Commissions are currently closed. Note me for a time-table or info.

On Hold for the moment:
thumbing story for

Trades: Closed for the moment

Next Kiriban at 25k

Springfield comicon, Sunday, November 23rd. Yup. I will totally be there. Since it's now 3 in the morning, I guess that's technically tomorrow. I should go to bed. Anyhoo, Springfield, Missouri. Some building there. 10 am to 4 pm. Yup. Be there or be human shaped. I won't relegate you to a square shape considering that most of you don't live here and may not be able to make it on such short notice.
As usual, I will be selling stuff and doing commissions there in front of God and everybody. The shame of it all.
----
See something in my gallery you like? Make me an offer. [link] (Be reasonable, though. I'm broke, not stupid.)
Prices are lowered on the bottles in my etsy gallery: [link]
Wolf's Bane, Siren Song, and Unicorn's Tears are gone!!! Gone, I say!!! And ecstatic crazy dancing followed their passing.

Check out my normal commissions info here: [link]
Also, prints: [link]
You can make offers on the prints, too, just remember, shipping and handling is not included in the price.

Dictionary of Amberisms


Conventions schedule: None at the moment

Clubs:
manekochan is married to Dilandau

Commissions are currently open; 5 slots available

Still working on:
thumbing story for

Trades: Closed for the moment

Next Kiriban at 25k

11/07/08
I recently lost my second job (oh, boo hoo, right? What's 10 hours a week? Well, it's money, damn it, that's what) through circumstances I do not wish to discuss at this time on account of the fact that I don't want a string of expletives on my first page and all. But, damn it. I was so pissed that I could barely speak. I've called the department of labor several times over the past 2 weeks, I will say that much. I'm livid over the whole thing. Livid.... I've mellowed over the past few days, but every time I discuss it I get angry. I have stopped having the violent fantasies involving my ex-boss and my right foot (yeah. My right foot. It's more coordinated.) every time I have a spare minute. The sick satisfaction said fantasies elicited from me was somewhat dismaying. Who knew I was so damned evil? Anyhoo... Rat bastard. Virulent piece of crap.
On another note, I submitted the dangos ( [link] ) to Zuda. May heaven help them. Thought it would be fun. Anyway, that's why they're not on here at the moment. In all actuality, however, you can still view them in slide show (for now) if you click on the little tv in the upper left hand corner. I guess that's a glitch. It will probably work itself out eventually and even that option will go away. If I get rejected they'll be back. That's almost an inevitability, though, but if anyone wants to pray or do voodoo magic for it or something that'd be awesome.
That's really all I have to say at the moment. I have another comic thing percolating which would be freaking awesome if I got it but I can't talk about it right now. ^^ I'm a tease. Heh heh. ^^
What else? There was something else. Ah. I started working on my book again. Starting over, cutting it down. First draft take 2. ^^ "Wouldn't that be the second draft?..." Um... no. Because I didn't finish the first one. But the rough draft has been done for two years. How dated am I? I put a reference to the then non-existent Underworld 3 coming out on dvd. Guess I need to change it to 4 or something, yeah? ^^ (this book here: Yeah yeah yeah. I swear I'll finish it this time! I swear it!)

------
10/16/08
Danial had his wisdom teeth taken out today. I am in charge of making sure that his gauze gets changed every half hour and going to get his medicines and stuff. It's kind of cute. He's very loopy. Heh heh. ^_^
I made him some jello-- it's in the fridge right now. I was going to buy him some pudding but he can't have dairy for a day or so. Maybe I'll just buy some and not tell him. Then again, I may not have any money left after I pick up his pain medication and whatchacallit... er... antibiotics.
I started reading "The Graveyard Book" today and it took me until the chapter about the Ghouls to figure out that it was a take on the Jungle Book. I love the Jungle Book and the ghouls struck me as being similar to the Bandorlog. I was telling Dan about it and suddenly I realized that that's why it was called "The GRAVEYARD Book". I can be so slow sometimes.

---------
10/17/08
Conrad was officially rejected as of today, which is why I've started uploading it here. I have talked to Danial about doing more of it and I haven't decided yes or no yet. I feel like maybe it would be kind of fun to work on it for a little while longer-- then again, maybe I'm just incorrectly remembering the hell that it was. If I keep working on it, though, the style is going to change a little and I may do away with colors. I dunno yet. It gets compared to the infinitely superior Lackadaisy enough already. Keeping it black and white or sepia would just call attention to the similarities. They're pretty different, though.

Dictionary of Amberisms


Conventions schedule: None at the moment

Clubs:
manekochan is married to Dilandau

Commissions are currently open; 5 slots available

Still working on:
thumbing story for

Trades: Closed for the moment

Next Kiriban at 15k

The rules are:
* Choose a singer/band/group
* Answer using ONLY titles of songs by that singer/band/group
* Tag 6 more people (let them know they've been tagged)
tagged by

I chose you, Interpol! ... Or not. You're too hard, Interpol. I tell you to go away now.

1. Are you male or female?
"Roxanne"


2. Describe yourself.
"Voices Inside My Head"

3. What do people feel when they're around you?
"Rehumanize Yourself" "Too Much Information"

4. How would you describe your previous relationship?
"Demolition Man"

5. Describe your current relationship.
"When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around"

6. Where would you want to be now?
"Once Upon a Daydream"

7. How do you feel about love?
"The Bed's too Big Without You"

8. What's your life like?
"Hole in My Life"

9. What would you ask for if you had only one wish?
"A Kind of Loving"

10. Say something wise.
"Truth Hits Everybody"

(The Police, yeah? ^^ I like them summat. ^^)

I am terribly dizzy!!!

Dictionary of Amberisms


Conventions schedule: None at the moment

Clubs:
manekochan is married to Dilandau

Commissions are currently closed: 3 slots filled; Will reopen at 1 slot

Still working on:
thumbing story for

Trades: Closed for the moment

Next Kiriban at 15k

Just a quick update to get my ridiculously long and getting longer FAQ off my front page.
I'm currently working on a Supergirl commission and working a whole bunch this week.
The bottle labels that I made should get on bottles any day now (you know... once I do it... hee hee. ^^ ). I will be posting them to an etsyart account for sale. I'll post the link to it when they're finally up. I'm not going to put them on ebay because a ton of people apparently had the same idea as me, although mine are awesome and theirs are not. So anyway, I may try one or two on ebay before I relegate them to etsyart, but I don't feel like letting any of the go for less than $10 so that's going to be tough. Ebay has a way of screwing me.

I got a free lawn mower. Walmart lost my lawnmower (that I brought in for repairs) for 2 weeks and then they discovered that they'd broken it and had just never told us. They gave us a new one. Yay.

Hiding this within an update so I don't get the fifty billion "I'm so sorry!" messages that normally accompany a journal like this. My grandmother on my father's side had a stroke and is in the hospital. She's not expected to make it. I went to visit her today and it was like a giant family reunion. Morbid, but it was still fun in a way. Some of the people I hadn't seen in over 15 years. It's sad to think about my grandmother dieing but it was nice to see everyone again after all this time. My grandmother is half brain dead and wasn't expected to survive the day. I'm going to the hospital again tomorrow. I feel strange about it because I only went to see her one time after she moved back to Joplin and now she's dieing. She can tell who is there and she can still talk a tiny bit, but I can't understand what she's saying and it's mostly relegated to things like, "Okay", "itch" and "pain."
I keep trying to stay up because if I go to bed then tomorrow will get here faster and I'm not quite ready yet. Tomorrow will be a harder day than today, I think.
Edit: My grandma Linda died at early this morning. It's been a depressing weekend.

Dictionary of Amberisms


Conventions schedule: None at the moment

Clubs:
manekochan is married to Dilandau

Commissions are currently closed: 3 slots filled; Will reopen at 1 slot

Still working on:
thumbing story for

Trades: Closed for the moment

Next Kiriban at 15k

Another Test and, hey! See all the crazy buttons everywhere? See that one that says FAQ? I don't have any FAQ's! I have the loosely affiliated Dictionary of Amberisms , but no real FAQ. So here's the thing. I need some randomly asked questions and then this journal will, mysteriously, become the FAQ. o_o Holy crap. That's crazy isn't it?
I'll start myself off with my first question:
Where does your username come from?
Oh! What a good questions anonymous caller! The name manekochan is actually a bastardization of the "maneki neko", the good luck cat of Japan. I did a report on Cats and Superstition once and the maneki neko stuck in my head. Apparently, not well enough. I was pronouncing it Maneko Neeko and eventually even named a roleplaying character after it. Maneko became the goddess of luck and time and later evolved into an agent of chaos and luck. When I was making screennames, maneko was taken. manekochan was never taken so I am basically the only manekochan on the entirety of the internet. At least in English speaking countries. I eventually took Japanese classes and was embarrassed to find out that I was pronouncing many a Japanese phrase incorrectly. Maneko Neeko became Maneko Niko. Maneko is a misspelling of the word manekko which means copycat and niko means smile, so really, my mascot's name is "copycat smile". My hidden screenname is sometimes manekikun. I've also been known to go by meatz_of_evil and various other Zim inspired stupidness.
Why don't you change your screen name to something more professional?
Look up Amber Stone sometime. [link]fficial&client=firefox-a
What do you get? A bunch of things about petrified tree sap and, apparently, some dancer person. Look up Amber Stone comic and you get a little bit more: [link]fficial&client=firefox-a
Look up manekochan... [link]fficial&hs=ltI&q=manekochan&start=0&sa=N
All your manekochan are belong to us, bitches. That's right. I am the manekochan. You can't type that in and not find me.

What is your favorite color?
Oooo! Simple, yet complex. It used to be blue when I was younger. A few years ago I kind of gravitated toward a kind of sage green. I like to wear red most, I think, even though with my skin color that's probably not the best idea. In colors that I use in art, I love payne's gray.

What, or who, influence you artistically?
Well, as for the "who" Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes is like some kind of god to me or something. I practically weep when I see that man's uncolored comic strips. They are gorgeous.Jane Austen and Yukako Iisaka. I think I could be either of them, though. It's less blind hero worship.
As for "What" myths and legends probably influence me the most. Cartoons and anime, obviously, and music. Escaflowne the series and the music. Sometimes if I can't think of a story I pop in a cd and try to think of a story based on the song that I hear. I wrote an entire story arc based on the song "Evil" by Interpol.
The biggest thing, and this is a total cop-out, but also the complete truth, are my dreams. My dreams are insane, epic, detailed, and slightly lucid. [link]

What do you want to be when you grow up?
When I was little I wanted to be an animator, a secretary, a writer, a vet, a checkout girl (I like the beeping), and various other things. I don't know anymore, but I'd like to be a writer... who does illustrations and stuff on the side. My dream job, I think, would be story boarding or laying stuff out. Preferably things I've written.

Do you have any special powers, attributes, or skills, already?
Sure. ^^ I can sit like some strange person and not fall over because my center of gravity is odd, I can draw pretty well and write pretty well. I can also speak Japanese. But I've forgotten most of it.

What superpower would you choose if you could pick only one?
That's tough. I'm a huge coward and I think I'd be a villain, so, teleportation. My second pick would be shapeshifting.

Who watches the watchmen?
Short little red-headed men with a penchant for killing dogs.

What sort of music do you like?
I like 80s music and some more modern stuff like the Killers, Interpol and My Chemical Romance. I also like random 90s etc music. I'm more into songs than artists, like I like the "Never You Mind" by Semi-Sonic but I hate most of their other music. I am easily swayed by association and songs that I find likeable often become favorites of mine if they are connected to something that I can associate with them. I like alot of bands that sound alike and often pick out songs that I like only later finding out, "Hey! They're all the same artists." The Clash, the Cure, the Stray Cats, Genesis, The Police, The Cars, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Phil Collins, George Thorogood. It's hard for me to hear lyrics. I can't pick out the words very well so I prefer to listen to funny songs because they make a point to pronounce things precisely. I like Weird Al, and odd, random things like, Bowling for Soup, "Teenage Dirtbag", "Flagpole Sitting", The Bloodhound Gang, and "Boys in tha Hood".

What kind of cinema do you enjoy?
I like cartoons. They're kind of my love. Romantic comedies are also way up there on my list, but I'll watch just about anything. Some of my favorite movies are Fight Club, Last Action Hero, You've Got Mail, 10 Things I hate about you, the Cat Returns, Spirited Away, and Ever After. And Dog Soldiers. The best werewolf movie ever. ^^

What fills you with righteous indignation?
Many, many things, like people that don't spay and neuter their animals, people that litter, jaywalkers that jaywalk when there's a crosswalk RIGHT FREAKING THERE, Kid Rock--- he's not fucking rock anymore!!! (not that I ever liked him, but the fact that he is still played on hard rock stations and he hasn't produced anything but country-fied crap in the past couple of years pisses me off) And he ruined Werewolves of London for me by mixing it with Sweet Home Piece of Crap-abama. I also don't like people in my yard, people that double park or park in handicapped spaces that aren't handicapped, people that DRIVE through my yard, people that park in front of my house that aren't coming to visit me, people that leave trash on my table instead of throwing it away, people that speed to get in front of you and then stop short to turn and people that don't keep their dogs in fences.

Are you good at spelling?
Pretty much, but I'm lazy and often don't spell check or reread anything. I also get it in my head that things are spelled a certain way and consistently misspell them for years.

What things are Manekofuels?
Anything she can get her hands on. She is particularly fond of tomatoes and various fruits. Never beans, peas, black pepper, American cheese, or er... something that I forgot... She has been known to kill for a good burger, cheese, bacon, various Italian foods, or oranges.

Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?
Never rub another man's rhubarb. And no.

Why so serious?
Oh no, he's dead! Bye, little re-monster.


Did you see what I did there?
I did see what you did there...

I can has cheezburger?
No! It am my birthday!

Do you look good in a beret?
I think I would look French... o_o

Are you troubled by a spook, spectre, or ghost?
Nay. Not personally. But I do think I have a guardian angel or I'd have died by now.

How long have you been drawing seriously?
Seriously as in, like, for money and stuff? o_o; Since... um... honestly, the beginning of this year. There have been some random things before then, but nothing to the extent that I've been doing lately. It all started with a convention back in, like, April or something.

What was your first job?
I worked at Sonic as a carhop. o_o It was ... fun... ?...

Of all of your projects (HA, etc), which was your first?
Of the ones actually on here... I uh... don't remember. Of the ones that I hint at/talk about and don't actually have comics of, it is "A Faerie's Tail". [link] Of the stuff with actual comics it is probably Angel in Training. The original one. [link]

Of all your characters, which is your closest?
The character closest to my heart is ... gosh... I dunno. I like them all. ^^ Some more than others, obviously, but, I really love Yuki. [link] He's just so cute and clueless. Now that I'm fleshing out Lilia's character a bit more I find her more relatable. [link] I would have said Kisa [link] at one point, but he's a big coward and I don't really think he understands where his life is taking him. I think Lilia does and I admire her for that. She's still crazy, though.

Some time ago Tokyopop rejected one of your comics. [link] Are you going to give another swing at publishing through them?
I was going to, but I've kinda ... I dunno... stopped messing around with it. I would love to be published but I've heard a lot of bad things about people not getting paid with TokyoPop. That and I kind of like doing my own thing. I'd really like to write for someone else. Sounds like I'm trying to be all like, "Foo foo. I don't need you anyone and you wouldn't have paid me because you're going bankrupt so it's good that I got out." But, really, I'm lazy... -_-; I should have submitted MFV [link] by now, really, but I just get sick of drawing stuff... >_<; I sound so stupid. DX I've looked over AIT since then and I agree. My art skills weren't that strong in it. I love how free my layouts are but by the time I start drawing and then inking... ulgh... I just get tired. It's a lot of work. You get sick of it.

What's your favorite food?
Possibly lasagna. Or hamburgers. Or fruit. I love fruit. ^^

...LEAST favorite food?
Peas. Definitely peas. Beans are right there with them, but peas... just the smell can make me want to vomit.

How tall are you?
I am 5 foot 8 and 3/4 inches tall. Most people just round up to 5'9, but I'm not 5'9... not quite. I'm about 5'10 or so with shoes on and about 6 feet tall in heels. o_o; They hurt my feet so I don't wear them, but it's pretty neat to be that tall.

Tandem question! How much do you weigh?
Not very much. I am skinny.

Which art materials do you prefer? Which pencils? Which markers? Which crayons? Which paints? Which computer tablets/programs? Which overall?
Oofta. That's a long question with several questions attached... like tiny little question leeches. I shall break it up a little.
Which art materials do you prefer?-I prefer to draw with pencil on sketchbook paper, but it doesn't scan so well so sometimes I draw on printer paper. It is pretty neat.
Pencils?-For pencils I like Ticonderoga. They're a very soft no. 2 that feels like silk. They're so nice. ^^ I like mechanical pencils like the big chunky ones from Pilot. Right now I have one with blue and one with regular lead in it. Regular lead doesn't work so well unless it's on sketchbook paper (because it's rougher) so I have been using wooden pencils lately. Plus they're more loose and fun. I use .5 lead when I use the mechanical pencils and a white vinyl eraser.
Markers? I don't use markers so much. I have a few gray copics and some Faber Castelle blacks... A couple of Sakuras and some sharpie big markers (not the pens). I use the Fabers and Sakuras, etc. for inking stuff and the sharpies for filling stuff. I use the copics when I'm bored. ^^
Paints? For paints I use Yarka watercolor. I have a ton of Windsor Newton and Grumbacher hanging around my house but they are too expensive to waste and I am too lazy to mix them at shows and stuff so I just use a Yarka little 12 pack of semi-moist watercolors. I don't really paint with anything besides watercolors. I fail at that. :grin:
Program? I love Painter, but it makes my computer die so I try to stick to Photoshop. I like PS 6 but right now I'm using CS3. I do like 6 better, though. I am thinking of going back to Painter a little bit for coloring.
Tablets, etc? I have a Waccom tablet and am now retarded at using my mouse to color. I haven't tried any other kinds of tablets except Waccom brand. My friend has a pretty boss one that has all kinds of pen attachments. I'd love a Cintiq but I'm pretty sure it's not worth it for me to buy one.
Do a Barrel Roll!!!Overall, I mostly prefer to do penciled lineart and then do computer color over it very loosely. I like it to look kind of watercolory. I also like to doodle around and ink things. I tend to change stuff when I ink it depending on my mood. Most of the time, I don't ruin it. ^_~

You talk about writing books and at one time there was a number counter in the bottom of your journal. What's up with the books and why have you stopped talking about them?
O_O; Erm... You have found me out. The books are still there, rattling around in my head... Last known reference to said book: [link] Last "official" word count that was posted in August of 2007- Word Count: 24,457
Official current count before I stopped writing it back in March: 66,703 + 450 (intro)+ 10,000 words at work. Also see Book 2 now standing at a paltry 20,000 some-odd words. Neither are finished and I'm going to start over on the first book. Word count on the "rough" "Starting over" outline: 4,000 words. Yeah... I'm not good at outlines.

Isn't Angel kind of you? ... -_-; Yeah. She's just shorter, more stupid and more hyper. And she has ADD hardcore. Angel is based off of a Halloween costume I wanted to make using some foam wings I bought in Japan. It did not pan out.

What is the first Anime you ever saw?
Probably Voltron or the Noozles or something. I thought they were British and I thought the animators were lazy for opening books backwards. The first anime I saw that I knew was anime was Vampire Hunter D. I saw it on TNT one Saturday afternoon and I was floored. I had to leave for work before it was over and I was completely livid about having to leave. It took me 2 years to get a copy at Suncoast and it was $40!!!

How'd you get into watercolor?
A friend of mine bought me some and it was easy to use (HA!!!) and there so I used it to color. I later became inspired by Watterson and, believe it or not, the backgrounds in Sailor Moon.

What is your process on your comics?
I write them in my own crazy, non-understandable way, then I thumbnail them. I honestly don't see them in my head (well... that's not true. I see them as animation. I don't see how they'll look on a page) until I start drawing them. This is why the layout stage is so important. I don't know how many pages there are, either, until I'm doing the layouts. This is the process I follow for most of my stuff. For Cat's Dance and Kisa Complex I didn't use a script, just went with it. For Conrad, Danial had the script and I changed some parts of it, cut panels out and basically mangled it until I was happy with it. I'm lucky he let me do that. See my process here and weep for your retinas, my children... [link]

What is the process on your writing?
I just go until I hit on something or I write based off of dreams so that I have a template. That's why my books are so long and unfinished-- because there's no outline. That's also why I'm doing an outline for Keeping Tabs and I'm going to shove it into that outline if it kills it. Which it might. ^^

Do you do trades? :suspicious: ... yesss.... But only with people that I've known for a while either in real life or on here.

Commissions? Aye. See big giant purdy button.

Gift Art? o_o; Um... Why that's a silly question. I do it when I feel like it. I can't be asked for it. Sorry.

Requests? Again, only for friends and stuff and only sometimes, at that. I'm still supposed to be working on a Deadpool here, am I right, aeo? ^^

How old are you? I will be 30 within the next year. Scary, no?

Did you go to an art school or anything? Nope. I was an art major in college, though. Graduated with a degree in graphic design back in '02. I studied calligraphy for a little while in Japan, too.

You can speak Japanese?... Well... a little. I haven't been studying for years and even when I was studying I wasn't very good, but I can pretend to be fluent. I'm trying to bone back up because I can't remember my katakana letters anymore. To say nothing of kanji. I don't know kanji for crap.

I will update this every time I answer the questions asked.

Dictionary of Amberisms


Conventions schedule: None at the moment

Clubs:
manekochan is married to Dilandau