Hoppy hoppy...

My best friend...

His name was Alfred and last Sunday he had fatal parachuting accident. He was 44...

I'll miss you always my dearest Fred...



The last few pages of my book may be a little later because of this, but I know you will all understand. I just wanted to let you know...

Page 138 - part 3

Nancy is not allowed to guess any more... *rofl*



(this is the last third of page 138, but because I had one page double this one still has the wrong page number underneath, but it really IS page 138.. :-D)

Page 138 - part 2

Page 138 - part 1

.. of 3.
tomorrow part 2 ;-)

Page 137!!

(and 138 in a way, since they turned out to be the same page :-D)

Page 136!!!

Yes Ron, there is an IKEA according to google.. :-D
(sorry for the bright green, but any other RGB green became too dark when turned to CMYK)

Page 135!!

I found out yesterday that page 137 and 138 are the same, so the whole story is not 142 pages long, but only 141... so here is the six-before-last page!

Page 134!!!

I am so stuck..

..it's just not pretty any more. Don't know how I was able to do 6 pages a day on day 1 and 2 because I can barely do one the last few days. And yesterday I only edited one.. could it be that we are in week 2 of NaNo? :-s

Page 133!!

Fully inked and all!!

But a link again because a thumbnail may give away the story.
click here:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipteY4BprqAqT5AE0qvSL6cAP_ETF3AfVsGVRugsodi0enihP5UruxMZfBRRXzuslNBFcXvJuiuhGfx9FT_Gkm9qnm_VLGnbb1r5H1bRrR2SrxAF6Rp83KI9i4MV9DDk0GjCHGQVAvvQk/s800/nano09-blog133kl.jpg

Some more examples I am proud of:

Here are pages 9 and 29:





It keeps taking more and more time to edit and ink a page though... I went down from 6 pages a day to 4 already, but the honest thing to do would be to count 2 pages as 2k of words a day (compared to the NaNoWriMo participants that are writing a 50,000 word novel this month) but that way I will reach 50K already when I have only done 60 pages and I want to do at least 100 (3 pages a day), preferably 120 (4 pages a day) and ideally 142 (6 pages a day)... but I am already behind on the 4 pages-a-day quota...

Page 132 again but now fully inked!

Page 132!!!

I felt so bad about working on the wrong page, I did my best to get page 132 ready for you as well. It's edited but only partially coloured (since I haven't solved the CMYK problem yet and I still feel ill), but at least this way you guys can read it already :-)

RGB vs. CMYK... help!!

Anyone have any knowledge about this? I am working in RGB when I should be working in CMYK apparently, because the result is meant for print. A lot of the CMYK colours are a lot less bright though.. so I may have to do the 20 pages I did so far over..

I know how to change the file I am working on to CMYK, but I don't know how to change my swatches and stuff in Photoshop. They do have a whole bunch of pantone swatches to choose from which I think has to do with printing as well, but I wouldn't know which Pantone set to pick..

So if you know anything about this please help! I have felt ill all night and day today so I have hardly worked on my NaNo today... so that's a whole day behind and I don't know how to proceed with this CMYK problem anyway... :-\

HELP!

Grandma's dress - part 2

Thank you for using the word 'old-fashioned', guys (girls) since that was what I was looking for. The flower dress has the emphasise the fact that grandma is a grandma.. a ninja grandma with a fighting spirit, but still a grandma.
Plus I do like it if she is wearing a dark outfit to fit with her ninja-ishness.

So I feel mostly for this one:


Question is: is it clear that this is a flower dress? Or does it just look like something unclear when you don't know it's supposed to be a flowerdress?

I worked really hard...

.. to get page 131 up for you (and in colour) and now I find out I had already posted that one... *AARGH*

Anyway, here are 130 and 131 in colour (except for grandma, since I hadn't decided about her dress yet)

Grandma's dress?? help!

I can't decide what colour to do grandma's clothing. She is a ninja so I thought she would be in black, but that gives me a world of hurt inking it in if I still want the arms to show.

So I was in the Dutch NaNo chat yesterday, where Lenihan gave me the marvellous idea to give her a flower dress, which will make her look more grand-motherish, despite her ninja outfit.

So I made a few pattern stamps myself, and I would like your opinion. Which grandma do you like best? The darker patterns are more 'ninja' suitable, but the lighter ones show the arms better. I think the Delft Blue pattern is hilarious but that may be too Dutch. Pattern nr 5 I will need to adapt if I choose it because it shows a too obvious pattern-rim (hope that is the right word) and that may proof to be quiet a challenge..

The other MC's are: bright red for me, grey for Zowie en light grey (metal) en brown (wood) for Shovel and Picky. The dwarfs are purple.

Here are grandma's possible dresses:
1

2

3

4

5

6

7


EDITED TO ADD: Apparently it wasn't Lenihan, or only Lenihan that gave me the grandma-flower-dress idea, but I owe my thanks first and foremost to BrokenWings for it! So thank you BW, and sorry I got confused about who said what in chat! :-D

What a SHOOTload of work!!

I have started editing and inking and I have to do 5 to 6 pages which takes me 5 to 6 hours.. no kidding!!!
But it's day 2 and I have done my 12 pages... pfffft. Hope I can keep this up.

But I donlt know when I will get to the last 11 that you all still have coming. I'll try to sneak one in every couple of days so that I can at least post the first draft for you, but I am not promising anything... :-\

In the meantime I will try to post inked pages regularly so you can see what they look like!

Here is one:


(use the magnifying glass! It's 900 px wide :-))

The End...

At 1.12 am on October 26th 2010 I finished drawing the last page of my cartoon story, page 142... so finally I know how it all ends! (and believe it or not, but page 141 still had a surprise for me!)

I started this story at midnight November 1st 2009 and almost a full year later I am finally done drawing! Now I just need to finish editing the last 11 pages I drew in the past 8 days and post them here, so you will all know how it ends as well.

And the 30 days of next month I will spend editing and inking (hopefully) all 142 pages so I can turn it into a real book at Lulu.com

I love my book, I love my characters, I will always keep loving my little Zoë and I love all of you guys for helping me through it. It was amazing, it was exhausting, it was the best adventure ever, and now I am going to stop being mushy in here and cry a of joy and fatigue in my warm cosy bed.

Goodnight to all! ..and keep your eye out for the remaining pages to be posted here soon.

*biiiig hugs* HannahK

Page 131

I drew 3 1/2 pages since Friday, yay!

Page 130

I'm out this weekend, so not sure if I can update Sunday night or Monday.
(I do plan to draw while I am away).
I have storyboarded almost the whole ending already, and I think it will be 6 or 7 more pages (or more if I do one or two page filling drawings again)



Oh and that thing with grandma..? I didn't know that was going to happen until yesterday either, swear to god... damn plotbunnies ;-)

Page 129

I am so close to the ending now, I can SMELL it! :-D

Page 128

Page 127

Page 126

Still only one page, but at least it's more than no page! :-D

Page 125

Well, I didn't make it to draw two pages today yet, but here is at least one to start with:

Page 124

Page 34 (and 35) were posted at November 26 and 27.

I am away from home most of the day and all night tomorrow, so you may have to wait for the next (two) page(s) until Sunday.

page 123

right on time this one! :-)

Page 122

Half an hour late, but that's because I had to rewrite(draw) the joke ;-)

Another link this time:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4vL4PUC9oOA4MUAlpV17Kgw31qwB-SHo1h46lxsZSfQ?feat=directlink

Page 121

This one is one night late, so the next one will be posted tonight already!



And thanks to all the commenters for pulling me through these last pages! You are all VERY appreciated!!! xxx

Page 120

..and still rolling...

The thumbnail is too big, so only a link this time:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DEO_tLFgWZ_nggeiKQuOmAw31qwB-SHo1h46lxsZSfQ?feat=directlink

(and Jolien, stop giving away my plot.. ;-))

edited to make link clickable

Page 119

Already keeping this up for 3 days in a row now! (I do hope the story will be done in 11 or 12 more pages... but you never know with me, do you?)

Page 118

..like Erika said.. I'm on a roll! (=ik zit op een broodje) ;)

Page 117

There ya go.. a promise is a promise ;-)
(and thanks for helping me gain some momentum again!) <3

FINISHING THE DAMN THING!

So it's October already and i aonloy realised how close NaNo was until last week. I want to use this years NaNo to edit and COLOUR (!) this story. But in order to do so, I need to finish it before that time.
I am really close to an ending now (I actually know most of the pages and jokes, so this time I am not just thinking it) but my pace has slowed down to one that is only still bearably visible to the human eye.

So maybe I should use the first half of October to finish the damn thing. A page a day, and then two weeks of rest before editing and colouring 4 of 5 pages a day.

But if I do that I will need comments to stay motivated, so it would help if there were readers who wouldn't mind coming in every day for the next two weeks and comment as well...

So what do you guys thing? Anyone up to that? :-)


You know what? If I get a comment today I will post a new page tonight ;-)

Present from the Mosselman

One of my fellow-wrimo's who writes on the NaNo forum under the name Harry Mossel is also a cartoonist-illustrator (http://www.polanimation.nl) and he made me this little Dutch cartoon about my daily cartoons during NaNoWriMo:



*rofl* Thanks, Harry!

Congrats, it's a boy.. (in Dutch)

Sorry for taking so long to past the next page.
Here is a little in-between, a Dutch cartoon I made for someone who delivered her first baby during a heatwave this summer:


(use magnifying glass in right upper corner)

page 116

Page 115

Lizzie ill, Lizzie better!

Hi everyone, sorry it took such a long time to post a new page, but my little Lizzie fell ill!

I took her to the vet shortly before the Lowlands festival and it turned out she had Coccidiosis. This is a microscopic parasite that 80% of all bunnies carry in their intestines. Typically, healthy adult animals will be asymptomatic because of their developed immune systems. However, undeveloped immune systems make young bunnies more susceptible. So for small bunnies it can be a deadly illness.

Luckily we caught it very soon, so I got medication for her and thought she would be all right. My neighbour took care of her (and of giving her the medication) while I was at Lowlands, but when I came back, I noticed she was quieter than usual and eating less. During the rest of her 10 day treatment she started eating less and less until I had to force feed her to make sure she would not not develop gastrointestinal stasis, which happens when bunnies stop eating and which can also be deadly. We added another type of medication, but her appetite didn't get any better.

I thought she would start eating again after the medication treatment was done, which was a week ago on Sunday. But she didn't eat on Monday or Tuesday, so I took her to the vet, but he could not find anything and sent me home again. I called him again on Wednesday when she still wasn't eating and said I was exhausted from force-feeding her for a full week and I wanted him to check her teeth (which , if you read my comic, you now know has to be done under general anaesthesia).

He offered to take her into his care to see if he could get her to eat again and said he would check her teeth the next day. But when I called the vet on Thursday he said she started eating again. He kept her until Friday just to be sure, but she got her appetite back and I was able to pick her up again Friday afternoon.

She is eating well and her bowels are healing well too. So it was a bit of a scare and an unwanted trip down memory lane after everything that happened with Zoë the last year of her life, but at least Lizzie got better again.

She is not back yet on the weight she started on two and a half weeks ago, and she still has to make up for two weeks of growth as well, but she is all back to her old self again, running and jumping and peeing on my couch... which I don't mind so much any more at the moment.. and which I covered with a textile shower curtain yesterday so I can just wipe it clean now. ;-)

So that's what I was busy with the past few weeks. Hopefully I will get a little more productive again soon. If not, just start harassing me for new pages in here ;-)

Lizzie eating again!


Back between her toys


Playing on my legs!

Page 114

(I'll be at Lowlands this weekend, so no updates till next week)

Page 113

Now that I have bought a playpen for Lizzie made out of metal wire panels that I have used to divide the kitchen from the living room, I can leave her safely to play in the kitchen without having to be there the whole time. So now I can go into my study without feeling guilty anymore about leaving her locked up in her cage the whole time! So I thought it was ABOUT TIME for another page! :-D

So here is page 113:

Lizzie is here!!!

Here she is, my new bunny-baby-girl. A Dutch Mini Lop (Nederlands Hangoor Dwerg) in the colour 'Sallander'. So I named her after Lisbeth Salander, the heroin in the Millennium trilogy by Swedish author Stieg Larsson.

In her travel basket:


Liking her bear:



Discovering her cage:


Discovering the living room:


Loving my home-made bunny-maze!


...but liking it mostly for sitting on and eating it.. :D


or for having a wash...


And she loooooves the play-tunnel I bought her!


Especially for running through it really fast!


What is really strange though, is that I thought she would be beige and brown, but she is much more light and dark grey.. pretty much the exact same colour Zoë was!


So thank god she is a different bunny-breed so at least they wont ever look the same!

She won't let me touch her yet and she runs like hell when I stick my hand out, but she does seek out my company the whole time she is out of her cage. So sweet.. So hopefully she will get used to me and let me pet her soon.

Good news is that she is already house-broken and the place she chose in her new cage for her toilet was... the bunny-toilet! So I didn't have to do anything to teach her! :)