Yuko Ota's Blog, page 60

Process Post 1

Hey guys! Here's the first of the process posts, as I talked about on Tuesday. This one outlines how we set about creating our latest iteration of business cards. Read it like a magazine. 

If that's not enough, you can also check out Yuko's process post on Tumblr about an illustration she's doing for one of the Benign Kingdom posters! Pretty sweet. 

That's all for us! Time to work like we mean it. Catch you next week!

Slight change to update schedule

Extra-tall comic today. That baby was pretty cute! A calming presence. Oh and this is a right-handed comic, for anyone keeping track. 

So this upcoming month is going to be a little different! The deal is that we've taken on a lot of work (more than we anticipated) and Yuko needs more time to be able to get it done. We'll be doing Regular updates every Tuesday, and then Process updates every Thursday. Process Updates: These will probably be about our design process for things like stickers, business cards, book covers ... whatever we think might be interesting. We get a lot of questions about this, so this seems like a good way to still be updating but also allowing Yuko to try to catch up on a huge backlog of work. That being said, if there's anything in particular you'd be curious to hear about - let me know and I'll try to take it into consideration! Thanks!

In that same vein, I've opened my Ask box on Tumblr. I tend to skip over personal questions, but if you've got questions about our work or process or whatever, do feel free to ask! 

That's all for us! Catch you Thursday!

Store running low!

Filing cabinet? Brick oven?

We were talking about an IKEA trip ... IKEA, My old nemesis. I got a new chair today and this thing is AWESOOOOME. We held off on the filing cabinet after all! But we did grab an IKEA lunch, which was ... uh ... okay. The best vegetarian option was Chocolate Cream Cake, which isn't really a vegetable or a fruit but hey, you do what you gotta do. 

SPX is coming up in a few weeks! We'll be there and I'll have more info about it as it gets closer. It's going to be nice to be back in my old stomping grounds. 

It looks like a lot of the merch in the store is running low - if you wanted to grab something, now may be the time! We ought to be getting some new items in soon, but we're going to be letting some of these things cycle out. Just a heads up!

That's all for us! See you next week!

Boss cat

He wants what he wants (food) and he'll do whatever it takes to get it. He's a loose cannon!!

I'd said last week that Yuko was going back to right-handed comics, but I think she's enjoying the challenge! So here's another. 

The finished versions of last week's comics are up! Check them out:

Hospitality
Diversity in Cat Magnetism

That's all for us. I'm spending most of my time flatting right now! Yuko's drawing comics. This is our life right now! It will also be our life when we catch you Thursday! See you then!

More scanner problems! Oh dear.

Academic paper forthcoming. 

More left-handed comics! We should be getting back to right-handed comics in the next week or so. Oh, and again: we're away from HQ and the scanner we have access to is no longer compatible with the OS on our laptops. So we're posting photos and we'll upload corrected comics this weekend! Yup yup.

My brother's visiting and I'm getting the B9 Fall 2012 stuff together so it's busy busy busy! Catch you next week!

Technical Difficulties

Hey guys! We're away from HQ and had issues with the scanner that's available to us, so we're posting what we can using a photo of the comic now, and we'll replace it over the coming weekend. Sorry about that! These things happen. 

I can't believe this comic is left-handed too. I have no idea how Yuko is doing it. Practice ... or sorcery?? 

On that note - we've been taking some time outside the city! We went hiking with Scott on Sunday and that was pretty great. Yuko saw a doctor about her wrist, she got some medicine, and if all goes well she her hand ought to be better real soon. 

The left hand lives

It's not that Rook is vegetarian, or a carnivore, or anything like that. It's just that he's always hungry and loves to eat. I think it would be easier to list what he doesn't like to eat. Here we go:

 

That should cover it. 

More left-handed comics, till Tuesday at least! That's doctor day. 

Shows: We'll be doing SPX and NYCC this year, and I believe that's it. More details on those as we get them. 

See you next week!

The Kickstarter is over!

... throw it out. Just kidding, just kidding.

OR AM I???

I am.

This is another left-handed comic! Yuko's taking it easy until she sees a doctor next week. But take a look at the archive ... they're starting to look more and more like regular right-handed comics! Bananas!

The Benign Kingdom Fall 2012 Kickstarter is over! We're blown away by the interest everyone has shown, very cool and thank you. I spent last night putting the finishing touches on Aaron and Emmy's books - exciting! Can't wait for you guys & gals to see them. 

I think that's all for us! It's been a busy week and it's only Tuesday, so I'm gonna take it easy. See you Thursday!

Cricket

Cricket does this thing where she kind of spaces out and gazes into the distance and well, we have some ideas about that:

Oh dear. Yuko also did this comic left-handed! I think with each passing comic I forget more and more easily. Good job Yuko!

A couple of things I wanted to mention:

Johnny Wander Vol. 2 got a flattering mention over at Comics Alliance in Best Comic Book Covers (This Month) - July 2012. 
The Benign Kingdom Kickstarter for the Fall 2012 Collection is ending in a few days. Take a look, grab a book if you like what you see!

That's all for us. Catch you next week!

BUZZ!

He says it in this weird cat voice - you can watch videos of other cats doing the same thing. Rook doesn't sound quite the same - when he says hello, it always lilts up at the end, like a question. Anyway, the first time he did it it was pretty creepy because it was in the dead of night and MAN, basically anything in the dead of night is super creepy. 

(It's still left-handed comics for Yuko, possibly until she sees the doc in August! I am taking her wrist problems super seriously!! But also these wiggly comics are kinda fun.)

It's been so busy that I haven't had a chance to touch on this, but I wanted to mention - Oni announced BUZZ! at SDCC, a book that's a collaboration between myself and Tessa Stone. Check out the preview art:

Tessa's work is SPECTACULAR and she's detail-oriented and fast and a dream to work with! We've both been working super hard on BUZZ! and I hope you dig it when it comes out. I'll post more information as it gets announced. 

That's all for today! See you Thursday!