So over at  heroes_bigboom they are posting advance excerpts from the upcoming stories (two a day), and they just posted the one from 'Fear Not For The Future", which is story I "was" is what I could say if I was finished am still (so slowly)  working on. So, if you'd like, head on over and check it out. Don't be stubborn like my sister (she's only hurting herself!). Have faith in my taste ane believe me when I say, "It's good. Really good!"

Random Heroes Fact of The Day: The video store called earlier, which usually means we have gotten a random free rental. That is always good, especially when you are broke and there is something you really, really need want to rent. Of course this is the same store that mocks me by having the Heroes placards up despite never having actually received the DVDs, so it really could be a win/lose situation.

Anyway, now that Big Boom time is fast approaching, (the first story went up today!)  I have to decide just how exactly I want to go about formatting this stuff. I see that there are going to be issues with the sheer number of images in one post. This is officially No Good.


Also, if you keep seeing something moving out of the corner of your eye, and you jump, only to see that it is your hair, that's kind of funny, but you should comb your hair. If this happens many times over the course of a week or so, it's no longer as funny, and you should really comb your hair. 

According to the newly-posted Big Boom Schedule, the story I was working on, entitled Fear Not For The Future, will be going live on Thursday September 20th. That is excellent because that gives me more time to put things off get things finished. The first story comes out on the 11th and a new one is released every day until the Season Two premier. There are fourteen stories (all 20,000 words minimum) and a good mix of subject matter (though leaning slightly towards that of the Petrelli variety) so there's something for everyone! Make sure you stop by and check it out. A lot of writers put a lot of work into writing a lot of words... do you want all of their hard work to be in vain? Well, do you!?

In semi-related news, the Unwatchable DVDs arrived yesterday. I considered not opening them, but that did not last long. I just kept staring at the box like "I can't use it, so why open it now?" I must have forgotten my own incredible lack of willpower. Ma looked at it with me and she was all "Too bad I can't watch it!" Did I mention that she does not even watch Heroes? Such was the magnificence of the packaging! And now the saving of the money begins. I must acquire an HD-DVD player posthaste!

I took a few days off for not-drawing and working on the finish/fail paintings from a few days ago. But now it is getting really, really close to Big Boom deadline time, so I guess it's time to pick the pencils (and crayons) up again and get cracking. I am a lifelong procrastinator, so this is pretty much par for the course. I work very well under the pressure, so I am not sweating it. Plus, I am thinking that the gradual rollout thing will buy me a few more days (weeks?) if anything remains undone.
Of course, going back to look at an old post and see that due to crappy links, the last Big Boom update post had thumbnails, but no big pictures. Good job, me! One was just a black and white sketch (pen and hand) that is now a color drawing, so that's not an issue. The other one (Peter on the floor) I will just add to this post.

		Today's Thumbnails

So I took Tuesday off from drawing. No real reason, just taking a break. Then back to work on Wednesday. I worked on a few things, but most are in no shape for scanning, just two things.. one big, one small.

I attempted (again) to get my sister to watch Heroes. I had "Homecoming" on tape from Monday. And since she hates having to watch the ones I have here on the computer, I figured this was the perfect opportunity! Not only is it a pretty action-packed episode, but it features a lot of characters (none of which are named Matt or Parkman)! It's a win-win, right? Wrong.

The last attempt ("Fallout") resulted in "It's alright, but I can't make time to watch it." "Homecoming" resulted in her falling asleep. Literally. Asleep. I had been going along, explaining things to her to fill in the gaps, it was a good system. Then, just when it starts to get good (Sylar TK-ing Jackie, Peter and HRG running in for the rescue) I look back, and this sucker is knocked out! I was like, "Wait? Is she sleeping?!" I woke her up and kicked her out of the room. Then, as any good fan would, I finished watching the episode myself. I don't know what her deal was, it's not like we were watching a boring episode -- there was actually big stuff going down! As she sleepily walked down the hall, I yelled behind here, "You don't know who you are dealing with! You have surely underestimated my tenacity!" Plus, since she fell asleep it does not count as one of her two episodes!

( She also she mocked Sendhil's hair. She may need glases. )

Today's mission: Peter on paper! I can't keep letting him drag along not done well, eventually becoming the weak link in everything. Nope, today Petrelli's going down! I've got a brand new pack of paper, a handful of pencils, some new Pink Pearl erasers and more screencaps than you can shake a stick at! I am, as they say, loaded for bear. Plus, with the race having been rained out, I have nothing going on 'til the Sunday night TV starts.. and that's not 'til 9:00. So until then, it's me and you, Pete! Only one can emerge victorious.. and I am thinking that since I am real, and you are fictional, I have the pencil, and you exist only in pictures, I have to have some kind of advantage. Don't make me have to use the "Failure" icon again! This goes for you too, Future! Peter!

Man, it's like the world is conspiring against my plans to, you know, get stuff done. First there was the totally necessary trip to the local Barnes & Noble to get that Z!NK magazine. (What? It was necessary!) I have not been awake at 10AM in I don't know how long, so that was a mess. But some sacrifices have to be made!  They did not have the "Heroes" cover SFX, and that angered me. But I did get the new Esquire double-sized Fashion Issue! I really can't get enough pictures of guys in nice suits.

You know what? When you have eleven posts and only two of them are visible to the general public, that's not cool. I am posting like twice a day here, and it looks like I'm doing nothing. That has to be some crazy irony or something, that my incredible unslackness makes me look slacker than ever. I went back and unlocked a few old things, that helped a bit, but not that much. I'm thinking that once the Big Boom is over, I can go and unlock everything so that if anyone cares to go back and look at that stuff, they can.

So, if you are reading this and you want to see the other stuff (I can't post it anywhere unlocked until sometime in September) just let me know.  It's pretty much a record of my progress in illustrating one of the heroes_bigboom stories. It gives me something to make sure I'm actually working, plus lets me get feedback from people who are familiar with the subject matter. I can't keep running up to people around here like "What do you think think of this? How's that Gabriel? "What color should I make that sweater-vest? What about Peter's Hair?" Plus, due to some of the subject matter, they would look at me funny and wonder if there was some extra special motive for my constant urging of them to watch Heroes. The day I hear my mother use the term (whatever they call Peter/Gabriel) is the day I turn in my fandom.

Speaking of which,  I am still working on getting my sister into the show. She as unimpressed with "Genesis" when she saw it a few months ago, but that is understandable, as it was not the most exciting episode. Yesterday I convinced her to watch "Fallout", hoping the increased action and big "Oh no! I explode" cliffhanger would get her. She declared it "alright, but I can't make time to watch it" She has now agreed to watch two more episodes before calling it a wrap.

So the more I work, the more I worry about what will happen when it is time to post and I can't figure out how to get the images from the big book to the internet. As much as I can try to convince myself that I will head out and find a shop with a big scanner, I know that it really is more work that I'd actually be willing to put in. Plus, I am pretty sure I would have to spend money. And I am nothing, if not unwilling to part with my meager cash.
So I figured out I'd give the scanner and try and see what I could come up with.

So, in the midst of my evening drawing/picture snagging time, I keep getting bombarded with IMs. I thought my response to being called a slacker ("no way.. serious drawing.. in the zone, boss.. the zone!") would have gotten me off the hook, but no. I kept insisting that I was busy, but to no avail. And then I lost my rhythm. I was doing good there for a while, and now I can't get back into the groove. That may officially be "the worst". *

I have yet to hear just heard back from my author. Excellent. I can't be allowed to run about unchecked... or I'll end up with more pages of art than there are pages of story. There's just so much in there, I can't decide where to start. Plus, some of my sketches have story text around them (such as one from today) and I don't know how she feels about that. But without them, how can I get any feedback on if they actually make sense together? So, today's focus has been on scenery. That is always the last thing I do, so most of my drawings are people standing in some crazy nondescript space. That will not fly this time.

Tiny details that amuse me: The Gray & Sons door has big metal bars on the outside, for safety perhaps. No one is going to break into that place.. unless, you know, they happen to notice those enormous storefront windows. The cabinet that would be immediately to your right when you enter the store has not one, but two clocks shaped like the Eiffel tower. And finally, even though the shop seems to be on the front of a building, and you have to turn into a little corridor to get to it, the back has a sloping sunroofed area, indicating that it's a one story building, even though everything across the street is skyscraper-height. A tiny little unassuming, yet incredibly interesting, place tucked back among all of the skyscrapers. Sounds like a watchmaker I know.

So I got my Big Boom story yesterday, and it is good. Real good. I am very excited. I can't reveal any of the plot points (first, because it is against the rules. Second, I have not yet read it yet.) But it involves Gabriel Gray, which is never not a good time.

Out of the 18 pages I have (I print everything in a tiny font because I don't like to use good drawing paper on printing stuff.) and the 15,074 words, I have marked 34 passages that interested me visually. That's a lot. [What's scary is that this is just a draft, and there are at least 5000 more words to go. I mean, Mohinder is still in India and has only spoken one word! ] So now I will start working through them to see which ones will actually work on paper. I have a few really rough sketches done (maybe I will post some of them later) so things are getting off on the right foot. Of course, that is often the easy part.

So, in an effort to draw more, I signed up to make art for the heroes_bigboom Challenge. Which means that someone somewhere is working on a story, and I will be drawing something to go along with it. I got my assignment a few days ago, but have yet to get the email that introduces me to my writer, thereby facilitating my actually getting the words that I am supposed to be drawing to. I am hoping this sad situation will be rectified in the very near future.
According to the rules, we can't post anything anywhere unlocked until the official release date (some time in September), but we can post to a small number of people, or what the official rules refer to as "betas or regular small audiencing groups" as long as the numbers are kept down. So hopefully that is what this is...