Kiwi Blitz

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!

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 11×17, with white borders unlike the KB posters which I’m actually printing at 12×18 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.

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!

Drawing blog is back! Though a bit late, because I managed to turn a 6pm nap into a 6PM-9AM bedtime. Ahahaaaa sleep deprivation.

(Click for larger versions)

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 11×17 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.

Okay this is a bit weird, but stick with me!

A good while ago, I was trying to think of things to do for possible donation incentives. I started a kind of commentary version of Track 5, akin to the commentary track on a DVD. The idea was that, if people were interested, I could release a commentary version after the completion of each track for a dollar. Thing is, I kinda gave up on the idea and never finished it until just now. But the latest episode of the Webcomics Weekly podcast got me thinking about stuff like this, so I went ahead and finished it up and zipped it for anyone interested to check it out. It’s not much, but please tell me if it seemed like a worthwhile read and I may do these more often! XD

Just click on the image to get to the sendspace page, or click here to download.