So I heard Magnetic Fields' "Book Of Love" for the first time around 9:30 and have just stopped crying a few minutes ago :B

Drawn today: MORMONS! AMAL WITH CHOPSTICKS! COMMISSIONS! CHARACTER DESIGNS FOR A KID THAT ONLY APPEARS IN 4 PANELS!
Thrills galore.

ETA: P.S. Dancing Taco won by a landslide, but Endlessly Spiralling Hotdog is now the designated porn icon

[Insert coherent words about how going swimming makes me sleepy but I need to draw comics and also am hoping that a street sign saying "W N Temple" + some mountains is enough indication of Salt Lake City because drawing another skyline would just feel cheap and repetitive

Um, also even though I drew about a page from this chapter last September I'm just totally redoing the whole thing now that I can draw somewhat decently]

Okay, now that that's over, more music:

Today is the "music that is terrible and knows it is terrible but hey let's go balls-out and just rock it" post. I like this genre much better than the "music that is made by cool people and tries to sound cool but is actually terrible".

Andrew W.K., "Kiseki"
Someone at a con once asked if TJ and Amal would ever sing a love song together. At that time, I said no. Now I know the truth, and the truth involves a lot of dashboard drumming and bad Neil Diamond impressions in the chorus.

Evil Cowards, "Soldiers of Satan"
This song, I just. The lyrics are so horrible, yet so fun, and the singer is having far too good of a time, and oh my god that chorus. I can't stop rocking out to it. Delicious. Like moon pies. Satanic moon pies.
ETA: That "drum machines" line is fucking classic.

Yeah I might still be a little loopy from swimming in the noonday sun, so what.

Hi all! I'm new to the community, but not to Bebop (my love for the show has now endured about a decade :D).  

I was wondering if there was anybody in the community who'd be willing to beta my CB fics, or if anybody can recommend a beta / where to find one? I tend to write slash (used to write lots of Gren/Vicious but have switched over to Spike/Vicious), and have tackled more gen and het (I'm partial to Jet/Faye) fics as well. I also try to do things that expand on the existing universe. There are ~4 fics I'm working on right now: one is a Vicious-centric piece, one deals with the Bebop crew, another is a post-series S/V (and AU), and the last is an adventure/drama with J/F overtones. 

Please let me know if you're interested! I've been wanting to work with someone for a while who can give constructive feedback (or feedback of any kind, really) and won't hesitate to tell me when I'm being too OOC, meta, or wordy.    

Okay, so I've been thinking about changing my default icon for a while, but couldn't think of what image to use.

As it happens, a recent task at Real Job™ required me to seek out some stock animation for purchase. In the course of the search, I found some truly horrible animated graphics. And, well, FYAD left me with a fondness for bad .gifs.

So. I'm putting this up for a vote. ( Which of the atrocities behind this cut should be my next default icon? )

ETA: DANCING TACO IN THE LEAD! I LIKE THE WAY Y'ALL THINK.

To make this slightly less painful, here's the first in a series of posts of music I've enjoyed lately and wow what a terrible sentence.
Today is the "it's got a good beat and you can dance to it" post.

- Fight Like Apes, "I'm Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverly Hills, 90210"
SUPLEX! SUPLEX! SUPLEX BACKBREAKER!

- The Phenomenal Handclap Band, "15 to 20"
I usually don't go for this disaffected, cooler-than-you kind of vocal, but it just works here, somehow.

- The Budos Band, "Ephra"

- Os Diagonais, "Nao Vou Chorar"
WHAT EK POSTING LATE 60'S/EARLY 70'S BRAZILIAN MUSIC, SHOCKING
I love this one pretty much all the way through, but the harmonies at 2:02 just sealed it.

I am as enthralled with comics now as I was with anime back in 1993~1997.
Except now I get to participate in the creative process!

Happy birthday hidden_gems!!

Things I have learned in the first half of 2009:
1. I'll fail at helping out if I feel the need to be to be right first and helpful second.
2. I am probably never going to completely Get It, but that's no excuse not to constantly try.
3. If my first reaction to someone's words is to get defensive, that's a signal I need to step the hell back and figure out why I'm feeling defensive before I respond, if at all.
4. Stop hemming and hawing and worrying about looking dumb and just do some damn research. It'll require admitting you don't know everything (oh shock, oh horror), but it will vastly improve your creative work.
4b. 99% of the time, "research" doesn't mean tapping someone on the shoulder and going "hey tell me this," it means shutting up and listening.
5. What parboiling and blanching are and when and how to do them.

A combination of poor sleep, nightmares, biking in triple-digit heat, and some emotional rewiring has got me dog tired this week. Slept 8 hours last night and am still a little logey today. Despite this, Brett and I are going to join a gym near our house this evening. My legs are fine from biking, but I've lost nearly all the upper body and torso strength that were built through waitressing.

Last night, I started scribbling out some rewrites and wound up totally rearranging the structure of chapters 15 and 16 (which, fortunately, haven't been drawn yet). It all came together so beautifully that I actually wrote "YAAAAAAY" in all caps across the paper when I was done.

Uh. And referring to that other 1% of the time on #4b, if anyone has any particularly memorable experiences with taking US Highway 34 through Colorado, I'd love to hear them. Eheh. (Am doing research, but photos and visitors' bureaus don't quite tell all)

Someone recently commented that TJ's nose, in profile, looked like Spike Spiegel's. I replied that this was intentional (which is true) and then drew very stupid things in Photoshop:
( Click for mind-boggling inanity )

Also, A Year In Waiting #12 is up.

Seriously you guys

SERIOUSLY

YOU GUYS

Uh, also yesterday I went through the <Epic site and cleaned up a few things. Mainly went to the Extras page and removed everything that made me go, "who are these one-dimensional clowns?"

Went to bed late and got up early 2 days in a row... nnnnngghhhbbfff.

BRETT GETS HOME TONIGHT :DDDD

While you were gone I turned off the air conditioning, used the dining table for an art workspace, made a vodka-and-melon cocktail, and cooked more vegetable khorma and Japanese curry than I could eat. And cleaned. And worked.
I am the most boring Single Lady ever.

:D HOME TONIIIIGHT :D

So last night I had an Otakon dream. In it we were all at Otakon, and decided to go over to the food court and get dinner before the game show qualification quiz. When we got there, there were hardly any people there, and I got all excited because the place is usually super-packed and I was really happy that we should be able to get in and out fast with no problems. However, then I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat. I wandered all over that place repeatedly before finally deciding to eat at Subway. The Subway had some weird Asian vegetables I hadn't seen before. I can't remember what they were called (something similar to Bok Choy, but not), but they sort of looked like a cross between a cucumber and an eggplant. One was a lightish green and one a very dark green. I ordered the dark green one on my sandwich and the Subway worker was all surprised that I was so eager to try a random veggie, heh.

I ate my Subway while sitting at a table with George Clooney, for some reason. Apparently he'd come to Otakon with us. Then, suddenly... I realized that I had pretty much run out of time and was in danger of missing the quiz. So I had to find Brandon and get back to the convention center. This part was pretty much a big blur of hurrying all over the place through crowded hallways, and I woke up all wound up and nervous, haha.

Can't wait for the actual con though <3 Maybe I should call up George and ask if he wants to stay in our hotel room XD

Man, this weekend. Buh. I actually got a lot done, but it doesn't feel like it.
Ran errands, cleaned house, did laundry, lay down compost and mulch and planted stuff for fall... Did a sketch commission, finished all the artwork for chapters 8 and 17, did all the art lay-in, did all the panelling, got about half the lettering and ballooning done... would have done more, except the last half of chapter 8 needs some major rewrites, so I gotta finagle that.

( Maintaining a creative brain in Spain on the plain )

BTW, whoever was hotlinking that Ombladon mp3, not cool. Use mediafire or something. Too bad there's not, like, an audio equivalent of Goatse I can switch this out with... Or is there?

yeah so maybe I just did lettering and panelling for 11 hours straight so what

 Hi, I have a quick question.

Was there ever any art of Julia drawn in the style of the DVD covers?

Soooo I commissioned Isaia (she of Avatar fandom fame) to do a rough sketch of my boys, and she made it amazing (AMAL'S FACE :D) but what's extra cool is, she already had some fan art of them lying around, and sent that to me as well.

Genderbent (she and jankit seem to be in agreement)
and
Wee boys
...and the main reason I made this post is, I swear to god the instant I looked at this I heard TJ say quite proudly, "You're from India? That's cool. My mom says the devil put me in her belly."
kid you mastered uncomfortably halting a conversation before you even hit puberty, that is TALENT

Shovelled compost and planted fall squash and pepper seeds last night; shovelled mulch this morning.

Doing layout and panelling on ch. 8 and ch. 17 until this evening.

How's your weekend?

I'm sitting here feeling like I've just been through the emotional wringer - all these endorphins, mental exhaustion, eyes swollen and dry... when in reality, I just cut a really, REALLY strong onion about 20 minutes ago.

Pffffff silly human body.

vejiicakes, I'm working on your commish today.

This one's for moonlightwish

Also: Year In Waiting subsite is up. No new content yet.

ETA: lol what is wrong with me:

[photo of Raphael Saadiq]
EK: oh, he's cute
[photo of Raphael Saadiq in geeky 1960s black rimmed glasses]
EK: HOLY SMOKIN JESUS HUMMANUMMA

Building a subsite to house the Year In Waiting strips. Any idea for a slogan? It was "doodle comics about a graphic artist doing something completely different", but that sounds too egocentric...

Am v. much liking neighborhood bar for "need to work but oh god need to get out of the house" purposes. Walking distance, not too busy, service is OK but leaves me mostly alone, natural light through south window, good beer.

Rather poetic spam e-mail today: for instance, those from Rio appear to be preserved.  I have doubts whether herons do feed sometimes on illegible fruit; and grebes on seeds of turning much land into sea.  I do not go so far as that, but the case seems highly (high duck!), and I find the tame duck ought, according to scale, build its nest in holes, either in trees or the ground.

Tomorrow: mulch and compost in the early morning; work from the afternoon to the wee hours. Austin buddies, text me if you want to have lunch. :)

ETA: If you are in or near the Van Nuys area, please please read this post.

Can today just stop happening, please?

eta: Man, fuck this go-to-work-come-home routine. Gonna walk Dini-butt over to the neighborhood bar and have a sandwich and a beer and just draw till I'm tired. Maybe a small change of scene will kick my brain into "wanna draw" gear again.

Brett just dumped a bunch of photos from his vacation so far. Yes, yes, beautiful scenery, but most importantly LOOK AT THIS PUPPY.

Ran out of work to do for a few hours today and wound up reading a few webcomics:

1. As We Were looks like good stuff so far; the art and concepts are really nice, but it's a new comic, so there's not much content yet. Definitely staying tuned. The website is chock full of flash/java ads and formatting trouble, just so you know.

2. Strange Someone (same host as As We Were, so again, lots of ads and junk) is a fun, quirky read so far (I'm on chapter 4) - I don't know if the repeated change in artists is intentional, but it works all right. I'm... still not sure what, exactly, the story is about (not a flaw in the storytelling; I just haven't reached the point where Mysteries Are Revealed yet), but the characters are interesting and likable, and the art (especially the color) is great.

3. Venus Envy is an odd bird. The art in the first half, frankly, isn't so hot (though it gets dramatically and rapidly better after 2005), there are a lot of typos, and the story is often interrupted by outside tangents, but despite all this, it's charming, engrossing, and very down-to-earth. The story mainly follows Zoe, a transgendered 16 year old, and her efforts at simultaneously navigating high school perils, family issues, and sexual transition. There's a subplot about an evil mastermind and her cadre of scheming boys that doesn't quite fit, but the everyday parts of Zoe's life - school, home, soccer team, etc. are a real treat. And I think I just used up my daily allowance of commas.

4. Dreamless is about an American girl and a Japanese boy who are mysteriously connected via dreams, and can communicate with each other while one is sleeping and the other is awake. The concept is nicely executed and the art is absolutely gorgeous, but I'm not really feeling the characters' personalities or their bond yet. The story and art are compelling enough, at least for now, to compensate for it. (And FWIW, I think this would make for a terrific movie.)