Sunset Hues

I had some computer trouble at the beginning of the week, which I've apparently overcome by just shutting the case to my desktop and letting it run at whatever temp it wants to run.  Weird.  On the plus side I'm no longer sitting in a frigid room nor awkwardly leaving and returning at intervals.  I lost my tabs when firefox updated, which was a tragedy and a blessing.  This was one of those weeks where I got a Wednesday off from work which is always refreshing.  I made a trip to move my car out of my friend's parking stall, and got a ray of hope from the DMV.  And then this weekend I just messed around online a bit, read Guin Saga, watched the first episode of Game of Thrones, and hobnobbed with pals while SPX tweets rolled in around us.  It was Eric Feurstein's birthday on the 13th.  Go read Rutabaga!  I also caught up with Rachael and Penny by Mokou.


Uploaded by Sataaa on May 9, 2009

This was the week of the attack on the Libyan American Embassy, the continuing Chicago teacher's strike, Regular Show winning an Emmy, J.G. Quintel's birthday, and Are You Okay Day.

Early in the week I caught streams with both Penny and Amber.  I worked Monday and began receiving a lot of inspiration for Eurydice: The Crowned.  I tweeted about drawing inspiration from horror shows from my childhood:  Friday the 13th the Series, Werewolf, The Hitchhiker, and also Doctor Who.

On Tuesday I had a work banquet, stuffed myself then came home with a bunch of swag and crashed hard.

Sam Wolfe Connelly
Neil Gaiman on the work of Edgar Allen Poe
Neil Gaiman on writing
Tanaka Tatsuyuki
Fabio Barboni



These are two characters I saw in the world, and I'm thinking of appropriating them for Eurydice. I was considering creating a group of men in a subculture/secret society that worships the old Moon Goddess who serve as a kind of Baker Street Boys to Eurydice. That eventually led to a plotline involving a lycanthrope biker gang who see the other guys as poseurs. I'm really glad that Eurydice's world is just growing out of scattered ideas. I hope to carry this one pretty far.

Sketchy At Best

Dear diary.  Lol.

I took a walk this afternoon and it was super peaceful and quiet.  I like those late afternoons where I mostly hear birds and the shush of leaves and branches shaking in the breeze.  My eyes have lately been drawn to studying figures and doing a sort of mental sketching that I heard somebody talk about earlier today on tumblr.



I had a very productive thought journey about the types of moods conducive for creation, and the type of content I feel inspired to write about.  This particular afternoon I felt inspired to explore a wanderer's narrative, something focused on the study of fine and obscure details, like discrete lines of poetry: a small square of canary yellow sunlight burning on a beige wall just beyond some shrubbery, the rounded roof tiles on the eaves of buildings reminiscent of pagodas, a newly installed set of park benches underneath an overpass.  I remembered a feeling of being drawn to foreign and private spaces;  a secret garden path, a small clearing in a grassy knoll just beyond the highway.  And I was also able to traverse old story ideas and recall their emotional inspiration:  the giddy anticipation of some night time event, the somber desperation of the waning afternoon and the drudgery of the day to day routine, the sudden magic of an uncertain romantic entanglement.  These things, the lifeblood of ideas and stories, and hopes for a life still unwritten.  I've locked these things in my heart for years and struggled to emerge an artist and a craftsmen for having felt these things, and for having discovered the importance and tenderness of these experiences.

Linkydinks of the week:
Make a Good Art, a comic based on Neil Gaiman's speech at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, by Gavin Aung Than @ Zen Pencils
Jordie Bellaire's interview @ Loikamania
The Makey Makey Kickstarter
Celine Choo, Aimee Major, and Betty Breitweiser
Garden Spectre @ Gingerland by Sam Alden
Corey Godbey's Menagerie
Rebecca Mock

I watched both Hulk movies this weekend. They were terrible in their own separate ways. On one hand the Ang Lee one was interesting for its ambitiousness, but it was hopelessly disjointed and dissatisfying. The other one was more on the nose for the superhero genre, but the characters and performances were wooden and it devolved into a dumb ole slug fest. They both start as vaguely interesting movies. I just don't get why people have had such a hard time making a good Hulk film.

I also started sketching a Migret story but it kinda sucks.  I did some Regular Show sketches that also kinda suck.  Next week I'll show you an ink doodle I started that actually does not suck as much.

The Loneliest SAN

This is a hot piece by Tomer Hanuka.

Here's the hot Keiko Lynn.

Lykke Li is hot.

This weekend Neil Gaiman sadly blogged about the passing of his good friend, our beloved author Diana Wynne Jones. A moment of silence in her honor.


Uploaded by YouVHS on Feb 23, 2010

I am now investigating this Kevin Church guy. And reading his collaboration with the uber-sexy-talented Ming Doyle: The Loneliest Astronauts. This just riding on the heels of having discovered Sheldon Vella and his now legendary short comic The End.

I'm thinking of taking a weekend off of SAN to get my thought process back in gear. When I started this blog I just wanted an outlet for stray thoughts, but I had always hoped to get some form, structure, and motivation out of it. I feel like this blog needs to mature to keep on existing, as do I so perhaps a break would clear the air of any unnecessary need to meet an arbitrary deadline. After all it's the content that people come for, not just the frequent updates. Sigh. We'll see.

100!

Hadoukentheband | October 25, 2010

It is Neil Gaiman's birthday this coming wednesday. Here is a special birthday post by Ivy McCloud.

Speaking of Livejournal, this week the internet fumed at CookSource a free publication for jacking an lj post. This is a reenactment.

And then our buddy Dharbin posted a clever guide to using the AMES.

I've often wondered what really makes me queue up so many things I never get to. Well, here's an answer! Also I really like this Charles Schultz post. I think these two things go a long way in helping me think in the right direction.

My favorite web comic related links for the week are the following:

http://www.catrackham.com/squirrelfamilytree.html

http://www.drawbrandondraw.com

http://www.noncanon.com

Well it's high time for celebration because not only have I hit 100 posts (!!!) but I've begun posting to my new livejournal, and I've somehow finagled Brian Fukushima into not only writing a song about me, but also becoming my 30th follower on twitter! Have an excellent week everybody!

Sketchanoodle

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving! This long weekend has consisted of so many things I don't even know where to start. I got to draw and chat with a live Bryony/paperlilies stickam stream. It was awesome and so much fun. And somehow I resisted leaving my apartment and spending money in overcrowded stores among the other zombsumers. Instead I clicked through pages of stuff I still managed not to buy. But I want 1) a graphic tablet(I'm considering the bamboo touch or the genius i609 or the adesso z12) 2) a bluetooth transmitter (probably jay-bird) 3)inexpensive bluetooth earbuds (again probably jay-bird) that don't hurt my ears.

I also fulfilled 2 childhood impossible yearnings. I can now play just about any Turbo Graf-X game I want to, and read just about any Uncanny X-Men comic. I know, geektastic.

I like short stories, and the AV Club, and Neil Gaiman; and he tweeted that he was on this list: http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-10-best-shortstory-collections-of-the-00s,35747/

http://www.galleryhistoricalfigures.com/

http://www.thebricktestament.com/


Wilderness by Tannojoko

Ace has a tumblr: http://technophiliac.tumblr.com/

Man, this is so late, and so scattered. I'm sorry. I've been subsumed with work, random sleep patterns, reruns of Criminal Minds, shopping for graphic tablets & wireless headphones, reading Hokuto Shinken/Jojo Manga, and trying to catch up on an endless list of things I've been curious about. I'm not even sure when my library rentals are due back. I do know I missed my chance to pick up the first volume of Scott Pilgrim. Whaaaaaat? You've never read Scott Pilgrim?!? What kind of Bryan O' Malley fan are you?

The kind that goes to San Diego Comic Con to get him to draw this:



You may not know this, but I draw stuff from time to time.



Maybe I'll get around to scanning the stuff I sketched during Bryony's stickam session. Oh yeah, btw this is the 51st post since I started blogging, and soon my first year online will be a reality. Who knows what I might accomplish in this coming year? Yay me for not smoking! I am definitely a more creative person because of it! You hear that nicodemons! I am better off without you! Okay, time for laziness. Have a great week my noodly appendages!