Secondlina's Panels

Been working on pages lately, i'm trying to build an efficient buffer for May, when i'll be out and about at conventions and stuff. 

Aside from that, i've been working on costume designs, since most of the characters are getting a new wardrobe in the next chapters. I LOVE designing clothing. It is my favorite thing. Sometimes I wonder why I didn't go to fashion school or something. Designing weapons and clothing is something I love. I could have been a costumer or something *laughs*



I've also been re-watching Futurama while I ink and honestly, Futurama is still one of my favorite shows. I love how it's funny and sad at the same time, I love the characters, I love the silly-retro-futuristic universe....

I wanted to share with you guys a really great post by Gail Simone - an american comic writer - about breaking into the comic world. A lot of these ideas can also be applied to the writing and publishing world in general. She's a great lady. I adore her!

Matrix happened because nobody read the user manuals.

It's been a slow week. I worked a lot to finish some work-related projects. So I didn't draw much. On Wednesday, I went out to meet some new people, a big group of geeks. It was fun and I look forward to seeing them again. Since I was in Chinatown I also bought enough japanese candy to fuel me for quite some time. 

I also read some more of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. It's confusing super ultra mega crossover series by Clamp. But it's good, sorta, if you don't think too hard about the fact that there is about 5 of each Sakura and Syaoran, all potentially related or clones and that none of them may actually be the Card Captor versions.

I like Clamp, I really do. But they seem to do the best series ever and the worse series ever. X/1999 and Clover are amazing comics, even despite the fact that they have no ending. However, things like "Suki, A Like story" are just terrible. I'm still deciding if Tsubasa goes in the good or bad category. It's not bad per say, but it's so confusing that even the characters are stating outright that they don't know what's happening.

Clow Reed is the real god of their multiverse. I would believe it to be an acceptable twist if Reed would suddently reveal that he's the one that created Cephiro in the form of Mokona. That would explain why Yuuko used the same creature to create "transporters" in Tsubassa. I mean, it doesn't make sense, people have copies of themselves in some worlds once in a while. But inter-dimensional gods should not have interdimensional copies of themselves lying around.

It's clear, no matter the series, no matter the form of Sakura, that she was always meant to be Clow's chew toy/mess picker-upper. If I was her, I would have inserted my star wand deep in the butt of whichever version of Clow I could get my hands on.

Oh and in the last chapter, we see the possibly future/past sakura that may, or may not be, the clone version's reincarned form (though she most likely is). She's now friends with the Magic Knight Rayearth school girls trio. I wonder if they are the "canon" MRK trio? That would have made an intresting bonding moment : "I have the power to cross space and time to other dimensions." "wow us too." "Cool, let's be BFFs forever and on all planes of existence."



"TOTALLY!!!"

Confusing manga side... I started doing the finished, colored versions of the Creepy Sailor Moon characters. Check it!



Again, like I told you guys when I posted the sketches, I based the creepiness on the sailor's stories and powers. Mercury is "drowning" because of her water powers. Princess Serenity has a death wish because, in the manga version, she takes her own life after her boyfriend prince Endymion bites it. I think she dies with him in the anime version. Suicide is a little not-kid-friendly.




Mars is fire based, hence her creepy form. I turned Venus into a heart (man) - eater since a lot of her attacks sound S&M and that she killed in her spin-off manga her one true love (in her defense, he was evil and working for beryl while she was being Sailor V). I didn't change much about Saturn. She does destroy the universe in the canon. 

Anyways, I gotta go pack. This weekend i'm visiting my parents in Ottawa and my friend Fauve.

-Isa

Art wise, i've discovered two things yesterday that can only be described by *OMG OMG OMG*

First - Masking Fluid. I finally got off my ass and did some research in the watercolor department. I learned there existed a thing called Masking Fluid that you can use to cover a section you colored previously or to cover a spot you wish to keep white. You just put it on and it makes a rubbery film you remove as soon as you are done. It's that easy. WOW.

I spend 2 years painting small watercolor things as complicated as this one:



Using nothing but kleenexes, wet brushes and dumb luck to prevent my colors from mixing and my white areas white. Now I just learned a magic product actually painlessly does that for me. I feel kinda dumb I guess, but then I tried the Masking Fluid and lemme tell you, it's AMAZING. It's going to give me a whole new boost in the department of what I can do with watercolors. This is going to rock.

The second thing I discovered was XKCD - a really funny webcomic. that is insanly smart.

This Lj is turning into a review board! Must post more comics --_--

I didn't draw much, most of my time is spend drawing comic pages for ROSE. But I can give you guys a preview if you want!

Oh, one final note - Link now has a niece. His older brother, Nikolas (he has 3 brothers and a sister) and Niko's wife Maria just had a baby girl. Considering her mom is from Finland, i'm betting... Blond baby.

Isa