Quickie update – all the X-Men kittens have been adopted! Except for Marie. We cracked and decided to keep her. Because, like my sister says, it’s not as if anyone would want a tiny, stunty-growth cat with really big eyes and a really cute face. -_- Pics coming soon.

I’m live-tweeting Flowers in the Attic at 7pm PST this Friday because VC Andrews is FUN! It’s currently streaming on Netflix so if you’ve got an account, feel free to join in.

Figured out where the masking tool was hiding. Yay, masking!

I’ve been struggling for about a week now with the inking brushes in Manga Studio. There’s so much I love about the program, especially the perspective rulers (which you can pry from my cold dead hands), but I’ve had a terrible time using the program’s out-of-the-box brushes. I could SORT OF use them, but the results were always erratic. Half the time a brush or pen would behave the way I expected, and the other half of the time it was like trying to ride a really pissed off horse. The results didn’t really look bad, but they didn’t look great, either. That said, yesterday I stumbled across this guy’s post, and it was a lifesaver.

Here’s a panel from a project I’ve been working on (I wish I’d thought to save a “before I adjusted the brush settings” version, because the difference is pretty dramatic. Oh well, I guess you’ll just have to trust me). I finally feel like what I’m producing looks like MY inking, not MangaStudio’s.

Also, thanks to my friend Karen luk for the head’s up about MS 5. I’m biting my fingernails down to the quick waiting for the EX release! Can’t wait to get my hands on that version.

I love Japanese food, especially udon and ramen, but for the most part it’s a total crap shoot finding places that have vegetarian ramen/udon with veggie broth. Today I had a hankering, and I’d bought fresh udon noodles the last time I went to Japantown, so I decided it was about time I did something with them.

I browned onions and garlic in some olive oil, then added some Dijon mustard and a little wasabi, soy sauce, and horseradish. Dumped in about five cups of water, grated in some sweet potato, ginger, and turnip (note: you can NEVER go wrong adding turnip to veggie soup broths), and a few chopped brussel sprouts. Tossed in some chopped Crimini mushrooms, let it simmer for awhile, then dumped in some sliced carrots and a big squirt of Sriracha sauce (mmmm – spicy!!!). Dash of malt vinegar, crushed red pepper, some nori, then yay! Time to hard boil the eggs and cook the udon. When the udon was just about done I tossed some frozen pees and chopped swiss chard into the stock.

End result = not exactly authentic, but YUMMY and 100% vegetarian.

Marie is doing much better! Dr. Case told us she has elevated white blood cells, but all her other tests – FIV/FELV, FIP – were normal. We have her on a 10 day run of antibiotics, and she’s perked up quite a bit. She’s more active, she eats more, and she’s putting on weight. What a relief! We’re supposed to bring her back to the vet’s for follow-up testing next weekend, after she finishes her antibiotics, and I’m anticipating a good report. Here’s a recent picture:

Womathology: Space #3, containing the story “The Vesta”, which was written by the super-talented Jennifer De Guzman and illustrated by me, is going to be released tomorrow!  Just in time for the holidays and everything! Spread the word! It sounds like it’s going to be an all around amazing issue.  Check out some of The Vesta’s art.

Jean and Wanda got adopted over this past weekend! Two down, eight to go! Kurt and Ororo topped 3lbs and are currently at the spay/neuter clinic. I added some new pics to the gallery, and I resorted the images so the newest pics are at the top. We’re a bit worried about Marie – she’s still very tiny, only 2.5lbs, while the other kittens are at least 3.5 to 4 lbs. We took her to the vet yesterday. Physically she checks out so far: no heart murmur, lungs sound good, she eats, etc. Our vet’s running a full blood panel on her (the results should be in sometime today). Hopefully there’s nothing wrong with her and she’s just a slow-growing kitten! Our vet said it’s possible she just has a very high metabolism. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. She’s a sweet little bug – it’s pretty much impossible not to love her – she’s very cranky, like a little old lady cat in a kitten’s body – but when she wants attention she’s completely purry and adorable.

(see how cute?!)

Finally hit 50K on my novel project!

Some art from a SUPER SECRET PROJECT I’m working on with Mariah Huehner.

The kittens are officially too old to lock in the bathroom at night. Now we get to give them free range of the house while we lock ourselves in the bedroom. Siiiigh…

10 kittens will do that to you. o___o

The artwork for “The Vesta” is finished! After making a few last minute tweaks, I uploaded the final pages to the IDW server last night. Right now I’m in a state of shock. I can…leave the house this weekend! I can go outside! I don’t have to stay up until 2am painting!

What a concept.

That said, I’d like to take a moment to share out a thing I did I’m proud of. This is a panel from page 7 – I spent a lot of time angsting over the “SEAL” display on Shriya’s suit. I wanted it to look like it was part of the fabric, not a hard-plastic add-on sewn into the clothing. My first attempt just didn’t look right. So I spent some time digging up reference on Google (keywords: wearable technology, thank you Richard!!!). I’m happy with how it came out. That said, no one is going to be able to see that detail on the finished page, it’s going to be way too small. So here’s a close-up:

2:42 am

Adult humans reported to the scene of a jail break. Six prisoners had escaped from their cell. The escape was most likely engineered by Jumbo Size Black Kitten. Prisoners were located playing on the couch in the living room. All six prisoners were successfully detained, fed a good meal, and put back to bed.

Adult humans are cranky and tired.