6:30 in the morning but the last update for the year is posted. Well this is the last of the 3D models for the time being as well. I wish I had done the design for it when I first started building the Exterior of the Cuna Household. There are a couple of Exterior shots and then all interior shots from varying sides and angels. You'll notice shelves in a hall way and a small room in the Front left side generally where children sleep. Grand parents generally sleep in the back left side of the house where the ladder leads to an opening in the roof. And all the other adults and babies sleep in the Big room on the right. I think I worked it out to fit about 15 people altogether.

The Dome is constructed of a material that lets the day light shine through but remains looking Opaque on the outside, so the evil spirits can't see in and they slide off the dome because it is slippery and curled. I think I may also put designs on top of it which will also be wards that protect against evil spirits. I know I am going to have deigns on the Drapes that hang in front of the door, windows and the hatch or cover of the roof exit to ward off evil spirits.

There might be more or less furniture per household but this is the typical design. Generally everyone sleeps on the floor or a rug with pillows depending on if your family has made rugs or pillows or was allowed the materials to make them. Jenob and Dania's Family are allowed only the bare amounts because for the most part the family is shunned by the village. Only Dania's Father is looked upon with great import and with out him the Families troubles would increase, but in a way they are also left alone because no one wants to deal or associate with them. There is the small table in the front, a storage container in the back left room for important things and many everyday things are stored under or on the shelves in the hall. Then there is the cooking and eating table given by the gods in the main room, it has a place where the villages can put wood to burn and heat up the table above to cook things on. The Table can get extremely hot but it will not hurt human flesh - of course this is do to the GODS. They also put pots of earthenware in the openings near the burning wood to cook other things, but these are there own hand made containers and do not share the cooking tables qualities. Near the table in the back right corner on the floor is also a cover for a hole that is filled with sea water and is actually connected to the outside ocean. The villagers use it to keep fish in case a day goes by where not much fish was caught or meat was hunted. There is a netting preventing the fish from swimming back to sea. If I think of more details to write I'll jot it down in a later update. Now it is 7:30 in the morning. EWWWWWW.

2D renderings of the "M" lab are finally posted. More of an explanation to come.

3D renderings of the "M" lab are finally posted. I'll probably write more about it when I feel less sleepy. ZZZzzzz

Rendered the Nu Background elements necessary to keep the First Issue in sync with later issues. Each Nu rendered background indicates what page and panel it will be placed on. You can see how it will correlate to the original pages and panels posted in the first issue online or in the ashcan. I also show the scene with and without a representation of people. I hope that this will give people a good idea of how I'm going to go about creating panels and scenes using the nu 3D designs. Initial renderings and later versions on 1 or 2 scenes are posted to show my effort in trying to retain the original set-up on that page and panel.

Now I posted a ton of 2D renderings of the 3D models I made that represent the village of Cuna. I think this will give everyone a good idea of how I will use the 3D models to create the background settings for certain situations. A lot of the 2D renderings are of similar objects and similar positions that the original 3D rendered images were in to show the comparision between Rendering environments. I want to render them 2D so that I think they will blend in better with the 2D characters.

I am starting to create the lab which Jenob uses to create the "M". We get introduced to Jenob (Niko's father) and his lab in the 2nd issue. After that I will be creating the general appearance of the Interior of a Cuna household. This desgin will also be used a lot more in the 2nd issue. Once I have these 3D environments done then I will be getting back to working on the actual pages of the comic.

Plan of attack once I start to work on "M" pages again.
[1] Input new versions of background elements on certain pages in issue 1 (because some of the designs look different and I
want things to look as consistent as possible with later issues.)
[2] Finish coloring 1st issue (I have about half the book to color)
[3] Finish all the thumbnails for Issue 2 and then begin drawing the pages
[4] Color Issue 2 and at the same time write Issue 3 in more detail
[OBJECTIVE] Finish Issues 1 - 3 in color by end of April so that I can bring them to the San Diego Comic Con and other
conventions. Of course I also have to hope I saved the money or figure a way to borrow money to print them by then.

Well, I'm back with Nu stuff. I decided to create CUNA the main village in the "M" comic in a 3D program so that my progress in working on the comic will go faster. I also changed the navigation for the galleries to make things easier. Now when you click Galleries you will get 4 sections to choose from ILLUSTRATIONS, 3D DESIGN, CONCEPT ART and SKETCH WORK. I unloaded some of the 3D renderings of the CUNA village in the nu 3D Design Gallery. By next week I should have more posted images that will show how I'm going to use the 3D constructions in a comic page. I'm not going to have fully rendered 3D backgrounds with 2D characters. The 3D designs will be rendered in away that I can paint them to sync up with the 2D characters. I want to keep the art within the same feeling and really hate when you can tell the difference between the 2 methods. I hope I can achieve this effect. A lot of animation uses both 2D and 3D now and some people combine them and keep them within the same world and that is what I hope to achieve as well.

Cover for Issue 2. I know I should be doing the pages, but I started on a new cover idea and just couldn't stop until it was finished. What you don't think it's finihed. Of course it is, I actually like it in Black and White. Maybe someday I'll color it, but for now it stays that way and will be printed that way if I ever get the chance to publish the bloody thing. In the comic section is the cover with the "M" Logo and all; in the Illustration Gallery you can find it w/o the Logo and all. More to come hopefully very soon.

Thumbnails of pages 7 and 8 are up.

Finally, I started getting the thumbnails going for issue 2. I hope to get faster and post a bunch of thumbs at a time. As soon as the thumbs are done it is on to doing the detail work and creating the pages actual size. I invested all my money into going to San Diego and getting some new Hardware for my computer. From now on the entire comic will be digitally created. WHY? I am hoping to cut a lot of time out from scanning, cleaning up scans and inking and all that kind of prep work that led up to me establishing the pages on the computer so I could letter and color it. Why am I posting the thumbs? Thought people might be interested in the beginning concepts and how they evolve to completion. Also figured it was a good way to let people know the process had begun again.

Got back from San Diego on Tuesday and I have photos from the Con. up on the EVENTS page. I've been trying to unpack and organize things since I returned and headed back to regular work.

The Convention was more than GIGANTIC, it was its own world. They said that attendance was projected to be 75,000 peeps and we heard that 95,000 peeps may have actually attended. It will be interesting to note what the real numbers are. They seem to post the # of attendees on the San Diego Comic Con. website. However, I think it will be a while before the stats are listed. It was crowded on a Thursday and Friday was filled with more peeps and Saturday was a complete MAD HOUSE. There were areas that could not be traversed without waiting hours or killing and mayhem - OK maybe I'm exaggerating a little but only a small tiny bit. It was a great show even though I didn't break even on the expenses related to the show. I was there as Yume Comics and Jose and Daphne were there as Dream Weaver Press. We shared a hotel room with a friend of mine from Long Beach California.

My stuff sold pretty good I think for the first time being there and I look forward to any feedback on the ashcan. I also sold out of the 1st printing of the ashcan. The 2nd printing of the ashcan is also now available in the Yume store. I still have to finish a Business card project and probably another cover art project for a Yang Da Dark CD. Then issue 2 of "M". Also should be putting my ART PRINTS for sale in the Yume Store during August. More details about the San Diego show on the DMON site.

The Philly Convention went OK. I sold the same number of ashcans as I did at I-CON, which I am glad I sold them, but I was hoping to sell more because there was probably 2 or 3 times the people at Philly. Of course there was also tons more vendors i had to compete with. My art prints didn't sell to much either, which is what i always sold a lot of. The friends I went with thought that last years Philly convention was better and the people were more enthusiastic. I did get a lot of interest from people and must have given out 200 or 300 business cards.

I posted a drawing I did at the convention in the Sketch Gallery. Also updated the most recent version of the Family painting in the Illustration Gallery. Instead of just finishing the 1st issue in color, I decided to start working on the 2nd issue again. I'll keep everyone posted as soon as i think I'll have new pages up.

Photos from the Philly Con. posted. in the Events section. More details about the convention and what is going on soon.

- Now Contain the Illustrations, Concept Designs, and Sketches for the "M" comic.

- The Yume Comics Online Store is now Open for Business. You can purchase the "M" Ashcan with a Credit Card or Paypal account (Paypal Account is not necessary).

- I will be attending Wizard World Philadelphia May 21 - 23