Stolen from ichiban_victory and dqbunny ... For thanksgiving I guess, though I AM CANADIAN (I had to caps it...) so my thanksgiving is long gone... The meme question of the day is:

If you had to narrow down what you're thankful for to just one thing, what would it be, and why?

I think if I would have to be thankful for would probably be somewhere between the people I love and the drawing talent I have. Being thankful for the people is an obvious statement. I love the people. Love them to BITS. But i'm also very thankful I can draw and that I haven't lost the ability to draw in a freak accident of some kind. It's my passion, my main hobby and a great wait to meet people and get involved in art events. Love being able to draw. So. Much.

I don't seem to be doing much with the beloved talent though. I seem to be nonstop tired lately and well, that sure doesn't work well with the motivation and the inspiration to create. I just started working on the comic Jabberwocky again after a ...almost 2 month hiatus? Too much stuff going on I guess. I have a big problem ending my projects. I start a million projects at once, chase a million rabbits and end up with not much. I gotta learn to focus my energies and stop spreading myself too thin!

Here's a jabberwocky page. Yeah, it's kindoff a blood and creepy story like ROSE, but the next story will be an adventure! More 'Miyazaki meets Tim Burton' then 'Twisted fairy tale of death'....



-Isa

That guy was funny. I kinda like this type of 'street' people (Don't wanna say 'homeless'). They kinda offer a friendly conversation for their buck. It's great comic material!

Street wiseman!

He looked a little strange though. His left eye seemed... rotten. It was scarred over and red, but it wasn't a 'cool anime scar'... It looked painful, rotten and gray. I wonder if it's a recent injury that didn't get treated or an old injury that looks... god awful.



oh well.

...Put raccoons in his car. Because that's how they do it on the street, yoh!

-Isa

I don't respond seriously to HAWT.



Not much to report tonight. I think i'm going to go enjoy my bed and some drawing. Busy, very social weekend ahead! book signing and reunion of movie college buddies! Yes it's true... I made movies in college. Bet you guys didn't know that XD

In other news, my god of the day is Peter Gabriel. I love his music right now. Especially the super-cute ending credits song for Wall-e.

Oh, and work is doing better. I'm getting work thrown at me. And I love it! goodbye, boredom!

***Remember you guys - signing in Montreal @ Librairie Raffin in Place Versailles (subway station Radisson)! Journal people get a special bonus drawing!

-Isa

You gotta admit, playing soccer (European football) to solve international affairs and wars would be hilarious and probably well-received by the public.

Oh well. Never gonna happen. A girl can dream though.

My coworkers seem to think it's hilarious i'm bored. They say i'm too used to stressful jobs and that the will take me out of that. I am exagerating though... I mean, it's not even been two weeks. I gotta learn to chill, stat! (that seems like a contradictory sentence!)

This week, I a in love with Jeff Smith, creator of the comic book Bone. I wish I could kidnap him and get him to show me how he inks. There's great youtube videos about that! Look at him go! He's a god!

I think I might try to draw a mock page just to try to ink more like him... His work is just so SOLID. I know the re-published Bone in color and most people prefer it... But I just love his black and white work better. Jeff Smith, Craig Thompson and Terry Moore are artists that draw to publish in black and white. So whenever someone photoshops their comics, it always looks off to me... Then again, i'm kindoff one of those artists too. not a godly one, but a black and white one.

-Isa

Not much to say lately. Still getting used to the job. It's a little boring right now, mostly due to the fact that I don't know enough things yet so I can't really work alone. I usually do a part of the work and then I have to wait for someone to approve of it so I can go on. But it's a small company so it takes about 45 minutes for someone to be free to help me out. So yeah, a little boring. I never thought I would say this but I kinda miss the good old stressful rush-rush-rush on the grounds that I was always busy.

I'm taking a bit of time to revamp the portfolio website. I want to change the design into something more...designy. So i'm currently working on a few templates. Also, I would like to include a french version. I need to motivate myself to do some work. I'm a lot in need to find my old motivation. I dunno where it went. Maybe i'm still jetlagged from the move? I almost feel like it's going to take me a whole month to get my old groove back.

For those of you who are in the Montreal region - I've got a book signing this weekend for ROSE at Librairie Raffin in Place Versailles (7275 rue Sherbrooke est, Montréal, QC AKA next to the subway station Radisson.) Here's a treat! Bring an extra page of paper - if you come up to me and call me 'secondlina' i'll make you a fandom drawing just for you! :D I swear!

Have a bit of muse - for funzies.



-Isa

Argh. You know how somedays everything reminds you of books you read, movies you saw, stories you created? Today was one of those. Yep, the two systems at my work ARE called that. yup, there was that angry looking asian chick with the poofy hat that really should be offered the role of Toph in the upcoming movie. And yup, Harry Potter scarves are SO IN. It's a little weird how fiction can be omnipresent in our mind. Even without referencing to characters, our society is so full of known and distinct imagery. Today, I ate in a chinese restaurant with a giant poster of Klimt's The Kiss, framed and gold painted. It looked cool. I was amused by how I can still recognize paintings from my art history class.

Long story short, today had a lot of footnotes and references XD

In other news, i'm going to do BOTH Expozine and the family thing. Basically i'm going to leave later on Saturday. I think i'm gonna be tired, but it's worth it.

Now, i'm going to go to bed so I can take a nap until Link gets back from his evening shift around 1am. We want to watch Up together. But I still need a little shut-eye.

Also, god damn I love mandarine ice tea. I am so addicted to special flavor ice teas. It's incredible!

-Isa

*say above title in whiny voice for further impact* New things eat old work things. Run little Works, run!

Man oh man. I'm kinda tired today. All this new job thing coupled with no sleep is making me cranky. I'm not sleeping because my body is still stuck on Link's night schedule. I need to tire it out so I can switch. C'mon body! work with me!

I still haven't decided whether I wanted to go to the Montréal Expozine or the family gathering in Ottawa. Both things sound fun and both are a once-in-a-year thing. Decisions, decisions. On one hand, it sucks to miss out on family, but it's family. Unless they get hit by a few buses over the next weeks, they will be happy to see me another time and understand that Expozine is important for an artist like me. On the other hand, family is kinda 'sacred' as they say. And i'm not really ready to present my work to people, so going to Expozine will probably be mainly me checking out other people's stuff and spending money I don't really have to help out fellow artists... I though of going earlier and then leaving for Ottawa, but Expozine only opens at noon on Saturday.

Maybe I should flip a damn coin.

Long shift tomorrow. Wish me luck guys.

-Isa

So, I started my new job today. Not much to report aside from the fact that I am tired and will most likely keep being tired until I am used to the job.

I work in a strange building that was a factory for various things (including Coleco Toys!) over the years. Then it was turned into lofts, then separated into various business offices for various companies that range from business services to web services to community theatre. As such, the building is full of strange things, including a lot of may-be-fake-but-kinda-feel-real-when-I-poke-them suits of armors. It's neat. I like a strange workplace. :D

This weekend in Montreal it's the Expozine, aka fair for self-published comics. I really want to go. But I think I gotta go to Ottawa this weekend for family affairs. *sigh* So many things to do, so many conflicting dates!!!

I'm working on my own comics. Especially Psychopomp. I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out how to build the scenario. I figured out what I want to happen in the story, but not really how to start it off. Basically, I don't know which character has to get the ball rolling. I think I may start with the character of Death.

The art for psychopomp is pretty! LOOK:



And on that note...

-Isa

Mwahahahahahahaha. Naked.

In other news, I did a little thing I do every so often - go to Comingsoon.net and list all the movies in the coming year that I want to see.

So far I got these:

• The Lovely Bones - December 11, 2009. Heard almost nothing about this movie. But check out the trailer. It looks really interesting!
• Sherlock Holmes - December 25, 2009. A lot of fans are complaining about this being a god awful movie before it's even out. I say whatever. It's kinda like the american version of the Three Musketeers. It's over the top, but still a lot of fun.
• The Princess and the Frog - December 11, 2009. 2D goodness.
• Avatar (not the airbender one. The Sci-fi one) - December 8th, 2009. 3D animation mind boggling eye melting amazing.
• Alice in wonderland - March 05, 2010. Combining Tim burton and one of my favorite stories? You bet your butt i'm there! Though I am afraid Johnny Depp will take over the movie (all the trailers make it look like 'the hatter in wonderland').
• Season of the Witch - March 19, 2010. What? I enjoy kid movies.
• IRON MAN TWOOO! - May 17, 2010. Considering I find both lead actors incredibly hot this movie is superhero fun for me.
• Shrek Forever and Ever (aka 4) - May 21, 2010. Even though I live pretending they never made the third, I'm still gonna give the fourth a chance and go see it.
• Prince of Persia - May 28, 2010. Time to turn back time babeh.
• Sex and the City 2 - May 28, 2010. More of a buddy movie. I might not go see it if no females wanna go with me.
• Toy Story 3 - July 18, 2010. BUZZ LIGHTYEAR IN SPANISH!
• The Last Airbender (aka Avatar the cartoon in live action) - July2, 2010. I've already got a possy to go see this movie with.
• Another Harry Potter - November 19, 2010. It's everyone's favorite magic gang with all the crazy internet fans.
• Rapunzel - November 24, 2010. Disney, my love.

Check out the trailers for these bad boys on youtube. There's great stuff!

-Isa

....Seriousness never lasts very long around me.

Awesome cool news. I managed to contact some old friends from college here in Montreal. One of them is going to come by this weekend. The others are pretty busy... But at least I have their contact info now! Yay! I missed them!

I also got an email from someone who had picked up a ROSE in a book store. She wrote to tell me how much she liked it. That was really sweet!

I went to get art materials today. Okay, for you canadians out there, you all know what a 'Wallacks' is right? It's a great art material store, though the prices are a little high. There is a few of those stores in Ontario. But none in Montréal. In Montréal they have something called Omer De Serre which is more of a granny and kid craft store then an art store. I didn't find HALF of what I needed. Next time I go to Ottawa, i'm totally going to a Wallacks and STOCKING UP ON STUFF!

Despite not finding art stuff, I still found a few things while shopping today... including:



PIKMINS PLUSHIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah. They disapear when I startle them. MWAHAHAHA.

It's a little late, but here is a great picture of Link's (Double-sided) Halloween costume. He constructed it before going to work (I didn't see it.) and tried to scare me when he got home wearing it. Unfortunatly, as you all know, creepy really doesn't get to me that much. So it failed. But it's still a pretty sweet costume. He organized a little Halloween celebration at his job for his team (Link is a lead in a mobile game testing team at Electronic Arts here in Montreal). Me thinks he's a good little boss XD

    

Over and Out!

-Isa

Well, it seems I got a job. I start on Monday.

It's an administrative job, full time. It pays a bit less then my old job, but I can get bonuses so it's cool. I'm a little sad my 'vacation' is over so soon, but a girl needs money to live, amiright?

Drawing wise, now that my Muse tracked me down, I seem to feel more inspired. It's still hard to get me to sit at the drawing table though. I wonder why?

Big ''Yay, the apartment is painted and unpacked" party this weekend. If you are in Montreal or willing to travel, let me know and i'll send you the party info.

For fun I drew these: creepy versions of the Sailor Scouts, based on their powers. It makes me laugh!



( More Creepy Sailors )

-Isa

I told you guys I would be re-using the Crazy Silent Muse again. I just love her.

She had a little adventure!

In other news...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE PANELS!



Now commencing year five.

Thanks to everyone who followed the journal all this time. Thank you for all the people who talked about the journal to others, the people who comment, or simply the people who lurk just to get a good laugh. You guys are awesome.

I need to get a better posting routine. I've been really slacking off this past month. XD

Now I must play Rockband....

Isa

Seeing Astro kinda re-awoke me old love for Robots. Yes, I love Robots and Zombies and Batman. I am a 12 year old boy, apparently.

Seems like a good time to mention this:



Metropolis is a classic black and white silent movie made of awesome. Speaking of Astro Boy actually, some of you may know that Astro Boy's creator actually did his own version of Metropolis, which was in turn adapted recently into an (excellent) animation movie. However, both Metropolis have barely anything in common, mostly due to the fact that the anime version was done after the creator only saw the Metropolis poster. He never saw the movie itself. And yes, both the anime version and the ''Original'' are awesome.

Today, I spent the day with a fellow comic book artist, Sandra, who had released her own book at the same launch as ROSE. We quickly became friends and decided it would be awesome to do a comic book together, mainly me at the sketching and her at the inking (her inking talents are out of this world) and since we both love Metropolis so much, we figured doing our own adaptation of it might be fun!

( METROPOLISSSS SKETCHES! )

In any case, I know i've got a lot of things running art wise (I'm only trying to make a million comic books with a zillion people!) but I think I really want to do these projects eventually. All these ideas, either initiated by me or by other people, have crazy amounts of potential. I guess I kinda hope i'll find a part time job I can live off.

Which reminds me, i've got interviews for the next 4 days!!!!! *does a high-five pose* GIMMEEEEE SOOOME!

Over and out.

Isa
 

Long time no see, heh guys? I had trouble with my computer. Well, one of my computers. The one attached to my scanner that is so old that they don't make drivers for it. In any case, my computer keeps freezing for no reason and freaking out. I think it may be dying. If my motherboard coughs up blood, I may just have to give my computer a mercy killing. I think it's about time I upgraded. But that will have to wait until I find a job and you know... collect money.

In other news...



ASTRO BOY!!!!!!

Yes. I went to see that movie. Because it's Astro Boy dammit. Osamu Tezuka, his creator, aka the god of manga, is a man I truly admire. I was lucky - more of his works and more of the anime adaptations of his works were available in french when I was a kid. So I got influenced by his narrative style a lot. Of course, in this case, this is the american 3d adaptation of Astro Boy. I dunno if you guys saw, but it got a lot of pretty negative to fair reviews online. I saw it and thought it was great. It's not a breathtaking movie for the ages (though the animation is very, very pretty) but it's got a good saturday matinee feeling and a some good action. A lot of people said the movie was 'dumbed down for kids' and 'glossed over'... But dammit, you can't compare it to the original series. The original series had something like 10 seasons to expand on the characters and their internal debates. The movie had 2 hours. I think for a two hour movie pulling on a mythic series, it gave a fun product. It's not a jewel on the crown of cinema, but it's the kind of movie I would put on my shelf next to Happy Feet or Finding Nemo.

My only complaint-ish thing is the character designs. The three main characters (Astro, his dad and Dr. Elephun) had the original manga-ish design but the rest of the characters seemed to have the more classic american almond eyes and smaller features that you find a lot in 3d animation these days. It made the first three seem kinda cartoony at times.

So there you have it. Astro Boy. Not awesome, but definitly a good popcorn movie. But it's hard to please people when the original (and the embellished memory people have of the original) is so ground-breakingly amazing. I think the internet nerd herd was expecting too much. They wanted something mythical, when you know that one way or another, most people who are going to see this movie are going to be kids that don't even know what manga is.

Also, robots are awesome.

And yes, they kept his butt machine guns in.

-Isa

I'm really not a huge fan of Michael Jackson. I was definitely not one of the chicks who cried when he died. But I have to admit that Thriller is and will remain one of the coolest things I saw as a child on television. I mean zombies? In a music video? Clearly, my obsession for the occult and the weird might have somewhere around that time and Thriller was just a nice cherry on the delicious rotting cake. I have to admit that the guy had ideas and deserves respect. I'm also a little disgusted so many people are cashing in on his death. It's to be expected, but still.

Also, as inappropriate as it might be for me to say this, don't you all find Michael Jackson as a zombie to work on a couple of levels nowadays?

In other news, I haven't drawn much lately. Really. I'm not in a drawing mood at all. Even less for drawing comics. Maybe I should go buy a new set of shiny crayons. That always kinda gets me back into drawing.

Job search still ongoing. I filed for Employment Insurance (aka money the government gives you until you find a job) today. Because at the rate, I might actually need it.

I'm going to finish painting the living room today if it's the last thing I do!!!!! *bites brushes, looking victorious*

-Isa

If I published a book of illustrations and sketches, do you guys think it would be interesting?

In the same vein, would a book version of all the Secondlina's Panel jokes be interesting?

Just wondering and stuff.

-Isa

Just a little drawing i'm doing for a website banner, as requested by my buddy and fellow comic artist Stan. It's got a chick and a Foo Dog and a James Jean feel thing going on.

I've got a bunch of comic ideas but not that much time to draw them. The apartment is still in construction and my old job still needs me for contracts. But next week I plan on starting to sketch out the special halloween comic of this year. This LJ is getting pretty old! And you all follow it! Thank you for following it and motivating me to post frequently.

I had an interesting moment yesterday. I took a nap and when I woke up, I had dreamed of all the plot for the comic book i'm currently working on. Poof. Like that, my brain worked out all the plot holes. While I was sleeping. I wish my brain would do that every time I go to sleep! I'm a little afraid of forgetting the stuff before I get to write it down.

In this apartment's studio room, you can see a fabulous specimen of the world's shitiest windows. Seriously. The thing came apart when we opened it this morning. Bad window. We should probably tell the apartment people to fix'em.

My old landlord rented out my old apartment! So i'm getting (a part of) this month's rent back. Yay! Ironically, half of my old apartment's monthly rent fully covers my share of this appartment's rent. That was a stupidly expensive apartment.

I need to start talking to friends next week or something. I've been so antisocial lately. Many sorries to my proximity and online buddies.

-Isa

I am amused by the fact that Mark Hamill (aka Luke Skywalker) did a lot of voice acting for memorable villains and shifty anti-heroes. I wonder if he likes to play villains? Also, I can't draw the Joker of Lord Ozai worth a damn, apparently.

The apartment is slowly being constructed. It really feels like a giant game of Tetris. I plan on finishing the studio today, and hopefully have it unpacked tomorrow morning. Then only the living room left to paint. And the whole apartment to clean. I can do it!

The comic festival thing went okay. I wasn't expecting much. I bought a bunch of comics though, including a few i've been dying to read. So i'm happy.

I found a Pikmin plushy. OOOOOH. It is awesome. I also found some rarer mangas for my brother. Montréal, you are full of secret treasures!

Montréal kinda has a few jerks too. I got shoved out of a subway by a pretty rushed pedestrian and landed on my ass/shoulder. So much for subways being traffic-free.

Tired today for some reason... I might take a nap in between painting.
-Isa

I'm not good at relaxing. I've been out of work for 4 days (and I even still have a form of work in contracts) and yet i'm sent spinning in a panic frenzy. I guess I was raised with the idea that not having 'something to do' was bad. Or something. As Link keeps saying (and I agree) it might take me a little while (a month or two) to get a good job. I've got savings and i'm intitled to Unemployment insurance, so it's not the lack of money that scares me. I guess I just worry about being lazy or something. I am not good with limbo. But I need to accept that I might be jobless for a while if I want to find a good job. Finding my last job took me a good six months! I'm giving myself maximum 2 months to find my new one. Since i've got the luxury of being able to take the time to search and find the perfect job, I will.

Sickness is starting to clear up. For some reason, whenever I have a fever, I get really trippy hallucinations. I guess over-active imaginations aren't good all the time!

This weekend i'm going back to Ottawa for the Gatineau comic festival. For those of you in the area, it's usually at the museum of civilisations in Gatineau, but due to a strike at the museum, it's now in Jacques-Cartier Park right next to it. it's a saturday-sunday thing. Come and see me if you can! I'll make you a pretty drawing.

I'm staying in Ottawa until Tuesday it seems. My old boss called me to do some extra work from afar. Turns out, a part of that work I can't actually do out of the office and the newbies can't handle it. So my boss kinda hinted that since I was in the area this weekend, I could step into the office and finish a few more things for them. meh. I'll do it. But i'm going in my damn jeans. no way i'm packing a full costume just to go debunk a website. Sorry.

Speaking of sorry, I can't seem to stop apologizing lately. Link must me really tired of me apologizing every time I open a box and release a swarm of my junk on the floor... I have a lot of junk. And I haven't even opened the boxes ACTUALLY called 'junk' yet.

*goes to pack for the weekend*

Over and Out

-Isa

WTF LJ? I wrote an enormous post and you deleted it.

Oh well. Long story short: i'm in Montréal, though I didn't come by boat (sailing on...my imagination?) but I did bring my muse, my fandom, my works and my characters with me.

I've been sick since sunday with a nasty cold, so apartment renovating and job searching didn't really go anywhere (nor did I). Tomorrow i'm going at a job fair to seek some work. Apartment wise, i'm connected again (sweet, sweet addictive internet) and Link and I managed to finish (sorta) the bathroom and the kitchen. Only the living room and the studio to go! C'mon!

I'll show you guys photos when it looks like more of a house.

I'm happy i'm with Link but I still feel a little out of place and uprooted. I guess I was more attached to Ottawa then I though. But I know some people here, and online, and home is only 2 hours away, so I think i'll be okay in the long run. Especially if I eat cookies often.

The appartment is close to all the necessities (pharmacie, food store, video rental, etc, etc.) so i'm happy! It's a good apartment in a good neihborhood (jewish neihborhood. Lot's of funny hats and kosher shops), it's a little far from St-Denis street (aka street of a million bookstores/comic stores where Isa likes to spend her hard-earned cash and beg shopkeepers to adopt her) but as soon as I get a subway pass, I shall laughs at distance and rush hour traffic. Hahaha!

Okay, time for me to take my kleenex box and die in a little corner. Cold FX, you lied to me! I am NOT cured in three days! Curse you!

P.s. - I'm looking for new songs for my mp3 player. Got a favorite song you want to share? Give me a name and/or a link. Feed the artist with some tunes! :D

Over and out!

-Isa