News
November 26th, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving! I'm always very thankful for a chance to visit with family. Especially since I've been something of a hermit lately, working long hours on my comic. This year my husband and I went to both of our families' Thanksgivings since they were in the same town. Busy busy day!
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November 19th, 2010
Today I'd like to share some of my early favorite stories and how they influenced me. This post has some mild spoilers about Sweet and Sour Grapes' themes just so you're warned.
Final Fantasy III (aka Final Fantasy VI)
My good friend, Courtney, let me play this video game at her house like everyday after school. I was seriously addicted to adventuring to new locations and loved the interwoven character stories: two aspects I try very hard to include in my own storytelling. The game's sprites have also made a lasting impact on how I design characters. I always try for simple features with distinctive color palettes. Like sprites, my designs are also all the same size, something I'm now trying to mix up.
Elfquest, by Wendy and Richard Pini
This was the first comic series that actually appealed to me. I remember being very surprised to find a non-superhero/gag comic. Fantastic world building and gorgeous character designs sealed the deal. Overcoming differences in cultures was a core theme in Elfquest that I've enjoyed exploring in my own stories and I basically stole tree dwelling and telepathy from this series as well. You can read the entire series for free on their website now. :D
Dragon Sword and Wind Child, by Noriko Ogiwara
This was one of the first fantasy books I read as a kid that switched Good and Evil partway through the story. I remain fascinated by the idea of Light as Evil and Darkness as Good. There's not a solid link between this novel and the story in Sweet and Sour Grapes but I did attempt to give each "villain" logical motivations. Supposedly the sequel will come out in English next spring!
What are your favorite stories from your youth? Do they influence the themes and stories you find interesting now?
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November 12th, 2010
I had a wonderful, week-long trip to New York and Massachusetts visiting both new and old friends. At first I was a little intimidated to be traveling on my own for the first time in a long while but I quickly grew to enjoy the freedom.
In New York City, my childhood friend Courtney graciously let me visit her classy Brooklyn home despite her busy work schedule. I had two full days to wander the city and be a tourist. Highlights included the view from the top of the Rockafeller Center, Central Park, and the Metropolitan Art Museum. I didn't research the museum at all so I had no idea what to expect as I paid my admission. Those fascinating halls both inspired and humbled me until my legs gave out. I was especially delighted when I turned around and saw my most favorite paintings ever, The Storm and Spring by Pierre-Auguste Cot.
The second leg of my trip was to East/Northampton, Massachusetts for the New England Webcomics Weekend. I was eager to see my webcomic friends in person. (Ran and Cory, Tyson, Andrei, and Dani; it was great to meet you at last!) I also wanted to meet other cartoonists who were just getting started like me. Unfortunately the official con events were mostly celebrating the guest artists and didn't provide much framework for networking among attendees. So on the second day, my friends and I started an impromptu "Draw Party" in a hallway and enticed passerby's to sit and draw with us. I got a crash course in Artist Trading Cards and COPIC markers and had a great time.
News
November 5th, 2010
I watched a lot of youtube videos of floods and tsunamis while preparing to make today's page. It was depressing how many people I saw trying to drive through fast moving water. I hope none of my readers have to deal with a flash flood but if you do, please don't try driving in it.
I know a lot of people prefer to read their online graphic novels in chunks so my husband put together a handy new Chapter RSS feed that will only update when chapters and intermissions are complete. Obviously this feed won't update very frequently since a 40+ page chapter takes me a long time to make. But the option is now there for anyone who would like it.
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October 31st, 2010
Happy Halloween! I hope you enjoyed the Sweet and Sour Grapes cast dressing up, I had a lot of fun designing them and learned some new coloring techniques in the process.
I've been making last minute preparations for visiting New England and NEWW. The convention sounds fun but I'm mainly going on this trip to meet old and new friends. If you're in Massachusetts November 6th and 7th, you could do worse than hang out with a bunch of webcomic creators. Anyways, this comic will update normally despite me being out of town. The next page was a lot of fun to make so look forward to it!
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October 22nd, 2010
DUN DUN DUNNNN~
Do you remember that cobbled-together gun Kaga is holding? It's from page 76 in Chapter 2. I'd also like to point out we are now to the scene that inspired one of my wallpapers way back in July. Go check them out if you haven't already. :)
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October 15th, 2010
Aww~ Back to gray, realistic colors for this page. Rainbow sparkle fun time will be back eventually.
In the meantime: My Little Pony videos! 8D I was skeptical at first then excited to see the makeover of my favorite preschool brand. The vivid colors and retro proportions work really well I think. All the stylized backgrounds and props make me happy too. Too bad I don't watch TV. Just gonna have to wait for episodes to show up on Youtube.
News
October 8th, 2010
Today the story shows its true colors at last. I feel like I've been hiding the supernatural aspect of Sweet and Sour Grapes forever. I guess Silas is clearly otherworldly, but he's just not the same as... THIS.
In other news, the About page has been updated to a New Readers page. It's about time I rewrote that stale introduction. Hopefully this new one is much more enticing.
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October 1st, 2010
It's October! This month equals Halloween to me. I don't tend to dress up anymore, got too old and lazy, but just like last year I'm going to dress up my characters in fun costumes! Expect a new, decked out character every week this month in the vote incentive. :3
Also coming up is 24 Hour Comics Day! Tomorrow actually... I'm pretty fond of sleep so I probably won't stay up for 24 hours like the event encourages but I will be spending a lot of time in the LetsDrawStuff tinychat room on Saturday. I'll be working ahead on Sweet and Sour Grapes, hanging out with other creators, and in general just being thankful that I can spend so much time working on something I love: comics!
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September 24th, 2010
I love making sets of things. It's so satisfying having a complete little world all tidy and contained. Probably a big part of why I made so many illustration sets when I taught English in Japan. My latest set, a Chinese zodiac, isn't related to the comic at all but I thought it'd be fun to share anyways.
Here's a chart with the years associated with each animal.
I'm year of the dog. What's your year?