A Duck on Mars

Anonymous declares new war on Donald Trump

On the long list of things to do to update our shop, we’ve finally started taking in-person shots of the pillowcases. You know, ones that aren’t just on a red sheet laid out in our backyard.

Here we have the second pillow produced by Dirge, and my personal favorite for ‘most likely to be seen on body pillow:’ Knockout. The red pops so well and the printing is so crisp…he’s been a welcome staple in our store.

This did a number on me.

A comiXologist Recommends (the book that everyone in the office is always screaming about)

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #50, @idwcomics

 Story by James Roberts

Art by Alex Milne and Brendan Cahill

Colors by Joana Lafuente, Priscilla Tramontano, and John-Paul Bove

It’s not often these days that we get the opportunity to see a comic reach its fiftieth issue, and that MTMTE has done so is a testament to its quality. We’ve followed Rodimus and friends (and not-friends) on their quest to find the Knights of Cybertron (please pretend that text has been Blingee’d) and the many, many…many distractions they’ve faced along the way. Between spark-eaters, mad doctors, monsters in the basement, Megatron Himself joining the crew, a chase sequence through time(complete with Back to the Future references), and all of the other abundant deterrents the crew of the Lost Light have confronted, surely they’ve come so far in their adventure?

…Nah.

However, #50 marks a huge change in the status quo of MTMTE as we know it. “How Bright Their Frail Deeds”, the first story in this issue, takes a sharp turn as things get dire for Team Rodimus. The storytelling is paced exquisitely and, paired with Milne’s beautiful artwork, creates an almost cinematic experience while reading. Each page will have the reader on the edge of their seat wondering what more could possibly go wrong for our heroes.

The second installation, “No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases”, is a short character piece focusing on the memories the crew (and we, the readers) have made on their journey. Cahill’s art in this story really strengthens the blow the reader feel with his grasp on subtle body language and emotion. The story is poignant and sweet and funny, and you will need tissues.

MTMTE #50 is a hallmark in the series, and only Roberts knows where it will go from here. Will it break our hearts? Probably. But I’ve always enjoyed suffering the slow burn of a good story. I mean, as Swerve so eloquently puts it, “Who wants closure? Let’s really stretch this sucker out.”

1) Risus Monkey Fantasy Language Cypher

This is amazing!!!!!!!!!!

Are you creating a fictional language? Do you need help coming up with words that sound like they fit with what you’ve come up with so far?

Just put your fictional language in the model text, type some words in the translation text, and click “translate”. It’ll “translate” whatever words you put in using patterns from your sample text.

2) Speed Distance Calculator

These calculators aren’t perfect, but they can help you figure out:

How long it will take your characters to get somewhere based on how fast they’re going,

how far your characters moved based on how fast they were going and on how long they were moving,

how fast your characters need to move to reach a certain distance in a specified time

The calculator was meant for cyclists, but you can use it to get estimates for other things too.

3) Fantasy Calendar Generator

Another amazing resource!

This can create a random calendar for you or you can input the year, the number of months, the name of the months, the number of moons, the number of days in a week, the names of each day, and more.

You can even save the data for your calendar so that when you go back to the generator, all you have to do to get to your calendar is paste the data.

4) Inkarnate Map Maker

This is a new resource that’s still in beta, so it’ll probably be updated in the coming months.

Have you ever been trying to draw tiles on a wall or on the floor in perspective, but notice that after you’ve drawn them, they don’t look like they’re all the same shape or size?  Well here’s a tutorial on how to fix that. Your picture probably looks like this, right?

Well, i’m here to tell you how to fix that…Let’s start out with your basics.

The gray line is the horizon line, and the black dot is your horizon line. These are essential for the first steps of perspective. Without these, your perspective may turn out wonky and just not flattering to the eyes. Right now we’ll work in One point perspective.

Now let’s pretend we’ll be drawing a hallway. Draw a vertical line where the edge of the wall is.

Now, from the tips of the bottom and top of your wall, you’re going to need to draw a line extending all the way to the vanishing point. If you’re working in photoshop you could either use the line tool, or shift+click. If traditional, you’ll need to use a ruler.

Now that we have the wall that’s in perspective, it’s time to draw the rest of the lines. here I’ve drawn the wall facing us that’s closest, the ceiling, the floor line, and the end of the hallway. ASSUMING that you are working in one point perspective, all vertical lines are straight and parallel to each other, and all horizontal lines are straight and parallel to each other. 

Now here I have erased the lines that extended beyond the back wall, and found the center point of the edge of the left wall. From there, you draw an extended line just as before towards your vanishing point.

now make a vertical line where your first “tile” is. 

now this may be a little hard to explain. Now you’re going to draw a line coming from the corner of the wall, through the corner where your line meets the tile you just drew, and all the way to the ground line. 

You see where these two lines meet? you’re going to draw a vertical line to the ceiling from here.

Like so! 

Now rinse and repeat! you should have perfectly even spaced tiles now! And if you have tiles on the ceiling

Just draw horizontal lines connecting to the vertical lines!