taste of strawberries

So, I went to the dentist yesterday with Adam. We both really needed to get to the dentist for a cleaning and general check up. Now that we have insurance, we could actually do it. We got there early as requested so that we could fill out some new patience paperwork, but no one was at the main desk for more than ten minutes. It was more than an hour later that we finally got in for our appointments. I know you need to expect to wait when you go to a doctor of any sort, but that was a bit much considering the place was not booming with other patients.

We got our x-rays and then were taken back to get our exams. Numerous times I had people trying to sell me a Sonicare toothbrush system. However, every time I asked the price, I was told "Oh, Chris will talk to you about that AFTER the exam." Okay, let me just state that Chris never showed up and I never got a price (though later at the grocery store I found that it was a $75 product). Anyway, the dental assistant checked my teeth, then the dentist herself showed up. Checked the teeth, three cavities, three impacted wisdom teeth, a peridontal infection. Yeah, so they wanted to set me up for antibiotic injections in my gums and have me come back every three months for treatments for the infection since it will "never go away, you can only keep it in check at this point". Along with that there was to be this crazy mouthwash and more antibiotics they wanted to sell me. All this for a whopping $600 (that's with the insurance coverage). Okay, look, that's crazy. I'm just going to use Listerine and Act Floride(sp.?) wash which will be the rough equivalent to their treatment.

To top it off, they wanted to sell me a $45 Oral Cancer test which wasn't covered by my health insurance. If I got the cavities taken care of there, they were only partially covered for the white filling even though my insurance is supposed to have 100% coverage for cavities.

After all of this crap, I never even got my teeth cleaning (nor did Adam). "Oh, it's too late in the day to start anything now." This is after I specifically set up the appointment for this and a general exam. They blocked off extra time for my appointment to cover this. Adam was treated to the same. Somehow we both had this infection and needed $600 treatments, cavities that weren't fully covered, oral cancer exams that weren't covered at all.

I have NEVER been to a dentist where it was handled like this. Normally, you go in, get your teeth cleaned, then the dentist does a check up and tells you what (if anything) need to be taken care of. It was like going to a bad car mechanic. I felt so taken advantage of there. Luckily, our general exam was covered in full so we paid nothing out of pocket, but we lost over three hours of our lives in this stupid place. We need to find a real dentist. Luckily, we have a recommendation from a good friend, so we will eventually get our teeth cleaned.

I've finally sat down today to start adapting the script for the next issue of Erstwhile. It's the story of "All Fur" (AKA "All Kinds of Fur" or "Allerleirauh"). This one will be illustrated by Elle Skinner. So far I have just passed the narration intro (about four pages). I hope to finish it in the next day or so. I hope to get this one out before all our conventions are over for the year. ^_^

Also, I have been working on the writing in Red String. I've again touched up some things, moved a few things around and am considering editing more stuff toward the ending. The ending is not being changed, just fleshed out more as I get closer to it.

Starting Monday, Red String goes to a five day a week update schedule. Four days of comic pages (Mon-Thu) and a sketch day at the end of the week (Fri). I've been wanting to do this for a long while and I've finally taken that next step!

Whew! The past few weeks, well, the past month really, has been a whirlwind of comic related activity for me. But it all came together in the end; Red String vol.4 got here just in time for the convention despite being three weeks later than expected, Erstwhile: Short Tales and the reprint of the first RS artbook got here in time as well, revamped the entire structure of Strawberry Comics, and even finished a twenty page mini-comic.

Now I just need to get to work on the next Red String chapter. ^_^

I have been super busy the past few weeks. I've been dealing with a few snags with the printer for Red String Vol.4. I thought their digital press would be at least as good as the high-quality from Ka-blam or Lulu, but it turns out it was a lower quality digital press set up for printing text only style books and the artwork being too detailed and rich for the machine to handle. Since there was no way that would be acceptable/printable, we are going with their offset printer even though it is a bit more expensive. I have worked with their offset in the past with beautiful results. I have seen some sample proofs and they are gorgeous, so now we can move forward. I will be receiving the full proof in the mail today and it should be approved by the end of the day barring any problems with it. I should still have the books in time for Animazement later in the month.

I did the math and to break even with all the extra costs the book has incurred with having to go offset rather than digital, the UV coating, thicker paper, and an estimated shipping cost, I need to sell 312 total. So, according to that new estimation, I need to sell 84 more books before the book makes profit. However, that's not so bad! =D

Also, I had an absolute blast for Free Comic Book Day at Richard's Comics & Colectables in Greenville, SC last weekend. I got to meet a lot of people, hand out almost a hundred freebie comics, and hang with some really cool comic shop folks. One of my Red String fans even created a "Fear My Cuteness" Onigiri plushie based on my shirt design. I was so thrilled to get it! So CUTE! All in all, a really fun day!

I've completed a special/surprise 20-page comic project that will currently be exclusive to conventions. I hope to find a proper way to distribute it online later in the year. The next Erstwhile issue will be available in time for Animazement as will the reprinting of my first Red String artbook.

I've been working on a good handful of comic projects recently; my short story for Erstwhile: Short Tales, putting together the reprint for Ka-blam version of my first RS artbook, and of course, Red String Vol.4. The excellent news is that they are all completed and off to their respective printers. I should have Threads - Book 1 and Erstwhile back by May 18. Red String should be shipping from the printer on May 1 (May first, Red String's anniversary). It's shipping ground from MA, so I should receive it by the sixth or so of May. All these calculations are assuming there are no problems along the way. ^_^

I've received 206 pre-orders for Red String Vol.4 so far which is pretty good. That's a little over 1% of my readership stepping up to support the work. Not bad. After all my costs (printing, shipping, isbn & barcode) I need to sell approximately 275 books total to break even. I know I'll sell a bunch more over the course of the year through the site and at conventions, so all is good.

I'm working on inking Red String chapter 33 right now. I'm just beyond the halfway point. I should finish the inking by the end of the week and then toning is no problem. The good thing is that I already have chapter 34 scripted. My goal is to get a bit ahead in the next few months. In my own little fantasy world, I am thinking it would be nice if I could get one or two chapters ahead... but who knows what will happen.

I will be at Richard's Comics & Collectibles in Greenville, SC on May 2 (Free Comic Book Day) for a signing. They'll have copies of my first three Red String books and I plan to bring along my other comics as well (Erstwhile and Love of Sausage). I hope you'll stop by and see me!

I could have sworn I had at least one post for April, but it's gone now. Disappeared into internet oblivion. Ah well. Anyway, pre-orders for Red String Volume 4 are coming along nicely. Only going to need 70 more orders (out of the original 240 needed) to cover the cost of printing.

I am prepping the first Red String artbook for a reprinting through Ka-blam. There will be an extra eight pages of art (from that time period) that didn't make it in the first time. The reason for this is that Ka-blam required eight more pages than Lulu to have writing on the spine and I wanted to keep the artbooks somewhat matching. There will be a new cover (for a few reasons), but it will look nice! I am not taking preorders for this book at the moment, but I hope to have it in time for Animazement.

Speaking of, I will be at Animazement again this year, this time in the dealer's room. This convention is in Durham, North Carolina and will be on May 22-24. Hope to see you there.

Pre-orders for Red String Volume 4 are starting to come in, but I'm still going to need 155 more to cover the printing costs! This book won't be available in stores like the other volumes, so be sure to visit my online store to get your copy. Thanks so much everyone!

In the meantime, I attempted some Mucha-inspired Red String art. There are some things I could have done better, but I'm pretty happy with it considering it was my first attempt at trying out the style. =D


Mucha Eiji x Reika by *strawberrygina on deviantART

So, MomoCon is over and what a weekend it was! There were a LOT of attendees, way more than anticipated, which was awesome. We were getting constantly mobbed on Saturday and sold out of the Fear My Cuteness shirts and most of our buttons so we had to scurry to make more Saturday night to have more for Sunday. Magnets didn't go over as well as expected, but still did fairly well. Probably going to be trial and error on designs. Sold a few handfuls of graphic novels and a few comic books. I talked up Red String vol.4 to any Red String readers who enthusiastically stopped by the booth. We got home from the con tonight and after some pizza I passed out for many hours. It felt SOOOO good to sleep for a while. I'm still sore, but no longer feeling unstable and dizzy from fatigue. I guess it's been too many months since the last convention. Need to get back into the swing of cons LOL

So, overall a great first convention of the year! Can't wait for the next one!

RED STRING VOLUME 4 is now available for pre-order. There will be pages of fun games, notes, and more included in the book.

I am printing these books myself and they should be available in May. While I had a good run with Dark Horse and they have been great to me, it's time to move on. Not a decision I made lightly, of course.

This means they will only be available through the website and at conventions, but it also means that I will see more of the profit from these books. Your support is a HUGE factor in making this a successful venture so be sure to get your pre-orders in.

So I went to my new optometrist yesterday to have my eyes checked. I haven't done this in at least three years, but now that we have insurance it makes it possible =D Turns out I'll need a slightly stronger prescription. I had my eyes dilated which was quite the experience, having never had it done before. Whew! It was weird and after the bright light in my eyes test I was seeing everything in a purple hue for a couple minutes. I didn't cry a lot at the lights, but did have the urge to blink it away a lot. Also, when Adam was driving me home I was feeling very motion sick.

The doctor was a nice older man talking mostly with Adam about computers because I think my occupation of comic artist just didn't inspire conversation in him nearly as much. He was a little impatience when I was trying to pick out new frames. In all fairness I was taking a while, but I haven't had new frames (or at least a new frame style since my old ones were crushed and I replaced them with a near-exact replica) in more than ten years. He helped out with the rest of the office and Adam in me making my final choice which I am quite happy with right now. It's going to be seven to ten business days before I get them since they had to be sent to a lab for the high index lens. There will be pictures either here or in the form of my video blog as soon as I get them!

Yes, we woke up this morning to a huge leak in our ceiling... again. This is the fourth one in less than a year. The sad thing is that we are not even on the top floor so water isn't getting in from rain or anything. This is either from the pipes or our latest new neighbors doing something stupid. I SO want out of this apartment. O_o;

I've just started adding original Red String pages to my etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6488681

Yay!

Yep, so I've joined Twitter. Anyone who's interested can check it out here: http://twitter.com/ginabiggs

Okay, so I have managed to get the scripts for both Red String chapter 32 and chapter 33 finished. That means I am one script ahead of the game now (i have to start thumbnailing and penciling chapter 32 this week). I haven't had buffer scripts in over a year. It feels relaxing. I can go back and do a second or even third draft before having to start drawing it. I need to write some Erstwhile scripts over the next month, but that's cool. I already have one of those finished.

I have a new 2009 calendar for sale! Okay, so it's not a Red String calendar --I was kind of pooped after all the work on the artbook-- but it features my art! This is a fun little calendar with all the cute overload you could possibly want or imagine. You can check out a preview at my DA gallery and you can purchase one at Lulu.com

Okay, so I finally have a new piece of art posted in my deviantArt gallery. It's been a while since I managed to really sit down and do something like this. It was intricate, yet relaxing in a way.


Snow White by *strawberrygina on deviantART

I finished up three projects I was working on over the last several months, including the second Red String artbook, Threads 2, and a short story I am collaborating on with Greg Carter for inclusion in an anthology called Work!

Tonight I wrote up the script for the next Erstwhile short story. This one is very cute and strange and morbid. It is called "The bird, the mouse, and the sausage." Now the the script is finished there will be character design and illustrating to go. I will talk about it more when it's further into production.

I still have a lot of things on my to-do list, but getting those others done felt really good. It was like a weight had been lifted just a little.

On the non-comic side of things, I got to hang out with Jennie Breeden today for our female pow-wow day (we haven't gotten a change to just hang out since before Christmas)! It was really great to just sit and chat (you know, vent, geek out, drink flavored green teas and eat home-made banana bread... and all the other stuff that goes into girls hanging out).

So, 2008 was quite a busy year. There are lots of things on the horizon for the new year; Red String artbook and juicy comic plot lines for the comic, conventions, more Erstwhile comics, etc. It looks like 2009 promises to be just as busy and hopefully twice as fun as last year. Now if I can just shake this cold I've got at the moment...

Yay! I got my Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog DVD today! The extras are so much fun.... "Commentary - The Musical" has got to be one of the most amusing commentaries that reveals absolutely nothing. There is an actual commentary included as well, but the musical one is so much fun. The ELE Appication videos are almost all good. There was one there that I really didn't care for and considering the huge amount of applications, I would have liked to have seen one of those. But that's such a small nitpick on an overall terrific package =D