Last night I helped assemble his first issue of Deverish Also. Afterwards we headed over to and 's place to finalize what we're bringing to Anime Detour.

I got a chance to see the new issue of Build Your Own Boyfriend, which also looks very snazzy. These two comics each are part of a limited run, afterward they are sold we’ll be getting new copies from Comixpress, with a page of their advertising to defray cost.

New issues of Tabloid Roulette/Merylion Factor and issue 2 of Of Two minds will also be debuting at Anime Detour. Yay!

This means we have 10 books currently for sale! How crazy is that!

After we get back from this con, we’ll be sure to put all our books into our online store at Studio Anti Thesis.com , so if you don't make the conventions we do this year you can still get awesome independent comics from us.

The Waltz Minutia:

• 10:45 Just ordered a massive salad from Glass Nickel pizza via their online system. Praise me for not ordering something fried. mmm fried. #
• 10:46 @johannacherry omg! you saw us in our jeep? also, what job offer?! #
• 18:09 yes friends, back to the arting. #
• 18:20 -Spanish guitar playlist go. Manga Studio open. ok,lets go. #

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Anime Iowa was a blast.

Here is a highlight: Pic of 's bottom
So many random things i don't want to forget, but likely won't take the time to put in proper paragraphs:

What else, programmed a wave machine on his macbook for me the first night.
I brought silly string to the artist alley, and used it.
I went sleepy happy crazy Saturday night after art jamminess and got really crass in a funny way.
Got to hang with Mere, Pete, Brion and Jen a whole lot. There was much laughter.
The A/C in the room rocked, making everyone but me and pete cold, but I am a good people warmer.
Brion is very ticklish, and is also willing to serenade a room full of people to sleep.
It's a privilege to pee.
I was not the only one giggling at nights.
Titmouse is a funny word.
Everyone loves to sing Happy Birthday, even if it's not someone's birthday.
People katamari are fun, roll all them up in your life.
Pete got interviewed for a podcast, while in his dragon costume.
I started a mini-comic.
It was fun to yell 'hey hotpants' at dirk, and 'nice rack' at jen. also, passing notes is fun too.
Do not trust seafood in landlocked iowa.
Our hotel had a kick-butt continental, it had breakfast drumsticks -pancakes wrapped around a sausage middle! eggs, fresh waffles, bagels and donuts and milk. That a lot for a girl who usually has a grande chai and 1 bagel each morning.
We plan to stay in the con hotel next year.
Sometimes I think I scare meredith, but she keeps asking to room with me.
con-plague sucks.
Iowa is not too far to drive for a convention.

Here are more pics

I also took a moment to draw in 's Magical Me book of Lockhart.

We need more copies of Ish 2, so we did another pass on the content and I took the time to fix the cover a bit. here's the old one.

Got a lot done yesterday, almost 10 hours of comicking.
Inks on page 24 done, pages 21-23 are now in manga studio templates, worked on cleaning up inks and started toning page 22. Today, I need to scan page 24, finish page 22, and pick one other page to attack. Deadline is the 8th! I still need cover ideas for issue 3!!!

http://oekaki.metahari.com

You have just hours to do one last piece of art! Come make silly, serious, funny art as we count down to the New Year!

I’ll be oekaking with the power of rum! How about you?

What exactly do I need to learn to be indispensable to people?

Art night this week was fantastic. We made it out to Pasqual’s and enjoyed some pre-art margaritas. Then we had a fantastic time, arting, laughing, listening to music, watching Eli walk!! (his second day of walking!!) I love these fantastic people.

Well, I’m going to finish my sandwich now, eat my soup and drink my mocha, and see what unfolds tonight.

Be warm everyone!

We had a great time yesterday at the Madison Zine Fest. We got to see some great zinsters, including Billy – The Bunnyman from Loop Distro and Brian Defferding who does the amazing School: A Ghost Story comic (and who Kim and I made blush, after we totally gushed over his well written spooky books).

We had a great panel about Minicomic Zines with the lovely and talented Lynn .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Sometime in the day Kim and I got interviewed by some local highschool students about zines and freespeech, which was fun too.

It was generally a wonderful time, which began with homemade waffles with real whipped creme at and ’s home, and ended with deep dish chocolate pie at Monty’s Blue Plate, also with whipped creme. Great day overall. I think it’s awesome that we get to have the zine fest in Madison each year, it’s great to do things local. This year it had the most people ever, and the quality of many of the zines are fantastic!

More pics of the Zine Fest in my Flickr set!

I bought a cheap set of tube watercolors and some brushes yesterday on my way back from paying rent. I cut a piece of water color paper in 4 and painted 3 of the quarters. These are my first experiements in watercolor.For the third one, I was a bit more brave, and quickly sketched a portrait of a quiet elf. Then I started with some pale blue shadows, and worked several layers into the hair. Mixing the color for the skin was the hardest, but I learned that even something too dark can be moderated with some water, or lifted with a bit of paper towel. She seems to be contemplating something.

I learned.
*It’s hard to get enough water into my plastic pallette
*I have a lot to learn about color mixing.
*Some of my marker skills do transfer
*I don’t have fear of watercolors
*Masking tape works just fine for taping things down.
*Watercolor goes pretty quick on these small pieces, and I can see myself doing lots of small ones for fun.
*Chinese white smells different than the rest of the tubes.

Please give it a look and give me any feedback you wish. Also, if you feel I’m missing a piece that should appear there, please tell me which one.
Check it out here: http://portfolio.metahari.com/

I got pretty much everything working the way I wanted, and might make some css tweaks next week, but I think it’s pretty good to go, and more than ok for submission to prospective jobs.

It’s interesting to see how my style is changing. I am happy with Mercedes hands, trying hard to improve there generally.

Plan to finish – page 16 by the end of the year. between that and my 12 illustrations goal, I have more than enough to do. no need to push myself further. At the end of 2005, I’ll have done more illustrations and comic pages than ever before in 12 months time. feels good.

I worked on comics saturday till late, page 13 is 60-70% pencilled, yay.

Also, I found some art I made 15 years ago in 5th or 6th grade and some from junior high, including some furry type art (kitty girls and racing horses) and what appears to be star trek fanart…(riker with beard) surprisingly absent are elves.

Then, finally got to the store for basic groceries, detergent ect. The great toilet paper shortage of 2005 has been averted. Went for a walk late last night, which felt good and made it easier for me to get to sleep.

The movie did indeed rock, we have plans to see it again sometime this week.
You should go too!

still need ref for the manager’s suit. but the page already has enough scribbles on it to be meaningful.

I’ve got this crazy thought. I want to finish the next 4 pages, (which will finish issue 2)this fall. What if, hey, I do the next 4 after that,(first half of issue 3) before the new year. Then, I’ll have finished 12 pages in 2005.

That sounds like a good goal to me. A lot of work, and I may be overreaching, but if I can finish it, I’ll only have 12 pages left for Tabloid Roulette. And that would totally be a doable goal for next year.

I guess, I’m just a bit frustrated at the length of time this is all taking, and think that pushing myself a bit may be a good thing.

Latest art, first art finished in a month. whew!
Micron inks, and photoshop colored.
I used this pose/costume/model -
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/12852583/ and a texture from this great pak -
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/20387713/
Thanks to their awesome submissions.

This was fun, but man, coloring things on the computer takes like 5x as long as coloring things with real media/markers. And I’m very comfortable with photoshop! *shrug*

I still have that zelda art trade to color. It’s been inked several times, but my plan to scan the inks, print them out and color them does not appear to be working. The markers make the printed ink run. I should try to get motivated on it too, because I’m happy with the poses and it’d feel really good to finish and send it off to Marc.

What I should do is… ink on marker paper over my sketch(or even over a printed version of the inks, then let that dry for a day and just color it! So close to finishing. sigh.

I do have another illustration on my plate, and it’s about 70% finished, I’m computer coloring it. It’s been sketched, and inked and just needs some additional shading and perhaps effects in photoshop. so. depending on how I get moving on these, I’ll have 6 and 7 of this goal done within weeks. whew. Leaving me still on target to achieve this goal for the year.

but, eep, I have to do 4 more pages of my comic by the end of august(or so)! must get moving on that. Perhaps if I can get these illustrations off my plate, I can completely commit and focus on the pages. (That and stop playing so much xbox live. evil evil Halo2)

wish me luck.

Anna Bis is my cyberpunk role playing character, she’s an exotic, she’s had a bit of genetic/cosmetic surgery to give her slight jackal appearance. She usually fights melee, with her rippers(claws kinda like deathstrike in the xmen2 movie).Anyway, she’s hiding out at the Arc House as an exotic exotic dancer.

She wore a helm to fight the darkness.Last
night was art night, somehow I forgot my markers, even though I had
planned to finish up my art trade for Mark. I had even spent a half hour
printing out my inks on copic paper.

So, instead I started out drawing a character from Model, and ended up
with the drawing above, completely non vampire, male, and not delicate
like what I had started with. But it was fun to do.Also, got to hear some
important studio news.

Studio Anti Thesis, a Madison-based group of artists and writers, will be leading a resentation of “ABC:Anatomy of Bishonen and Chibis” at Waldenbooks, East Towne Mall, Madison on Sunday, June 12th from 5-7 PM.

The Studio’s presentation will concern the definition of two kinds of manga icons, the bishonen and the chibi, and include tips on anatomy.

Studio Anti Thesis has published their own comics, and publishes online at http://www.studioantithesis.com.

Studio Anti Thesis will be bringing their comic zines for sale, including their brand new Antithezine 3.

Any questions, please contact Susan Sheldon by phone at 241-2453.

~~~~~~

We know this is a bit short notice, but please tell all your friends and come out to see us! We even have a handy handout! We’d love to see you.

I also believe there is a sale going on at Waldenbooks.

My latest Illustration. This makes 5/12 original illustrations for me this year.
6, is already in progress!
happiness.

This is Metahari, the avatar for my
http://www.metahari.com , haven’t drawn this character since 2000!

Spent most of today with Mom and Dad.
Prognosis, not so good. Days remaining are numbered in weeks and months.

sadness.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metahari/sets/341046/

and I wrote the Convention recap for our Studio webpage, so check that out
here:

http://www.studioantithesis.com

(backlogged with mental-lj-posts, might as well do them in order)

My husband has been surfing teh intarweb on the psp. Our geekery knows no bounds.

The rest of the weekend was great though, we had bacon and eggs and cinnamon rolls and biscuits for breakfast, cooked up by pal Roofer. (Well I did the baking) And Saturday night, my mom brought by a turkey that she had cooked for us, with some stuffing. It was all carved up for us, and there was enough for all fifteen some people, and was a nice change of pace from the pizza call that usually goes out. Lots of Halo 2 and Halo 1 were played, as well as a bit of silly Eyetoy experimentation.

Last weekend,
Spent Saturday on publicity and history of Studio Antithesis, partially by checking my old journal entries. Everything blurs together, and we’re trying to get a better handle on when we did things. We also updated the Studio Calender with some birthdays and tenative Con dates. (Acen, Anime Iowa) Maciek colored the cute chibi’s that Allie made for us. Then he turned them into Buttons (pictures forthcoming)
We also printed and/or dated all reviews we have for S.A.T. and put them in a portfolio.

This week
Finally got my teeth cleaned (flash smile). I surprised dental technician, ‘Your teeth aren’t that bad at all’, likely due to the fact that I had actually followed my dentist’s suggestion from last month that I increase the flossing. (which also helped keep my gums from being overly sensitive while being clawed at during the cleaning)

I took yesterday off, partially due to the awkward time for the dentist appointment, but also due to the fact that Wednesday night I really felt weak and sick, and not fun. But somehow, after sleeping in, I was actually feeling really well. Especially well after the great dentist appointment which was far less pain and time than I thought it would be.

I didn’t even waste my time, I vacuumed all but two rooms in the house, windexed three mirrors, emptied two trashcans and did two loads of laundry.

I removed a bookshelf from the bedroom(to be used downstairs for dvd and games), and put together a little circle table to hold my lamp and alarm clock. All the junk on the bookshelf was then reappointed, to the guestroom bookshelves, or to the art room.

I hope my neighbors didn’t mind the 2 min vacuum job, really late at night, I did before putting the circle table in place. But I just couldn’t put things back in place without it, the dust had gotten thick in that corner.

I still ended up with time to defrost the chicken, and cook said chicken and make the cressant rolls and then later to make cinnamon rolls (leftover bag of premade from the party, but needing an hour to rise in the oven before baking), and to play a few hours of Harvest Moon on the Game Cube (my husband bought me a new memory card!).

It’s late, but I finished my Illustration Friday art! yay!

Happy New Year!

Wow, when I agreed to do a Tax Day Art Trade with my friend Mark, due on the 15th, I expected that we’d both be working away in April to get things finished. He ended up with some free time over the holidays to create this for me. Wow! Just fantastic! He searched my gallery, picked out the monster woman in my misc. gallery to be the villan, and off he went.

I totally can’t wait to get this in the mail, it’s so getting matted, framed and hung in my art room.

Very cool.

(Mark rocks! He programs video games out in cali)

Ah, yes, yah for color! This illustration has been begging me to finish it since the first sketch, but it needed major work on the legs to make any sort of sense.

I’ve made a goal of 12 original illustrations for this year. This is the first one.

~~~~
Also, I’ve made a page for all the commissions we did for the Get Lea Hernandez to Anime Iowa Gig, I need to do some resizing and fix the css buttons at the top, but I wanted to share. We have a fantastic group of people, I’m so proud. So, check em out.
~~~~
Last week, the day I got back from the airport, I got part of my christmas copic order(the rest of the stuff is backordered) and my cool Marker Magic Book!! It’s great, more on that later. Also got to go out with my hubby to Damon’s, and we got right in even though all the other places to eat were full all over our side of town.

It’s really good to be home. Sunday night I got to hang out with K&M, and do arty things, which was fantastic, and I’ve missed them and art, and we had a super productive time, I think they got almost 3 pages of Kim’s comic done, and we worked out the anatomy better for this balance piece.

Ok, gotta go, I have a meeting that last’s all day today. guh!

Here is my gift to !

Happy Holidays!

Here’s my Illustration Friday Picture for the week. Wasn’t sure if I was going to participate, but am glad I did. It’s fun just to throw down ink and markers. I’ve been mulling the word of the week all week.

This was created for last week’s Illustration Friday. I have no clue if you’re able to submit late, but this was fun, so I finished the markers last night.
(The inks really were pretty much done last week)

(again, if anyone has tips on how to get a good scan out of markers, please tell me.)

This was fun.