A rambly post with something for everyone, I think...

[slr2moons]

Looks like Naruto 47 will be descending upon me Monday or Tuesday. Once again I'm far enough ahead in my current titles to let me not be stressing out about it. I am, however, going to finish as many difficult to medium pages in Natsume and Skip this weekend as I can. Things should go easier on this third round of magazine to graphic novel conversion. I've especially learned what to look out for when I make my volume key sheet. Number and size of FX on a page isn't as important as the type of background involved, and of course if the artwork has been tweaked for the book version. (As of page 50 in the GN, only two pages with art changes. Nice!)
 

I tried to buy a scanner this week, as I really do need one. The key word is "tried". Best Buy no longer stocks them in-store. Oh, I could have bought a printer-scanner combo, but...no. They still sell them online, thankfully. I need to hurry up and buy one. I'm still amazed brick and mortar stores rarely stock standalone scanners now. This situation never occurred to me. D:

On more fun news, last night I watched the first ep of the Natsume anime, and I quite enjoyed it. ^^ I was surprised to recognize every character in the opening credits. (It was one of those show-all-supporting-characters style openings.) The ending song was fun! Almost enka, with cute animation. I must say, Nyanko-sensei steals the show. It's bizarre to hear one of my fave seiyuu Inoue Takehiko (best known as Kakashi) ham up a funny ojii-san style voice rather than his usual suave kakkoi delivery. I kept breaking out into giggles. And once again, it's weird for me to see characters I know so well in black and white static images to be in full-color and moving. O.o Freaky! I'm sure I'll be used to it in a couple more eps. I'll probably watch an episode a month, since I am completely paranoid about spoilers. :B

Thanks to a rec from Star-chan, I'm enjoying an incredibly fun and shiny webcomic! It has all the things I love: good characterization, strong women, a healthy dose of originality, a fun plot full of potential that delivers, and pretty artwork as an added bonus. X3 It's even black and white for the first 50 pages or so! After that it goes to full color, but you can have everything. The name is Girl Genius, and you can find it here. It's a "gaslamp" fantasy (not sure how that's different from "steampunk", but okay...) about a woman who tends to wake up in mechanical laboratories covered in oil, surrounded by genius robotics she somehow assembled in her sleep, and usually wearing only her undies. Heeee. I give it a rating of PG, but don't let that drive you away. The story and characters aren't dumbed down to kiddie level at all. Yay to intelligent writing! I'm seriously considering buying the hard copy of this comic. ^^
 

I've made no secret that I'm rather intimidated by the character design for Bond, the feline main character of my own webcomic short story. I've barely drawn any anthromorphic characters, and while Bond looks like a cat, he will be expressing human emotions, similar to the casts of the Lion King or the Aristocats. I decided to dive in head-first, googled for kitty pics as reference, and threw myself at it. I redrew one lazy Maine Coon cat, added eyebrows, tweaked his mouth, and realized I CAN do this. *goofy grin* I broke through the wall. :D I'm sketching out various expressions tonight, and am pleased with the results. I can't estimate when I'll finish his design--particularly not with Naruto 47 about to consume my spare time--but the hard part is over! I have found the confidence to draw him. Kyaaaa!

Terry Brooks will be at one of my local bookstores next week, doing book signings. This makes me incredibly happy, as The Sword of Shannara was one of the first adult fantasy books I ever read, and stars one of my most devoted fangirl crushes. Ahhh, Shea Ohmsford, how I loved thee....I was 12, and in love...*wistful sigh* I have no doubt he was the start of my obsession with elves. *grins unashamedly* I'm going to dig my old copy of the book out from my book piles and ask him to sign it for me. *fangirlly squirms of delight* I actually have NOT read all his Shannara books because Mr. Brooks married Shea off in the 2nd volume and I...did not take that well. At all. *cough cough* THEN I found a pairing to squee over in his Scions of Shannara sequel series, but he deliberately killed it in the 2nd volume. D= I never forgave him for that. AHEM! In any case, I'm overjoyed by the chance to meet Shea's father, and I hope he will sign his first book for me. You know, since he's promoting his newest novel in a completely different series than Shannara... :B I've never been to a book signing for me before. I'm going to be so nervous and incapable of talking, I just know it. *fidget fidget*

I must channel this restless energy into being productive! Back to work on Natsume and Bond's sketches! BANZAIII!