helllo hellooooo!

whew...where to start after being in community hibernation for the last few months...
first things first! offbeat 2 is out in stores and available online.

tokyopop site
[link]

amazon
[link]

i'm absolutely thrilled with the feedback i've gotten so far, and i really hope that people are truely enjoying it.  i was having severe anxiety pre-release...omg was i too subtle with my foreshadowing?  or will people just fall asleep?  or will people be overall disappointed with the turn of events or lack of events in book/series?

thanks again so much for the support and feedback.  really every little bit i hear from the outside world means so much to me.  (funny, pathetic and completely true)

i'm very much struggling with ending the story in this third last final book, but i think that its the most humane thing i can do for both myself, readers and the helpless characters.

i'm done. i'm doooooooooonnnnnneeeee!

off*beat 2 is finished and will be at the printers in time for it's november shelf date release.  thanks again for all the expressed interest and forgiving patience.

so here is some interesting but pointless information about my characters for off*beat.  admittedly i came up with names rather arbitrarily but birthdays are somewhat methodical... and since this information bears no urgency in the comic, it is not likely to be mentioned.

Christopher "Tory" Blake
  
Christopher- "to bear or carry" greek/christian origin
Tory- "pursued man" (ironic....or is it??) irish origin
Blake- "dark/pale haired or skinned" old english

DOB- August 26, 1990
Astrological Sign  Virgo
Year of the horse

Colin Stephens

Colin- "young creature" irish/scott/gaelic origin
Stephens- "crowned/wreathed"  english origin

DOB- November 18, 1989
Astrological Sign Scorpio
Year of the Snake

Off*beat related links

new preview pages up in my scrap section as of  july 16th
[link]

a growing fanfiction section
[link]

LJ community
[link]

thanks again so much for the support of my artwork and comic!

it's been a long time since i've written a journal entry. life is pretty routine for a loong time. i want to start by thanking everyone who has shown interest and support for my comic off*beat. my life is so routine and isolated most of the time that i lose sight of what i'm doing and if i'm communicating anything with the outside world. it's embaressing to admit, but i get depressed very easily. often times when i'm drawing, i'm just going through techincal motions; hoping that i can met my daily quota, somewhat dreading the next day when i have to start all over again with a blank sheet of paper. my occasional contact here gives me a hopeful spark, to rekindle some of my dreams and aspirations that years of cynicism keep snuffing out with a heavy dragging foot.

as i mentioned in one of posts, i'll be uploading some pages from book 2. it's overdue, and again i apologize for the long wait between books 1 and 2 release. i'm uploading them to the scraps section to keep them better organized as i did for the first book. it's kind of ironic, since i put more time in effort in my pages than in any of my color work. when i think about, it really should be the other way around. my color work is more my "playing around"
[link]

occassionally my editor and others send me links to encourage me. not to keep tooting my own horn but i found these two links especially neat.

off*beat won a silver medal for graphic novels 2005 from foreward magazine!
[link]

someone started a off*beat fanlisting! XD
[link]


thank you again for your continued support. words can't really express my gratitude.

for those who don't know about tokyopop's free preview magazine, takuhai here's a link to their website.
there's online previews of a bunch of mangas as well as an option to have the magazine mailed to your house absolutely free of charge!

[link]

the first chapter of off*beat is there so please check it out!

well everything is going pretty well with my tokyopop book right now. tones have been going really smoothly.  i'll be updating my scraps section with new sample pages periodically to show that i am alive and working on something.  my final deadline is coming up and i'm getting ready to move to richmond, va (may 1st) so i'm pretty busy.  i'll be talking at my old college, school of visual arts, for a tokyopop presentation  this monday, april 25th. probably the last time i'll be in nyc with my ol college gals for a loong time.  i don't really have the time to update deviantart as much, so if i'm not commenting as much or putting any new illustrations up until after the end of may, it's because of my deadlines and relocating.  money is tight, time is even tighter.  i can't wait to move~my new place is gonna be so freakin sweet mwahaha!

so i think i promised someone awhile ago i would put up sample pages of off*beat. (a comic i've been working for tokyopop) due to problems i was having with printing screentones, i have finally gotten them fix (after 5 attempts) i posted the samples in my scraps folder to all the pages together, should i decide to upload more at a later date.  the book is still scheduled to hit stores september 2005 despite this months long battle with screentones so i hope you will express interest. thanks very much~

jen

for those who know me, this year i have climbed out of a major depression and art slump.  what was the magical cure to getting my art revitalized?  daily exercise/fresh air and eating heathier.  having more energy and ability to concentrate has given me alot more positive feelings and productivity.  being a poor starving artist without much freetime, i would like to share some simple, fast, cheap and relatively healthy cooking suggestions for my fellow artists.  just some random stuff i made up with what we had in laying around.  i'll periodically add more of my recipes for those who are interested.  you might nootive that i use alot of the same ingredients in my cooking...because they are cheap and have a long shelf life.

++recipes++

*no animals allowed!! (vegan) biscuits*

4 small bananas
4 cups of wheat flour
2 TB oil (i used canola)
1 c. soy milk
1 TB baking soda
2 TB vanilla extract
1 TB cinnamin
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 chopped walnuts
1 c. whole wheat cereal (kashi crunch or kaishi good friends reccommended)

preheat oven to 425
mash and mix wet ingredients and mix dry ingredients seperately. then
combine and add raisins and walnuts.  drop heaping tablespoons onto a
greased cookie sheet.  bake for around 10-15min until biscuit is crisp
brown and toothpick comes out dry.

*springtime paperdumplings*

1 package ricepaper
1/4 shredded head of lettuce
1/2 c. nuts
1/2 c. raisins
1 clove finely sliced garlic
3 stems chopped scallion
2 inches finely diced pepperoni (optional)
1 block extra firm tofu
1 TB olive oil
1 generous handful of cilantro
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
char sui sauce

sautee pepperoni, raisins, nuts, tofu, scallion, cliantro, salt, pepper, and garlic in the oil. in another pan heat water on medium just below a boil.  soak individual rice paper for a few minutes until soft, (be careful not to tear).  set the rice paper to cool slightly for a minute and then smear a small amount of char sui sauce and a bit of chopped lettuce. add a spoonful of your stirfry mix and fold the paper closed. chill and they are ready to serve anytime.

*enter the glade*

1 package frozen brocolli/coliflower
1 TB blackbean sauce (a little goes a loong way)
1 small can black beans (drain the liquid)
1 TB olive oil
1 generous handful of chopped cilantro
1 generous handful of raisins
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 generous handful of chopped green onion
1 TB marmalade

heat oil, rinse frozen veggies in warm water til they are thawed enough to pull apart and cut. cook frozen veggies at medium heat with the garlic, onion and raisins until the veggies are cooked throughout and the raisins have absorbed water from the veggies.  (use a pinch of salt to help absorb water and keep them from getting mushy)  add black beans, cilantro, beansauce and marmalade. heat until everything is cooked.  suggested to be served with sliced oranges.  also well complimented by broiled fish/scallops or tofu.

*apple n' oat*
1 chopped apple (i use gala cuz its my favorite to eat raw/plain)
1 package plain oatmeal
1 TB cinnamin
1 TB nutmeg
1 TB raisins
1/2 cup nonfat organic vanilla yogurt

make oatmeal according to package with water. spread over apple in a small oven proof dish. add raisin and spices. heat at 350 in the oven for 15-20 mins until oatmeal is tacky/firm/browned/crisp/whatever.  slap on the yogurt and voila. great breakfast/dessert/sidedish!

aack so here i am trying to write this entry again. so confused about this journal thingie..what needs scripts, or needs html or why can't i get images to work? :sob: i'm no good with computers or the internet. grrr.

anyways here's my stupid journal entry again.
for those of you who don't know, i'm somewhat of a dedicated costumer.  so if you needed further proof that i'm a huge nerd, feel free to click on the link to my cosplay.com gallery.  i hand sew everything because i'm crazy

[link]

i just got a new editor at tokyopop.  i need to go work on off*beat

[link]

i've been working on a comic for tokyopop since september 2004.  it's my first full length graphic novel that i'm both writing and illustrating.  i decided to go with a modern day story to expand myself as an artist.  i had the story sitting around for several years and i finally felt up to tackling it.  honestly its been a great learning experience but i do miss drawing fantasy.  i can't wait to apply all the things i've been learning by drawing this to draw a fantasy comic someday.  this story is probably my shortest and it still plans on being 3 graphic novels long. everything is on schedule so far for a fall 2005 shelf date.
*crosses fingers*

for those few people who have been following my work, you probably recognize a bunch of the stuff i'm putting up in my gallery.  alot of it is older stuff that i never got around to putting online, or getting a decent scan of.  most of my very recent work has been the comic i've been working on. once i get my color stuff up, i'd like to update on the comic i'm currently working on, but i guess its been so long since i've been online with my artwork. so much to catch up on!

thanks for viewing my gallery and browsing my artwork!  the encouragement is precious to me.  

so today i finally try using this deviant art account i made a month ago or so.  now i am testing out this journal thingie to see how it all works.  wow...the internets