Mood:  vegas lucky

I finished on my anniversary. I mean, the cover for Alice in Wonderland. Are you curious about it? Go here:  http://spearcarrier.deviantart.com/art/Alice-in-Wonderland-129817419

Because the comic is the cause of this, I would like to announce that my husband and I had our first anniversary last Friday. It was a romantic evening in which he lay in the bed sick with a severe migraine and I worked on the cover for Alice and the script for Akashik Chapter 7. Very romantic.

So, how many here are afraid of Ren yet? I kind of feel bad for poor Fox, but the truth is with his temper I have to wonder if Ren isn't going to get it.

Oh yes, and let me remind folks that if I forget to put the military patches on the uniforms (as opposed to leaving them out on purpose, which sometimes does happen) the first person to post that on this blog gets that bi-mont's pin.

Speaking of which, I'm going to close the main poll at the end of this week I think. That will give me time to ink up the winner and get ready to put in pin orders and wotnot for folks who want them. So far Taus with Wings is definitely the winner.  Anybody who would like to see the Fly sitting on the Striptease ship as an option for the next poll say aiy here,  please.  :-) It was such a close runner up compared to the other one I figure it should be the one considered.

Posted by Death at 11:00 PM CDT

Updated: 20 July 2009 3:15 PM CDT

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Mood:  mischievious

Ah ha!  A new vote happened on the website today, putting Taus with Wings even farther in the lead!!! Sexy pins here we come.

Even if the pin you'd like to see made is in the lead, remember to vote.  I'm preparing to take it down and put up a new poll.  Oh, and don't forget that if you do want one I need a minimum of 25 donations to be able to cover the cost of having them made.  Still, 25 isn't that bad of a goal.  I hope.

Oh and for those of you who never asked, yes. Her outfit is a spoiler.   Because I couldn't resist.

The quest for website automation continues.  So far no luck, although I did manage to automate the date on the main page. -_- The program I have chosen to use is a little perl application... but my server is Tripod and I believe that's where it gets sticky. I'm not sure because I don't code in cgi, perl or anything except slight html.  So if there is anybody out there willing to earn a free pin (if I can get them done) for the exchange of helping me get this place automated I'd be grateful. 

So far I've put out "help meeeee" posts in 2 programmer forums, the community forum on Tripod, my livejournal, and sent 2 emails to the guys who made Autofox. I have gotten 2 responses back... and then silence. Which is understandable. People do have lives to lead.  It's just that I really want mine to involve some sunshine. :-p

The cover illustration for Alice in Wonderland sucked my time away today. Mind you I'm enjoying the job.  Mr. White called me regarding the matter and informed me that he would like for me to illustrate the entire book. And apparently there will be pay involved.  LOL... I didn't even consider I was getting paid for this. I've been looking for a paying gig this whole time and was working on one without knowing it.  It won't be a lot of pay but it's something for now while I keep looking.

 Dandelion Studios also contacted me recently.  I've been on hold to resume doing artwork for Exiles (a nifty story about a half-elf and her fey friend) for quite some time. Apparently I can expect a script next week.  But that one is still in the air as far as I am concerned, and it will remain that way until I actually have something to work with. Being on hold for an art job is a lot like being laid off.

 I do recommend people check Dandelion Studios out. They just finally revamped their website and it looks very nice. It's at www.dandelionstudios.com. One of their best items is Minions for Hire. But then again I've always enjoyed work from the antagonist's pov.

Oh! And something I forgot to mention earlier this week: I keep making mistakes in the artwork! Can you guess what that would be? Naah, no polls this time.  In short, I keep forgetting to put the stupid unit patches on the characters' uniforms. Darn it! 

In order to give me incentive NOT to forget (because those things tell you things like if someone is in Cerberus or a cop or a weenie head), I'd like to put out a new incentive.  For every page where I accidentally forget the patch (not counting pages where I meant to leave it off), the first person who posts here to tell me about it gets that month's pin for free.  No obligations except that I'd need your address or something.

Um... and I guess that's it for tonight. Wow I talk too much.

Posted by Death at 11:00 PM CDT

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Mood:  flirty

I've been trying off and on for a long while now to automate the website so that I can do things like take my pain pills when I need to or, in the case of this week, perhaps see my husband for our first anniversary.  So far no luck, which is mostly founded in the fact that I know jack about coding and can't seem to grok it when the tutorials are handed to me. 

Keenspace has a utlity for it but they won't let you use it on a commerical site without permission. I contacted them and got silence.

I finally fell across this little utility called Autofox. It's simple, the tutorials are step-by-step, and I have spent the past several hours putting things together only to realize that I'm missing a very important component: linux.  I can't make the autofox do what autofoxes do.  I'm stumped. I can't tell it to run because I don't know how, but I am given to understand it has something to do with an old crone. So it just sits there scratching its fleas and looking at me with its little fox eyes.

Damn it all.

Next week we'll be having an extra update!  I wanted to do it this week but it's not possible.  I did try, though. I promise. *whine of self-pity*  

I also managed to get the two books I have out up on Kindle through Amazon.com.  If you're feeling particularly supportive (but are as broke as I am), swing over there and give me a star or a review.  Visibility is the key, and the key to visibility is being seen!

12 votes for the pin so far. Well! I thought for a minute there that Taus with Wings was going to win, but to my surprise Fly on the Striptease started to catch up.  Taus is still winning, though. But then again, does she EVER lose?

Oh yes. And as you can see I returned from my child-capturing expedition safe and sound. I now have 3 loud teenagers tearing the house apart. I think I shall put them to work. Right now. Bwah ha ha ha ha

Posted by Death at 11:00 PM CDT

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Mood:  lazy

Hi guys. I am posting this before I leave for FL, so will have to remain ambiguous lest I tamper with the flow of time and space.

As you can see I went ahead and put the filler art for today up right before I left. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it on the road!!  Oooh... my kingdom for a css server...

As I am leaving I notice that the votes have jumped from 4 votes to 6 on the pin poll. Woot! Keep 'em coming. I wonder how many I will come to when I get back.

Oh and no there won't be a HB this week. I could draw it on the road I suppose, but unlike with Akashik I use photo reference material for it.  I doubt I'd be able to get to a good spot with the right materials. It's disappointing but true.

Yesterday was my day off, so what did I do with it? Despite a back ache, I spent it getting my old novel, Black Wolf Silver Fox, finished and up on Lulu.  It's got a wrap around cover I did by myself and everything.

Then, I realized, I had some short stories that had a track record of publication and award winning. And, lo! I had an hour. So I spent the next 4 putting together a little booklet my husband named "It's Not Romantic to Wash the Dishes" for sale on Lulu too. LOL!

And then I had to take back meds because I'd overworked myself and slept today away.  I should be ashamed of myself.

Right now, though, the thing I'm looking forward the most to besides the next page of Akashik is working more on Dusty's book cover. I can't really talk more about it than enough to tantalize you... but if people are interested I'm sure the cover will be able to be seen in nice detail when the book is released.  

And now I pack myself up and shall return with three teenagers in tow. This promises to be an .. uh.. eventful summer.

Posted by Death at 11:00 PM CDT

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Mood:  hungry

Well, happy 4th of July! I'm tempted to put up a picture of Taus' version of fireworks, but naaaah.

Wow So the job hunt continues while at the same time I lose yet another "job" on my list of things to do.  This one is the Ellen Million Fantasy Gift shop, to which I have been a contributing artist for many years.  Of course I've only made like $1.50 in sales during this entire time because no one likes my stuff, but that's not the point. LOL  

Come to think of it, nobody liked Hitler's stuff either. So maybe people had better wisen up and make me rich before something terrible happens. ;-)

So ahhh... yess... a new Heavenly Bride.  It's not a terribly exciting page, but I do put in a little hint there regarding the use of color.  Tell me if you figure it out (if I haven't told you).

I'm actually very surprised that we don't have that many votes in regard to the lapel pin idea.  O_O Only 4? Hey, guys? Where are you out there?  Uuum.. uh... *not sure what to think here*

The website and this blog have been wonky for a few days now. I don't always get my email and you can't always post. I've complained to my server multiple times with no success. Please hang in there. I'm trying to catch someone's attention.  It's probabl due to some internal changes and upgrades they have been making.

Well, one final reminder before I take off to find my son wherever he may be hiding: please don't forget to vote. We've been holding in the 200's, and that's better than we used to do.  Please keep up the voting and don't forget to get your friends hooked on us as well. And remind them to get their friends hooked. And more and then more. Because we all must unite for the ethical treatment of zombies.

 No, wait. That's not right...

Posted by Death at 11:00 PM CDT

Updated: 2 July 2009 6:04 PM CDT

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Mood:  quizzical

So, someone here mentioned that today was their country's birthday. Might that be... Canada? If so, happy birthday all you Canadians. I won't blame you for anything today, and I will try to encourage everyone I know to refrain from doing so as well.  =^-^=

So we have this new poll for the cloisonne pins. I put in two Fly ideas (which is what I was going to do from the getgo) and then a third because Taus with Wings was so popular during the vote up. 

Wouldn't you know it, but I had 9 votes already on it before I even got to embed it to the website. The poll forum where I got the widget liked it so much they put it on their front page! LOL!  Okay, so... uh... yeaaaah.  I'm having to keep a special tally sheet on my desk so I can tell who votes from there and who votes from here.  This is going to be fun.

Now what I plan to do is recycle art for future polls.  (Yes, I plan to make this a tradition here. I think it's a nice twist from the norm.)  So let's say you like option #2 and #3... but option 3 is the winner. I will probably put option #2 up for voting grabs on the next poll, depending on what happens.  If not, it will be on a much later poll.

What I would like to see is a large collection of them for an art book! That would be keen.

Next week will have to be a either no updates at all or a filler page week for Akashik because I have to go to FL to pick up my son for the summer. (We'll be one hour from Disney Land and can't afford to go. Wah!!!  LOL)  I haven't seen him since last summer, the scamp, and he has all these mods he wants to show me. It should be interesting.  =^-^= 

I say one or the other because chances are slim that I will be able to get to where I CAN update, much less draw anything. I tried to get ahead (again) this week but things just weren't cooperative.

So if I am called to schedule extra updates, I will shoot for the week after I make it back (hopefully alive).   I haven't found a "real" job yet and am still considered freelance... although a small gaming company did inquire, but because I didn't have any sample pictures of gnomes handy they went away. *pout* I can't help it!! No one ASKS me to do gnomes, only pretty girls!

So  now I need to expand my portfolio into a more wrinkly direction.

Speaking of which, I recently accepted a teency commission doing a book cover for Dusty White. The last professional (not by me) piece I did for him was How to Get Any Man to Do Anything You Want (And Buy you Stuff). That was a lot of fun. So is the book. 

This time I'm doing the cover for his re-release of Alice in Wonderland, which is just in time considering what Tim Burton is up to.  He had been planning this since before Burton put out the press release, so all we can say is, "Aaaah, such perfect timing.

Tally ho?

Posted by Death at 11:00 PM CDT

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Mood:  not sure

The page hates me.

Anyway, here you have it: two pages in one day. It's an odd miracle that should be recorded in the records of time. "Records" because I'm not sure how to spell the other word, and I was pretty sure "anals" wasn't it.

It looks like on the 1st of July I'll be posting a new poll which will be a contest between Taus with Wings and Fly being Schmexy.  Who'd have thunk it would be such a close contest between the same person? If she gets into a cat fight, will she tear out her own hair or poke out only one of her eyes?

Of course there's still time to vote.

Oh yeah, and for those of you here to read the latest page of Heavenly Bride I put up a poll there, too... but that one is only for fun.

Incidentally, there are ten Cerberus pups. If only I would remember that while drawing the bleeding pages.

I hope you guys enjoy Akashik's extra page. And as always, I welcome input. Please don't be afraid to reply here.  :-)

Skritches make the artist stop working... droool....

Posted by Death at 11:00 PM CDT

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Mood:  quizzical

Okay, so the situation with Taus deepens a little. Is she unstable? Mwahahaha... you decide.

Right now the pin idea of a sexy Fly is in the lead on the poll, but to my surprise yesterday "Ganji with a tool" started to catch up.  The votes appear to have filtered to a slow halt, so it looks like Fly might still win.

I'm thinking at the beginning of next month I'm going to change the poll to two versions of this poll's winning idea and let people vote on that.

At any rate, I need a minimum of 25 pin donations before I can order any. The company has a minimum order rule.  :sweatdrop:

Did I mention I booked a table at Tsubasacon?  And then to my surprise the artist to one of my favorite mangas, Red String, is also going to be there. So okay now I'm a nervous wreck! LOL

In other news, Conquest is plotting a return to one of her own comic ideas. It's a great idea, but no promises on how long it will be until she begins on it.  

And I've been revisiting my prose side. My novel, Black Wolf Silver Fox, has been under a slight revision by my captive, the Husband.  I'm taking it down from it's current publisher and putting it up through Lulu as well. I wanted to put the original map of the world I had drawn for it at the time, but I think that's lost forever. Oh well.  I hope to have that out soon.

And there's another story I did called Strings Below I'm thinking of putting out. I never could find a magazine or publisher for it because it never fit in anywhere. And I'm serious: the editors kept telling it that it was too unusual. So... uh... okay. I'll just put it out by myself and see what happens.

And that's it as far as being creative goes.  I haven't found anywhere new to put my resume in at, but then again it was a very busy day today.  I hope tomorrow will be good, even if I am dedicated to working on the next Heavenly Bride page.... 

Posted by Death at 11:00 PM CDT

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Mood:  accident prone

Okay, this has bothered me all night so I'm going to talk a little bit here even though I don't prefer to post until update night for whatever comic is in question then. I might get a little too personal here, and I'm certainly going to cross a few business-chat taboos.  But I feel that this it the right thing to do.

I'm a big person for taking responsibility for one's actions.  So the first thing I have to say is that the drama on the last post wasn't completely my fault, but I did play a hand in it.  The long of the short of it is that there are these two people whome I regret befriending that ever so many cycles rise up and try to make my life a living hell. So I guess you can say that Death has an arch-enemy or two.  (Which means I'm more famous than I let on.)

Their names aren't Life. I'd call them Cuckoo and Jackass. And right now Cuckoo has stopped taking his meds (he openly admitted) and has turned his guns on my life for the 3rd time in 5 years.  He has hunted down my social activity and raised hell; my spiritual activity, and we've been suspecting that he's the one that was stuffing the ballot box.

When I read Iceberg's comment, I had just been told of something else Cuckoo had done against me and was a little overly sensitive at the time. There's no excuse for this, but I will tell you that having this problem in your life for at least 10 years can make you a little paranoid. The law won't help in most cases like this, and moving from Florida to Illinois and trying to start a new life for myself also has not seemed to help.

In that over sensitive (and stupid) moment I went to my husband, who is home on leave, with the issues.  I couldn't respond nicely and well to Iceberg's question, so I asked him to do so. He was only trying to defend me while explaining the tax thing, and on retrospect I should have told him "be nice" instead of reveling in the feeling of safety his actions gave to me.  So I take full blame and responsibility for this.

Everyone has my deepest and most humble apology at my stupidity. One should never assume anything, especially in social affairs, and I am a total jackass.

So to explain a little further on tax matters: I've been freelance off and on since I was 18 years old.  I even have a registered 59 number with the IRS... and I'd use it if I could remember what it was.  I take "regular jobs" on occasion because freelance rarely pays the bills completely, but yes the government hates me because I report losses every year and survive by the skin of my teeth.  The important part here, though, is that I do report my earnings or lack thereof.

I don't own a business, although the state of Illinois has decided I do and sent me paperwork on the matter. "Writers of the Apocalypse" is merely a team name. I pay Conquest and War straight for their work as if they were freelance artists as well, and we have signed contracts on that to make the government happy.

When Akashik started two years ago, I *was* flat broke and it was my roommate that was supporting me while I hunted desperately for a job. I didn't "quit a dayjob for this" as per apparent myth. I had to quit my day job because I was the next person up for fire in a string of high turnover tactics that some of you I am sure have seen many times.  There were no jobs to be found as a replacement either, our rent was close to 1000 a month, I was desperate, and so I went back to the thing I know best: comics.

I met my husband on web forum because of this comic, and hey. Now I'm married. So this is the part where I explain that I'm not flat broke and this comic is still going on because of him.  There have been many times that it looked like Akashik was going to go down, and he always came to the rescue like a knight in shining armor. He has given me all the support and love anyone could ever ask for, and the current situation where I've backed off to get an income and help pay the bills is not what he wants.

BUT... Akashik has carried on because of... his hazard pay. My husband was in Iraq when we met, and he has been in Iraq for most of our marriage. Next month is our first anniversay and we might get to see each other for it; we're not sure.  He's home from Iraq now and has transfered from Schoefield in Hawaii to Fort Campbell in Ky (2 hours from our house), and this is FABULOUS but... it also means his pay is being cut in half. Currently he's home on leave while making the change, which means our pay is going to change in just 2 weeks. 

That's a pretty tight schedule for me to get my ducks in a row.  =^-^=; 

What I have decided in order to avoid future drama like yesterday's because I... really didn't like that... is to institute a new rule.  If someone posts something that I feel is going to cause major drama, I reserve the right to delete it without a word.  It won't be anything personal, and it doesn't necessarily have to be nasty. In fact, a nasty comment may not even get deleted. That's not the point.  I very much want to see people's responses and I very much want to encourage people to continue replying to the blog posts.  I also want people here to have good experiences and not negative ones. That's why Akashik is a comedy.

By the way, there was a donation yesterday that equals extra page this week, by the way. I'll be working on that today before I go back to finding gaming companies to send my resume to.  =^-^= Woot.  Wish me luck.

Posted by Death at 9:13 AM CDT

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Mood:  hug me

Well it wasn't two days late as I had expected. It's only a few hours late, and that's not bad compared... so now there you have it: this week's Heavenly Bride page.

Um... okay. I realize that I've been pushing you guys to give me a little bit of input lately. Maybe I should explain some things most of you probably already know but simply haven't put in conjunction over here.

 I had to put Akashik down to one day a week and back off on drawing Heavenly Bride because, put simply, I need to eat.  These comics are put up for free for you, and although I do have donation buttons and wotnot I'm not overly comfortable with begging and stuff. I put this team together for the mission of putting out a story. Making a living at it would be nice, but it's a rare webcomic that finds an audience willing to help you do that.

So that leaves me with the other honorable solution: find a job.  BUT... I have fatigue problems and can't do both very well. I can't draw comics and keep a job at the same time.  I've tried to find commissions and work freelance, but so far in the past few months I've had one commission (which can be found at my Deviantart site, username Sparcarrier).

So I had to back off of these two in favor of not going homeless.  Or even losing these two. It costs money to pay for this website, to buy the special paper and markers I use, to pay for the electricity to run the computer, and yes even for the nifty books and things I put out on occasion. I owe War and  Conquest money for helping - yes we're not a business here but I did hire them out on contract.  Nothing here is free for me, only for you.

And this week's Heavenly Bride page was late because 1. my computer is a little squeaker that needs upgrades I can't afford right now. This slows me down. 2. My little squeaker (whose name is Charlie, btw) also needs to befragged and have large chunks of things I have on him burned onto disk or something, and 3. I chose to work on my resume to send out to several gaming companies instead of drawing Heavenly Bride on the basis of the cardinal rule: I need to eat.

I'm sorry this delayed the story for you guys. For those of you who were angry and let me know it, uhh.. no really. I'm sorry. I want to tell the story and finish it. I really do, but real life is a meanie head.

So please be a little patient with me when I'm late with a page or ask you guys for input.  It's very helpful to know that people are at least reading these stories, otherwise I've no reason to keep this website going at all.

Speaking of input, did you guys know you can respond to this blog? Just hit "post comment". I'm not sure how well it works, but someone told me today that this website didn't have any comments options and that sucked. My response is, "uuuh.. yes it does."  :-)

Posted by Death at 4:06 PM CDT

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