Cheating is such a harsh word

I have another page done, but only because I totally cheated. I just made it up in photoshop, using a background photo I took in the city - which was meant to be for drawing reference - and some photo's I got off the web. I added some effects, stuck it in and bingo. You're done, baby!

Usually, I'm not a big fan of doing things like this. I think I mentioned this in an earlier blog. But with the time constraints I have, and the time I have left, I've unfortunately gotta do it. After the book is finished, or for a reprint or collected edition, I'll draw in what I originally wanted. But for now, this will have to do. The image at the right there isn't the final one. It's an earlier scan I used to do the background art.

9 to go. 18 days left.

ANNNNNNNNNNND. . . . . .

Another one down, and another one down! Another one bites the dust!

Sing it with me, one time, won't you!

Another one bites the dust

Told you so. Got another page done.

So the tally so far is 14 done. Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 15, 18, 20, 23 and the cover. Done like a dinner. That leaves me with 11 to do. And I think I'm down to, what? 19 days to get it done?

Keep in mind tough, that's 19 days to get it done for Supanova. If it's not done by the 16th, oh well too bad, so sad. No Robotoon 2 at Supanova. But I am going to just keep going until it's all done, just so it's done!! I've got other shit to do.

I realise I'm probably repeating myself in theses posts a bit, but this is the only thing I have on my mind right now. Which is another reason I want it done.

Think I'll take a break and get the inside front cover done.

To the left, to the right, to the left . . .

I.m taking a break from the drawing table by working on the computer, and I'm taking a break from the computer to work at the drawing table. The only reprieve I'm getting from drawing is when I go to work, and I'm taking my drawings with me to work so I can draw when I'm not working.

No wonder I'm knackered.

I'm about an hour or so away from completing another page. That makes 14 done, with 11 to go. I wanted to keep going, but my wrist was cramping up, so I thought I better take a break. I'm also running out of ink! Well, not running out exactly. I bought a small jar of it only about a month ago, give or take. I'm done to the last dregs right now. I seem to remember those things lasting a bit longer than this. Admittedly, I haven't had such an intensive work schedule as this for a while. Those fucking new sable brushes I bought are completely useless. I think my old brush was a Windsor and Newton, so when I drive into Penrith tomorrow - hell of a trip just for art supplies, but I need paper - I'll see if they have any of those I can get. I don't mind spending money on equipment, as long as it's worth the money. So far, with working on this project, I've bought three brushes, two jars and one bottle of Ink. And the only thing that's been worth the money was the Ink. Fuckers.

I'm finally hitting the point with the pages that the end is coming very quickly. I've been working constantly, doing a panel here, a a detail there, which is leading me to the point where there's only a few things to do and the page is done. That explains why I've managed to get two pages finished in two days, when I don't think I've had a completed page in weeks. At this rate, I might - stress the word MIGHT - get finished a couple days earlier than expected. But I really think I should take a break for a while,just for my own sake of sanity.

Fuck it. I'm playing video games for a while.

Another page done!!!

That makes 13 full pages done, completed, finished, out of the way, over, kaput, concluded, terminated, over and done with, accomplished, executed, discharged, fulfilled, out of the way, all sewn up, all wrapped up, polished off, effectuated, through!

Done.

God, if that's my reaction for one page, can you imagine what I'm going to be like when the whole books finished?

21 days to go

That's all the time I'm giving myself. My original deadline was the 1st of June, which is the end of this week. Long story short, not gonna make it. So now I'm working to the 16th of June. Which only gives the printers a week, but that will, hopefully, be enough. I haven't finished any more pages, but I'm getting a lot done on a lot of pages. Hopefully the finished moment on some of them will start happening soon.

So yesterday, Myself and the rest of the Comic Cohorts were exhibiting at the Zine fair at the MCA in Sydney. (Museum of Contemporary Art for those who haven't heard of it - which covers just about everybody.) I probably should have mentioned it here. It turned out to be a really good day. I sold five issues, which was a lot better than Wollongong and much better than Melbourne. I also traded one issue for ten dollars worth of pre stamped envelopes. What the hell.

I only had copies of Robotoon available. I'm still waiting on the reprint of Woodville and Spider-Duck isn't completed. My opening line about Toon being "The worlds greatest comic about a Superhero Robotic Rabbit" always managed to get a smile - well, except from a group of Emo's who were trying to find fault in everything. Tony had found some old Golden Age Australian comic book characters, that we had a blast updating. The Storm Brats were quite well behaved and seemed to enjoy themselves. Not sure how well Tanya and Owen went. Tony sold a few issues, including yet another issue of 'William Shakespeare's Godzilla'. How, I'll never know. He's had that damn book for years, but has never sold any. Now they're selling like hotcakes. Really tasty hotcakes!! Last I heard, I don't think Hayden had much luck at all. He seems to always do well at Supanova, so hopefully that will pan out a bit better for him. We disappeared after the band started playing late in the afternoon. The music wasn't bad, but they didn't think to adjust the sound levels accordingly for playing in a marble room. I think I went deaf with the first note. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it's too loud, you're too old. Blow it out your ass.

Ness and I went and saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Longest Freaking Title after. It was the second time I'd seen it, and I like it. I don't think the 'McGuffin' was the best choice, but it was still Indy. Anything George Lucas touches nowadays seems to turn to shit, but Spielberg still has what it takes. Came home, went to bed, slept. Starting to think that could be a plan now.

The Wall

Jesus H Christ, I'm tired.

No matter how much I sleep - and it seems to be a LOT lately - I just don't seem to be getting any rest. I really could use a day off to just sit and veg out, but I really can't afford it. I'm down to less than a month to go, and still have a lot to do. I'm kinda working under the assumption that I may not get finished in time. Which , you know, could be the case. Fair enough. I just want to know that I did everything I could to try and get it out on time.

But fuck me drunk, I just REALLY want a day to sit around and play video games with my girlfriend.

Just had a look at the title. I wonder if there's a sequel to The Lot in that?

Waitaminute. . .

I missed a page. One I hadn't drawn yet. I have the full number of pages.

Ok, yeah. I'm a Dickhead.

Oh dear Christ!!

I think I did something extraordinarily dumb!

I was going through the book just now, sorting through all the pages and what not. While packing up and putting the pages into the display folder I have them in, I was counting the pages. I pretty much have them all done except for, I thought, two. Now, I have checked and double checked this a few times. There should be 25 including the cover.

There's 24.

I missed plotted. I've missed an ENTIRE FUCKING PAGE!!!!!!

I'm going to double check it again, but I seriously think I've missed one. Relax, I'm sitting here grinning. It's no big deal. I'm going to change the last page I have slightly to fit in with what I have, and just leave out the final 'Meanwhile' page I was going to put on in the end.

But I honestly cannot believe I just did something so dumb as to COMPLETELY miss out on a page.

Twit. Fuck it, I'm going to bed.

And the Title would be. . .

I have no intention on sleeping tonight.

I'm not kidding. I have a rare 9am start in the morning. My sleeping patterns are so extraordinarily screwed up at the mo, that I can't even begin to get to sleep until around four in the morn. that will only give me about 2 hours sleep, which will just do more harm than good. So the hell with it. I'll push on through. I haven't done the whole "I can feel every nerve ending in my body" thing for a while. Actually, I think the last time was after Armageddon con last year, driving back to Sydney from Melbourne all night after being at the Con all day. That hurt.

I'm just sitting here with Bruce the shark and looking over all my pages. I only have three more to trace up. Out of the 25 - including the cover - I'm still at twelve completed. There's several that are close - one final tweak or panel and there done. I realise I'm getting a little short on time, but it's not as bad as I was believing before.

I bought a couple of new brushes to help with the inking. My old one had seen quite a bit of action over the course of it's tenure. Like Indy said, it's not the years, it's the millage. These are sable brushes, which are supposed to be top notch, but they are not working out well at all. I don't know if there's some sort of prep thing you've got to do with them, but they're getting this weird, twist shape which is starting to annoy me. It's only one o'clock, but I'm feeling kinda tired.

Tony scanned a lot of my artwork in, including all the finished pages. I've manged to get a big chunk of the actual book laid out, which is looking pretty good. I've got to do an inside front cover, which I have in mind, and the back of the book as well. I've got some fan art to put in, just like last issue. (Which I should have gotten scanned, now that I think of it). I've been colouring the cover, which is looking really freaking good! Things are moving along quite smoothly I think.

I'm flying a major optimism streak. Don't ruin it for me.

Determined or Dumbass?

If you haven't already guessed, yeah. I'm back.

Robotoon is going to be out for Supanova. I'm going to see to it.

The whole quitting thing just didn't take. I couldn't stop. Every time I would look at the pages, I just had this overwhelming feeling of having let myself down. And I really don't like that feeling.

I do this from time to time. I get really despondent and loose faith in myself, then something comes along, lights a fire under my ass and I get this dog-eared determination to keep whatever promise I have made myself.

So no more typing. I have a comic book to complete.

The shape of things to come

I'm really looking forward to June being over.

Supanova will be done. That's the big comic related event. We've all been working like mad towards that point, in order to have something new worth showing to people. So for how ever long, it's just been comic, comic, comic, comic. Hell, anybody who regularly reads this post can attest to that.
After June, the comics go on the back burner. I don't have any plans to get stuck into either Robotoon 3 or Woodville 2. I need a break. What I am looking forward to is getting back into Movie production. I dying to make a new film! I've got both The Lot and Fearless Monster Hunters half finished, and I want to get some new stuff shot as well. I've either bought or built all this new equipment that I haven't had a chance to use yet. My damn camera is sitting on the bottom shelf collecting dust. I have people around me asking about when we're getting stuck into some new projects, so it seems they're all as impatient as I am.

So yeah. Bring on July.

Aaaaaand. . . .

12 pages. Holy Shit.

More new Stylin's

You might have seen at the bottom of the last post I placed a sketch done in that new style I'm trying to develop. The original one I did was of three of my fellow Aussie creators characters - Lightning Force, Mission, and Billy: Demon Slayer. I really have no idea why I used them instead of my own. Maybe to see if I could draw something I didn't create with it. Dunno

The three Guys underneath are my characters. My TRIO. Mythicman, Robotoon and Chickenman, who has the coolest Superhero costume EVER! (in my humble opinion) The black and white version I stuck in just to get it up there. Here's the colour version.

I started doing a much simpler colouring technique a while back. It seems to really work well with this new style.

OK, this is where I need you guys. Even if you've never commented before, I need some feed back here. Does it work? I'm going to start practicing and adapting this style, so I need to know if people enjoy it. I've already tried doing a short story I was working on called "the Death of Captain Cliche" in this style, just to test it and it works so far. So let me know. Yay or Nay?

And the pendulum swings again

9 Pages completed out of 25. That leaves 16.

I could possibly get that number up to 11 completed tomorrow if I put some effort into it.

I cut back the time the printers have to get it done, which may shit them quite a bit.

Colour the cover, put the text in, design the book. . .


I dunno. Maybe.

Just imagine . . .

Imagine, just for a moment, that you are walking down the street one day. You turn a corner, walk down a blind alley and suddenly get accosted by some random guy! You get thrown into a chair and leaned backwards so you're completely of balance. He jabs you in the mouth with a needle, injects you with some random crap that makes you whole head numb. He then proceeds to shove all manor of metal implements in your mouth, ferreting around in there like he's looking for loose change. Just when you're starting to get your wits about you, he grabs hold of some random tooth and rips the damn thing right out of your mouth! Finally, just to add insult to injury, the guy then charges you $170 for the privilege!

If you haven't already guessed, i went to the Dentist the other day. Got a wisdom tooth removed. The thing that hurt the most was the bill.

I got a Shark in the mail!!

One of the film projects I was hoping to do was a puppet version of the movie 'JAWS' - god alone knows why. Tony had an old oven mit in the shape of a shark, which I always thought was just shit. I made comments about making a new shark puppet, but Tony found this website which had a really cool looking great white shark puppet that wasn't too expensive. I figured what the hell and ordered one. He arrived this morning and he is great!

He's - you know what? I'm gonna call him Bruce, just like the original - Bruce is 33 inches long, which is freaking huge. He's got ways of controlling the mouth and the tail and some weird thing with the eyes. and the best part is, he has a thing at the back of the throat, so you can put another puppet in his mouth and control it through the Shark, which will come in handy later on.

I'm going to play around with him on my day off and see if I can get some test footage done. We still have to make the Puppets of the lead characters. I'll put Ness to work for that one. But at the moment, I'm just really thrilled to have him.

I have a shark!

Flip Flopping

I'm starting to really feel like shit.

In her usual sweet but overbearing way, Ness laid into me the other night when we talked about my not getting Robotoon done in time. I've also had Hayden giving me shit as well - OK, he's done three issues in the time it's taken me to not get one done. And so I'm feeling like I've let people down in not getting it finished.

I really wanted it done for this year. And the Con's the best date to release it, because that's your best audience. I had October in mind when I started working on it - Sydney Supanova is usually in or around October. There was a whole big political bullshit thing going on behind the scenes as to why it got pushed forward. So that has screwed me over. But I can't help but be really disappointed, mostly in myself. I had a goal, worked like a dog to try and achieve it, and failed. It's not like I'm never going to get the book finished. I'm going to keep working until it's completed. Maybe I'll just hold it off until next year, and try and get three done at the same time. A double release.

The stupid part is, with the exception of the handful of people around me who know I'm working on it, nobody's expecting this book. I'm working my ass off flat out so the people who didn't buy the first book can not buy the second one? Why?! Why the hell do I feel bad about not delivering something that nobody wants! I'm still planning on having something new for the Con, I'm going to get the book done, and I'm doing this mostly for myself. Why should I fell so fricking guilty!!

I just finished another page. I'm going to bed.

Winners never quit and quitters never win.

But those who never quit and never win are just idiots.

Whatever it takes to get a comic book done to the amount of detail that a lot of professionals work to, I just don't have. Be it time, speed, determination, talent or even money. It takes me a long damn time to get a book done. I've got nearly a month left to complete Robotoon, but knowing how I work and how much time it takes, I know that isn't enough.

The thing is, I have a lot more stories I would like to tell in comic book form. But at the rate I'm going - I average about one new book every two years - I'm never going to get anything completed. I've tried getting faster, but I can't do that without sacrificing the quality of the art. At least, the way I'm drawing it now.

The image above was a quick test I did last night. It's kinda quick and rough, but I'll emphasis the word quick. It's based on the DC Animated style, which is a very sharp, quick and angular style, that I've always loved. I've never believed myself good enough to be able to emulate that sort of cartoony style - believe me, it takes more talent to leave stuff out than to put it in. I like how this turned out though. I'm going to try a short two or three page Spider-duck story to try it out in practice. If this works out, then maybe I can start adapting my style to a point where I can become a lot quicker.

I don't know if this makes me determined and head strong, or just a fuckwit who won't say when.

The realisation hits

Alright. It's 3 in the morning. I just finished a page and wanted to put it away in the folder. I'm putting them in the folder in the order they will appear in the book. to find out where it went, I laid all my pages out in front of me. This is my first real 'overview' of everything I've done and all I've got to do. There are currently 11 pages here in front of me, all in different stages of incompletion. I know I have at least one more page that I have drawn but haven't traced up. That leaves 5 pages unaccounted for. I know I have 4 that still need to be drawn. And it's the 9th of May. My deadline is 1st of June, give or take a few days.

I can't do this. I can't get this book finished and be what I want it to be, and have it done by the deadline. There's still WAY to much to do! I can't get it completed by the date.

I still have several major backgrounds to do, some major scenes involving a taxi, the big reveal on the last page. The only way I can get this completed by my self imposed deadline is to start cheating. To start taking shortcuts and cutting corners, and I don't want to do that! This is my damn book, I want it to look how I want it to look and it's going to be as good as I can make it or it isn't going to be anything!

So no. As much as I wanted it to be, Robotoon issue 2 will NOT be released at Supanova this year.

Fuck.

You and your stupid Meat Pie

I just got reminded about this again recently. We were down at the video store looking through when I saw a copy of the film "You and your Stupid Mate". Ask anyone who has anything to do with the Aussie film industry, and they will refer to this as the ultimate low point of Australian film. Changes were made to the background workings of the industry of this country because of this film, in an effort to never have something like it happen again. I've never seen it, so I'm just going to take their word for it. However, I believe that the only reason that this movie holds the illustrious position of the lowest of the low is because the film "Meat Pie" was never released.

You've never heard of it? Hopefully, you never will. And by that I mean it will never be released. This is without a doubt - and I have a good two years to think this over - the worst movie in cinematic history! Now I have seen a LOT of bad movies in my time. I actually tend to get a kick out of some of them. Sometimes, in bad films, you can find one element that still works. A script moment is not bad, the cinematography ain't bad, some one did an all right job on lighting that one scene. Because no one ever really sets out to make a bad film. Things just sort of snowball that way. And because film is such a collaborative effort, just because you have some Hack running the show, doesn't mean the guys behind him aren't doing their job properly. So no matter how bad the film, quite often - if you look hard enough - you can find something of merit with some point of the production.

Which brings me back to Meat Pie.

Back in I think 2006 (don't quote me) I managed to find an ad in the employment pages of a major Sydney newspaper asking for people to work on a independent feature film. It said that hey would need your services for about two weeks of filming in and around the Sydney area. Un paid, but they would provide lunch. Any interested parties should go to an office in the city for a meeting. I rang Doc Gonzo, and since both he and I we're unemployed at the time, we figured what the hell. Bit of experience, something to do for two weeks, getting to work on an actual film. Could be fun. So we hustled on over on the day.

The office was on the fifth floor of the building. there was a tiny little elevator right next to the stair well. We took the stairs, went in, did a brief meet and greet. The director was a guy named Garnet Mae. I tried to do a little research on him on the web. Worked on a few smaller thing, I think had a little bit of success at Tropfest one year. That's it. HE went off on some rant about wanting to save the Aussie film industry, we need to make films that are more commercial, believed that this film will set it on the road to recovery. After all that, he showed us a quick trailer for the film. Now, the plot for this film - if you can call it that - is a about a guy who, while closing up at his dad's mince meat pie shop, decides he's going to have sex with the meat grinder. Stick with me. While he's doing this, he accidentally turns it on and loses his pride and joy. Elsewhere in the world, some black porn star has just had a heart attack. Since there seems to be a spare part or two, the black guys dick gets transplanted onto the white guy.

Still with me?

OK, so this was supposed to be a spoof bad taste comedy. We didn't think the trailer was too bad, so we agreed to put our time in. Any interested parties were to return the next day to watch the current cut of the film, which was only an hour long. Apparently the next two weeks were to shoot some extra scenes that would extend the film out to a full 90 minutes.. The next day we arrived, and people were interviewed to see what they could bring to the film. The director and a producer quickly went through things and told us to keep in mind any ideas we might have to improve or punch up the film. They dimmed the lights and they started the film.

That had to have been the longest hour of my life!

I'll finish this later. Got something else to write.

Not recommended for Children under 30

I've drunken way too much Pepsi and probably won't be able to sleep. On the upside, I got a page finished!!

Anybody out there see the Transformers movie last year? Of course you did. IT rocked! Personal opinion, but I think it was one of the best movies to come out last year. I loved it. I thought everything about that movie worked and worked beautifully. That movie so got snubbed at the Academy awards fro best visual effect. CG polar bears? Whopdey fricking doo.

Of course, having a big screen movie that's based on a toy only means one thing. More toys! And because I thought that Speilberg guy could use the cash, I bought them. All the Transformer figures based on the movie. Autobots and Decipticons. (The spell check just had a heart attack on those two.) All except Megatron. I wasn't really that thrilled with the design of Megs in the movie, and it didn't translate to a toy too well. But every time I looked at my collection, all lined up proudly on my shelf, I always noticed that big gap. So, inevitably it seems, just recently I finally splashed out and bought myself Megatron.

Did you know that Transformers were originally created to teach kids some hand-eye co- ordination. That was the entire scheme behind the Japanese company that created them. It wasn't till the American company that bought the rights to the toys got their hands on it that the whole back story about the war, the Autobots, Cybertron and all the rest came about. So that was their whole purpose. Toys. For kids ages 5 and up.

What the hell is my point!?! Simply this. There is no way in HELL you would ever give these new toys to a kid!! They're too damn complicated! And Megatron here is the worst one! If I had of received Megs here when I was 9, I would have wound up getting bored and frustrated with it, possibly broken it trying to transform it, and been one shitty, surly mess. I've still got my original Optimus Prime, which could be transformed in about 8 seconds. When I got the Movie Optimus, the first time I did it took me a good 15 Min's to work out!!

Toys aren't for kids anymore! The complexity of them, the level of detail and paint work put into them. You wouldn't want to waste them on kids! Unless you've managed to spawn some sort of child prodigy and have the next Doogie Howser on your hands, give your kids a stick and an old tennis ball, and keep them the hell out of the Toy store.

Let's play the inconsistency game!!

So it's day one of my four day catch up scenario, and I'm not doing too badly. Not great, but not bad.

So I did something for the first time that might seem a little strange. (Actually, I had this exact conversation with Vanessa, and she had this reaction) I actually sat down and read Robotoon Issue 1. I'd never read it before! And like Ness said, 'You wrote it!' Yes, I wrote. I edited it. I proof read it. I checked it for spelling, and grammar and whatever else you need to check a book for. But I never actually READ the damn thing. I not once treated it like it was a story, and read it from beginning to end. So the other night - procrastinating as usual - I had the issue in front of me, was flipping through and started reading. The next thing you know, I was engrossed. Now, I know that sounds kinda arrogant - getting really into something you wrote. But I really enjoyed it.

Now hopefully, that's a good sign. To be able to both read and enjoy something you created either means you are so full of your own self worth that you honestly believe you shit sunshine OR that all your hard work paid off and you created something worthwhile that others could conceivably enjoy. Personally, I'm hoping for the later.

One thing I did pick up on was how many little inconsistencies are in the book. When you work on something as long as I was on Toon - for the uninitiated, I worked on one version of the book for about 6 years, didn't like it, restarted and worked on the new version for the next 6 years. 12 years in total - a lot of things can change. My art improved, my sense of design improved and I became unhappy with certain elements. Rumour was the biggest problem. That guy was never the same from one week to the next. Then, a few years back, I had an offer from a CG Animation company in Sydney to possibly turn Robotoon into a cartoon. (That's a whole 'nother story!) Long story short, the characters had changed. I had no desire to go back and redo the pages with the old designs, but I wanted to start using the new designs. So I just started using them! There are pages in the book that have the old, others that have the new, and even some that have a weird hybrid of the two.

This is really not something you should do in a comic. The only way comics work is if the same characters appears the same way on every page. Imagine if you're watching a movie, then all of a sudden the lead actor gets replaced with a different actor. Like Darren from Bewitched. If you don't know what I'm talking about with that last comment, it just proves how old I am.

like a pissed off Fortunately, with this issue, I've got my designs down and am sticking with them. The character all look the same way on every page, as much as my drawing ability allows. The only real problem has been Blitzkrieg. If you read the last issue, Blitzkrieg appeared on the very last page. Blitz had been an absolute nightmare for years. Back when I started writing Toon, I had the idea for him to fight some huge, unstoppable behemoth of a creature. This was not long after the Death of Superman, so I'm sure I was heavily influenced by Doomsday. Anyway, I never had any idea what this thing was going to look like. I had dozens of ideas for how he was going to be. I remember there was a sketch of this thing with rams horns, another that lookedechidna, he was a bull, he was a bear - I even tried a design that looked like the truck from the movie Duel. Nothing worked. When I was finally drawing the page in the book, I just sort of drew him. Nothing coherent in mind, he just became what he became. I got stuck on the head. Everything else I could live with, but I could not design that head.

Finally on day, I got hit by a brilliant little bit of inspiration. Toon was inspired originally by Roger Rabbit - I'll go into his origin later - but his personality was going to be based on Bugs. I'm not sure how well that's working out, but that was the plan. I was running through my head different ideas for a an enemy of Bugs, when it hit me. Bugs' biggest rival was a certain well know Mouse. After that, the rest kinda fell into place.

When I started this book, I was just going to use the design I had used in the last page of last issue. Only problem was, I hated that damn look. So I thought I'd take one last crack. I took a look a few old vehicles and tanks, trying to find something that would inspire me, when I came across an image of an old steam train. A few sketches later, and I finally had my look. He was perfect. A giant, powerhouse, intergalactic rat that looks like he could kick any body's ass from here to Pluto and back. The only down side was, now I had to draw the complicated bastard constantly for the next two issues.

Sadomasochism and comic art. I'm starting to think the two go hand in hand.

Bye Bye Gyps

When I was living with my Ex, we had two cats. One was a lively little orange tabby named Caitlyn. She was the tomboy. Rough house, troublesome, rebellious. I adored her. The other was a grey little fur ball named Gypsy. Gypsy made me laugh, cause she was just dumb. She was the Paris Hilton of cats - knew she was cute, exploited it, not a lot else to fall back on. I actually caught her practicing cute in the mirror one time. I loved Gypsy because she made me laugh. The world just didn't make sense to her. Not long after we moved into the to story Town house, Gyps was running down the stairs at full tilt. She mis-judged the turn and slammed straight into the wall. After a few seconds of watching the little stars float about her head, she noticed me looking at her. She gave me a very confused and slightly hurt "Mroar?", as if to say "Who put that there?" Whenever I used to work on the computer, gypsy would come running up and sit on my lap while I worked. She could hear the computer start up, and within minutes I could hear her Meowing next to me for me to pick her up. When everything was going completely to hell in that house, it was Gyps who always managed to cheer me up in some manner or another.

I got a call tonight from the girl who was looking after Gypsy and Caity. Apparently, Gyps had gotten out of the house and run into the street. She got hit by a car. Everyone seemed to think she was alright. More shaken than anything. The girl looking after her found her tonight, passed out in her room. Upon taking Gypsy to the vet, they found that Gypsy's injuries were a lot more severe. She's not expected to last through the night.

I've really missed both of my girls - the Kitty brats as I used to call them - but I've been especially missing Gypsy. She was dumb and the world seemed like way to big and confusing a place for her, but she made me really happy at a time when I wasn't. But now I'm going to miss the little fuzzball even more.

Bye Bye Gypsy.

Another night . . .

. . . another case of sleep deprivation.

I have my new DVD of Superman cartoons playing behind me. I just saw the one that introduced the Phantom Zone, now we have Livewire's origin being played out. Livewire's voiced by the chick who played Tank girl - Lori Petty I believe her name is. Perfect, screechy, whiny voice for the character. I just managed to get a fare chunk of inking done. Actually finished a page last night. I think that takes me down to only 18 pages to go. Of course, I still have to colour the cover and letter everything. The fact that I've given myself a deadline nearly a month ahead gives me a little bit of leeway.

I so had something to talk about when I started typing.

I really hope that I'm not disturbing my room mates with my nocturnal adventures. I have the dryer going in the other room, which ain't exactly quiet. The volume on the TV is turned down, but I still need to have it at a level so I can hear it. (I work with machinery all day - my hearing is fucked!)

That was it. I have to work tomorrow - well, technically tonight, but let's not split hairs - and then I'm into my 4 day weekend. This is when I either catch up and get ahead, or quit. If I can't get a significant chunk of the book completed by the end of the four days, I'm gonna have to pack it in. So I'm going to be working like a nightmare. Much to Vanessa's disgust, I'm going to need a shitload of Pepsi to get me through. I managed to get another page pre-pencilled at work tonight, so that bodes well. I was seriously considering filming myself over the weekend, just to watch how much I degrade as the time passes. Unfortunately, I think that will wind up being time wasted, so maybe not.

One last thing. I sent Liana a message today - for the un-initiated, Liana is my pseudo little sister and the original Shempette. Which I'm sure cleared the mystery of her identity right up - about her script. She wrote a story called 'Can you come get me?', which was based on an actual event one night. She tried filming it, but it didn't turn out so well. I've basically arranged with her to shoot it after the Con is over. I loved the story and really want to see it finished, so I'm kinda excited about it.

OK. More later. Going to bed.

Shoes and Zzzzz's

When Supanova is over, and I've got this book safely behind me, I have got to try and get my sleeping patterns into some sort of normalcy. I mean, they used to be slightly screwed up - I'd go to bed around 2 in the morning, get up around 11 - 11.30. But now they've completely gone to hell. I'm not getting to bed till about 5, and I'm getting up around 1 in the afternoon for crying out loud. Good knows what this is doing to my health. The fact that I've been sick twice already this season might not be a good sign.

The silly part about his is, and I just made the connection in my head, is that when this is all over, I have two films I want to shoot that involve me STAYING OUT ALL NIGHT!!! I can't figure out if I'm dedicated, or just a Dumb ass.

On a slightly different note, I wonder if it's possible to feel truly apologetic to an inanimate object? For quite some time now, I've needed a new pair of sneakers. My old ones were falling apart. And I'm not speaking figuratively here. A chunk fell off them the other day!. So I finally bit the bullet and went and bought a new pair. I had forgotten how vividly bright white new sneakers are! These things almost glow in the dark! You could pick me up on Google Earth in these suckers! The what I was feeling apologetic about is I put them next to my old ones, just for a comparison. And all the crap that has happened to the old ones, is what the new ones are about to go through. It's a good thing shoes have no sense of self awareness. If my new shoes had any idea what they were about to go through, they'd probably commit suicide to save themselves the pain and suffering. I'd come into my room to find they had hung themselves with their own shoelaces.

The status so far

Well, it's May 3rd, which means I have just under a month to get the book with the Bunny finished.

How many Pages do I have to complete? 20

How many still need to be penciled? at least 8

How much chance do I have of finishing on time? BUCKLEYS!!

Do I plan on stopping? NO!

Why?

I DON'T FREAKING KNOW!!!!!!!!!

On the flip side though, I got to meet Hugh Jackman today. Yes folks, Wolverine himself. Very, very brief chat with the man, but a really nice guy. Friendly, approachable. Unlike another certain female, blonde, beanpole celebrity I have had contact with.

Anyway. I'm going to play a video game, do some inking, then hit the hay. It's 1.30 now, so hopefully I'll be in bed around, oh, let's say 5.00