I love you more than words could say

Practiced drawing my Over the Surface characters during my wonderful, lazy Thanksgiving holiday:

Tell me would it make you happy baby

Brenda Hickey's Ava
Originally uploaded by tallychyck

Dude, my friends. They are really the best. Check out these awesome pieces of Over the Surface fan art from Brenda Hickey and Terry Blas!!

Terry Blas's Ava
Originally uploaded by tallychyck

Surrounded by subconsciousnesses

Here's a little Over the Surface 2 preview for you. I am toning page 17 now, and I should be done well ahead of my Wednesday deadline.

Backing up obsessively! :P

And I am not afraid to try it on my own

I'm calling it a night; I have an early train tomorrow to Portland! Woohoo, Stumptown Comics Fest weekend!!!! Before I turn it off, here's a preview from Over the Surface 2:

(I have 15/24 pages done on this chapter, 31/40 total, and 11 days remaining)

I realize I must have gone a million miles away

I will be at the Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend in Portland at table 114 with Emi Lenox and Angie Wang! Come on by! I will have the same things I had at ECCC (4 new minicomics, 2 prints, buttons, con sketches) PLUS a print of my Monsters and Dames illustration!

I haven't posted in a while, but you haven't missed anything. It's just thesis, thesis, THESIS at my house, punctuated only by a couple of commissions. I gave a first draft of my essay to my primary and secondary advisers at the beginning of the week, and I am drawing page 13 of the comic today (29 out of 40 total). I have to turn in all of the finished art and the final version of the paper on May 5...14 days from now. Dear God back to work.

I will try to make Over the Surface chapter 2 available as a minicomic in my Etsy store in late May.

I'll be there as soon as I can

Here's another preview from Over the Surface 2:
(7 out of 24 pages done!!! Drew 6 of them in 5 days!! WHOOO!)


I don't want to give away so much in these previews that it ruins the comic, but enough that you don't have to go without new art for the next month.

My mom is coming to my thesis defense next month. :) D'aww. <3 As stressed as I am scrambling to finish the art and the paper this month, I am really pretty stoked about my thesis. I have awesome professors on my panel, I was allowed to do exactly what I love in lieu of a very long research paper, and having to do so much work has made me a better artist.

EDIT: from the second page I drew today:


It is a day for drawing my horrified characters, I guess :P

And Windy has stormy eyes

Working away on my thesis! Chapter 2 thumbnails are done:


Chapter 2 is one and a half times as long as chapter 1, so I am very nervous about meeting my deadline (and leaving time for the PAPER part of the thesis). I have to turn in my thesis May 5, and present May 12, so the next 5 weeks will be all about drawing these pages and writing a very important paper.

My love I am the speed of sound

Here's a preview of page 12 of Over the Surface, which I actually managed to finish a day ahead of the schedule that I set on Sunday!



Today I will attempt to draw page 13 from start to finish. My boyfriend is taking me to a party Friday and my family is visiting on Saturday, so it would be nice to stay well ahead of schedule and enjoy myself when I'm with them.

I am so excited for Seattle, you guys. Omgsh. Once the stressful preparations are over, I am going to be like a kid on Christmas morning.

Too little much too late

Preview of page 10 of Over the Surface:


My schedule for the next 13 days:

Monday: OtS page 11
Tuesday: class and hw
Wednesday: OtS page 12
Thursday: class and hw
Friday: OtS page 13, friend's party
Saturday: OtS page 14, family visiting
Sunday: OtS page 15
Monday: OtS page 16
Tuesday: class and hw
Wednesday: clean up and finish OtS, print and assemble minicomics
Thursday: write 2 finals essays (ahahahahaha...) and then take the bus to Portland
Friday: Drive to Seattle with Emi
Saturday: Emerald City Comicon!!!!!!

@_________________________________@

Ashita ga aru!

Larsha is officially done and printing! Whoo! And great news: J. and I have decided to sell minicomics of it at my booths at ECCC and Stumptown!! :D It is well-written and full-color and I am really happy with it. Please check it out! More information later~

I finished the linoleum prints for the Between Gears and Over the Surface minis this week, and though I am no master printer I hope that people will enjoy them!

Now the only big thing I have left for convention preparations is Over the Surface. I finished page 9 tonight, the cover and bonus art pages are done and printed...it's just 7 more pages of art before March 11!...
Seriously getting down to the wire, but I'm keeping my head down and telling myself "I think I can!!" I have made 2 pages in a day each, which I didn't know I was capable of, so that's a real boost of confidence at least! (me=silver lining person)

Here's my favorite part of page 9:

Ain't no clouds getting in my way I must be running on sunshine

Aaaand here's draft one of the Over the Surface cover:

Somehow I can't shake the feeling I might make a difference to the human race

Larsha is wrapping up and it is on to Over the Surface! Can I finish in time for ECCC??? Stay tuned to find out...

Today I am coloring the cover:



Covers are strange beasts...you want each half of the image to be a complete composition, as well as make sense when seen together.

Forever is a long long time when you lost your way

I am really happy with the art of Over the Surface (my thesis comic) so far. Each page starts out with a panic and ends with me proud of how it turned out. However, I'm concerned that I scripted the whole thing completely wrong for the time/content parameters given by the thesis.

I wanted something that could be a stand-alone short story and also set up elements for a much longer one, but I made the classic mistake of going too epic and needing chapters and chapters just to establish things. I just feel like, at this point, I should have written a good 40-page story instead. I have other long projects I want to work on next year, so why did I feel the need to write 3 graphic novels' worth...? Just in case? It came at the cost of what might have been a good short story.

Maybe this isn't the sort of thing I should put on display, but I prefer being open with you guys, and writing it out helps me to learn.

/SELF-DEPRECATING RANT

I'm almost there

One down, fifteen to go! I think I can! >__<


Guess who saw The Princess and the Frog again today xD;

I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly

Begun, the thesis final art has. I penciled the first page today, tackling two establishing shots of Ava's village. I'm happy with the pencils but nervous for the inks.

Have some sketcheray:

How hard must I try for you?

It's the first Wednesday of the term, and I am going to try to fulfill one of my goals: to leave Wednesdays as completely sacred, free days for working on my thesis. I did all of my homework for Thursday last night before bed, so today is wide open for the thesis (with breaks throughout the day for a work-out and meals). As a reward, I'm going to have a second cup of coffee at Starbucks and work there until I need to come home. Let's see how it goes!

Here are some things I did this morning:

Urban landscapes kill me, but this comic is a challenge on purpose! I can't draw planes well yet, either, but this script will force me to learn.


Here's a set of thumbnails. I stay very loose at this stage, just trying to figure out the page layout, the size and shape of the panels, and basic blocking of characters and setting. I usually write notes in the margins instead of correcting things at this size (2.5"x3.5" makes for tedious drawing).

Dreams do come true in New Orleans!

Here's a test page for my thesis comic. It's that time! I plan to finish thumbnails for the first 2 chapters by Wednesday, and it'll be a pretty busy schedule to get the final art done by May. The first chapter will be done and printed in minis by ECCC, so if you're going, you can read it there!



I think it's time to ink with a brush, even if it's still messy. I plan to work at bigger dimensions to minimize problems with things like the face in panel 2. Flat grayscale because I've grown to like that this year, and it prints oh so much more nicely than dithered dots. P.S., I have no idea what's going on in this page. I just wanted to draw a variety of character placements and backgrounds!