Posted October 28, 2010 at 08:57 am
Drawing blog is back! Though a bit late, because I managed to turn a 6pm nap into a 6PM-9AM bedtime. Ahahaaaa sleep deprivation.

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Oofa, traditional colors are always hard to scan right. Thus this is probably over- or under-saturated depending on your monitor.
Anyhoo, it's a 11x17 illustration of Steffi and Ben, being at their most intimate, which isn't saying much. My weapon of choice for traditional colors is prisma colored pencils, which I both love and hate for various reasons and past screwups. I'm actually pretty proud of this one though! I may have to mess around coloring some of my smaller pieces of original art.



Speaking of messing around with traditional materials, I've been trying to overcome my fear of brush pens. This ended up with some areas being way too thick and unruly, but eh 'tis experimentation! ... And it is a female version of Ben, yes. 'Cause I felt like it! Female Benzene is named Benzine, geeeeeeet it?






Also Maple the corgi 'cause gffraawwfff so cute dog gonna steal her. Also brush pen.
Posted October 21, 2010 at 02:41 am
Hey guys! Cube here with my first regular thursday blog post! Today I'll just exhibit a few of the drawings I've been doing during/for classes.
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If you follow my twitter, you mighta seen the B+W version of this already. I definitely like the colored version more though :< It's Reed and his dad, naturally enough. It's actually a big 11x17 B+W illustration, which I may put up on the original art page for like 40 bucks if anyone's interested. 'Tis the kind of shit I draw during art history class.


This is a classroom assignment for "Materials and Techniques" class. It's just pencils that I thresholded and filled in the spot blacks of. We had to include our choices of several elements. Mine ended up being a recognizable Savannah location, a couple fighting, and a moped. Just a sillything.






This one was kinda inspired by the work of Eric Canete, who visited SCAD this week. His awesome strong-legged women and cool graphic backgrounds really stuck with me. So I showed it by drawing this ridiculous 42 on an 8.5x11 cardstock :< Canete's work is really awesome, and you should check it out. He was also a super cool nice guy and gave some great talks in my classes and at a workshop.


That's all for this week! I hope it was somewhat worthwhile XD Next week I'll have a completed prismacolor picture of Steffi and Ben that you tweet people have seen some of the progress on. And of course some other things, but not sure what yet! Hearts Hearts.
Posted October 12, 2010 at 01:26 am



First, schedule talk.
I have indeed decided to move KB to once a week for now, at least until the end of the quarter. (Which is technically in what, five weeks? TIME!) This week the new page will go up Thursday, but from next week on all pages will go up on Tuesday, with blog posts on Thursday. The posts will mostly contain stuff I'm drawing for fun and school and such, as well as other goings on if you're interested.

Speaking of goings on...!


Exp Con was AWESOME! Especially for my first con, things went great. I was able to make back the money I spent on the hotel and products, as well as some extra! More importantly, however, I met a surprising number of fans! There was, of course, the Raccoon cosplayer (shown above) who was incredibly adorable and cool! She even drew me a few pieces of fanart which were awesome. There was also a staffer that commissioned me to draw on the back of his badge while asking me questions about the intricacies of KB. I was really surprised how much people like it already! I guess a year and a half is technically a decent amount of time, but it feels like a tiny baby comic in a lot of respects. I was really touched by everyone who came by and gave me kind words! I was especially excited any time someone told me about friend(s) of theirs who were also fans. The implication of people talking to other people about my comics makes me giddy! Also a big thanks to my friend Tina, who sat by me through the whole con and helped out a ton. Someday I shall force her to exhibit herself!




My panel was lost at some point during schedule rearrangements, but that was totally fine with me 'cause I still got a special badge and a spot in the booklet yo. The pamphlet was pretty cool since they designed it to look like a game guide : ) The Miki cosplayer (who you can see on that top collage) was also awesome!


The most popular items were definitely the Pokemon minis and con commissions. I offered a free doodle of any pokemon on the back of the minis, and people seemed to really like them. Several passersby came over and said things like "Oh, YOU'RE the one who drew this comic! It's hilarious!" which made me gigglefest smiletimes. I'm really glad Kel of Sorcery 101 suggested bringing some.


The commissions were everything from original characters to portraits of the commissioners to fanart, and they were all a ton of fun. I think my favorite set was a pair of middleschool twins who were walking around with their parents. They both commissioned a fanart piece from me (Konata of Lucky Star, then Lightning of FFXIII) and asked if they could watch me draw 'em. It was so cute gaaaaah! I wish I remembered to take pictures of everything I drew. The one on the right is an OC of Dege's, who ran the artist alley and was responsible for my free table at the con. THANK YOU SO MUCH, Dege! It was an incredibly invigorating experience. I am so ready to get back into the swing of drawings comics! ... Right after I study for this test. BAH!




Gonna look into the most cost-efficient-yet-sturdy way to ship posters as well, since I've got some left of all of 'em. Will update you guys on that if I ever figure it out!
Love you guys!
Posted October 8, 2010 at 12:32 am


So I'm headed off to exp con this morning! Way too excited considering it isn't a huge con or anything, but I feel like it's my first step towards being a money-makin' artist type person~! >:0
KB shall return on Tuesday. I think I am going to stick to just Tuesday updates for a while, with blogs on thursday if you're interested in what I'm up to with comics homework and whatnot.

The four people up there are the four mascots I was asked to design for the con. They're all based on pretty recognizable turn-based strategy RPG classes. There's gonna be a girl dressed as the black mage there! Will show you pictures of course >:0
Posted October 5, 2010 at 03:21 am


Two of the prints I'll be selling at exp con!
The left is the vocaloid Miku, and the right has the main characters from K-On. Why does my fanart turn out so much more professional than my comic stuff?! GAH!

They're both 11x17, with white borders unlike the KB posters which I'm actually printing at 12x18 and cutting down.
I don't like the arbitrary cutoff of white borders, so I tried to keep the BG open to white without making things boring/empty looking. We'll see how well I succeeded when I count my money after the con XD
I'm gonna go get these printed in the afternoon, so I'll have a big ol' pile of posters soon.

Haha I'm pretty excited for my first con. Hopefully I get time for a fourth print before we leave early friday morning. If I do, I'll post it up thursday along with those Exp Con mascots.
Posted September 30, 2010 at 03:54 am



Iiii'm back, but not with a huge update this time.
So here's the finished poster! You might notice that the logo looks different from the one on the banner, which is because it's a new one I made. The old one just doesn't seem quite tight enough, y'know? Plus Brad gave some good advice on Webcomics.com in regards to that negative space between the LI and the W. I stuck it on in RGB so you can see it in full eye-searing glory. I'll be fixing the banner tomorrow.

I'd really like to make some 11x17 borderless versions of this poster, otherwise I'll be doing 11x17 bordered prints. Either way, I'd like to make them available online. I'll just have to figure out the proper pricing and shipping method to get them to you guys. But either way, this is KB's first piece of merchandise! Pretty exciting.


I've also been thinking about moving the comic to once a week for a while. I'll be deciding over the next week or so. Not sure what day is best, but I'd really like more time to get each page right. It might end up being the kind of thing where it's once a week during school and twice/three times a week during breaks. Ideally, I'll be once a week for a while and work on building up a buffer so I can return to twice a week with superior pages later.

Also, good to see posts by some of you who will be at exp con! I'm really excited to meet you guys IRL. I've met a few readers when at places with Scott, but it feels slightly cooler if you're there just to see me (and of course all the other stuff at Exp Con xD ). I'll be at a guest table, so be sure not to look for me at artist alley. Apparently I'm near the entrance kind of, so hopefully you'll see me right away!
Oh, and if you didn't know, I got to design the mascots for Exp Con this year. I'll post those up Tuesday along with some of the prints I'll be making over the weekend :)

Hearts hearts love you guys. Crash time!
Posted September 28, 2010 at 01:23 am




EDIT: This post has been reformatted into a regular blog post so as not to clog the comic archive :<

Okay first things first:
I will be exhibiting at EXP Con in 2 weeks at St. Augustine California. I'll be selling various anime prints, some pokemon minis, and an all-new KB poster! Which is what you see there.
I wanted to finish it tonight but there's a test I should really be studying for.



WHICH BRINGS UP MY OTHER VERY IMPORTANT POINT:

For the 2 weeks before EC, KB will be on semi-hiatus. I'll be updating with some of the work I'm doing for class and the con, but no pages. This is partly because I really need some time to make prints; as much as KB means to me, sometimes one has to make a bit of money as it were. I also have some commissions I've been putting off like an arse that I need to get to.
I've also been feeling pretty bad lately about the quality of the pages, especially the shitted out BGs. I think I'm pushing myself too hard for almost nothing, especially since, to be perfectly honest, I've been very slowly losing readers sine around April. It hasn't been that long, but it's a reminder that as important as I make the whole must-update-twice-a-week thing in my own mind, I'm the only one who's going nuts about it. Hopefully a couple weeks will give me some time to work ahead and get my mindset back on track, and over all improve the quality of the comic. And finish some of this GD homework >:|

So that said, check out how weird KB's colors translate to CMYK. The greens are especially challenging. Someday this will be a hassle to deal with when I make books :< Pfff forget books in fact. WHATS WITH THAT ARCHAIC MEDIUM AMIRITE? Webcomics.

And if you happen to live near St. Augustine, please come out and say hi! Especially since they randomly gave me a panel (Which I'm getting switched to a kind of photoshop demonstration) that I'd like to have more than 2 people at, though I'm not holding out for any kind of crowd XD Someone's coming to the con dressed at The Raccoon, so you can gush at them with me!
Posted August 25, 2010 at 09:59 pm


If you're a fan of anime, or someone who follows me on twitter, or someone with a dA account, there's a good chance you've already heard about Satoshi Kon's death of pancreatic cancer. There's also a pretty good chance you have no idea who he is, which isn't a crime.

Satoshi Kon was an anime director. His movies include Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika. He also directed the TV show Paranoia Agent. He's the kind of person I would call brilliant and my father would call a presumable drug addict. His work dealt a lot with the human mind and how it shapes the world around us, and he did a lot of amazing experimentation with animation to portray this.

My favorite movie I've seen of his is Paprika, which is one of my all-time favorite films. If I were to describe the premise, it may sound startlingly similar to inception: Scientists have created devices that allow them to enter other peoples' dreams. Inception's release actually made me think a lot about Paprika lately, which made Kon's death hit extra hard. But the two are very different films, and Paprika really needs to be seen to be understood. Allow me to point you to the Opening Sequence as a taster.

I can't claim to be the most devoted Satoshi Kon fan. I've never seen Perfect Blue, and I just now obtained Tokyo Godfathers. But even so, his death felt surprisingly like a punch in the gut. It's one of those things that makes me look at my own work (a page of which I interrupted to write this blog post) and think "why the hell aren't you making something more intelligent and amazing than this?" The fact is that now isn't the time; I'm not at a skill level in my writing or art that I could make something like that even if I wanted to. But I've got time, and it's something I'll be working towards.

Paprika
Millenium Actress
Paprika
Paranoia Agent

I'm trying to keep this blog post pithy and avoid rambling, so I'll end it with this:
I'm not a religious person, so this isn't a "RIP Satoshi Kon" message. He's already executing on that objective, I'm sure.
I'd say this is more of a recommendation to watch some of his stuff, even if you aren't a fan of anime in general. He really did have a unique voice and style. It's possible that there will still be one more film of his, but there's no telling what state the movie's in until they make an announcement. One can hope.

SK is the first "celebrity" I've ever cried at the death of, but I don't think I cried out of pity for him as much as selfish frustration. He was only 47 years old. We all got short changed.
Posted August 6, 2010 at 01:22 am
So I've been working off and on to get the site back to a reasonable level of presentation. I'm done with most of the basic fixes now, but I'm interested to hear your guys thoughts on the site. Does the layout look reasonably professional? Does the lightened box around things look stupid? These questions are pressing! (Don't forget that it's probably best to check on an archive page, considering the layout fail the Mango pages cause) Any opinion or advice is appreciated. I'm no professional at this site design thing, that's for sure.



As you comment (if you so choose), you may notice that all the blank avatars have been suddenly replaced with random KB characters. I uploaded some basic options that you can choose from if you don't want to upload your own avatar.
Tell me if you have any trouble with it or if any display incorrectly. I should probably make a non-administrative account to test it, but I... I don't wanna?
If you have a particular panel you'd like to be your avatar, just tell me and I'll upload it to the set (assuming it isn't a drawing I regret). I'll probably go back and add some Mango ones now that I think about it.


In other general goings-on, I'm currently fixing up some of the earlier Mango pages to send in to Scholastic. I'll tell ya how that turns out. This weekend I'm leaving for a week trip to visit my sister and my mom, where I'll be meeting my sister's new dog.
That's Her---->
So. Goddamn. Cute. You know I will be spamming you with pictures at some point because PAPPY.

In tertiary news, I've recently gotten a bug up my butt to start a Rainbow Brite redraw project of sorts. If you remember RB for ultimate nostalgia action, just hit up my dA gallery for the first 2. Of course, there is much to be done, so I'll be trying not to spend ALL my time on such extravagances. *doodle Stormy doodle*

Posted May 27, 2010 at 12:58 am










As some of you may know, one of my plans for the summer is to create a 30-page sample comic to pitch to Scholastic. I met the man in charge of Scholastic's Graphix line (a relatively new line of comics that includes things like Bone and Amulet) at SCAD's Editor's day, and I was really encouraged to give it a shot.

So what does a girl like me make for a kid-friendly comic? Well a ridiculously cutesy fantasy adventure, of course! The tentative title is "Mango", which is the name of the main character. Some of you from dA know her history but try not to make any assumptions based on it. ;) Namely, she doesn't eat anything to change powers.

So what does this mean for you guys?

Well, I plan to post the pages up once per week as I start making then, in batches of what will hopefully be three to five each time. I don't plan to let this interfere with KB's update schedule, but if things get down to the wire I may have to miss a couple days. But I'm trying not to let that happen again, especially since I am missing my first update ever RIGHT NOW. *sigh*
I'm not sure what day of the week I'll post 'em on, but I'll be sure to announce when it begins. I've gotta plan them all out first! (Which is a first for me, haha.)

So keep an eye on the horizon, 'cause something's coming down the pipe! It's exciting, right? Much more exciting than a page of Steffi coming home and sitting on the couch. (OMG SPOILERS)

Meanwhile, here's a couple more unexplained images! The guy on the flying board won't show up in the pitch, but if the comics gets accepted he'll become the costar!



Penki

Posted March 28, 2010 at 02:02 am
This evening, one of the PAX enforcers insisted to me that he'd seen someone cosplaying as Steffi in her Blitz costume walking around the floor. Now I'm going nuts wondering whether this is true. Please, of you are this person, send me an email or tweet or telegram or SOMETHING so I can meet you and give you some original art. It's also possible that this is a ruse meant to confound me, or that someone had a costume similar to Blitz's (though I don't know what character that would be XD ). But I can't live not knowing! I'll probably be hanging out with Scott and Kris tomorrow as long as there's room for me, so stop by bandland if you are this person, or have seen them and taken photos. .... Hopefully I can successfully make this post with my iPhone. I also have no idea how to make a new paragraph like this so I better just end it here. PaAAAAAAAX!
Posted December 4, 2009 at 01:27 am
Sorry I didn't post this sooner! It turns out my wordpress gets all freaked out if I make another post on the same day as a comic post. But here's the wallpaper, in all of Ben's laid back unexciting glory!

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Posted October 27, 2009 at 03:55 pm
Here's that wallpaper with Steffi. I hope the included resolutions cover most people's desktop proportions. The example image is also PSP-size if you'd like it for your psp. I kept it simple to avoid cluttering yer desktop.

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If there's an interest for it, I'll make a Benzene wallpaper in a similar vein, especially since this wallpaper probably isn't great for most guys xD
Posted October 6, 2009 at 11:57 am
Every once in a while, something happens that makes me want to stand up and spin whilst giggling furiously. In this case I'm referring to Mr. Ramon Perez posting my fanart up at http://www.kukuburi.com with some really nice words! Not to mention the link, from which I welcome you if you're someone who clicked through! X3 And if you're one of my regular guys, be sure to check out Kukuburi if you've somehow never found it before! It's a beautiful comic.
I really feel like I should be stepping up my game now. Forgot what I said about the buffer. I'm moving KB to twice weekly! Check back Thursday for another update! I'll... be remaking that banner now XD
Gaah giddy giddy.
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