Why is it that whenever I look at people's answers for the writer's block questions, most of the answers are in RUSSIAN

CAN'T READ THAT SHIT

Before leaving Brooklyn I spent at least four hours scanning in like half of my sketchbook! I can't really show a lot of it publicly, but this is a huge chunk of it! Nothing's really quality, but there's a good quantity of it! That counts for something, right? 8D

Just to warn you fellas, the first few images are figure drawings with nudity and implied nudity. If that's not your thing, go ahead and skip to the next cut!

( Here There Be Ladies )

... ... ...

( Less Ladies Ahead! Mostly vague thumbnails, original characters, and a meme. )

... ... ...

That was fun! We should do it again next year.

Have a good one, guys!

HURRRRRRRR yeah I am pretty much the biggest creeper ever

Brett and I just got back from seeing The Princess and the Frog. It had its troubles here and there, but we both really enjoyed it. Especially:
"What, y'all from Shreveport?"
We DIED.

Andreas Deja was lead on Mama Odie and not Facilier? Color me surprised.

Holiday debuggery

We know there were a few kinks with the holiday promotion. We've been working very hard to get them ironed out. If you have a paid/permanent account, keep on sending those coupons. Here's an update:

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Photos of the week

We're back with more dazzling pictures from around the world. Congrats to marlenemcc, who has been awarded a virtual blue ribbon as the winner of our fourth photo contest. We hope you'll click over to LJ_Photophile poll and tell us your picks in pics!

For more fantastic user content, we'll meet you under the cut. ( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for reading. Here's wishing you the very merriest of holidays. We'll see you next year!

OMG OMG CLIENTELE & VETIVER BACK TO BACK MARCH 1 AT MOHAWK

ETA: So, Ristorante Paradiso anime. Is it good? It sounds like it is right up my alley (in the Only Yesterday direction) and the manga art is stylized in a way that I love.
Thoughts?

ETA2: Today's project: clean out the guest room closet. Found so far:
- Jerky Boys CD
- bowling ball & bag (?!)
- fanny pack (??!)
- Blind Melon album
- Anime 18's Quicktime CD-ROM release of Legend of the Overfiend, Part III
- Mandrake 7.0 manual
- Ushio & Tora VHS
- Earth Girls Are Easy soundtrack
- Was (Not Was) What Up Dog? album

Rotated out the ads on tjandamal.com. I'm welcoming more, if you got 'em. I've only got 2 or 3 left after this round.

Thank you for the Christmas lights catssyclaws!

Signal boosting: Missing teen in Chicago area FOUND! :D

I wasn't a fan of Brittany Murphy (didn't dislike her either, just neutral), but her sudden death has me freaked out, since we are/were the same age. Granted, she had a much more demanding and stressful life, but...

On the way home from Brett's show last night, I kept wondering: My time here is limited. Am I using it well? Is it right to dedicate this much time to telling stories and drawing pictures? There's no objective, rational way to pass judgment on that. Life, why you gotta be unpredictable?

After SEVEN WEEKS, the Chapter 20 art is finally done. Granted, there was an out-of-state trip and some tl;dr bad shit mixed into that timeslot, but that's still too long. I think I might be able to make up for it during the vacation which starts tomorrow woooo

20 was a pretty tough chapter, both art- and dialogue-wise. For starters, they're inside a diner with walls covered in junk. TJ's finally feeling comfortable enough to open up a bit (and is talking about shit I had to do a bunch of research on). while Amal's trying to relax but he's got "please don't say anything that'll out us because I am not really at ease in this place" in the back of his mind. Oh yeah, and there's more turn-of-the-century architecture, with bonus decay added. Augghh.
I still gotta fix the perspective in a few places.

Still trying to think up something to post to the <Epic site for Christmas. Only idea so far has a punchline that hinges on a rap song from about 1993 that is 1. obscure and 2. obscure for a good reason, sssoooo yeah not so much.

i_hope_that
For many of us, the holidays can be kind of rough. If you're searching for a network of understanding friends, this ultra-nurturing community encourages you to express your heartfelt wishes and offer other members encouragement and acceptance. Not for the terminally snarky or emotionally-challenged, this is a good-spirited place to lend comfort and support.

diygifts
Feeling crafty? If you've got a few last folks on your holiday gift list, this is a great place to seed your creativity and generosity. You'll also discover wonderful DIY tips to decorate your home and entertain guests. Offering a no-frills-no-skills attitude that welcomes the cash-challenged and arts-phobic, you're sure to get ideas and make friends in the process.

cooking_club
A fun and friendly community dedicated to those who love to cook, whether you're a meat-and-potatoes type, an aspiring gourmand, and/or a vegan. In search of a brilliant dish to use up those weekly leftovers? Post your ingredients and you'll be whipping up a feast by dinner. You can also share favorite recipes. For Type A chefs, you can spice up your culinary repertoire with exciting cooking challenges.

p.s. yesterday I went to a dinner party-ish type of thing for my drawing class at my drawing teacher's place on the Bowery. I had a hoegaarden and felt like an adult.

I realized that I'm really not one though, judging by the conversation that was happening. Why am I still such a teenager nine year old?!?! STOP WATCHING SHERLOCK HOUND, HILLARY!!! GROW UP

Everyone: talking about unique life experiences and how long their boyfriends can hold out and when they discovered their sexuality and their crazy families and strange life changing events
Hillary: u-uh i spent the summer reading books and working in a pharmacy. also i have discovered nothing about myself
Everyone: complains about engineers

oh those damn engineers

my life experiences include being somewhat not interested in contact with my peers but i enjoyed the free gumbo and beer. DOES THIS COUNT AS MY FIRST COLLEGE PARTY??? I GUESS SO. It took you a whole year and a half, Hillary, but we're proud of you! Also, you aren't friends with any of them!
being awake all night: makes me kind of crazy

 - Finally, finally, I've gotten off my ass and added everybody's artwork to the site! Once I stopped shivering in terror of the daunting, massive task, it took me about an hour of concerted effort. Blah. Isn't that always the way?

That being said, it was a pretty chunky task, and I managed to get pretty damned disorganized over the last few months. I'm pretty sure I've gotten everyone's artwork up--and I'm pretty sure that I remembered to ask permission for, uh, most of them?--but if I've messed up in any way, please, please let me know, and I'll fix it. If I missed a piece, or if I put one up that you don't want up there, or if you'd prefer a different name or link in your credit--I went with people's deviantART pages in most cases, since that's where I have most of this art collected--or whatever, let me know, I'll fix it. And by God I'll never wait this long to update the page again.

 - Also, I want to pass along a quick online-graphic-novel recommendation for The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal! And not just because there's going to be an ad banner for SotT running on the site eventually--cough, cough, yay--but because I've been watching this project develop since the very beginning, and I've got to tell you, it's something pretty damn special.

 - Since I was already updating the minisite, I put up the Lacuna from The Morning Star, too. Also, because I felt like it, here! Have a brand-new sparkly SotT holiday story! (Apropos of very little: it's been almost exactly five years since I wrote Happy/Merry. I think a newer story with one hundred percent less artsy-fartsy present-tenseness was definitely called for.)

( Shadow of the Templar: Prodigal Son )

~*~

( Notes, comments, etc. )

~*~

 - Happy Christmas, everyone!

stepstomarrow
When granddaughter, Jada, was born with leukemia, a donor-match was located and Jada made a miraculous recovery. In honor of her grandaughter's health, Jeanna has decided to walk across the country (in the dead of winter) to raise awareness and build support for the bone marrow registry (all that's required is a cheek swab). Follow Jeanna's remarkable journey as she travels the United States by foot.

- Via pana: "...In a society that doesn't value art for the most part; it's normal not to value artists. And artists often don't know it's happening, because they're part of that society and the trend of devaluing their own work." Great essay, but something not covered: nasty reactions upon asking a viable price, and how to determine whether said nastiness poses a risk w/r/t later work opportunities. As a relatively un-established artist, I do worry about this from time to time.

- Speaking of not valuing creative/design work, turns out that Jesus-ified merch ripped from commercial logos and other copyrighted materials is not just horrendously tacky but actually illegal. (warning: auto-playing ad with audio)

- Various folks on JF share their superpowers. (I just found this thread amusing)

- Kate Beaton + Nativity Story = Christmas is awesome again

- Not embarrassing: I went to bed super early last night, then woke at 3 with nasty heart-pounding, eyes-wide-open insomnia.

- Embarrassing: I spent the insomniac hours panicking about the comic (chapter 8 in particular). Gah.

I'm probably going to uStream tonight while doing touchups on chapter 1 and chapter 2.

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Happy holiday promotion!

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Tweaks and Enhancements

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3. TMI, dude: We've added some fun FREE sponsored vgifts! You can send up to 50 TMI vgifts to mutual friends (btw, you cannot send free vgifts to communities). If you're a Paid/Permanent user and you want to view sponsored gifts, click Show sponsored gifts on your homepage or visit the sponsored gift page. These vgifts will only be available through Wednesday, December 23rd.

You can view more awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. Until next time, stay snug!

Evan Dorkin on cartoonists and health insurance. Also being discussed on the Slave Labor Graphics call-in podcast.

Thanks for all the plugs on LJ and Twitter yesterday, guys. *_* Not gonna lie, I got pretty misty-eyed and wibbly about it. Also: squee

Spent last night doing touch-ups on Chapter 1 and reuploading corrected pages. Still got a few more fixes to do. Also retouching and prepping Chapter 2, pages 1-4, which will be next Tuesday's update.

I know we should be doing Christmas cards. I know. It's like thank you notes and using the correct fork. I could say it's because I don't have time to devote to a color illustration (which is basically true), but same as the past few years, I just... can't muster up the will to care about Christmas. Simply buying small gifts for my parents was a huge hurdle; the prospect of going the post office to mail them is daunting. I don't know if it's burnout or depression or what.

Also not feeling so hot; think I'm coming down with some sort of minor bug. Which isn't so bad - I've barely been sick at all since leaving restaurant work this past February. I should be fine shortly, but for now I want to curl up under a blanket annnngzzzzz

Huarghlblargl

Edit: OH UH AND

I'm thinking about doing Stumptown instead of APE. Waiting to hear from NYCC first.

APE Pros: SAN FRANCISCO, huge, busy, likely to break even
APE Cons: Real close to NYCC time-wise, hotel cost

Stumptown Pros: PORTLAND, visit our pal drathernaut, maybe meet Grimm & Dean & Neeka & la la la, laid-back con
Stumptown Cons: Unlikely to break even, coming up pretty soon

taste_buds
Holidays provide a built-in excuse for indulgent entertaining. This all-purpose foodie community covers everything from homemade hangover cures to dinner party menus. Need quick advice? Get five-minute snack suggestions, low-fat ingredient substitutes, and even measurement conversions. Delicious recipes garnished with humorous advice. Yum.

naturesbeauty
Always on the lookout for compelling images, we were delighted to discover this flourishing community of artists who share a love of nature. Honoring the subject with photographs, paintings, sketches, prose, poetry, and other creative works, you'll be simultaneously riveted to your monitor and inspired to run helter skelter towards the nearest wooded dale.