Graduation!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

This week has actually been rather busy for me. It was time for Graduation! Puhuhuhu!

*Ahem*

Thankfully, for all that I have drawn Monokuma (such as this one here) and often times I draw myself in my Monokuma hoody, the 'Graduation' I'm talking about is thankfully not the Danganronpa form of graduation. No, I actually Graduated from Staffordshire University, having studied BA(H) Cartoon and Comic Arts, with a First Class! I was so happy, especially since part one of Dreamwalkers was actually my final project on the course. I've come such a long way in three years 

(If you check out my DeviantArt page www.chosha-kurenai.deviantart.com/ you can certainly see the difference between what I used to do (just sketch work) and the things that I produce now)

So, on the Friday just gone, I attended my Graduation! I even took some pictures, which I hope you'll enjoy:

The ceremony was quite fun - It was funny to see someone run with a selfy stick when there name was called to photograph himself with Lord Stafford, and thankfully I didn't fall on my face going onto, or leaving, the stage, so it all went quite well! Though admittedly I almost hit one of my classmates with my hat when we threw them. Oopsy? Thankfully I caught it before I accidentally shuriken-ed them in the head with it. lol.

Unfortunately it did rain after the ceremony, so I unfortunately couldn't get any more outdoorsy pictures. Its a shame - Trentham Gardens has some lovely views.

My week also had a bit of a bad turn with the funeral of my nana, however. I suppose you could say it was a bit of an 'up-down' kind of week. She'll certainly be sorely missed by all of us. Thankfully, the ceremony was nice, friends and family attended to say goodbye and there flowers were pretty. My Nana, unfortunately, didn't get to see my Graduation, but I'm pretty sure if she had, she would have been proud of me. She always was fond of my drawings when I was younger. I'm sure she would have enjoyed my Graduation too.

On another note of Graduation, I also graduated into becoming an Aunt. My older sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. 

Tabitha, as she is named, is now about a week and a day old as of this post, and I also got to meet and hold her during this week. She was so small, but adorable. I'm happy for my sister and partner and hope that I can be a good Aunt to her :)

That wasn't all I was up to this week either! I also 'Graduated' another year old - it was my birthday on the 13th. Admittedly I didn't do too much - I went out for a meal with family and went to visit my sister, held my niece for a while and had a relaxing day playing on some new games I got and planning my new laptop to help with my art - my current one is pretty old now (nearly ten years) and is slowly dying - I literally burn my finger on the mouse-pad at times because the fans don't work well, and this is even with a cooling pad! - so I think a new one is due). But still, it's not your birthday every day, right? (Although we have many Unbirthdays, lol) And even if I didn't seemingly do too much, I had a great day. :)

Honestly, it's been a busy week of many kinds of graduations, both good and bad. That's how one Graduates in Life, I suppose? But thankfully, this busy week has been mostly filled with good things and with very supportive friends and family. 

So, I shall be starting the next chapter of my life, and hopefully with many more 'graduations' to come.

So, until next time!

Tara

TanraStudios: GoFundMe Campaign, Start!

Hey, everyone! Welcome back!

So, this week I mainly want to talk about the GoFundMe campaign that was set up by the Studios that I'm part of - TanraStudios. For those of you who are new or just not aware, myself and Nadia Williams created a UK Manga publishing house, mostly leaning towards the supernatural and mythical, where we will be producing our comics for the public. We currently have four titles we have produced, these being:

Susanoo (created by myself, Tara Washington), a retelling of a Japanese myth with a few little twists The legend of a mysterious man teaming up with the supposed Damsel in Distress in order to save a town from a deadly monster.

Unbound (by Nadia Williams), a test for succession between sons of a youkai clan to fullfil the wish of their father, the current clan head. The test? To find a weapon as powerful as he is, and to find something precious to present before him, and one young mans quest to pass his father's test.

Dreamwalkers (By myself), where dreams become nightmarish real, a group known as SOS fights the monsters of the mind, within the dreams themselves. (which is currently the main title that I'm working on, and unlike the other two, is an on running series)

Pandora (currently drawn by Nadia Williams, but is a joint effort between the two of us), the story of a supernatural detective agency, keeping the balance between man and the mystic. (and much like Dreamwalkers, is also an on running series)

Currently, we've been funding these ourselves, but in order to publish the comics and new ones to come, produce merchandise and be able to get them to the public, we need a little help. 

As such, we have created a Go Fund Me account.

Of course, we know nothing comes for free and have also created gifts for those who donate certain amounts to the cause.

For all the details, you can find our campaign here:

https://www.gofundme.com/2dgqbuw4

It would help us greatly if you could help us out. But, even if you can't donate, if you could spread the word, then even that would be a big help. Of course, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact either of us.

Next time there will be pictures, especially as I have a busy week next week, including my birthday and graduation! so look forwards to it!

Until next time!

Tara

Practice, Practice, Practice :)

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So....my wrist is still acting up somewhat - I've been getting pain in my hand when I put them under cold water, as well as the aching to my wrist. I've been keeping it strapped up when needed, however, as I do have plenty of things I needed to do this week.

Namely, practice.

Why practice? Well, since I am technically no longer a student, I no longer have access to the Cinteq tablets at the university, and, admittedly, I rarely used the Intuos that I actually own. So, I've been doing some practice using my Intuos, mainly as I needed to get used to the hand-eye co-ordination needed to draw in one spot while looking in another. So, before I started to begin the digital versions of part two of Dreamwalkers, I wanted to be certain that I wouldn't have difficulties in my hand-eye co-ordination.

Thus, practice!

I decided to practice, I took a look at some old OC characters I had made for various Role-play forums in the past and decided to recreate them in digital form, since a lot of my past work had been hand sketches. That way, it would allow me to get used to the Intuos without messing up the Dreamwalker scenes.

Admittedly, most of the practice was to do with line art, though I decided that I would eventually finish them with colour as well. These are some of my (in progress) practices:

As you can see, they are pretty much either all flat colour or, in the case of the last image, in progress. As mentioned, the majority of these characters were from Role-plays online. However, I think that the practice has been rather helpful. It also gave me the chance to, in the latter image, to practice using perspective tools as well. All in all, I felt that the practice helped out quite a bit, especially as I sketched these completely digitally as well, rather than using my usual method of pencil sketches scanned up to complete line art.

So, with these practices in place, once finished, I will have a good basis, using my Intuos, to work on the digital versions of Dreamwalkers Part Two.

Of course, I may continue with practices where colour is concerned as well, in order to better improve. :)

I'll keep you up to date on my practices if I do any more, along with any more Dreamwalkers information, or more on TanraStudios.

But, until next time!

Tara

Good News!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

I apologize that this was somewhat delayed. I've actually been a bit unwell. Including the fact that my wrist had, once more, began to flare up again. It's still not quite right - if I put my hands under cold water it causes my thumb to twinge - bit it's improving somewhat, at least enough that I can type or hold things (where work is concerned) with my wrist strapped up. So I'll apologize for the moment that there wont really be images today since I've been trying to rest my hand outside of work. Sorry about that.

On a brighter note, I have good news!

Well, it was good news for me at any rate. lol. As I mentioned in a couple of past posts, hand in was completed, and we also completed the Degree Show. Well, last week we all had our Degree Results back and I was so happy! I got a first! Totaled up with my results from other modules and I'll be graduating BA Cartoon and Comic Arts with First! I had been so nervous, especially as this final module had the most credits going towards the final degree.

So, what will be happening now?

Well, one thing I can tell you is that I'll still be posting on this blog. But if you mean in general, other than preparing for graduation, I'll be continuing to work on Dreamwalkers, with Part 2 the next to work on. Nadia and I will be working more on TanraStudios as well, with various projects we hope to get up and running, though we also need to make sure we can get our works printed as well. We'll also be looking for more conventions to attend as well for next year, as those for this year are already fully booked. If all goes well, we should be working on our full website as well. Once that is up, I'll also put up links to it on my webpage as well as social media.

All in all, there wont really be much differences here, if you think about it, other than you'll have a very happy me!

What I do want to say is congrats to everyone else who will be graduating Cartoon and Comic Arts at Staffs Uni this July! I'll be sure to post up pictures :)

Until next time!

Tara

The Degree Show

Hey Everyone! Welcome Back!

So, this past week was the Degree Show that I've been mentioning the past few posts I made. The show itself consisted of pretty much all the 'arts' departments (including ourselves in Cartoon and Comic Arts, Fine Art, Graphics, Textiles, Animation, Photography, Foundation Art and others) putting on a show of work for people to come and check out, as well as giving us the opportunity to sell work there. Since Dreamwalkers was originally part of my final degree project (as well as being something I really wanted to start anyway! lol), my part of the show was pretty much all about that.

Here is a photograph of my display:

Sorry if the photograph came out a little dull. 

Still, talking about the displays, I had two prints at the top of the main characters of Dreamwalkers - Somnus and Rem, then on the second row is (techincally) three pages from the comic itself - one being a double page spread. Then on the bottom row is an image of Rem in an anime-like colour style, and lastly, there is the comic itself.

As well as being on display, Dreamwalkers made its debut for sale as well - a little later than I hoped, due to various issues in printing, but it was also quite fitting, considering it was made as part of my degree. I was quite pleased as I sold half of my stock there.

For everyone who bought a copy of Dreamwalkers, thank you so much! There were so many interesting comics there made by my peers, so that you wanted mine makes me so happy! I'm currently working on part two and hope to have it finished by the end of the year.

The Degree Show is over now (awww) but I hope everyone that came to it enjoyed it.

I should be finding out my actual results for the module (maybe even my overall one!) this Thursday, so fingers crossed I did well!

But either way, good or bad, I just want to let everyone know that I'm really happy that you've been interested in my work so far and I hope you all continue to support me :)

Until next time!

Tara

Comics, Comics Everywhere!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So this week has certainly been a busy week! We had three events going on, one of which is still on running, in fact!

I mentioned in some of my previous blogs that the Degree Show called 'Show and Tell' is being held at Staffordshire University. Being that I am part of the graduating year in the Cartoon and Comic Arts Degree, I'm one of those taking part there, along with my partner in crime for TanraStudios, Nadia. We spent most of this week preparing for this, making adjustments as needed, waiting for the official print of Dreamwalkers to be delivered, but finally, the first day of the Degree Show arrived, and with it, the open night!

Sorry that the picture is a little bit dark. But can you spot us? Yup, there is Nadia and I in front of our displays, though mostly hidden by our heads and that of guests, unfortunately. Still, we met a lot of people, including the mayor, which was pretty cool. He seemed rather interested too! While the event was certainly an.....uh....interesting experience (though everyone in the class really pulled together! I know a few people were rather impressed by it) there was a lot of interest as well. It was really nice to speak with people about the work we have done.

Dreamwalkers is actually having its first run at the show as well, since the first chapter was also my main project (always good to pick something your passionate about for your final project, right?) so it seemed rather fitting that the Degree Show is where it makes its premiere. 

If any of you are in the Stoke-on-Trent area, the Degree Show lasts until Sunday 19th June, with the Wednesday and Friday of being the days that I'll be helping to run the Display area. It'll be cool to see you!

Still, that wasn't the only thing we've been up to, either! Yesterday we attended a mini convention in Gloucester called 'Mall Con', run by the same guys who ran True Believers that we attended earlier in the year. It was definitely a different experience, since it was actually run in a shopping Centre, so it was free for anyone to come and look around. There was even our very own Super Hero Mascot:

This photo was taken by one of the True Believers team. They were teasing us on Twitter. lol. It was actually kind of funny, as 'True Believer Man' kept making Nadia jump (which made me jump in turn - I don't mind too much though, since I did kind of laugh at Nadia too. lol) though I did kinda feel sorry for the guy, too - it was pretty warm that day!

Still, despite it being a small con, we still got interest. We even had a group that came back a few times to buy badges and our comics too. Not to mention we got to see a few pretty cool people and exchange business cards, funny stories and tips. We even got time to look around Gloucester, too, before we had to come home on the train again - it's a pretty nice area. And believe me, we got to see a lot of it, since google maps on both of our phones seemed insistent on taking us the scenic route back to the station. lol! But we'd love to come visit again! There were a few places we'd love to go.

Lastly, we had an event earlier today in Hanley Park for Big Read, where us at TanraStudios volunteered to help AwkwardBex with a workshop, where kids could come up with wacky comics. Basically, you had to pull out names from a hat - an object, a place and a person/job. These could be pretty silly. I even had a go too! I ended up with a skipping rope, a swimming pool and a wizard. It came out a little awkward (I mean, I've not used felt tip pens in years and will admit I've never been good at colouring with them - I'm better with digital colour. Plus it was a pretty quick thing (didn't take me too long), so excuse the roughness. But this was mine:

See what I mean by random, though? You do get some fun combinations. It reminded me of a project we had to do back in my first year on the Cartoon and Comic Arts Course where I had to do a one cut comic about a farmer, a hotel and a wrench lol. 

Either way, it was a lot of fun! We had a few people come, despite the weather, and they seemed like they were having fun, though! :)

So yes, we had comics galoure this week! And there is still more to come! Especially with the Degree Show still running, not to mention finding out my final mark soon as well! I'm really nervous! Still, I will report all that and more next time!

Until then!

Tara

Comic Con Leicester!!!

Hey guys! Welcome back!

So, I was over at Leicester this weekend (just got back home from there, in fact) as part of TanraStudios for the ComicCon there. It was our first time tabling there, but we had a pretty good weekend, despite a few hiccups along the way. 

Firstly, unfortunately we had to hold off on selling Dreamwalkers at this convention, as much as I really hoped that it would make its debut there. Basically there was some problems happening on the end of where we get our comics printed from. Its sad, but we've been informed those should be ready for next week, so they will appear at the Degree Show and at Mall Con. 

These things happen, unfortunately, where no one is really at any fault. Oh well. It seems somewhat fitting, actually, that Dreamwalkers should debut at the Degree Show, since it was started as part of my course (though admittedly I've wanted to start Dreamwalkers for years. lol)

Despite various technical difficulties, on the plus side, the con itself was a blast!

We almost sold out of comics, having only 4 left out of 22 that had come with us, we managed to give out fliers that advertised our upcoming website and sold quite a few commissions between us. The ones I got were certainly fun to draw. I got an interesting selection, from portraits to an Original Character, to Tracer from Overwatch.

I have to admit, I think Tracer was my favourite to draw, but I had fun with all of them, and everyone seemed pleased with them as well, which I'm happy about. Nadia also got a few Digital commissions as well, though we did have an unfortunate computer crash. Still, while a little delayed, those should be headed off to their respective owners tomorrow.

All in all, we did pretty well! The money we earned will be going towards our website that we're building right now. We're looking forwards to that!

Oh, we also found this awesome place after the first day of the con, since we stayed over in Leicester for the night.

We got this delicious BubbleTea from Taste of China, and, let me tell you, it was 100% better than the BubbleTea we tried elsewhere. And with tons of flavours too. I had a rose one and it really was good. We purposefully tracked it down before we came home, too, for another. I think I'm going to miss that BubbleTea...

Anyway, we had a ton of fun. If the opportunity crops up again, we'll certainly be going back, both for the Con and for BubbleTea :)

Hopefully, the Degree Show and Mall Con will also offer a good success.

Until Next time!

Tara