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Kibou o (ga?) motteru yo...
I feel a bit better about work today. My very fun afternoon and evening with Yuumei-chan Sun night is half of my current positive outlook, and the other half is: Temp title editor emailed me to say he should have the script to me for my first volume by 4 to 6 weeks before the due date of April 25th. I should finish both the English and Clay v9 by the end of Feb. If Clay editor runs true to form, I'll have 2 to 3 weeks of no new Clay before I am sent the late script for v10. So while I am waiting for Clay, I can work like mad and pull ahead on my three shoujo titles. Shoujo editor is very good about sending me scripts nice and early--particularly Nana. So I can use my Clay break to build a huuuuuuge lead on the Shoujo stuff. Script for Clay v10 and Temp should arrive around mid March. But since I intend have this huuuuuge lead on my other three titles, I'll be able to take a short break from them, perhaps do one or two pages each day, while I concentrate on Clay and Temp. ^^V Yoshaa! We have a plan!!
Work completed Sunday: (series v#.p#) Clay 9.10, Nana 12.123 and 175, New 1.29, Skip 9.18. One orange, three greens, and one yellow. I only worked for about four hours on Sun b/c of my aforementioned outing with Yuumei. ^^ Oh, and I did start a 2nd orange with Clay, but I lost my will to work and crashed. I finished it Monday, so it's included with that day's quota.
Work completed Monday: Clay 9.12, 13, and 54, Nana 12.176 and 177, New 1.35, 37, and 38, Skip 9.12, 19-21. Three pinks, three oranges, six yellows. I had a good day, as mentioned above! Only two pages short of my Clay ideal quota. ^^
And now, some ramblings on Claymore and Nana. Anything spoilerish will need to be highlighted to be read. ^^V
Claymorel general: I owe so much to a certain page on Claymore v6. You see, beginning with volume 3, the mangaka began to use radial lines and screen tones in a large portion of his action scene backgrounds. When it comes to retouching, this is one of the hardest things to recreate. Not only do the lines have to match the various angles, but the "white lines" of bare screen tone, and the screen tone dot pattern itself, must be made to match--or be disguised. The tedious nature of these repair jobs forced me create a shortcut: namely to copy and save various sections of pages containing un-FXed sections of this type of background for future use. I now have an enormous Photoshop file with snippets from about 30 pages of my various manga titles. Not only Clay's radial backgrounds, but also several types of sparklies, hearts, flat tones, starbursts, spotlights, and other assorted tone patterns that appear with great frequency in manga. However, this paragraph is dedicated to one page of radial tone in particular that has saved me many times: Claymore, volume 6, page 88, panel 1. How I love thee, let me count the ways!!!! *hugs*
And speaking of Clay v6, I saw it at the bookstore yesterday. I was quite shocked, as I didn't know it was out yet. I need to get my two copies...(one for reading, one to remain pristine on the shelf.) Since I don't predict I'll be leaving my house to go shopping any time soon, I'll probably order it online in a couple of weeks. Vol6 has the much-hated 30 fingered youma, BTW. Words can not express the level of my abhorrence. If you flip through the first half of vol6, you'll understand my dark emotions. I was so very happy when he was finally killed. Oh yes, I had much joy that day... And Ophelia is a freak. A freak!!!! Kiokonai will probably love her. ><
Nana v12: Hachi's dependence on Nana scares me. Hachi sacrificed her personal happiness to be with the Rat Bastard Takumi, so now Hachi can only hope to experience her much dreamed of uber-romantic happily-ever-after love story through Nana and Ren. Hachi's been in love with the very idea since she first learned of the pair's history in volume 4. All her romantic dreams are fixated on them. If they should fall apart, it will likely crush her. And thanks to a spoiler in the Japanese Nana vol16 commercial at the end of one particular Nana anime ep, I know things aren't all peachy in Nana/Ren's future. >< Ttaku mo!!! And thanks to a rant I read on fanficrants, I know the Rat Bastard and Hachi are still together in vol13, which has killed much of the suspense since I learned of it. And when you add the beginning of v12 to the spoilery mess, it really really hacks me off. Graaaa!!! Stupid Hachi...I'll never forgive her. This mess is all b/c of her two horrid life choices. Hachi had been my Nana favorite until Choice #1, but I took a gigantic step away from her after Choice #2. Yurusenai!!!
End Nana rant. I hope to babble about New title and Skip in a day or two. ^^