Official Hiatus

Alright folks, it's been so long now that it has to become official! This is me every Tuesday when I've got nothing!

Searing Wings will be on hiatus until I get my inspiration back. I'm sorry, I had all these grand promises of one a week and didn't even manage a single week of that! Thank you for following and I shall let the world know via facebook if I either do a one-off post or restart again properly.

Thanks for following everyone!

If you're interested in following my general art then feel free to look here: http://www.katie-jane8.deviantart.com/ as while my desire to draw comics has waned, I still draw 'proper' pictures.

Faithy Day!

So this Sunday I spent with Faithy, and seeing as I've not updated in a long time (And I wanted to get around the mature content filter on deviant art), I figured I'd upload it here. I'll update the post when I've finished the coloured version. For now, it's just the lineart =D

But I had a GREAT day! Boot sales, met Faithy's grandparents who are SO LOVELY and AWESOME, and then saw my lovely de Bec people briefly, and then went for a stroll and sit on the beach! Such a good day, it inspired me through my art block to do this picture!

Greetings and Appologies!

Hello!

So yeah, you guys all know me well enough that you probably expected this to go down to one post a week at some point, right? :P

Sorry about that! But hopefully that means that you'll get longer posts when it does happen.

Excuse-making time! My creative impulses are mutinous things, and when I should be using them on one thing, I'm distracted by wanting to do other things. It's my hope that by slowing it down to one update a week you'll get better updates and I'll get more time to do other creative things (normal drawings, sewing, etc.).

So yeah... Sorry about that again :P
Thanks for your patience though!

Random Drawing Spam!

Haha literally as it says - I finished a drawing that's been loitering around my computer for many months now, and I decided to finish it. I like the result (mostly), and wanted to share it! xD

It's actually bigger than this, and you can see the full version by clicking on it, but the feel of it comes across and I hate having to scroll along a page to see a picture fully... xD

It's worth pointing out that the picture of the wall is one I took myself, so "No, you eagle-eyed copyright people, I'm not stealing someone else's stuff!".

And also, here's the video of the event file, if anyone's interested in seeing me draw it out.

(It's already got the sketch I did on paper, which is what I draw the lines from, so not technically from start to finish, but close enough!)

Also, I'm really sorry but the quality is terrible despite that the original is fine. Youtube mangled it even for 480p :/

Alternatively if you'd rather watch the original (which is better quality), then go here:
http://www.portalgraphics.net/pg/illust/?image_id=86627

Night of Shivers

So I was going to upload a bit more of my weekend with Faithy today, but on Sunday night it was such a moment of failure that I had to upload that story instead!

So on Sunday night I was playing my computer game when I remembered I actually had stuff I was supposed to be doing (such as tidying up).

(Bonus points to you if you can guess the game from my mumbling there… :P)

While drawing this picture I also realised that I’ve been drawing my hair wrong all this time – I’ve been drawing it as it would look in a mirror, not as other people see me. So I’ve changed it. Whether I’ll remember for future comics or not is another matter entirely…

So I got up, and I closed the curtain on the spider-invested fire-escape. And there was one right next to the window, I swear it waved at me with one leg!

So then I moved on to tidying up, and was picking up things for washing the next day…

And of course, the result was a manic rush for the hoover.

At moments like this, I really appreciate that Nick is much more a master of his fears than I am! He does these things like a boss, while I shiver in a corner xD

And then (after the inevitable hugging and consoling), we went upstairs to get ready for bed. And as we were brushing our teeth…

They sounded like they were RIGHT outside… But let’s face it; cats are much less scary than spiders even if they are fighting. It’s still eerie though, especially when you can’t see them and they sound so close. So… Yeah. A night of shivering in a corner for me! I’m surprised that sleep came so easily in the end! But then, Nick is very good at making me feel better.

And with that lovey-dovey thought in mind, I bid you adieu!

Faithy Tales I

Hello everyone!

So today my update is about my weekend with Faithy, which includes two nights and two days!

Our first night is (mostly) covered in this post.

Firstly: To introduce the lovely Faithy, who was kind enough to house me, feed me, drive me and indeed to book the tickets for Go Ape too!

And my reaction to her Grandparent's beautiful home!

And the thing we seemed to spend most of our time doing - making and drinking tea!

And while we drank our tea, we would stand at the sink and look out the window into the garden! Very beautiful and tranquil and just plain amazing it was <3

Sorry it's short again, and not a funny one, but the funny will come in lots in the next set, where there's wet ground, Go Ape and many hilarious antics!

Thanks for reading!

Fail!

So my sincerest apologies but I've not got the update finished (by which I mean, it is still only in the sketch format), so I'm afraid I'm going to cop out and upload some older sketches. I'll give you a proper length update on Friday, I hope!

Sorry again for the cop out everyone!

Whittards Adventures I

Today I bring you a few adventures from work! Also it's a day early as I'm going out to an awesome weekend of wine and Go Ape (not in that order, obviously - health and safety people!) and I didn't want to try fitting it in tomorrow. Still, early is better than late, right? :P 

Texty bit following - Feel feel to skip!

A little bit of background (especially for those who are interested in what I’ve done with my life since university):

I started looking for a job as I was revising for exams with a mind to starting work straight away (and after a month of looking, I decided anyone willing to take me is the job I’d go for). So I ended up starting at McDonalds the day after my last exam. I met some great people and made some (I hope) life-long friends, and grew up quite a lot in quite a short span of time. All the lovely people in the world couldn’t have made McDonald’s a nice place to work, what with all the chavs and the dicks who go there just to make life miserable for the workers, and let’s face it, you don’t ever get along with everyone you work with anyhow. Still, after five months of never having a day of work where I wasn’t called an offensive name at some point, I decided enough was enough (also, I was working a lot of evening shifts by then – 3 until 11:30pm at the time, now 4 until 2 or something horrific, and never got to see Nick). For a few months before I left I was looking for other work, but found nothing (by which I mean applied to everything and got no responses). We agreed between us that the best thing to do was for me to quit McDonalds and look for something else then, and to just be basically a house-wife until I found something. While I hated this idea of Nick being the one supporting us both, I really was in a bad place inside my own head at McDonalds and it was most definitely time to back out. So I left.

Within two weeks of leaving McDonalds, I was up and working at Whittard of Chelsea, although only part time. I love my job there. I’m never sworn at, and never shouted at or intimidated. Both the staff and the customers are all wonderful, and I no longer wake up in cold-sweats after dreaming about work, hooray!

So I’ve got an awful lot of notes about working in Whittards in my little booklet of posts to write up, and you’ll see many more over time I should imagine. But to begin, here are three of the things which have recently struck me as amusing enough to share with you all!

Well, this picture is illustrating how Whittards have an awful lot of varieties of one product, in this case it was a 6 cup stove-top espresso maker. We had four different packages, and four different prices. My manager and I then spent a good half an hour to an hour sorting out the shelves and making sure all the prices were right. That one espresso maker wasn’t alone, either. We have many products (especially in the coffee equipment section) where there are more than one type and occasionally more than one price. 

And here we have coffee tasting. I’m not a huge fan of coffee (although it’s certainly grown on me since I expanded my knowledge of different types), so my first few experiences and indeed many subsequent ones of tasting coffee is just a few minutes of me getting up the balls to do it. Then I try not to rush though doing it but inevitably more chug the tasting than taste it. While there are a few of the Whittards coffees that I love, I certainly don’t love many more, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that so many of my tasting experiences end in this fashion!

Right there has been an awful lot of text to today’s post, sorry about that! The next few will probably have less, as now the background has been laid! Thanks for reading =D

Royal Mail Adventures

So! This adventure started with a whole bunch of annoyance, misty rain (the worst kind of rain, in my opinion) and stupid mail systems where no one really knows what’s going on except the last person you’re directed to!

Let me start from the beginning, and sum it up quickly so you don’t have to listen to me complain for many, many paragraphs about something relatively minor (and oh yes, I could certainly do that if I let myself!).

Nick and I had a package coming, and when Nick checked it online yesterday it said it had been delivered the day before. Well, we have no package and no card saying it had been missed. So, he checked the online services and rang DHL. DHL handed it over to royal mail and have nothing more to do with it, and the website we ordered from just said that if it was sent back to them, they’d re-mail it. So this morning after Nick had left for work, I rang Royal Mail. The woman I spoke to (who was appropriately tired-sounding for half 8 in the morning) said it was in a PO box in Canterbury but couldn’t tell me where, and suggested I just go to a post office. WELL. I decided that it was better to just get it out the way before I went to work at 11:15, so I left for the post office then and there. Long story short, I went to Wilkinson’s (for light bulbs), then to two separate post offices, then to the WRONG entrance of the sorting office, and then to the right one where they said we should have had a card because they did indeed have our parcel but there was a £13 customs charge on it. So I couldn’t have it. So they are re-sending the card, and now we will likely have two of the damn things. So I spent two hours walking around in misty rain for no reason. Getting annoyed.

So when I walked past our oriental supermarket I bought myself some consolation Pocky. Strawberry flavour. I even saved some for Nick – Shock! So yes, here are various moments from my long, miserable, frustrating morning!

And that about sums it all up!! We did manage to get that parcel that evening, though! I'll upload a photo of me wearing half the contents some time soon =D

Thanks for reading!

Chibi vs. Chibi!

Right then! Today it’s another shorter one, unfortunately. I’m working on a few longer ones for Friday, though.

Today’s picture is the difference between the actual me (or a close semblance there-of) and the chibi which I always draw in the comics. I said briefly in the post ‘Bleach Tears’ (here: http://searingwings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/bleach-tears.html ) that drawing people to look like themselves is a challenge. Well, turns out that drawing myself as I should look was harder than drawing Nick. I don’t look at myself! Still, here we go to the picture! Underneath will be a list of differences, but feel free to skip those!

On to the differences!

Chibi doesn’t wear glasses – I do.

Chibi’s hair is often in a high ponytail – while I CAN do this, it’s difficult and painful and looks terrible. I go for the low pony tail or a middle-high one.

Chibi’s hair is just a yellow I’m fond of in the default palette in Open Canvas (the program I use to draw on the computer), whereas my hair is more of a straw-coloured, dullish blonde with bits of darker colours in there.

Chibi’s hair also tends to have more volume. I have thin hair, so it tends not to have much volume. Also, my hair in reality starts much further up my forehead. I’m a big-forehead girl. :P

Chibi never has any tattoos – I have three, one of which is on my right forearm and would in reality be always visible in my comics with short sleeves.

Chibi wears that purple strappy t-shirt. I don’t own such a t-shirt, although I draw her in it because I like it and wish I had one. I have a pinky-purple one which is a basic strap top, or this black vest top which I wear more often.

Chibi’s skin tone is based around orange, whereas mine is more pinky.

Chibi never blushes – I’m always blushing.

Chibi tends to wear a bracelet on each wrist – one is her watch which is true to life, one is a small bracelet belt thing which I do actually own but seldom wear. Again, I like it and wish I wore it more often, so Chibi wears it.

Chibi never has detail on her trousers – I always wear jeans or PJ bottoms around the house, and black trousers when I’m going out to work that day.

Chibi’s proportions are out, while you’d expect that to some extent, breasts tend to be exaggerated. Having said that, I don’t have small ones, but I tend to wear clothes which don’t necessarily bring them out so much. Another thing which is on my wish-list of things to do.

Chibi also tends to make expressions which I wish I could make – many of these I have some semblance of, as I make many similar expressions, but obviously it’s easier to manipulate a drawn face than my own (though it’s squishy enough that many have given it a good go!).

And there you have it! That’s all I can think of at the moment, but I’m sure there are many, many more!

Thanks for reading =D

First World Problems

So only a little one today, sorry >.< I have more of this series, but they've not yet made the leap from sketchbook to computer.

Tuesday's update will most likely be a form of 24-hour comic which Melissa, a friend from work, reminded me of on our shift yesterday.

Anyway, here's the little comics for today!

Isn't life hard? :P Like I say, more of these on the way eventually!

Bleach Tears

Hello! So the first post of the new update schedule! It's a fairly long one so I hope you enjoy ^^

I just feel the need to clarify that while everything in my blog happens, some is exaggerated (for instance, in this post, Nick runs to open a window, not to flee overall xD). On a side-note - drawing people so there is a decent likeness is really hard! I'm not bothering to do that for myself, as I'll tend to be the main character xD Like, can't be bothered to continuously draw my glasses, for example.

Anyway! On with the pictures!

And there we are! This is from back when we were moving house, so a back-dated one really. Still, happy Tuesday!

Washing Fails

The weather is a bit hit and miss for washing, but washing needs to be done regardless! It's so much nicer when I can put it out, so I've been waiting for those sunny days! (I say that, no washing today, seeing as it's snowing right now!)

So today's comic is about the various fails around washing days!

Because there are trees overhanging our washing lines, the whole bird poop thing is far too common an occurrence. In fact, they seem particularly fond of pooping right on Nick's blue shirt. Every time I've hung it out the last few days it's been pooped on and just gone straight back into the machine to wait for the next wash! I wonder why they like that shirt so much...

Anyway! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope I can do a wash without having it messed up by something soon!

Also on a side-note, the blog will only be updated Tuesday and Friday from today! This one-a-day posting leaves me no time for real life :P

Serious Face

Well this isn't a serious post, obviously, but it has semi-serious implications.
I personally like my scars - I'm not ashamed of them, they are a part of my past just like everything else about me. That said, I'm not going to tell every Tom, Dick and Harry that - and especially not the chav whose face features in this comic!

For the bit of necessary background information, this comic is set many months ago, back when I still worked at McDonalds. There were many chavs who would hang around inside and outside, and it was part of my job to get them the hell out unless they were eating. Which they rarely were.

Enjoy!

The thing I enjoyed the most about this whole situation was that he just got up and left after I'd stared at him with that serious face for about half a minute xD

Plug-hole Nightmre

A new post! That's one a day for a few days now - shocking! This is a little story which happened while I was cleaning the new apartment when we first moved in. Enjoy!

As the picture says - Job Done! Whew, this was a long one, it took aaaages!