In drawing The Chronicles of Crosarth, one of the biggest challenges is maintaining consistency not only in mechanical design, but also in the scale of the ships. To help myself out though, I make sure I keep a reference image to demonstrate the rough scale between these ships. I think the reference is interesting though, so I thought I'd share it with you.
There are only a few ships on the chart at the moment, as we've only really seen three airships in the comic (well, there was a fourth, but it was tiny and you'd have to be looking for it). I've included a ship I'm currently working on the design of as well, just because I like the way it's turning out (and because it will come into the story in a few chapters).
I have a bunch more concept designs that I will eventually be finishing off and adding to this chart over time (The Hummingbird and the Hawk are both new ship designs in the story, so I've had to design the airships they're replacing for one), and obviously the Hawk in this image is still missing it's turrets... but that's just because I'm still designing them.
I know where they go on the ship at least.
- Traegorn
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 I meant to post this a few days ago, but I ended up a little busier than I anticipated. This last weekend, in celebration of our second Wedding Anniversary, Crysta and I decided to go out and do what we enjoy the most: exceptionally nerdy exploration. As the days go by, I think it's becoming more and more evident that Crysta and I are secretly old people in disguise.
We took the short drive Northeast to Delphi, IN to check out Wabash-Erie Canal Park. The park is, frankly, kind of amazing. It's built around a small remaining section of the Wabash-Erie Canal, around which they've built an educational park about that period in history.
 There are historic buildings from the area that have been relocated to the grounds to create a "Pioneer Village" you can explore (including guided tours of the largest house on the grounds), an "Interpretive Center" museum detailing the history of the Canal, and - what may be one of the coolest parts - a canal boat ride on a 2/3 scale recreation of a canal boat.
The tours of the Cole House and the Boat tour cost money, but the rest of the park is, amazingly, free. If you're in this area of Indiana, it's definitely worth spending a few hours there.
Afterwards we grabbed a late lunch at The Stone House (which has, officially, the best burger I've tasted since moving to Indiana), and that night we drove over to Monticello to catch Brave at the Drive-In.
This was, of course, a fantastic way to spend a Saturday.
So yeah, that happened, and eventually it will happen again - as we were too tired to explore some of the areas of the park that were a little more of a hike down the trail. The moral of this story, like always, is to get your ass up and take a look at the world around you... because it's definitely worth it.
- Traegorn
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Today's random art is, like most of the random art I post these days, a panel from The Chronicles of Crosarth. It is, of course, the HMS Hawk approaching the HMS Hummingbird -- and version of this will likely end up being the cover of Book Two when that comes out in a few months.
I don't have a lot of other things to talk about, so we'll leave today's entry at that. Mostly I just like to post color versions of the ships so it's obvious they're not just monotoned.
- Traegorn
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Today is June 19th. An ordinary day for most people, but an important day for me. Why? Because two years ago today I got married to my beautiful wife Crysta.
I don't have a ton to say, because frankly I don't want to get all that sentimental in my blog today, but to say that these last two years have kicked ass would be an understatement at best.
Don't worry, I'm much better expressing my actual emotions to Crysta.
So yeah. We're going to actually do something for our anniversary on this upcoming weekend (as this last weekend we went to a Memorial Service for one of my family members - which I won't go into right now, because I want to keep this post positive), but we're not actually sure WHAT yet as we kind of plan these things on the fly.
But yeah, life is pretty much awesome.
- Traegorn
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 A couple of days ago, Peso posted the old music video for 1337Band's Koshuudenwa to his Facebook page. This, of course, led me to respond with my cover of the song I did a while back. And then... and then Steve did a cover.
And then Peso did another version... and then I did another.
And when you end up with five different versions of a song that no one's ever heard of outside of a closed circle of friends, clearly the only thing that you can do - and this is clearly a necessity - is create a Tumblr blog about it.
So, I present to you the dumbest thing I've put on the internet in quite some time - The Koshuudenwa Project.
The mission of The Koshuudenwa Project is simple: Collect every cover of Koshuudenwa ever recorded and encourage more people to cover the song. The chord progression is simple (and not even strongly adhered to) and we'll provide you with the lyrics. All you have to do is find the time, a camera, and whatever you feel like to accompany yourself. Record your cover, submit it to the blog, and we'll feature it.
I don't expect to get many submissions. Heck, I won't be surprised if I get zero - but I figured what the hell. There really isn't a good reason not to do this if you really think about it.
I mean besides good taste.
But on the other hand, there's a small chance this thing could take off. Maybe it's the next big internet thing, and it'll get referenced in some sitcom I ostensibly think is terrible. Maybe Koshuudenwa becomes regular vocabulary for the internet generation. Maybe yelling "Hyaku En!" in public will become a "thing." Maybe I'll end up on the TV!
Or maybe I just wasted ten minutes of my life throwing together a Tumblr blog.
That last one's more likely to be true.
- Traegorn
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Today's random art is, of course, the current crew of the HMS Hummingbird in my comic The Chronicles of Crosarth. The setting of the beach from Chapter One isn't really a spoiler as much as a convenient background I could use that prominently features the ship itself, so don't try to read into it at all.
I just liked the way it looked.
- Traegorn
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 So the long awaited Wisconsin recall occurred this Tuesday. Now, honestly, as a life long Democrat, supporter of Unions and former Wisconsinite, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely disappointed with the gubernatorial results. I didn't like Scott Walker when he was my State Senator, I didn't like him as Milwaukee County Supervisor, and I sure as all heck hate him as Governor of my former home state.
But what happened is what happened. We shouldn't be lamenting, but instead asking the question "Where are we going?" Quo Vadimus indeed.
Tuesday's results weren't all bad. There's good news in all of this darkness, and that's Democrats took back the Wisconsin State Senate.
Now, this sounds a little more impressive than it is, as half the State Senate is up for re-election in the fall and the legislative body is out of session until after these elections. This means that, frankly, we're not going to get anything done with this new found majority.
But it's not an unimportant one - frankly, the Republicans haven't been above calling a "special session" and pushing through law when you wouldn't expect them to. By having a Democratic majority in the State Senate, you guarantee that this can't happen.
In other words, they can't make it worse.
What amazes me is how the national media keeps talking about how this may reflect on how Wisconsin votes in the Presidential election - and in truth, I think it does nothing more than prove how little the national media understands Wisconsin Politics. This Recall election was a battle of Partisans. The split ticket voters, frankly, stay home for days like this.
They don't stay home for Presidential elections.
You have to remember that in 2004, 50% of the vote went to John Kerry in Wisconsin while 53% went to Russ Feingold. While there was likely some downticket falloff (and some Nader voters), it still means a sizable percentage of people voted for both George W. Bush and Russ Feingold.
Puzzle that one out for a minute.
What I'm saying though is that while Walker remains in office, it doesn't even come close to meaning any improvement of Mitt Romney's chances in the Dairy State. This literally indicates nothing in regards to what will happen in November. Frankly, any data taken this early in a state so split down the middle is meaningless. Make your predictions come October, and until then, you're just reading tea leaves.
So, in wrap up, while the Republicans held their ground in the biggest race, they still lost ground. It's not the victory we wanted, but it's the victory we got -- and the key is to move forward.
Y'know, like it says on the flag.
- Traegorn
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As I posted last week, I've been doing some character model updates for The Chronicles of Crosarth's upcoming Chapter Five. The second character I'm tweaking out of the main cast is Hummingbird XO Ilyena Masters. There's not a whole lot to say here that hasn't been mentioned before (and I frankly never liked her original control art). I guess the only real significant change (beyond her now more realistic proportions) is that now her hair is down.
- Traegorn
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 I think I've mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating, that one of the things my wife Crysta and I are trying to do more often is explore the area around us. In this day and age, it's exceptionally easy to stay home and just live in our comfortable, insular bubbles.
In our continued efforts, this Saturday we decided to venture over to the local Zoo here in Lafayette, IN. It's not a large facility, but as it's free, checking it out seemed like a no-brainer.
I was actually quite impressed by the Columbian Park Zoo when I got there. Again, it may not have the diversity of the big city zoos I grew up with (nor the larger animals), but the habitats were modern, well maintained, and overall it was a really cool place.
I wish I had more to write about the place, but I don't really have the ability to come up with descriptors better than "It was a zoo," "It was cool," or "It was free."
 On Sunday we decided to head out once again into the random world surrounding the town, and we went on a drive out of the city on one of the myriad of highways that pass through Lafayette. Venturing down Highway 52, we came across a lone historical marker on the side of the road.
The marker listed the location of the first successful C-section. The curious thing was the language, which started out with "On the kitchen table of this house" (emphasis mine). I don't know if you can see this, but in my picture... there is no house. Researching online, I think there used to be a house there (as this page from 2001 shows a house there), but lord knows what happened in the last decade to it.
 We continued on our drive, taking random turns, and looping around a portion of western Indiana. At the end, we stopped by Sugar Creek Park in Crawfordsville, walking through the woods, and getting a nice close up view of some vultures.
For the record, Vultures are actually pretty cool looking birds - regardless of their less than wonderful reputations.
I sometimes wonder why we haven't always gone out and ventured into the world around us. It's such an easy thing to do, and frankly has become such a rewarding experience. As I said before, it's far to easy to just sit at home and turn on yet another TV show. The very nature of our weekends have changed from being quiet days on the couch to exploring the countryside for hours at a time.
Sometimes you just have to be willing to stop watching the world around you through a digital filter, and start getting out into it yourself.
- Traegorn
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A couple of days ago, Peso posted 
So the long awaited Wisconsin recall occurred this Tuesday. Now, honestly, as a life long Democrat, supporter of Unions and former Wisconsinite, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely disappointed with the gubernatorial results. I didn't like Scott Walker when he was my State Senator, I didn't like him as Milwaukee County Supervisor, and I sure as all heck hate him as Governor of my former home state.
I think I've mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating, that one of the things my wife Crysta and I are trying to do more often is explore the area around us. In this day and age, it's exceptionally easy to stay home and just live in our comfortable, insular bubbles.