http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:Sakamoto&section=today deviantART RSS for by:Sakamoto en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:11:24 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/19229412/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/19229412/ Sun, 06 Jul 2008 03:36:23 PDT
My apologies.


=S

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Fanclub--For the BLP Manga, not me--





Minions--People who humor me in my delusions of world domination and put up with my bouts of megalomaniacal laughter--





Pets--My lovely collection of playpretties--

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/13219857/ Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:25:10 PDT
Let's see if I can summarize my experience....

Woke up at the crack of noon on Friday, spent the next three hours(yes, three) going "Dude, where's my car??" What was really irritating about this is that I found it by accident on the first try, carried a bunch of shit all the way back to my room(approximately a 30 minute trip)....then could not, for the life of me, find it again. After many fun-filled and exciting rides on the ridiculously slow cargo elevators that served the hotel parking garage, I extricated myself from the jovial elevator party, slammed a Jolt, and found the car by walking up the garage ramp, starting from the bottom.

I arrived back at my room with a second load of stuff just in time to keep housekeeping from taking away my room service leftovers(3 quarters of a pizza and some assorted crackers), begged a bunch of single-serving coffee packets off them, and sent them on their way. I think they were offended that I didn't even let them make the bed.
I donned my various samurai cosplay stuff and hit the convention floor at 4pm, having lost most of the day to bad planning and laziness.

The line for acquiring pre-reg badges was approximately 2.7 miles long, and squeezed into a quarter-acre floorspace on the convention center first floor through a winding-back-and-forth space-saver technique...which just made the line look like three thousand people had for some reason decided to see how closely they could stand together in front of the convention doors. There was no perceptible movement or progression in the line; the only reason I figured out it was, in fact, a line, is because a genius on the Akon staff made a giant sign saying "END OF LINE" and required the last person in line to hold it, and pass it on when new people joined the line.
Fortunately for me, my badge was being held by the Artist Alley staff because I had applied for a table, so no waiting in line or sign-holding for this guy. I got my badge in about 5 minutes. I also got two other badges for people who were supposed to have come with me but didn't make it. I contemplated scalping, but only briefly because the badges were Artist Alley badges and I didn't want to be responsible for giving some random weirdos access to the working areas of the Alley. I was offered a table but turned it down because I didn't want to run it alone.

Saturday was mostly dealer-room shopping, wandering aimlessly, being randomly glomped by giggly things that ran away fast, and people-watching until, around 4:30pm, I ran into an old roommate from when I lived in Houston. After that the party was on. Memories are fuzzy until 9am Sunday morning, where I found myself sitting in a lawnchair by one of the hotel Jacuzzis, surrounded by wet schoolgirls and stray kitties who seemed to be having a competition in who could sport the tiniest bikini. I also remember being on a Quest for Alcohol, because my old roommate's room was raided by hotel security while him and I were at the rave, and they made off with our remaining supply of vodka.

Sunday: Missed the whole thing. Alarm failed to wake us up and we slept until about 5pm, which is when the closing ceremonies began. By the time I felt human enough to venture forth from my room, it was 6:30pm, and the con was over. We hung out with the people who stuck around for a while, had some post-con fun, then went back to the room to eat shrimp cocktails and watch horror flicks.

Checked out of the hotel monday morning, drove home, and here I am. Sucks I missed out on Sunday, there were some last-minute dealer room deals I was intending to haggle....oh well. I had a blast anyway.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub--For the BLP Manga, not me--





Minions--People who humor me in my delusions of world domination and put up with my bouts of megalomaniacal laughter--

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/13180858/ Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:16:17 PDT
=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub--For the BLP Manga, not me--





Minions--People who humor me in my delusions of world domination and put up with my bouts of megalomaniacal laughter--





Pets--My lovely collection of playpretties--

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/13171844/ Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:15:57 PDT
=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub--For the BLP Manga, not me--





Minions--People who humor me in my delusions of world domination and put up with my bouts of megalomaniacal laughter--





Pets--My lovely collection of playpretties--

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/13160765/ Thu, 31 May 2007 07:24:10 PDT
However, I have managed to escape to Akon for this weekend. I dunno if I'll have a table this year(another complicated story), but I will be at the con either way. Whether I'll be running around snapping pictures of schoolgirls or sitting around drawing pictures of schoolgirls remains to be seen.

I gotta go for now, need to get ready for the drive to Dallas....but I'll post again tonight after I'm in the hotel.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub--For the BLP Manga, not me--





Minions--People who humor me in my delusions of world domination and put up with my bouts of megalomaniacal laughter--





Pets--My lovely collection of playpretties--

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/10381767/ Fri, 13 Oct 2006 15:55:38 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka ~Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

I'm sure you've all been able to tell that I haven't been around much.
I'm sorry for that, I wish I could be around more, but things have been kinda busy around here. I haven't even had a chance to work on finishing the studio.
Once things start to settle down a bit, I should be around more often...and will be able to get back to work on art and start posting again.

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:





Minions:





Pets:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/10158190/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/10158190/ Sat, 23 Sep 2006 02:46:15 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

I'm in California again for business reasons. Only gonna be here for a couple more days, but it's been fun so far.
By the way, did I mention it really sucks dealing with all the crap in airports these days?

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:





Minions:





Pets:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9226918/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9226918/ Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:48:17 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Tired, but working
Listening to: Terra Nine - Foxtrot Alpha
Reading: DearS series

I figured I should put my plans for the near future in here, so you guys will know what to expect.

I'm going to be working on putting together what I'm calling 'demo packages' for submissions to various publishers...each package consists of a three to six page example of sequential art--meaning I choose a small but interesting(hopefully) section of a story to illustrate as part of the submission--plus a short-as-possible synopsis of the story in its entirety, including how it will break down into self-contained books. It's possible I'll be including character designs and descriptions for each package as well...but I haven't yet decided on that for sure.
Aside from working on those, I will also be trying to produce more colored work, primarily for promotional purposes and sales at conventions.

Right now I'm working on the demo pages for Legend of Faehr(tentative title) which is a story I came up with not too long ago while on a long drive. The first page is done and it looks fantastic(to me anyway), but I've slowed down on the scripting for the next bits because it includes a dream sequence and I need the paneling to be innovative and flowy....the composition of the entire page has to be artistic and pleasing, because there will be very little character art....mainly words and abstracts. So I'm working that part carefully.

Anyway, all of this stuff will be put on dA so you guys can see it(aside from the story synopsies, I don't want to ruin anything).

Also, I will soon begin posting the Cagefighter: First Loss text in chunks. Since I am not planning on continuing work on BLP for a while at the least....I figured I'd go ahead and post the story. Anyone who doesn't want to read it for fear of revealing possible 'spoiler' information on BLP(becauce I will eventually finish that comic series), feel free to ignore it. But I hope that most of you will at least give it a try. One of the main reasons I am doing this is because I have the feeling that most of you are of the opinion that I write mostly silly fluff comedy...which is not the case at all. I'm positive that if any of you were to get your hands on a synopsys of the entire BLP series, for instance, you would be pretty startled at the contents. I think that Cagefighter will change that opinion, because it is anything but 'light'.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:





Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9216391/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9216391/ Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:42:52 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Heh
Listening to: The Mind Expander - DJ River
Reading: Cradle - A. C. Clarke

I've never been big on those 'journal tags' that go around dA...you know, where there's a questionaire or something you're supposed to fill out, because you got 'tagged' for it by someone else.
I've been tagged a few times and I'm always too lazy or uninterested to respond. But I came across this one in =Kombi's journal; I didn't get tagged for it but it amused me and I wanted to do it myself.
It's a list of blatant stereotypes, and I'm supposed to put in bold text the ones that apply to me. I'm sure that the original purpose of this list was to make a statement about stereotypes and how they are bad, blah blah blah etc. ad endless nauseam.
However, I'm doing for my own reasons...that being, I love stereotypes...not for applying them to people or groups of people, but because they're funny.
I find this list funny too. I've changed some of the terms to make them apply to a male(since that's what I am). Here we go:

I'm EMO, so I MUST cut my wrists.

I'm BLACK, so I MUST carry a gun.

I'm HISPANIC, so I MUST be dirty.

I'm ASIAN, so I MUST be smart.

I'm NOT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, so I MUST be a loser.

I'm JEWISH, so I MUST be greedy.

I'm GAY, so I MUST have AIDS.

I'm a LESBIAN, so I MUST have a sex-tape.

I'm ARAB, so I MUST be a terrorist.

I SPEAK MY MIND, so I MUST be an asshole.

I'm OVERWEIGHT, so I MUST have a problem with self control.

I'm RELIGIOUS, so I MUST shove my beliefs down your throat.

I'm an ATHEIST, so I MUST hate the world.

I DON'T HAVE A RELIGION, so I MUST not have morals.

I'm REPUBLICAN, so I MUST not care about poor people.

I'm DEMOCRAT, so I MUST not believe in being responsible.

I'm JAMAICAN, so I must smoke weed.

I am LIBERAL, so I MUST be gay.

I'm SOUTHERN, so I MUST be white trash.

I take ANTI-DEPRESSANTS, so I MUST be crazy.

I'm a GUY, so I MUST only want to get into your pants.

I'm IRISH, so I MUST have a bad drinking problem.

I'm INDIAN, so I MUST own a convenient store.

I'm NATIVE AMERICAN, so I MUST dance around a fire screaming like a savage.

I'm PREPPY, so I MUST shun those who don't wear Abercrombie & Hollister.

I'm a CHEERLEADER, so I MUST be a stuck up whore.

I'm on a DANCE team, so I must be stupid, stuck up, and a whore.

I wear SKIRTS a lot, so I MUST be a slut.

I'm a PUNK, so I MUST do drugs.

I'm YOUNG, so I MUST be naive.

I'm RICH, so I MUST be a conceited snob.

I WEAR BLACK, so I MUST be a goth.

I'm BLONDE, so I MUST be a stupid ditz. (I'm really a dirty blond but whatever)

I'm a WHITE GIRL, so I MUST be a nagging, steal-your-money kind of girlfriend.

I'm CUBAN, so I MUST spend my spare time rolling cigars.

I'm MEXICAN, so I MUST have hopped the border.

I'm NOT A VIRGIN, so I MUST be easy.

I FELL IN LOVE WITH A MARRIED MAN, so I MUST be a home-wrecking whore.

I'm a TEENAGE MOM, so I MUST be an irresponsible slut.

I'm POLISH, so I MUST wear my socks with my sandals.

I'm ITALIAN, so I must have a big peter.

I GOT A CAR FOR MY BIRTHDAY, so I MUST be a spoiled brat.

I'm PRETTY, so I MUST not be a virgin.
=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9121094/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9121094/ Mon, 19 Jun 2006 23:05:37 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Whoa

I had over 500 items in my message center when I logged in today. That's what I get for posting 20-something images all at once. >.>

Also, I've made prints available(through my dA Prints store) of most of the images I was selling at Akon. I've dropped the prices down to about as low as I can get them, so they are really cheap. Take a look if you're at all interested.

Right now I am working on images for the next conventions we're attending. That's all I have for now.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9069275/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9069275/ Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:37:12 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Hmmm...


Akon was fun; a definite learning experience, and nothing at all like my first anime convention experience at Sakuracon in Seattle...mainly because this time I spent the entire con sitting behind the Awax Productions table in the Komic Market(A-Kon's nickname for Artist Alley).
I bought a really nice color printer and a bunch of nice paper, and we picked out some of the better color images in my gallery to sell, and we printed them on site, on demand. And they sold really, really well. I was surprised, actually....I hadn't expected to do that well. We sold a lot of 8.5x11 prints, and went through almost 100 4x6 prints. We also handed out over a hundred business cards(and we were only giving them to people who asked for them)...and I accepted way too many commissions, considering I was only able to finish a total of three during the convention, leaving me with a backlog of about ten images that I will have to ship to the customers.
So it was a fun experience as well as a confidence-booster....even though our table was all the way at the back end of the room, where the traffic was low, we did really well.
One thing did kind of suck, though....the table on our left was a group of seven asian girls who were all artists, and they had a ton of stuff stacked on their table...and the work was in wildly different styles(but it was good work, I thought)...and they didn't do very well. We were trying to be friendly with them and stuff, but they were somewhat standoffish, and we didn't understand why until I overheard one of them telling a friend that we were the reason they weren't selling anything. I didn't understand how they had come to that decision, but at least it explained why they didn't really want to talk to us.
At least the people at the table to our right were cool.

Another interesting thing that happened: I got interviewed by a TV crew. I dunno who they were, or what station they were from or anything(I was too startled to even ask them for any information). I had gone outside for a smoke break, and I had no sooner lit my cigarette when my brother called me on my cell and told me to get my ass back inside, because there was a camera crew at the table and they wanted to interview the artist(me!). So I ran back in, and the interviewer asked me a bunch of questions about how I got started, why I chose to work with anime/manga, stuff like that. I think I did a fairly good job of not being a total dumbass, because once we were done the guy told me it went really well, and the camera guy spent the next few minutes getting closeups of all the work we had laid out on the table. It was pretty cool....except that we forgot to ask who they worked for. >.>;


I also finally got in touch with Antarctic Press and Radio Comix, the two San Antonio-based comic publishers that I had originally planned on submitting my work to. We talked to both companies and got their info. So, a few hours ago, we were in the offices of Antarctic Press, showing them the compiled works of BLP. They seemed to like it, and they took copies of everything we showed them, as well as a business card, and told us they would pass it on to the chief editors for review. So nothing is sure yet, but we will be hearing from them within a week or so. The guy we talked to was the head of the submissions review department, and since he accepted copies and said he'd pass it to the editors, we have already pass... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9014815/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/9014815/ Fri, 09 Jun 2006 02:52:34 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Mwahah

So Baja was cool, I have a lot of stuff to say about it, but I don't really have time right now.
I promised I would post something before A-Kon, so I am sitting in my ridiculously priced hotel room at the Adam's Mark in Dallas, on the 7th floor, paying 10 bucks a day for internet access along with everything else(and I'm considering hitting up room service for some nachos or something, I'm starving).
I probably will not sleep before the con gets going in the morning, I have too much shit to do. But I'm having fun, which is all that counts.....plus, who sleeps at anime conventions? Seriously.

Anyway...I'm out for now, gotta get shit done to be ready for my first attempt at selling my stuff in a convention Artist's Alley(called Komik Market for A-Kon).

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8888309/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8888309/ Fri, 26 May 2006 22:46:19 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Drugs, baby
Listening to: Baked Beans - Heintz 1 - Chill Ambient Techno

I'm going out of town again. This time we're driving west to southern Cali, then taking a hard left after a good night's sleep and driving down to Baja California(Mexico) for the annual Baja race, in which one of our friends competes. Should be badass...we'll be gone for a week or so I suppose, and as soon as we get back, we're gotta head up to Dallas for A-kon, our second anime convention and the first one at which I will have a table in Artist's Alley. That should be interesting as well.

I have a bunch of other news, stuff about BLP and stuff about the Cagefighter novel, but I'm in a hurry to get ready for the trip(we'll be driving out tomorrow evening) so if I have a chance, I'll post another journal while we're out there. If not....well, I'll post one after we get back, if I have time to do anything before heading up to Dallas. If not then, then I shall post after we get settled in the hotel.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8646952/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8646952/ Mon, 01 May 2006 22:15:39 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Drugs, baby
Listening to: Baked Beans - Heintz 1 - Chill Ambient Techno


I finally got internet access at my house. We have a 20 foot tower on our roof for reception, but at least I have broadband. Woot!
I'm still writing on the Cagefighter story. I could have sworn it would have been done by this point, but it ain't. Oh well. It's still going really well...but I'm ready to get it done and get back to work on BLP and Outcast.

Also, if any of you enjoy anime games, you really should play Ever 17. I just finished solving it last night, and goddamn....it's one of the most intriguing storylines I've ever encountered. The fact that it's ful of gorgeous chicks helps, too....but what anime isn't? But it was really fun...especially because one of the requirements for completely solving the game was that you have to run through the game enough times to sucessfully make each girl fall in love with your character, one at a time. XD

But aside from the romance stuff, there was a lot of deep philosophical and metaphysical dialogue and discussions, and I'm always a sucker for that kind of stuff.

I'm off for now...gonna keep writing.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8483500/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8483500/ Sat, 15 Apr 2006 21:53:25 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Whoa

The poll shows that most of you want to wait to read the Cagefighter story.

Wow, I'm totally surprised, I was almost positive that everyone would want to read the story now.
But at the same time, I'm happy, cuz that means my own inclination to wait on posting it was correct.
But also at the same time, I'm dissapointed because I can't wait to see everyone's reactions to it. >.>
Oh well.....I shall have to be patient, eh? And this will help me to work hard on the manga once I start working on it again, because I will want to get to the point where I can begin posting the story! XD

Thanks to everyone for voting and telling me your opinions and reasons.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8438441/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8438441/ Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:24:43 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka =Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Will it ever stop?

Let me apologize for not following my own promise and re-starting work on BLP after coming home from Seattle and Sakuracon. I actually haven't done any drawing or CG, nothing whatsoever. Not even sketching.
There is a reason for this, however. I have not been sitting on my ass playing video games. Not even for a minute. I've been working non-stop since we got home, actually.
Recall that I mentioned, in the journal before this(titled 'Home Again'), that I had begun work on writing part of Aria's background. I had written 10 pages while we were still in Sacramento, ten 8.5x11 pages with the smallest borders I could manage for my printer and in tiny 10-point font.
I now have over one-hundred and ten pages of text, and the end is not yet in sight. I had thought it was going to be a short story; it has, instead, become a small novel. And perhaps, by the time I am finished, it will be a not-so-small novel.
I decided, only a few days after we had returned, that it would be best for me to just go ahead and finish writing the story while it was still fresh in my mind. I didn't think it would take this long, but I'm glad that I did all the same....because...dammit, it's freaking badass. I can't wait to be able to start posting it, so I can see you guys' reactions to it.
But I wasn't going to post it yet, because I'm afraid it may reveal too much information about Aria(and Ryoma as well) that I had wanted to keep under wraps until certain key points in the BLP manga.
However, most of you guys have been going along with me since the beginning of the story, and because of your comments and other input, I have had the motivation to continue the work, as well as increasing my ability to tell it properly.
So I propose to leave this up to you. I will, upon completion of the story I'm currently writing(called Cagefighter: First Loss), begin posting sections of it on deviantArt, if I find that the majority of you are okay with reading it and thus having certain things revealed; things that you wouldn't find out until later in BLP.
I'm gonna make a poll for this purpose. If you have an opinion on this matter, please go and vote.

Once again I apologize for the complete halt in BLP and any other artworks. But I promise you, it'll be worth the wait.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8290498/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8290498/ Tue, 28 Mar 2006 01:02:07 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Jetlag
Reading: Song of Susannah - Stephen King



First off, lemme pimp another one of the songs from my bro's band. It's called Undefined. Click on the name to download, and check it out!

So Sakuracon kicked ass. I'm really glad my brother ended up going with me...although I'm sure I would have enjoyed myself plenty on my own, it was a lot more fun with him there. Him and I have always hung out together and gone on long trips to places we've never been. And neither of us had ever been to Seattle, or to an anime convention. We had a freakin' blast, and we're addicted. Can't wait for Akon in Dallas.
There were a couple of things that sucked, like that we couldn't buy a lot of the stuff we wanted, because our luggage was already full to the max. We had trouble enough getting the few mangas and the copic markers we bought to fit into our bags. We thought of going and buying another bag, but that wouldn't have worked because we were already packing our guitars and a conga drum along with both our laptops and backpacks, plus two large clothing bags. We had the max number of items we were allowed to check on the plane and stuff(we had the instruments because we were in Sacramento for a week before the con, hanging out and partying and playing music for money...and we did well at that).
So Akon will be better for me, because we'll be driving to it. We're only 5 hours away from Dallas, and we can buy as much crap as we want and fill the car with it. Mwahahaha.
The other thing that sucked is we missed a lot of events, but that was mainly because we failed to pay close enough attention to the convention schedule. When we were at the closing ceremonies, I found out about a lot of stuff that I would have liked to have seen. Oh well.
We also didn't have any cosplay costumes, of course. And we didnt enter in any of the competitions. We just sort of wandered around and watched people doing wierd stuff. We'll be better prepared for Akon....and any other cons we go afterward.
Hopefully we'll have a table for Akon. My brother actually came close to getting us a table for Sakuracon, but we were foiled by fire safety regulations(having to do with the layout of the convention floor being changed by adding another table, even a tiny one for Artist's Alley).

Now, moving away from the subject of conventions...Best Laid Plans will be back in production by tomorrow(meaning I'll be working on it again tomorrow). I'll also pick up on Outcast, the Pele one-shot. I'd like to get that one done so I can post it and move on to Cagefighter, the Aria one-shot.
Speaking of Cagefighter, when we were still in Sacramento, I was laying in bed and planning some dialogue for that story. I was working on a part of the story where Aria begins telling Ryoma an intense story about her past. Before I knew what was happening, 8 hours had passed and I was still awake, lying there in bed with Aria talking in my head. And she wouldn't stop. And I couldn't make it stop. For the next 3 days, I got very little sleep. Whenever nothing was going on around me, she'd start talking again. And man, it was a difficult story to listen to(Aria's past really sucks). The story became so long and detailed that I despaired of including it in the one-shot manga(which has already become a series of two one-shots, if there is such a thing). But the story is so damn important...and the details make it amazingly badass(to me, anyway). So I decided I would... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8248671/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8248671/ Thu, 23 Mar 2006 17:37:48 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: So....sleepy
Listening to: Malfunk - Stone Circle
Reading: Wolves of the Calla - Stephen King

My bro and I are in Seattle for the con. We played a bigass show last night in Sacramento, California, which lasted until 1am, then we had to go finish packing our stuff. We got less than 3 hours of sleep, then had to go to the airport and catch a plane to Seattle, where we were picked up by =loriofpandora and her friend. They shuttled us to our hotel, and after we got all our junk up to the 18th floor, where our room is, we had to hike down to the convention center and stand in line for an hour or so to get our pre-registration badges.
Now we're back in the hotel, getting ready to take a nap before hitting the streets later tonight to find a party or something.
Just figured I'd put in a quick update before I go to sleep.

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/8174483/ Thu, 16 Mar 2006 02:15:48 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (still not me)
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: So much stuff to do
Listening to: Solar Fields - Zero Rotation
Reading: Wolves of the Calla - Stephen King

Pimpin' yet another song from my brother's new band, Control Change. This one is actually an old song, one that he wrote many years ago, before we had even put together our first band. It's a sequel to a song we wrote when we moved away from the town we grew up in. He showed it to his new band and they adapted it a bit to their style, it sounds awesome. Check it out---> All My Friends.
By the way, if you guys like the music, or if ya wanna give him props on the toning of the new BLP pages, go to his dA page--> *Zbro




Friday morning we(my bro and I) are heading to California, where we're gonna spend a week hangin' out with some friends and playing accoustic shows in various bars/clubs and stuff. Gonna party hard and make some cash. Then we're heading up to Seattle for Sakuracon. It's gonna be a blast.




Unfortunately, this means there will be no new pages until after we return, which is gonna be on the 27th. I'm taking my laptop and some of my drawing stuff, but I won't have a scanner up there so even if I was able to complete any pages, I wouldn't be able to scan them and tone them, etc. My plan at the moment is to just continue my work on the Pele one-shot comic, which is now on pg10 and moving along nicely. I think you guys are gonna like it. I dunno how much work I'm actually going to be able to do, as we will be pretty busy in California...and I doubt I will be getting any manga work done during the con.

I hope everyone has a great Spring Break! Look forward to more BLP at the end of the month

=S

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=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7978689/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7978689/ Thu, 23 Feb 2006 07:58:40 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again)
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Draw draw draw!! n.n
Listening to: Your Glow - C.Change
Reading: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein

Did you guys miss this last time? It's possible, since it was right under the header info stuff. I'm still pimpin' out my brother's new band, C. Change. The song for this journal is The Day You Came. Click on the name to download, and check it out!





I'm taking the last of the antibiotics, and I haven't had any sickness symptoms for the past couple of days, so hopefully the nasty little bacteria buggers are defeated.
I've got BLP rolling again, finally, and I'm getting the hang of ComicWorks. The stuff I've made so far still has some moire patterns when I shrink it to post on dA, but oh man they print beautifully!! I'm really happy about that. It means that Book 3 will look a lot nicer than the first two books in printed form. Sadly, that means that there is a lot of work ahead of me to fix up the first two books so they look good too, but instead of thinking about that I'm just being happy that I've finally got everything figured out!

My brother and I will be attending Sakuracon in Seattle in March. I'll be at a table with =loriofpandora, who has been kind enough to offer to pick us up at the airport and shuttle us to our hotel, and then make sure we don't get eaten at the con itself. She also has offered to let me display somme of my stuff at her table. I dunno if I'm gonna do that or not, since I have trouble believing that anyone would want to buy my crappy work. We shall see.

BLP has now reached a point where I'm going to need to start actually drawing "extra" type characters, something that I've never, ever practiced. So for the past few days, along with planning out new pages and inking the stuff I've already scripted, I've been using my massive manga collection as reference for making up and drawing "extra" characters. I've learned a lot, and it's actually helping improve my main character art as well. I should have done this a long time ago. Hah.

I'm also in the process of researching other places besides dA to post BLP and any other comic art I make. I have made an account at SmackJeeves, but I won't really be utilizing that site until I have time to sit down and figure out the xhtml they use so I can customize the templates, as I really hate the basic template design. I'm also aware of DrunkDuck, but I haven't started an account there yet. If any of you know of other good places to post BLP, let me know! I'm open to any option, even if it's not a well-known webcomic site like SmackJeeves or DrunkDuck.

I have planned out a series of short story comics or "one-shot mangas" for each of the BLP main characters. This will be for fun and practice, and I'm not planning on inking or toning any of them. It will be pencil work only. I've already started the first one, called Outcast, featuring Pele. Each one-shot will be a sort of prologue to BLP, occuring before the BLP story begins. The stories will show the key po... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7922008/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7922008/ Fri, 17 Feb 2006 02:43:33 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again)
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: *cough* Arrgh
Listening to: DI Ambient
Reading: DearS 1

Pimpin' another one of my bro's new songs: The Day You Came




The day that I finally got my stuff from FedEx, I went to work in the evening, planning on getting a bunch of stuff done. But that evening my brother threw a party for his birthday, and he called me. I couldn't miss that, so I went down to the house to help him get ready. I ended up having to go pick some people up too. Anyway, I planned on partying for a while and then going back to work, but somehow I found myself unable to even stagger properly at about 12:30am. So I staggered/crawled to my bed and fell into it. I woke up about two hours later and partied until 6am, but I was in no condition to work.

The next evening, the girl who owns the character Pele came out to help me work on some background stuff for her. We worked on that until about 5am, very productive.

The next day I woke up with strep throat.

I spent the next 48 hours almost delerious with fever. Finally, on Wednsday the 15th, I got sent to the doctor, and they were like and prescribed me some antibiotics.

The medicine is now finally starting to kill the sickness, so I've been actually able to get some stuff done tonight. I've been really sick, but also really irritated that this had to happen right after I finally got ComicWorks and the new paper. I had planned on having new BLP material out by now.



=S

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Minions:

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7851553/ Thu, 09 Feb 2006 22:37:15 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again)
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Kyle Allen (not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Hellz yeah.
Listening to: Lab's Cloud

First I'd like to pimp one of my brother's band's new songs. It's called Sling, and can be downloaded here: [link]
I think this song kicks ass. If you guys like it, there's 9 more where that came from.




I finally got the stuff I ordered...ComicWorks and the new paper. It turns out that FedEx, which was the delivery service being used, was unable to figure out how to get through the gate into our subdivision(we live in a gated community). Apparently they tried three different days to get through, but couldn't. At least that's what the drivers said, even though FedEx regularly delivers packages in there. I'm not sure what happened exactly but I ended up having to drive to the FedEx office in San Antonio to pick the package up myself. That's over an hour drive, one way, so I wasn't too happy about it but there wasn't a lot I could do about it either.
So I went today and picked it up. I have now installed ComicWorks and will soon be able to post that final BLP page for book 2. >.>




I got an iPod Nano.

'Nuff said.


=S

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Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7766281/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7766281/ Tue, 31 Jan 2006 22:14:06 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Schweeee
Listening to: Skynet - Carbon Shock

Among other things, I'm revamping the journal here. It's been a long while since I've done anything to the graphics and I'm sure everyone is just as tired of them as I am. u.u;;

So....to explain how things are going to work from now on....I've decided to try this thing that people do where they split their journal into easy-to-understand sections. I'm not sure if I'm capable of organizing my thoughts that much, but I'll give it a shot.

From now on, anything I have to say in a journal will be separated into categories. The first category will be under the following little header:



Everything that I think is cool and good will go under this header. Such as the fact that I'm finally updating my journal, and I'm getting it done just in time before my order of comic paper gets here! Sweet.

On the other hand, all is not always good and happy, so there is also



For things that suck. Everything that is irritating me or bothering me will go under this header. Such as the fact that almost two months have passed since the last BLP page was posted, and when I get my new comic paper I will not be able to start right in on new pages...because I will have to first figure out how to use ComicWorks and tone page 30 for book 2!!

Speaking of ComicWorks....



...aquiring something like that would fal under this header, which I will use any time I wish to talk about neat new stuff I've ordered or have recieved. Hopefully ComicWorks, and my paper(which is a new type of paper, different size and different company), will arrive within the next couple of days. After that all will be peachy, except for the fact that I still don't have any kind of internet access at my house.

Actually, talking about that subject would fall under this final header....



...because it has now been A YEAR since I moved into that house, and I STILL do not have an internet connection dammit! For those of you who know that I usually work at Starbucks, well...the primary reason that I do that is because it was my only source of internet access!! I used the T-Mobile Wireless thingy that they have in just about every Starbucks and Kinkos around the US. But I was expecting to get internet access set up for where I live....which is, by the way, so far out in the boondocks that DSL or cable is out of the question. And dialup is terrible because the phonelines suck. So the only remaining option was radio broadband...and there is, thank god, a company that offers that type of service out here. The problem is that my house is in a 'dead zone'...in other words we are in a little hole in the service. So we can't get it.
We thought we had that problem solved by offering the company to set up a new broadcast tower on some of our land. We have some of the highest elevations in the county on our property(my house is not, obviously, on one of these high points or I would be able to get service) and thus having a tower set up there would be beneficial to everyone.
So they agreed to do it, and we arranged everything on our end...getting power out to the site, trenching in the lines, gettin... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7729220/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7729220/ Sat, 28 Jan 2006 06:49:02 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Wahaaa
Listening to: Zero One - Transformation
Reading: Kenshin Mangas

I shall start off this journal by introducing mah other little sister, =koinogenki!! Her artwork is totally badass...she is the envy of myself and my other sibling *seppy(who calls her Koi-fishy ). Go pay her a visit and browse through her gallery...it's worth it!

Another couple things to note:
Head-minion =Raz-X- went and colored some sketchy lineart I made for her, like, forever ago. Take a look at it through this [link] . It looks great!
*Nirach colored the Tanya Black sword pose v2. My original lineart can be seen here: [link] ......and *Nirach's awesome colored version can be seen here: [link]

Now...as for me. My previous order of paper for the new book, BLP3, never came through. I'm not sure what happened, but it appears that the company(Blueline Pro) never received the order, and the payment never even went through my bank account. O_O
So, I've gone an made another order, except this time I ordered paper from Deleter, on reccomendation from =loriofpandora. Not only did I order a crapload of paper but I also went ahead and purchased a copy of Comicworks, so I can do the toning.

Why am I needing to do toning, you ask? Well, my partner who was working with me before, Matt(aka ~DoctorOrpheus ), has moved on to better things. We're still friends and all is well, he just kinda lost interest in working on BLP. No problem! I wasn't paying him, after all....so it's totally cool for him to move on. I wouldn't want to be forcing anyone to work on my crap when they don't want to! XD
SO! I got myself a copy of Comicworks, like I said, and now I shall do my own toning. I will say that the amount of tones that are on each page will probably reduce quite a bit...I will be using a lot of hatching and line shading in place of a great deal of tone work. I hope that will be okay with you all.

Just to prove to you that I have been doing things besides making color pics of Pele in her underwear with milk all over her.... =loriofpandora and I have spent quite a bit of time in Paintchat, exchanging bewb-drawing tips and other such important things like that(by the way, if you haven't checked out her works, you should....it's all pink and cute). Anyway, the first thing we did in Paintchat was the proverbial "meeting" pic....so here it is:

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7540810/ Sun, 08 Jan 2006 01:02:21 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Weh.
Listening to: Masala - Lucid Dreams

New Minion: ~Pinny has been added to the ranks of evil minions. First minion of the new year!

Nothing much going on around here. Matt still hasn't finished the tone work for page 30(the last freaking page) for BLP book 2, even though I finished the lineart on the 13th of December. Basically he just hasn't worked on it at all. We had a lot of stuff going on for the holidays of course, and now that they are over and everything's back to normal, he can't seem to motivate himself, and I don't want to push him into doing it because then he wouldn't do as good of a job. So......we shall see what happens with that. I apologize that you've all had to wait so long for the last page though. Kinda sucks.

The next book will be done a bit differently. I've been worrying that, should the previous two books be printed in a graphic-novel size, the panels and text and stuff would be too small. Because I've been using such huge paper, I've had a tendency to put a lot of panels on each page. I've done some research and I've decided that it might be better for me to move to smaller paper, and put less content per page.
There are a few other things I'm considering changing, but I have yet to test them so...we shall see.

I have not been idle all this time though. I've got over 40 pages of script, though it's a story arc that I may not end up using for the comic(the "O.G.R. scriptscan" deviation I recently posted is one of the pages). That doesn't matter however...the point was for me to get in a lot of practice because I'm trying to settle my style down. As most of you know(and as can easily be seen by flipping through the completed BLP pages) my style has been changing and fluctuating as I explore different methods, techniques, and character styles. So I decided that, during this holiday period when I never really had time to sit down for long periods with all of my tools, I would just sketch out a bunch of script pages to work on style. I think it's helped a lot.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hope you all had a good holiday season, and don't forget to find someone hot for Valentine's.

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7417961/ Sun, 25 Dec 2005 21:25:31 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Woot!
Listening to: Sling - by Kyle Allen(mah bro)

A lot of people seemed to get depressed or something during the holiday season.

Not me.

I love it, not because I get into the 'spirit' of christmas or anything....mainly because the stuff that happens during the holidays(at least in America, I dunno about the rest of the world) amuses me greatly. So many people running around like ants, buying shit and flipping out. How many of you have witnessed a mental breakdown in public during the holidays?
I just sit and watch, and draw mostly naked anime girls.

I did, of course, buy presents for some important people....like my immediate family and a couple of friends. But my christmas shopping all took place in the same market where I always hang out(the one with the 24 hour starbucks)...so I didn't have to drive all over town dealing with holiday traffic. And the shopping I did took a total of 2 hours....because I don't wander around looking at stuff until I buy something on impulse. I know exactly what I'm going to get, and I just walk into the store and buy it. If there's something that I want to get that is difficult to find, or is only at specialty places, I just get it online.

I got two awesome gifts from my parents this year....first of all they fixed my light table, which had been out of commission since my family moved to Texas in '97 because the top glass broke in the move. It's been sitting in a storeroom all this time....but now that I'm working almost full time on BLP, they had a piece of high-quality reinforced glass cut for it...and it was set up next to the christmas tree with the lights on when I got to my parents house. They even put a ribbon around it with a bigass bow. Hah.
The other thing they got me was a portable drafting table. It's fucking badass, and should help a lot with the making of BLP, and any other comics and drawings I work on in the future. My dad was telling me he decided that's what he wanted to get for me after he saw the last couple of pages for book two, with all the buildings and stuff. He thought it was ridiculous that I was doing that all freehand(aside from a ruler or two), so he talked to one of his architect friends and they got the table.

Anyway....I hope you all have a good christmas...and if you don't get wasted for New Year's, something's wrong with you(Terry, you can ignore this last sentence).

=S

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Fanclub:




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Minions:

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7323112/ Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:28:08 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Bleh

I apologize for the long break in BLP pages....I was really ill for about 10 days...I barely budged from my room, and didn't do anything more strenuous than operating a PS2 controller.
I plowed through Dragon Quest 8, which was pretty good, though the alchemy system was a bit irritating. The better items took so long to complete that I ended up defeating the game without making them, even though I had all the ingredients.
I've also been playing Radiata Stories, which has much better artwork in both characters and backgrounds...but it also has some irritating issues. But all the same, they are both good games.

I seem to be back in good health now, so the page production will begin again. I have the scripting for BLP2-30 complete....just need to ink it, tone it, and add dialogue. That will complete the 2nd book, yay!

Then we shall move on to the third book, and see what happens, eh?

=S

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Fanclub:




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Minions:

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/7209602/ Sat, 03 Dec 2005 06:15:40 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka *DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Whoo.

Aside from working on BLP and sleeping, Matt and I recently plowed our way through a new PC game called F.E.A.R. It fucking kicks ass. O_O If any of you like first-person shooter games, and enjoy a good storyline, and also like stuff like scary movies and paranormal stuff......you need to play this game. It is fun as hell, interesting, full of awesome graphics and effects....and it's fucking SCARY. Yeah. We were on the edges of our seat through most of the game, and some stuff will make you jump. Really.

Maybe I'll get some screenshots of some of the weirder stuff and show you guys.

=S

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Fanclub:




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Pets:<... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6991451/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6991451/ Tue, 08 Nov 2005 14:41:26 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Dammit

It seems Texas is determined to hold onto summer heat for as long as possible. It got cold for a few days but now it's back to sweating in the afternoon. What's the deal? >.>

Anyway, we did run out of template paper for a couple of days, but I was a couple of pages ahead of Matt on the inking, and he usually tones one page per day(if there is one available for him to tone). So the new paper that I ordered ended up arriving on Monday, and he still had one page that I had inked left to tone, so we were able to maintain the production without any noticable delay.

This time I ordered a huge stack of paper so it should last for a while....and I'll make sure to order more before I get close to running out again.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6983265/ Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:05:41 PST Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Damn right.

The paper came in the mail today, so there should be no noticeable change in production. Just letting you guys know.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:





Pets:

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6776533/ Sat, 15 Oct 2005 16:49:18 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Best Laid Plans Themesong -- Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song
Music written and performed by Kyle Allen
Lyrics can be found here

Mood: Donde esta el bano
Listening to: Call on the Fire - Kyle Allen
Reading: Desperation - Richard Bachman
Watching: Skirts+Wind

Special thanks are due to *kusanagi-3, who is the second person besides *mistressmaxwell to have faved every single page of Best Laid Plans!! Thanks so much!

So we're busy working out a method for generating BLP pages on more regular schedule, like we will have to do should we manage to get it published. So far, the plan is for me to do the scripting and the inking of the characters...then Matt will take the page and scan it, add in backgrounds, tones, effects, and panel boxes....then I will take it and enter in the text and such. We shall see how that works out. Hopefully it will allow us to generate the pages faster, because while Matt is working on his part, I can be scripting and inking the next page, until it's time for me to put in the text.

And now, in case any of you were wondering, here are the compiled results of all the polls I have been taking:

61% of you are between the ages of 15 and 20.

65% of you are female, 26% are male, and the rest of you aren't sure which gender you are.

35% of you believe that the best way to get what you want is to strive and struggle until you achieve it; 19% of you believe in lazing around until it falls in your lap, and another 19% would rather just slip and fall in MacDonalds, sue, then buy it.

28% of you believe the human race will probably use up all the resources of earth and then die for lack of foresight, 20% say we will blow ourselves into oblivion, and 16% say the human race can kiss your ass.

When you go to a party, 31% of you drink lightly and flit around talking to people, 19% of you create legends, and 15% of you huddle in a corner and hiss when anyone comes near.

The music of your choice makes 24% of you want to dance and sing, 21% of you to be creative and productive, and 17% of you to headbang.

Right after you wake up, 45% of you stumble around aimlessly until your brain boots up, 14% of you are incapable of interacting with anyone in any way, and 14% of you masturbate.

When a very attractive stranger starts talking to you, 23% of you speak to them easily and could get their phone number if you wanted, 19% of you are unable to form coherent sentences, and 4% of you shriek and run.

39% of you are willing to wear a pair of pants for several days in a row, 22% of you toss your pants in the dirty laundry after one day but are willling to dig them out and wear them if you're desparate, 9% of you have Masters that don't allow you to wear pants, and 9% of you get drunk and wake up without your pants.

And that is the current demographic information for readers of Best Laid Plans. Excellent.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6760310/ Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:11:46 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Mood: Vicadin!
Listening to: Call on the Fire - Kyle Allen

The Hazel Song is now available for download!!
My brother Kyle( *Zbro ) has finally gotten the Hazel song to a beta state. I have uploaded it to one of my servers, you can download it in MP3 format through the following link: Call on the Fire - Hazel's Song.
Remember, the song is still in a draft state. It has not been fully completed and mastered. But it still sounds great! I hope you all enjoy it.
Kyle has posted the lyrics for the song as a deviation on his account. Click this [link] to see them. And if you like the song, please put comments there to let him know!


As for BLP, things are progressing as usual. I have ordered tones and they should arrive in the mail sometime soon. From now on I will be working solely in accepted black and white formats, which means using only inking and tones. the reason for this is because most printers will only accept comic work(especially manga) in this type of format. I have developed a technique for converting most of the old pages into b&w format, where they don't lose too much quality, but I don't want to do that for every page in the future.

As for publishing, copies of the first book have been mailed off to many places by that friend of the family I mentioned in a previous journal. We shall see how that goes.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6705435/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6705435/ Fri, 07 Oct 2005 15:55:20 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Mood: Cold!!
Listening to: Traffic

Well...for several days I was unable to contact the dA servers through my internet service provider. On the second day I called them and was gradually shunted upward through their hierarchy of technical support technicians. Eventually they apparently decided I knew more about the situation than they did, so they asked me to email them the logfiles and other information I had garnered during my own attempts to figure the problem out. I did that, and now today I am able to contact dA again, so I guess they were able to figure out the problem.

In the meantime I gave my head minion ~Raz-X- access to my account so that she could post a journal noting that I could not get on, as I'm sure you all noticed.

Anyway, it's actually cold here today(my typing is slow because my fingers are numb)...but that's ok! I always work better and faster in cold weather, as you can see. I hope you all enjoy the latest page, and I hope you like Pixel's re-design(sorry Kombi-chan, I should have referenced your excellent designs better from the start). The next page is already in the works, nearly to the penning stage! Stay tuned!

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6697490/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6697490/ Thu, 06 Oct 2005 17:25:54 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Mood: Possession is key
Listening to: The HollowBodies - Driver

.. okay sorry this is the headminion at the moment. Sakamoto-sama's having some troubles getting on so I declaired it my duty to notify all of you of this

Don't hurt me Sakamoto-sama!

So yeah, he'll be back soon hopefully. Once it's all fixed and such. I'm outta here!

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6653840/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6653840/ Sat, 01 Oct 2005 19:19:43 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Mood: Slowbrain
Listening to: ATB - Circular Symetry
Reading: The Dark Half - Stephen King
Watching: Saturday Sexies

Pluggage: For those of you who love cute/beautiful anime work, ~fuuririn is a must-watch. He was the one who originally inspired me to work in openCanvas, and actually, if any of you are interested in learning the program, he has an excellent tutorial on using it. He doesn't have many deviations in his gallery, but those that are there are absolutely fantastic. I asked him once if he would take a commission for a BLP cover and he said no because he had no way to receive money from me. If any of you go look at his stuff and like it, bug him about accepting a commision from me!! I would love to see a cover or poster of the BLP girls done in his style. (and no this plug is not for the purpose of getting you all to bother him )

Poll: I know it is odd that I've posted an age poll, but this is actually very important information for me. Anyone who reads BLP, please complete the poll(and those who do not read it are encouraged to answer as well). This is information that will be crucial for me when I am presenting my case for BLP on dA to publishers. I need to know the age demographic.

Other News: We've been working hard here at Jippy Labs, and we may actually have a new team member about to join up. She's an excellent artist, and having a female on the team should help a lot with the storyline and details of BLP(after all, I am a guy, and trying to pretend I know how girls think is retarded). I'll keep you guys up to date on her and whether she decides to join us.

I really apologize for the slowdown of page posting, but there's been so much other stuff going on recently that I've had problems getting to work steadily on new BLP pages. Now that the intro graphics are completed, hopefully I will be able to settle things down a bit and get back to page production.
There are also several commissions for me in the works. These are not a top priority for me(and I've explained this to each customer) but I do have to work on them sometimes. This will unfortunately slow the production of BLP even further, but hey, being gainfully employed is always a plus.

Other than that, things are as normal as they ever are. It's starting to cool down here in San Antonio, finally(I actually had to wear a long sleeved shirt the other night while working)...and that means more working hours for me...because I can't work during the day when it's so hot, and even at night if I'm sweating it just slows me down(and makes the work messier). But with the onset of cooler weather, I will be able to work more often and at a quicker pace.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6567937/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6567937/ Wed, 21 Sep 2005 21:24:19 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka *Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Mood: Slowbrain
Reading: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Pluggage: My brother has gotten himself a dA account -- *Zbro. He's probably not going to post a lot of images, but his writing is first rate, complex, and always good for a laugh.
For instance, check this short poem about needing to take a piss: [link]
If you want amazing verbal explorations into the metaphysical: [link]
And don't forget to take the time to add your own words to his Cooperative Poetry experiment: [link]

I've been slackin' off and playing video games these past couple of days. I figured a break would be good for me, and it has been. I'm about ready to get back on track though. It might take me a little while to break myself away from the Sims 2 world, and Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, but I'll do it.

I also feel like I'm fighting a virus. That sucks, I don't feel like getting sick right now...but if I do, oh well. It happens sometimes.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:





Pets:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6524701/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6524701/ Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:46:25 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka ~Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Mood: Friday!!
Reading: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

The sweet, charismatic and beautiful *MizuNoGumo has started a club called *BestLaidFans!!
So, for those of you who enjoy BLP and want to be more involved, join up!! And tell your friends, and they'll tell thier friends, and they'll tell their friends, and so on, and so on...

I want to say again that I really appreciate the support of all of you who have continued to read and (maybe) enjoy BLP. It's because of all of you that I have been able to keep plugging away at it day after day.

=S

=-------------------------------=

Fanclub:




Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:





Pets:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6507892/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6507892/ Wed, 14 Sep 2005 23:27:21 PDT Best Laid Plans: If you haven't read it, you probably won't know what the hell I'm talking about in this journal.
Author: Russ Allen (me)
Illustrators: Russ Allen (me again), Matt Sanders (not me) aka ~DoctorOrpheus
Developers: Russ Allen (still me), Matt Sanders (still not me), Kyle Allen (also not me, but we're related) aka ~Zbro
Producer: Russ Allen (me again, jesus I'm everywhere)



Mood: So little time
Reading: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Pluggage: If you're interested in Alice in Wonderland and any kind of related material, you should check out the collected works of =NovemberWolf. He is an excellent author and is about to publish his illustrated novel titled Alice Ever Falling, with excellent illustrations by ~weems accompanied by a gothic and convoluted story in the playground of the mind that is Wonderland. A must-read, if you are interested in fiction at all...and don't neglect to take a look at his other stories as well.

I've been getting a lot of commission offers. Unfortunately I'm having to turn most of them down, because I don't have time for any more side projects than I've already got going.
I've been working on my CG, as I'm sure some of you deduced by the recent output of stuff with color. I'm getting better, but it's still something I don't really have time to play around with a whole lot. Most of those images were things I had started a long time ago and just never got around to finishing, because they take so long and I was trying to finish the first BLP book.
We still haven't completely made contact with the publishing company regarding BLP. In my experience, when dealing with any kind of media producers, whether it be music, books, or comics, it's best to have some kind of "in"; in other words, to have "someone who knows someone". That way you aren't coming to the company you are trying to deal with as a complete unknown. This is the primary reason why it's taking so long to get something going with the publishers...because we have determined the "in" pathway and are trying to navigate our way down it instead of just submitting by mail...which would be faster but most likely not as productive.

I may have mentioned also that I have a friend of the family who is from Australia who has worked in marketing and publishing all his life, who took an instant interest in BLP and wanted to take some copies with him when he left the States on other business. Unfortunately, despite me rushing as much as possible, I was unable to complete the first book before he departed. My first deadline, and I fugged it. Figures.
All is not lost, however: He called me from wherever he was and got me in touch with someone who can funnel the presentation copies to him no matter where he is at any given moment. This is a good thing, and I will probably go that route, even though he said we could also wait until he returned and then he would take care of the whole thing by mail and phone.

Other than that, work on the comic continues, and work on other things continue, albiet more slowly.

=S

=-------------------------------=
Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6488958/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6488958/ Mon, 12 Sep 2005 19:34:46 PDT

Mood: Whatever
Reading: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Well, when I posted that image of Aria in the bathhouse, I didn't think it was mature because the fog covers her more effectively than some of the skimpy clothing I've seen on images that aren't considered "mature". But I noticed today that there is a Parental Advisory icon next to it, and I didn't put it there, so apparently someone took it upon themselves to report it as a violation.

Whatever. I would have put it there myself but I figured it was less revealing that what I've seen in Victoria's Secret magazines, which people leave lying around their houses for their little kids to look through. But if someone was offended enough to take the time to report it...good. I love offending people like that.
At least dA didn't remove it entirely.

Also, some people have asked me to make them minions/pets...please, if you read this, remind me so I can add you to the lists. I've been doing a million things at once these days and I can't even remember what day it is, so forgive me for being a little scatterbrained.

=S

=-------------------------------=
Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:





Pets:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6370545/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6370545/ Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:37:22 PDT

Mood: Bring on the Dark
Listening to: Synaesthesia-Intelligence Dream
Reading: Salem's Lot
Watching: Cheerleaders

At the moment, we are working on page 2 of BLP02. It's scripted and half-penned. The scripts for the next three pages have been planned. We're also working on cover concepts, which I will most likely be farming out to another artist, for fun. (I may do that with almost every cover, actually) At this point it appears that my lil' sis, *seppy, will be doing the work for BLP Cover 2. I can't wait to see what she comes up with...her work is excellent.

*mistressmaxwell did another great image of some BLP characters! She did a portrait of Hazel and Pele for me because I won second place in a contest she was having. Check it out through this [link]

And....to my great surprise, someone did a drawing of me. ~snsl5433 said she was bored and drew this ==> [link] Check it out!

Other than that, nothing much new is happening. I'm working on the next Shortbus page along with everything else...and we should be meeting with the guys from Antarctic Press fairly soon.

=S

=-------------------------------=
Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:





Pets:

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6337102/ Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:54:26 PDT

Mood: Fuck yeah
Listening to: Euphoria
Reading: Stephen King short stories(shudder)
Watching: Prostitots

So the first BLP book is done. Except for edits and minor changes, most of which have been suggested by my faithful critic and minion ~GaiaLeaf, everything is complete.
Once I get the changes and edits done, I will be making about 6 presentation copies to distribute to various companies and individuals. And we shall see what happens from there.
If a publishing company doesn't actually sign me and pick up the book, then I will be using one of the print-on-demand companies. That will make the books slightly more expensive, but I will lower my own profits to a very tiny margin to keep the costs doewn as much as possible...because at this point, it's more important to me to get copies of the book in people's hands than actually making money. That can come later, if it comes at all.
Meanwhile, I will continue to make new pages. And I hope you all continue to read and enjoy and criticize.

I met with *MizuNoGumo today. She's sweet and pretty and fun to talk to. Hopefully I made a good impression, but I doubt it.

=S

=-------------------------------=
Faithful Assistant/Partner Guy




Minions:





Pets:

http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6299304/ Mon, 22 Aug 2005 16:45:37 PDT

Mood: Vicadin
Listening to: Mellow Magic
Reading: Stephen King short stories(shudder)
Watching: Sin City

~seppy is my little sis. Her artwork is cute and beautiful, just like her personality. Go and feast your eyes upon her work, or face the wrath of the big bro(me).

We've been working hard, and we're nearly done with Best Laid Plans Issue #1. Aside from any editing/reworking I may have to do for publication printing purposes(should we actually be able to get it printed), all we have left to do is the digital phase for page 29, and the entirety of page 30. Woo! I'm glad, too, because I have actual deadlines now...there are some people who want to present it to some people they know, and they need presentation copies by a certain time. It looks like we will be able to make that deadline, which is good, because for a while there I was a bit worried about it.

Other than that, there's nothing much new going on. I bought a dip pen, after much pondering and stuff...trying to figure out if it's worth the hassle of using something so potentially messy...and yeah, I think it is. After using it on a test sketch(the one of Tasha at the river), I decided that it wasn't as messy nor as much of a pain in the ass as I had thought it was going to be. And there are a lot of bonuses...such as now I can use white ink if I want to, and also that the lines look much more, uh, manga-ish(omg I love how I can do hair with it). I penned almost all of page 29 with it. Looks great.

I'm gonna go work on the editing of page 29 now, which should be posted some hours later. Hope you all had a good weekend.

=S

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Minions:





Pets:

... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6204381/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6204381/ Fri, 12 Aug 2005 04:28:43 PDT

Mood: Zanex!!
Listening to: Aphrodite - Calcutta
Reading: Nothing...I'm trying to quit
Watching: Decadence

Okay, so the last "Quick Note" I posted wasn't such a quick note. There is unbalance in the universe, Yin must equal Yang, E must obviously equal mass times the velocity of light squared, and entropy must be a constant progression, so I am making a "Stuff" journal entry that will actually equate a "Quick Note" entry.

We are busting out asses on the 3D backgrounds. We're nearly finished with the entire apartments section of the Tower of Mages, which is Hazel's residence in Mandarel.

I finished a page that has a beautiful combination of the 3D stuff we've completed along with some lovely background architectural lineart, but unfortunately it is the first page of the next book, so I can't post it for you guys to look at.
However, I am almost done with page 27 of the first book...and after that there are only 2 or three more pages to go before the first book is complete and we can approach the publishers and marketing guys we've made contacts with in order to begin propagation of the comic as an actual book instead of an online publication through dA.
I will try, through any means possible, to get copies of the first publication to any of you who wish to have one. If you can afford to buy one, great, if not, I will pay for it out of my own pocket and ship it to you, because I love all you guys so much for sticking with me through this whole process and supporting me every step of the way.
I will also do my utmost best to ensure that any contract I may have to sign will not restrict me from continuing to post the pages on dA. How that is going to work out, I'm not sure....so far my plan is to take them a list of everyone I have on my watch list and telling them that this is my existing dedicated fanbase, along with a couple of graphs depicting the the steady accelleration of watchers, and hopefully they will accept that as proof that it is an excellent marketing device and therefore an acceptable risk. So if there's anyone you guys know that would enjoy the comic but have not set me on watch, please let them know. The more people I have on my list, the better, this is gonna work kind of like a signed petition.

That's it for now, hopefully I will post page 27 tonight later on...until then, I hope you enjoy the full color renders of some of the 3D work we've been doing, as well as the sappy emotional drawing of Joy and Ryo. Good weekend to you all, and remember, if you've been drinking and smoking and intend to make out with some hotness, brush your teeth first.

=S

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Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6042192/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/6042192/ Tue, 26 Jul 2005 18:09:28 PDT

Mood: It's bright outside
Listening to: Aphrodite - Aftershock
Reading: A.C.C. - Collected Short Stories
Watching: Skirts+Wind

Announcing a new Minion!! ~alexicats is the newest member of my ever-growing Army of Hotness. (there are some guys in there too, but they are only there to keep me from being sued for sexual discrimination)

In a few minutes I will be heading out to Port Aransas, Texas, to meet my brother and a couple friends for a deep-sea fishing expedition. If I get eaten by something, I promise to tell you guys all about it.

Meanwhile, in the Batcave, Matt and I have been struggling through the design process of some of the more prominent parts of Mandarel. It is a lot of fun, but at the same time it is time consuming and incredibly difficult, in some aspects. I keep remembering that Hazel designed most of Mandarel herself...and it is difficult for us to be satisfied with our designs because she is, after all, much smarter than we are.
We have come to the end of the first 30 page issue(pg 27 is complete, except for a few background details, and the remaining three are already scripted and ready to go as soon as we have the backgrounds)...and this means that the girls are leaving the garden.
There are two reasons why I started the story in the garden. One, because that sort of 'yard-party' setting gave me a lot of leeway for introducing the characters and playing with their personalities in a way that would, hopefully, endear them to the readers(you guys ), and two, because the garden is a relatively simple background that didn't require a crapload of designing(Matt of course proved me wrong later when he sat down and finalized the design of the garden, his sketches and overhead maps are gorgeous and intricate and beautiful and I cant wait until we have more scenes in there so you guys can properly see what it's supposed to look like).

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you all again for your support in this project, I've had a lot of fun with it, and a lot of fun interacting with you all and watching your reactions to the characters...and watching as some of you fell in love with some of them and picked out your favorites.
We are by no means done, there is a lot of great story to come, and from things that have been happening and from phonecalls that have been made, I am fairly certain that it will be published. I hope all of you will be able to get copies!

I'm off now, headed to the sun, sand, and waves...and hopefully some damn big fish.

=-------------------------------=

Minions:

=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5974457/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5974457/ Tue, 19 Jul 2005 05:25:02 PDT

Mood: Nyaha
Listening to: Little birdies
Reading: Tea leaves
Watching: Grass grow

New Minion: ~BoardBunny89 <---She's been stalking me since she was 11 years old. I reward this dedication by making her my slave.

New and spiffy things going on:
The lab offer I posted about in the last Stuff journal has been postponed until at least October. I am currently on the track of some possible cheap premises through a guy who we used to rent space from for our band to practice.
Matt is currently deep in 3D space, building the backgrounds for BLP. It's gonna be sweet.
I can't wait to start the next BLP book. I have been mentaly juggling plot issues and ideas for it for about a month now...last night on my way into town, everything clicked neatly into place and solidified. Bring it on.
I bought a set of Copic pens online a couple of weeks ago, along with more comic paper. The paper came, the pens didn't. Apparently they are on back order.
There is a spider dangling in the air about 2 feet from my head.

I am now an Administrator for the club *sketchyATbest. Join, or die.

I am now the official Sponsor of the club !AnimeArtists. Join, or die.

I have, just a couple of hours ago, re-earned my membership in the dA AnimeArtists chatroom(I was a member for a while last year, but the servers got reset and I lost my membership). I was beginning to think I was going to be a perma-guest. I now have the power to induce violent bitching by posting thumbnails(thumbnailing is disabled for guests in AA).

I also remembered that I told you all that I had ordered a hentai game along with all those anime dvds. I told you that, if you never heard me mention the game again, you could assume that I am such a major loser that I couldn't even get laid in a hentai game. That is not the case. In fact, it was so ridiculously easy to get laid in that game that it was not really a game. I didn't even have to try, my character actually got laid twice before I even had to make my first choice. If girls in Japan are actually as stupid and easy to con as they are in that game, I am going to move there.

That's all for now.

=S

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=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5973596/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5973596/ Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:44:28 PDT

Mood: Wha?
Listening to: Loud people talking about stupid shit
Reading: Harry Potter 6 w00t
Watching: Prostitots

For someone that does nothing but draw and sleep, I sure seem to have an exciting life, according to other people. I have never failed to be amazed at people's capability for coming up with stories about me to fill the blank spaces in their knowlege of my life.
I sit here, working, all the time, only occaisionally being visited by friends(such as Cali, or my brother), but according to rumors about me that have managed to get all the way around to me, I somehow have time to have affairs with no less than six girls and two guys. I also seem to be trafficking various drugs to highschoolers and middle schoolers. I apparently sell the drugs to the girls for sex in the car or behind a building, or maybe just a quick blowjob in a bathroom. I am also, allegedly, taking pornographic photos and movies of these girls and selling them online.

These are just a few of the stories about me that abound and flow around the "Starbucks Community". There are others that are just as retarded and ridiculous. I've actually overheard people saying that I always have an expression on my face that makes them think I'm about to spontaneously slaughter everyone sitting out on the patio.
People have come up to me to ask me why I asked other people out on dates, or propositioned them for one night stands....people that I've never even spoken to, some that I've never even seen or noticed.

For the most part, hearing these things make me laugh...like I said, it's always amusing to hear how exciting and convoluted other people seem to want my life to be. But it makes me wonder, sometimes....are their lives so boring that they need to sit around making up fantasies about mine? Why even waste their time talking about me in the first place? What makes me such an interesting subject for conversation and gossip mongering? Everyone whom I've spoken to here, or who sees me on a daily basis, knows what I'm doing. It's freaking blatantly obvious; I have manga drawings all over my table. Anytime I am asked what it is that I do here every night(I get lots of people asking me that), I always smile and tell them I'm working on a comic book project, as a hobby, but I have hopes of getting it published. So it's not like I'm all secretive or anything, like I'm skulking around, grimacing at people and refusing to talk to them or answer their questions, refusing to show them any of my work. Quite the opposite, really...I love what I'm doing and I'm enthusiastic about telling anyone who asks whatever they want to know. I admit there are a few people who I actively avoid(such as the stupid woman that brings her goddamn baby up here every freaking night until 4am), and there are times when I put my headphones on and focus hard on my work, but for the most part I talk to anyone who approaches me.

But I suppose that's not enough. There are some people who are just incapable of believing that I'm not fucking someone(or many someones), that I'm not smoking/drinking/dropping/snorting/selling illegal stuff.
It is also apparently inconceivable that I can be nice to teenagers who are interested in what I'm doing without fucking the girls and selling drugs to the boys, or getting the boys to give me the cell numbers of the girls so I can track them down, drug them, molest them, take pictures and movies of them, and sell them back to the boys.
There is also the interesting fact that my friend Cali comes to visit me, and she often brings her hottie friends with her, and I somehow manage to hang out with these pretty girls without flirting, without making any kind of move to get in their panties at all, so I must be gay....which makes no sense at all, seeing as how these people who conclude that I must be gay are also saying I'm having affairs with various girls and taking advantage of countless teenagers.

Remind me to hire these people to write my biography.

=S

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=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5841451/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5841451/ Mon, 04 Jul 2005 20:39:55 PDT

Mood: Weee
Listening to: See Thru It - Aphrodite
Watching: Skirts+Wind

So Matt and I are working hard, all the time, and having a blast with it. We're getting better at working together too, each project goes smoother than the one before.
Currently we're working on the coloring for the cover of the second book, plus some other eye-candy stuff I did lineart for. While he's working on that stuff, I sit around scripting new pages and looking at hot girls.

We got a tentative offer yesterday for some free laboratory space; there's a guy that comes to this Starbucks and sits around smoking big fat cigars, apparently he has a studio somewhere nearby, and when he found out we were working on a comic, he looked through everything we've done so far and everything we're currently working on. Then he asked if we needed funding. We told him we didn't really need funding, but we did need somewhere to work. So he said he would see what he could do about setting up a lab for us in his studio. Hell yeah.

Announcing a new Pet: ~FoxFeatherJazz Yay! I gotta go buy some more leashes.

By the way, Negima 6 came out a couple days ago. It fucking rocks. >.> I want his job.

So, back to work for me. Hope you all continue to enjoy the manga.

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5760333/ Sun, 26 Jun 2005 08:16:07 PDT

Mood: Ahhhhh.
Reading: Paradise War
Watching: Wet Hotties

I'm sitting in a hotel room right now because I ended up staying in town wayyy too late last night working...and I was too tired to go home...so here I am.
They gave me free hot breakfast...yay!

Also, there are an inordinate number of gorgeous females in this hotel. I would like to live here. Unfortunately my lease on this room ends in just over an hour. Damn. And I didn't even get a chance to use the hot tub. Which I'm sure, at some point yesterday evening while I was sleeping, was full of hot, wet, mostly naked hotties. Dammit.

That's ok though, since I'm far too much of a geek to be cool enough to get chummy with hotness at the drop of a hat.

Anyway, I'm having serious fun working on this phase of BLP. I have Matt working with me now, a real live minion, and that makes things go a lot faster in some ways...and slower in others, but that's ok, because what slows me up is just us having a good time, cracking jokes and making fun of each other in general.
I'm also extremely happy with the results of us working together so far, as demonstrated by the cover for the first issue. And I think it's only going to get better; we learned a lot during that project.

I've completed the re-work of the title page for the first issue, I think it looks great..and unfortunately I have no way of scanning it and posting it at the moment. (remember I have been threatening to redraw it ever since I posted it...and after finishing the cover graphics I went ahead and fixed it, because the Hazel on the cover doesn't match the Hazel in the old title page at all)

Anyway...looks like a good movie has come on HBO, so I'm out, for now.

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5686691/ Sat, 18 Jun 2005 14:56:26 PDT

Mood: Bleh
Listening to: Urban Jungle - Aphrodite
Reading: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein
Watching: New Hotness

Announcing a new Minion: *BlueAftermath Fear the power of the Dark Side.

Yay!! New hotness Pet: =DarkSphinx

I haven't submitted anything for a while, I apologize for that. I'm trying to straighten out this whole situation, which includes finding a good place for a lab, setting up meetings with publication companies, settling important stuff with the real estate company, filling Matt in on the entire BLP story, plus all the background crap...etc etc ad endless nauseam.

Also, for some reason, every time in the past couple of days that I've come to Starbucks and started working on dA, I've been interrupted or distracted in some way, which is why I haven't done a journal post in a while. Drunk people suck, let's leave it at that.

I also have to play a show with my brother for some festival, so I have had to practice a bit on the guitar to make sure I won't totally suck.

It has been really ridiculously hot here, which makes me sluggish and irritated. Why anyone decided it was a good idea to build a city on the edge of the freaking desert....??

I've also been going to this wierd doctor for somme strange new treatment thingie called "Prolo-Therapy". This means that the guy gets to fill a long fucking needle with questionable drugs and poke me with it repeatedly in the name of medical science. The drugs are neat, and the therapy is supposed to be badass. We'll see.

I'm being distracted again. Later.

=S

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=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5650817/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5650817/ Tue, 14 Jun 2005 21:36:44 PDT

Mood: Chill
Listening to: Style from the Darkside 99 - Aphrodite
Reading: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein
Watching: Skirts+Wind

Wow, it's really getting hot here.

I sit outside at 3am in the morning and I'm still sweating my ass off. Dammit.

The next page of BLP is still in the scripting stage; I'm juggling a lot of other things right now, some of which include aquiring space for a lab in the city and talking to the publication company here called Antarctic Press.

I have a lot of project ideas in my head that I intend to work on, when I can squeeze time away from BLP. Shouldn't be a problem, once I get this workspace set up.

I also have a guy working with me now, we are tentatively planning on having him do all the 'eye-candy' stuff, color and such, posters and pin-ups and other promo imagery, as a member of my staff. His work is good and I can handle being around him for long periods of time, and more importantly he can handle being around me for long periods of time. He has a lot of experience in graphic arts and his color work is superb, and he's cool and down to earth. My only complaint is that he's not a really hot female.

Speaking of that, I announce a new Minion: ~BlackOtaku (insert megalomaniacal laughter here)

=Nirach did some fantastic work on the Magic Circle lineart. Go check it out, he did his best to put poor Hazel and Shanna in a dark and evil environment, and I think he did a great job. ---> [link]

I'm off, got work to do.

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5631778/ Sun, 12 Jun 2005 22:40:47 PDT

Mood: Sweet.
Listening to: Aphrodite mix
Reading: Time Enough For Love - Heinlein
Watching: Church people >.>

It appears that my partners in the Real Estate business have been talking behind my back, and have come to the conclusion that I should be holed up in a lab somewhere making comics, rather than out on the property making roads and stuff.
They say that the current land project has progressed far enough to where they can put me on a sort of standby, whereupon I will still be present for shareholder meetings and be involved in descisions and stuff, and will also occaisionally fetch needful things from the city for them, but I will not need to be involved in the actual property work anymore....and thus, can concentrate on art. While still being granted the same profit percentage on my investments.
Fuck....yeah.

So I am currently in the process of making plans for a lab/studio, some little loft/economy apartment in the city where I can work, and sleep, if need be.

So, soon, the production on BLP should jump. Woo!!

Also, I was offered publication again. This time I am considering it a little more seriously because I will soon be able to meet certain contractual requirements because I won't have time issues. Sweet.

For now, I'm out.

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5611630/ Fri, 10 Jun 2005 17:20:37 PDT

Mood: Wheee
Listening to: Aphrodite mix
Reading: Time Enough For Love - Heinlein
Watching: ...grass grow

I aquired some new toys today. The art kind, not the female kind.
I am always amused by the false sense of awesomeness I get when I walk out of the art store with a bunch of new stuff. I feel like the tools I just got will magically increase my skills by several orders of magnitude...and, of course, when I try using them for the first time, they always prove to me that I actually suck a lot more than I thought I did. Fortunately though, sometimes I do find, to my surprise, that something I picked up increases the quality of my work instantly, and keeps getting better every time I use it.
For the rest, I give credit to my homeschooling background, which consisted of my parents dumping a huge pile of books in front of me once an year and saying, "Figure all this stuff out by the end of the school year."
Thus I cultivated self-teaching habits from an early age, and this has assisted me constantly in trying new tools and techniques.

This morning, at approximately 8am, a double-trailer cargo truck carrying military explosive charges and detonators crashed and rolled at a major interstate freeway interchange...Loop 410, which is a bypass around San Antonio, and Interstate 35, which runs north-south across most of the country and goes right through the center of the city. The truck crashed on the northern crossing of 35 and 410(there's one on the south side too). There was an emergency evacuation of everyone within a half mile radius of the crash, and the entire freeway system in that area was blocked and cleared.

I'll give you one guess as to where yours truly was at 8am this morning. >.>

Once I figured out what was going on, I got the hell out of there. At first, all that was coming over the news was some emergency bulletins saying that a truck full of military-grade explosive devices(much scarier sounding than explosive charges, because charges, though dangerous, are only the little bombs they use to set off the really big bombs)had crashed and rolled at 410 and 35 north, and there were reports that the truck was also carrying ammonium nitrate.
So I kicked it into 4wd and made tracks. I am personally responsible for some minor damage to landscaping around the freeway in that area, plus some tracks here and there through a couple of front yards in a nearby neighborhood.

Yay.

I'm going to draw now.

=S

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=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5600438/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5600438/ Thu, 09 Jun 2005 14:56:07 PDT

Mood: Hmmm
Listening to: Aphrodite mix
Reading: Time Enough For Love - Heinlein
Watching: Starbucks Mating Rituals

Here's a short preview of what's in store for those of you who will choose to watch the retardedness of me an my brother when we're stuck in a car for 30 hours. [link]
Note: You will need the DivX codec to be able to watch this.

Try this as a thought experiment:
Consider your interactions with people, be they friends, family, lovers, or strangers. Take into consideration all of the things you expect from those people, and all of the things you expect them not to do.
Then apply those rules stringently to yourself, hypothetically.
If serious thought on that matter leads you to believe you would not like it, then you have two choices:
1) Change yourself and your rules.
2) Accept that you are going to have problems in every type of human interaction.

Is this really so difficult to see?

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5592846/ Wed, 08 Jun 2005 20:16:13 PDT

Mood: wtf mate
Listening to: Aphrodite mix
Reading: Time Enough For Love - Heinlein
Watching: My ex stalk me >.>

I have been attacked by someone who has way too much time on their hands. Some dipshit named ~i-hate-you-alot (yeah, figures) posted the biggest smiley spam I've ever seen in the Deviant Comments section of my page. It now takes minutes for the page to finish loading.

I just posted BLP 22. Hope you all enjoy it, sorry it took so damn long.

I'm gonna work on the scripting for the next page now.

=S

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The following people are badass...
http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5582320/ Tue, 07 Jun 2005 17:45:57 PDT

Mood: Gimme drugs >.@
Listening to: Digital Witchcraft
Reading: Methuselah's Children - Heinlein
Watching: Skirts+Wind

Most of you have heard me bitch from time to time about people who assume I'm drawing porn just because I'm drawing anime. Well, on the flipside of that subject, I've had a couple good experiences recently. There was a guy who offered me a pretty high paying job just because he saw me messing around in OpenCanvas. Another guy saw me working on Aria in OC and asked me for a business card(he was an older man too, like in his 60s at least, and generally older people are more likely to not approve of anime in general, so that made me happy even though I'm not cool enough to have a business card). Also a couple days ago a beautiful(omg gorgeous) girl came up to me and told me she had been watching over my shoulder while I worked on Aria; she told me she was really impressed and asked to see what other work I had, so I gave her my dA url(if you're reading this, Rhea, thanks so much, you have no idea how much that meant to me...I was unable to express it in person because you were too hot, and I was thus incapable of forming coherent sentences).
So, despite the much higher frequency of negative comments and reactions, the few like these always shine through in my memory and help me to shrug off the rest.

Almost Died #18: Children of the Axe Part 2
So the kid, when he saw the wound he had given me, fainted dead away. I kinda looked at him for a minute, then released a few more choice words. Then I turned my attention back to my mangled leg.
I was in the process of convincing myself that the shiny white part in the middle was indeed my Tibula bone when Jeremy returned with the small tractor(it was actually a tractor, not a riding lawnmower, it had the big back tires and the long narrow engine section in the front, with the muffler sticking out the top). I looked up at him, and he looked at me, then at my leg, which was still dumping ridiculous amounts of blood into my now-overflowing shoe. He shouted something that I didn't understand and jumped off the tractor. He ran at me and attempted to pick me up in a fireman's carry; you know, toss the victim over your shoulder and run. That didn't work out as planned, and he just ended up tackling me to the ground. I was like, "What the fuck, dude??" He just got up and lifted me over his shoulder anyway. I was too startled and bewildered to do anything about it. Anyway walking sucked.
Everything would have been cool had he not decided to throw me over the front of the tractor. Like I said, it was long and narrow, but the freaking engine was under it, so it was hot. I was struggling with this growing realization of heat pain when Jeremy climbed into the driver's seat and kicked the thing into gear. So now I'm floundering around on the hood, trying to keep from having any part of me touching the thing for very long lest I actually get burned, and also trying to keep from falling off and thus being crunched underneath one of the back tires. I was also bleeding all over the engine, and that did not smell very good at all.
We left the Mormon kid in the woods.
When we arrived at his house, finally, I jumped off the tractor and noticed that there was a big nasty smear of heat-dried blood on the hood, and lots of burned stuff on the engine itself. It stank, badly. I turned to Jeremy, who had calmed down somewhat at this point, and we both started laughing. Then he asked me if I was ok. I said, "Yeah, but I'm gonna need to go to the hospital." He agreed, so we went inside.
I walked a little ways into the house and stopped in the double doorway between the foyer and the living room. The floor was wooden, and there was already a puddle of blood growing underneath my right foot. Jeremy and I kind of stood there silently, not really knowing what to say, while everyone in the house was, one by one, noticing us and coming to a dead halt.
At this point, because of my floundering all over the front of the tractor, I had succeeded in getting blood pretty much all over my clothing; and because Jeremy had thrown me over his shoulder he had a great deal of it on him as well. We looked pretty bad, I'd assume.
Finally, Jeremy's mother and the Mormon mother saw us and, after getting all the kids out of the room, asked us calmly what had happened. We told them that there had been an accident with the axe, and explained everything to them. Once that was done, I said I needed to call my parents to let them know what had happened, and then I would ne... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5554050/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5554050/ Sat, 04 Jun 2005 18:29:36 PDT

Mood: Woohoo
Listening to: Digital Witchcraft
Reading: Robot Visions - Asimov
Watching: Skirts+Wind

Wow, there are a lot of distractions in my life right now. I offer my sincerest apologies to those of you who are waiting for more Best Laid Plans. >.>

New Minion: ~blaze12455 Hahaha fear! My army is growing....

On that subject, ~phosphodae is the only one of my Pets who has any actual Petly duties: she cleans my house once a week, and does a damn good job too. She told me she would do it in a French Maid outfit, but I have yet to go and purchase one.(it will be done tho, oh yes)

Almost Died #18: Children of the Axe Part 1
When I was 17-ish(still living in Georgia) I went to spend a weekend with my best friend, who for many years had lived right down the road from me, but his family had recently moved into central Georgia, which is comprised mainly of very tiny towns spread thinly throughout what basically amounts to a rainforest. His house was like 4 miles from the nearest neighbor, and several hours drive from the nearest city.
On Saturday morning, we were awakened by the noise level that results from having over 10 small children in a confined space. His family had 6 kids, three boys and three girls; my friend(named Jeremy) was second eldest, with one brother above him.
And that morning another family had come over to visit, a Mormon family consisting of 11 kids just under a year apart and one very harried mother who, on her off-hours, was an ER nurse(there was a husband but I don't think he was there that morning).
I was able to put up with the kids for a total of about 3.6 seconds, then I told Jeremy that I was going to leave the house before I started hurting things. He agreed, so we prepared to spend a day in the woods.
That was cut short quick; Jeremy's mom was one of those people who thought it was illegal for kids over the age of 10 to 'play'; they should be doing something constructive during all waking hours.
So she told us that she was planning to build a sort of pavilion/shed cover thing for some of the larger outdoor tools they had, and she wanted us to go into the nearby pine forest and aquire some good pine poles cut from fresh straight trees. We were outfitted with an axe and a small tractor.
We were also told that one of the older boys from the Mormon family, a kid about 11 years old, wanted to go with us. This was made more as a command than a suggestion; in other words we had no choice but to take him with us. We were told not to let him use the axe, but he could help in any other way.
Having received our quest, we set out for the pine forest. This required crossing the yard(a very large field), the garden(several acres of various vegetable plants), and the pecan orchard(many acres of huge pecan trees in orderly ranks). So it took maybe 15 to 20 minutes of travelling to arrive. We went a short ways into the pine forest and began selecting our targets.
Some time later, after many battles whereupon we defeated our foes with our trusty axe, I decided to take a break. I needed to sit down and let my stats build back up, so to speak. So I lit a cigarette(what better way to catch your breath?) while Jeremy used the tractor to haul a load of the poles we had aquired out of the forest and over to the field.
While he was gone, the Mormon kid asked me if he might try chopping down one of the trees. I really didn't care much, so I told him to go ahead, and pointed out one of the trees we were planning on cutting.
So he went to it, swing with abandon and very rarely hitting the same spot on the tree. After a while he had succeeded in removing all the bark from a 3-4 foot section and mangling the integrity of the wood enough to where the tree canted over to about a 45 degree angle. There it stayed, unwilling to fall the rest of the way.
He was slightly worn out at this point, and I had finished my cigarette but was undeniably entertained. He kept at it though, swinging two or three times, sending wood chips flying, not so much from having been cut as from having been beaten until they fell out. After a couple swings he would stop and push at the tree, mumbling to mimself and talking shit about the tree and it's unwillingness to fall.
At one point, I saw that the trunk needed only one good kick do get... ]]> =Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5547211/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5547211/ Fri, 03 Jun 2005 22:43:01 PDT

Mood: Weeee
Listening to: M-Sphere - Melancholic Senses
Reading: Robot Visions - Asimov
Watching: Blonds

OMFG 3k pageviews!? Um, wow.

Whee I bought a hentai game!!
I've heard of them but I've never actually seen one. But I was digging around online last night for anime DVDs and found a store that sells good stuff for great prices...and they had hentai games, hah. So I bought one. I will let you guys know how it is once I get it.
So, if I never mention it again, you'll know that I'm such a major loser that I can't even get laid in a hentai game.

Aside from that I bought a bunch of great anime. Chobits Perfect Collection Box Set, GTO Box Set, Love Hina Perfect Collection Box Set, Negima Part 1(WOO), She, the Ultimate Weapon Box Set(supposedly very sad, I is gonna cry ), 3x3 Eyes Collection Box Set, Castle of Cagliostro, Gall Force Collector's Edition Box Set, and Golden Boy(XD) Collection Box Set.

Fuck

Yeah

Dude

Can't wait for them to get here. I'm totally gonna veg out.

Anyway right now I'm still working on Aria, I've got sketching done for the color cover of BLP Issue 1, and I'm inking the next BLP page.

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5535903/ Thu, 02 Jun 2005 19:20:32 PDT

Mood: Sweet.
Listening to: Positive Dark - Howl
Reading: Robot Visions - Asimov
Watching: Hawtness

I don't recall if I've said this before or not, but during our last roadtrip to California, my brother and I aquired a digital Sony HandyCam. We recorded hours of retarded shit with it, especially on the 30 hour drive home. We have been planning for months to capture it all to the computer and edit it into something funny.
We are doing that now.
It is funny as hell.
When we're done I'll put all the vids up on my host site and link them, so you guys can watch the crazy stupidness if you want.
All I know is I've been laughing my ass off as we work on it.

Ok, for projects:
Still working on the next BLP page, penciling is done, should get to penning soon.
I have like, three avi's to make for various people. >.> I apologize to those of you who are waiting on me for this.
Gotta finish the Aria Smexy CG. It's taking a long time because A) I'm experimenting and B) it hurts to look at her for extended periods of time.
I've got three other CGs in the works too, those are secret-style though.

Other than those things, my schedule is open. oO;;

=S

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http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5525229/ Wed, 01 Jun 2005 20:04:48 PDT

Mood: wtf mate
Listening to: Healer - Go to Sleep
Reading: Best of SF 1939
Watching: Debbie Does Dallas

Pele is winning the popularity poll!
Actually, the most votes are for more nakedness, but as for the single character votes, Pele seems to be hot stuff. Damn her and her feline smexyness.

Reference to yesterday's journal entry on the odd things that girls think are cute: =GaiaLeaf has posted a scientific analysis on the different types of 'cuteness'. Also, I have been contemplating running a test on Cali, just to see if she just thinks that everything I do is cute somehow. I was thinking of a hypothetical phone conversation such as:

Me: Hi, Cali.
Cali: Heeey honey what are you up to?
Me: Well, I was hanging out with your best friend, but she got sassy with me so I've tied her to her bed and am in the process of removing her clothes.
Cali: Aww, that's SOOOOO CUTE!
Me: Actually what would REALLY be cute is both of you tied up side by side; why don't you come over here?

Yeah. I think that would be a fun test.

One of my uncles on my Dad's side of the family, one Thomas J. Allen of Vermont, USA, has been found guilty of possessing a full beard and has been put on the "No Fly List" by the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Yes, my uncle, who is extremely white and owns a business that builds computer control systems for water treatment plants, has been classified as a possible danger to airlines by the USDHS, and his name and profile are in the database of every airline company as someone who must go through a full and complete security check before being allowed to board a plane.
"They usually don't check me too thoroughly," says Thomas. "They figure that I won't run the risk of carrying anything because I'm aware that my name is on the list."
"But they check my wife very thoroughly," he says, shaking his head. "She never fails to get strip searched."

Yay! Next thing you know, they'll be digging up info on family members. When they get to me, all hell will break loose. oO;;

I forgot to bring my tablet with me today. Crap. >.>

=S

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=Sakamoto http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5514428/ http://Sakamoto.deviantart.com/journal/5514428/ Tue, 31 May 2005 18:06:19 PDT

Mood: wtf mate
Listening to: Stokes - Spirals from Zurich
Reading: Best of SF 1939
Watching: Schoolgirls

Any of you who like poetry should pay a visit to *lesbianseagull, she's brand new on dA and she's steadily posting her work, which is phenomenal....and coming from me that's high praise, cuz I generally don't like poetry.
She also writes short stories and is working on a novel or two, she will be posting chapters of that stuff soon as well. She's really good. Take a look. NOW.

Ok so, I promised that my bro and I would be getting together last night to work on plans for Mandarel for BLP, but we didn't, because he started feeling like crap. He went to the doctor this morning and it turns out he has strep throat. No good. So I will work on this one page I'm doing right now, and when he gets better we'll work on the plans. Haha, plans... oO;;

I have noticed, over a long period of scientific investigation and discreet information gathering, that girls find the strangest things to be 'cute'. Take babies, for instance. A lot of girls think babies are cute. How is this possible? Babies are chubby, squally little squirming thingies that are constantly leaking some type of fluid from every bodily orifice. Is that 'cute'?? I don't think so.
My friend Cali is a perfect example of a girl who finds the oddest things to be 'cute'. She has a habit of calling me in the middle of the day--when she knows I'm working out on the property developement--to ask me what I'm doing. Take the following conversation:

Me: *answering phone* Hi, Cali.
Cali: Hi sweetie! What are you doing?
Me: Well, at the moment I am standing waist deep in a freezing springwater creek, holding my GPS in one hand and a bokken in the other.
Cali: What's a bokken?
Me: It's a Japanese wooden sword.
Cali: Why are you holding that?
Me: I'm using it to break through deadfalls in this creek that I'm trying to map on my GPS.
Cali: That's sooooooo CUTE!!
Me: ....huh?
Cali: That's really cute, hee hee

Seriously....?? What's cute about that? Hazel is cute. Not me all freezing and muddy. I don't get it. Here's another example:

Me: *answering phone* Hi, Cali.
Cali: Hiiiiiiiii baby! What are you doing?
Me: I'm operating a backhoe on the property.
Cali: What's a backhoe?
Me: Um, it's like, one of those big yellow machines you sometimes see on construction sites. It has a plow thingie in the front and a digger arm in the back; kinda looks like a scorpion--
Cali: EEEWWWW!!
Me: ...what?!?
Cali: Scorpions are gross.
Me: Well yeah, but it's not really a scorpion, it just kinda resembles one cuz of the claw arm on the back--
Cali: OOHHH I know what you're talking about! You're driving one of those right now?
Me: No, I turned it off so I could hear you, the engine's kinda loud--
Cali: Oooh turn it on!
Me: Um, ok? *starts backhoe engine*
Cali: .....ats.....CUUUTE
Me: ....what??


I don't get it. >.>

=S

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