Wow...What a Ride... (O.o)
So much has happened to me, since my last update! It's hard for me to believe that this much time has passed, already. I have been sick; my dad has been VERY sick (quintuple bypass!); school troubles, and all manner of smaller ills have beset me, since January. I am SO hoping that things will settle down for a while, now. *crosses his fingers*
First off, I'd like to take a moment to congratulate my best friend and roommate, Carson Fire, on the success of his recent art sale and his upcoming Elf Life book. Yay, Carson! I'd say "POO!" on the nasty people who felt the need to bash him over how he conducted his sale (even though most of them were not EL readers or fans!), except for the fact that their efforts at hatefulness actually helped to raise the level of sympathy for Carson's situation (and MINE, since we're roomies) and thus contributed to the overall success of the sales. Success is the best revenge, after all. (~-^)
Next, I've decided to give up on school, altogether. In addition to the usual bureaucratic nonsense, I've been going round and round with my profs, and getting nowhere, fast. I've even had trouble concentrating in class, because of money worries and such. It's become clear to me that this is not something I should be wasting so much time and energy on, when all I'm getting in return is stress. I could be using this time to make money, which is a primary factor in my ability to produce this free webcomic. I've had no way of justifying to myself the time spent on ShadowFall, while I've been struggling so hard just to make sure I have something to eat and a place to live. Giving up school means I have that much more time to concentrate on making money, and that much more time to work on art for this and other projects.
Speaking of other projects, one of the things I've been fiddling with, lately, is an elf story that I'd like to put into comics. I wrote the original story in the 80s--and I didn't do a very good job of it, either, which is one reason I abandoned it, back then. I think I can do it more justice, now, and I'm hoping that working on some short elf comics will give me enough artistic variety to really get my butt back in gear for drawing ShadowFall. Just doing sketches for it has already helped me get back into drawing, as you can see by the new SF update, for today. The new series will in no way replace SF; it will just give me an extra outlet for the junk that's floating around in my brain.
"The Elves of Emerald Wood" is a collection of short stories in comics format, which will be updated, sporadically. Each comic story will be at least four pages long, with many comprising of eight pages or more, and each episode will be updated in its entirety. All the stories will feature the same basic cast of characters--the elves of Emerald Wood and the humans of Evenstar Valley--and all are smaller parts of a much larger story.
Anyway, if you'd like to see my proposed elf stuff, there are two ways to go about it. One, you can check out this thread in my forum, where there are descriptions of possible storylines, a poll to vote on those storylines, and some pieces of art which show how I'd like to present the story. Two, you can check out this page and see the same stuff, minus the poll. The latter will be the permanent home for the story (which I haven't yet named), so you can go ahead and bookmark it, if you like. Any feedback you may have on it is more than welcome! Here's a thumbnail of a sample colored sketch I did for it:
No comics are up, there, yet. Just the five storyline summaries and some colored pieces to give you an idea of what the art will look like. I do plan on inking and coloring these comics. The samples that are up are not finished artwork; they're just ink sketches. The final artwork should be much more polished.
Next thing on the list is fan art! I have art from two different people to share with you, today! The first is Athena, who has given me two great pics, one of Ilyana and one of Genjiro! Thanks, Athena chan!!!
Click on the thumbnail to go to her new gallery, on this site:
The second person is Matt Bourque, who has done a cool pic of the Soul Stealer, from my new elf story, based on my sketch and description. Matt's also asked for all his old art to be removed from the gallery, as he wants to do some new pics. I hate to take the old pieces down, but I gotta be understanding. (~-^) Thanks for the new pic, Matt kun!!!
Click on the thumbnail to go to Matt's new-and-improved gallery, on this site:
I think that's all I had, for this week. If I think of anything else, later, I guess I'll, uh...keep it to myself.
(^-^)
Kaichi
