Category: Filler & Specials

November Update

Posted on November 11, 2014 by purdykittygirl

I’ve been getting a lot of pokes from people about what’s going on with Shifters. I normally write a monthly update in the forums, but  a lot of people don’t read those, so I’m doing this so people will see it. This is the long detailed version.

A lot of personal stuff has been going on in both Che’s and my own personal lives. Che (our esteemed colorist for those not in the loop) is in her second year of commercial animation at university and is busier than ever. Despite having moved closer to her school, she’s still had to pull her first series of all-nighters to get projects done. To make matters more fun, student loans are not going to cover everything she needs to cover over Dec/Jan, so she’s having to take paying commission work to make ends meet. Sadly this means she can not afford to donate her time for free for coloring Shifters as we had planned. This means if I want her to colour things, I have to a) wait for Christmas break, this begins in Dec., and b) Pay her a page rate to make it worth while to her. Otherwise, she has to take commissions and paying work instead of working on Shifters.

As for me, I’ve had a number of family and some personal issues come up. I had an operation in October and I’m just healing up enough to be feeling more energetic. But I’m now dealing with my mother’s declining health (just got the news she has a mass in her lung. Doctors are investigating), and other family issues (my family is dysfunctional to begin with never mind now with my mom’s health problems) which I expect to get more intense towards Christmas. I’ve also had to take paying work to make my own ends meet from unexpected expenses which of course displaces hobby time. I’ve also been trying to switch to manga studio 5, which, along with new tablet has had me on a bit of a learning curve and makes pages longer to produce. It doesn’t help that currently the pages feature some very difficult to draw action scenes.

I have managed to get some pages done, and will continue to work on getting pages completed. I’m working on getting all the line work complete for the last part of the chapter. I would like to have Che color these as to not totally change colouring styles at the end chapter. (she’s also WAYYYY faster than me at colouring), but I have to pay her to do it, which is going to probably be about $200 to get all the pages coloured to complete the chapter.

Going forward for the next chapter, I suspect I’m going to have to colour it, and I’m trying to figure that out how to best handle it. MS5 has a lot of good features, which I hope to put to use, but I’m just kind of terribad at colouring in general, so we’ll see what I can find that I can do that’s sustainable. Right now, I can’t promise any kind of schedule, but I’m hoping that maybe if I can get this last batch of pages to finish this chapter done to give to Che, we’ll get those ready to go out as updates, and I’ll have some time to get a bit of a buffer done for the new chapter over December for release in the new year once I figure out what the hell I’m going to do. The pages are somewhat easier to draw, so it will hopefully be faster than all this action and backgrounds.

Now, I did say that there was stuff you could do if you want to help. If you want to help, I could use some help with the money to pay for the colouring. If you would like to give a one time donation towards the $200 I need to pay her to get the pages coloured, you can donate to my paypal at shadowsmyst@gmail.com. If there is extra, I will use it to either buy more coloring, or “hire myself” sort of like I would a paying client to work on the comic. I don’t know if anyone gives a crap, but I can livestream it if people are interested in it to make sure I stay honest about working on stuff.

I also have a Patreon, but I don’t have particularly high hopes for it at the moment. I just thought I’d give it a go, and honestly I didn’t know what to do, so suggestions welcome. http://www.patreon.com/shadowsmyst

For those who donated in the Chepretiation thing a while back, we have not forgotten you. Just so you know.

We made a comic! Filler

Posted on May 17, 2013 by purdykittygirl

Hey guys.

Sorry to do this, but its just been crazy and I couldn’t get a page done between my ‘super secret project of doom’, and the first SHIFTERS COMIC getting it to the printer to have it on the table at VANCAF. Although don’t get too excited, its NOT the graphic novel, but I couldn’t do the whole GN in the time I had, so an issue had to do.

Although on the plus side, the inside cover has room for an original sketch. Probably will end up being a limited run, leading up to the GN of the first three chapters. BUT if you are interested, they will be up in the shop eventually.

So Che was awesome and put together a little filler to celebrate getting it off to the printer.

However, the bad news is that I don’t think that I’ll have time to do an update until June because of deadlines around this super secret project, thow in a con, and trying to manage my health, and its just not going to happen. So I’m just going to put things on hold until June 7th so I don’t kill myself.

I might post some tidbit stuff, but don’t hold your breath.

Comic will resume April 5

Posted on March 15, 2013 by purdykittygirl

Hey guys. Sorry this isn’t a comic page, but some stuff has come up for both Che and myself. I’m being sent off to a conference by my day job for a week, and so I’ll be out of the country for a week and obviously that’s going to put a crimp on any sort of artistic endeavors. Che is also trying to apply for school again this year, and her portfolio is due in less than two weeks. So both of us have some serious business that needs taking care of so the comic is going to have to wait just a little bit longer before it resumes.

We are hoping to resume regular updates April 5th. For now, enjoy this amazing picture of Ferrah and Kat that Che did. This will be here until the comic resumes.

Con Crunch Time Filler

Posted on February 22, 2013 by purdykittygirl

Sorry guys, as it says in the title, I’ve run into Con Crunch time, where I’m trying to get everything done for Vancoufur, plus freelance design work, plus my day job and social/family stuff and I’m just getting overwhelmed and unfortunately this is one of the few things I can just put aside for a bit until I can get other things sorted out.

I have been working on the next page, but it wasn’t inked in time to go to Che for coloring. I was hoping to avoid 3 weeks of filler, but unless something happens between here and next week that might well be the case. Both Che and I are in full production mode with our Art for the show and con merch, so its like AHHHHHHHHH *flail flail flail*

However, I am doing a very cool Shifter related artwork for the Vancoufur artshow. Preview is above, and I’ll be livestreaming it probably over the week. If you want notifications, please watch me on DA or FA, or follow me on twitter.

It’s going to be a big ass framed canvas print ( 12″ x 20″) that will be on sale at the show. I’ve also got a bunch of other work to sling out before then so.. off I go to make arts. There will be more Shifters once I get this terrible crunch behind me. Wish me luck.

Valentines Day Special

Posted on February 14, 2013 by purdykittygirl

We at Shifters just want to say WE LOVE YOU. Complete with cheesy Valentine’s day cards provided by the ever talented Che. And as a special gift, we’ve turned these awesome Valentines into FREE WALLPAPERS you can download from the goodies section. Just log in to the website, and download the Zip file which has a full range of wallpaper resolutions for each design. If you haven’t registered for the site, you can do so here. Don’t worry, its free.

If you have an older monitor, and just want a 800×600 version, there are versions in the Gallery you can DL without logging in. But the high rez are nicer. 🙂

Okay, now we’re done with being mushy, onto the serious business as it were.

Its almost time for Vancoufur and I’m like.. freaking out because I’ve got a LOT of work to do and not a lot of time to get it done. Con prep is a bastard and a bunch of other things came up that are sucking up my time. I’ve got a business trip coming up for my work place where I am actually getting to fly to the East Coast of the USA for a week, and I’ve got a bunch of freelance work I’m trying to fit in between making con merch and trying to prep some work for the Artshow.

So the comic is kinda getting squeezed out. I’m completing one more page, but that being said, Che is also prepping with me, and she may not have time to color it for next week, we’ll see. Otherwise, it might be filler for the next 2 weeks. We’re gonna TRY to get a page done for next week, but the week after, for sure, will be filler of some kind.

Just an FYI for the most part, but we’ll be back after we’re done freaking out and flailing like mad women.

 

Shifter Xmas 2012

Posted on December 25, 2012 by purdykittygirl

Merry Christmas, or whatever occasion you celebrate at this time of year.  Our very best wishes for you and yours all on this day of good cheer. I hope you all have a wonderful day. I’m going to be flailing trying to cook a turkey.

Che and I cannot thank you enough for the generosity you’ve shown us in the Give & Get. Shifters fans are the best fans and you’ve proven this time and time again. For those of you who have given, we will be in touch after the holidays for certain details, mostly for your ATCs, or art, and/or cameo information, as well as sending your special festive wallpaper (although its going to be more of a wintery/new year kind of dealie).  We will also be posting a video as well for you all. If you haven’t given, and want to, you still have time. Its open until Jan 1st.

We wish you the best. More infodump/world stuff coming and story pages resuming soon. Lets just get this crazy time called ‘christmas’ out of the way and we can get back on track here.

Chepretiation Give And Get

Posted on December 20, 2012 by purdykittygirl

Okay, I know this isn’t what you wanted to see, but its still important.

If you want to donate please make sure you donate via Paypal to:

MYSTICLIGHTS@HOTMAIL.COM

But keep your pants on because I’ve heard you guys loud and clear. You want to see new comics even if its just plain lineart, AND infodumps. Man I couldn’t have called that it would be that close in the polls. I’ll be moving the filler to the gallery after we’re back on track here, and transcribing the text to the site’s “Shifterverse’ section with some tweaking to accommodate some initial errors in the writing.

At this stage, I’ll be probably doing an infodump for Friday (assuming of course the world is still spinning and all with that whole ‘doomsday’ nonsense floating about.) And a holiday special for next week. Then I’ll start alternating lineart and infodumps until we’re back to full regular updates. I’m really hoping that we can help Che get back on her feet sooner rather than later here.

 

Shifters Infodump Part 2

Posted on December 13, 2012 by purdykittygirl

Second page of the Shifters infodump, and some unfortunate news for you all.

Che’s computer, despite everything, is still fucked, and it is fucked for the foreseeable future. This pretty much puts Che out of commission until she can somehow diagnose and get someone to fix the problem or buys herself a new computer. Neither of which is going to happen particularly soon as she needs a pretty robust machine to handle the demanding needs of tons of layers in Sai and Photoshop. I lent her a computer for everyday stuff, but sadly its not up to the task of coloring. I’ve tried, she’s tried, its just too frustrating on that poor old laptop.

So, once again, I ask for your thoughts. I’ve got a poll post going to the right side there of the options I could think of, its also in the forums if you want to answer there. If you have any alternative ideas, I’m all ears. But basically I see the options as thus:

1) Keep going with filler/infodump stuff. – I still haven’t covered anything about the Mages, the Elves, the Espi, or some other nifty things like Darklings or Taint, or the Dragons, or any of that business. I could keep going for a while if you guys want and hope the computer issue gets resolved.

2) Black and white lineart with dialogue. – I would draw the comic and post it as raw lineart with the dialogue. This is the fastest option, but the artwork wouldn’t be as polished as you are used to seeing. My lineart is clean, but not reaallly meant to be viewed without color. You guys would have to use your imaginations. We’d replace the pages when Che gets a computer again and can color them. However, the plus is of course, that its fast. I might be able to squeeze in more updates.

3) Lineart with flats and dialogue – This would be artwork with color but little to no shading, minimal special effects stuff. Sort of a quick and dirty coloring job. Its a medium length of time solution, probably couldn’t do more than the usual one a week here, and I’m not sure it offers anything more really than the black and white lineart.

4) Finished, full color pages.. but slow. – I am notoriously slow at coloring, partly because I am not that great at it and partly because my computer sucks. (I’m in need of a new one myself, but Che’s in worse than me.) While I could do full color pages, they might take me more than a week to get pages finished. While I could probably do every second week, ever week may not be doable, just because it takes me such a long time. So this would be the slowest option and pages would have to be recolored later to match styles, since Che and I have different coloring styles.

5) The last option is a short black and white side story that goes on while Che’s sorting things out, then will get moved to extras and finished there. A bonus feature if you will.

So cast your vote, and let your voice be heard. Please feel free to leave comments if you have any or alternate suggestions, I’m willing to listen to any and all ideas here. I don’t want to just leave you guys hanging forever here.

 

 

Shifters Infodump

Posted on December 6, 2012 by purdykittygirl

Yes, I know, the filler continues.

So, here’s the situation with Che’s ongoing computer saga of doom.

We went and got the computer, but it seems that it came back in worse shape than it left. Doing all sorts of weird stuff and making it virtually impossible for Che to work on. With the help of some local geek savvy, Che is trying to identify exactly what is causing the problem and hound the computer shop for a fix. Best case scenario is that is just her power brick and it can be replaced. Worst case is that she’s going to have to get a new computer. Either way, she’s still not able to color yet.

The good news is that I’m still working on back pages and the graphic novel stuff. You may notice there is a new poll there to the right. Do throw in your thoughts on your preferred size. This is important for both formatting and getting printer quotes.

Also CIRCLE MEMBERS! Please check the forums! I have a question for you there. Only 3 people have taken interest in my offer so far.

So that’s the situation this week. I’ll keep you guys updated.