February 19, 2014 (Patreon)

Yesterday's update, delivered... TODAY! I shoulda been able to knock out the four pages that needed inking, but I didn't get started on them till late in the afternoon/early evening, so I'm shamefully only got 1 and 3/4 pages inked. Harroo! The morning and afternoon were taken up with: 

-A Very Official Business Lunch (which means having my monthly tax-deductible lunch with my good friend, Tracy, who is is also the owner of Glad Rags and an OJST affiliate. Here's the comic I did about her menstrual cups: http://www.ohjoysextoy.com/mooncup She took a photo of me with my giant chocolate croissant here http://erikamoen.tumblr.com/post/77222579369/gladragspads-lady-business-lunch-with-erika-of) -Setting up my new-to-me Cintiq that I bought second-hand from my studiomate. My original Cintiq has started doing a thing that I can only describe as "fratzing", where the image I want to work on starts STROBING and gets giant miscolored blocks on it and it sort of looks like someone cut apart the picture and reassembled in blocks, all out of order. I mean, it works MOST of the time. But it's really frustrating when it starts strobing like a disco ball. So I'm moving the FratzCintiq to my house and using the second-hand one at the office. Which is great, because now I can (hopefully) leave the studio earlier in the evening and just resume working when I get home! Instead of staying super late every night till I'm done/mostly-done. 

-At Periscope Studio (http://periscopestudio.com) we offer our interns regular lecture series on a subject of our individual expertise. Today, Jonathan Case (http://jonathancase.com) was giving a run-down on using Manga Studio which I DESPERATELY NEEDED. I can use MS to ink, but that's all-- everything else I do in Photoshop because I'm just more familiar with that program. Jonathan showed me some things that are going to make a HUGE DIFFERENCE in my work flow, so I'm really excited. 

-Getting a check-in with my studiomate Terry Blas (http://terryblas.com) who was putting the finishing touches on his guest comic for OJST. Ahhh, it looks so good! It makes my heart so, so, so happy that I can commission these gorgeous, smart, touching comics from artists that I admire and respect. 

-This actually happened the day before, but I forgot to mention it. Dr. Emily Nagoski (http://www.thedirtynormal.com & she wrote this guest strip for OJST, drawn by R. Stevens http://www.ohjoysextoy.com/scienceofdesire) is writing the introduction to the OJST book and she sent me her first draft. Oh jeez. Oh dang. I was expecting a single page "Hey, this comic ain't too shabby, Abby!" but what she's produced so far is... well, it made me tear up. Wow. Is there a word that encapsulates both feeling completely humbled and also like you are super awesome too? I woulda stayed extra late at the studio, but I had to leave by 7 to be home by 8 (woooo, hour-long bike commute!) because Pole Dancer Extraordinaire PIPER was coming to my house to give me a one-on-one workshop of my pole dance routine for my upcoming recital!!!!!! OMGGGGGGGGGG. You remember Piper, right? I drew a comic about her? http://ohjoysextoy.com/piper So that was SUPER AWESOME and oh my gosh I am SO PUMPED about my routine so far!!!!! Like, I'm never gunna be at a pro-level. But I can be a pretty ok amateur :) Alright, so now you're all caught up with yesterday! I'll have a fresh update for you later tonight ;)