Secondlina's Panels

 Wisdom teeth are going well, although I always wake up in the morning looking like a puffer fish. The swelling usually goes down after an hour. I,m thinking it does that because I grind my teeth in my sleep. Bad Isa, bad.

Today was one of those productively unproductive days. I absolutely did not feel like drawing at all. And all my drawings were crap. So instead, I caught up on my reading and cleaned the crap out of my house. My living room and, more importantly, my drawing table (better known as "the apocalypse zone") are now SPARKLY CLEAN. I also started a to-do list for my goals of 2012 and 2013. And a list of all the comics I own (for my insurances and so that I can avoid buying the same comic twice).

So... turns out being unmotivated for drawing work today got me to do many, many other useful things. Felt great to move. Sometimes, you just need to be a cleaning tornado!

Tomorrow i'm back at work, and tomorrow night it's voting time for all Quebec citizens. Woot woot!

Worked on an idea for a print a few days back. I wanted to do the group of characters from the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime in dresses inspired by Klimt. The first try was horrible :



Second try turned out nicely for the inking, but I really don't know what to do for the coloring... i'm going to keep poking at this...





- Isa

Tomorrow is going to be... interesting. At 9 am i'm going to be a drugged little kitten, because i'm getting all my wisdom teeth pulled out. I'm quite happy about this, since i've been suffering due to having them (migraines and jaw pains and the like). But yeah... it might knock me out for a bit. I just hope I bounce back quickly enough.

I've had a puzzling encounter with a coworker, whom i'm sure dislikes me. I figured I could counter her dislike with positiveness, but I think being an optimist with this girl just made things worse, now she barely talks to me, and the sentences are, I swear, mostly composed of hissing. I'm thinking she may also have life problems making her a bit irate at work, but various elements make me believe she doesn't like me. It's no big loss, but i'm puzzled about why someone whould dislike me so much just for trying to be pleasant. Heh. 

I've been reading (and watching) articles (and videos) about women, and women of color, in the history and the media. It's fascinating to see how many badass ladies re out there, and how much good female characters are still rare and underrated by the industry. Working hard to change that.



Been re-watching Firefly while drawing. Made me want to give Deadwood a try. Huuummmm yes. 

- Isa

 


On the bad side of things - Link and I have had our bikes stolen this week. Which sucks, since mine is my main form of exercise and his is his main form of transport. The thieves actually took pretty much all the bikes of the building. See, a large group of bikes was stored below the staircase in our apartment complex. The staircase is behind a locked door (for which you need a code). The bikes weren't tied to anything, but the wheels were locked together, which means that to get them, you need to either lift the bikes, or cut the locks. 

There was no sign of breaking in, so i'm assuming this is an inside job. Someone who knew someone who lived in the building got them to open the door, threw all the bikes in a truck and drove off. They took our bikes along with other bikes (those bastards!), they also took kid's bikes (well, that's even worse) and a wheelchair stored there (now, that's really horrible). 

I've already filed a complaint with the police and transferred said complaint to my insurances, who are going to give me money to buy new bikes, so I guess everything turned out okay. I loved that bike though, best bike I ever owned. 

On the good side of things, I saw Paranorman this week too. It was pretty amazing. It's really interesting to see what the can do with stop-motion these days. Those special effects? Stop motion. Laika is amazing. I already got dazzled by Coraline. Paranorman is even cooler. Although it felt more like a Halloween or thanksgiving movie. Out to early, perhaps? I was amused to see Vera Brosgol in the story credits, she's the comic artist that created Anya's Ghost. It does seem like her type of story :D

- Isa

Finished watching this (short) anime series. It was pretty good! The manga version (also short - three books) is equally good. It was a nice play of the magical genre and motifs. Although, unlike a large chunk of the fandom, I really don't feel like it "broke" the magical girl genre. Since the genre tends to often have loads of drama and angst to go hand-in-hand with the fluffy costumes. It's why magical girls are so beloved - they kid ass, fall down, get back up, and learn to be more badass. But yeah, despite me disagreeing over this fact vis-à-vis the fandom (and getting quite a lot of tumblr messages over this), I still loved it. Badass.



I'm in a bit of an art block. It seems I can't draw anything but Namesake pages. when I try, my brain goes "should you not be drawing Namesake pages?" Block caused by feelings of responsibility, perhaps? I wonder how I can break it. I am pretty engaged into drawing the final part of chapter 10.

I started reading Kimi ni Todoke, a daily life shojo. It's mostly about a girl making friends and of course, slowly getting feelings for a pretty chill dude. It reminds me of Fruits Basket, minus the fantasy elements and evil family in deep need of therapy elements. It's pretty dang cute. I recommend it.

In other news, my life is nothing but drawing and reading comics, I really should get a life before summer is over *laughs* At least I read outside and bike a whole lot. Sorry for being so boring!

Anybody knows any good books explaining out to write a narrative story well? I'm think of educating myself more in the subtle arts of prose and plotting.

- Isa

I did a fun little experiment on tumblr. After I posted my "gaaaaaaah girly comics why" post, I was asked by users to compile a list of series that DON'T suck for young pre-teen girls. So here was the list I originally made :

TOP "GIRLY" 10 COMICS THAT DON'T SUCK FOR PRE-TEEN GIRLS

(According to me)

These are a list of comics I consider to have for primary market young girls. I excluded anything unisex (like Amulet) or that has dudes as a main market but can be read, and are often adored, by girls (aka shonen manga). I wanted to exclude those things to show what is really present in the "girly" market. And not just in the "I guess girls can enjoy this" market. Once I removed the "unisex" or "guy but can be read by girls" stuff, it was actually pretty difficult to compile this list. Go figure.

Also, i'm French. Expect french in here.

#1 - LOU! - French series about a creative girl and her single mom. The mom is a fantasy writer and obsessed by video games. Lou, the daughter, dreams of being a fashion designer or a poet. The cast is original and multicultural, representing different styles of today's youth. And every book focuses on an issue that matches Lou's age, since she gains a year with every book (like Harry Potter). I love book 3, who focuses strongly on depression. There's a TV show, but the books are superior by far, since the show is stuck in status quo land.

#2 - Re-gifters - Fantastic story about Dixie, a second-generation Korean immigration and a martial arts student who has unfortunately lost her focus (aka ki) due to a big, big doom crush. She needs to digest the crush and find a way to win the big competition. This is short, sweet, all about the troubles of being a confused teen and an immigrant. Brilliant.

#3 - The Yoko Tsuno series - Pretty much one of the only unsexualized female comic hero I had as a kid, Yoko is a science-fiction-slash-police-drama series. This woman went to space. She played with ghosts. And robots. AND GHOST ROBOTS.

#4 - Friends with boys by Faith Erin Hicks - Man, does this comic even need an introduction? I'm in love with it.

#5 - Anya's Ghost - Anya is a russian immigrant who feels fat, silly, and generally hates everyone. Everything changes when she falls down a well and meets a ghost down there. They become best friends... up until the ghost starts living vicariously thru her with way too much passion.
#6 - Gunnerkrigg court - Technically, a webcomic, but since the books exist, it's fully possible for me to push it unto schools. I get the feeling this story is unisex most of the time, but a couple of details push it in the girl territory, for me. Amazing webcomics about two friends in a strange school...

#7 - Card Captor Sakura - Short magical girl series by Clamp... it's pretty much all about awesome spells and acceptance. Me likey.

#8 - Elinor Jones - In victorian times, a girl wants to become a seamstress for the renown house of Tiffany. But the work is hard, and the girl suffers from body image issues and eating disorders. Lots of pretty dresses, cool characters and important issues explored very nicely.

#9 - Princesse Sara - Based on the book "Little Princess", it's a steampunk retelling of the classic Cinderella tale.

#10 - Smile - Raina gets braces. We all remember how much that sucks.

I asked people to reblog and ADD. And, awesomely, people did.

A couple of people added series I knew but totally forgot about. A couple added series that are good but that I don't really consider for pre-teens myself. Here are a few of the suggestions I really liked :

Lost at sea
Princeless by Jeremy Whitley
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale
Polly and the Pirates by Ted Naifeh
Courtney Cumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh
I kill giants
The Lunch Lady series by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Eric Shanower’s Oz comics (more unisex if you ask me, but I know a lot of boys won't read a book with a hero who is a girl...)
Elinor & Jack
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley (Adult themes, but nothing icky, so good for pre-teens who are very serious readers)
Amelia Rules by Jimmy Gownley
Bizenghast
Yotsuba!
The Tale of One Bad Rat
W.I.T.C.H
Leave it to Chance by James Robinson and Paul Smith
Good as Lily by Derek Kirk Kim
The War at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks
Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki
Skim
Scary Godmother by Jill Thompsom
Ernest & Rebecca
Lovely Complex (manga)
Bride Stories (manga)
Kimi Ni Todoke (manga)
Car Street (manga)
Sugar Sugar Rune (manga)

And now I have this list to make me feel better.

- Isa

 I have returned from Ottawa, mostly because I worked today. I managed to ink my Namesake pages during the trip. I actually followed my mother to work (she's a librarian) and inked while I was waiting for a friend to get off work. It was fun! My brother's birthday was fun too. There was cake and mini putt.

I also did a bit of shopping, my mother gave me a gift card she wasn't using for a clothing store, and I bought so many movies on sale at HMV. SO. MANY. I really need stuff to watch while I draw, I rewatched so many of my movies so often, I can recite the content. My brothers also got me to check out Dan Versus, should also watch that.

I'm working on some Namesake stuff lately. A big ad campaign is planned soon, so i'm making some shiny new ads. Kinda amused that Emma apparently likes looking at things sideways. 





Link is suppose to be coming back from Japan sometime during the weekend. I've actually been doing pretty well on my own. I though i'd be bored/lonely, but I kinda just reverted back to living the way I did when I lived alone. I made big batches of food on my day off and ate small pieces of it as lunches and supper. I noticed today I really don't eat that much on my own. Unless it's cookies. Or fruits. Man, I love fruits. I may have been a fruitbat in a a past life. Om nom nom fruits.

I hope he got me some really othaku-ish stuff.

I'm sorry, lately all I do is eat and draw, so my posts kinda feel boring.

I DID dream that I was a deep-sea mermaid with glowing hair yesterday. My underwater adventures were rad.

- Isa

Adorable Korra-ness and sketches for you all!



 

I'm really angry at myself. I used to post here 3 times a week. now I can barely manage one. And it's not because of procrastination or anything. Time just seems to fly by. How did this happen? Is this the fabled "life" i've been hearing so much about?

I'm guessing this is happening in part because of comic projects eating away most of my drawing time and thus reducing the amount of post-worthy things I produce. Another part must be tumblr, that time-inhaling, soul sucking bloggish fiend. Don't get me wrong, I love tumblr, but it ranks way, wayyyy up there on the distracto-meter, alongside tv tropes. Evil.

For the past week, I also added work on the list of distractions. We are four people manning the comics section, which is enough to do all the required work and then some bonus but necessary things (like cleaning sections and fixing books). But one of the girls went on vacation and one of the guys just quit on the same day, without giving a two-weeks notice. He's going thru a pretty rough heartbreak and going to British Colombia to deal with it (because Montréal is too painful). So me and the section boss have been doing very, very long days. I pretty much come home and crash. Or at least, I do my version of crashing, which is super-slow comic work. 

So stuff has been moving with a tired snail's pace.

I'm kinda tired of whining about it though, so this is the last you'll hear about it. But if you wonder where i've gone, wonder no more. I can't wait for a new hire to join us and get corrupted be trained. 

In other news, next week i'm visiting Ottawa for my bro's birthday (on the one day I have off. WORTH IT. I give him presents, he gives me barbecue). Link is still in Japan for another week. I jealously look at his pictures on facebook. 

Finally, got this fabulous hat that reminds me of the 20's. Boom baby. I love me some classy vintage. 



- Isa

Gravity falls is the best show EVAR. After 5 episodes, i'm completely and utterly hooked. Nicely done, Disney. 

I also started watching (and reading) Puella Magi Madoka Magica, an anime show de-constructing magical girl stories, kinda like how Utena de-constructs romantic shojo animes or Evangelion screws with stereotypes of mecha anime. It's... pretty good. I love the story and the characters. I like the stylization of the animation (the monsters always use a different animation style). I don't really like the animation itself, it's pretty cheaply done, most of the time. And the characters always have crossed feet. I think it's to be moe and cute? But it looks so weird! A couple of sequences are gorgeous thought. And that's totally worth it. The rest of the show makes up for it too. I'm on episode 6, so I look forward to watching the second half (yeah, it's only 12 episodes long. Short and sweet. I like that.) 

I like how I started getting back into anime and manga since I started working at the bookstore. I sorta dropped the genre a bit because it was getting difficult to find good series among the piles and piles of stuff published in both languages. Being able to test all the new series really got me back into the style. A little too much even *laughs*. They also put the managing of the store's manga section in my hands, which is cool. 

Been back to work for a week. Feels good. I like my job. It's a quiet and fun job. I'm working full time until the end of summer to replace folks on vacation, so if you guys don't see me online as much, don't worry! It means i'm either working, or melting. 

I got a LOT of cool namesake fanart lately thru exchanges and commissions. Behold!

Boum of Boumeries drew me a really scary and beautiful Anlise. Boum, I adore you. 



Akogarezephyr drew a pretty epic drawing of Elaine and Emma, as the day and the night. It's true that the sisters are complimentary opposites. It's fun to see it illustrated so flawlessly. 



Jonne did it again, using her adorable style, and doodled Fred and Elaine being adorkable. 



That's it for now! Back to drawing pages!

- Isa

I've been drawing a lot of trades with folks lately (I have so free time, so why not?) One of the trades was for Batman : The animated series characters Jervis (aka the mad hatter) and his often-brainwashed crush, Alice Little. Oh, Batman. Teaching kids about creepy brainwashing and abusive relationships.

In other news, I also  commissioned a couple of pieces from folks. I like commissioning for pieces that are lineless orsimple art. Because it's something I don't do well. My stuff is always full of strong and stable lines. I like to see what my characters look like when drawn in a way I can't achieve.  Jonne on tumblr was nice enoguh to accept drawing my Sparkgobbler characters. Look at them cuties. 



Today was pretty relaxing. I sketched all the pages I wanted to present to a comic contest. It's for a 6-page story and the theme of the book is lumberjacks and forests (SO CANADIAN HEH).

I also went exploring with a friend and found out that the park next to my house is a) really big and b) has some awesome fountains and a tiny troll bridge. No really. the rock formations under the bridge looked like tiny troll seats. The park is basically decorated by a very long man-made stream full of tiny pools and waterfalls. And it's made to look "natural", so with jagged rocks all over. The water originates from a fountain waaaay at the top of the park (the park is on an inclined plane). The top fountain is really well isolated (by a wall of rock, trees and a fence). So it seemed like a perfect place for a picnic. We kinda played in the cold water and were amazed by the fact that there was a rock formation smack where the water was rushing out that looked very, very phallic. Thus the top fountain was re-named "penis fountain".

Seems like a good adventure to me.

- Isa

 And I am full of feelings.

Geenrally, the show was good. It had a couple of pacing issues and plot holes, and some no-good boyfriend material from the love interest, but generally, fun, good action scenes, adorable characters... I think the show had the potential to be more, considering, but we still got a good show. Not as good as the original, but still better then a lot of stuff on TV. So fair, is fair. 

In unrelated news, I have so much trouble with my itunes. I have a lot trouble getting downloads to works. Wrote to support a couple of times, and nothing really helped. I already re-installed everything twice, so i'm at a loss.

Was kinda productive today. Finished Namesake pages. And wrote two articles for a French comic blog that pays me for my awesome articles. One of them was about magical girls. We just got the Puella Magi Madoka and the new Sailor Moon manga in French, so I wanted to talk about it. 

Yep, that's about it. I'm totally planning on drawing comic pages until 3 am. Aaaawwww, vacations. You so sweet.

Have some Korra sipping because everyone on Korra is damn sexy :





- Isa