Long time, no update. I’ve been busy busy busy, mostly because on top of part-time work and doing “The Dreaming”, I’ve also picked up some illustrations for a company. Oh my god. No time to do ANYTHING at all. More on that in the future – many announcements to make. I seem to be experiencing server problems though. It takes forever to load my site up for some reason… I may have to start looking for a new server. No matter how great Jason and Silver Bullet Hosting has been, I think I’ve got to start looking for more bandwidth, especially since I’m going to put some video clips online.
New Manga: As I said in my previous post, I sent “The Two Dollar Deal” around on my fanlisting, which is growing, thanks to Emily Shao (YAY! Emily!). However, if you missed it, it’s now officially up on my site at here. It’s a short 8-page manga “cute romance” story, much like “Greenhouse”, mostly because it’s done for the same anthology (Generation 2006 this time).
Wirepop Calendar: WAY late announcement, but Wirepop is putting out a new calendar! I’ve got June, and I finally get some “Block 6” colour art done, though pages… getting there (ahem).
Chaos Code: I had to mention this. “Chaos Code” is a 2D-fighting game I’m working on, which is my part-time job, for a company called “FKDigital”. Based here in Sydney, it’s got about 11 people working on a tonne of art for a fighting game that’s to be released for the Japanese and SE Asian market. The game art is coming along BEAUTIFULLY, thanks to all the amazing artists there, and the reason why I’m so excited is because the game engine is finally “done”. By “done” I mean I’ve finally seen the game in action, though there are a number of minor bugs that still need to be fixed. Up until then, I’ve been colouring frames, doing backgrounds and drawing background characters, never seeing what it all looks like put together. And when I finally saw it WORK, it looked so pretty that I was stunned. Sure, I’ve seen all the art, but having the near-final product… I could have jumped for joy. Part of the reason is that the game engine has been delayed for about a year, because the programmers in Japan took forever to ham it together. And so, I’ve been working all this time with no idea what the hell’s going on. But now… it’s so rewarding to see the GAME actually WORKING (mostly).
I’m afraid I can’t show any art from the game yet, because it has to be shown at a Tokyo gaming show before the public sees any part of it. So far the game is NEARING completion, which doesn’t say much… but at least we’re no longer doing backgrounds but doing background characters. The backgrounds are mostly done, which is a VERY good sign. The background characters I’m currently working on are from Chinatown, which means a stackload of cliches… but very fun to do.
Me on Television: I was on ABC TV on 2nd April, 2006. And I forgot all about it too – my parents taped the interview, which was part of the Otakulture Exhibition. “Sunday Arts” was the program that did the interview, and it was a load of fun. The segment is very short, but I shall put it online when I finally get the video clip editted and working on a computer properly. It’s basically me blabbering about “The Dreaming”… I actually look okay on television. Everyone says I look better than I do on TV than in real life. I should just quit manga and become a news reader. By the by, I’m going to be doing an artist’s talk when the Otakulture Exhibition comes to Sydney, currently scheduled for the 13th May. More on that later.
Book Signing in Canberra: This is way late, but it was a great deal of fun and I gotta thank Mal and Impact Comics for organising the whole thing! I bought some stuff as well, especially Trudy Cooper’s “Platinum Grit”, a truly funny comic she’s been drawing for a long time. And lovely to meet Nicola Scott, who has amazing art skillz, and great to see Liz Argall again, who writes some really great stuff.
The Dreaming (Vol2): Going to plan, and now working on the cover. I’ve now had to pencil the whole book before I do any more inking, but so far I’m up to the middle of Chapter 13, and the last chapter is 14. I’ll definately get it finished by the end of April, and then it’s inking time! The book is still coming out in November this year, so everything’s right on schedule.