DXS Machina

Getting ready to take off for San Diego Comic con. This year I’ll have a booth to work behind, so I’ll be easy to find helping out my friends at booth #1633. So far things have been pretty relaxed so I’m hoping the con goes well and isn’t too crazy… or at least is only crazy in a good way. =]

I’m a little bit crippled for art work as I had to turn in my tablet laptop to get worked on before I flew out to California. My poor Toshiba laptop had started to crack on the plastic around the screen. So I’m using my economic stimulous check to get the part replaced. If it’s not the plastic at fault my warranty may cover it but I’ll have to see how that pans out when I get back home. =/

Hope springs eternal. Right now I’m working on Mom’s 5 year old sony vaio laptop. Strangely it reboots like crazy with a blue screen of death of I connect it to the internet at home… but works perfectly fine out here… I have no idea why but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Yay convention of doom!

- Diana Sprinkle * 1 Comment →

Whew! I managed to cancel the hotel room I didn’t need. So, I’m all ready for San Diego Comic Con this year. More info in a little bit. After I get some real sleep.

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So, I’m working upstairs because I got up early to feed my cats who felt rightfully that maybe I miss measured their food yesterday and are hungry. And I hear this really loud tapping against the side of the room I’m in. Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap! Long pause to let me wonder what the hell? Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap!

We’re not doing any house work today so I look out both windows in that corner of the room but there’s no ladder leading to the second story. I head down stairs and walk out the front door of my house and there’s a rather large woodpecker clinging to the side of the house (maybe this type of woodpecker? Not sure). I figure this guy is 8-10 inches, black spotted back with a red crested head… just hanging out to the side of the house. Cool as could be. I yelled, “Hey, cut that shit out!” and shake my fist at him.

To which he takes off… I have probably just hit crazy lady that yells weird things in the morning to my poor neighbors… Hopefully the birds won’t leave some flaming poop on my front porch to go with the knocking on the walls. =/ Still, huge woodpecker! It’s sort of neat to see one of those. Most of the time to only ones we have are the little tiny ones. This is the first time I’ve seen a big one. hopefully he won’t come back to knock on the walls though… that could be bad.

- Diana Sprinkle * 1 Comment →

Looks like the reshuffling of Tokyopop is starting and it appears that the reality of book cancelings and online versions is happening for many of the people I know/follow online. I keep poking around and looking at these goings on with interest. I had expected something like this and yet never ever expect it to actually happen. I’m use to the comic company that just lingers on and on and on slowly withering but gripping to life with brittle crusted fingers never gracefully exiting the stage until the final moments… sometimes becoming a zombie and lurching back to life type thing. This sudden shifting fast paced Tokyopop news relay has me a bit taken aback. Then again TP use to be Mixxzine until suddenly it wasn’t so I don’t know why I’m so surprised.

Before all this stuff started happening, I made some random “King City” fanart. “King City” is an awesome comic put out by Brandon Graham through Tokyopop. This was drawn last week. I don’t know why I doodled it or what the Owl is doing in that top hat or the tiny whale… but there it is. Originally I had the guy, Joe, holding the cat in an impossible way but then I punched me in the face and told myself to fix it, so now he might actually be holding that cat.

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So, I went on a mad and crazy movie spree last Saturday and I watched: The Happening, Sex and the City, and The Incredible Hulk… all in one day. Out of the three I liked “The Happening” the best. Which judging by the reviews is suppose to be the WORSE film in existence… or something.

However “House of the Dead”, “Dungeons and Dragons” and “Lost in Space” still exist so I’m a bit confused by all the gnashing of teeth and shaking of fists going on. Not that I think people should like “The Happening” or something, just that I went and watched it and thought it was a perfectly fine film. Mom watched it with me and didn’t like it at all so you know to each their own.

Still it’s weird, people keep telling me things about it that aren’t in the movie at all… like it has an ending like the new version of “the Mist”, which it doesn’t. It has a ending much like a typical horror film unlike the new “Mist” which wishes to punch you in the face a few times for fun. I don’t mind being punched in the face but twice is my limit and “The Mist” exceeds that by an extra punch or two. I also heard “The Happening” was depressing… which it isn’t, it’s no more depressing then a typical zombie film. I heard it was super violent and then boring which I didn’t find to be the case… though this could be me.

I found it to be a perfectly fine M. Night Shyamalan film. It’s beautifully shot, has good pacing, and has a strange and enjoyable humor which I always like about his films. There are no twist endings here (just in case you want to drag out that pony and beat it a few times… personally I don’t think he’s had a twist ending in 3 or 4 films now but I’m funny on what I’d call a twist and what I’d call good old fashion plot… you know, not just there to move the story along, sometimes plot also has reveals and turns to go with all those twists everyone goes on and on about). It’s just a straight forward catastrophe film. The film is coy about laying down an exact reason for the event taking place, which the director sets up really early in the film and most of the people discussing the film try to ignore as hard as possible. There’s a strong case for the theory put forth by some of the nuttier characters in the film and even though it’s not laid down in stone, the main character believes it.

It isn’t without faults… the delivery of the dialog is wooden on the main characters for some reason and I sort of wished for more of the creepy deaths. Mom felt the music was cheesy but I didn’t mind it at all. It’s not a typical horror film (as in it’s not out to scare instead it seems to be trying to disturb) and maybe the message is too clear and clean cut for people though I didn’t find that a problem either. I don’t think it’s for everyone… what film is, but I liked it a lot. I’d recommend it but I suspect most people have already talked themselves out of seeing it anyway.

“The Incredible Hulk” and “Sex and the City” weren’t bad either but I was less compelled by them then I was by “the Happening”.

Oh ho ho, the spell check says Shyamalan should be Chameleon. Snicker.

- Diana Sprinkle * Add Comment →

So, I wrote this huge huge rant and then I scrapped it. It was fun. =/ I do that all the time. It must be strange to talk to me at cons and get an earful of “shit, fuck, Diana has opinions!” No wonder I like making My Muse, it let me express myself a little better.

Well, sod that, you’re getting my second best version of this rant… a shorter harsher version, oddly relevant to the content.

Okay, Tokyopop got in hot water for their recent chatty poorly phrased contract and I don’t care about that because it’s been talked about all over. My rant is for a phrase that pops up just about any time bad contracts are discussed.

“Well, I don’t plan to give them my best idea anyway.”
“I’ll just give them something I don’t care about.”
“Ect ect ect.”

Don’t YOU just love it when people tell you they want you to pay out good cash for their “Second best idea that they don’t give two shits about”? Dude, I’m right there! Shovel that pile of crap right in my mouth. Oh wait, let me pay you for it before you start.

How about NO. You will receive my second best for your soulless abortion of a book… in that it will remain sad and unloved and unbought. I will also think some bad things about your mother and generally wish you ill will for the few seconds your book impacts my life. Maybe I’ll rant about it to my friends and they will roll their ideas and tell me to get a life.

Still, I do love collecting horrible comics now and then. Maybe I’ll pick it up at Half Price Books when it hits a dollar… or maybe I’ll wait for it to bottom out at a quarter. Or maybe I won’t buy it even second hand. So, good luck Mr. I’mnotgoingtotryveryhardbutIwantacareer. Someone will love your book but it’s not going to be me.

See, everyone talks about how good this is for the artist and the company! Yay, books. Yay, money Yay career built on sub par brain poop. But please, consider the audience, we’re the ones who truly suffer from your soulsavingcostcutting idea. Maybe those kids that sit in the book stores reading manga and never buying it don’t JUST want to freeload, maybe they’re also saying “Hey! Stop shitting in my mouth!” and no one’s listening. I find it’s really hard to voice your totally dislike of something by deciding NOT to spend your money on it.

At least lie to me if you plan to do this… here I’ll do it for you. “Ohhh, I want to work for “shittycompanyX” but I’ll need to make something SPECIAL just for them. Oh, I’ve got to think of something.” Beams!!! Look at that, doesn’t that sound better?

Yay, there’s my rant… feel free to heap scorn on me.

- Diana Sprinkle * 2 Comments →

I’m tired of having to find this article every time it comes up, so here is a link to the sane write up on this bill so I can keep track of it: Orphaned Works Act on EMG-Zine

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Whew, so A-kon was last weekend and I’m happy to say that I managed to make money this year.

YAY! Things have been a little rocky for me and the anime crowd over the years the more I’ve been moving away from anything reassembling fanart and the like. Also I don’t update my site enough, I’m not working to put out my comic, no one really remembers the stuff that I did do… and on and on. This includes not drawing similar enough things to gain a fanatical following that will obey my every whim, send to me mad cash, and stalk me at conventions. Lacking all of that I take my victories where I can get them. =D

As it is, I have a small and happy fan following that likes to see me at conventions and a few fans that are happily surprised to find that the people who worked on Saiko and Lavender do in fact exist. YAY!

We managed to avoid the huge crowd of people at the con hotel by staying at a different but still close by hotel that kicked ass and had good elevators not filled with anime fans 24-7. Alas, because of this I missed out on some of my people watching but I’d gladly trade that for ease of getting to the room and relaxing after a long day spent standing and talking to people. We roomed with nice cool peeps that made the whole crazy A-kon is “OMG expensive” to go to, nice and cheap. Yay, pockets money.

I think if I just spent some time working hard on my own odd ball art bits, pumping a lot more of it out, I’d do better without what little fanart I do have. Right now I’m trying my hand at painting a picture of my Hypno-kitty due to having bits of extra cash for once. Waves hands in the air. I did forgot for some reason that paint actually takes time to dry. Thus I have time to type this entry out in between coats of paint. =/

It’s taking forever. Fiddles with it.

I leave you with a link to Wacom, where their giant 21 inch monitor that you can draw on the screen tablet of doom is now 500.00 cheaper then normal. I’m not allowed to get it though cause I bought a new computer this year and shouldn’t spend another 2000 dollars unless I start raking in the dough… not holding my breath on that so hopefully this price break will last a year or two. =D

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It’s been one of those weeks. I’m covered in work like stinging ants and I’m also trying to get prepared for A-kon in Dallas this weekend. I plan to have a good time this year or there will be blood. Thankfully I’ve stocked up on low expectations and artists that I really want to give money to and maybe hang out with. Along with selling lots of Shawnna’s buttons (gleeee!), low hotel cost, and generally great friends… I’m hoping it will lack the loud music, porn stealing kids, and hotel elevator time sinks that the last few cons have had. Dear convention gods, stop letting other conventions set up tables in artist alley and do nothing but look bored and play music super loud, thank you.

I’m sharing a table in the Komik Market with my friend Shawnna, under Bassanimation. We’re in Section E, table 11… supposing that something doesn’t happen and we don’t get shuffled around in a musical chair type way. Crosses fingers. I’ll have my print book (with new prints even), some badges… or bookmarks (depending on how my laminator decides to function), and a crap load of buttons. Shawnna will have her giant spread of awesomely cute anime button heads… but my small offerings are mostly adorned with cute cats and food p0rn… @_@ I’ll post some after the con.

The food P0rn is not really as bad as it sounds. Really. Swing by and take a look… some of the kitty images are new due to the fact that I keep finding kitties on my hard drives that I finished and then forgot to post anywhere. This image of kitties I made for Valentine’s day is a good example… hell, I even went and made a web preview of the image and then wandered away. Distracted by, I don’t know, a piece of string maybe. Possible an internet argument.

I should post that cute cat comic I made, oh, those many years ago… only this time I should un-crowd the ending a bit. I was trying to cram it into 4 pages and I think it needed a bit more space. Or maybe better pacing. =/

I’m still working on my website store/gallery. It’s shaping up well I just need a little sliver of time to really kick myself into gear. I just didn’t realize how much art I had generated over the years that needs to be moved over in a logical way. Right now I’m not sure how logical a “people” section that’s 98 images big is… when all the other sections are under 20 images. Meh, I’ll figure it out.

I made a rough for an actual painting, which is odd for me. Normally I don’t bother with natural media but this image… it seems to want to be large and painted. It looks rather good even at it’s strange “I’m a scribble in photoshop with lots of cloned and resized bits and bobs” stage that it’s in right now. But it doesn’t want me to refine it, it seems to want to be rough in a way that requires some paint. It’s a companion to the website banner with the sleeping kitty. You can see part of the rough at the bottom of my website design with the yellow fish and the blue kitty. Now if I can just find the time.

In parting, I leave you with a link to Polyvore a site that I think I will be using to figure out outfits for future characters. If I had the time, I’d fiddle all day on this site making outfits and jumping from collection to collection.

- Diana Sprinkle * Add Comment →

So, I finally finished my new site design! Yay, for kitties and um fish and other things. I need to start spending some time making another new designs for my site right now so that when I go to update the thing it doesn’t take forever and a day like it did this time. I’m still working on getting all the design elements on the wordpresses side working with the real version of the site.

There is a store but it’s going to take me a little bit to get it up and running. I have to go through all the posts and remove the art currently on them and shift it all over to the new Gallery/Store system I’ve got waiting in the wings. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get to work on that. YAY!

And the best for last, now you can leave comments on my posts! That people can see and things! Yay, so far I’ve approved over half of the 700 real comments I’ve accumulated over the 3 years I’ve had wordpress. But there are some that I’m not sure what I’m going to do with… mostly the one’s where people ask for porn or suggest that I should draw it very loudly with descriptors… ew. Also I have a small set of comments asking to buy things that may not end up on the site as I contacted those peeps through email or forgot and just feel ashamed of myself… And a small set of comments where my friends and others left contact info in the comment. Don’t worry I won’t display your phone number. Right now the comments are still set to be moderated but that should be eased up on over time as I get use to having comments on the page.

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