This just in:
With the economy, and general decline of print, MAD Magazine is officially going quarterly with issue #500 in April. Found out through Tom Richmond’s post. The quarterly issues will have 8 more pages than the monthly issues, and sell for $5.99(cheap!). I hope they take full advantage of the web, it would be a shame to lose such a widely-known master of the magazine world whom I don’t read.

Also in April, Kenny Chronicles turns 1 year old!

Are you ready for the digital transition? Ready or not, the groundhog at engadget says we’ll have 4 more months of those repetitious commercials. They linked to a local ABC station as a source. [UPDATE: Apparently I was notified too early. It didn’t pass all the way. Read next blog for those details.]
[UPDATE2: Ignore the next entry, as it’s been mauled by the entry following IT! We’ll continue to get analog through June 12th, although some areas might choose to go ahead with the Feb 17th date anyway.]

I’m happy to say that I’ve been ready for the transition since mid-2008. We have 2 converter boxes and horrible reception on all stations. PBS has near-perfect reception, and I really like their new Create channel. On Sunday, I tried the stations again and got perfect reception on all stations, but today, only the analog stations busted through the sleet, and PBS.

For my first reaction to DTV, here’s what I recorded on July 29th…

(link)

Okay, so my source jumped the gun on the news that the bill had passed. It passed the SENATE, but not the House of Representatives. It got a majority vote, but 2/3 vote is required for that kind of  thing. To add to the confusion, that’s not the end of the story. This is what PC Magazine has to say: “The bill is not dead, however. The House can still bring the bill up for a vote the typical way, which allows for lengthier debate, the addition of amendments, and a majority rules vote, but that has not yet been scheduled.”

So, let’s just say it’s still on for February 17th, even if there’s still a chance for passing. Both ways have their benefits, but Feb 17th was the promised end to all these “ARE YOU READY????” commercials. Our local news has run it into the ground so much that I’m convinced they’re just playing the same video every day.

(EDIT: *sigh* read next entry, it passed)

Just read this article saying that the delay is finally official. June 12th WILL be the new deadline for the digital tv transition. Nuts, I was hoping it would be overturned. Sure, plenty of people are still waiting for their coupons, and you can’t use the coupon AFTER you’ve bought the converter box, but I was also eager to stop hearing about the transition. I guess we’ll just have to weather 4 more months of the constant “are you ready” questions on tv. I’ve been ready since last summer. Let’s go! I hope the ditching of analog will provide more power to the digital broadcast, because we get horrible digital reception.

A New Zealand double-amputee has had a mermaid tail made for her in place of her legs. Really neat! And yes, she has prosthetic legs for land as well.

link to video

Today, I’m a cameo in the very well-drawn “The Sergeant and Professor Skeary Winslow” by G.L. Nelson. On the second page, in the crowd scene of the 1st and 5th panels, I’m the furry lightly-purplish guy with the beard and receding hairline in the green robe. Looks just like me!
Click here to see my cameo in this chapter.

At 2:50am(CST) today, on Friday the 13th, I finished a 13-hour comic. For those unfamiliar with 24-hour comics, the challenge is to make a comic book in the same amount of hours as there are pages. One page per hour. I’m the first person to do a 13-hour Friday the 13th comic. Ever.
The following comic is rated PG-13, in keeping with the 13 theme. Somebody asked me if the story would be scary, so I’ve included zombies for good measure. Enjoy.
Click here to read 13 pages of bad fortune

One year ago today is when the first Kenny Chronicles comic strip was posted, in English AND Spanish. A month later, I started telling people about it. I wanted to have an actual archive before getting visitors, and April 2008 contained a 4-comic storyline that couldn’t have people coming in the middle of it. My first comics were done with India ink on bristol board. Hand-lettering with a quill is tedious.
In July 2008, I experimented with drawing a month’s worth of comics in 12 hours(with my new Wacom tablet!), and unfortunately a different color scheme. Too much time investment for the color scheme. This is why a month-long buffer isn’t always great. I got negative critique on the colors when I had a full month of it yet to show. Another problem with the buffer, I got too comfortable with it. When you get comfortable with your buffer, you run it out. I haven’t had a buffer since then.
Overall, that experiment was a success and I plan on doing it again this July, but with traditional black and white. For the months following the “Doggone Dailies Of Summer”, I considered going 100% black-and-white, and tried a few times, but I just can’t stop adding color to my comics, especially if I plan on drawing more raves. I even considered having color Mondays and b&w Thursdays. Without a buffer, that really throws off the workflow so I ditched it.
From August-December, all the comics were 100% drawn on my tablet, including the lettering, which was just traced from the Arial font(with slight variations). In December, my hand started hurting and I was tired of hand-lettering. The lettering was the only part that strained my hand, so it had to go. First, I tried the font I’d been using for the Spanish version, but that didn’t look right and never made it to web. I found a new free font for the English version(Ashcan), but kept the old font for Spanish because of international letter support(“ñá!” says the Anime Ace font). I liked Ashcan, but it was too different from the Spanish font, in that I had to make HUGE changes to the sizing and spacing when I translated. Also, it was fun, but sometimes I preferred a more professional look. On January 1st, 2009, Comicraft put their fonts on sale for $20.09 and I found the International version of Los Vampiros for 80% off. Love at first sight, and 12 hours of deliberation if I wanted to spend $20 on a font. I’ve turned down fonts for being that price before, after all. This font, however, had things even my Spanish font didn’t have… like upside down punctuation. Until this switch, the Spanish version was actually a mish-mash of 3 fonts. Much time saved.
Then, in March 2009, I finally replaced my 12″ iBook G3(circa 2000 or 2001) with a brand new laptop with a 17″ screen. My lines finally appeared at the same time as when I drew them! Also, I can run iTunes and Photoshop at the same time(and unfortunately, YouTube).

I have some exciting things planned for this month, including a site redesign. I hope I find enough time to finish it before the end of the month. Also, the current storyline will fill in some blanks regarding the setting and the characters. If you have any questions about the comic, go ahead and ask them in the comments section. I’d like to know if there’s anything else that needs clarifying.

With Earth Day coming up, I discovered this energy-efficient blacklight! That’s just awesome! If you’re having a rave for Earth Day, you absolutely NEED a few of these!

Hemp Collars
What doggie(or fursuiter, even) wouldn’t love to be Earth-friendly? Since it’s Earth Day in the northern hemisphere, and Kenny is a fox, I’d like to highlight these hemp collars. From the product description: “Hemp requires little to no pesticides, replenishes soil with nutrients and nitrogen, controls erosion of the topsoil, and produces lots of oxygen.” PERFECT for Earth Day.

Hemp is a very strong material, so if your dog likes to break collars, this is a good choice. The inside is lined with fleece for comfort. These collars get as big as 28″, so fursuiters can wear them too.

Also: Hemp Harness and Hemp Leash with a Fleece Handle

In an effort to up my social network visibility, I’d like to remind people about my Twitter account. You can find it at twitter.com/will_yums. On it, you can get updates on my comics, blog postings(like this one), why my comic is late, statuses on my late comics(They often get done at 6am on the update day), how I’m liking Linux, if I got Windows 7 installed yet(almost out of beta), movies I’m liking or hating, geeky geekness, and more! I try to only post interesting things. I will never post any TMI postings, like a certain kind mentioned in Penny Arcade.

I currently have 40 followers. I think I’ll aim high and hope for 50 followers by the end of the week.

And, if you’re on FurAffinity, I also post my comics there. You can see my userpage here. FurAffinity is a huge community of artists and fanatics with a strong focus on cartoon animals. They’ve been a great community to post comics on. I currently have 49 watchers on there, and hope for 1000 by the end of…. sometime. Two great examples of the art on there are by Kipper and Swiftcutter.