I finished the sketch zine I’m planning on bringing to the zine off today.
It’s 16 pages, with a collection of Mashita and Yashiki drawings from the Spirit Hunter: Death Mark game. I also finally made that hanafuda minizine I’ve been thinking about for ages, even if the art is old.
Someone had described the cover is very “noir.” I don’t know if I’ll be able to draw a whole book in this style, but I guess we’ll find out (after a lot of research and experimentation).
I read Claudine by Riyoko Ikeda while visiting a friend. Even after writing the fujoshi zine, I’m constantly surprised how far ahead the manga-ka of that generation was in terms of telling these types of stories, even if, by modern standards, there are flaws on the outcome of it. I felt the ending matched with the tone of most of the manga I’ve been reading from that vein. It’s not a manga of that generation unless it comes with tragedy, incest, or me yelling “HE WAS A BOYTOY???” (not Claude, if you read it, you will know who it is).
I’ve moved to Bluesky for social media. It was strange and saddening to delete all the things I’ve made over the years. I’m still glazing things as I go, because my skepticism is higher than ever when it comes to big tech. I have a lot of unsorted thoughts around social media…mostly that it’s both a curse and a boon.
The main group of art friends I have don’t even post their art on social media, and sometimes I wonder if I should join them since they seem like perfectly well-adjusted people. Social media doesn’t come easily to me, as I tend to overthink it. I understand that a lot of artists are there for marketing or promotion purposes, and to grow your following for some goal in the future. I’ve been at this blogging thing for 10+ years, and this has so long outlasted all the other social media accounts I have created. But every event that needs an application asks for social media. Even setting this site to not be indexed is not guaranteed - the robots.txt is a suggestion, and you know how tech feels about boundaries (they have none, and nothing is sacred).
I did manage to make it out to at least one seasonal market this year, as I promised. As much as I say that I don’t go out much (due to energy levels or other reasons), it’s still a lot better than a few years ago.
I made this mini sign for the zine off. I’m happy with the way it came out, even if it’s fairly simple looking. Do people even use RSS? I doubt it, but nevertheless, I persist.
This is a rough for a submission to the next CAC quarterly. I am enjoying my time working on these non-BL comics, though, I could make it BL. We’ll see. Apparently the next quarterly will debut at SUCZ 3 in Staunton, Virginia. You can also get the files to download and print at home if you get on the mailing list for the club.
I have been showing my newest doujinshi around to friends, even though I feel like it has a lot of flaws. I did really enjoy my time making it and it expresses what I hoped for when I drew it. It might be a bit out of character since it’s so far outside of canon. I’d like to work on an in-canon timeline story next time. Before then, I’m working on a Death Mark book. I have a general idea of what I want to write about. This new book is honestly for myself and my friend that convinced me to play the game. That’s probably one more person than last time, since the old man Tadashi & Ainosuke was mostly for myself. Probably don’t ask me too much about audiences and advertising. But I’m happy that the old man doujin is going to print, and I feel okay enough for it to happen. I’m probably too anxious about everything…but I won’t get better if I keep shrinking myself and avoiding it.
I don’t know why I even need to be anxious.
I went to a workshop at the Queer Zest Zine Fest where Laura Chenault was demonstrating how to do stab binding, and I think I’d like to try that next time for at least one copy. The use of Japanese papers and vellum greatly appeals to me. Also I was worried about having to make a book press, but now I can just bind it with thread.
I watched Desert Bus for Hope in the background this week, and enjoyed a lot of the activities. I particularly enjoyed the Beyblades x art contest.
My friend asked me about putting something on their table at Comiket, but I only have BL. I am really enjoying the Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’s playlist a lot lately, especially Zoltraak, Knife to the Throat, and Dragon Smasher.
Twitch 100 follower celebration stream
I hit 100 followers on Twitch. The 100th person was Kokaise visiting my unannounced 2AM stream, haha. I’m planning a celebration stream for December 8, 2024 at 2PM ET on my Twitch account, where I will be taking sketch requests. I haven’t been consistent with it, but that’s okay.
I’m planning on playing Monster Hunter Wilds in February next year. My machine seemed to do okay during the open beta, despite having to lower a lot of settings and it loaded the graphics slowly.
Watching
- Genshiken Nidaime: I still enjoyed it, and found it very funny. Some people might find the way Hato is handled annoying by today’s standards, but I thought it was a good attempt of the time. I’d like to see the first season again, or read the manga.
- Been reading more Shigeru Mizuki.
- Been reading and copying manga action. I think I need to use a ruler on the iPad or do certain things in Clip Studio Paint, instead of Procreate. I’m still very attached to using Procreate. I don’t have CSP on iPad.
- I’ve started reading all sorts of topics related to Death Mark. I might even be able to understand Saint Young Men now! I kid.
It turns out the CAC calendar from the last post is USA only. Sorry.
Playlist
- Ava Max - Choose Your Fighter
- It was Tsubaki-chan from Windbreaker’s birthday this week.
- Handsome Pose Collection - Evan Call
- New and Dangerous Magic - Evan Call
- Hakai ma joukou no Teema
In case it isn’t extremely apparent, I am very excited about the upcoming Sk8 the Infinity OVA. It will be screened in Japan in January 2025, and then be on disc in March. I’m not sure when I will be able to see it, but from the trailer, I’m very excited for what is in store for Tadashi & Ainosuke.
This site doesn’t have a comments sections yet, sorry. I do have an idea of how to go about it, though.