Color Changes Everything!

Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, under ,

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For everyone who is interested in my next project after Taiki which is CMYK, an 8 page teaser comic is up to read so you can get a taste of the characters before the comic starts. Check it out on the CMYK website here!

I learned a lot doing these 8 pages. I experimented for the first time doing hand drawn panels and speech bubbles. The speech bubbles I ended up redrawing many times because they were originally more circular but after a while I liked the more square ones because it seems to blend with the art style more so I went back and changed them all. I also ended up altering Key's outfit AGAIN (this is the 3rd time) because his shirt was much to hard to draw over and over again.

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Printed Webcomics

Posted on Saturday, May 05, 2012, under

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I am a huge fan of webcomic artists printing their comics and selling them in book form if they're serious about finishing the project someday. I always buy the printed forms of my favorite ones to both support the artist and to have a collection. I especially like collecting the special edition ones that are signed and drawn in. haha So I'd like to share my collection so far if anyone is interested in knowing. C:

Girly #1 (signed, art)
Girly #2
Cute Wendy Collection (signed, art)
YU+ME #1 (signed)
Hanna is Not a Boy's Name #1 self published by Tessa Stone (signed, art)
Hanna is Not a Boy's Name #2 self published by Tessa Stone (signed, art)
Hanna is Not a Boy's Name #1 by 4DE (signed, art)
Eerie Cuties #0 (signed, art)
Eerie Cuties #1 (signed, art)
Ménage à 3 #1
Ménage à 3 #2 (signed, art)
Ménage à 3 #3 (signed, art)
Boxer Hockey #1 (signed, art)
Boxer Hockey #2 (signed)
Diesel #1 (signed, art)
Vixen (signed, art) x2
Go Get a Roomie #1
Paradox by Denise Schroeder (signed)
My Sweet Girl by Gina Biggs
Wind Fish (signed)
Plume #1 (signed)
Kick Girl #1 (signed)
Kick Girl #2 (signed)
Kick Girl #3 (signed)
Mystery Babylon #1 (signed)

Anyone else own any webcomics in printed form? :]

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In the Next Year...

Posted on Sunday, April 29, 2012, under , , , ,

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I saw some more people asking about when Taiki may be ending. I'm planning on ending it at the end of the year/very beginning of next year. This chapter will be the last chapter and at this time has 70 more pages left. If I continue with my update schedule and don't miss any updates, I believe that the last page should be going up the first Tuesday of 2013 (Jan 1st 2013). Originally I had wanted the story of this comic to go on for a lot longer and into Taiki's college life but I decided against it. There's just so many other stories I want to make and I've already been working on Taiki for almost 6 years. I've learned a lot from it and I want to put that knowledge into fresh ideas. I will be very sad when it ends but I feel like it's the right thing to do. Along with that, some of you may know that I have another comic going on as well, a Pokemon fan comic called Ultimate Quest. I hope to also finish that one around the same time. I really do like doing two comics at once; an original one that is my priority and a 2nd one that would be a fan comic or something not as serious (a side project) to keep me from burning out from the other one. However that does mean that the 2nd one tends to not have an update schedule and frequently goes on hiatus...

I would like to formally announce that my next project after Taiki will be CMYK. It will be drawn in the same style as my Ultimate Quest. Originally I had intended to do Riley: Fighter for Hire next after Taiki but I have decided against it because I didn't have it fleshed out enough and want to practice a new inking format first. Which also leads to what my next side project will be. I believe that I will be doing the remake of my Kingdom Hearts: Crimson Secrets fan comic. That one would be drawn in the new inking format that I would practice before starting Riley later in the future. That part is subject to change but I don't think it will.

I know that this is like 8 months from now, but I didn't want it to come as a big surprise when it does happen.

I'm also wondering if anyone would be interested in buying printed copies of Taiki when it finishes? I was thinking of doing 3 volumes. Volume 1 would be Chapters 1-2 (150+ pages), Volume 2 would be Chapters 3-4 (150+ pages), and Volume 3 would be Chapter 5 plus lots of extras including behind the scenes things, original character concepts, and maybe a mini comic or something (100+ Pages). Mainly wondering because I would have to "redraw" chapters 1 and 2 to be print ready. xP

Well, that's it for now, thanks for reading! Feel free to ask my anything!

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New Taiki Site Layout

Posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2012, under ,

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So, I have changed my host so that I can have multiple domains on the same host. When doing so I could no longer use the built in site building software that was on my old host so I had to rebuild the entire Taiki website in a new program and thus the new layout. I hope that everyone likes it and this is probably how it will stay until Taiki finishes.


In this layout I have included a link to the new forums that is more general themed for future use by all the webcomics I will potentially write later on.


I'm still not very familiar with RSS feeds but I will try my best to work with the one I have put up with this new layout. I hope I can figure it out. haha

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Taiki 5th Anniversary

Posted on Sunday, August 28, 2011, under ,

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Happy 5th Anniversary to Taiki! (I know it was 10 days ago lol) I can't believe it's been so long since I started this comic. I honestly never thought people outside my group of friends would ever read it. haha But I'm so glad that there are people out there that like it! So thinking back on what I've learned over the past 5 years, I'd like to share it with whomever reads this blog in hopes that it'll help you if you are new to drawing webcomics. I am by no means a professional or even super talented, but here goes regardless.

- Have an ending in mind if you don't already have the entire thing written out. When I started Taiki, I was totally like "OH EM GEE, I WANT THIS TO GO ON FOREVEEEERR!" That's not a good idea because then you're not really working towards anything.

- I'd suggest starting some short stories first. Starting a really long comic as your first project may not be a good idea. I have felt burnt out so many times and there's things I would like to change but then I'd have to redo hundreds of pages. For example, I kind of grew out of being a huge anime geek (I still watch some occasionally) so all the characters having Japanese names without being Japanese kind of bothers me now.

- Be sure it's something you want to do and are willing to sacrifice a lot of time doing. It's very unfortunate that people start comics all the time and loose interest. I tend to get ideas for new comics on a weekly basis and just want to run off and start them, but I don't because it's spur of the moment and the story doesn't mean something to me so I'm sure I'd lose interest. I do however keep track of all of these ideas so that maybe one day I can expand on them and complete them.

- Thumbnails, thumbnails, thumbnails! And scripting! (thumbnails are small sketched versions of a page and layout before actually making a page) After rereading Taiki, I feel like the transitions are awkward sometimes and some scenes go on way too long. It's important to thumbnail out at least a chapter ahead. My problem was that I only ever planned 3-6 pages ahead in Taiki when I should have done a lot more. Also having thumbnails makes me more productive because I know what I want to happen next instead of having to try to plan it out as I go.

- When starting a comic, I would suggest posting a few pages up all at once to get the readers interested and hooked. How many really depends on the comic, how long it is in entirety, and how it starts, but I'd suggest around 5 to begin with and then immediately start updating on a set schedule. I know I'm not the best at staying on schedule but I do understand how important it is. It's also important to have extra pages made, or in other words, a buffer.

If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask!

It is my goal to finish Taiki by the end of 2012 (this date may change depending on how I finalize the ending). Not because I don't enjoy drawing it anymore or something like that, because I really do and I still love all of the characters. It's just that all things must end and all my readers have been waiting for me to work on this for so long. There's other projects I'd like to eventually work on so I hope you guys will enjoy them too when the time comes. C:

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Long time no see!

Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011, under , , ,

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OH MAN! I can't believe it's been so long since I updated this. I'm sorry! Let me sum up what's been going on.

I read this on Bryan Lee O'Malley's (the creator of Scott Pilgrim) blog:
"My main interest as a writer/creator is in the ways that people rub against each other. Everyone is different, and all the different people interact with every other person in a unique way, so every individual relationship between two characters is its own discrete thing. I guess that’s some kind of insight."

It made me really think. I feel like all of my characters treat everyone else the same way. Like... as if everyone else was the same person to them. So with that, I'm going to try harder to make all of my characters have individual relationships with each other. Also I think one of my biggest problems is that I don't really plan very far ahead in my stories. I always have a basic outline of what I want to happen from beginning to end but I make up everything else as I go and after rereading some of the comics I've done... it really shows. This is also probably because I try to bite off more than I can chew. From what I've learned during my time drawing comics, it's not a very good idea to start with a long comic as your first project. I probably should have started with short one-shots or something. xD; As much as I love Taiki, I do want to do other things too.

As for Taiki in print, I'm sorry for taking so long with the next issue. I keep redrawing the cover because I never like it and I'm finding it hard to find time to edit all the pages like I did with the last one. This was mainly due to my job over at Trisphee but I stepped down there to hopefully get some more free time for my comic stuff, but the timing sucks because with summer here, my regular full time job gets busier and I work more hours.

For my other project Riley: Fighter for Hire, I had gotten the cover and first few pages done but after a lot of thinking I'm probably going to scrap the work I did for that as well. I'm going to take the time to write out the entire script and page thumbnails for the first issue before I start again (before I only had the first like... 5 or 6 pages scripted). I think in the end it will turn out better. I am also considering doing some redesigns on their outfits.

Also, I'd like to introduce my character designs for a comic project I came up with called CMYK:
Some of you may have seen this on my deviant Art but I've changed Key's design because I didn't like what he looked like before. I'm also tempted to change Yellow a little bit. As for when this comic will actually get drawn... I'm not sure because I'm still not confident enough in drawing that style yet.

There's just so many comics I want to make but so little time, it's quite unfortunate. I've been trying to learn to be more productive with my free time and have better time management so hopefully that goes well. haha

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Taiki in Print

Posted on Monday, October 25, 2010, under ,

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I just got these in! My friend Thom at Delmar's Vaudeville Publishing sent them to me to sign and once they get back to him, they'll be for sale~! This first issue of Chapter 3 will have the first 26 pages (pages 151-177 of the comic itself) complete with newly revised word balloons for easier reading, 3 print exclusive mini comics (4-komas), a few sketches, artist comments on all the pages, and brand new cover art! Again, the reason I started with Chapter 3 for print is because the first 2 chapters aren't at a high enough resolution to print in a decent quality and I need to do a lot of editing on them. They will eventually be for sale however so don't worry! I believe the price for this issue will be $6.50.

Also, I'd also suggest ordering a copy of Go Get a Roomie when it is released as well if you like Girl Love stuff! I personally love the comic and have a copy. ;D Though it is more Adult than Taiki. xD

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