WIP fan art print preview

I’m a bit rusty with my inking and have been struggling to get back into it. What better way than to create fan art for practice?

Here’s a sneak peek at half of a Final Fantasy VII piece:

More to come soon.

Pictureless progress

This past week has been full of writing and drawing, though I have no scans to show of it. I’ve been diligently working on getting my comic’s story written out while also revising character designs. One of the hardest parts of creating a story is naming things like the characters, world-specific items, and the story itself. One of my students asked what the title of my comic is, and I couldn’t really answer him.

On a side note, Zack Corcoran and I are attempting to obtain an Artist Alley spot at this year’s KumoriCon. Wish us luck, and hopefully I will have some news about that soon. I have a few illustration pieces I want to revise for it, and I want to create some new stuff too.

In the meantime, I have a few appearances coming up in May as part of two schools’ events. I’m scrambling to organize everything, but my fingers are crossed that it will all go well.

Sketches and scones

I’ve been wrestling with a comic idea for some time and managed finished up some character sketches and clothing designs. I recently decided to scrap the art and start over.

Here is a picture of those sketches before they’re off to the recycling bin:

While it’s disheartening to have to revise the designs, I have an easy hobby and, consequently, a treat to help cheer myself up: baking chocolate chip scones.

When I was a work-study in college, one of my supervisors would often bring chocolate chip scones from a local bakery, and they were delicious! I found that a very few Starbucks carried a similar concoction, but sadly, none of them are on the West Coast. I scoured the internet and found a really good recipe. I modified it a little and have been baking all winter.

These are great when fresh:

The recipe is as follows:
Ingredients-
2 and a smidge cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening or unsalted butter
1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tbs. sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
a few pinches of crystal sugar to top

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl sift together flour and sugar and add in the chocolate chips. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate small bowl combine the milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Combine ingredients into the large bowl and blend together until it forms a soft, crumbly dough.

Turn the dough out onto lightly floured parchment paper and knead gently until it is about 7 or 8 inches in diameter, flipping occasionally. Sprinkle with crystal sugar to cover, then cut into 8 wedges. Pierce the tops a few times with a knife or once with a fork, and then place onto a greased baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes and serve hot.

If you try your hand at this recipe, please let me know how it turned out for you. Enjoy!

Amazing skies

Portland’s weather has been all over the spectrum lately, and in its chaos, I managed to snag some pictures of the tumultuous skies. These photos were taken with my cellphone camera.

Around my apartment complex:

On the road I managed to catch a rainbow in the far storm:

And the settling sky at sunset:

I’m hoping that the weather will improve soon. I desperately want summer to arrive!