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Off to have dinner, get plastered, and paint Londontown red with maryavatar and rivier in a couple of days tomorrow (gosh, look at that, it's Thursday already).

Which means I will finally be able to answer 'yes' to the 'Have you ever met in person someone you met on LiveJournal?' question on all those multiple-answer memes I fill out but never post (and you know you're glad for it).

Actually, we will probably just have dinner, get plastered and discuss smut we've written, smut we're stuck in the middle of writing, and smut we'd like to but probably never will write.

And which of Harper's shirts we like the most.

One down, seventeen to go!

Hoorah, have finished the splashpage for my Weiß Kreuz Schwarz doujinshi/comic! [blows big kiss to new, beloved, if much overpriced, lightbox]

( Digital camera shot of comic Splashpage and closeup of 'Aya looks up' )

It's my first attempt at using Letratone/screentone (they're the patterns, which are on transparent film like Letraset letters, and you cut them out and stick them on). The shading on the Aya closeup is a bit crappy but it was getting to the 'leave off before this dies a horrible death from overscraping' stage. I'm not happy with the doorway shading either. However I figure I'll get better with practise and I have to say I love the medium. It's just so much damn fun!

The perspective was a difficult one too but I think it came out well. I got it from a picture (an ad I think) in a newspaper that I liked. I don't believe I've ever used a protractor so much in my life trying to work out the correct angles!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I'm illustrating my story Playtime [Spielzeit] and this is for the first two paragraphs.

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Have just been to visit the Shop of Doom (London Graphics Centre) again. This time to buy some more brush pens (because dumb me left the lid off mine and it died. Duh.) Needless to say that wasn't all I ended up buying, but hey, I needed those greytone brush pens. And the circles stencil. And the French curves (no, not those kind of French curves!).

The very nice attendant also gave me some paper samples to try out, Mellotex Ultra White. It's quite different from the watercolor paper I usually use, much more polished and plasticy, but only 5 gsm lighter. So I will have a play around with that and see if I want to switch. The watercolor paper isn't ideal for markers as they tend to bleed or feather quite a bit, but I'm used to it and know what I can and can't do with it. Not that familiarity is any good excuse for not improving!

Anyway, he also showed me some new Staedler pens with a permanent tip, as opposed to their fibre tips (which I hate). Quite a good price too - £8 instead of the usual £15 - 20 for that type of pen and they're cartridge as well. Apparently they won some industry award for the tip and overall I was quite impressed with the line and handling. The ink is lightfast, but I must admit I like my Faber-Castel's with indian ink. Heh. What a reactionary! Still, they have thinner tipped versions as opposed to the FC medium, fine and superfine, so I might buy one later.

Man, I am starving. I thought of eating in London, but midtown dining by yourself isn't much fun. I haven't shopped this week and I'm too damn tired to cook so it's a choice of Linda McCartney Chili non Carne, or... Linda McCartney Chili non Carne. Hmm. Well, off to do my bit for vegetarianism.