long time no see!

 

listening to: Nu:Tone - DNB60 Mix

Holy crap, next year it would've been 10 years since I last posted anything here. I completely forgot to update here ever again, but I did continue with it on Tumblr (here). But yeah, this will be the final post here. I just didn't want to leave it so anticlimactically with that one depressing post.

Anyways, I've still continued to draw for all this time. The RSI is still a thing, but not as bad as when it first flared up. Without going into too much detail, this past year has been a significantly not great year. But things are settling down finally, and the thought finally occurred to me looking at my Google stuff to update here!

Currently I am slowly working on Glass Hearts chapter 13, am contemplating putting it on Webtoon as a mirror, and also battling whether I want to redraw chapters or just abandon that thought completely.

Anyways! If you're still a straggler on here, go follow me on the art blog on Tumblr for more current updates. I am also on Twitter (not calling it by the new name, nope, I've been on there too long to call it by something else) under the same username of Samuraitastic. Honestly, I don't remember how I came up with that other than: 1) showing my weebdom and 2) something like "fantastic" but it's me in a way? Yeah lol

Thank you for viewing this blog, if you're still here.

_〆(✪ ω ✪ )

Monique C. / Samuraitastic!

max suffering

Listening to: David Bowie - Letter To Hermione ♫♪

Why is the title of this entry "max suffering"? Because those are the two words that can describe August and September 2014 pretty well for me.

It's been a blur of waiting and trying to cope and feeling completely unlike myself. To help with recovering my wrist pain, I decided to stop drawing in late August. I started drawing again in late September. A full 30 days.

Drawing helped me with everything. So I became a mess. A crying, unhappy, feeling worthless mess. Not sure if it's something related to depression or anything, but dear lord one of the worst times in my life so far.

Eventually I found out that it's mild tendonitis. I have finished my second week of physical therapy and it has been getting better. Slowly, but it's progress. I'm still feeling a bit…out of sorts with myself, and being rusty at drawing is driving me nuts a little, but at least I can draw again. I suppose a new beginning for a new version of myself that I am not used to yet.

You can see some of the new drawings over at the Tumblr counterpart, but there'll be a sketch log with them on here sometime next week. I will be doing Inktober to get myself back in the flow, and therapy reasons. As for 24 Hour Comics Day, which is today, I don't think so. Maybe hourlies.

There's also something else I'm planning to make. I'll make a post when that happens. As for Glass Hearts, chapter 4 is being posted every week on Friday / Saturday at 4 PM EST. In fact, the next update is in a few minutes!

GH ch06 / progress part 3 // 25/32

Listening to: Steve Reich - The Desert Music IIIc: Slow ♫♪

(Claude Speeed's FACT mix has put me in the mood for some Reich goodness.)

 So I am now 7 pages away from finishing this chapter. The only thing in my way is my wrist, which has been hurting quite a bit lately. So I'm trying really hard to take a day or two or more to rest it. It's not easy when I have all the motivation in the world.

 As you can tell, there's a whole lot of feelings going on.

 Still the same page. More sad.

 Still love this song. Hyping myself up for the next EP coming out this fall!

 I loved drawing this panel so much. All while listening to some footwork.

 The other window is actually another page. Gotta keep those consistent tones!

You look like a mess, Charlie.

 That song is the last one of that Claude Speeed mix I mentioned. If you never listened to it before, you really really should. It's beautiful.

 Slowly mastering the hand pose of "holding a smartphone".

This was when I realized I forgot to add backlighting like chapter 3. Good thing I only had to go through 3 pages for that. Also that mix is pretty good. Erlend has good taste. (Though he sounded off-key singing along to Phoenix's "If I Ever Feel Better".)

So yeah, it'll probably be a little bit longer before the next update than the other times. It's so hard because 1) I really want to finish this, 2) I want to thumbnail, and 3) I want to write a lot.

But the wrist demands rest. So I will give it that.

GH ch06 / progress part 2 // 17/32

Watching: Vinesauce

 So wow, I did 8 pages in 4 days. I feel good about this. We're halfway there! Just 15 pages left and chapter 6 will finally be done! I really oughta scan the thumbnails I have done so that I'm prepared to move onto the next chapter.

 This is probably my favorite page of chapter 6 so far. You can kinda see the basic layout up there, but that's only half the reason why.

 Also more Joanna! And I finally made an image of tone references because it's a hassle typing in hex codes.

 #BANG

 I hate backgrounds. But I guess I'm getting better at them.

 Look that song up on Soundcloud. It's really really good and I am addicted to it.

And I listen to Vinesauce in the background sometimes. And I'd take breaks from inking to watch it (if it's live). Again, pixellated text because spoilers.

GH UPDATES + ch06 / progress part 1 // 09/32

It's time for a longly overdue update post!

Listening to: スーパーセックス永遠にSUPERSEX420
"スーパーセックス永遠にR A D I O" ♫♪

I've recently discovered another "wave" genre and getting myself immersed in it. If you ever wonder what vaporwave is: think 80s aesthetic with filter house and some Japanese sampling from time to time. This artist I'm listening to is one example of that.

Let's begin with website updates: the official website is posting chapter 3 still. The comic is also at Inkblazers.com, and chapter 2 is about to be done over there. So that's exciting!

Also I edited chapters 1-5 for the eventual self-publishing of volume 1, so that's also exciting. I think I did that last month. Yeah, I think I did.

 Anyways, earlier this month I got into more thumbnailing. I not only finished chapter 7 thumbnails (which took me forever and a half to do), but also chapters 8 and 9 really quickly. I got into a groove, that's all I can say. The screenshot above shows what my thumbnails typically look like (of course without the black panel borders.) Apparently this is more detailed than what people actually do, but eh - I can't imagine simplifying it more because I wouldn't be able to understand it.

I do my panel layouting and typesetting along with setting the thumbnail into the sketch folder before inking. Color-coded folders are the best thing ever. Also I don't think I planned on that background. Sometimes I let myself improv.

Fun fact: I have played the Touhou Project games. So I have a reasonable reason to be heavily into arrange albums.

Anyways, me looking for references.

 A lot of stuff happens in June (UNLIMITED BIRTHDAY WORKS), so I focused on that stuff rather than inking. So later that month, I finally touched the .psds.

 It was awkward going onto Google Images. For the first time, I used SafeSearch because oh man all I want is good references. This is my first time drawing a public restroom toilet, by the way.

 This is probably not what a public-bathroom-edition!toilet paper dispenser looks like, but I made an attempt anyway.

 Shoutouts to all my artist friends: you should try drawing a smartphone with lots of decorations and jewels on it.

No sense of mood whatsoever.

Finally listened to this album in full. It's aiight, but I need more listens to grasp what I think about it. My favorites are the title track and "High Ball Stepper".

 I've been addicted to Soundcloud lately and I've come across so many artists that I love now! Also I need to make a proper tone reference in image form already.

And finished!

As far as I can tell, I have all clear time to go forward with the next batch of pages!