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I haven’t posted any art over the past few weeks as I’ve dedicated all of my being to writing the outline for Sticker Quest. I have really good days and I have really depressingly awful days where I just want to give up and pretend I never tried in the first place. Luckily for all of us, I can’t give up. Quitting Sticker Quest would only cause me to hate myself and who’d want to live with that?

The nice part about this obsession is that it’s really helped me cope with my culture shock and other things that have gone off in my life. I’m learning so much about myself and my limits (which I don’t think I’ve properly challenged yet).

I’m going to share some things that I’ve learned. They could be entirely wrong but here it is:

1. I’ve spent more time rewriting than writing. The way I pictured Sticker Quest a month ago is not how Sticker Quest is now. Characters and sequences have changed completely – but that’s okay because they’re better now.
2. Write down every bad idea so then only good ones are left.
3. Tell your outline to a critical, jerk friend, he’ll find every plot hole and make you hate yourself as you try to fix them. (You’re the best, Josh!)
4. Coincidences suck.
5. If you want to be awesome, you have to make sacrifices. That sucks too, but only temporarily.
6. Surround yourself with other creative people. Get rid of anyone who makes you sad or anxious. You don’t have time to feel anything but pure burning ambition!
7. Hipsters go and work at hipster cafes for a reason – free but slow wifi crashes Tumblr, so you get a lot done. (Also, tea-based beverages make me happy)

If I fail, I will blame Tumblr. If anything brings Sticker Quest crashing down, it will be porn and cat pictures.

Other accomplishments thus far:

• One of the side characters has been designed. (Wanna peak?)
• Many articles on story-telling and character creation have been devoured and bookmarked.
• Doodles to accompany certain scenes to help me visualize them.
• A job interview and a house-viewing. #lifeaccomplishment
• Many naps taken and much chocolate consumed.

IN OTHER NEWS!

I will be partaking in 24 hr Comic Book Day at Happy Harbor Comics in Edmonton. I will post more information that about that soon.

Tonight, after an ill-timed nap, in order to stave off some of those feelings that niggle you when you’re on the verge of some great change, I decided to officially start working on my brain-child, Sticker Quest.

I have tossed the idea around in my head for nearly a year, starting as the premise for a side-scrolling pixel-art game about a girl on a quest to save her boyfriend. And yes, there are stickers involved. The idea spawned from my experience teaching English in Japan. Dealing with any youth, trying to convince them that they want to play lame games for the reward of learning is not always successful. If you throw stickers into the equation, it’s like throwing a steak at a pack of hungry dogs. They LOVE stickers. They enthusiastically, and even violently, participate in even the blandest interview-style games just to get some of that sweet, adhesive, glittery crack. Stickers are currency for their love, quickly spent however — you’d better be packing stickers the next time too.

After a year of doing nothing with the idea, with the help of a friend, the idea evolved into a webcomic. I’ve wanted to draw a comic since I started taking my art more seriously and well, the story has been sitting right there in my head… sort of. That’s what I’m working on now. Sticker Quest isn’t a story yet, it’s just an idea and a handful of scenarios.

So tonight marks the official beginning of the quest for Sticker Quest. The Sticker-Quest Quest. I opened up Google docs and typed the very first words of the outline. And you know what? I LIKED IT.

I avoided writing like the plague — caught up in insecurities and post-traumatic flashbacks of University-paper writing. Some silly part of me thought that perhaps I could just draw Sticker Quest and the story would write itself. That was silly of me — that’s like building a house without a foundation or a plan. So I just started typing. I stopped caring about cliches and started writing down every idea that popped in my head — even if it seems stupid. It’s an outline, I can worry about that later. The best part, it will get easier if I keep doing it, right? Right.

I’ve also made a few designs for the main character, the heroine — a tough-talking, sticker-collecting, moth-hating, face-punching heroine. Design aside, she is still nameless. I thought about video-game superhero Tim Schafer and his notebook full of ideas for the name of the game that would eventually become Grim Fandango. So I’ve started writing down names as they pop into my head and eventually, I know that one will stand out.

I have to admit that I know nothing about the ins-and-outs of creating a webcomic, but as Adventure Time taught me, “Sucking at something is the first step of becoming sorta good at something.” So even if this comic isn’t the most skillfully crafted at first, as long as someone enjoys it, I’ll consider this mission a success. Keep checking back for more updates and/or follow me on twitter.

I’ve moved on from a crippling Skyrim addiction to an equally crippling Mass Effect 2 addiction. Needless to say, between them, I’ve been fairly unproductive (unless you count stopping the goddamned Collectors and getting into Garrus’ extra-terrestrial pants, productive!). However, last night, I put away the video games to create…

…more video game-related art!

I’ve had a craving to revisit my favourite green-tunic’d hero – so I vented these feelers with some pleasing results! New shading techniques inspired by my artist-mentor Adrian.

This series, particularly Zelda: A Link to the Past and Zelda: Ocarina of Time, conjures happy memories of gaming with my father into the wee hours of the morning (or at least, past my bedtime). Lately, I’ve had a hankering to tackle them once more. So when my monthly salary came in, I popped onto Amazon and purchased Z:OoT 3DS. It’s about time too! So far the only 3DS game I own is Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns.

Speaking of dapper and green, I bought my first dress on the Internet from Modcloth. I found out about it through my comic book lady-hero, Kate Beaton. I’m pretty sure if I ran into her wearing the same dress, it’d be a nifty conversation piece. We’d probably bond over our mutual style and become besties. JUST LOOK AT THOSE BUTTONS! I’m stressing that it might not be the proper size, but Modcloth offers exchanges and returns even to Japan.

Speaking of Japan, I’m officially here until the Summer. I’m excited to enjoy another Japanese spring.

I have known the taste of salt water, 
and the smell of decaying forests, 
and the cracks in hundreds of sidewalks. 
I have loved the gas pedal, 
and the airport concourse, 
and the ever-changing time zones. 
In all these places, 
I thought I could find a home in not having one; 
I have chased the sun across the sky so many times, 
not yet ready to admit, 
you never catch up.

I don't know who wrote this, but I'd like to meet them and be their friend.

These lovely Star Wars moleskines want to be in my possession! I want the large ruled and blank ones. You can buy them here.

…but I won’t let that stop me! I must admit, I’ve been falling behind on my dino-a-day but as long as I’m releasing dinosaurs consistently, I’ll consider it a success. Otherwise, my imagination is still alive and the only thing that’s been holding me back is all the plentiful game releases, a healthy reading addiction, and not having enough hours in the day. As long as I’m busy, I have no time to miss things the things I thought I had! Just saying that sentence reminds me what a ridiculous duck I’ve been!

It’s almost 4:00 am but I just had to draw a Totoro. Anything Ghibli-related is a good thing – I think tomorrow while I work, I will have a mini-Ghibli marathon. Definite participants are: My Neighbour Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and maybe I’ll throw one in that I haven’t seen as often, like, Nausicaa or Laputa. Either way, I have them all on my handy-dandy hard drive!

I just want to cuddle and watch Ghibli movies.

When I started my dino-a-day project, I was very self-motivated, but lately I’m feeling a lot more reluctant to produce dinosaurs. Instead of beating myself up about it, I’m taking the weekend off and starting up again on Monday. But I’ve produced some non-dinosaur related art:

This Halloween, I need something cheap and easy and cute. I already owned a dark cotton dress, so I made a red bow out of 100-yen felt and a cheap broom.

Voila!

Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service.

“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

– Ira Glass (source)

This is exactly what I needed to read right now. I constantly feel like my art doesn’t live up to my own expectations. I constantly compare and measure against more skilled artists and feel like I’m making a horrible mistake with my life. Reading this soothes my anxieties and keeps me determined.

(Thanks Samwise!)

Add this to the list of things I want!

A new Star Wars-themed Xbox 360 Kinect bundle was unveiled at Comic Con this year. The console itself, as you can see, has an R2-D2 motif whereas the controller is designed with C-3PO in mind. For someone who has yet to own a 360, I am utterly convinced that perhaps it was fate that led me to hold out so long (and not a long-standing fangirl relationship with Sony…).

It makes R2-D2 noises when you open the tray, ’nuff said.

Check it out at Gizmodo.