Chronicles of Nana

Grocery in Quebec

2009-11-15T19:24:00.001-08:00

Yes, so much time since the last publishing... Life got really busy, but I'll try to go back in track.
As Thailia said, after reading these comics, you can say to already know us.
Then I don't want to private all the dear friends from following these stories.
A intermission comic is the good way to re-start the Nana's adventures, back then in beginning 2008, before leaving Montreal with Kym.

Greatings to Vancouver

2009-06-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

And that is for closing Vancouver Chapter.
New Nana comics soon!

Un po' di spiegazioni per gli italiani... Vancouver e'conosciuta per essere molto piovosa. E cosi', quando ho deciso di seguire Kym, mi sono detta: "Beh, basta che mi prenda un paio di stivali da pioggia trendy, un bell'ombrello (viola come piace a me) e un impermeabile. Saro' troppo carina!!!" Peccato che di pioggia non se ne sia vista poi molta...

Canadian's Garden

2009-05-25T19:55:00.001-07:00

Wow, this is my last Nana comic about Vancouver...
Don't worry, there will be new ones about holidays in Italy and then finally in Toronto.
So, the background is about my landlords in Vancouver, which the guy was taking often time off to go camping and hunting. They actually shared with us some elk and moose steak and that was a quite unique experience for me.

Ultima vignetta riguardo Vancouver! Ma non preoccupatevi, ci saranno nuove storie italiane e torontiane!!!
La storia di oggi si riferisce ai miei padroni di casa di Vancouver. Il ragazzo trascorreva i suoi giorni di ferie andando a fare campeggio e caccia sulle montagne rocciose in Alberta e BC.
Ogni volta tornava a casa con un'alce o cervo canadese e ne faceva delle bistecche da consumare nel resto dell'anno. Le corna per legge non possono essere buttate via prima di un mese. Non so bene il motivo ma immagino che sia per via del controllo sulla decomposizione. Beh, buona lettura!

Super MAFFIN

2009-05-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

This is for my 4 Italian friends that come visiting during summer 2007 (Phimo, Diego, Daro e Pawa).

The Spy

2009-05-02T19:41:00.001-07:00

One of those letteral translations that doesn't work in English...

Slow Talk

2009-04-22T19:58:00.001-07:00

It happen often that I continue to talk of something I was speaking about a while before (ppl have trouble understanding what is the subject then), or talking again and again of the same matter that is stationary in my mind... Kym is a saint to tholerate me.

Succede spesso che io riprenda un discorso da dove lo avevo lasciato ore prima (e dunque il mio interlocutore ha difficolta'a comprenderne il soggetto), o che parli piu'volte dello stesso problema che mi sta tormentando in quel determinato periodo... A ogni modo Kym e'un santo a sopportarmi!

Easter in Toronto

2009-04-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

That is from a conversation through e-mails for organizing Easter in Toronto with friends from different areas of Canada.
We're also mostly foreigners with no so much knowledge about different religion uses and costumes, than we ended up in a really funny conversation...
In order of appearance: Alex S., Kym, Laurent, Nana, Jim, Gabrielle, Jesse.

Questa converstazione via e-mail era sull'organizzazione del ponte pasquale qui a toronto. Naturalmente siamo un gruppo di ignoranti che, in buone intenzioni, stava organizzando un pranzo di pasqua con menu' non proprio ebraico in memoria di un nostro amico che non puo'raggiungerci.
Info utili alla lettura di questo fumetto:
Poutine: patatine fritte con grasso di maiale e formaggio sciolto.
Nella religione ebraica non si crede che gesu' sia il salvatore, dunque non si celebrano Natale e Pasqua. Inoltre non si mangiano carne e formaggio nello stesso piatto con le stesse posate.

Hamster Wheel

2009-03-30T20:57:00.001-07:00

This has happen in Commercial Drive, the little Italy of Vancouver. I wanted to say something like "Oh, it's so cute" but I didn't had words for express myself at the moment... than Kym got free on the interpretation....

Playing the PSP

2009-03-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

Back on track!
After the moving to Toronto, I'm finally set up with scanner and time for going back doing my nana comics ;)
Lots are ready from my sketchbook to be published, so don't worry, I'm not short on ideas. Indeed for a while I'll try to finish those with Kym, passing then to holidays in italy for arriving to the present, my new life (and new/old friends) in Toronto. Enjoy!

Winter in Vancouver

2009-02-07T00:43:00.000-08:00

I have to post this one now as I'm gonna move to Toronto in few days ;-P

Questo fumetto e' per commentare le differenze climatiche e culturali che ci sono fra il lato Est ed Ovest del Canada...
Una sera, uscendo dal Vancouver Comic Jam, ci siamo trovati con 10 cm di neve (in 2 ore) e una volta arrivati all'autobus (elettrico) e aspettato per 20 minuti, qualcuno e' venuto ad avvisarci che l'autobus precedente non era riuscito a superare il primo incrocio della corsa... CI siamo dovuti fare 32 strade a piedi sotto la neve all'una di notte...
L'altra situazione riguarda sempre gli autobus elettrici... se la strada (e i cavi) ghiacciano al mattino, anche li te la devi fare a piedi... Questo perche' a Vancouver non sono abituati ad avere temperature sotto lo zero e dunque non sono attrezzati per neve e gelo... Ma siamo ancora in Canada?!!

Messages in the snow

2009-01-20T23:48:00.000-08:00

Oh, yes, it snow also in Vancouver! As never in the last generation, then enough to cause troubles in the mobility of the town.
Anyway, Kym and I like to enjoy the small of it, as it remind us of Montreal ( but nothing as majestic).
That happened before X-mas (Dec 2008)
Kym's artistic skills are not of the best ones, but he has a big hearth :)

Canadian Espresso

2008-12-05T17:07:00.000-08:00

Here they watch you weird if you ask 1 single espresso. Like it's crazy and disgusting, even though they have it in their menu. Then this is what can happen when you ask for 4 coffee espresso...
Ps. The guys on the 1st left are my parents. The stripe is too short to show my brother as well :P

Qui quando chiedi 1 caffe' espresso ti guardano male se non lo chiedi allungato o doppio. Come se fosse disgustoso o strano. Dunque questo e' quello che e' successo una volta che ho chiesto 4 caffe' espressi singoli....
Nella prima striscia a sinistra sono i miei genitori, non c'e' spazio per mostrare anche io fratello :P

Intermission... fall

2008-11-29T23:00:00.000-08:00

That was done at the Vancouver Sketch group of today :P
Only who is an affectionate Nana comic's reader can understand this picture ;)

New Friends

2008-11-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

I met few new people on the Sketchcrawl day, in between this Jeremy, which works in some videogame studio.
On Friday night I often go to the Soho lounge and billiard, in Yaletown, Vancouver, to join the evening with other people of the cg industry, mainly videogame ppl, but also vfx and cartoons. So here happened the mistake...
Ho incontrato diversa nuova gente durante lo Sketchcrawl a Vancouver, fra cui questo Jeremy che lavora in videogames.
Al Venerdi' sera vado spesso in questa sala da biliardo dove si ritrova specialmente gente che lavora nei videogames, ma anche in effetti speciali e cartoni animati. Ed e' qui che e' successo il mio errore di riconoscimento...

Coke and Toast

2008-11-02T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here we have some of my Italian friends that come to visit me (and East Canada) last summer. Luca (Daro) was th official translator of the group, while Simona always had some trouble speaking English... here one of her gaffes that was worting to be reported :)

Qui ci sono alcuni dei miei amici Italiani presi da un episodio dell'anno scorso.
Luca (Daro) e' gia' in gamba con l'inglese, mentre Simona non l'ha mai masticato molto bene...

Intermission

2008-11-01T14:17:00.001-07:00

For a night we could be ourselves :D

Funny English

2008-10-24T16:15:00.001-07:00

Here we are with a more Halloween environment in occasion of this period.
That has happen last year in Montreal, when me and Kym were still just good friends. Kym is Australian, then his mother language is English. Alex is his best friend, or the "Amaretto" / "Snow table" guy

Muddle

2008-10-11T13:12:00.001-07:00

That's happen a morning I was paniking late for work...

My demoreel menu

2008-10-04T09:55:00.001-07:00

I couldn't post last weekend, because I was in California for my "american sister" wedding and now I'm working for opening a real website (!!!) focused on my work -modeler 3D-. But I don't want to leave your "mouth dry" and so I'll post today the Main menu of the DVD I send to studios for showing my 3d demo reel. I know, doesn't look like anything of real 3D, or cool, but I am really affectionate to my Nana comic character ;)

The lid

2008-09-20T14:42:00.001-07:00

That is a old episode, happen 1 year and half ago. Since me and Kerri like to mention it often, it deserve a Nana comic :)
Questo e' un vecchio episodio risalente a un anno e mezzo fa, ma dato che ogni tanto ricorre nelle battute fra me e Kerri, merita una striscia.
Lid in inglese vuol dire coperchio, ma io continuavo a chiamarli cover, dal verbo "coprire" :p
I re-posted this one with a new font that I found thanks the advices of Justin (see previous comments). It actually looks matching much better :)

Cover for demoreel

2008-09-18T22:22:00.001-07:00

OK, that is not serious, Kym needed a cover for his DVD for showing eventually his works when he redid the VISA (work permit). So, since he was in rush, she asked to me to take care of that. Of course I did the Nana comic's version of him, as it's really looking alike :D

How a Nana comic born

2008-09-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

#1 ... things happen, we laugh enough and here we have something worthing for a Nana comic.
#2. Drawing the Idea of it!!! I have very short memory and not really keeping myself enough active about that, so I need a little block notes to keep the idea inside for a future comic.

#3 Sketch it. Lately I am doing many pencils on the bus, and I can say that it's a great way to produce something, as I always try to save time in any possible way. If you think at a bus, is not driving that nicely, but it makes a lot of stops ;)
That, and I finished to see some TV series recorded on my portable video reader...

#4 Trace it and scan it. At the beginning I was simply drawing on the pencils, or even directly with the pen, and just fixing with photoshop. When I was in the studio there were eventually lighting table to use, and since then has become more painful, because I had to trace the draw on the windows, during light time... So I did some of them directly in Photoshop again. Last trick that I am using are tracing paper. they work very well, but the line is thicker... And for the tracing pen I used different kind as you can notice...

#5 Photoshop! I move the characters to fit them with the text, cleaning up the draw, reuse what i can, scale some not proportioned character ... basically making it cuter. After that I use a filter to have a more liquid ink feeling. And here I have to fix a lot again because I loose some line here and there... After that, it's just about turning the black into brown and that's it.
I know, so much work for a so simple look comic! Please, forgive me, I'm just unable to draw all directly in Photoshop, as Pascal Colpron does.

See you later...

2008-09-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

That has happen last year, and all because if in English you say "see you later", it means simply "bye bye", while in Italian if you add a "later" to the greeting "see you", it really means that I'm going to meet the person in something like 30 minutes-2 hours...
Questo e' successo l'anno scorso. Ricordate: Se in Inglese vi dicono "ci vediamo dopo" significa semplicemente "ciao", non che ti incontrerai con la persona dopo mezz'ora, max 2 ore...

Recycling

2008-08-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

For who is not Canadian, here you have to pay 5 to 20 cents more each bottle and can you buy, which will be payed back when you return the bottle for the recycling (usually to the supermarket) . I guess is a way to be sure that people actually recycle their bottles and don't put them in the generic garbage. That become a kind of business for homeless people, who look in the streets to take the bottles left in the side of the garbage (Yes, in Vancouver they don't need to check inside the garbage, as there are apposite outside containers for bottles and cans). They often collect these bottles in big bags or supermarket trolley and last evening one had this huge Garfield in it!
Which made me think about this new comic :D
ITALIANO SEGUE NEI COMMENTI ;)

Attentions

2008-07-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

Again, a big sorry for the long absence, the mentoring work and the moving took away a lot of time. Also British Columbia is beautiful and I spend my weekends discovering always new places. Well, I'll try to don't leave again empty for too long this blog.
This time I have a soft one. Hope it's understandable. You're free to comment that "it sucks" if it's the case ;)