Day in the Life of a Cosplayer News

The current delay in updates.....

2009-04-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have no good exscuse. I've gotten my drivers liscence, finally, so the job hunt has been under way, and I've been working on story boarding, but somethings are currently out of order so I haven't actually drawn out any of the new pages. I'm hoping updates will resume in a week or so. That is my hope, but I make no gurantees.

Finale News

2009-01-16T13:16:00.001-08:00

A few people have been wondering what will happen to DitLoaC when this chapter finishes, so I'll fill you in with the projected idea.
DitLoaC, as you know stands for Day in the Life of a Cosplayer. As you might've noticed there's been little cosplay in this comic, that's not going to change.
DitLoaC, the title, more applies to me. In that as the comic comes out, it's under the "working title" of DitLoaC, but when it is finished, it'll get it's "release title".
The title of the current story arc is in fact UP/||/down (trust me, the arrows look alot cooler when they're drawn). Which is what it'll be released, when I finish prepping past pages and finally get either my mom or my friend Mel to run a thorough grammer and spell check for me, in book form as (with extra short stories of Yitsana, the vampires, and maybe Lit).
So when UPdown finishes, there'll be a few changes.

First: I WILL do the 24 page colour work. I'm still slowely working on it. But I promised, so that'll go up when it's done. (and like all full colours, it'll be updated M-F till it's done.)
Second: The update schedule will likely change to once a week, to accomodate the fact that I expect to have an appalling lack of free time when I get a real full time job.
Third: It'll be a different story.
-I'll be trying a different drawing style
-Completely new characters
-Hopefully a different TYPE of story

So here is where I ask YOU guys what you want to read. Let's try the CAD style. Read the summaries below, and send an email with JUST the word in bold to my email. The one with the most votes wins. Voting ends, let's say Feb 20th?

Story One, to vote for this send the word MIRROR
In a world filled with science, there is an unexplained phenominon known as "The Mirror", anyone who crosses through it is never seen again. Yamanobes' parents where researches, and part of an expidition that went to the other side of the mirror ten years ago, and left her orphaned. On the tenth anniversary of thier disapperance, Yamanobe decides to take her chances and go to the other side in search of them.

Story Two, to vote for this send the word PEACH
Mika, a eight year old girl, makes a big mistake when she takes a bite out of an under ripe peach. Thanks to the help of a drunk fairy, she's now haunted by the ghost of that peach. Having the ghost of a piece of fruit always hovering around you isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when the new student in her class is a wizard, and has determined that she's a necromancer.

Story Three, to vote for this send the word STAR
When the guardian witch of peoples dreams slips through a portal and into the lap of one of the few people who actually wants to kill her, she has to convince him that the king who wants her head is just mad. The kings wish to have a son to succeed him never came true, so the knight who brings the witch who over-see's peoples dreams head on a platter will be named as his successor.

I know I really should but I'll Never Forget up here as an option, as that's the prequel of Kenji's story. Where he was, and meeting Jeremy, whose in a similar situation as himself. But the meeting of Litalra plays out differently in that story, not to mention I'm still working on the specifics (aka-I have NO IDEA where it's going) but I figure the three choices above are good.
Please send all votes to MinekaC@hotmail.com, otherwise they won't count!

err........ yea....

2008-12-18T19:11:00.001-08:00

Sadly Fridays page required shots of Sera at the library. Considering the fact I couldn't leave the house (sick+I still can't drive. I know, I know. Trust me, I know.) I didn't get those pics. So hopefully I'll get them today, and the page will only be a day late! Sorry!

And for those with good eye sight, wondering what happened to the menu's. That's right! There's a new chibi Mineka begging for Mineka. Feel free to ignore her though, after the appalling job on keeping up with my updates, I don't deserve it.
I don't even have incentive stuff at the moment. How lame is that?!
I need to get stuff done. That's it, I'm going to hunker down and spend from now till the first doing nothing but DitLoaC stuff, even if I don't want to.

EVERY Day!

2008-12-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

YOSH! A ~~Ravyn~~ Flamingo Christmas Carol is under way!
I apologize for the quality. It's going to look like it was put together by a four year old. I kid you not.
I'd blame my equitment, but truth is I'm just lazy. Yes, my camera is far and away not a pro piece. It's meant for point and click pics for amusement parks, conventions, and annoying family members at social functions. Not for any thing that's supposed to be mistaken for art work.
With that said, I apparently have no idea how to pace myself, and my 9 pages of filler has kinda exploded into something more like 20 (I haven't finished the story board yet)
So the comic will update EVERY SINGLE DAY until the story is done. Then I'll resume Yit/Lit DitLoaC story arc after new years.
Must finish current project so I can work on second one. Oye vay. This is what I get for falling behind on keeping the buffer up. I deserve this I guess.

In other news: I've got around seven pages of the Ryoten/Yitsana story done, or rather inked. So I'm working on it. So don't worry, you guys paid for it, it'll be up eventually.
I'll change the menu image in a bit to get rid of the text.
Alright! Enjoy the inanity of Seraphyn talking to random dolls and plushies.

-_-

I am so sorry I am putting you guys through this.

December... special?

2008-12-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

I had been a big drawing funk lately. Actually, it's Sera's fault. Since I got her, I've been spending all my creative energy on making her new clothes, and giving her face-ups (she's on face-up number three)
As a result, I was bad, and massively slacked. My buffer is now gone. Made obvious by Fridays.... page.
So, whilest this Mondays page is going to be the proper page, I have a pile of work to do (namely everything) to get a buffer back.
Sera has..... be "asked" to fill the void of comic pages she has brought about.
Since it's the holiday season, and thanks to Brigid's wonderful idea, I was thinking of doing a BJD "Night Before christmas" short story for the holidays. I'm thinking this'll give me enough time to get a buffer back, and it'd keep pages going.

I also promised I wouldn't miss any updates after my three month break awhile back. I'm begining to realise that was a very bad promise to make. But I try to keep my promises. Anyway, so if it's alright with you, I'd like to do that. It'll give you guys something to read, and it'll be in full colour, I think. Haven't exactly worked out what look I'll go with.

Alright, so, that's everything for the time being.

Holiday stuff....

2008-11-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

Two things on todays agenda to mention:
1. Thanks to a very nice person helping me out with shipping costs for holiday presents, the fifty dollar mark has been hit. So I'll be working on the 24 page full colour Yitsana/Ryoten comic later this week. I shall keep you all posted on it's progress.
2. Since alot of people from the doll community seemed to have wanted one:
I will be selling some Japanese paper doll bookmarks. They'll be three dollars a piece. I'll upload some pictures of them by monday and give full details in a new entry.

All Hallows Eve!!

2008-10-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

My all time favourite holiday, that's right even trumpts Yule in my book. I might love presents, but candy+dress up=win
Can't dress up for Yule.
So not really much to talk about in regards to DitLoaC, just wanted to say
HAPPY ALL HALLOWS EVE EVERYONE!

In case anyone is curious the full colour Yitsana/Ryoten comic donation meter is at 15/50 I really should change the sign accordingly, but I just don't have the energy for it. I've been bad, I'm getting woefully behind in updating my buffer. I'm hoping something will kick me in the mood to get the ten or so pages I have half done on my Antec finished...... but I've been in that "I'm so bored, and there's nothing I WANT to do" type of moods. Most unpleasant.

I'll be quiet now, and yes, Ba'al is an ass. Gabriel pops into the comic next Monday! YAY! I love my psychotic little angels, they're so cute! In my opinion anyway.

For a change of pace......

2008-10-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

So far the donations for the full colour Yitsana/Ryoten comic is at 5/50 dollars.

In other news, I was contemplating making a bit of an artbook. Not sure why.
It would encompass misc. info, like full in-depth character profiles, series of colour pictures, and even a short piece of two unrelated to the current story arc.
I was wondering if there was any interest in this. Aka- would anyone actually spend any money to purchase it?
It'd be like the Windre comic, in you'd really only be paying to have the piece made.

If anyone has some suggestions on something that I could make that would encourage people to donate/buy, please let me know.

In other news: Farrah from Prince of Persia Sands of Time really needs braces. >_<

Otakon is around the corner.....

2008-08-02T20:48:00.001-07:00

I'm off to Otakon today,
So I thought I'd let everyone know what DitLoaCs presence there will be......
I shall be enjoying the con. My tentative cosplay schedule is:
Thurs: civillian gear
Fri: Gally from Battle Angel Alita Last Order (volume four cover)
Fri night: PJ female Kamui from X/1999
Sat: Kamui from Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations (yay for an exscuse to wear my vampire fangs!)
Sun: Civillian gear (jeans equal love.)
Mon: More civillan clothing

Sera will be dressed as Ayame Sohma fri, Hinto night gown fri night, Hinoto Saturday, and casual clothes all other days.

I shall be attending all the doll meets (provided I'm up in time), the Women in Webcomics panel on Friday night, Dub Actors After Dark, Embroidery workshop, the Gaia panel, Basic Flash Animation, and some various other panels.

Now, why I bothered posting this stuff at all? Because a friend said he would print out some flyers for DitLoaC that I could disperse through the con! They shall look like this (I think it's cute, for doing it in one night, I also think I'm getting good at doing jeans. But that's just me.. PS-Photobucket, you are to dang slow!):

PS- Take a vote. Who is your favourite character? Answer in the shout box. The winning character will get a personalized b/w pic done up of them!

Donation button works againb

2008-07-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

So now if you scroll over mini-me, you'll notice yer cursor changes.
I got my doll, so I had shut it down, but left the pic up, as I couldn't think of anything to fill that spot on the menu. I guess it worked out for the best. I'll replace it with a cuter Mini-Mineka sometime in the week when I turn on my art computer.
But anyway, it's back up cause I'm going to work on the two DitLoaC projects, even if I'm the only one who ends up seeing them.
I'm actually gonna go curl up with my booklet and listen to Nightwish numerous times so I can get the timings down for the MV.
I did start on the storyboard for date comic, and all I have to say is: Yitsana.... you are the embodiement of all silly self-conscous girls everywhere. I do feel bad for her, her amazing wonderful date is gonna come off looking more like an episode from the Ghostbusters cartoon >_<

Want to know....

2008-07-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

So, Otakon is coming up, and I guess I'm the only one who reads DitLoaC who's going.
But, anyway. I was wondering:
I'm working on a full colour 24-page comic of Yitsana going on a date (can you guess who with?) as well as a ten minute music video (of sorts) of Yit and Lit visiting Sara's home in the country to Nightwish's song Beuty of the Beast.
I was wondering if people would be willing to donate to get these up on the site? If I can get fifty dollars in donations, I'll put the 24-page date comic up in the fanart pages (or put it in before/after the week of colours, and just have three-solid weeks of daily updates, up to you guys).
I'm still working on how much the video might be worth. But as opposed to the donation incentives last time I wanted money (I'm so greedy T_T), when I hit the quota, it'll be a present for all readers.

So what do you guys think? Should I work on both projects, or not even bother?

Because we promote our friends

2008-07-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

My friend Kitty (no, that's not her real name) has just started her webcomic, it's called "Amateur Heroes", and is currently on page two. It has some.... less then happy language? in it. So it's T+ in my book at the moment. I'd think if yer old enough to get away with reading DitLoaC (in all it's Lit-raciness) you can likely read this.

http://www.freewebs.com/katcomix/amateurheroes.htm

I'll be putting a banner up on the links page when I get one.
As of right now, the pages are in grey-tones. Not to be confused with greyscale. Where as DitLoaC is grey scale (me and my love of screen tones >_<) her's seems like it's full colour and then she hit the greyscale button in adobe. For those who know what that means, go out and play, you spend to much time on your computer!

So, go and read it! I have no idea what it's about, it updates once a week, on Mondays, and is by a very kooky girl. We can all discuss it in the DitLoaC forums!...... if the forums ever gets more then three readers -_-

I'll be quiet now!

Otakon Aug. 8th-10th

2008-06-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

Otakon is coming up at the beginning of August, and I didn't think I would be going. But due to circumstances, I now have the funds available to attend.
So for anyone interested, I will be at Otakon 2008 this year! Okay..... well, I still might NOT be, but 75% chance I WILL be there. I won't, of course, be in the artists alley. But I'll be around for anyone else who feels like getting a personal scetch or just chatting.
Just thought I'd drop you all a line. There's also an Otakon thread in the DitLoaC forums for anyone else who is planning on attending!

For all those interested.....

2008-06-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

Rememeber me pestering everyone about donations? About the doll?
Yea, SHE CAME TODAY!..... well, I guess techniquelly yesterday. I spent five hours doing her face-up (make-up, but because the dolls don't have 'faces' we call em face-ups) I'm still working on weaving her wig. It's a long pain in the arse project, for those familiar with latch hook rugs, that's how I'm making her wig. So I can style it any way I want without worrying about wefts showing.
Anyway, she has her own LJ account, Purple_Seraphyn for anyone who belongs to LJ and wants to add her (I'm such a dork. I freely admit this, however because of some of the shots involving painting her body. You MUST be 18 and over, and trust me I will have you prove it to me.)
For anyone curious as to what she looks like, these were the two uber quick pages I put together in regards to her box opening:
Page One
Page Two

and Here's two shots of her face so you can see what she looks like:
Shot One
Shot Two

I love her, but that's just me. Thank you everyone who helped me to add her to my house hold. She's going to get spoiled with lots of clothes (although making doll clothes is more annoying then human clothes, cause humans can squeeze into stuff... dolls can not. Nyarg.) And I promise to get back to work on DitLoaC so there won't be any gaps or delays in the comic! Wheee! I've almost story boarded to the end of chapter five....... I'll shut up now.

Happy Happy Happy Happy

2008-05-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

First off, the post below this is now void. I'm rather VERY happy that I don't have to part with any of my hard copies.
I'm having the weird senstation of wanting to cry and trying not to smile. I'm just so darn happy, and it's odd.
There is no way I can thank all the kind souls who donated to the doll fund since I started it, and especially the wonderul individual who donated the other day that sent me over the limit. I'm about to order her right now, and after the day I had yesterday, I can honestly say this is the best belated birthday present I've ever gotten.
Except maybe when I was eight and I got my Samantha American Girl doll....... >_< I seem to like dolls don't I?

I can not thank everyone enough, and I'm sorry that this has nothing to do with the comic. I'm just so happy. *starts to cry* Thank you everyone, thank you SO MUCH! This wouldn't have been possible without your kindness and help.

On a side note: I will be altering the map later today. Right now I am off to order my doll and pic out eyes for her. >_< *wipes eyes* Need to see the screen for that.

Pages for Sale

2008-05-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

So close, yet so far. I am twenty-ish dollars away (I'll be updating the map sometime tomorrow) from affording my doll. Not counting the fact I need to go and get some Testors Dullcote, eyes, and fibers for a wig for her...... anyway point is:
I'm selling pages. As in, what you see up above, minus the screen tones, word balloons and touch ups. I'm selling the original hard copies of pages for those who want them. Because I DO NOT want to part with them, they're going for five dollars a piece (trust me, I have no illusions of my drawing skills. So I know this is alot, but for me it's rather cheap)

I feel bad about offering these up for sale. I don't want to do it. So the second I get enough for my doll I'm no longer parting with any of them.
All hard copies will be shipped from me and signed and dated (if you want them as such) and shipped with card board protectors so they don't get bent in transit.
I'll shut up now.

If you're interested in buying the original line art for anything on the site, please send me an email. I will let you know if I still have (I'm fairly sure I still have everything except for the line art for the RYAN comics, as those are with their owner) them, and if you're still interested in buying them, I will instruct on payment/shipping details.

There's a DitLoaC Forum

2008-05-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

After, once again ignoring my duties of proper comicry (I'm such a bad artist T_T), I spent a good hour or so trying to make a decent forum, which can be found here:
http://ditloac.friendhood.net
I will be putting a link to it on the map above next time I have to alter it for a donation amount update. >_< Which should be in a week or so, when I have verified that someone isn't trying to swindle me. In the mean time, feel free to drop some suggestions, as of yet I haven't quite figured out how the silly subforum function works, but I'm working on it! At least it's purple..... I'm such a girl.

New Fan-Art piece

2008-05-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

For anyone who cares: Red String is doing a fanart contest, and the theme is Fairy Tales. So I'm working on some pieces, in the hopes of winning something. >_< Greedy Mineka. Anyway, I just finished a piece based off of Little Red Riding Hood, it's in the fan-art section if anyone wants to see it.
And to fill up space, I'm going to recommend people watch the Avril Lavigne (I know, I know) music video "Girlfriend" as it oddly reminds me of what might happen between Yitsana and Litalra in a similar circumstance.

Chapter Four is coming to an End!

2008-05-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

So, I had come to the conclusion chapter four was getting waaaaaaaaay to long. I think it's going to beat out one (which was also way to long for my liking) in length. So to preserve my sanity, in that the silly chapter doesn't reach insane proportions. I decided to split it. What does this mean? You get an extra week of colour comics, of course. There's just one problem.
Where I chose to axe the chapter, is on a Monday. Before now the comic has happily (if accidentally once) fallen on a wednesday, so if leaves friday open for me to talk. But now it's on a Monday. The question I would like to pose to the audience is: What should I do with that single open day? Leave it blank? Put a random picture in there? I don't want to mess with the flow for those who read through the archives.
It's all up to you! Let me know what you would like, and I'll try to accomade you! Comments in the shoutbox or here are fine.

PS- My birthday is on the 14th. *nudge nudge and points towards chibi-Mineka above*.... subtle, ain't I?

New stuff on the fan-art page!

2008-05-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

April 27th was Quinn, of GeekBlathers birthday. Kara, of GeekBlather, as a birthday present asked various people who had submitted fanart previously, if they would make something new for this important day in the life of Quinn. Of course, I said yes. Because..... I like drawing? Course in the "OMG! OMG! OMG! She wants ME to draw QUINN SOMETHING?! OMG OMG OMG!" that ensued, a silly story popped into my head. Which is what ended up coming out.
It's an eleven page partial colour short, of characters from GeekBlather throwing Quinn a surprise party, and the drama that enfolds when a D20 is found in her medicine cabinet. I do wonder how massively off I was in Quinns wardrobe and her apartment at large. But anyway. So, yea, that's in the fan-art section for those interested.
Also, thanks again to those who have donated, there is a list if incentives in the news history for those who are still contemplating seperating with some of their hard earned cash so I can buy a very expensive very...... ewwww burnt popcorn smell! >_< *cough cough* Why does Donald let MC make popcorn? She ALWAYS burns it, and I suffer, hot air rises and all that. Ick! But anyway, ..... very pretty doll from Angell Studio. I'm working on getting money to, so the sign will change as not only donations come in, but also as I get money myself. But I'm babbling! Enjoy the new fanart story!

Info on Donations

2008-04-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

Now that the site has had it's over haul. Let me fill you in on the specifics of donations. Just click on the pic on the menu, and it'll send you to paypal. I didn't want to put mini-me all over the place, but the pic seemed rather empty without it. So I apologize, I didn't mean to make it look like I was forcing the issue, it just worked out that way. Righo, on to incentives:
5-10 dollars gets you a copy of the guinea pig story
10.01-25 dollars gets you a copy of the guinea pig story and a copy of windre
25.01-50 dollars gets you those two stories AND a copy of Kenji's Curse: An I'll Never Forget Special, which was written back in 02/03 and is a twenty page comic of how Litalra met Kenji/what happened so long ago.
50+ dollars gets you everything mentioned before and a selection of various pinups of Yitsana and Litalra. I currently have three set to go, and I'm working on some others.

Please feel free to offer me suggestions to sweeten the incentive pot, as it were. I REALLY want a BJD. Thank you everyone who takes the time to read the news, and anyone who has extra pennies lying about that they don't mind donating. I'll be quite now.

What's Coming

2008-04-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

Few new things:
1. I'm finally feeling back to normal! After Anime Boston I was downed with the vile flu that's been going around. I've been better for I about 1.5 weeks, but have been imitating a slug to make sure I don't have a relapse.
2. The site will be getting totally re-vamped. Either next week or the week following. So be forewarned. Such things I plan to do is brand new map which will include a link to the DitLoaC store (YES! THERE IS a store! It was mentioned a while ago, but never linked. Cause I'm stoopid.), the shoutbox being moved along side the newsbox here, and a donation button which brings us to three....
3. There will be a donation button.... somewhere (still working on it) why? It's the "Buy Mineka a Doll Fund", I'm pathetic, I know. To avoid a lengthy summary, I'll simply say this: Been a fan of BJDs (ball jointed dolls) for more then four years. I am working on saving up the money by making seed bead jewelry and selling it, as well as doll clothing.
There will be incentives for donations in 5, 10 and 25 dollar increments. All digital, and various comics, all of which will be full colour (heck you're paying for something, might as well be coloured, right?)
Depending on the DitLoaC readership response will determine whether I'll keep the doll fund progress updated. Regardless, when I do get her I think I shall be tempted to do a short real-life/manga mesh story. That would be cute, wouldn't it?
Alright. Done jibbering, sorry for taking up so much of your time!

Just so you know...

2008-03-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

I wonder if it's really that difficult to scroll down a bit to check if there's new news....but anyway:
1. Since CG didn't update todays page in the fashion I am accustomed to (i.e.-by 12:15 the new page STILL isn't up.) I thought I'd mention there IS a DitLoaC mirror-ish site. http://www.drunkduck.com/Day_in_the_Life_of_a_Cosplayer/ So that if CG crashes, you can still get your DitLoaC fix, even if it doesn't have the same pretty purple layout (that's because DDs html coding makes no sense and doesn't seem to be inclined to alterations.)
2. In regards to Windre/Love and Life of a Guinea Pig, fear not. I might turn them to screentone grey and include those versions in with the finished DitLoaC book. I emphasise the MIGHT. It all depends on how I feel and how many side stories I end up doing for the book, whether or not I'll want to make it thicker by adding those two to it.
Anyway, that's all. Now to finish packing for AB.

New Update

2008-03-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month, and the tally is in: No Windre or Guinea pig stories. Kinda sad, that out of the supposed hundred readers I have...... only four of which chose to write me. Ah well.
This is more about that I will be at Anime Boston this year, not in the artists alley (which I would so love to do, but never have enough stuff), but I can generally be found in the masqurade photography suite if anyone wants to drop by. Righto, so I'll be around during that time, but not stalkerish around that I usally am when I'm at home. So if you're going to bash DitLoaC, next tuesday->tuesday is the best time to do it!

I'll make you a deal....

2008-02-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

I'll make you all a deal. I have Windre sitting around, being pretty but not getting alot of attention.
Then I have The Love and Life of a Guinea Pig all done, except for dragging my english majour up to go through the comic and fix my many typos and grammerical errors that I didn't notice (see see, difference between me just randomly posting stuff like DitLoaC and actually expecting people to spend money on my work like Windre).
I will upload BOTH... hold on, my tamagothic is beeping at me, where was I? Oh, right, I will upload BOTH of the stories to the fanart section, if I get twenty, that's right TWENTY e-mails, from you, the readers! No, one of you can not just send me twenty little e-mails saying hello. Twenty different people, all asking for the comics, and why I should upload them.
According to my counter I've got at least a hundred individual readers, so assuming that's right, that means that only one in five has to send me an email requesting the comics.

Yes, yes, I can hear you all grumbling. But I was originally hoping that my work was liked enough to warrant people buying it. Since that's not the case, I can at least hope it's worth a few minutes out of your day to request the pages.

So that's the deal, take it or leave it!

Pictures!

2008-01-28T12:36:00.000-08:00

In the earlier post, I mentioned I would try to get "bigger and better" pictures of the images in the products. Well, here they are!

Image on the FRONT & BACK of the sweatshirts:

Image on the notebook:

Image on the Messanger Bag (Lucy is casual, that was strange to draw):

DitLoaC items can be found here

The Dangers of browsing

2008-01-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

It's dangerous to go browsing around a site. As a woman, I eventually find something "I have to have"
As my current laptop bag's main zipper broke, when I saw the messanger bag at cafepress, it was a long battle with "You're broke, and can sew. Fix the damn zipper yourself!" vs "But it's new, and I can blatantly walk around with DitLoaC advertising!"

Since, sadly, the bag only comes in yellow, I ended up doing a DitLoaC logo, with Lucy sitting on it. It's actually a really cute picture, in my opinion.
Along with my "drawing stuff for the purpose of putting it on stuff" I made three other pictures: Yitsana and Litalra holding hands, which was placed on the back of a sweatshirt (that I WOULD buy, if it cost less then thirty dollars. I'm broke, and as worn as my Naruto sweatshirt is, it's still in good condition, so I'll just mope over my laptop. I really rather like the picture. Yitsana reminds me of the 20's) and Litalra looking weird on a notebook cover. If anyone's curious, you can look at the stuff here: http://www.cafepress.com/ditloac
At least take a look at the back of the sweatshirts, I am rather proud of it. I wish you could see the detailing I did on the bands of lit's skirt. I'll try to upload that picture later as well.

I talk to much.

I was just wondering.....

2008-01-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

I expect chapter four to be rather long. With that said, I have a few questions to those of you who enjoy DitLoaC enough to read the news box.
I'm starting to work on preliminary ideas for a compilation book of the current DitLoaC story (as in, when the tale of Yit n Lit is all done, there'll be a hard copy in case anyone's interested.)
One of the things that was suggested, was I go back and redo all the pages that don't have the "current" speech balloon style. Other then that, full character profiles, and an extra twenty page short of what would happen if Yitsana was a magical girl story tossed in at the end.
I'm at a loss for what else to do to make the book more enticing. The book will be all b&w so I'm wondering if I shouldn't include the colour excerpts, for fear they might lose something when they go b&w. I was also going to redo all the chapter covers, so they'll span two pages.
But what else would you, the readers want in the book?
Also, should I have one version that's just esentially a hard copy of the ones up, and then another of the aforementioned "fancy" version mentioned above?

Any feed back would be great! Sorry for always having such long news box thingies!

Jan 11th

2008-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Panel one reminds me of Star Trek First Contact, and Ryo was infinitly to trusting.
I like Rez's eyes, but nothing else. Hehe. Fangs are fun.

So now you know a little bit more about Rezen and Ryoten. One went on to be a general in Hell's Army (in charge of internet/computer division), and the other is on his way to being an Arch Angel. *shakes head*

Jan 10th

2008-01-10T00:11:00.000-08:00

Ryoten, you look like a girl. He just needs a vase of roses tossed on him and he could be in his own shoujo series.

Windre is out!

2008-01-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

I just got the mail, and guess what was in it?! The first copy of The Curse of Windre, a Fairy Tale of Sorts! After going through it, I was relieved to find that I wouldn't have to go back and fix anything (which made me happy on two counts 1. Cause I'm lazy, and 2. Because it was bloody expensive, especially considering how broke I am!) So since the comic is good to go. Here's the link in case anyone was interested in getting a copy. I apologize for the price. I think it's ridiculous as well. But other then the fact that you get the comic, it comes wrapped in a styrofoam sleeve, shrinkwrapped to a piece of cardboard. So it's in uber mint condition, right off the press!
My biggest fear was that the pages would end up being printed like the sample pages, considering how terrible they looked, I spent the ensuing five days worrying. But, nope, it looks like it did on the screen, cept on paper. So it's all good. I hope some of you will order the story, and if you do, let me know what you think. Thank you!
OH! Right, link link.... *digs around the net* Here ya go!:

http://www.lulu.com/content/1765607

That SHOULD be correct.

Jan 9th

2008-01-07T21:09:00.000-08:00

I HATE panel two. I hate the shape of his head, the way the eye came out. *stabbies panel two*

Jan 8th

2008-01-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, three things:
1. I reeeeeeeeeally need to stop being lazy and do real backgrounds. It is my biggest
problem. I am trying to work on this. >.< I hate that my art teachers where right, realistic drawin becomes important later on. Dammit.
2. I really kinda like the shading on everyones hair. I was rather worried, that what with Ryo's black hair, and Rez's black tips, that some of the detail would be lost in the all-black boundries. But it didn't, so I'm happy.
3. ..... Any realtion that Rez's apperance has to the Joker from Batman was really accidental. I didn't realise how similar they looked, until I was shading his tongue. See, a bit about Rezen
is that he and Ryo used to twins. Both with black hair and blue eyes, but since he's embraced darkness, his humanity has been slowely leached away. Green has always been associated with poison in my world, so as his new hair grows in it's tainted, hence why his roots are green, and the tips black.
You can also see it in his pale, slightly greenish skin. The purple robe, well, that's because Rez is a warlock, and the Dreadmist outfit in World of Warcraft is mostly purple.... so, I made his robe purple, and that is why Rez accidentlly looks like the Joker.

Jan 7th,

2008-01-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

First I want to thank the numerous people who helped me to get the proper titles for cardinals. I hope I managed to remember them correctly from email inbox/blogger comments to my art computer correctly. Now let's hope I managed to do a passable job on the Cardinals outfit!
Why yes, that IS the same Ryoten that later is weilding a sword outside Yitsana/Litalra's apartment. Enjoy this whole week of actually being able to see his eyes! It's back to covering them up with his baseball cap for chapter four!
I'm kinda happy with how Ryo's armour came out. Happy in that I went in with
having NO idea how to come even remotely close to colouring it so it'd actually
look like armour, and not grey cloth. Unhappy because, well, there should be alot
more armour. And a helmet.

Iseriad- Binders are devices built for the suppression of something. Binders are essentially a deamonic centipeded that's kept inside a 2.5 inch metal spike (like a shorter version of the ones used in rail roads). The ends, of the binders housing, are stamped with various runes so that deamons know what each binder does. The symbol on Litalra's binder is for war. Now, they normally are put into the heart or head, depending on what they're supposed to do. They can of course be put anywhere.
When the spike is put into the body, the body heat breaks the seal, and the spike opens like a flower, allowing the binder, which is permanently attached to the spike, is given free reign. In the case of the war binder, it makes war on her heart, since that's where it's kept. Eating away at the positive emotions in her, which has the added benefit of keeping Lit's other half asleep.
When the Binder finally wears out/dies. The spike is pulled out. They wait a day for the wound to heal a bit, and then insert a new one. They allow the original would to heal, to allow for a snugger fit for the new one. The process starts over again.
They're really nasty things, and can be used for nearly anything. They can even be used on humans, except when the binder dies, so does the human. Though not really a problem since most binders live a minimum of 250 years.

In addition:

2008-01-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

In case anyone cares. In addition to the babbling in the picture above, I had the great urge to play with my new camera phone, and proceeded to take some pictures of volumes 1, 2, and 3 of the Yami no Matsue tonkubons(sp?) as well as th YnM Sketch book.
These are the two pictures I refer to above:
Published picture-here
Sketchbook picture-here

I suppose you lose something in the picture, but I refuse to bend my books enough to scan them, so sorry.

The following are simply an assortment of pictures from the afore mentioned volumes (I do have the entire set, but I don't like her later drawing style nearly as much as I like the first five volumes. The later, though better layouts, just don't have those soft curves and emotional eyes.)
Sketchbook Hisoka
Muraki looking cool/creepy
Kid from second (anime) story Arch, playing the Devil's Trill, this is the scene where one of the violin wires broke. It is because of this scene that I get paranoid when I tune my violin.
Muraki again

Next time I'l use my digital camera, and not my camera phone. *grins* not that I'll do this again. I just wanted an exscuse to play with my new phone. Ah I'm two years old.

FYI....

2008-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

Part One:
So that ends chapter three. For those of you wondering whose hand that might be, I direct your attention to the letter in the background, advise you to read it, then make your way over to the caracter bios.

Part Two:
Windre has been sent off to a printer. I'm hoping for a copy of the work within the next pair of weeks. Assuming that all is as it should be, and I don't have to alter anything to avoid words and pictures missing. I hope to have a link up for the comic by the end of the month in case anyone who like a copy. I really did like working on this piece. I just hope others will enjoy it as well.

Princes are useless creatures.

Todays comic explained

2007-12-23T21:18:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be prudent to explain the images in todays comic.

The left image shows Litalra in, what I deemed to be a pre-French revolution court dress. I'd just like to point out, there were MANY varying causes that eventually lead to the French revolution. Most infulential of course were the poor Harvest due to the weather, and the continual taxation as the French monarchy had massive war debts to pay. On top of which they were trying to start another war. Interestingly enough, Marie Antoinettes role in bringing about the revolution was very small, as she had next to no say in any goverment affairs, as Louis advisors kept saying not to listen to her for she had sympathies outside of the French, as well most of the ladies of the court wanted little to do with her.
So when Lit says that she "helped" bring about the revolution, her role was mainly that of a mistress to various members of importance and manipulating them into spending money, and taxing certain classes that would eventually lead to outrage.

The center picture is in reference to Emperor Publius Licinius Valerianus, who ruled Rome from 253-260. "Sometime towards the end of 259, or at the beginning of 260, Valerian was defeated in the Battle of Edessa and taken prisoner by the Persians, making him the only Roman Emperor taken captive. According to the Augustan Histories, Valerian's capture was effected by treachery; the Persians agreed to meet with him, then seized him when they met."[quoted from wikipedia] Lit's supposed role, was co-conspiring with the Persians to bring them Valerianus. Valerianus is said to have been killed by having molten gold poured down his throat.

Finally, the right most picture is supposed to picture Litalra in 1517England, having manipulared Dr. Beal into giving his rousing speech on the Easter Tuesday at Saint Paul's Cross. Two weeks later the impact of his words would effect people and lead to what is called the Evil May Day Massacre, no one died in the riot, but later thirteen of said rioters were found guilty of treason and beheaded.

So those were some infamous events in history to which Litalra is attached to.
She's a real peach, ain't she?

Tis the Season.....

2007-12-20T17:48:00.000-08:00

I promised I wouldn't skip any updates just to put up filler pages because of my recent two-three month hiatus. But since it's Yule/Christmas season, I felt weird not doing SOMETHING. So here's my little present to my readers:

And a four sample pages from Windre!
Sample One (cover) Sample Two(pg 02)
Sample three (pg 06) Sample Four (pg 14)

Just a random ramble.

2007-12-17T22:25:00.000-08:00

So, a few things.
Thank you everyone who was kind enough to give me advice on the proper address of a cardinal. As a pseudo thank you, here's a few hints for what chapter threes week of colour pages is going to be about:
1. Good vs. Evil
2. Brothers
3. The letter "R"

Also, Yitsana in panel two of Mondays comic? Yea. Lack of shading intentional. I did not get lazy. All that white was supposed to represent "SHOCK!" but sometimes I think little touches like that go right over peoples heads. (Seriously, there were three massive hints that Yitsana wasn't an angel well before Lit figured it out.)

In other news, I was a very bad girl this week. I had a massive case of writers block, and I got sidetracked by pretty colours as I worked on a fairy tale, of sorts; called The Curse of Windre. I WAS supposed to work on fanart for certain people, and finish up the second secret Santa stuff.
No, it's not up in the fanart section, so don't bother looking. I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. It's really nice. Am I allowed to say that? It's filled with colours, and a decent amount of REAL back grounds! And blood, and insanity. We like those. >.< I'm writing this way to late at night, or early in the morning, which ever you prefer.

So the question becomes what the heck do I do? ...... I think this ramble is so much better suited for my personal LJ rather then the DitLoaC news journal......
Meh, it's all comic stuff.
I'm actually thinking of taking it and getting it printed and offering it up to anyone who wants to get a copy.
It's a short story, only 19 pages long. Full colour, and it's a complete narrative story (in which other then the three pages with the narrator on them, there's no speech bubbles.) about a princess who eventually finds that love is the key to real freedom.
That and it does a fantastic job of showcasing just how little I think of princes. (kinda along the lines of the prince from "Enchanted", truly useless creatures.)

And I thought I'd just add this in, since I found it highly amusing at the time (considering it was probably three in the morning, everything was amusing.) I had to put in a sunset on one page. Easy, gradiant some orange and redish-pink, put in some fades of yellow, a spot of red, bleed it through the trees, done.
Next page I had to do a sunrise. I was stuck there for five minutes trying to think of what on Earth a sun rise looked like. I had been so long since I'd been awake to see one, I just thought it was funny. You all likely think I'm crazy. *grins* Okay, I be quiet now.

I hate to say it....

2007-12-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

I hate to say it, since it breaks my image of trying to be modest.
But I really like how Wednesdays comic came out (posting this a bit early, so I don't forget.) I mean, I really didn't have to do any tweaking to it. The abscense of colour in most of the page is intentional, mainly because I thought colouring in Litalra would detract from the image.
For the first time, I feel as if I managed to draw a page that holds true to the manga look I'm trying to get. I really do love this page.

On another note: Does anyone know another name Cardinals in the clergy go by? You know how Kings/Quenns will also be called "You highness" or the Pope "His Holiness" Do Cardinals have that as well, or is it always just "Cardinal Bob" ? Just asking. Anyone who can clear this up for me, you get a hug.

Update to the archives....

2007-11-27T18:26:00.001-08:00

Following in the trend of re-uploading comics that were taken off the site initally, I've returned the week of colour pages to the archive, the ones that followed after chapter one finished.
Now all those new to the comic can read them, and be just as flustered as all the rest of us were.

I really like how the colours for Chapter Three's end came out. Makes me wish January would hurry up and get here so I could get everyone elses opinion of them.

Just FYI:

2007-11-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

I've re-installed the two RYAN comics to the misc art section, so we're all one happy same-artist family again. If you haven't read them yet, you should. They're amusing, if I do say so myself, and FULL COLOUR! YAAAY! Also for some wonky reason I never uploaded issue two to the seperate site. Oh well.
Oh, and Happy Mass-Turkycide Holiday!

Date confirmed

2007-10-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

Updates will start back up again, in the traditional three days a week fashion, on October 29th. There will be no All Hallows Eve page, so the 31st will be the first new comic. Since the 29th will be the chapter three cover page that was accidentally uploaded as opposed to the fifth colour page. Oops. So set your calander! DitLoaC is coming back! And now I'm going to bed since I just did 13 pages over the course of four days. My hands hurt, and my eyes are fuzzy.
Also the character bio section should be updated, and cleaned up before Monday, with new pictures!

It's coming....

2007-10-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

AN END TO THE HIATUS!
No, seriously. This time I'm serious.
I'll be returning to the original three-days a week update schedule by the first week of November. I would love to get it started by the end of October, but I want to get a nice healthy buffer set up whilest I still can.
All of those who wished to be notified, I will do my best to fulfill your request, even though I'm a little unsure ow to go about snagging email addresses from the blog comments.
It's because of all of you guys that it came back. Thank you reading, and not wanting it to end. I love exach and everyone one of my readers, you're all very special. Thank you.

So you may have noticed

2007-08-23T08:33:00.001-07:00

What the hell is that comic doing on DitLoaC would likely be your first question, followed quickly by why does that look so familiar.
Well, I'll get to the first in a moment, it might look familiar because I blatantly swiped the CAD (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) layout. Why? It's a good layout, it's simple, but pretty, and suits DitLoaCs next phase.
Now, with that said, what is it doing up on DitLoaC? I don't, at present, have the time to work on DitLoaC as I have. Which is to say, I can't draw the pages, then tweak them on the computer. It's very time consuming when you have studying and a job both competeing for your time. However, I love comics and I find that my life is rather colourless if I'm not at least working on a comic of some sorts. Which is why I'll be using this layout for a bit. I promise in some form or other I WILL finish the original DitLoaC comic.
But as it stands I can't work on it and get the updates done on time, so the hiatus on the original DitLoaC is still on, in the mean time, please look foreward to meeting Jack (the girl with the sign), Leena (a blonde with a pet duck), and Kira (a goth who wants to kill everyone who has a cape-wearing hamster). No gurantees when this stage will officially start, I've still got alot of prep work to do, but be assured I will give you something weird to look at occassionally. In the mean time: Anyone who can tell me what this comic is based off of gets points (hint: There ARE two answers, either one is acceptable.)
Right, that's all for now........ man I REALLY should get rid of that other shoutbox on the comments page, shouldn't I?

Encroaching Hiatus.....

2007-07-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how many of you read this section of the site on any kind of basis.... but for those of you who do:
I'm here to inform you of DitLoaCs upcoming hiatus. After chapter two comes to a close, and after the week long colour updates, I'll be putting DitLoaC on a hiatus of indeterminate length...... it's likely going to be very long.
I've done a few pages into chapter three, but deemed it better to leave it on a chapter ending then in the beginning of a new chapter. It's just not nice.
I hope to pick this up soon, but that'll only happen if I get the job I'm currently aiming for. But I digress.
I wanted to apologize to all of those who read DitLoaC for this abrupt end, and also to thank those who've read the comic as it came about. It has been a joy and a pleasure to work on it, and I sincerely hope this is only temporary.
If anyone would like to be emailed if DitLoaC starts back up again please leace a note here or in my email and I'll be sure to contact you if/when DitLoaC picks back up. In the event that DitLoaC DOES come to a permanent end, I will send you all a summary of the rest of the story from the end of Chapter Two.

Thank you, everyone, truly. For your support, good wishes, and most importantly: for enjoying the story enough to read it.

So.....

2007-05-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

In new DitLoaC news, the archive has been cleaned. I was kinda depressed no one opted to save Lit's dream sequence. Oh well.
I just wanted to bring attention to the new way of doing eyes. If you go to the timeline, and look at some of the FOR b&w pages, you'll notice that I used to do this. It makes me very happy, with the aide of my new quill pens (well, not so new now), and a trick in adobe, that I can once again put that kind of detail into the eyes.
I hope you all enjoy it, since it secretly makes me happy. Not to mention, brings a bit more life to the characters. Evidently I also learned how to add details to my jeans. This page truly is, a stepping stone, at least to me.
*smiles* Thank you for reading this!

NEWS FLASH-CLEANING HOUSE

2007-05-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

I've made a pause in my cosplay to sit in front of my computer, and I'm finally going to take the advice I was offerend. Next Saturday (the 19th) I'll be cleaning out the archive. Which means, any and all comics that aren't part of the story (i.e.-the first three comics, and all Saturday pages.) will be tossed. If there are any comics that'll be getting tossed, that you think should be saved and put into the misc. art section of the site; please let me know so I don't heedlessly toss something others found amusing.

Also, I've noticed my shoutbox has been on the fritz more often then I'd like. So ther SHOULD be a new model/version up there in the next couple of days. So that you're not wondering whether you'll be able to post yer thoughts today or not.

In regards to the comics that are going to be axed: Please, give exact dates (it'll be those six numbers at the end of the address), and you can post them either here, or hopefully in the SB as well. All comics with precise dates will be saved. But I won't be saving all of em. It's up to you guys to tell me which ones are worth saving from the trash bin, and which aren't.

Gomen.....

2007-04-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

*claps hands togethers and bows* GOMEN NASAI!!!!
I'm gonna axe the Saturday strips for awhile. Why?
Well this weeks isn't up because I felt dreadful all week, and I'm just not getting back to normal. So the idea of doing anything besides sleep really didn't appeal to me.
I also have a massive project to do for Otakon (late July). Judgement from World of Warcraft?
http://worldofwarcraft.com/info/items/armorsets/images/tier2raid/paladin/human-male.jpg
Yea, I need to make that. So, worrying about what day of the week it is, and drawing silly compolsury strips for Saturday isn't gonna be high on my list. Especially once I slip into cosplay mode, it's bad to get me out, since then I'll slack off again.
Right. So, Saturdays strips will be on hiatus till further notice, I apologize. But hey, the general story will still be going 3 days a week, that's something, right?

Contest Ends

2007-04-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yea, I totally didn't have access to the net for most of the con, sorry you had to wait.
The winner is DarkyBoy, for their guess of 250, which was the closest to the actual number on 269.
DarkyBoy, you are in charge of getting your info to me so I can send out your prize.

If anyone is interested in my 2007 AB experience, I'll be doing a con report and posting it to my LJ probably in the next few days.
I'd say more, but there isn't anything left that I can think of, other then I lost my cell phone and that is a sad thing.

Just to let you know.....

2007-04-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Current guesses for the contest are:

100, 101, 102, 123, 250, 321, 335, 412, 420, 550, 666, 681, 724, 730, 747, 840, 900, 905

If anyone cares, so far Darkyboy, you've guessed the closest.

Also, I'm gonna be away from my computer from now till, likely the 24th (at the earliest). There'll still be an update next Saturday (because I did it last night, and barring any issues, it shall likely be as true then as I'm expecting it to be.)
I'll be playing musical crash-space, with my itinerary as follows: Albany->Orange County, NY->NYC->Boston->Orange->Back home. Geh.
I will confirm who the winner is when I get back after AB.
Hopefully, when AB is over after my mad card handing-out-skillz, we'll have some new people in the SB, and maybe at some point enough people to warrant getting a forum useful! *droops* But then I'd have to change the map images. GEH!

Is anyone out there?

2007-04-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

Let's see if anyone reads this. I have a deviantart account, I update it once every 5000 years or so, when the moon does shine and the wind doth blow, so you've got awhile. Anyway, it has a few trinkets in it, like the full picture that was cut down for DitLoaCs original web maps; and sneak peaks at the five arch angels.
This is a test to see if anyone actually reads this portion of the site. We now return you to your regular scheduled web browsing.
Deviant Art meets DitLoaC?

CONTEST!

2007-04-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Numbers Guessed already:

123, 250, 321, 420, 550, 666, 724, 747, 840, 900

Don't forget to go back and read all the pages that have suddenly appeared! CG is feeling better, and Mon-Thurs pages are all up!

Copy and pasted from the shoutbox:
So because of the server is ruinging this week. I've made something fun for all those who visit the shoutbox. A CONTEST!Up until the start of Anime Boston (that's the 20th for those not going), I'll run a little game. I'm thinking of a number between 100 and 1000 (don't worry, I wrote it down. So I won't forget, and it won't change). Everyone get's one guess a day (and I'll be checking dates!) anyone who guesses the exact number automatically wins, and the contest ends. If no one has guessed the exact number by the 20th, then the closest person will win.What's the prize? Nothing that great, but it's a full colour print of Yitsana with bunny ears/tail hopping on Kitty-Litalra's shoulders; signed and dated.
There'll be a mini-non BG version of this pic on the DitLoaC cards I'll be handing out at AB.
The person who wins will be in charge of contacting me with their address and I will send it out before my birthday in mid May.

If anyone would like to BUY a print, after the contest, they'll be 4 dollars. I'll send a non-touched up line art if anyone is interested.