Monday, December 28, 2009


so, i finally saw that film that everyone was telling me great reviews. i just had to see it for myself, and MAN, i'm so glad they removed the talking bat from the new version of "ferngully".
"avatar" to me was, pretty much like a bimbo: beautiful to look at, but not a whole lotta substance, and used a few times here and there. whenever i told people i saw it, they asked the same question: was it good? well... it was definetely worth the cash i payed to see it in 3D... and i really was impressed with how they made it look, but... flying mountains dont awe me and giant flying creatures are always cool, but not a novelty. what i was most surprised about was how james cameron decided to use as many cliches as he did, and unfortunately, i was disappointed on how unoriginal "pandora" was a an alien world. this i type because i am fan of previous cameron films, but as i sat through this film, i wondered why was i watching a 161 version of disney's poccahontas and atlantis... i understand the plot devices and main story arc, but the film left me wishing cameron would have taken a different direction.
there were many instances in the film where characters stepped.."out of character" in order to push the plot, get a reaction of another character or to "just to explain something about the alien world for the audience." like i said.. forced.
butm, what do i know... it's just my thoughts, and the film seems to be quite popular. one way or another, it is entertaining, and worth seeing in 3D for the thrill of it. however, i do not conscider to be part of cameron's best repertoire.
dances with wolves/last sumurai are pretty much what the film is about, only on another planet that doesnt really require too much explanation other than "hey, we're spiritual, dont fuck with our home tree just because of your political interest in our soil for fuel."
on that same riff... he acting, i thought was pretty spiffy from all accounts, so, hurra to weaver, saldana, rodriguez, worthington, lang, moore, and of course... mr. risbi. always funny.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Merry stuff happened!


Just dropping a line to hoping people had gooooooood holiday celebrations and continue to do so in the following week. I finished inking the last of the redrawn pages two nights before my husband and I flew out to visit his family in mid-December. Since then, it's pretty much been lots of visiting people from both our families and hanging out and wondering if that weird twitch from not doing comics for over a week is normal. Back on the horse this week though! Have an awesome new year!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009


the merry season is here and it's not snowing like it is in the town where todd and kevin live.

we're progressing and i would like to wish anyone who read this a very merry season of the holydays.

Thursday, December 3, 2009


well, you know november is gone, it;s gone away, said wise 2-D and here's december with nthing but a chilly weather and awesomeness in the making.
i'd like to be that wise ass who says "i've been very very busy doing lots and lots of artwork, but i cant show any of it, so woppidy ziipidy doo dah!"
it's prettymuch the case as i sit in my crappy spiny chair at this time of night with a nearly empty micron pen inking some storyboards for a fantastic music video from a really awesome band.
i believe that's all i'm allowed to say as well as i have been doing concept work and cute illustrations.
however...
in the horrid traffic of LA, there;s always moment when the highway is moving at less than zero miles per hour, (then you find out you're actually set in reverse.) so, i've beed amusing myself by taking these instants when the car is quite stationary at a red light or being delayed to work cus of some accident and doing these quick little mental notes i manage to place on paper.
starting really soon, i'm gonna post a few of those...
in the meantine, here's a small version of the illustration i did for the grand swedish band DETEKTIVBYRAN which should be visited at www.detektivbyran.net in order to enjoy... joy...

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Slightly behind

So November's been a bit more difficult to finish inking than October was. Combination of out-of-town family visits and some deadlines at work that zapped a lot of my energy. It looks like I'm not going to finish the redrawn opening pages by the 1st of December. At this point, it looks like I'll have less than 10 pages left to ink by then.

I ran into a doodle in an old sketchbook the other day using Friendly Game characters that dated back to August of 2005. Four years is a loooong time to still have these kids floating around, but that was back in the really early days, right around the time one of us or the other decided Joe should pencil and I should ink. We had started in the reverse of those jobs....Actually, when this originally started, it was a 24 page short story that Joe wanted to submit to a comic company as part an assignment in Comic Book Scripting.....Crazy business.

Back to the grindstone....Starting Saturdays with inking until the afternoon is pretty boss, but I'm pretty eager to jump into the lettering and get these kids talking.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009


last week, my friend dan dowding approached me to storyboard his idea for a dorito contest. on thursday morning he handed me the final draft of the script. by 7 pm, the boards were in his hand and the next morning the man was shooting. by saturday and sunday post was tackled and now... here it is:

http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/video/4767


check it out and tell yer friends.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Act 3 = DONE

Finished inking Act 3. And on Halloween to boot. Next up is to knock out the redrawn 25 pages of the opening, whoo hoooo!!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Closing the Gap

Been missin' a while, October decided to drop some strange stuff on me, mostly in the form of health issues. After a strange day of getting excessively exhausted at work, followed by my already-scheduled-yearly-blood-work, I had a doctor warn that I was either hypo or hyperglycemic. Or maybe diabetic. Or maybe I was prone to seizures. Either way, I lost a vacation day of day-job work for a 6 hour blood sugar test and a sick day or two prior to that for brain-and-thyroid tests. Bye-bye 3 day inking buffer!

HOWEVER, I have managed to set it back to a page a day for the rest of the week. Depending on how socialable I am in regards to Halloween, Act 3 should still be finished by the end of October. But if it spans into November 1st, I guess that's not so bad....

Watched "The Pagemaster" tonight, a live-action-mixed-with-animated movie from 1994. Never had seen it before, and was actually more impressed than I originally thought I would be. The story's essentially about a boy who's too paranoid and scared of everything to really be a kid or have experiences. Winds up at a library during a storm, and BAM, cartoon world for hero's journey narrative. The animation was pretty nice, although there were a few weird spots (like a character saying a line but no lip movement...) . One of those awkward 90's pseudo-dramatic songs was spontaneously stuck in the middle of the movie, not sung by the characters (think Fern Gully). The most impressive part was the awesome use of color and silohettues to make dramatic, somewhat creepy moments. It's still kinda funny to me that one of the themes of the film involves reminding people that books are fun...seems counter-productive to the movie industry....

Back to inking!!!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

where the wild things were...


last night, after a very particular week, i went to see a movie for which i had unspecific expectations. where the wild things are seemed to be one of those films that had big shoes to fill due to its immense reputation as one of the most popular children's books of all times and for being directed by spike jonze. on top of that, it did have to carry the weight of being a children's film but still make the "fans who grew up with the book." in a way, it's as if the film had the same responsibility as max did when he arrived at the island of wild things: to make everyone happy or else, you get eaten."
tho the film is quiet and a at points too subtle, it delivers great emotion and makes about as much sense as the book does. visually beautiful and in sync with wonderful music written by(surprisingly) yeah yeah yeah's karen o. who does great arrangements and combinations of tribal sounds, choir-like uprisings and indie-orienteed guitar riffs, it's captivating and grasping turning a simple plot into a sympathetic emotional journey of a 10-year-old's tantrum about what's for dinner.
in short, it's very much worth the watch and discussion over.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009


well, it;s been abit and so many things have occurred,but none the less... for the past week and a half i've been storybaording a couple of shorts and a music video, so, it makes these days more interesting, plus, a nice pause from cmic pages, which i still do.
because the mail is not perfect, tho they try really hard (thank you USPS for all your efforts and delivering my bills) an important document was LOST in the mail and now, we had to redo everything that was stake. it wasnt that big of a deal as much as it was something that was already out of the way, so... in the words of every punk "here it comes again!" hehehe... and now.. back to inking...

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Calendared....


Since I like having pictures with posts, here' s a weird screenshot of my computer not knowing how to copy/paste files into a folder and keep things tidy....The bizarre green and yellow dots are from a service I subscribed to called Carbonite that I'm trying out. I can be excessively paranoid sometimes, even more when I consider the fact that my laptop is 4 years old (considered a dinosaur by computer standards...) and I've got waaaaaay too much digital stuff, including the soon-to-be Illustrator/Indesign/Photoshop files for lettering Friendly Game. Carbonite basically lives on your computer and shoves things into a personal online storage place for you whenever you save something. I feel better everytime that little Carbonite lock glows green after my Control-S's in Photoshop..... In short, should I set my computer on fire, this book will STILL get done. Safety!

Meanwhile, I finally pulled out one of those little day-planner calendar books and realized that I could (potentially) have Act 3 of Friendly Game inked by the end of October. Actually, at inking a page a day, I'd be done by around the 28th or so, giving a nice 3 day buffer for all the stuff that might get in the way. Barring any unforseen occurances (Like life, grrr), the redone opening 27ish pages should be done by the start of December. Which is a really weird feeling, the idea of being completely done inking the pages. I know it'll feel weird when I print out the last pages and don't have to fight with ol' HP 9800 over the fact that the pages ARE in the printer, daggnabbit.

The major concern after that would be my built-up dislike of computering after my day job. Friendly Game is (with the exception of a few sound effects and special panels) going to be digitally lettered. I don't even want to turn on my computer when I'm home during weekdays, much less have to stare at it like I'd already been doing for 7 hours at work. Hopefully, the concept of being on this semi-final piece of the book will be a boost.

Hooray for Lauren's first post! The screenshot looks super-hot lady. Sorry SCAD threw some junk at you but......colleges like to do that. Ask me about my Winter quarter of senior undergrad. Go on, I promise I won't laugh hysterically and cry about it....

Also, Joe is awesome for wishing me happy birthday a few posts back, and I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! back for his from a few days ago. Because if Joe hadn't been born, I wouldn't have left art school with as much as I did. Hugs, buddy. :)

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Found the grind stone


I'm not as scared of the internet as one might think..Okay maybe I am. BUT Look! I'm making an effort. Prepared the next ten pages of Friendly game for toning. Working backwards and taking them one "scene" at a time. That also will hopefully make the task of this book less daunting.

And looking at other people with awesome toning skills for inspiration...

Like this guy! Rafael Albuquerque!

The beginning of the semester was a bit of a blitz. Long story short- Savannah is going to be my home for a while longer and SCAD will be graced with my presence for a semester longer. I realized that there shouldn't be any kind of rush to move back home and away from other artists that can help/ inspire me. Looking for a new place to live however will be....an exciting adventure

Staying Positive

-Affe

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Inking Blues

I'm bad at this writing frequently thing....The last couple of weeks, I put Friendly Game pages aside to compose and ink the above illustration for an art competition. It's around 8.5 x 15 inches, which proves I'm still attached to comic-page-ish dimensions. I actually blew up a doodle from my sketchbook and finished the actual pencilling in Photoshop to print out and ink the final image.

Unfortunately, when I went to get my ink refill at Wal-Greens that I was so excited for in all it's inexpensive glory, I learned that the company stopped refilling the apparently single use cartridges due to "electrical problems". Apparently though, all the different cartridge refill outlets both online and in-person have convinced HP to lower the prices on new ones a bit, as well as advertise about their inks being 65% better than those bargin ones.....Considering a large portion of what I print is going to have black ink drawn over in anyhow, it's not that much of a deterent to find some sort of refill station. The claims that refilled catridges sometimes broke printers howerver.....that's just rotten. I dunno how true they are.

Anyhow, I seem to take longer in inking things that are mine as opposed to inking over someone else. Most of that is the nasty habit of leaving things only kinda-drawn in because "I'm inkin' it, I know what it does, dur dur dur!" Somehow, I still find myself slowing down and questioning things too much though. Which is why it's important to always have that cut-off point of "NO. It's DONE and if you do anymore, you'll mess it up, so don't pick at it." You could work on a page forever and never consider it done.

Reading wise, I finished Stephen King's "Different Seasons" a week or so ago and enjoyed getting multiple good stories. Essentially, the book contains four nouvellas - the awkward middle child of the short story and the novel. They weren't all the level of super-awesome, the final story "The Breathing Method" took a while to get going and get to the meat of the story, but overall really good stories. Of special interest is "Apt Pupil", featuring a creepy kid and a disenchanted old Nazi. Probably not the best summary, but I'm sure you're interesting in finding out more now, right?

Anyhow, scanned the new pages for the start of the book. It will probably be a few weeks before I'm done inking the end of the book and can get to inkin' these new beginning pages, so here's a puppy for you till then:
AHUGE late congrats to lindsay who turned a different age last tuesday!
we love her!!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

finally read it!

the comic "garage band" by gipi i've been wanting to read for over 8 months now finally became accessible to me thanks to the venice library in los angeles, california. and boy, i gotta say: it's better than i expected.
it's a simple story about a 4-members (drums, 2 guitars and vocals) band who are given a space to practice by the main character's dad. the rule is simple: stay out of trouble and you can keep using the space. simultaneously, the singer's dad gets him in contact with some record label man who has decided to give them a listen. a few days before their "audition"... an amp blows up, which means... no sound... which means... they're screwed out of an audition. after that, the story only gets better.
it also does a good job at balancing out a between how much to talk about each character, how much to talk about the band's conflict and how much to show them playing in the garage (cus' let;'s be honest, a large part of comic;s charm is to read the band playing and jamming). each band member is given a significant amount of time on their own so the reader can know where they are coming from. Stefano (singer)'s tense relations at home are well paralleled with Alex's awkward life with his mom and aunt but interestingly contrasted by Alberto's tender relatinship with his father AND guiliano's sweet relationship with his girlfriend. Still, once they are put in the same invironment, they have their own antics against each other but work well together because of the music they make.
overall, it's a soft and simple story well told about a garage band of teenagers.( something that many can identify it) it's very realistic from a story sense, tho the art style takes some "getting use to" (in my opinion, i think its a bit sloppy in some areas and could have used some richer colors in some spots)

if you find it. it's a good read.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

comments must be made...


so, over the last couple of days i came across two art pieces that are really really cool, so, i wanna comment on them. the first one is Renne Lott's very first graphic novel titled "festering romance" out by ONI press. the story takes place in our dear past home, Savannah and it's about a girl (janet)attempting to make a new relationship work out without having to let go of her past. her better half (derek) is on the same boat. it's straight forward, sincere and yes, very cute. it begins with a very light feeling and not overwhelming at all for the course the story will be taking, which is a good thing, 'cus it doesnt make the reader feel forced into something, rather the story unveils itself in a simple manner as it goes along. basically, the story develops as it goes so it's a very well told story. the art for the book is highly cartoony manga-sque , which creates a neat contrast with the more serious undertones of the tale and one thing that can be said about renee's art style is that it is unique and authentic. she creates her own icons and lenguage to a character's mechanics. overall, it's a fun and enjoyable read. the art is solid and it's definetely one of those books with a strong message. check it out at


the second art piece that i bumped into was muse's new album the resistance. finally. after 3 years of waiting since their album "black holes and reveleation" here it is... and... there it was. first off.. i'm a muse fan, and it was interesting to see the band go back to the previous style they were using during the origin of symmetry and absolution isntead of the more dancy-but still enjoyable-techno rythms they did in black holes and revelations. the albums starts of with a "boom!" on its first track, and yes, we've all heard that "uprising" is very similar to a bunch of other songs, but, y'know what? so are those songs similar to others, and wtf, it's an enjoyable tune. after track one, the resistance only makes the album better and gives you a reason to pump the volume even higher. a big similarity to origin is distinguishable in "unnatural selection" and just as expected just as delivered. the song is a powerful melody that makes you wanna scream along " i want the truth". the biggest surprise in the album is the upbeat track "i belong to you" optimistic and unexpected, still blends well with the entirety of the album. and last but not least, yes... exogenesis... a 3-track symphony that tells a story of redemptions and regrets.

overall, the album is really good, but two things concern me: it's somewhat repetitive in its rhythms and specially in its lyrics. guitarist and singer matt b. talks about falling and questioning a union, as if there's more left unsaid on the page track that what he actually wrote. and the second concern is regarding the music, there are parts where it seems as if it does not go to the lengths muse has surpassed before. exogenesis could have been a whole lot better. but for what it is, it's a fun album, it's a well created album, well produced and i will say, impresively successful in blending styles such as chopin's writings into their united states. listen to it. it;s AWESOME. i'm about to it right now.

Thursday, September 17, 2009


penciling around the clock is fearly tiring, but exciting, specially fter 45 minute drives twice a day. oh well. so, it's early in the morning and while Affe is toning and Lindsay inks, i pencil other comics and prepare a demo for the future artists. the night before last i spent it inking and having a nice sip to some Tecate celebrating the 199 years of my independent home nation. I think all i gotta say is BIBA LA MEJIKO.

yey...

Saturday, September 12, 2009

wattaweek


well, i finished my first week at my new job, and i gotta say, i love it so much. the only down side is taht i dont get a lot of time to do other sketches, cus i'm already working on another comic, but, in general, i think i have one of the most wonderful jobs ever. not to mention, i do think it;s quite ironic that here we are working on a story about kids in adult scenarios.. and then there;s this job.

on another note, saw whiteout and lemme throw a huge shout-out to steve leiber, illustrator of Greg rucka's story. the film was awesome and very well followed the steps of what rucka and Leiber did. tho i do gotta say.. not a huge fan of the soundtrack, but, it was fun...

well, back to inking,,..

Saturday, September 5, 2009

typing is productive for a non-writer


what a weekend... and it's only half way thru.
so, before i go on ahead and upload some sketches i have been working on, first i wil announce to myself that i finally have a printer/scanner. i couldnt be more pleased.
also, the joy i get from knowing that lindsay got the pages just fine and dandy, cus... since i sent them before i had this little epson... lemme tell ya... i did not make copies, so if those pages didnt get there...


wow... dont even want to think about it, but, meanwhile.. i shall continue storybaording and working on other comics and, taking new responsabilities as a burbank resident.

gnite.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

A Friendly Box

So I finally got around to organizing (a little) in the studio space at home and found my Friendly Box. It's not the first Friendly Box, but this one's been around for a little over a year and during my go-abouts from Savannah back to Paducah for summer and winter breaks from college, I would stuff any and all Friendly Game related things into it, mostly my inked pages. Sometimes there'd be other stuff floating around, but mostly the inks. Specifically, I feared foul play would happen if these pages were left in Savannah when I was gone over the breaks, so they would travel back with me just like my computer and fancy printing junk. I hadn't touched the box since moving a month ago, and I knew there was a lot of last minute non-book stuff that was jammed into it during the frantic moving business, as well as complete disorganization left over with some pages being in the box and some being in a portfolio from the SCAD Editor's Day.

In the pile-o-stuff picture, clockwise from 1 o'clock you have 125 inked pages (some that are going to be replaced with changed scenes), a stack of thumbnails, character sheets, and Google-image reference pictures (some that were rather icky...), Joe's copy of the script with his notations and coffee-stains, and a few pencils that managed to somehow hitch-hike back with me, also from Editor's Day scramble.

I'd forgotten that Joe had given me his print-out copies of the script he used while thumbnailin' / penciling...although I was the one to ask for it. Joe basically fixed any and all awkward pacing that I had going on in the script, scenes that were 2 pages evolved into 5 or 6 and worked out much better that way. Needless to say, such additions switch around where and what pages dialogues happen.
Because the pile of inked pages were SO THICK, I thought I'd measure them for grins. The carpet kinda interfers, but it looks around 3 inches thick, give or take considering the curl on some of the pages. So many spot blacks.......

The difference in artwork is really drastic, considering the first pages of this stack were started in the last year of our undergrad at SCAD and go through until the end of the 2 year MFA degree Joe and I both beat ourselves up with. There's the first fight scene page, and then the fight scene I was working on the other night......What's kinda funny is that all the original inks for such a grisly story have been carted around in a box that has one of those obnoxiously fluffy toy dogs on it. But it fit 11 x 17 paper so....eh.

My brain's tired, so here's a few comparison and close-ups of my Friendly Box contents. Maybe by next time I'll have made it to Wal-Green's to get those ink-cartridge refills and print s'more blue-line pages.




Tuesday, September 1, 2009



still no new pictures at the moment, except for this one that i found and i think it's pretty cool. currently i am working on another comic where i get to pencil, ink and letter myself, and man, do i miss lindsay going over my work. not that i hate my inking or anything, but it makes a big difference.
as lindsay knows and probably hates me for it... i tend to overdraw sometimes. lindsay, so far has been great at simplifying my textures and details. also, she's really good at keeping things neat. when i ink my own work... i kinda go all over the place: spaltters are everywhere, textures and wakky and the random marks to indicate dents and scratches. essentially, when i kin my own work, everything looks like it's been knocked around a bit here and there. but even better, i'm so glad lauren is now helping in the project 'cus if there are shadows or shapes that must be added, lauren tackles those with her tines.

well... back to making a mess.

Friday, August 28, 2009

no image this time/...

so, i had to make a quick trip to San Diego and visit family and i'm typing on their computer, in which i have no data, so, no image this time to go with the post, HOWEVER, i am typing this post for a particular reason.

i took my mom to the movies tonight to see what i thought was gonna be a mediocre film, and to my surprise, i enjoyed every bit of it. to all of those who are currently working on an on-going project and sometimes feel a bit down on the not so bright side of places... this movie was definetely a pad on the back. it's called "julie and julia."

it's about as girly as a movie can get, but it's also as motivating as a movie can make you feel to continue working on those projects that sometimes we wonder "who even gives a crap anyways". i wont go into details, cus then i wont shut up. normally i tend to dork out on these kinds of things, but for the moment, i will just say, if you wanna see a "feel good"... this is an awesome one. charming, sweet, funny and optimistic but at the same time, believeable and very entertaining.

smile. life is cool and things will get better.

P.S.
thank you Dan Vado for giving this story we are still working on the opportunity to see the light of print. thank you for your support, patience and honesty. we, the friendly squad are ever grateful.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Workin' two shifts...




Lindsay here...will this mention I'm the one posting? I will freely admit to never touching these "blog" things you kids talk about and am clueless about the complete workings. For someone who's a website developer by day, I feel like a 6 year-old that's been chucked into the deep end of the pool...

Anyhow. Having a job that sticks you in front of a computer all day gives little reason to be tempted by the likes of Facebook and the various distractions of the internet (such as blogs...) This is actually a very good motivator when it comes to working on comic pages traditionally. I've kept a pretty consistent schedule of inking a page a night when I sit down to work, usually between 7 and 10 pm. It's not every night, granted. Moving from Savannah (GA) to Paducah (KY) took up a lot more time and energy that I thought...The weekday schedule's pretty consistent as of now: Day Job, Make/Eat Dinner, Mushy-Talk with Husband, Inking, Bed.

I've almost exhausted the backlog of blue-lined pages to ink that I had printed out before leaving Savannah, which means a trip to Wal-Greens for an ink refill to print more blue-lines. I'll post something about the wonders of the large-format HP printer used in the comics world to print at 11 x 17 format.

That's all I got for now, almost betime to start the schedule over again.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

back around...


Ah, thumbnails... such an interesting process. it's like the rawest shape of the translation from text (THANKS Lindsay) to visuals. and tho most of the time it's just little 1''x1.5'' doodles (yeah, nowadays i thumbnail my pages in one by oneanaahalf areas.) it takes such a mental effort to attempt different ways to tell the story. it's really cool in that sense.
well, that was rich! the reason why i bring that up is cus i think i lost the sheet with the thmnails for the last pages. WOO!!!
but i'm happy to be back doing pages after a weekend of storyboarding and emailing and... drinking a lot, so... all in good times. but yes! back to the drawing board. the only problem is that now there's a bit of a set back cus i have to rethumb some stuff.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

hello sunday...


well.. so far... what a weekend...

the pencils are nearly finished except for a few more pages, and after that, lindsay and affe take command. meanwhile, miscellaneous sketches and whatnots will probably be a regularity, i guess, i dunno. just the other day, the durbinsky, lauren and i were discussing ideas for what could be a possible cover, and i dunno... we had a good dialogue session and thre some stuff around, but i wonder if that's gonna be more of vado's call. let's see what happens...

in other news, because i spend long hours awake and on the desk, i listen to a lot of documentaries and behind the music and behind the scenes stuff and lemme just say.. after watching a not so good film, i bumped into a documentary on the grand les paul (may he rest in peace) and boy oh boy... the dude was such a genius.
thank you mr. paul.

now.. back to drawing storyboards!

Friday, August 21, 2009

introduction...


being the first post, i guess, i would like to type briefly about the nature of this project.
"a friendly game" has been a graphic novel that lindsay durbin, lauren affe and myself have been working on for quite some time. It is still being developed, but every time i more gets done on it, every time i am proud-er of this.
well... here goes some posts...

Thursday, August 20, 2009


sound check-
sound check-