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.

Short and Sweet Today

Posted by jupe

I spent all my time this morning working on the inks in my daily drawing that I’ve left very little time for a shower and to get ready. Today, I have High Tea at the Embassy with the art ladies of Toronto, hosted by the lovely Meghan Hendricks and Keiren Templeton-Smith. I’m going to bring some tea along to share since I couldn’t bake that Spanish Bar Cake last night. I had no icing sugar for the frosting and you can’t have that cake without the frosting. It’s against the law.

After tea I have a meeting for Toronto Comix Vol 2. I’ll either be assigned as an artist or an inker. I think I’d prefer just ink and lettering, as I have a lot on my plate, but I’ll take whatever is given to me.

It should be a nice day of just me and not having to be a full time mom. Those days feel really far between right now so I appreciate them when I can.

I had a nice long talk on the phone with Carol Shaw, who is like a second mom to me. I miss her terribly. I hope that maybe we can visit Thunder Bay this summer. We’ll see, yes?

Anyway, happy Sunday, everyone!

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. 😛

I just love Thursdays.

Posted by jupe

Thursday is class day. I love, love, LOVE Thursdays. I’ll be meeting with Fred for dinner before class today and joining us will be Greg and possibly Tom and Mandy from class. I’ll head downtown earlier than usual, too, since I haven’t seen Fred in effing forever. So, I’m thinking ramen noodles, as the weather has been getting colder lately. A nice, hot soup will help warm the soul and fuel the brain — and if we have time, we can stop at the tea house for a cuppa before class.

All good.

Last night’s dinner was a simple one. Alex came home early from work because he was feeling like shit. I made wonton soup and pork buns for dinner and that went over really well. Everyone seemed decently satisfied with dinner. I passed out on the couch before the kids went to bed and Alex didn’t disturb me. I woke up to find out he was watching Man of Steel, then we watched the rest together and finished the night with Star Trek TNG. We watched Chain of Command parts 1 and 2. Part 2 is probably my favourite TNG episode. Picard rocks.

On the drawing front, I finished the Leona turnaround for today’s daily drawing. I’ll be sure to add it to the appropriate folders. We’ll see whether or not I do more turnarounds tonight, I don’t know. I’m equally dreading and looking forward to drawing Dog. That’s the only part I’m not overly confident about. I’ll have to find all sorts of reference stuff to work with so I’m comfortable with it.

Today’s big chore is dishes. I want Alex to be able to make dinner for the boys when I’m gone. Hope, hope, hope.

Speaking of hope, I hope Ty read my script. I wanna start on my thumbnails asap. 🙂

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.

Chugging along.

Posted by jupe

Well, I was up fairly late last night writing, but I got a bunch of kinks worked out. The story is coming along really nicely. Hopefully, I’ll have the script done by Thursday so I can ask Ty what he thinks of it and for any ideas. The story has really come a long way since I pitched it to the class and I’m actually really proud of myself.  I’ve thought of a bunch of great angles and shots to draw and I’ll be headed down to the area I need to draw to take photos soon. I want to have all the pencils for my story done by Christmas.

And all of this is thanks to Ty’s writing class. If any of my readers are from Toronto and if any of you want to draw or write comics, take Ty’s course. It’s worth it a hundred times over.

In other news, we had a family game day, yesterday. Nick played Wii Sports and Wii Play all day. He loves the mini tanks game the most and is getting better and better at it. We ended game day with Mario Kart.  I think Sunday will be the game day if he’s had a good week and that Wii would be a good reward for when he finishes his homework.

His reading is coming along really nicely. He tries to read everything he sees and gets it right a lot of the time. I’m really proud of him.

Rusty’s speech is also coming, though slowly. He’s picking up more words. I worked on and finished his word charts yesterday. We have a schedule now and a “I want” chart so he can tell me what he wants without screaming at me.

I’ve decided on life drawings for today for the daily drawing. I drew Russell from an existing photo because he’s a squirmy little bastard who won’t stay still. It looks like him, so I feel successful today in my art.

 

Today’s tea was Canadian, EH? from T by David. Super smooth and yummy.

 

Today’s agenda is pretty chill. Nick is home from school with a mild fever and a sore throat so I imagine the tv and the cartoons will be going all day. That’s all right. At least I can get some things done.  if I get a chance, I’ll head up to see my knitting friends later and drop off their popcorn orders from Nick’s scout troupe.

On the knitting project front, I have one doll dress to make, the brunette doll, a dwarven battle bonnet, a cowl, something for my mother, and a mystery gift for Ty. I’ll post pics of the projects after Christmas so that nobody is inadvertently spoiled.