Kitsune Trail

Chapter Four, Complete... Finally!

2011-09-07T21:14:00.002-04:00

Whew, that was a long chapter... but yes, indeed, Chapter 4 of Strawberry Syrup is finally complete! At... 54 pages... yeesh.

If I'm being completely honest here, the chapter should have ended about twenty pages back, when Hunter was first turned into a chipmunk. However, at the time, I hadn't thumbnailed ahead and thought there would only be a few more pages after that.

... I don't remember WHY, exactly, I thought that, but I do remember that I did.

All this boils down to, basically, is that thumbnailing chapters in their entirety before even starting the final pages is a good thing, while just winging it is not exactly ideal.

Now, normally I'd be taking a break after the chapter end, but due to the hiatus, there's no way I'm taking any time off now. And fortunately, I don't have to! I'll admit, I haven't planned out all of Chapter 5 yet, but I have got a good chunk of it down, and I'll be working on the thumbnails long before I finish what I've currently got done.

Way better than winging it. ^_^;;

(And for those of you wondering what the heck I'm talking about, a "thumbnail" is a small, usually quick sketch of the comic page. They're generally much smaller than the finished page, and may consist entirely of stick figures. They're just meant to give the artist a good idea of layout and story flow. Personally, I prefer slightly more detailed thumbnails so I can make sure everything works well before I'm left stumped by a sudden issue on Tuesday night.)

The Effect of Anime on the Brain

2011-09-02T21:40:00.003-04:00

I am starting to come to the conclusion that anime affects the brain. Not in a bad way, mind you (although of course, that depends entirely on the anime in question), but in a way that makes strange things make sense.

Prime Example: Firefly.

Firefly was an amazing series. We're talking the Wild West with space ships. For those of you unfamiliar with this little piece of awesomeness, it was a short-lived Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire fame) creation that aired on Fox in 2002, starring Nathan Fillion (now in Castle), Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, and Summer Glau (among others). While it was cancelled before it even finished airing all 14 episodes, it garnered enough fan support to make the follow-up movie Serenity a reality in 2005. It recently aired on The Science Channel as one of the best science fiction series ever.

Its early demise remained a mystery to me until I read the early critical reviews of it. They lead me to believe that general reactions went something like this:

Yeah. Apparently, the mad mix of sci-fi-Western-comedy-action-drama didn't sit well with some people, who felt they were an unholy concoction forced together via Whedon's insane genre alchemy. And yet, I never once gave it a second thought. The world of Firefly felt complete and whole to me, with nothing out of place and nothing forced or strained. I didn't care about some cliche metaphor about the final frontier and the Wild West. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

You see, by the time Firefly came along, I'd had a good five years of anime like Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun and Gundam Wing to acclimate me to the idea of the space cowboys, rough-and-tumble frontier planets, and complex interplanetary politics. As for mixing genres, well, that's practically par for the course in anime and manga. Just ask Rumiko Takahashi or the CLAMP team. Mixing comedy, drama, romance, and political intrigue is pretty much commonplace, so I don't think anything of it when an American TV show gives it a try.

Anyway. This is what I get for watching old TV series and checking out their Wiki pages afterwards. But it does beg the question: DOES mixing genres like that still bother a lot of people, or has that changed in the past ten years?

Judging by some of the shows slated to air this fall, I may have an answer soon...

One Full Month of Strawberry Syrup

2011-08-31T17:56:00.003-04:00

Woot! Today marks one full month of Strawberry Syrup. While that may not seem like a big deal for a webcomic that's been running since 2007, 2011 has not been Strawberry Syrup-friendly. Between computer issues, health issues, and all sorts of other things, my poor webcomic spent months on hiatus. Therefore, I'm counting a full month of updates a victory.

Although we did learn something about the beloved Arcadia Sanguis High School today...

Their janitor's closet is huge. It is, as co-creator Koni put it, the TARDIS of janitorial closets.

They should probably look into that...

U.S. Open Tennis

2011-08-29T23:58:00.002-04:00

And the final major of the year has begun! Looks like they did a great job of setting everything up after Irene. They're off to a pretty good start, although I really had to feel for the girl who flew in from Moscow today just to play and lose to Venus. Ouch.

As for Federer, I think the inability to really practice all weekend was affecting him. He looked a little rusty. But, as he said, it doesn't matter that it wasn't pretty; he still won!

In any case, my TV will be dominated by tennis for the next two weeks, much to the delight of my family, I'm sure. And while I'm doing that, I'll figure out something to get up in my gallery for August. Sadly, I haven't done much non-Strawberry Syrup digital art this month... I'll get something up, though.

Dangers of an Impulse Buyer

2011-08-26T23:45:00.002-04:00

I admit it: I can be a little impulsive when shopping. Book stores and craft stores are definite weaknesses. Today's venue of choice: Hancock Fabrics. They had a sale on a brand of patterns, so my SIL and I headed over there to check it out.

Now, I am a very novice seamstress, and I'm mostly interested in bag, pouches, and so on, so I stick mainly to fabric remnants and quarters. And then... there's the patterns. Soooo many patterns... which is where being an impulsive buyer can get me into trouble. I think, "Well, I might learn something from this one!" And, of course, since I'm a complete n00b in the realm of sewing, I can learn something from just about every pattern I come across. I justify it with, "Well, when I learn these techniques, eventually I can create my own patterns, and then I can actually sell something!"

Before I know it, I've got ten patterns piled up.

This happens in book stores and other craft stores, too, especially when things are on sale. If I'm not careful, I could end up spending a whole lot more than I intended.

Fortunately, there's a way to help prevent it - or at least minimize the damage: delay check-out. Rather than grabbing things and heading straight to the nearest register, I spend some time walking around with my stuff. Eventually, I'll start thinking, "Okay, do I REALLY think I'll use this? Will I actually READ this sometime soon?" If the answer's no, then I put it back.

So far, it's been working pretty well. Then I just have to be careful not to grab anything on the way to the register... or at it.

Now I just have to put some of my new goodies to use.

And Back Again!

2011-08-24T15:10:00.003-04:00

So, 2011? So far, not a great year for my poor little blog. Or my comic, for that matter... but I'm back again!

Here's what I've been up to lately:

Getting Strawberry Syrup back up and running. My readers had to sit through one heck of a long hiatus this year, but I finally buckled down and took my own advice to build up a buffer of pages before I ended the hiatus, so with any luck, they won't have to put up with another gap for quite some time.
Working on a few new items for my Etsy shop. A few new boxes, a few new sketch journals... One out of four is currently listed, so those are slowly going up.
Learning how to sew. My sister-in-law has been kind enough to show me how to use her spare machine, because we all know if I tried it on my own with no direction, it would end up imploding or catching on fire. In true Kit tradition, I'm not terribly interested in, oh, clothes. Nope, my thing is bags, pouches, and other items you can put things in. The fabric equivalent of boxes, if you will. Once I master the sewing machine (or, ya know, am reasonably capable of sewing a straight line), I plan on making little pouches with embroidery worth of hanging off any Renaissance Festival-goer's belt.
Watching Blue Exorcist on Hulu. GREAT series. Right up my alley... especially considering I don't usually watch subbed. I was also watching Tiger and Bunny, but I need to catch up on that one. As for dubbed, it's all Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood on Cartoon Network. It's wrapping up, but it makes waiting a week between episodes sheer torture.

And that would be what I've been up to this summer. Hope your summers went well. ^^

Bumpy Starts

2011-02-18T15:06:00.004-05:00

And 2011 gets off to... a bumpy start.

The impact of cold and flu season aside, in early-to-mid January, my beloved laptop started making a horrible whining and whirring noise. It would start quiet, then start increasing in intensity and pitch until it sounded like it was seconds from imploding.

Needless to say, there was a mad dash to get everything backed up on an external hard drive and a trip to the local Geek Squad there... who kept it for two weeks.

But all is well now in Kitland. I've got my baby back, and thanks to a new fan, it no longer sounds like it's planning to kill me the first chance it gets. Maybe now things can finally get back on track!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T21:05:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Or Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings, whatever you prefer. Hope you guys have a good one! ^_^

Anyways, I've come to the conclusion that the best way to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender is in a week-long marathon (Thank you, Nicktoons Network!). Six hours a day for five days straight, and there aren't too many shows I could sit through that with. What's more, it lets you fully appreciate just how good the story telling is in that show.

That, and it's a handy way of purging a certain horrifically done live action movie from one's brain...

IT LIIIIIIVES!

2010-12-17T17:42:00.002-05:00

*fwump*

Yep, still alive over here in Kitland. Sorry for going MIA for two months. The cold I mentioned in the last post? Hadn't gone away by the end of October. Turned out it was bronchitis. Which, I suppose, explained the extra dose of fatigue...

Sadly, NaNoWriMo just... didn't happen this year. I got about 10K in, but just didn't have the energy for it (I blame the bronchitis). Most of November and December have been spent trying to catch up - November, catching up from everything I neglected in October, and December with the everything I didn't do in November while I was trying to catch up from October. It really is a whole vicious cycle. Or a downward Spiral of Doom. Whichever you prefer.

In any case, I am almost back on track with Strawberry Syrup. Heck, I might even finish this chapter sometime soon!

Next goal: getting back on track with my blog. XD

My History with NaNoWriMo

2010-10-07T21:08:00.004-04:00

Yeah, I so jinxed myself. I managed to catch my first cold of the year, and this one came with epic levels of fatigue. Yaaay, fatigue! But it seems to be going away finally, even if I am still keeping a bag of Ricola lozenges nearby.

October promises to be a busy month, though... For one thing, I will be preparing for - drum roll please - NaNoWriMo 2010! I haven't decided what I'm going to write yet, which isn't exactly unusual for me. Well, as usual or unusual for something that's only been done three times.

In 2006, I went the whole "PLOT AND PREPARE!" route, complete with snowflaking an entire story throughout the month of October so I could just plunge right in and write on autopilot. It worked, more or less, and I made my 50K with days to spare. That particular story is still waiting for me to swing back into high fantasy mode so I can finally finish it.

All October of 2007, I focused on one story, hammering out the characters and the world setting and all that fun stuff. On October 31st, there I was, ready and waiting for midnight to strike so I could plunge into my story. Midnight came... and I discovered that was not the story I'd be writing that year. Completely refused to be written. Wasn't happening, no way, no how. So, on November 1st, I pulled out my notes on an older story idea I never got around to writing and dove in head-first... and loved what came out. Another winner, too. It has since had its first draft finished and is waiting for me to get off my tail and put it through some hard editing.

2008... didn't happen. It was a rough year, and I opted out of NaNo.

In 2009, I was itching to get going on NaNo, and October was spent planning the sequel to 2007's story. No snowflaking this time, but I knew the basics of what I wanted to happen. Think major stops on a road trip, but leaving the in-between as a surprise. Smoothest NaNo yet. The story itself hasn't been finished yet, but it's getting there! It's somewhere around 85K. With any luck, I'll be able to finish it before November.

This year? I have no idea what I'm going to do. XD I haven't decided on what I'm going to write yet, but I've got some time. Should be interesting!

Brewfest! Whoo!

2010-09-20T17:02:00.004-04:00

World of Warcraft has several festivals during the year, and today marks the start of one of my favorites: Brewfest!

Backstory: it's a celebration of the harvest (not to be confused with the Harvest Festival, which is more a memorial of fallen heros and a Day of the Dead-type thing), and what better way than with a festival featuring bread, pretzels, cheese, sausage, and most importantly, beer! Basically, it's WoW's version of Oktoberfest. And yeah, this all thought up by the dwarves - we know how they love their ale.

More importantly, it's a set of quests involving getting drunk (and hunting critters that can only be seen while drunk), riding rams, and hurling empty beer mugs at raiding Dark Iron Dwarves.... all of which can be repeated once a day.

So if I disappear for a few days, you now know why: the World has sucked me in once again.

Brewfest: Kusa tested... Kusa approved!

Sometimes Research is Gyaaaaaah

2010-09-16T00:33:00.010-04:00

I put off this week's page of Strawberry Syrup as long as possible. It's one I've been dreading ever since it was conceived. Why, you ask? What could be so bad about this particular page?

I'm arachnophobic, and this page has a close up of a spider.

Just drawing a spider wouldn't be bad. I know from years of them dropping on me, crawling on me, and generally doing their best to freak me out what spiders look like from a distance. However, this was a close up, and like any responsible artist, rather than just wing it, I grit my teeth, braced myself, and headed over to deviantArt to check out spiders in the photography section.

Now, I'm not as bad as I used to be. A few years back, I went on an ill-thought-out canoe trip with two other people. I'd never been canoeing before... and it turned out that neither of the other people had any idea what they were doing. Fortunately, it was a calm river, but I had to learn fairly quick how to steer a canoe from the middle when the person in front kept strong-arming us into the shore with epically bad paddling skills.

During one of those collisions with driftwood and whatnot, a branch fell into the canoe. Turned out there must have been a spider convention on that branch, because five minutes later, once we're into the middle of the river and I've finally commandeered the other paddle from Captain Disaster and Person #3 has been worked up into a thorough panic, there were at least twenty small to medium size spiders crawling all over the boat.

Running away screaming was not exactly an option, and we already had one person near-hysterical, so I managed to keep my cool, ditch the branch, ignore or slay most of the spiders, and calm #3 down enough to follow directions. Since that day, I haven't felt that utter terror that used to accompany the mere thought of spiders.

That doesn't mean I like them or love looking at them.

Gyah. GYAAAAAH. I am so gonna have nightmares tonight! ><;;

New Box: Red Butterfly Believe

2010-09-12T14:05:00.003-04:00

Okay, yeah, I know, I suck at naming things. I have a long storied history of pathetic attempts at titles. If anyone can think of a title that doesn't sound like some sort of J-Pop group, I'm open to suggestion! ^_^;;

Anyway, this is my latest box. It's made of sturdy cardboard - the kind used as a base for paper mache projects - and painted "tomato red." Add in some decorative paper, sparkly acrylic gems and a butterfly trinket, and voila! We have the Red Butterfly Believe Box.

It's about 5x5", which makes it a nice size to set on an end table with a vase of flowers or something. It's definitely more of an autumnal color scheme, which, hey, just in time for that season!

In the meantime, I need to figure out the shop's policies. Apparently, having that blank is a major red flag to other Etsy folk. Our policies are elsewhere on the page... however, they were written by my SIL awhile ago, so I need to find them and figure out if we need to cover anything else. Good times.

Big Changes at Squidoo

2010-09-08T23:12:00.004-04:00

By now, most of you are probably aware that I have several lenses over at Squidoo. For those of you who aren't really sure what that is, here's the rundown:

Squidoo is a place where you construct one-page webpages on any topic you want, using the site's templates and easy-to-use building blocks called "modules."
The basic idea behind Squidoo is to build reference pages that provide an overview of topics, instructions on how to do something, product recommendations, book reviews, and so forth, fleshed out with links to other websites for more in-depth information, sources, etc. "Everyone's an expert on something," according to Squidoo.
You can make as many lenses as you like. Every topic gets a new lens, or you can divide up a more complex topic into smaller, easier to digest chunks on different lenses.
Squidoo frowns upon spam lenses, so don't go making 50 lenses devoted to Viagra.
Squidoo is free. Period. No "premium memberships" or anything like that.
If you do a good job and create good, quality lenses that don't read like late night infomercials and update them at least once every month or so, Squidoo will even pay you, if you have a PayPal account. Learn more about payments and royalties here.
Squidoo is a community. Of course, whether or not you actually participate is up to you.

Now that that's out of the way, today Squidoo launched a huge new change. One that involves points, leveling, quests, unlocking special features, and trophies.

I... am not sure about all this. Oo;;

From what I can tell so far, the basic idea is to encourage community participation and lens creation, as well as providing a guided tour to using Squidoo. So far, it's pretty unobtrusive, and the features that might get annoying can be shut off, so hopefully it's just something to get used to. Who knows? It might even help me figure out how to get more traffic to my lenses!

Greek Mythology Quiz

2010-09-06T15:38:00.004-04:00

Some time ago, the Great and Mighty Squidoo started a new type of lens: the Quiz Lens. These lenses contain a special module that allows people to have up to 10 multiple choice questions.

Very cool, I said. People love quizzes, right? At least, I know I do. They're almost as bad of a time-sucking black hole as TVTropes.com. Besides, making one would be fun. The problem was, what to make one on?

Cue the light bulb. Why not make a mythology quiz?

One of my most consistently popular lenses is my Kit's Guide to Greek Mythology lens, which is devoted mostly to the twelve Olympians. It provides a quick and hopefully amusing introduction the the main figures in Greek Mythology - someday, I'll get around to making individual lenses for them all - with links to great books and videos on classical mythology for those who want to learn more.

Typically, it gets a major spike in action during the school year (gee, I wonder why), so now seemed like the ideal time to add an accompanying quiz. May I present... the Kit's Guide to Greek Mythology Quiz. (dun da da DAAA!) All the questions are based on information presented in my guide, so there's nothing to blindside the little mythologists like, say, what was the sixth labor of Heracles or who was Odysseus's maternal great-grandfather or anything like that.

Now, we shall see how the little quiz does...

Michigan Renaissance Festival 2010

2010-09-05T20:51:00.010-04:00

At least once a year for the past three years, my brother, sister-in-law, and myself make the trek up to Holly, Michigan for the Michigan Renaissance Festival, and yesterday was the chosen date for this year (due not in small part to the fact that this weekend was their pet weekend AND their pirate weekend).

We go the whole nine yards, complete with costumes. Cross-stitching experience aside, I couldn't make a dress if my life depended on it, so my outfit for the past two years has been courtesy of Museum Replicas (the Fair Maiden's Dress in green, if we want to get specific), but my SIL wore a skirt and bodice she'd sown herself, and my friend Rishi and her mother completely made hers from scratch (and they were both quite lovely, I might add).

So off we drove, cruising along in our Renaissance garb to the oddly-fitting sounds of Queen and surrounded for the first half of the journey by an assortment of minivans adorned in Michigan State paraphernalia. Apparently it was their first home game of the season or something like that.

We reached the festival grounds right around noon, so #1 on our list of things to do was grab lunch. This year, I opted out of the traditional Giant Turkey Leg and bypassed the pickle vendors to give the soup in a bread bowl a try. It's actually not a bad deal - for five bucks, you get a giant and delicious roll filled with equally delicious soup. Potato soup, in my case. Definite yum.

After that, it was on to the shopping. Now, there are tons of things to do at the Ren Fest. There are shows ranging from comedy acts to juggling to watch, feasts to attend, live musicians all over the place, archery, knife throwing, and even a joust (which is where that picture up top came from - last year, though, which was a far better day for photography), but just walking around is one of my favorite things to do.

The grounds are filled with meandering streets lined with shops selling everything from hand-made dresses and jewelry to musical instruments. You never quite know just what will be around the next corner, whether it's someone promoting a show with the call of, "We'll be setting things on fire in ten minutes!" or a particularly fantastic costume.

Even the buildings have a whimsical feel, and while I wouldn't say it's like walking around medieval Europe (and really, as romantic as that sounds, the history student in me cringes at the thought of walking through medieval streets), it definitely feels like wandering around a different world. The weather yesterday wasn't fantastic - it was cold enough that my SIL and I bought cloaks - but that was better than the broiling heat we've been having all summer.

Besides, it helped with this year's mission of fleshing out my outfit... as did the new acquisitions of a knot belt and a nice large belt pouch so I won't have to wear my cargo capris under my skirt next year.

All in all, a good time. If you've got a ren fair somewhere in your area, you should definitely take the time to go. If nothing else, you'll have had a new experience on your life's resume.

New Design: Kitsune Geisha

2010-09-02T21:20:00.004-04:00

Waaaay back when I started my POD Kitsune's Closet Shop in 2006 (the CafePress version - I switched to Zazzle in November 2009), I had grand plans for my entrepreneurial debut. After all, I liked drawing fantasy stuff, right? Shouldn't be a problem to fill the shop with original designs! Especially with things like my namesake, the mercurial kitsune of Japanese folklore.

Ha, I say. Ha.

But now, my design skills are better, the overall quality of my art is better, and I feel better about posting my work for sale. Which means, time for me to get off my tail and start getting some new designs up there! Starting with...

The Kitsune Geisha.

Kitsune have a long tradition of disguising themselves as various professions, usually while indulging their trickster ways. A favorite seems to be disguising themselves as women, either because they fell in love with a mortal man or just feels like seducing him (sometimes with the goal of punishing him). One of the most famous of these female kitsune was Kuzunoha, the mother of the onmyoji Abe no Seimei, and on her Wiki page, you'll see some very cool old prints depicting her.

This is not her. This is just a kitsune who has decided she wants to be a geisha. I had a lot of fun with her design, in part because it meant looking through lots and lots of picture of pretty kimonos to get a feel for hers. I'm also really happy with the silhouetted backdrop.

I'm most happy with the fact that it looks pretty cool on tank tops and coffee mugs. XD

Hopefully, I'll keep up with adding more designs. Hopefully at least one a month? Yeah, that sounds like a doable goal to me.

100th Post!

2010-09-01T23:02:00.003-04:00

WHOO-HOO! 100 posts, baby! Hells yeah!

Why today is awesome:

I managed to get this week's page of Strawberry Syrup up, which was more important than usual for me. For one thing, today fell on the first of the month. What better way to get the month off on the right foot than to actually post on time (or close to on time... on the right day, anyway)?
The US Open started this week, which means my TV is once again dominated by my favorite sport for the next two weeks.
I've got a new drawing in the works. Even better, I think it will be a great addition to my oft-neglected shop.
This is my 100th post in this blog. Major achievement for me. Every other blog I've kept has pretty much languished and died within six months, but this one is still going strong (hey, every month has had SOME posts - I consider that going strong!). With luck and perseverance, it'll keep right on going!

Great way to start the month. ^_^

Popsicle: Complete!

2010-08-31T03:33:00.003-04:00

Yep, I finally got around to finishing it! To be honest, going to Marietta actually helped. I had a vague idea of what I wanted in the background (as you might have been able to tell from the line art), but after going to a small river town, that really stuck with me. The result:

Popsicle by ~Kitsune64 on deviant ART

I tried out a few different things with the background, among them custom brushes and textures. Some worked well, some... not so well. Still, I like the overall picture, even if I still haven't quite gotten the hang of rendering a "painterly" background.

Plus, I managed to get a pic up for August. How an entire month went by without me posting a single pic in my deviantArt gallery is beyond me. Oo;; I'm just glad I noticed before September 1st!

Kitsune's Closet: Zazzle Edition Lens is Go!

2010-08-27T14:04:00.004-04:00

It's been awhile since I've created a lens, but this one's been a long time in coming (oh, about ten months?). Yep, I have finally made a lens for my Zazzle shop!

For the occasion, I created a logo-ish thing, as seen to the right. For an actual potential logo, I have a silhouette version. Good logos are hard to come by, and I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with all of this one, so having it on the lens for awhile will help me decide how I really feel about it.

The lens itself is pretty basic at the moment, with modules describing the different sections of Kitsune's Closet as opposed to showcasing all the designs. I think what I'm going to do is create banners for each section, like I have with the Strawberry Syrup section, then pick two or three designs from each to showcase. It will also give me the motivation to get a new design in each section as I slowly make my way down the lens.

Why don't I just do all the banners in one fell swoop, you ask? On Squidoo, one of the things factored in for lens rank is how often that lens is updated. For example, let's say you have three lenses, all with similar sales and visits. The lens that is only updated during the Christmas season is going to have a much lower rank than the one that gets updated every month, and the monthly lens will have a lower rank than the lens updated every week. Higher lens ranks get a larger share of the communal royalty pool and show up sooner in searches. So by working my way through the lens one piece at a time, it should theoretically boost my lens rank and keep it in a good place for awhile.

Also on the To-Do List for this lens: add an "About Me" module utilizing my site banners (like those seen in my sidebar) and plug Willheit Shoppes.

The Art of Dan Dos Santos

2010-08-26T14:41:00.003-04:00

In last month's issue of Realms of Fantasy Magazine, they did a feature on the artist Dan Dos Santos. Now, I'd never heard of him before, but I had seen his work. This is the guy behind the Mercy Thompson book covers.

However, Dos Santos does more than girls with tattoos. He does some amazing guys, too, not to mention what he does with magic and dragons. I'll be eagerly awaiting the day when he puts out an art book. Until then, I'll just have to content myself with lurking around his digital gallery, The Art of Dan Dos Santos. Not only does he have a full portfolio of work for you to feast your eyes upon, but a few tutorials, as well, including a free one on how he created the cover for Moon Called. For the really in-depth stuff, there's a 5-hour video tutorial available for download (at a price, of course).

Definitely worth checking out.

Updates, Updates, Updates!

2010-08-25T18:01:00.003-04:00

Man, I'm feeling productive this week. I finally - finally! - got a new page of Strawberry Syrup up, plus went ahead and updated all of my Squidoo lenses for the first time since early June. I've also photographed my latest box for Willheit Shoppes, and so listing that will probably take place early next week. I just re-listed all my other boxes, so waiting a bit will get it further up in the search.

So, what's next on my list? For starters, I want to get a couple of journals done and up for sale. I picked up some illustration board from Hobby Lobby, so I'll give that a try for the cover. I also might finally start a lens for my Zazzle shop, and if I'm still feeling uber-productive after that, maybe start a new box.

Gotta strike while the iron's hot!

Kit and Coptic Binding

2010-08-21T13:48:00.008-04:00

New skill is go!

After a trial run with a card stock cover and ordinary type paper, I've created my first hard cover journal/sketchbook!

It measures in at approximately 4 1/2 x 6", with 120 pages. I used one of my favorite pics, Terry in Flight, for the main image on the cover. Yeah, it's a little old (it was done in '06), but it's still one of my favorites. Behind that, the top image is an old map found in the Wikimedia Commons. Seeing as it was an OLD map, it was in the public domain, and thus free to be used as a backdrop. Below that, I simply gathered together a bunch of quotes that relate to creativity, imagination, and whatnot. They create a sort of visual white noise, set the mood for the journal, and are ones the resonate personally with me. Rather than assemble it collage-style, I went ahead and put it together in Photoshop and printed out the final product.

In almost all the Coptic-bound books I've seen, the spine is open. Either this is to show off the artistry of the stitch, or it's really difficult to do a cover over the spine. In my trial run, I used three rows of stitches, which worked fine, but I wanted something a little more... secure-feeling, so this one's got five. For the cover, I hunted down the backing from an old calendar - you know, the cardboard inserts the manufacturer sticks in to keep it from horribly deforming during the shrink wrap process? Well, not all of them are normal cardboard. Some of them are a really rather nice variety. I snagged some of that (See? Never know what you'll need later!), and with the reinforcement of the Mod Podge, it's turned into a really nice hard cover.

For the paper, I pillaged an old, mostly unused sketchbook for some 50lb sketch paper. Now, the really nice thing about Coptic binding is that it has the ability to lay flat on just about any page without needing a wire spiraling through it. I wouldn't suggest pinching the covers together and waving it like a fan or anything, but the binding does seem to be pretty secure, even if there is a little more movement than I'm used to in a journal.

For the thread, I used embroidery floss, whittled down to three strands and then braided. I haven't done any strength tests on embroidery floss lately, so braiding it together gives it a little more strength and security. Color-wise, the top contenders were blue and brown. Blue won out - it picks up the color in his hat and the text better.

About the only problem I'm having so far is that the first and last rows - the rows where one signature of paper is attached to the next - don't quite look right. I'm using a "one needle" technique, so maybe that's it. That, or I'm not doing something right. If any of you have any idea what I'm doing wrong there, please do let me know!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my little journal/sketchbook! I'll be keeping this one.

Kit Learns a New Skill

2010-08-16T23:58:00.003-04:00

Every now and then, I like to go cruising through Etsy to check out what other people are doing, maybe get inspired to haul out the old arts and crafts materials and work on a new box. This time, I came across some of the handmade journals. Now, there are two things that consistently test my willpower whenever I go shopping: decorative boxes and blank books. I have an enormous collection of of sketchbooks and journals that have caught my eye over the years, but I'd never seriously considered making my own. After all, you need special glues and tools and things like that, right?

And then I saw these.

Pay special attention to the bindings. I've seen that kind of binding a few times in stores, but I'd never known what it was called. Say hello to the chain stitch, aka the Coptic Stitch in reference to the fact that this binding has been used at least since the days of the Dead Sea Scrolls (so sayeth Wiki).

A quick Google search led me to this tutorial. Turns out all you really need to bind your own journals is a needle, thread, and maybe something to punch holes with. It's kinda complicated to explain, but once you actually DO it, it's not all that difficult. It took me about an hour to bind a 60 page test book. I'm not saying I'm an expert or that I created the Bestest Little Journal out there on my first try, but the basics aren't too difficult.

I'll have to see if I can refine my technique and hunt down some better materials than what I used for my test book. If I can, I might be able to make some pretty cool stuff.

Marietta, OH

2010-08-11T23:31:00.008-04:00

This week, I accompanied my parents on a trip down to Marietta, OH, on a genealogical expedition. See, my mother's very much into genealogy, and currently she's doing the family tree for my non-blood-related uncle... which led us down to Marietta: Mom, because this is her thing; Dad, because we need a driver; and me, because I like taking pictures, history, and pretty places.

And Marietta is nothing if not pretty.

Recently named one of Ohio's best communities to live in, this small town boasts a vibrant history as the home of an ancient mound-building civilization and the first official settlement in the Northwest Territories, as well as the home of Marietta College, lots of very cool old houses, and more McDonalds than you can shake a stick at. You'll also have your pick of hotels. We opted for the Microtel by the expressway. Not exactly in the heart of Marietta, but the rooms are decent, rates are good, and you're in walking distance of several restaurants.

For the sightseers out there, you can take a trolley tour through town to learn some of Marietta's more colorful history. For example, we learned that the town was named after Marie Antoinette of France, and they even offered her a plot of land if she wanted it. She declined, but sent a bell as a token of her appreciation. Of course, it sank on the way over, so she sent a second bell... which arrived with the news that she'd been beheaded, so the bell was rang first in mourning. As for the plot of land? It became one of the town's cemeteries.

As for the scenery lovers, you can take a river tour on a paddle boat. The town is located on both the Ohio and Muskegum Rivers, and is just across the Ohio from West Virginia. Architecture aficionados will also find plenty to enjoy.

And for you ancient history buffs out there...

Yeah, click that to enlarge it to a readable size for a brief history of the mounds, mound builders, and the founding of the town.

The biggest mound is located in - surprise, surprise - the Mound Cemetery. It's not exactly huge, but it does apparently contain the body of some sort of important ancient person. Once the townsfolk uncovered that little gem, they quickly re-buried him and dubbed the mound off-limits. And since there were already people buried there, they figured it was a great place to put the cemetery for all the really important people, like the original families of Marietta. Today, you can see the original mound and the little moat around it. You can also climb to the top, but use the handy-dandy staircase; all other routes lead to a $500 fine.

In any case, I've got nearly 570 photographs to pour through. The place was very photogenic. Had it not been pushing 100 degrees with high humidity the whole time we were there, I would have been walking around and snapping a whole lot more shots. Beautiful place. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back there during cooler weather - there's still a lot there to see!

Eye Practice, Part II

2010-08-05T21:21:00.008-04:00

And the practice continues... I wasn't happy with the first eye, so... I completely redid it.

I'm much happier with this one, as you might have guessed by the fact that I did two eyes, one with warm shading and one with cool. Yep, just for the practice, which I think is definitely helping. I decided to change the eye shape a bit, refine the eyebrow so it doesn't look so pixelated, and work on the textures. The shadows might be a little too dark, but I haven't decided if I want to do anything about that or just leave it alone for now.

I have actually finished the entire face by now, so here's just a small peek at that. The proportions may be a little off still, but it's still a big step for me, and I think those proportions a a little closer to realism than my last attempt. Don't get me wrong; I still love how she turned out, but it's still not exactly realistic. This one's yet another step closer.

Of course, the next challenge is the hair... Attempts #1 and 2 have not gone well. Hopefully third time's the charm!

Eye Practice

2010-08-02T23:55:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I got my hands on Impact Publishing's "Fantasy Art," which they term a "bookazine" because it is over 200 pages and probably only got stuck on the magazine rack because it's Volume 1 and bound like a nice magazine and because the creators couldn't even decide on what it was (alas, that means it's exempt from most coupons). Plus, it comes with a CD with video tutorials, brushes, and reference images. Haven't gotten into them yet, but yay, references!

In any case, it's chock-full of tutorials and helpful hints on everything from painting portraits to designing architecture. Every now and then, I like to try something a little more realistic than my normal anime style, so when I saw the tutorial on digitally painting eyes, I decided to put the Popsicle pic on hold and give it a try.

This is what I've got so far:

Still not quite as realistic as I'd like, but not too bad. The eyebrow needs some serious help, as well as those lower eyelashes, but overall, I think it's a step in the right direction. And yeah, went for a red eye (can't completely purge my fantasy tendencies!). Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Popsicle Process

2010-08-01T16:00:00.005-04:00

Yep, didn't exactly get it finished yesterday - an impromptu round of WoW with the brother and sister-in-law demanded my attention. Several hours of traipsing through the Barrens later, and it was back to work.

In any case, the lines are done and the base colors are all set on the girl. Which means it's time to start on the background. I'm going for more of a city scene. Or, at least, a town. Not something I do a whole lot, but practice is a good thing. Little trellis thing will hopefully be a cafe, and the further background will be done sans-lines, I think. Stick some city-bound foliage in there... I don't want the background to dominate or compete with the girl for attention.

Coloring this is going to be... interesting, to say the least. We'll see how it goes!

Home Improvements

2010-07-31T16:58:00.004-04:00

This has been an interesting month. Terrible for blogging and doing anything productive, online-wise, but still interesting. We're in the process of making a few home improvements - specifically, new vanity tops in the bathrooms and, for the big one, new floors through much of the ground floor. Seeing as I'm from a family of packrats and clutterbugs, this means a LOT of packing things up to relocate them during the installation.

Exactly HOW I fit so much stuff into such tiny spaces, I do not know. I'll have to take some pictures.

Anyways, my goal for today is to get one more finished pic up in my deviantArt gallery, so I snagged one from a recent sketch session to try and get that done. If not, I'll have a fresh pic for August, then.

I figured this one was a nice, summery one. Girl eating a Popsicle - nice variation from the typical girl-in-a-bikini pics that usually show up when someone wants to do something summer-like. It's half-inked right now... and outlining in Photoshop takes forever, but it gives me a smoother line than in MangaStudio. I'm still not sure what I'll put in the background, but we'll see what shows up!

Okay, back to work!

More Avatard Kit

2010-07-22T18:24:00.003-04:00

And for all of you who have been wallowing in despair ever since M. Night's bastardization of The Last Airbender hit theaters, a ray of hope! Yesterday, Nickelodeon announced the greenlighting of an animated sequel series set in the Avatar universe: The Legend of Korra.

You can read the full press release and see the pretty promo picture here.

Now, normally I'd be worried about a sequel series, especially after what a certain director decided to do to one of my favorite TV series, but there is one very important aspect of The Legend of Korra that makes me really look forward to it: it's done by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of the original series. They have proven to put the quality of the story and the characters at the top of their priorities list. Perhaps just as importantly, they are willing to listen to their creative team's suggestions and use them to craft the best story possible.

They also have an excellent track record with creating strong female characters . I'll admit, I had a twinge of doubt when I read the description of Korra. Well, less of a 'twinge' and more of a bevy of alarms developed from years of reading urban fantasy, which is filled with so-called "strong" female characters who can be described as "hot-headed, rebellious," and "independent." None of which are bad traits, mind you. It's just that in the hands of a lesser writer, "strong + female" translates into a genuinely unlikeable character you actually want to personally drop off a cliff.

Good writers, on the other hand, don't think of characters as "strong males" or "strong females." They just think of them as "strong," without trying to figure out how they can try to play with gender. At the very least, a character's gender is not that character's defining trait. The Avatar crew probably could write books on how to create strong characters with depth and fully rounded personalities.

It's one of the reasons Avatar was so popular.

In any case, I have high hopes for The Legend of Korra. With any luck, it will stand alone as a good, high-quality story with more great characters and not be a shadowy imitation of the original.

Avatard Kit

2010-07-07T16:48:00.004-04:00

This past weekend, M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender opened in theaters. For those of you who don't know, it's based on the completely and totally awesome Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. The series took place over the course of three seasons, each with their own title (The Book of Water, The Book of Earth, and The Book of Fire) and, unlike most American cartoons, had an overlying story arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Add to that characters that actually developed and grew over the course of the series, romance, moral dilemmas, action, adventure, and a serious threat to the world, and you've got yourself a winner.

Oh, and can't forget the humor. Lots of humor... so I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw the previews of a dark, joyless world in the grips of angsty melodrama.

I haven't seen the movie, nor do I intend to in theaters. I know, I know, there are some people who like it, but I'm having a real hard time reconciling some of the changes Mr. Shyamalan decided to make to the actual mythos of Avatar. Cutting things out of Season I to fit it all in a less than two hour movie, I can understand. Drastically changing the plot and the characters' personalities to suit his own personal vision? Unforgivable. And don't even get me started on the names. -_-;;

In any case, I did find something to help ease the anger over some self-absorbed director mauling one of the best things in the past ten years in some quest to make it his own: the Avatar: The Last Airbender Artbook. I spotted this in the bookstore Monday and just couldn't resist. Mike and Bryan (the creators) talk about the development of Avatar and how they got it all together, which is fascinating for anyone who is creating their own world, plus discuss the characters and the process and provide plenty of development sketches and conceptual artwork to drool over.

Yeah. This has made my week. :D

As for the movie? Well... we'll see what happens when it hits DVD.

Trip to Mackinac Photos

2010-07-01T23:13:00.004-04:00

Alright, we'll do this in a few parts. A few weeks ago, I went up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan again. While I didn't go to the island this time around, we did spend some time wandering around Mackinaw City, which is something I haven't done before. I've been to the fort and the lighthouse and the Crossings, but never just walked around. As a result, I ended up getting some pretty cool pictures, including a new angle of the Mackinac Bridge:

And, of course, a family of Canada geese...

We stayed in St. Ignace, which is right across the bridge. It tends to be a little easier to get a room over there during peak tourist season, and my mother wanted to stay at the casino (yep, this was a family trip). The big highlight of my trip?

There were RAVENS. *_*

I spent about 10 minutes chasing this beauty all around the casino parking lot, trying to get a decent picture. My sister-in-law followed me, mostly because she found my extreme giddiness amusing, and my brother followed because he didn't want to wait by the car, so they got treated to a very happy fountain of raven facts.

I'm pretty sure more than a few gamblers thought we were a very special brand of crazy, but hey, it was a raven.

More pictures later.

How to Develop a Twitch

2010-06-30T22:07:00.003-04:00

Step 1: Run an older version of Photoshop on Windows 7.

Step 2: Compulsively save your work after every action for fear of the dreaded "Illegal action/Not enough RAM/You just lost half an hour's work!" pop-up.

*headdesk*

It's not a big enough problem that I'm going to shell out hundreds of dollars for a newer version of Photoshop. For one thing, I actually really like the version I have. But it's random spazzing at inopportune moments? Yeah, that I could do without, especially when I have to restart my computer every time it happens.

Needless to say, there's a reason this week's page is going slower than I'd hoped. However, it WILL get done! *strikes a pose of DETERMINATION!*

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Behind Again

2010-06-29T22:07:00.004-04:00

Man. Take a creature of habit out of its habitat for a few days, and watch its little life spiiiiiiral out of control. It doesn't help that Wimbledon's currently going on - whenever one of the tennis majors hit the screen, Kit's productivity takes a dive. The worst one is by far the Australian Open, when anyone in the States who wants to watch live tennis needs to stay up to greet the morning light. With Wimbledon, I just end up staying up late, watching Wimbledon Primetime on The Tennis Channel (yes, I am that much of a dork, and yes, I did watch the epic Isner/Mahut match).

In any case, I have yet to reign in my wildly fluctuating sense of the temporal, so that doesn't help. I suspect I'm in the middle of another CBP, which always puts a dent in my personal timetable. However, I am determined to have a comic page done this week. At the moment, it looks like it'll go up sometime tomorrow evening at the earliest, but at least it's started!

*listens to the slow, sarcastic clapping of a single person*

... Yeah. I'll just get back to work now. :D;;

This Week in Movies

2010-06-22T21:03:00.004-04:00

I have watched an inordinate amount of movies in the past week. Some good, some bad, some really bad. Some, I'll even watch again. Here's the run-down of what I've watched recently.

Children of the Corn - My sister-in-law has been broadening my horizons by introducing me to all sorts of bad 80s horror, including a jaunt with He Who Walks Behind the Rows. While I'm fairly sure Malachi's actor did indeed grow up to be a secret sociopath and/or the older brother in The Adventures of Pete and Pete, I think the most terrifying part of the movie was the idea of Bert and whatsername riding around with a dead kid shoved in their trunk for hours.

Dune, circa 1984 - Dune is one of the classic books of sci-fi/fantasy. It is the fantastic journey of a young man from the pampered son of a duke to the religious leader of insurgents with a death grip on the throat of civilization. It's got political intrigue, deep characters, strong leading ladies, action, adventure, mysticism...

The movie? Not so much.

Sure, the effects and costumes were great for the early 80s, but that doesn't excuse their butchering of the plot and massacring of the characters, especially the women (What's that? You mean Chani actually spends time outside of Paul's bedchamber in the book? Nooooo...). Toss out the plot, add in rampant internal monologues, some epic rock power ballads, hip-thrust-activated blasters, random face-bleeding, and Sting, and you've got... something completely and utterly headdesk-worthy. Only watch it if you and your friends love to MST3K things. Otherwise, skip it and watch the SciFi Miniseries.. Or, better yet, read the book.

The Spirit - ahaha, where to start... What can I say about a superhero who has an Oedipal complex for his city and gets stuck in a toilet seat in his big introductory fight? This is one of those movies made to be bad, but more often than not, it was the movie equivalent of nails down a chalkboard bad. This is what happens when you've got a mentally unstable vigilante whose only power is that he can't die. Too bad that whole transformation process didn't add a few IQ points, huh?

Of course, I do have to give it credit for one thing: "THIS IS FOR MUFFIN!!!"

You go, Spirit. You go.

The Seamstress - What happens when you've got a serial killer of children, a desperate mob, and a psychic school teacher who keeps leading people to the bodies? Well, for starters, one dead school teacher and her unlucky husband. They set about haunting the island until a group of college grads show up 20 years later, all in support of their friend's search for her obsessive mentally ill father, and just lookit that body count rise! Lesson here: True friends stick together. Idiotic friends get themselves killed by wandering off on their own.

Not a terrible movie, but not something I'll feel the need to sit through again.

Boogeyman - Now, this is my kind of horror. Low gore, an unreliable main character, and plenty of playing with your head. Barry Watson gives a great performance as a guy who, after years of therapy, has finally been convinced that he's got no reason to be afraid of closets. Then, his mother's death forces him to go back to his childhood home... and see if those therapists were right.

If you want the full effect, watch this one at night, when you're all alone in the house. Or maybe I'm just an easy target for what's just out of sight in the dark...

Boogeyman II - Again with the "kid witnesses traumatic death grows up" theme, although this particular kid ends up in a mental hospital, in group therapy with agoraphobics, cutters, germophobes, and whatnot to try to work through her boogeyman issues. Cue the Boogeyman killing them off one by one.

... Yeah. This one lost all the psychological horror and tried to replace it with gorn. Did I really need to see maggot infestation and reverse lipo? No, no I did not. Do yourself a favor and just stick with the original.

The Phantom - Hello, update! The Walker family line has a new addition in this two-part "movie event" from SyFy. This one was actually pretty enjoyable, and I do have a soft spot for parkour chase scenes. They probably should have rethought their casting, however, when the 5'9" hero's sidekick(ish) person is a 5'10" woman... in 3" heels. Kiiiinda makes him a little less intimidating when they stand side by side. Overall, a pretty good flick, and the ending leaves it open for sequels or even a series... and yeah, I'd definitely check them out.

And yes, I was ecstatic that our hero refused the wear the purple unitard. There are some traditions that just need to be left in the past.

So, there you have it: what I've been watching in the past week. Now, on to Wimbledon!

Back from Vacation!

2010-06-16T20:31:00.003-04:00

Yep, just got back from a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We hit Mackinaw (City, not the island this time around), St. Ignace, Bay Mills, and Tahquamenon Falls (yeah, I'll give you a few minutes to figure out how to pronounce that one). Weather wasn't spectacular - I think the highest we hit was 65F, and at one point ended up buying a new hoodie just to ward off the cold while shopping.

Some trips are just destined to have problems. We figured that was the way this trip was heading when my mother dumped a hummingbird feeder full of sugar water all over herself before we even left the house. The trip went on to include: more roadkill deer than I've ever seen in my life, salmonella-licious chicken and a saladless salad bar at the casino restaurant, a screw-up at the hotel regarding the reservations, and everybody's favorite combination of a dead car battery and no cell reception.

But there was a lot of great things about the trip. For one thing, I made enough off the complementary tokens at the casino to cover my shopping spree at Mackinaw Crossings and my favorite store ever. For another, the falls were beautiful and I got a ton of great photos, which will be appearing in future posts once I downsize them from GIGANTIC. I'll probably adapt a few of them for my Zazzle shop and maybe in an "Other Things to See" segment on my Mackinac Island lens.

I'll talk more about the trip and what absolutely made my day next time. :D

Things That Make Me Go "Hee... ^_^"

2010-06-07T23:27:00.003-04:00

It happens every now and then - say, slightly more often than once in a blue moon: I'll be surfing along through deviantArt, just checking out whatever catches my interest, and all of a sudden I'll come across something Strawberry Syrup-related. An icon, maybe - not TOO terribly surprising, since I've got a pre-made selection of SS Icons over in the Fun Stuff section of the site (although that reminds me... I need to get some of those up for the Dwayne fans out there). Always makes my day.

Well, yesterday, I came across two. And not just icon users. They've also got Strawberry Syrup plugs in their sigs. One's even got a link.

... Yeah. I'm still downright giddy. :D

Maybe it's different for webcomickers with bigger audiences and it's more commonplace to stumble across things. I don't know. But at last report, Strawberry Syrup's got about 90 steady visitors, so when I come across something related to the comic, it definitely still gets an "omgSQUEEEE!" reaction out of me.

Personally, I hope I never lose that reaction. I do, however, have to work not to exhibit my total dorkness by doing something like glomping them through their comment pages. ^^;; Yeah, cuz that wouldn't completely shatter any illusion of cool I've got going.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to hunt down Koni, show her, and resume my Happy Dance of Squee.

Creative Collaborator? Wha?

2010-06-03T22:33:00.005-04:00

Some people have wondered what, exactly, my partner for Strawberry Syrup does, considering I do the writing, the drawing, and the shading... Well, I assure you, she has a very important job: she's my creative collaborator.

Sounds like one of those fancy made-up terms, right? I suppose I could also call her my muse, but I've already got one of those, and it can get huffy about other people treading on its territory, so "creative collaborator" it is! When I get stuck on something, I turn to my dear creative collaborator and talk it through. We bounce ideas back and forth, expand on some and discard others, until not only do I know how to get past the current snag, but what is going to happen for the next two chapters.

That's what happened last week. After a convo with my CC, not only did I get through a minor snag, but the next few pages are thumbnailed and I am really looking forward to something coming up in the future (trust me, after three years of working on something, occasionally you need someone to rekindle that joy of creation and all).

Besides, that's the way the entire story of Strawberry Syrup started: a series of late night conversations between the two of us about why there are no half-vampires on the VAMPIRES' side. Ferdy just done raised his son right, y'all!

Granted, who knows what would have happened if Josie had done the raising... I shudder to think of it. Oo;

Ps238: The School for Metaprodigy

2010-05-31T19:38:00.002-04:00

It's been awhile since I've really gotten into a webcomic (someone else's, anyway), but yesterday, I was cruising around that void in space-time known as TV Tropes, and I came across the trope page for lame superpowers. Hilarious stuff, there. Superheros with the power to change the color of things, summon pigeons, and even one poor soul saddled with the ability to remove his own arm and beat people with it.

In any case, there was a link there that led me to Aaron William's comic, Ps238, a fantastic webcomic about a secret public school (yeah, you read that right) devoted to the education of the children of superheros, magical beings, and kids who can tap into the cosmos. You can recognize who most of the superheros are based off of, but don't be fooled: this isn't just a spoof comic. Sure, there are plenty of inside jokes for the comic-savvy readers out there, but once it gets going, you've got a great cast of characters in a well-written storyline and some truly fantastic elements. I read through something like three years worth of comic in the past two days.

Fair warning: the first several pages are a series of "Public Service Announcements" and advertisements for the school. They may seem random, but they're used to introduce a few of the characters. The story picks up right after them. Had they gone on a few more, I probably would have stopped reading... and missed out on a great comic.

Very Cool Clouds

2010-05-28T20:10:00.004-04:00

We've had some interesting weather lately. Lots of rain, lots of muggy heat (ugh), and lots of very cool clouds. Last night, I managed to snap a picture of these beauties:

I love skies like this and thought I'd share. Just about makes all the heat and humidity worth it. ^_^

Art Blog: James Gurney

2010-05-27T22:45:00.003-04:00

On my list of Things That Inspire Me, the work of other artists is pretty darn near the top. The way they compose a scene, how they incorporate characters, how they create backgrounds and moods and so much more can all spur me on to try out a new technique in my own work or drive me to improve overall. And, of course, I have some sort of obsession looking at other artists' sketches and their processes, but from what I've seen, that's pretty common among art people.

In any case, one artist whose work has inspired me for years is James Gurney. Yep, the guy who does the Dinotopia books. I have a well-loved copy of Dinotopia: The World Beneath that I loved to flip through and study the paintings in. I recently discovered that he has done a lot more extensive work for everything from book covers to National Geographic illustrations.

Even better... he has a blog.

This guy posts pretty much every day (and occasionally, more than once!), and Gurney Journey is just bursting with tips, explanations, and inspirations for artists. If you're an art student or just want to improve your work, you seriously have to check this out. You never know what you'll learn.

Dionysus and Ampelus: An Exercise in Environments

2010-05-26T14:26:00.007-04:00

Just over a month ago, I did a picture of my Dionysus character called Night Terrors. Dio does not have a happy history, being the god of madness (among other things). So when this image popped into my head while listening to some Linkin Park, I decided to go with it. Then, of course, I felt kinda bad for Dio, so I decided to make it up to him by drawing him during a happy time in his life, which resulted in this sketch:

Ampelus was a handsome young satyr boy/shepherd Dio fell in love with when he very young - his first love, in fact. The first time I read about him, the author had just said he was a shepherd boy, without mentioning the whole satyr part, so I'd tried to draw him as a human several times.

Yeah, that didn't work.

Then, as I was researching deeper into Dio last month, I discovered that there were a few more sources on Ampelus than when I originally looked into him yeeeears ago. Lo and behold, all of them said he was a handsome young satyr. Cue the lightbulb clicking on. However, my usual satyr didn't really fit him, either. So, I decided to go more the sileni route, giving him human legs with the ears and tails of a donkey - and, of course, the horns, since it's just not a satyr without a pair of horns.

Ampelus was all set and Dio looked happy; all I needed to do was figure out the background. I decided to try to make it look like a scene and not just a character portrait. I wanted them to be part of the environment, and not have it just be a backdrop. To accomplish this (or try to, anyway), I opted for a landscape, with the canvas wider than it was tall, and set about filling that in.

My version of Dio met Ampelus near Mt. Nysa, where Dio hid in goat-form among the nymphs from his stepmother, Hera. It needed to have the feeling of a secret place where lovers might meet, a tucked-away place where they could be alone, yet still beautiful and light and airy with a feeling of innocent love rather than deep passion. To me, that meant water: a pond or small lake with waterfalls. Add lots of flowers and make it late on a hazy day with the sunlight diffused, and that got the feeling I was going for.

However, I really wanted this place to feel alive. The flowers helped accomplish that, but it needed just a little more. It needed wildlife. In the classic texts, no one quite agreed where, exactly, Mt. Nysa was, other than somewhere in or around the Mediterranean, so I started researching what kinds of wildlife the islands in the Aegean had. I didn't want anything that would draw attention away from the happy couple, so I looked into reptiles and amphibians first. A frog and a turtle with a rather interesting shell pattern caught my eye, so I put them in.

After that, I needed some birds. The Grey Heron fit the bill, and wouldn't draw too much attention to itself as it stalked among the water lilies. As with the rest of the background, I tried for a more painterly look, with brushstrokes suggesting the details rather than drawing in every single leaf, petal, and feather. It's something I've been working on in my backgrounds for about a year now, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

Check out the final product over in my devArt gallery.

The Return of Productivity!

2010-05-24T20:58:00.010-04:00

Today was what I consider to be a productive day. I finally got over the slump in my story (still working on that NaNo story - it's now just shy of 77K!) and hit a part I'm really enjoying writing again. Occasionally, I hit a part in a story where it's just about torture to keep putting words on the page, either because I need to recharge or just because I'm not really interested in that part of the story right then. That would be what the last twenty pages before today's spree were.

A few of the NaNo emails have addressed this issue in the past, so I know it's not just me: somewhere in the middle of the first draft, the author wants to do anything besides keep writing. If the story could just magically finish itself, that would be great. I figure there are a few reasons behind it: boredom or a short attention span on the part of the author, it's a part the author just doesn't want to write, or that part just honestly is not that interesting.

In the case of the last one, that's a problem, because chances are good that your readers will feel the same way. At best, they'll skim along until things start getting good again. At worst, they'll put your book down and find a better one.

Approaches to fixing this vary. Some writers take a step back, do a little reworking, and fix the problem. Sometimes that works for me, but I have heard revision horror stories where a writer just keeps trying to fix the problem right then and there and ends up never moving forward. Personally, I'm a big believer in finishing the entire first draft before starting in on the revision cycle. This also means I keep a notebook or stack of Post-It Notes nearby so I can write down the big revision ideas to implement later. After all, chances are that I'll be doing multiple revisions anyway, no matter what I do to the story, but I can't actually revise until there's something to revise!

In other news, my hand has decided it's capable of drawing again, so I've gotten started on this week's Strawberry Syrup page. You have no idea how ecstatic this makes me.

deviantArt Version 7

2010-05-19T23:42:00.003-04:00

Alright, so yesterday, I made my usual stop at deviantArt yesterday and had a mild panic attack. Things had changed. Now, I'm not adverse to change. Sure, I may resist it tooth and nail because I'm a stubborn creature of habit, but I can adapt and even grow to like the new changes. . . which is why I didn't instantly flee to my dA journal to declare Version 7 as some sort of demonic entity sorely in need of an exorcism during my "buh... wha?" phase yesterday.

Today, I've had some time to adjust and find where they put things, and... well, it's growing on me. Parts of it, anyway. And there are some nice features. For example:

The ability to navigate through galleries and my devWatch with my keyboard's arrow keys.
Having the comment bubble directly under the artist's comments.
The artist's comments auto-expand when you scroll down.

Alas, there are also some problems. Most of them just strike me as annoyances that were likely incorporated to make the site more iPhone and iPad-friendly. For instance:

The giant arrows to either side of a deviation. They just clutter up the page.
The pop-up thumbnail navigation bar at the bottom of a browsing page. Irritating at best.
The way full-size deviations load now, what with the pixels and the zoom and the augh.

However, there is one thing that irritates me above all else about Version 7: the small views of deviations. Thumbnails? Look great. Full versions? Pretty much look fine. But the small view? Tiny, jagged, pixelated pieces of crap.

Maybe it's meant to strongly encourage full view. I don't know, but I actually liked having a nice small view. Imagine you have an epic illustration of a sweeping landscape. In full view, perhaps you can scroll around this epic and marvel at all the tiny details and subtle nuances, but if it doesn't fit entirely on the screen, you can't get the full impact of that pic. In a decent-sized small view, like the ones dA used to have, you could see enough of the detail and the whole piece and fully appreciate it for the masterpiece it is.

Now? Not an option.

*sigh*

There seem to be a lot of people up in arms about Version 7. If they choose one thing to fix, though, I just hope it's that.

Surgery: Not Fun

2010-05-18T01:16:00.002-04:00

Well, maybe it is for surgeons. I don't remember any of it, thanks to the blessing of anesthesia. Unfortunately, that blessing came with the not so great side effects that led to me camping out on the couch asleep or wishing I was asleep for most of last week. But at least it's over with now. All I'm gonna say about the surgery is that it was minor, relatively painless, and according to the surgeon went well, so that's a relief.

Now then, there is one other part of surgery that I'm not terribly fond of: IVs. In this case, after a few tries, the nurses opted for the back of my hand. My dominant hand. So that's a rather sore bruise at the moment, one that is making it pretty darn clear that I will not be drawing a comic page this week. Or anything else digitally. Which, of course, means my muse has suddenly woken up and gone, "Oh, hey! You know what would be really cool? How about drawing a (insert cool idea)? Or what about (another cool idea)? Wouldn't that be sweet?"

Oi.

Anyways, enough whining. Time for me to at least get back on posting schedule!

Nervous, Nervous, Nervous...

2010-05-10T16:55:00.002-04:00

In case you didn't catch it from the title, I'm a touch nervous today. Have been for the past week or so. I'm scheduled for (minor) surgery tomorrow morning - bright and early. I've got to be there at 5:30am. At least there shouldn't be much of a wait...

Anyways, there won't be a comic this week. And now, back to being nervous...

Rough Week

2010-05-02T23:49:00.002-04:00

Oi. Last week was a rough one. One dental appointment for fillings, one doctor appointment to send me to a specialist, one specialist appointment to tell me I need minor surgery. Lots of fun... -_-;;

I'm not sure if I'll be doing the comic this week. My brother has suggested that I see if anyone's interested in doing guest comics, which while it's kinda short notice for THIS week, I think I may ask for them for when I go on hiatus at the end of the chapter. It could be fun! (ya know, assuming anyone's interested in doing it)

Anyways, that's pretty much the update on why there weren't any posts last week. Wheeee...

Textures

2010-04-23T22:01:00.002-04:00

There is one part of digital art that I've never really utilized as much as I could: textures. One reason for it is that, badly done, pictures can look really bad when textures aren't used right. And believe me, a lot of artists don't use textures well, so I'd always been a little turned off on using them, save for certain circumstances - making something look like it was done on old paper, for example, like in my Medan series.

Then, I started picking up ImagineFX Magazine, which is possibly the most helpful and inspiring digital art magazine I've ever had the pleasure of reading. A little on the pricey side, but well worth it. Anyways, one of the issues from a few months back had a walk-through on a steampunk piece that not only had an interesting way of shading, but proved that well done, an artist can use textures not have it look natural, like a part of the art rather than a photoshopped mess.

Of course, this led me to want to try it... which led to my second problem: finding royalty-free textures, preferably for free, without spending days scouring my home town with my digital camera in hand.

The solution came from a friend of mine who had no idea I'd even been considering doing this: CGTexture.com. A lovely database full of free-to-use textures and royalty-free photos, all perfect for the digital artist. All neatly organized, too. You do have to sign up for an account, but they have a free version. The only catch is that you may only download 15 MB within a 24 hour period, but considering the variety of file sizes available for each texture, I haven't even come close to reaching that limit.

Oh, and no using the textures for scrapbooking purposes. They're very clear on that.

Anyways, whether or not my texture experiment ever sees the light of the internet remains to be seen, but I won't get any better if I don't try, right? Right!

The Eleventh Doctor

2010-04-20T23:12:00.003-04:00

Alright, so it's finally happened. The Eleventh Doctor Who has finally premiered in the US. *cue cheers and whistles* As of this past Saturday, we now have Matt Smith's version of the Doctor on TV, and as a dutiful little new series Whovian, I was right there, watching the recap and mythos special before the premiere and recording it all just in case something came up that required leaving the room.

So far, I have liked Doctors Nine and Ten, but here's a confession: when he first showed up, I did not care for Ten. I'd thoroughly enjoyed the darkness of Nine, and he was, in fact, my first Doctor, so that automatically earned him a special place in the SciFi Geek quarter of my heart. When Ten showed up, though, I felt the urge to headdesk. He was just so... cheerful. After Nine, it was a bit jarring. However, David Tennant settled into the role after a few episodes, and like a determined puppy, Ten eventually broke down my walls and became yet another beloved Doctor.

I'm keeping that initial resistance firmly in mind when it comes to Eleven. The whole food thing definitely threw me off, so perhaps not the best introduction, but by the end of the episode, I could see potential. There were some highly amusing moments, and he'll probably settle into his version of the Doctor in a few episodes. I'll be looking forward to that time.

See, the interesting thing about Doctor Who is that it's not like a soap opera, where a new actor takes over an established role and everybody pretends it's the same guy. Each new Doctor is expected to be his own person. It's the great thing about Time Lords being able to regenerate - no awkward attempts to play the role like the actor's predecessor. Same history, same core, different outward personality. It makes for some fantastic possibilities.

One of these days, I will attempt to subject myself to the earlier Doctors out of sheer curiosity, but for now, I'm just going to try to get used to Eleven and hope that glimmer of potential that showed up in his first episode turns into a character I can fully enjoy - or, at the very least, enjoy enough that I stop marveling over the way his hair doesn't actually look like it belongs on his head. It should be interesting, at the very least.

Fairy Designs

2010-04-15T23:54:00.005-04:00

Okay, so as you are all probably aware by now, I tend to move at a snail's pace. An incredibly slow snail who gets lapped by the other snails. Possibly a speedy sloth or two. But, I do eventually get things done, and today, I managed to get a few more designs up in my Zazzle shop. Both of them were drawn at the same time, but I only ever got around to putting up this fella:

I've always thought he was pretty cute. And for being drawn in 2006, he doesn't make my inner artist cringe too much (yeah, I know, I'm an incredible salesperson). So he is now available once again at Kitsune's Closet. And for the first time, his partner is available:

Once again, drawn in 2006, so not quite up to my current skills, but still cute enough to stick on some t-shirts and whatnot. Nice base for the Fairies section. I'm not sure why she never made it into the CafePress version of Kitsune's Closet, except that I just never got around to it. That, and it can get rather disheartening to make five sales in four years. And you wonder why I moved to Zazzle...

The Great Cleaning of 2010

2010-04-12T17:15:00.004-04:00

Twice a year, my subdivision gives people an extra incentive to go on a major cleaning spree: an all pick-up trash day. The spring cleaning one was today, which means I spent a large chunk of my weekend - you guessed it - cleaning. The focus this time was on my room, namely clearing it out enough that one can actually walk from one side of the bed rather than climbing over it.

Mission: success! Cleared out plenty of junk, reorganized things into a more orderly fashion, and even sent a few bags of clothes off to Goodwill.

Of course, Spring Cleaning isn't quite finished yet. Up next is the Great Dusting of 2010, also known as the Culling of the Dustbunnies. It may require a mask - at the very least, open windows. The abnormality in space and time known as my closet will have to wait, I think, until the September all pick-up, lest its contents once again overwhelm my room and all adjoining spaces.

The Comic Process, Part II: The Lines

2010-04-07T16:06:00.004-04:00

After the Thumbnail, it's time to put the actual page together. For you familiar with the Western comics way, it's the pencils and inks. Because there really isn't much of a difference in appearance between the two, I'm just going to show you the inked version:

As you can see, nice clean lines, dialogue bubbles in place, black shadows added... Basically, this is how the page looks before I export it into Photoshop for the shading. If this were a print comic, I'd do screen tones in Manga Studio, but since Strawberry Syrup is a webcomic, I prefer to work in solid grays, and I tend to find it easier to do in Photoshop.

That, and I resize and crop the pages a bit - much easier in Photoshop.

Anyways, pay special attention to the panel where Hunter's about to grab the shiny glowing doorknob. In the thumbnail, you'll notice that there were originally two panels there. I decided that I really only needed one. The emphasis is now on his hand, rather than the hand shot just being glossed over by the eye.

Next time: the finishing touches!

Insomnia

2010-04-01T21:25:00.003-04:00

So every now and then, I go through periods where it takes me really long to fall asleep. It can last anywhere from a day or two to a week or two. I can be drop-dead tired... and I still don't fall asleep, which means still being awake at, oh, eight in the morning. Yeah, it doesn't exactly top my list of pleasant things. Tends to turn me into walking zombie. Depending on just how little sleep I've gotten, a cheerful bubbly yet none-too-bright zombie. Also have a tendency to ramble.

So I'm really kinda proud of myself for actually focusing long enough to get this week's page done, even if it was about as late as it could have been without being posted Thursday. Add to that, all the itty bitty issues that popped up with a new version of Manga Studio. Oh, nothing major, but everything from setting panel margin widths to exporting differences... definite test for someone with an insomnia-spurred attention deficiency. So definite feeling of victory there... even if I did completely forget to add the text to Dwayne's shirt.

Anyways. As far as the whole insomnia problem, we'll try the whole "little mental stimulation before bed" thing. Now, on to finishing this week's episode of Supernatural.

Manga Studio EX 4.0

2010-03-28T21:01:00.002-04:00

Well, it finally arrived, and one thing is for sure: it's going to take quite a bit of poking around to figure everything out! Oh, sure, the basic set-up's the same, and all the regular tools seem to be in place, if not under the same icons, but there are a few key differences, like in how the stories are set up and a few of the finer points of the tools.

And there are quite a few new features for me to play with. I'm particularly excited about the color feature. Not that I'm expecting anything to rival Photoshop, but who knows? I might be pleasantly surprised. It should be interesting, at the very least.

The next page of Strawberry Syrup may still be done on the old laptop, though, if not the rest of Chapter 4. It depends on if MS 4 has problems with the story set-up of MS 3. We'll see how the poking around goes.

Postal Delays

2010-03-23T23:25:00.002-04:00

No comic this week. Alas, my upgraded Windows 7-compatible version of Manga Studio hasn't arrived yet. Sure, I could do it on my old laptop, but there's a whole hassle with transferring and all that fun stuff, so I'd rather just wait. This is what I get for ordering a hard copy.

I did, however, finish up Mariposa with an easy background, so she kinda looks like a trading card or something. You can see the finished version over at my deviantArt gallery. I think she turned out pretty well. ^_^

It is going to be so nice to get that upgrade. I want to do some sketching.

Character Design: Mariposa

2010-03-20T17:53:00.005-04:00

Alright, so sometimes in the course of my chat!RPs, the question comes up of what the kid of two characters would look like. I, of course, love it when this happens. It's like a special treat for the character designer in me: try to create a character that incorporates traits of two others in some way. Hello, playland!

This hasn't happened in awhile, alas - I think the last time was with Bridget back in 2008 - but one of my frequent RPmates brought up a potential kid the other night, and of course, I had to give it a shot. For now, I'm calling her Mariposa:

Mariposa here does not have a chance of existing short of the magical equivalent of the mother of all drunken one-night stands, but man if she wasn't fun to figure out. Pretty much the only things the other RPer suggested were that the kid be stunning and dark featured, so I got to play a lot with her.

Plus, I had an excuse to do something more in my usual style on the new laptop. Granted, since I don't currently have a working copy of MangaStudio that exports, I had to do it ALL in Photoshop, including the sketch and the line art. Normally, I do all that in MangaStudio because the MangaStudio pencil tool rocks for sketching, and the pen tool in beautifully easy to use. Outlining in Photoshop in comparison is SO incredibly tedious.

Anyways, I'll probably figure out a simple background once I know more about Mariposa here and then throw her up on dA. Good times.

Pressure Sensitivity Problems Solved!

2010-03-18T20:49:00.003-04:00

Sorta. Turns out Manga Studio 3.0 is nooooot quite compatible with Vista or Windows 7: the pressure sensitivity just does not work. After spending some time checking out help forums and whatnot, my brother finally suggested we try the demo for Manga Studio 4 to see if it was still a problem them... and lo and behold, pressure sensitivity was fine.

Fortunately, it's just an upgrade, so it cost me $130-something instead of $300. Oi.

Anyways, I opted for a physical copy this time (my last copy was a download), so I've got a little time before it arrives. Alas, I found out AFTER that that the demo doesn't allow you to export. In the mean time, I decided to make sure Photoshop wasn't having any problems and did a quick little experiment in a different style than usual:

Not my best work. I was trying for something. Didn't quite get it. But I'm actually happy with the lips for once, so that earns him a posting somewhere. Basically, I wanted to do something where I could use a few different brushes, do some smudging and blending, and not spend a WHOLE lot of time on it. Character's name is Erich, btw... older brother of one of my RP characters, hence the unusual hair color. I dunno, I've just never liked drawing completely random characters. Gotta have some sort of story there.

75% Good, Maybe 25% Eh

2010-03-16T22:23:00.002-04:00

Well, I've had a few days to play around with the new laptop, and so far I'm pretty happy! It's lightweight, only needs an extra fan when its playing WoW, runs WoW beautifully, and can even function with other programs running at the same time. I'm adapting well to Office, and I'm starting to get used to the different screen proportions - this one's longer and squatter than my former Toshiba, so that takes a little time to acclimate there. And Windows 7 seems to be working pretty well for me.

Things I'm not so fond of: the control panel that keeps trying to pull out every time my cursor wanders too close to the left side of the screen, some of the Win7 navigation, and the fact that I can't figure out how to set up my tablet. Seriously. I know it's not the laptop's fault, but I can't find my pressure sensitivity, and that's kiiiiinda important for the whole art thing.

I'll probably have to draft my brother to figure out that last one...

But overall, yeah, so far way more good than bad. I'm happy.

New Laptop!

2010-03-13T14:56:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know, I move at the pace of molasses, but when a purchase is going to cost me more than $500, I like to take my time.

And if I'd been able to find a piece of machinery that could actually handle what I want it to, I would have been ecstatic. Between the laptop itself, the service package (which, we learned after my father's famous "Don't worry, we'll get that LATER! :D," is best purchased at the same time as the laptop), Office, and all that fun stuff, I ended up dropping close to $1500. Oy.

Anyways, I opted for a lovely Toshiba Satellite A505, which is the upgrade to my current model... which I am still using for the time being. The new one is currently going through the lengthy - and I do mean lengthy - WoW install. Hopefully, everything will be transferred over by the end of tonight, and I'll actually be able to use it.

The Comic Process, Part I: The Thumbnail

2010-03-09T23:26:00.005-05:00

Alright, so by now you're well aware that I have a weekly (heh, supposedly) webcomic, Strawberry Syrup. Here's how I come up with each page.

First up: the Thumbnail.

A thumbnail is basically a very quick sketch meant to help me figure out what elements I want on the page and where to put them. By 'very quick,' I mean no time spent on detail. Here's the thumbnail for Page 20 of Chapter 4:

As you can see, very quick, very sketchy, and not exactly an architectural blueprint here. There are three key things I need out of my thumbnails. 1) Where are the panels going? 2) Who's in each panel and what position are they in? 3) Where are the speech bubbles going? It doesn't take a whole lot of detail for me to tell any of those things, especially when most characters have some identifying characteristic. Dwayne's got his big ol' wizard's hat, Sammy's got glasses, Ferdy's got his cape... Not real hard to tell them apart.

Now, here's the important part: the thumbnail can change. They're not set in stone, and I'm allowed to change them, as you will see in Part II. By sketching it out nice and fast, I can see how it does or doesn't work, how another panel arrangement might work better, and what content might work better in each panel. If I weren't lazy or on a weekly schedule, I'd probably sketch out those variations, too, and pick which one looks best.

As it is, I thumbnail once, then wing it. Do not follow Kit's example there, kids. Ideally, you'll have each chapter thumbnailed well in advance. Trust me, it's easier that way.

'90s Nostalgia

2010-03-06T23:42:00.003-05:00

Lately, my family has been spending Saturday nights reliving the joys of one of our favorite series from the nineties: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, courtesy of Netflix. Sure, it's corny, and silly, and the costumes make no sense (the hats... what were they thinking with the hats?), but it's fun, and that's what we've always loved about it.

Of course, back in '94, the special effects didn't look QUITE as ridiculous, but hey, you can still get that same stunning quality in certain SyFy movies.

In any case, it's got me all nostalgic for the great series of my tween-to-teen years. I mean, there were some fantastic shows then. A few of my other favorites, in no particular order, were:

Quantum Leap

The X-Files

Highlander

SeaQuest DSV

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer

Farscape

Pretender

Sliders

Forever Knight

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Yeah, you can tell where my interests lie. XD Those are the ones I'm pretty sure I'd still enjoy now (and thanks to SyFy, I do still get to enjoy Highlander and X-Files on a near nightly basis) and not counting the slew of kids shows on Nick that I used to watch on a regular basis. I just don't know if I'd enjoy Clarissa Explains It All, Hey Dude, and Welcome Freshman now as much as I did as a kid. Are You Afraid of the Dark, on the other hand, I'm fairly confidant I'd still enjoy at least a few episodes of.

Hm... I should look into hunting a few of these down... Anyone out there have any favorite shows from the '90s?

Strawberry Syrup is Go!

2010-03-04T15:18:00.003-05:00

And there's a good start on #2 of last post's To Do List: page 20 of Chapter 4 of Strawberry Syrup did, indeed, get done! On time, even. Well, okay, so about 1am instead of my preferred midnight on the dot, but there it was, all set to go...

Which is about when I remembered that whole conversation with my brother/webmaster a few weeks about about having tweaked the site and me needing to get the new files. Cue the recollection of never having gotten those file and, being technologically impaired, having no idea how to get those files without terminally screwing something up. You may think I'm exaggerating, but technology and I have a rocky history. We're talking demon-possessed printers, premature New TV death, and the generation of enough static electricity in winter to put Pikachu to shame. Never mind my habit of killing websites if I don't know exactly what I'm doing.

So, rather than have the site go down or spontaneously combust and destroy all of my brother's hard work, I decided to wait. Wednesday afternoon, I explained the problem to the great webmaster and ended up emailing the update to him. So, all the little Strawberry Syrup fans (those who haven't lost interest by now with all the unplanned stops, anyway) had a brand new page for the first time in over a month. Hurray!

And now I'm going back to writing.

Hello, March!

2010-03-01T18:48:00.003-05:00

Well, the Olympics are over, snow is still on the ground, and it is officially the start of a new month. Time for this month's To Do List! In no particular order, here are my goals for March:

Finish 2009's NaNo.

Get Strawberry Syrup back on track.

Get my hands on a copy of Rachel Caine's Midnight Alley. *shakes a fist at the local bookstores*

Sit my butt down and actually update my Squidoo lenses.

Add more stuff to my Zazzle shop.

Get stuff sent out.

Keep up with my writing routine.

I'm keeping it simple. Got a few minor goals to round out the major ones, and then a few "if Kit works really hard and the stars align" goals to aim for. I've already made a good start on that first one today. Why yes, there is a reason I spent a good chunk of the afternoon researching common town names, last names meanings, the native tree life of Michigan, and topics for high school essays on Hamlet.

More seriously, I have finally, finally cleared out the debris from that roadblock and moved into the actual writing phase again. Kinda sucks that I'm going to have to quit sometime tonight to get that next page of Strawberry Syrup started... I don't even want to think about how much my drawing skills have deteriorated after not using them for a month.

Breaking Down the Roadblock

2010-02-26T15:31:00.003-05:00

Operation Roadmapping: Success!

It probably sounds like the dullest and least creative thing ever, but outlining the story thus far and then making a little chart with the events for each major plotline actually helped a lot.

Yes, I made a chart. I get all analytical like that sometimes.

Anyways, by charting the plotlines in separate columns and then using a different row for each day of the week, I could visually see whether my plots were balanced enough and what needs to happen next - which was the whole point. Even if I eventually change things around (which, given the nature of rewriting, I probably will), for now at least I can get moving again.

... Which I'm going to go do now! :D

Roadmapping

2010-02-23T14:20:00.003-05:00

While I'm letting the stories and whatnot I've been working on for the past month stew and get a little distance on them, I've been going back over 2009's NaNo. I'm pleasantly surprised by it (this being the first time I've read the whole thing through from the beginning). Sure, there's plenty of work to be done, but it's not headdeskingly bad. There is hope!

Of course, before I can do anything serious editing-wise, I need to finish the sucker. Unfortunately, as I got to the end, I realized why I lost steam in the first place: I had no idea what the next scene should be. Not a good start.

Fortunately, I have a few things to try. Option one: outline. Yeah, I know, that's usually something you hear people doing before they start writing. Well, if that's what works for them, that's great. I've tried it before. Snowflaked my first NaNo novel back in 2006. Still need to finish that novel, actually, whenever I swing back to high fantasy mode and feel like trudging through one giant mess of prose. While I never had to think about what came next, I also wrote on autopilot... which meant I didn't realize things were getting horribly horribly tangled until the very last major plotpoint. There is going to be a lot of major restructuring in that one.

No, this time, I'm using the outline to track where I've been and hopefully see what needs to be the next scene. I'm mapping out POVs and the three main plotlines while I'm at it, and I won't be outlining any further than I've already written. I'm using it as a chance to keep all those little threads from getting hopelessly snarled and back into a nice, neat braid again. Really, all I'm looking for is a next step.

I'll let you know how it works out.

The Morganville Vampires

2010-02-21T00:52:00.004-05:00

Back in January, I picked up a collection of YA vampire stories called Immortal: Love Stories With Bite. I admit it, I'm a sucker for vampire stories, and while not all the stories were fantastic, there were a lot of really good ones that make the anthology worthwhile.

Rachel Caine's short story "Dead Man Stalking" was one of my favorites out of the entire book, and while I wouldn't have called it a "love story" in the romantic sense, I think it explored a different kind of love, and I am so glad it was included. It was an introduction to Caine's series, The Morganville Vampires, which, I am sad to say, I may never have picked up otherwise. Here's another admission: the back blurb of a book matters to me. The title or cover might get me to pick up a book, but it's the back blurb that gets me to either buy it on the spot or look inside. The back of the first book, Glass Houses, never really grabbed my attention.

The short story? Grabbed me, hooked me, and dragged me back to Borders for more.

Luckily for me, the first two books were published in a 2-for-1 volume back in November, so I picked that up... and have flown through Book 1 in three days. Considering my normal method of reading is a chapter or two every morning, that's breakneck speed for me. I love the characters, I love the writing, I love the quirks and twists and turns and the way it keeps me on the edge of my seat. Caine isn't afraid to put her characters in danger and keep them there, and despite the main character being a 16-year-old brainiac in college, Claire hasn't struck me as a Mary Sue. Sure, she's super book-smart, but other than that, she's pretty much an ordinary girl who flounders in ordinary ways and finds herself in extraordinary circumstances.

I've just finished the first book, Glass Houses, and just started Book 2, The Dead Girls' Dance, about three hours ago... and am already six chapters in. It's not that I read that slow: it's that I have other things to do... or keep trying to do. And yet, I just keep picking the book back up, read another scene or two, try to put it down, and can't. I don't want to wait to know what happens next.

And that, I think, has to be the highest praise any book can ever hope to achieve.

I think there'll be another trip to Borders this week, and I will be grabbing as many of The Morganville Vampires series as they have.

The Right to Write

2010-02-18T16:14:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite writing exercises is pretty simple. I grab a book, flip to a page, and write down the first noun or verb I see. Repeat two more times. Then, write something using all three words. It's a good little exercise that can come up with some interesting results, especially if you do it shortly after getting up, before the Inner Critic and Editor have had their morning coffee.

Anyways, today the book I was using to find words was Novel Ideas: Fantasy, an anthology of short stories and novellas that eventually spurred the author on to full novels or series. I haven't read them all, having found it a fantastic source for my exercise and not wanting to know context for the words, but today, I flipped to the intro page of Orson Scott Card's story Lost Boys.* Well, the only Lost Boys I knew of involved Kiefer Sutherland in a pair fangs, so of course I had to read the intro... where Card described a night of storytelling at a university Halloween party where he decided to tell a ghost story that ended up with half the people present pissed off at him.

Long story short, Card decided to give personalizing a fictional story a try by telling it in first person as if it were fact and had happened to him, even to the point of using his own life and real names. He then added fictional characters and events, like his "eldest son" Scotty and the bodies in their crawlspace. When he later decided to write it as a short story and present it at a workshop, the other writers were furious. One even went as far as telling him he had no right to write a story about losing a son like that unless he actually had.

That got me thinking. Is there anything a writer doesn't have the right to write? It goes right back to that old stand-by of "Write what you know." But people tend to interpret that as, "you can only write your class, race, gender, and lifestyle." Which means people shouldn't write about different family set-ups, professions, or religions, either. Which, frankly, would make for a pretty bleak reading selection, particularly for a fantasy lover like me.

Instead, I prefer to think of it as having a deeper meaning. Humans were granted an amazing imagination, and we "know" a lot more than we give ourselves credit for. We all know the basic emotions: love, joy, anger, sadness, grief, desperation, fear, embarrassment, etc. Writers can take those emotion and extrapolate them into what their characters are feeling, and through their words, they can inspire their readers to feel those things, too. Imagination is a powerful thing.

Am I saying screw the research and just write whatever the heck you want? Not if you want it read by other people. Do the research, listen to people who have lived through something similar, pay attention, and then put that wonderful imagination to work.

So did Orson Scott Card have a right to write that short story from the first person? In my opinion, absolutely. As he wrote in his afterward, he may not have lost a child to death, but he knew intimately what it was like to have a child who couldn't really live the way all parents want their children to. The emotions in his story came from a very real place, and it resulted in a powerful story. That people would get outraged over the fact that he hadn't had a child die seems ridiculous to me. It's fiction - the truth is in the lies.

* This is the story that he later turned into the full-length book, Lost Boys: A Novel. Obviously, a lot changed, but the key idea seems to have stayed the same.

Snow, Snow, Snow...

2010-02-16T17:02:00.003-05:00

Like many parts of the United States, we've gotten a lot of snow this month. In fact, it's snowing right now - the big, fluffy kind of snow that makes you want to run around outside with your tongue sticking out. And while we didn't get any snow on Valentine's Day, I did get this shot:

Yep. Two little sparrows, all puffed up on the back step out by the bird feeder. Rather fitting to have a male and a female on Valentine's Day.

Give Your Warlord a Charm Bracelet Week

2010-02-13T22:56:00.004-05:00

Today, I decided to take a break from writing and indulge in a little World of Warcraft. I've been playing for several years now, but it's been a bit since I last played - October, I think. In any case, I remembered that they should be having their Valentine-esque holiday, so I decided to hop on.

And for the first time in years, the quests are different.

Last year (and the year before, and the year before that...), you bought perfume or cologne, distributed valentines, collected goodies, and spent oodles of time traipsing around Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, and Undercity for the quests.

This year? You get to collect charms, make a "lovely charm bracelet," and hand it off to, say, Thrall, who literally says, "Oh, what a lovely charm bracelet." Then you get to turn in your quest while squealing in fangirl/fanboy-ish glee because the great and mighty Thrall loved your charm bracelet.

The great and mighty Thrall probably has a pile of charm bracelets behind his chair and is debating whether or not he can arrange the death of whoever came up with the bright idea of the lovely charm bracelets.

Of course, now I'm wondering what other changes Blizzard's going to make this year. I also need to find out where people are getting the pet pugs, because those are adorable.

Discovering Kirtles

2010-02-11T00:56:00.003-05:00

Well, my beta reader for my story got back to me last night, and overall, it was a pretty positive critique. One comment, though, suggested I hadn't really set my setting as well as I might have. Seeing as it's high fantasy, this was a serious concern.

On reading back through with fresh eyes, I realized that I really had left the environment somewhat sparse... along with character descriptions. I blame one of my old creative writing teachers for that - he preached the "never describe your characters" philosophy, and he was very convincing. It made sense that the readers would paint the picture in their head, and I see it working in some of my favorite books, but still - there are some details to sketch out their appearance.

So, I spent most of Wednesday working out what details I need to add and where. One of those details is clothing (kind of an important part of a high fantasy). Of course, "skirt" and "shirt" didn't seem to quite do it, so I grabbed a few references and hit the Google image search.

And that is how I found... the kirtle.

I am familiar with a lot of medieval clothing - chemises, shifts, petticoats, bodices, surcoats, tunics, all that fun stuff. I had never in my life heard of a kirtle. Turns out, it's a dress. Yeah, shocker, I know. This particular dress can be long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or no sleeved, worn over a chemise or shift and worn under an "overkirtle", outer gown, surcoat, or any number of other other gowns. Sources vary on whether it can be the top layer all by itself.

Basically, perfect for what I need, if not for the fact that it's probably going to leave readers going, "what the heck is a kirtle?"

For those of you who are curious, THESE are kirtles.

Yeah, they look kinda like something a first grade teacher would wear to me, too.

Digital Art Program Candidate 1: Autodesk Sketchbook Pro

2010-02-08T16:47:00.004-05:00

As I narrowed down my options for a new laptop, something occurred to me: I was going to need a new art program. My current copy of Photoshop won't be making the move to Windows 7, which means I either have to shell out $700 for or find a new program. So, I made a short list, and my brother helpfully hunted down and installed all the trials on another laptop that can handle the stress for me to poke around.

Up first: Autodesk SketchBook Pro.

It's not a bad program by any means. In fact, it's pretty darn good, and most people could afford it without forgoing car insurance, rent, and dinner for the next three months. I loved the "lagoon" section, and once I got the hang of navigating, it was pretty nice. And for sketching, its pencil tool rivals that of my beloved (but colorless) MangaStudio EX. The ballpoint pen tool is also pretty nice for outlining, and I love the ruler tool. It's easy to angle, move, and draw along. I know a few programs I wish would adopt that...

Alas, there are a few problems. The brush selection is rather limited, both in variety and in versatility. Take the paint brush, for example: you can change the opacity, but the size only goes down to 2. Sometimes, you need a 1. Other brushes don't let you screw around with opacity, which is a big problem. Furthermore, for being a product built for use with a tablet, I didn't notice any sensitivity features. The strokes were always the same width.

Beyond the brushes, the fill tools are lacking, there's no gradient, and the smudge and blur tools are almost laughable. Also, there is no text tool.

Perhaps if I had a more painterly style, using bold streaks of color, or wanted to spend hours upon hours painstakingly blending, it might work, but I don't. It would make a great sketchbook, but I'm looking for the whole studio.

If you are just looking for a good sketching and outlining program, definitely check it out. It does export in .PSD files, so transferring the work into Photoshop should be pretty painless.

Leaping Right Back In

2010-02-05T20:30:00.006-05:00

Years ago (and we're talking years, back when the CW was the WB... God, I feel old), I used to watch Smallville. I made it through the meteor metahumans, the Wall of Weird villains of the week, Lex's royal mindscrew at the hands of his father, the appearance of Lois Lane and Oliver Queen, all that fun stuff. Somewhere around Lana's dip into bipolarhood, something shiny playing in the same time slot attracted my attention and I stopped watching regularly.

Oh, sure, I dropped back in every now and then... Lex and Lana's wedding kept my attention for awhile, and then I watched an episode here and there when Chloe's powers were awakening and whatnot. Oddly enough, I never really felt lost - which is probably a good sign for a long-running series. That, or a very bad one.

In any case, tonight is the special premiere of Absolute Justice, a two hour Friday night event. And I figured, heck, there's nothing else on, unless I want to torture myself with Caprica or What Not To Wear, so let's see if I can leap right back in.

So far, all the important parts are intact. Clark still has his overinflated sense of righteousness, Chloe's still using her brain to play loyal maybe-a-step-above-sidekick, and Oliver Queen is still hot. And for someone whose knowledge of the DC universe comes from around ten years of Batman: The Animated Series, the following Superman series, and Justice League, this was probably the best episode to possibly come in on. I mean, Michael Shanks as Hawkman (yeah, I was a Stargate fan, too - right until Stargate Universe, may it die a quick and sudden death). Sure, he looks ridiculous in the outfit (who wouldn't as a live-action Hawkman?) and he's doing this weird wheezy gruff voice, but it's Michael Shanks. This episode also has Fate and allusions to the Flash (or at least, his winged Hermes helmet), Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Wildcat, and a whole slew of others.

Yeah, I'm totally geeking out over it.

If they keep it on Friday nights, I might just keep watching...

Fine Tuning

2010-02-03T17:40:00.003-05:00

Last week, I said my little revision project should be just about done by today. Well... it is. It has been tweaked and poked and prodded down to 25 pages, the plot kinks have been worked out, the characters have all been given important roles, and I'm fairly certain each and every scene is necessary (very important in a short story, I'm told). Which means it's time to break out the polish and make this sucker shine.

So what does that mean? Well, mostly it's playing around with word choice - making the characters pop and the language flow while keeping it interesting and enjoyable to read. On the list of things to do with the story today: figure out my most common words, hunt them down, and add a little variation.

Sometimes, you have to use the same word. There are only so many ways you can refer to a door without whacking your reader over the head with a thesaurus or straying into purple prose territory. But for, say, verbs, you want to take a hard look at some of your favorites, the old stand-bys you toss in while writing that first draft when you don't think too hard right then.

There's usually nothing wrong with the word itself, but it doesn't hurt to take a second look and see if there isn't a verb that would work better, one that paints a more precise picture in your reader's mind.

For example, "He headed across the street."

It works, but that is about the least precise way of saying that. How did he cross the street? Did he walk? Run? Sprint, slink, sneak, saunter, stroll, jog, waltz? Pick the one that best fits the image in your mind.

The word I'm currently reworking is "peek." Yeah, of all the words to toss in, I had to use "peek." The MC "peeks" several times - out from under the covers and around a few corners. Light and the sun "peek" out from behind the clouds. Everything's "peeking." It's a wee bit repetitive, so time to search out better words and cut the use of "peek" down to maybe two. Three, if it's absolutely necessary.

Also on chopping board: "peer," "bolt," and "glance." Yeah, your time is coming. Let the hunt begin!

In Need of a New Laptop

2010-02-01T20:21:00.003-05:00

Let me start by saying this: I love my Toshiba Satellite. It has served me very well since 2003 or 2004.

Unfortunately... it has been serving me since 2003 or 2004, and it is starting to have problems. It's starting to go slow, windows don't show up on the task bar, it's been overheating and randomly shutting off, and on occasion, it has trouble finding the power to run both the cooling fan and my tablet. It's been a good laptop... but it's time to put it out to pasture.

I'm thinking about another Toshiba. I will not be getting a Mac - lovely and fantastic as they are for digital art, they are oh so hard on the pocket book - and I'm not too fond of Gateways, but any other than that, I'm open-minded. Any suggestions?

In an Editorial Mood, Part 2

2010-01-30T14:38:00.004-05:00

There are some dangers to getting very involved in a project. One of them is losing track of time - or day of the week (watching the Australian Open, which is about a day ahead of my time zone, hasn't helped there). But, I think it's paying off.

Draft #3 is well on its way, with two pages worth of material already cut out. Unfortunately, those two pages were eaten up by two scenes that needed to be added to make my protagonist a little more proactive. So length-wise, I'm right back at 27 pages. Ah, the joys of editing...

On the bright side, there are plenty of places where my prose can be tightened. I'm a rambley writer by nature (yeah, I know, shocker there), which makes it a matter of how much rambling can I cut without destroying all personality in the piece.

Yeah. We'll just pretend that's as simple as it sounds.

Alright, back to work I go!

In an Editorial Mood

2010-01-27T18:49:00.003-05:00

Followers of my webcomic, Strawberry Syrup, were disappointed this week: no page. There is a very good reason for this, of course; sometimes, real life steps in and demands my attention. (It's for reasons like that that a webmangaka needs to have a buffer built up, but, of course, easier said than done.)

Anyways, this particular slice of real life involves a short story I'm attempting to revise, rewrite, and polish up into something I can actually send out, and what I want to send it out for has a deadline of March 1st. Right now, I am focused on making the story flow, tightening up the prose, and getting it down to 25 pages without losing all personality. The story itself is one that I wrote five or six years ago, back when I was still an undergrad and had the writing prompt of, "Someone has a secret."

Me being me, I churned out a YA fantasy about a girl who finds a new reason to be afraid of the dark. While it was received well by the class, looking back at it I cringe at certain parts: the purple prose, the plot holes, the craft failures. But I liked the basic story, so I considered that original work a first draft and started rewriting it for my own enjoyment last summer. Not having an actual reason to really finish a YA story of that length, I ended up setting it aside before finishing the rewrite.

Well, now I have a reason, and Draft #2 has been finished. I'm now working on Draft #3, which will be the last draft before I send it out to my little circle of critiquers. Basically, the idea is to make it the best I can possibly make it, and then see how people say I can make it better.

If I don't run into any major snags or muse blockages, it should be done by this time next week. Here's hoping!

The Case of the Mysterious Missing Book

2010-01-25T17:49:00.003-05:00

For everyone out there who spent their childhood with their nose buried in a book, there is that one story, that one that sticks with them for years - hopefully in a good way and not in an emotionally scarring Clan of the Cave Bear way. For me, that book was The House on Hackman's Hill, by Joan Lowery Nixon.

I read this book in second grade. Nearly twenty years later, I can still remember being curled up on the couch, eyes wide and heart pounding as something slowly crept up the stairs towards where the main characters were hiding in the old abandoned house on their quest to find a missing mummy. Its portrayal of Anubis is actually what started my life-long love of mythology.

I can't tell you how well written the book was, or whether it would make all the creative writing students and teachers out there cringe (the fact that it was middle grade genre fiction would probably have a good chunk of them banging their heads right there - they miss so many good reads that way). All I can say is that I loved that book.

In fact, I loved it enough that I lent it out to a friend... and never saw that copy of it again. About five years ago, I ran into a newly reprinted version in the book store by chance and had to pick it up. Unfortunately, I didn't have a surplus of free time right then, and thanks to university burn-out, I didn't really want to read anything, mentally taxing or not, so I put it in a safe place, vowing to read it again someday and try to figure out just what it was that snagged me as an eight year old.

Safe places are the last place you want to put anything you ever actually want to see again.

The last time I remember seeing the book was a few months ago. It was still right where I had left it, still waiting. And I could have sworn I left it there. And yet, when I went to go find it earlier today... Gone. Again. No sign of it anywhere.

Since then, I have scoured my room and the spare room, everywhere I have stashed any books in the last two years or so. No sign of it anywhere. It has, once again, gone missing, this time a victim of the mystical Bermuda Triangle-like vortex that is my room.

No doubt it will someday reemerge, spat back out into our dimension where I can snatch it up and finally reread it again. Until then, I found a few more books hiding in the nooks and crannies that I never got around to reading, so the scouring wasn't a total waste of time!

Zazzle Spotlight: Anti-Valentine's Day

2010-01-22T20:13:00.003-05:00

Last week, we had the Valentine's Day shirts to celebrate the upcoming Hallmark holiday of love. Alas, not everybody is blessed with a happy romantic relationship... which can make February 14th a day to be dreaded. This has given rise to a very specific subset of holiday apparel: the Anti-Valentine's Day shirts. Some are bitter and aggressive, but some are downright amusing and take their dislike of the holiday in stride. You can probably guess which ones I prefer. :D

Up first...

Attack of the Valentines Zombies by OfficeGangsta
More Zombie T-Shirts

I find this one hilarious. Who hasn't seen those lovey-dovey couples who exist entirely in their own little world? Bluebirds sing, hearts flutter about, and all the world is aglow with their love... while the rest of us wish they'd move their happy little world on through the check-out line so we can pay for our stuff and go already.

Note: regardless of what all the movies and video games suggest, you can't just take care of them the way you do normal zombies. It's just one day - it'll pass.

Why Was Cupid Chosen? by insanitywear
Make a custom shirt at zazzle.com

This... is my sentiments exactly. There is nothing romantic about toddlers armed with sharp pointy projectiles. Now, if we're talking about MY version of Eros, that's a whole other story!

And finally...

singles awareness day! valentines shirt by bunnieclaire
Many tshirt designs available at zazzle

A little consideration for us singles out there would be appreciated. This one's only advised for those who don't mind announcing their single status to the world... but who knows? Maybe someone will share their chocolate with you!

And with that, you should be all set for V-Day, whether you're looking forward to it or dreading it. Just remember to order your stuff early enough for it to arrive in time!

WIP: In the Office

2010-01-20T19:58:00.005-05:00

Alrighty, this is from my queue of Works In Progress:

This is a minor character who might be showing up in my chat!RP, but I got the image in my head and had to draw it... and then it turned into an exercise in perspective and whatnot. Exercises are good for me, and perspective is one of those things I usually have to force myself to do. Continuing with the exercise idea, there are a few things I'm thinking about trying when I get around to coloring it. Hopefully it'll turn out well!

Sketch and line art were both done in Manga Studio EX. Have I mentioned how much I love their perspective ruler? It gives a digital version of a horizon line with up to three vanishing points, and - here's the important part - it lets you have the vanishing points OFF the page. You have no idea how helpful that is. Trying that in Photoshop leads to copious headdesking.

Eros and Anteros

2010-01-18T20:50:00.005-05:00

Last week, I finished the Valentine Fairy pic and posted it up on my deviantArt page, where one of my frequent visitors asked if she had "plumed" butterfly wings. Thinking I was sorely uneducated in butterfly terminology, I asked what, exactly, plumed butterfly wings were. Turns out, they're the feathered butterfly wings of Eros's little brother, Anteros. Being the mythology nut I am, of course I had to plunge right into researching the guy... and then, I had to draw him.

Eros, little attention whore that he is, insisted on hopping in, too.

In any case, this took three straight days from sketch to posting, which translates to maybe 24-30 hours of work. I'm pretty happy with it. For once, I think I've managed a background that is present but supports the composition of the picture as a whole rather than going, "Look at me! Look at me!" There's a nice, warm atmosphere to it all, and the peachy color scheme really helps Anteros's wings and their eyes stand out, but not jarringly so.

As for those wings... For Anteros, I spent awhile trying to figure out just how one feathers butterfly wings and still has them functional. In the end, just feathering the basic butterfly structure seemed the way to go. That lovely blue comes from a passage on the Erotes from Philostatus the Elder over at The Theoi Project, where he described them as having deep blue, purple, or golden wings. Blue seemed to suit Anteros, with him being the personification of mutual or returned love: soothing, calm, and beautiful.

Meanwhile, his big brother Eros started out with the typical white dove wings, but next to Anteros, they just seemed so bland, and didn't really pop enough in the picture. They needed something more... so I bit the bullet, pulled out the lasso tool, and turned his wings into a hawk's. He's a little more predatory and arrow-happy in nature, so that seemed like a good fit for him.

Now, I know that somewhere out there, there is someone going, "But I thought they were supposed to be chubby cherubs with a head full of golden curls!" Well... artistic license here. I've never really been comfortable with Eros/Cupid being all child-like, especially in the context of the Eros and Psyche myth. I'm far more comfortable with them being attractive adult males. I did intend them as blonds when I started, but it just did not work out. But I think auburn works wonderfully for the two of them.

Overall, I am really happy with this piece. I kinda wish I'd done a step-by-step as I went along. Maybe next time!

Zazzle Spotlight: Valentine's Day

2010-01-15T15:49:00.002-05:00

Yep, in just under a month, it'll be Valentine's Day again! Considering the time it can take to ship, now's the time to start looking for your Valentine apparel, so I took a quick trip to Zazzle to check out this year's offerings.

Now, I've never been one for one-day holidays. With Christmas or Halloween shirts, you can get away with wearing them for around a month if they say "Christmas" or "Halloween" on them. But Valentine's Day? If it says "Valentine's Day," you can really only wear it ON V-Day. Hearts and Love, on the other hand, can be worn far more often. So, I picked out a few more general Valentine-themed t-shirts that can be worn more than just on the day itself.

Valentine Patchwork T-Shirt by HolidayBug
View more Graphic T-Shirts

For just a nice little graphic tee to celebrate the holiday without having "Valentine's Day" plastered all over your chest. Hearts give the same feeling without cramming it down everyone's throats. It's nice and cute and still gets the point across.

Panda Love Shirt by challagrl
Browse Panda T-Shirts

How cute is that? If you've got a little girl - particularly one who likes either pandas or just cute things - this would be a great Valentine gift. And again, it can be worn on more than just V-Day.

Japanese Heart T-Shirt by ruderetro
More Loveheart T-Shirts

Let's face it: Asian characters just look cool. This shirt features the Japanese character for love, making it perfect for a very cool Valentine's Day. And again, follows my whole theme of being wearable all year round.

Next week: the Anti-Valentine's shirts!

An Eventful Week

2010-01-13T17:11:00.002-05:00

This has been a rather eventful week... I did get the next page of Strawberry Syrup done, and I'm actually pretty proud of this page. Did some interesting effects, panels were actually filled, the characters cooperated... I am actually pretty happy with page 18.

I'm not sure how things are going to go in the next few weeks. My grandmother passed away yesterday, so my family is dealing with that. We'll see how things go.

New Valentine's Design

2010-01-11T16:49:00.004-05:00

Well, Christmas is over. Next major holiday on the shopping list is... dun dun da duuun! Valentine's Day! February 14th is just about a month away, which means online shoppers will be looking for V-Day-related stuff in the next two weeks or so.

Unfortunately, I didn't have anything in my shop in case any wayward Valentine shoppers happened to wander in. So, as therapy for after my Soul Caliber blitz, I decided to draw a Valentine-themed fairy.

Valentine Fairy Binder by ameyer64
Browse other Anime Binders

I tried for the same feel as my Christmas Fairy, but in keeping with the spirit of the holiday, with less clothing. I still think she's cute, though!

I had another design for Valentine's Day that I'd hoped to have up, but it is... just not working. I'm going to have to redo the line art and then pray the coloring wants to cooperate.

Someday, I'll figure out why some line art from MangaStudio gets all jagged and unattractive upon export. Doesn't happen all the time... just often enough for me to wonder what went wrong. It is indeed perplexing...

Snow!

2010-01-08T16:28:00.010-05:00

I love snow. I know, I know, it's miserable to drive in and shovel and scrape off your car windows, but it sure is pretty. Whether it's big fluffy flakes or like a fine sifting of powdered sugar, I love watching it come down and coat everything.

Yesterday, we had that powdered sugar kind, all light and fluffy and fine. As it was covering the back deck, I looked out to see this little fella scrounging around in the snow:

We've taken to putting seed and little goodies for the squirrels and chipmunks on the deck in an attempt to divert them from the main feeds. It seems to be working rather well so far - and our flock of cardinals seem to like the deck, too. In any case, the squirrel here was busily rescuing the walnuts from being buried in the snow, and he didn't seem to mind the impromptu photo shoot. So, I took a few good shots of him.

EPIC FAIL

2010-01-06T19:44:00.003-05:00

Yeah, starting off the New Year was an epic fail in regards to Strawberry Syrup. This would be the first time I've missed an update due to something other than illness, uncooperative muse, or hiatus. Those of you who read Monday's post probably saw this coming: I missed this update because my hands and wrists protested the Soul Caliber IV marathon. Painfully.

Yeah, I'll be resisting the urge to draw anything until this weekend at the earliest.

So, since drawing is out of the question for the moment, I've been sifting through the internet's selection of children/YA magazines, looking for something I might be interested in submitting to. Most of the stories I write fall into the middle reader or young adult range. I'm not much of a short story writer and the only one I've found so far that accepts novellas is currently backlogged with accepted material, but we'll see if I can't come up with something.

Continuing with the whole writing idea, I'm going to set my NaNo 2009 aside for a bit. It's just dragging, and working on something shorter might actually help. Give the ideas a chance to percolate, return with a fresh eye, all that fun stuff so I don't feel like I'm slogging in circles through knee-high snow. Sometimes, taking a break is actually a good thing!

Soul Caliber IV

2010-01-04T18:07:00.004-05:00

A little over a month ago, I finally got a PS3 as part of a deal with a new TV. It also came with a free movie and game, but alas, the game choice was not something that really got my attention.

Then yesterday, my brother brought over a few of his games. He seems to have an intense interest in getting me to use my PS3 for more than a glorified Blu-Ray player. In any case, he brought over Soul Caliber IV.

Now, I've been a Soul Caliber fan since the days of Soul Caliber II, when the AI in our insanely evil little Dreamcast learned to beat the hell out of just about anyone who showed up. I swear, the thing was conscious. My brother left it on one night, playing itself in an endless battle between the two characters who could be any character, and the next day, there was no beating it until John brought out Siegfried and put its butt back in it's place.

Scariest part was that it actually gave up halfway through that team battle. Went from striking and countering and guard impacting to just... standing there. It recovered a day or two later, once it finished sulking.

Then, it started on the corpse mutilation. You see, once the computer KO's you, it's supposed to just stand there and wait for the next round. Not ours. It started with Cervantes. See, Cervantes has a move where he leaps up into the air, disappears, and comes slamming his swords down on the opponent halfway across the stage. So it started where the KO would sound, and the computer's Cervantes would take one step after. The next time, it managed the leap. The time after that, it teleported, but without delivering the blow. And finally, it came crashing down on my prone character with all the force Cervantes could muster.

After that, it was as if the dam broke. Any Dreamcast-controlled character could just walk right up to you after you'd been KO'd and start beating the heck out of your poor prone body. According to our stunned friends who had their own Dreamcasts and their own versions of SCII, this was not typical behavior.

Of course, those friends also came in, confident that they'd have no problem going through our arcade on Medium when they could beat theirs on Expert with ease. Yeah, they didn't make it too far...

So yes, when John brought over Soul Caliber IV, I could hardly wait to give it a try. Annnnd then proceeded to play it until 6am. -_-;; Story mode's a little... lacking, but it's got the same familiar play style that I love and there's still the arcade mode. I still have another mode to try, which will probably keep me busy tonight. Also: loving the character creation. It's one of those fluffy little extras that reeeeeally aren't necessary, but it is fun. Looks like I can make up to 50 characters, so I've got 48 more to go once I feel like I understand the game better. The over-complication, I'm not too fond of, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon.

Now, let's see if I can keep it to just a few hours tonight. ^_^;;

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T21:57:00.004-05:00

Yep, it is officially 2010! Time to get used to writing a different year, recover from the holidays, and break out the resolutions.

Personally, I am terrible with resolutions. My willpower is something akin to that of a fox just outside an open chicken coop door, so I'm not so big on resolutions. Maybe I've just never done them right - possibly because I always seem to go for the abstract.

Let's take the old standby of weight loss as an example. Resolving to get in shape? Admirable but abstract, no concrete goal. Resolving to exercise three times a week? Concrete goal, something I can really sink my teeth into and chart my progress. I can take that and say, "Okay, I can work up to exercising thirty minutes three times a week, and once I'm there, work it up to sixty minutes! Weight loss, universe willing, will follow!"

This year, I'm going to set myself a few concrete goals, things I can work on that aren't setting myself up for failure. Therefore, this year I am going to:

Finish that short story that's been sitting around on my hard drive for the past year, polish it up, and send it out.
Finish a novel and get it to the point where I let other people read it. All goes well there, send IT out!
Finish that pic of Heph's workroom that I've been playing around with since May.
Keep up with this blog for the next 12 months.
And yes, start exercising three times a week.

There. They're out there, they're concrete, and I think they're doable. Wish me luck!

Final thoughts on this first of January, 2010: hope the coming year brings luck, health, and good memories for all! Happy New Year!

Woot! New SS Page!

2009-12-30T18:12:00.002-05:00

Yes, finally got a new page up for Strawberry Syrup! Had to get at least one up this month... I need to try and get a buffer up again. That way, next time I get sick or the artwork refuses to cooperate or Life in General demands my attention, the readers won't have to wait for things to sort things out.

I do love my readers, too. They've had to put up with a lot of skipped updates this year, and at least a few of them have stuck with me, so a big thank-you to them. ^_^

In any case, my plans for today include heading out to Borders to hunt down Volume 1 of 07-Ghost and see if I enjoy the manga as much as I did the anime. I'll be sure to let you know!

Meanwhile, my plans for New Year's Eve involve a Twilight Zone marathon and epic sketch page of doodling epicness. Ah, good times...

Finding New Anime

2009-12-28T21:05:00.007-05:00

Once upon a time, I used to find my new anime through magazines like Animerica (back when it was monthly... assuming it even exists anymore) or by sifting through the Anipike. Yes, this was back in the days of VHS, before YouTube existed and manga cost a hefty $15.99 a volume - never mind the limited selection of that - when finding a good series was like playing the lottery. I'd hunt down a promising-looking title, my brother would head to Media Play to buy it, and we'd cross our fingers and hope it wouldn't end up on our Shelf of Shame.

These days, I have other ways of finding anime. First of all, there's all that lovely manga now available for under $10 a volume. Generally, I'll check out the first 20 pages or so in the store, then buy it if it's still got my attention, and if I like it, I'll start checking out the anime.

Lately, however, I've found two great series another way: browsing the fan art on devArt. Now, just because one of the artists I watch falls in love with a series doesn't mean I'll bother to look into it, but when five, six, or seven of my watched deviants seem to be obsessed with something, I'll give it a try. In the past year, I've noticed a lot of fan art for Katekyo Hitman Reborn! showing up in my watchbox. I'd seen the manga in Borders, but when the back said it was about a mafioso assassin baby trying to teach a hapless kid how to become the next head of the mafia family, I pretty much put it right back on the shelf and moved on.

But then, I started seeing more and more of the fan art, the characters seemed really cool, and lots of people seemed to love this series. Not all series that fans get all rabid about are great, mind you - I don't really get Axis Powers Hetalia, for example - but when you see that many people getting into a series, it's worth checking out. So, I decided to give KHR a second chance... and now I absolutely love it. Sure, there was a major lag when the author decided to spend so much time on a character I absolutely hated, but she's since moved on from her obsession with her own personal Scrappy, moving into a completely awesome story arc. Be forewarned: KHR starts out as an episodic little comedy, but there is, in fact, character development going on, and the real story kicks in around Volume 8. It's even better in the anime - they cut the character that nearly ruined the series for me out entirely.

Yesterday, however, I came across a single piece of fan art - one solitary little piece - and found it so intriguing that I just had to look into it more. What was so intriguing? A character's name. I just had to see the guy named Frau.

Enter my descent into 07-Ghost (Frau, by the way, would be the blond guy on the cover there). Since yesterday, I've watched the entire first season (subbed, even!) and am planning an expedition to the book store to hunt down the manga. There's action, great characters, beautiful artwork (in the anime, at least - haven't gotten my hands on the manga yet), and a story that kept me interested through 25 episodes. It's high on drama, but like all my favorite series, it's got enough humor in it to keep it from getting too heavy.

Right this second, there would be no better news to me than hearing that 07-Ghost is being dubbed by a good company with fantastic voice actors. That would be amazing, but for now, I'll settle for getting my hands on the manga.

No idea when I'll stumble across a new treasure, but that's part of what makes it fun - and besides, helps keep the cost down if it takes awhile between each new find. Life's sometimes considerate like that. :D

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T23:47:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope yours was spent with lots of love and cheer and all that good sentimental Hallmark stuff. Its heart is in the right place - family, good times, and the spirit of giving.

Mine was spent with the family, as well. Our major family tradition is having kielbasa and sauerkraut. Mm, kielbasa... This year with a pound cake for dessert, courtesy of Dad. Of course, it led to a minor oven fire, but some quick fire safety skills and a few scented candles and all was well.

No spotlight this week. Instead, just hoping your holidays went well, and for those of you who don't celebrate, hope you at least got some time off work or went to see a good movie with friends or something.

Happy Holidays!

It's Official...

2009-12-23T22:44:00.004-05:00

I'm sick. Got the antibiotics today to prove it. Hopefully, they'll help. As a note for future reference: no matter how much they say it'll help your sore throat, DO NOT gargle salt water if your lips are at all chapped. Ow. ><;;

On the bright side, I did manage to get a Christmas pic up for Strawberry Syrup before getting hit with Strep or whatever it is. It's not the best pic I've ever done, but hopefully it's kinda cute. Last year, I did Little Sammy's Christmas memories... this year, it's Hunter's turn!

Meanwhile, I'm contenting myself with the Ghost Hunters marathon and Facebook quizzes. Addictive little suckers... although it was a personal blow to my pride to only get a 75% on the "Can You Tell Anime Guys From Girls?" *sighs* I used to be so much better at that.

As for the "Which Mythical Beast Are You?", I'm chalking that little result up to my current circumstances, particularly the "tormented existence, part of you wants to die" bit... but that'll pass as soon as the antibiotics do their job. On a side note, I happen to prefer the werewolves who AREN'T consumed by torment and woe-is-me attitudes, which is probably why I like the Mercy Thompson series so much. No, being a werewolf isn't all furry romps through the woods, but they deal with it and move on with their lives. Minimal "I AM A MONSTER!" angst.

Alright, crawling back into my lozenge and Tylenol-lined cave now...

2009 Summary Meme

2009-12-21T16:04:00.005-05:00

As I was finally going through the massive pile of deviations stacking up in my devArt inbox, I stumbled across a new meme: the 2009 Summary Meme. I think I'm actually going to do this one. I mean, what better way to end the year than to sit back and take stock of everything you've done over the past 12 months?

It helps that for once, I had pretty decent artwork every single month. In fact, for the first couple months, I'm going to have a hard time picking. In March, for example, we had both The Centaur Kiraz and Attempt 02, my second attempt at drawing one of my DI characters in a realistic style (namely Astarte, who turned out rather fantastically). At the moment, I'm leaning more towards Astarte, but I am still hella proud of how Kiraz turned out, too. And let's not even get started on February...

Also as an end-of-year type thing, I'm working on a another doodle page, done on the old paper again. Why? Because that's how I started the year. It should be an interesting comparison, seeing how my style has changed over the year, assuming it has at all. Considering my so-called "style" seems to be in flux from one piece to another, it would be a miracle if it hasn't.

Here's a sneak preview from the doodle page:

Yeah, there's more than a few *ahem* character interaction exercises on this sheet. I've got about a week to finish coloring things in, which I will get right back to as soon as I get something done for Strawberry Syrup this week. It's Christmas - gotta do something!

Zazzle Spotlight: The Dancing Mu

2009-12-20T02:10:00.003-05:00

This is less a specific product than an incredibly cool shop. Teal Newcomb not only does some beautiful artwork, but also has a talent for making that art look good on the products. For example:

Blue dragon mug - double dragon by thedancingemu
Buy coffee mugs online at Zazzle

The Blue Dragon mug. How cool is that? There is a ton of stuff like this in her shop, all nicely organized according to type of art - dragons, anthro, anime, prehistoric creatures, etc. Also a plus: most of her stuff is customizable. Yeah, I know, that's the big draw of Zazzle, but many of her designs are specifically made to accommodate customization. Take the mug, for example: nice big space for you to add your own personal message, right in the middle of the design.

I also strongly suggest looking at the tote bags.

The Fugue Had A Purpose

2009-12-16T18:35:00.002-05:00

And apparently, that purpose was fighting off a cold.

This week, the old immune system is making a valiant effort to stave off the onslaught of Cold and Flu Season. Fortunately, it's doing a good enough job that I'm just feeling off rather than downright miserable, but off is enough to make doing a decent comic page the equivalent of running a marathon barefoot. I'm not much for running barefoot on asphalt, so no comic page again this week.

I do feel bad when I skip weeks. I really do. I know I have readers, and that they actually enjoy the comic. But the fact that I DO have readers makes me really not want to scribble out some piece of crap that should never see the light of cyberspace and make them suffer through that.

Some people would say any page is better than no page. I disagree.

This is why I need a buffer. I sense a New Year's resolution in the making, there.

Coming Out of the Fugue

2009-12-14T18:49:00.003-05:00

Slowly but surely, I'm getting back to work here. Last night, I finally got back to work on my NaNo story. Yes, yes, I know, NaNo's long since over and I won, so what more is there to do?

Finish the story, that's what.

It's currently at 172 pages, double-spaced, and there's probably another hundred pages to go before I consider it a fully finished first draft. At this point, I'm thinking I'll just keep plowing through until I reach the end, then go back and sort out the the plot holes, contradictions, and time line issues in Draft #2, then do the fine-tuning in Drafts 3 and 4. I seem to work best in multiple drafts.

Now, let's see if I can get the comic to cooperate...

Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Brain Gone...

2009-12-10T17:59:00.004-05:00

Eesh. I swear, this week, my brain hopped a flight to Tahiti and hasn't so much as sent a post card back.

It happens, from time to time. The old creative muse completely rebels, riles up the rest of the gray matter, and suddenly I've got a mutiny on my hands - or in my head, as the case may be. No matter how much I try to concentrate on what I need to do, Ye Olde Muse is bound and determined to fully immerse itself in frivolous fluff - sketches, doodles, writing that will never see the light of day...

It's a little like existing in a void where "out of sight, out of mind" is the going rule and if you don't keep a train of thought, it may well be gone forever. But for those things the Muse is interested in at the moment... well, when the Muse gets interested, it gets interested, and there's no room for negotiation. It's either draw or write it right now and get it out of my head, or suffer the consequences.

I like to call this a creative brain purge. Giving it a fancy name makes me feel like it actually serves a purpose... which it does. I guess it's the waking equivalent of dreaming for me. Dreaming, as my high school psych teacher fondly put it, is the same thing as flossing your brain. It gets out all the stuff wedged in the crevices, occasionally hurts a little, and leaves your brain better able to function when it's all said and done. These CBPs of mine seem to do the same thing, only since I don't do it every single night, they tend to show up out of the blue and dominate my life for a good week at a time. Forget continuing the story, doing a full finished picture, or turning out a post-worthy comic page: it's time for a CBP!

Which is why there is no comic page this week. No matter how hard I tried, the concentration just wasn't there. It's like trying to read a book while someone's pulling on your sleeve, going, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Look at that! Look over there! Hey!"

Yeah, not happening.

But, when it's over, I'll be able to concentrate again, and I might even have something to show for it. So, I am just going to ride it out and hope it's done by next week. Because really, I would like my brain back sometime before Christmas, thanks.

Top Distractions

2009-12-07T17:16:00.004-05:00

Yep, life is distracting. It is very distracting. It doesn't even have to try very hard - just wiggle something shiny outside the window, and there goes my concentration! However, there are a few things that grab my attention more than others.

The TV. If that's on, forget about writing! Whether it's Criminal Minds or HGTV or some SyFy movie (oh, how I love the cheesy bad SyFy flicks), it will just keep nibbling away at my concentration until I either have to put off writing or turn off the TV. Needless to say, TV stayed off for most of November.

Facebook. Oh, Facebook and your many, many time-draining applications. It started with Pet Society, then spread to CafeVille and, most recently, FarmVille. The last two are particularly dangerous, as you have to check at certain time or else your food or crops will spoil or wither and die. I can't even say they're really all that GOOD of games, they're just addictive.

RP Chat. Yep, I do some RP. Back in 2001 or so, I started a message board RPG dealing with mythology. Although the actual game is pretty thoroughly dead, the characters have lived on through AIM. While I am loathe to call this a distraction, as I do so love my characters, it does qualify.

TV Tropes.com. Sweet Lord, this is the distraction of distractions. It is an endless maze of amusement and fascination and the ultimate time-sucking black hole for writers, lit majors, movie geeks, and anyone else with an interest in books or film. I am not kidding - this place is dangerous. You look at one entry, and suddenly you've got ten more opened in tabs to read through later, and each of those gives you three or four more, and before you know it, it's 5am and you're wondering where the hours went. I had no idea this place even existed until my brother revealed that someone had done a page for Strawberry Syrup.

So that's my list of top distractions. I'm sure there are more, but there's a shiny object demanding my attention!

Zazzle Spotlight: Christmas Cards 2009

2009-12-04T20:02:00.003-05:00

Tis the season for mad dashes from store to store, death-defying acrobatics in an attempt to hang sparkly lights from the house, the never-ending search for the perfect Christmas cards and the rush to mail them before Christmas actually arrives.

In my family, that last one is truly a family event. My mother picks out the cards, while the task of sending them out falls to my dad, who painstakingly hand-addresses each envelope in beautiful calligraphy. It's his own special touch on the holidays (My addition to all this is to erase all his pencil guidelines before the cards hit the mailbox ^_^).

Of course, there are easier ways to add a personal touch to your Christmas cards - ones that don't require hours of work or artistic talent. One of them is to send family photo cards:

DearSanta Photo Cards by Guiltypleasures
View other Dear santa Photo Cards

Just upload a picture of your family, add your own personal message, and you'll be all set to go! There are a lot of cards on Zazzle that let you personalize like that - I just happened to like this one for the eye-pleasing design, homey-feeling art, and the heart-felt letter to Santa that should bring up the whole sugary-sweet holiday feeling.

It's a great way to make the holidays a little more personal, and grandparents and out-of-state family members will love seeing the family, if only in a Christmas card. And don't forget, you can always create your own card from scratch!

December, December...

2009-12-02T18:27:00.004-05:00

I've always liked the month of December. After years of an annual Christmas play and handbell choir in grade school and junior high, I've got a strong affinity for Christmas songs. Granted, I'm not one of those people who wants Jingle Bells blasting in the car from November to New Years, but I love them enough to devote an entire lens to My Favorite Christmas Songs. I also get to set up the family Dickens' Village, and the Christmas tree goes up around Thanksgiving so we can enjoy it all through December. All we really need now is snow.

This year has been pretty devoid of snow in my area. Scratch that - completely devoid of snow. I don't think we've had so much as a threat of the fluffy white stuff this year. Still, I was in the mood to do something cute and snow-related for about a month now, so I finally sat down and did it:

Kitsune Snow Day Light Shirts by ameyer64
View more Snow day T-Shirts

Yep. The Kitsune Snow Day. I occasionally do cute things like this - mostly when I have younger cousins sitting right next to me and demanding I show them how to draw something. Or just quietly sitting and watching my every move, which makes me acutely aware that they are under 10 years old and drawing hot guys is not appropriate. That would be how the animals for the Pink Ballerina Box came about.

The Kitsune Snow Day, however, was all for me. I had the image of two cute little foxes building a snowfox, and hey, I like foxes, so went ahead and indulged my "Awwwww so KYOOT!" side. Besides, doing more than one style is good for you, I hear.

This one was done entirely in Photoshop. No preliminary sketches this time!

Story Soundtracks, Anyone?

2009-11-30T16:41:00.004-05:00

Last week, as I was idly browsing the thank-you gifts for each level at the NaNo Donation Station (because someday, I'll be able to afford to donate more than ten bucks), where the gifts range from everything from a nice shiny halo on the site to writing software to a taco voucher with the head of NaNo itself. The aforementioned software actually looked really cool. I mean, really cool. And if I had a Mac, I'd probably order it in a second (Scrivener, for those who are curious), but I am, indeed, a PC.

Then, I noticed that the folks who donate $2500 get a spot in Lani Diane Rich's "awesome online novel revision workshop." Well, I thought, if that's their big addition to the major donors, it's worth checking out!

You can look over her rather impressive credentials and the workshops for yourself. Me, I went straight to her blog... and it is there that I came across her idea of making novel soundtracks.

Now, the idea of using music with writing isn't a new one. I've used it for years to get me in the mood for a particular story. For this year's NaNo, I've been listening to Daughtry's Leave This Town over and over again. However, I'd never thought about making a soundtrack for my novels.

How cool is that? Gather together songs that make you think of certain characters or events in your novel and stick them all on a playlist, ready and waiting to inspire you and get you thinking about your novel even when you're not working on it. Maybe I'm just not used to making my own playlists, or maybe I'm just not that tech-minded, but the idea never occurred to me.

I can tell you now, though - next novel, I am definitely going to give this a try!