Just in case there wasn't enough epic badass-ness in your life.

In which there is....more alcohol. Yessss.

So that's it for Chapter two! No more feast for you. Its time for some actual plot.

Just so you all remember, there won't be an update next week because I will be stuffing myself with turkey. I only have one class next week and got off from work too so I will have a nice big chunk of time for comic making and getting ahead. Whether or not this will actually work is yet to be seen O__o. I am a master of procrastinating, especially when I am home with my family.

Hey hey don't forget to vote today! I was gonna do a contest where if you'd guess the names of all of the characters in this incentive, you'd get a free sketch. But there are characters on there that I don't think I've ever mentioned.
You could try if you think you know, actually. But it's actually kind of impossible XD
Mwahaahaa

:D

First off, check out this interview I just did about Cealdian! Heerreee

Also, oh hey I just got Daily Deviation :O
How did that happen. I went to check my messages this morning and was just like "120 messages...........whut." But yay!

Also Nick Kole just lent me like a thousand comic books so I'm going to be reading those and not leaving my room/eating/sleeping/working for the rest of the week ok? Ok.

Also I went to Star Wars in Concert over the weekend and it was kind of awesome XD The audience was basically comprised of several hundred 8 year old boys and their parents. And then me. AND MY PARENTS.
It was like all of the Star Wars soundtrack played by an orchestra, which would have been pretty nice in itself. Of course, to keep the attention of the 8 year old boys there were LAZERS AND FIRE BALLS yessss I swear its true.

The pre-show was actually pretty neat in itself: they had a bunch of costumes from the movies and concept art on the concourse. And dudes in costumes for pictures yesss. I got a picture with Chewbacca of course.

So yes! So many things are happening at once! Now I must desperately clean the apartment, then I'm going to sit down with LotR and not move until the linework for the next page is done. Yess.

One more page one more page one more page.
Huff.

Okay, I'm actually lying a little. One more page, and then I take a week off for Thanksgiving, and then chapter three starts the week after that.

Whaaaat! But Annie, didn't you say chapter three was gonna start at the beginning of November?! You suck!
Er, yes. But that is because I am not good at math.

It's actually starting the first week of December, which is kind of nice, because I'm hopefully going to have lots and lots of time this winter to make things ridiculously pretty. Also it's a little symbolic that this chapter starts in December and December is that guy in the comic you know the one with the crown so it's like whoa what's going on here and uh...

Er.

I experienced this strange phenomenon this week where Wednesday was off for Veterans day, but then Friday my animal anatomy teacher is not going to be in so we have that day off too.
So I essentially have just one day of classes this week, since Monday I have no class and Tuesday I have, well, liberal arts but that is not a very long class at all and doesn't count.
All this means I have ample time to work on the script. Yaay yaay yaay.

( Oh yes, old version of the page )

Cealdian now has it's own twitter!

CLICK IT OMG.

Now you can know EXACTLY WHEN I am drawing/inking/coloring/procrastinating.
Oh boooy.

( not safe for innocent innocent eyes )

Ok ok I swear I have a legitimate reason for drawing my Cealdian boys in their skivvies. XD
I just don't have the maturity to do it and not laugh about it.

Anyways it was all David Petersen's (of Mouse Guard) idea. I found off his blog that he would take drawings of his characters and photocopy them over and over and then use that to work on costume design. It allows him to work on a design without messing up the drawing underneath, and at the same time free him up to take more risks. So I was like "I'M GUNNA DO THAT." So I did. Of course....he gets to draw cute little furry mice and then dress them up in Saxon clothing. I....get to draw naked dudes and dress them up in Norse clothing.....
You decide who is the lucky one!!

Artist blogs are really great! You guys should be reading them! Not only do you get to see great in progress work, you get to hear about steps/tips they utilize and you learn a lot. (It's also very...very...humbling...)
Whenever I read a book, for a while after I've finished reading my mind sort of echoes the writing style of that author. This is especially apparent when I've read a lot of poetry...my head rings with it for a while and all I want to do is speak in rhyme. I also remember spending summers back in high school reading a ton of bad fanfiction...after doing that I would sit down to write and, well, the result was no good!
People are like sponges!
The same thing happens with art. If you spend all of your time on deviantArt...there are some great artists on there, but there's also a lot a lot of the same and a lot a lot of not-so-nice. So your art ends up sticking at dA, er, level. If you expand what you're looking at and get some really good stuff onto your plate-of-artists, it can be a really great benefit to your art.

...man...I should probably take my advice more often....:\

Speaking of my own advice: Lets go draw some backgrounds guys! Lets draw lots of them and make them big and expansive and full of atmosphereeeee.
I swear we're gonna get some o' that in chapter three if it kills me. Oh man so excited this is why I don't ever sleep.
 

Finished up/brought in that mud-digging-mask-whatever comic to class today, it didn't do too badly in crit! The last page leaves a little something to be desired (I was getting pretty tired by that point, I think...and was too lazy to fix it later..:P) but yea not too terrible indeed. I think I've actually improved a little on composition/camera angle/whatever.

( Under the cut because it's massively huge )

Our project for next week is to do six color keys for a legend or myth which contains a quest, a kingdom and a battle with a great beast. (COUGHHACKCEALDIANHACK)
Er....actually it has to be from a 'real' myth so...
I am thinking something from either Beowulf or the Volsunga Saga because or something similarly Viking-esque and epic and yaay.
Actually I could probably combine the two and no one would ever know because all of these old viking tales are pretty much the saaaame.

Look at that ridiculous face Elisa is making. Clearly she does not like being interrupted. She was probably about to say something really important or like, give away the entire plot. Yep. I'd be pretty peeved too.

Omg guys please remember to vote today I will love you forever if you dooo


( old version )
And now I must go RUN TO CLASS OH NO.

Guys.

I like comics.

No I mean.
I REALLY like comics.

I'm not the best storyteller out there. My art still (and always) needs more work. I'm a little rusty when it comes to layout and polish. I can't draw very quickly and my sense of humor leaves something to be desired

But I love being able to make something that is true to myself. I love getting ideas from all around me, bringing them together, creating something that is- essentially- a culmination of everything that has shaped me so far.  I love to draw out these stories, I love to write!! I love all of these amazing talented people I've met and I love that when I work on the comic, I am completely comfortable with myself...which is not something I could say even just a few months back.

But I guess...if you've ever thought about making something but were too afraid because you thought your art wasn't good enough or you thought YOU weren't good enough: that is not an excuse!
I hear a lot of people these days saying "Such and such is the best comic" or "whats his face has the best art." And it can be a tough thing to muster up courage and jump into all of this.

However, If you aim to create something authentic and put your whole self into it, people will be able to see that no matter where your skills may be!

*ahem*

ALSO I JUST BOUGHT MY SAN DIEGO COMIC CON TICKET IT COST A WHOLE WEEKS PAY.
I'm just gonna go ahead and pretend it was one of those weeks where I got to draw crazy animals running around and not one of those weeks where I flipped out and cried over my bagel and woke up late and ran for the train and got an asthma attack even though I don't have asthma and then this woman yelled at me because NO THAT BAGEL WAS HERS sorry I didn't know the guy at AuBonPain has a really thick accent and I thought he said plain bagel when apparently he said stupid-middle-aged-lady-bagel  and then slaved over trying to figure out what-the-hell-font-is-this and then realizing several weeks later that that actually was NOT the font but hey it looks fine anyways but OH WAIT ALL THE COLORS ARE OFF and also you forgot to make the backgrounds transparent on ALL of these game assets.

uhhh...so if anyone wants to come with me to comic con you should probably say something or call me or email or whatever cuz it'd be nice to not sleep in a box on the street in a strange city for four days.

I had to share this panel with you because....for some reason this kid's face of impending doom is absolutely HILARIOUS.

Actually I'm pretty pleased with the idea I came up with in the end. It's one of those where it'll either be deemed really really good or....really really bad. At least it'll be kinda pretty.

But I'm more impressed that I'm on schedule to finish this comic exactly 24 hours since I began it. WHOA. What's more impressive is that it's three PAGES that I did in 24 hours. THREEEE. This is impressive because....usually it's like 24 hours for just inking a Cealdian page. And usually I'm up all Wednesday night getting out just two non-colored pages for class. Though to be honest I can think much more clearly in color, so I'm faster with it I think.

But in terms of productivity this semester I have been....A MACHINE OF COMICS.

OkAY guys I need your help.
I have to do a short comic for Thursday 'illustrating a sequence that utilizes a fantasy environment to illuminate an aspect of human psychology' I have to tie the psychological element to the actions or emotions of at least one character.

I have the very bare bones of a story but I need help making it...actually interesting (and relevent and not stupid). There can't be any text- it has to be all shown visually in comic form.

Here's the gist of it:

There's a boy digging in the mud with a big jawbone. Something starts to emerge from the mud: it's a mask.
He pulls at the mask, it starts to come up but it's attached to something...so he keeps pulling and....

And I don't know whaaaat.
I want him to somehow end up as the one in the mud with the mask...but there has to be some sort of conflict or way he gets there.

I dunno...any suggestions? Any...other story ideas? I usually have to go through several before I finally pick a decent one.

Bleeegh I'm really terrible with short stoorieees!

Not only was my comic teacher impressed with Cealdian...he also said he was going to make some calls to get me in with some publishers.

SO YEA.

Uurgh
Grunt
Ugh.

Mreh.

Welcome to Thursday. The day inbetween the nights in which I get no sleep. I am le tired, but not as tired and crummy as I know I'm going to be tomorrow. It's a combination of waking up at 6 on Wednesday, working all day, staying up till four last night and then probably another late night tonight....Doing my best to fill up with caffeine before my Mesoamerica class ("Now class, I'm going to close all the windows and doors and turn off the lights to show you some slides. I know it's hot in here, but please don't fall asleep!")
....It doesn't help that my teacher looks/sounds like the guy who used to do the Clear Eyes commercial.

This page...is a page. I don't know how I feel about it. I didn't quite get the sort of rich Rohan-like woods I wanted in the first panel, though maybe because I went with a green palette instead of a warm one....but I also didn't want it to look too much like the feast scene.
Also, that throne room is ridiculous. I basically could have just put a sticky note over the whole thing that said "Hay guys, I liek vikings!"


( old version )

Oh oh don't forget to vote today! It's a vampire tale.

Two out of three Adrians prefer killing things with pointy objects.

Page 38 already whaaat. Actually I'm a little disappointed, this chapter is going to just get past 20 pages. It would have been nice could I have stayed neat and organized. Then again, like I've said before, chapter three is just ridiculously long. I think. Maybe it won't be. I should probably think about these things beforehand.

I'm pretty pleased with this one. Especially since in the end it was a pretty rushed job- my scanner wouldn't let me scan the thing in and I spent most of my Monday night trying to get it to. In the end I had to turn the entire thing sideways and scan half of it and then the other half and then piece it together. Aagh. It's still a little larger than most pages, which I did not notice until today because I do not have a template for pages because I am a dork.

I'm finally starting to get Elisa's face down sort of. I knoooow shes looked different every time I've drawn her. Drives me crazy. I have a very clear image of her in my head though and I needed to get to it. I'm working on it. Ugh. Sometime's I just am not able to get a character down until I commit to them in the actual comic. And even then they're always changing. Consistancy fail.

I really wanted a General Torr cameo in the feast scene and I got it. He's in the front there in that first panel. Of course I completely changed his character design so it's like...whats the point. But there is a point. The point is he is there. Like I wanted.

Also, vooote please! I somehow managed to get all these out in the course of like, an hour? Probably less. I was a monster yesterday. I was like really fast. Probably it will never happen again.

( old version of the page )

I don't know what magiquest is...I sort of assume its some sort of kid adventure place, kind of like Tomb down at Fenway was (is? is that place still open?) Or at lease I DID assume that, before the insane use of random 3D animation....and that face...oooh that face. If I get any sleep tonight, there will be nightmares about that face. >.<;;
Anyways, I was looking for Blackmore's Night music and I guess they did this bizarre commercial or..something. This is why I usually don't watch music videos.

WHAT WHY AR EYOU DOING THSJJHg dl ARGH

Okay someone explain this to me.

When I scan something in with my scanner. Sometimes it scans perfectly. Other times, I'll scan it. The preview of the scan will show it perfectly straight.
But then when it actually scans.

ITS CROOKED.
AND THINGS ARE CROPPED OFF.


WHY.

D:

In which Elisa talks about stuff. The end!
Just kidding. It's actually so so so the beginning. I was thinking about this the other day, while trying to get a story done for comics class (it ended up being about a vampire stuck in a shady spot on a very sunny day...ah, I know...) that I am big sucker for the looong introduction. And that's what makes it so hard for me to do the quick two page pieces required for that class.
it's good practice, anyways, even if it is infuriating.

Anyways this page! Kept up with my new coloring technique, though I'm not sure I used it as effectively on this page. Though, this was a real rush job. I didn't have time to finesse. I was also beating up on myself over the last couple of pages since I haven't been using the background a lot, so I tried to use more background. I didn't pull out a LOT for this one, but more so than I have been. Though this wave of shame sweeps over me every time I think of how I've avoided the rest of the feast scene. Honestly, it's not a very dynamic scene, I know. I didn't even have to draw legs for half the chapter. Baah I'm such a cheater!

Anyways next chapter there will be a lot more background changes and more chances for me to rectify that..stuff. Uuurghhh its gonna be so much fun I can't wait. It's also probably going to be twice as long as these first couple chapters....ah. I'm not very good at organization, apparently.

No old version for this week! Not because I don't have it...actually it's almost word for word with the old version. But the old version was actually this weeks page and next week's page in one. So I would give away next weeks page early if I were to do that. And since they're talking about such exciting things it would be bad of me to spoil it for you...*note my sarcasm*

I've been changing the incentive every weekday these days. It doesn't take a lot more time to do, and is good practice to always be sketching, so its not a problem. Mostly I've been doing it because I'm still guilty about switching to once a week updates D:
Anyways today's incentive is about pronunciation! Exciting!

I have an entire big long painting to do for tonight and I am going to be up all night doing it! Actually I really love doing my big epic paintings though so I won't mind. Especially when they are Cealdian based :P

Okay. Notice anything? Anything at all? New character for one, but that's not what I'm talking about!

I fiddled a lot with coloring skintones this week. More specifically, I started with a shadow color on the whole face in the flats stage, and then on top of that in the same layer and still using flat colors put in the lit areas. Almost like cell shading (just like cell shading). The key was to get  more dimensionality in the face. It's always easier to lay out light/shadow with large flat blocks of color than trying to finesse something smooth right off the bat (like I was last week, and you can definitely see the difference.
Did the process take more time than my usual coloring method? Well...yes and no. Short answer: no. Long answer: probably yes.

Though, i have to be careful now. I could see myself really getting carried away with this and freaking cell shading the entire comic before going back in and smoothing everything out. It'll probably happen. Baaah. THAT would take more time than usual. Just for intense bits of light, mayhap.
Also: I finally sat down like a dork and learned how to separate my pen drawing from the while background from photoshop. Wow. That's one of those things I was supposed to learn back when I was 15 and making terrible terrible anime drawings.
Well, now you know. In the end, I was too timid to use it much in this page. I liiike black lines sometimes. Probably it'll come more in handy when I go to paint and have that nasty pencil layer under everything.

( Old version of the page )

Yes its been up, but I'm just sticking it up here now. I've had no time lately! It's been constant work! Even now I am working. This morning I was working. During lunch I was working! Eek!
I wish I could say I was working on Cealdian...but alas I haven't been able to get much done on that front. In FACT, this was my very very last buffer page D:
So I really have to get my butt in gear and get (more!) work done this weekend.

Anyways here is the page! Worked a bit on lighting effects for this one. Some of it I like, some, not so much. New character next week too! I always forget about her (everyone always forgets about her.) Actually a little bit of Elisabeth's character is that....everyone forgets about her...:P I'm kind of a jerk. But yea I just gave away that we get to meet Elisa next week. Yaaay.

Arg, you guys its the first of the month, so please remember to vote! I'd put a link up but I'm actually so swamped with work that it would waste too much time to get it up for you. Arrrghhh.

( Old version of the page! )

In other news, the painting I'm working on tonight is similar to this epic monkey:



Oh man that monkey is making such an epic face.
ANYWAYS YEA I'll just leave you to figure out what the hell I'm painting now. XD

Don't crush on your reference material.....don't crush on your reference material.....don't crush on your reference material.

AGH forget it!



Mmm random colonial man....I found your picture just for the costume reference but...now I just cannot resist your charm. Oh yes.

Also:



Oh yea. Work it, founding fathers. Shake that declaration. Shake it. And then, yunno, sign it plz.

.....
So um. I'm working on a comic about the declaration of independence. The signing of the declaration of independence. And there are a LOT OF PEOPLE there. And I have to draw them all because I am a silly silly person. Also because the teacher Shanth told us to do wide shots for all of the panels...thats six panels of several several tiny men in wigs.

On a somewhat seperate note...every once in a while I sit down and think about what sort of comic I would tell after I finish with Cealdian. Of course, I never get very in depth. And all I ever know is I like deep looks into individual cultures and I like fantasy. So my ideas for the next comic are always something like 1.) Romans, but with DRAGONS. or 2.) Colonists, but with DRAGONS

CMON who doesn't want to see Benjamin Franklin SLAYING A MYTHIC BEAST YES CMON DO IT