Sharpclaw Comics:
- Aug 02 - Sharpclaw 1.07.013
- Aug 09 - Sharpclaw 1.07.014
The Move Continues:
This move is proving more complicated and longer than originally expected. We managed, in our last move, to go from deciding to move to clearing out the house within two weeks. That included giving away most our furniture and getting some help in exchange. This move is taking much longer as we keep most of our furniture and have less assistance.
Meanwhile, my drawing tablet battery died and then my smartphone battery died, just for that extra slap in the face and on my wallet. Also, the weather decided to punch us in the gut with the worst heatwave we have seen since the year we moved here, followed by rain. Both conditions are less than ideal for the outdoor work of loading heavy items into moving pods. I originally thought that saying this move-induced creative hiatus would last through mid-September would give me some buffer time, but now I think I may have been optimistic about how quickly I would be creating and uploading again.
Have Some Music And Social Commentary:
- Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire (1989)
- Levellers - The Riverflow (1991)
- Queensryche - Revolution Calling (1988)
- I included the release years because I wanted to highlight the fact that these are all over thirty years old, which emphasizes the message of the fourth song.
- Cinderella - The More Things Change (1990)
To assist in keeping me focused on my abrupt and fast-paced interstate move, my drawing tablet battery died. How considerate of it!
Sharpclaw and all other creative efforts are on hiatus through mid-September.
Please chip in if you can and want to help me replace my tablet battery. PayPal || Stripe
Have a good month!
Sharpclaw Comics:
- Jul 05 - Sharpclaw 1.07.010
- Jul 12 - Sharpclaw 1.07.011
- Jul 26 - Sharpclaw 1.07.012
Art:
Lots of News!
PixelFed And Deer Me Comic Reruns
With the shifting social media landscape and my absolute refusal to use Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, I am trying PixelFed for the rest of the year to see whether I like it. So I can focus on my user experience and not on making "what I had for breakfast" posts, I am rerunning the first 200 Deer Me comic strips, one comic per day. This both removes the question of "what to post" and gives me a fixed trial period of a little over half a year.
PixelFed is an Instagram-like application for the Fediverse. The current best known Fediverse application is Mastodon, a Twitter-like microblogging platform. I have previously used Mastodon, but dislike microblogging. Maybe I shall like the image-based PixelFed better. I appreciate the concept of the Fediverse and that Mastodon users can follow PixelFed users and vice versa! Unfortunately, Fediverse developers tend to emulate social media services I dislike. (Of course, considering I dislike all social media, that may be a given.)
If you use PixelFed and have advice on how to enjoy using it, then do share.
Stoopid Artuhst
Gosh, I wonder why it takes me so long to draw comic pages? It could not be my insistence on having multiple panels featuring seven-almost-identical-but-not-quite characters, could it? Along with all the other characters, including one whose very design is a contradiction to my artistic comfort zone?
Maybe Moving
I may be making an interstate move again, paired with downsizing my possessions. This is currently speculation with no definitive schedule. If it happens, then it shall certainly interfere with comic and art updates in the coming months.
Sharpclaw Comics:
- Jun 14 - Sharpclaw 1.07.007
- Jun 21 - Sharpclaw 1.07.008
- Jun 28 - Sharpclaw 1.07.009
Art:
Seven Brothers Rumpelstiltskin
Writer Me: "I have a clever idea! Seven characters who look similar enough that any one could be mistaken for another when they are not together, but different enough to be distinguishable when side-by-side!"
Artist Me: [punches Writer Me]
Sharpclaw Comics:
- May 17 - Sharpclaw 1.07.005
- May 31 - Sharpclaw 1.07.006
Sharpclaw Smut Comics:
- May 01 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 18
- May 08 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 19
- May 15 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 20
Finally! Back to Drawing!
I mentioned last month that I suddenly felt seized by a compulsion to code. I felt driven both to refine a few operations within the CMS and to finish the data files for my art dating all the way back to 1990. Yes, really, my art gallery genuinely has everything I have from the last 34 years; I did not cherry-pick and the only drawings missing are ones I simply do not have anymore. Some of those images were even started prior to 1990! My art gallery is not my portfolio; it is my handy reference tool.
Anyway, I finished the data files (for now) and made some code changes to the CMS that have been bothering me. I still have further plans for the CMS, but I figure that is going to be remain an ongoing project for as long as I find coding interesting. It shall never be "finished" as much as it shall be sufficiently functional and "I can live with it as-is right now."
This latest obsession to work on the website happened while I was trying to pencil a comic page. As soon as the website once again reached "I can live with it as-is right now," I resumed penciling that same page... three or four weeks later after originally starting and then abandoning the page.
Compulsions can be strange things.
Sharpclaw Comics:
- Apr 05 - Sharpclaw 1.07.003
- Apr 12 - Sharpclaw 1.07.004
Sharpclaw Smut Comics:
- Apr 03 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 14
- Apr 10 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 15
- Apr 17 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 16
- Apr 24 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 17
Art:
Happy Walpurgis Night And May Day
Abruptly around the start of April last year, my ability to work on my website CMS vanished. Just as abruptly around the start of April this year, the drive to work on my website CMS returned.
While it shall always be an ongoing project -- as my coding knowledge changes, as PHP itself changes, as my desires for my website changes -- I expect to finish the coding and data entry I have felt compelled to do this past month and return to focusing on the content side, the comics and illustrations.
Do you ever get hit by something like that? Bam! Do this now!
Sharpclaw Comics:
- Mar 15 - Sharpclaw 1.07.001
- Mar 22 - Sharpclaw 1.07.002
Sharpclaw Smut Comics:
- Mar 06 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 10
- Mar 13 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 11
- Mar 20 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 12
- Mar 27 - (ADULTS ONLY; FM Sex) Two of Hearts - 13
Art:
There is a person you think about frequently.
You have not spoken to this person for months, maybe years. You did not have an active falling out; you simply stopped taking the time to contact the person. However, so much later, you still think about the person frequently.
Contact the person. Send an e-mail. Make a telephone call. Write a physical letter. Rather than just keep thinking about reaching out, reach out. Just say, "Hello."
Do not have any expectations about what this effort shall gain you. Do not expect the person to gush in gratitude about having been remembered all this time later. Just make the attempt because you do think about this person. Maybe you will resurrect your old friendship, maybe you will not.
But more of us should try to make and maintain connections.
