Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Friday, August 26, 2016

Update #3!

Hey all!You may have noticed I did some reworking on my Patreon!  I wanted to make early updates more accessible and make the $5/month level a little bit sweeter for y'all.  If you are a $5 patron and don't have copies of Mushroom Guardians or Milkyboots #15, please message me your address and I will send them to you.
And now, news:
-I got a new job!  It's at a local arts and crafts supply store.  It's giving me lots of ideas for things to make.
-I just finished a 10-day house/dog sit.  Running back and forth between the new job, my house and the house of the pup was pretty exhausted and I ended up spending a lot of time playing Diablo 3* to recover instead of drawing.  Here's a weird thing about other people's houses: they don't usually have good drawing spaces haha.  I'm glad to be back at my house and have enough time to make it to my studio.
-I got into Short Run!  I'll be up in Seattle November 5th, hopefully with a new minicomic or zine.  I didn't get into Emerald City Comic-Con, but I didn't really think I would.
-I'll start my "Month of Favorite Characters" project (available for $5+ patrons) on September 1st.  First up: the biologist from the Southern Reach Trilogy.

Things I've been enjoying:
-#trashcake plays Bioshock Infinite.  Writer Soha Kareem and game dev Scott Benson play Binfinite, talk about problematic themes and writing decisions, and make jokes about ghost queefs and man-sized raccoons.
-Your Black Friend by Ben Passmore (Silver Sprocket, 2016).
-Stay Crazy by Erica Satifka (Apex, 2016).

Thanks for reading! <3 p="">

*Smashing barrels and bashing monster heads is pretty good stress relief.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The WHYs updated today!

Today on The WHYs: Feel my heartbeat 🎶

Story Start // Chapter Start // Latest Page

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Blog Post #2

Hey All,
Well dang, it's been a week for me!  I was double pet-sitting this weekend, plus going home to give Lyra her medicine, so I've been doing a lot of running around.  The exercise has been good for my brain chemistry, so that's been nice.  Next week I'll be taking care of a bulldog, a cat and a rabbit!
I've had two job interviews, so things are looking up in that department.
In creative/doing stuff news:
  • I put my diary comics zine up on etsy.  It's $3 and includes all the comics I did for my Patreon supporters.
  • Free Code Camp (the site I was using to learn code) jumped way too far ahead for me, so I am supplementing it with Codecademy and some YouTube tutorials.  I'll cobble together a portfolio site eventually!
  • For Patreon supporters, I am hoping to put together a sketchbook PDF this week and start another month-long project.  I am thinking of doing 28 days of my favorite characters this time.  These will probably be collected into a zine for Short Run in November.
  • Haven't done much writing, either for the WHYs or for my Twine game.  Hopefully next week.
Things I've been Enjoying:
  • rachelsarahlevy's mixes on 8tracks, particularly the "x was 20 Years Ago" ones.  I listened to them while cleaning and got sent into a Tori Amos spiral.  Little Earthquakes is a really good album!
  • Noel Heimpel's Ignition Zero is on hiatus so now is a good time to catch up before the epilogue.  Gorgeous queer urban magic comics.
  • Austin Walker's games writing, particularly "Real Human Beings", "Me, On the Screen" and his first impressions of No Man's Sky.  His writing is aware in a really personal, enjoyable and intelligent way.
  • Everything O Horvath does.  Weird queer fantasy illustration and comics, populated by chubby cuties and futuristic horrors.
  • My friend and wonderful human being Kevin Czap's Kickstarter.  Czap Books puts out the best comics, for real.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

A WHYs update!

Today on The WHYs: A nice drive down the coast.

Story Start // Chapter Start // Latest Page

Just a reminder:  

You can support The WHYs on Patreon for early updates, PDF comics and process posts.
Or, you can follow me on twitter! Or tumblr!

Friday, August 5, 2016

What Is Up

Hello friends,
I've been thinking for a bit that I should get back into the writing part of having a blog, and maybe it would be cool to do 'what I'm up to' posts on my Patreon as well.  So here it is! 
Summers have been bad for my depression the last couple years, and 2016 is no different.  The fact that the planet seems to be careening towards disaster isn't helping either~but I'm managing it for the most part.  I'm medicated, sober and pretty good at self-care.  It's been hard to want to work on art, so I try to focus on that when I'm having a good day.
Other than that:
  • I've been dog sitting A LOT.  It'll be nearly a month straight by the end of August.  It's fun and I like the pups.  Also I get to explore new neighborhoods.   I do miss my cat and sleeping in my own bed though.
  • I have a new studio/desk space at XOXO Outpost.  If you live in Portland (or elsewhere) you might have heard of XOXO Fest.  The Outpost is a sliding scale open workspace.  It's been nice having a place to focus, even though it's been hard for me to make time to get there with all the dog sitting.
  • I got into Short Run!  I did not get into CALA, Hiveworks or the Adventure Zone fan anthology.
  • The WHYs is going well.  I am still trying to figure out if I can do it more than once a week.  We are into the homestretch of the first book, so that is exciting.  I realized I kind of back-loaded the first book - a lot of stuff is about to happen.
  • My cat Lyra may need radioactive iodine treatment!  The good news is it will completely cure her thyroid condition.  The bad news is it costs $1200.  A lot of money for a person on unemployment.  I might do a gofundme for it?
  • I've been slowly teaching myself to code using online resources.  I can't do a ton, but it feels pretty cool to be able to understand some of it!
  • My twine game is coming along very slowly, but I am still working on it.  I may have been a little overambitious with my first game, but overambitious is my jam.
Things I've been enjoying:
  • Pretty much everything at Sushi Ichiban that isn't sushi - taro and sweet bean buns, sesame balls, lychee, miso.
  • Friends at the Table (podcast) and Stream Friends (Let's Plays).  Smart, funny and awesome folks all around.
  • Doing puzzles while listening to podcasts.
  • Viridi (a succulent growing game) and Eidolon (a gorgeous walking/survival sim/mystery set in the post-post-apocalyptic Northwest) by Seattle-based Ice Water Games.
  • Everything Suzette does.
Well, I think that's it for now!  Thanks for reading.  I'll be back next week.
-VA

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Milkyboots #15 for sale!



My latest collection of diary comics is now for sale in my etsy shop!  If you don’t want to use etsy you can email me, vlpaine at yahoo.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

New WHYs page today!

Happy August, y'all!

Today on The WHYs: Joyride, anyone?

Story Start // Chapter Start // Latest Page