Hey!

Did you see this? It’s a propaganda manga made to explain the purpose of the military partnership between USA and Japan. It’s title in English is “Our Alliance – A Lasting Partnership”. I haven’t read all of it, but it seems a bit interesting (it’s only available in Japanese though, sorry). Fully colored too. I didn’t see much US troops when I still lived in Japan, but apparently there are still over 35.000 of them to this day.
Apparently, the whole thing is going to be four parts long, and if you’re interested in getting updates from the site, just click the link that is kind of in the middle of the page. Where is says “新冊子閲覧可能のお知らせを御希望の際はこちらをクリックしてください。” and send a blank e-mail to it (that’s how I did).
This may or may not be interesting to you, if you’re not living in Japan/know Japanese, but I thought I’d show you anyways :p

Well, that’s it. I’m gonna cut things short this time. See ya soon!
/T

Hi everyone, here’s page 24 at last!

This site has got about 50% new visitors and equally as many returning visitors at the moment. This has got me thinking… Wouldn’t it be nice for new visitors to be able to choose whether they want to start reading the comic from the start, or from the last page posted?
If I bought a comic at the store, I know that I wouldn’t like someone to tell me how the story ended before I had started reading – I’d want to read it from the start, of course!

With the current setting, when someone enters the site, they get to see the last page posted. This comic will eventually come to it’s end some day and when the last page is up, that’s what both new and returning visitors will see when they open the site.
SO… I was thinking about presenting the visitor with a choice when they open the site; do you want to read the comic from the start, or from the last page posted?

I think I’m actually going to go through with this. How about you? What kind of setup do you have on your webcomic? What do you think of this idea of mine?

Until next time!
/Tomii

Hi everyone!

Sorry about the delay, but I’ve been a little tired from work lately and this page had a little more detail than usual. I actually build Pierre’s whole store in 3D to be able to get the right mood in that lower right panel! I think it turned out nice, don’t you think?

If you haven’t checked out the ‘Characters’ section lately, you should! Because I added two new-ish characters there this week – namely Missy and Ms. Denise! And, as I wrote on my twitter, I’ll probably redraw the other characters as well to get a fresh new look on them too.

One more thing, I’m thinking about making a so-called “fan page” for this comic on Facebook … but the problem is that I don’t know exactly what I would do with it after (^,^;) Ah well, I guess I could just create one to begin with and see where it goes from there? I’ll twit about it when it’s done! :D

Well, it’s Saturday and it’s cold and windy outside … guess I’ll just have to spend my whole day drawing and drinking tea, yay! :p Man, I haven’t played any video-games in AGES … it’s time to change that!! (*-* )

Now, enjoy the comic!

Hi all!

It’s done … at last … uh … so … tired.. ahhhh … (-_- )
Man! I tell you this page was NOT FUN to do. I don’t know why, but somehow it managed to take at least twice as long to get this done, than any other page I’ve done. And I had such problems deciding what to put in the panel at the top!! (This is the main reason why it took so long).

I had two alternatives that I was looking at. Both of them seemed okay. None of them seemed to be better than the other. So what do you do!?
Well, you kind of have to think AGAIN and really think about which one serves it’s purpose best.

I ultimately chose to draw it the way you see (kind of a close-up on the villagers) because I wanted the reader to be able to see the faces of those angry villagers better.
In the other alternative I was going to draw Pierre from behind, looking out of his window. The reader would be able to see the villagers here to, but from a greater distance.

I actually made 3D models of the second alternative, to help me with the perspective and camera angles and stuff. I’m gonna use 3D a lot more than I have until now, because it can really help me get an even more professional look on the pictures.

Here are screenshots of that 3D model btw …
View 1
View 2

There! I feel much better now when I’ve got that off my chest (^^ ) Hopefully next page won’t be as hard to do, hehe.

Well, it’s running late so I have to quit now. Feel free to comment if you want.

Good night! / お休みなさい！

Yep, here it is. Page 20, just like I promised :)

You see that cool picture of that house? The one with the sun rays? Yeah … I made that in 3D. A neat little program named SketchUp helped me out there. It’s free you know …
So, can you call it “cheating”, when you use programs to help you do stuff you can really do by hand? … Hell No.

I chose to use 3D to:
1. Save time.
2. Get the perspective right and
3. Be able to choose a camera-angle that would fit the purpose, without having to redraw again and again until I finally get it right.

You think THAT’S bad? How about if I told you I used 3D for the lower left panel as well? Uh Huh!? Yeah!

The bottom line is, if it will help you make a better product, or you just want to save time or whatever, use whatever means necessary and do it! … Just don’t be stupid and tell everyone about it afterwards (like I just did) … Hah! Naaah, I’m just kidding :p

Anywho, it’s getting late and I’M going to bed now, sooo I’ll see you! お休み！(That’s Japanese and it says ‘Oyasumi’).

Hi everyone!

This will not be a long post, I just want to wish everyone a happy Midsummers Day! And even though the weather is not quite what it should be, may you all enjoy some good food and drink and, of course, enjoy the company of your loved ones!

If you don’t celebrate ‘Midsummers Day’ in your country, I’ll provide a simple google search for the term ‘Midsummers Day’s Foods’, enjoy! :p
http://tinyurl.com/midsummersdayfoods

Also, enjoy page 14!
Cya!