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OK, my updating has been wonky, and will continue to be a little off for another few weeks. Reason one: my scanner went kaput and I got a new one. I'm still trying to get the hang of it though, so pics may look a little grainy or so until I do. Darn it. Reason two: Finals. Need I say more? Reason three: A lot of my artwork is going into finishing my next Rising Stars of Manga entry in time for the Jan. 11 due date. It'll be the first one I've done since starting this comic, and I've been working on it since August, so I'm excited. Reason four: Christmas break, with no scanner in sight at home. I hope to get enough backlog done for at least one update a week, if nothing else. Also, I can do the digital work with no problem from home, because I HAVE A NEW LAPTOP!! ^_^ I'm calling it Heart of Gold, because Windows Vista's just as random as that Hitchhiker's Guide ship, and I named the hard disk "Infinate Improbablility Drive" for kicks. I almost named my laptop "Harry Potter" due to the Hewlett Packard HP everywhere, but I've been getting more and moreannoyed with Rowlings and her series with every new "update" she throws out, so bag that. Despite Vista, this thing's a hecka lot more reliable than that Box of Evil that exists at home, so here's hoping.
So, new scanner, new laptop...oh yeah. ^_^ We're almost done with this date arc that's been going since...ever, so expect some fun stuff soon. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!
New voting pic up! Yes, after a long break, I've put up another Nowhere U Omake comic. Check it out by voting for me on Topwebcomics!
And the site redesign is really coming along! Just letting you know that we've been doing what we can on it. I've gotta tweak some art, plus write some content for some of the other pages (my "about" page needs a complete overhaul), but there shouldn't be much more to do. I'll keep you updated.
Sorry for no update Tuesday. What kind of sadistic teacher schedules so much due in one month? Even more sadistic, how about a midterm on November 1st? How's that for a Halloween scare? I could only party for a few hours. Poor me, right? *is smacked* Nah, I actually love my teachers for that class; I'm just sad that I had to spend most of Halloween studying. But I still was able to go to my friend's party. I dressed as the Angel of Death...again (fancy vampiress dress, black wings, black halo, scythe..fun stuff). Yeah, I know...I went as that last year. But when you're a college student on a short budget and even shorter time schedule, you make do with what you have. Besides, it's a cool costume. ^_~ One of these days I'm gonna finish my TRON costume though.
So enough about me, what about you? How'd your Happy Halloween go? Didja dress up? If so, as what? And if you didn't, WHY NOT?? It's the one time of the year where you can act like a complete nerd and be somewhat socially OK! Hehehe! ^_^ I love this holiday.
Anyways, one midterm down, one more plus a group presentation and a research paper to go. I'm dreading November more than finals in December.
Fate hates my webcomic.
Sorry for no updates last week, my computer fried. Literally, it fried; the smell woke up my roommate (Diedre's RLC). Fortunatly, it was only the power supply, and my roomie's cousin used connections to get a really nice one for only $25 bucks and fixed it for me. ^_^ Nice guy! So now I'm back up. There should be no more problems, hopefully.
OK, now I have good news and really bad news. Bad news first.
This is the first semester that I've had both school and work in years. The last time I did both I did not have a webcomic to run. Thus, I have a time constraint problem, which can only be relieved one way. And that is, that from here to sometime in the future, Nowhere University is a BI-WEEKLY COMIC. That is, I will be updating on TUESDAY and FRIDAY ONLY. This week, the update will be for Monday and either Thursday or Friday, whenever I get the strip done. But I can no longer support a tri-weekly update with my workload, not without going to just outlines, which would totally kill the mood currently. I have actually been considering this for a while now, but I had hoped that it would wait until I got the fight sequence done. On the plus side, we are getting near the end, but it'll just take somewhat longer to get there now. Again, I'm really sorry, but school and work come first, and I only ever meant for this strip to be a practice in drawing for me. It has evolved beyond that, so I won't drop it entirely, or even go to a once-a-week update. But I do need to cut back. If I get the time, I may do a bonus strip every so often.
OK, now for good news. The new web layout has been taking a little longer than expected, but that is not the fault of Dawn's RLC (who is currently doing a dynamite job on it). She did, after all, take some time off to come with me to help pick up HHB Bookmaster (my twin) from home, and is currently playing host. Despite that, she has still managed to get a lot done on the site layout, so it should be ready soon. I've also completed some artwork that will be going up on the site. This will be an ongoing project for me, as I hope to keep adding to it as months go by. But for now, the preliminary art is done, and the website is coming along beautifully.
GOOD NEWS!! ^_^ Hopefully this will make up for the hard times we've been having here at Nowhere U. WE'RE GETTING A NEW WEBSITE!! Dawn's Real Life Counterpart (known as Sharm on the tagboard and forum) has offered, for my birthday coming up in August, to redesign the site for me. The new site will have a lighter and less depressing color scheme, plus a few other fancy things like an official Nowhere University Seal. Might make a good T-shirt design, if I ever think about opening a shop. Anyways, I've sent her my initial sketch idea of the new site layout, and she's been working magic already. Not sure when the new site will be going up, but it should be sometime in the next few weeks.
And everyone, give a big round of applause to PurpleRebecca, my old roomie and friend (and Rachel's RLC, despite us not having actually met Rachel in the strip yet) who helped me put together this current layout. Becky, you're a big help, and you did excellently with the lame colors I picked to be NU's school and website color scheme. ^_^
No, I'm not dead. But life came at me hard, and I've been trying to cope. Like the saying goes, "When it rains, it pours." Least to say, one of the big events was the sudden death of my grandmother, and subsequent results. Several other things happened, some ugly things came into light, and a long story short; the last month has been killer. Hopefully I'm getting over it though, so I can go back to the action/comedy filled webcomic plot of mine. I'm really sorry I wasn't able to update hardly at all for the last few weeks, but this break needed to happen for my sanity.
Oh, and this should have gone up on Monday, but my computer decided to spit out my FTP program and mutiny with my wireless internet connection. *headdesk*
For all you American nuts like me, I hope you had a happy Fourth of July! ^_^
OK, down to business. Sorry, but there was no update last week. I was only planning on Monday, but you can't plan illness and stuff, as life keeps having to constantly prove. To make an extremely long and uninteresting story short, I basically had several panic attacks that left me jittery and quite unable to do anything aside from sketch. Badly. I'm much better now, but I'm really annoyed at having been unable to draw, which is usually my escape from pressure (and thus keeps panic attacks at bay, which is why I had several; no draw = no relief). So I deeply apologize for the lack of updating last week. Here's hoping this fight sequence can continue uninterrupted now...
In case you've all noticed, and you've probably had, we've been having update issues here at Nowhere U. And not just here. Basically, anyone hosted by ComicGenesis have been having trouble for the last week and a half. Why? I DON'T KNOW. It's not like CG is letting us KNOW of any problems or anything! But basically, this keeps setting my updating schedule back by a day. So if you don't see an update, keep checking back. You never know when CG will finally allow it to actually appear.
On another note, I've had no time for new voting pics, as you've also probably noticed. This is because I got a new job, and it pays well, and I like it, and it comes first over bonus stuff for my webcomic. Fortunatly, I can draw my strip at work during down time, so the strip itself won't suffer. But as of now, I'm changing the voting pic update from once a week to "Random". So that's something else to keep checking, as you'll never know when it'll change.
Hey, guess what? I haven't had the internet for over two weeks! Guess what again? YOU NEVER NOTICED!! ^_^ See, my apartment complex decided to switch their internet service to a wireless one. Why? I HAVE NO CLUE; it makes no sense. But my comp didn't have a wireless card. It took over two weeks for me to finally get my hands on one. However, I planned ahead! I did backlog that covered the first few days, and then I hobbled from computer to computer on campus and in the apartment (one roomie's laptop had wireless) to get the other days uploaded. It was a bit of a pain, but I'd rather go through the effort than miss more updates.
But I have the internet now. And my connection is averaging the same, I think (due to wireless' unpredictable nature, who knows what my given internet speed is at any given moment?). So it's back to updating with my own comp! Which means I can update my news post which, if you're reading this, I have already done.
And don't forget to check every week for a new voting comic up on the Topwebcomics' voting page for Nowhere U!
Sorry I had to take a week off. But I was literally working constantly for the whole time. Thankfully, all the essays got wrote, the reading got read, and the test was taken and passed with flying colors. Yay, good grades!!! Well, I can't guess yet what I got for the essays, but since the Writer's Workshop at school couldn't find anything wrong with 'em, I hope my teachers don't.
Thanks to Crystal and Kristin Burnt-or-Dead, the real life counterparts of Diedre and Jane, who gave me ample guestart to work with so the website could still have an update on the three days I mssed. You're a big help!
BAD NEWS!! There will be NO UPDATE until next Wednesday, the 18th. The reason being, is that I have four papers to write, (one of which is a 12 page research paper), two papers to revise, one test to study for, several short stories/poems to cram, and a 400 page book to read. All due NEXT TUESDAY. Well OK, two of the papers and the rough draft for the research paper are actually due this THURSDAY, but I won't bother you with details. In short, every waking minute of my life for the next seven days will be dedicated to finals. I was going to space it out more evenly, but all my classes decided to have everything due on the last day of class and not finals week. I'm gonna die.
Again, I'm sorry for this, but I really have no choice. It is imperitive that I get good grades in these classes; there's more at stake than just a good grade. There will still be an update for the Omake voting strip on Sunday, because that's already mostly done. But there will be no actual comic update till next Wednesday. Sorry, but school and life is a high priority, especially when the path of my life literally hangs in the balance of the events of a week of school.
EDIT: My roommate, AKA Diedre's Real Life Counterpart has some stuff to put up for the three days. First up will be a spliced strip of artwork from previous art explaining my current homework situation as told by Alice and Diedre. Then we've got some scenery sketches she did for the other two days. So there WILL be updates, just not comic ones done by me. ^_^
Another omake comic is up on the Topwebcomics voting page! I've started a new thing where I'm putting them up once a week on Sunday. Be sure not to miss 'em as they come out, because as of right now I have no plans on reintroducing them. Maybe if I ever publish books I might include them, but as of now, once they go they're gone. So enjoy them while they last!
And again, thanks to those who donate! Keep in mind that this donation pic won't last forever either. Not sure when I'll change it, but since the scene depicted on it is fast arriving, I may change in the next few weeks. Get it while it's here!
Why is everything breaking down?
In case you haven't noticed, Wednesday is not updating yet. Comic Genesis is jammed, or something, and isn't updating. I've bumped into a few more strips that I watch online that aren't updating today either. Had trouble with Monday too. Not sure when this'll be fixed. All we can do is twiddle our thumbs and hope that they get things in order back at the CG headquarters. Actually, if you're reading this message, it probably means CG is back up again, since otherwise this newspost won't update. So um, forget it I guess. Go figure.
To make things more annoying, Top Webcomics seems to be down as well. *headdesk* Is this some internet conspiracy? Has some webcoimic hating hacker breaking into all famous comic websites? Again, the best we can do is bear with it. I hope TW can get itself in order before I do my next Chibi Voiting Comic...
Wow, long time no type. Sorry, school's been busy. Anyways, Happy April Fool's Day! No, I won't play a practical joke on you; I didn't have time to plan anything. But I HAVE started a new trend! Beginning today, I'm gonna do a once a week new voting pic series, Nowhere University Chibi Omake Comics! Basically, I do little Japanese style comic strips that poke fun at the strip itself. I'll update them every Sunday (unless I'm too busy with school). Omake 001 is up right now. So don't forget to vote so you can see the comic!Also, thanks to those who've donated so far! It helps me buy food. I'm gonna keep this donation gift up until I hit my target donation, then I'll make another one. So thanks again for the help!
Hope you all had a wonderful Singles Awareness Day . . .I mean, Valentines Day. And President's weekend off. And life in general. ^_^
As for myself, I've finally sold my soul to PayPal, and now have a donation button. This comes from my needing food and unable to get hired for a job (they seem to have this thing with people who can walk, disabilities act be darned). So I figured that I can turn my hobby into a job and make money from my art, if I can. Two things will come from this. OK, three things actually.
Thing number one. Notice the suspiciously Nowhere centric tiny pic above the PayPal button? That's a hint as to the donation gift. Yes, I have a donation gift! It's a wallpaper depicting a rather overdamatic representation of an upcoming scene . . . when several main characters first run into our tiger-villain. Donators will get this in exchange for helping me eat. ^_~ Guest starring in this wallpaper is the oddest lamppost I've ever drawn.
Thing number two. Depending on how successful this is, I may start doing other bonus/reward art. Such as more frequent voting pics, or even an EXTRA UPDATE! Oooooooo! Also, because I can now officially say that I'm earning money for this, Nowhere U has jumped high on my list of priorities. School still comes first, but now that Nowhere U is earning money, it has the same status of importance to me as a job. That coupled with the fact that I'm NOT going home for surgery this summer (and therefore do not need to take a summer hiatus to avoid dealing with the horror that is the home computer) means that missing strips will be VERY few, and will only occur in emergencies.
Thing number three. I will also be, on my Deviantart page, opening myself to commissioned art. In other words, you give me money and a picture idea, and I draw it for you. This is not quite in effect yet, but will be announced on my Deviantart page maybe within the next week, in which I'll begin taking commissions. How much a pic costs will depend on how much time I spend on it.
So that's it. Beware; this is my first time with PayPal, so I'm not entirely sure how this works. I'm hoping I get a notice and email of everyone who donates so I can get then the donation gift, but only trial and error will teach. See ya on the other side.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Yes, I'm alive. Barely. My fault for not updating. I had backlog drawn and scanned for the holidays, but...I forgot to transfer it to my USB drive so I could work on it over Christmas. *headdesk* And the last few weeks back to school have been...stressful. I've got some serious problems, so life demanded my full attention once I came back. I'm not out of it yet, but I've managed to get to the point where I'm not so stressed out I'm having panic attacks. So now I've got to start repairing the damage the last month of no updates have done to my viewership. On the plus side, I'm not planning on going home for the summer for surgery like the last three summers, so there shouldn't be a hiatus this summer!
I really do apologize for not updating. But life and school come first, and I did start this strip as art practice/fun. Depending on how my problems resolve themselves, there may or may not be changes to my update schedule. But as for now, I'm still planning on updating three times a week.
It's great to be back! I've also done some looking into and prep design for a new web layout for the site. What I choose will depend on whether or not I can get my sister's help with designing a few things. I'll keep y'all updated.
For some reason, the strip hasn't been going up that well. Currently, I'm trying to get Monday's update to show up for Wednesday (today) because I was an idiot and didn't check to see if it actually uploaded Monday. I hope it'll go up. I didn't bother to draw an update for Wednesday after finding this out, because of two reasons. One, Monday's update would get hidden by a new update. Two, and the main reason, I'm currently so doped up on painkillers I can't even type straight, let alone draw. Seriously, I've used the backspace key for every three letters I type...and lets not go into the odd places I keep trying to put spaces.
So Wednesday had better go up. I think part of the problem is that I'm so whacked that I keep uploading wrong, or I tell myself I've already done steps that I haven't done yet. who knows. I'm going to bed; this painkiller'll be the death of me way before anything my ankles can do. Why does that sentence not make sense to me? Does it make sense to you? OK, I'd better shut up now...
New voting pic up! It took me forever to finish that Halloween pic, so you can see the completed version by voting. It's kinda small though, because the website that's hosting the pic wouldn't allow it to be any bigger. Oh well.
I betcha all didn't notice I was gone for Thanksgiving, didja? ^_^ That's because I actually planned ahead and did BACKLOG! GASP! Hopefully, I'll have the time to do the backlog for when I go home for the Christmas break. That'll be harder...I'll be gone three weeks. I'm planning on bringing my art, but then again...at home there's THAT thing. IT. The EVIL that even rivals Alice's computer. Ah, my old enemy, we meet again...
So we'll see what happens. Finals should be coming up in several weeks, then Christmas, and then the next semester. Life's gonna get hectic. But we'll see it through!
BTW, this new graphics tablet is working GREAT. ^_^ Also, I've bought a Dummies book about web design...I'll see this site gets an overhaul if it's the LAST THING I DO. Which it might be.
Well, the tablet finally died. And at the most inopportune moment too. To give you a rundown of my week, let me sum up. Saturday after Halloween I wrenched my right ankle. Bad. Since I'd already been limping for several days, my left foot got tired of supporting my weight and gave out. For those who've been following my surgeries, you know I have chronic ankle problems. My left foot's doing much better since, but I'm beginning to wonder about the right. In any case, I was unable to even walk for two days, and I was only able to walk after that with the help of a boot on my left foot. My left foot is now doing much better, and I can almost put weight on my right. But this threw a kink in my plans to get my graphics tablet fixed. I was hoping I could work on art while I was laid up, but the tablet then died Tuesday, before I could start Wednesday's strip. Hence why there was no update Wednesday or Friday.
But I have some really nice friends. One took me window shopping for tablets on Thursday, where we discovered that my poor tablet was beyond help, and I had to fork over cash for a whole new one. Then my friend and roomie (who also happens to be Diedre's Real-Life-Counterpart) took me to buy a brand-new tablet on Saturday, and paid for half of it as an advance Christmas present. This definitely proves that Diedre's RLC is a very nice person, for all those of you who wondered if she was as hard as her character. Well, even Diedre has her soft side...we just haven't seen what brings it out yet. ^_~
So now I have a new tablet, the strip is updating again, and I can go to school tomorrow! Things are looking up behind the scenes of Nowhere U!
Didja all have a great Halloween? ^_^ I love that holiday. I dressed up as an angel of Death this time; probably the most Halloweenish thing I've done so far. I used a vampiress dress I got last year, and also added black wings and a scythe to the look. It looked really cool. If I can get copies of photos that were shot, I'll possibly upload them on my deviantart site. I went to my church party, and had three people call me "sexy death". That was rather amusing and strange, since I've never had the adjective "sexy" addressed to me ever. O_o One of my roommies and a close friend of mine dressed up as a CIA agent, but nearly everyone thought she was either from the Matrix or Men in Black. The look really suited her, anyways. Way cool. Two other friends of mine, who like theming their costumes together (a typical approach for married couples, I've noticed) went as Han Solo and Leia. That looked really neat. Two funny costumes I saw at the party were a sack of potatoes and someone with a red letter "e" on his shirt. The potato sack was a guy stuck in a sleeping bag, and it was most amusing to see him try to participate in the square dance. The guy with the letter "e" explained to me that he was going as an "e-male". Ahahahah...gotta love pun costumes. Anyways, I love Halloween. Feel free to blab about what you all dressed up as on the forums!
By the way, sorry today's update was late. It should be up now, if comicgenesis allows. I still havn't finished shading the Halloween pic yet, for three reasons (same as why today's late). One, I've been busy. School's still hanging over my head, and I had a lot of Halloween-related activities going on. Two, I've been sick. Have you ever been sick on Halloween? There should be a law that prosecutes viruses that get people sick around so much chocolate and candy. Argh. It's a crime. Anyways, the third reason's the most important, and probably the most dangerous of the three, because it threatens the future of my art. My graphics tablet is dying. (((O_O))) I do NOT have the money to replace it, and my art has evolved to the point that a mouse no longer can suffice. I think the main problem is with the USB cable; the connection to the tablet is faulty, so that if I so much as jiggle it funny the connection breaks. If the connection breaks permanantly, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm trying to see if any electronics stores nearby fix this kind of thing, but if the price is to high, I'll just have to save for a new tablet. If my tablet dies, and I still don't have the money for one, I might have to go on hiatus YET AGAIN. I hate hiatuses, especially since I've pretty much been forced on all the ones I've taken so far due to either surgeries or computer trouble. I'd try to get a bunch of backlog done, but again, school comes first. So we'll see...I'm going to keep trying to do the strip as long as I can. I don't think I'll have to go on a hiatus, because I'm fairly sure I can get this tablet fixed. But I'm warning you all just in case. It all depends on whether or not I can get my wounded friend repaired. Cross fingers.
Happy Halloween! In advance. ^_~ Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been cramming for midterms. I barely was even able to get this Halloween special done, and it's not even completely done yet (still need to shade). The finished version may get put up as a voting pic later in the week, or whenever I can finish it. I actually did most of the work on this pic early last week, before I knew that I'd become too engrossed in studying to draw. Nowhere U's a high priority in my life, but when it comes down to either updating or passing a test, school wins every time.
In any case, this is the main Nowhere U cast cosplaying Full Metal Alchemist. For those who are not familiar with the series, Google it and you can get a good idea about what the anime's about. Ironically, my twin sister Bookmaster of the comic The Hero's Handbook came up with the same idea. O_o I know great minds think alike, but this is ridiculous. In any case, the pic should be self-explanatory...not only are the characters involved in active dialogue that takes up a good chunk of the pic, but they're also labeled as to who's cosplaying who. I did this pic because I didn't have a Halloween pic yet, and I'd already done Thanksgiving and Christmas pics, so this holiday was getting rather lonely. That, and this is the best holiday to dress my already cosplay-happy characters up in a group theme. ^_^ I may do more Halloween cosplay in the future, if I find time. And if anyone wants to discuss the pic, go ahead; the forums are still open.
Wouldn't you know it...the tagboard worked last night, but is now busted. It loads briefly, but then you get that "This page cannot load" error message that the OTHER tagboard used to haunt us with. It's probably a problem with the host site, because my sister's tagboard (the same thing) does that load-then-pop-the-error thing as well. So bear with us...again...as we wait for the host site to fix this new problem...
OK, if this coding worked, we should have...A NEW TAGBOARD!! ^_^ No more annoying login pop-ups! I'll probably be playing with the coloration of it and the look more later when I'm not so pressed for time (am currently typing this at one in the morning). But in the meantime, enjoy the new tagboard! Feel free to chat away!
Burn healed! I can hold a pencil again! Rejoice! ^_^
By the way, some of you may have noticed a couple of different things. First off, there's a new voting pic! Yeah, I finally got off my duff and did a character pic for James (both forms). You finally get to see what he looks like in color! Only one top webcomics vote away! I'll be putting up a bio for him in the character page soon...basically, when I can actually log back into the admin section at comicgenesis (it's currently not accepting my password or something).
Also, the tagboard's down. I don't know WHY, but it's suddenly requiring a login to get it to load. This is annoying, since there's no real way for anyone to log in. I'm currently searching for a new tagboard, so bear with me. I won't be able to change it until I can get the whole log-in-to-comicgenesis-admin thing fixed.
Boy, I haven't needed to update the news in awhile...
Sorry, but the chance of comics updating this week is looking pretty bad. Basically, I can't draw. I've got 1st-2nd degree burns on my drawing fingers right where I hold a pencil. See, I learned a lesson Friday...never grab a curling iron by the metal end. EVER. Even if you think it's off. I also learned that if the oven is left on, the shelf under it gets reeeeally hot. And if the hot oven is left open for a moment, the dial to turn it off heats as well. You know the saying, "The burned hand teaches best"? I really must be dumb or something because I keep ignoring my lessons. So in summary, I've burned myself a fair amount over the weekend, and found that when I tried to draw it stung like all get out. It even hurts kinda to type. Unfortunatly, this means a halt to anything artistic this week. I guess it's a good thing that my classes this semester don't require as much in the way of notes...
Again, I apologize, but there's nothing I can do. I'll try each day to get something up, but if I can't draw then I won't be able to update. I'll let you know when I do...well, duh you'll know, because there'll be an update, but I might also comment in the news. In any case, keep checking; this shouldn't take too long.
Well, I've moved back to school. Upside is, I'M ABLE TO UPDATE AGAIN!! WITHOUT ANY COMPTUER PROBLEMS!! ^_^ It's a nice feeling. Downside is, school still takes priority. But that didn't cause many problems last year, so regular updates should now actually be regular.
In other news, I was completely unaware until I dated this news update as to what day it was. My heart goes out to those who lost family, friends, and co-workers in the World Trade center fiasco five years ago. That was a sad time for everyone...and resulted in a sad time for those who caused it. I hope that those who's lives were changed that day have been able to move on, and if I were to tell them anything, it's that those that were lost are not gone. I remember a country song on my little sister's radio station; "God only cries for the living, because they're so far from home." Those that left have only moved on to a better place, and there they are far happier than they ever could be here. So instead of thinking of today as a day of loss, let's think of it as a day of rememberance, when we think of those that have gone and remeber them for who they are, not who they were. And on a personal note, I'm also going to see September 11th as a day which marks the true strength of not only America, but the whole world, for on that day dozens of countries (heck, maybe more) were united in paying tribute to the fallen. I would like to thank everyone from foreign countries for the aid and respect that they have paid over the last five years after we all learned just how ugly some hearts can be. We've proven that unity, love, and kindness far outweigh hatred and bitterness. You rock, World! ^_^So Happy Rememberance Day! And let's all look forward to new strips!
After several crisis, most involving the #&%@ home computer and others involving personal and/or family related injuries, I think I can start updating again. I've got an intermediate sketch strip going up today to help ease back into the swing of things, and another strip lined up for Wednesday. I'm still not going to promise a sustained update pattern, because I don't trust this home computer any more than I can throw it (and I can't tell you how much I'd LOVE to throw it). But things should start falling back in place now.
In other strip-related news, I've decided to help the re-kickstart of the strip by hiring my twin siter BookMaster to completely redesign the entire site. No more drabness! We've got a nice schoolish look planned for the site now. It will take a while to finish though, given that she has to work with the horror computer. But the site should look a little more professional when it's all done.
Again, sorry for the lack of updates; it really couldn't be helped. I hope you enjoy what's coming up. And since the news blog has been getting rather unsightly latly, I've moved all old material to the arcives. Ah...not cluttered. Much better. ^_^
Um...not normal.
Please excuse us, as we at Nowhere U are experiencing technical difficulties. Anyone regular to the strip may have noticed by now that updating always goes haywire when I go home for any reason, and the reason behind this is the upredictable behavior of a home computer that was put together by hand. Its recent problem: FTP failure. At least, I think that's what it is. Because it took all last week for me to get it to even update one strip, and it did the same this time. I can only hope, as I type this, that I can force it to update at least for Friday. I have to sit for ages and force-feed the info. I'm not entirely sure the problem is on my end (for all I know, Comicgenesis may be at fault, or even the #*%$ internet service). But we'll see.
Another reason I haven't been able to figure out the problem is because I'm prepping for surgery that will occur later this morning (I'm currently typing this at 1 am, btw). This surgery is mainly to remove hardware from the previous surgery, so it shouldn't take me too long to recover and start updating again. But, as usual, I'm not sure if that will be the case, because if the doctor manages to find out why my ankle still bothers me, he'll do something to fix it, and that may require additional time for recovery. But since I really don't like missing updates (and have nearly killed the family comp for its lack of cooperation), then I plan on at least drawing up a buncha strips while I'm laid up. This will help for more regular updates in the future.
So as much as I hate to do this, despite the fact that I really should have done this a few weeks ago, I'm temporarily declaring Nowhere U's update status to be "Random". This won't last long if everything goes according to plan...but again, as regular vewiers know, things never really do. See y'all on the other side.
OK, two weeks of once-a-week updates, and I hope I'm back to normal. I can never predict just how crazy moving back home for the summer can get, and I always underestimate it. And I haven't even scheduled my ankle surgery yet...sigh. But I don't plan on having many more problems...knock on wood. The only thing that will hold me back now is when I'm laid up for at least a week from the surgery, and also the unpredictable nature of the family computer and internet connection. But things should be settling down for now. Sorry for the rocky start to May. To make up for it, here's another new character! Yes, another one. It's almost as though it's the first week of school or something (I can never get all those new names and faces right when I start a year).
Well, today's the day. I'm moving back home for the spring/summer. Unlike last year, I don't think I'll be needing a hiatus. However, there still may be a week or so of no comics. I'll try to avoid that, but it all depends on how quickly I can get my comptuer, scanner, and tablet installed at home. Took awhile last time, because we're very short on space in that one story house. I'll get things set up as quickly as possible, because I hate missing updates and I've got the next three strips drawn already (it's always annoying to me when I miss a day that I already have partly done). I just thought I'd give you all a heads up in case the worst happened. If I end up missing, I'll see if I can post in the tagboard.
See you all on the other side!
Dang it, I missed Friday. I mentioned in the tagboard that I was having issues with Photoshop. Also, my comptuer wasn't registering my USB key. The key thing fixed itself when I rebooted, but Photoshop refused to work. So I had to tinker with it, and eventually just turned my computer off for awhile in the vain hopes that it would fix itself. And strangly enough, after church on Sunday, it works. Unfortunatly, I do not have the time to make up for Friday, I only had enough time for Monday's strip. I'm getting to the end of my semester, so the schoolwork's piling up. Blast it, I hate missing days...stupid computer...
On the plus side, I've started writing up character sheets for the professors we've met so far. My goal is that I'll have the character page completely updated by the time this semester ends. That includes doing pics and bios for the teachers, villains, and side characters. Yeah, I can dream, can't I? If I don't have time, I'll cut the villains out, since we haven't really delved into their angle in this story yet.
I'd also like to get a new color scheme up by the end of April, but that might have to wait till I'm home from school. I'll be getting some more ankle surgery, only minor this time, so I shouldn't have to take a huge hiatus like last year. Heck, while I'm hoping, I'd like to get enough backlog done so I don't even need to take off the two weeks that I might have to otherwise. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what I can get done. What I don't do for the characters and main page though I'll definitely work on during the spring and summer.
Hey all! Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile...life's decided to get really busy. Lets see...
First off, LTUE was excellent, as usual. Big shout out to Kevin J. Anderson, who was the guest of honor. His address was hilarious, as he used drinking as an analogy to make a point. Actually, he made several. What I got out of it was that to make a good foreign culture for your story, you can use differences between the foreign culture and the known culture to create interesting situations. The reason drinking helped with this was, well, this is BYU and pretty much 95% of the audience were Mormon and hadn't drunk a drop of alcohol that wasn't something like Nyquil. So he used the drinking culture to bounce Mormon culture off of, and the result was hilarious. He had all sorts of fun stories from when he tried to purchace beer or order drinks in Utah. He was a wonderful speaker. I hope I can see him again in LTUE.
Another big shout-out to Howard Taylor, the artist of the way funny webcomic, Schlock Mercenary, who also made his appearance at the symposium. I saw him here last year, and started reading his strip because I was impressed with how he handled the chaos that was the webcomics panel (I was on it too, but then again, so was every other comic artist in the valley, it seemed). I loved the strip so much, I finished the entire seriously huge archives in two weeks. A feat normally considered impossible, but hey; it was a hilarious strip. In any case, he gave some really good advice on this year's webcomics panel, so hopefully I can improve.
Other than that, I've mainly been busy with school. And, I've also started to work with my good friends UniEm and Lanea on another entry for the Rising Stars of Manga competition. Frankly, I haven't been impressed with the winners of that thing so far. There's usually one or two good stories, two or three mediocre stories, and the rest make me wonder what the judges saw in them. So I had kind of lost heart in competing...that, and I really didn't think my art could really compete yet. I had to get better. Well, now it's been over a year since my last attempt, and now I've got a strong writer (UniEm) and a strong artist (Lanea) to help me out in the trouble spots I've been having. I was having trouble getting this manga off the ground, so why not make it a group project? Heck, if I can get my sister HHB Bookmaster in on this for graphic design and paneling, we'd become the American version of Clamp! We're already considering a professional full-length manga story. Well, we can dream at least. ^_~
LTUE is on! ^_^ That would be "Life, the Universe, and Everything", the BYU science-fiction and fantasy symposium. All kinds of cool panels and talks going on. The best part is...IT'S TOTALLY FREE! So I've been majorly busy, and will be thru Saturday. I'm actually not on any panels this year, which is kinda wierd. But since I'm planning on being on the committee next year (if I get the time), I'm perfectly fine with not having much to do for this year. In any case, I've also used the panel time to draw new strips, so I'm actually getting backlog now. This is good, as it will help keep me from missing any strips, because I can't stand it when I miss strips, and I'm pretty sure you don't like it either. And I'm pretty sure that sentence had serious English errors, but I'm too busy to care for once.
Once the symposium is done, I'll be starting work on updates to the characters page. This'll include fixing existing character sheets as well as writing new ones. I'm not sure when the updates will actually go up, as one of the planned updates is for a character I've yet to officially introduce. Heck, I don't even have a name for him yet. But it will go up soon. Also, don't forget to go to the forums to vote about what you think of NU's color scheme, as I'm considering changing it to something a little less oppressive.
New month! That means new voting pic! I've put up a small version of the nearly finished wallpaper. I'd call it completely finished, but I still am not sure of the background. I'd really appreciate suggestions or comments on it. I've gone through six possible backgrounds already, and I can't find one I like. In the meantime, enjoy!
Well, THAT effort to catch up tanked. >_< Just too busy with school. And as important as this webcomic is in my life, three things come before it: School, religion, and health. Health has been annoying as well. However, I'm sick and tired of missing days, so I'll just start following my schedule now. From here on out, I'll be updating regularly again.
So, did everyone have a wonderful holiday season. I did...sorta. Unfortunatly, I met with far more complications than even Fate could have conspired to throw at me. But I won't bog you readers down with excuses, so let's get to the point. I plain couldn't do the strip while I was gone. For literally a dozen reasons. The fact that it wasn't my fault doesn't make it any less my responsibility, however. I'd like to do something to make it up to everyone. Right now, I'm currently working on getting the entire crossover banged up on the days they were supposed to air, so hopefully by the end of this week I'll be able to start on the actual strip. I'd like to get completely caught up with all the days that I've missed. This will be hard, because I'm currently wrestling with a life-and-death situation at school, but I really want to stick with my commitments. I've also nearly finished the wallpaper, and I've started work on the artwork that I'll use when I add the professors into the character profiles pages. As of now, that's the only thing I can think of to try to apologize for the complete failure of mine to uphold my promise that I would update during the holidays. If anyone has any other suggestions (short of sending all my readers cash), please e-mail me or something. I really want to make up for this.
On another note, I've been thinking about changing the site's colors for the new year. I've kept the navy blue/grey look because it was the color scheme that best reflected what I thought the mood of Nowhere was. But now it's kinda starting to depress me. Like there was with the other color option, I'll be putting up a poll in the forums. If anyone thinks it should be changed and has suggestions, feel free to post. And if you think it's a great color combo and I should just leave well enough alone for once, please post too. Feel free to threaten, so long as you have no intention of actually following through; I'd like to survive long enough to graduate. But I feel that since you readers are the ones who have to put up with looking at the web site, you should get a say in whether or not the site colors reek and should be tossed or not. Go ahead and let your opinions be known.
And the crossover with UniEm from "A Magical Roommate" is underway! ^_^ Since we know each other in real life, we figured we'd try a new twist to the crossover concept. OK, maybe it's not new; there's a good chance someone else has tried it before, but I haven't seen it. We're putting both our art styles into one strip, instead of switching off. Hey, it's unique.
Unfortunatly, I was not able to finish enough backlog for all the strips. However, I did get them all drawn, inked, and scanned. So provding my home computer's copy of Photoshop Elements is enough for me to work with, and the FTP program still works, I should be able to update regularly from home. ^_^ So barring any unforseen problems, expect regular updating through the holidays.
Another thing that suffered from my busy schedule was the wallpaper. Blast it, everything conspires to keep me from finishing it. However, I did get it scanned also. If you want a sneak preview into what I've got prepared, then vote for me on Topwebcomics.com! The voting incentive is the un-fixed scan. I say unfixed, because I haven't yet gotten around to fixing the inking errors...like Theo's hair (which reeks, in my opinion), or John's cheek, or Alice's double-nose...Diedre's shirt...yada yada. And that tiger guy's getting a lot more attention than he's even had screentime. O_o. Oh well, he IS the main villain.
Or is he? ^_~
In any case, I probably won't be able to get into my blog section, so you won't hear from me until somewhere in January...unless I post in the tagboard, which could happen. So have a wonderful Christmas, and Happy Holidays everyone! *Skips off singing carols*
Finals...hurt...make it stop...
Sorry I've been missing so much. But there's only so much I can do in a day, and this last week all effort has been towards school. And Keenspace/ComicGenesis wouldn't let me upload a gueststrip Wednesday. Is it just me, or does KS/CG hate everone? Maybe it's just the internet; my e-mails and Yahoo do the same thing to me sometimes...
In any case, I'll be leaving next Thursday to go home. Hopefully, I'll have enough time to draw backlog. I'm currently working on my crossover with UniEm, and due to the mix of her art style and mine, my strip will be black and white while the crossover is going on. This will save LOTS of time, so I have a goot shot at getting enough strips done to cover my leaving on vacation. I should be gone from Dec. 15th thru Jan. 8th. Doing the math, thats....10 strips I need to do. Maybe 11, so I don't have to worry about Monday the 9th. I think I can do this...yeah...
So keep watch on this site, I haven't abandoned it yet! Have a Merry Christmas everyone! (Unless you don't celebrate it, in which case have a Happy Holiday season.)
End Chapter One! Betcha never guessed I've got chapters in this huh? Well, neither did I! It just kinda happened. *shrug*
Also note the painfully detailed background! In full manga page layout! No, this isn't a permanant thing, just something fancy to end the chapter and FINALLY show that striped dude from the hiatus pic. My friends are calling him Hao-Yokai, because he looks like a crossmix of Hao from Shaman King plus a yokai from Inuyasha. Who shops at Hot Topic. Special thanks to my good friend Lanea for help with his costume design. I couldn't come up with anything to save my life...or his dignity. I drew up a quick thumbnail of a pic that I coudl even use for a "Dress My Bad Guy" contest, but I was advised against it. Maybe I'll draw it up sometime for a voting pic. It's hilarious.
No, I haven't forgotten the Anniversary wallpaper. I was actually waiting till today's came up, because I want the Hao/Yokai-Hot-Topic Shopper to be on it. So now that today has finally arrived, I can finally really get cracking on that wallpaper. Expect it to pop up on my Deviantart page soon. I'll let you know.
Just a word of warning: Friday's strip will be late. I will get it up, but expect Saturday/late Saturday or so, because I'm gone for a few days visiting my grandparents and aunt. Unfortunatly, I'm too swamped with studying for my Shakespeare test tomorrow that I can't do backlog; it was hard enough to get Wednesday done. But I don't like missing days, so I'll just postpone it. Besides, I'm nearly done with the first chapter! ^_^
After this chapter, I'll embark on a quest of sidetracking. In other words, crossover! UniEm and I have written a crossover that will incorperate both our art into one strip. It's not entirely pointless either; there's veiled plot points hidden throughout. So expect December and some of January to be taken up with that storyline.
Sorry for the guest strip. I've had it awhile, and now was a good time to use it as I have just run out of pre-drawn backlog. (O_O) This is the first time it's happened since I first started this strip. I should get some more done over the weekend, but in the meantime I'm still working on Friday's comic. Besides, I find this guest strip cute. ^_^
HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! ^_^
Today marks the first anniversary of Nowhere University! Congrats to all who've stuck with us, or who've barely joined us! A commemorative wallpaper will be done, the moment my right brain works with me (I've been drawing and redrawing it for the past two weeks and it looks dumber every time).
As for the voting, so far the Continue Grayscale'ers have the majority...mainly because no one's voted for color. >_O A relief...I might have been biting off more than I could chew with that proposal, and apparantly everyone knew it. You're all so considerate. ^_^ So it looks like Nowhere U will continue in grayscale.
Also, I've been notified of a mysterious bug in the forums. If you've been trying to register, but are getting the message that you need to be admitted, please e-mail me so I can get a grip on how wide this problem seems to be. Because I should have it set to automatically admit anyone who applies.
So happy anniversary, and here's to another year of strips!
It's a new month! Let's see how high we can get in the voting polls!
Boy, this dragon story is a lot longer than it looked in the works. Don't worry, we'll be starting a new story arc on Friday.
So far, the score of Grayscale vs. Color is 3/0, Grayscale. If you want to post your comments about which you like and why, check out the forum.
I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! I had a mix-n-match of costumes, really. I was going to go around as "Arwen under the influence of the One Ring"...but I lost my ring somewhere in my room. So I went to two weekend parties as just plain boring "Arwen". Then, on Halloween, I resorted to my usual backup costume, which was Parvati Patil (I have an identical twin, so I like to dress up as one). The cloak I used can also double as a Dementor costume, or if I have one of my swords, a Ringwraith. So I was kinda four things for Halloween. How's that for fun? ^_~
Sorry for the lack of an update on Wednesday. I was elsewhere for longer than anticipated. And it's midterms. But I'm not letting it get in the way anymore, as it is now nearing three in the morning and I'm just now updating. ^_^
New pic up for the Top Webcomics vote button! Now when you vote for me, you get to see the three mascots of Rapunzel Hall! You've already just met one, and the other two will come in eventually. The fun stuff in the background won't be in the strip for a LOOOOONG time, so consider them advance spoilers. ^_~ Just to let you know I do have some interesting things planned, and I'm not just winging it. ... Ok I am, but I DO have things planned! Really! Heck, after we finish this dragon arc, we get new info on one of the roomies! But that I won't spoil; you'll have to see for yourself.
So enjoy the new stuff as it comes, and don't forget to see my new voting pic!
Look, a new webcomic listing button! Now you can vote for me on Topwebcomics AND Buzzcomicx! Please help me get out of the 3000's... X_X
Also, check out the gallery! We've got new fanart from Plaid, who captured Alice and Jane perfectly. Enjoy!
It has also come to my attention that we don't have a wallpaper here. O_o Well, that has to change. I'll see if I can get one up for the 1st anniversary. Now I just need to figure out what to draw...
Color! Now that's class for you! Actually, I have three reasons for this. One, I wanted to mess with color; sue me. Two, it's an apology for my scanner being on the fritz so often recently (still not fixed...working on it). And three...I need a vote. Coming November 14th, we have our 1st anniversary. I'm considering the possibility of transforming Nowhere University from greyscale to a full-color webcomic. Not full shaded though like today's; that'll kill me. Color will be slightly harder, as it will involve having to coordinate color schemes, but I think I might be able to do it. *crosses fingers* In any case, the voting should be up in the forum, which should now have a link at the top of the page! Whohoo!
So don't forget to visit the forum, and vote for me on Topwebcomics.com...wait...sorry, habit. :P Vote for whether you think Nowhere U should go color come our anniversary!
Ok, so UniEm did me a huge favor and bought me a new power cord for my scanner! Then I gave her her old one back that I've been using, and in theory we should now have two scanners working. In theory. Well, when she handed me the cord, I plugged it in and everything turned on OK. So I assumed that everything would work fine.
Notice all the assumtions. Note now that they are not confirmed.
When I actually tried scanning Monday's strip in, I ended up with some whacked image lined with neon pink and blue lines. O_o I have NO clue what that's all about, only that it wouldn't stop, no matter how I scanned it. And if I used anythign but "color" mode, it made the most glass-shatting sound I've ever heard. I think I blew the ears out of all the dogs in the neighborhood. Sure blew out my roommate's. After awhile of wrestling with it, I was able to procure an image of usable quality, although it took some time to clean up. So if today's strip doesn't seem as great a quality as the others, there you go.
If I can't find out what's NOW wrong with this thing, I may just say heck with it and just find a scanner at school that I can stand in line to wait for. -_-
On the plus side, Rebecca JJ's back home and none too worse for wear for having to evacuate and getting stuck in that bad traffic exodus that was creeping out of Houston. Welcome back, Becky! ^_^
And a final note, I'm feeling especially good despite the fight with my scanner. I always get a spiritual high after the Mormon General Conference.
Due to my not being home at all the last two days (no school, so I hung out at a friend's house), Wednesday's strip is nonexistant. That, and it's not finished being drawn yet. I've hit artist's block. Don't worry, I do not plan on missing much else. I now have a working scanner, or at least I will until UnicornEmily takes her cord back.
Aside from a really lame excuse for not updating (so sorry, won't happen again), I've also decided to start research for a webmanga. This manga will not update as regularly as my comic, if it updates regularly at all. However, the premise is pretty funny. I realized it after hanging out with UnicornEmily too long. Anyone who reads the tagboard will know that UE is one of the most enthusiastic mahou-shojou (magical girl) addicts I've ever known. So far I've managed to keep myself from getting too into the stuff (I prefer shonen myself), but we got to talking and a story idea wedged itself in my head so bad, I have to pursue it. Basic premise: the main character is the mascot (you know how most every magical girl series has some cute animal/stuffed something-or-other that gives them their powers). Since I've never heard of a magical girl series from the mascot's point of view, this will be very interesting. The story will have a Native American theme though, so I need to research mythology, culture, tribal communities, art, and costume design before I can actually start the thing. The first twenty pages of the story will be submitted to Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga competition, because I haven't entered that thing for over a year, and it's high time I started pursuing my dream of a future manga-ka. This will be excellent practice. I do not plan on letting it interfere with my strip, which is why it'll take me probably a year to get it ready to come out on the web. But unlike my strip, hopefully this thing will be fully shaded with panelling and more detail and what-not. This is my plan...I hope it works...
A new strip will be up Friday, and I've also started work on a new voting pic. Speaking of mascots... ^_^
Slight problem with the scanner. Emily's computer refuses to aknowlege it's existance, and her husband's computer just up and croaked. I'm going to see if I can borrow her scanner cord to plug into mine so that we might salvage something workable (since my computer's just fine, and our scanners are same manufacturer albiet different models). If that doesn't work,I'm left with the last resort of school scanners. I don't like going to the school for scanners, because I think the library charges per hour, and the others are all stuck on iMacs, which, in my opinion, are the true evil of the computer world. I hate iMacs, and they hate me. I can never get them to work right. So if I have to use a school scanner, there will be a Friday update, but it might be later on Friday.
On a more serious note, GOOD LUCK, REBECCA JJ! I say this because my good friend and old roomie is now currently fleeing for her life from the wrath of Hurricane Rita (which, last I checked yesterday night, was the 3rd most powerful hurricane in history). I was worried about her when I heard that Rita was headed for Houston, and then I checked her lifejournal and sure enough, she'd left hours earlier. She's having to leave behind all her art stuff, like her sketchbooks and cosplay costumes, and I really hope for her sake that they aren't damaged. It's horrible for an artist to lose any of their work; it's like losing a journal. I wish Rebecca and everyone who's in the path of Rita luck, and may God be with you all.
EDIT: After just checking the news, I'm relieved to say that the hurricane has mellowed to a category 4. Yeah, that's still bad, and there's not much difference between 4 and 5 as far as damage, but it's something. There's still the possibility it can raise again by landfall, but they're suspecting it may be more likely that it even drops to a level 3. Good luck there.
Guest strip today, since I haven't had the time to go over to my friend's apartment and scan in new strips. Until I get my scanner cord back, I don't have reliable scanner access. Wait, I think I've mentioned this before. *checks news* Yeah...just last update...I should probably stop repeating myself. O_o
Anyways, I've also got a lot due in school this week, so I couldn't find the time to go over and waste the 4-9 hours I usually do at UnicornEm's. I am planning on going over Thursday, so there should be an update on Friday. Dang, and I was so looking forwards to normal updating, too. But at least I have a few guest strips left that I can use as kind of a makeshift "Shirt Guy Dom" substitute (a litte Megatokyo reference for you there).
Dang, it's hard to update when I don't have reliable scanner access or updating software...I swear, if Keenspace (sorry, it's Comic Genesis now I guess) acts up ONE more time...
On the plus side, I've actually gone into the website code and nearly finished the changes! I say nearly because as I'm typing this, something still looks weird on the front page when I look at it through Mozilla (like, say, the bottom disclaimer hiding behind the tagboard. O_o). In any case, the following have been done: I've added link buttons to the two comic listings I'm a member of, as well as a link button to my sister's site. These sit now above the news box, because I can't figure out how to get them above the stupid calendar. I'll soon get one up for Unicorn Emily's site and Rebecca JJ's site, because I know them in real life. I still need to go into the links page and add a buncha stuff, like Skullbearer's new site, and DR's comic site (I've also got a ton of favorite strips who's authors I've never had the pleasure of speaking with, which is why this is going to take some time). I've also put the link to my Deviantart page in my Gallery page. Hopefully, I can get it so that I'll have a picture link later instead of a boring 'ol text link. I've got several cool things there, so feel free to check it out if you wish. At some point in time, I may write up a character listing for minor characters, such as Michael or the teachers, and stick it on the character page. But for now, these are the only changes I've made. Don't laugh; it took me forever to figure this much out. I'm not gifted with the html stuff. ^_^
The real reason I wanted to get on the newsbox was to wish everyone in New Orleans well. Hurricane Katrina is now the worst natural disaster in US history. My prayers go out to my readers who are either from New Orleans or who know someone there. Actually, my prayers go out to anyone involved in New Orleans, save the evil $&#(% who are now grinding the city under complete chaos and terror. I hope the innocent can be saved in time. They have the prayers and support of us on the outside.
While 9/11 may have changed the New York skyline, Hurricane Katrina has changed the US coastline. The great city of New Orleans has been virtually wiped off the map and now sits 80% under water. If anyone is able to help with contributions, there are charities all over the web, too many for me to post. But I'll put up a word of warning: MAKE SURE THAT IF YOU DONATE, YOU DONATE TO A REAL CHARITY! It's sick, but in times of crisis like this, people tend to take advantage of other's generosity and create false charities designed to bleed financial aid into their own pockets. Research your donation recipiant well. And good luck to everyone touched by Katrina.
Man, I really hate breaking promises. But I have literally no choice in the matter. I had planned to get the two strips for this week done up on Saturday and Sunday, but I was not planning on what my Dad was planning. He wanted to get as much done in packing as soon as possible, so he had me pack up my entire computer set Saturday morning. T_T You can probably guess from this that I wasn't able to get the two strips for this week done. If I had a say in this, I would have packed up the computer Monday like I'd planned. But oh well. I'm going to have to move the guest strip that I was saving for next Monday to this Wednesday. I found more hardcopy guest strips that Unicorn Emily had drawn for me, but only AFTER I had packed my freakn' scanner. *head bash* This is the second time I've done something like this with her strips. No Em, I'm not out to kill your strips...really...it isn't my fault, fate's being a jerk...
In any case, I'll see what I can do about coming back earlier than I expected. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to do a strip by next Wednesday. If I'm not, I may have to wait till the first Monday of September. I'd just as soon get something up Friday the 2nd though. Oh well. Now that each and every reader is completely confused about my update schedule, I leave you all and the next time you hear from me will be after I've moved back to Utah. Sayonara, everyone!
Due to my now having to get ready to move back into college next week, I haven't had much time to do strips. I already missed Wednesday's update. So for this week and next, I'll see if I can do updates on Monday and Friday. I've got a guest strip that will go up Monday the 29th. Any other guest strips will be appreciated, I could use them for the 31st or even the 24th if I get enough. But once I get back in school, I should be back to a normal and organized life, and therefore will be able to finally lift the "somewhat randomness" of my updating.
Due to things beyond my control, I have been held back in updating. The main culprits have been my own computer, my family internet-connected computer, and Keenspace itself as it switched to it's new domain. I've also had health problems, plus I had to deal with an attempted break in on Wednesday night as some fugitive ran from some huge police hunt. He tried to bust into the house Bookmaster and I were housesitting and discovered the hard way that the backyard is boobytrapped. He really should consider himself lucky he didn't find out that the house owner's a beekeeper the wrong way (although I'd have paid money to see a criminal fought off by a half-dozen beehives, hehehe). That was a hair-raising experience however, given that he passed right by my window just as I was about to lift up the curtains to see what the heck was making the jiggling-the-kitchen-door sounds and falling-off-the-porch thump. So much for hoping it was just the cat. They guy tried to get away by the side fence, only to crash into it because there's no gate over there. Now that it's over, it cracks me up. But man, what the HECK did this guy do to deserve a several-county cop hunt complete with K-9 units and a spotlight/infrared helicopter?!?
All assuming things are OK on Keenspace's end, I should be back to my normal schedule next week. Oh, and I'm still taking fanstrips if you've got them; that way, I won't have to stress so much when I do my move back to college come end of August. Thanks you all, for hanging in there!
Well, as some of you may have guessed already, I'm still having computer problems. And my own personal computer is also now getting in on the conspiracy. It was mainly due to Photoshop not cooperating that Wednesday's strip was missed. Now, several hours and a headache later, we've managed to fix that annoying problem (we being me and my twin sister Bookmaster). So hopefully, we can continue as planned...so long as the family computer doesn't restart it's internet issues again...
In other news, I looked at the calander to find the date I should put up for this post, and realized that one month from yesterday will be my 24th birthday. Now, I've come to realize that I might have officially reached the age where another birthday holds more dread than excitement. Ugh, 24 years old and I'm STILL IN COLLEGE?!? *head bash* And I probably don't need to mention the "still single" problem. But I'm more bummed about the fact that it's taking me eight years for a four year degree. Although I did get an AA degree from a community college first...
Crossing my fingers hoping this updates. Due to computer problems and being REALLY sick, I'm being far more random in my updates than I was even planning. Hopefully I can get things back in order soon. It's also crazy because I'm house-sitting for a neighbor for the whole month of July, so I'm not home that often.
Not much else to say, except begging for more votes on topwebcomics.com. I need to get back to the top 100; I get more hits there.
Thanks you all, for staying with me through this messed up summer! Hopefully I can do a little artwork soon as a reward.
Wow, this one got done way ahead of time! ^_^ But be warned - I'm still on sporatic updating mode, so forgive me if I do miss a day here and there.
I had such a good time in front of the computer, that I was able to finish a fanart I'd been working on for awhile (check out my artwork at my deviantart page. The fanart I'm referencing is the one from Codename: Kids Next Door, a Cartoon Network cartoon that I find to be pretty clever all around (at least when it's not being juvinile, which can be a real turn-off). Basic premis of the show is that there is a worldwide organization of secret agent kids who fight to save others from the tyranny of evil (this usually means a variety of stereotypically enhanced adults, but also includes it's fair share of evil kids too). Overall, I find the show to be really well-written and the characters really well developed for an episodic series. There is even good continuity. Yeah, it can get annoying sometimes (there are two episodes especially that I will NEVER watch again, no matter HOW much you pay me), but it's really good overall. In any case, I was wondering what these psycho-mini-spies would be like when they grew up, and since "what if" scenarios tend to really get stuck in my head, I just drew out a group shot of them as the Teens Next Door (roughly between 16-17 years old, I'd imagine). And upon completion, I still think that Numbuh Five is one of the coolest characters ever. ^_^ She rocks. And she's the first ever non-geek I've said that about (usually the geek is my favorite, and while I still find Numbuh Two cool, he and the others are nowhere near Five's standard, although Numbuh One comes close sometimes)
Oh, and vote for me on topwebcomics.com! I'm not doing so hot in ratings right now...
Kudos to Brittany for this fanart that I'm using for today's strip. My ankle's getting better, but I still can't sit long at the computer. The next strip should be done soon though. As for the fanpic, this had me rolling (although you'd probably only really get it if you've seen the Pretear anime). The thought of some of those people cosplaying anime characters is just too much. ^_^ And John's right; the outfit may be weird, but at least he's not in a skirt. ^_~ The Fire Knight fits. Going as the Light Knight fits Ben too; yeah that probably would go with a lightsaber. And of course, the REAL magical girl cosplayer gets to play the final form of Princess Pretear...heck, this IS her "Himeno" namesake, anyways. Alice looks good as Mawata (actually, she looks very similar too; just needs to dye the hair green ^_~), Jane's great at playing the step-mom (or is that the step-sister's outift? I get confused), Theodred makes a wonderful Hyate the Wind Knight, and Diedre playing the villian Psyche is just great. But the final thing that really cracks me up is poor Edward who was obviously forced to dress as the Sound-Knight-gone-evil Sasame. Lol, I don't think he'd take too kindly to cosplaying...and yet the outfit suits him. Toooo funny. ^_^
Don't worry people, I'll get that other strip up by Monday. Late Monday if my ankle refuses to cooperate, but between now and then I'll be working little bits at a time; that ought to work.
Um...sorry again about Monday? Again, another ankle relapse; this one worse than the last one. I was off that huge post-surgical boot, but now I'm back on it because I retwisted my foot and...well, you probably don't want to hear details anyways. Short story, I did something dumb, I'm paying for it, and it's affecting my update schedule. Again, this isn't too much of a suprise, and this is why I warned about the possibility of missed days. Until the foot is completely stable, there's no guarantee of me being able to sit in front of my computer for the 2-3 hours it takes to clean/color/render the strip.
That over with, I can't really say much else is going on...life's been kinda dull, really...what with being stuck off my foot and all...except that I still have homework to do for a class that I had to extend through Spring/Summer to save my grade. Still working on that.
Again, vote for me on topwebcomics.com! I'm slowly starting to climb the ratings ladder, but I'm still a ways away from where I used to be. I'm not even in the top 100 anymore. And I got so many hits on that front page too. Ah well. I'm starting a sketch for the next voter's pic, and this one's going to include the strip mascots, which will be making appearances in the somewhat-close-but-still-a-ways-off-future.
Here's hoping I don't relapse and miss another day. Friday's strip isn't even inked yet, unlike the ten after that. This is mainly because I stuck it in realizing that I need to include something from her class later in the day before moving on to the after-school plot. So if it looks kinda stuck in between the plotlines, that's because it really IS just stuck there. But it introduces a minor character that I think will be interesting in the grand scheme of things.
Sorry about lack of Monday and today being late...had an ankle relapse. I was expecting this, which is why I say that things'll be rocky for awhile till my ankles stop whining every time I sit in front of a computer. Geez, and I thought the comp crashed on me often...
Again with the begging...please vote for me on topwebcomics.com! I'll be sticking up a new voting pic the moment I can get my strip up regularly and still have time to spare. In the meantime, I'll leave you all wondering just who the heck that tiger guy and cheetah lady are...and what the heck they're doing on the hiatus pics. Here's a couple of hints; there's more to the "gang" than those two, and we're not gonna see them in the strip for a while yet. Sorry. ^_^Hello everyone! I'm baaaack! ^_^ Still not entirely up to speck, so don't be suprised if I miss an update or two for a while. However, I'd like to get back to working on the strip, so you can be sure of at least one update a week, and three if I can help it. No promises for next Monday, since I worked a lot on this "welcome, I'm back from Hiatus" pic, but I'll still try to get something up. It's nice to be back, and since a friend of mine (thankie, Unicorn Emily!) gave me a scanner for an early birthday gift, I should be able to work just fine from here at home.
So on that note, I'll see you around! ^_~ Now's the time to start a href="http://www.topwebcomics.com/votingGateway.aspx?MemberID=2158">voting for me again on topwebcomics.com!
Ok, sorry the update was late today. I was behind in stuff. ^_^ Yes, this is BookMaster again (and I’ve fixed the link to my site in the last news entry, so it should actually take you there now). Today’s guest strip comes all the way over from The Geek Way, by Dennis Roth. Nice one, DR!
Oh yeah, and Shada is still improving. ^_~
Me? I’m doing fine. How are you?
This is HHB BookMaster of The Hero’s Handbook speaking today. ^_^ Just a little update for ya. This is not a hostile takeover of NowhereU by another webcartoonist. Nope. I can take over--I mean, run the place with the complete ignorance--I mean, cooperation of the true cartoonist on the matter. (Kidding, it’s not a takeover, but there were hostilities when Shada found out I forgot to post the guest strip last Friday) :-\
Shada wanted this sketch up in commemoration of a certain movie (as though nobody knows what I’m talking about) that opens tomorrow, which by the way certain people can’t see on opening day despite being obsessed fans, because there’s a little concept called “end of quarter rush” that shackles such desperate folks to another, slightly larger concept called “life”. And this “life” thing bites sometimes for just that reason. T_T What? Why, whoever said I was talking about me? What a silly idea. *shakes enormous Shakespeare textbook in frustration* She also wanted to mourn the premature demise of the entire Star Trek television saga. Since both these events are related to and affect the underlying core of the lives of two NowhereU characters, it was important that Shada acted immediately to take advantage of the timing.
FYI, Shada is doing much better and is recovering rather quickly. Hopefully, she’ll be back into the strip soon, but in the meantime there will be weekly guest strips assuming we have enough and Bonehead BookMaster actually gets her act together. Yeah, Shada’s going to miss the opening of Star Wars, too (still laid up), darn it. At least I have company in my suffering.
Well, my hiatus has officially begun. I have not even been able to get time to finish this week's worth of strips. As of right now, I have about three usable guest strips, so I might put up one a week. I don't want to be gone long, so I'll be back as soon as I can manage it. So far my goal is to come back by June, but that all depends on how surgery recovery goes, and whether I can get access to a scanner.
Vote for me on topwebcomics.com and see the way cool pic that I WAS able to get done. The first bit of it was turned into my hiatus announcement, but there's more to it than this mysterious-striped-freaky-dude. You can see it when you vote, assuming the pic doesn't break. Please don't break, pic...(if it's broken and you can't see it, let me know...I don't trust this thing to work perfectly)
So this is goodbye for now. When I can, I will be checking the forum (that doesn't requre hours of sitting at a computer, so I will be able to do that sooner than I can start working on strips). If you see me there, feel free to ask me questions, wish me well, beg/threaten me to hurry back, etc. Till then, sayonara everyone! You've been wonderful! See you in the summer!
~Shada~
WE'VE GOT A FORUM!!! I've finally gotten around to getting a free forum hook-up. It's a temporary thing until Keenspace decides to fix/make their own forums. Hopefully, this can help tide readers over while I'm on hiatus. The address is http://nowhereu.proboards43.com/index.cgi.
I'm also working on the picture for the voting page. I've drawn it up, now I need to ink it. I should have it done and up this week. It shows some important stuff from the future of Nowhere, so they'll be plenty to speculate on in the new forum.
Oh, and vote for me on topwebcomics.com!
Well, that was embarrasing. I couldn't even get a Friday strip up. I've never been so wiped even when I was on my high school track team. Argh, I hope I don't relapse again.
I feel so bad for missing two days, that I'm considering extending my deadline to start my hiatus. I was going to begin the break after this friday, but I might just keep going through next week. It depends on how finals and my packing goes. If I do try for next week, I might get a "see you in the summer" picture up on Friday or something.
Thanks to everyone who's submitting a guest strip! I'll put them to good use. If you're still drawing one, see if you could get it to me by the end of the week, if possible. If not, don't sweat it; just keep in mind that starting May, I won't be able to do anything with it until I recover from my surgery enough to actually make it to my computer. ^_^
Once again, don't forget to vote for me on topwebcomics.com! Since the beginning of the April recount, I've been in the top 100 averaging 75 or so. I'd like to bump it up a bit before my hiatus. I'll get a pic done for the voting page soon. Thanks for the support!
If you don't see a strip by later today, that is due to what is probably Mono. For the last three weeks I've been on-and-off ill, and it's wreaking havoc with my schooling. Tuesday, I was so wiped I could hardly get out of bed let alone do a comic. I type this up now at 5 in the morning with my usual sickness insomnia, hoping that I will have enough energy tomorrow to get the next strip scanned, cleaned, and shaded. But if you don't see a strip for Wednesday, then it means that mono's got the best of me again. I really don't want to cancel, and I feel like wimping out. So if the strip ever skipps a day, you know it's only under extreme circumstances.
Intersting. Apparantly it's my lot in life to suffer physically. Strangly enough, it doesn't bother me. Everyone's got their problems. So don't worry about me people. I'm a rather cheerful person overall, and it takes a lot to get to me. The only thing I'm worried about is getting the comic up on time. Oh, and about my missing school. Can't forget that. Argh, I sound like I'm complaining again...I'm not, really. Maybe I'd better stop typing this early in the morning; I say strange things when I'm lacking in the sleep department.
One last note, the mono illness (not entirely sure it's mono, but it's a fairly good guess) has also kept me from doing the backlog necessary for a once a week posting while I'm out with finals/travel/surgery. This annoys me probably more than you, because it has upped the possibility of my having to completely take a several month hiatus. However, I've been getting a fair amount of fanstrips (such as Unicorn Emily's five contributions so far, the one from DR, and the five Skullbearer will send the moment he can actually succeed in drawing them and getting them scanned before he suffers another problem himself, the poor guy), so I think I will probably have at least several guest strips a week while I'm gone.
To help tide people over, I hope to be able to get a picture up in the voting page. You know, that page you see when you vote for me on topwebcomics.com. The pic I will be doing will be based on an idea I got from my twin, HHB Bookmaster from the Hero's Hanbook strip. It will be of some scene or character from the future. Hopefully, if I can get that up, you can forgive me for taking a hiatus. I really don't want to, but there really is no way around it. So I'll make the pic as nice as I can.
Ok, now I'm off to bed before my arms fall off from typing while I have no energy. Peace out. (Yeah, that probably sounds korny...ah well.)
Character bios and new character art are up for Theodred and Edward on the characters page. The first Nowhere U fanart is up on the gallery page. Yay!
Don't forget to vote for me on topwebcomics.com!
Whoho! We've hit the 50 strip milestone! Wow, I've gotten that many done already? Cool!
As far as my predicament is concerned, I'll try to get a few strips done for a once a week thing. And yes, I'm accepting guest strips to help tide readers over. I really don't care how good your art is, just so long as the content is rated "g". I'll be accepting thru the first week of April, maybe into the second, depending on how busy I get with finals and packing around that time.
Don't forget to vote for me on topwebcomics.com! One of these days I'll get a decent button on the strip for the voting. I'd like to be able to get myself into the top 100. I'm somewhere around #175 right now.
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT
I've been analyzing the speed in which I do strips, and my backlog, and computer time, and what I have to do in the next month, and I have come to the conclusion that I need help. I should explain.
Come April, I will be studying for finals. Then I will be packing all my belongings, including my computer, and I'll be going home for spring and summer. While I am packing, I cannot do comics, because I will have no computer access. Then my dad will be driving me home. Another time I have no computer access. Upon arrival at home, I will nearly immediatly go into surgery on my right ankle to fix a childhood injury. I am still trying to recover from my left ankle surgery last year. I will be out for nearly a month, unable to move more than a few feet. This seriously annoys me, because it basically means that for a month or more, I will not have any way to do a comic strip. And I do not have time to do backlog. I MIGHT be able to do a once a week thing, but as of yet it is uncertian.
I'd like to take a poll. What do you, the readers, wish for me to do? Here are the options:
I go on hiatus for a few months. Maybe more; depending on how dependable my family's home internet connection is (it's not reliable that often), and whether or not I can get frequent access to a scanner there.
I try as hard as I can to get weekly or once-every-two-weekly strips up.
I implore you, the reader, to send me guest strips, "G" rated so I can keep up my "family friendly" pace.
I try to get the weekly or less strip thing going, and use the remaining ones for guest strips (a combo of the above two options)
These are the options I've considered thus far. If you'd like to let your voice be known, either send me an email at mystrylshada(DIESPAMMERS)gmail.com (replace DIESPAMMERS with @; I do that to kill spambots), or stick it up on the tagboard. I'd like to hear from you so I know how best to serve the fanbase. I'll do what I can.
Thanks for the help! Don't forget to vote for me on topwebcomics.com! ^_~
3am edit--Look! TAGBOARD!! Have fun, play nice. :) And, Ben's and John's character pages are working. Check 'em. However, the page now looks kinda odd using Mozilla (if it doesn't, let me know so I know I don't have a problem). I'll see if I can get that fixed later; don't have time now.
Meet Theodred. Poor guy. For a lot of reasons. I'll work on a full color pic for him to put in the character page. I'll work on Edward III too, while I'm at it. Oh, and we had seen Edward earlier as well. See if you can guess what strip he was in. He wasn't all that well drawn...in fact, I draw him a lot better now. But he's been in one panel before.
The "Life, The Universe, And Everything" sci-fi/fantasy symposium was a smash! We had Dave Wolverton there, the author of "Courtship of Princess Leia" (one of my favorite Star Wars novels), as well as the webcomic artists who do "Utukki", "Gleaners", and even "Schlock Mercenary"! And of course, my good friend and artist of "A Magical Roommate", UnicornEmily. Also there was L.E. Modesitt, Jerry Pournelle, and the screenplay author of "Galaxy Quest", David Howard. We had several other famous people there, but my mind blanks. Next year, I hear we'll be getting Kevin J. Anderson, another Star Wars novelist I'm familiar with.
I was actually on three panels. The first one I was pulled into was a Manga Compared To American Comics debate. That was really interesting. We talked about what was similar and dissimilar about Japanese and American comics. Then Anime 101 went really nice, and we answered a lot of questions. The webcomic panel was, as I suspected, huge (there were 13 artists there). But the panel was a terrific success. I now have a whole list of new webcomics to check out. "Schlock Mercenary" alone will take me months to catch up on.
Ok, now for my typical shameless plug. Vote for me on topwebcomics.com! Please? ^_^ Ok, I'm done. One of these days, I'll actually get around to sticking a button for it on the main page so I don't have to keep begging like the family cat...
So, did ya all have a Happy S.A.D.? ^_^ No, it's not an oxymoron. It's "Singles' Awareness Day"...that's what Valentine's nickname is around my school. My sister calls it happy Valentine's Candy Day, for obvious reasons. I also celebrate it as "Happy Van Von Hunter Day", because Van Von Hunter is one of my favorite webcomics of all time. I'm so buying his new manga when it comes out...
Long story short, I'm a pathetic person who doesn't really do Valentines. And it's also my half-birthday. Nothing like knowing I'm 23 1/2 and still single to really rub a romantic holiday in. -_- Oh well, good thing I'm not a romantic. Mushy stuff isn't quite my thing. No, I'm not bitter. Really. Kinda. Oh forget it.
On an unrelated note, my university is having it's annual sci-fi/fantasy symposium, "Life, The Universe, And Everything" (three guesses as to where that title came from, and the first two don't count). I get to be a panelist for two panels! I'm doing the Anime for Beginners panel, as well as the Webcomics panel! Of course, that's because the person who did the scheduling for the art stuff is my good friend, roomie, and web designer, Rebecca JJ. She's on the committe for the convention. I've got to share the Webcomics panel with like 10 other people though; she knows a lot of webcomic artists here.
And I still can't get those two boys' bios to work. If I can't get it up by Monday, I'll just stick the bios here in the news section in the meantime.
Don't forget to vote for me
on topwebcomics.com!I also got myself registered at www.topwebcomics.com! Vote for me!
However, she gave me a good idea for a new character. She suggested a captian of the Kendo team who will point out that Star Wars etc origionally got their inspiration from Japanese Samurai films. This thought has refused to leave my mind, and I'm developing another character in my head. Oh boy. Well, whether he actually comes in the strip or not will be seen later. ^_^
Personality one: Robbie. The orignal name for my computer, named after a character for a book series I'm trying to write. Robbie is very cheerful and helpful, but talks too much. Personaltity two: Sam (also a character I've created for my books). Sam is lazy and prone to pranks, likes annoying me, and won't do anything if it's too hard. Personality thre (and the newest one): Evil Robbie. Similar to Robbie, only evil incarnate; he purposfully crashes at the most inopportune times, fights back with everything, and usually is the reason I want to smash my comp. This is a personality that has developed now that my computer is over a year old.
A hint as to how bad my computer was during my attempts to finish my music vid: Evil Robbie on a bad day. Enough said. -_- I will try to get the strip up later today though, so it will hopefully still go up on Friday.
She's working on a Nowhere U seal for me. Good luck to her; I have NO clue what would symbolize a school called Nowhere. A black hole? An invisible man? Anyone have any suggestions?
My sister made me directional buttons! If you have no clue what that is, stay tuned; one of these days I'll get around to putting them up on the site. Or...I should say my wonderful site coder Rebecca JJ will help me put them up on the site. Man, I've gotta learn more HTML...
So enjoy the special. It's not my most well-drawn thing ever, but keep in mind I drew this with a bad hand. Gimme a break. I also was gonna use a new hair-shading technique from an online tutorial, but the $%@#! internet connection went down while I was coloring, and I wasn't able to open up the tutorial page. Oh well, maybe next time.
OK, now that I've beaten that dead horse to death (dead horse to...wait...), I am pleased to announce the beginning of my next Dungeons and Dragons campain, with me as Dungeon Master. This is my second big adventure (not counting the minor skirmishes I led my sisters in), and I might have occasional comments. This week, we didn't really do much other than set up characters, and try to get them all to cooperate enough to go on a quest. Harder than it looks, especially ters are a neutral-good ex-paladin-gone-fighter, a chaotic-good ranger who's an amesiac, a chaotic-neutral cleric who thinks everyone else is stupid, and a dual personality lawful-good fighter/lawful-evil rogue. Oh boy.
Uh, maybe it's time I invested in a News archive...this page is getting kinda long...
Well, I'm back. I wasn't able to work on the strip as much as I'd wanted, but thems the breaks. I should be done with the late holiday special by Saturday. Next Monday, I'll be back to the usual three times a week schedule. This week I'm only doing Wednesday and the Saturday special.
In good news, I got a graphics tablet for Christmas! So much easier. However, it's still taking me hours to shade (I'm just a slowpoke, I guess), so I'm probably gonna have to change the shading to a "special occasion" only thing. Or until I get better/faster at it. Because 8 hours total per strip is just toooooo much of my time. I want to start using some of that time for backgrounds, and I can't if I'm always racing the clock.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Now back to school! Yay....
~Shada~
In better news, I DID manage to finish something for the site, thanks to the help of my good friend Rebecca JJ (my site coder). The character bios have been updated with each character getting their own page, complete with full color portait and more in-depth bio (except the guys; I've only got color pics for two of them, and their bios are far from complete, but that's ok because we haven't met them yet anyways). So enjoy what little art talent I've managed to scrape up. Starting next week, we are into my most recent format change, and the strips you see will have been drawn starting several months ago, so they're also in a slightly better art style than the earlier strips.
Again, sorry for not following through on what I promised, but I unfortunatly have this thing called a "Life", which really does get in the way, but I have to deal with it nonetheless. I will now be heading off for a two-week vacation which is very much needed. I will return hopefully on the 4th or 5th of January. Enjoy Nowhere!
I'm right now working on full-sized character drawings for the character page. I will hopefully get them done before I have to leave for Christmas break. Of course, I also need to work on the Christmas special, as well as the strips in the new format which will be fully shaded (I hope) and, if all goes well, actual backgrounds! Plus I need to finish finals for school! I'm gonna die! ^_^
Also in the works are buttons and a banner, but I'm not gonna even try to pretend to get those done. They will probably go up some time after New Year's.
~Shada~
Also, I've been working like mad to get enough strips done for the Christmas Break. I'm not gonna be able to log into my Keenspace account starting the 17th and ending the 5th in January, since I'm going home to a less reliable internet connection (unless my dad's finally gotten that cable that he's been promising since summer, but even then I don't have my computer with all my FTP and files and junk, so it doesn't really matter WHAT the connection is). So in preparation, I've been trying to get all my strips done in time to have a lot of backup. And I need to do a Christmas Special too, although this time I probably won't use all the characters.
And finally, I'm also trying to get character images done to stick in the profile section. These are going to be colored and have more detail than in the strip, so they look better. Or, will look better...I hope. ^_^
~Shada~
For all of you who've read Adventurers!, I'm excited to announce that Webrunner chose my sister's guest comic for last Saturday! Boo yeah! My sister doesn't have much of her own webcomic up yet (called the Hero's Handbook, and is hilarious so far), but she does have extensive storylines planned, so it's gonna be good.
This special was drawn Tuesday. Compare this to the strips that are being posted now, which were drawn a year ago. Yeah...my earlier strips stink...at least by comparison. In any case, this special has characters that have not yet been introduced, but will be later on. There are already minor descriptions of them in the character page, which will be updated as we learn more and more about various characters. But these are the main ones that we'll be seeing. Want more information about some of them? Then keep reading the strip! ^_^
You'll also notice the guest appearance of me in the strip. You can always tell when I'm in the strip, because a stupid tag announcing "Artist" is always hanging around. Occasionally, I'll break the fourth wall and make cameos.
~Shada~
In any case, I can't help but look back at these earlier strips and wonder what was going through my mind. I actually drew these earlier ones about a year ago, so my art style's improved majorly since. Also, I've changed my layout about twice or so because I can't stand drawing in the tiny little spaces that I cram onto one page (as Alice illustrates for me in this strip). Do you realize that the first four strips I did were all crammed on the same page? I move to a horizontal layout and fit three to a page for the next little while, before finally going to the square, full-page for the later strips (those are the ones I started drawing after my summer break).
~Shada~
This is the beginning of Nowhere University! There's still a long way to go, but this is what we've accomplished so far. Soon, I hope to have an actual banner for the title, and maybe some other artwork (like replacing the boring ol' text buttons with "pretty arrows" as Rebecca JJ calls them.
Also, this site will update every other weekday, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Enjoy the ride to Nowhere!
All original characters and contents copyright 2004 Allison McMullin.
Nowhere University is hosted on Keenspace, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics.
