According to my Twitter Analytics on SU.PR, my blog announcing that I would be working on Blade of the Last Gods/ANME.TV full time was one of my most popular posts. So, during that post I asked for your help to help me get this ball rolling. All I have to say is THANK YOU! Sure that’s more like screaming, but the message is the same. MyFacebook fanbase is strong and Twitter’s going pretty well too. The great thing is that I’m almost out of free 18×24 posters for Premium Accounts. I remember when I printed 150 of them, I looked at the pile wondering if this was such a good idea. Well, between December and now, I only have 21 left. So thanks!
Someone wrote me and asked how I made the transition to full time artists. Believe me, this was well planned. I saved enough money to live on for a year. It was easier for me because I made over $100k (I’ll be happy to post my W2 if you don’t believe me) at a job I couldn’t stand but helped pay for animation & other expenses. I also live kind of cheap anyway. I’m definitely not making as much I once did but I am a lot happier and I have more time to spend with my family and doing other things.
Anyway, thank you for supporting me and ANME.TV. If you want to join our other hardcore fans, please look at the Premium Account as a donation (just click the pic to get membership and free poster). Just remember, I only have 21 posters left so first come first serve. Take care and today’s comic will be up soon! Once again: THANK YOU!
You know, that confused me for about a month. Was James Cameron’s Avatar movie loosely based on Avatar the Last Air Bender or not? Part of that confusion was due to me not actually bothering to ask anyone and that the logo kinda sorta looked like the one for the cartoon. But I digress.
So now the other Avatar movie is on it’s way and it looks cool. Plus it’s directed by M. Knight Sha…sham..shame I’m too lazy to look up how to spell his name on Google. He is however one of my favorite directors. My brother (who dislikes him) argue about his films whenever he drops some new hotness. However, I think The Last Air Bender (really?) is going to be awesome andyou knowit’s going to have some crazy ass twist at the end:
My mom’s birthday is around the corner and she’s hinted that she’d like “one of those computer phones you can touch”. I’m guessing she doesn’t mean anything with Windows Mobile (lol). So it’s either a Nexus One or an iPhone. What I do know is that when it comes to a cool looking logo, I prefer Android to the Apple. Case and point:
Now these are some cool toys. They’ll be available later this month according to the website.
See, it’s like aliens. No one believes in it until it’s on the news 24/7. I’m sure that I wasn’t the first to call it but I sure couldn’t find anyone else writing about it. Now everyone else is starting to talk about it (Take that social media!).
“Here at VIZ we’re all buzzing with excitement about the iPad, both because many of us want to get our hands on one but also because of the tremendous possibilities it opens up for digital publishing of illustrated books. It appears that the lo
ng-standing challenges posed by questions of resolution, sizing, and color have disappeared. This certainly appears to be the device that will allow users to carry a library of manga around with them everywhere.”
Now, there is no way I’m competing with Viz, Marvel or Dark Horse but I’ll repeat what I said in my January 20th Blog Post:
“….what I haven’t heard or read about is the impact these devices are going to have on the creative arts community. Since my limited credentials and grand vision pertain to webcomics & animation, we’ll discuss that.
Depending on the platform Apple chooses to use on the mystical device, I see that there will be a great opportunity for web comic artists. If this device will allow Apps to be sold in iTunes, can you imagine your comics for sale in the app store. Those of you with large catalogs such as Scary Go Round and Penny Arcade have an opportunity to reach a even larger audience. People like me, will have the opportunity to really dig our trenches in the internet and make a living off of this. I really think this is possible with a large enough fan base.”
I love Japanese music. Partially it has to do with my time in Japan. I Still Love H.E.R by the Teriyaki Boyz f/Kanye West is still one of my favorite hip hop songs of all time. Hell, I’ll admit I bump Utada. Mostly, it has to do with my long standing love of Anime Soundtracks. Unfortunately for us Gaijin, the iTunes USA store doesn’t offer much and I’m sure most of us don’t have access to a Japanese credit card
But if for some strange reason you absolutely MUST have the opening theme to Azu Manga Daioh in your iPod, then here’s the way around it. J List ! They sell Pre Paid cards for the iTunes Japan Store for 24.50 or 42.50 US (1500 or 3000 Yen)which will allow you to set up a dummy account and buy all the music you want. I guess they sell movies too (let me know if they do).
Liked Mondays comic? Chun’s coloring & inking blow me away. It looks like we’re getting the rhythm of the comic down the more we work together. Chapter I of Warsong is nearly a wrap. I can’t believe that it’s gotten this far but as I’ve stated before, the whole trilogy will be done in three to four years. If you’re enjoying it so far, thank you!
Sooo…My Macbook went the way of Vito Corleone in the First Godfather movie. I was the kid playing with it and all of a sudden it quietly died. It was my first Mac, so I get emotional when I see its shell.
A little back story: I was living in Tokyo near Shibuya crossing with a month old HP laptop running Windows XP. It was working great and it did what it had to. A friend of mine had a Macbook and I thought it looked cool but my HP had a zillion inputs for digicam cards and all sorts of cool sh*t so I thought the mac was a little plain. It was sexy too though. Anyway, fast forward to me living in Spain (yes, I am a nomad) and before I left Japan, I upgraded to Vista. I’m sure the horror stories of that are plentiful on the internet so I’ll spare you the details. The other weird thing was that the laptop started to give me short electric shocks when my palms rested on the keyboard. I attributed it to either voodoo or the 220 electrical current in the quasi ghettofied villa I lived in during my five months in Andalucia. By that time, Vista was driving me batsh*t (this was pre- Service Pack 1), so I asked my roommate who was heading back to the states for two weeks to bring me back a Macbook from the mall. I honestly figured out all the major stuff in 10 minutes and I never looked back.
That’s my ex roommate and my newly unboxed mac.
Well, now I’m writing this on my $200 netbook while awaiting word on what Steve Jobs states is “the most important thing I’ve ever done.”
So, you many or may not of heard about a product that apple may or may not be introducing on the 27th of January. Most people believe it is the much awaited iSlate if that is its name. Wether or not this product exists, it is very clear that the future is coming in the form of a tablet. I believe in under five years most devices will have touch screen capabilities. Not only because it’s cool but if the interface of the product is user friendly, then it lowers the barriers to adoption. Here’s a real world example. I owned a few mobile phones before the iPhone. They weren’t very useful and if they were lost then oh well. Now when the iPhone became the new hotness, I jumped on board because this is a device that I REALLY had a use for. Email, music, yada yada yada. I also own a 22″ HP touch screen computer. The only reason I mention it is because that was the machine that actually made me buy a Vista (ugh) machine. But I digress.
**If it exists.
However, what I haven’t heard or read about is the impact these devices are going to have on the creative arts community. Since my limited credentials and grand vision pertain to webcomics & animation, we’ll discuss that.
Depending on the platform Apple chooses to use on the mystical device, I see that there will be a great opportunity for web comic artists. If this device will allow Apps to be sold in iTunes, can you imagine your comics for sale in the app store. Those of you with large catalogs such as Scary Go Round and Penny Arcade have an opportunity to reach a even larger audience. People like me, will have the opportunity to really dig our trenches in the internet and make a living off of this. I really think this is possible with a large enough fan base. A couple dollars for a whole chapter of comics isn’t asking much and I bet you Marvel and the other big publishing houses are doing the same.
The other thing no one has mentioned is what a device like this can do for us artists. Supposedly, Apple has a patent on motion gestures that will allow someone to write naturally without a stylus. Imagine going directly into photoshop or illustrator, drawing directly on screen and then uploading it to your website. That would cut down the time it will take for us to get our comics directly to the public.
Peronally, I can’t wait to see Blade of the Last Gods: The Animated series on these devices…If it’s real. Anyway, if you’re interesting listening to more of my insane ramblings, just drop me a line on Twitter. Oh an Monday’s my birthday: Off to China!
Wow, it’s been kind of quiet around here. Just getting ready for my move back to the states, so I’ve been a bit exhausted lately.
I was messing around last night and made this video. It’s a little rough, but I just wanted to show some of the cartoons and the history of animation that inspired me to do ANME.TV. Ever since I was a kid I had a fascination cartoon and animation from Disney to Pixar to Anime. Enjoy and respective copyright holders, please don’t sue
I’m really looking forward to getting back and working on ANME.TV full time! What an opportunity. Besides the animated series, I’m hoping to get out an iPhone game based on another one of my creations by the summer. A game like this has never been done. As far as Blade of the Last Gods: Combat (iPhone), the animation sequences for the sprites are being handled by the same animation studio that does the BOTLG animated series. I think it’s going to be something really special.
