Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Contest OVER!

Alrighty matey! Today our two contests ended and now... mhhh it's time to vote! Yah?
I am going to put polls in the sidebar (since the Fan Art poll also ended).

For Foxy's contest... we have 3 entries:
Dress A
You can get a better look here
Dress B
You can get a better look here

by elianthos80



Dress C You can get a better look here



by Boys-In-Love








Our Friend Boys-In-Love already won (as she was the only participant) thanks to this beauty here, in the category ARTISTS for the Draw your Wilson Kane contest. So you can ask anything you want from me (except for my kidneys cuz they are no good, I'm telling ya! ahr ahr ahr).

Now... for the NON ARTISTS category... we have soooo many entries!
I need to figure out a way to make a poll!
In the meantime... vote for the Fox and vote for Fickle <_3_>___l

Monday, August 30, 2010

More Chubby notes and blabber

Sorry I was absent today, all day, but we started project week in school and this is going to be fun!
In my spare time I still worked on TPB, anyways, the lettering is done and from tomorrow I start rendering.
Update is coming up really fast... on friday! I will make it... Deda, fight! <_0_>__l Fight, spit!
I forgot to post more of the chubby notes because I went on a flash doll rampage hahahaha.
I made a couple more of these and, yes, they will be turned into wallpapers too, if you like... but after the update. Plus I am planning an one page special for Pifo.
Today I also received an interesting request/commission.

My colleague gave me an interesting idea, today, during our tea break (we were actually working on a story, over tea break, ha haha so much for a break!)... and I am going to pick his brain very often on this because he is very good at coming up with ideas and creates very cool t-shirts.
So he kinda commissioned a more manly design look for the guys to work with and manly colors too.
In short I will be doing a Men Pocky version of the guys hahahaha.
(Too bad I'm more into strawberry flavor).

I think this would be interesting and will widen the range of drawings I dedicated to this comic, so far.
We have vector, flat looking illustration, more soft and pencil looking ones and the chibi ones... The Fan Art will be more in my own, personal, textured style (it will look very Disney meets Kanashimi no Belladonna on acid LOL).

I am already drawing the cover for chapter 8, as well. And the Cover for volume 2... entered its final design stage.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Cassandra Flash Dress up Doll



Flash Cassandra dress up doll by ~Dedasaur on deviantART
There she is, our bottomless pit of hunger and lies! Ain't she pretty? No wonder the Doc likes her.
I was uploading to Deviant Art and this thing shows up:

I laugh very easily, I know, but it cracked me up!

"Yo, Are you faster than me at making pirates' clothes disappear?" XDD

Is it just me or some banners are just plain hilarious even out of context? XDDD

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Another naked guy!



flash Josh Habel dress up doll by ~Dedasaur on deviantART

Another dollie for me mateys! One more girl and 3 more guys and we are done!
Actually I have to show you this... while I was drawing the Illustrator file and making his clothes... I turned on and off a couple of layers layers, right, and this came out:

Wahahahah so kinky! I was rolling on my desk laughing like an idiot!
Anyways, what's up with the pose. Naughty boy, are you checking out if your little friend Peppiniello is still alive? Well, you might have circulatory problems if you wear tight pants, you know... you might even go blind! XDD
Ah, boys will be boys... so err... Kane's little friend has a name too.
Why? It's a guy thing, I guess... I am not going to ask them crazy questions so if you wanna know about that kind of stuff you ask them yourself!
I'm sure a couple of them will be glad to answer (especially Kane and the Doctor, they are the boasting kind). I'll make sure the others will answer as well, because I'm an evil lizard.
Are you an evil lizard, Fickle?
<_3_>___l Fffff, I'm fleeping, don't bug me, just vote for me!

Chubby Pirates

I think Nodame, from Nodame Cantabile, is right when she says that Mozart is pink. But I do see this kind of pink when I listen to Mozart... is an antique looking pink and goes nicely with browns and strawberry pink.
So because of Amadeus I cam up with chubby pirates and there will be more of these. Ahahahaha. Here's a wallpaper.


Actually I made this drawing when I was waiting for my food at Cedele (I like Cedele but aside from the breakfast set I still haven't found anything else particularly tasty or to my liking).
Because I had been going around eating I felt I was like Kane, going island hopping and tasting the good foods of life hahahaha.
The difference between me and him is that I might get chubby and he doesn't... so I decided: I wanna see chubby Kane. Apparently Castalia still liked him, particularly in the second pose. The one I picked.


And because they are nice and chubby an almost square format suits them better and I wish I could make little post - its or small notebooks out of these he he he. I used to design stationary and it's fun. If I find a shop in Singapore that can print small set of stationary for me I'll totally go for it.
BTW this will be a multicolor notebook... because I am preparing pages for the others too... including Pifo and Pea and Josh.
Time for me to go to work, now... see you later.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Tic tac... something!

I lost count of my tic tacs! Hahahaha

So... apparently Castalia is still polishing the treasure, Kane has lots of treasure... probably that's why he doesn't attack any passing ships... mhhh, I wonder. The guys get to talk around the dinner table, probably about Kane's behavior. Bad, bad Kane!

The editing is almost done, but I have to seriously work this weekend so I won't see lettering and rendering until monday!

Tomorrow I'll post some little chibi drawings. I watched Amadeus today! That movie is soooo darn good and Mozart makes me see pink and cute stuff... like pink elephants even though I don't drink and don't get drunk ahahahahaha.

Actually I draw chibipirates on my chibinotebook when I go out on saturdays and sit to drink kopi... and I was on meeting today and I doodle while I listen to meetings and many more chibi pirtes came out.

I guess I'll do a set of stationary with them hahahahaha.

wallpaper 7

I don't have a new drawing for you today but I have a freebie.
I finally turned this drawing into a wallpaper so, for the Kes and Wes fan, you can finally change the old one with the new one, if you want to.

Also, this morning, I opened Tumblr to realize... you can recommend the blog into a specific category: comics!

I mostly talk about Balthasar on that too because... well I connected the FB page to twitter and twitter fo tumblr so only Balthasar goes around (because what ends up on tumblr comes back on my FB personal account LOL - so I spam myself a lot too).

But if you use it and want to recommend it here's the link: http://www.tumblr.com/directory/recommend/comics/dedasaur

Don't waste the buck on the pirate sticker, no matter how cool it looks! Everybody puts sticker and then they never stand out LOL.

...now Deda has to figure out how to have this thing fit in the page with the other wallpapers... mhhhh....

BTW the comic is coming along pretty well and we'll have a Pifo Special this week too, because I am sure you miss Rose... what do you mean: who is Rose? Ha ha ha ha...

Ah, remember: Wilson Kane and Foxy contests are about to end... and we already have to dialogues entrances in the Pillow talks contest.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

NEW CONTEST!

Because the Kane and the Foxy contests are about to end (and so is the fan art poll)... I've decided to start a new little game.

I doodled this thing last night, it was past my bedtime and my friend was telling me I was not being a good kid staying up so late: pas sage! (she says in French).
You can see that all I had in mind was my bed. ZZZZZZZ
But then I realized: Hey, these things could have dialogue and it would be nice to listen to some pillow talk.

So what do you say we do that: You come up with dialogues for this illustration and I'll put the winner in and post it in the comic - with credits - and as usual there's always a give away drawing.

Of course I have my own idea of what they might be saying to each other but I am not going to spoil this for you.

We'll play with this 'till the end of September. I'll make sure to remind you often. Your answer MUST be posted here, in the comments (if you cannot post cuz you don't have an ID you can always email tynstudios(at)gmail.com

What say you, Fickle? --- Why is this lizard always around when I type?
<_3_>___l can I write porn, spit? Why am I never in the pictures? Spit.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Calm.

I am going to post some more work in progress, starting tomorrow... so for today I leave you with the final illustration for our adjective series.

There we have, our fabulous pirate couple! Wilson Kane and his wife!

In this chapter - chapter six - we see poor Kane go evil on the people around him and yes, you don't want to be on his wrong side when he is like that. Mh, now the evil mood is actually... his normal state =_=" which doesn't make him very likeable.


But why should I pick a nice guy for my protagonist, isn't that like a shortcut, the easy way out? Writing about the perfect man, always so charming and sexy and kind and gallant and... whatever, like that stuff does exist! Men are men and women are women, perfection is not of this world!
The guy is pretty nuts, that's what makes him fun! People are made of flesh and bones and no matter how hot a guy or a girl might look... they have imperfections too.
Kane is moody but we kinda knew that, didn't we?

The cheerful and smiling Wilson Kane, that's outside of the norm and that's why the guys need to act quick: the cheerful and smiling Kane cut them some slack! Who wouldn't want him like that all the time, then? Go, guys, do something! Not out of your own generosity (who cares if the dude is happy?) but for your own good and out of sheer selfishness... here, out of the goodness of your hearts: be happy, we'll be happier too. Yeah!

So the funny and happy Wilson Kane only came to be when Castalia arrived.
Some people are meant to be there for us, to sooth us. Sometimes they just have to stand there, right next to you. I have a friend like this... whenever I feel agitated I just go see her. I don't even have to vent my frustration... she just grins and goes: gupi, what have you been up to? Let's have some tea and talk.
She just irradiates positive energy.
I wish I were that kind of person... I'm the one who makes you giggle all the time. I don't know how good that is hahahahaha.

Now, Kane and Castalia vibrate next to each other. They calm each other down by a lot... which kinda takes the funkiness out of the girl and the moodiness out of the guy. Until they find a way to get a perfect balance and energize each other.

Because they feel so calm, when they are together, they act with extreme familiarity since the very beginning and they let each other do all kinds of stuff to the other... for example... Kane doesn't mind to have his face touched because he knows the girl would not take the mask off.

Castalia is the kind of girl who does not ask questions, she thinks that people have their reasons to do what they do, so she sits around and waits.

This will develop into a supreme bond of trust. Interferences to this perfect balance could have painful outcomes.
Fickle, you are out of the picture this time...
<_3_>___l "Fickle doesn't mind, Castalia feeds him. Spit. Vote for Fickle"

More fan art but first....

Before I start this post and show elianthos on a rampage I would like to spend a couple of minutes to remember Satoshi Kon.

I've just learned about his passing away last Tuesday and honestly am still in shock. I was looking forward to his next movie Yume-Miru Kikai. I love robots! . The source of the news is ANN a famous website dedicated to Japanese comics and animation and a reliable one. I still hope this is not true because he was only 47.

His surreal storytelling and great sense of humor always made him my very favorite Japanese contemporary director! Miyazaki fans, don't get me wrong, I like most of Miyazaki's production but not the whole thing. He is not consistent to me and I have to confess that I like the old production better, it was more intuitive (I still love him, though, Spirited Away is one of my favorite movies of all times). But Kon was my favorite.

When it comes to his work I have not found a single thing which I haven't loved from the bottom of my heart... plus I do prefer things that make me think while laughing and his timing is much tighter especially on line delivery! His dialogues are full of subtext and they are very musical. I am a story person after all, after I'm stunned by visual, the first time, I get stuck on story and other things. The themes he touched were closed to my heart too.
Every time something like this happens... I feel a bit orphan.
--------------------

Let's pass onto happier things. ^__^
Elianthos went on a rampage, while I went on a rampage hahahahaha.
So you'll get 2 more illustration from her, today!

Of course don forget to visit her Deviant Art account and leave a nice feedback message for her.

Here's Foxy with a little bit of Lio....








And Cat with much more of Feetsie, so much more that... eer... DA wants Mature Audience tag for nipples, even if it's artistic nude.

If you click on elianthos name at the beginning of the post, you can reach her uncensored Live Journal page and won't have to deal with tags in DA.

Fickle is to shy to comment these but he likes the green one!

<_*_>___l --- Foooo greeen!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Work in progress

Mhh...
...so... did Kane get a new pet? XDDD
Looks like a kitty cat to me...

<_3_>___l Fffffff.... Fickle is unhappy!

Aw, but she is cute... and besides she is the one feeding you the most, Fickle. Ha ha ha.

Coming soon! ^_X/

Embraced, pampered and gay!

We continue with our adjectives, today, and I'll show you more fan art tomorrow! :D
This time around the magic word is: embraced
Although it is not clearly an adjective, but a verb - I could not find an adjective to describe Cat and Callista's situation, if you can help me with this concept I would be really happy! ^////^
It is to be intended in its double meaning: enveloped and accepted.
Not discriminated! <--- here's the key. So their story is about acceptance.
The important ideas to keep in mind are: I don't feel different and I feel your warmth.

It sure feels nice to know that someone cares for you.
Our friend Foxy has a perfect nurse all for himself, now, doesn't he? hahahahha
So he feels pampered... loved... protected and healthy! He has to, right? I don't think Lio would let it be otherwise.

He's a lucky fella, so nicely taken care of by a sweet wolf in lamb's clothing such as Lio. Will she find a way to his smile? Who knows...
They are the youngest couple on board and act like cheesy teenagers at times but they are cute.
There will be a point where Lio feels pampered too and a very lucky girl.

And here's our last illustration for today...
Hey, it's about time we talked about how Pifo feels around the guys he likes.
What's the adjective I am looking for? Joyful, cheerful... happy...
mhhhh..... gay!

Yup, he definitely feels gay and gay the right way! I feel gay around him too, because he makes me laugh so much and keeps me happy.

Why shouldn't he feel gay, right? It's like he died and went to gay and women's Heaven: the ship is packed with juicy looking pirates! They are nice to him! They are friendly with him... they go to the bathroom with him... eventually take a bath with him... naked... he sees everything... measures everything... compares... (Pifo let's trade place!)

Oooh it's enough to die of a nosebleed or a heart attack... or something else... yeah.

We will follow his gay adventures and be gay with him when he finally finds true love and puts an end to his much suffered unrequited love for Kane... and the Doctor... and a couple of other people - oh, all at the same time! Not one after the other. ^__^ - but mostly Kane and the Doctor will always be his true love, both of them (that's a good boy!).

What say you, Fickle?

Fickle says: <3>_l ---- (Fffffff, Kane is my pet! Vote for Fickle!)

Monday, August 23, 2010

Westley fan art and love sharing.

I was going to post some illustrations today (I'll post them later) but then I woke up to find a beautiful surprise:


It's called: you make me all flutter.

Aaah the butterfly effect was inspirational! ^___^
You can get the original here, add to favorites and leave a comment... elianthos never disappoint us! *_*

The fans are pretty strong in this doctor, mhhh! (Yoda says).
My reaction to it was totally WOOOOAH (I still am wooooahing a lot, in spite of the fact my co-workers giggle at me for going woooah every 4 and a half minutes.)

When I'll settle I'll give proper comment... maybe... wooooah!
Fickle, what say you?
<3> d
Oh, thumbs up! Wait... do you even have thumbs?

I also got these pictures from our friend Perversion:

Here's her mobile phone.








... and here's her desktop.






As I keep saying... if you love the pirates, pirates love you back! I will look into a proper format for mobile desktops ^__^ gelaskins and everything you might be interested into. I'm open to suggestions.
I guess I also have to make a proper wallpaper with the "sleeping position" series too.
^_____X/

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Branding, undies and ancient sayings

This time around we see Cat play the hero - spiderCat or something lol, climbs like a Cat and does not fall (sing with me)- and go to Feetsie's rescue... the girl finally calls him by his proper name (probably afraid he might really look the other way!). It takes her a while to load the C though hahahahah.

What if the riggings hadn't broken? She surely could have managed to go up and down and be praised by everyone. Let's thank Tonno's poor maintenance for the romantic moment - round of applause.
Goooo Tonnooo! (Btw Tonno means tuna and it's used to describe big, sturdy guys: you're a big tuna!)
Jacopo's fans... wasn't it nice to see him actually work on crow's nest(the last time he was pooping) and give us his two cents on Cat's behavior?
Just how gossipy can pirates be?
You have no idea... and they love to tease each other too. You'll see.

Many of you had already noticed this from the very first chapters: Cat is branded on his forehead, that's why he wears a headband.
We talked about human branding in this particular post.

Foxy's branding is very different from Cat's. His branding is used as a punishment for criminals. Cat's branding refers more to the another category and he is branded on the forehead... so everybody can see he is branded, obviously.

Eventually he will tell you his story so you just have to wait a little longer.

Let's talk about... underwear now!
Many of you may know this already but I'll say it anyway: women did not wear underpants for many centuries and almost up to the Industrial Revolution.
I will not put links because the best place to get an idea is a Museum, trust me. Find a Museum of clothing or underwear and go visit. I managed to see a few exhibit and they are veeeery nice and enlightening! *ç* More than books.
Anyway, going back to our ladies: for many many centuries they would wear corsets, chemise, even stockings and other very unhealthy things like crazy baskets and petticoats but no undies. In fact when they had their period they merely bled in their clothing. Eew? I know!
For many reasons underwear/pants were considered unhealthy... they would not let genitals breathe and that area needs to breathe oh so much, so that the moisture gets absorbed, somehow, and there would be no smell of stockfish between a woman's legs. Yeah, right... how about washing it sometimes, ladies? Bah.

For many years underwear was considered a very naughty thing. It was worn by prostitutes, so a nice lady would never wear undies.

Bathing? Optional... people bathed with the chemise on.
But who's our doctor? That's right... and he comes from a total different culture so our girls wear underpants - the ones Cassandra washes daily for the whole crew - and definitely cannot go around bleeding in their clothes!!!!
Lucky Callista! If she were to be a "nice lady" the Heavenly Vision would have been the type you must censor (else google penalize you and Smack Jeeves would kick me out for not putting mature content to it)! Ha ha ha

But, oh poor girl, indeed. The moment of total embarrassment, with Pea, at the end of the chapter (when she is handed back her pants) says it all. Showing legs to men is such a "no no" thing for a pure maiden! No need for words, there!

And next is our final topic: ancient sayings.

First one: Outside of danger everyone acts smart! (Fuori dal pericolo ognuno è bravo).
This is very old, so old that Italians don't know it. It's to be used when someone acts cool when commenting other people tribulations. "If I were you I'd be so kewl about it, man..." of course outside of the dangerous situations everybody talks talks... then you put them in the actual position and God knows what happens, right? Ha ha ha
Well, you can say now that you've learned an Italian Proverb.

Second one: here comes the rescue from Pisa! (Arriva il soccorso di Pisa).
This one is super funny. You can also find it as: bring the rescue from Pisa.
It means, merely: your help comes too late.

It is not related to the leaning tower of Pisa... but to the history of Pisa itself.
You may notice from the Wikipage I linked that in 1099 a fleet from Pisa took part to the First Crusade. Well, even though they say that people from Pisa were fundamental to the take of Jerusalem... the proverb states otherwise.
The fleet was held back by opposite winds and the Pisans arrived to the Holy Land that all the games were closed.

Imagine them: we came to the rescue.
Crusaders: Gee, thanks, we're all done, already!

Did Cat's help come in too late? Well, he helped saver her neck... but the Heavenly Vision had already dropped from above... *_*

From the point of view of a girl, Kane is absolutely right. Cassandra, though, is right above rights: I am kidnapped by the pirates who would believe to my virtue anymore? Might as well find a husband here... Go girl!

Pirates were rapists, most of the times, if I were a man and a girl came to me saying: I still have my virtue...
I'd probably go: are you kidding me? Ha!

Final comment is on "hand over hand" (in Italian "andare a riva"). It's sailor lingo.
It's how you call the way sailor climb up the riggings, one hand after the other.

Now you can all climb up the riggings hand over hand, right? Ahr ahr ahr...

Ah, Fickles says: don't forget to vote <3> (<--- he is pouting, see?) click on the TWC button at the bottom of our page.
He wants to be popular, apparently. Pat Pat, Fickle.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Il pirata Baldassarre - Capitolo 6 ABC

Ecco a voi le nuove 10 paginette: Cat alla riscossa!
Il capitolo 6 ABC in italiano! (scusate, come sempre, per gli upload su Issuu dovete rileggere il capitolo da capo perche" faccio economia sui pdf, sono un pirata taccagno)
Buona lettura! - se trovate errori fatemi sapere!

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 6 ABC

Smack Jeeves is releasing as I type this, click on the post title to go and read there. If you cannot wait a couple of minutes I have the Issuu chapter for your comfort!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Chapter 7 - Cover

Goooodmorniiiing, ya scurvy dogs! Ahr ahr ahr!

I gave birth to the cover of chapter 7 yesterday. The butterly effect... you might be able to laugh about after tomorrow's update ha ha ha.

After Love and Hate we MUST see Heaven and Hell, right?
Aaaw, another Kes and Wes cover, then finally Kane comes back to rule on the cover of chapter 8! Yes!

I've had a very Pifoesque dream last night... I shall find a way to put it on paper so we can all laugh about it!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Stupid jokes are funny!

Oh noooo! I just realized I didn't post in the blog the stupid joke I came up with the other night.
Hahahaha... Stupid jokes are funny, guys! The joke was on me, anyways: I wanted to make an animated gif... I did, but was huge! PS Animation makes heavy gifs hahahaha.

In the end I just posted the 3 drawings on DA (I think I even forgot to post on FB).

Anyways the joke went like this:

You know, when I say: pirates like you've never seen them before...









Sometimes I'm joking...









...others I'm not!









Fantastic! After this thing went online people started voting for the 4 Musketeers in the poll. I guess hunks in cosplay is the real deal <3>Only problem is... I was so sure that Pifo Gaga in Ozland was going to go second or third, after Red Hot Riding Hood... that now I am having problems figuring out the illustration... since I haven't planned the Dumas illustration yet.
Most likely it would be pretty similar to the one above... testosteronic and silly with lots of skin hahaha. When you got babes, you gotta have fun with them, yeah! XD

I was even thinking... the Peter Pan and Wendy Illustration... should be a Peter Pan and Hook Illustration instead... (with Castalia as Peter Pan and Kane as piratelicious Hook).

So in Love by Tati Loire

So guys... we have a soundtrack, did you know that?
It's on Myspace.
My friend Juno recorded a couple of songs for me and I am planning to make a little project related to the Pirate Balthasar and her cd.
By now you know I am a sucker for old songs and bla bla... Deda you are so repetitive!
Okay, relax, listen to the beautiful song and tell me: aren't old song just soooo romantic? *_*

So in Love.mp3 by Tati Loire

Link to her myspace page in case the above link does not work because myspace sucks and it's got useless widjets!

Euphoric

I am compiling the chapter and sending it out to proof.
In the meantime I was commissioned drawings and stuff but eating peanuts and listening to happy working songs really does not put you in the right mood.
I wanted to start 2 series of illustrations: 1) Too darn hot 2) Baby it's cold outside. (I'm always referring to old songs, I know hahaha)

I am starting with adjectives instead.
Somewhere, earlier on in this blog, I mentioned that I work with symbols and words to establish certain things - in order to be consistent.
So I use keywords and try to keep them in mind so that my story does not go out of track and each character follows his/her own arc without failing his/her karma! ;D

One of the adjectives I chose for Westley is euphoric.
It's the effect love has on his heart.
When people fall in love they can chemically react in different ways: some fall in a slump, other feel hunger and desire burning up and have this continuous longing expression on their face, other feels jumpy and all over the place, always tense.
To Westley life turns pink and he feels like smiling all the time.

Oh, and you will see him smile a lot. Even when things get tough and don't go as well as hoped, even in the utmost despair, while thinking "I'll never get the girl"... the moment Cassandra steps in he smiles and feels euphoric.
He'll smile after a fight, he'll smile if his heart aches, he'll smile even if things are going for the worst... he just cannot get the frigging grin off his face.
He would even smile with tears in his eyes! Ha ha ha.

This is coming from a guy who never did smile sincerely... 'till there was her.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Tic tac 21!

The chapter is ready and will go for proof tomorrow.
I am still not able to work very much ahead of myself but that's probably cuz I've started on these crazy illustration/inspiration rampage! LOL

And tomorrow I will work on the cover for volume 2.

Here's a teaser of what's going to happen... now don't blame the boy for thinking like a boy. He is not blond, tall and handsome and probably, unless he pays, he really does not get cute girls to be nice to him. He is a moor after all... for all people know.

So were people racists back then? Hell, yeah! Believe you me, moors were not looked in a kind way! Poor poor Cat...

The meaning of sleeping positions - part 2

We are left analyzing the last two couples, for now... (for Pea and Pifo and Josh we'll have to wait a little longer). So let's finish this sleeping position study with Cat and Callista, and Lio and Foxy.

This is the Sweetheart position or the True love position... some sites refer to it as a position you get from older men with younger women and their will to protect them and literally keep them under their wing.
We have a twist here... Foxy's arm is loose and his body is completely loose and relaxed. He does that thing crossing his leg behind another, which is usually said to be done by insecure people.
To me this is still Lio dominating the game and wanting to be on top and pawning him down. She actually sleeps in the nude... but this drawing is going on the blog, on facebook and Deviant art and bla bla bla... so I sketched some lines around her so that she looks clothed and dropped some green in. Remove that and you have Lio.

Don't laugh... I know... he's got black underwear. He's emo, for God's sake, let him be! (I wanted to give him black bed sheet too but that would be too anachronistic LOL)

This is called an Excalibur position. It is said that people who likes to sleep in the oddest positions, when alone, will adapt and fit the other like a jigsaw puzzle the moment they get into a relationship. If the partner is like that as well you have the supreme Tetris champions of sleeping positions. No matter what: they'll find a way to grab each other with legs or arms and always be in contact and constant proximity.
In our case Cat is a "free faller" and Feetsie is probably between a "longer" and a "fetal". A Longer is very quiet and submissive and Fetal is very complex (it's shy at first but then turns out to be very friendly and easy going). A Free faller is outgoing but has issues with criticism (in our case, Cat is short and feels bad about it hahaha).
We also see who's dominant here and who is dependent... an Excalibur couple is there to proof the World they are meant for each other and they are a match made in Heaven.

Some of you recognized themselves in these, eh? I read many comments on DA and Facebook about: oooh I do that too!

It's a peculiar theme and I've always felt very curious about it. You have other curiosities let me know. Some people are asking very intimate questions... ha ha ha... I don't yet how to deal with the mature content but I will find a script somewhere so that we don't get penalized by google and other places with very strict rules. For our times, these girls would be minors... even though in their times they were not! ^^" How to bend plain logic? We go around it the pirate way, okay?

Monday, August 16, 2010

The meaning of sleeping positions - part 1

When I started drawing The Pirate Balthasar I was going through some rough times.
I had the story clear in mind but I did not think it was going to develop in something particularly detailed. I just wanted to tell the story.
As I started sketching the storyboards my relaxed mind abandoned me and "planning" took its place. Writing a story is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, everything must fit in perfectly.

At one point I started adding structure and themes and working by adjective and adverbs and using symbols and call back and all that stuff... and then, one morning, I woke up and realized I had shifted in my bed.

I had been sleeping in fetal position for more than 4 years... why did that change? I started looking into that and found out a couple of books about sleeping positions, one of which by Evany Thomas, even takes the time to analyze love relationships through the positions of the lovers in bed.

That's when I decided to sketch my couples in their favorite sleeping positions, I pinned those on the wall and went ahead writing the story keeping in mind, visually, the kind of relationship they had. I was quite surprised at the outcome but... you know, it's exactly like when you write a free flow and a character tells you something about themselves you would never imagine.

For instance: Kane and Castalia both hate potatoes. Me? I cannot live without potatoes.

The position Kane and Castalia revealed is called "The honeymooners". Usually this is a position that lovers take when they first start going out and feel like they want to merge in one being, almost. Supposedly, after a few years, you give each other space, switch to a more serene position and even sleep back against back and feet against feet. There are couples, though, who don't shift and still manage to sleep in a very small space, even though they have a big King size bed after many years. They sleep on top of each other or all tangled up. This is because they are very dependent of each other and cannot bear to be apart.

It's the kind of relationship Kane and Castalia develop, that is mirrored in this position... even though they fight a lot, they cannot stay mad at each other and there is something too familiar and comfortable about the other. I call them a symbiotic couple! Ha ha ha
To me this is more of a light sleep position, maybe they even whisper to each other and answer automatically with "mhhh" and "uh-uh". Kane is a heavy guy, Castalia's leg might hurt, his arm might go numb. Still I have a feeling that, because they are symbiotic, they might move around a lot during the deep sleep and turn to find a more comfortable position. They might end up with him prone on her supine... I doubt they separate though.
Is this a healthy relationship? I don't know... to me... it's dangerous to be so dependent or addicted to each other.
Keep this idea in the back of your minds.

Cassandra and Westley came out in a "Spoon position".
Apparently this position is shared by people between their first and fifth year of marriage and symbolize a supreme bond based on trust (if you think about it... it's about having genitals pressed against buttocks). Eventually one thing to consider is that one member of the couple is more dependent of the other: the one hugging. In short the one facing away is a person that likes to be pursued and chased after and the one hugging is the pursuer... the one who cannot let go. The pursuer is then trying to hold back the partner by holding her/him in his/her arms.
So does that mean that Westley loves more? Probably not... who knows what's in Cassandra's heart!
Sleeping in this position, people seldom shift during the night... although our girl might turn around, at one point, and snuggle against the guy because her subconscious takes over and in sleep she is very honest.

Pretty interesting, eh? More will come! :D

Illustrations - song and dance

In the past few days I have been uploading these sketches to DA and SmackJeeves (they are the extras to be added at the end of the chapters for volume 2).

These illustrations I called: song and dance.

In DA I attached the text of a song but, to be honest, I do listen to particular songs when I write the PB because they inspired a certain mood and ideas in the story.
Cat and Feetsie, at the moment, have a contemporary song called: you raise me up.

Originally, though, I had associated the couple with these songs:

Cat & Callista: Someone to watch over me.
Kane & Castalia: You are the top.
Westley & Cassandra: In the still of the night.
Foxy & Calliope: Let's do it

That makes one George Gershwin song and three Cole Porter songs.

Deda likes oldies? No, Deda has no knowledge whatsoever of music after 1940! I hear it on the radio and just does not stick into my head (some songs do, what people call "classics"... I know those) but if they do stick into my head, they don't stay very long.

I have some more Gershwin songs in mind and I think that Ira Gershwin (Georgie's brother) and Cole Porter have a fantastic way with words. How should we say... they have rhymes and reasons! Ha ha ha.
Anyways... if you have a song in mind (I know I have been suggested a few) let me know because they might inspire more drawings from me.

Actually I have received a commission for a Westley and Cassandra drawing which leads me to the next series of illustrations: Sleeping habits! :D

I am sorry for the Pifo and Pea fans. You'll have tons of Illustrations regarding their love life once their love story begins. Don't panic... Pifo in love turns into a beauty! He'll have very cute drawings and he deserves that.

Pea in love... is a lioness!

BTW Pifo's song is: S'wonderful
Josh's song is: At last
Pea's song is: The man I love

If you would like to actually listens to the tracks, let me know. I will look for them on the tube.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

No Internet! Nooo!


So yesterday I was going to upload this illustration, the one I already posted on Smack Jeeves, so that today I could post the next one.

Somehow they are upgrading the network here, on campus, and the internet was down. With the result that I looked at my drawers and realized I needed socks and I went out to buy some... and ended up looting stores.
I am obsessed with cute socks. Unfortunately for me Orchard Road is evil... it has Kinokuniya, Lego store, Uniqlo and Vintage Toy Store in one block. So I started at Art Friend, where I went looking for blue pencils but - belive me, they don't sell cool erase pencil outside of the U.s. sigh - so I am trying new ones. Then I got a Shin Takahashi book from Kino (last volume of Kimi no Kakera, plus artbook, soooo droooolicious) and tried to order Alary's Sinbad, vol.3. but they said they'll let me know which means... mhhh, probably no.

Then I got cute socks. I was so going to get the ones with the bear shouting Umaaaai, shiawaseeee! (so good, I'm happy) at the honey jar but it came in pink and I don't do pink.
Then I saw the Lego store... ooooh, do I miss my pirate ship and my little shark chewing on the blocky lady (she is so ugly) and saw this: Imperial Flagship!
Now will you look at that, it says... "hard to find" and here it goes for about 200 dollars actually.

I'm afraid it will be gone soon but I drooled on it for about 15 minutes. Because I miss my Pirate ship so much... I ended up buying myself these little friends: Kraken attack.
So I can play with them when I am stressed. Goooo Giant Cephalopod! Chew chew!
I wish I could put one in the Pirate Balthasar... like the one that attacks Captain Nemo but they don't have any in the Mediterranean sea.

Then of course Uniqlo will be the death of me, because I love their UT cartoon t shirts... and I got 3 One Piece t-shirts, two of them say: I will be the King of Pirates! LOL
Do you want to see pictures? :D

Alright, by popular demand (hi Anti-End!)... here's some pictures! XDD

This is the black one. I also got a baby blue one and another black one... those I am washing now btw LOLz.







Here's the lego set. I shall put it together in my spare time, the one I don't use to draw.

More pictures are posted in my personal blog. I keep that one in Italian but pictures are universal.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Work in progress eh!

As promised in the morning... here are some teasers for you.
So this is roughly what is going to happen soon.
Cat fans... rise and shout!!! Meoooorrrwwww!
Purr Purr...

He is going to be quite the hero! A scene packed with action and lots of luuuuv!