Tabula Rasa - A Lesson Learned.

A day late but not unexpected at this point, I've got a full post on what's been going down in my neck of the woods. So sit back, relax, and I'll try to make this as coherent as possible - irregular sleeping hours do wonders to a person's ability to write.

A week ago last Friday there was an exploit in my Wordpress install of Stacked Hand - the plugin I was using for newsletters, specifically - and malware was hacked into my site. Because of my update schedule I didn't catch it until the following Monday, and my site was closed down later that week. Thanks to some help, I've cleared out the old archive, done a fresh install on the site and starting from scratch on the build. I didn't think of backing up the site itself for such an occasion, so the format is starting over from new.

Obviously, this means that the site right now is threadbare as all getout. I've learned from the launch in April that I need a much more solid design for the site itself. So what this boils down to is this: for the time being I'll be working on redesigning the site to better reflect the theme of Stacked Hand, and then putting the pages back up to start the schedule up again. For the time being page updates will be suspended, but you can see what's been posted so far on the comic's mirror site. I apologize for the inconvenience, and will be working to fix this as soon as I can.

Keep being Awesome,
C-Z

Cleaning House, Entrepreneur Blogging and Updates.

Yes yes, I know, I've once again spaced out and left this space vacant. In my defense, things have been steadily picking up since the last lengthy post I did here. A quick rundown, for those who haven't been paying attention:

• Stacked Hand has officially launched! The page itself is still in a good need of a website tune-up, I just need to set aside time to implement it. The current update schedule is biweekly on Mondays. (next update is Jun 23rd). 
• There is also a mini comic in progress telling more of the exploits of our yet-to-be-named main character. Don't worry. He gets his introduction soon enough. 
• I am busy at work developing another set of prints for next year's convention season. The first series is based on the art style of Alphonse Mucha. 



Which, while it is visually appealing as all hell is very. Very. Intricate when it wants to be.

• Thought Bubble has also launched over at the Peoria Journal Star's website! Each week I review webcomics and small press books, and take a look at the comic culture in general from where we are now. It's been going for about a month now, check it out. 
• And of course, I'm still teaching, with a few new courses to start up here in the oncoming weeks. I'll have more information on that as it develops in the future. 

If you want to help support me, get access to more updates/WIPs like the one I just posted above, and get monthly request sketches and new wallpapers, give a spin over to my Patreon account.

This past week at 1MillionCups in Peoria the discussion was brought around to doing a community blog that features/spotlights the hundreds of entrepreneurs that are in the local community and whatever projects that they're working on. I would love to try to get a push towards at least a listing of the group in that way, or a site that could be used as an aggregate feeder that would link to the entrepreneur's own writing on their current work. One of the things my teachers used to instill in us was a high value in production blogs, no matter how much of the process you actually want to keep hidden from the general public until the big reveal. You can still do bits and pieces - snippets, really - and get folks interested in what you're working on. At least, I'm guessing that's why you're all here, right? </rimshot>

Anyway. I leave off with a mental note to myself to seriously clean up my label list for this blog. It's cluttered and pretty awful. Til next time!

Launch Date!

Normally I'd be trying my hardest to spend today working on coloring the comic, but for a little stubborn corgi trying to lick his stitches, I'm kind of distracted. (As I type this, he's finally curled up to sleep for a little bit) Having to work away from the usual station will see how this weekend goes.

Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, he'll completely forget about the sutures.

I wanted to let y'all know that I've got a tentative release date for the comic - April 7th! Until that time I'll be sparse around online sources as I'm trying to get the finishing touches done on the comic. Again, if tumblr's your thing you can follow the comic here, or you can get updates emailed to you on the main site. After that, I'll be setting up a Patreon account for the comic if you're interested in keeping it rolling. (or it may be sooner, we'll see how time goes.)

Til next time!

Getting Every Thing In Order.

It feels like it was yesterday when I sat down to update things. This week has blown by fast. I'll keep this week short.

I'm hoping that, tentatively, I can start pushing updates in late March. I'm not nailing down an exact date just yet, but that'll probably show up in the next couple of weeks.

Yes, gradient. Boo. But the font change seems so much nicer. 

In the meantime, you can still hit up the website for the newsletter.

This week, my copy of Manga Studio 5 came in. I can successfully say that, with the exception of a few effects I'm still trying to tinker with, I can use this program for the comic and not have to worry about losing any style or the comic looking too terribly "unpolished" and rough around the edges. It's still available on Amazon for twenty-seven dollars, I cannot recommend the program and Frenden's Wonderful Brush Sets enough.

Anywho, that's all I really have for right now. I'll catch you guys on the flip side!

Tools of the Trade

I can officially say that my computer is now back up to working condition! All of my previous comic files are now nestled in their home, and I've made several different alarms to make sure I back up everything I have. (Honestly, can't be to terribly careful anymore.) Since I'm still trying to figure out a good time table on the comic itself, I thought I'd give a little tour of some of the tools I use on the computer. 

And yes, post-it notes are Kind of a Big Deal.

While I've been doing a lot of the extra work for the comic in Photoshop, I'm starting to lean away from using them in favor of other programs. The brushes and blending that I use are prevalent in Manga Studio 4, but I will be upgrading to Manga Studio 5 in the near future. 

The inking and flat coloring have been fairly simple so far in MS 4 EX, but I've heard enough about MS 5 (considering it's on sale right now) and that it's coloring capabilities are on par with Photoshop. We'll see where that goes - hopefully, it'll help me settle on a style for the comic. (or at least kick that perfectionist feeling out of high gear. )

Photoshop is enough of an industry standard that I really don't feel like I should go into it. I've been using Photoshop for around thirteen years at this point, but when they shifted to the subscription model I sort of lost that "Adobe Fanboy Glow" in my eyes. I have CS5 and it's still one of my apps I use a lot (and adore), but I'm shying away from it outside of teaching work. There are things far more affordable. 

I've also been experimenting more and more with Mischief since I got my laptop back. The situation's improved a lot as far as lineart goes, but I'm still floundering about with coloring. I've kept it as my sketch/doodle app for now, and I do recommend people give it a try. 

Coffitivity is a site (and application) that generates coffee shop white noise. They did a study about people working better against the calmer background of a coffee shop as opposed to office noises or just general silence. I've been using it for a few days and so far have really enjoyed using it. I tend to pair it with listening to podcasts (don't know if that's weird or not) but the balance has been acceptable for me. For music, otherwise, I just use Spotify. 

Another webcomic artist turned me onto Frenden and his brush sets. Since then, I've bought both the PS and the MS 4 brushes and they are smooth. I've always struggled with achieving beautiful line weight variances like this, but with these brushes they're much easier to achieve. Before it was like painting calligraphy with the dirtiest, nastiest, split-hair brush you could find. Frenden does reviews about both wacom and monoprice tablets, and has convinced me that if I ever upgrade I should move to a yinova as opposed to a cintiq. 

In the end, that's a fraction of the software I use, but it's a good start. Catch you next week! 

Back online, back (somewhat) on track.

This week we finally ordered an external harddrive port so we can gut the old laptop and move over some of the missing files that I need for the comic. With that, I think we'll be entering into a psuedo spring-cleaning: whatever I haven't touched in a year from my old laptop goes into storage. While this new laptop's speed is much, much faster, I don't have as much room to keep things on here (and I'm going to try to keep everything free of digital clutter...as strange as it is to say it.)

So what have I been doing in the meantime? Well, mostly tea.

Well, a LOT of tea.

About a year or so ago I started putting together blends based on Guild Wars 2 characters and only recently finished up the artwork for them. Mostly because the labels didn't work for me before. Eir's Tea, for example, has gone through four labels on it's own.

From this, the original name of the tea...

to this, which still didn't feel right.

There are more blends planned for other areas (along with a set of teas not related to any fandom in particular because, let's face it, not everyone's a fan of everything). It's not much, but every time some one orders one of those teas, I get more money off when I go to fuel my own tea supply, which, in turn, allows me to test more blends of teas. (Also, let me know if you're new to the site, coupons are a lovely thing.)

It's a hobby of mine, mostly, that comes up on the side. Much like the SCA and related activities, which was last weekend.

With apologies to Ms. Diane Peterson-Dover for borrowing her photo.

But yes, that's what I've been up to in the fallout from the mini-computer-crisis. Realizing now that it's been roughly three weeks since the computers both had issues and two since I got the PC up and running, and about a week for the new laptop to get to a state of normalcy.

I will have more on a projected release date for Stacked Hand after next weekend. Until then,

-C-Z

State of Affairs

Welcome to 2014 all! I know I posted earlier this week about postponing the comic release, and well...here's why.

Between Thursday of last week and Monday of this week, both of my computers decided to break. The desktop was salvageable (PSU fried), while the laptop...was not. The piece was integrated with another part of the computer that was too costly to repair and would most assuredly break again. I had to replace it with a new laptop, thanks to the generous support of my boyfriend, I now have two computers functioning.

Sadly, most of my work that I had gotten finished is still on the old laptop. It will take some time to get the files off, and, at the same time, more time to get them completed and the site in order. I feel terrible about this, but if I'm taking the time to try to get things in order, I want to make it right. I promised a 2014 release, and I'm going to stick to it. It's just not going to be in January, sadly enough. If you want a direct notification as to when the comic launches, you can always sign up for the newsletter on the site, or follow tumblr if that's more your thing.

Again, thank you all for your patience.

Mischief: First Impressions, Creative Process, And Gods, I've Taken a Load of Cute Animal Pictures Lately.

I've been telling the story recently of how my site's URL came to pass. In my supposed infinite wisdom upon looking towards college I decided to take all of my gen. ed studies in my first few years of school to get them out of the way at a Junior College. And because of that infinite wisdom my senior ass got stuck with two big-project courses in the same semester as a sound design and statistics course. Translation: on average, I had three hours of sleep at most each night. And when at least two of these days have me doing twelve hours of projects and courses (and attending course lectures) I spent the mornings shuffling into class with a red bull in one hand, Starbucks in the other. By all rights, I probably should've hard a heart attack of some kind by this point. I have curbed my intake since then. I also probably sleep twice as much.

The second reason I feel like the zombie part of my moniker is relevant is it seems that when the seasons change, I turn into a shuffling mass of illness. I had planned on fully plugging through the software I mentioned last time, Mischief, but only managed to get into roughly two days worth of working on different projects in the software itself. I will say that based on my short time in the product I'll probably try to purchase it in the future.

The first picture I tried to work with in it was just a simple sketch and linework study. While it's definitely a great tool there are some things to get used to. Lassoing and resizing parts of the picture is not impossible, just not as intuitive. And I would like a hexidecimal input for colors just because it's how I've learned to keep track of my own colors when I'm working. But I realize I'm not everyone.

I will warn you though - the lineart in this picture was done with their 6.5 brush. All of the lines. It really makes a difference on brush width when you're zooming into what you're working on. 

The second day I worked for a while doing gesture sketches in the software. While I really wish I would've been able to do a full piece (color, et all, blending too) I believe I'd love this software as a sketching tool then importing it into other software as a flat image. Because of the infinite canvas capabilities alone (not to mention the brushes) I would love this software as a way to sketch out future pages and thumbnail projects.

This is the year of changing software - I made the decision to work in the Manga Studio program for the graphic novel I'm working on, and it's made a difference in my layout and drawing style. I started picking up Frenden's signature brush packs for both Photoshop and the MS software - brushes that mimic traditional pen nibs and the like.

Yes, when I can't think of anything, and my brain is still loopy from sickness, I apparently draw my mascot self. One of these days I'll figure out a version of them I'll stick with. 

 I'll be posting some of the panels I had to cut out of the graphic novel when it gets closer to launch.

My personal FB has turned into an explosion of Puppy Pictures. We finally got to hold our Puppy last weekend, and he is incredibly adorable. Between that and the bf's mom's new puppy, I've suddenly made minor popularity as a cute animal photog. Almost reminds me of the ducklings caught in the sewer drain that happened this summer.  I may get the DSLR back out when we get Puck home with us for good and take a few photos of the rascal. Hopefully my eye for composition has gotten better and the pictures will turn out halfway decent.

I mean, this still isn't too bad and all as far as photos go but it is a cell phone picture. (boo. hiss.) 

That's enough out of me for tonight. I've got to sleep still.

On Comics, Projects, And Lucky Number Three.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like my particular health situation is going to be clearing up any time incredibly soon. But! I said I'd try to keep up with this blog again and I'm going to do just that. This week's post is going to be dedicated to projects I've had to shelve over the last year.

When looking back, my current webcomic-to-be (located here) is not the first comic I wanted to portray. It's the third. The first (and ultimately, the second) was a project I titled Feathery Wings. In it we had the shapeshifter angel-type (Aske) and an Italian student studying abroad in the States and trying to keep her head above the water. I wanted to go for less of a Judeo-Christian route and explore other versions of the guardian spirit aspect, so I delved into the Norse concept of Vordr, tree-spirits that protected a family or place...and a less-than-happy one that was now treeless. However, as promising as this story seemed (and how borderline Supernatural some of my issues were) I shelved it because I couldn't find a real overarching story. But Aske wouldn't go - they had been one of my first solid designs outside of college, and they weren't going away. I wanted to experiment with a series that had a genderless character as the main character or a strong part of the main cast.

The concept of basing a series around mythology has always been a big draw to me, even moreso with reading American Gods around Christmas last year. So, the world slowly built up around the idea of Gods on the Earth, but something holding them back from tearing the world apart - a pact of non-interaction, of sorts. This left (most) of the deities free to choose lives past the humdrum of their mythos, and integrate with normal society. In comes Ashe - a bouncer at a Mead Hall that acts as a safe haven for otherworldly types. Again, this concept was shelved because of the sheer amount of backhistory I've had to research to date on the world. I felt that until I got a solid connection to the roots of the environment itself, putting it to page was going to be on hold.

So what now? I wanted to start smaller, build in the same universe but without as much interference from the deific standpoint. Humans, and their foibles, and the smaller scale.

That's where I'm at now, that's where Stacked Hand comes in. Aske will still come back at some point, but for now, well...once the comic is introduced, I'll speak a little more about the character creation.

Busted Wrists, Distractedness.

So, I know about a month ago I said I'd start posting more regularly again. Time has a funny way of slipping out from under you and slapping you on the face as a parting gift. To attempt to make up for this, I figure, I'll try to do a bit of a recap of this year so far (since a few of you are indeed, folks who kind of know me.)

Earlier this year the bf and I had a conversation that basically ran like this -

Boyfriend: Man, rent's going to go up when we renew our lease again this year.

Self: With the way rent and utilities are, hell, we could probably afford a mortgage on a decent house.

Boyfriend: .....

Self: .....

Self: I'll start looking.....

Fast forward to April and we've closed in on this lovely ranch-style home that I'm currently sitting in. There's still bits and pieces to the place that need to be fixed up. (Bathrooms, deck, downstairs, etc) But so much of it is cosmetic adjustments that we've been happy with so far. Hell, three months down and I've gotten settled in here nicely, myself. Just sometimes feels a bit...empty. We're working on fixing that. If any of you know of a (reputable) Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder in the Midwest States, I'd be happy to hear of it. We've already gotten scammed once. I should've figured out beforehand but the idiots wanted us to pay in Bitcoin. Bit. Fucking. Coin.

Anyway. There have been enough personal changes in my life that started me thinking about trying to publish my own work. I got serious about it, as opposed to sitting back and worrying that my art/writing/etc isn't good enough to put something out there for the world to see. It's been two years since graduating Bradley University, and I can definitely say that my work has gone up leaps and bounds since then. Plus, it seems like that's the advice I keep seeing from several artists: Keep doing what you love, the work will come to you. Or something similar. I know I'm chasing down leads as fast as I get them, but in the meantime, I'm pushing to launch my comic and it's website by the end of the year. If I can get it out sooner, well, the more's the merrier for me.

I've started working with a couple of local groups, Start-up Peoria and Dr. Ardonaut's Lab, on some various projects. If even a singular one sees the light of day, I'll be delighted. I'm hoping that with the locality of each group I'll see some responsibility taken on all ends - the last few projects I was asked to work on left me incredibly jaded about pro-bono work, to the point where I think the only way I'd consider it is if everyone had an equal stake/amount to lose in the process. That and I have extensive knowledge of the person. Too many times it's been a start and stop - on my part too, admittedly - and several times I've produced a few pieces for a group only to have the people involved stop returning my e-mails.

As of late, I've had a carpal tunnel flare-up in my right wrist, so things have been somewhat slower. Even though I'm left-handed, the medication they gave me is incredibly draining. I will be posting commission prices within the next month for things inbetween comic pages, so be on the look out!