Thread "Rant, Moan and Rave - 2010 edition" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 12:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

That looks rather impressive! And you have an authentic sounding author's name too.

"What are you reading - Used Books? Ah yes, I'm a huge Boutwell fanatic too." Sounds entirely plausible.

I have an author name! Woohoo! ^_^

I'm so incredibly jealous. Your comic looks amazing in print. Do you have all the pages printed out, or just somewhat newer ones?

I started with the pages that switched to full color, so it starts on chapter 69. It's 176 pages. I had it printed by KaBlam. This is the "manga size" which fits my page format better.

I had my previous chapters printed at CafePress in B&W. It was ridiculously overpriced, and a much more complicated and frustrating process. (And I was limited by file size to basically 100 pages in low resolution.) -_- I considered compiling them in a long volume through KaBlam (or a couple reasonable ones), but I'm not sure it would be worth it. I think those pages might best be left as online archive.

Posted at 12:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

I went shopping yesterday to second hand and it took forever to find something nice.
I had a funny moment that looked like it was taken from "Shallow Hal" scene.
I dig threw boxes with clothes that cost a bit less than 3 dollars and I see a pair of jeans with red and white pattern.Pretty cool,huh?I begun pulling it out,and I pulled and pulled…holy crap,those were the biggest,ugliest jeans in the world.4 me could fit in them,and the best part was,they didn't even have a zipper,but thick wrinkly elastic band.
And they felt moist to touch -.-
But I did manage to find neat stuff including a cool jock jacket =)

Oh,and our school shedule is stupid.Tommorow we have german in the last period,and 2 penultimate hours P.E. and we always go home after least one hour.
That's cause we have 8 grades of freshmen =O and the system is overloaded

Posted at 1:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

I have successfully emerged from 3 evenings of fighting Windows 7 and Wacom to try and get my lovely big Intuos2 to work properly. The pressure sensitivty didn't work in any applications. Digging through online help forums, knowledge bases, random webpage results, and trying things over and over and over. My computer must have been restarted 50 times.

But I did say I emerged successfully. The solution? Buy a new tablet.

I wish I could have afforded an Intuos L, but a Bamboo M ought to work just fine.

Up yours Windows and Wacom. >:[

Now all I want to do is make a big bowl of noodles and watch a movie before bed. Except I don't have any noodles. So, maybe just cereal!

Posted at 4:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

I have successfully emerged from 3 evenings of fighting Windows 7 and Wacom to try and get my lovely big Intuos2 to work properly. The pressure sensitivty didn't work in any applications. Digging through online help forums, knowledge bases, random webpage results, and trying things over and over and over. My computer must have been restarted 50 times.

But I did say I emerged successfully. The solution? Buy a new tablet.

I wish I could have afforded an Intuos L, but a Bamboo M ought to work just fine.

Up yours Windows and Wacom. >:[

Now all I want to do is make a big bowl of noodles and watch a movie before bed. Except I don't have any noodles. So, maybe just cereal!

I've been having the problem with my Intuos 3 and Vista. I've been using the same software version, same pen, same copy of photoshop, etc. for 2 1/2 years and all of a sudden it decides to stop working with all but one of my pens, no pressure sensitivity and it kept telling me I had a software version mismatch. Wacom tech support just told me to reinstall the software after I had already told them I did that. My final solution that worked ended up being going directly into the program files and deleting the software from there instead of uninstalling it and then reloading it.

Posted at 4:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

Okay, I made a dead rising clone of forum fighters, but the clone is more popular than the original idea of ancient warriors. huh, go figure video games are more valued than history.

But at least I'll have a successful vote/interactive webcomic now! :)

Posted at 5:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

Who's your publisher Ub?
And you count yourself as manga?
Or what did you mean…

Posted at 6:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

I have successfully emerged from 3 evenings of fighting Windows 7 and Wacom to try and get my lovely big Intuos2 to work properly. The pressure sensitivty didn't work in any applications. Digging through online help forums, knowledge bases, random webpage results, and trying things over and over and over. My computer must have been restarted 50 times.

But I did say I emerged successfully. The solution? Buy a new tablet.

I wish I could have afforded an Intuos L, but a Bamboo M ought to work just fine.

Up yours Windows and Wacom. >:[

Now all I want to do is make a big bowl of noodles and watch a movie before bed. Except I don't have any noodles. So, maybe just cereal!

I've been having the problem with my Intuos 3 and Vista. I've been using the same software version, same pen, same copy of photoshop, etc. for 2 1/2 years and all of a sudden it decides to stop working with all but one of my pens, no pressure sensitivity and it kept telling me I had a software version mismatch. Wacom tech support just told me to reinstall the software after I had already told them I did that. My final solution that worked ended up being going directly into the program files and deleting the software from there instead of uninstalling it and then reloading it.

About a month after I got a new computer with Windows 7 my Bamboo Fun(yeah, I'm not as fancy as you guys) stopped working entirely. It wouldn't even light up. Wacom never even got back to me. I still don't have a tablet. : (

Posted at 6:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

They're really not that helpful anyway it would seem. After my initial response I got, they never responded to my second email either.

And I wouldn't feel bad about having a bamboo. My intuos is the same size at 4x6. I got it back before the bamboo came out only because I needed something to be able to travel with and the big 6x11 intuos 2 ( I think that was the size. I can't even remember. ) I had wouldn't fit in my bag. Besides, tablets have come so far now that the bamboo has more than enough sensitivity for pretty much everything you'd want to do. The only reason to get a bigger one is just if you do a huge amount of drawing on it.

Also: 2,500th post. Soon enough, I'll be able to officially say I've spent way more of my life on DD than any other site.

Posted at 6:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

Who's your publisher Ub?
And you count yourself as manga?
Or what did you mean…

Self-published through KaBlam (print-on-demand).

"Manga" refers to, in this case, the page/book size. The standard size of manga is different than a US trade paperback. (Manga are sized more like pocket novels.) KaBlam offers two sizes, and my pages are wider and shorter (I draw them on 8.5 x 11" paper), so they fit the "manga size" better. – They are still stretched out vertically a little, but I draw people too short and fat anyway. XD

Posted at 7:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

On Ka-blam:

I'll be hitting Ka-blam with my stuff for the fourth time myself pretty soon too (adding finishing touches to my latest offering. Now if I can only get more than ten sales this time, I'll be happy :D

Interestingly none of my actual mangas are the same size as Ka-blam's books. Everything's either shorter or taller over here, heh.

Here's a set of pics I did of my first book awhile ago.

Pictures go as follows:
Title page, size comparison to a Godzilla comic, an open page…
comparison to original art, me with the book, another open page…
more art size comparison, yet another open page, back cover..

Interesting thing about print, it makes some of my art mistakes waaay more obvious, but makes the entire thing look better overall. Probably because it is much smaller now than on the screen :D
I can't look at the original full resolution files anymore. Seeing all of it so huge and blown up is actually painful, heh.

- - -

Oh yeah, I was hired for the third time. Going to work in less than 9 hours, which is a bit of a problem as I haven't slept yet. I tried to but wasn't tired and went to take a bath andshave instead. Now my hair is still wet so I can't sleep yet… Anyway, more money is yay.

Posted at 9:09PM, Sep. 14, 2010

On Ka-blam:

I'll be hitting Ka-blam with my stuff for the fourth time myself pretty soon too (adding finishing touches to my latest offering. Now if I can only get more than ten sales this time, I'll be happy :D

Interestingly none of my actual mangas are the same size as Ka-blam's books. Everything's either shorter or taller over here, heh.

Here's a set of pics I did of my first book awhile ago.

Pictures go as follows:
Title page, size comparison to a Godzilla comic, an open page…
comparison to original art, me with the book, another open page…
more art size comparison, yet another open page, back cover..

Interesting thing about print, it makes some of my art mistakes waaay more obvious, but makes the entire thing look better overall. Probably because it is much smaller now than on the screen :D
I can't look at the original full resolution files anymore. Seeing all of it so huge and blown up is actually painful, heh.

- - -

Oh yeah, I was hired for the third time. Going to work in less than 9 hours, which is a bit of a problem as I haven't slept yet. I tried to but wasn't tired and went to take a bath andshave instead. Now my hair is still wet so I can't sleep yet… Anyway, more money is yay.

You are the peak of productive. YOU DO SO MUCH.

Posted at 9:09AM, Sep. 16, 2010

I got fired from my library today…really don't talk about it…in a crap mood.

Evidently, a little over three years of hard work and good reviews doesn't mean jack shit.

Posted at 1:09AM, Sep. 17, 2010

ugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh….this is the sickness that never ends.

maybe getting onto a normal sleeping schedule will help me heal. i've been staying away for 24 hours at a time, trying to get onto a new schedule…

i have a lil' 300 dollar laptop i bought years ago that the hard drive crashed on. for christmas i bought myself a new hard drive for it. it's already physically dieing.

Posted at 5:09AM, Sep. 17, 2010

I let my malt biscuit soak too long in my coffee, so it broke in half and went all soggy… I had to drink my biscuit! :(

…that's "cookie" to you strange Americans.

I do miss America though. It was a lovely cartoon land of happy friendly people ^_^
Apart from that one Amtrak guy. He was a dick.

Posted at 6:09AM, Sep. 17, 2010

I also am having a bad day

Edit: Sorry, that sounds a bit flippant. I'm really sorry about your job Niccea. :[

Posted at 6:09AM, Sep. 17, 2010

Apart from that one Amtrak guy. He was a dick.

Ah. Amtrak how I hate thee.
We flee your train when you stop
For there was fight
And you had to call the cops

We escaped and decided to walk
On the tracks to our destination
And you conductor still had the gall to say
"Have a nice day."

(And then we walked through a field to the side of the highway and waited for our family who was already at the destination to pick us up)

Not much a poem…

Posted at 9:09AM, Sep. 17, 2010

PAC graphics in CT, dont use em . i doubt any of you will ever need to for any shirt designs or anything, but dont use em.

Posted at 12:09PM, Sep. 17, 2010

brb asking gorgeous cheerleader girl to homecoming.

Posted at 1:09PM, Sep. 17, 2010

I'm not looking forward to physical therapy. Neck and shoulder are sore and my damn throat is making talking difficult. That last one though is a good thing.

Posted at 1:09PM, Sep. 17, 2010

PAC graphics in CT, dont use em . i doubt any of you will ever need to for any shirt designs or anything, but dont use em.

Nope. Standard format is flattened .tiff files for stuff like that.

Somehow I caught the plague the other night, just prior to going out all night with some new friends who I've gone to school with. I learned things I didn't want to know, ended up getting tackled and had to wrestle a girl into submission on the pool table ( not as awesome as it sounds. ) and had the barman suddenly "realize" he can't do math and give me a $10 tab instead of the $60 one it should have been. I'm definitely paying for it now, working a 14 hour day while sick and hung over, but it was well worth it. They want me to join them again tonight for something called "drink and draw", which is exactly what it sounds like from what I understand. I'm actually seriously considering it, despite that I have some major work for the Milwaukee Bucks due Tuesday that I've barely begun and I want to fall over unconscious. It's been over 5 months since I've actually had any contact with another human being more significant than 5 minutes in passing outside of work. I spend a little too much time working for being in my early 20's.

Scratch that. My day just got shitty. Dumb-ass coworkers who can't get their stuff in to the art director on time can ruin anything. :mad:

Posted at 2:09PM, Sep. 17, 2010

brb asking gorgeous cheerleader girl to homecoming.

Did she say yes?

Posted at 5:09PM, Sep. 17, 2010

Time to create your kickass pirate avatars and practise your salty seafaring lingo - September 19th is International Speak Like A Pirate Day, as if you could forget.

Posted at 7:09PM, Sep. 17, 2010

It's 4:00AM. Why am I awaaaaaaake?

Posted at 12:09AM, Sep. 18, 2010

I hate print work. So many stupid little rules and things that each stupid printer has. Never the same system anywhere!!!! I'm never sure I'm giving them the right stuff… I just "close my eyes" and take my best shot. So far I've done pretty well, providing art to be put on virtually anything… The only trouble I sometimes run into is the guy that needs stuff in Corel Draw format, a very old version… weird things can happen to files in the process.
One company I deal with through my work though is pretty good. They take extremely complex PDFs or hi-res jpegs no worries. No issues about special colour rules or bleeds or trim-lines here there and everywhere! They just get down and do a decent job of it. Easy peazy booby squeazy.

It's 4:00AM. Why am I awaaaaaaake?

because you're not sleeping.

Posted at 3:09AM, Sep. 18, 2010

work totally kicked my ass yesterday… funnily, it's MY legs that hurt now…

I've spent the entire 8 hours (minus the first 10 minutes and the 20 minute break) running around with carts full of tv parts. I did the math and I think I did about 200 rounds that way. At the end both my feet were on fire, my right ankle hurt, my knees were about to give up.

Once home I have found SEVEN blisters on my both feet and the smallest toe on my left foot was so swollen I couldn't move it OR the toe right next to it. Right now I can stand… walking is another matter.