Alrighty! So I updated the site again with a few cool things! I now have an online store up! I’ll be adding things to it for sale etc. Some of them have limited stock etc but I’m working all that out at the moment. For now I’m kinda just psyched about that. Left over con merchandise will all be put up in there including things that will always be available (like clear bookmarks etc).

Anyway, just updating with that. Will have a big con preview/price list for SMASH!08 up soon.

Just a quick update to let you guys know that I did get the last half table at SMASH! this year and am booked on a flight to Sydney~!  So far the book and prints I’m throwing together are turning out decently and I’m pretty much on schedule with that. For those that want to know (despite most of you being on LJ and already knowing when I decide to make the post over there) the book is A5 in size and has an unknown pagecount at the moment. Hopefully I’ll be able to sell these off at $5 a hit and they’ll have 24+ pages in them. Anyway, previews and other things of that to come when I get more done. Just letting people know I’m actually going to be showing up and at a table.

WOW! It’s been ages since I upadted with something hasn’t it? Well okay, I’m back here and organised since I’m now somewhat again with the land of the living (I’ve had a pneumonia for like the past god know’s how long and have been trying to deal with university). Anyway, I’m here to say that I will be attending SMASH! 2008 on the 2nd August in Sydney for all of you who are around that way.

I haven’t heard about whether I got the last spot in the artist’s circle yet, but I will be down there nevertheless if you want to meet me and hang around. In addition to that, whether or not I have a table, I’ll have a bunch of stuff with me anyway.

What I’ll be taking to SMASH!:

• Fandom bookmarks (PoT, Ouran, Trinity Blood)
• Colouring in packs (original and fandom lineart for you to colour)
• Book containing a PoT doujinshi, original manga samples and other goodies!
• Possibly prints and buttons.

Other than that, I will be updating here more frequently with art/manga/doujinshi/tutorial/convention related things as I’ve decided to just turn this into my circle site. I’ve updated the pages here to include an illustrations section and I’ve updated the whois!griDbug page with some more useful information. If you want my actual blog, click on my LiveJournal link under the blogroll.

Other than that, hope to see you guys at SMASH! <3

Today’s Tip:
Dealing with PoD publishers!

A few things to do (this is quick and nasty, I’ll add more later):

• Call up for a quote at least 4 weeks in advance.
• Tell them the following in that conversation:
  • The size of your artwork (finished product)
  • What it actually is (like a postcard)
  • How many you need
  • WWhether you have it print ready in PDF format FOR them, or whether you need them to do it for you.
  • How much bleed you’ve left on the artwork so they know how much to trim off
  • Any concerns you may have / questions you want to ask
  • This is also a good time to ask about their coatings and paper weights! (Tute on this to come)
• Ask for a “proof copy” before they do your order*
• KNOW YOUR PRINTER’S NAME! (This is common courtesy and they actually do appreciate it as well. Not to mention you can ask for them by name and they will ALWAYS know what is happening with your project, because they are the one handling it)

* A “proof copy” or a “dummy copy” is one single print of whatever you’ve done for you to check and see that you’re happy with. If any changes need to be made, you can use the break between the proof and the final to amend your artwork or tell the printer any of your concerns.

Need To Know:
CMYK Colour!

So what’s the difference between CMYK and RGB colour?

Technical:

• RGB colour: The primary colours of light. Red, Green and Blue.
  
• CMYK colour: Acronym for Cyan (process Blue), Magenta (process Red), Yellow and Black, the primary colors of ink used in professional printing process to which Black is added for enhancement or for true Black.

In English:

• RGB colour is a computer’s simulation of every colour it can possibly imagine based on colours that we can see (generated by light) in the real world.
• CMYK colour is a printer’s way of saying “You can have any combination of these four colours. I can’t do any better than that.”

Why should I use CMYK for print?
Well, the answer should now be obvious - you should use CMYK colour for print because you know that this is the colour palette that the printer will be able to understand.

Yes, printers can have a crack at printing RGB - there’s no real problem with just hitting the print button… other than the fact you’re taking a chance on the fact that the printer will not be able to mix the exact colours you’ve selected. Believe me, sometimes its mistakes can be REALLY nasty too.

For example (yes, this ACTUALLY happened to me, but let’s just pretend it’s happening to you):

You have chosen a nice olive green from your RGB selection and done all the hard work on shading it into your picture with all the right gradations and appropriate highlights and shades.You print your finished work and lo and behold! BABY POO GREEN is smeared all over what you thought was such a lovely colour to use, tarnishing your entire print. “SINCE WHEN DID SHREK’S BABY GET SQUISHED IN MY PRINTER?!” You exclaim, completely dumbfounded.

In an effort to fix your problem, you go back to the drawing board to try and right your wrongs. Unfortunately converting to CMYK after the fact didn’t help you, because as you find, there is no decent match for ALL the colours you’ve used to shade your image, meaning that in some way, shape or form, the colours are horribly off and not to your liking.

There is no time to go back and redo it all because it took a long time and you don’t think you’d be able to repeat the process you used again. In the end, you just had to give your grandma that horrible bit of art with the sad sack excuse of “…my printer ate Shrek’s baby, I think it puked on your present…”

Let me tell you… this is not a nice experience, especially in such a case when it is unfixable without redoing your entire project. Anyway, I hope that little tidbit was enough to make you see that you should always check and recheck that your image is set to CMYK colour whenever you know that you’re going to be doing a piece of artwork specifically to be printed.

This goes for manga covers, anime convention prints and postcards - ANYTHING you are printing in colour, should be in CMYK or you run the risk of the printer not being able to accurately match your colours.