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Spooky Guinea

Halloween pictures of our pumpkins and Xiao Bao!
http://www.vgcats.com
http://homestarrunner.com


Last year I believe my me and my sister did Samurai Jack so this year was less creative :(

hehe Xiao Bao hates the clothing now. If I even put it in front of him, he immediately turns around.


And yes, he does have his own couch XD.

The infamous Strong Bad. Nuff' said. 

This is the VGCats pumpkin. We used the template from the webcomic's website. 

Poor guy. He's a real tropper for wearing the Santa hat lol. 

John Wayne Xiao Bao....I wonder how he herds the cattle? 

Full-blown coma lol 

Really tired. 

A candid shot with the Bao. 

Big Update

Update on big update lol: Busier day than I expected. I got my MRI and I do have a fused bone in my ankle so I will get surgery when summer comes 0.o

I at least downloaded all the pictures on the computer. Tomorrow I will save them all then upload them for your viewing pleasure.

I'm sorry, but here are some Xiao Bao pics to tie you over:
http://usera.imagecave.com/HBThingy/xiaobao003.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/HBThingy/xiaobao004.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/HBThingy/xiaobao005shrunk.PNG

Thanks Enoch. At least my leg will feel better and I can maybe ram people with a wheel chair for several weeks ^^.



Tomorrow night I will make a huge update with photos and neat stuff.

Stuff to look forward to:

New Profile pic
Xiao Bao pictures galore
Pumpkin pics
Squidworks meeting and sketchcrawl
Life Drawings

and if I get these all up with time to spare I will update my comic...although I can't color it :(

Phew, I would have updated sooner, but fall break has been rather busy. I have to get a MRI for my foot in the morning. My right foot has been aching ever since I started working. I thought I put too much stress on the foot, but I might actually have a fused bone in the ankle. This explains why it hurts soo much. That was rather too much information lol.

Let the updates begin!

Ba gah?

Two weeks before fall break and Thanksgiving...

For some reason right now it feels like finals. I have a biology project due Thursday. I presented my speech on Japan's wartime atrocities in speech class (I always wanted to research this.)
Plus, I have a funeral for my grandfather on Saturday. (Pretty odd situation since I never knew him. I don't even remember his face.)
Also Sunday I'm going to the Squidworks meeting to do a Sketch Crawl.
http://www.squidworks.com
http://www.sketchcrawl.com

This week is already turning out bad and will probably worsen until Sunday.

I want turkey really bad and I want to update my comic and blog really bad.

Thanks Enoch, Romy, and Bemmie for all of your comments. Sorry I couldn't reply immediately.

"Ephemeral comics" may be the official name of my new url. I picked "ephemeral" because my artwork is best in black and white with bits of color. Plus, charcoal is a crucial medium I will use in the future. This medium has an airy and frail quality that can really make comics fun. The name just sound so dramatic and real.

I recently saw this awesome book about Van Gogh's drawings. I was really surprised he sketches like he paints. The style is so beautiful, and the drawings have swirls and lines that seemingly map the feeling of a paintbrush. I tried this type of technique on a tree I was drawing, and it made it 50% better.

Here are some of his drawings:
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Van_Gogh/images.asp

"The Cypresses" just gave me chills. ^^

The Xiao Bao pictures will (cross your fingers) be put up this weekend.
hehe it's really funny. I never noticed how much he grew until my sister saw some baby guinea pigs. Xiao Bao is pretty huge now. I think he grew 2 inches. He can almost get out of the gate I have o.0. Yet, he's still just as adorable when I first got him.

Wow this is a really long post. Well, back to my art seminar paper...what a long week this is going to be and Enoch don't give up on your website!! :D

Profile change

I couldn't stand looking at my profile pic anymore. It's kind of creepy seeing your face so much lol. I'm probably going to put up a better pic or a doodle of me.

I also updated my interests a bit. Franz Ferdinand finally got on the music list. They rock and Alex Kapranos always has the sexy eyes lol.

For some art fun go check out Lui Ferreyra's work. I saw his figure painitngs at Emmanuel Gallery. He also has a pretty nifty site.
http://www.luiferreyra.com/

California cries

There is a Shojo Manga Exhibition at California State University.....dear god they have Clamp art.
http://animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=7720

Maybe I should quickly fly out to California to see this exhibit.....wait I don't have any money. (cries) I haven't been this depressed about living Colorado since Maaya Sakamoto performed at the Anime Expo. Curse you California fo getting such awesome stuff. You better go if you're in California!

Hey Em....they said it's coming to Chicago art Institute as well. (shakes fist)

That's it I'm moving to California as soon as possible.

Halloween and Randomness

Xiao Bao's costume has already come in. He's going to be a cowboy. I put the hat on him and it seemed to stay on. hehe I'll post some pics on Halloween.

I'm really behind on Halloween this year. I haven't decided what picture I should carve on the pumpkin. I'm tempted to do this VGCats template.
http://vgcats.com/news/pumpkins/leo.gif

I'm silly and masochistic. I may even do a XXXholic pumpkin. Clamp art is sooo hard to carve lol. If it's good maybe I'll enter it in to this contest.
http://animenewsnetwork.com/contest.php?id=64 Soo much dvds :D

And about DayDream....it's been almost three months since I updated it. (I'm terrible.) Well, as soon as fallbreak comes I'm going to try to make up for lost time. The problem with leaving a comic for soo long is that other ideas pop into your head that are better. I'm going to finish the comic for sure though.

I want to get an official domain...that illustrates the comics to come...kind of like a label. I really need some ideas.

Flipbook comics <---maybe
Drip comics
Label Eraser
Comic Gems
Felt Comics
Colorless comics
Coal comics
Visionary comics
Volatile comics
Ephemeral <-----maybe
Meteoric comics <-----maybe
Reverie comics ( may be taken already)

All of these names are crappy. I mean names like "Flight", "Squidworks", and "Blank Labels comics" are awesome names. Okay...Ephemeral would be an awesome name too....but it may be too serious. And Meteoric is interesting, but people may think I do sci-fi comics....(I really hate spaceships lol)

Give me some ideas wonderful bloggers!

I admit

I really want to open myself up as an individual, so just like Conan O'Brien's celebrity secrets segment. Here are my (whispers) "Secrets."

1) I really like anime and no not the tentacle stuff or Yugi-oh.

2) I saw the first three Pokemon movies in theaters. I'm not that bad. When I saw the third movie, a 40 year-old guy with loads of snacks around him giggled "Pika pika."

3) People who learn Japanese to be hip really annoys me.

4) Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Ellen stole the cookie from the cookie jar.Who me? Yes you! Couldn’t be! Then who... (I lied. I really did steal those yummy cookies and they were good.)

5) I don't know Chinese or Kung Fu and please don't call me a twinkie.

6) Moths and spiders freak me out.

7) Shopping carts are the devil.

8) I get jealous when I see really fantastic art.

9) I'm beginning to think only winning the lotto will insure my chances to go to Calarts (around $30,000 a year).

10) Xiao Bao is my new hairy chested boyfriend XD.

Now you know some of my (whispers) secrets. And yes I will buy a Powerball ticket for the 340 million jackpot. I really only want one million for goodness sakes.

Halloween

Hehe this year Halloween maybe more exciting than usual.

http://cuddlycavies.homestead.com/costumes.html

I am so bad lol. I might get Xiao Bao the Cowboy outfit and the santa hat. The pirate outfit is just too tempting....now if I got the turkey outfit Xiao Bao will never speak to me again lol.

Tell me what other outfits I should consider....

Gosh now I know why some parents go crazy in dressing up their kids.

Wallace and Gromit

A great and cute movie with classic wit and intelligence. I was so happy to hear that the movie made it to number one. Aardman deserved it, but they didn't deserve this :
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/10/aardman.fire/index.html

I consider Aardman's work high art and when something so amazing is destroyed. It just breaks my heart. Just like when Edvard Munch's "The Scream" was stolen and damaged, I just felt hopeless.

Thankfully nobody was hurt in the fire and Aardman will make new creations to fill up another warehouse, but I would have loved to have seen an Aardman museum of such wonderful creations.

The Long Awaited Photos

Da Xiao Bao has arrived!!!

hehe it's so funny. I went to take him to Petsmart for a check-up. He was a brave little trooper. Most of the people who worked there were surprised how cute he was. He was just a little white ball of fur lol.

I got the medical papers back and they put Xiao Bao Yu on it XD. Too hilarious. I never thought he had a last name, but I guess he adopted ours. Oddly, the name works.

Meepers!

Yes that's a little green igloo lol. He's just eating his timothy hay and making trouble. 

Had to lighten this photo to allow the inner Xiao Bao to come through. He's resting on my lap :D 

Look at him strut his stuff! 

An artist's angle of Xiao Bao lol. 

NDK photos

Finally, got them up ^^. I'll try someday in the near future to post my autograph DVD, but it's soo precious to me lol.

NDK was a blast and I will go again next year!

lol I look chubby in this picture. You can kinda see my Chitose cosplay. (Faint) Brad touched my shoulder! He's soo nice. I must visit Vancouver someday to meet him again. 

The two of them together framed up and ready for auction. If you want to buy any of these pieces, give me a comment and lots of money. :D 

"Sensation" an art piece done in charcoal on bristol paper. It depicts the everlasting sensation of holding hands with someone you love...even if the relationship has ended. (Sounds like what happened to me lol.) 

"Torn Between" my fanart tribute to my favorite manga right now. Sarasa on the left, Sarasa dressed up as Tatara in the center, and her star crossed lover Shuri. 

I wish I was that person coming towards Brad. 

Brad Swaile auctioning to his heart's desire. 

NDK experience

Wow what a great Sunday I had. This con exceeded my expectations and was wonderful. Everybody was nice and clean lol. Plus, at the last moment I got in to cosplay spirit and dressed poorly as Chitose Hibiya (the landlady in Chobits).

They had enough panels to keep me busy.
The panels that really wowed me were:

Airbrushing...wow I might ask for one for Christmas now. A really fun device that makes smooth color transitions and it has this odd graffiti sensation to it too :D

Meeting Brad Swaile...lol I almost fainted when I met him (gosh I'm such a giddy dork). He was soo nice and I even got a picture with him. He autographed my Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz movie. He even drew Quatre's head at the bottom. That's about the point where I almost fainted lol. I forgot that he studied as a graphic designer. He was also the MC for the closing ceremonies. He auctioned off a Megaman inspired painting he did for the Katrina fund. I wish I could have got it, but the bid went up to $90.

Cel painting...pretty cool. I actually never thought cel painting was that easy, but now since I experienced it, I'll try to paint some more cels.

24 hour comics panel...I met two awesome comic creators Stan Yan and Ethan Wenberg. They did a voiceover of their comic and showed the 24 hour comic documentary. I joined their forum and in the future might meet up with them at the local coffee shop. They are both Denver based artists ^^. http://www.squidworks.com

Auction/Closing ceremony...this event really reminded me of the silent auction I had at my high school. It was very intimate and fun. The con raised $5,500 toward Katrina. Whoo hoo!

I will definately be coming back next year...even though sadly no one bought my art.

Gah!

Darn it. I thought my morning class was cancelled today, but I wasn't sure. So I decided to come anyway...and guess what...it was cancelled! (gnaws at the wall.)

Something good must come out of this.....I guess I have time to write this post. ^^

To think I could have spent two more hours with Xiao Bao ><.

Oh I forgot to pull up the NDK link.
http://www.ndkdenver.org
Wow their site is quite lame lol. Hopefully Bamboo Dong from Animenewsnetwork.com will be present. I think she's a native Coloradoan (she talks about DIA and AV's Foresberg in posts) and I always loved her articles.

I do know Brad Swaile is attending :) He's known for his voice acting as Quatre in Gundam Wing. I love his voice. I hope he will be there on Sunday.

Robert and Emily DeJesus will also be there. "How to Loathe Drawing Manga Style" is just too funny. http://www.robertdejesus.com/htlmain.html

Now back to day dreaming about Xiao Bao. Meepers!

Figured it out

The comic will be updated one more time before I leave it on hiatus for a while. I feel a little sad and defeated because of this, but I'm just too darn sleepy lol.

Meanwhile, I will try to update this blog instead of the comic. I'll begin to upload the long awaited Xiao Bao pictures, school artwork, "Breakfast at Tivoli" newspaper comic, and other interesting stuff. lol right now my blog gets more hits than my comic.

During the hiatus, I'm going to try to find a domain so the link will be permanent. Keenspace changing to Comic Genesis really messed me up. Right now, I'm thinking manganese.com or manganese-comics.com or even something completely different. I kind of want to get away from the association of anime and manga because my comics' art style may change in the future.

I'm attending my first convention on September 18. It's Denver's Nan Desu Kan (anime convention.) I'm a little scared of the fandom lol. I've known about the convention for a while, but its taken a couple of years just to admit my anime geekiness. I just hope I don't see horrible cosplay of a man in a Sailor Moon outfit (shudders.) I'm going to enter some art in the show, and I'll see how that goes. So if you're attending as well and want to give me comments on my comic or anything else, I'll be there.

I'll try to upload guinea pics tonight. Huzzah!

Spam

Sorry wonderful readers... I added word verification to the comments. I just couldn't take it anymore after someone spammed on the Katrina post :(

It's an extra step, but at least no more spammers. I think anonymous comments can still be posted so you don't have to be on blogger.

Levee

Cartoon Brew posted this very ironic and unsettling Public Service Announcement original brought up by http://rudepundit.blogspot.com

Mr. Bill, the famous clay character from Saturday Night Live, warns viewers that the levees might flood and break. Bush said, "I don't think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees." Well, look at this PSA from 2004 and you'll know the truth.
http://www.mrbill.com/MBReed.wmv

There is no words you can say about the disaster. It is truly a horrific sight. I know Lousiana and Mississippi will someday be better than ever. Please donate anything you can...a dollar even. I just hope help it gets there in time before more people suffer.

Comic Decisions

Oy, it has been a hard week. The previous post already explained some of it lol. I have 16 college credits this year (a full load) which includes painting, life drawing, biology, lab, presentational speaking (bleah!), and freshman art seminar. Plus I finally got a job at Albertsons on Friday and the weekend which is awesome. I really need the money.

I'm just so crammed and tired. I'm afraid that I will have to put my comic on hiatus. I really would hate to do that so I'm thinking of getting rid of color images and just putting up the black and white for now. Plus, I might allow myself to post irregularly, which will be a pain in the butt for my readers. Hopefully, I can figure out what to do soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Oh yeah check out this awesome site:
http://sketchcrawl.com
It is such a great idea. I wish I lived in California to participate.

Blogs are for venting

Sorry to whoever reads this. Be warned in the next paragraph I shall be unleashing my rage and sorrow for what happened to me this week. So if you hate hearing other people's problems or are afraid of cuss words please run away. I truly believe blogs are therapeutic....especially in break ups.
(Note: I'm not the type of person who likes to talk about my personal life, but oh well I'm pissed. I need to vent.)

Yesterday, I broke up with my boyfriend of one month (actually two if you count me trying to call him and never getting an answer.) Now one month doesn't seem a lot, but he was my first boyfriend. I'm quite insecure and never had great experiences in high school. He was the first one that may have returned the same feeling I had for him.

We hanged out together and watched movies together. It was so much fun, and admittedly I really thought I was in love. Our relationship was going great, but sometimes he didn't include me in certain things. I was frankly surprised he didn't tell his family about me. Well, then came my Florida vacation. On the trip, I bought souvenirs just for him. Then, I came back, which led to the excrutiating four weeks of not being able to get a hold of him. I called him, emailed him, and when I did get a hold of him "oh, I'm busy shit." After a couple weeks, I started to wonder "does he hate me?", "does he have another girl", and "did he die?" I worried about it everyday and had constant insomnia and depression.

I only finally got to see him again this week. We go to the same school together. Well, I finally got to meet up with him. I could tell he was uneasy, damn uneasy. We talked and walked for a bit. Then, I finally couldn't take it anymore. "Am I still your girlfriend?" I asked. He replied, "Good question." (Smart Ass. I really should have kicked him or punch him at that point.) "Well, I don't feel like a relationship right now. But I'm really sorry how I treated you." (No shit. At this point I should have cried or yelled, but being the damn too nice person I am I merely said, "Oh well sometimes that happens. Damn I really should have yelled at him.)

I finally cried when I came home. I rode on a bus for an hour and was directly across a couple that were cuddling each other. Just terrible. My sisters thought he was a coward and has no balls lol. For goodness sakes he couldn't even dump me. Asshole bastard.

I doubt he would read this, but if you do, now you understand why you suck soo much.
Thank you blog. I feel much better now.
Now what should I do with the gifts I bought him?

Xiao Bao!

For my lack of updating, here's a little fun comic about my new pet ^^. College starts Monday...so you might have to cherish this comic for a while.

Joe Ranft and Dan Lee

Losing two of Pixar's greatest contributors in a year is just heartbreaking. I've never met them, but I have met their work.

Dan Lee was an inspirational artist and someone who really understood sketching. It wasn't a chore for him, but a daily routine he enjoyed while sitting in a cafe. He created the design for Nemo in Finding Nemo. Lee was someone who truly lived for his art. Even while undergoing chemotherapy for his lung cancer, he kept on creating designs for Pixar. Just this week, I heard friends of family are launching a book of his sketches (appropriately a coffee table book).
http://danleebooklaunch.blogspot.com/

Suddenly Wednesday, Pixar lost another great animator. Joe Ranft worked on numerous animation masterpieces including both Toy Storys, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Brave Little Toaster, and many more. He also did the voice of Heimlich the catepillar in A Bug's Life. He died in a car accident while participating in the program Mosaic, which pairs successful businessmen and people who need help.

I have heard such great comments and stories about these two men. I never knew them, but after they died, I wish I did.

Back to College

(sigh) Another week I can't put up my comic.
1. Darn Procreate Painter Classic is giving me a headache.
2. I really need to work on the newspaper comic.
3. And I'm just lazy.

Maybe I'll put up a Xiao Bao sketch just to make me feel less guilty.

College....back to college...book supply bill $132 without art supplies...without art supplies.
Then tuition....you wonder why college students are so poor.

I'm happy to go back. I like getting back into a regular routine. However, I'm sad I will not be able to go to my Animation Show chats. Darn evil Freshman art seminar is scheduled so late.

I'm speechless....

Not only is "Rapunzel: Unbraided" based upon Fragonard's "The Swing" (one of my favorite paintings), but it's 3-D. It's as silky as 2-D. I can't believe it. Now I'm really worried 2-D will never come back.

Check out the article and pics as I gasp at its beauty and weep for the only thing 2-D had going for it. The ability to mimic a painting.

http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles/showarticle.php?ID=1589