I hope you're all preparing for a lovely holiday season, and on top of things. December always ends up one heckuvarush for me, and this year is in top form. Besides the usual pressie shopping and cards and preparations, I also have a major graphic novel deadline to meet before the vacation, five animation shorts to supervise and wrap up in time and half a dozen personal projects besides that.

SO... Yeah. GND readers, you are CLIFFHANG'D for the duration. I dunno, consider this build-up? I wasn't going to cut things off once the fun really started, now, was I?


Keep a weather eye out for some random postings over the holidays, and possibly some of the goodies discussed earlier.

Edit:
Cos Skeep says it best. Also, shameless self-print-pimping like whoa.



---

Hey there folks.

I... owe a few of you out there something of an apology for not answering notes, or comments. I'm bad at that. But since many of them seem to pertain to the same topics, I'll try and field a few of them in this Journal.

Just FYI, in the wonderful alternative to the internet that is Real Life, I am currently working part-time as an animation teacher, doing traditional techniques with small kids and adults alike; this is fun sometimes, irritating and exhausting other times, and my small, regular income at the moment.
That takes a coupla days a week and the rest of the time I am working from home on a graphic novel for a french publisher, with another chick doing the writing and a summer 2010 deadline. I'm chuffed and excited about this project, and also a little stressed and still not quite as efficient a freelancer as I could/should be.

Rest assured I'll let you know all (read: crow and pimp shamelessly) about that when it is done and due to hit the bookshops.

For any of the Francophone watchers, I have an illustration published in the collective work 'En Chemin Elle Rencontre...' which is about women's rights and a hard-hitting, interesting book indeed, with a bunch of works by some high-class comic artists. More info here : [link]

So, all in all, what with a boyfriend living some distance away to go visit and various social interactions, I'm pretty busy.

I'm still trying my damndest to get you your weekly GND on schedule. Please bear with the odd delay.

I read your comments, several times, with a great deal of pleasure. I will not/cannot take time to answer every query or say thank you, but I do GND in no small measure for the feedback payoff, so please believe I am grateful and gratified.

Various FAQs... (GND-related and other)

- What medium do you use?
GND pages are scribbled down in mechanical pencil, I have a clear-view binder full of pages in various states of progress. Usually just before uploading, I take an hour or two to finish up the artwork, then they are scanned in, and I use Photoshop to mask away defects, write in the text with tablet stylus, and do the grey shading. That's usually another hour or so, depending on how complex the page is. Yep, sometimes I'm not as careful in the drawing/cleaning as others. And yes, I generally spend more time working on Jareth than any other character. Gooo figure.

- Do you mind if I do fanart of GND?
This one always makes me smile. I realize what the question is really about, but the cold cruel fact is that none of those characters (except Cheryl, I suppose!) were ever mine to begin with and I have no prior claim on 'em.
No. I don't. Fanart is fun and flattering, unless you're drawing something reeeeally fucked up - and even then, I may be squicked but I'd feel hypocritical to start laying out moral guidelines, since there's no knowing what the original creators might feel about my take on things either, and that way lies obsessiveness and paranoia and major bug-up-assedness.
I prefer being credited as an inspiration (plus it might avoid anyone thinking you're doing things sneakily) and I like links to check things out myself, out of curiosity and egotism more than any real concern about what you got up to - but besides that, knock yourselves out.

- I'm doing a comic of my own/school project/whatever, do you mind if I copy your style?
Nope. Nearly everyone learns by copying other people's stuff. I can name Yuu Watase, Rumiko Takahashi and Michael Turner as my models at various points in my life.

- Can't you publish and sell GND?
No. It's fanart. While there may be a flimsy case to be made for fair use and parody, I'd rather not ruffle the feathers of the legit owners.
If I ever get out to the US anytime soon, expect to see me flogging copies at conventions, however.


- You're really letting your popularity get to your head, you know that?
Yes.

- Hey, I found GND images on facebook/livejournal/myspace/whatevs!
Now, this is not relevant in the case of original artwork but a.: still not my characters to begin with, and b.: it's posted online, I do it for fun and for free, it's not watermarked - sure, I'd like to be credited, but there's little I can do about controlling where it gets to, who downloads, edits, and posts back up.
I'm usually flattered, anyway.


- I love GND, but can you plz bring in... [insert favourite hot character of choice/entire TV show cast here]?
... Some suggestions I get are intriguing and have potential, but usually they are definitely of the fangirl persuasion. And besides generating squee-age, I'm not sure they'd be a very interesting addition to the regular cast or plots.

That being said, some Joss Whedon and Harry Potter characters are planned...

- Can you put my original character in the comic? (and they can totally become BFF with [...] and then go out with [...], omglol! )
Um... no. You're pretty much the only person out there who'd get a kick out of that.

- I can't believe you'd cave to fangirl pressure and do [whatever is ahead in latest Poll/comments]!
The GND related Polls I do are usually just for fun, and curiosity about my audience, and super-rarely do their results affect a long-planned storyline.

- Hey, who is that character in panel 4/what movie does [...] come from?
Please_read_the_Artists'_comments, as I usually credit all the copyrighted characters in italics there.
Also, Wikipedia is your friend, and it'll take you less time to type a query into that or Google than to ask me, and I probably won't answer on principle.
On a related note, I'd like to thank those of you who answer other people's questions in the comments and save me the trouble. Thanks!

- What is Erik/Christine/Javert saying in French?
My sisters will readily tell you I'm a smartass. I'm fortunate enough to be bilingual. If I don't provide the translation, consider it a Bilingual Bonus for the dozen francophone watchers, and a challenge to work out for yourselves. It's not anything crucial to the general understanding of the page, usually. Again, you have the wonders of internet search engines at your fingertips.


- Are you open for commissions?
Now there's a tough one.
I totally owe Stormchild and Winther-rose their long-ago-ordered commissions. I can squeeze in the odd GND special birthday feature but - no, not really. Much as I'd kinda like a little extra monies, what time I'm prepared to spend working on other things than the graphic novel goes into providing your weekly GND. Take your pick.


- Are you ever going to update your fanfic?
... Hey wow, look at my inbox... my beta sent back the latest chapter. Well, whaddya know.
It might happen soonish; I have a large chunk of it nearly finished but I have to admit that doing GND tends to serve as an outlet for most fangirly creative urges (read : JS) and the drive to write the T-shirt series has lessened.
I will try and round things off somehow - do consider above comments re: business and priorities.

And a few other notes...

Return to Labyrinth manga : I should like to mollify some earlier, pretty vicious comments I made about it. I've not read it properly, only leafed through the first volume and seen a few scans of 2 and 3. It's not fair (...ha) to judge a story before it has had a chance to play out, and while I guess as a fangirl I'm still a bit disappointed, as an amateur writer, and comic artist, I have to cut those guys some slack. Writing original stories is a lot tougher than messing about doing funnies with pre-created and already-loved characters.

Crass seasonal commercialism, and possible GND goodies:
I'd like to make some Christmas cards this year, since Skeep came a little late last time. Any suggestions, original visuals you'd like to see?

And I'm considering creating some GND merchandise on Cafepress or Zazzle. It couldn't feature any of the copyrighted characters, but who has any ideas, and/or would be willing to pay for something GND-related, if only to manifest some support for the fancomic-that-cannot-be-sold?


And finally, I'll try to answer all and any questions made in response to this one journal entry, so now's your chance!



----

Hey there folks.

I... owe a few of you out there something of an apology for not answering notes, or comments. I'm bad at that. But since many of them seem to pertain to the same topics, I'll try and field a few of them in this Journal.

Just FYI, in the wonderful alternative to the internet that is Real Life, I am currently working part-time as an animation teacher, doing traditional techniques with small kids and adults alike; this is fun sometimes, irritating and exhausting other times, and my small, regular income at the moment.
That takes a coupla days a week and the rest of the time I am working from home on a graphic novel for a french publisher, with another chick doing the writing and a summer 2010 deadline. I'm chuffed and excited about this project, and also a little stressed and still not quite as efficient a freelancer as I could/should be.

Rest assured I'll let you know all (read: crow and pimp shamelessly) about that when it is done and due to hit the bookshops.

For any of the Francophone watchers, I have an illustration published in the collective work 'En Chemin Elle Rencontre...' which is about women's rights and a hard-hitting, interesting book indeed, with a bunch of works by some high-class comic artists. More info here : [link]

So, all in all, what with a boyfriend living some distance away to go visit and various social interactions, I'm pretty busy.

I'm still trying my damndest to get you your weekly GND on schedule. Please bear with the odd delay.

I read your comments, several times, with a great deal of pleasure. I will not/cannot take time to answer every query or say thank you, but I do GND in no small measure for the feedback payoff, so please believe I am grateful and gratified.

Various FAQs... (GND-related and other)

- What medium do you use?
GND pages are scribbled down in mechanical pencil, I have a clear-view binder full of pages in various states of progress. Usually just before uploading, I take an hour or two to finish up the artwork, then they are scanned in, and I use Photoshop to mask away defects, write in the text with tablet stylus, and do they grey shading. That's usually another hour or so, depending on how complex the page is. Yep, sometimes I'm not as careful in the drawing/cleaning as others. And yes, I generally spend more time working on Jareth than any other character.

- Do you mind if I do fanart of GND?
This one always makes me smile. I realize what the question is really about, but the cold cruel fact is that none of those characters (except Cheryl, I suppose!) were ever mine to begin with and I have no prior claim on 'em.
No. I don't. Fanart is fun and flattering, unless you're drawing something reeeeally fucked up - and even then, I may be squicked but I'd feel hypocritical to start laying out moral guidelines, since there's no knowing what the original creators might feel about my take on things either, and that way lies obsessiveness and paranoia and major bug-up-assedness.
I prefer being credited as an inspiration (plus it might avoid anyone thinking you're doing things sneakily) and I like links to check things out myself, out of curiosity and egotism more than any real concern about what you got up to - but besides that, knock yourselves out.

- I'm doing a comic of my own/school project/whatever, do you mind if I copy your style?
Nope. Nearly everyone learns by copying other people's stuff. I can name Yuu Watase, Rumiko Takahashi and Michael Turner as my models at various points in my life.

- Can't you publish and sell GND?
No. It's fanart. While there may be a flimsy case to be made for fair use and parody, I'd rather not ruffle the feathers of the legit owners.
If I ever get out to the US anytime soon, expect to see me flogging copies at conventions, however.


- You're really letting your popularity get to your head, you know that?
Yes.

Hey, I found GND images on facebook/livejournal/myspace/whatevs!
Now, this is not relevant in the case of original artwork but a.: still not my characters to begin with, and b.: it's posted online, I do it for fun and for free, it's not watermarked - sure, I'd like to be credited, but there's little I can do about controlling where it gets to, who downloads, edits, and posts back up.
I'm usually flattered, anyway.


- I love GND, but can you plz bring in... [insert favourite hot character of choice/entire TV show cast here]?
... Some suggestions I get are intriguing and have potential, but usually they are definitely of the fangirl persuasion. And besides generating squee-age, I'm not sure they'd be a very interesting addition to the regular cast or plots.

That being said, some Joss Whedon and Harry Potter characters are planned...

- Can you put my original character in the comic? (and they can totally become BFF with [...] and then go out with [...], omglol! )
Um... no. You're pretty much the only person out there who'd get a kick out of that.

- I can't believe you'd cave to fangirl pressure and do [whatever is ahead in latest Poll/comments]!
The GND related Polls I do are usually just for fun, and curiosity about my audience, and super-rarely do their results affect a long-planned storyline.

- Hey, who is that character in panel 4/what movie does [...] come from?
Please_read_the_Artists'_comments, as I usually credit all the copyrighted characters in italics there.
Also, Wikipedia is your friend, and it'll take you less time to type a query into that or Google than to ask me, and I probably won't answer on principle.
On a related note, I'd like to thank those of you who answer other people's questions in the comments and save me the trouble. Thanks!

- What is Erik/Christine/Javert saying in French?
My sisters will readily tell you I'm a smartass. I'm fortunate enough to be blingual. If I don't provide the tranlsation, consider it a Bilingual Bonus for the dozen francophone watchers, and a challenge to work out for yourselves. It's not anything crucial to the general understanding of the page, usually. Again, you have the wonders of internet search engines at your fingertips.


- Are you open for commissions?
Now there's a tough one.
I totally owe Stormchild and Winther-rose their long-ago-ordered commissions. I can squeeze in the odd GND special birthday feature but - no, not really. Much as I'd kinda like a little extra monies, what time I'm prepared to spend working on other things than the graphic novel goes into providing your weekly GND. Take your pick.


- Are you ever going to update your fanfic?
... Hey wow, look at my inbox... my beta sent back the latest chapter. Well, whaddya know.
It might happen soonish; I have a large chunk of it nearly finished but I have to admit that doing GND tends to serve as an outlet for most fangirly creative urges (read : JS) and the drive to write the T-shirt series has lessened.
I will try and round things off somehow - do consider above comments re: business and priorities.

And a few other notes...

Return to Labyrinth manga : I should like to mollify some earlier, pretty vicious comments I made about it. I've not read it properly, only leafed through the first volume and seen a few scans of 2 and 3. It's not fair (...ha) to judge a story before it has had a chance to play out, and while I guess as a fangirl I'm still a bit disappointed, as an amateur writer, and comic artist, I have to cut those guys some slack. Writing original stories is a lot tougher than messing about doing funnies with pre-created and already-loved characters.

Crass seasonal commercialism, and possible GND goodies:
I'd like to make some Christmas cards this year, since Skeep came a little late last time. Any suggestions, original visuals you'd like to see?

And I'm considering creating some GND merchandise on Cafepress or Zazzle. It couldn't feature any of the copyrighted characters, but who has any ideas, and/or would be willing to pay for something GND-related, if only to manifest some support for the fancomic-that-cannot-be-sold?


And finally, I'll try to answer all and any questions made in response to this one journal entry, so now's your chance!



----

To whom it may concern,

The previous Journal entry has been removed from existence by order of the Grand High Mugwump, as representative of the authority of HRH Jareth, King of the Goblins, in accordance with the Goblin Kingdom's laws relative to the freedom of opinion and information (the inexistence thereof), on the grounds of its seditious, treasonous and utterly false anti-monarchy propaganda.

His Highness wishes all his subjects well, and invites them all to visit the nearest Bog at their earliest convenience.

Administratively yours
{illegible squiggle]

Teh Grand High Mugwump.




...

---

In defiance of all the still-Goblin King's edicts and threats!

No one is entirely sure exactly what the hell happened and the survivors ain't talking. But any excuse for a booze-up and party in the Labyrinth!

Credit where credit is due, first. For those of you who are yet unfamiliar with the dread terror of the Chicken of Destiny, Rosalinda -
- she is a creation of the brilliant, utterly deranged, and not a little Crotch-fixated ~Lixxle

The fic in question, "My Fine Feathered Friend" can be read here : [link]

I'm clutching at straws here, but since Sarah is compelled to provide a chicken impersonation for His Majesty's entertainment in this one (... but then things get better, and by better I mean wheeeheehott), I shall link to an old favourite - "What You Wish For" by KnifeEdge (aka She of the many aliases): [link]

And because Everthing Is Better With Chickens: [link] (and WHY isn't Labyrinth on that page, passing Tropers?)...

... some funny chicken videos!
(Ok, Louisa, you can worry now)

the Angry Chicken Ad [link] (Bilingual Bonus on that one!)

[link]

[link]

And because it's not a Python if it's not Monty! Knight with a chicken : [link]

Does anyone remember that old AOL commercial with a guy yelling at the TV screen during a gameshow -
- "Chicken! Chicken!! It's a Chicken!"
(voice of participant on TV) : - "A Pterodactyl."
(Gameshow host) : - "Correct!"


Share your own lolchikins!


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People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely because chickens run about so absurdly that it's impossible to count them accurately.
- Oscar Wilde


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