slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (Default)
In light of what I observed about hometown friends from my 2012 retrospective post, and because I was feeling worse about life by the minute, I decided to be pro-active and called up a friend I haven't spoken to in months.

It was wonderful! X3 I love my friends, particularly the ones who have seen my at my worst and like me anyway. *hugs for everyone*

On a manga-esque note, I realized 2012 was The Year of Shounen Manga. Thanks to needing to catch up to the digital version of English Shonen Jump magazine, I had to marathon a LOT of shounen manga. I don't recall the exact numbers for all of the series, but here's a guesstimate: (OMG Chrome recognizes "guesstimate" as a word!)

Bakuman - 150 chapters
Bleach - 150 chapters
Naruto - 80 chapters
Nura - 180 chapters (the whole thing up to January '12...)
One Piece - 55 chapters
Toriko - 170 chapters (the whole thing up to January '12...)

And the above is why I haven't really tried any new webcomics this year. (Note: Chrome does NOT recognize "webcomic" as a word.) I've been so busy doing manga homework! Next on my list of webcomics to start is Gunnerkreigg Court. I read the hard copy of vol 1 last year (in the middle of all that shounen) and want to catch up. I'm still making my way through all those digital Jumps from last year, mostly because I DIDN'T keep up with reading every week, and am still in June '12 for Bleach, Nura, and One Piece. At least I've stayed caught up with Naruto and Toriko.

Though now I have to catch up to Nisekoi and Blue Exorcist, both of which started in digital Jump a few months ago...at chapter 50. *headdesk*

So far for 2012, I am doing better with reading less fic, more manga and comics, and working on my original manga, too. HEY YOU GUYS! I FIXED A PLOT HOLE AND FOUND MY FOCUS!! PLOTTING IS SO MUCH EASIER NOW!!! XD
slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (pretty lady)
It's clear I have a new fan-favorite of all my works at AO3: the HP fanart pic. 17 more hits and it will dethrone the current winner, which is my Yuletide fic from last Giftmas. The switch should happen by Tuesday. Heh!

My fandom sempai, Star-chan, and I have made a pact: we will work on our original stuff for a set time every day. Her an hour, and me 30 minutes--to start. You know, until I get in the habit. This means that, yes, I am plugging away once more at my original manga, starring Laurie and her demon.

The last time I worked on it, I was coloring the first page at an agonizingly slow pace. Like with a new manga title, the first few pages will be in color, then I'll switch to b&w. Now I'm back at it, with the HP fanart pic under my belt...it's like I'm a whole different person. Guys, I'm getting more done in half an hour than I did in three hours before the HP pic. My confidence as improved that much. WOW.

I am really amused at myself, because I left all these scrawled notes to myself on the pic about my uncertainty on what I was doing. And I never deleted or merged any layers, so Laurie's hair consists of 8 different layers. ^^;;; I want to go back in time when I was freaking out over the page, give myself a hug, and tell me to relax. I'll figure it out!

ExpandFannish and IRL stuff behind the cut! )

In work news, I'm plugging away at Clay 22. Doing at least one Pink page a day, to get as many out of the way as I can before Natsume 14 hits. Still no fourth regular title, but I remain ever hopeful! And if I'm lucky, it'll be a good one, too. ^^
slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (I trust you...)
I went and pulled a vanishing act again, didn't I? Sorry, everyone. Especially the two new people on my flist. *apologetic bow*

I'm fine, just tired. For a good reason, though! I'll spare you the details and just say I'm reversing my steady Portland weight gain. Down 5 pounds already. Yay, me! This means I'm usually tired these days. Thankfully work is letting be be tired without having to suffer much.

Claymore 19 is in the can! I should have a couple months before we start 20.

I did two short lettering jobs for Naruto, the second of which was a real challenge. I don't know if this particular book has been announced as licensed and I keep forgetting to ask Naruto Editor. Mum's the word until I find it officially listed or NE says I can talk about it. :B

Natsume 10 is temporarily on hiatus. Shoujo Editor 2 sent me script for the first 80 pages, and I finished them over a week ago. Now I'm waiting for the rest of the book's translation, which SE2 can't give me until the translator gives it to her.
 
Saiunkoku 5 script hasn't arrived yet. Pattern indicates it will hit at the end of May. There's really no telling with this title, though. *shrug*
 
Skip 26 is chugging along nicely. I'm about halfway through. This volume starts an amusing story arc that has been hinted at in the teen volumes. I already have my copy of Japanese 27, and I must say: oh my! I do hope we can see what happens to two supporting characters, who are dealing with their own unusual tasks, separate from Kyoko. Particularly Moko's situation. XD Please, Nakamura-sensei??
 
 
ExpandI decided to sign up for my first fandom Big Bang. )
 
slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (D'awwww so kyooooot!!)
I pretty much vanished last month, I know. Work kept me rather busy, though it could have (and has been) much worse. I forgot about Skip before Giftmas while estimating my work load. *wince* Thus, I lettered two volumes in January: Nastume 8 and Skip 24. That volume of Natsume was easier than the norm, which is good because that volume of Skip was the most difficult one in the past ~10 vols. That was thanks to Valentines Day (canon!) shenanigans. Though I have to say that thanks to all the manga I've read and anime I've watched, I've seen an amazing number of different(?) Valentine's Day storylines, but Skip still managed to bring me one that was brand-new. This is one of the reasons Skip Beat is my favorite manga: it's incredibly unpredictable and fun--not to mention beautiful. ^^

I did finish both Natsume 8 and Skip 24 on time, and I am now in the middle of the next volumes of each--with the usual 2 month deadline. Whew! No script yet for Saiun 4, though I do have the page files and am prelettering those in preparation.

I've seen Mistress Fortune and Saiun vol 2 on bookshelves, so they are now available. I would be delighted if you would flip through Mistress, as it contains my best FX and retouch work ever!

My sister has been in Portland for the past week; she flies back to TX today. She came for work, and was able to see me for at least dinner just about every day. She joined me for book club, I took her to my fave restaurants, showed her the sights (my libraries!!), we both spent too much money on books at my local and downtown Powell's locations, and she was able to meet almost all of my local friends. She also had the full Portland experience: caught in the rain with no umbrella, hit up for money by a bum, rode the commuter train, had train fair inspected by a transit cop (yes, we were legal), got lost in Powell's, observed one loud person of questionable sanity, and walked everywhere possible. It was a good visit for both of us!

Now it's back to regular work schedule for me. The standard quota of 4 pages a day each of Skip and Natsume will let me meet my deadlines with time to spare. ^^ This means I've been chipping away at my original manga again! Kyaa! The inks for page 1 are SO CLOSE to being done. XD
slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (shades)
Yesterday I tried something new in the attempt to find the balance between lettering someone else's manga and creating my own: After every 5 pages of pre-lettering I completed on Utena2, I worked on my original manga, then I switched back to prelettering 5 more pages, then to my manga again, etc. It felt wonderful to spend time on my own story. :D I'm trying it again today! Thankfully with all the prelettering done for me by mcruthless (as mentioned in my previous post), I have enough pages already prepped that this is possible.

If you're curious as to what I'm doing with my original manga: I'm through blocking out the color for page 1. A happy coincidence has tied the page's color palette together, I am pleased to say! Lucky me. ^^V After I finish my current set of 5 prelettering pages, I must image Google men's suits for swooning purposes drawing reference. I have to give Gay Interviewer a properly drawn suit instead of the sketchy vague suit-ish thing he's in now. :B

I know it's surprising for me to post so soon after my last one. I'm going to try making shorter posts more often. ^^ To think I used to post every day, and often had to stop myself from posting twice a day...wow.
slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (gag)

I need to stop freaking out at the idea of working on my original manga, really. The most poorly-drawn, badly written webcomic out there has something over mine: it's out there. People can read it. Can people read my manga, my webcomics?? NO. A handful of pages and the comdic oneshot, that's it. BAH!

I'm such a weenie. Still so afraid of drawing attention to myself and being mocked as a result. If I've learned one thing watching from the sidelines of fandomsecrets, it's that no matter how good or bad something or someone is, someone out there will love it and someone else will hate it.

I'm so worried about what other people will think. "If I do black and white only, lots of people won't read it for that reason alone! But if I color every page, it'll take forever for me to finish a single page! If I draw in my usual manga style, people will mock me since I'm a white American! But I love that look, it's what I want to do! Everyone is so obsessed with having a ~*~`~unique~`~*~ art style for their webcomic, if mine doesn't stand out and shriek "I'M AN INDIVIDUAL!!!1!11one!!" people will dismiss me as a lazy weeaboo! But if I wait to develop a non-manga ~*~`~unique~`~*~ art style before starting my webcomic, it will be even LONGER before I begin posting! I need a proper webpage and server to host my stuff, but my HTML skills aren't good enough! If I study to make them so, it will take time away from the actual CREATING of the webcomic! But if I have to pay someone, that's money lost! And can I afford my own domain name and server space?! But how does all that even matter if I don't have anything to post??! How can I post if I can't be confident in how I should draw it?!?"

That's me: running in circles, flailing, freaking out about the nameless masses all set up to hate my stories on sight. Ugh. I want to slap myself.

I paid dearly for my spare time, even if I have so little of it right now. I need to start using it to work on my original stuff again.

I'm going to start roughing out my comics as storyboards rather than scripts. Comics ARE a visual medium, making mine so from the start will let me use that to its greatest advantage. And while I figure out what to do about the webpage angle, I can build a completed page buffer. Everyone wins! (Except the manga haters, I suppose.) *snerk*


slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (Default)

This May I had a fun experience while on my daily morning jog, and I decided it would make an amusing mini-comic--and be good practice for me, too! I present a comedic oneshot, starring me and a dilligent bird. SFW!

Preview:

ExpandClick here for the full image! )

You can also view it at my Deviant Art account. Heehee!

slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (Default)
ExpandI finally feel like I have a short moment to spare, so here's a quick shigoto update. )
I've been reading one of my fave shoujo manga, LoveCom. I plan to blog more about this later as well, but for now I will admit it's making me really want to work on my own original manga. I have the script and the pages I've already drawn open right now. I'm going to spend at least half an hour (in short snippets while I do my pro work) on it! I want to tell my own stories very very badly right now. This is something else to be saved for another post. Nrrrgh!

TIme for me to get to it. Everyone, please be well!
slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (thumbs up)

Here are the next five pages of my first original manga!

These five aren't quite as sketchy as the first five and cover, though they are far from final. Speaking of which, I've decided to start finishing my early pages in addition to drawing the later ones. If I wait until the entire story is sketched before I begin the final version, I risk losing interest and never finalizing them at all. Or have it be a terrible chore for me to finish, and I sincerely hope my manga never turns into that. =O (In case you were wondering, yes, this decision is why I posted my webcomics poll, which is still up and available for more replies! I'll be posting my findings from the poll in a few days. There's still time to participate if you are interested. ^^)

Now, the manga pages!

Title: Still to be determined!
Genre: drama and horror
Rating: PG-13 for dark themes. These pages qualify as PG and are completely safe for work.
Length: 5 WIP pages out of 11 total so far
Concrit welcome!
Click here if you would like to read the previous five pages and cover.

ExpandPages behind the cut! Kyaaa! XD )

slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (dance in the sun)

Mina-san, I am very happy to bring you the opening scene of my NaNo project. I'd hoped to post these pages on November 4th, but better late than never. ^^ It's become quite clear I cannot handle two pages a day on top of my paid work, so my goal is no longer to finish 50 pages by November 30th, but by December 31st. That will be challenge enough, I think!

Title: yet to be determined, actually. Still thinking on it.
Genre: drama and horror
Rating: PG-13 for dark themes and one line of dialogue. SFW if no one else notices that specific word bubble.
Length: 6 WIP pages. Clothing and character designs likely to change! Particularly since I'm working without any model sheets, which means features and clothes morph from page to page. :P Backgrounds are pretty much nonexistent, too.
Concrit welcome!

ExpandPages behind the cut! Kyaaa! XD )

slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (trigger)
November is NaNoWriMo. For those who aren't familiar with NaNo, it's short for National Novel Writing Month. Everyone who chooses to participate starts writing on November 1st and aims for 50,000 word minimum. If you're curious, here's the official site. Some people write original fiction, some people write fanfic.

I'm going to draw a comic. :D

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm going to aim for a 50-page comic. In the spirit of creative abandon that is NaNo, it will be a rough draft. (Trying to ink and color or tone 1.67 pages a day on top of my work quota is insane at my current drawing speed. That, and I lack a crew of assistants!)

I'm going to try something new for me: horror. When left to my own devices, I tend to write comedy and drama. Horror will be a challenge!!  XD I prefer suspenseful Hitchcock-style over slasher stuff, personally. Less blood and more buildup! Yeah! I have a basic idea of the story I want to tell. I think it has potential!

I haven't decided if I'll be posting the rough pages or not. Is anyone interested? Or would you rather wait to see the final, finished version? Or are you here only for my paid work?

Anyway, wish me luck, minna! If any of you are also planning on participating in NaNo (be it in actual prose or also in drawing form), let me know! It would be fun to have a buddy or two on my quest. :D

ONWARD! KYAAA!
slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (Draco guh! X3)
I'm back in OR. It was great visiting home and seeing a good chunk of the extended family. Usagi survived the trip, thankfully! I was worried last night when walking back to my apartment through half-melted snow slush and ice, as the footing was VERY bad and I almost fell splat on the ground three times. That would not have been good. But I made it through the nasty with no mishaps. Yay!

Now! The good stuff. How about an impromptu update in general? Shigoto is first, since that's what most of you are really interested in:

ExpandShigoto, original manga, and fanfic updates! )
slr2moons: a self-portrait, of me in my usual habitat: in front of my computer monitors! (Hassan Dance)

 

ExpandI've said it once, I'll say it again...sometimes, I really hate tone. :P )



Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrated!! I hope you didn't eat too much. ^^ I gave myself the day off from calorie counting and enjoyed a yummy meal or two. :9

I'm about half-way through Captive 4. Honey 10 is coming along. I'm very glad I have so much time on this final volume, since as previously mentioned the Umino Chika-sensei cut loose and went crazy in the 2nd half. *wince* I just started Nana 17. I'm printing Nana again! Yay! I'm about a fourth of the way into Skip 19. My Japanese tanko for Skip 20 came a few days ago, and my freebie copies of Eng vol 16. Heeeeeeee. I <3 Skip!!!!!! I'm behind on my Skip anime watching, though.
 

ExpandNon-work ramblings involving Dattebayo's Shippuuden sub, my original manga, artwork, and my fanfic story DaaGB. )


That's it for now, I guess. Back to work!

ETA: I'm jumping on the new icon bandwagon and plan on using all 40 of my alloted icons. Meet Hassan, from Vampirates. Heeeeee. DANCE!! DANCE FOR ME, HASSAN!!! <3 <3 <3

And I've been singing along with my ultimate fave mp3 list all day. So much so that I'm losing my voice!!! =D

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