Christina Draws

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've said anything on here. I hope you've been enjoying the revamped version of Never. Hopefully I can keep up the regular updates, but again, no guarantees because it's me and I suck and guarantees.

In other news, I finally got off my butt (or really on it, since I need to sit to do comic stuff) and fixed up my HallHogs comic. Everything should actually be working now, right back to my original comics drawn in 2006. I lost the psd files a long time ago, so I couldn't fix the quality, but at least I have a version of all of them. Even the archive page is now online. Hopefully none of the links are wrong, but if they are, please send me an message.

I've also decided to start uploading some of my newer HallHogs comics which I've been sitting on for about eight months now. So NEW HALLHOGS ON WEDNESDAY! Yay! Or something. Hopefully they will continue every Wednesday, but once again, no guarantees.

That's all from me for now. On to an awesome new year!

Return to Never

2011-10-31T06:05:00.000-07:00

My newest comic project is actually an old project revamped. Again. The characters of this story were first created when I was a teenager, rewritten into a finished book just after high school, then rewritten into another book as a NANOWRIMO project, and finally turned into a comic. As is the nature of this story, I've decided to redo the comic. The last version of Never had lost its way. I was taking much too long to get to the point and in the process the plot got completely lost. Combined with the fact that the illustrations weren't consistent in any way, size shape or ability, I figured it was time to give this story another shot.

Why not move on to something else? It's a comfort thing, I guess. These are characters that I grew up with. They are the first thing I think of when I'm considering writing a new story and it's always a difficult decision to move on and try something new. However, rewriting the novel for NANOWRIMO helped me to start writing again, and this time I'm hoping it will help me start to draw regularly again. My goal is to update with some sort of regularity. But I've promised that before and have failed miserably, so let's just say that I will update as often as I can, generally on Monday's. I can promise that the month of November will be consistent.

A face in shapes

2011-03-08T04:24:00.000-08:00

While we were at the gallery doing the drawing thing, we spent some time drawing a head that had been sculpted by one of the artists. It was very interesting using geometrical shapes to try and recreate something 3D. It's much easier (in some ways) to copy someone elses painting or drawing, because they have already found the shapes for you, all you have to do is see it how they did. With something real like a statue, depending on which angle you view it, it will have different shapes and lights. I never got to the part where I'd shade this drawing in and make it look more realistic because I really liked how subtle this turned out. I'm going to have to do some of my own observational drawings using technique I think.

In a Cafe/Gallery

2011-03-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to the monthly drawing session that the Confederation of the Arts Gallery hosts. I met up with a couple of friends and we drew our own versions of some of the work that was on the walls. Same sort of deal as last time, but this time the focus was on finding the shapes rather than on the shading. Despite the fact that I teased one of my friends for stealing my 3b pencil leaving me with a 7b, I actually really enjoyed using the softer lead. I'm so used to drawing my comics that I don't often use anything more than my mechanical pencil which is limited at best. Apparently I just want everything to be dark and smudged.

This sketch is based off Kathleen Munn's drawing "In a Cafe." Apparently she was one of the first Canadian impressionists, long before the Group of Seven, but she was never very well known since she was a woman.

A little silly

2011-03-02T04:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the day just needs a little silly to help you get through it. Today seems to be one of those days for me. Of course, along with the strip above, today is NEVER update day. Click the linky to the righty. Or something.

Edinburgh Castle Gate

2011-02-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

Apparently I haven't drawn anything new in years. Either that or everything I've drawn I've already posted online. Anyway, this is a sketch I did while sitting on a damp bench at Edinburgh castle, waiting for the rain to start up again in 2007. It seemed like every time I went to Edinburgh castle it was raining, which you might say "of course, Christina, it's Scotland, and you were there in the rainiest summer they had had for years" to which I'd reply, "but it never rained when I went to any other castle."
I think there's a message there, but I'm still not sure what it was.

Today I also posted a HallHogs comic. This seems to be the week of comics for me. Probably because I've been avoiding doing other more important things. I think there might be a message in that too, but I'm avoiding figuring out what it is.

Schedule and such

2011-02-15T17:14:00.000-08:00

Another shaded oldy that I found. It's not often that I attempt detailed wide shots. I don't want to say that this is why, because this is actually one of my better attempts -.-' Anyway, I like some of the details in this even if they aren't correct perspectively.

ALSO! Big news, sorta. I maybe accidentally penciled a couple of pages of Never. And then maybe sorta inked and coloured one of those pages. So go ahead and check that out if you want. Don't expect this to become a regular thing since I really do want to post at least my first full chapter of Hired Magic, and doing two stories is a lot of work. I will try to post some more pages when I can though. So much for me being done of Never.

ALSO! Did you notice the logos to the right there>>>
Did you?? Huh? huh?? Anyway, I finally stopped being lazy and made links to each comic so that it's easier to find the one you want.

UPDATING SCHEDULE FOR COMICS:
Monday - Hired Magic
Tuesday - Nothing for now....
Wednesday - Maybe Never, maybe something else...
Thursday- Again, nothing for now. A girl needs to get homework done after all.
Friday - Hired Magic

And now you know.

Happy Ghostentines Day

2011-02-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

With a new comic starting up, I thought it was appropriate to post an old drawing. This is one of the first drawings of Illyia that I did. Originally she was for a completely different comic, though somehow she made her way over to Never. It's not often that I do shading anymore. It's almost always ink work now. I think the part I like the most about this one is the shading, especially around the ghost things.

So happy valentines day. I really should have posted the first page of the comic today since the chapter is called Love Letter, but I didn't. Instead you get ghosts in a graveyard. Now that's my idea of romance, haha.

Fun funness

2011-02-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

Since I'm almost at a point where I'm going to start posting this comic online, I think it's time to post another picture of Tris. This one shows Cole's face as well. (If you saw the post of the two different styles for the first page of the comic, he's the person hidden under his hood.) This is the style I'm going to use for the colouring, which I think will work for this comic. It's nice and clean and compared to a more detailed shading technique it doesn't take a long time to do so I can finish pages fairly quickly. Quick is key for this comic. That and fun. I want these characters to have a lot of fun, even when their lives are on the line which will help me have fun while telling the story.

Hopefully that fun feeling will translate to the readers. You'll have to let me know either way.

I have no idea...

2011-02-08T17:57:00.000-08:00

While I attempt to colour and letter the pages for the first chapter of a comic I'm playing with, I decided I need to do at least one character sketch of the main character. Somehow she came out a whole lot more evil than she really is. Tris is a high energy magician who is always competing to be as powerful as any male. I think the people in the background must have deserved what they got. They probably called her weak or something.

Seeing Double

2011-01-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

Today's drawing is sort of a before and after look. The first version of this comic page is coloured directly from a pencil drawing with some black lines added in photoshop to give it a bit of pop. Originally I had thought about doing an entire comic like this. There are some things I like about it such as the shape of the castle and the girls face, but a lot of it feels too rough even for me.

The second version is inked and shaded. All the same colours are used in both versions, with the shading of the pencil of the first one working in place of the colour shading of the second. Honestly I like both for different reasons and dislike them for some of the same reasons. If that makes any sense. Either way, there's a sense of what happens to a drawing when you start putting ink on it. There are a lot of things that you can't do with a pen that you can with a pencil.

2011-01-25T18:36:00.000-08:00

It's funny how characters can stay with you forever. Blenia and Alexander have been with me for about 12 years now, existed in two full (bad) novels, a good 80 pages of a graphic novel and many false starts at other stories.

Like best friends, they've been with me through good times and bad, distracting me when I should be doing other things, and encouraging me to return to writing and drawing after long periods of not being able to do either. Sometimes I feel as though they hold me back from doing new things, but other times they are the only reason I keep going.

I recently found a bunch of my old writing. Within the mound of loose leaf and half blank scribblers I found one of the first attempts I had made at writing about Len and Alex. They were so different back then. So innocent. That's what I've been trying to capture with the character drawings I've been doing lately. I've made Len and Alex young again. Returned some of their playfulness, and allowed Alex to smile.

Although lately I've been writing stories that don't revolve around these characters, I feel better knowing their around.

Abandoned Church

2011-01-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

Not a new sketch today but one I did in 2007 when I was in Scotland. Aberdeen to be exact. They have some of the most beautiful architecture there some of it thousands of years old. All that was left of this church was the tower. The rest had fallen in or had been knocked down and turned into a parking lot. The rest isn't being protected by a heritage society since there are way too many old buildings and not enough funding to protect them all. This church was deemed to be one that didn't have enough history behind it to even have some sort of sign put up to tell the curious anything about it.

As I sketched this in the park across a river from the church, a man sat on the bench beside me. Not unusual since Scotland in general seemed to have a lack of seating during the summer months. The fact that I found anywhere to sit at all was pretty amazing. While I sketched, I could feel him peaking over my shoulder, as will happen to anyone brave enough to draw outside. When I was about to set down my pencil, he leans over and says, "You draw often."

It wasn't a question. I smile at him and nod.

"I try."

I'm always modest when it comes to my art. I'm well aware of the many many people who have much more talent than I do. It's not that I don't think I'm worthy, or something, I just know that I have a lot of room for improvement. Not an original thought from an artist, I know, but a necessary one if the artist has any interest in being the best they can be.

"No," he says. "You can draw."

And then he stands up and walks away.

I smile and close my book. I may not be the best. I will probably never be the best. But I can draw and I will continue to draw often.

Coloured Friday

2011-01-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

I realised today when I attempted to draw that I don't have any sketchbooks. I think I had some, but I have no idea where they went. They probably ran way for fear of having their pristine pages ruined. Do you know how long it took them to get their pages that white? And what was I planning on doing but rubbing graphite all over them. That stuff never comes out.

Anyway, this drawing was done on a pad of paper I found that I hate. It's just a little too big for my liking and using ink on it is like drawing with water on paper towel. I'll probably have to replace my ink before I try using that pen again. Some how I finished without crumpling the paper up in rage, but I ended up buying a new sketchbook so that I won't ever have to deal with that again. At least until the others come back to liberate the new prisoner, er sketchbook.

She looks a little more crazy than I intended. She's supposed to be a troublemaker that's devising a plan. And while she's from a new story I've been playing around with, the fact that she looks a lot like Len is intentional.

Quick Sketches

2011-01-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't been doing any comics lately, I think it's time to put up a couple of quick sketches.

I did this sketch a few days ago at the museum during a free drawing session for the public. It was pretty fun, and I got to draw with my mom, which is always neat since she has such an interesting style. This is based off a photograph currently being shown at the gallery and is drawn with a regular mechanical pencil. (I got chastised for that, though the woman leading the session had to admit I managed to get more depth in the shading than she expected)

I was attempting to work without using lines and focus more on lights and shadows. Parts of it I succeeded I think. Lighting is something that I really want to work on in the future.

This second sketch is not by me at all but by my friend Brenda. That's Len from Never--the story that never finished--and her character Sandra from In the Air. Poor innocent Sandra is being corrupted. I love this picture! She did this for me during Fan Expo '10 to cheer me up during a particularly hard stretch. Definitely succeeded.

2010-12-27T14:48:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

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.

...

2010-09-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-31T16:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-07-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-04-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-04-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-04-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-10T04:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-03-08T04:47:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

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 :(

2010-02-19T03:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-17T06:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-12T06:32:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-10T04:41:00.000-08:00

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

Noobs #5

2010-02-08T04:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

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

Hallhogs #4

2010-02-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-23T05:12:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-22T04:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T19:59:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-18T04:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-15T04:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-14T06:35:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-13T04:57:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-05T18:20:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

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!

Never #75 Online

2009-12-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

Check out the last Never comic of the chapter!

Things are going to start to shift gears over at hallhogs.com as I get ready to go back to school and bring about a new comic. Noobs will be coming soon to a computer near you! As celebration, I've been playing a lot of WoW and now have a lvl 79 druid. If you don't know what that means, shame on you. If you do, then you understand why I have gotten nothing done over my holiday. Anyway, Noobs is not really a WoW comic, but those who play fantasy RPG's should appreciate the humour in it.

Well that's it for me this year. See you all in 2010!

Never #73

2009-12-23T06:06:00.000-08:00

It's almost Christmas!! I got today's Never comic up so check it out. While I was drawing this and the following strip, I kept glancing over at the middle panel of this one and bursting out laughing. Poor poor Aalex. And now that she knows she makes him uneasy, I can only imagine how she's going to use that against him. :D
As for updates, I'm obviously not going to put anything up on Christmas Day, because I seriously have to deal with 3 Christmas's. Yeah. Poor me, I know. Plus there are two birthdays to deal with on the 25 and 26 and friends visiting and all that holiday fun. So Merry Christmas! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Avoiding the Shopping Malls! See you on Monday Dec 28th.

Never #72

2009-12-21T07:19:00.000-08:00

Oops! It's Monday. Time to get Never #72 up! Poor Aalex looks a little uncomfortable in the last panel. *heart*
Also, if you haven't seen the preview for my new comic yet, you can check it out at my DeviantArt site.

Sigh

2009-12-17T18:49:00.000-08:00

Well, my Mac is currently in the shop. Sigh. I am not doing very well with getting my comic up regularly. I'm not sure when I'll get the computer back so I can't say when I will get my next comic up.

Never #71 online

2009-12-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Never #71 is here and we're finally getting back to Len in the comic! A bit of a cliffhanger with the other girls, but all will be explained in time. If you haven't already checked it out, I did a picture of Len and Aalex that you can see here. I just love drawing these two. I need to get some Roald/Len pictures going. Wow, I never noticed before that I can also do the "team" thing. So what team are you on, team Roald or team Aalex?

No new comic on Monday

2009-12-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

Sorry! I have a take home exam due tomorrow and a final tomorrow so no comic. See you on Wednesday.

Never #70

2009-12-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

The new never comic is up now. My goodness there are a lot of inconsistency in this comic. I blame the fact that I don't have a dedicated working space and do all of my drawing and inking on my couch while watching tv. There's no where really to keep character sheets and the like. So this is my formal apology for my stupid mistakes. I will do my best to keep them to a minimum in the future.

Never #69 online

2009-12-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

New Never comic up now. If you're a fan of Hallhogs on Facebook, you will be getting a sneak peek at my new comic that will be starting alongside Never and Hallhogs in January 2010! It's going to be a comedy that you'll hopefully be able to pick up at any point and enjoy. No back story required unlike Never. Later all!

Never #68 Online

2009-12-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I got Monday's comic up. I have two exams in the next two days. They are back to back so I won't get time to study in between. I'm really hoping I'll be able to do alright in them. But after those two I have some time until my last two exams so updates will be okay! :) Let me just say that it's been a long semester and without this comic to look forward to doing regularly along with my loving friends and family, I don't know how I would have forced myself out of bed every day.

Never #67 Online

2009-12-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

Never # 67 now online. I like the last panel on this one. I put just it up on DeviantArt with a few changes. Yeah, so I have exams at the beginning of next week, so if I get on a studying crazy, then there may be no update on Monday, but I will do my best to get something up.
Ok, byes!

No update update

2009-12-02T13:44:00.000-08:00

Since obviously there is no new comic today, I figured I would just make a quick post saying sorry and that Wednesday updates will start again next week. I'm not entirely sure yet if it will be a Hallhogs comic or a Never comic, but one or the other will be up.
Well, I'm off to my second last class of the semester. Horray!

Never #66

2009-11-30T04:51:00.000-08:00

Never #66 is now up.
So I've been working on a new comic. It's another fantasy, but it's humour rather than drama and its in a different style than I usually draw. I'm actually really excited about it. I really hope that I can keep it up until I have enough that I feel safe starting to post them regularly online. My goal, which may be way too much, is to post Never on Monday and Fridays, Hallhogs on Wednesdays, and the new comic on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All of them are daily strip formats, so I think it would be appropriate if I could get one comic out a day. But I am going to school, so this all depends on how productive I am this Christmas holiday. Wish me luck!

Never #65 online

2009-11-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

Never #65 is online. Not much to say. Other than, HORRAY! NO MORE ESSAYS! Now onto exams! Which means hopefully I will be able to start posting three times a week again. If not next week, then the week after.

Never #64 online

2009-11-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

Number 64 of Never is up now! I'm having fun with colouring the night scenes which is good, because there are many more to come. I'm not as good as some amazing comic artists out there *cough*Lora Innes*cough* but it's all about practicing. Which is what this comic is all about. I have no illusions of ever getting this comic to print, I do it because I love these characters and they force me to draw them every day which means more practice, which means I will get better. If you take a look at my incentive for the TWC vote, you'll see part of a comic I had drawn only a year ago. I'll admit that even at the time I didn't think the drawings were perfect, but I think I've gotten better. (Though today's comic might not show the progress)
I can't wait to see how much better I'll be next year.

Never #63 online

2009-11-19T18:13:00.000-08:00

Well, #63 of Never is now up. Looks like Len is feeling a little bad about how things are going between her and Aalex. Or is it that she's worried about how much he knows that's keeping her up?

Never comic #62

2009-11-15T20:11:00.000-08:00

New comic now up. Not much to say other than its up.

Never comic #61

2009-11-12T18:02:00.000-08:00

New never comic up now. I'll try and change my incentive for the voting tomorrow.

Never Comic #60

2009-11-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

Yup, I'm up to 60 comics! Horray me! Definitely no comic coming up this Wednesday. Sorry.

Never Comic #59!!

2009-11-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

Hiya everyone. New Never comic now up. My that Aalex isn't a very cheery person. As you might have noticed, I didn't have a comic up on Wednesday. I apologize, but I won't be able to get one up on that day for the next few weeks. Time is tight and I'm just not getting things done like I need to be outside of the comic. But check back on Wednesdays anyway, I'm going to try and have something up that day. Monday and Fridays will be continuing as scheduled.

Hallhogs Update

2009-11-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

Originally I was going to send this to my school newspaper, but I decided not to. So on this glorious Tuesday, you lucky readers get a new comic. A hallhogs comic too. They don't come around every day. I would absolutely love to start updating hallhogs regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I really really should spend more time on my school work...

I suggest checking back regularly as fun often beats out work in my life. :)

Never update

2009-11-02T03:00:00.000-08:00

So I've decided for the month of November I'm going to stick to two updates a week, Monday and Friday. I just need to get stuff done for school, and I haven't had the time to do both.

I've also had the lovely experience while colouring today's comic of having another dead strip on the screen appear. The problem is, it's a mac, so in order to replace the screen, I have to replace the computer. So far it's three dead lines, and two of them are off to the side and not very noticeable. Hopefully no more will happen until I'm ready to replace my computer in a couple of years...

Never Update

2009-10-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

I actually forgot to post on here to let you all know that today's comic is up. I actually think I'm going to have to slow down the updates of this comic for a little bit. My school work is really being neglected and life is crazy. Anyway, I will definitely update at least once a week, and I'm considering trying to update Hallhogs again once a week.

2009-10-27T17:35:00.001-07:00

As always, Wednesday is going to be a busy day and so I won't get a chance to post the comic in the morning. Therefore, for your viewing pleasure, tomorrows comic is available now.

NaNoWriMo is coming up soon. I would love to attempt to write a new book, but taking into account that I can barely get my homework and comics done as it is, that might be a bad idea. I may attempt to do a full rewrite of my book in a month. It's almost there, but the plot is droopy and some of the characters just never reach their potential. Well, I have till the 1st to decide if I'm going to do either.

Comic Update

2009-10-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

New comic up.
Aalex is finally in his new clothes. My goodness it's taking them a long time to change. I'm having a lot of fun with this inking, but it really takes me along time. Especially since I decided to make Aalex's jacket thing so dark. Anyway, enjoy and don't forget to vote to see today's incentive.

Comic Update

2009-10-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

New comic up. I actually ended up redrawing this entire comic today because I really didn't like the way the original looked. Roald was looking in the wrong direction, the red dress girl was stiff and boring. So this entire comic was done today. From start to finish it took me about 5 hours. Not bad for someone who used to take upwards to 5 hours just to colour the dang things.

You may have noticed that I've added advertising. I actually told myself I would never ad advertising to my site, because I hate it. But then I found project wonderful which actually allows other comic artists to advertise on each others sites for cheap. It's actually a great way to find comics that you may not have found otherwise. Maybe it's how you found this comic. Of course I invite people to bid on the ad space, since I'd like to start advertising myself again, but I can't do that until I earn something back. I wont beg, but if you give me money, I will draw one of the characters bathing. I promise!