November is over

So, November over and NaNoWriMo finished (which this year is going to continue, but a little break is in order) my mother and I went to England for a couple of days, and it was glorious.

Stonehenge at dawn, during the best possible weather - frost in the grass, clear blue sky, and thick fog that made it look truly magical. That was followed by a trip to Bath and the roman bath there.

And I am so inspired! As we wandered around there I got an idea and it grew clearer and clearer and... I really have to do it. A sidestory connected to the fairy comic Amanda and I are working on, set here.
We also visited the British Museum (and promptly lost each other) and I was surprised to see all the old horse bits. They haven't changed one bit (hur hur) since the time of the Celts and the Romans! The smithing has become better and the shapes softer, but the design is the same. Astonishing.

And in preparation of the end of the year I have been finishing old pictures. I couldn't for the life of me find the original of this, but I had scanned it and so I erased one part and redid it on the printed copy and inked it and so on and so forth. Done! With several flaws I would have changed if I did it all over again, but that's not important. It's waited a year and a half to be completed and now it is.

Barry and Rosario, two of my characters in a Vampire: the Masquerade roleplaying game I'm running, thus the symbols in the background.

50k and beyond

I managed to reach 50 000 words on day 20, and only a small part of that is the blatant word padding that is NaNoWriMo. I'll be continuing the writing, though likely at a slower pace and focusing more on getting the plot moving and developing the world and characters than getting at least 2000 words a day out.
I've had plenty of characters from the very beginning, and apparently I have been more keen on killing them than getting the plot moving. Then again, one could argue that the whole "killing the Emperor's children" (2 down, another 3 waiting in line for the chopping block) is important to the plot.
Ahem. Time to sharpen that ax, me thinks. The sooner they die, the sooner things will get moving.

35k later

... and still going strong.
The beginning has been bumpy and uncertain, and more difficult than I am used to. The story is usually flowing during week one for me, so to find it hard to work with this time made me a bit uncertain, but by the second week it started moving and now as the third week begins it's all good. Though I have, of course, started padding like mad. That's what NaNoWriMo is all about anyway. It's quantity, not quality. Quality is for December.
I got real sick this Friday, and considered not actually writing that day. It was a good excuse, but at the end of the day it was an excuse, and so I sat down and did my daily words regardless.
That was followed by a day where I forgot that I had only written 500 words, and ended up writing 1500 in the last 40 minutes before midnight. And then continued to begin the next day's words once midnight had arrived.


Suffice to say, NaNoWriMo is taking a lot of my time, but... I still find time to do other things. Such as draw more Champions and Heroes comics, even though I'm set until December. Too fun to stop.

Now, the Emperor's chosen dozen are fighting pirates on foreign seas and seem to require my attention. Excuse me.

Distractions

For the past month I've been watching Horrible Histories, in theory while working but in truth while being distracted from work (but getting inspired).
However, recently it's gotten some serious competition by Modern Family. Gloria has won me over completely <3 The show has the advantage everyone having very distinct voices, so I can actually get some work done while watching it.


And now, back to preparing for NaNoWriMo.

November approaching

Lots of things to do.


There's Klara, färdiga, MANGA! which is a Swedish manga competition arranged by Wasabi Press. I'll try to whip something together for it, but what with the main event coming up we'll see if I'll manage in time. If not, I know I can find other uses for the comic I have in mind.

And the main event? Why, it's my tenth year of doing NaNoWriMo. Can't stop now! I'm busy planning ahead, and characters and plots are coming to life in my mind and they need names! Names are... well... harder than they should be. I'm returning to fantasy, and using my old NaNo novel (OLD as in 'my first NaNoWriMo novel 10 years ago, and the one 9 years ago') as history for this world to give it some more depth. That means that a) they cannot be named Bob, b) it has to be pronouncable, at least for the most part, or it's going to be an impossible read, c) different cultures with different languages have different names, and they need to fit together and still have some distinct element that keeps them different from the others. Currently most of the characters (and it's a large group by now) have codes for names.
Also, brand new for this year, I am letting the dice decide most of the decisions. Together with Craig's die roller and my Eon roleplaying books characters are made, with heavy influence from roleplaying characters (from masquerading vampires to pirates in space during 1889) and past stories and comics (such as Grumg'nesh and No Coffin Needed), and it's all coming together beautifully.
I just need to give them all names, and then I'm ready to write those 50 000 words or more during the month of November. My record is 110 601 words, but it's almost always 75 pages, somehow XD

Like a pirate

So, today is Talk Like a Pirate Day which happens to be the day of choice for Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew, one of the bands I do the most drawing to, to release their fourth CD. Whoo!
Additionally, it coincides with the completion of Myths of Mars and thus the beginning of The Red Planet. Awesomecakes :D

And by north I mean to this link.

I also managed to make it out into the forest in one of the few days it wasn't raining, for some reference photos and dog walking. I am officially the master of blurry dog. It is known.

Alternative games week

Over at the Champions and Heroes comic we are currently having an 'alternative games week', in theory meaning that we draw comics about games other than Dragon Age. In practice, it means that we make comics specifically about the mako in Mass Effect 1. And frankly, we have enough things about that mako to make it mako month XD

Not to imply that 60% of my time playing Mass Effect 1 was spent like this (it totally was), but no one was happier than me to see it gone in Mass Effect 2.

Delightful rest

I've returned home, after a brief little trip with my friend Fanny <3 Got a bit of sunshine and a swim in the sea even.
I got a little bit of drawing done, but by no means a lot. Of course, by then I had already finished The Island and sent it off. I ended up pulling an all nighter to finish in time, but finish in time I did, and in color too :)

Now back to the other projects - making new buffers with both Champions and Heroes and The Red Planet, as well as working on a script for Forest born.

Still alive

Though barely, it feels. I've managed to go and get sick - most likely catching a cold from a friend during a Harry Potter marathon, but said marathon was a must. We watched all 7 movies, before heading to the cinemas and watched the final one. Tears were shed. Fanart may or may not come in the not too distant future...

But not now, as I'm currently working my arse off to finish a comic for a competition. It's another collaboration with Ollie Masters, who wrote the script for the zombie comic, so I think it's ok that I am blatantly obvious with having favorites among the characters.

And yes, Janx is most certainly my favorite of the crew. Such an ass XD

Champions and Heroes

Champions and Heroes - the Dragon Age fancomic that I am doing together with my fellow Think Inker Amanda - is still going strong and updating twice a week. Now that I am done with my studies and SPX is over with (so much fun!) I've got a lot more spare time, and that means building a buffer for Champions and Heroes as well as continuing with the work on The Red Planet. And, you know, doing responsible things that are nowhere near as much fun...

Hooray!

I just finished and sent the art for The Long Haul, written by Ollie Masters who taught me a thing or two :)

I'm really happy that I went with the original plan and did the grey tones with copics. Not only did it go faster than it would have if I had done it digitally, but it got a bit of texture for free. A really rewarding experience and I'm excited to see how the anthology turns out too :D

SPX is quickly approaching as well! And the Absolutely Scandalous Stories fanzine is already finished. For once, with time to spare! If you're going, keep an eye out for us :D

And back to work...

So after a month of being... fairly occupied with other things, I return to the real world.
The little escape into the world of Thedas was not entirely uninspired, far from it in fact. My fellow Think Inker Amanda and I have started up a twice a week updated Dragon Age webcomic and I have been practically spewing out art... which is sitting prettily on my computer and released to the world on Thursdays. It's been a great opportunity to do less than serious stuff with my copics, and I find that I've been learning a lot... the most important lesson have been "relax" XD


The final bits and pieces of Think Ink's new fanzine Absolutely Scandalous Stories are being put together at the moment, and will be heading for the printers next week barring any unseen events. It will debute at SPX, as will Swedish Comic Sin 2 and Nekronasses citatbok, which I have also participated in. Hooray!

March... month of fun?

On Friday I will disappear from the face of the world for a couple of days. The long awaited Dragon Age 2 will then be minemineminemine. But while waiting for the game's release I am still working. Mainly catching up on my concept art course, but there are a few other bits and pieces that are getting dealt with while I am procrastinating.

Corrections on Substitute have been made, I've finished the sketch for Think Ink's Absolutely Scandalous Stories cover, the sketch for our talented guest artist Teru has also been completed. Additionally, I've finally sat down and fixed the text in Ilta Dalharuk and as of the 13th of March it will update every Sunday.
The Red Planet's prelude Myths of Mars has been updating three times a month for a little while now, and I've completed four of the five first pages of The Red Planet itself. The fifth needs rescanning...

The zombie anthology is giving me a rather accusing look from the other side of my desk, and I think I'll be working on that next to get away from my studies. At least all procrastination isn't wasting time?

March, at last

Substitute is done and, finally, I get to sleep again...

Good night, Jerker, Claire... and you too, unnamed woman. Perhaps I'll see you again in The Red Planet, maybe you'll even get a few more lines the second time around.

Happy Valentine's

Quick coloring of part of Substitute, for Swedish Comic Sin 2. Jerker and Claire :)
Now back to work!

February means deadlines...

And lots of them.
I'm making a flag for some family members who are going to do the Vasa relay race this year. With old, old material from when I was about seven years old. I'm going to have to buy some new paint...
And I have my course to work on, which is eating a lot of time and I'm stressing out all over the place.

But first and foremost I have been working on Substitute. The inking processes on the first page has taken me... about 25 hours. Yeeeeeah. Details galore. But at least it's pretty.

And none of the other pages have that detailed backgrounds so it shouldn't be the end of the world. Anyway, page 1 is all inked now. Whoo!

The Red Planet

I've had enough of this hesitating nonsense now. The Red Planet site has gotten kicked around a bit, and the prelude Myths of Mars will start at the fourth of February.

A new year...

And it's going to be fantastic - Dragon Age 2 and A Game of Thrones are both approaching their release date and I'm trying to convince myself that I won't spend April high on geekery. It's not going well...

The Swedish Comic Sin 2 anthology is in progress and I'm halfway done with the sketches for Substitute - which stars Jerker and Claire from The Red Planet, together with another woman.
Additionally, the calenders were printed and I've sold out. Only my own copy left :)

I'm almost done with all the magpies for the zombie comic, which leaves... pretty much everything else. But since I'm more concerned about managing birds than undead I consider this damn good progress.

I am also working on the cover for Absolutely Scandalous Stories, the next Think Ink fanzine, and something tells me that a certain someone is going to be on it...


Additionally, I've started a course in concept art which has inspired me a great deal already, barely more than a week after it started. I just wish that we were allowed to make our own game rather than the one that they've given us. As it is, I'm afraid I'll try to do both the assigned task and my own thing with what little time is left. I've already been drawing characters, and turned to my beloved The Queen spring and summer 1883 book for dress designs.