my phone just did a creepy thing.

it turned itself on even though it was never off.

also i just got home today from spending a week (okay 6 days) in sf.  those six days started off with a great visit to the De Young museum.  I saw all the balenciaga dresses again and drew more of them!  I also just started a new sketchbook and it only took me 4 days to figure out that the pages don't hold pencil well.

oh balenciaga. you are a master of shapes and covers.

not to mention this little nun-ish number that is not only navy, but incredibly cute!

beware. it gets ramble-y after this.

I didn't do a ton of sketching while I was away from home but I helped clean to make up for my freeloading, I read elephantmen, american vampire, too much jeffery brown, and a lot of other stuff that rachel has in her comic collection.  We went out to eat a couple times. Watched a few movies. Went to the beach. Watched wayyyy too much of Hoarders (even though that had an extremely positive and cleanly reward). Had fun talking to comic creators and hopeful comic creators.  Celebrated 4th of July by watching neighbors set off illegal fireworks. Walked around the mall and tried on clothes and some fabulous shoes (I really want some peep toe pumps now!). and ate many delicious salads.

It was an incredibly relaxing week (and comfortable since it was never above 75 degrees) and now I'm ready to work on Rachel's and my comic before our next meet up.  I generally work at a slower pace than her in more ways than one, so I am always further behind in my penciling and inking. but I'm okay with it since i'm still trying to figure out how to do things and since i'm thinking a lot about the back ground information for the characters and setting.

I'm glad I was able to get some comic related stuff done today. like more research!

I know that both Rachel and I haven't been too set on the time line/time frame of our project. but we narrowed down the ages to late 20's.  we could up their ages another 5 and still be safe. but the important things to remember and avoid in the time line are 1. the mexican-american war, and 2. the civil war.  Neither will be avoided completely since race, socioeconomic status, and a whole list of cultural threads are tied to each of these wars.  but it's nice to have the mexamer war influence attitudes towards one set of characters and the civil war allow for another to get distorted and relocated.

This comic makes me really glad I studied anthropology. History is so boring and almost completely ignores whole portions of the world when you forget that people are transient social beings. One of the toughest things for me to do is to try and find reliable information about how our characters live, what they wear, what they eat, how they travel, etc.  I've found bits and pieces of how things were carried out but its fun to use my knowledge to connect these pieces to form a slightly bigger picture than what was possible.

Unfortunately, we haven't put much of the setting into the first chapter. We are more focused on 1. getting the story going, 2. introducing some characters and the dynamic between them, and 3. getting the story going.  But then again. We only have the first chapter and the basic plot lined up so far. the journey through said plot will allow for plenty of opportunity to flush out the world. and dont you worry. it will be flushed out. like a mofo.