Categories
Art Blog Fan Art Recieved

Fan Art from Callous Comics

Epic Fail Fan Art by Callous ComicsClick on the Image for a Larger View

Carlo Jose San Juan, the creator of Callous Comics, has just sent me this wonderful piece of Epic fail Fan Art featuring Amuletts and Decoy Duck playing chess. He says ‘what many people don’t know is that when I imagine Decoy talking, he’s speaking in a British accent’ so it is poetic he should visit a British comic.

I love getting Fan Art and this has cheered me up so very much! Carlo has drawn Amuletts perfectly and she would totally want to play with the Black pieces (black is one of her favorite colours). I’d imagine there’d be some money wagered on this game also.

Callous Comics features Dr. Rianne Nicah, a struggling new physician, who braves the world with her Guardian Duck, Cal Duck, and his on-the-job mentors! It is a humour comic which has been going for an incredible 15 years! PHEW! It stars both human and anthropomorphic characters in both gag strips and longer story archs. Carlo and Callous Comics has been so kind recently sending Fan Art to lots of people so go and read his comic and give him lots of love.

Categories
Blog Movie Reviews Movies/Film

Movie Review: Mazes & Monsters

This is a 1980’s made-for-tv movie and fulfills all the expectations that come with that description, namely poor quality scripting, acting and special effects. It stars a young Tom Hanks and notably contains footage of the World Trade Center. Based on the novel by the same name Mazes & Monsters is interesting mainly because of it’s social context. During it’s heyday role-play gaming was a much maligned hobby purported to be a form of satanism and blaimed for criminal activities, mental illness and suicides. Players were persecuted, ostricised and anti-D&D groups established to try and ban the game. It’s hard to imagine nowadays that a harmless game of make-believe could provoke such a reaction, but these attitudes were widespread and some still persist to this day. I remember as late as the 1990’s being forbidden from buying a D&D book because it was ‘Devil-worship.’

mazes and monsters - Tom Hanks goes bat shit crazy!

Categories
Blog Epic Fail Related

Yoru Plushie


Click on the tumbnails for full-sized image.

I made a Plushie of Epic Fail’s character Yoru! I made it using the ‘sit pattern  tutorial‘ by BabyLondonStar on Deviantart. It’s made mostly out of Felt with a short-shag fur fabric for the hair. I had trouble finding a light-grey fur for the fringe so I had to sacrifice a stuffed shark for it. Overall Plushie Yoru uses 12 types of fabric and 4 types of tread. The clothes are all made as separate pieces. The horns are just little felt cones.

It took a while, probably because I have never made anything like this before and he’s entirely hand-stitched, but I am really proud. He’s devilishly cute! I kinda want to make all the characters now!

Categories
Blog Funny/Cool

Tiki Dalek

Someone tweeted about this and I thought it was simply Made of Win. Yes, I’m talking about the TIKI DALEK. In this creation two completely disparate things have been brought together to create poetry in motion. The materials fit the structure so perfectly that one could believe Daleks were MEANT to be made out of cane, coconuts and raffia.

Categories
Blog Movie Reviews Movies/Film

Movie Review: Reiki

I interviewed the Director, Pedro Chaves, while this film was in post-production. It is an idependant movie made on a low budget over a very short time period, and we can only dream about what it might have been were more time and finances available, but we have to take it as it is. The lack of resources shows, but it’s still a real accomplishment with an inspired concept and good production values.

Reiki - The first Belgium Fantasy/Action Movie
Not to be confused with massage or the art of healing, Reiki is a violent film about two rival sets of immortals – “The Order” and “Witches” – able to live on after death by reincarnation, and the one weapon that can kill them perminently: The Sword called “Reiki.”

Categories
Blog Technical

Flattr integration with WordPress/Comicpress.

You already know how awesome I think Flattr is, especially for webcomics. Unfortunately it’s still a little clunky to integrate, preventing many people who want to adopt it from doing so.

It is easy to add a Flattr button to a single blog post, but if you have a large website it becomes a chore. If, like me, you are using WordPress the solution seems simple: use the Flatter Plugin. This not only adds the Flattr button to your posts but submits new posts to Flattr when you publish them. Alas, whilst I’m sure it is an excellent solution for many people, it didn’t work for me.

In the Plugin Debug I discover my problem: ‘No cURL extension found.’ Bugger. As tech savvy as I am this is not something I can fix. Fortunately I’ve figured out a couple of workarounds. These ought to work even if you have a different error.

Categories
Blog Funny/Cool

I should be working on my project…

…but instead I’m procrastinating and watching hilarious videos like this that sum up exactly the way I’m feeling but still don’t help me get on with my project.

Sorry I haven’t posted any new comics lately. There will be a new page up soon.

Levni Yilmaz makes lots of cool videos and comics like these called ‘Tales of Mere Existance‘ about things that people say, or think, or do, or don’t do. I’ve subscribed to his YouTube Channel and you probably should too.

Categories
Blog Technical

How to Convert a SWF to an AVI for FREE

The Problem:

If you try to export your flash movie from Adobe Flash Professional you will find that it exports only what is in your main timeline, which breaks a lot of objects and effects, therefore making your movie look pretty crappy. Hopefully they will solve this in the future. In the meantime you are left with a SWF file – a format which is not supported by popular video hosting websites like YouTube. Damn.

Simple Solution:

24/07/16 UPDATE : A FREE Converter Format Factory will convert SWF to AVI as well as a ton of other formats. It is Amazing! It is a godsend! Personally I use it for converting a ton of stuff.

iWisoft Flash/SWF to Video Converter is the ONLY converter I have found which actually converts swf to avi whilst maintaining the quality of the original. Unfortunately the free version leaves a watermark. If you don’t want a watermark you can either pay $49 for the registered version or read on…

Categories
Art Blog Comic Art

Epic Fail Promo Banner

This is a digital painting I did of the whole Epic Fail cast looking fearsome. I’m planning on getting it printed onto an X-Banner which I can take to conventions, speaking of which I have two in May: The Bristol Small Press Expo and the MCM Expo (London). See yout there?

Categories
Blog D&D Funny/Cool

D&D Fantasy Miniatures – in Origami!

Origami Goblin - Fantasy Gaming Miniature by Joseph WuDungeons and Dragons is a role-play game – a game of the imagination – so most of the action goes on inside your head; however, in a big, confusing battle visual repressentation can be useful. Among other things, it stops the characters from spontaneously teleporting from one side of the room to the other (without the use of a spell)! Aside from that it’s nice to see what you’re up against once in a while, to react in genuine horror as the GM reveals the hideous visage of the monster you have to fight (even if it is only 3cm high).

But miniatures are expensive, right? WRONG! You’ve got a piece of paper haven’t you? Well then – get folding and you can have your very own miniature army for mere cost of a bajillion papercuts!