Novels about women who kick butt

Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness, Book 1) by Tamora Pierce
Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1) by Patricia Briggs
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) By Ilona Andrews

Comic books that I read
Elfquest, Castle Waiting, Bone, Tin Tin, Asterix and Obelix, Fables, Sand Man, Kabuki, Invincible, Nausicaa, Conan, Courtney Crumrin, Scary Godmother, Concrete, Finder, Charm School

clubbing

Happy Goth and I are going clubbing at the Crimson Web this Saturday

coffee shop work day

The work day was a huge success. Lots of people showed up and I was all out of projects for people to help with. I need to get another button press. Heard some great Dragon con stories and Got to hang out with the people from Broken Boomerang. Hopefully they'll come by again for comic drawing and button making.

Joe's East Atlanta Coffee Shop

I'll be at Joes coffee shop in East Village on Saturday between 2 and 6pm making buttons and cutting bookmarks for Anime Weekend Atlanta. Come by with your own craft projects, drawing work, or just to help cut and staple.

Joe's East Atlanta Coffee Shop
510 Flat Shoals Ave SE
Atlanta, GA 30316
(404) 521-1122

catching up

Second work day that I've had since San Diego comic con. I've finished all the inking for the strips that had been left penciled all those times. I hadn't realized just how long it's been since I had a full day to work. With travel and conventions I've fallen extreamly behind on cartoons and life upkeep. Bills, taxes, home repair, etc. And now I'm setting up my LLC for self publishing. I'm getting quotes from quebecor and lubonfon (sp?) and after paying for the playing cards, my 1k worth of book two, and a new roof I've come to the conclusion that I won't be able to do the big restock that I wanted to. I'm going to be out of Con artists and DP0(highschool/college years) really soon. But I need to save my money for the printing of book 3. So I'm going to put up the original cartoons for sale. Well, they've always been for sale, I'm just going to put them a bit more promenent. Should I put them up on e-bay or Etsy?

deviant has my brain

I was just looking for a reference of "Zexion", honest!
Back at connecticon i was bought (yes, there is a webcomics auction) and she gave me to her friends (yes, that's what I said) and the friends were drawn into the background. I asked if they wanted to be chasing any particular comic character and they said "kingdom of hearts orginization 13, #6 zexion" None of this made since to me so I checked it up online.
And I found lots of great examples on deviantart.com
um, and then I started looking at awesome art...and then there was the photos...of guys...and....yaoi and I found this awesome artist and I'm flipping throught their stuff
http://celesse.deviantart.com/gallery/
her comics are adorible.

Yay sleep dep!

4:30am and I should sleep. Lots of airport shuttling tomorrow because this is my town and I gotta pick up friends for dragon con. mmm dragon con has my brain. I procrastinated doing cartoons by doing crafts; making bookmarks and magnets an shit for the show. Got distracted reading a webcomic that makes me ache to be a better artist. And I found the webcam option on my computer. It's adictive to just watch yourself. There's a bit of a lag and you're not looking yourself in the eye when you look at yourself so it's like being a voyer on yourself...did I mention that dragon con took my brain?
I'm doing things, maybe subconsciously, to look more like my comic version of me. Getting my hair cut diferent than I usualy do...or that I usualy avoid getting it cut like because it's kinda close to my moms haircut. But now it looks closer to the comic version than normal and I dyed it red again. The comic version originated from my freshman college days but I went another way and the comic stayed a short scrappy redhead. it's artist imitating the art that represents...you get the idea.
There will never be enough time.

Ventnor City

I didn't go to a coffee shop (sorry, I'm a tease) but ended up walking the boardwalk. I didn't realize that every few miles the city changes names. I was in Ventnor city but walked into Atlantic city at one point. And I think we had ice cream in Margate city the other night.
I found that, sitting by the sea, I was at peace and marveling at the serene beauty of nature and the wonders of the world up until the flies started biting me and I went running for the air conditioned hotel room.

Atlantic city

I'm in Atlantic City and will be at a coffee shop doing some drawing on wednesday. What coffee shop should I go to?

DP GN2

I talked to the publisher and he said that, if nothing goes wrong, then the second devil's panties book will be out in two months.
I've given up anticipating it. I'll just be pleasantly surprised if it ever does come out.
Steps are being taken to set up my own self publishing company so that I will know what's going on and have control over the situation. Even if it's just knowing that the truck broke down or the boat sank. At least I'll have an answer for people when they ask "Where's the next book?" instead of answering "That's a great question. If you find out, could you let me know?"

I survived...

I can't feel my feet. I wanna sleep for a week.
I didn't have anything new so I didn't make much money but next year I'll have three new books so it'll be awesome. We're going to try and get Comic con to let more people into the "webcomic" area and I hear that we'll even have a sign. mwaahahahaa, we're taking over.

enough with the boobs

I know, I know. I tend to fixate on a plot arch when I have them...er, "fixate" or "the strips are there and I'm too lazy to move on just yet".
I'm getting things ready for San Diego and realizing just how much crap has to get done. Time is like a zombie, moves slow as shit but when you're not looking "boo! got your brains!"

Bra's

Reply from a previous comment
I actually don't think they make 38's. They make 37 or 39 I think, but 38 doesn't really exist. Just went and checked my bra's and I only have 32's and 36's.
Ladies who work at bra stores always seem to have great boobs. Or at least they're presented really well. Which is like saying a car dealer drives a nice car or a comic shop clerk knows a lot about comics.

pencils

It's just so easy to get away with just using the pencils to update. I've gotta buckle down a bit harder on these cartoons. I've got 200 strips waiting to be drawn and inked (I've got the dialogue layed out) that are going into book 4 and I'm bairly getting the daily strips done. My work ethic needs an overhaul. But I was really looking forward to this story arc so, in theory, the strips will get done sooner. This is a road trip where Happy Goth and I went to Lessa's wedding. On the way we stopped by Dragon Con Goddess's house and dyed yarn with cool aid.

The status on the second graphic novel (@%#&*!) The publisher had to change partners so the book was never sent to print. It is at the printers now but they want to do a bunch of different books all at once and not all are done yet so they're still doing proofs or something and it's not being printed just yet....(@#%$&*).... My dad did a sculpture in Jamaica and every day he'd go down to the docks and ask if the boat that had his supplies was there yet and every day they'd say "Soon come mon, soon come." which they eventually realized meant "might be tomorrow, might be next month."
Status on the second graphic novel?
Soon come.

knitting insted of inking

HappyGoth has been knitting for years. She came with me to visit my family and we went to a yarn store and my mom and I really liked this sweater that was there. The yarn lady said she wouldn't sell the sweater but she'd sell us the pattern. So Happy Goth is teaching me how to knit so that I can make my mom and I this sweeter. It's an easy pattern that's just some squares that are then sewn (or whatever) together. So I was knitting when I should have been inking. But I got a bunch of cartoons out of it.
"This is really tight."
"I'm sorry, it's my first time."

....sweeter...sweater... Logicaly, the sweet that you eat would be sweat...but logic doesn't enter into spelling.

Chicago

I've started to look up reference for my convention announcements. I image google searched Seattle and got the sky needle. Dallas was mostly the tv show and then the cowboy cheerleaders. Chicago was mostly the movie (other than skyline)... well it was when I drew this. Now I can't find the picture. But Richard Gere stands in the middle of the poster in his hat and suit. That's what I used for reference when I did the wizard Chicago announcement.

Kid overboard

Kate is my niece. I take her and her brother Lindon trick or treating every year except last when they moved up to Virginia with the rest of the family. A grownup was usually in charge of each kid when they went into the ocean. The first wave that hit I held tight to the board but forgot that the kid could come off. I didn't lose her but after that I had a firm hold on her arm too. My sister would KILL me if I lost her kid.

Beach with Family

Skyler didn't really say that. But each year before the family trip to the beach I try to exercise a bit more because if anyone is going to tell you that you have a fat ass, it's going to be your family.

cell on vibrate

No, I didn't do this but I think about it every time that thing buzzes.

kilt with ruffles

I didn't actually buy the kilt until later. They didn't have a black on sale and I was late to my next thing. They did size me and I got one online. Now I'm keeping an eye out for those hot pink ruffles.

model face

I love using black and white compressed charcoal at the same time. Whatever mistakes you make can be fixed and you can go really dark and really light. Chiaroscuro is my favorite; dark and light. The other side of that is sphumotu (sp) which is "like smoke". Look mom, I'm using vocab from my college education! See, that 25k a year was worth it.

But yeah, I got so into doing the face that I ignored the rest. Drawing white on black paper is an easy trick to get delicate details without much work. Just dot those eyes and the tip of the nose and you've got instant shiny.

oops

My apologies to anyone who read the comic before 10am today. I got the strips switched around. I've gotta put on the kilt before I start harassing the customers. No, I didn't walk around in just my undies but I was one step away.

Molesting Kilts

The reference photos for this strip can be found at
http://www.thedevilspanties.com/2008_emerald.html

panel two and three are a bit odd because one is the kilt worker and the other is TJ. Though these two look nothing alike, they both have the beard thing and eye wear and brown hair. They have similar distinguishing cartoon characteristics. I should have drawn panel three smaller but I really like the way that hand tucks under the kilt.

Model

I'm doing a life drawing class on tuesdays and the next couple sundays of art is going to come from this one model. I did another class a little over a year ago and she modeled for that one too;
http://www.thedevilspanties.com/portfolio_nude.html

observant

Pictures of this adventure can be seen here
http://www.thedevilspanties.com/2008_emerald.html

Poor Sarah has been edited out until later. Too many characters gets confusing and takes longer to draw. I only have four panels and limited dialog to set stuff up so things are simplified as much as possible.
I tried to get that fire escape undershot in the first panel but it didn't come out too well. I did pull the door directly from the photo. Little photo shop on it because a car was in the way.

Strange men in Dark Alleys

I landed in Seattle and called my friend Sarah who I was staying with.
Sarah "do you need a ride from the airport?"
Jen "no, a guy's picking me up."
Sarah "what guy?"
Jen "Some guy from the internet."
TJ is awesome and we e-mailed back and forth. But yeah, one of these days my luck is going to run out and I'm going to find myself down a dark alley...um, well, I'll find myself down a different dark alley.

and yes, firefox has spellcheck. ;)

uncircumcised

I go to a life drawing class once a week. The girl beside me is Gina who does the comic Red String and she manages Strawberry Comics (and she re-designed my website). She doesn't wear a red string, it's just from her story. And she doesn't have a strawberry shirt that I know if, but you get the idea. It wasn't until we were driving to dinner that night that she asked about the model. It's not often we get a male model much less one who is uncircumcised. I find it fascinating. You don't get to see that too often.

Stranded, then and now

The conversation in todays strip actually happened at Penguincon in Michigan. I was struck by the stark difference in culture represented by these two shows. In the early sixties (I think) a show about people stranded on an island is a comedy. Today a show about people stranded on an island is quite different. I wonder what that says about today's choice of entertainment.

Busy Drawing so I didn't get Drawing done.

I know I said I'd have everything inked today and I will, it'll just be later on in the day. I went to my drawing class on Tuesday and we kinda ran late...like around 1am late. But I got some awesome art done. I'll take a better picture later but this is from the camera on my phone.
PS. I came home from to find these perfect rice balls in the refrigerator with seasoning on the top. My roommate's been doing some creative cooking.

I got back from my friends wedding yesterday. It was six kindsa awesome. I got a ton of cartoons out of it. But I've still got the notes for cartoons from the Calgary show and Seattle still to pencil out first. Today I'm inking last weeks strips and then I'm doing seven more to cover when I leave for Akon in Texas on Thursday. The cartoons that are up now are about Penguincon in Michigan that I went to ... um... checking my convention page... I went to penguincon in April. I did a bunch more cartoons about it but I'm cutting down on the convention toons on the website. I'm saving them for the fourth graphic novel. I've got a stack of 160 cartoons penciled out that are all going in the graphic novel. Extra strips from thanksgiving and ren fairs and stuff.

deadline

aw crap, it's 3:30am and I haven't inked the cartoons yet. I've gotta get up at 5am to leave for a friends wedding. I'll be gone for a week and I did the cartoons to carry me through 'till I get back on Tuesday. The thing is, I penciled them but I haven't gotten a chance to ink them. I could ink them before I left but then there would be no sleep before a 10 hour drive. A dead artist doesn't update as well as a live one. So there will be pencils for a week. They'll get inked when I get back. Keenspot has an automatic updating system so I always do a bunch of strips before I leave for a show or trip and upload them all. This blog thing doesn't do that.... It might but I'm too tired to figure it out and I've gotta be up in....an hour and a half. well crap. This should be interesting. Don't worry, Happy Goth is coming with me and she's probably sleeping right now. She'll poke me if the car starts drifting off of the road. oh, the pencils will be up on ...um...thursday till tuesday.

Alanna Rocks

Thanks to "The woman who rides like a man" and Wendi Pini it never occurred to me that girls couldn't do comics. Alanna taught me that you can do anything. It may be hard as hell and kick your ass six ways to Sunday, but you can do it. And yes, I was "princess pink" with a pink dress that my mom made for me (or did dad make it?) with a silver star on the front. My older brothers still don't forgive me for the damage that I did to their comic collection. I was flipping through comics before I could read. And I still have Bunny. I think he's still got the red velvet dress that Dad made him to cover up all the batches and seems. I shared a big blue wrought iron bed with my two little sisters. We tied little hammocks to the bed for our dolls. One doll torso (I think it was Evil Lyn) was permanently tied with some yarn that we couldn't get off, the knots were so small and tight.

Look at my words!

Yeah, todays strip is a huge copout. I was going to use the sketches from my drawing class anyway and figured I'd point out the blog box. I realized that it was about an inch farther down on the screen than most people scroll to. I'm slowly putting all the sketches from the art class up on Etsy (I'm just copying Danielle Corsetto's coolness) but they're nude, so no peeking at work....I wonder if the nipples in todays art is pushing it as far as "public" display goes.

IK the Troll just sent me a link to his Troll Panties

The dragon guy was hot. I cheated a little and traced the photos. I was strapped for time! There are six other ren fest cartoons that I need to finish that are going into the book (book 4 I think) that I have to get done along with mondays comic.... and I should dig something up for sunday.
check out other pictures of our trip to Ga. Ren Fest http://www.thedevilspanties.com/2008_renfest.html

I saw the Troll King but I didn't actually talk to him. (there's the "semi" part of the "semi-autobiographical")
He e-mailed me later to invite me for tea next time I was there. It's the Georgia Renaissance fair. You can find a bunch of awesome pictures of him on his myspace page. And he does have two adorable kittens.

blog is up, can I go to bed now?

That took waaaay too long. Three days to find the program (because I'm lazy), an hour to find the code to get it onto the website, and six hours to hammer the website into submission. I still want to figure out how to get that title moved over.... but my brain stopped working.
I put some new images up on the store page.
The first graphic novel is in the store now
The second graphic novel is in printer limbo. But don't worry, I have sticks that I'm going to beet them with. The second book will be out even if I have to cut down the trees to print it on.

stoopid coding

computers, technology, doesn't like me. Coding feels like hammering a circle into a square. I found a blog program, dug up the code to put it on a website, and posted it....only my webpage refuses to recognize that it exists. Oh, it'll let me play with the html but it won't upload it. I got it up by moving the code around on the page. The internet finaly said "shit, she's not going away. Fine, fine! we'll let you use that."
....sonovabitch... it's gone again....hold on, where'd I put that mallet?

The begining

Now I just have to figure out how to get this onto my website. ah, the complicated life of a low tech person in a high tech world...doesn't help that I make my living from doing a webcomic and I know nothing about website code.