almost perfectly. I was thinking of adding dark-haired Howl (but he's lost his angst by then) or blobby orange-haired Howl, but didn't have time to sketch them out as well. He works so well as a chibi AB that I smile each time I see him. what a prettyboy, neh?

:: Uchiha Fan ::

Elicia was making two costumes for friends going to Anime Expo, and while helping her finish the Sasuke costume I got the idea for this shirt. (I think it was while I was printing out the fan icon as an iron-on, but I'm not positive.) But the idea was/is so cheesy, so anvil-dropping obvious, that I was afraid Elicia would laugh at me for such a stupid t-ahirt idea. But I checked online and couldn't find a similar idea, so I decided to bring the idea up. Her reaction was perfect—she clapped her hand over her mouth and couldn't breathe for several moments as she was laughing too hard—so I took that as a sign that I had struck on a good idea.

Making it was brilliant; normally I would trace the fan shape with the pen tool, but this time I purposely tried to create it in my most Illustrator-savvy method. As you will see, it sounds hard but actually isn't and by using it I was able to create a perfectly symmetrical, linear design to match the look of the Uchiwa.

First, I took a pattern of the fan I found online (http://www.narutouchiha.com/contenido/ClanUchiha/UchihaFan.gif) and placed it in Illustrator. I then made a perfect circle shape with the Ellipse tool by holding down shift key as I drew it, the same size as the circle in the fan. I then made another ellipse, this time squashing it into a long oval shape, and lined the top of my oval shape with the fan's bottom red line, so that the two lines matched perfectly. I then took the scissors tool and snipped of the extra parts of the oval that I didn't need, turning the oval into merely a curved line. I then copied this line by holding down the alt key as I dragged it, and moved my new curved line shape to the top of the white part of the fan. (I found I had to tweak it a little to perfectly match the whote curve, but other than that it was good to go.) I decided to combine these two curved lines in to one shape, for reasons that will be revealed later. So I used the direct-select (or white arrow) tool to select only the right anchor points of the two curved lines. Then I went up to my top menus and selected Object>Path>Join. This created a new line that joins the two points together. I repeated the same step with the left points, and behold! A new shape was made.

Now that I hade made the curved lines into a shape, I could easily punch their shape out of the circle I originally made, and create the two halves of the fan. I did this by selecting both of the shapes, and in the Pathfinder Palette I clicked the "Subtract from shape" (or the second) button, then clicked the Expand button to the right. And voila! Two lovely fan shapes. But the pathfinder palette tends to group the shapes it makes together, which makes it hard to edit each individual shape on its own. Since I wanted to do this to color each shape separately, I went back to the menus and selected Object>Compound Path>Release. Now I could color the top red and the bottom white, yay.

Now for the fan's base. I just drew a rectangle with the polygon tool, selected it and the white fan part atthe same time, and clicked on the "Add to Shape" and Expand buttons in the Pathfinder Palette. Cake.

Then I messed with the strokes of the lines of the text and fan until I liked their thickness. I then outlined the text and paths. So now it can be scaled to any size and the strokes won't change a bit. (The font is the same one I used for AB, if anyone is interested.)

And that is the process I used! Yes there are simpler ways to do it and still have it be perfect shapes, but I wanted to reacquaint myself with as many tools, palettes, and menus as possible. I love my job, but I don't get to do stuff like this nearly as often as I would like. So I had fun and got to feel like I am on top of the Illustrator tricks, at least for a little while. Yay for this blog, since it gives me a permanent place to record how I've done stuff like this!

Anyway, I still think the pun is cheesy, but it does make me laugh so it was worth it.

Leeshee's friends at the Expo are passing around my cards, so I really wanted a new design up at the CafePress site to celebrate that. (They were even the ones who thought up the idea of me making cards and offered to pass them out for me. Someone else willing to do my promotional work? I love you forever! Like I've said before, I'm not good at doing that sort of thing myself.) We printed off 2500 cards. Elicia and I cut out every single one by hand, so they truly are made with tender loving care! Man, the cutting was a lot of work, but even if just one person likes our stuff and buys something, it will so be worth it. And I do realize that at a con with over 40,000 people attending, that 2500 cards is a drop in the ocean. But you have to start somewhere, and that is still a freakin' lot of cards.

The cards turned out nicer that I initially thought they would. I wanted them to be clean like the rest of our work for ello, and I couldn't decide on just one design and there was no time to make something fancy, so I got the idea to do different variations of the same card. All the contact info on the front is the same, but there are 10 different backs, each with a different AB or shirt design that we've done. Collect them all! Not really. But I actually like them a lot.

Writing Manga :: Part 3: Wilder Wisdom is Wiser Wisdom

2006-06-27T14:00:00.000-06:00

Writing manga, I firmly believe, is essentially the same as writing in any medium in which the story is told through static or moving pictures: the script used to tell the story is paramount to the success of the story.

Elicia argues sometimes that the pictures are the most important element, but I disagree: The pictures are the hook that entices the reader in, I think, but ultimately it is the story that keeps them there at the end. I have read a lot of online comics or manga in which the pictures were wonderful but the stories didn't grab me—usually because they were too slow or too confusing or simply bored me. Am I still following those stories? No. I might save the pretty images for further reference, but other than that I am done. To contrast that, there are stories—mostly online—where the art wasn't so great but it is funny and/or wonderfully written. And those are the ones I find myself returning to over and over again. And often, the creator's art skills caught up with the writing part eventually—isn't it funny how that so if often happens in online comics?—and then the true brilliance of the creator bursts forth unhindered.

Which gets to my final point: we can argue 'till on our deathbeds about which part of the story—the visuals or the words—are the most important, but the truth of the matter is this: when both come together seamlessly and beautifully, true magic happens. And a story is made that will end up thrilling and inspiring audiences and artists for generations to come. And that is what we all should in our own creative endeavors be aiming for.

Now back to the writing part:

In order to write great scripts, it is important to learn from the masters. And one of the very best screenwriters ever was the writing god that is Billy Wilder. His knack for storytelling, especially comedy, is practically unparallelled—Some Like it Hot is by far the best example. And I think there are few people out there who would disagree with me.

So the fact that NPR did a segment on Wilder's rules for good storytelling made me want to squee in delight; a genius openly revealing his knowledge, secrets, and tricks always piques my interest. So here they are below, straighforward rules for writing and filmmaking that are surprisingly elusive in our day and age to replicate. Here's hoping that the stories Elicia and I are currently dreaming up can accomplish even half of these rules for our audience—if so it will be a job (pretty) well done.

Again, I feel that rules of writing extend to every similar genre. So TV, movies, books, manga, comics—all are potential beneficiaries from Wilder's solid advice, if they so choose. Enjoy.

::

Billy Wilder's Rules of Good Filmmaking
by Nihar Patel
Day to Day, June 22, 2006, NPR

Writer and director Billy Wilder was the man behind some of Hollywood's most beloved films—Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Double Indemnity and many more. He wrote or directed more than 50 films, winning six Oscars and numerous other awards.

In a modern Hollywood where big-budget formula films often command the box office, many filmmakers still look to Wilder —who would have turned 100 this month—as an example of how to make movies that matter. And his formula for success—from hard-boiled thrillers to daffy romantic comedies—is still available. It's distilled into a basic set of 11 rules.

Some are obvious: be on time to the set, work on schedule—in short, be reliable. But he codified some of his on-set knowledge, as well.

"Some of these rules are straightforward," says writer-director Cameron Crowe, who conducted a series of interviews with Wilder before the great director's death in 2002. "Rule two is 'grab 'em by the throat and never let go.' He means grab us, the audience, with great plots, winning dialogue and big Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe."

Another of Wilder's rules is to let the audience figure out key plot points. "Don't underestimate the intelligence of the audience," says film producer Tom Jacobson, another Wilder acolyte. "Treat your audience intelligently. What movies can do, at their best, is let us in— they show us things, they don't tell us."

Wilder's most important rule is also the simplest: Don't be boring.

Keep these rules in mind this summer, when a Hollywood blockbuster is insulting the audience's intelligence or taking up too much valuable time. And hope whoever made the movie has watched his share of Wilder, too.

Billy Wilder's Screenwriting Tips

As told to Cameron Crowe:

1. The audience is fickle.

2. Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go.

3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.

4. Know where you’re going.

5. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.

6. If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.

7. A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.

8. In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they’'e seeing.

9. The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.

10. The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then—that's it. Don’t hang around.

::

Nice, huh? I don't really envy Crowe his Rolling Stones stint, but I do envy him having multiple conversations with such a great artist. Meh. But now I have a new book for my summer reading list: Crowe's compilation of his interviews with Wilder. Some interesting articles about the book can be found here, here, here, and here. (Yes, a lot of "here's," but all are interesting links. Man, I'm such a crazy film junkie; stuff like this totally makes my day. Ah well, to each his own.)

Woo Hoo! Death Note Slays Competition.

2006-06-22T09:26:00.000-06:00

How thrilling to check out my movie news this morning, and learn that Death Note was #1 at the box office last weekend! (Article is also posted below.) And to hear that they are definitely developing an anime of it and a second live-action movie for fall makes my day!

Kudos to Yahoo! and Reuters, I didn't even know they cared about stuff like this. Though they imply in the article that Tsugumi Oba was the main draw, when for a lot of fans it was the gorgeous drawings by Obata that drew them (and me!) in. But oh well, I'm just happy that Americans are actually writing about the manga; it's a good start anyways.

I'm hoping this bodes well for a limited release of it subtitled in the US, so I have a chance to see it on the big screen. I just hope that Hollywood doesn't try to capitalize on it like they have with Japanese horror films, and do a silly version of it here. I just know that they would try to Americanize it, and change what was good about it, and if they ruined L, I would. . . well, the horrors that that would ensue for me are too great. Hollywood, here is my unsolicited advice: freakin' leave it alone!

If anyone knows where I can find the movie online, you would be my savior and I would send you cookies and apples. =) I'm just too impatient, and who knows how long it will take them to figure out what to do with its possible American theater and/or DVD release, if that even happens. (Thought they did release Kamikaze Girls here on DVD, so anything is possible.) But you bet that I would see it in theaters even if I'd already watched it 100 times at home. I would do anything to personally see a larger-than-life L, Light, Riku, and Misa on the big screen. Short of hopping on a plane to Tokyo, of course. =)

I've already posted links to the main movie site and other stuff in a previous post, but this time I will include a link to a Japanese movie site in English and IMDB's page about the Death Note movie (or rather, "Desu Noto.")

Interesting to learn that Dani California from the Chili Peppers is the movie's theme song; I saw a link to them at the main movie site and didn't get why theye were featured there. Makes sense now. Good to know they are manga fans too. =)

::

"Death" stills "Da Vinci" at Japanese box office
Thursday June 22 2:51 AM ET

A homegrown hit adapted from a manga comic has knocked "The Da Vinci Code" off the top spot at the Japanese box office.

"Death Note," which opened Saturday, grossed 475 million yen ($4.13 million) in its first two days and attracted audiences of more than 306,000 -- many of whom are fans of the manga that spawned the live-action film.

Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara ("Battle Royale"), a second movie in the series is scheduled to be released in November.

"One big reason for its success so far is because so many people who have enjoyed the manga are going to see the movie, although we were surprised to replace 'The Da Vinci Code' in the rankings," a representative for Warner Entertainment Japan KK said.

"We hope to build on this early success and appeal to perhaps more people who are not so familiar with the comic," she added.

The manga has generated a cult following since it first appeared in the December 2003 edition of Shukan Shonen Jump. Eleven books that bring together the 108 episodes have sold more than 11 million copies.

"Death Note" tells the story of a boy genius named Raito Yagami, who has the ability to kill anyone he wants simply by writing their name in a notebook.

The son of a police inspector, Yagami starts to kill death row inmates and other criminals he believes have gotten off lightly. The Japanese police and the FBI are called in to determine how the killings are taking place, and the story develops into a battle of wills between the lead investigator and Yagami.

The tale has attracted attention in manga-mad Japan because it was the debut work of a writer called Tsugumi Oba, whose true identity has been kept secret. It is not even known if the author is a man or a woman as Tsugumi can be used for either sex.

Nippon Television Network plans to make an animated version of the title for television, while Konica Minolta Digital Entertainment is prepping a video game to be released at the end of the year.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

::

I might pull AB out of a hat this week—this was the final week of a major work project that I've been working on for months, hence the craziness. But next week will definitely be back on schedule. I think in honor of Death Note's success I will move Light to the top of the list, so look for him soon.

In other news, my cat returned! He got out when I was watering plants, I think, and I was worried about him. Last time he walked all the way back to my mother's house across town, where he was living before we moved to my new place, so I thought he would do the same this time. But two nights ago, I heard a familiar meow and there he was on my front lawn! So he's completely adjusted to the condo and knows now it is home, thank goodness. Brat, making me worry about him like that. But I'm more relieved than upset.

Other good news: I finally figured out the name for one of my manga series! And Elicia greenlighted it, so it is good to go I think.

Blogger (or Vlogger? or Viral Video-er?) Makes it Big: Go Brookers!

2006-06-16T16:46:00.000-06:00

I have been tracking this Cinderella story for a while now, and it amazes me every time.

A twenty-year-old Massachusetts girl has hit it big: she put up videos at YouTube of herself talking, singing, or dancing to the camera, and because of those vids she now has a deal with Carson Daly to help make creative videos and things. Impressive, huh? I know some people think she is a talentless, mentally unstable woman who is just incredibly lucky, but I say they are probably just jealous; it's okay to admit it, I am a little bit too!

Here's why I think she deserves the fame and the subsequent deal: her enthusiasm, her expressiveness, and her inventiveness. The enthusiasm is in the energy and emotion she puts into each video, which is refreshing in an age of cynicism and boredom; her expressiveness is in the way her face and body language perfectly match the song or the situation; and the inventiveness is in the approach, however grassroots it may be, to say whatever it is she wants to say. She is obviously 100% commited to each video she makes and is just doing it for the sake of doing it, devoid of the stink of desperation that people who grasp at fame seem to have. And since she is fully aware of the exposure she is submitting herself to, we can laugh with her and not at her, unlike the Star Wars Kid videos, which I loved but stopped watching after I learned how traumatized they made their sweet, unsuspecting star. She is the master of the joke instead of being the joke, which is a lot less mean-spirited and much easier to swallow. (As a bonus, I also love her bedspread and trying to read all the words on it.) And that sums up why I like her videos.

Her farewell video to her fans, which has a good clip show of some of the videos she's done, is below:

Here's whitney's post about it at the Candy, with really great links to interviews with Brooke herself and talking about the craze. I especially like this one.

I read throught my new Entertainment Weekly at lunch (EW, my fave Entertainment mag since US went slutty a few years ago,) and it so happens that this week's issue has a whole section devoted to viral videos, blogs, vlogs, you name it. Here is their article discussing the viral video phenomenon and the journey of their own, actually humorously-written foray into making a popular YouTube video (how lucky were they to have the story about Brooke break halfway through prepering for the article? Talk about serendipitously tapping into the Zeitgeist.)

And here are other fun EW links to said EW video, some popular viral videos throughout the years, and their own blogger's post on the Brooke deal.

While these articles list most of the famous viral vids I already knew about (Hasn't everyone seen and loved "Ask a Ninja" by now?), there are some I love but aren't mentioned. Maybe I'll post my own fave list of viral vids someday, so at leat I will be able to easily find their links. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

::

And yes, no AB today, I totally suck. I will post two next week or something to make up for it, I swear.

Web Design at its Crack-iest Best

2006-06-16T09:30:00.000-06:00

First, the "crack" part of this post because it is driving me nuts:

:: Livly Island ::

Can anyone explain to me what this site does exactly? I stumbled onto it a couple of days ago, and while it is the cutest Japanese site I've seen thus far (even Sanrio's doesn't compare, gasp!), I can't read the kanji and thus am desperately confused. Is it for a game, a new amusement park, a tv show, or simply a dream conjured from the slumbering ghosts of the internet? My brain needs to know. Cute animals, though. =)

Now onto the "best" part, some of my fave places to find the best sites:

:: Webby Awards ::

The definitive place to find a celebration of all useful, beautiful, and interesting web sites. This link will take you to the hefty list of this year's choices for the Webby Awards—that's hours of fun browsing right there.

:: Favourite Web Site Awards ::

One of my design friends told me about this site, and I have loved and been beholden to her ever since. A great, great compilation of all the best Flash sites out there (for all you web novices, them's the sites with the movin' pictures); provides equal flashes of inspiration and envy in this humble web designer.

:: Flashkit ::

One of the best places to find Flash help on the web. When I run into problems with Actionscript code I always turn here first. Short of a personal programmer (man, that would be nice!), this is the place to go.

::

That's all for now. I haven't even started scanning in AB this week—I might post a comp today, but no promises. (It's crunch time at work and after work this week, sorry! I am but a humble slave to the work gods, who do not stand neglect. And I can't do it after work today either. How does Fred and Pseudome do this thrice and once a week, respectively? Answer: they are gods. Yes, that explains it. =))

::

Last comment: Is everyone excited for "Nacho Libre" this weekend? I know I am. I saw "Cars" last week and was blown away, and expect good things from Nacho too. And is it bad that I want to see "Thrice Fast Thrice Furious," or whatever it is really callled—even thought I know the lack of plot/dialogue/rounded chatacters will make me want to stab myself—just because it is set in Tokyo and because the racing looks so cool? Yes, it is bad. I shame myself and all my ancestors with my poisonous thoughts. I still plan to catch it eventually, though, on the big screen because if I'm gonna see such an awful movie I'd better at least get an awesome view of the races.

Okay, that's really all I promise!

Soapbox 3 :: Wapanese: If you cut them, do they not bleed?

2006-06-08T16:56:00.000-06:00

Just when I think I have a solid foundation on the Japan crazes and slang, something comes along to remind me I am but a mere Grasshopper. I accidentally stumbled onto the word “Wapanese” at The Urban Dictionary, and had a hilarious, eye-opening read to be sure.

Wapanese, or wannabe/white Japanese, according to Urban, are those people who esteem the Japanese culture highly and adopt certain aspects of it, to the point of minimizing their pride and involvement in their own nationality or ethnicity. (Well, that’s the short, nice version anyway; some posters weren’t nearly as polite.)

I took a couple of the “definitions” as kindly, self-deprecating jabs at a very unique, very proud cultural subgroup. But it is obvious that more than a few of the definitions in Urban were written by people who wanted an easy, no-stakes slam at an easy target. Personally, I think some were a tad too harsh and judgmental—using stereotypical, underhanded, smear-tactical words such as “dateless,” “virgins,” “posers,” and “unemployed” in their descriptions. Not cool. Some otaku—which is the term I best know them by—are slackers or perverts of course. But most of the otaku that I have met thru my sis are basically hardworking, nice, funny, healthy, ordinary people; they just happen to have this tiny little obsession with all things Japan.

Yes, some people get a little too obsessed in their habits and lifestyle, but this is true of everyone. Take sports nuts for example. I recently bought my dad’s father’s day present at one of those sports-team stores, so I should know. Sports fans buy the craziest stuff, if their merch stores are to be believed. The world is not ready for team-affiliated placemats, yet there they were, mocking me with their hideousness. And the worst part of it is that I just know someone out there is seeing those right now and is buying them, not as a prank but because they honestly think they are cool. Further proof that all of us, including the jocks, are nerdy in some way, because man those things were fugly.

Another example of crazy obsessiveness: those girls (and yes, you and I both know them) who think that Sex and the City is, like, the best show ever, and have convinced themselves that such an over-the-top, extravagant, cosmpolitan lifestyle is the ideal, the norm and not the exception. So they buy their little Manolos and sip their little cosmopolitans to somehow capture the spirit of the show in their own lives. A little fun and partying and indulging and romance is great, of course, but these girls do it in such a cookie-cutter, immature way that I question how much fun they really think they are having.

(Of course, perhaps I never related much to that show because our versions of NYC are so very different. The time and energies I spend when I go to NYC are focused in a much different place. MOMA, Broadway, Grey’s Papaya, and Zakka’s? Check. Clubbing and cocktails? Not so much.)

I also watched with fascination shows such as “Daisy Does America” and that PBS show that went in depth about people that enter cat and cattle shows. Shows such as these highlight the small niche groups that are utterly “unique,” but love their lives and wouldn’t have it any other way.

And as for the poser slams, every stereotypical cultural group will have its wannabes. The jocks, the punks, the goths, the emo, the rockers, the cultural elitists, the preps, the granolas, the princesses, the brainiacs: all groups have that sublayer of the envious who can’t quite fit into the club but desperately want to. And actually, I would say that wapanese have created their own hybrid culture separate from either Japan or the west, so in actuality they are a distinct culture in and of themselves, with little otaku posers of their own. And once the posers have posers, they are not longer wannabes but their own unique group, so to call them posers is highly inaccurate.

(Does that even make sense? Sorry, that might be a little too mind-bending, even for me, but I thought the idea merited a mention.)

Getting back to the subject: what really determines if someone is wapanese or not? Is there a quiz or something I can take to figure out how wapanese I really am? Because if wapanese is merely the adopting of Japanese attributes, then people such as the French impressionists and Frank Lloyd Wright should be branded wapanese. And as an artist, that’s mighty pleasant company to be hanging out with; no shame there.

I will use myself as an example. I love the Japanese culture—the minimalistic yet energizing designs, patterns, and architecture; the lush yet restrained gardens; the cultural rituals and practices; the exquisite and healthy food; and yes, manga, anime, and music—but I also am equally obsessed with American, Swiss, and German things. I like some Japanese words, of course, because they express relationships or emotions in a way that the English language can’t—“aware” anyone? Yet German words are the same way; I will use those when appropriate just as I would Japanese. (I think that the Urban posters were unfair about criticizing the otaku’s lavish sprinkling of Japanese words into everyday language—it can be overdone, but common German/Italian/French/Spanish/European words have simply had more success in creeping into our own vocab than the asian words have, is all. That will change over time.) And I’m a pretty well-balanced person, for the most part—I love Japanese shows and cartoons, but I also love American and international art, music, film, poetry, sports—things that are very removed from the far east. I love the Japanese culture and arts but not all the frickin’ time, 24/7. Nor do I think that manga/anime is the highest art form there is, unlike my sis who sneers at American TV and movies. (Except I’ve gotten her addicted to Lost and Veronica Mars against her will, hah! Point goes to me!) So I basically straddle this weird plane where I am more wapanese than the average person, but not wapanese enough to be comfortable in that constant mode of otaku attitude and behavior.

(But maybe that’s just me in general, miss middle-of-the-road. My political affiliations lean to the middle as well; I’m so moderate that I probably drive both parties up the wall. Hmmm, maybe I should look into this pattern of behavior more, make sure I am truly okay. Or not.)

Anyway, there is hope for the offended: I looked up Wapanese at Wikipedia and, as always, they have a more balanced and helpful description of the term. They directed me to the term “Japanophile,” and have a pretty accurate definition there. Yay for the Wiki.

So basically, Urban’s definition of wapanese is good for a laugh—I have met people who fit those descriptions perfectly—but not to be taken too seriously. Because I think in spite of the naysayers, our country is slowly becoming more asianified or whatever day by day anyway, wapanese in our midst or not. We have as a nation adopted many of their health practices, their ways of thinking, and yes, even their artistic styles (as are glaringly obvious in our films and other modes of entertainment.) And they, of course, have adopted many of ours in turn. (Manga and anime styles were inspired originally by Disney; the Loli-goth fashions by Victorian England. Etc. etc. etc.) It is only a matter of time before the others wake up to just how wapanified we all have slowly become. And I for one view that as something to celebrate, not sneer at. And I plan to revere—and kindly poke fun at when necessary—the Japanese culture for many years to come.

Here’s a great article on how what’s cool in Japan has a worldwide influence. Makes me want to hum “Big in Japan” as I read it. =)

My Work :: Part 10: AngstyBishy Wolverine and "Ai Heart Love" unleashed

2006-06-08T16:54:00.000-06:00

Well, last week was a productive albeit stressful week, for both my day job and creative hobbies. I got a new AB and a t-shirt design up! Woo hoo.

:: Wolverine ::

As mentioned at DeviantArt, my friend really wanted me to do a version of Ultimate Wolverine, since she likes the AB's but is not a huge anime/manga fan (Her prefs are in the Star Trek and X-Men vein.) So I was happy to oblige.

Wolverine was done over Memorial Day Weekend. I printed of as many of the useful Ultimate pics as I could, and compiled them in my sketch. But I also did a version of Wolverine in his original costume, just for fun. It turned out okay, but the Ultimate costume is more like Hugh Jackman, and shows off the hair and face, therefore in my girlie mind is a MUCH better outfit. =) Mmmm, Hugh. Anyway, because we had gone away for the weekend, my sketches got misplaced in fracas, hence I did not get Wolverine done on time. (because of work and other involvements/distractions, I like to scan in the AB by Wed and start working on it then or Thursday, leaving final tweaks andd the uploading of the image for Friday. But the hols threw off my sched. Grrr. This week too even; I was planning to do Wolfram, but might push Howl up in the line since I already have a comp sketch of him done. Somewhere. (Sigh.) It's not laziness but disorganization, I swear. I will do my best to get Howl or Wolfram up tomorrow, but may have to push it to Sat. Next week will be back to normal.

As a bonus: because I pored over the Ultimate costume, like, a hundred times, I totally got the X-Men III movie's inside joke of Beast wearing Wolverine's ultimate costume. I never would have goten that otherwise, so yay for doing the AB! I felt so smart during the rest of the film. And, yes, I stayed 'till after the credits. What the? My brain is concocting reasons for how the ending even works, but I doubt I am correct. Oh well, I'm not gonna spoil it for anyone so enough said.

:: Ai Heart Love ::

Yay for this being up! I love it on the pink tees, but the white, while very boring, makes it look so clean and crisp. Here's what I wrote about it at DeviantArt:

::

The play on words came to me one night at a friend's house. It's a takeoff of the "I love New York" campaign by Milton Glaser, of course, but with a twist. I have such a wierd sense of humor that I don't know if anyone else will like it, but at least my sis and I enjoyed it.

I wanted it to look super clean and simple, thus the text only. I found two suitable fonts, one for the heart and one for the text, and outlined/colored those in Illustrator. My fastest and easiest t-shirt design by far.

I have the design on t-shirts and merch at my online shop, at Cafepress; click [link] to see them 'cause they turned out really nice."

::

And here's the description at CafePress:

::

"Let everyone know that you love love, Japanese, and a good sense of humor with your very own "Ai Heart Love" t-shirt."

::

That's all for now. Look for AB tomorrow! Sorry this AB description is late!

My Work :: Part 9: AngstyBishy Touya

2006-05-26T11:08:00.000-06:00

I apologize for ignoring this blog lately, and not posting info on insirational design or manga into like I used to. I will remedy that ASAP. But for now, here is my next in the AB series, Touya!

This is what I wrote at my DA link, that basically sums up how I feel about tha Touya angst:

::

Ah, Touya. A simple, levelheaded Go prodigy until he meets Hikaru, who unwittingly unleashes in Touya his dark, competitive, obsessive Go side. In other words, his inner angst, which is vast and glorious. Besides L, probably one of my fave manga chars ever. (Though I do wish he would stop letting his mother dress him and get a wardrobe that reflects the true bishy that he is. Oh well.)

As always, for more info on this fanart check out my art blog. And as always, done in pencil (but not mech this time, ooh I'm shaking things up), scanned, and then traced with the pen tool in Illustrator. Pencil comp can be found in my scraps section.

::

Touya was stress to sketch but cake to Illustrator. I kept obsessing I got his hair wrong (I'm still not sure it's perfect but it's basically correct), but once I scanned him in he came together speedily. Which is good, because I couldn't find the Wolverine pics I needed for his AB icon, so I bumped Touya up to the front of the list this week to compensate. (I now know my friend wants the X-Men Ultimate costume, so I can finally get proper pics of Wolverine and hopefully have him done for next week.)

With Touya, I simply stole lots of already-made lines from other AB's (Ed's coatsleeves, etc.) and arranged them on top of the Touya sketch; the only original parts of this AB are the hair and the hem of his uniform's jacket. That's all, I'm not kidding you.

I obsessed over his hair, but since I made it solid black I didn't have to obsess as much as usual. Why the obsession in the first place? Because Touya's hair is strange yet fun: very Heian pageboy, with bangs that are boring from the front but nicely break the monotony from the sides. So I had to make artistic decisions on how to break up his hair and keep it from looking helmetish. And yes, for all Touya fans, I did contemplate making his hair olive like it is in the anime. But at the end of the day, his hair is really black, as Obata has made clear in the manga, and I'm not going to argue with follicular canon, espcially when Obata's decisions make my work a heck of a lot easier. If you go to the scraps section of my DeviantArt account, you can see the original sketch and the lines I did make in his hair, but thankfully did not have to draw.

Funnily enough, it wasn't until I added the crease on his school unform pants that he truly came together as Touya; funn how little details work like that. I was afraid I might need to add a travel Go board or something, but hopefully those who have read or seen Hikaru no Go will be able to tell instantly who he is. I wasn't sure originally which costume to put him in, since he does multiple clothing changes, but I noticed in my Google search that a lot of the jpegs of the manga had a specific collar style. I found out from cosplay photos that the collar was from none other than his school uniform, so Tada! Costume choice finalized. I hate that the AB pose doesn't allow you to see the collar, but trust me that it makes the jacket look truly awesome.

(As a side note, Elicia didn't like the cosplay costumes of Touya's uniforms that I used as references, but personally I found most of them to be awesome. But why would you pick a fabric for a school uniform jacket that wrinkles? Silly cosplayers. Elicia is very snobby when it comes to fabric choices for cosplay; she plans to post about the subject soon, and when she does I will post a link to that discussion here, so that she may properly educate us all. =) Don't be offended if you use incorrect fabric choices; she is majoring in costume design, so it is vital in her work to be picky like that. But trust me when I say that, as her sis, it gets extremely tiring sometimes.)

::

Happy upcoming Memorial Day everyone! I am heading into the mountains for the weekend, to swim, relax, and hopefully corner Elicia to get a diathesis of our untitled monster manga written up. We shall see.

My Work :: Part 8: AngstyBishy Inuyasha

2006-05-19T11:00:00.000-06:00

Yay for AB Inuyasha being up, and for me sticking somewhat to my schedule!

He turned out really, really well and was very fast to do; either I am geting better at this or Inuyasha was just uncharacteristically easy. Not that the AB's are super hard to do, since they just seem to flow in the sketching process. But that I have been dissatisfied with the little details of the previous AB's, and Inuyasha is not giving me that kind of grief this time around. I'm not going to overanalyze why; I'm just happy that it is so.

::

I am having DeviantArt stresses. They gave me a free week of the deluxe account, which I was super happy about, but it's giving me some problems. DA was super slow yesterday; what should have taken me 10 min tops—submitting a couple of icons and sketches, and quickly scanning new deviations—took me over an hour to do. >( Very not happy. But I don't know if it was a server problem or the account. And today I thought it would be fun to make AB Inuyasha an available print, as long as my free acccount is giving me this option anyway, but I messed up submitting it and think it is only available as a coaster or something. I may need to read in the FAQ's about submitting prints, because I found the process to be confusing.

Oh well. Here is what I wrote to go along with my poster print:

"Poster of AngstyBishy Inuyasha. AngstyBishy is a satirical look at the super-serious, super-hot, super-disturbed men and women of manga and anime fame. It is a way to poke fun of and celebrate my fave bishies simultaneously. Used pencil for preliminary sketch and Illustrator CS to finish. Inuyasha as an AngstyBishy was completed May 18, 2006."

::

I also added a post to my DA comments section about acceptable AB requests. I did this because a friend of mine posed an interesting request. She is not a big anime/manga fan—she likes some of them, like Escaflowne, but is otherwise not as engrossed as say, Elicia and I. But I guess she likes my AB guys, and she is a huge X-Men fan, so she asked if I would be willing to draw Wolverine as an AB. My first reaction was to say no, since he is not in an anime or manga, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense.

Think about it: Wolverine may be an American comic/cartoon character, but he contains all the essential elements of a true AB. The eye-catching costumes! The wild good looks! The mysterious, horrific past! The pining for Jean Grey! The angry outbursts and sarcastic comments! In short: he is perfect. So segregating Wolverine from AB status simply on the basis of his medium seemed wrong. Besides, I'm no anime/manga snob; I love them to be sure, but I also love well-done American cartoons, comics, etc.

So I decided to open up the field to characters from all mediums: anime, manga, cartoons, comics, video games, etc. I commented on this at my DA account, and I wrote up the guidelines for an AB request. I liked my requirements so much that I am going to include my post here as well:

"Another update on the requests:

A friend of mine requested I do Wolverine from X-Men as an AB; I had to think about this, as he is not an anime char, but I decided Wolverine does fit the bill as an AB (I will expound on why in my art blog), so look for him within the next few weeks.

Because of this, I'm now opening up the AB requests to all comic and/or game characters that can meet the guidelines of an ideal AB. Guidelines are as follows:

:: Are characters in an anime/manga/comic/cartoon/video game/etc. No live action AB's (at least not yet) will be accepted.
:: Are smokin' hot or at least remotely attractive in some way.
:: Typical attitudes and emotions consist of being dismissive, pensive, surly, withdrawn, unfriendly, inwardly dark, proud, irrational, and/or distant most of the time. Random fits of anger, wistful pining, and/or sobbing (i.e. anything angsty) are also acceptable.
:: Have a tragic past that helps to justify and/or endear them to fangirls everywhere.
:: Have wicked, mad skills that make them somewhat useful to the rest of the story's characters and make up for their hissy fits and emotional uselessness.
:: Undergo significant character development transforming them from their initial angsty state into an actual human being. This is not necessary but is highly encouraged. Development can come from friendship, love, worldly experience, knowledge, and/or other typical forms of character development.
:: Have a unique look, from clothing and/or hair choices that also contributes to their overall appeal (and will make them more fun for me to draw.)
:: Any other obvious traits of an angsty bishie that I can't think of at the moment.

If your character can meet most of those requirements, then they will be a worthy candidate and will be AB'd ASAP."

::

That's all I can think of to talk about for now. Look for Wolverine soon, hopefully next week. My friend wants me to do him in his newer blue suit, not the yellow spandex, so I will oblige, but might draw up a "classic" Wolverine anyway if I have time. I am also planning on doing Touya from "Hikaru no Go" soon, since I love him, and Elicia has requested Wolfram from "Kyo Kara Mao" so look for him coming soon as well. He was a lot further down on my to-do list, but since she is so insistant I will indulge her. =)

My Work :: Part 7: AngstyBishy Sanzo

2006-05-17T18:08:00.000-06:00

Well, here is Sanzo, late but done.

There are so many things about him that bug me I could scream, but hopefuly no one else can see them. My sketch was great, but I didn't clearly finalize the lines. So when I went in to trace and Illustrator him, disaster; all my pretty lines got messed up somehow. Meh. But I think the week off was a good thing; I came back with fresh eyes, that immediately noticed mistakes and therefore made for a better image. Sometimes when I am stuck with unknown problems, that is the best way for me to find them, and luckily this time it worked. And I don't know if I like the color scheme, but I'm not sure how to fix that since I folowed the colors from Saiyuki. (Sigh.) And I did two versions of him in Illustrator: the one with his kimono fully on (original version) and this one, with it off and the arm gloves or whatever they are called visible. I chose this one in the end because the AB pose covers up all the defining features of his fully-clothed costume: the breastplate, the scroll, etc. At least in this version you have the arm things to help identify him. And the hair of course; the glorious iconic Sanzo hair. That was fun to raw, even if I like my sketch better. I will so redo him, but much much much later, after all the frustrations of doing him have subsided.

I think I will eventually post my original sketches of the AB guys someday on my DeviantArt account. I also plan to get the alernative version of Sanzo, decked in full kimono, up soon as well for comparison, so look out for that.

It Was the Best and Worst of TV Times...

2006-05-17T16:40:00.000-06:00

Unlike my dear sister, whose snobbery of all things anime grows daily, I actually believe that there are some shows on American TV worthy of my precious time and mental energies. Not many, but enough to merit repeat viewings and, dare I say it, obsession. As a designer, it is my duty to keep up with the modern pop trends (one friend of mine writes off her cable bill on her taxes for this very reason), and as a potential American manga artist, I need to stay in touch with the American zeitgeist. To neglect this would mean artistic suicide.

So dilligently, albeit often disgustedly, I scan shows to get an overall view of their styles and themes and overall goodness. Even if the show disgusts or insults me, I at least try to figure out why it was created, greenlighted, and now watched. It is often a waste, but occasionally this process helps me find a gem of a needle in the bloated, moldy haystack of American Television.

Best of Times: On Sunday/Monday I watched happily, then disgustedly, but always excitedly, the finale of a show I can't believe I love but do ever so much, Grey's Anatomy. I even got so bold as to post a comment on Pop Candy about my feelings on the finale, which are posted there but I will also include in the comments section of this post, if you don't want to dig through all of Whitney's comments.

Worst of Times: Then I found out this morning, cruelly, that in the shuffle of the fall lineups the CW will not be picking up Everwood for another season. My rage knows no bounds. They finally redeemed Ephram from his little pissy snit and had him grow up splendidly, made the show interesting again, and this is the thanks they get? To further rub salt in the wound and then poke it with a big stick, the cloying Seventh Heaven just had its series finale, yet they are bringing that sappy oversimplifying show back, and yet they let Everwood bite the dust?! Further proof that life is not fair (like I needed more proof, thanks,) and that UPN/WB/CW/All TV Networks wouldn't know a good show if it bit them on the. . . well, you get the idea. My scant hope is that another network will pick it up, or that if I write an endearing enough letter to these addresses they will change their minds, but I think it is a lost cause. Very very sad day. I should drape my black sparkly shawl over my head in grief; a whole bunch of fictitious yet arrestingly real friends are dying, and all I can do is mourn at their graves. And buy the DVD's. I should do what Andy Brown did: start my life over again in a small town in the Rockies. . .oh, wait, I've already done that! =) Yes, I must use humor to withstand the pain, it is the only way.

However, all is not "Lost." (I am going to ignore the booing and hissing about my hideous pun; how dare you lash out at a woman in grief!) Luckily my fave TV show is in no current danger of cancellation, and I have the season finale to look forward to. Desmond coming back? My heart soars.

This was shaping up to be the perfect summer, and probably will still be (once I recover from being shot through the heart by the CW.) Perhaps I can use the downtime until the fall to get caught up on shows I've been meaning to watch: Grey's Anatomy season 1, Veronica Mars (Yes this relationship will probably end in heartbreak too, since CW only ordered half a season, but I've heard too many good things to not watch it), The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Venture Bothers, and get reaquainted with the entire series of Gem. (Yes, I slipped some catooons in there, so sue me.)

(Off topic: does anyone know if "The Evidence" made it to a second season? Because I actually liked that show; it combined the detective whodunit mysteries I crave with the forensic intensity of CSI, minus all of CSI's nauseating and sensationalistic storylines. But I have a sneaky suspicion it bit the dust as well.)

I'm not sure how far to go with this subject, but I hope you will forgive my indulgence as it has been a tense TV week. TV choices can be divisive, so if I dismissed or criticized your fave show in the course of this post, tell me off in the comments section and let me know why I am dead wrong. Also, let me know what shows aren't on my must-see list that I should check out, if any, because it is a long summer ahead and I am dying for fresh material to see.

Other plans for the summer: work (duh), write and draft manga stories with my sis, take a road trip to a Shakespearean Festival I've beeen meaning to check out for years, usher for the local operas and plays (so I can see them for free, sweet!), catch up or rewatch my fave anime and manga, and make AMV's. And continue doing AngstyBishy of course. =)

Confessions of a Slacker

2006-05-15T08:20:00.000-06:00

I am such a bad chicken; I'm so sorry I didn't get Sanzo up last week! I went out of town on Friday, and didn't have time to get him done satisfactory before I left. But I'm back now , and will get him AND Inuyasha up before the week is over. Again, sorry for the delays.

How are Elicia and I going to get a page a week or more done, if I can't even get a simple ilustration done on time? Answer: Veeeeeery slowly, if at all. We will see.

(On a high note, I had probably the best family reunion in ten years or so last Saturday. And had lots of fun throughout the week, thougth I did manage to squeeze some work and manga stuff into the vacation. So basically a perfect week, woo hoo.)

Birthday Wrap-Up, Diary of a Cartoonist, and Podcasts, Oh My!

2006-05-02T14:42:00.000-06:00

:: Birthday ::

Yesterday evening was an awesome ending for my birthday. My mom made healthy curry for dinner, which is always super-good and made up for us not going out to celebrate (Elicia had final projects to obsess over, so we changed plans.)

My grandma knitted me a blanket in my colors, blue and brown, which will match my apartment perfectly. Mom got me battery-operated tea lights (which I have been eyeing for a while, so as not to burn myself up in the pursuit of lighting my crazy candle holders), and linen-colored sheets (so Elicia can finally make the Asian-inspired drapes I've been wanting. And yes, I have noticed how bizarre my presents must seem, but I love them so hah!) And Elicia got me a Borders gift card!!! =) Like she said, it would be a cop-out of a present, except I have banned myself from frivolous spending so the card gives me a chance to buy something fun, just for me. (V. excited, but I haven't decided what to buy yet.) And apparently my dad got me art books for my birthday, always an excellent choice. Some women collect shoes or manga, and some men collect cars or action figures. I collect art books, yum. And no, I cannot stop my addiction any time I want to; I am too far gone for that and I don't care. So there. =)

And Elicia bought Host Club 5-6 and Deathnote 4-5!!!! So I had some fun reading yesterday. =) Bisco Hatori had some great asides in her mangas this time, as always, so I will be including those soon. (Sample reveal; she does do digital art, how cool!)

I also watched the Eyes of Nye and Everwood, two shows that I love to death but will never admit my love anywhere except here, because it is far too embarrassing. And I watched a bit of Sleeping Beauty, my fave Disney movie because of the dancing scene by the lake, and because Maleficent is like the best villain ever. Man, I love her. The eerie walk up the staircases, when Rose follows the green light, frightened me to death as a child, every time. I still get a delicious chill every time I watch it. =)

So all in all, it was a very low key yet sublimely perfect day for a somewhat older (yet I suppose no more mature) me.

:: Diary of A Cartoonist Videos ::

Speaking of manga and comics. . .

There is a cartoonist named Mike Johnson, who has an online comic called "Extra Life." He also does these video journals called "Diary of a cartoonist," which you can find at YouTube (I've posted one below.) He shows the process of how he does the cartoon, from sketching to markers to Photoshop. (He uses masks, which is a good idea, but I don't know why he doesn't just make selections and color in those; it would save him from all the erasing and only takes seconds. . . well, only takes me seconds anyway. I shouldn't critique, really, because all artists use the programs differently. And besides, since I am such a messy artist I would never dare to post video of me drawing on the internet for all to see, I'd be too embarrassed. So kudos to him for being far more courageous than I.)

:: Podcasts & InDesign Rant::

Mike also has podcasts, which I plan to check out soon.

Can I say how much I love podcasts? I watch Lost, and the podcasts are a great addition to the show. I also listen to the podcasts from my local radio music stations. Jack Black is doing "confessional" video podcasts from the set of "Nacho Libre," so if like me you are a fan of his I'd suggest giving them a glance. (His expression from when he gets his chest waxed cracked me up.)

Another podcast I love is one a friend of mine hooked me onto: the podcasts of This Week in Tech (TWiT), which are fun and make me feel very smart tech-wise afterwards. And every now and then they talk about tech stuff I understand and care about.

For example: this week they get into an aside on the trend of designers transferring from Quark to InDesign. I won't start a soapbox on the subject, but I will say that 1) since this trend has been progressing for years, it is not breaking news in the slightest to any active designer, so while I don't know why they mentioned an old trend it is still fun to hear about, and 2) It is a very smart move for any designers who haven't switched yet to make. I mean, it is a cheaper program and is far more intuitive, since it has the same layout as Illustrator and Photoshop. And InDesign is already bundled into the CS package, whereas with Quark you have to buy this expensive program that comes with no additional software as far as I know. Personally, I think Adobe should have offered the program for free at first, as an extra enticement to get stubborn designers to switch publishing platforms.

Ack, I did do a soapbox, I'm sorry! It's just that I hated learning Quark, and after I using InDesign I knew there was no going back for me ever. Rant over.

Back to the topic at hand: I am not a big podcaster yet, but I love a lot of the ones out there. My iTunes automatically downloads casts for me every week, so if you have iTunes and a good server I suggest going that route. Actually, all of the aforementioned podcasts can be gotten from iTunes, hooray.) Later on as I listen to more and more podcasts, I will have to post my faves. And post your fave podcasts in the comments section of this post, as I would love some good recommendations.

Golden Posts & Soapbox 2: Ever-Pounding Waves of Immigration and Hostility

2006-05-01T01:48:00.000-06:00

Happy May Day Everyone! Coincidentally, it also happens to be my birthday, and my 50th post to this blog journal! Too bad I can't find a maypole to swing around in celebration.

Apparently I share a birthday with John Woo, Wes Anderson, Kirsten Dunst, and Calamity Jane. And according to Wikipedia, Important events occuring on my birthday include the Opening of Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro," the forming of Great Britain, the dedication of the Empire State Building, the premiere of "Citizen Kane," the naming of the planet Pluto, and the suicide of Joseph Goebbels. Yay. Bad thing to occur on my birthday: the first ever spam e-mail was sent; I had nothing to do with that, I swear!

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Of course, today is also the "Great American Boycott," or whatever, with the hispanic/latino people boycotting everything. . . white? American? Can you forgive me for not being able to tell the difference? I can't say I am supportive of the boycott, because frankly I am confused about what message is that the protestors are actually trying to send. And I hate to seem rude or disriminatory, because I do love the hispanic and latino cultures and am proud to have them in our country, but I do not get where this hostility they have for us "gringos" is stemming from. I used to be very supportive of immigrant rights, because I myself am descended from recent immigrants, but the way they are going about this is turning me off from supporting their misrepresented cause altogether.

Are they trying to say that we do not appreciate the impact of immigration in our country in general, or just hispanics/latinos (h/l) in particular? Because of course we appreciate the impact of immigration, and to imply we don't is frankly insulting. This country is a nation of immigrants; we all came from immigrants and so hopefully we already appreciate the sacrifices those immmigrants endured to get here and to thrive. I mean, if that is the true point of the boycott then the entire country should be shut down, since we are all immigrants from South America/Europe/Asia/North America/Africa/etc. My maternal grandparents are immigrants; they came here from Switzerland in the 1950's, after WWII. Do I appreciate the sacrifices they made to get here? Every single day, believe me. So I don't think that is the point the protesters are trying to make; I think instead they are trying to say instead that we don't appreciate the specific sacrifices the h/l's in this country have made to get here. And that is where I get even more confused.

Are they trying to say that they are upset because they feel unappreciated for doing a lot of the menial labor in this country? Because the menial jobs are there for anyone to do, but typically they are shunted to the poorer, less educated members of our society. H/l immigrants fit that description today, but only because they are the main current of immigrants today. Not so long ago in out history, it was the Asian and European immigrants filing those positions. And like the immigrants of today, it was also a very difficult struggle for them to assimilate into the American lifestyle. My grandmother had a degree in horticulture before she came to America, but once she arrived her degree was considered worthless. So to make ends meet, she took on a lot of thankless jobs, including janitorial work, to clothe and feed her growing family. But one of the good points about america is that you are not stuck in those jobs forever; with education, hard work, and luck, you can give yourself and/or your posterity the chance to rise to a higher level. No one is handed the American dream, everyone has to work at it.

Are they upset because they feel Americans are unfairy racist against h/l's? Because as the movie Crash shows, racism is unfortunately everywhere, it is not specifically reserved for just one society of people. And again, if the h/l are being unfairly discriminated against—and I will go so far as to say they are—I believe it is because of the stereotypes that all newfound immigrants have to face, not just the h/l population. All immigrants in every era of American culture were accused of being lazy, uncooperative, uncouth, filthy, and/or having too many babies. People used to believe that a person of Irish descent would never be able to attain the Presidency, because people were too prejudiced against the Irish. But John F. Kennedy proved them wrong, and since then a lot of once-scorned nationalities have ascended to the highest ranks of every facet in America. I would love to see a h/l president someday, and I believe we will. And while I feel that the h/l populaiton is often unfairly treated, I strongly feeel that this boycott is not the way to go about getting the respect they so deserve.

Are they upset because of the way American citizens view and/or treat illegal immigrants in this country? That I can understand. Respect for illegals? Absolutely; I think the way illegals are treated is abominable. They are human beings, after all and so do not deserve the abuse or improper treatment that many of them receive for fear of deportation. But at the same time I don't think it would be fair to the legal immigrants who work dang hard for their citizenship and green cards to just hand all the illegals a free pass to American citizenship. My sis's best friend is Chinese-American; he was born in Hong Kong, and his family now lives and works in the U.S. It has been a nightmare for him to get citizenship; some of his siblings were born in Hawaii, and they have been spared the legal woes that a green card contains. But my sis's friend is now more American than Chinese, and he loves it here and wishes to stay. Is it fair that he gets passed over for citizenship but an illegal immigrant from Mexico or Latin America can? I say no. There is a reason for all the citizenship classes and schooling it takes to be a citizen, and circumventing those laws does not make it all work out for the better. If anything, granting all illegals citizenship would set a bad precedent.

Do the h/l people feel that they are unfairly expected to give up their heritage in order to become a citizen? Because anybody descending from immigrants or studying American History knows this not to be the case. In the past, yes, there was a pressure to discard the "old ways" and try to become as American as possible. But nowadays, people recognize the importance of their heritage, and openly celebrate their differing ancestry. My grandparents are still fiercely Swiss, even to this day, the pride of which has been handed down and instilled in us grandchildren. Our family celebrates the Swiss in us in a lot of ways; two examples are the daily foods we like to eat, and in the Swiss concerts we attend annually. Both my mom and I have traveled back to Switzerland to see our culture and relatives there, and one day we will bring Elicia too and show her the true meaning of being Swiss. We as Americans, no matter our backgrounds, are all justly proud of our unique heritages and the strengths that they bring to our country. But at the same time we all as Americans have to be willing to assimilate into the broad heritage that is America. Being an American was so important to my grandparents. They learned English, worked very hard for everything that they have, and my grandmother even had her labor induced early so she could attend the ceremony that made her a full-fledged citizen—being an American was that important to her. No one person or culture in this country is exempt from the americanization of their culture, and they shouldn't be. And it is the same with whatever country you choose to live in. If I wanted to move to Germany, for example, I had beter learn how to speak decent, if not fluent, German, and learn the German culture and modes of behavior if I wish to be fully accepted into German society. I would have to change my American ways—not eradicate them but modify them, in order to say I belong. Sometimes it seems that certain h/l's are not willing to do that here—that they want all the promises of America without having to assimilate and accept the responsibilities of being American. And that is what truly irks me. It doesn't matter to me what country you come from, as long as you are not afraid to try to find your own way of being American in America. Your ways of being an American will be different from mine, but we should both be proud of our shared cultures and accept them. To me, that is what it truly means to be caled an "American."

Here are my solutions to the problem: I think that we either need to allow the illegals work permits but not citizenship, open more slots for immigration from Mexico and the Latin American countries, and/or bring back the work-sponsorship permits that allowed my grandparetns to come here but for some reason were disbanded. (They had someone from America sponsor them, basically vouch for them and find them employment, so they could come to America and work here and gain citizenship. There was potential for the sponsors to abuse their charges, but as long as that is fixed I see no reason to prevent this form of work-sponsorship from helping countless millions of immmigrants to arrive here legally.) And I think the laws they are trying to pass to make it a felony to be an illegal are silly and should be stopped. Yes, illegal immigration is a problem, but it won't stop the flood of illegals and will just cause headaches for the courts. And what do you do with the children of illegals who had no say in coming here; just throw them in prison too? Silly.

Man, the whole immigraton thing is a mess, isn't it? That is my final thought on the matter.

::

Forgive me for ranting on a non-design topic. But I consider citizenship and nation-wide politics to be just as important a topic as design or manga (shocking, I know.) And I hope that my rant doesn't too deeply offend anyone, because that is not its intent. I just wanted a chance to blow off some steam on a timely issue. If you truly hate what I have said, just chalk it up to to much sugar for the birthday girl (I am not a big sweets person, and I indulged in far too many sugary confections yesterday), and forgive me my occasional non-design outbursts. I promise you I will return to a regularly-scheduled design comment or rant for my next posts (there is a certain Pearl Jam cover I am gearing up to bash.) And if what I have said truly angers you, post me a message why—I would love a nice, respectful debate on the subject. I love talking over issues with people and debating, so that would be an awesome birthday present. Or you can just wish me happy birthday too—either way is good.)

Deathnote Movie + PPG Anime + Host Club anime = Summer Anime Overload

2006-04-28T17:10:00.000-06:00

I think I need to sit down before I hyperventilate. Seriously. I am so thrilled I could squeal.

:: Deathnote Movie ::

I was cruising around in Newsarama, and my eyes were alerted to a possible Deathnote movie this summer. Have I been living under a rock? Why have I not heard about this until now? Here is the official movie site. If this is huge, I hope it means good things for the possibility of an anime series in the near future. But a real-life L to crush over? Mmmmmmm. I was nervous, but he looks like a hottie. And it looks like a Misa is cast, so I wonder just how far in the series they plan to go in the movie, and how much plot will be cut out.

:: Power Puff Girls Anime ::

I had seen a link about this a while back, but dismissed it as a funny hoax. But no, it will really come out starting this summer! With 50+ eps! Is this why Cartoon Network has laid low on showing old PPG eps or making new ones? Because of the spin-off anime? I hope not, because the original style and writing is so nostalgic and endearing. The idea of it Japanified is interesting, but Professor X as a kid? Sounds a little too Jimmy Kudo for me. A poster link here, and a good link with extra pics here.

:: Host Club Anime ::

I've already talked about this today, but I thought I'd share my glee once more!