It just HAD to snow…

Posted by jupe

It feels like every time we get really bad weather, I have to go to class. Of all days, it’s always when I am going to downtown Toronto in the middle of rush hour.  As I mentioned yesterday, we got some snow. By some snow, I mean 15cm of snow. For my American readers, that’s about six or seven inches.  Add, on top of that, the wind blowing it around.

It made for some really treacherous driving, as the roads were slippery and the plows can’t be everywhere at once.  I left home at 3:30, got Nick from school, and got to my husband’s workplace at 4:15. After that, it was actually surprisingly smooth sailing.  I was really pessimistic at first, but I suppose that more people than not decided that they’d stay at home and NOT drive.  All the better for me. Greg and I got to the Korean restaurant at 5:15 and waited an hour for the others to show up. Then, it was a matter of SHOVELING our food into our pieholes and arriving at class just when it was supposed to begin. At least we made it.

I got some really good feedback on my story and have some significant changes to make. I’ll sit down with Alex this week and make those changes. Also on the list, lots of stuff. Here’s a checklist, mostly for my own reference.

 

  • Work on Red Surge inks
  • Work on pages for Condo story
  • Get prints made for the table at comic con this Sunday
  • assemble craft for Nick’s teacher
  • draw picture for Nick’s principal
  • knit cowl for Nick’s librarian
  • knit for my mother
  • knit for my cousin’s son
  • knit for my niece
  • laundry — dear god, the laundry
  • dining room table
  • drive out to a secret location to pick up a secret gift for Alex
  • go giftmas shopping for the kids and get gifts for Alex from the kids
  • bake cookies with Nick

So much to do with such little time. So much to do that I don’t wanna do it… but it has to get done.

Off I go to knit.

Still Ploughing on!

Posted by jupe

Well, I’ve finished some art today. Page 1 of The Red Surge is finished, all inks and lettering complete. I need to do some of page 2 today, and I need to do some knitting in the worst way.  I also need to draw a picture for Nick’s principal sooner than later and finish his teacher’s Christmas craft.

Oy, vey. Have I taken on too much?

It snowed last night; how rude. About a foot of snow on the ground and probably an extra hour to and from my class as a result of it. I’ll be leaving home right after Nick gets out of school and braving the terrible drivers. Snow, I can deal with. People? Not so much.

So, yesterday a few things happened.

I spent the day drawing and inking, as I usually do, and Rusty didn’t nap. We went to get Nick, then went to CostCo because Nick had no more snack foods for his school lunches. Once that was taken care of, we went home, only to find that the gifts that my mother had sent us were left on our doorstep by UPS without a signature or confirmation. Just left out there for anyone to take, should they desire. What a piss off.  I brought them inside, then I dropped off the groceries, and then we went back to school, the three of us, because Nick had his Christmas concert.  Alex was stuck in traffic because people are morons but made it JUST in time for Nick’s performance.  I didn’t properly videotape it with the phone because I was distracted, but we amusingly discovered that he’s the kid who yells the lyrics of the sounds, rather than singing them. It was adorable.  He was also very into the choreography and whole ordeal. Such a good kiddo.

During the show, Rusty decided that he was gonna be a terror, more than usual.  He got out of his seat, pushed past the people in the aisle, and made his way right up to the stage where the kids were doing their show.  One of the teachers grabbed him and brought him back to me, then the lovely librarian took him to the kindergarten room so we could actually watch the show.  Later during the performances, she had brought him back to the gym where the Principal was keeping an eye on him.  Unfortunately for him, he took his eyes off of Russell for ten seconds, during which time Russell made another dash for the stage, and was once again apprehended.

I was just glad it wasn’t my fault that time, and thankful that the little bugger didn’t make it ON the stage, as he knows exactly how to get up there.

We had Harveys for dinner afterward because I had a coupon and Nick took FOREVER to eat his burger. I’m talking, 40 minutes to eat a kid sized burger. Bloody hell, kid, seriously? We spent way too long there cos all Nick did was fuck around.

The last stop was the dollar store for some candy canes for our trees and for gifts.

When we got home, Alex rushed in and I took care of getting the kids inside. One of our letters in the mailbox was from the dentist’s office and they had misspelled our last name, meaning I couldn’t mail in the claim. That, coupled with the kids being wild animals, I was happy to get Rusty and Nick ready for bed. After the kids were in bed, Alex and I worked on my homework and I think we have a nicely solid story in mapped format.  We’ll see what kind of subplot Ty will throw in there for us. Tonight, if class isn’t cancelled, Ty will also be teaching us how to write a roast, which will also be awesome. I can’t wait 😀

The last thing I did before bed was work more on The Red Surge. Sometime while drawing, the layers got merged down. I didn’t notice until I was out of Undos. OMG, I was PISSED. I put the work down for awhile and played PVZ until bedtime. This morning, I rectified the mistake and finished the work.

All good, all good.

Oh, I also stepped on what used to be a banana, all mushy and cold and slimy, on a chair which I was resting my foot on. A gift from Rusty.

How thoughtful.

I almost forgot again.

Posted by jupe

And forgetting to blog would’ve made me a bad jupe.

Yesterday was a combination of good and bad. Good in that I got a lot of drawing done, as well as my blog post, and good in that I went to class. More on class later.

First, the bad.

Nick had a day at school. He got it into his head that it was a good idea to tell all the girls in his class that they were inferior and that boys are better, and then after getting a talking to about compassion by the teacher, did it again. He was in charge of handing out papers to the class and only gave the boys paper. He upset one of the girls so much, she went into hysterics.

SO, he spent the rest of the afternoon in the office, which I approve of. There’s no need for my son to become a pigheaded woman hater. He’s only six and such habits must be broken early. I’ll be keeping an eye on him at school.

Aside from that, the only other bad thing is the sheer amount of time I had to sit in traffic yesterday. I left home around 4:10 and after dropping the kids off at Alex’s work, then picking up Greg, I finally parked the car around 5:45.  Then, after class, after dropping Mandy off at Union, driving in Traffic where everyone loses their shit and forgets how to drive, and dropping Greg off, I got home an hour after leaving. Thursdays involve 2.5 hours in the car to drive only 62km, round trip.

BLARGH.

But aside from that, pretty good day. My class read their pitches and we all voted on the best ones. Next week, we must have 17 pages worth of a story map and a story bible all done and then Ty will teach us both sub plots AND then, later, roasts. We will get to roast Ty. OMG, I can’t wait! My class picked my Gimmick story. The Sidekicked story got a few votes, too, but it’s too much like a story that was put out in the past… and my Wavebreak story got almost no votes, which is unfortunate — but I’m super happy being able to work on the first issue of Gimmick. I’ve been wanting to refine it for quite some time and will finally be able to do so.

More updates on that as it comes along.

Also, for anyone wondering about Strays, I’m still working on it. I need to revise the script with the suggestions Ty made but I’ve been so busy lately with my daily drawings and with other life crap. It’s coming along and I’ll post again as soon as I’m ready to go.

TGIF, BITCHES!

Being sick is balls.

Posted by jupe

Yep. Still sick. I woke up with barely any voice and extremely congested. Nick woke up before we woke up and decided that it would be a great idea to let his brother out of their room to terrorize my living room. They ate candy, advent calendar chocolate, and THEN some yogurt. Sigh. At least they got SOMETHING healthy to eat.

Anyway, I had a talk with Nick, without freaking at him, and told him that the advent calendar chocolate was something we eat after dinner as a special treat, and that it was something he should do with his brother and with mom and/or dad. He seemed to understand, but the real question is, does he give a shit? Or will he just do what he wants, instead? Guess what I think.

I finally finished up my Daily Drawing colouring. It was pretty fun to colour the city in the picture. Would I do it like that again? Probably. It’s more challenging to do it by hand than to use a gradient tool, but that’s partially why I use SAI. Photoshop was used at the end only to adjust the colour balance to make the viewer feel like the character really is outside.

What happened yesterday? Stuff. Not a whole lot. I was miserably sick all day and freezing cold at the end of the day. Alex worked late again so I had to take care of bringing Nick to scouts. He got a promotion and now has a blue beaver tail on his hat. Good for him. Alex then subjected me to a cut version of Episodes 1 through 3. It was nearly 3 fucking hours long. Good god. He told me it would only be  90 minutes. So, here I am, watching this, wondering why these 90 minutes are taking so goddamn long to pass by.

I ended the night by playing some Civ V. I do enjoy the BNW expansion.

So, for today, I need to do some cleaning and I need to take Nick to a dentist… and if I can find a babysitter for Rusty, Alex won’t have to leave work to watch him. We’ll see if I can find someone.

Today was day 2 of my tea advent calendar. I got to try Organic Vanilla Chai. It was actually quite lovely for a black tea. I didn’t have to add anything to it in order to enjoy it. I usually find black tea fairly bitter and add a bit of sugar to cut that… but there was enough sweetened ingredients in the tea to make up for that. Organic Vanilla Chai gets a thumbs up.

Caught a touch of the lurgy.

Posted by jupe

Well, yesterday was fun, despite feeling the beginning of a cold of sorts.  I went to tea with the ladies at the Comic Book Embassy and brought my spinning wheel. We hung out and chatted for about 2 1/2 hours before I had to go to the Toronto Comix meeting. I was also chastised for not updating Tumblr. SO, that means I need to start crossposting my stuff to Tumblr. I have no problems with that. Thanks, BC, for poking me about it.

The meeting ended rather early and I opted not to grab a bite with Andrew and Malcolm and …was it Mark? (I can’t remember) so I could pick up some food on the way home for poor sick Alex and the boys. I got a couple wonton soups for us and we enjoyed a nice meal. I bit into a hot chili by accident and my mouth was on fire for a little while, but I did eventually recover and was able to taste and enjoy the rest of my meal.

After dinner, I noticed that my throat was getting even more sore and I started coughing a lot… I was also suddenly extremely cold, so I bundled up until the kids were due to go to bed and Alex and I put the kids to bed together. Then, it was warm up on the couch time. My slippers fit Alex’s feet better than my own feet. Balls. I’ll still wear them but that’ll be itching at the back of my mind whenever I put them on.

I took some Tylenol Cold and Fever before I went to bed and couldn’t fall asleep, much like the night before. After some time passed, I eventually fell asleep, but spent the majority of the night tossing and turning. Nick woke us up and I’m sure I had a fever. Shivering like crazy and too hot at the same time. Very uncomfortable. Alex opted to go to work since he slept his fever off and I bundled up, drank tea, and worked on the daily drawing.

I must say… Manga Studio 5’s perspective tool? MWAH! Love it. I can actually colour the picture tomorrow and we’ll see how Kitai’s final piece looks.

Today’s task: fold some laundry, since I won’t be attending knit night.

Hope my knitting friends have a great time, and that everyone has a pleasant Monday.

A nice, slow day.

Posted by jupe

Well, our plans fell through for the Santa Claus Parade, and I send my deepest condolences to Lisa for her family’s loss… part of me is a little bit happy that I can relax and do some stuff around the house. Alex and I are going to set up the new bunk beds for the boys! Nick’s been chomping at the bit to get the new bunk beds set up so that he can sleep on the top like a real big boy.

I haven’t started my revisions to the script yet, either. I spent a lot of time knitting yesterday and after Nick pulled a huge bullshit move at school, I will be adding yet another name to the list of things I need to do.  What did he do? He stole the librarian’s personal keys for her car and house on Thursday and she had to call for assistance. $500. Cos of my kid.  Anyway, he owned up to it on Friday and I brought him home to find the keys, which he had stashed away like a little bastard. At least he could find them.

So, because I don’t have $500, I will be knitting the librarian a lovely winter accessory with my own handspun yarn. She never asked for any reimbursement or compensation and she is a very forgiving lady, but I think it would be sort of an asshole move not to do anything for her.

When Nick got home yesterday, he had to clean up a big mess and didn’t get to watch tv. He still has that task today, still with no tv, and he will not be getting any tv until he finishes cleaning up that toy room. It’s his and his brother’s mess and he needs to learn to clean up after himself. He knows how, but just won’t, because kids.

It was my day to sleep in and it wasn’t very restful. The whole morning was a combination of Rusty screaming and Nick tattling on Rusty for stupid shit that doesn’t fucking matter. SO, I got up and brewed some tea and did a daily drawing.

About today’s drawing: consider it a sketch. I’ll refine it tomorrow and eventually colour it. That character holds a special place in my heart and I have always loved drawing her.

Anyway, I have shit to do today, including making lunch for the demonspawn and then getting stuff out of the boys room to set up the new beds. I’m gonna be sore tomorrow.

More work to do.

Posted by jupe

Well, I had class last night, and it looks like this week will be a writing-heavy week. No worries, though; I’ll still do my daily drawings.  I have some more sketches to upload, too. Expect to see a lot of dog drawings, as I’m not that great at drawing animals and I’ll need the practice if this story is going to be about, well, a dog. Ty gave me some amazing feedback on my story, and my friend Nelson gave me some feedback, too. I have some writing to do!

In the meantime, there are the usual chores. Dishes; laundry; sweeping; cooking. Alex had to be at work this morning at 7, so I had the kids by myself this morning. I got Nick all set and ready to go. Today was crazy hat day at school, so I let him wear his dad’s Dwarven Battle Bonnet. I’ll grab a picture later cos I forgot my phone when I went to drop him at school.

This weekend was supposed to be really busy but half of the big plans dropped. Alex’s step sister’s grandmother died and they had to cancel. I hope we can reschedule something with them before we all forget, like always.

So, anyway, today will be spent doing some chores, doing some drawing, and doing a lot of writing. As soon as this blog post is over, the drawing will begin.

I hope all my American friends had a lovely Thanksgiving. Try not to die today on Black Friday. 😛

Yawn.

Posted by jupe

I don’t have a whole lot to report on today. Yesterday was spent mostly drawing. Today’s daily drawing took me awhile to do, too. I sketched out some quick pencils for Taryn’s turnaround yesterday and filled them in online today. I’m pretty happy with the turnaround of her body. I’ll end up doing some turnarounds for her head, eventually, too. Also, I’ll need turnarounds of her parents and her girlfriend. The vet isn’t featured nearly as much; only a page or two. I think that everyone else needs a turnaround, sadly.

On the agenda: photos of downtown Toronto in the areas specified within the story.. I need to photograph some houses, a convenience store, and a place to eat.  Oh, and the park. I also have to do an animal study of geese and Dog. Dog’s going to be a lot of fun to draw in the story, I think. He’s a vibrant and fun character.

Yesterday, we had chicken fried rice for dinner. That’s something I ought to post the recipe for, as my family goes apeshit over it. There are never any leftovers when I make fried rice. I have no idea for today, though. One thing I do know is my daily drawing took so long to do, I won’t be able to hit the gym while getting Rusty watched. It’s tempting to hit the gym in the evening and have the kids watched THEN, instead, but dinner’s always a pill to make and feed the boys in time. It’s hard when Alex works so much.

Ah, well.

I also have to write that tragedy today. I have absolutely no idea what to do for it. My mind has been completely wrapped around Strays.  I should be hearing from Ty about the script tomorrow. I hope he likes it and that he can offer me some suggestions for it, later.

Writing machine!

Posted by jupe

Not a very well tuned machine, I’ll admit, but still, I was a writing machine of some kind. I finished scripting my story! I breezed through Acts IV and V last night and edited the whole thing.  Finally, I sent off the script for a professional’s opinion.

In the meantime, it’s time to bust out the sketch pad and start doing preliminary sketches to flesh out the characters a bit more. When I come up with something I like, I’ll do my turnarounds.  Then? Thumbnail pages. Lots and lots of thumbnail pages. Ten thumbnail pages, to be precise.  I’m still unsure as to whether I should do them traditionally or digitally. My heart says traditional so I might just follow my heart — however, I’ll need another book of comic template paper.

The story has gone through a few revisions and has really evolved from the original. I’m pretty sure I haven’t any glaring plotholes, but Ty will surely let me know if that, happens.

 

So, in life news, I had both boys all day, yesterday, and I have both boys all day, today, too. Nick has a sore throat and a really nasty cough and I don’t want him spreading it around at school. I hate when people send their kids to school all disgusting and contagious. I don’t want to be that guy. So, all day, Nick was pretty good, and Rusty, too. When I put Rusty down to nap yesterday, I took a snooze on the couch and Nick snuggled up on me. I completely zonked out, only to wake up around 5pm to apocalypse winds outside and a black sky. The trees looked like they were in a mosh pit and all I could think was, “No way in hell I’m driving in that right now.”  See, I drive a tiny little Corolla and I’m certain that I would’ve been airbourne.

So, I waited until the wind died down by feeding the boys a dinner of chicken rosemary ravioli with red peppers and a butter sauce, then packed them into the car and dropped some popcorn off for my friends at knit night.  I miss them so much. I can’t go to knitting again until the new year because of Alex’s deadlines.  After dropping off the popcorn, the boys and I got some Harvey’s and brought it to Alex at work.  It was past bedtime, but that’s okay.  I ate with Alex, then drove home to put the kids to bed.

He didn’t get home until 11pm.

So, what did I do in the meantime? Felt completely miserable and lonely. This sucks. Did I draw? No. Should I have drawn? Yeah.

Blargh.

Anyway, today I have to take Nick to the dentist. He needs fillings. It’s only recently that he’s actually brushing his teeth like he’s supposed to, so here’s hoping that helps with dental bills. Alex is working late late again. Maybe today I’ll push past my loneliness and draw some.

Hope, hope, hope.