Just got my notification that I have a table for Otakon again this year! Whoo! (I honestly didn't think that would happen.)

I don't think I'm going to go on the fanart blitz that I did last year, but there are a few new images I want to make before the con, so I guess we'll see.

On the fanart front, I'd like to do a Zelda image (though far better artists than I have already done that one to death, so I'm not sure what I could offer there...) another RvB image, maybe some more superheroes (Fraction's "Hawkeye" series has got me wanting to deptict those two, Captain Marvel might be fun too, and I never did like that Guy Gardner pic I made last year...) and maybe some post-time-skip One Piece.

As far as my own stuff goes, I'd like to make a couple of unrelated illustrations, and maybe one or two new images for each of the comics. So far the only ones I'm thinking of, though, are another image like that "Discovery" one I did recently, and maybe something featuring the dragon character in my scraps. My sister gave me an idea for Jaith storytelling that I really like, and I'd been meaning to draw FFC's dragons in dragon form now that I've depicted them in cat form, though I can't really wrap my head around how I would do the latter.

I'm also thinking I might scrap the sculpy dragons this year that I had last year. They didn't turn out terribly well, and my sister had a great suggestion to make pins out of the boetheri masks in Twisted Mirrors. So I might do that instead if I can get it to work out. I didn't sell many books last time, and I'm actually pretty happy about that, since it means I don't need to print more for this year.

Any suggestions or requests would be welcome. I can't guarantee that I'll do whatever you suggest, but I'd welcome the imput, because even if I don't follow it, it may give me ideas.

What I'm really hoping for above all else is just some great memories. I know I had fun doing this last year, and that 95% of the weekend was awesome, but for the life of me I can't seem to remember anything but the awkward and uncomfortable parts - the moments I messed up. This year's goal will be to learn from last year and get it all right this time.

Just some random thoughts, not long enough to warrant full posts and not necessarily in any particular order...

- Even though I automatically log into DA, I like coming here by way of the front page. I love seeing what people are posting, no matter what the level of talent. Even over-the-top OC's or underdeveloped fanarts. Regardless of quality (and it runs the full range) I love seeing the passion people have for these things they've created. How much joy they have for their creations. It makes me smile.

- Sometimes I read a book or look at something or watch something and I wish I could do something that good. Sometimes it just kind of brings me down, and I think I'll never get anywhere near to that level. Other times, however, I'm consumed with jealousy that they could create something that so perfectly captures what I would want to show...and it just makes me want to pick up my pencil right then and there and get to it. I love works that do that.

- It's a weird pet peeve of mine that I hate when I say something about my art not being great and people reply with something akin to "well, you're better than me!" And I don't say anything because I know they mean well and I know they're trying to help and they just want to see me happy, but I just want to shake them sometimes and yell, "OF COURSE I'M BETTER THAN YOU! YOU DON'T DRAW!" Spend all your free time drawing for a few years, then we can compare notes. Also, recognizing that there is other work out there that's better than mine isn't putting myself down, it's just recognizing that someone's always going to be better. I'm not depressed about it. It's awesome that they want to help, but there's seriously nothing to fix there.

- I just finished doing an outline for the final book fo Twisted Mirrors. It will be 7 chapters, so there approximately 9 chapters left in the comic. ("approximately" because I think Vol 3 will end in two more chapters, but having not scripted them yet, I'm not sure.) It's weird to think about being done with it. I'm a little worried about the ending, I'm not sure what kind of reaction it'll get...but then again, I'm not sure I'll have many readers left after this next chapter, so maybe it's moot.

- Speaking of the end, I should probably do an outline for the end of FFC too. It's starting to approach end game as well, but it never had as set a story as TM did, so after the next couple of story arcs, I don't really have hammered out what happens beyond some scattered scenes and the ending. It'd probably be good to get that figured out soonish, haha!

- I just found out they're releasing the old Beetlejuice cartoon on DVD. It was one of those things that was on the list of "movies that should NEVER get a Saturday morning cartoon that got a Saturday morning cartoon anyway." ...though unlike most entries on that list, it was pretty good, despite being so different from the source. I know it won't hold up to my nostalgia for it (a few episodes came with the DVD I got of the movie) but it was a weirdly big part of my childhood, and I think I can get $20 worth of enjoyment from it. After all, I got Swat Kats, and Beetlejuice was a MUCH better show. (Oh, the wasted potential of Swat Kats ) And anyway, it's totally worth it just for the opening. (Danny Elfman will do that...)

- I got lazy with my All  Ages comics reviews. I really need to get back to that...Not having the scanner hooked up to my computer anymore has complicated things a bit. Haha!

Edited out for a double post.

That's right, there will be no more updates to the pirate story after this...

...why?

...Because it's finished! !

That's right, the story is finished and online! ...well, it's "finished" anyway, we've gotten to the end of the tale, but it's still a very rough first draft. At any rate, have some links for the final 2 chapters!
Chapter 18: Exile
Chater 19: Aftermath
And for those who are interested in reading it in full, the chapter list can be found here. I decided to strike things out that I'd changed on the chapter list rather than delete them just to show how the result differed from my initial plan.

There's still a lot about it I want to fix.
I think there's too many characters for one. Not in number necessarily...but I came up with names and backstories for all of the pirates, which was a mistake when writing from the limited perspective of one somewhat disinterested character. It doesn't matter how interesting these characters' backstories are if the main character never cares enough to ask about it. So early on, I kept trying to shoehorn various characters into the main's line of sight, but I think it just comes out in a jumble of names and tidbits of information and never really cements most of them for the reader. I feel like I should trim it down to just the select few that Raum regularly interacts with so that their characters are more clear to the reader.
I also think I need to put a little more foreshadowing for some of the end events. I think I did a decent job with Raum, but a lot of the supernatural stuff just comes in out of nowhere in the end, even though I knew all that would be happening from the start. If anyone reads it, some feedback on how that could better be handled would be appreciated.
I'm not too worried about rewriting it - I'm not really a writer, this will never be published, it was just for fun. But more importantly than that, it's for ME, and I want to read a good story, so I'd still like to fix it a little, haha!

Going forward, I'm not much thinking of a sequel to this at the moment, even though it's left open for one. I have some vague ideas for a new setting and a few new characters, but I have no idea what the plot would be and that's kind of important. I have some other story ideas waiting in the wings that are far more fleshed out, so I'll probably do one of them first. But this one's done! Yay! Go me!

In other news: a final update to my health situation that I had previously been talking about - the one where I was getting terrible pains in my joints. Well, my rheumatologist perscribed me a pill called Plaquenil for it. Plaquenil is a drug that was developed to treat malaria, but is also sometimes used for arthritis symptoms. The only side-effect of this drug that the doctor told me of was that it could cause blindness and I wasn't even allowed to take it until I'd had a thourough eye exam...but I really wish they'd told me about the other side effects...(They don't print them on the prescription bottles, in case you're wondering.)

The good news is that the joint pain in my hands seems to have more or less cleared up. It hasn't bothered me in ages, so score one for Plaquenil!

...the bad news is that it's been six months and I'm still walking with a limp. Boo, Plaquenil, I'm taking back that point I just gave you.

I suppose I still come out ahead, since I don't exactly need my legs for most of the work I do, and I'm actually excercising a bit more now, because movement makes it feel better, but remember my cautionary tale. When you get a new prescription, get online and read what all the "very serious, see your doctor immediately" side effects are. *Insert "The More You Know" Gif here*

Update on the previous computer issue - I did end up just breaking down and buying a new computer. It almost feels a little silly to have one so current, since I spend so little time on my desktop, but it's probably just as well, the new version of Photoshop BARELY runs on this new one (I had to put it at the lowest settings) there's no way the old computer would have known what the hell to do with it even if it HADN'T had a meltdown.

So I have a shiny new version of Photoshop now and I love it dearly! Fair warning though, the coloring on my comics will be getting worse before it gets better. This new version doesn't actually work well with my old method of coloring and I'm not used to it enough yet to have detirmined a new method of coloring. So I'm spit-balling at this point. Still, the brushes are wonderful and I love that it's pressure-sensitive, I just need to work with it more.

I've added three chapters to the pirate story since I last posted about it:
Chapter 15: The Gate: [link]
Chapter 16: Pitfall: [link]
Chapter 17: Deus Ex Machina: [link]

Full chapter list: [link]
I decided while I was writing that there just wasn't enough to make what I had originally planned as Chapter 18 to be a full chapter, so I decided to skip it and incorporate what I meant to do in that chapter into the chapters before and after it. What this means is that we only have 2 chapters to go until the story is "finished". (It really needs editing pretty badly, but I'm happy to be so close to getting the story out.) The final chapter is just epilogue too, so there's really only one main chapter left. I'm part way through it, but I ran into a bit of a block. I think once I get past that, though, the rest of it will come together pretty quick, so hopefully you'll see that soon!

So guess what I got (among other things) for Christmas this year? A new version of Photoshop! (Courtesy of my sister - THANK YOU!)
I mentioned this in a previous post, but to let you know how old the OLD version of photoshop I was using was - every single page of my comic was colored with that version. Yes.

So after I get home, I take the box to my room and turn on the computer, excited to see if the new program works on my machine and to test out all the new functions and abilities I've missed out on over the years.

And instead of starting up, my computer says "LOL no".

After reasearching the problem at the distinguished Google Institute of Technology, I detirmined through internet diagnosis that it's the hard drive that's failing...
...that's a problem...
...all my buffer pages are on that hard drive...as well as everything else...

So now I have a few decisions to make. I think I'm going to write off the buffer pages - just knuckle down and re-do them and not have any buffer for a couple of months - since I don't think it's worth rushing and throwing money around to try to save the data just for that, but I'm going to need to photoshop files for the TM pages that are on there for when I put volume 3 together...or else re-scan and do the text for nearly the entire volume...I REALLY don't want to do that.
 
We have a computer hooked up to our TV (for watching internet stuff on the TV) that has the old version of photoshop on it, so last night I moved my scanner and WACOM tablet to that machine and got them both working as a temporary measure, but it's not really the best place to work from (nice big monitor, though, haha!). I do have the option of loading the new version of photoshop to my laptop, but it's not really the best machine for doing work.

What I'm thinking I might do is just put aside rescuing the data from the dying drive for now and buy myself a new computer tower.  It shouldn't be too expensive, I think new towers now go for less than even a discounted version of Photoshop does, so I'll still come out ahead. I won't need the bundle either, as the monitor I have is actually fairly new and the keyboard and mouse still work (and can be replaced cheaply if they fail). So I just need a tower, and they aren't that expensive. That way, I can be sure I'd have a machine new enough to run this version of Photoshop and I could dedicate it solely to work - art programs and such and leave all the games and things to my laptop. I wouldn't even need it to connect to the internet! (The old one wouldn't so I got used to accessing the internet only from my laptop.)

That'd give me some time to contact some tech-savvy friends to see if there's anything they can do, or alternatively, to save the money needed to get someone to get my data from the drive professionally. (I'd go to the professionals first, but they cost almost twice what getting a new tower would! Damn!)

So, that's how things stand with me right now. I'm feeling weirdly mellow about all of this. I have a really bad temper, and tend to get upset easily, so it's seriously weirding me out that instead of throwing a tantrum, my first thoughts were "Hm...how do I work around this...?" I guess Christmas really gave me the break I needed, haha!

Been a little slack in my posting here again. I seem to do DeviantArt in spurts Sorry about that, all.

There hasn't been much art from me lately, but it's not because I havent been drawing. I've been doing a lot of stuff for a project that I've been working on for a while now, but I'm not sure how much of it will show up on DA. We'll have to see. Really, though, I think beyond that I'm still a bit burnt out from all the stuff I did for Otakon. it was fun though, and the comics are still updating, so we're good.

Speaking of the comics, let's talk facebook. Now I still don't have a facebook account myself (and the more I hear, the less I want one) but someone has made facebook pages for both of the comics and i do have access to them. Here for Twisted Mirrors: [link] and here for Firefly Cross: [link]
So far they're a little bare bones, just posting the pages each week, but if anyone has any suggestions for other things we can put on the site, I'm all ears! Like I said, I know little about facebook, so I'd definitely welcome input.

I've signed up for a new account over at Elfwood! For those who don't know what that is, it's a site for posting SF/F art and stories. It's actually where I posted all my art when I first started going online - in fact I think all of my old galleries are still there, I just don't have access to them anymore. I'm not going to be posting any of my art over there. I don't want to have 20 different sites strewn all over the internet, so DA will remain where I post my art. The reason I signed up there was to have a place to post my writing, since I don't want to clutter my DA account with stories. You can find it here: [link] There's nothing there at the moment, but I'll start posting what I have done of my pirate story shortly, and it may follow with some other writing projects I've been working on.
The only reason the pirate story hasn't been posted already is because I think I want to change the title before I put it up there. "Shoulder the Sky" has a kind of cool ring to it, but it's a bit vague and pretentious for a pirate adventure story. I've been thinking maybe of calling it "Fool's Bounty" instead since like fool's gold - which is shiny and pretty, but not worth much - the great treasure everyone's after (spoiler! ) turns out to not be that awesome.
...either that or some kinda of play on the ship's name of Eternity like "travels of Eternity" or something...

If you're bored and looking for something else to read to kill a little time, I've been continuing my reviews of all ages comics over at my lj. There's five reviews up right now, one posted just today! You can find them here: [link] in case you need to kill a bit of time.

That's all I've got for now. Sorry for the silence, but I have been busy. Hopefully I'll get to posting more stuff soon. Thanks!

Since it had been the biggest seller at Otakon, I've added Dragon's Flight to my prints in case anyone comes by who saw the image at the con but wasn't able to get a copy.  I tried to add the RvB pics to prints as well, but I can't seem to find the options for them. Let me know if there's anything else in the gallery that people would like to be added to prints and I'll see what I can do. (I'm not anticipating it, but I thought I'd ask )

I've been a bit ticked off about various things lately, so I've decided to started a new review series over at my lj, covering various all-ages comics, because they're a good cure for a bad mood. If you're interested in checking it out, you can find it here. I'll probably post these in my journal when I do them, but like the pirate story, I'm mostly doing them for me, so don't feel obligated to check them out unless you're interested. The first review is a comic called The Gwaii.

Thanks for all your support, everyone. I really makes me feel good to come hang out in DA, y'all are the best!

Well, back from Otakon and have recovered somewhat. I'm exhausted, my muscles hurt, I have bruises EVERYWHERE, and I didn't even come close to breaking even...

...but I had SO MUCH FUN!

Big thanks to everyone who stopped by my table throughout the weekend, whether you bought anything or not. I had so much fun chatting with everyone, I don't think I had a single bad encounter all weekend! Every single person who stopped by was awesome! Thank you so much! Whether it was discussing One Piece, Red Vs. Blue, Monkey Island or trying to guess the dragons on the Dragon's Flight piece, I had so many good talks with everyone.

The big sellers were the Red Vs. Blue pictures, particularly the Blue Team which I almost sold out of. Also doing well were the Bookmarks and the Blue Exorcist image. Though by far the best was Dragon's Flight which I sold out of the small prints of and the poster sized version in the art show sold for $55! Whoo!

I also sold some of my original stuff too! Seeking Fate unsurprisingly sold the best print-wise. And I sold several print copies of Twisted Mirrors!. It made my whole day that people were interested in buying it!

But even better than that, I actually met several readers who already knew the comics! I was wonderful to speak with you guys, made my whole weekend! Thank you so much for stopping by!

All money made from this event will go towards getting a new version of photoshop. The version of photoshop that I have is the same one I've been using since I first started my comics. It's so old that if something were to happen and I needed to get a new computer, it probably wouldn't run anymore, so I need a new version pretty badly. I didn't make quite enough to cover it, but close enough that I should be able to scrape together the necessary amount. So YAY!

I think I'll be uploading larger versions of some of my images to enable them for print soon, especially the big sellers. Now I'm all pumped! I'd like to do this again if I ever got the chance. It was fun! I'll answer my DA messages once I've recovered a bit more, I'm pooped.
Thanks for all your support!

Yep.
Angst.
Last chance to skip this.

So, I had a dream last night that I was trying to sell my work and no one would buy it...it was kind of sad...and is the second such dream I've had.

...which makes sense. It's likely a reaction to my subconcious fear of having exactly that happen.

The idea of people paying for my art seems to weird to me. I mean look at it! Why would anyone pay for this stuff? Especially when I'll probably end up with a much better artist in the booth next to mine, leaving my stuff largely overlooked. (I got really lucky with table placement, though! I'll only have one neighbor, as my table will be right next to the opening for the cluster of tables, so I can't be surrounded by awesome. ) That's the thing, really. I can draw decently enough, but I'm not naive enough to think that what I do will hold a candle next to most of the people who will be in the Alley - I've been to enough Artist's Alleys that I know how good these people are - and in comparison, my stuff will suffer...

...But in both of the dreams I've had about this, I didn't get discouraged or upset. I recall telling myself in both of them, "Don't worry, you've still got time. The big rush is still to come, you'll see. You'll be fine." And I can't help but think that if it's good enough for dream!me, then it's a good enough attitude to adopt in the real world as well. (Though, admittedly, dream!me is a lot more laid back about things like giant rodent attacks and ghosts haunting the bedroom, so it's probably no surprise that she'd be cool with it. )

I'm sure I've mentioned this before (and I keep repeating it because I hope if I say it enough it'll turn out to be true ) that my intention is to be the most laid back table at the con. No one who stops to look at my stuff will be pressured to buy anything, because I always hated when that was done to me. I don't intend to pay any attention to how much I'm making, nor worry about making a profit (because at this point, that's nearly impossible anyway ). I even got some business cards made with my devart and comic site addresses so if people express some interest in my comic but are hesitant to buy it, I can give it to them and say "well you can read it all online for free!"

...so I guess my fear is less that I won't do a lot of business - I don't expect to - but more that I won't do ANY business. It'd be hard to miss it if that happened, even if I'm not paying attention to my profits. I like to think that with a few thousand people wandering Otakon that SOMEONE will like my stuff...but it's hard to keep those fears from surfacing.
Oh well...just over a week to go...I guess we'll find out then.

Also, just as a fun note, neither of the dreams I had took place at the convention. In the first one, I had a booth in like an old-timey street market. It was a cool booth, but it was around the corner from everything else and no one came by much. The one last night had me trying to sell stuff out of a curiously empty comic book store. ...I'm still pretty sure both were about the con, though.

So I think I'm going to cut off the fanart blitz there. I have one more picture I'm working on that may or may not get added, but I'm really not pleased with how it's turning out, so I may just scrap it. (Shame too, I really like the original drawing for that one...)
Ultimately, this isn't because I'm getting bored or running out of ideas. I really wanted to do pictures for Generator Rex, Princeless and Gunnerkrigg Court to get some love to some somewhat more obscure stuff...no, it's because prints are expensive and I'll be stretching a bit to print out what I already have done. I really don't need to be adding more stuff onto the pile, especially since I highly doubt I'll be making even a fraction of the money I'm spending on this endeavor back...

Because - and here's a reminder - this is all just to make some extra stuff to sell at Otakon at the end of the month! I'm still excited to go.
And Hey! Anybody who finds me at the con and mentions that you read my comic or watch me, I'll give you a discount! (I wanna make it free, but see aforementioned "expensive" comments. )

I've mostly settled on what I'll price everything. Vol 1 of the comic will be $8, vol 2 will be $10 and if you get both they'll be $15. Prints will be $8 a piece, $15 for two, $20 for three. I'm not sure on comission prices or on the prices for the small sculpy dragons I've made. I'm so bad at judging the worth of art, particularly my own, but I'll figure something out.

Anyway! How about some pirates! The new chapter is done! I told you it'd be quick!
In this chapter we shed the pseudo-realistic appearance we've been maintaing throughout most of the story and charge headlong into full-on fantasy mode. Be prepared for a lot of weirdness, magic and exposition about weirdness and magic. As well as finally getting an explanation on what the heck is up with Raum! (Clues were scattered throughout the earlier chapters, I can point them out to anyone who's interested, but it was designed to be easy to miss.)
This chapter's also formatted a bit better than previous ones. If anyone wants me to, I can go back and fix them now that I know how, but I'm lazy so for now it's going to stay.
You can find it here: [link]
If you need the catch up on older chapters, the chapter list is here: [link]

I'll be updating with some new art tomorrow (more fanarts to sell at Otakon - nothing original, I'm afraid ) but in the meantime, I finished another chapter of the pirate story: [link]

They've finally arrived at the island, but now what? Sheesh! Not much happens in this one, admittedly. It's like a page of Twisted Mirrors that way, haha! But next chapter we'll finally see just what the heck is up with Raum. There've been clues sprinkled throughout, but with such long delays between chapters, I don't expect anyone to get it...unless you're familiar with the big clue, haha! Then it's laughably obvious!
Anyway, next chapter should be soon, because we're getting to the stuff I've been dying to write since starting this! I'm already a good chunk of the way through Chapter 14!

EDIT: [link] <--The chapter list for those who are interested in past chapters.

On health issues, good and bad news. The good news is, the drugs I was taking for my joint pain helped a great deal! I only had some mild pains after I started it and only in my left wrist. Not too bad! The bad news is I experienced side effects from the drug which were far worse and had to stop taking it. Now the joint pains are coming back. The good news again, though, is that they don't seem nearly as bad this time around. Mild aches for the most part, so it's not really interferring with my art in any way for now. So hopefully this'll back off.

Anyway, yeah, some new fanart tomorrow, and maybe something else on Sunday. We'll see. Thanks for bearing with me everybody!

So, my original plan was to cross post this from my livejournal here as well...but then the thing ended up being so damned long and who really wants to see that? So I figured I'd just link to the post instead.

See, from time to time, I get it into my head to babble on and on about things I love. Since I really love animation, that's often the topic I discuss. In this particular case, it's regarding the character in the title.

So if you want to see me ramble incessantly about an obscure* cartoon character from the 1920's, feel free to check it out here: [link]

*...okay I guess he's not as obscure as he used to be, but I don't think many people still know of him.

So a quick update on the issue I talked about in the last post.

After a bunch of different tests and seeing a Rheumatologist (did you know that was a thing? I didn't!) I have a high "rheumatoid factor" (whatever that means) but the tests for actual arthritis came back negative. However, I DO have high levels of a couple of antibodies (or low levels? The tests are confusing, all I know is my numbers are WAAAAY off). The doctor thinks what it probably is is a connective tissue disorder like Lupus. (What? But it's NEVER Lupus! DR. HOUSE, YOU LIED TO ME!)
Anyway, she gave me prescrption to help fight it, but apparently this particular drug has a nasty side effect in some people of causing damage to a person's eyes, so I've still got to get my eyes checked to make sure it won't be a problem, because to be perfectly honest, I'd much rather deal with the pain than risk losing my eyes.

On the plus sie, though, it seems this pain comes and goes. When I wrote that first post, I had had severe pain constantly for a couple of weeks. As I'm typing this, a few of the joints on my fingers are aching a bit, but nothing I can't handle. At first I thought it was related to the weather, but now I think it's more severe when I'm stressed. I was in a rough state a couple of weeks ago (work related - nothing really worth talking about) and it was affecting a lot of areas of my life, since I've worked to lower the stress, I've noticed the pain has lowered a bit too, so I think I'll be all right.

A great big THANK YOU to you guys, though! I didn't really expect the responses I got, and I have to admit, I was terrified when I wrote that. Your replies made me feel so much better! I love you guys!

ON TO SOME GOOD NEWS!

Guess what guess what guess what?!

I got a table for Otakon!

My plans thus far are to sell a small number of fanart prints (of course), some prints from my comics, copies of volumes one and two of TM (vol 2 just sent to the printer! I am excited!) and some small dragon scuply figures - an idea I shamelessly stole from though I don't have her ability for cute, so my dragons will all look vastly different from one another. Mostly I just want something to spice up the table a bit. I'll also take commissions (PG13 limit - less because I'm morally opposed to anything and more because I don't tend to draw it myself so I'm not very good at it, and if people are paying, I want it to be my best!).

I want to create a few more prints before the con as well, some more updated anime prints, since most of mine are older shows, fix a few others and make some Marvel ones since I've already done a bunch of DC heroes.

Questions for you guys - what else would you like to see me make for prints? I can't guarantee I'll follow all suggestions, largely due to having a time limit, but I want to hear your ideas?

Second - what do you think I should have for prices? I often see prints at cons going for as much as $10, but the books will be $10 (and less!) so it seems silly to make a simple print be as much...but then again, prints are of fandom characters, whereas book is just about my own creations, far less desirable. I've never charged for my art before so I'm a little lost. What sorts of prices would you all suggest?

So, apparently I have arthritis.

The good side to this is knowing where all this pain is coming from. I mean, it does help just to know and not have to wonder why my hands are hurting so badly...and why that pain seems to be spreading to every joint in my body. Knowing helps me feel better, oddly.

...on the other side, I have no idea what this is going to mean for my art at the moment. All of my art is so focused on using my hands, I draw everything out by hand, I don't really use the computer much for inking - it tends to look awful when I do - I'm not sure how long this pain will linger, or how well I'll be able to work with it if it does.

I'm going to get some blood work done this weekend, the doctor wants to see if we can find out where this is coming from, I mean I'm not even 30 yet! Hopefully this will be something that can be treated and I can move on with my life after taking some new medications and go on as normal.

Still, this doesn't have to be the end. If Thor Badendyck can get back into the art world after losing movement in his arms and legs (seriously, check this guy out, he's an inspiration! He taught himself to draw again by holding the pen in his mouth! He drew this: [link] with his mouth!) then I can certainly move on with a bit of pain in my joints.

Also, the pain reliever the doctor gave me apparently makes me a bit loopy. Trying to talk to people on the phone today at work after I took it was an odd struggle, though I think I at least amused some people with my inability to talk right, so there's that. Haha!

I've put together a new site with extra background information on my webcomics Twisted Mirrors.

The new site is here which has pages with information on the language, the spirits, as well as early sketches and character designs.

Speaking of the latter, the page that I've been threatening to make since I started this comic project is Developing the Boetheri where I go through step by step with out the boetheri were designed with a whole host of terrible early sketches and weird choices. It's fun to look back and see how things evolved. This being an art site, that seemed the most relevant anyway, haha.

It still needs some work, may need some spell checking (I had intended to proof read everything this weekend, but I wasn't feeling terribly well) I haven't included a cast page, and I have been thinking about a "new readers" section, but neither have been added yet. Feel free to point out anything you think might need changes.

...and sorry if this isn't worded very well, see aforementioned unwell feelings...

I'm looking to get some free webhosting - like geocities and angelfire back in the day - so that I can make some side pages for my comic sites (the DD subpages don't seem to be working for me for some reason.) Does anyone know what sites are good for that nowadays? I tried googling it, but there's so many results and most of them look pretty shady.
I just need something basic for me to post some information and images. Does anyone have a suggestion for a site that would work pretty well?

I want to make some extra pages for Twisted Mirrors - the language, an explanation of the spirits and the folk tales, as well as character profiles and maybe - if I really feel like embarrassing myself - I'll post the original pages of me developing the look of the boetheri. They are both awful and hilarious.

I'd also like to have a central page for FFC extras, like Ry's backstory and things. As well as having a page to point to other things I do, like my DA here and my livejournal.

Let me know if anyone has a site they've used that might work. Now that I have a laptop () it'll be a lot easier for me to get all that together.

Semi-related, but I'm slowly pulling everything together for Vol 2 of Twisted Mirrors. There's still quite a bit of work to do on that, but it will hopefully coming along soonish.

Man, it's been ages since I posted chapters to my pirate story. Here's what I've done in the meantime:

Chapter 8: Hunting [link] (I really need to change that title...oh well...)
Chapter 9: Aegir [link]
Chapter 10: Renegade Drift [link]
Chapter 11: The Marker [link]
Chapter 12: Ghost Ship [link]

For those who are interested in reading the whole story from the start or who left off at a different place, you can find the chapter list here: [link]

Starting to get into some supernatural shenanigans now! A couple more chapters and I'll be revealing Raum's secret! ...which isn't exactly a well-kept secret, but there you are.

If anyone wants to see what Renegade Drift actually looks like, since I think my description skills are sorely lacking, I did a little doodle of it in a notebook. I didn't scan it because it's an awful drawing, but if people need it to help visualize, let me know!

Also, don't feel required to go read this. I will continue to write it no matter what and I don't want anyone to feel obligated - especially when I can be so bad about returning the favor - I'm just posting it here so if anyone should happen to be interested, they can read it.

I'll be making the effort next week to get caught up. I apparently check DA in spurts, and I feel the need to get "on" again.

In case anyone's checking back here for updates on the  issue this week, it's been resolved. DD is back up and online and seems to be working fine. In order to let each of the missing pages get their time, I'm switching to a M-W-F update schedule for both comics this week and normal updates will resume next Monday.
However, if you want to see this week's pages and don't want to have to wait until Friday for them, the FFC page will go live Monday morning at the PAT site as normal:  [link] And the TM page (though happily, it's just a cover and nothing stellar) is posted here: [link]

Thanks for sticking with me, and thank you for all your kind words! Looks like the new DD site has some neat new features that I'm actually looking forward to playing with a bit. In the meantime, though, I'm just glad it's back.

This journal post is directed to those of you who read my comics.

Both of you, listen up!

You may have noticed that the last couple of pages didn't post on time if you were reading them at DD. Apparently, DD is in the middle of migrating to a new server, and all posting is denied at the moment. (right now, when I log in, I have a whole list of comics I've never heard of listed under mine name. It's kinda funny. )
But I didn't use it to take time off, the comics are getting done as normal and FFC has been posting as normal over at the Pens and Tales site.
So, if you're a regular FFC reader, last week's page is here: [link] This week's page will be here: [link] (that second link may not be live when this journal posts as it's scheduled to go up Monday).

As for Twisted Mirrors, I still don't have a mirror site for it BECAUSE I'M LAZY! (yes, I said it), but I have still uploaded the pages. Luckily, they were nothing really important. Last week's page was just rounding out the chapter and can be found here: [link]
This week's page is a filler - another installment of the Grik-nor folk tale, and can be found here: [link] (previous page here: [link] first page here: [link] )

According to DD, the site will be up and running sometime on Monday, July 11th. Since this is about the third date to go live they've given us, I decided not to take any chances and to post here, since we're now two weeks back.

Thanks for reading! The comics march on!