Some more life. And a progress report, yay.

'Kay, update!
-"Myra" was updated yesterday, and I'm finally making progress with the upcoming page. It should be done so long as I keep thinking up of stuff, oopsdidIsaythataloud? >_<;
-The "No Rest" fancomic is coming along as well, after I had to clear out a lot of drawings and revise the initial concept because the story was going in the wrong directions and bad story bad. On the other hand, I did manage to make some extra art to fill up an omake section if need be.
-The One Piece Doujinshi, for some inexplicable reason, continues to march along at a steady pace. I don't think I can stop it even if I wanted to.

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Nowadays, Wednesdays at my house have been designated swim and eat days, wherein we swim and eat and generally don't stay at home long enough for me to work on comics. On the weekends, I lose a Saturday because of extracurriculars and Sundays are for family, so. Couple that with Meteor Garden...

My folks don't know I have an online comic. I don't think they'd much care for it. I don't think I can argue my point even if they knew.

Just as well, since I like to swim and eat and attend classes and watch Taiwanese dramas in no particular order, and I love wasting time with my parents and learning how to cook nowadays (I make a mean cucumber salad but I could use a bit of work flipping those gosh-darned fried eggs), but it makes deadlines harder to catch. That's my head's-up to you.

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I started reading Hajime no Ippo yesterday. Damn it, it's another one of those manga that - well, it's hard to explain. It makes you want to get up and run to the nearest body-building gym and sign up and get a trainer and catch leaves and get beat up really bloody badly. In other words it's a motivational manga and a real crowd-pleaser.

I think I'm in love again.

The art style itself is very fleshed out and unique, and the dynamic expressions on everyone's face really contributes to dramatic moments. It reminds me a little bit of Makoto Kobayashi's art (but perhaps not as extreme) and is extremely detailed at times (but not too detailed, as the earliest chapters of Naruto were, where some actions were difficult to distinguish).

The pacing is so wonderful; I couldn't wish for better. Within the first chapter alone they manage to cover Ippo's goals and motivations with such clarity that you don't even need to wonder about subtext or innuendo, there is none, the train's already out of the station and all you need to do is hang on for the ride. The side characters are also well established - the mentor, the caring mother, friends and family, enemies. It's clear how Ippo feels about all of them, and about his dreams. The humour is humorous, the emotions real.

When the action does begin, the spirit of the boxers and the tension of each match pulls the reader in immediately, and each move and counter is a surprise. It's more exciting than some real boxing matches. It's the kind of talent all cartoonists and mangaka wish they could have, to enliven the very thing they choose to idolize.

Morikawa Jyoji-sensei wrote and illustrated almost 70 volumes of this thing. Goddamn it, this is going to eat up my social life.

Maybe I'm just a shounen manga kind of chick.

This is not a review. This is not a gimmick. This is a public service announcement. Go. Read it. I don't care how, just get your hands on "Hajime no Ippo". May it ignite the flaming desire in you to beat random strangers on the street.

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I found time to do some more sketches last night. In the traditional medium. Bgaaah!

It has occurred to me that if "Myra" were to be written completely (that is, with filler, because filler arcs are important in a way that I can't rightly justify), it would take up at least the next two years of my life.  

O____<;;;;

On the other hand, if I were to start another comic, I might want it to be short. Real short. Oriented towards the 13 and under crowd. And not as complicated to draw.

This means reducing the lines down to a bare minimum and setting it in a world of ZERO TECHNOLOGY. Booyah. ^_____^ Though most of my story ideas are Sci-Fi and compel me to draw technology, I mean, a Sci-Fi story doesn't have to have tech, riiiight? It could be "Lilo and Stitch" like. The main characters can be a boy and a girl, a comic that harkens back to the old days when boy/girl relationships were fun, and zany, and other outdated adjectives. And it could be about, well, kids and the aliens that love them.

Aw, crap, wrong ideas in brain. >___________<;;

Some doodles as I was thinking about this. I never outline in pen, I just draw in it without pencil underneath. Plus I've lost my eraser for about a month. +__+;;

Another doodle. Something like a fairy queen, haven't done that in a while. You may notice that I'm not partial to Fantasy, even cheesy Fantasy (the best kind, duh ^_^;), from time to time.

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And to cap off this extremely long journal, a tidbit from yesterday evening.

Dad: (Picking up the last gummy in the bucket) You know...these look like bears.
Mom: HAHA!