I probably should have said something before, but obviously there's no comic up today. Too much Christmas stuff going on with the family to have time to finish one. Next week I'll be back to regular schedule!

Noobs #11 or something

Yeah, my numbering is all off on Noobs because I made comic number 8 and then decided it was just too bad to post online. So although today's comic is saved as #11 it is actually #10. Not that it really matters, but if you were wondering, that is what happened.

I also did a drawing yesterday which I posted on DeviantArt if you'd like to check it out. She's a character that I haven't really drawn before. She's from a modern day story, so she's not in her usual clothes, it's a costume. A pink costume!

Oops

Hey all!

Right! I have a blog! ha ha *Awkward* Well, I've started updating Noobs and Hallhogs regularly again. New comics on Mondays (Noobs) and Wednesdays(Hallhogs).

You may be asking 'but Christina, what about Never?' And I say never again! Or something, you know, less cheesy. Sadly, I think Never might have run it's course. Hopefully someday I'll at least finish the chapter so that anyone who was reading it isn't left wondering for the end of time what happens next, but I make no promises. I am really sorry since I know how much it sucks when artists stop working on a story comic in the middle, but I honestly just can't force myself to work on it anymore. I'm very very sorry!

On that same note, I make a promise here and now that I will not start another story based comic online until I have enough pages done that if something happens and I can't draw anymore, it won't leave readers hanging. In other words, short self-contained chapters only.

...

I know. I promised pages and didn't deliver. Give me another month and I will be back at it I'm sure. I know that the hiatuses are no way to gain loyal readers, but making comics is just not going to happen right now. I need to refuel. Try something else for a while. But as a treat, I'll show you the inside two pages for the redraw of Never I was trying to get done before Fan Expo. Perhaps I'll find some more pages like that to put up here for the next while. I'll be back.

Fan Expo Finished

I survived my first con! Fan Expo was a strange experience. There were something like 100,000 people there, but hardly any of them decided to wander down our aisle. Still had lots of fun meeting some of the other artists and hanging out with Brenda! I don't know if I'll go to one as big again any time soon, but we'll see how I'm feeling next year. I still have some merchandise available. Email me at christina@hallhogs.com if you're interested. As for getting comics back up and going, you may have to wait one more week, but with any luck I will actually start updating HallHogs and Noobs again! For now enjoy this sketch of Rogue from X-Men I did while sitting at my table at Fan Expo.

Chibi!

Well, I unfortunately just don't have time to get a Never page done for this week. I've had way too many other things on the go with Fan Expo right around the corner. No comic will be up next week either, so I guess I won't be back until September! But don't you cry! I have a treat just for you. Oh yes. I have deformed my characters just for you.

I hope to see some of you in Toronto next week. I will try and post some pictures of Brenda and my table.

Never #3.17

New Never page now up!

I spent most of today trying to get thing ready for Fan Expo, but something that I was trying to make is just not going to work for me. It's very frustrating and set me back a few bucks. I was just so sure it would work. If only I could  have remembered that desktop printers don't actually print white. *Sigh* Well, back to the drawing board.

Never #3.16

First off, the newest Never page is now online. We go back into Roald and Aalex's past from Roald's perspective. Should be fun. Not even I'm sure yet, since this is the last page I have drawn. Hopefully that's not a warning for lack of updates in the future.  I will be missing the last week of the month for sure, but I have a good excuse.

Talking about that excuse, Fan Expo is coming up! And guess what? I don't have the stupid redrawn comic done. I tried. I really tried. But it just didn't happen. Someday I will get it done, but not for this con. I will still be there and there will be something on my side of the table, I swear it! I'm just not 100% sure what yet.

Otakon was pretty fun. I got to see a couple of great comic artists as I had hoped and there were a lot of people dressed up in costumes. A lot of Bleach and Final Fantasy costumes and a lot that I didn't recognize. The people I was with know a lot more about Anime than me though, so they recognized who most of the cosplayers were supposed to be.

I also got to see a dolphin show! Which almost made up for the fact that it was 40 degrees there when I'm used to 20 and our car had no air conditioning. Never driving down there again.

Never #3.15

Today's Never comic is up, and I'll mention again that there will be no comic next week.

I'm still working on my redraw of the first chapter of Never. Baring some unforeseen problem, I will have a print copy of it for sale at Fan Expo and after that it will be available to purchase online. It's all new drawings and I will not be posting more than a couple of pages of it online, so if you want to see it, you'll have to buy it. *Greedily eyes your wallet*

I can't wait to see some online comickers at Otakon next week! Idea's shall be stolen. :D

Never #3.14

Well, after some internet problems, I finally got today's Never page up!
I leave for Otakon soon  and I can't wait. My first con! I don't have a table or anything, but I'm hopefully going to get lots of ideas for Fan Expo. There wont be a comic up that week (July 30th) in case you hadn't guessed. Sorry!

Oops.

What day of the week is it? What?? I missed Friday? How'd that happen? So no update for this week. It's not that I wasn't thinking about comics, I was just not thinking about the right comic. Been working on something for Fan Expo and kind of lost track of the week. Don't worry though. At least one new page next week assuming I don't forget what day it is again.

Never #3.13

Guess what? A Never page is up.

Yeah, it's not very exciting and advances the plot in no way, but there you go. Let's just call this page a learning experience for me.

For all you Canucks out there, I hope you had a great Canada Day! I know I sure did. Met up with great people, watched fireworks and got kicked out of the park for playing midnight Frisbee. Good times were had.

Never #3.12

Heyya everyone!

New Never is online. Yippy and stuff.

This is actually the last page I have inked, so I guess it's time to get my butt in gear. Let's hope I'm better at inking than I have been at drawing. I only have one page penciled for the redraws of chapter one. That one page looks pretty good (I think) but it's not the full chapter that I really want to have done for the end of the month. I have no excuse for my slow progress other than I've been feeling very frustrated with my work lately. I have to remember that it's all for fun. I started Never not so that I could get it printed and sell millions of copies, (comic artist around the world are laughing with me on that one) but because I really love drawing and telling stories and it was a good way to practice both.

Anyway, I'm sure I've said something similar before so I won't go on. But I will say that there is a very good chance that there will be magnets for sale at Fan Expo (yes, I must mention it at least once in every post) since that's what I spent the last couple of days on. Oh, and did I mention that those magnets will allow you to undress Len? Yeah. Thought that would interest you. ;) I'm going to try and have an Aalex too, just to be fair. :3

More on that later. For now, go and enjoy the page already. Yeash! Why would you read this long post when there are pretty pictures to look at. Silly you.

Never #3.11

Guess what? It's FRIDAY! And that means another page of Never is up!

What happened to that HallHogs that I promised? Um, yeah. I kinda forgot about it. I started to ink it though! *Guilty cough* I'll have it up soon, I promise.

Never #3.10

New page of Never is up! Horray and such!

It's been a little rough on the site this past week since I was switching hosting companies. The other one had way too low of bandwidth allowance. Anyway, all of the images and pages and links and everything should be working again. If not, let me know either on here or at my new fancy shmancy email christina@hallhogs.com

In other news, I'm for sure going to Fan Expo this year. Thanks Brenda and Carolyn! I can't wait! This is definitely the summer of fun.

Oh! And I actually did a HallHogs comic last night. Apparently the reason I haven't been doing them is because I couldn't think of any jokes, but I had some written down, so I'm going to draw them up and post them eventually. Probably you can see them start going up next Wednesday! If only now I could find/think of some more jokes for Noobs.

Never #3.9

New Never page is up!

The picture above is of Len, just to prove that she still is in this comic, even though a certain boy has hijacked it lately. ^.^

Don't mind Roald in the first panel, he just came back from a strange night out and hasn't quite managed to get that makeup off yet. He's not very happy about being caught with it on, and that's why he gets so cranky in that last panel.

Never #3.8

All week I kept thinking about this comic except for last night. And then I slept in. Oops. Well, Never #03.08 is now online, and only a few hours late. Yay!

Also, some big news that I might as well announce now. I may be going to Fan Expo in Toronto this year! My friend (Check out her loverly comics In the Air and Ary Inspires) has a table and there's a good posibility that I will be taking over half of it. As such, I'm going to have to get my butt in gear and get some things printed up. I'm really excited. Wish me luck in getting my act together!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Well, not only is it my birthday today, but I realise that I put the first Never comic online May 4th 2009, so happy birthday(month) to Never as well!

And to celebrate is Illyia in her usual emo mood. YAY!

Also, you might have noticed a change in the look of my blog. I hope you like it! I'm working on the character's page for Never as well! All I'm missing is a couple of pictures which I've yet to draw. If you want to find out a little about the characters of Never, check out the Characters Page. The page also contains a short synopsis of what's happened so far in the comic.

Thanks everyone for being such wonderfully supportive people. Hopefully there will be many more pages to come.

Never #3.7

Never returns at last!

Why has it taken me so long to get the page up? Well, I was busy. But mostly, I've been trying to force myself to take a bit more time on each page. If something looks wrong, I want to attempt to fix it rather than ignore it and hope it goes away on its own. Plus, I've been trying to add a bit more detail on backgrounds, which takes longer, but hopefully makes the whole thing look more appealing. I'm still not even close to being great, but I'm pleased with the next few pages I've drawn and I hope you enjoy them as well.

As a thank you for hanging in there during the hiatus, I'll give a hint as to what's to come, and that's the picture above. Yup, Aalex's history is going to be revealed and we'll finally get to see what made him so grumpy.

The return of NEVER!

You probably thought it wasn't going to happen. Just another webcomic to die off and never return. But I'm here to announce that NEVER will be returning to regularly scheduled updates starting tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy seeing Aalex in a panda costume.

Erasing madness

Got to spend almost the entire day on drawing, and what happens? Its a bad drawing day for me. I got this drawing of Len done, though I'm not a hundred percent happy with it. It will do for what I'm working on, though, so I guess that's all that matters. It certainly was a day full of erasing and not much drawing. I hate those days.

I wish I had of left enough room on the page to draw the rest of her legs because I kind of need them for the scene I'm doing. Oh well, that would have just ended with me being even more frustrated with the piece. And what's up with me and the one armed people lately. Yes, her other arm is supposed to be behind her, but I also think I do it cause I'm lazy.

Character Design

Another minor character design for Never. Again she's a bar wench and she and the other girl are not too pleased with what they see. Next I need to learn how to colour backgrounds. And, you know, draw them too, but that's less important, right?

Bar Wench

Someone not from Never. Well, sorta. She's an extra. Or at least I plan on making her an extra. I don't often spend enough time on the side characters, which is a flaw I intend on fixing when I get back to the comic. I like her because shes not the usual body shape I draw. Not that she's that much different, just a bit more round and shorter.

Redhead

Nothing much going on. Just a quick drawing that I didn't bother inking but decided to colour anyway. Sometimes I like the shaded pencil look more than inked. It's more loose and something. Yes, she's a redhead. Yes, I'm a redhead. No, I don't think I look like that. Though I kind of want to grow out my hair again to have it look like that again. :P

Manga?

I happened to be going through a few of my old drawings and I found these. They make me smile. Mostly because people sometimes say (if they don't know much about the style) that I draw manga. Yeah, this is me attempting to actually draw manga. Big eyes and all. These characters were for a comic I was going to draw. Good times good times.

Illyia character design

Illyia is one of the main characters of Never, and yet I've spent very little time drawing her. She's really hard for me, because I can't quite figure out what she looks like. She's supposed to be pretty, but not as conventionally so as Len is. Well, this drawing isn't quite what I have in mind, but it's possibly the direction I'm going in.

When I was looking for photo references for this drawing, I discovered that her hair style, which I thought I had made up, is actually a trend. An emo trend. Once I thought about it a bit, I think that suits her. She does cut herself after all. Blood is how her magic works, okay? It's just how it works... Yeah. Okay. I'll think through my ideas more next time.

Where's he hidding his knives?

Two posts in one day? What's wrong with me? Oh right. Avoiding school work. Almost done of that, don't you worry.
So, in case you couldn't figure it out, that is Aalex up there. He's just hanging out. And wearing way too much clothes. Wait, did I just say that out loud? Actually, for those of you who haven't tried, it's really hard to make a guy look sexy when he's still wearing clothes, especially a shirt. How do people like Johnny Depp do it? He just oozes sexiness. Even with missing teeth and funny hair. Yeah. Now I want to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. Stupid train of thought...

Monday Smut.

Well, this image has been up on Deviant Art for about a day, but I'm never sure if the same people who make it here make it there. It's amazing how much people like smut. I had a favorite before I even had time to check the image after putting it online. Haha. So why the smut? It bothered me a little how timid Len seemed in this comic so far. She's not a shy girl. If I was going to redo this comic, (don't hold your breath) I would definitely make her a much more outgoing person. Perhaps some of that will come out as the comic progresses.
Almost done of classes. And then I will hopefully have some time to do more, better art. Maybe work on backgrounds and the like.

Never ending hiatus

Like what I did with that title? Cause it's "Never" and... yeah... I know. I'm lame. No need to tell me. :) I've actually been working on Never again. I have about five pages sketched out, but I'm not going to rush them to get them done. I'll start posting again when I'm sure I can actually update somewhat regularly. And I'm sure you've heard before, the sketching is the easiest/funnest part. The inking and colouring is what takes up the most time.
Anyway, the posted picture is of course Len and Roald. This was going to be for the page after Aalex's big fall, but it just wasn't working. The scene needed to be more focused on Aalex than these two. But I still kind of like the sketch.

More Hiatus drawings

Well, I had a comic done for today, but it's just not good. It's a bad joke, its poorly drawn, and it's just not worth shading and putting online. I don't know what I'm going to do with comics. I apologize to everyone who keeps visiting the site in hopes of updates. But hey, there's a quick drawing of Aalex to cheer you up.

Monday Sketch

No time for a real comic update, so today you get this quick mix of eras drawing. I thought the gun was appropriate since Mondays are Chuck and Castle nights for me. I love those shows!

Sunday image

A drawing a day keeps the sanity away. Yeah, you heard me. Here's today's avoiding real work sketch. Len with a new dress and a bit more attitude than usual.

I'm still around!

See! Look! I'm still drawing comicy stuff. And someday I will even start posting actual comics again. Just not this week... and possibly not next. It's the end of the semester and I have way more things to do than I seem capable of doing. It's very overwhelming. Which is why I drew this. Because nothing gets work done faster then by ignoring it and doing stuff that's more fun.
I just love when little ol' Len disarms Aalex like that. I mean, come on! He can burn down an entire village with a single thought, but he can't handle a bit of flirting?

Never Hiatus

Alright, so here's the deal. I'm attempting to write this book, right, and it's story has a similar feel to Never's. I can't seem to be able to do both right now. So Never is going to be on hiatus at least until the end of the month and more likely until May. Hopefully then I will be able to return for the one year anniversary. Noobs and Hallhogs are going to update the same as always (I hope). I'm sorry, and I hope no ones too disappointed. No, I lie. I hope a lot of people are very disappointed. That would probably encourage me more than anything to come back.
So, there you have it.

Hallhogs #7

Check out the new Hallhogs comic. I found out last night that I have three major projects due next week. So despite that I promised things were back to normal, I have a feeling that updates might be a little rocky next week. It's the end of the term, and school takes up a lot of time. Sorry.

About time!

Finally a new comic! Check out the new Noobs comic and prepare to laugh! Or giggle. Or possibly stare blankly at the screen. Whatever works for you really.

Missing updates

Ok, so I guess I should at least acknowledge the fact that my website is back up and that I haven't got an update for today. I swear, this will be the last week. Promise. Sorry.

Temporary Solution

For those of you who are desperate to see today's page of Never, you can check it out at http://blenia.deviantart.com/art/Never-03-06-154669328 And again, I promise to figure out something soon.

Websites down :(

I had gotten my comic for today done and everything! And then you guys go and actually visit my site so that I go over my bandwidth. Well, that's the best worst news ever. Guess it's time to find a new provider since this is the second time this has happened, and my readership is still growing (I hope). And last time I even went and purchased more bandwidth!
So what does this mean for you, eager reader? It means I need to figure stuff out, and hopefully I'll have something up either today or tomorrow.
Thanks for your patience!

Hallhogs update

Well, I didn't have time for a new Hallhogs comic, but I put up one that some might have seen in Panache magazine a while ago. Plus theirs the added bonus of it being in colour! YAY!

Noobs #6

Hey everyone! Enjoy the new Noobs comic on this holiday Monday. Well, it's a holiday here if not anywhere else in the world. Hope you had a lovely Valentines Day.

Never Chapter 3, Page 5

First of all, can I say how happy I am that we're out of the dark? Never needs a bit of sunshine I think. Secondly, I'm not sure this really works the way that I hoped, so I will explain. Aalex is supposed to be thinking about Len after having hit his head and that thought leads him to thoughts of a girl from three years ago. Back when things were good and Aalex actually smiled. And when he wasn't bleeding from the ears.

Hallhogs #5

A new HallHogs is now online. This week is a play on words.

Noobs #5

Check out the new Noobs comic. Without the words, this comic tells a whole different story, let me tell you that. And not exactly a PG rated one. Hehe. Anyway, hope you enjoy.
BTW I can't wait to get the next Never page up! I think you'll like it.

Never #3.4

Hey everyone! Check out the new Never comic! Poor Aalex hit his head and now he can't see straight.

Hallhogs #4

Hey everyone! I wanted to first off thank everyone for voting for me all last month and the first couple of days this month. I managed to get just inside the top 200 which is awesome! Of course, you can vote every day, and all you have to do is click a couple buttons. Free, easy and much appreciated way you can support any or all of my comics.

Also, there's a new HallHogs today. As I mentioned on Twitter, this one's dedicated to a certain Marchine. To which I mean it's an actual conversation we had. Hope she doesn't mind me stealing it!

Noobs #4

Hello everyone! Thanks for your patience last week. Today's new Noobs comic is now up so check it out.

This weekend I got a good amount of drawing done for Never, and I'm really looking forward to this months updates. We're going to meet some new people and get a better look at some old.

Because it's the first day of February, I'd love it if everyone would vote for one or all of my comics. It would be awesome to see Never on the first page of the list, even just for one day. As a bonus, I'm going to put up a new incentive which is a HallHogs comic that I've never posted online before. Thanks everyone for your support last month! It was a good start to the new year.

No updates this week

So I have a cold that's leaving me feeling like I can't even move my limbs let alone do all thats required for cartooning. So updates on hold for a week while I recover. Yes, I know I should have buffer comics, but I don't. I suck. Going back to bed now. 

New blog look

If you're reading this, you may have noticed that my blog looks different... again... That's because I'm trying to design it to be the main page of my website. Therefor, if you have christinadraws.blogspot.com bookmarked, I would get ready to check hallhogs.com to see what's going on. I just though I would give a little bit of warning.

Never Update

Today's update of Never is now up.
If you missed it, I wrote a quick summary of what's going on in the story so far in yesterdays post. Not much else to say other than this took way too long to ink! My fingers hurt for at least a day after. I can't wait for it to be daytime again.

Never story overview

I was talking to my step mother today and she told me that she tried to read Never but was like wtf is going on. Well, she said it nicer than that. So in the words of Chuck 'Here's what you've missed or might need to know.'

While visiting a tavern, Aalex and Roald happened to save the life of Len from the Crown. The Crown is an organization of soldiers who work for the King to find and kill wielders, people who can use magic. They do some other stuff too, but that's the main purpose. Thing is, Len didn't even know she could do magic. But she ends up going with Aalex and Roald anyway because she's scared, alone, and the Crown kind of knows where she was last, so...not good. First thing the boys do is try to get some help from an old friend who's probably willing to give them some food and clothes and stuff because she has a bit of a crush on Aalex. (Who doesn't really?) Len has started to discover that she can channel other people's magic once she's seen them use it but she hasn't figured out how to use her own magic, if she even can. There's also been some tension between Len and Aalex who don't really trust each other, but that's mostly over with now. Oh and Roald has a thing for Len. Mostly he just wants up her skirts. Sort of.
The Crown is still chasing the trio and are currently using the helpful friend with a crush on Aalex to discover where Len, Aalex and Roald are headed. They also have a necromancer working for them, which is kinda weird because she's a wielder but she's able to get information that the soldiers wouldn't get otherwise so they use her shamelessly.
And that's what's happened so far...

Of course tomorrow is the update day for Never, so you can find out what happens next in only a matter of hours! Hope that clears things up and of course you can go back to any part of the comic by using the archives page.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that Len coloured her hair black, so yes, it's the same person as the blond from the beginning. It's all part of their plan to hide from the Crown.

Hallhogs comic #3

From the completely innocent to the slightly perverse. The new Hallhogs is now online. These characters refuse to look the same in more than a couple of comics. It's very frustrating. But I kind of like how they look right now, so maybe that will last for a few more updates. Who knows.

Noobs #3

My new Noobs comic is now online. I had some trouble with this one because I completely forgot what he was supposed to say. I vaguely remembered what the punchline was, but what else was supposed to be there? I still can't find the paper with this or my other comics sketched out on it. So, if you think it's stupid, we'll just pretend that what I had before was funnier. :D

Never #77

Today's Never comic is now up. I'm having some issues with how the page looks when I'm not bleeding the image off the page. There's too much of that dark brown I think. Anyway, I may or may not change it. It depends on how the next one looks I think. If you have any suggestions such as have a white border instead, feel free to suggest them.

Hallhogs in print

Well, in case anyone is interested, my comic HallHogs has a running strip in the local arts and culture magazine where I live. They have their newest magazine online to download. I suggest checking it out. Plus it has one of my comics that you'll never get to see otherwise. When one of my friends was flipping through the magazine she stopped and pointed at the comic, attempting to get me to look at it.
Friend- "Heh. That's pretty funny."
Me - "Well, that's good, since I wrote it."
She looks at it closer.
Friend - "Ha! Good thing I didn't say I hated it."

Hallhogs Comic #2

So apparently I just needed to complain about not getting the HallHogs comic done in order to get it done. I'll try to keep my complaining to a minimum from now on. Oh, you might have noticed that I've called this my second HH comic when it obviously isn't, but that's just cause its the second one this year, and Im starting everything new this year. So there you go. Read the comic. Laugh at the comic. Roll your eyes at the comic. Oh! You can also vote seperately for this and Noobs at TWC now if you so desire.
Thanks everyone!

Noobs 2 online

Noobs #2 is now online. To be fair, this joke isn't just directed at others. I have been known on occasion to give my characters stupid names in RPG's. Monky the Monk from D&D is by far the longest living expendable character I've ever made.

In other news, will someone please start writing HallHogs for me. I just can't get myself into a grove with these characters anymore. I know they've got lots more to say, but I just can't get them to say it. When I draw them, all they do is stare blankly back at me. It used to be that all it took was a couple of lines and I would already have the makings of a gag in my head. I think I have too many stories going on in my head right now. I just can't pull any more out. I don't want to give up on Hallhogs yet, but I'm running out of time before I need to get the next one up!

But to leave you with some good news. Friday's Never comic is drawn, inked and coloured. It should be up on time! Horray me!

Never Chapter Three

Hey all! The cover for Chapter Three of Never is now online. I've also added a new ad box since with the new size of the page, the whole format had to be changed. Anyway, hope it's not too distracting. I was also messing around with the Characters page and made it look pretty ugly, so I will try and fix that this weekend. I'm way too tired to do it now. Well hope you like the new size for the comic!

Hallhogs Comic

Yippy! New HallHogs up today. Check it out at http://hallhogs.com/hh/hallhogs.html or just follow the links at hallhogs.com. Why is HallHogs in black and white you might ask? Because I have some thoughts of sending it to my school newspaper which is of course black and white. But also for practice. I hardly ever shade things now a day. Hopefully with practice I will get better.  As with all things.
Anyway, hope some people get a giggle out of this. As with all HallHogs, it's loosely based on actual events though no real people are shown or named. So yeah. Someone really did ask that. In University.

Changes for the New Year

Welcome to 2010! With the new year comes new changes to Hallhogs.com. I have a new comic started! Noobs is now updating every Monday. Hallhogs the comic is also going to be updating weekly on Wednesday. And finally Never is changing it's format to be a full page comic rather than a strip. Since it's a lot larger than before and because I'd like to update all three comics regularly, it's going to be up on Friday only with one page. I hope these changes work out and I hope everyone enjoys my new comic. If you feel like letting me know what you think, leave a comment or email me at i_need_sleep_now at hotmail.com I hope to hear from you soon!