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  O lovely apostropheOct 31, 2017 8:45 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:That's it for me! G'night! : )
 
 
 
 
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  Maybe just dip a toe inOct 30, 2017 9:47 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Trying to work out how to do "wetter" watercolor painting. : P Hopefully things will get a little messy but I keep getting too scared so maybe they won't. : o
 
 
 
 
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  Smiling helps you live longer ya knowOct 28, 2017 5:24 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Here's a sketch I got to send to a reader for supporting the comic through the A* Patreon campaign : ) :
 
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You can help me keep A* going with as little as a $1 a month automatically through Patreon! Thanks to everyone who's helping me out, it means a lot!
 
 
 
 
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  Drawing is a risky businessOct 26, 2017 9:53 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:So if say you're looking for some pose references and you search for "sliding in socks" on YouTube, you end up with Tom Cruise dancing in his underpants.
 
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It was useful.
 
 
 
 
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  A* art sale & that might also be pizzaOct 25, 2017 10:41 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Wednesday special A* original art archive auction! : ) This is where I pick one of my remaining pieces of A* original art that I think is particularly nifty and run it in a week-long auction at a special low starting price. This week it's the turn of the 16" x 6.75" original watercolor illustration I made for A* episode 31, page 71, where Selenis and her adopted band of rebels are discussing their next move in the office of a captured base. The rendering of Selenis' face, and the watery shading and atmosphere I managed in this one, were rather exceptional by my standards. :") For the next week the painting is on sale, starting at well below its regular $50 price, right here on eBay.
 
High resolution images of the artwork are available there in the auction listing, but here are tiny ones to give you a peek:
 
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Thanks for checking out my artwork! ^_^ (The original watercolor paintings behind the latest week's worth of new A* pages are also on sale—you'll find it all listed under my eBay profile.)
 
 
 
 
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  For totally honest purposes, honest!Oct 24, 2017 10:18 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Let's go back to those 1950s comic stories where guys were always inventing time machines in their basement out of sawdust and old wires. ^_^
 
 
 
 
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  Erase erase erase erase eraseOct 23, 2017 10:34 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:I've noticed that sometimes if I draw and erase and draw and erase over and over until my brain goes numb, my blobby, rounded, cartoony drawing instincts get worn away and out comes this sleek, spare, angular, more realistic style. (Last time before this was page 41.) I wish I could do that all the time! It sure takes a while to get to. : P
 
 
 
 
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  Brow furrowsOct 21, 2017 6:33 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Here's an ink sketch I got to send to a reader for supporting the comic through my Patreon campaign : ) :
 
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Thanks to everyone who's helping me out through Patreon! You are making A* possible! : D
 
 
 
 
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  Boy Thursdays are getting real lazy =POct 19, 2017 9:52 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:No major new gravitational wave space discoveries made mainstream headlines today, whew! : o
 
 
 
 
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  Watercolor's like riding a quadrotor--A* art!Oct 18, 2017 10:38 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Wednesday original A* art archive sale! : D This is where I pick an unsold piece of original art from a past A* page that I think is particularly nifty, and offer it to you in a week-long auction at a starting bid price far below the $50 for which I sell pages directly through my own site. So, this week I'm featuring the 16"x6.75" watercolor illustration I made for episode 31, page 38, in which we see our heroine on a small quadrotor aircraft, having threaded a gap in a huge tower in an attempt to elude a similar pursuing craft—and for the next week, it's on sale right here on eBay!
 
Tiny preview images of the large ones you'll find in the auction listing:
 
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In this one I was particularly happy with how the free play of light blues and darker purples came together to make up the figure of Selenis and the body of the quadrotor. I don't always manage that sort of detail this coherently! : o : D Thanks for checking it out! And you can find my other sales of original A* watercolor page art—always including the latest week's worth of new pages!—under my eBay profile. : )
 
 
 
 
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  More from kilonova light & gravity readingOct 17, 2017 11:04 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:More discoveries resulting from the first-ever observation of a collision between two neutron stars in both gravitational waves and light, reported by NASA and discussed in this blog yesterday:
 
- A new BBC article mentions that such dual observations give us another way to measure the expansion rate of the universe, since the shape and intensity of the signal tell you the distance to the event, and its speed relative to Earth can be determined by the redshift of the light emitted (I think that's what they mean by "analysing the light associated with the event", anyway). The universe's rate of expansion, symbolized by the Hubble Constant, in theory determines the ultimate fate of the universe, confirms or throws into question the Big Bang theory of the universe's creation, and is vastly important to fundamental theories of physics; it's precise value has been the subject of some debate for years, so having another way to measure it should ultimately help solve some of those big questions.
 
As the article describes, one widespread way to calculate the Hubble Constant has relied on stringing together estimated distance measurements to certain classes of stars, but the multiple measurements and assumptions required for those calculations can lead to problems in accuracy; the measurement made by combining gravity and light wave readings from a neutron star collision, on the other hand, can be done pretty much in one go, and thus, in theory, may prove more reliable.
 
- Reader +Roy Adams tells me that, upon informing +Katrina Adams of yesterdays big space news, including the BBC's sound wave version of the gravitational waves generated by the neutron star collision, which converted into a surprisingly cool science-fiction type effect, she aptly responded with The Pointer Sisters' "Neutron Dance." : D
 
 
 
 
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  Gravity waves & light detected from kilonovaOct 16, 2017 10:19 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Big day in astrophysics today as NASA announced the first-ever detection of gravitational waves emitted from colliding neutron stars, and, importantly, the first detection of light from a gravitational-wave-generating event; that's a big deal because the relationship between gravity and electromagnetism remains I guess the most fundamental knot in our theories of physics, so being able to measure both from a single, cataclysmic event (a collision between ultra-dense massive bodies like this is called a kilonova, because it can release up to 1000 times as much energy as a stellar nova) could potentially lead to a much better understanding of how our universe works.
 
It's already confirmed several theories: that such events generate short gamma rays bursts—which have been spotted in mysterious, distant flares in the sky from time to time—and that kilonovae can produce heavy elements such as gold and platinum that cannot be created through standard stellar fusion, which is only able to produce elements up to the weight of iron.
 
And for extra fun, the BBC article on the report has the waveform of the subatomic ripples of spacetime—the gravitational waves, that is—converted to the scale of audible sound waves, and wouldn't you know it, they make a perfect science fiction sound. : D
 
 
 
 
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  They Might Be GogglesOct 14, 2017 6:14 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Readers are helping me keep A* going by pitching in a buck or three each month through my Patreon campaign. : ) Here's a sketch I got to send to a reader as their reward for a month of support:
 
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Thank you very much! Your support means a lot! = D
 
 
 
 
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  It was a dayOct 13, 2017 12:52 AM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Dear Diary,
 
Today I got this page done! That's about it.
 
 
 
 
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  Relive the rebel days w/ this A* original artOct 11, 2017 10:37 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Wednesday special A* original art sale! We've wrapped up the series of original pages I was putting on sale from A*'s ink art days—so let's get back to some watercolors! This week's sale is the 16" x 6.75" watercolor painting I made for episode 31, page 23, in which Selenis is questioned by new rebel acquaintance Val in a maintenance tunnel after their seeming escape from Pearl security forces. I was pretty happy with the composition and lighting and how these faces turned out : ), four eyes and all, especially after I ended up repainting half of Selenis' face with my emergency touch-up magic recipe of waterproof white "ink" (but it's actually more of an acrylic type stuff) mixed with watercolor. Val, of course, would end up being a rather pivotal character in the episode.
 
So for the next week the watercolor artwork for that page is on sale on eBay at a special low starting price right here!
 
The eBay listing has high-res images of the illustration, but here are some tiny ones:
 
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Thanks for checking out my original art! : D
 
 
 
 
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  Last chance at last A* ink page sale!Oct 10, 2017 11:00 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Tomorrow (Wednesday night, that is) is the end of the last sale auction of an ink A* page in this little run of weekly original A* art auction sales I've been doing! So you've still got a chance to get an A* ink page at a pretty hefty discount. The auction is here; the 16" x 6.75" piece is the original art I made for A* episode 18, page 57. : )
 
It looks like this only bigger and realer!
 
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  I should have taken a holidayOct 09, 2017 8:36 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:You ever have one of those days where you hustle off to the post office to ship a package you've been itching to send off and find you can't do it because they're closed because it's Columbus Day, which you can't really say you forgot because you've never actually memorized the date because why would anyone do that? Well, you got me good, Columbus Day.
 
 
 
 
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  Oh hey ink is funOct 07, 2017 6:17 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Here's an ink sketch I sent to a reader for their support through the A* Patreon campaign : D :
 
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Thank you very much! Your support means a lot! ^_^
 
 
 
 
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  For like the 3rd timeOct 05, 2017 10:04 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Okay I have to go color-coordinate my arcade stick buttons now!
 
 
 
 
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  The last weekly A* ink page sale!Oct 04, 2017 9:54 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Wednesday original A* art sale! And it's a special one: the very last of the ink page weekly sales! It's the 16" x 6.75" ink illustration I did for episode 18, page 57, with Selenis and the Major, on an airless moon in a vast interstellar cloud of charged particles, examining footprints in the dust. It is now up for auction at a special low starting bid price right here on eBay for the next week only!
 
Here are tiny versions of the high-res images of the piece that you'll find in the eBay listing:
 
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That piece was probably my most intense hatching work in the ink phase of the comic. : )
 
And that'll do it for the original ink sales! But if you happen to like watercolor, you'll find the latest week's worth of new A* watercolor pages also on sale through my eBay.
 
 
 
 
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  Nearing last of the A* ink page sales!Oct 03, 2017 9:23 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Tomorrow's the last of the weekly A* original ink page sales! Also the end of the second-to-last, which you can still get in on the end of here. These things take some extra time to set up since I gotta re-scan and re-photograph the pieces, so I'm gonna go get a tiny jump start on that tonight.
 
 
 
 
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  My sketch photo horde is almost depleted : ooOct 02, 2017 9:26 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:Hey I'm almost out of these sketches I've sent to supporters of my Patreon campaign to show you! Then what'll I do for blog posts on slow news days? Uhh hm well I guess I'll figure something out. : P
 
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Thanks everyone for your support! I couldn't make this comic without youuu : D
 
 
 
 
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