Friday, April 24, 2020

Paper Doll Veronika second animated page


Paper Doll Veronika has updated; Chapter 21, "It all comes down to a jumping contest", is complete!
The update starts here.
The chapter begins here.
The story begins here.

I said there would be more animated pages!

It updates every Friday. I recommend using the "Save your place" gadget, even once you catch up, because the site starts at the beginning and updates are several pages.

Veronika Bosch, who's never left her father's estate, has to go on a journey when envious animals kick her out. Half collage, half puppetry, it's the traditional media equivalent of an elaborate sprite comic.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Frog Alley Submersion

Prints available

Bonus art for my webcomic, Paper Doll Veronika.

I've been planning this one for a long time, as it's directly inspired by and modeled after a lake nearby where I swim in summer. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I wasn't sure at first whether to have Sibyl or Veronika, and went with Sibyl mostly because her color scheme fits in more, but since she lives nearby, she may have gone a-swimming there. It's all watercolored paper from which I then cut out the pieces.

Friday, April 17, 2020

Paper Doll Veronika update


Paper Doll Veronika has updated; Chapter 21, "It all comes down to a jumping contest", has begun!
The chapter begins here.
The story begins here.

It updates every Friday. I recommend using the "Save your place" gadget, even once you catch up, because the site starts at the beginning and updates are several pages.

Veronika Bosch, who's never left her father's estate, has to go on a journey when envious animals kick her out. Half collage, half puppetry, it's the traditional media equivalent of an elaborate sprite comic.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Happy Easter

An antique Easter card from my collection.


The crocuses are finally up. 
It's been a very difficult winter and Lent, but here's hope things are turning around. 
Jesus, Risen Lord, have mercy on us!

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Perpetual Vigil II process

The process for my Perpetual Vigil II picture:

The sketch. The altar is more detailed in the actual anime, but I had limited references.

I first laid down the lighting in Prismacolour and Mexpy markers.

For the local color, I wanted to use these Caran D'Arche watersoluble crayons my grandmother recently gave me. I'd only used them once before.

I lightly colored with the crayons in mixed layers...
And then went over it with a waterbrush. It was a bit nerve-wracking but satisfying to see how it blended! 
And then I shaded a bit more with black India ink and went over the outlines in brown marker for the final result.

Happy Holy Saturday! Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, Prisoner of Love, have mercy on us.

Friday, April 10, 2020

Paper Doll Veronika update


Paper Doll Veronika has updated; Chapter 20, "Unexpected Attack", is complete.
The update starts here.
The chapter begins here.
The story begins here.

Paper Doll Veronika returns to regular updates today; no irreverence is intended. That gold and silver one is by no means the most noble tree.

It updates every Friday. I recommend using the "Save your place" gadget, even once you catch up, because the site starts at the beginning and updates are several pages.

Veronika Bosch, who's never left her father's estate, has to go on a journey when envious animals kick her out. Half collage, half puppetry, it's the traditional media equivalent of an elaborate sprite comic.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Perpetual Vigil II


I needed to draw another picture of Marina in the cathedral because everything I said on the picture I did last year is exponentially more applicable now.

I wanted this one to be able to be seen, if not fully understood, by those who haven't yet watched all of Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle's Mystery-Solving File, so if you have watched it, or you don't mind knowing its revelations ahead of time, last year's picture, with an extensive explanation of the Eucharistic parallel, is here and I'll keep the description on this one spoiler-free, and just say I use the love between Marina and her husband as a reflection to help one understand the relation of the soul and Christ in the Eucharist.

It's obvious that what I said there about Jesus in the Eucharist as the Prisoner of Love has all the more relevance now, when the lay faithful are cut off from being with Him in His Sacrifice, with the suspension of public Mass in several countries. I have to say I disagree strongly with this decision. I am not one of those who thinks Corona is no big deal, but even if it be the worst plague in history, the Mass is more essential than anything in the world.

I do acknowledge this is a matter of prudence, something on which Catholics can disagree in good faith, but I am firm in my stance on the matter: I do not think it is a good decision. It would be far better to do as the bishops of Poland said: increase the number of Masses so that the congregations will be smaller; and to emphasize that the sick, infirm, and their caretakers are exempted, and that it is not necessary for everyone, or in fact anyone except the priest, who attends to receive Holy Communion.

In many places, fortunately, there is still Eucharistic exposition and adoration. (I would like to draw an additional picture for the places where it is prevented.) We may not be with Him in His Sacrifice, we may not receive Him, but we can be as close as we can to Him where He is contained, and love Him in silence until He is no longer imprisoned.

Pray that God bring the maximum good out of this situation, and please pray for my sister, that she not be put in a situation like Marina's--not analogously, but literally--please pray that her wedding, planned for June, is not obstructed.

Monday, April 6, 2020

Repost: Mary Magdalene's Perfume Bottle


Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was about to betray him, said: Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things that were put therein. Jesus therefore said: Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day of my burial. For the poor you have always with you; but me you have not always.
I wanted to repost this drawing I did last year of this scene from today's gospel, and focus on Judas. I am very much pleased with my choice to portray him clad as a modern cardinal bishop, (he was indeed a bishop, you know) with a certain pectoral cross.

Catholics can disagree in good faith about the prudence of barring the laity from attendance at Mass during this time. But for those bishops who are forbidding confessions and baptisms, even in danger of death... there is no other possible explanation but malice. They are the successors of Judas.

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Batman must end


As one who loved the story of Batman, I have to say I am not upset at the prospect of DC Comics suffering great financial loss, perhaps even collapsing. For the sake of the honest workers who will lose their livelihoods, I am sorry; but for those who vainly disfigure the story to flatter themselves and their racial and sexual idols, and for the sake of the story itself, I am glad.

It needs to stop.

Every story must have an ending. Even if it, like Batman, is one of these legends that can be adapted and re-imagined to a certain extent, it needs limits. Limits give definition and without definition, a thing is meaningless. Better Batman end forever than become an ugly Chinese ladyboy.

At first I had no interest in superheroes, then I liked Batman, then all of DC, and for a time I had absolutely no interest in any other superhero set. But then came One Punch Man, My Hero Academia, Arkhaven, and Flying Sparks, and I realized that the genre merits more than one multiverse. And now it is beginning to look like new, independent superhero stories may be the only way the genre will survive. I do think it is worth making survive. There are those who, when faced with corruption that the SJWs and perverts and communists have wrought to pieces of culture, argue that it was always no good anyway. Is it sour grapes or is it the refusal to value anything that isn't absolutely faultless? I don't know. But I don't think it's the right position. If there was nothing there that could be any good, the wicked would not have bothered to corrupt it. I've said before, a superhero should be one who stands ready at all times to sacrifice himself to protect the innocent. The deconstructors turned them into "edgy" psychotics and "representational" perverts because they don't believe in that. But we should.

Jon Del Arroz is one of those making this happen. He has a good post about all this and a list of all his comics here. I do have a dog in this fight, as Clockwork Dancer is drawn by me. It's not superhero though, at least not yet.