Crush Depth Arc

57 comics.

Office shenanigans!

by on October 11, 2013 at 6:00 am
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Hola, everyone!

After last week’s somewhat grim and dour, but nonetheless thought-provoking article (though I do say so myself!), I thought what I’d do instead today was list some of the best pranks we’ve pulled in the office. Er, by which I mean an anonymous perpatrator pulled off. Honestly.

1: The remote-control buzzer. Hidden in strategic locations around the lab and the office, the buzzer is best activated when the Health and Safety advisor is in the vicinty, causing them hunt through the entire building for the sourc of the noise. Bonus points if you hide the buzzer under the desk of your co-conspirator, causing them to go mad. read more

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Youth and Technology

by on October 7, 2013 at 6:00 am
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Fewer and fewer young people are taking up science and engineering as a career.

This is a topic that has reared its head numerous times over the last few years, and is a particular issue in the UK. It’s no secret among any industry especially the power industry which I work in, that the workforce is ageing with little to no new blood coming in to replace those retiring or otherwise leaving. Now, I know I’m hardly the best person to address this, being an engineering graduate who no longer engineers, is desperately trying to become a professional writer and artist, and who has absolutely no standing professionally whatsoever. But! Don’t mistake my desire for a more artistic career as dislike for my existing career. If anything, I’m bloody grateful for having been trained and am working in a highly technical field, as I feel it’s prepared me well for writing by giving me an expanded view of the world. And I’m incredibly keen to see young people head towards it as a career! read more

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What’s Manson playing?

by on October 4, 2013 at 6:00 am
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Let’s get roguey!

I love videogames; those of you who have been paying attention probably know this already, but I’m always happy to profess my enjoyment of gaming. Unfortunately, these days and for fairly obvious reasons I tend to be able to play games only while having dinner, just before bed or at the weekends. My gaming time is therefore fairly limited, and the types of game that I like to play has been affected somewhat.

I love strong narrative in games, and games that allow a great depth of freedom to explore. The temptation with these games is to sink hours and hours into the experience; I’ve done this many a time with the Metros, STALKERS, and Elder Scrolls of the world, sometimes to the detriment of my art time (and most definitely to the detriment of my sleeping time). These games are now the ones that I tend to play only at the weekends, for fear of compromising my fairly strict artistic schedule. read more

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I think my head is about to implode

by on September 30, 2013 at 6:00 am
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Hullo everybody, I’m afraid today’s post will be relatively short, but unforunately my head is kind of trying to negotiate its way inside myself, so I should probably not be sat this late at night typing!

Today’s Dutch comes courtesy of a kind-hearted colleague, so hopefully it’ll avert my usual ham-fisted (but always well-meaning!) efforts with three different mechanical translators and Wikipedia 😛

I’ve managed to work up a buffer of artwork, which means that tomorrow is actually the first day I get to work on a piece of art for the Mei Wu mini-arc! I’m incredibly excited about doing this, for many reasons: It’s a chance to show you one of my other story universes, a chance for me to produce something for print, and just a nice bit of a change of pace for everyone, really! read more

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Communication, the old-fashioned way!

by on September 27, 2013 at 6:00 am
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So, as it turns out we now have an IRC channel!

Illustrating comics can often be a lonely endeavour, especially when one lives on their own. You come home, you turn on the PC, you dash off some squiggles and you go to bed, with previous little in the way of human contact for many, many hours. The best you can do sometimes is hope that one of your friends is on for a chat. Sooner or later, real-life ensues and they have to go and do things, leaving you on your own, stylus in hand, staring into oblivion. read more

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Practice, better served elsewhere!

by on September 23, 2013 at 6:00 am
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Well, judging from the response I got from last week’s proposal, maybe Elf Blood’s blog isn’t the best place to refine my corporate writing style.

That’s fair enough, really! After all, this isn’t a stuffy office environment; ostensibly, it’s where I get to divulge what goes on in my mind to you guys, or keep you informed of developments. Maybe by changing it to corporate-speak, I would’ve made it feel less like my own words and more mechanical, more dispassionate. read more

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Practice makes perfect!

by on September 20, 2013 at 6:00 am
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Acting on advice given to me at work, I’ve been practicing my journalistic writing style recently.

With more opportunities to write in a professional and technical capacity, more and more of my writing has been exposed people in my workplace. While receiving generally positive remarks, it has become clear that my style could be made more palatable for corporate consumption.

My forays into the world of corporate communication really began back in the summer of 2009. While on placement with my current employer, I was given the opportunity to participate in the organisation of a launch event for an offshore wind farm collector platform. Being exposed to activities outside my normal engineering remit, I met and made an impression on many people within the company’s marketing, government, and communication teams. We worked together to produce presentations, literature and visual aids framed within a gala event that showcased the business’ success in building what was, at the time, a novel and innovative structural solution. We were joined by coleagues, clients and partners from all over Europe, and the event was a massive success. read more

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Woops, that was close!

by on September 16, 2013 at 6:00 am
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Phew, that was a close one! Almost forgot to pre-load this page! I do apologise, I got somewhat nerdsniped by TVTropes’ entry on Daria and totally forgot I had to upload today’s page. I just finished watching the whole run of the TV series (having watched individual episodes before, here and there). I do so enjoy Daria, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a disappointing episode. Well, except maybe for that ep with the leprechaun, that one I could give a miss… I identify with much of Daria’s high-school experience, though it lacks somewhat in the ‘depression’ and ‘mental breakdown’ areas 😛 read more

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EEK! It’s Friday 13th!

by on September 13, 2013 at 6:00 am
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It’s still a few weeks away from the end of the Crush Depth story arc, but I’ve got to say I’m thoroughly enjoying writing the Mei Wu story and am looking forward to drawing it immensely! I’ve expanded the page count to 15 pages, so it should run for around two months, before the next arc of Elf Blood starts up again! Look forward to that one; it’s mostly action, with a smattering of emotion, and plenty of ass-kicking.

Mei Wu itself is shaping up nicely. I’m almost done with the first draft, and the second draft should weed out some inconsistencies in character motivations. I really like the Ash-Gwen dynamic; it’s actually quite similar to how I originally envisioned Fliss-Mara interactions. Because it’s the first issue, I’m having fun planting little seeds of future character development here and there, too! read more

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Le review: Gone Home

by on September 9, 2013 at 6:00 am
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Finally, the review I’ve been promising you all week! It won’t be brilliantly written, but hey, hopefully I can give you a bit more information on the game!

Gone Home is a new game by the Fullbright Company, an indie team of game developers. It eschews violence for story, and indeed many of the usual trappings one might expect from modern games, in favour of telling a story. Actually, what the game does is tell multiple stories, centered around one main story.

Gameplay-wise, it’s very simple. You return from a year abroad, to find your parents’ new home empty. It’s up to you to explore this 19th-century mansion and unravel the reason as to why nobody is there to greet you; and what the deal is with the frantic phone message you’ve just picked up on the answering machine. read more

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