Page 24 of Zheph Skyre is Up

I have uploaded page 24 of my Zheph Skyre web comic. I am truly hoping I that I can keep up with this schedule I have and provide the next page on Monday, as well as finish the animation for the 11 Second Club for this month. If things don't work out, I will have the schedule go back to the Monday and Thursday schedule instead of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule.

Here Jahovac finally reveals his face. I didn't give this character a last name until just recently. His first name is based on the name "Jahova" for "God," and his last name "Fuerza" is the Spanish word for "Strength." So he is a man with the "Strength of a God." I gave Jahovac dark skin partially because I wanted to show that there are people of other ethnicity besides white and whatever our protagonist is. It is true that people in Anime can have eyes and hair of any color imaginable, but in my web comic I will only do that for people who are of a make-believe race. I suppose I could have made Zheph's skin color something else as well, but I have reasons for my choices.

Zheph is not interested nor dreads combat. Can you imagine why...?

Early Zheph Skyre Page is Uploaded

Last night I posted page 23 of my Zheph Skyre web comic! I will therefore post page 24 tomorrow. I am excited that I have managed to update my web comic earlier than my predetermined schedule, especially considering that I have been working very hard on my animation as well. It maybe because my latest two pages have less details that I had to draw in them. I might be changing my update schedule to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It would be nice to get this story made faster. If I can't, then it will resume on Mondays and Thursdays only.

After witnessing that the sword this man is indeed solid metal, Zheph still appears to be quite cynical with no sign of fear. This mercenary is removing his hood and it appears to surprise Zheph.

20x200.com

My mother gave me this article to read from Better Homes and Gardens. If she didn't tear this sheet and write my name on it, I would have never even seen it because I never read Better Homes and Gardens. I myself don't usually have a need to.

However, this article is about Jen Beckman, founder and CEO of 20x200.com. Supposedly this article says that Beckman had started an online gallery for homeowners searching for inexpensive art and new artists seeking exposure. I visited this website to see if that were true, but currently they are not taking any submissions. It appears that this website company is currently stocked with artwork. However, the article does say that the website will have a rotating selection, so eventually they might need more artwork. Nevertheless, I submitted an email with a link to my portfolio website attached to it.

I am not entirely sure 20x200.com will accept my current work, as the website doesn't have fantasy or science fiction artwork as a category. It is a website for home friendly artwork.

Character Head Sketches

Here are numerous sketches of characters' heads that will appear in my Zheph Skyre web comic series. The top eight are among the main cast of characters. The bottom three will appear here and there at times. I do not want to give too much away about these characters, so I'll just leave it at that.

Page 22 of Zheph Skyre is Up

I have uploaded page 22 of my Zheph Skyre web comic. Jahovac reveals that he wields a giant sword. There are a lot of characters in popular Anime and video games that use humungous swords comparable to the size of the character's body like this one. This trend was most likely started with the protagonist, Guts, from the Anime and Manga series "Berserk." Primarily, it shows that the character is unbelievably strong. Although I agree that the strength of a character is important in a fight scene, it is not necessarily the determining factor of who will win...

Armor of Vices and Virtues Part 2 & More Weapon Sketches

Here I have a sketch drawing of the Chest Plates of Lust and Chastity as well as the Capes of Gluttony and Temperance. I also drew two different types of swords and a possible combination of the two. All of them will appear in my Zheph Skyre web comic series.

Page 21 of Zheph Skyre is Uploaded

I have uploaded page 21 of my Zheph Skyre web comic. Jahovac is making his appearance, and the first thing he says is a joke about Zheph Skyre's height. I know that this is an old joke with Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist, but I had started creating this character before I ever knew of Full Metal Alchemist and Zheph was short then. There is a very good reason why I wanted to make him shorter than most people, but that will have to wait until later...

200th Post Inverted Sketch!

This is the 200th post I have made on this blog. I am surprised that I have written this many blogs since November 2011.

Here is a sketch page from my sketchbook. As you can see, I scanned it with inverted gray scale colors. I thought it would look more interesting. I might do this with some other sketches or certain pages for my web comic series.

In this sketch I have drawn some more gadgets for the protagonist of my web comic, and I have drawn half of a demon skull. It is just another idea for a possible web video series where I would be a Rock/Metal critic. It would make the flash files much more easier to animate.

Layout Sketches

Here is a sketch of the layout of Zheph's underground home, and Zheph's steam punk carriage. I know I haven't shown these yet in the web comic, but these things will appear when I get around to it.

For Zheph's home, I am keeping it quite small and it is filled with necessities, tools, books, and experiments.

Zheph's steam carriage has a basic shape and has only three wheels. I decided to make the steam powered parts more visible than in his other steam powered vehicle.

Page 20 of the Zheph Skyre Webcomic is Up!

The 20th page of my Zheph Skyre web comic is uploaded. Right now I am a little uneasy because I seem to be running behind schedule on a few things. Recently I have been hanging out with friends and a girl that which I feel as if I have been missing out on lately. I have had fun times playing with Puerto Rico friends and having a date with a girl at Red Robbin, but for the next few days I have to buckle down. I am positive I will still have the next page of this web comic done on time.

Robot Chicken

I find Seth Green's, Matthew Senreich's,  Douglas Goldstein's, and  Tom Root's Robot Chicken to be one of the most hilarious animated shows I have ever seen. My friends and I have often made funny references to memorable clips from certain episodes. Adult Swim should have more cartoon shows like this, instead of repeats of Family Guy and American Dad, as well as cartoon shows with horrible animation and unfunny jokes. Even the live action shows are really bad.

It is a stop motion animation show that is about to begin it's sixth season on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Each episode is less than 15 minutes long, but there is a lot of good quality humor in there. In fact, I think Robot Chicken has remained strong while Family Guy is getting progressively worse. Honestly, Family Guy was best before it had to be brought back onto the air, and as time went on the jokes became less funny, in tune with the story, and some jokes just dragged on for way too long. I think it might have to do with the fact that Seth MacFarlane trying to work on three different shows, and other projects including making guest appearances on Seth Green's show! Robot Chicken is what Family Guy wants to be, a viarity show of random jokes in completely unpredictable cercumstances.

Page 19 of Zheph Skyre

I have uploaded page 19 of my Zheph Skyre web comic! I finally have the protagonist reveal his face, but since he is talking to a former friend, I don't think he should state his name. I will save that for later. I wanted to have Jahovac's reaction face in this frame because I wanted to show how much Zheph has managed to piss him off.

I think it is too early for this web comic to be popular, but I know it has great potential! I only have 19 pages, but that is a steady start!

New at WAM: Kennedy to Kent State and 20 Century American Drawings

On Saturday September 29th at the Worcester Art Museum, there will be an exhibition opening for Kennedy to Kent State. This gallery will have photographs from America from 1958 to 1975. These photographs include the presidency and assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, the American space program to the moon, and the antiwar movement and counterculture.

These images are from the Museum's permanent collection, and this gallery will be open until February 3rd, 2013.

A gallery that just opened recently at the Worcester Art Museum is 20th Century American Drawings. It includes works on paper highlighting movements of Realism, Regionalist Art, Abstract Expressionism, and Post-Modernism.

These images are from "Access: Worcester Art Museum Magizine" and an invitation from the Worcester Art Museum.

Three Dragon Sketch

This is a sketch I made of three dragons fighting. Primarily, it is a Malevolent Dragon (Shadow element) fighting against a Blaze Dragon (Fire element) and a Copper Dragon (Metal element). For some reason, I felt like drawing a dragon fight scenario with more than just two dragons and of multiple elements. I believe I have succeeded in making something different from my usual sketches. These are more dragons that will appear in my Zheph Skyre web comic series, and I will make a colored final piece of this too.

Page 18 of Zheph Skyre and Aftermath of Britany's Wedding

Here is page eighteen of my Zheph Skyre web comic. There was a lot of exposition that I wanted to get out of the way, and Zheph's speech here seemed like the perfect opportunity. I had to get the fact known that Jacques and Zheph started a gang together, but then Zheph quit it. Now Jacques keeps trying to get Zheph back by any possible means. I do think it is a little weird that I won't reveal Zheph's face in this web comic until the 19th page, but it should make more sense all together in the end.

My cousin Britney's wedding was this past Saturday, and it started out fun. There were quite a few relatives from both the bride's and the groom's side that were there, even a few of my cousins that usually can't visit due to plane ticket expenses. There was a whole assortment of candy at one table. There was a Margaretta spout as well as beer and jello shots in coolers. We were served half a grilled chicken each for the main coarse. It was a beautiful day to start with, but then there was the occasional light sprinkle of rain. Everything was beautiful.

Unfortunately, my Uncle Carl, Britney's father, collapsed from dehydration. We weren't sure what was wrong at the time, so everyone was distraught as the ambulance drove him to the hospital. When the doctor called the house, we were all relieved. Sadly the wedding ended there, but here's to my cousin Britney's and her husband Ross's happiness! May you share an everlasting love.

Cousin's Wedding and Father's Birthday

Tomorrow (or later today) is my cousin Britney's wedding. I am looking forward to it.

Today was my father's birthday. We gave him gifts, and he spent the evening with my mom. We will celebrate it more on Sunday when my grandparents and uncle come over to visit and watch the football game.

Page 18 of Zheph Skyre is Uploaded

I have uploaded the next page of my Zheph Skyre web comic. Here we see the gang leader try to appeal to the protagonist in order to regain him as a fellow member. Unfortunately, our protagonist obviously doesn't trust him...

Samurai 7

I have finished watching Casshern Sins on Netflix recently since it appears too late at night on Adult Swim on Saturdays and I always have work the next day. Casshern Sins is alright overall as an action Anime series, but there were just some very weird dialogue that didn't make much sense. I had also watched all of Afro Samurai, and that is also a really good action Anime series. It is very short though.

(This image is from fanpop.com)

A series that I have been enjoying a lot is Samurai 7. It is a very good action Anime series with some very interesting characters and a very intriguing plot.

This story takes place in a futuristic world where many samurai have become bandits and pilot giant machines to take rice, people, and other things from the peasants. Three peasants from a village journey into the city in order to hire a real samurai in order to defeat the bandits. It is rather difficult because the only payment they have to offer is the rice they harvest. They find Shimada Kanbei, a wise and very talented samurai, Okamoto Katsushiro, a young and inexperienced samurai in training, and Kikuchiyo, a cyborg samurai whose only talent seems to be immense physical strength. Shimada Kanbei has determined that they will require seven samurai in total in order to fight the bandits. From there, many interesting encounters occur.

Samurai 7 is also now playing on Adult Swim, but at a very late time.

11 Second Club Sketch for September

 I have decided to enter the September competition for the 11 Second Club. I know that will mean that I will have a lot on my plate, but since the free months at the Worcester Art Museum are over it should die down quite a bit before the winter. Besides that, I have already started great progress with the new animation.

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I decided to use a pig as a character for this particular animation because of the sound clip. The dialogue suggests that the character knows she is about to die, so I thought a farm animal would be the most appropriate to fit that description. Here's the animated storyboard:

Page 16 of the Zheph Skyre Web Comic and August's Failure Animation

Here is page 16 of my Zheph Skyre web comic. We get to see one of the hooded figure's face, and a small hint as to the relationship he has with the protagonist.

Also, here is my failure of the 11 Second Club animation for August. I realized why certain things weren't working well for me, and I realized a better method of going about it.

I tried to make the eyes a solid object and just move, rotate, and re-size them along with the pupils as a separate object. I should have put the eyes and the pupils together into a movie clip so that I could just edit the entire eyes without editing the pupils separately.

I also realized that I wasn't managing my time as well as with my previous animation, so I should be all set now.