R.A.N.T

News from the Library!

2008-05-13T16:23:00.002+02:00

... or rather, contentless chatter from the library. Because there are no news. At least not about the computer situation. Nothing. Zilch, zip, nada. And it's been in that repairshop for close to a month now. Bah. I'm starting to worry that I might be done here before my computer ois. And does that mean I'll have to take an extra trip to Viborg to pick it up in August?

So, wanna talk about the weather? Because that's something that has been splendid since last time! (Of course, that means that I've been sick for a week. Because nothing is ever really that splendid. -_-; ) I'm still working on the buffer, though it's been going slowly due to the illness and a school project I finished today (well, a drawing school project, but still a project), and...

Uhm...

... There's really nothing to say. Strange, really. I suppose being offline for so long does that to you. Y'know - no heated debates over impossibly geeky subjects, no constantly updating newspages and debates, no encyclopedias of worthless knowledge to plow through, only well-written books, plenty of time to draw, silence...

...Man, I miss the internet.

....

A shimmering ray of hope?

2008-04-28T17:23:00.002+02:00

Yes, I'm back at the library. This is just a short note to inform you that my computer is now in the repair shop (yes, that's right. The PHONE store has a computer repair shop. Who'd have thought?), and has been there for about two weeks now, and while that doesn't say anything about when I'll get it back, at least they didn't just laug´h at me and tell me to buy a new.

So that's a good thing.

Also, I'm currently on a roll, creativity-wise (okay, so more plotting-wise than drawing-wise - if I had to choose, I'd definately be a comic writer over an artist): the rest of Episode 4 has been fully scripted (20 pages to go - ack!), Episode 5 has been laid out (so it DOESN't end up 44 pages long), and, most importantly, pages 107 and most of 108 have been drawn and inked. And considering that I started friday, I think that's quite good. ^_^;

And now: Bufferbuilding yay!

God-Freakin'-Screaming-Blastin'-DAMNIT!

2008-04-15T16:54:00.002+02:00

Yes, something is seriously wrong. And no, it has nothing to do with the 'missing' page (that must have been the longest April's Fool's in the history of webcomics)

For reasons I am soon to explain, I'll do this as quickly as I can, so here goes: I am currently without internet. In fact, I am currently without a computer in a condition that enables it to do more than start, tell me it can't start because it's missing a system file, and rejecting all the boot discs I give it to repair said system file. Also, I don't know when the heck I WILL have a computer in working order, not to mention internet access, again.
What complicates the matter furter is of course that I'm stuck here in Viborg, where I have a) no access to my mother's computer so I can go online and figure out what to do, b) not bought the computer and c) am not storing the receipt I got when I bought it in Copenhagen. Well, at least there IS a store from the same chain I bought it from here, so once my mom sends me the receipt in snailmail, I'll at least be able to take it down to tehm and scream at them until they take it to repair (it's a phone store, though, so I don't really expect them to be able to do anything else than give me a new one - I bought it less than two years ago, so it should still be covered by the varranty. Or else, they die. Damnit, if I can't get it replaced, it'll be another six months before I can afford a new computer.)

So, now that we have established that I'm stuck in a deep, dark pit of computer-withdrawal, how am I writing this? Well, seeing as I have only been able to borrow my friends' computers for about five minutes at a time, that there is no student internet access at my school (if you don't bring your own laptop, that is), and that, as far as I know, there are no internet cafés in this twon, I've had to do it in the oldfashioned way. Yes, I'm borrowing a computer at the library. With pre-registry of timeslots, no scanning, no PSP, and a maximum of one hour per day. At least it's free. -_-;

But what about the comic? I suppose none of you will be surprised to hear that I won't be posting anything until I have a computer again (well, unless you expect me to do it by magic, in which case I'll have to disappoint you), but since I for once don't have a bunch of internet-related things to distract me, I'll try and use the sudden amount of spare time in my life to make a buffer. I hope it'll be a small one - but if I have to buy a new computer, you can at least be assured that I'll have a full chapter in the buffer when I come back. <_<

So, that's pretty much it - if any of you have something urgent to tell me, email FriedDeer, and she'll probably tell me earlier than I would've seen it myself (sorry for using you as a mail service, FD - I hope it's allright. -_-) I'll try to get online at least once a week, too, but don't expect me to do a lot - an hour is very little time. >.<

Which reminds me that I only have 35 minutes left of THIS hour, and plenty of other things to do, so this'll be all for now. Again, sorry for this crap. I hope it'll work out soon...

WOW!

2008-04-01T00:16:00.001+02:00

HOLY SHI-! Well, that was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it? Come on, admit it - hell, if I hadn't been the one writing and drawing this page, I would never have seen it coming either. I mean, who would've thought that Lisa's parents were keeping something like that in their lab? Or that those two would hook up? Or that that was what Io had been alluding to since the beginning of Episode Three? Or that Emme would confide her secret to Lisa, of all people? Or, for that matter, that Emme had been hiding that all this time? Not me, at least. (But go ahead and try to prove me that you'd guessed that Kin was really Pink Flash way back in Episode One.) It's pages like this one that make writing comics fun. ^_^ Sorry for letting you all wait an extra day for this page, but I hope the revelations make up for that. And if they don't, I at least hope the art does - after all, the reason I didn't post a notice to say that the page was going to be late was simply that I was too busy finishing all those metallic highlights and energy beams to even get online! ... Okay, I was slacking a bit, too - but they ARE impressive, aren't they? But one thing is the art and the revelations: with all this new information comes even more new questions. Will Lisa kill Emme to save the world? What happened to Pinkys ferrabbit back in Japan? Will Sanus learn to eat cheese? Well, I'm not telling (at least not now), so how about you try and figure it out for yourself? ^_~ If anyone can guess before it's explained in the comic, I promise I'll cosplay as Pinky at the next J-popcon. Because if anyone can figure those things out, that will be so humiliating for my skills as a writer that I might as well dress in pink and blondes for a whole weekend... Gah, I need sleep now. It's already April... -_-

It's been Easter...

2008-03-22T20:51:00.002+01:00

...and there you have the reason why I haven't been around. Yeah, simple as that.

...okay, so it's a little more complicated in real life. The story goes like this: As anyone living in a pseudo-Christian country such as mine should know, this week is the week of Easter, and while we non-Christians could normally give a dead rat about that, it happens to be that the holidays of majority religions (or, in the case of Denmark well-it-used-to-be-pretty-big-so-let's-just-say-that-it's-still-a-majority-even-though-pretty-few-people-actually-believe-in-it-religions) are also, usually, national holidays. Which means days off. Which means a much welcome chance for me to go home and spend some quality time with friends and family I've been missing like crazy for the last three months.

And that means that there are no comics, because when I finally have the chance, I prefer to actually DO stuff with my friends and family rather than just sit here and draw stuff I could just as well draw in Viborg. I think that explains it better. ^_~

I really wanted to post about this before leaving, and possibly put up another Badly Drawn, but things got ahead of me. Or rather, deadlines for applications to the Animation School my Art School is part of got ahead of me. Sure, I'm not applying, but most of my friends in Viborg are, and I spent most of last week helping them finishing their portfolios (quick tip for anyone ever making a portfolio for anything: Have it finished AT least three days before the deadline. Scanning and arranging 'till 3AM because the deadline is the next day is no fun.) It came to the point where I had to lend out my computer and scanner for two full days, which effectively stopped any plans I had about getting a filler, not to mention a page, done, and once I had it back, I was home and had other things on my mind than posting here. Sorry about that. -_- But, at least, now you know. And, as a screechingly US-patriotic cartoon I never watched as a kid puts it, knowing is half the battle.

As for the future, I'm actually going back home again as early as next weekend because my male cousin (I think I've been ranting about it before, but it really does disturb me that the English language makes no distinction between cousins-who-are-boys and cousins-who-are-girls, especially since the word 'cousin' is almost identical to the Danish term for female cousin, of whom I have none) is turning 18 and for some reason didn't feel like doing it THIS weekend, so I have to go back four days after leaving. In fact, I think the extra journey costs me MORE than the value of the lessons I would miss if I just stayed here for those four days, but well, the value of those lessons can't really be measured in money. Too bad. Realistically speaking, three afternoons (I'll be back in Viborg late Monday night and leaving again Friday afternoon, so it's really only three afternoons there) is not enough time for me to make a comic, so the next update is currently scheduled for MONDAY MARCH 31st. If possible, I'll put up some fillers and Badly Drawns until then, but there is a pretty big possibility that my mom will want to borrow my scanner next week (it's the only scanner in the house), so I might not actually be able to put anything up. Unless I decide to do some Badly Drawns on the computer. Well, they ARE supposed to look like ass...

I'll get back to you once I know whether or not I'll have a scanner for that week. Until then: Have fun, and happy Easter for - both for those who believe in God and those who believe in chocolate eggs.

The debut of Badly Drawn Lisa

2008-03-10T00:45:00.003+01:00

Wow! Would you believe that I didn't even use an eraser when I made today's update?!? Isn't that amzing art skills right there?
...

So, yeah, I didn't get today's update ready in time. There's not even a real reason - I just didn't get it done. -_-; BUT, instead of giving you nothing, I decided to swap this week's update with the one that was really supposed to go up on next Monday, when I'm going to be busy with the hard task of having an Easter break (that means you'll get regular update next week, peeps)

...yeah, the art is ugly as hell. But then again, that is sort of the point, isn't it? At least this way I can give you something resembling an update when I'm too busy being home/slacking/having a life to actually draw. ^_^; Also, I might be making more of these, so if you have a question you'd like answered by any of the characters, send it to Hamsterant@gmail.com. *hinthint*

And, once again, it's past my bedtime. Time to go sleep so I'll be fresh to work on page 107 tomorrow. ^_^;

Finally!

2008-03-05T00:15:00.002+01:00

...I'm never shading Mariam's dress again. >_<

And now: To bed (can't believe I ended up pushing this until after my bedtime when I had the whole afternoon to do it in...)

Iiiiiiiiiit's...

2008-03-03T00:20:00.004+01:00

HopelesslyBelatedShrovetideFanartThatIActuallyGotInTimeForShrovetideButNeglectedBecauseIWasMentallyAbsentAndSuckyButNowItGoesUpBecauseIHaven'tColoredPage106YetAndIReallyOweTheArtistToPutItUpBecauseItRules-time!!!

In other, less breathless words: I'm late on the page. Well, I'm me, what did you expect? I'm not VERY late, though - it's drawn and inked and would probably have been colored as well if I hadn't remembered at the nick of time that I actually HAD a specimen of the rare species known as homework this week. And that that homework-specimen was to draw a dice. Yes. A dice. IN DETAIL. So, I spent this evening on dice instead of Lisa. Yes, it hurt.

So, because of this, the real page is delayed. It will hopefully be up by tomorrow evening, depending on what I'll be doing after school tomorrow. As said last week, though, I'm PRESENT, and therefore you get not a blank page, not a lousy excuse on the blog (well, you get that too), but an actual FILLER!

And there was much rejoicing.

Seriously, though, this a filler I'm very, very happy to have received and more than a little shameful not to have put up earlier. You see, Shrovetide (y'know, that vaguely Halloween-esque holiday that is apparently celebrated only one place on the internet: in A.N.T fanart) was four weeks ago, and it was back then that I received this lovely piece from CrimsonCat. Four weeks ago, however, was also the deep pit of my non-updating streak of early 2008, and the very depts of my likewise early-2008 absence. So, the main reason this picture was not posted early is the simple one that, when I received it, I was somewhere else entirely mentally and couldn't even consider such a revolutionary idea as actually updating. (The secondary reason for the non-posting of thsi image earlier? By early February, I hadn't updated for over a month, and the last update had been a holiday filler. Breaking the silence with ANOTHER holiday filler? Not good webcomicmaking. At all.)

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy it for now, and I'll hurry up to replace it with something inferior from my own hand! <3

...

Well, after I've slept, that is.

Drawing Naked Dudes for Fun and Profit

2008-02-25T00:00:00.003+01:00

Newsflash: Ida lives.

Really. And so does the comic, after massive CPR. The doctors are positive on it.

...

So, yes, I'm here. Of course, I've been here all the time, if we take 'here' to mean 'in front of this computer' (alternatively, it could be stated that as of writing this, I'm in the train from Viborg to Copenhagen, wagon 12, seat 76, on my ass - but in that case, I've definitely not been here all the time). As I told you eons ago when I last updated, though, the wider, less-time-specific definition of 'here' have changed since I stopped updating, though - in other words, I've moved to Viborg. And I think most of you can already guess that that MIGHT have something to do with the lack of updates.

For those who don't know, Viborg is the kind of place that makes you realize the difference between 'city' and 'town'. Copenhagen is a city. Viborg is a town (even though the locals would probably object to me calling it that. It IS, though - any place where the only cinema around is too small to be playing 'Sweeney Todd' is.) Coming from Copenhagen, which, although it admittedly isn't really that big, at least acts like it is, Viborg is a major difference. Sure, it could be MUCH more provincial, but the change of climate was still impressive. Call me an arrogant city mouse, but I like big cities. A lot. There's a REASON Superman moved from Smallville to Metropolis, and that reason is that smalltowns just don't mesh well with superheroes. Yes.

(Before the, doubtlessly huge, portion of remaining readers who live in small towns skin me alive for the above paragraph, allow me to say that 80% of my hostility towards Viborg most certainly comes from the simple fact that it just isn't HOME. I would probably feel exactly the same way about living 6 months in Berlin or London, except probably MORE bitter, since, between paying for housing, food and school fees, I would have no money left to go to the movies or buy stuff. At least in Viborg, there are no interesting shops to tempt me. ^_^; And on the plus side, at least Viborg is only 600 km away from home - if it weren't for insane train fares, I could technically come home every weekend.)

But I didn't come to Viborg to shop anyway, I came for the Drawing School. And holy crap, is that a good school! Sure, it's taxing as hell, but that was what I signed up for, and the progress you can see yourself and your classmates make completely makes up for the sweat and tears (no, I'm not planning to bleed on anyone's drawings.) Sadly, I don't think any of that progress shines through in the comic above - as far as I can tell, it's as crappy as they usually are, even though this one is a actually a redraw of a sketch I've had lying around since December. That sketch WAS extraordinarily crappy, though (part of the reason why I never inked it), so that might not say much about my new skills. Perhaps I should post a naked dude? (In that case, do you guys expect the parts a Ken doll so severely lacks to be censored? Or did this comic lose all pretensions of 'family friendliness' with the entomophile lesbian?) Anyways, as said, the school is GREAT. It's a very different form of learning (I still keep wanting my teachers to 'just frickin' explain it', but that's not how one learns to draw) and using your brain, but the teachers are great, the classmates are great, and the school in general is just great. Also, we don't get homework, which leaves me plenty of time to... cook, clean and buy groceries. -_-; No, I don't enjoy moving away from home much. Sure, you have the luxury of being able to sit up 'till 3 AM every night and listen to Nana Mizuki at the highest volume on your ghettoblaster (thus ruining every chance you would have of being mentally present in school the next day) without anyone telling you to use your brain and get to bed - but, seriously, the cooking alone, the need to keep track of EVERYTHING or suddenly be out of toilet paper, and the evenings spent alone (my college has no communal areas, so except on weekends, you rarely see anyone after 8 PM) just aren't worth it. I HAVE earned a great respect for my mother, though - one I will, from this summer on, exercise by once again preying on her goodwill... er, live at home. Yeah. No, the level of maturity in this one is not astonishing.

...

Oh, right, the drawing naked men part? Well, that is what we do most of the time. CrimsonCat was right - and except for one of them, who looks suspiciously like naked Santa, they ARE the athletic, generally-considered-attractive type, which just makes her MORE right. Scary.
There are basically two types of classes (though the same teacher teaches both - for more specialized classes, we have guest teachers), croquis and longstudies. Croquis is, well, croquis (drawing a model posing for between 15 seconds and 5 minutes, resulting in massive amounts of generally crappy-looking but educational drawings, for the uninitiated) and longstudies are, as the name implies, drawings (typically of models, but they can be objects or body parts as well) which we have a delightfully long time to finish and generally make un-crappy. You'd never guess what class I like the best. As for specialized classes, I've so far had Character Design (very animation-centered, since the students who want to go on to animation school are finishing their portfolios these weeks), Sketching (very useful and insanely difficult when you're as slow-handed as I am), and managed to be sick all the way through Perspective (which I like to believe is the reason my backgrounds STILL suck). There will probably be more of them later, but right now, we're back to the naked men.

Seriously, we've had ONE woman. Out of five models.

I think the above paragraphs sum up pretty well that this has been a pretty eventful period of my life - and THAT is why I haven't been here at all for so long. Not the actual busyness (when that's the case, I can at least post here), but the whole experience of being uprooted and having to settle in a situation where the only major thing that hasn't changed is in fact - this comic. Sure, the general tiredness and the fact that I actually HAVE managed to be social and make new friends here (who, of course, bring with them social activities and other such unholy thieves of all-important Internet Time) has been tearing at my comicmaking energy and time, but the main reason remains that my mind was simply anywhere but here for the last seven weeks. I deeply apologize to those who have been emailing me or tried to contact me on the tagboard, and only gotten late, hastily-made answers, not to mention those who haven't got any answer at all. You're awesome, and I suck. (And on that note - if you have something you want me to hear, and I haven't been listening, please just email me - I'm present now). On the plus side, well, look above. That's a comic. And that means that I'm not absent any more. I don't know exactly how often I can do regular updates for the next 16 weeks, but I WILL be present. And when I can't do a comic, I will do something else. In fact, I have a filler-concept I've been wanting to try out for quite a while... Even if non-Skyen filler is breaking traditions here. If nothing else, expect a naked dude with an apology.

Here's your comic. I'm glad to be back. ^_^

...

(Yes, I know certain naturists and people who make it their hobby to fuss over grammatical errors will object to the use of the word 'naked' in the headline. They are naked, though. The dudes, that is.)

Happy New Year (and moving)

2008-01-05T16:21:00.000+01:00

To start out: Happy New Year to all of you! Yes, we're quite a few days into the new year, but if you're anything like me, you're probably still struggling to remember that the last cipher of the year has changed (I'm pretty good at signing my stuff with the wrong year), so... happy by-now-everyone-should-have-noticed-that-it's-a-New-Year!

I'm currently busy trying to relocate my entire life to the other end of the country, and has been since the actual New Year's, so that's why I didn't go here to wish you happy New Year earlier. Bad Ida. Well, at least the packing is close to finished - I'm moving tomorrow, and my grandfather (one of the only three people in my entire family with a driving license) insisted that we had to leave at some god damned early time in the morning JUST IN CASE there is some obstacle on the way, so I'd be in deep trouble if I WASN'T close to finished. The obstacle thing doesn't come completely out of thin air, though - the weather here is horribly cold and windy at the moment, even indoors in (of course, it's the coldest in the room I'm packing in - yesterday, I could place a soda in the window, and it would stay refrigerator-cold!) I really hope the room I'm moving into will have insulation. -_-

So, if I'm busy packing, why am I taking time off from the packing to write this? Because I don't know if I'd be able to write for the next week or so if I didn't do it now. Y'see, for some reason, my room isn't going to be ready to move into until the 15th, so for the first week I spend over there, I'm going to live in a temporary room at the school, and I don't know if I'll have internet there. (There IS internet in my 'real' room, though, no worries.) Oh, and it's the first week, so I just MIGHT have to spend some time on social activities... ^_~

Okay, that's all for now. There are a couple tonnes of stuff waiting for me to stuff it into boxes, so I'd better get going.

See you in Viborg!

So, NOW I know what I should've asked for for Christmas...

2007-12-25T23:31:00.001+01:00

...a bleed-free drawing pad. And here I went, using my wishes on silly things like towels and cooking utensils. God, I hope this is the only time I'll ever have to spend my Christmas wishes on cooking utensils. Damn you, moving away from home for a limited amount of time! >_<

...wait, that wasn't the point of this post at all.

The point was more along the lines of something like: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (no, I do not know how to spell that one), Cool Kwanza, Heavenly Hajj (no, I don't know how to spell that one either), Yurilicious... no, wait... erm... Nice Yule (next time you start a holiday, please name it something that can be alliterated with something other than yuri, please?) and Splendid Secular-break-in-winter-that-really-means-nothing-to-you-but-is-nice-because-days-off-from-work-are-always-welcome. Phew. That should have everyone covered. What is it with all these holidays at the same time, anyways? (Well, at least the fact that they are spread all over these few weeks enables me to use them to draw attention away from the fact that this drawing should really have been up yesterday, if not the day before. Except I just pointed attention AT that fact. Oh crap.)

Since you're my readers, you're pretty clever (and I'm saying that not from an egoist viewpoint of MY readers = as clever as ME, but from the experience of three and a half years with you, your spot-on analysis es and the nagging feeling that all my carefully crafted mysteries will be pulled apart by you years before their time because you're simply a good deal smarter than I am), and so, you've probably found out that there will be no regular update this week. Okay, so one doesn't have to be particularly clever to figure that one out, especially not considering the Universal Law of Webcomics's statement that "Filler = No Update" (and "Almost Missed Filler = Of Course There's No Update You Dumbass" - this filler is here primarily because I didn't want to break just about the only unbroken tradition set by this comic: we've had a Christmas filler every year, and we're damn sure going to continue to have that!), there will be no comic this week. And if you didn't make it through the jumbled mess of lousy parabombing that was the last sentence, I'll just repeat that: There will be no comic this week. Not that it's much of a surprise, though, considering that there have hardly been any comic for the last six months. Sigh.

But, and there is always a but (but this is a positive but): Next year will be differnet. Oh yeah, next year will be differnet. Why, you ask? Because I've made it my New Year's resolution to update this thing. And as we all know, New Year's resolutions NEVER fail.

...

Seriously though, at least the first few updates of next year should be on schedule. I haven't made up my mind about next week yet - technically, Monday is not the first day of the new year but the last of the old, so my resolution will not come into effect until the week after that, so... We'll see. It will most liekly depend entirely on how big my buffer will be by then. ^_~

Well, that was all for now. Merry (belated) multitude of winter holidays, and happy (not belated) New Year!

The much-needed 'WTF is Ida doing"-post

2007-12-09T23:42:00.000+01:00

As anyone who has been following this website should know, I've been very absent for the last few weeks. And if you haven't noticed my absence, well, that probably means that you've given up on the comic and won't be reading this anyway, so I'm not going to speak to you. Deal with it.

So, now that we've established that I've been absent, I suppose the time has come to explain why I've been absent. Since I'm working by the hypothetical idea that there are still some (very faithful and AWESOME) readers out there to whom I can write this, let's just imagine that said (very faithful and AWESOME) readers will now point out the thing I am about to write. I can do this, of course, because the readers are hypothetical. These hypothetical readers will now say: "but Ida, haven't you been absent because you've been working all the time?" (that is, if they're nice readers; a more realistic quote would probably be "get drawing, you lazy scumbag!" but since they're my hypothetical readers, I decide what they get to call me. And "scumbag" is not one of the allowed epithets.) To that question, my answer would be this: "Yes, I have been working all the time, but what I haven't told you is why I've been working." And really, my readers should know me well enough to know that I wouldn't be working full-time (and in a crappy super, even) if I didn't have a mighty good reason not just to slack off and draw all the time. That mighty good reason is this: For the last 5 months, I've been working to save up money to take this half-year course. "Fair enough (except for the lack of comic, of course)" my hypothetical readers might say, but then why haven't you told us anything about it before? Well, that's where it gets embarrassing. I would probably blush, and then I'd say something more or less identical to this: "Uhm... well... That's because there is an entrance exam and a limited number of openings in the course, so only the best applicants get to go there. In other words, I didn't want to say that I was going there, because I didn't know if (or, in fact, believe that) I would make it there, and I didn't want to end up bragging high and low about going there and then ending up flunking the exam." "So", my hypothetical readers would ask, "why are you telling us about it now". To this, I would turn bright red and reply: "because the exam was a month ago and I just found out that I BLOODY MADE IT!!!"

Hypothetically, this is where my readers would break into unstoppable applause. More realistically, they'd probably ask where the next 5 months's comics will come from.

So, now you know. Or rather, you don't know very much, because I spent so many words saying not very much at all above. Okay, enough with the hypothetical, here's the hard and cold facts: (this is, in fact, the only part of this post that you really need to read, but most likely, you've already read everything above it, so this information will not come in handy at all. Too bad.)

On January 7th, I will enroll into The Animation Workshop's Drawing Academy, a 20-week intensive course teaching, well, drawing. When I finish it on June 13th, my drawing skills will hopefully be at least 3,000x the level they are at now, but hopefully more, since 3,000xcrappy isn't very good. This course is something I've been wanting to do since my first year of High School, and the school (which is, coincidentally, the only Animation College in Denmark) is very close yo being the coolest place on earth, so this is more or less a dream come true. It is, however, breathtakingly expensive, because our lovely Ministry of Education apparently doesn't believe art to be something worth much of anything, so that's why I've been working so hard to get enough money. I'm very close to my goal by now. (And if you were wondering what I've working with now that the job at the goddamn super is over: I'm a substitute mailman, helping out at various post offices. It's actually a really good job - the pay is better than in the super, I get exercise, I won't have to talk to grumpy customers, I can listen to music while I work, and since I get a new route every day, it never gets truly repetitive. It can, however, be pretty tiring, so I've had plenty of afternoons where I didn't have any energy left when I got home. And yes, that IS affecting the comic.)
So, there you have half of why I'm busy doing everything else than the comic currently. The other half of that is that the school is located in the town of Viborg, which, for those who've never heard of it before, is in the other end of the country from Copenhagen. Which means I'll have to move away from home. Which again means that in the less than a month I have left here, I have to finish up most of the loose ends I have dangling around, say goodbye to all the people I won't be seeing until summer, and, most work-heavy, actually prepare to move. Which in a weird twist of nonsense has come to mean that I'm currently entangled in a massive project to shine up the room that I will not be living in for the next six months. The world is a weird place.

So, and now we're finally reaching the part that's directly relevant to you people, hypothetical and not: What about the comic? I'll be absolutely honest and say that I simply don't know. Oh, sure I want to do it, but we all know how little my wanting to do the comic has to do with my actually making it. The major obstacles I can see to future updates are simply that I will probably be very busy while I'm at the school, and since what I will be busy with will be drawing, there is also a not insignificant chance that I will be sick and tired of drawing when I finally have the time. Oh, and there is the possibility of me developing an all-encompassing, hectic and popularity-filled social life that will take all my time away from drawing over there, but since it's me, I severely doubt that that'll happen. On the plus side, me going away from home will mean a lot more free time, since I won't have to do 'weekend projects' with my mother (the dreaded bane of my weekends, normally revolves around cleaning, tidying or IKEA), I suppose I won't have homework, and *sob* my friends are in the other end of the country, so our sleepovers will probably become a great deal more sparse. There is also the possibility that drawing all the time will make me more creative (especially since the course focuses mainly on life drawing; I'll probably develop at least semi-painful urges to do manga artwork on a regular basis) and that doing the comic will be a lot easier once I (hopefully) improve my drawing speed. That, and I really want to do this thing.

And now I want to sleep.

Blockically Late

2007-11-25T16:42:00.000+01:00

I'm late.

Really, really, obnoxiously cathastrophically late. And why?

Well, first there was work. Wait, that's not true. First, there was IKEA, where I spent all of my free time friday trying to buys stuff that would help make my room just a microscopically less cluttered and messy. I think it worked. Then, there was work - once again, I worked on Saturday, and once again, I was pretty damn tired when I finally got home. But mostly, there was writer's block. Yes. Writer's. I think that shows how far I currently am in the making of this comic.

Of course, pinpointing the reason for a writer's block is pretty much impossible (otherwise, I suppose it would be a LOT easier to cure), but part of there reason why I just can't seem to script page 105 is, I believe, that it marks the beginning of a scene that I've never really gotten the grip on. The gym scene? I've had that planned since years ago. The scene after this one? The outline is there, only need to fill in the detail. Every termite scene EVER? I could write those with my hands tied. However, this particular scene... Well, I know where it ends, I know what the high point of it should be, and I know it's important to the overall plot, but I have NO clue how to begin it or how to plot it out in logically seperated pages, preferrably with at leas one joke each. Damn it.

Therefore, I don't know when the page will be up. Oh, it will be up - I don't have homework anymore, so I can make comics on weekdays as easily as I can make them in the weekend - but I can't say when.

Maybe I should make another LOLcharacter to get the creative juices flowing...?

This IS a finished comic

2007-11-21T01:16:00.000+01:00

Yes.

That title probably says it.

I need sleep.

This is not a finished comic

2007-11-20T00:26:00.000+01:00

...as anyone with half an eye should be able to see, really.

It is, however, close enough to done to be at least slightly viewable, yet not close enough to done to be realistically finished tonight without me skipping sleep altogether (and insanely tired Ida does NOT make good shading), so what I decided to do was this: You get the slightly-crappy-but-there update right now, I go to bed and work and choir and then I go home and upgrade it to the slightly-less-crappier-and-done update. Which is basically just this comic but with shading. OK?

...

...Also, I think I actually managed to make that dress awful in a way that ISN'T currently sweeping the northern european fashion scene. Maybe. Damn, current fashion is ugle.

Filler-accompanying explanation:

2007-11-19T00:06:00.000+01:00

There are two things to say about this filler (okay, so technically, I could probably say a lot more, but I'm supposed to have gone to bed an hour ago, so I'm a bit too tired to do so. Bear with me).

Number one: There IS a comic coming, and it is coming soon, most likely tomorrow evening. Really. It's inked and scanned and everything, it just needs the computer-finishing done. And the reason for this is actually quite simple and straightforward, as I see it: I worked on Saturday. Which means that my weekend was one day shorter than weekends traditionally are. Which in turn means that I had one day less to make the comic in, since the idea that A.N.T is something I do on weekends and on weekends ONLY has apparently ingrained itself into the deeper part of my brain after three years of High School. So, practically: I sleep now, then I go to work, and then I finish the comic tomorrow. Deal?

(This reminds me that, as far as I know, I haven't yet told you quite what I wok with these days, considering that the job at the goddamn super is thankfully over and done with. Expect as vaguely real life-ish post soon.)

And thing-to-say-about-this-filler number two: It's not really yurilicious. In fact, it has nothing resembling yuri in it. Well, unless you consider two or more girls appearing on the same page of the same comic yuri, in which case I suppose it is. In that case, though, you are probably a slightly overzealous shipper. Just sayin'.

I think that was it?

...

Yup, that was it.

W00t!

2007-11-12T20:42:00.000+01:00

Well, that took a while. Either, I'm falling really behind on my PSP-fu, or I just completely forgot how long it takes to do an A.N.T page. No matter what, I worked on this for around 7 hours total today, and only just finished it. I blame that ¤%&@# background in the first panel. Never. Again.

Oh, and sorry for the ginormous file size. I used too many shading and lighting effect, so once it came to optimizing the file, I had to choose between this or a RASTER HELL. I hope you'll agree that I made the right decision. ^_^

Uhm, yeah, that's all I have to say right now. Gotta go eat dinner.

No Job

2007-11-12T12:00:00.001+01:00

As the title says, I didn't get any work to do today, so the comic is currently being worked on. Should be done soon. ^_^

XPLANASHONZ:

2007-11-11T23:49:00.000+01:00

The update is almost done and being worked on at this moment (well, for a few minutes more, because I really need to go to bed soon), and depending on whether or not I get some last-minute-work to do tomorow, it'll be up either before noon or tomorrow evening. And the reason why it's not done yet? Well, I realize this is a rare one for me, but: that's because I've spent too MUCH time on it. Yeah, really. To specify, I spent too much time on the drawing and inking aspects on it, resulting in some crazy details (FriedDeer can testify to this, she saw the work-in-progress earlier today) that are taking forever to color, and that is what kept me from meeting my deadline.

Yeah, it's been so long that I forgot how much detail to put into an A.N.T-page. ^_^;

So, while I sleep, there's another stupid image macro for you, this time featuring the pink one. And yes, it's the copic markers again. I realy like those.

If I can make it, I'll post a short notice tomorrow to inform you whether I'll have to go to work or not (and thusly, when you can expect the page to be finished.)

Yes.

2007-11-06T23:16:00.000+01:00

J-popcon is over and done with. Cosplay is over and done with. And most importantly, my goodamn job at the goddamn super is over and done with. Which means...

Ida is now free to have a life, a blog and a comic again! Yes, I'm gonna make comics. I SO am gonna make comics, yay yay yay! :D

...And, uhm, that's all I have to say right now, since I'm still tired after the con and my brain still hasn't started working either. So: Update next Monday, possibly more blog updates before that depending on whether or not my brain starts working. And that lolcat-esque image was drawn with my new Copic markers, in case you can't tell from the sucky coloring.

I should sleep now.

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated

2007-10-07T22:23:00.000+02:00

So, I'm gone for, what was it, three weeks, and people start thinking I'm dead. Come on, you must know us webcomic artists better - we die and come back to life more often than your average Marvel super hero! ^_~

Okay, right is right - I've been gone for way too long without any notice, and I owe you guys an explanation. Here it comes. But I warn you, it is long and cruel and might prove dangerous to your mental health:

I've got a job.

There it is. I said it. Scary, isn't it? What here follows is an account of my current labor situation. A long, whiny, angsty account.

Y'see, for reasons I will return to later, I rather needed to make a lot of money this fall. And despite the current economic boom around here and the abundance of available jobs it has brought with it, I've had a surprisingly hard time finding something - mostly of course because I'm a) not doing telemarketing, b) not doing night shifts and c) not available after new year's. Yeah, I'm picky. So, I searched around for a month or so, taking odd jobs for a substitute bureau (primarily a mailman job that I actually liked quite a lot and spent most of week 39 on), but obviously, I didn't make enough money, so I had to get SOMETHING steady. And then I got this job.

Now, I wouldn't hold it below my employers to google my name and find this, so (apart from giggling at their hypothetical bewilderment at why my name shows up on a webcomic site about insects and robots) I'm not going to state specifically where I work. Instead, I will give the place a pseudonym, and one that fits it. So: Since last Monday, I've been selling bread and pastries to ungrateful customers at the goddamn super. Yes, a supermarket. I really have sunk that low.

"So what," you might say, "isn't selling stuff at a super the kind of brainless, unexhausting job that feels like a breeze compared to school? The kind where once you get home, you can relax and not think about the job at all?". Well, yeah, it is. Apart from memorizing the names and cashier codes of all the bread and cakes we sell, the job demands so little of my brain that I suppose the only reason why it can't be handled by robots is that that would probably scare the customers. However, that doesn't mean that the job isn't exhausting as hell. I don't know how many of you have worked retail, but I can tell you this: When it's 2 PM and you've been working for 8 hours straight - since 6 bloody AM - and you've had a constant line of at least 10 impatient, complaining customers all wanting 5 &%#¤ minihotdogs (which you have to make sure are baked at regular intervals) AND for every 5 customers there's someone who wants something difficult, like 6 Sarah Bernard pies, 3 sliced rye breads, or two cups of coffee AND you're technically supposed to keep the shop stocked and clean while serving all those customers AND you're only two people (three on weekends) manning the store - then you don't feel very unexhausted or ready to draw when you get home. You feel more like going to bed and sleeping for 12 hours, yet you don't do that because you're too lazy to brush your teeth, so instead you zombie away, reading nonsense on TVtropes or somewhere and end up not getting enough sleep anyway. Yeah, that's pretty much what my week has been like.

So, that accounts for a good deal of my absence from these quarters, right? But wait, there's more! The OTHER half of the blame for my not-here-ness, however, lays, as you guys should know by now that it ALWAYS does this time of the year, on cosplay. Yes, once again, Fried Deer and I are trying to finish our cospay in time for J-popcon, once again we are hopefully, inexcusably behind schedule, and this year, we've even promised eachother to make it AWESOME, which just makes the time pressure worse. Oh well.

The short end of a long story is that, as it is, I don't see exactly when I will have time to do the comic this month. And that sucks. If the goddamn super stops sucking and cosplay goes smoothly, I will do it, but otherwise, uhm... Well, I'll keep you updated on what happens from now on, at least. Also, I have some non-A.N.T material that I might be able to put up as filler until November.

Finally, I'd just like to thank every single one of you who congratulated me on my birthday (which was really nice, BTW) or just stuck around the comic for the last few pathetic months: You are awesome and the best readers I could hope to have, and I am really, really, really sorry that I can't give you the amount of silly robot-insect-yuri-airhead-action you deserve. And because you are so awesome and geeky, I've posted a piece of useless tecnobabble (okay, biobabble) in the forums for you to read, comment on, tear apart or frown upon. It's just a little thing I wrote a few weeks ago (when I wasn't quite as pressed on time as I am now but still had a hard time drawing the next page - because it's stupid, that's what it is!) and nothing as good as a real update, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

That was all for now - I promise it won't be this long until my next post here...

To finish off, some random observations/news/fillery things:

1) I HAVE MARKERS! Yes, after three years of wanting some, I finally bought my first set of Copic markers (with a gift certificate I got for my birthday, of course - I'm broke, after all). Obviously, I went for the ciao brand (the cheaper, smaller, less über versions of normal Copics), and I now own a whoppin' set of 18, specifically chosen to fit the color schemes of A.N.T characters. Marker drawings forthcoming as soon as I make some.

2) I ALSO HAVE CONTACTS! ... And I suck at using them. Sticking a finger into my own eye is apparently one of those things i just can't do. I'll stick with glasses.

3) Once again, the Ungdomshuset situation is (maybe) going somewhere.Or, at least, the media are finally talking about it again, after a thoroughly awesome non-violent event this weekend. Here's hoping it leads to something. (I was even in a demonstration today!)

I is slow

2007-09-14T22:52:00.000+02:00

Hullo again.

Just wanted to pop in and say that while I'm not actually, say, getting anywhere with the creation of the next comic, I am now over my hyper-short creative depression and ready and willing to draw again as soon as I get the time, which comes down to "as soon as I get through the mailman job I was stupid enough to accept tomorrow". It's incredible how much my mood can swing in just 48 hours. Probably has something to do with the fact that I still have ten days left to be a teenager in. Hormones want the last piece of the fun. ^_^;

Next week, though, I'll be back to being a jobless pest on society, so I'll probably make some comics then.

Oh, and I got an appointment to be fitted for contact lenses about ten days from now. That's right, your part-time artist is going to be able to see without glasses! And yes, I'm probably only going to ever use them for cosplay, but it will be a major improvement to actually see where I am

Lateness

2007-09-13T13:33:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody, sorry for the update that isn't there. Thing is, I've been unusually busy this week because I got a one-week job out of the blue. Now, me getting a job is generally a good thing, but this one requires me to work in the late afternoon and evening, which is, coincidentally, the time day where I am usually the most productive and creative. It ALSO makes it possible for me to sleep in, which results in me not having a lot of time to do much in during the day, and since I'm pretty finished when I get back from in, I can't be bothered to draw after work. All in all: not a lot of time and energy for this. Sorry. At least it's only for a week, and the next job I get will hopefully have less bizarre hours.

Also, due to reasons not related to this comic, I'm feeling particulatly sucky and un-creative right now, so I'm not sure when I will get the next page done. Hopefully soon.

And There Was Much Rejoicing

2007-09-07T23:41:00.000+02:00

...well, from me, anyway, since I'm pretty happy to have a page done finally. No, wait, screw that. I'm hyper-impossibly-amazingly-of-the-wall-crazy-ecstatic to have a page done. And if I wasn't still ill enough to use that as an excuse NOT to do the exercise running that my mother the expert jogger has tried to make me do all day, I would probably be bouncing up and down right now. I'm doing that in my mind, though.

About this page: Yes, it's all Mariam. And all shoujo-ai. Depending on your viewpoint, I suppose that is either a) interesting because I've been severely under-using this character so far, b) boring because Lisa isn't there (to which I WOULD say that you need a longer attention span, but then again, I'm the one who hasn't updated the main storyline since May, so missing her is justified) or c) icky, in which case you're probably a homophobe and probably won't like a good deal of the rest of the comic either. Go somewhere else. I could recommend you some conservative christian comics, but I don't really like any of those, so what I'll recommend you is therapy. With Dr. Shizuru. Yup, cures all homophobes.

Ahem.

ANYWAY, this page is also, apart from being something I can apparently wax poetically on forever, a one-shot and a narrative interlude, which is not the best way to return to a story, but that's the way things turn out. Actually, this page was supposed to go between Crossover Wars #6 and #7, back before my exams turned that scene into the chaotic mess it ended up becoming, release-wise, but of course as things turned out, I had to focus on just finishing the crossover piece without wasting time on things that would really only further my own storyline. Not to mention that I was stressed like hell - and stress does not good shoujo-ai make. ^_^;
So, anyway, the page is here and done now. I might slap a 'meanwhile, elsewhere' on it and move it to between CW #6 and #7 at some point, but that depends on how the whole sequence reads once I'm done with the next scene.

Other things about this comic? (By the way, please forgive my rambling. I was up 'till almost four in the night coloring and my mom hauled me out of bed at half past eight, so my brain isn't working particularly well... ^_^;) Quite a few.
First: Ida, please remember to actually INK your lines instead of leaving them to be done on the computer later. Coloring that blanket using sketchy lines took about four times as long as inking it properly and fill-flooding the colors would've taken. Don't do this again. Please.
Second: Another factor to slow down the making of this page was that my computer continually, outright REFUSED to color the background in the last panel. Both today and yesterday. And with a restart yesterday as well. PSP just kept crashing every time I tried to color that particular panel, while I had no problems doing the kind of things that USUALLY kills my computer, like text and shading. It was only the background. In the end, I had to make a new, separate layer just for that (I usually work with as few layers as possible because many layers is another one of those things PSP doesn't like me doing) and color it on there... <_<
Third: Max Havelaar (with the 'aa' bastardized into an 'å' on Mariam's shirt, so I don't get sued) is this guy, though what the shirt is a reference to is the danish Fair Trade organization of (so far) the same name. The logo is my crayonish take on their nice, original logo, which was a few years ago replaced with the butt-ugly washing powder/pictogram standardized Fair Trade logo. Did I mention that it's ugly and doesn't make one associate to fair trade with third world countries in the least? Did I?

...

Uhm, sorry. That's just my knee-jerk reaction to soulless standardizations. Living your entire life in the EU does that to you. ^^;
Anyway, the old logo is justified since...
Fourth: Mariam would very much like me to inform you that these are her relaxed clothes, that they are old and that she would never wear them in public. Which I, kinda, just made her do. Ooops.
Fifth: I haven't abandoned the crappy ol... GOOD old white lines - it's just that this page didn't end up with any of the gaps between panels left white, whatwith the colored 'background' panels #2 and #5. ^_^And finally...
Sixth: I can't believe none of you have so far commented on who the 'fantasy-ANT'. I suppose I really suck at drawing other peoples' characters...

Well, that was that. No more comments from me on this page (which, considering the length of this post, probably isn't s bad) for now, though if I don't go to sleep now, I'll probably be spamming the tagboard with more enlightening commentary on it (as well as Nanoha Strikers 17 and Ultimate Spider-Man, which are, sadly, the only two other things I can see myself talking about right now. Yes, I probably need a life. And sleep.)

Next scene starts next week, though if it isn't up exactly on time, that's probably because being so late with this week's comic has made me late on next week's comic (which I should, according to plan, be sketching now, but quite obviously ain't), so it might be a bit late. It and page #104 are completely scripted, though - and yes, a written script from my hand is a rarity...

Finally, if anyone still wants to participate in the Design Lisa's Awkwardly Fugly Dress Contest (TM), this is a short reminder that I need your submission at the very latest next Friday, though the sooner the better. Also, just to repeat myself, the winner gets a commission from me - whether that's something anyone would actually want is up in the open, but considering how broke I am currently, it's really the only thing I can give. If there are no submissions, I'll come up with something myself, but I can guarantee that it won't be as fugly as what you could've cope up with - so if you want fugly a little more than a week from now, get those sketches done! ^_~

Yep, that's all. I think this post is longer even than my Japan post will be once it's done, and this post was about absolutely nothing. I need sleep.

Blargh!

2007-09-05T22:42:00.000+02:00

This will be short. It will probably be pretty disjointed as well, considering how much my head is spinning right now, but here goes: I'm ill. Yeah, bloody perfect timing, I know. It's nothing serious, just the usual cold I always get at the change of seasons (though this one was probably magnified by how much I've been freezing since I came home from Japan), but that doesn't stop it from pulling my activity level below zero right now. Yes, all I did today was lie on the couch, watch daytime tv and feel generally miserable (on top of the misery that is inherent to watching daytime tv). Worst ting is, if it wasn't for these &%#//¤ vira, the comic would probably have been up yesterday - I managed to ink it yesterday, but because I was aready far under the weather at that point, doing so took me the same amount of time that inking AND coloring normally does. And as stated, I've been about as effective as a cartoonist today as a bag of potatoes would've been. So, hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow, and even if I don't I'll still try to get that page that's lying on my desk right now colored. Because no way in Hell is it NOT going up this week.

#¤%&/@ virus...