O hai!

I suppose I should make it official. If you haven't figured it out via the posts below, I'm taking a break from the blog until I get home from DC. (Late next week.) It's been a nice break so far, where I could focus more on the family (and relaxing) than sketching. Comic production is still going strong! Don't worry, everyone! I'll be back sharing sketches and art before you know it!

Extreme inking

See my light table? See my brother's cat? In dc, I ink on my light table. See all the cat hairs being shed? Neither did I until I started inking! Aaaaaaaarrgghhh!

The wrath of snowmageddon

I'm back in DC, and I forgot my darn card reader. iPhone, fix my problem!

Snowmageddon hit this place pretty hard. Aside from the nightmarish icicles, the snow took down SEVERAL trees here. Just like the last storm. Man, this house has a yard or fragile trees! I'm so tired of snow, and the clearing in DC is far worse than Winchester. That's just pathetic. It is my goal to convince grandma to order in. A lot. I don't want to hit the road again until I leave.

Word of warning: This blog might suffer while I'm here. The situation is not great, and that affects my productivity. For those who don't know, my Alzheimer's-and-cancer-ridden grandfather is on hospice care and he's been going downhill. There's no telling how long he'll last, and he did look better today. He's still eating, so that's a good sign.

To be honest, I'm toying with the idea of putting Precocious on a filler material break while I'm here - although I doubt I will. For one, producing filler material will probably take the same time as producing a new comic, so why do it? Also, we're right in the middle of a long storyline, so the timing sucks. Also also, I have yet to miss an update and I don't want to start now. I want a Bill Holbrookian streak of 15 years with no missed updates! (Of course, Bill Holbrook also gets PAID for what he does...)

I just wish I had come into here with more scripts. Once again, I get into a situation with only a loose idea of where I'm going for the next week or two. (Once I get by it, I have a *much* better idea of what I'm doing. Don't panic too much.) I'm hoping to knock out a few comics tomorrow and get my scripts in order, but family obligations might get in the way.

Basically, I *should* be able to keep things going normally - but don't be surprised if Sunday's strip suddenly changes to an Olympic sketch or something.

The devil in the details

More from the painting commission! I am trying to add some details to Dionne's gown. This is my *second* attempt at it, and I hope it's more acceptable. I went with the ruffled look, mostly because I had no idea what else to do. :-(

Three guesses...

Take a look at my most recent sketchbook page. So which character will I be drawing as I make some comics today? ;-)

Everybody panic!

I was doing so well! I was so far ahead! Then I got hooked on video games, and away went productivity!

Ok, so all that means is my buffer is gone and things are back to normal. That's no problem unless I fail to start working again. (Hmm...) I just drew a cute panicked Bud and I needed a story to go with the image. I *can* freak out a bit, however, as I'm days behind in email. I'll get to 'em soon, I promise!

Anyway, calm can resume for today. Tomorrow, I must work... so *then* we can PANIC!

Whoosh!

Hey, look, another Olympic sketch! I think we can all agree that Jacob would be our extreme snowboarding type, right? Right? Oh, whatever, he totally would. (And then he'd crash.)

Do a little dance

As promised, and - er- forgotten, here is yet another painting post - with the painting looking very similar to the last version... but more finishedish! It's not totally done yet, but it's very close. Yes, it should be done, but - heh - I just noticed I forgot to paint the bottom border! That's minor, but it means no signature yet. (Glad I caught that now...)

I can't believe I still have the painting around here. I blame the snow. Ever since snowmageddon hit, I've been on a perpetual snow day - even though it barely impacted my normal life. I live like a shut in! My bedroom is my studio! I had no place to go! But, still, it felt like time off, and KNOWING I couldn't leave led to the required stir crazy feelings. Now that the snow is finally clearing, I emerge blinking and confused, wondering where the last 10 days went.

The absent-minded gamer

Oh, man. I've been warning about a painting post. I prepped the painting for the post. I mentally composed that post. That's all I need, right? Oh yeah, I FORGOT TO MAKE THE POST! Whoops. Oh well, maybe tomorrow? *hangs head in shame*

Today I wish to talk about something else, something that is murdering my productivity and keeping my brain distracted enough to make errors such as NOT BLOGGING: Video games.

As you may know, I'm one of many who have been trapped due to all those massive DC snowstorms. During the height of stir crazy, I needed something to keep my brain from eating itself. And, no, productivity is useless in those brain-eating times. I need to burn off some stupid so that I may then be productive. In desperation, I turned to Amazon.com and ordered a video game I've had my eyes on: Disgaea DS.

I was hesitant to get this game because I've seen it on PS2, and I know it can be addictive. It's one of those games that gives back the energy you put into it, so you KEEP PUTTING ENERGY INTO IT. Gah! Sure enough, I've addicted myself horribly, to the point of massive distraction. It's well beyond the burning off of energy - we're into soul-consuming mode!

Thank goodness I'm mostly done with the inking for this week. Tomorrow I really should finish that up, though, so I can get the Sunday off to Matthew for coloring. (Plug: Have you visited Sometime Alone today?) I have fallen behind in email too (video games > other people?) so if you wrote me recently and are among the honored few who read this blog, I'M SORRY! I'll try to get replies out tomorrow. I have a lot to do tomorrow. Crap, that's gonna eat into my game time...

Olympic spirit!

As you may know, I'm the rare pretentious artist that is also a sports fanatic - and not a hipster "rugby/lacrosse/curling is the only sport worth watching" kind of fan either! I enjoy a great deal of sports, and tolerate many more! This means that I am glued to the TV come Olympics time! Yay, embodiment of sportsmanship! Well, in theory - but let's ignore cold reality for now and get into the spirit of things!

Another bonus of the Olympics? IT'S GREAT FOR ART! I work best with something in the background to distract the flighty side of my brain, and casual sport "watching" is perfect for that. Granted, I'm easily sucked into the sports, but that's not a bad thing. Besides, I can work through the HOURS UPON HOURS of craptacular NBC fluff coverage.

So now I swell with pride for USA! USA! USA! and get sucked into the bizarre nationalism. Also, go Denmark! Viking pride!