...wow... it's almost been a year since I've updated my journal...

expect to see lots of art uploaded over the next few weeks as I'm cranking out stuff for artist alley.
feel free to offer up any suggestions of what *you* would like to see, and i'll try my hardest to get stuff drawn of that as well.

'cause i figure, if you want to know what people want, ask them and then give it to them.

also, if you have any constructive criticisms, tips, tricks, whatever, i'd totally appreciate it. although i'm a big fan of learning by trying things out, it's also nice to have "guidance" at times.

Now that school is finally over, I finally have the time to dedicate to Halfling Quest, my Inuyasha web comic.

Also, I'm going to be starting a new job soon, so, yay for me.

Finally, I get to start working on my cosplay for Anime North. And, I almost know who I'm going as... even though there is only a few weeks left until the convention.

TO all you writers out there:

I'm holding a yaoi fanfiction contest where the winning fic will be turned into a doujin. The reason why I am doing this is because I want to "round out" my doujin series. The way I figure it, if you like it, then other people will like it as well...

For the contest, I will be accepting any and all fanfictions of any series, any rating, of any pairings as long as they are yaoi. And for the actual story, the jucier, the better. I will pay more attention to series that I don't know, since I wouldn't be able to come up with a "storyline" myself. But feel free to submit whatever you like because I may decide to draw it anyways.

The stories that I do know, and entries should be kept to a minimum are: Inuyasha, Slayers, Gundam Wuing and Weiss Kreuz. Anything else is fair game.

As for the winner or winners, if I can't choose or decide to draw more than one, they will get:
-a signed copy of the completed doujin based on their story
-credits as the writer of the story (in the actual book, and on the website when I finally get it up)
-free advertising in the book for their website, ebusiness, et cetera (at the end with the book omake)
-a colored piece of art based on the book (and maybe even a production sheet from the book)
-another doujin of their choice (from my other completed works)

The judging will be solely based on which story I like the best, and what would be the easiest to draw... For the runner-ups, they will also be given a prize and their stories will be kept on file for possible future doujins. And if I do decide to use the story later on, I will send you an email asking if I can use it in the future with possible minor changes (fixing whatever caused it not to win; like being far too long, changing the "background" so it is easier to draw, et cetera) And if this does happen, once again, you will be credited as the writer, and will be sent a free signed copy for your reading pleasure)

The contest will be open for the month of Feburary, and send all stories to hoga0048@algonquincollege.com with "Yaoi Fanfiction Contest" in the heading. The winner will be notified near the end of the first week of March, and I will then start working on the doujin. The prizes will be sent out the beginning of May (or earlier, depending on when I get the books back form the printers) or if you like, I can hand deliver them to you at AnimeNorth where they will be debuted.

Feel free to send in as many different stories as you want, but remember to keep them relatively short as they will only be about 22-24 pages long. If you have any other questions, please feel free to send them to hoga0048@algonquincollege.com with the contest heading in them.

And, Good Luck!

Last night I had my first swordhandling class, a combination of katanna and European broadsword. The first half of the class was katanna and it was pretty good, learning the basic strikes and blocks. The second part of the class was broadsword, and i made the mistake of volunteering to wear chainmail. At first, the 25lbs wasn't so bad, but standing around for 20, 30 minutes my neck really started to ache...

But once we got moving, striking and blocking, it was okay and fun...

...

And today I leamed a new way to torment my sadistic kitty. All I have to do it point the tip of my bokken at her, she arches up and back, and swats at the bokken tip with her paw. It's so funny! The perect payback after she lost *another* one of my mechanical pencils...

Well... after working on a pic for 3+ hours, my computer froze and I lost it! RAWR! And I couldn't even save it 'cause when it saves, it ends up totally merged, so I don't bother until I have a section finished! ...Wahh!

So I'm not too happy, and I can't even reopen the program and continue to work 'cause the same thing will just happen again... and I couldn't even get the codes for teh colors to redo teh pic later. All I could do was write down what teh colors were, like blue, and hopefully remember them...