Monday 30 March 2015

Double Jinkies.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in this weekend over on Babayka-Lives for your first (but by no means last) brief glimpse of Babayka. Yep, that’s right SPOILER ALERT: He’s humanoid-ish shape. Every week we get a little bit closer and closer to the big reveal. I’m saying as little as possible at this point.

Spent some time last week re-watching the Millennium trilogy. While I haven’t read the novels, I’m a huge fan the Swedish TV movies. I always feel bummed out after watching the third one, though, knowing there’s no more Lisbeth\Mikael adventures after it. It’s very ambiguous as to what kind of relationship (if any) they’d have had after the events of the third film. I really love both characters and their partnership, and the Millennium trilogy just left me wanting to see more of them, or at least a tidier ending to their partnership. That said, I’m not sure how I feel about other writers carrying on the characters after Larsson’s death. I guess you could argue great characters have a better chance of living on if new writer keep them alive with new material. Also, as mentioned, the Lisbeth\Mikael relationship feels unfinished and lacking closure (although I can see some people actually maybe liking how their partnership is left open to anything happening at the end of part three.) But to be honest, I see all novels, movies and comics staring famous characters not written by the original author as almost glorified fan-fiction anyway. It’s just whether they’re good glorified fan-fiction or not. I think canon splits off the moment the original writer ends his\her run. We get a new branch every time a new writer tackles classic characters, but the original work should always be the never changing trunk they grow off. That way you get new offshoot classics like Skyfall, Anno Dracula and the Hannibal TV series. I probably will check out any future Lisbeth\Mikael books or films, in the same way I always check out the latest Bond movies, but I just wish we could have seen how Larsson would have wrapped up their storyline (again, some people might say it doesn’t need wrapping up and is better left open ended.)

Speaking of weird offshoots, non-canon, but still pretty good offerings. I watched and enjoyed this last night.

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Wolf Bait Inked.


Just for anybody who enjoyed seeing my pencils in the last post, I thought I’d follow up by posting this picture of that frame now it’s inked. I can never decide if I like the way I draw wolves or not. Sometimes I do, sometimes don’t. I was fairly happy with the results the one time I tried to draw a werewolf, though, a couple of years ago.

I should also say quickly before I wrap up, there’s a rumour going round that this week’s instalment over on Babayka-Lives on Saturday has the story’s first ever glimpse of Babayka himself. I will neither confirm nor deny that rumour. You’ll just have to tune in this weekend to see for yourself.

Thursday 19 March 2015

Wolf Bait.


Here’s a quick treat for all Babayka-Lives readers. I thought I’d take a snappy, candid mobile phone pic of a panel I’ve been working on this week for Babayka: Book 2. I thought some people may enjoy seeing my artwork in the pencilling stage before inking. I’ve cropped the photo, so as not to give any spoilers on who or what’s getting chomp on by this hungry wolf. This panel I’ve been working on recently might be the goriest thing I’ve ever drawn. It’s pretty gruesome stuff. Differently something for the gore-hounds (pun well and truly intended.)

Sunday 8 March 2015

Return Readers.

One of the nice things about changing from Wordpress to Tumblr recently, is that it’s put an end to one of my biggest fears I’ve had since starting my web-comic. All throughout 2014 I was getting hits through advertising and word-of-mouth, but I would always return to the same nagging thought whenever I would look at my web-comic’s stats. “Sure I seem to be getting hits”, I’d think to myself. “But what if they’re all just spam-bot hits. What if all my site’s visits were from annoying non-human computer programs, scanning my site for a place to unload tons of unwanted spam. What if I didn’t have a single returning reader and nobody was really following this web-series.” In other words, what if my audiences was nothing more than a bunch of nuisance spam-bots and zero real people. The website stat software I was using during 2014 was very light on details. All I knew for sure was I was getting hits from somewhere. The fact that I would often have to remove so many nuisance spam comments from my old site only fuelled my nagging doubt about having any real readers. But when I moved Babayka-Lives over to Tumblr, I also change website stat software, and I’m so glad I did. Using the new stats program, it soon became clear I did indeed have real life returning readers. Sure, I get my fair share of attention from spammers (mainly from Russia), but looking over my stats, it’s clear I do get plenty of real life readers returning to read this web-series, too, and for that I am very grateful. I’m very glad to be able to put that nagging fear to rest at last and know my readership isn’t all just soulless spam-bots. To show my point, here’s the readership stat from yesterday after I posted page-78.


It very cool to finally know that real people are tuning in and enjoying the comic.

Friday 6 March 2015

Sewer Snatcher 2.


Well first things first. It looks like my new internet services has kicked in a little sooner than was expected. So tune in tomorrow to see Page-78 posted on time over on Babayka-Lives. (HINT: we’re be returning to Julian’s room, as Vera is held at knifepoint.)

I also promises to post my go at the Draw This Again Meme challenge a few weeks ago, before my internet again cruelly cut out just after midnight on Friday the 13th last month, and I had to switch internet providers. So here it is posted above finally. Give yourself a pat on the back if you guess I’d be redrawing Sewer Snatcher from 2010. I was always a little disappointed with how the girl and monster came out in the 2010 original. So here was my chance to put that right after five years. I change the hippy looking super heroine to a sultry streetwalker this time around. I always regretted putting in a superhero element in what should have been a horror pin-up first time around. I was glad to get a chance to fix that. I also was never happy with the way the sewer monster came out in the original either. I think the creature’s design was lacking a little in the first pin-up, so I change it to a gross giant bug. It fits the theme of the artwork a lot better, I think. I also added more tentacles this time around. Make it look like she’s got less chance of escaping this time around. I think the background works a little better in the 2015 pin-up, too. I tried to make it a bit tidier, and more space out.

Hope people enjoy this rare chance of seeing me redrawing an old piece of artwork. If you’d like to see the newer Sewer Snatcher pin-up in more detail, head over to my deviantart page now, where I’ve just posted it on its own.

Also for all Tapastic readers, I’ve just uploaded pages 33-36 on my account tonight for people following Brides Of Babayka on there.

It’s feels very good to be back online.