Copics

The markers have arrived <3

Unfortunately I'm swamped in studies, so I really shouldn't play around with them. Let's just say that I'm not entirely convinced that I'll be able to keep my hands off them D:

I've picked up some characters that I was working on while doing the Grumg'nesh strips for the Sydsvenskan competition, and I'm considering making a fantasy humor comic with them. Nothing too long, of course, but... yeah. I'm working on character designs and plot at the moment. It is inspired by a book I read many years ago, called Villains by Necessity by Eve Forward. I loved the villains-as-heros and heros-doing-less-than-heroic-things theme, and since I always love the villain better than the hero... well... this is the type of story that fits me just right <3
I've also taken my comic art teacher Gunnar's advice and handed the role as main character over to the female necromancer, rather than Grumg'nesh the orc. It fits better this way :)

At the same time, I'm working on getting started with the Red Planet comic. Script has been slightly edited, some scenes removed, some characters removed from scenes, other scenes added, etc. Two awkward 'I don't know how to solve this' sections have been removed and rewritten... So, progress at least :)

Comicpress

Perhaps the two weeks of being half braindead was a good thing. Once I got better I finally sat down and figured out how to install wordpress, in order to get comicpress going. So, the Red Planet homepage has seen some changes, and hopefully I'll have it look a whole lot better soon. And then... comics!
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm lousy at this sort of thing. It took me a good 2 hours to figure out what to write in four lines wordpress requires you to fill in (actually, just the one... three were easy) and then I went right ahead and messed up half an hour later. Do it again, do it right, indeed... This means that the 'fixing up' process is likely to be painfully slow, but at the very least I'll get there. Like some particularly stubborn snail, turtle or... perhaps mole?


Technology has been the theme for me recently in more ways than one. I've moved my little old scanner to my new home, only to be informed that my laptop doesn't do 'little old scanners'. Of course it's Vista that messes things up. Of course! Who thought this Vista was a good idea anyway?
Well, between the choice of 'spend half a day fixing this' and 'take it back and scan on weekends only'... frankly, option B is the winner. The homepage is giving me a big enough headache as it is.

Recovering...

Of course I ended up getting sick after I finished Show, don't tell. Of course my computer got a virus as well. Of course. Well... nothing lost, computer restored (still lacking some programs though), and I'm... almost well again.
The lack of internet and general non-functioning of so many things (such as being able to walk up the stairs without getting dizzy) did leave me with a lot of time to sit down and draw.

For years I've wanted to do a story about a 'skogsrå' (a Swedish mythological creature with either a fox or a cow's tail and a hollow back) and now... well, let's just say that I've been drawing this character a lot recently.

And yes, I do like those forest spirits quite a bit... :)

In less exciting news, I've got a lot of catching up to do as far as my studies go. Hooray...

It's been one week...

It's been one week since I got the idea,
Sat down, wrote the script and started working.
Four days since I laughed,
Finally done with sketching.
Three days since I inked the lot
And then spent two days fighting the scanner
Today I did the last
Of that horrendous grayscale-ing.

One comic, four pages, one week. Show, Don't Tell, starring Jenny (alternative universe!Jerker... sometimes I toy with the idea of having her as a main character instead, though the story would be mighty darker, methinks) and poor Ian who gets bossed around most heinously.

Copic markers

My friend Amanda let me borrow her copics a while back (before my trip to Plymouth) and I am completely in love.
My first attempt was the dryad of my Dry Spell comic, because I was a scaredy cat and didn't want to mess up the skin color. After that I did give regular skin colors a go, and that worked out well too :) I'm definitely going to buy some pens of my own.

Home again

Back from Plymouth now - two weeks and some 3000+ pictures and videos later. I have so much reference material now that I barely know what to do with it. But it was a most enjoyable trip, even though I was probably THE most touristy tourist of all there. 200 pictures of one building is perfectly normal, I say D:

I have to say that the staff of the church St Andrews was probably what made me the happiest. They thought that my interest in their church (where one of my main characters seeks refuge in my vampire comic) was a good thing and let me run around and take pictures inside <3 I left one and a half hour later...

'Resurgam' (sign put up after WW2 when the church was bombed, so sadly will not appear in the actual comic which takes place in the 18th century) means 'I will rise again.' Very fitting for a story about the undead :p

Pin-up

Moving and preparing a trip and... well, a lot of things happening all at once.
At least I'm done with the pin-up for the calender :D

And yes... drow are still awesome...