I have finally got the Titanium Knights character profiles up. The profiles are not totally finished yet, however. I still need to draw a profile pic for each character. One of the things holding up the pics is my uniform design process. I want the uniforms to be just so, but that is slowing me down. At least the ideas are simple, and once actually designed, should be simple to draw repeatedly. The profiles so far can be found here. Don’t be fooled – there are more characters in the story than what is currently shown, but I don’t want to reveal them all just yet. You’ll have to wait until the story unfolds.

Speaking of character profiles, I have also published character profiles for… The AntiBalls Force. I’m not making a big production out of the AntiBalls Force yet, because of, well, the the lack of time I have to work on them. I will not give up on them, however, as they have brought me to tears via laughter on many an occasion. I have at least three comic pages in mind for their introduction story. You can observe their profiles here. Yes, in the toilet section!

On a side note, I have decided to change up the production process for the Titanium Knights Episode 3 comic. Originally, I had planned to use digital scenery software to generate the backgrounds, as seen on page two here. After using it, and seeing the results, I was not totally pleased, but wasn’t exactly sure why. The backgrounds were beautiful! Then it hit me -

It wasn’t really my original creation.

In the past, I’ve always drawn my own backgrounds for comics, and always got a sense of satisfaction from doing so. So why did I decide to change to something else?

I believe that it was the pressure of being timely. I’m a little self conscious about being slow when working on my personal projects, so, as a shortcut, I tried scene creation software. Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not knocking anyone who uses such software. I am simply deciding not to use it for my comics because it doesn’t fit in with my artistic vision. My motivation for using scene creation software was misguided – timeliness vs. artistic vision.

So, I am officially removing pressure from myself by eliminating my artificial deadlines. In doing so, I empower myself to work on my projects in the proper manner – to simply express my creativity just for the sake of the enjoyment of doing so. (I hope that makes sense! lol) Everything will be either hand drawn or created in an art software program. So, anyone who wants to know when Titanium Knights Episode 3 will be done, I’ll tell you.

When it’s done.

Another thing I will do to lessen any pressure on myself is… not focus on the profitability of my site. Now, I definitely want to earn money doing something I enjoy, but if I mysteriously received a message from the future informing me that my site would never make any money, would I quit and shut down my site?

Absolutely not.

I will make sure my focus is only on my artistic vision – not timeliness, nor profit.

Idealistic? Darn straight.

Realistic? Maybe not. Well then, I will just take control of my own reality.

Thanks for reading.

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You probably didn’t notice, but I have totally rebuilt TitaniumKnights.net from the ground up, including this here blog. Well, if you were paying attention, you would have noticed the blog changes – I coded the blog template to look identical to that of the main site. Furthermore, you would only have noticed any changes to the main site if you looked at the source code. I wanted to make the code cleaner, faster, and source ordered while keeping the site visually the same.

The site rebuild took about a month or so since my XHTML and CSS knowledge was very limited. But it was a great learning experience. I can now build websites from scratch using just a text editor and a graphics program. (And the occasional code reference off the net…)

The source ordering, to my surprise, really made a huge difference. Before the site rebuild, I received very little traffic via search engines – about 4%. Now, according to Google Analytics, it’s about 20%. With the same content. Cool. I only wish that I had done it sooner…

So, now I have an average of about 200 visits per month. Of course, I intend to have much more than that! So, I’m learning about web marketing. I have pretty much no backlinks yet, but that’s okay. I have a proven track record of learning new things and achieving measured results using my newly learned skills. I also need to get back to my content creation goals. But I have so many of them… maybe that’s the problem…

Er…

Anyway, I also set up an online community forum on my other site at SteveWexlerIT.com/Forums. It is a place for discussing technology, audio/video, creative ventures, entertainment, and console/pc gaming. And since I’m plugging other sites here, check out CookiesNCupcakes.com. It’s run by my wife, and she is an excellent baker! I’ve put on quite a few pounds eating her desserts, why not join me?

Take care all!

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The characters are multidimensional and seem to jump off the pages. I wanted to know what they were going to do next, and I cared about what would happen to each character in the story. I can’t wait for the fourth book!

For those of you who don’t know, this story is about an ordinary farm boy named Eragon who happens upon a dragon’s egg – which hatches for him. The boy and dragon share a telepathic link, and become very close friends. But they soon find themselves fighting for their lives and fleeing from the agents of the evil king Galbatorix.

I’m not going to post any spoilers, so go grab yourself a copy of Brisingr, and enjoy a mighty adventure!

I also heartily recommend the first two books, Eragon and Eldest.

Take care, and happy reading!

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After work this past Friday, I remembered that there are Cherry Blossom trees around the reservoir path in Central Park, and that the Cherry Blossom trees bloom in the spring. So I decided to take a nice walk halfway around the reservoir and enjoy the Cherry Blossoms. I took a few shots of the trees. The pictures came out much better than I thought they would, considering I used my mobile phone’s built-in camera to take them! Take a look below:

Cherry Blossom trees are quite beautiful in the spring, as you can see. I hope you all are enjoying the pleasant change of weather and the beauty of nature as much as I am.

Another thing I just remembered – with the nice spring weather comes tax time. Even though the deadline for filing taxes has passed, this bit of information will be invaluable for anyone who will be filing a non-resident state return. (If you work in a state that collects tax on income, and reside in another state, you will be filing in this manner) You will be filing two state returns, and you should prepare your resident state return LAST. That way, you will get the most money back. (Or in my case, owed less taxes! )

I learned this when preparing my taxes online this year – I prepared my resident state return first, and I was quite disgusted when the system showed how much I would owe. I then tried preparing my taxes with an alternate online tax service, and prepared my resident state last, (the service actually instructed me to do so!) and when I finished, the system showed me that I owed significantly less.

On a side note, (Yes, another one!) I can’t believe how easy it is to prepare my own taxes online! I used to use a popular but overpriced tax preparer (cough-har-cough-block-cough-cough…), but me and my wife got real tired of paying so much in preparation fees…

Well, that’s pretty much that. Take care all!

Oh, wait! Just to remind you all, I am NOT a tax expert! So make sure to do your own research into your state’s local tax laws and such! Okay.

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My wife has a mobile phone, and for some reason, her mother wanted to get a mobile phone at a discounted rate through my wife’s mobile phone plan. When my wife looked into it, she found that it would actually be a good deal for her mother, as it would only cost an additional $20 per month, and her mother would send the money each month. So my wife arranged the whole thing, and her mother was added to her mobile phone plan, which had to be upgraded to the family plan. She even had her mom on the phone picking out a specific mobile phone to go with the plan! My wife received the new phone, set it up, and mailed it to her mother, who began using it. My mother in law sent us the phone payments as agreed. This arrangement continued for a couple of months…

Seemingly out of nowhere, my mother in law obtained a new mobile phone and plan on her own with her local phone company. Me and my wife were quite surprised when we learned this. Apparently, she had lost the phone that my wife sent her, and couldn’t find it anywhere! Strangest of all was the fact that my mother in law didn’t tell my wife about losing the phone until a week after it happened! Well, my wife gave her mother a few more days to search for the phone before she reported it to the carrier as lost. It was never found. Fortunately, there was no unauthorized activity on the phone that we could ascertain via the carrier’s web site.

My wife called the carrier to remove her mother from her plan, since she no longer had any use for it. But she would have to pay a cancellation fee – $175. Well, you can see where this story is going. My mother in law sent us the money for the cancellation fee, and I decided to use the money to buy a new phone so I could use the plan. That’s pretty much how I joined the mobile phone club!

It actually took me about a week or so to come to a decision about taking advantage of this opportunity, but the desire to easily stay in touch with my friends influenced my decision. A mobile makes this sometimes difficult task very easy.

Hello?

(lol)

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LOL. (This acronym means Laughing Out Loud, which pretty much means that I am, well, laughing. Out loud!)

I didn’t even realize that it was a leap year, let alone February 29th. I only noticed when I saw some weird frog replacing the “L” in “Google” on Google’s home page. When I hovered my mouse over the frog, it said “Leap Year”. Thanks for helping me keep up to speed Google!

I haven’t written a blog post since what, November? Ugh. I will have to work harder to get out more blog posts. Well, I did manage to release Part 2 of my science fiction story, 3500AD. I spent all my free time at work one night typing it up, and the next couple of days editing it. It was over twice as long as the first chapter, and I’m quite proud of my accomplishment.

To be honest, my entire 3500AD story is an experiment. 3500AD is based on a comic I started in junior high school about an alien invasion of Earth. How original of a plot is that? (sarcasm) It was called “Fate of the Earth”, and is about three scientists who work together to create a new type of starship propulsion – just like in 3500AD. The three scientists are supposed to be myself and two of my best friends from junior high school, Adrian and Robert. In the original comic, the names were unchanged. Unfortunately, I never finished the comic. I only completed about 1.5 pages. Later, I’ll scan it and post it in the Art Gallery section.

In 3500AD, I changed the names of the main characters, but they are still loosely based on myself and my friends. I am following the “invaded by aliens” plot, but I am creating everything as I go along. I truly have no idea at this point how all of the events will unfold, and that is what makes 3500AD so much fun! It’s not meant to be a serious piece of literature in any way. I think that it will be at least five or six parts in total, but it could end up being much longer. When I complete 3500AD, I plan to go back and edit all of the chapters again and re-release it as a complete story. Who knows, maybe it will end up published in print!

Take care all, and I hope you enjoy my work. I certainly enjoy it!

…and enjoy the rest of Leap Year Day!!!

(lol!)

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So alive!!! (Blatant P.O.D. ripoff, lol)

It’s funny – I’ve been gearing up to finally put my Titanium Knights comic project into motion, actually completed a few pages (digitally), and then the gears ground to a halt. At first it was a creative block, which I fixed, and actually wrote a blog entry about. (Read here.) Since then, I have resumed sketching designs and page layouts, writing notes about the story, characters, enemy unit and fortress details, etc.

My plan for the Titanium Knights web comic is for it to be hand drawn, scanned, and digitally colored – with the exception of a few all-digital scenes – like outer space and nature scenery. I dug up the remnants of my old art supplies, and was quite disappointed with what I found. My drawing paper had yellowed, and my favorite (only!) mechanical pencil was missing. Oh well. That’s what happens when you don’t draw seriously for 6 or so years. So, what to do next…

I borrowed my wife’s drawing supplies in the meantime, to give myself an art jumpstart!

I was also encouraged by the gift of a sketchbook by a friend of mine (and fellow artist!).

I used what I had to start officially drawing again. (Read here.) It was cool, and I made more progress in the planning stages, but still no new pages released. Then it hit me: I need to get some new art supplies appropriate for comic authoring – for my comic authoring. So, one morning after work, I went to Pearl Paint’s Canal Street location (Check them out here.) to pick up some bristol pads, mechanical pencils, and lead refills. When I got home, I tried out the new pencils – I felt so excited and energized! It was like in the second Lord of the Rings movie, after Gandalf broke Saruman’s spell on Theodin, and Aragorn gave Theodin his sword, and all of his old strength returned to him! Dramatic, yes, but it is the best comparison I can imagine.

In my excitement, I drew a woman in the foreground of a previous sketch:

This is a preliminary design sketch of one of the Stalfarian fortresses. I used my wife’s art pencil for it. After I obtained the mechanical pencils, I sketched the woman in the foreground. To all of you Naruto fans out there: Yes, I copied her hairstyle from Hinata. I just happen to like her hairstyle! (I am a Naruto fan as well!) I didn’t plan for it to come out as well as it did because I was just messing around, but I surprised myself.

I was also very fortunate to receive an old Wacom ArtPad II drawing tablet for free. It was fun to use, but its age (wear and tear) made it unsuitable for serious artwork. However, that tablet helped me to realize how useful such tablets are, and would be an absolute necessity if I am going to seriously color my comics digitally. I grabbed a new Wacom Intuos2 from EBay for a great price. The difference between the Intuos2 and the ArtPad II was like night and day! The feel is so smooth – it’s amazing.

Something else I recently did to help me with my productivity is to rearrange my home office. It was such a great change, and it has greatly helped me with being organized. I have so much more space to work with, and I was even able set up my old G3 iMac as an extra workstation/music player! (iMacs have great sound.) I now have a neat, organized workspace – something every creative individual needs!

Wow. So much has happened in such a short time. I just wanted to share what’s going on to anyone who would be interested. Titanium Knights forever!!! Hoooooooo!!

(lol!)

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After my wife received her new Sony Network Walkman, I set it up for her. I was annoyed by having to install the SonicStage software, but I did so anyway. The SonicStage software was very difficult to tame! As I didn’t want my wife to have any difficulties with her new MP3 player, I decided to do a little research into alternatives to SonicStage. I found some information scattered around the internet in bits and pieces.

As of this writing, there are still no official Sony alternatives to SonicStage for this particular model. (NW-E002F) Sony has released a standalone driver and a basic MP3 File Manager program for models NW-E103 / E105 / E107 / E403 / E405 / E407 / E503 / E505 / E507 – PA_Driver.exe and MP3FMv2_ENG.exe. (Found here and here , respectively.) It will probably work with other Sony Network Walkman models, but I have found that it definitely does NOT work with the NW-E002F – the software installs and transfers files, but the files will not play at all. Probably a different type of file encryption. So now what? I continued my search… apparently there are currently only third party solutions for this model…

The solution I found and am currently using for my wife’s Sony device is NW-E00x Mp3 File Manager, found here. It is a Java based solution for transferring music to the device. Since it is Java based, it will work on any platform with Java support. The only tricky part is installing it properly. First off, it must be installed the device itself! A step by step tutorial follows:

Before plugging the device into your system for this procedure, I usually initialize the device. WARNING! Initializing will delete any data you have on the device! Back up your data if it is important to you.

Delete any folders and/or files on your device using Windows explorer. (Never use the Windows format disk option for your Sony device, by the way!)

Download NW-E00X_MP3_File_Manager-0.13.jar, ffmpeg-win32.zip, and OMGAUDIO.zip from here. Unzip/extract the files from the zips.

Copy NW-E00X_MP3_File_Manager-0.13.jar, ffmpeg.exe, pthreadGC2.dll, and the OMGAUDIO folder to your device. Note: ffmpeg.exe and pthreadGC2.dll are optional, and may be skipped if desired.

Now, double click on NW-E00X_MP3_File_Manager-0.13.jar, and you will be presented with a file manager. Use this to copy your music files to the Sony device. Be sure to click on the button in the lower right corner (with the diskette icon) to write the files to your device when you are finished.

Alternatively, there are two other file managers for the NW-E00xx series that I have discovered:

SWEx_0032.zip is a Windows only MP3 file manager, which I have tested and found fully functional. It is installed in the same manner as NW-E00x Mp3 File Manager. Just copy the files from the zip (id3lib.dll and SWEx.exe) and use the OMGAUDIO directory from NW-E00x Mp3 File Manager. It can be found here. (Free registration required) I will also provide a direct download link to the file from this site soon, for your convenience. Update! File available here.

voidMP3FM from DrVoid.com is another Windows only MP3 file manager, which I have not tested. It appears to work just like the last two file managers, and is installed in the same manner. Get it here.

Well, I hope this article has been helpful to you. The software I mentioned in this article should work with Sony Network Walkman models NW-E002F, NW-E003F, NW-E005F, NW-E002, NW-E003, and NW-E005. I make no guarantees, however, and anything you do with the information I have provided is solely at your own risk. Enjoy your Sony Network Walkman without SonicStage!

If this article has helped you, please consider leaving a donation. Thank you.

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One of my common mistakes in producing the video game footage tapes was making them too long. My friends never finished watching any of my tapes, as they were regularly six hours long each, and I had many sequels. Super Video, Super Video 2, Amazing Visions, Super Amazing Visions, etc. My gaming tapes were more like gaming documentaries. I eventually learned that to keep an audience, you need to keep them wanting more. Never give an audience too much of what they want, or they will bore quickly. I actually tried that technique on a game music audio tape I made for myself, and boy did it work! As I heard my favorite tunes fade out after only 3-4 minutes, instead of 6-10 minutes, I wanted to hear them again! But that would have to wait until the tape finished playing and started over.

With all the creative ideas I’ve had, one might think that being creative comes easy to me.

Not always.

Sometimes, like with my current projects, I run into what I call a “creative block”. Think of it as writers block for any creative undertaking other than writing. This creative block has slowed down my current projects quite a bit. (Thank goodness I’m not on a deadline!) It actually started not too long after I started my main website (link). I started working on the first pages of my comic, Titanium Knights Episode 3, when I discovered that even though I already had the story and main plot events, I didn’t have much else, like character development, conversations, detailed enemy equipment (other than just some soldiers). I thought to myself, “I need more material!” So I decided to do some fun research…

I read other creators’ webcomics. I checked out other artists’ work. I watched a crapload of anime. I read art and comic tutorials. I played fantasy role-playing games. I looked at my old drawings and comics. Rinse, repeat! I also had a blast doing it. Yes, it delayed work on my actual comic, but I want my comic to be great. Not just another web comic, but an epic online graphic novel that will eventually be printed. I have big plans for this comic, and I want it to be the best it can possibly be. Enjoying other people’s creative work, even my old work, inspires me, gives me new ideas, and sets creative examples. Even listening to music while I work gets the creative juices flowing!

So, next time you find yourself in some kind of creative block, take a break, and enjoy the creative works of others. Then try resuming your own work. Remember…

Creativity begets creativity.

Until next time!

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