Hello all! Yes, it’s Leap Year Day! Yeeeeeaaaah!!!!

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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