Life: Merry Something-mas

I worked really hard on chapter two page two last weekend, but when I turned my laptop on Christmas evening, it didn't work. After going to Best Buy yesterday, I found out that the power button was broken and my harddrive is getting ready to commit suicide. In short, I am waiting for the new laptop I ordered to get in before I can get any comic related work done. The good news is that I am not spending near as much time online and getting a lot of reading done. At least school doesn't start for another two weeks. I will be making a Christmas post for Ice Pick before the year is done. I promise that much.

Life: I Have a Blog?

I am just kidding. I remembered that this blog exists. It has just been a rough couple of months, so I couldn't get anything going. After Christmas things will be much better for me. Since Ryan and I have the same job, we have the same busy time of the year which significantly slowed down comic creation. But, on the positive side, we just signed a contract for our new house.

Life: Distracted

Ryan and I got Assassin's Creed III in the midnight release. I have been spending most of my time with the game so I have not even looked at the comic since the last update. In short, things are being a bit delayed. However, I am halfway through with the game, so I am trying to spend more time with the comic again. That is the only excuse for the delay that I have.

Life: My Friend, Ming, Catches Things

This is a little bit more random, but my friend, Ming, put up this picture on Facebook this morning.

So, someone said they wish they had photoshop skills to put something in Ming's hands. Said person with photoshop skills being me, I made this after the suggestion that Ming be catching a goose.

 Of course, being the overboard person that I am, a simple goose catching wasn't enough for me, so I decided to get a little festive:

Then I got a list from Ming saying what he would like to be catching.

"Items I would love to catch:
1. A tardis
2. Selma Hayek
3. A Pokemon
4. A furby
5. An ewok"

I went with the two items that were easiest to find a usable picture for. I had found a reasonable picture of Selma Hayek, but her feet were not show so it would have been a bit more work for realism. Also, I loved the amazed looks on the two women's faces for whatever it is that Ming is catching.

So that is all the things that Ming has caught so far...Might still see if I can make the Selma Hayek picture work later on. It would be very amusing.

Life: Full Time Everything

I would like to apologize for the delays in the comic. This is mainly because of scheduling issues. Right now I am a full time employee and student. I am also a full time wife. I cannot possibly do so many things at once. Right now I am in two classes with three papers to write along with the usual class assignments. At work, the Annual Enrollment Period has gotten geared up so I am constantly on the phone and coming home exhausted. Of course, my husband and I are trying to enjoy time together. (And he was in an car accident.)  We have decided that for now that we will not be stressing over an update schedule right now. Pages will be going up when they get done until things start to calm down. It is just one thing I cannot keep up with while trying to live life. So. As a bonus, here is the uncolored version of page 1. I am further along than this. Do not worry. Page one is ready for coloring and page two is half way inked.

Life: A Note About the Cover Page

I thought I would mention it now since the entire first chapter is now on The Duck. This was also supposed to be a single panel page that ends the fight scene *SPOILER* We went with a different ending. *SPOILER* However, I kept Danny's opponent looking as close to the poor guy on the cover as much as possible. The icing effect was real difficult so we decided to delay that and go in a different direction. I also made a different version of Danny for this cover. He looked like this:

As you can see, Danny's hair and shirt used to be different colors than they are now. I also didn't give his eyes color for these because I want to emphasis the injuries. Going back, the injuries really are not shown in the fight scene. The pages that I put up may be changed at any time. The changes will usually be reflected more on The Duck because it contains the main archive. But, I will put up notice if I make any changes to page posted here. These changes will not affect the reader experience (except for the possibility of added realism).

The Awards Are Done But...

Alright, I have had some scheduling issues arise.  I am finished with the presentation of the Awards. Now all that I have to do is make a credit page. I have a class that keeps changing the due dates on the paper. So I am trying to get it done now before the professor changes her mind again. It is a relatively easy paper, considering, but it does take time to write these things and get them done right. The good news is, if my math is correct, I would have to fail the paper to get less than an A in the class. There is a 1% chance that I am wrong with this math, so I am not concerned. I just have to do the paper and do it to the best of my ability and do it right. As long as I don’t flub up my spelling and grammar, the paper should be adequate. I will be done with the paper by Wednesday.

But I know you are reading this blog and want to hear more about “Ice Pick” and less about “Life.” Good news there. The cover for chapter 2 is already done. In fact, it is already on the comic as the background. It was provided by Call Me Tom during the Summer Art Exchange.  Jamie did his own version of the cover, and it will be shown, but we will be moving it to chapter 3. Page 1 of chapter 2 is already inked and just needs its color. So, I am aiming to start releasing the chapter in a week. Simultaneously with this event, I will start mirroring the comic on the blog. There will be no difference between the pages, so if you are a Duck, don’t worry about it. This is just to make the comic more available to non-Ducks.

Until then, enjoy this picture of our cat taunting the dog by choosing her crate as his napping spot.