Urgh

A picture of Spill Fector strangling Billy (I don't think the proportions are quite right, but yeah, Fector is *supposed* to be pretty huge). Man, what a crappy day I'm having. I don't even want to talk about it.

6-Hour Comic and other stuff

Good evening. Here are the results of my failed 24-hour comic.

But first...a sketchbook drawing.
This is more or less a teaser image for a new comic idea I have floating around in my head. I have no idea when I'll actually start working on it for real.

Page 1 - it all started out so well...

Page 2 - what the hELL is going on with that horrible perspective in the second panel.

Page 3 - Teenage Billy suddenly becomes an ugly woman in silhouette and no I don't know why either.

Page 4 - Still not doing too badly, actually, but why don't we ever see "Jill" from the front? It would have helped..

Page 5 - Growing ever more scribbly and lopsided, as these things tend to do.

This is all that remains of page 6. I tore the rest up because it was full of really REALLY bad dialogue. Contrived things that nobody would ever say in real life. This may be why I quit - I just kept thinking "this is AWFUL, why the hell am I doing this?" I might have been able to squeeze out a few more pages if I'd had some coffee, I don't know.

I might as well share the rest of the story with you now: Jill is King's wife and she disappeared a decade before this story took place. He goes to search for her by locating an interdimensional portal called "The Stone Door". Page 7 would have had him chasing down some fairies who have stolen the map he's following. Yup, that's right! It's probably for the best that I ended it where I did.

An Entire Page 14

A sketchbook page that I just scanned two minutes ago on my new all-in-one! Yes, I now have the power to PRINT STUFF! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!! I honestly don't know why I waited this long to get my own printer...it wasn't even that expensive...

Page 57

Yep. Terrible terrible violence! And yet, it STILL could have been worse than this and it was described much more violently in the script. Be glad I have difficulty drawing such things.

This is the bit with the chavs, by the way. I TOLD you I'd get around to it eventually. ;p

Metapost - 6 pages

Well, the 24 hour comic was a bust - I only managed to finish 6 pages in 5 hours before becoming too bored and tired to continue. This is the problem with trying to draw these alone. It doesn't mean I'll never draw another page of it though - since I did do some planning beforehead (which is against the rules), it was never a TRUE 24 hour comic anyway.

So for now please enjoy this old Smashing Pumpkins video from 1993. I have ALWAYS loved this video. Perhaps for the themes of childhood innocence & nostalgia, I don't know. I'm not a big fan of the Smashing Pumpkins but I like the song too.

Page 56

And now begins the pages I actually drew THIS year. I can't remember if that's real 3-point perspective in the first panel or not. Also, why am I so amused by using the word "boot" in place of "trunk"? Ha ha ha, you British people are so funny. I really don't belong here at all. You are all too good for me; I dress like too much of a dweeb for a start. But then I go outside and look at your beautiful architecture and/or sit down to watch The Mighty Boosh or listen to The Fall or Billy Bragg (WHAT) and I remember why I've wanted to come here since 2002.

That was my weirdest tangent yet...let's erase that from our minds with a very special installment of Elaine Wasting Time On Youtube. When I was a kid one of my very favourite TV shows was Are You Afraid Of the Dark, which was about a group of kids telling scary stories around a campfire. The show was Canadian but was and is still very popular due to being aired on Nickelodeon in America. The Tale Of The Ghastly Grinner was my favourite episode, for obvious reasons. (here's part 2 and part 3) Please enjoy this in all its cheesiness!

Page 55

Page 55, for the first time ever. Every panel in the top row is very awkward-looking, but I like the second one for some reason. Paul pointed out how much the phone booth looks like the Tardis in the last panel. Oh noes!

Page 54 scanned

Yup..."Trust me, it's not deliberate" is in reference to Martin being gay. I thought I should mention this because it's apparently not very clear...

I've decided to attempt another 24 Hour Comic on St. Patrick's Day. (Sadly, I'll be going it alone this time; I don't know anyone who's geeky enough to join me, and also, see below)

Allow me to explain. My walls here are paper-thin, I can hear the smallest sounds, and I've always been a very light sleeper. I'm right smack-dab in the town centre and it's always bustling with activity, i.e., people out drinking. (I can't really complain about this too much though, because the amount of people around at any given time adds to the overall safety of the area) Sometimes the people down on the street get very noisy. Sometimes (but hardly ever) this noise can last all the way until 5 in the morning. I thought back to the one time I actually went out on St. Patrick's Day, a couple of years ago, in SASKATOON...and what a big deal it was THERE. I can't even imagine what a big deal it must be HERE.

And so, I decided that since there's no way I'm ever going to get any sleep that night - why bother? Why not use the time to draw? It's the first week of my Easter break anyway. Thank god.

Anyway, no one will join me on this endeavour since THEY'LL all be out drinking too. ;p I'm actually pretty excited about this! I should put my iPoo on shuffle for the day while I work and see what embarrassing songs come up. (I never use shuffle for this reason!!) And when the comic is done, I can include it as part of my latest assignment! My only problem is that I can't decide on a good time of day to begin...

Page 53 scanned

Yep...VIOLENCE, HOLY CRAP. I often find myself being reminded of the disclaimer at the beginning of South Park: "Due to the content of this program, it should not be viewed by anyone."

But anyways. That word balloon of Martin's is blank because...uh...well, it's a long story that I don't feel like going into.... ;p

Page 52 and a plethora of videos

Yep. Lookin' good, I hope.

And now some more videos, because I still waste too much time on Gootube:

The infamous claymation video for "The Masochistic Minstrel" by The Gandharvas, a long-forgotten defunct Canadian band. This is probably my second favourite music video of all time. It's a bit violent and possibly disturbing but still amazing. (Naturally, I'm unable to watch this video here *rolleyes* but I tried it at the university and it worked fine.)

The equally infamous video for "The Good In Everyone" by Sloan. This is the one that begins as a direct homage to the airstrip sequence in Easy Rider and then, sadly, becomes just another music video. (But still, I enjoyed seeing it again especially since I have now actually WATCHED Easy Rider.) I've probably said this before, but Sloan's One Chord To Another is the finest Beatles tribute album ever made, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. It was all downhill from there. :(

"The Shouty Track" by Lemon Jelly. (warning: violence) Glorious animated satire. You might remember the insane drug trip of a video for "Nice Weather For Ducks" by the same group. (WARNING: That last song will be going around and around in your head for days!!)

"The Last Duet On Earth", a zombie-related cartoon by Graham Annable. (violence :p) Here's another one. These are so excellently done. They're so simple, and yet complex. They almost make me wish I had stayed at Redhouse to do a film. But I'm not a genius and I could never come up with anything this good.

Page 51, scanned!

Yep! :D I got every page so far scanned yesterday (apart from page 62 which isn't quite finished...oops!) So let's kick off the week with page 51...again... :p

Eyeball, viewer discretion advised, etc :p

And now I must get to class!! (Wow, I have class?)