Elf Only LJ

News sure to infuriate everyone waiting for an EOI book.

2007-05-19T00:32:44Z

I'm going to take some art to the book publisher I work for and see if I can't do a coloring book for them.

Shannon says I must immediately tell my parents about this opportunity but I feel it is too early for such things. But hey! Here it is in my livejournal now.

It's an F U Friday.

2007-05-12T04:13:40Z

My F U Friday was in the face of some Truthers on the street corner.

City of Heroes

2007-03-29T23:03:39Z

Yo, this is a shout out to Smashing Guy, who recognized Thag when I was playing heroes today. That was pretty awesome.

Someone tell me where to get hotlinking offsets, pls.

2007-03-01T16:30:10Z

Anyone who doesn't like this idea hates science.

2007-02-16T03:35:20Z

Ha ha ha!

I wish I had thought of this first. But I would have just made some stuffy old snark about paying indulgences. Because I'm not that smart.

I think I'm gonna sign me and Shannon up on the faithful end of this exchange right away. It's like printing money.

And now the flying dracula hair brings you a story. . .

2007-01-30T04:37:16Z

I would totally post some weird lyrics for people to guess the origins thereof and make an awesome game out of it but it would get boring about three rounds in when everyone realized I was just picking random lines out of every song in every Aquabats album ever.

*sigh*

So, anyway, Shannon is getting slowly better. She's dropped so much weight from being unable to eat or hold down food and I am sad. Once she's feeling better it is steak dinners for her every night, this I swear! I have great fondness for the female form in all its varieties but Shannon should be round.

Boy, you know, I really thought this story arc would be over by now, but I get so wrapped up in where the day to day strips take me. Now we're on the verge of a big final battle that is going to be about one hundred times larger than what I originally wrote. I'm hoping that my grind-stained fingers can keep this up, I'm getting really bi-polar about each strip. I'm depressed when I start to draw, get real excited as I get half-way through and then I burn out by the time the words are on the screen. And two days later the cycle must begin again. AIE.

In my mind I'm hitting all the improvements I wanted to, except for color, but it's always bittersweet to go in a new direction and see the unavoidable losses associated with it.

I used to hate this comic for being so bloody heavy-handed and obvious with its narrative, and I kept swearing to myself that next time, I'll let the audience figure it out for themselves. I must be succeeding because I see many comments along the lines of "I can't understand what's going on." Especially from new readers. I guess it's a good thing I'm not spending any money on advertising.

I'm half of a mind to reel back the update schedule a bit, grind or no grind, just so I can spend a little more time on the artwork but I worry that the moment I stop I'll not be able to start again.

Shannon's doing much better

2007-01-20T07:20:52Z

Saint Joseph's hospital down here in Tucson is just fantastic. The nurses in the ICU are great about letting me in to visit Shannon, who is finally able to hear and see the real world again. I'd mentioned that I had to fight to get her in to the hospital, that had less to do with her being irresponsible and more to do with the fact that her blood chemistry was so out of order that she was hallucinating and not aware of how sick she really was. She'd been sick in bed for a few days before things really went wrong and during that time she wasn't able to eat right. Things spiraled out of control and we both chalked up the warning signs to what she was recovering from.

But she's all cleaned up and eating and talking again. They let me hang out in the ICU longer than the posted rules say, so I'm hoping to spend some time with her tomorrow after work. I'm sure she's a hundred times more bored than I am without her here at home with me. I'm really relieved about how considerate they are at St. Joe's. It's a very Catholic hospital, complete with morning prayers over the PA and Mass on Sunday, and it's one of the top hospitals in the country. I have to say I'm much more comfortable there than I am at any of the other hospitals I've had experience with, even though I'm no Catholic myself.

I really appreciate all the kind words, guys, thanks.

I can draw in my sleep

2007-01-19T00:05:42Z

I'm not happy with Wednesday's EOI line work, I could not take the time to go over it properly like I usually do, but I got things done and I'm still in the grind. I'd intended to go straight to bed after finishing the strip but ended up sleeping on a chair in the emergency room instead.

Shannon has been very very sick the past few days and I spent Wednesday checking up on her every hour. Finally had to have her taken to the hospital and she is currently finally sleeping in the ICU. Her diabetes has gotten much, much worse out of the blue, it was previously controlled by diet and she is very thin now so it's not like her blood sugar was even on the radar for us. But while she was sick she wasn't eating well and that set this off. They're telling me she should be okay in a few more days, they're just going to keep her on IVs until her sugars and such are back where they should be. Daniel and I just went to see her and she was finally genuinely asleep. Bleh, I wish I'd gotten her in sooner but it was a fight to do it.

Remember that stolen car?

2006-12-02T07:15:51Z

So a car got stolen a few weeks ago. So we finally got a new one. Not a bad one either.

The stolen car turned up the very next day.

Well, I ain't complaining, but MAN. GEEZ.

lol somethingawful

2006-11-30T20:10:35Z

Today's update includes the following fictional write up for a Modern Marvels show about Something Awful.

Something Awful
Airs Monday February 5 at 2:00PM

It was designed to be the most popular web site that makes the least amount of money on the Internet. Learn how web mogul Richard Kyanka has turned a hobby into a media empire that would cause him to lose money if it weren't for a couple forums ready and willing to buy new cartoon avatars every week. Find out how 3 million page views can earn you tens of dollars with Google AdSense and make you a hundredaire.

Want to lose almost 50% of the cash you bring in to taxes and merchant fees for shit you sell to people on the Internet? Mr. Kyanka will show you how you too can get into the lucrative business of running a web site that doesn't bombard its users with ads that fly into the center of the page and dance around in the hopes that you accidentally click on them. In this episode of Modern Marvels, you'll learn just how expensive sticking to your principles can be!

As usual, the update overall was kinda lame, but you'll have to visit the page to truly understand the metahumor of the above paragraphs--they include those obnoxious underlined advertising words that explode into imbedded popups the moment you accidentally mouse over them. I guess I'm surprised Something Awful doesn't make more money, maybe they forgot to get a patent for their ground breaking work in substituting comedy with e-mails from stupid people.

Anyone want to lay down odds on whether or not their next Art of Warcraft update will actually include a joke or a prank?

This is an educational toy

2006-11-21T18:10:06Z

I'm sure I'm not the only one handing out this link, but I'm sure you'll understand why.

Update: Man, looks like Amazon killed that, so here is the original blog post I saw. More links in comments, thanks Celticblissy!

Livejournals are for whining

2006-11-13T04:10:01Z

A car got stolen and our dear old kitty has spontaneously gone blind. Yeah. That's just great. If something GOOD wants to happen this week, I'm not going to turn it down.

Update: China, the kitty, seems to be getting better. Thanks for the e-hugs, guys.

Now if they can only find the car...

Yellow Sign? Call Delta Green!

2006-10-28T20:48:52Z

I intended to at least copy and paste all my news posts from the EOI page over here until I got smart enough to embed this LJ straight into the page itself like better people do. And I have not done that. Between the EOI forum and keeping up on the comic itself, I have been letting the ol' LJ slide.

Over on the forum we are kicking around current EOI events, like this kooky Sisterhood and who the hell Barbivine Thunderjugs is or is working for. My favorite theory right now is that she's in service to Hambonetaru-Chan. My second favorite theory is that I am a damn dirty liar.

Also: this page friggin' freaks me out every time I click on it. For those of you who aren't aware of the relevance of the Sisterhood's guild symbol, I hope that gives you a good starting point for your JOURNEY INTO MADNESS.

One of these days I need to sit down and actually read me some Lovecraft. Just the rich world of allusions to the mythos get me all full of wonderful ideas that are making me re-write and revise this current storyline on a daily basis.

Poor Elf

2006-10-11T06:03:08Z

Looks like Elf threw up a little in her mouth at this idea.

Monday, Monday, Monday!

2006-10-08T05:52:49Z

Monday's strip is almost fully inked. Lily's back! This strip was originally going to have LoD in it as well but there was too much to squish into one page and it was getting me down. I almost joined the others who found themselves out of the grind this week, but I am a simple man and drawing large breasted blue succubi always seems to lift my spirits.

If I can finally get this in ahead of schedule I can go play Talislanta Monday night. Woot!

sniff sniff whew

2006-10-08T05:20:20Z

The next two hours of my life are going to consist of these sounds. I am getting very weary of the woman who sits next to me at work.

yaaaaay

2006-10-07T07:24:09Z

I finally made it into the never-ending Motivator Poster thread. Slightly NSFW, too.

That's not Nimoy, tho. Ghastly drew it. It's a Star Trek gag.

gasp wheeze

2006-10-07T01:48:32Z

Today was the first real pang of regret for starting up again, but it seems to have passed. I am forever amazed at the people who can do this week after week after week.

But I'm no quittin'. I have a grind to win!

zoinks!

2006-09-27T04:09:16Z

Well hot damn, we got approved for a home loan out of the blue today. This is huge news if it comes to be. Shannon's flinging herself off of the walls and bouncing off of me but I'm witholding my manic glee for when I see the papers with my own eyes.

Two great tastes that GOD MY LIPS HURT REAL BAD

2006-09-24T23:44:17Z

http://arnoldchapstick.ytmnd.com/

Friggin' backgrounds, man!!!

2006-09-23T07:09:00Z

I finished Friday's comic in time. Well, by "in time" I mean "before I needed to be in bed to return to work." It was still noon, but since I sleep until night and go straight to work well past midnight it would be a grind-loser for me not to finish before bed.

But I felt good about that one, very much so. I put a friggin' background in every panel instead of just the top row... now all I need to do is plan that top row a little better so that it isn't all small and cramped while the bottom frames are big and open. And this strip did not take me a million hours in front of the computer to color it, that is the most important thing. That might be because Nimoy's pretty easy to color.

Still hanging on to the grind

2006-09-21T13:02:08Z

Not even two weeks in and I'm already updating by the skin of my teeth, hence the lack of a newspost for Wednesday's comic. The best part about cramming at the last minute is that I have to start drawing right now to catch up and be ready for Friday. Oi!

Nimoy will be back, though.

roflamo

2006-09-18T15:25:27Z

I thought I really knocked the art out of the park on the last strip. This one, I'm not as fond of but man all the little gags in here tickle me. "Roflamo" was a last minute unintentional typo that was too perfect to remove.

Hey! I have a forum now. I haven't had a forum for years and years and years. So if you have something to say and don't want to bother with my LJ, have at it there. My friends from the Comic Genesis and Cornstalker forums are the biggest reason I've returned to EOI, and it feels right to move in officially now that I'm a cartoonist again.

Thanks again

2006-09-15T08:16:13Z

I'm most certainly not weirded out by all the nice random new comments. Well, actually, yes I am. I had no idea so many people would still care after two years! Thanks for being patient with me, everyone. Hope Friday's comic was better than Wednesday's ice-breaker, Monday's going to be much better. Nimoy and Megan should also be back in the comic in the next few weeks, and then we can get into the sentitive subject of poor old Lord Woot.

this comic was always really about boobs

2006-09-15T08:07:49Z

It really didn't take M'Lady long to change back into her old costume, did it? She really likes that ridiculous hat, though. You can tell a priestess is serious business when wears a fancy hat.

For some reason, especially after that last frame, drawing M'Lady always makes me think of Lady Celeste D'Argent. It's definitely something about the shape of their faces, the red bangs, and the pointy canines in their smiles. Personality-wise those two are about as far apart as you can get, Celeste uses her smile for extortion and M'Lady uses hers for YAY FLOWERS!

In other news, I'm finally happy with the font and I should fix that awful mess I made of it on the last page. I'm also going to have a forum again pretty soon. You can thank this guy!