Hands Up #010

Yay double digits worth of pages!! *Sigh* how do other webcomickers keep this up?

Anyhow, this was one of those pages I really pushed myself… which is probably why it took an extra week (in between finishing off some freelance work.) Someone remind me not to do another scene on a rooftop ever again if I can help it.

I haven’t solved my computer issues yet. It’s slow but it’s coping somewhat for now. I am planning to get my laptop serviced some time next week but I have to figure out if I can work around some new exciting freelance work starting next week. (Otherwise I’m gonna have to cross my fingers my laptop behaves for the next few weeks!) So regrettably, the outlook for a release of Hands Up next week is not looking 100% – so apologies in advance if I don’t release but will shoot for another page within a fortnight.

So I first learned this fact about the Sun a year ago. Yes, I lived in a reality where the Sun was made of burning gas up until I was 23-24 or so. Until I heard this song: Why does the Sun Really Shine by They Might Be Giants – on a wonderful podcast “It Might Be Science” by WNYC Radiolab. I like plugging Radiolab. Makes me feel smarter.

I always get paranoid I’ll get facts wrong with something I publish. But anyway, who knows. In 10 or so years they’ll probably say the sun isn’t only made of plasma but a large percentage of dark matter too or something. Oh well.

Hands Up #009

Arghhhh!! It’s literally going to be 11:59 when I post this!

Thanks to my friends Andre and Albert who teach our group of friends sign language. It’s been fun learning so far and it’s really an nifty skill. Communicating to each other in middle of a loud dance party, from across the room, under water whilst scuba diving… etc.

And yes, this was indeed one of the first things I asked how to sign.

Hands Up #008

*sigh* I know, it’s late. Sorry. It’s the cold. The cold I tells ya! I don’t function well in winter… I go into hibernation mode and I can literally sleep all day! True story.

Anyhow, if you haven’t read the article already, this probably totally didn’t make any sense. So here is the article:

7 Basic Things You Won’t Believe You’re Doing Wrong

And if you’re too lazy to read the whole damned thing, the basic gist is that; a> You’re not supposed to brush your teeth right after you eat – some of the acids in our foods help break down the harmful stuff on our teeth and gums, b> You’re not supposed to sit down when you’re doing your 2′s – the best position is to actually squat like they do in some Asian countries, c> It’s normal to wake up in the middle of the night. Don’t fight it, just relax, meditate or do other “recreational” things… then fall asleep naturally; and d> Taking daily showers is bad for your skin.

Last but not least, I may shift the day of Hands Up release to Sunday. This is because if I find myself working full time and not from home, I don’t usually have time to work on it during the week. So extreme case scenario, I’ll pull an all-nighter Friday or Saturday night. (Aren’t I so dedicated? Aww, don’t be too concerned, all-nighters are very normal for me.)

Time of day release will vary but I will aim for Sunday. If you’d like to know for sure, keep an eye on my twitter (@arutea). If there’s no word, it’s likely I’ll be late with my release.

PHEW! That was a lot of blah this week.

Hands Up #007

You know how you work on something which you thought was hilarious at first but you work on it for so long, it’s not funny anymore? That seems to happen with each of these pages but so far I’ve been getting pretty good feedback. So thanks to all my readers who motivate me to do this every week… it’s actually a strong motivator not to disappoint people by skipping a release.

Even if I’m late by 19.5 hours. *sheepish grin*

Hands Up #006

By the time this is on air, I’ll be flying in the air somewhere above Sydney.

Will be back Tuesday, crossing fingers I’ll have time to do next week’s page! Eep!

Hands Up #005

So setting aside the argument of whether or not “planking” was responsible for taking a life a week a go, (and I guess it’s kind of like the argument of whether or not video games spawn high school mass shootings and other random acts of violence), my imaginary basset hound basically thinks that “planking” is a very lame past time.

But that’s just what Marvin thinks. So if you’re planking for a bit of fun and you catch me looking at you all funny, it’s because I made this deal with my imaginary dog. People do crazy things for shits and giggles.

This page was brought to you by the persistence of my loyal friend and reader, Fee who said I had no excuse not to deliver this week. Last week was my birthday and I had a bit of a change in schedule so the week went by and I just didn’t find the time. Blah blah blah who cares about my issues. I’ll try my best to make sure life doesn’t get in the way too much of regularly delivering Hands Up. Thanks for reading!

Hands Up #004

I’ve been sick with the flu!! So I ran out of time to colour this.

On (sort of) positive note, this has been a good experiment in terms of pushing some clarity in my drawing. Taking away the element of colour takes away a bit of life I think – I had to work a little harder to make the drawings more interesting… hoping the more I do this, the more it will help me get practice with posing and exaggeration. So it might be likely that future pages will be monotone – except for the odd stroke of euphoric mood that calls for a colour strip. Saves me a bit of time, pushes my drawing skills.

Alright, I’m just making excuses to disguise cutbacks.

I also realise this might loose half of my audience – the half that doesn’t watch the ever awesome show, Dr Who. If you really must desperately flatter me and try your best to understand this comic, please watch the episodes (alternatively Youtube/Wiki the keywords) “The Empty Child” and “Blink” and/or “Time of the angels,” “Flesh and Stone.”

Hands Up #003

Third week in a row! Going well… I guess?

I’ve got another 11 skits written so I’m safe from writers block for another 3 months… after that, well I guess we’ll see if my life inspires more skits… or if I’ve burnt out by then.

Hands Up #002

Dad if you ever read this, you know I say “my dad’s a geek” in a very pro-geek sorta way.

Thank you Zay, my spellchecker!

HANDS UP #001

So I’ve always wanted to start a webcomic but after scribbling down pages and pages about characters and what the comic would potentially be about… it would often turn to blubber. It never felt like it had enough purpose, you know?

Then I thought.. heck, why not make the occasional comic blog? Maybe over time I’ll have enough to have a bit of a web comic? It’s a bit of a self indulgence making myself the main character. But, well, sometimes I have smart ass things to say, so let’s see how this goes.

And before you wonderful writers out there approach me and say, “I have an idea for a comic and I’d love an artist to work with me,” … unfortunately I’ve been down that road before and it never really worked out. There are only 2 conditions I might accept — 1) I get paid at least my commercial rate or 2) You’re a very good friend that I work extremely well with (Hullo Fee!) Sorry.. I’m trying not to be a snub here but I’ve made empty promises before and I always feel bad when nothing materialises… I do need some sort of incentive because i have a billion other things I want to do!

Like prepare for a zombie apocalypse.