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  Back to being hard core!May 30, 2010 1:24 AM PDT | url
 
I got tired of the distracting ads around my comics, so I've removed them--the ads, not the comics. Yep you can read A* and my other comics without little colored boxes getting in the way anymore...or at least until I need that dollar or two a day for lunch money again. :P
 
 
 
 
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  And how does he keep his hair so neatMay 29, 2010 3:43 AM PDT | url
 
Added 2 new A* pages:Now I gotta go get those fancy banners I made this week into circulation, so Fizer's revenge will have to wait until next week! Have a nice weekend, and don't forget to stop by for a new Princess and the Giant on Sunday if you're stuck with nothing better to do. :D
 
 
 
 
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  Fwooshings and KablooshingsMay 28, 2010 5:11 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:Ah, missiles and explosions, where would modern entertainment be without you?
 
I added yet another banner to the icons page:
 
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  Kaboom, and darn them dotsMay 27, 2010 5:51 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:Yay! It isn't a real episode until something explodes.
 
Those funky Core Sys fighter screens with the dots and the curves are starting to get on my nerves; when I came up with them during a dot/curve phase around the start of episode 8, I wasn't really thinking ahead too much to just what a pain it is to draw stuff on curved screens, or how much those halftone patterns distract from the rest of the image. I shake my fist at you, halftones! But I do believe we won't be seeing those screens again after this episode, phew!
 
 
 
 
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  Spankin' new ep. 9 banners and suchMay 26, 2010 6:15 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:I made some new banners today out of recent art because eh I think it looks better than most of the older art that most of my older banners used! These are on the icons page along with lots of other tiny little pictures cut from bigger pictures.
 
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  Black holes & princesses & haircuts, oh my!May 25, 2010 8:13 AM PDT | url
 
Added 5 new A* pages:Hey, it's the very first (okay I guess this is a minor *SPOILER* if you haven't read today's page 63 yet) black hole to appear in Supermassive Black Hole A*! Took me a while to approximate the gravitational lensing effect I wanted on it; in the end it was just a careful application (actually 4) of Photoshop's good ol' "Spherize" filter.
 
And actually Vero's using some poetic license there, because black holes aren't entire "black": in theory they emit tiny, tiny amounts of radiation called Hawking radiation, after Stephen Hawking who figured that if a "virtual" particle/anti-particle pair pops into existence--as they are doing constantly throughout the universe via quantum tunneling or something I don't much understand--right on the edge of a black hole's event horizon, then instead of annihilating each other instantly as they usually do, one could get sucked into the hole while the other drifts away, and it's those that escape that might form this radiation.
 
While I'm on the topic, I may as well mention that to me the most interesting part of Hawking's recent Into the Universe "documentary," which was otherwise mostly surprisingly awful, was a bit where he mentioned that smaller black holes should emit more of that radiation than large ones, to the point that really, really tiny quantum-sized black holes might be white rather than black, due to all the Hawking radiation they would emit. Huh! (Actually that puzzled me at the time, since emission will be increased with surface area of the hole's Schwarzchild radius, which means bigger holes should emit more...so now that I re-read the Wikipedia article to confirm that, I think it was something of a misstatement, as were many things in the show, and what he meant was that smaller holes could be larger *net* emitters, because larger holes will be absorbing more in cosmic background radiation energy than they emit as Hawking radiation.)
 
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This weekend was the first anniversary of my weekly fairy tale comic, The Princess and the Giant, and I sorta celebrated with a special gray-scale edition that actually turned out surprisingly Disneyesque, if Disney had ever produced a b&w cel-shaded movie--which I don't think they did? Anyway, you can check it out by clicking this handy-dandy icon:
 
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And it ended up being a coincidence that a planned right-looking profile image of Selenis was due today (A* episode 9, page 65), and it kind of fit with the Princess profile (and I learned some stuff drawing that Princess profile that helped with the Selenis one), so I couldn't resist doing a mash-up versions, with my sci-fi and fantasy universes colliding! :o
 
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Maybe we can call this one "The Princess and the Bounty Hunter" (which reminds me that I still haven't seen Disney's recent "Princess and the Frog"--P&tBH sounds like it would be a cooler movie, though :p). It resides in the episode 9 gallery should you ever wish to track it down at a later date, or order a print of it :p, etc.
 
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Oh yeah, and you may notice that Selenis' hair just got longer since they showed up in "the black system." Can anyone guess why that is (and why it hadn't gotten much longer between, say, the last time we saw her near Lode, and when she found Vero just a little while ago off Tempus)? (And no it isn't because the black hole is pulling it out of her scalp faster. :P)
 
 
 
 
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  Art and other holes in timeMay 22, 2010 7:29 AM PDT | url
 
Added 2 new A* pages:Aaand the very next comic, which will be here Monday, will reveal just what it is he thinks he's found, but if you remember his convo with Niels from the previous episode, maybe you can figure it out ahead of time!
 
A* art prints going on public display ate into my comic production time early in the week and somehow created a hole from which it didn't recover, but the forecast calls for fewer distractions next week, so A* comic output should get back to par. And I was so distracted by all the A*-related excitement in my life at the beginning of the week that I neglected to pimp last weekend's update to my comic The Princess and the Giant, which will again be receiving its usual weekly update this Sunday. Here's the banner link to last week's installment to catch you up on what the Princess is up to:
 
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  Fiddly art!May 21, 2010 6:15 AM PDT | url
 
Added 2 new A* pages:Boy, you don't wanna know how many permutations of shading I tried on page 58 there. I seem to have gotten awfully fiddly with the art this week, and it's slowing me down even after the activities earlier in the week that kept me from getting much drawing in, but I *think* that at least the pages I have finished this week have come out looking fairly decent, for the most part.
 
The icons I use for A* on other sites were still using episode 8 art (Niels), so I made some updated episode 9 ones:
 
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  Danglin' fingersMay 20, 2010 5:17 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:Shouldn't dangle fingers over buttons like that, could be dangerous!
 
 
 
 
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  A* prints at Local ColorMay 19, 2010 3:15 AM PDT | url
 
Added 2 new A* pages:Oh there goes Vero speaking in Morse code again. =p
 
Today my dad and I took artwork from my comics--matted A* prints and One off and -word- greeting cards--to a coffee house in downtown Seattle, where they should be on sale starting tomorrow. The coffee shop is Local Color, and it's in a pretty sweet location, right on Pike Place, across the street from the main and somewhat famous Pike Place Market; if you've been to the Market you probably walked right past it. It's a couple blocks north of that piroshky joint everyone likes (line out the door, even on a blustery day like today), for instance; in fact I even found a photo, facing south, with Local Color's street sign in it on the piroshky place's site (the piroshky place is a block or two further south from the photo location). Ooh and say also right on that street is the very first Starbucks shop, which I hadn't realized was there, but apparently it has been, at least since 1976 (it started at a different location in '71)--today it was packed with tourists taking pictures from every angle. Weird.
 
Hey I'm digressing! So if you happen to wander into Local Color, be nice and buy a cookie or coffee or something, then keep wandering, past the cash register, toward the back, and on the left you'll find some racks with art prints in them, and if you hunt around in there you should find some A* ones. Woo! They're pretty much identical to what you'd get if you used the "buy as signed print" link next to any A* art on this site, except that the ones at Local Color are a) all fancy matted and ready for framing, b) slightly more expensive (probably well worth it for the matting though), and c) not signed (only the ones you order off the web site are signed :D).
 
So that was fun. This is all thanks to my dad, who's decided to spend his retirement taking my comic artwork around to coffee houses, apparently. :) And also apparently at this very moment you can also find One Off and -word- cards of mine in Seattle University's book store, and eh under glass table tops in some small U-District coffee house whose name seems to have evaded all the emails my dad has sent me about it...hm so keep your eyes open for those and let me know if you find them. :D
 
 
 
 
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  Gauntlet, mattingMay 18, 2010 3:47 AM PDT | url
 
Added 2 new A* pages:I stuck a somewhat larger version of Vero's gauntlet from that last one into the gallery; you can get to it by clicking this just slightly larger version:
 
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Part of why I only got a couple comics done today was 'cause I was helping my dad mat some A* prints, which we're gonna take to a local shop tomorrow, where they're going to have them for sale. Dad's really gung-ho on this, and he even put my mom to work on fixing the prints into the mats, so for a while there it was a real family assembly line. :o Anyway that's going to take some of my time tomorrow, so it'll probably be another short comic day, but I'll at least let you know where in Seattle you'll be able to go to get some nice matted A* prints, and even greeting cards.
 
 
 
 
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  The day of 100 SketchiesMay 15, 2010 4:46 AM PDT | url
 
Added 2 new A* pages:Ooh one of these relatively unproductive Fridays! Booo. Hm also I'll have to be out most of Monday, so while I think I will sneak in a page or two, it'll be early or--more likely--quite late.
 
But hey if you need something else to do, why not check out my silly weekdaily adventure comic, Sketchy, which just went over 100 comics. Yes! You are attracted to biggish numbers. Yes!
 
 
 
 
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  Be there ice pirates? Arr!May 14, 2010 3:11 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:*Manfully resists urge to make crude "Hopefully it wasn't Space Herpes" joke*
 
*Because that would be tacky.*
 
 
 
 
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  Have at youMay 13, 2010 1:50 AM PDT | url
 
Added 4 new A* pages:Attack of the socially awkward perspective! :o
 
Figured I'd put Selenis' lines in gray to help distinguish them in dialogue with Vero, like I did with Niels' last episode.
 
 
 
 
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  Frank FrazettaMay 12, 2010 1:14 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:Frank Frazetta passed away a couple days ago. His art is a real inspiration to me, and if you don't know what it is then do some clicking and find out!
 
 
 
 
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  Head trips and bannersMay 11, 2010 12:08 AM PDT | url
 
Added 4 new A* pages:Whee! This head trip stuff is more fun to draw than Mar talking in a box, whew.
 
In addition to doing a new page for my fairy tale comic, The Princess and the Giant, over the weekend, I also finally got around to making some updated--or at least more updated--A* banners:
 
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These are kept on the the icons page along with a few older banners and lots of icons and stuff.
 
 
 
 
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  The weekend trail-off!May 08, 2010 3:06 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:Oops! Just one more page to go on this lengthy talking start to the episode, buuut if you've been paying attention you can probably guess what the end of Mar's line here is going to be. ;)
 
So anyway once that's done all the pieces--hm except one but you'll see that one soon--will have been set in motion for the final few acts of Vero's story, which will reach its senses-shattering conclusion in A* episode 10!
 
 
 
 
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  Nose, hair questionsMay 07, 2010 2:37 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:Ever wonder if Mar has trouble seeing around his nose?
 
Added another piece to the episode 9 gallery:
 
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'T'will be kept in the gallery, here. Just a super-quick sketch I did late last night along with a bunch of awfuller ones, trying to get some spontaneity back; it's easy to get bogged down on some of these drawings, and when I slow down with lasso drawing, sometimes it just starts to get icky. I was even thinking maybe I should go with brush drawing like all these super smooth other comics I see these days, but then I tried some brush drawing and realized I'm pretty hopeless at duplicating the A* look with it--too impatient. ;)
 
Also I'm still trying to figure out what length Selenis' Lode crew-cut should have grown out to by now.
 
 
 
 
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  Core Sys Motivational SeminarMay 06, 2010 3:20 AM PDT | url
 
Added 4 new A* pages:Since Mar's the best boss in the Galactic Center I couldn't resist making a motivational poster out of his charismatic speech on page 25:
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For future reference, you can find it in the episode 9 gallery, which is linked from the episode list page (just sayin', 'cause it's been a while; this is the first gallery piece since going to the larger format at the start of episode 8; in fact, I had to upgrade the gallery script to be able to skip past episodes without gallery entries :P).
 
 
 
 
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  Gray, gray, gray, gray, and...grayMay 05, 2010 3:52 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:For some reason I keep putting Fizer in a lot of gray; I ended up bringing five gray layers in for that last one there, as opposed to the two or three I've been using. Hm... This could all end up taking a lot of time. I do like being able to get little skin highlights like that, though.
 
 
 
 
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  I drew stuff all weekend! :oMay 04, 2010 5:06 AM PDT | url
 
Added 4 new A* pages:For some reason I ended up drawing pretty much all weekend. :o
 
First, I got some silly joke ideas that provided sufficient inspiration to update my gag comic, One Off (I added two but I wouldn't go to the previous one, it's even worse ;)).
 
Then my weekly fairy tale The Princess and the Giant got its weekly update, which you can check out via this handy dandy teaser:
 
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And then a goofy Matrix conspiracy theory was stuck in my head, leading inevitably to this:
 
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The full explanation is on its deviantART page. I'm also sticking it over in the "lasso drawing" A* forum thread for safekeeping.
 
And then it occurred to me that if you scramble the letters in the A* domain name, smbhax, you can get, uh, "masbhx," which is *so* close to "Matrix" that it's just eeeeerie! And then I realized I should get some sleep. =p
 
 
 
 
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  Chess board? Ironing board? Wooden board?May 01, 2010 5:38 AM PDT | url
 
Added 3 new A* pages:Darn those stuffed shirts on the board! Ooooooh they just burn me up.
 
I may be up super late/early working on another comic of mine since some form of inspiration appears to have struck, but if I am I'll tell you about it on Monday! Or you could just keep an eye on my other comics, if you want to cheat. :P Then again I might just send inspiration to the Devil and go to sleep instead. But speaking of Monday, this Mar/Proctor convo should be wrapping up about then.
 
 
 
 
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