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

8:15 AM

400,000 gone
Not in an instant
Lingered on
Painful and agonizing deaths
The atomic bomb

Melting flesh
Oil burns
Radiation
Loss of loved ones
And silence...

Peace was meant
Was it worth it?
60 years since
War exists and hate exists
Let's pray the use of the bomb died
Never made again to ruin people's lives

Picture : BISCHOF, Werner "Town of Hiroshima". A victim of the Hiroshima atomic explosion, Japan, 1951

Guinea Genesis

I had a really rocking birthday and a special present. A guinea pig! After 19 years of pleading for a pet, I finally got one. I named him Shao Bao or Xiao Bao (I'm not to sure what spelling to use yet lol). It means "little bun." I'll post some comparing pictures of my guinea and a bun later :p
He's just soo darn cute. I swear Star Trek must have gotten the idea of tribbles from guinea pigs. They make little squeaks when they are happy.

The rest of my post concerns my comic "DayDream." As some of you know Keenspace has official changed their name to Comic Genesis. This is all fine and dandy, but this might mean I would have to change my webcomic address to manganese.comicgenesis.com. I'm unsure that the switch will cause the little readers I have to become confused and start losing interest. Plus, I like the name keenspace....it sounds normal and people can spell it (genesis is quite tricky lol). I'll keep you posted if I decide the final url for the address.

In other news, which is great news! Jean Claude and Christo might finally get approved and started on the "Over the River" project. This may be their last project and it is in Colorado. I have no excuse. I must sign up and volunteer to be a part of this historic art duo. These wrap artists are recently remembered for "The Gates" in New York. I wish I could have been there. It looked so beautiful even on tv! Hopefully, I will get to experience it when the time comes.

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3973341,00.html

Cross your fingers! ^^

Back from Florida!

Sorry for my abscence from the comic and the blog. I was avoiding long lines in Disney World in
semi-sunny Florida. It was raining and steaming most of the time I was there.

I'm just plain broke now. Disney World has sucked all of my money lol.

My family tried to see the space shuttle launch, but as you know it got delayed. However, I did get freeze dried ice cream :D

Hopefully things will get back to normal. I will update my comic ASAP. I still having figured out the layer problem. If I still haven't figured it out be July 25, I'm just going to post the unfinished image and replace it when I can.

July 26 is my B-day! Whooo hooo! Another year older, another year crazier!

The "Layer" Gods must hate me

(sigh) What an awful comic week!

I'm so sorry. I've been trying to finish the color image that is suppose to be posted tomorrow. Well, Procreate's layers have been acting goofy. My lines keep getting overtaken by the new layer, which never happened to me before. It is quite mysterious. The only setting that is not doing this is watercolor ><.

I'm not to sure what is going on because it seems to work just fine when I pull up my Keenswim image again.

I'll try to upload it as soon as possible.

July 4th delay

Happy July 4th everyone! Of course Happy Birthday to my sister as well.

Sadly because of our insane celebrations...DayDream will be updating late. I will either update late tomorrow or Wednesday. The second comic this week is a color title...so that might contribute to the lateness ><.

I went to the Cherry Creek Art Festival 15th celebration this weekend. It was a blast. I'll write more about it later.

Well, happy fireworks!!!!

Howl's Moving Castle Review and Analysis

Finally, I had enough time to put up my review for Howl's Moving Castle. I saw it on opening day June 10 at the Mayan Theater. Howl's Moving Castle is the latest movie from the director Hayao Miyazaki. This movie is adapted from Diane Wynne Jones's book of the same name. I didn't get the chance to read her book before I saw the movie, but I might pick it up.

Howl is about a young girl named Sophie who gets turned into a 90 year-old woman by the Witch of the Waste. She takes refuge in a moving castle that is owned by the notorious Howl. Howl leads Sophie through enchanting mayhem.

Pretty vague summary huh? Well, this movie is something you just have to see. Some scenes and situations you really can't describe.

There have been many reviews saying that this is not the best of Miyazaki's work. Sadly, this is true. Howl's Moving Castle is a bit more perplexing and a lot more mysterious than his other works. However, I still enjoyed this movie. It is definitely MUCH better than Steamboy (which came out earlier this year.) I actually was entertained through out Howl's Moving Castle even though some parts were unclear. Oddly, after a couple days, the movie made more sense.

Analysis (Spoilers)

The more you think about this movie; the more it makes sense. A lot of people complained that this movie wasn't very deep or had didn't have different metaphors like other Miyazaki movies. That is false. One quote from Diana Wynne Jones allowed me to figure out why in the world Sophie kept on changing without warning throughout the movie. I couldn't find the quote (sadness) but it described how Jones always wanted to convey how old people have the spirit of young people. The only limit is their own appearance and self image.

In the movie, Sophie doesn't think highly of herself. She even feels a little bit more comfortable in an old woman's body! Her transformations (young and old) during the movie reflected her self esteem or when she had a child like spirit and ideal. I believe Sophie never was dispelled of the witch's magic. Yup peeps, I thinks she is still an old woman at the end of the movie (that is why her hair is still gray.) She only looks young because she finally fell in love and truly accepted herself.

The prince and the scarecrow confused a lot of people. I think it was there for a twist and a later realization that "Turnip head" is a stalker lol.

Now Howl himself is quite mysterious. The sub-plot about him losing his heart is quite confusing, but could also be used as an excuse for another metaphor. Howl seems to have a common routine and no spice in his life. He's always running away and never takes care of anything, especially the castle. As soon as Sophie comes along, he begins to have situations like the hair fiasco to cause him to feel emotions. He begins to open his heart and allows Sophie to journey into his past. She discovers he has a heart that they can both share. Aww they fell in love lol. So in a roundabout way it makes sense.

Well that's how I perceived the movie. It was a beautiful and fun movie. A little bit hard to understand, but worth it in the end.

Avatar Episode: The Blue Spirit

Since this blog always seems to get most of it's hits from my Avatar post, I thought why not start an episode guide. I'm really behind, but I'll start with the most recent episode. Also because it was soo awesome lol.

A very surprising episode! It had a great twist in the end. (I won't try to spoil it.)

However, I'll list the main features and lessons I learned from the episode:

1. Sucking on frozen frogs may heal the characters, but don't try it at home. 0.o
2. Aang must hate arrows after this episode.
3. Momo really doesn't understand how to fetch water. (But he understands how to fetch jewelry ^^)
4. I love the masked acrobat wonder! For many reasons....lol
5. Sokka is very scary when he is sick.
6. Commander Zhao truly has a stick up his butt.
7. Aang and Prince Zuko are going to have a tough decision ahead of them.
8. Finally, Prince Zuko ponders while buff and half naked in his bed lol

As you can tell already my episode guide is really silly. You can read serious reviews here anyway.
http://www.tv.com/avatar-the-last-airbender/show/28841/episode_guide.html

I really love this show and I'm pleased to find out the creators of Avatar, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, are part of the judging panel for the Nextoons: The Nicktoon Film Festival. This might be a good indication that Avatar is here to stay!

Check out this great film festival at: http://www.nick.com/all_nick/nicktoons/site/filmfest/index.html

Tuesday and Thursdays

Okay, the Keenswim posting worked out well. So far a lot of different people has started to visit the "DayDream" site. Hooray!!!

But it is quite odd that my blog gets more visitors because of my Avatar: The Last Airbender post. So I shall advertise again ^^. (Shameless plug)

http://manganese.keenspace.com

It updates Tuesday and Thursdays. So gooooooo!!!

In other news, I joined the voting jury for the Cartoonist Choice Awards. You can only join if you have a webcomic.

http://www.ccawards.com

A lot of great nominations this year. Maybe someday in an alternate reality, I can get nominated......maybe when pigs fly or even cows. Wow can you imagine the mess on your car?

Keenswim entry

Finally! My Keenswim entry is finished. Hopefully it will be put in this website soon:
http://keenswim.keenspace.com

I really want more people to visit my comic and hopefully this little advertising will help. Click on the above image if you want to see it clearly.

My goodness....now I know why my comic is not colored lol. It would take me forever, and I would have to sit in front of the computer until eternity (shudder). Also I won't put this awesome comic in the webcomic website. It's a little special extra thing :p

You may also notice the colors and brushstrokes of this color image is quite different from my last attempts. I've been playing around with my Procreate and finally found the right effect. Hooray!

My banner! Isn't it beautiful?

Update May 23: Well, it seems the comic will go update Tuesday and Thursdays. I haven't been able to go on the computer on weekends because of the mayhem that is summer. I will update the keenswim thing soon. Who knew summer=procrastination?

Narnia and comic ideas

I can't wait until December ^^ Finally, the Chronicles of Narnia will be adapted into a movie. You can see the new trailer when Star Wars comes out.
It's funny. I never realized until high school that Narnia was a book based on Christianity. You would think I would have noticed after the children were called "Son of Adam or daughter of Eve." Plus, the climatic Aslan scene in the book...geez I'm so clueless lol.
Despite all the religion embedded in the text, I still love the books. The cast and props looks great although I thought Lucy would be blonde? All I'm asking is that they sell Susan's bow in the Noble Collections catalogue. Anyway they already sell Harry Potter wands! Oh also the Harry Potter Goblet of Fire trailer premiered. Wow it looks fantastic. I still have no idea how they are going to fit the whole book into a movie.

I finished my Keenswim sketch. All I have left to do is color it and hopefully more people will visit my comic. hmm I've been thinking about what my next comic should be. I know DayDream isn't even half way done, but I think for the next comic I will need sometime to research and set up backgrounds. I might even use real watercolors. So here are some of my ideas:

1. Teenage boy that can manipulate fire from a psychic institute finds out he has a little sister. He runs away and hides to take care of her. He enrolls in a boarding school a meets a girl that could make him feel normal again.

2. Chinese themed comic that I may still need to think through. It involves a a stubborn prince, a girl who runs like the wind, a sweet and clueless warrior, and a paralyzed and barren girl (I feel bad for her). This was originally two seperate stories, but I might combine them together.

3. Smaller comic about a shy teacher and student who falls in love with her. She knows it is wrong, but is age really a factor in love? ( This may be a little too freaky lol)

4. Or finally the comic based on Bless Me Ultima...sort of dealing with spiritual witchcraft and sacrifices.

Darn I have too many ideas!!!

No comic this week.

Way too much to do. Finals are this week, which means the comic will take a one week break. I will update twice next week to start up my summer comic plan. Hooray!

Now I must weep in the sorrow that is finals.

My visit to Robischon!

I had a great time visiting Robischon Gallery Wednesday. The artwork was simply amazing and the picture above just doesn't do it justice. Stefan Kleinschuster's Rubric III (2004) and all of his works in this exhibition are made up of patches and "nebulas" of oil paint. Stefan was there and explained he wanted to leave on the canvas the same swirls you find when mixing a palette. In all of his works, his main tool isn't a paintbrush, but a palette knife. He considers his works "magnificent failures", but I simply think it is gorgeous.

I heard he might do a drawing class sometime next summer. I'm definitely signing up.

Sniffles

Cough..cough...

Ugh...it's almost finals and I have a crappy cold. Colorado has been weird lately. What happened to the 70 degree weather?

One more week of my first year in college. I wish I was healthy. Need chicken soup...need cure for cold....

Cough...comic updated....cough

Oh yeah...isn't May Asian Heritage month? Well, I guess hooray for Asians! Now I want to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender lol and Kung Fu Hustle.

This must be the most boring post ever...oh well I'm grumpy and sick.