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Posted by TSHolden on March 16, 2009 at 12:15 am
Current Media: SXSW Torrent 3

Aaaaaagh I hate drawing female face. I don't want to say how many pages of drawing paper I went through sketching the first panel of today's page: suffice to say that it was a lot. This page actually ended up being a lot of trouble to draw, because it's all stuff I'm not good at.
What do people think of the new Sandstorm Conscience layout? I've been tweaking it a lot the last few days, trying to make it more attractive and consistent. I've also beefed up the comic page navigation: you get your preference of giant arrow images, clicking on the page itself, or text links. Should be more than enough for most people.

Media Comment: If you haven't downloaded the (legal!) torrents of SXSW music, you totes should. A lot of it is quite good.

Posted by TSHolden on March 13, 2009 at 1:45 am
Current Media: Hunter: The Gathering (Xbox)

I mentioned some site revisions on Monday: unfortunately those revisions have taken a good bit more time than I anticipated, so my linework isn't done today. :( However, the design is pretty much done, I've already put it online and everything: I just need to optimize it now. Also, I need to find out why the domain I purchased isn't propagating properly.

Media Comment: Playing this game with an old friend and having a blast. Some of the old Xbox titles were great and no one realized it.

Posted by TSHolden on March 9, 2009 at 12:20 am
Current Media: Hidamari Sketch

Ok, I'm trying something new. Starting today, I am going to upload just the lineart and text, and then 24 hours later I will change it to the fully colored and shaded version. Why? Because this isn't something anyone else is doing, to the best of my knowledge, and it allows me to smooth out my workload. Most importantly, it gives readers to see the design process in action, and hopefully give them insight into how much the digital aspect of my production affects the end piece.
Oh yeah, today's page can be found here (or via the panel on the left). I'm planning to do some site revisions soon to make it more webcomic-friendly.

Media Comment: Hidamari is fun and interesting (and sometimes bizarrely erotic), but it can be very difficult to follow. I feel like the show has a ton of stuff to communicate and no time to ensure that you got it (which is ok with me, I have a rewind function).

Posted by TSHolden on March 5, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Current Media: Watchmen

As you will notice from my Media choice for today, I am off to watch Watchmen, so here is a sneak peak at the page that's going up. Notice how I'm halfway through the texturing process, starting from the bottom up. All the sketching is done, but no shading at all: a very solid midpoint. (Edit: texturing is done, online).

Media Comment: Watchmen was good times. I deliberately avoided learning anything about the series so I could walk into the movie with a blank slate, enjoy it, and now go buy the book and enjoy it even more. I thought it was a very well-done movie, and loved most of the acting. (Was kind of perturbed by some of the stuff the audience laughed at though... Watchmen contains some extremely not-funny moments in it, so why were some people still laughing?)

Posted by TSHolden on March 2, 2009 at 12:20 am
Current Media: Samurai 7

Edit: My whole state is basically shut down by snow, so I had a chance to touch up the SC pages with better shading and fontwork for the cover page. :) Now to build up a buffer (haha, like I'd be able to stand having one...)
Again with the texturing, gah. This week's first page is up, hopefully I won't get so carried away with Friday's.

Media Comment: Watched the whole Samurai 7 series this weekend (in japanese, of course). I liked it, though the absolutely hideous art in episode 7 seemed very out of place in the midst of the otherwise very well-executed series. Some of the physics flaunting stuff seemed poorly thought out and animated (the redwood crossbow, for example), but most of the action was really good.

Posted by TSHolden on February 27, 2009 at 12:35 am
Current Media: Ghost Hound

Posting this a tad late, I got caught up in texturing and forgot that this is still an initial version. :( Anyhow, you can find the new SC page here. Man, look at how much my faces have improved in the past year... I guess the deciding factor will be whether I can replicate those faces or not.
In life-y news, I have had one of the worst weeks I've had in years. For example, I have to go to the physical trainer again tomorrow (today?) because I have busted up my knee from a biking accident. Or, on a longer range example, my very exciting trip to England with my old Arthurian Legends class was cancelled this week. So no internation experiences for me this year. :(

Media Comment: Ghost Hound has certainly gotten much better as I dig into it deeper. The mix of real phsycology (my dad's a therapist, and can confirm that this stuff is currently believed to be true) with fantasy is great, it really draws you in. Also, I'm finding the little romance subplot to be just too cute.

Posted by TSHolden on February 23, 2009 at 12:05 am
Current Media: Ghost Hound

First off, hello to everyone coming over from Rice Boy, I hope you enjoy my site! Sorry it's not as unified as Evan's content, but there you have it. Anyhow...
New SC page is up! Admittedly, this one could have been done in 5 minutes by a middle-schooler, but it represents a lot of effort so far as preplanning and culture design.
In other comic news, I'm almost ready to start producing the basic vocabulary for Yarboan: the alphabet is finished, I redid the numbering system today, and the grammar is mostly finished. I'm hoping to have enough done by next week that I can make a perfectly formed sentence for the comic.

Media Comment: I'm not a big fan of the pacing of Ghost Hound (I believe that it is deliberately difficult, but still...) and the art style seems to jitter a bit from very well-textured to kinda flat. Still, I commend them for tackling such an interesting premise, and I hope that I continue to enjoy the season as I work through it.

Posted by TSHolden on February 20, 2009 at 12:25 am
Current Media: -

And so begins a new regime. I'm trying out a unique idea: I'm calling it an exponential comic. 1 day to decide to do it, 2 days to come up with a story premise, 4 days to come up with character designs and other specifics, 8 days to lay down the rough sketches and layouts, and then 16 days to do the full art. In a single month you have a more-or-less finished coming.
I've already done the first 6 days, so here's the first sketch as a title page. I'm going with the working title Roda Jogo, and hope to actually have the dang thing done this time next month. To that end, you guys are just going to be getting comics for a while. Enjoy!

Media Comment: I haven't had a single spare moment to watch anime or do anything this week, I've been so mired down with work and hardware trouble. :P

Posted by TSHolden on February 16, 2009 at 1:05 am
Current Media: Sketchbook Full Colours

I have written an ungodly amount of code this weekend, but I'm not at liberty to talk about it, so I guess you're spared that ramble. In other news, my life is way too hectic (oh wait, that's the same news...)
This particular update is a new charcter to the Sandstorm Conscience cast: hopefully you'll get to meet him better in the upcoming weeks, because I'm planning to kick into high gear, artwise. I've been relying on digital way too much these past few months.

Media Comment: It's weird how I love animes that have almost no plot to them, just life. But I find something fun and touching in these animes that pull it off, and plus, the cats in Sketchbook are ridiculously cute.

Posted by TSHolden on February 13, 2009 at 12:05 am
Current Media: Asu no Yoichi

This has been a curious week in a number of ways. I've gotten a lot of work and research done on side projects, but my main jobs and classes are lagging behind. Huh.
Anyway, check this junk out: one of my side projects needed a logo. :) It's nothing fancy or professional, but I think it communicates what I'm going for.

Media Comment: Asu no Yoichi is consistently funny through the first five episodes, I hope they keep up the pace (though it's hard to picture how they're going to do so). Curiously, I find that I really like the voice acting for Chihaya, even though I hated the voice for Eclair in Ouran (both were done by Yukari Tamura). Maybe I just hated Eclair.