Shivae · Studios · Updates

Alien Dice , Abby's Agency and Akaelae HAVE updated!

D'oh.. keep forgetting to update this. :/

If you enjoy the comics the number one thing you can do is direct other people to the sites (If you need linking images of a certain size or for a certain comic, just ask.. it'll get me to actually MAKE them...). :) Or consider donating to support them/ get the ad free viewing account.
I also have a huge mountain of email to go through! Still.
Happy Thanksgiving ! And good luck to the Black Friday shoppers :D (Apparently we will be out as well going after some $10 blu rays: UP and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and Supernatural. Notably ... we will not be rushing out early, but waiting until later in the day which likely means we'll come away with only Supernatural and Underworld. :D (My prediction on the matter.) I was tempted by the $150 netbook at Office Max... really tempted, but lack of a $150 and no desire to fight with people got rid of that. Want a netbook, but I'm going to wait until I can get it preloaded with Office 2010 this summer. Leaning toward an Asus now, I hear they tend to be more sturdy, but I also want one with an SSD over the standard hd.
Drat.. I just realized I didn't even see if I could find myself a new internal terrabyte drive for the desktop ... it's still pushing full. :(

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

And we DID see Planet 51. :D Kim loved it and it wasn't that bad of a movie. It was 'expected' and likely one we'll get on dvd when it comes out. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. I'm .. not all that enthusiastic about The Princess and the Frog. On one hand, I was thrilled to see a 2D movie, but the trailers keep turning me off and on ... but I want to support the 2D movie. I am intrigued by Avatar, although it has some serious (in my eyes) flaws - I think it deserves to be seen in 3D until I hear otherwise. ;) For visuals alone. I think our Christmas movie will be Sherlock Holmes and likely Alvin and the Chipmunks for Kim. Really light Christmas season it seems for movies.

Of course.. then you look at January. :D I'm a bit confused why Hoodwinked Too! was not put out in December along with Tooth Fairy - which does look funny despite how silly it is.

Alien Dice , Abby's Agency and Akaelae HAVE updated!
Broadcasting live now! See me at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shivae-studios -

If you enjoy the comics, consider donating to support them/ get the ad free viewing account.
I also have a huge mountain of email to go through! Still.
Happy Thanksgiving to the college students who don't have access next week!

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

Planet 51 - Movie to see with Kim next week, I hope. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. I'm .. not all that enthusiastic about The Princess and the Frog. On one hand, I was thrilled to see a 2D movie, but the trailers keep turning me off and on ... but I want to support the 2D movie. I am intrigued by Avatar, although it has some serious (in my eyes) flaws - I think it deserves to be seen in 3D until I hear otherwise. ;) For visuals alone. I think our Christmas movie will be Sherlock Holmes and likely Alvin and the Chipmunks for Kim. Really light Christmas season it seems for movies.

Of course.. then you look at January. :D I'm a bit confused why Hoodwinked Too! was not put out in December along with Tooth Fairy - which does look funny despite how silly it is.

Running greatly behind in everything but comics. But the following updates happened M-F anyway, except Abby's Agency which DID update on Tuesday and will update on Thursday as well.

Alien Dice has been moved and has updated! Abby's Agency is back and up! Akaelae HAS updated!

I'm having some problems with my index finger where the pen/pencil/stylus/everything but a keyboard hits it. I suspect that my Livescribe Pulse pen is the culprit, since I've never had the problem before and have done a LOT of writing with it lately. It's very upsetting ... because I love the pen and it was a gift. I haven't gotten my full use out of it again. :D

First course of action is that I ... stop using things that bump against the finger and let it heal. (It's swollen and tender.) I can't do that right now. Instead, I'm concentrating on getting as much done as possible (with it constantly under several bandaids.) and then I'm just not going to draw or do ANY work over Thanksgiving week. My daughter and husband are both off that week so I might as well be too. I'm going to work on getting other stuff done in the interim so there will be updates, but the finger issue is driving me bonkers. It's been like this for a couple of months on and off, flares up when I use the Pulse pen. :/

Going to try to find something soft to wrap around the pen and see if that helps, but right now I'm just irritating it to death. :P I honestly shouldn't be nearly as slow in my work as I am over the last couple of weeks. It's bothering me that it's causing me that much of a slow down. :( Especially this time of year. I have a month and a half to prepare for January and I'm NOT making good progress on the books now. (Although I may end up working on them mainly during Thanksgiving break since I can primarily use a mouse for them.)

I also have a huge mountain of email to go through!

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

Planet 51 - Movie to see with Kim. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Wouldn't mind seeing Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. The Box looks like a good wait until DVD movie. I am intrigued by Avatar. The Princess and the Frog is wavering due to the hated lightning bug. I have a low tolerance for idiotic stereotype characters. Haven't been able to go to a movie in awhile. :D Hoping we can over Thanksgiving break - also hoping to go to the zoo with Kim.

Abandoning Stargate: FU, Vs better.

Vote for the Cyantian Chronicles and Alien Dice TODAY!

Alien Dice has been moved and has updated! The link has been fixed. I had forgotten to do something important on my end last night. :D Was up late yesterday trying to get it all cleaned up and looking 'right'. It's still not done, but it's serviceable. Abby's Agency is back and up! Akaelae HAS updated!

I spent the morning doing a bit more tweaking. I tend to lose track of time when I start working... and the morning is almost all gone. I still have a ton of email to get done, but I'm going to go and do some inking and watch V, which I recorded last night in preparation for V on ABC tomorrow. I'm exciiiited!

By the way, you might all notice that the websites are suddenly moving FAST again! Thank Troy and Frumph! They've been doing some work behind the scenes that I didn't even know about until I remarked about it. :D

I'm going to do a bunch of book work today and pencil tomorrow.

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

Well, no Astro Boy .. so uhh.. next movie on the list ... Planet 51. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Wouldn't mind seeing Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. The Box looks like a good wait until DVD movie. TV Wise - The series that I am MOST looking forward to starts Nov 3rd ... and that series is V. :D I was only six years old when it premiered. (I'm enjoying the usual round of shows as well, NCIS, Fringe (I'm awaiting non crazy alternate universe Walter to show up - theory my husband told me about.)

Vote for the Cyantian Chronicles and Alien Dice TODAY!

I'm sitting here watching V - and I am so excited right now about V returning on Tuesday!! I'm actually amazed at how excited I am. I was 5 years old when it premiered and I watched it and recall it quite well. :D I was very fascinated by what was going on and apparently had a good grasp of it. A lot of the dynamics in V are echoed here and there in my work and I never realized it. Kind of like Beauty and the Beast and The Incredible Hulk. I can repeatedly watch these old episodes and they never get old. (Unlike ... Night Rider, which is completely unwatchable in any iteration, yet I do remember liking it as a kid.) Hmm.. I catch watch old Battlestar Gallactica repeatedly, but one time viewing of the new one is all I can tolerate.)

Abby's Agency IS down right now. It will return as soon as I figure out how to fix it. (Possibly this evening.) I'm lettering comics right now, then will begin doing AD text ... again.

By the way, you might all notice that the websites are suddenly moving FAST again! Thank Troy and Frumph! They've been doing some work behind the scenes that I didn't even know about until I remarked about it. :D


Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

Well, no Astro Boy .. so uhh.. next movie on the list ... Planet 51. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Wouldn't mind seeing Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. The Box looks like a good wait until DVD movie. TV Wise - The series that I am MOST looking forward to starts Nov 3rd ... and that series is V. :D I was only six years old when it premiered. (I'm enjoying the usual round of shows as well, NCIS, Fringe (I'm awaiting non crazy alternate universe Walter to show up - theory my husband told me about.)

Abby's Agency IS down right now. It will return as soon as I figure out how to fix it.

Akaelae , and Alien Dice HAVE updated! Wallpapers have also been added at AD's main page and on Cyantian Chronicles hub. Spike's annual Quinn/Muerte wallpaper's up! Only two days left to help get November's wallpaper made!

I'm a little behind at the moment due to the previous weeks. October has not been a good month for me at all. :/ I am still playing catchup by six hours of work, once I'm caught up, AD should have its text current again. I'm also behind in email.

September and October didn't quite work out the way they should have. :/ Especially October. I have a ton of things that must be done that didn't get done while we had Swine Flu running through our family. I wasn't down for more than 48 hours... but husband and Kim were different stories. I've almost regained the lost time in terms of comics - but not in terms of wallpapers and books and other stuff. I'm TRYING to keep updating Vas and PURE, because I finally got them updating again and I WANT to update Black Rose, but I realize I have limited time and horrible January is around the corner. :/ They may stop updating in the middle of their chapters because I don't really have a choice, but I won't decide on that until next week.

Well.. nevermind that - shifting into panic mode. The last month has been horrible for me getting updates up and while people like to tell me not to worry about it - the lack of being able to update and the sites being down while we worked on bugs and other fun stuff have so far cost me 30%-45% of my usual revenue. :( I need to work on books... so everything but Akaelae and AD and Abby (once the site's back up) ... are on hiatus until probably next spring... which makes me really upset on top of everything else. Going to finish inking Akaelae now then finish up all the wallpapers and get them up. I have six of them in various stages of completion. Most are even colored.

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

Well, no Astro Boy .. so uhh.. next movie on the list ... Planet 51. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Wouldn't mind seeing Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. The Box looks like a good wait until DVD movie. TV Wise - The series that I am MOST looking forward to starts Nov 3rd ... and that series is V. :D I was only six years old when it premiered. (I'm enjoying the usual round of shows as well, NCIS, Fringe (I'm awaiting non crazy alternate universe Walter to show up - theory my husband told me about.)

Abby's Agency IS down right now. It will return as soon as I figure out how to fix it.

Akaelae , PURE, Shivae! Vas, Black Rose and Alien Dice HAVE updated! I'm a little behind at the moment due to the previous weeks. October has not been a good month for me at all. :/ I am still playing catchup by six hours of work, once I'm caught up, AD should have its text current again. I'm also behind in email.

September and October didn't quite work out the way they should have. :/ Especially October. I have a ton of things that must be done that didn't get done while we had Swine Flu running through our family. I wasn't down for more than 48 hours... but husband and Kim were different stories. I've almost regained the lost time in terms of comics - but not in terms of wallpapers and books and other stuff. I'm TRYING to keep updating Vas and PURE, because I finally got them updating again and I WANT to update Black Rose, but I realize I have limited time and horrible January is around the corner. :/ They may stop updating in the middle of their chapters because I don't really have a choice, but I won't decide on that until next week.

Well.. nevermind that - shifting into panic mode. The last month has been horrible for me getting updates up and while people like to tell me not to worry about it - the lack of being able to update and the sites being down while we worked on bugs and other fun stuff have so far cost me 30%-45% of my usual revenue. :( I need to work on books... so everything but Akaelae and AD and Abby (once the site's back up) ... are on hiatus until probably next spring... which makes me really upset on top of everything else. Going to finish inking Akaelae now then finish up all the wallpapers and get them up. I have six of them in various stages of completion. Most are even colored.

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

Well, no Astro Boy .. so uhh.. next movie on the list ... Area 51. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Wouldn't mind seeing Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. The Box looks like a good wait until DVD movie. TV Wise - The series that I am MOST looking forward to starts Nov 3rd ... and that series is V. :D I was only six years old when it premiered. (I'm enjoying the usual round of shows as well, NCIS, Fringe (I'm awaiting non crazy alternate universe Walter to show up - theory my husband told me about.)

Deviantart has a print special running - free shipping WORLDWIDE. You can see all of my prints available through them here. (Deviantart does do the nicest prints I have and I don't stock them myself because they're more expensive.) It ends today!

Abby's Agency IS down right now. It will return as soon as I figure out how to fix it.

Akaelae and Alien Dice HAVE updated! (PURE will be up by noon - forgot it updates today. :P Have to go letter it.) I'm a little behind at the moment due to the previous weeks. October has not been a good month for me at all. :/ I am still playing catchup by six hours of work, once I'm caught up, AD should have its text current again. I'm also behind in email and am going to get those last two Akaelae books into the mail TODAY!

ALL store orders and book orders have been MAILED. If you did not get an email telling you your package is in the mail, please let me know. And if you get a package from me and you already got one, please return to sender it. :P I somehow ended up with no books left and should've had one. :/ I'm hoping one didn't get sent twice.

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

Fixed slow desktop, just changed the setting on Mozy from faster backups/slower computer to slower backups/faster computer fixed the problem. ;)

Well, no Astro Boy .. so uhh.. next movie on the list ... Area 51. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Wouldn't mind seeing Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. The Box looks like a good wait until DVD movie. TV Wise - The series that I am MOST looking forward to starts Nov 3rd ... and that series is V. :D I was only six years old when it premiered. (I'm enjoying the usual round of shows as well, NCIS, Fringe (I'm awaiting non crazy alternate universe Walter to show up - theory my husband told me about.)

Abby's Agency IS down right now. it will return as soon as I figure out how to fix it.

Akaelae and Alien Dice HAVE updated! Updates for Akaelae, Abby, Alien Dice, Black Rose, Shivae! AND PURE have all been colored and just lack text which will be done today. I'm a little behind at the moment due to the previous weeks. October has not been a good month for me at all. :/ I am still playing catchup by six hours of work, once I'm caught up, AD should have its text current again.

Visit the store for merchandise! Currently up are prints, tote bags and notebooks!

I tend to also wait until service packs are out for an OS before I jump - but I also have never purchased an OS upgrade. ;) Last time I came near a release date was Vista on my desktop. I got the Desktop in March 07 and wouldn't have considered getting one any earlier. (This was following the severe issues with my old computer frying RAM, Motherboards and fans and power supplies over the prior six months. :D After that ... decided it was time to stop upgrading an old machine and just get one. I actually LIKE Vista - for me it's been more stable that XP was - once I disabled the things that must be disabled, but I'm really looking forward to 7 and MIGHT even upgrade this time since I'm not due to replace any equipment right now. (Mostly because I'm hoping that 7 would run on my tablet more efficiently and maybe make it not heat up as much, extending its life.)

Desktop is worrying me ... it's really, really moving SLOW. Defragged, checked for errors... nothing helps.

Actually, just changing the setting on Mozy from faster backups/slower computer to slower backups/faster computer fixed the problem. ;)

Well, no Astro Boy .. so uhh.. next movie on the list ... Area 51. Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Wouldn't mind seeing Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. The Box looks like a good wait until DVD movie. TV Wise - The series that I am MOST looking forward to starts Nov 3rd ... and that series is V. :D I was only six years old when it premiered. (I'm enjoying the usual round of shows as well, NCIS, Fringe (I'm awaiting non crazy alternate universe Walter to show up - theory my husband told me about.)

Abby's Agency IS down right now.
GAH!! Skipped a day of notice. Just busy trying to make sure comics update on time!!

Akaelae and Alien Dice HAVE updated!

Just updated the store with the Alien Dice tote bags and keychains for AD, Cyantia and Shivae!

You know.. I REALLY want Windows 7. :D Not because I don't like Vista, because I'm one of the few people that DO. It's worked well for me, but I like the 'faster' word I keep seeing with win 7 - although I think a complete reformat of my current hard drive would fix that issue. ;) My desktop is slowing down considerably. It's about 2 and a half years old, so it's not old, although due for upgrades. I try to upgrade my desktop every two years and by upgrade I mean replace parts. I have 20 gigs of a 320 gig hard drive free! (There's a WD 1 Terrabyte drive out there for $100 calling my name as soon as Wowio pays.)

I guess after reading the reviews, don't want to take Kim to see Where the Wild Things are - too grownup for her. I think she'd get bored but I'd like it. Astro Boy will likely be the next one for us. (Come on local movie theatre, post some free tickets again! :D ) Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. TV Wise - The series that I am MOST looking forward to is only a few weeks away ... and that series is V. :D (I'm enjoying the usual round of shows as well, NCIS, Fringe (I'm awaiting non crazy alternate universe Walter to show up - theory my husband told me about.)

I'm streaming live inking of Akaelae and other artwork from 7:30 PM CST to 8:30 CST HERE!
Abby's Agency IS down right now.

Akaelae and Alien Dice HAVE updated!
I just finished inking the final two images for the last two books to go off and wow.. the Quinn one turned out really fancy. I also completed another commission image that will be going in the special content section on Cyantia (That section will be divulged soon enough.)

Kim is OFF to school today! Still on antibiotics, but doing good and now I can work freely. :D I have more inking to do than the three pieces I finished this morning.

Just updated the store with the Alien Dice tote bags and keychains for AD, Cyantia and Shivae!

I guess after reading the reviews, don't want to take Kim to see Where the Wild Things are - too grownup for her. I think she'd get bored but I'd like it. Astro Boy will likely be the next one for us. (Come on local movie theatre, post some free tickets again! :D ) Movie I'd like to see with husband: The Men Who Stare at Goats. TV Wise - The series that I am MOST looking forward to is only a few weeks away ... and that series is V. :D (I'm enjoying the usual round of shows as well, NCIS, Fringe (I'm awaiting non crazy alternate universe Walter to show up - theory my husband told me about.)

Ok, that appears to be over.

Updating will be sparse, but it will happen next week, then the following week should be everything back on schedule! Kim's pretty much over the swine flu - and as I've said before, I'm pretty sure my husband and I also had it weeks earlier - managed to keep HER from getting it and then she caught it at school. 9.9 There's noooo escaping the swine flu! In any case, while it was scary with her, we were only down for a few days and it was the mildest flu I've ever had in my lifetime. Kim coughed in my mouth over a week ago, so I've definately been exposed and should've been showing symptoms by now if I had not already caught it. :D I have a stack of orders that will go out on Tuesday. My apologies to those of you waiting. (I also got the last of the Akaelae books in so will get those out as well so everyone will have gotten their orders due.)

Kim's no longer running a fever - but she's still coughing a bit. We're doing breathing treatments, which she actually enjoys now. She likes falling asleep with the mask on. 0.0

The store is up again along with the forums that were all down due to me moving domains around and moving one that shouldn't have been moved. :P I fixed it this morning. I'm going to have to move things a bit more by January. That server isn't very stable.

I guess after reading the reviews, don't want to take Kim to see Where the Wild Things are - too grownup for her. I think she'd get bored but I'd like it. Astro Boy will likely be the next one for us. (Come on local movie theatre, post some free tickets again! :D )

Abby's Agency updated today, but the site will be going down ASAP due to hacker spam. 9.9 Then it's being moved ASAP. Shivae! Vas AND PURE DID update yesterday, despite me saying they weren't going to last week. ;) Bumpiness in updating this week over next week and it's a good thing I did what I did last weekend and moved sites - because if I had not, there would be 0 updates next week. Kim's night in the ER wiped out enough work time that if I had not had comics in various stages of completion, I would've been completely derailed.

Nominate SOMETHING I do! Everyone else is doing it, so maybe I should to. :) Well, at least let people know there is this awards thing going on they might want to nominate comics for. Be sure to write your nominations to fit the categories - nominations are removed if they're too short/have nothing to do with WHY you're nominating the comic.

I'm dropping colors this morning and SHOULD begin shading tonight. Hoping to get to pencil on the weekend and shift my schedule a little.

Kim IS doing much better today. She ran a fever pretty much all of yesterday. It went down at night and is back up again this morning, but lower than it was yesterday. Hoping that it breaks soon because she's not to go anywhere. (Don't want to add to spreading swine flu to other families.) If we don't catch it - we already had it. :D She's already to be home until Monday, may need to check with doctor if they want me to keep her home longer since the fever spiked and went up AFTER the doctor's visit.

Still wanting to see Where the Wild Things are and now - Men Who Stare at Goats. :D

Currently watching: Lost Tapes - re-enactments of fake animal encounters - this one's the Skinwalker. :D Then I'm going to watch the next episode which is the Werewolf. Last week it was Chupacabra and something else I forgot. It's like watching Unsolved Mysteries with a bit better graphics. ;)

Last night did not go as planned. I went to bed around 10:30-11, was awakened at midnight by my husband trying to find pieces to Kim's nebulizer - then proceded to see that Kim was coughing, shaking and running a really HIGH temperature. High as in... who knows because she was shaking and coughing so hard the best we got was a 104.1 at one point. Tylenol didn't work like it had before in bringing it down so half an hour later we were out the door to Children's in Dallas. Where we proceded to spend the night. We just got home and it's 8AM. No sleep. Kim resisted sleeping the entire time as well because she didn't want them to do anything to her. :D

After an X-ray, IV and other fun samples and most of the night of her running a high fever were were let go this morning with instructions to watch her closely and return if fever spikes high again or she starts coughing or doing otherwise poorly. Sooo.. Kim's pretty much confirmed to have Swine Flu AND Pneumonia. And now.. I'm just going to bed and I'll work when I get up. :/ I'm really tired and I don't want to think about things right now. :/

Update: 12:30 - Ok, just to clarify, Kim is at HOME. She's not in the hospital at the moment. We're just supposed to monitor her and make sure that she's doing well. She actually just woke up and is running a fever again, but she took her medicines and hopefully it'll respond so we don't have to return. I'm up ... because I need to go out and pick up more meds for her and call her pediatrician and other fun stuff - and work too.

IF you are having a problem viewing the pages, please let me know what browser/system you're using.

Abby's Agency has updated! So has Alien Dice and PURE Cyantian.net is the first to get to try out the adfree membership at $5 for 3 months. (Note that at the moment, I need to figure out how to lengthen the login timeout to more than 24 hours to at least a week.)

AS of today, Kim's been running a rather high fever for three days now, going to call the doctor - cancel one appointment for her cardiologist and then make appointments with her pediatrician - which I suspect will lead to Kim getting X-rayed, blood taken, etc - I may just ask: Can I just take her to Children's? Same amount of driving around - but all concentrated in one place. :D Can I get at least ONE week where I don't lose an entire work day?

UPDATE: Bleah - Found out my benefits card is expired and had to pay copay out of pocket - which means I also have to pay a second more costly copay later today plus pay for four medications.. with nothing.

Later Update: Yay. Our replacement was sent to old address, got numbers and picked up meds that way. :D

There are NEW Wallpaper chipins up! Donate today if you enjoy the comics! November AD page is here and the Cyantian page is here.

There are now Cyantian Chronicles and Shivae! books listed in the store!. If you want me to add AD books, just ask, or a book that I don't have listed.. because I still have a few more books to list that I have on hand. There are also a scattering of damaged books - like Cesilee's Diary manga and TPBs with cover damage. And that's it for my new listings this week, now on to coloring comics!

Movie list, movies I'd like to see, that likely I won't. :D Where the Wild Things Are looks so good - the more the trailers have been shown and the more I've warmed up to the weird designs. :D Astro Boy is looking less and less 'good'. Not sure why... just not liking the 3D.