Hedingham Castle is a classic Norman Box Fort located in Essex, England. I was lucky to visit it on a bright, sunny day with little rain (surprising as it has barely stopped raining all summer with the highest amount of of rainfall in June since records began). As readers of the comic will already know I am using Hedingham Castle as the basis for Kasper’s Castle in the comic. I think having convincing backgrounds gives the story a grounding in realism perhaps making it a bit more believable. I think this is quite important in a story with magic and other outlandish (and sometimes ridiculous) elements. And since Hedingham Castle really isn’t that far away I couldn’t not go!
Author: amuletts
Amuletts mounted on her Gryphon flying over Kasper’s Castle. I have tons of fun drawing this Gryphon so it was naturally one of the things I wanted to put into the WAGON webcomic battle deck. I could have done anything for the background but I decided I’d make it actually relevant! Looks cool anyhow, like they are flying really high.
The Gryphon does not have a name by the way so if anyone would like to suggest a name for it feel free. (Male or female or anything in between is fine since it’s not a *real* Gryphon, it’s a magical construct, so it probably doesn’t have a physical gender).
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Honesty Fail
I saw this whilst visiting the Buckinghamshire County Museum. Obviously asking people to try on jewellery then return it was too much to ask. Epic Fail? I guess that depends on how expensive the jewellery was!
The Callous Comics Interview with Carlo Jose San Juan (MD) continues…
Click here if you have yet to read the Callous Comics Interview – Part 1
Q6: How did you first get into making Comics?
A6: I used to spend the long, lonely summer days by drawing comics in empty notebooks. I used to read a lot of Archie books and newspaper funnies and those taught me the basic fundamentals of comic-drawing and story flow. Then one day, on a whim, I applied to be an artist for my high school newspaper and drew comic strips there. That was my first taste of having my work published. I also joined my University’s student paper and started Callous comics in 1996. I brought the series with me to my medical school newspaper and continued Callous there, albeit revamped.
Q7: How do you juggle being a Doctor and a Cartoonist?
Q7: It’s all about time management. I collectively put in around 2-4 hours a day working on the comic. But those hours are squeezed into my daily life as a physician, father, and husband at various times of the day. Pretty much a “do whatever I can whenever I can” state as I wouldn’t know ahead of time when I’d be able to work on the comic. So it was important for me to streamline my process as well as to keep my comic production necessities mobile.
Webcomic creator Carlo Jose San Juan takes the hot seat to answer questions about Callous Comics and his new sci-fi webcomic M.O.U.S.E.
Q1: What is ‘Callous‘ the comic strip about?
A1: Wow, over the years that has become a loaded question! Ha ha!
Primarily, “Callous” is about the life and times of Dr. Rianne Nicah, a struggling new physician, who also happens to have a Guardian Duck named Cal Duck. Throughout the years of studying and training to become a Family Practice with Obstetrics specialist, she never really got to discover herself as a person and the world around her. Cal showed up to help guide her to become the best person she could be by opening her eyes to everything she ignored within herself, the medical field, and the world we live in.
That’s all well and good but there is a catch. Cal isn’t invisible. It’s also his first time to become a Guardian Duck so he is often accompanied by his on-the-job mentors, Mallard Duck, Decoy Duck, and Ling Duck, who all have the ability to pop in and out of our world to guide Cal. In the effort to maintain as normal a life as she could, Rianne has requested that the ducks remain within her home to which they reluctantly agreed. Nevertheless, she has gained good friends in her otherworldly housemates.
So my camping/cycling holiday didn’t go exactly to plan… it turns out my tent is not waterproof, or at least not waterproof enough. It’s perfectly fine in good weather and can take a light shower but it cannot take torrential rain, which is what we got on Saturday night and continued all throughout the Sunday. So I woke up at around midnight with water splashing on my face to discover the tent had filled up with water and basically become a pond! In the middle of the countryside it was pitch black and there were no houses for miles.
It’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend tomorrow which means an extra-long bank holiday so I’m taking the opportunity to go on holiday and see Hedingham Castle in Essex. Hedingham Castle is the one which Kasper’s Castle in the comic is based on so I intend to take lots of photos for reference! There’s also a Knights of England Jousting Event going on Sunday & Monday with – you guessed it – jousting as well as have-a-go archery (I will have a go!), a craft fair, food fair and other awesome stuff I’m sure.
I’m going to make this a travelling holiday and go on my bicycle. The train route to Hedingham is involves going through the centre of London and I expect it will be crazy busy with Jubilee celebrations. I don’t travel well in vehicles, especially in crowded places (I get panic attacks) and it would take a long time. The route is much shorter across country and I can take my time and enjoy the scenery.
From my starting point on Oxford I’ll be going through Thame, Aylesbury, Whipsnade (cool Zoo here), Kimpton, Stanstead Mountfitchet (there’s a Castle there too!) until I eventually arrive at Castle Hedingham. I’ve not got to rush so it should be a nice, leisurely ride and I’ll be able to visit some of the local attractions along the way! I just hope the weather is good! (If it’s not I’ll find the nearest public transport and get on it).
I don’t have a fancy iPad or Android, so I’ll be uploading the photos from my adventures when I get back.
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Diablo 3 Meme – A Comedy of Errors
Diablo III not only epic failed on launch when all the servers crashed but has had problems ever since. Blizzard had to issue and apology to angry fans and released a server-side patch fixing over 30 bugs just a few days ago. Aside from fixing bugs it also nerfed the abilities of some characters classes. Recently Blizzard announced that the release of the real money auction house, originally expected May 22nd, then pushed back to the 29th, has been delayed indefinitely in order to fix errors in the system before the release.
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Top Ten Alternative uses for a D20
The D20 is no longer just a die used to generate random numbers, it has became a symbol to gamers everywhere, a symbol that we are proud to be gamers. To flant one is a kind of status symbol, a kind of geek chic. Many crafty geeks have been inspired by the D20, turning it to a variety of functions. I felt it was time for a top-ten list of alternative uses for the D20. This list is in order of creativity and unusualness.
So, when is a D20 not a D20? When it’s a…
“Birthday! Birthday! Birthday! This is my Birthday Song; And I’m going to sing it all day long because it is my Birthday!”
Just a silly song I made up on my Birthday. You can sing it on yours if you like.