Entries Tagged as 'Suggested Items'

Staple!

Staple! The Independent Media Expo.

I just got back from Staple! The Independent Media Expo, which was a small one day independent comic com in Austin. It was neat. I went to the pre party, and the con, and the after party where Jim Mahfood and Dave Crosland did Live art funk attack! I couldn’t stay for the whole after party thing as voice was dying, the club was way too loud, and I turn into a squash when the clock strikes 12. But I did get to watch the first 6 pictures be drawn and painted.

The con was pretty good and I got to poke at people that I knew and talk the ears off of others, and meet new people who will probably remember me as the perky, talky, no buyie girl… also the My Muse page for this week is drawn, it’s just not inked. I am terrible. =_=

Best stuff I saw at the con was not in fact a comic, it was Chris Yates’ handmade art puzzles which you guys can see pictures here: http://www.chrisyates.net/store/puzz.html

Scroll down that page to see the most current examples or check out the gallery to see the older ones he’s made. These things were super cool! They were awesome, they were somehow better then awesome if only cool was cooler then ice and neat was tougher then steel. I liked them a lot and couldn’t afford one even though I really wanted one! I will have to make some money… at some point and see if I can’t get one.

Also he has a pretty good Fumetti webcomic here: http://www.chrisyates.net/reprographics/

Which I also didn’t buy cause I’m a cheap poor bastard. Still I really liked these comics: Poop Baby Panda and The Postal Disservice

Stuff I actually bought even though I have very little money:

Tiny “Shit Yeah” bunny card from Travis Nichols’ table. For mom’s birthday this week. Website of Travis Nichols, artist of cute creatures: http://www.ilikeapplejuice.com/

Best thing on that guy’s table that I didn’t buy cause I didn’t have 6 bucks at the time: Abilene Door Hanger
Place to buy cute stuff here: http://www.ilikeapplejuice.com/buy.html

I bought a small graphic novel called, Crazy Papers, which was written by Jim Dougan and drawn by Danielle Corsetto. 52 pages perfect bound B/W professional printed all for $6.50. An entertaining read and a fun romp, that I really enjoyed. I loved it when her characters have pouty lips. Also the expressions were great. I ended up buying the last copy the artist had and allowing her to escape the con completely selling out of her book. Sadly the comic doesn’t ship to stores for a little bit but it should show up soon. I hope.

The Artists website and webcomic… comic strip. Looks good to me. =]: http://www.girlswithslingshots.com

I like this comic in particular.


Read a review of Crazy Papers at IGN and see a few sample pages.

Printed by Chatter Box Comix whose site is launching soon. http://www.chatterboxcomix.com/

The last thing I bough was Xeric Award winner Alex Cahill’s second comic outing “The Last Island.” This was a self published, roughly 64 pages, B/W, mostly wordless comic. Which actually told a neat engaging story about two very different boys trapped on a desert island with odd objects falling from the sky as they fight each other.

I quite liked this one as well and I believe it’s also not yet shipped to stores. I think it goes out in April. The book smells like Peppermint for some reason… I don’t know why I’m sharing that but it smells good. =]

Website of comic!
An interview with the artist on the Pulse with preview images off the art in the book.

I stop here for sleep. Part 2 tomorrow?

Comic books: Scott Pilgrim

The page for My Muse will probably be late and may show up on Thursday as work is kicking my ass. Instead here’s someone else’s work that I enjoy.


Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life: This comic rocks! I’ve been sort of following this guy’s art for awhile now as he’s been working his way through the comic field. I think I first noticed him either from his heavy brush stroked art in the comic “Hopeless Savages: Ground Zero” (also put out by Oni Press) or from the random pictures on the net at places like Go Gaia (now Gaia Online) and the wonderful free comics he has up on his website: http://www.radiomaru.com/.

Some of his comics on his site were in blue and never finished but there was something about them that made me hope to see more.

Scott Pilgrim is the second Original graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley to be released by Oni Press. This is not counting the work he did on Hopeless Savages: Ground Zero which was also released as a graphic collecting the 4 issue comic mini series. O’Malley’s first work was a one shot graphic novel called “Lost At Sea“.

While I love manga influence, what I love even more is seeing a personal style. Something that is much more then the sum of a few years of loving anime or Bruce Tim, or super-heroes. And O’Malley has a personal style that really shines far past the footprint of his influences. While rough on the edges and stroked with a quick brush sweep there is an energy and life to the art that draws me into the characters.

The main character Scott Pilgrim is currently dating a high schooler until he meets this mysterious girl who skates through his dreams. When she turns out to be real Scott faces a real dilemma. The story is oddly a mixture of slice of life and fantasy and video game references but it works really well. The characters feel real and yet fantastical, breaking the fourth wall and even sometimes referencing the book itself. But you are pulled along into their world and their struggles. Also it’s really funny.

Heh, I’m not actually sure what else to say about this comic. But I really really like it a lot. Possibly more then any other comic book in the last 3 years. There’s not that many comics that I truly look forward to as much as I do this one.

So far there are two books out in this series and the artist is currently working on #3. The first book is: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life. The second book is: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. And the third book should be: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness.

O’Malley’s website: http://www.radiomaru.com/
His LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/destroyerzooey/
Scott Pilgrim site, which explains the story better then me: http://www.scottpilgrim.com/

Late late, S&L and DDR…

Ugh, I’m all back in Austin so my updates have taken a plunge. Sorry about that. New S&L page!

Saiko and Lavender, The webcomic
Page 32: Issue 2, Page 7

I’ve been spending time with my friends now that I’m all back at home and that’s been nice. So far they’ve kindly pushed me twice to see the new Harry Potter film. I liked it fine, still I really wish they’d do more under the breath lines. Those were mostly pretty good although a bit hard to hear. This movie was really good at actually making the school, feel like a school. Also I liked that there felt like a ton of kids and that they were doing normal kid things in the background of shots. Still cheesy and over the top but now with added sexual tension!

Must get back to work on art stuff… argh, I hate feeling all behind. And my brain keeps trying to get me to sleep early. The bastard. The brain, it thinks that once I fall asleep at 11:00 that it can forever stick it to me by getting me up at 7 AM but I’m not falling for it. I like being able to see people in the evening. I watch it carefully because last time I fell for it I got stuck in a pattern and couldn’t stay up past 10. It sucked. >_<

I'm cleaning my room, hell has frozen over.

I got Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix and have been trying it out. It’s something to get me off the computer and moving so I’ve been having fun with it although I really want the actual Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 game. Because who doesn’t love crappy tecno remixes of songs that were already pretty bad! Still, now you can walk around the pad to them and look extra silly. =D

Is it just me or does the Mario Dance pad seem a little too big?

Anyway, I go back to shreding things and shoveling shit from one end of my room to the other! Yay!

Books: The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection


This entry is mostly amusing…

The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection: Okay I just had to post about this. Anyone need 1,083 books? They’re all classics. Heh heh. This seems a bit of a overkill but I guess if you wanted to start a library it would be a real sweet deal. Also it has free shipping. =D

Comic Manga Book: Chikyu Misaki

I want to make a comic like this one!


Chikyu Misaki: I love this comic. It’s like the cutest, neatest, fun thing I’ve read in a long time. I’d originally bought this book in Japanese at a Kinokuniya book store and loved the art and what little of the story that I could figure out. But my Japanese language reading is not that great so when I found out that CMX was bring it over in English I was really happy. After reading it I’m all pleased to report that it is just as good as I thought it would be from what I could understand of the Japanese volume. The really good thing is that unlike most manga that goes on forever this comic is only 3 volumes long. So it won’t hurt the budget to collect it. Also did I mention it’s deathly cute? Awwwww. For a sample of the art in the book please look at this guys site that sadly says that Iwahara Yuji’s web site is down… =(

Another interesting thing about this manga from an artist point of view is that there is almost no screen tone in this and that gives it a really interesting feel… and Wolverine totally shows up in it. =D

Video Game: Shadow of the Colossus

Here’s a video game that I’ve been enjoying.


Shadow of the Colossus:You’re a tiny dude on a horse with a cool sword. Find about a dozen giant walking Aztecy looking giant-like things and stab them in their glowing ruin area. No! My area! Blood really spurts as you knife them.

This is a really pretty game and I’ve been watching Mike play it. He says the controls take some getting use to but that they make a lot of sense once you’ve got them down. Not a game for action junkies who like constant fights. There are only boss battles in this game so far but it’s still really neat all around. You have to climb the giants like scenery. =D It’s really cool.

Movies: Kung Fu Hustle

I have the hardest time posting about things that I like so instead of pondering about it I’ll just post some very simple reviews and suggestions. I’ll try not to concern myself with over thinking these so they will get posted. This is for stuff that I like and think you guys should watch, buy, or borrow. =]

Here is a movie!


Kung Fu Hustle: I enjoyed this film and I was never bored nor did I cringe at any part. I loved the slapstick cartoony fighting and the fact that yes indeed people died. Also I liked that the characters have weight and they get tossed about and you can feel the impact when they hit things.

There are also martial arts with music instruments! You can’t go wrong with that! And deadly cobras!

Woot! Yay! So check that one out if you want. =D

Comic progress

My Muse: 12 pages inked… all of my new ideas seem like bad ideas… I’ll probably do them anyway. Don’t throw rocks at me later please. =(

New Saiko and Lavender: 1 page inked, script finished. New designs for the main characters are much more toon like and in the bendy style of the My Muse characters. I’ll post them after I add color.

Now I may sleep and get up and draw some more. I hope that we’ll get to see a Wacom Cintiq on Saturday when we take a trip down to LA. That would be awesome. Even if the Cintiq cost about as much as a new computer or a used car. I want to use one and feel what they’re like.

S&L, Issue 1, Page 3 + Gold Digger

Saiko and Lavender, The webcomic
Page 5: Issue 1, Page 3

Damn it, I think I’m all sick and all of my cold medicine is day stuff most of which will keep me awake. This year has been year of the colds with odd symptoms. Either that or I’m playing more attention to stuff I never noticed before. I weep…

Anyway about the page…

Heh heh, we said, satanic! Lavender says “Hey!” off to the side in Panel 1. It looks hard to read…

The term I use for the wacky small side comments that don’t have balloons is “asides” and I first register seeing them in “Gold Digger” by Fred Perry. Apparently, I use them way too much because my work was remembered based on them. They didn’t know my name or the comic’s name but they remembered I liked to have the funny word things off to the side of the character. They didn’t have a word to describe it either. So, here’s mine:

Asides– A funny, angry, or mumbled comment that is said by a character. Usually in a smaller font shown off to the side without a word balloon.

Off to the side of panel 2 it says “Grrr! I say!”

On page 3 at the bottom it says: “Super Dramatic Special FX! Whee!” Also yeah, Fetch lost his hand there. But not to worry he’ll be okay! What with this being a super advanced magical society. =D Right?

More amazon Gold Digger links:

Amazon: Table Mate


I really want this thing.

The wonder that is Table Mate II!

I keep seeing ads for it on TV and while normally I’m not so down with the “As seen on TV” things this one looks good for most artist type people. It’s like the cool version of the cheap crappy Walmart wooden tv tables. Except it’s plastic and metal instead of wood and doesn’t have 4 legs to get in your way. It’s small, folds up, good for writing or drawing on. Also the tray can be locked at different angles… like an art table. I’ve got me an art table but it’s all big and takes up too much room. Room that I could use for more book shelves or bigger piles or for dirty clothing. Ponders. I think I’ll get one of these when I get money in. It’s only 34.00 on Amazon.

I went looking around the web for the cheap way to buy this Table Mate and the amazon link to the left there is about 6 dollars cheaper then buying from the infomercials… mostly because of amazon’s cheaper shipping.

That is unless you want three of them. If you buy two on their site they’ll throw in the third one in for free, you just pay 10.00 shipping on it and 20.00 shipping for the other two. So for 60.00 you can get 3 tables. Also on the site they offer a free bonus gift. So, here’s their site as well, just in case: Table Mate