I've been drawing and writing The Chronicles of Crosarth since last fall, and one of the first characters designed for it (of course) was Commander Allison Friday, commanding officer of the HMS Hummingbird.
As I'd been planning a costume change for her in Chapter Five of the comic (which is currently in Chapter Four), I decided it was time to sit down and develop some new control art for the character.
Now as I've been drawing the comic, and have now practiced doing something other than stick figures, my skill has, at least in my opinion, improved. There are several things about Friday's old control art that bugged me which I've attempted to correct in this new version.
Y'know, like the fact that she has fingers now.
Some of these are changes I'd already been making when depicting her in other positions, while others are new (like I said before... fingers). I'm also going to try to be a little more consistent with her hair (as you can see, it varies in length even in the original control art), and the ever size-changing bag she wears on her belt.
Who knew that taking a character's jacket off would be so much work, huh.
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 0 ) ]
 One of my earliest memories is going to see a movie at a drive in theater when I was a kid. I don't remember what film it even was off the top of my head, but I remember the moment. Recently I had been thinking about it more and more, and after Crysta told me she'd never been to a drive in movie theater in her life, I decided we needed to remedy this.
The funny thing is Crysta and I spent years living in a town with a drive in movie theater and never went. The Gemini Drive In was well known to me by reputation (as it is owned by the same people who own one of the two regular theaters in Eau Claire, WI), but I never went. In Lafayette though, the nearest theater is an hour away from us in Monticello, IN.
But hell, that's close enough.
So Saturday night, Crysta and I got in the Versa, and headed north to the Lakeshore Drive-In to see Men In Black 3. We got there easily, taking country roads we'd previously explored on day trips. The heat was high in Indiana this weekend, but it was a dry heat - so we were more than comfortable.
That and the slushy Crysta got from the concession stand probably helped.
We only stayed for the first film (as we had an hour drive home), but the experience was fun and worth repeating. There's something ineffable about the drive in experience that makes it feel like much more of an event than seeing the same film in a regular theater. Something so vital, and I can't believe I had left this kind of experience behind in my childhood.
Adult me loved it.
So this is my advice to you: take advantage of the summer, find the closest drive-in (whether it be in your town or a two hour drive away) and enjoy yourself. Seriously, this is where it's at.
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 1 ) ]
 So Friday night, Sony and NBC announced they were bringing in new showrunners for Community's fourth season. Creator Dan Harmon would be kept on as a "Consulting Producer," and that was that. Of course, "Consulting Producer" means jack-all -- and Sony and NBC never even spoke to Harmon about replacing him. I could explain that part of the story more, but Dan Harmon himself elaborates on the topic better.
This is, frankly, an insane move on the part of Sony and NBC.
Community is a show with a singular vision. This unique tone is the direct result of it's dedicated, occasionally obsessive, creator. The reason it has such a freakishly rabid fanbase is because of this, and it's the reason there are people willing to do anything for the show.
Now, networks and studios replace show runners all the time, and ten years ago, replacing a show runner like this whose program had a particular voice would be difficult, but not really indicative of a fan revolt. When Aaron Sorkin left the West Wing, while he was admired, the fans were willing to give the show a chance without him. We live in a different age now though.
With Community, fans have directly connected to the shows stars, writers - and yes, creator. Dan Harmon maintains a solid presence on Twitter and Tumblr, and the fans have connected directly to him. Not only is his voice directly heard through the show, but it's a two way conversation. Fans of Community have connected not just with the characters, but with the heart and soul of the show itself in Dan Harmon.
So while the show has been renewed for a fourth season, things look even grimmer than before. Community without Dan Harmon won't just drop in quality, but many loyal fans of the show won't tune in at all. And while the network is hoping to make it more mainstream with the new showrunners, I don't think said "mainstream" is going to tune in either regardless what they do at this point.
So... they'll lose the old viewers and they won't gain new ones. From a business perspective, this is short sighted and just a tad ridiculous.
But it's NBC and Sony. I shouldn't really have expected anything else.
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 5 ) ]
Today's random art is a panel from the opening of The Chronicles of Crosarth's Chapter Four. In truth, I'm not super happy with the art, but I like the idea behind it (of Vinny ending up face on the floor) that I decided to share it again anyways.
In this case my love of the character trumped my disappointment in my execution. Such is life though.
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 0 ) ]
 So, earlier this week I released the second Lt. Snorkel EP (and overall fifth project I've done under that name). It's a simple little four track production of covers, and it's called Repeated Minds.
I know that I just put out a full length album a few months ago (Mistakes I Made On Purpose - which you can also download), but these are ideas that have been kicking around and I didn't want to put more than one cover on that particular release.
One of the tracks on Repeated Minds should be familar and, frankly, old hat for fans of my now defunct band Happy Wednesday. That is, of course, the industrial version of "The Hokey Pokey." This is actually the recording that was always intended for the never-materialized album "Beacon of Awesome," and features Matt Biedermann on Guitar prominently. The rest of the track though was actually performed by myself the way any other Lt. Snorkel song would - and while I've leaked it here and there, I've never formally put it out.
So I figured I should do something about that.
A version of Regdar and the Fighters's "Cloud Burst" appears as well on this, which features Vomit Hat Steve himself on vocals. Cloud Burst comes originally, of course, from the "Harry Potter and I Must Scream" that was put out earlier this year. I collaborated on the album, significantly contributing to two tracks - one of which was the reprise of Cloud Burst at the end of the album. But besides what showed up in the final release, I put together some stuff that Steve chose not to use, and this is one of them.
The rest of the tracks include, oddly enough, a Backstreet Boys cover, and a mashup of The Offspring's Gone Away with the Tears for Fears classic Mad World. Like I said, four simple tracks, all available for download for free.
Download them now and enjoy.
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 0 ) ]
 One of the interesting things Hulu has done in the last year is produce its first scripted original series - Battleground. Hulu was releasing one new episode a week as the season progressed, and the finale (episode thirteen) recently went up. If they never make another season, the show has more than enough closure - but I know I want more.
The series, presented in Mockumentary format, tells the story of a Democratic Senate Campaign in Wisconsin. It was shot entirely in Madison, and frankly makes me miss Wisconsin every time I watch it.
The cast is rock solid. I can't say that enough. The best part of the characters is that they're flawed and complex - the campaign manager "Tak" for instance will make you love him one minute, and then make you want to throttle him the next. They feel like real people.
Amusingly, there's an actress in this series who I've seen do other things, and I absolutely hated her in them... but lo and behold, she plays one of my favorite characters on Battleground.
Battleground gets both the feel of a campaign right along with the atmosphere of Wisconsin itself (which makes sense, as the creator of the series has both worked on campaigns and is from Wisconsin originally). I think of it as what Wisconsin politics felt like prior to Scott Walker's tenure as Governor. It's a story about the place I miss, not the place that's there right now.
The whole season is up on regular Hulu (no Plus required) to view for free, right now - so if you have the time, you should totally sit down and take a look. Each episode is 22 minutes long, and it's definitely worth your time.
You know, if you like good things.
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 0 ) ]
Post con depression is a terrible, terrible thing... but it's only because conventions themselves tend to be so much fun. I've been back from No Brand Con since Monday, but I couldn't quite get myself to write this until today for some reason or another.
There's no real profundity to my delay, just laziness mostly. I've had the motivation to keep my two comics on track, and that's about it.
In any case, today is my first day back at work since before the con, and I figured since reality was snapping itself back into focus, I should reflect on my annual, temporary exit from it.
Last year, it felt strange to be back - as it was my first year where I was not heavily involved in the production of the convention (beyond some public facing duties... which are all that's really left for me to do). This year I was even LESS involved in running the thing, but I found myself not feeling strange about it at all.
I think it's because I had gotten myself an artist alley table (which was all done above board), and because I always had something to "work," I wasn't as restless to start "helping out" (which would likely have resulted in my actually getting in the way).
Did the current staff do everything perfectly? No - but let's be honest, neither did I when I was actually in charge. They did a good job though, and if you know me (and how I critique things), that's actually exceptionally high praise. The con has stabilized in size, which is good because if it got any bigger, none of the hotels in the city of Eau Claire could physically hold the con still...
...but man, would we run a killer ad campaign if there were a bigger hotel in that town.
In any case, I'm sort of meandering here -- the con was a hell of a lot of fun, I sold some books, and I got to see a lot of old friends. In truth, I don't think I could ask for much more.
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 0 ) ]
 On Thursday night I'm hitting the road for Wisconsin, as No Brand Con is this weekend. I've been looking forward to it all year, and I anticipating an awesome time this weekend. Some bad stuff has gone down recently in my extended family which has made me wonder whether or not my trip will be cut short, but I'm going to stay positive.
I've got my books loaded already for my artist alley table, my panels and events are scripted, and while I still have a few more things to do (like memorize opening ceremonies), I'm happy to say things are moving forward in a generally decent direction.
I'm existing in this odd hybrid role of attendee/artist and staff. I'm "working" some high profile events (and my own panels), and it's all rather inside. On the other hand, I'm a paid attendee, and I registered for my artist table with the general public... waiting for the forms to be on the website for over a day before sending them in.
So am I staff or an attendee? Sort of both.
And it's weird.
I'm still excited though - I've already got that pre-con lump in my stomach. I've been hastily prepping comics so I have a buffer to make up for the normal time I'd be working on them. I'm staring at the calendar, wishing it were later in the week than it is.
I want to do more cons this year, but likely won't be able to add more to my schedule until the fall. I'm waiting to hear back from several about getting tables, but we'll see. I'm optimistic, but I try not to count on anything until I get something in writing.
But no matter what, I'm on for this weekend, I'm friggin' excited... and it can't come fast enough.
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 1 ) ]
 I pretty much live on my iPad 2, and have since I got my original one (which I managed to break a month ago). When I got my replacement (as I thankfully had three days left on my warranty), I decided to get a back case for the unit to protect it. Of course, I got a black back cover, and it no longer looked as awesome to have a gray smart cover... so I started to look at my options.
Sadly, the only black Smart Cover Apple makes is leather... and I didn't feel like spending $70 to replace my gray smart cover (which wasn't exactly broken). I went to look on Amazon to see if I could find a used one for sale, when I ran across this.
It was a knock-off Smart Cover. Sort of. It wasn't pretending to be made by Apple or anything, but still. At the time it was $10 (it's not in stock as I write this), and I thought "what the hell" and ordered it. A few weeks later (as I went for the free shipping option) it was in my mailbox.
And right now it's on my iPad.
And it's not bad, actually. It works fine with the iPad 2 (although Third Generation iPad owners may have problems with the on/off issue), and looks pretty good. Comparing it to the real smart covers (which start at $40), it shows it's cheapness. The cover is a much cheaper plastic than the nice polyurethane of the official ones. The underside isn't exactly a "microfiber" like the real one, but instead some sort of felt. While the spine magnets seem pretty solid, the activating ones are significantly weaker than the official one (which means it comes open more easily). But hey, it was only ten bucks.
The hinge is a little tight, so I hope that loosens up over time, but overall it's not terrible. Would I recommend it over the real one? Well... probably not. But it will do in a pinch.
See Also: Some Video of the Knock off Smart Cover
- Traegorn
[ Comments ( 0 ) ]
|
|
|
![Trae Dorn [dot] Com](http://www.trhonline.com/traedornproductionslogo-2025-web.png)
