how to build a car with only three tools

This is an open letter to a number of people, that I have lost contact with for some reason or another over the years. I can include the OFUers (Mal, Jen Chan, Naska, Kraken, Bahn, Omar, A.J., Katt, Tang), fellow artists I was in good contact with (L0cke, Robert DeJesus, Carrie O'Kaye, Meridith Dillman, Kid Tempo, Reirei, Ian Oji), close friends that failed for some reason or another (Space Coyote). There are more people I could mention, but creating this list of names is depressing.

It's been a long time. I don't know why it has been this long -- perhaps I've failed to keep up my end of the correspondence for some reason, we had an argument which abruptly ended our friendship, or I did something rash and ill-tempered during a time when I was prone to doing those kinds of things. It's probably my fault, and I have no problems accepting the blame. I am sorry.

I just want to say I hope you're doing well. I don't say that with sarcasm or bitterness; regardless of anything I do hope you're meeting with success.

I also wanted to thank you for your friendship. It was always important to me.

Perhaps there's too much water under the bridge now for fixing things, to go back to the way things were. I wouldn't blame you if you felt that way. However, sometimes I would give anything to go back to the way it was, when we shared art and made each other laugh. I miss you.

Take good care of yourself.

Clay.

On the weekend, my portable hard disk, named "WORKSPACE" and bought back in 2002, is now dead. I bought it back when I was switching between two computers, and needed a "shared space" for my artwork so I could go back and forth from computer to computer. It housed all my artwork from scans, GIMP/Photoshop files, the finished products, and the perl programs and databases that generated the site. It also held a lot of personal documents and files that I had accumulated over the years.

By some strange fortune I did a backup of the essential art and site files after my last Sexy Losers update, something I hadn't done for over three years previously. I had the feeling the disk wasn't performing like it should and made the backup, not knowing that a month later the disk would be dead. The site really dodged a bullet there. However, I am out a hard disk, and I am trying to clear some space on another. I think my backups from now on will occur at a more brisk pace.

I should also send out a warm thanks to the person who gave me another 6 months on livejournal as a present. Thank you very much!

I decided to post this reply to a mail I got not to badger the original sender, who generously offered to write what I suppose would be a "cease and desist" letter for those sites who have taken my work and posted it elsewhere. Looking back, I think it shows a change of heart and maybe may generate a comment or two.

Dear [name withheld],

Thank you for your mail. You must have read an older blog entry, because I have since changed my mind regarding the stealing of work. Although I do not like it, I also recognize that belligerence makes one stubborn on their stance. I also recognize that the internet is not being changed by demands of the world, but on the other hand, the world is changing to the demands of the internet. One of those demands is that it is forcing people to think about the ownership of information and ideas in a society that is increasingly moving towards global sharing.

I do not know what to make of it. However, I do know that the urge to share what was previously thought of as property is something that will not go away. The people who create have to adapt to this. We cannot hope that at some point the entire internet will stop sharing information after we have policed it enough. It will continue, and it will become harder to enforce. Therefore, the best thing to do are find ways to continue creating, and find ways where sharing the information benefits both the creators and the people who share. As I said, I don't know at this point how to ensure it without destroying the work. I do have confidence that solutions will be found.

So thank you for the offer to write a "cease and desist" letter, but if I have the choice between drawing a new strip and chasing people who have posted my old ones elsewhere, I have to choose the former.

Best regards
Clay

#250 - Sperm's Eye View

Aren't you getting tired of seeing imaginary strips yet?

No celebration for the 250th strip. Next up for #251 is a (gasp) Mrs. Shibata strip.

Spoilers and strip in extended.

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I'm currently finishing the inking on the next strip "Sperm's Eye View" (previously titled "Educational Video", renamed because it had no pun in it). It looks like at this rate I'll be adding a new strip about once a month.

I've always ranted and raved about Japanese stationery, but this time I found something truly cool over at MUJI. This is a newsprint workbook with pre-printed panels for four panel comics! Although the paper is too small and too cheap to do any real professional work on, it's pretty handy for sketching out the roughs to Sexy Losers strips and is now my new idea book. A5 size with 88 pages, it cost a cool 94 yen ($1.00 Canadian).



I want to thank Kat for sending me some Great Big Sea from Canada. Although I am not from Newfoundland (I am from Cape Breton, actually), maybe it's genetic but I love hearing maritime music. Thanks Kat!

More fiddling.

1) I went back and rescanned all the sketches so that they should have a lot more contrast in them now and should be easier to see on your computer.

2) I also fixed the page with my artwork on it so it lists the sketches as well.

3) An old sketch of Natsuki Kajikawa has been posted, along with work done for the Mike coffee mug and a sketch of Madame X

4) I added a character profile for ARPA-01.

While I've been *ahem* busy *cough cough* posting new strips, I've also added some new pages. As mentioned in the previous post, new character profiles for such major *cough hack* characters as Miki, Kevin Lee, Sock and Tissue have been posted in the character index. Also, I've always wanted to find a way to add some of the sketches I do to the site, and it was always "one of those things I'll get around to, yeah." Well, I fiddle with one thing on the site and soon I'm adding some character sketches. Right now there are 6, and I am unsure of the vintage. They are currently up, although I haven't gotten around to adding them to the SL Artwork index page as of yet (I'll do that soon *cough cough*). Right now they can be seen by going through the character profiles if there is a sketch for that character (it'll be at the bottom), and they can also be viewed like a slide show. The sketches are:

Dr. Lovetalk - ARPA Initial Character Sketch - Ishida and Shiunji - Mrs. Shibata - Chie - Miki

I am not sure of the vintage of most of these sketches, as I rarely date incomplete work (fuck). Hopefully this will get me sketching more.

#249 - "Shiunji & the Suicide Girl VII"

Still yet another non-update. For those that see a new strip to the right may I remind you of that old phrase about jerking off too much.

Finally got to color the strip. The storyline continues, and I promise the next Shiunji strip will actually be something other than these two talking. The next strip (already in the pencilling phase) will not be a Shiunji strip but one called "Sex Education Video".

I also added completely non-informative character profile for Kevin Lee and Miki.

EDIT: Because I couldn't stop myself, I also added just as non-informative character profiles for Tissue and Sock.

As a number of you have noticed, my production has increased as of late. I guess recently I have been feeling the pull. Especially with the Shiunji thread unresolved, it really doesn’t allow me to make a clean mental break from the comic.

It’s also a little strange revisiting something I haven’t touched in over two years. I am rusty, and was a bit of a challenge to make the last Shiunji strip done in the middle of 2005 match flow seamlessly into the next sequential comic over two and a half years later.

I don’t think I can get back into it like I was used to. The problem with life being particularly insanely busy hasn’t been resolved. I’ll try to make an effort to at least get the Shiunji thread finished when I can (I have already plotted and rough-sketched out the remaining comics in the thread). I am still keeping with the site theme of “no new updates ever” because to be honest, the popularity and the high expectations was really unappealing, and the site is now forgotten enough for me to do a comic here and there in a low-key way. I enjoying doing the comics for the sake of enjoying drawing comics, and it’s great to be able to draw a few without having to worry about anything other than the love of making these sick bastard characters of mine come to life.

Cough.

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#248 - Shiunji & the Suicide Girl VI

Once again, no new strips. For those of you who claim that there are, may I suggest cleaning out your cache once in a while, it's a pig sty in there.

I've gotten rid of one cliffhanger -- only to give you another! Ha ha ha ha! The next strip will probably be a continuation of this one, posted when it gets done.

EDIT: Oops, this is part VI, not V. I'll fix that on the site as well.

Sexy Losers was referenced in the latest edition of one-liners by Shishio and -U, and was given a review by Viga the Otagirl on her audio blog.

Thanks to lukasbrunner and fire_storm for the heads up!

First read this to jog your memory. Then have a sneak peak at this.

This strip references this strip and this strip.

It's a little late (12:30pm on the 26th here in Japan) but I wanted to wish you all a wonderful holiday season wherever you are.

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Yes, I occasionally do safe for work pictures.

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http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=772

Why doesn't anyone tell me about these things?

(oops -- what I meant was, not that "sexy losers is missed" but I got referenced in another webcomic. I miss doing it too, which is why I sneak out the odd strip when I have the time)

#247 - I Adore My Sexy Whore

As it says on the front page, no new strips. However, our shipping department has given a notice that we have too many ARPA-01s in stock and we have to move them for the Christmas season, so we have to run some advertising to move some more units. For every ARPA-01 puchased before December 25, receive a free cleaning kit complete with an ultraviolet light for a COMPLETE clean!

Ooops, spelled purchased wrong in the newsbox. I'll have to punish myself by writing out "vi is NOT a word processor." fifty times.


vi is NOT a word processor.
yy50P


The next one will be a Shiunji strip.

Incredible. This link is a trip for me back to 1998-1999, when I entered webcomicking for the first time. Those who go way way back will recall Impromanga from the old Fan Art Head Quarters (FAHQ), with such titles as Queen of Clubs and Controversial Jack. CenterStorm Online has all the old comics online, including my first stabs in the webcomic world. It also contains some first stabs from artists such as Tang Ho, Josh Lesnick, Mal, and many others whose work appeared later in Sexy Losers.

the link

As an extra bonus, it also contains the archive to Aphasia, a comic I did with Carrie O'Kaye. It has the first 130+ pages.

I did parts in the above mentioned comics, as well as Apollyon Symphony and Rosarius. Kind of embarassing to look at now, but we all need to start off somewhere.

I just noticed that COK is one of the admins, that explains why Aphasia is there. Maybe I should finish that damn chapter.

It's been 2 months since my last post. In the meantime I was hoping to get some actual art done but between my full time job and my graduate work I haven't been able to do anything. Add to the problem that in August Japan had its hottest month ever -- and I wasn't able to afford an air conditioner for my apartment, meaning I was leaving trails of sweat everywhere. This is really bad for art, let me tell you.

As a Canadian who thought 28 degrees C was a really hot day, the constant 33-38C everyday experience is still taking time getting used to. In previous apartments, when I came home I just switched on the A/C until I was cool enough to trust touching paper. Then there was the humidity, which gave everything a moist feel, including paper I was working on. This year without an A/C made it harder. However, it's starting to fall down to more manageable temperatures, and hopefully I can get something to show you this week.

I want to thank A. L. who made an incredibly generous donation, which I immediately used to order Frank's Hot Sauce from the States. Oddly, it's hard to find here, and with the Foreign Buyer's Club you have to order a case of it or none at all. So thanks to A. L. for keeping me in hot sauce! (I know Frank's isn't the hottest, but it's one of the tastiest, and man does it go well on potato chips)

It's great having people satisfy my odd cravings. My parents try, but they're slowly becoming Castanza-like in their behavior, and things may not get here in prime condition. A few months ago they sent me hot pickled peppers (again, impossible to find here) but was worried about the jar breaking, so they put the contents of the jar in a ziplock bag instead. I think my hands STILL smell like hot pickle pepper brine from opening the box. Ah, but they're my parents, and I gotta love 'em.

#246 - The Function of Art in Society

Okay, THIS is a new one.

THe colored version of the Mike strip you saw earlier this month is now posted, making it the first real update since March, 2006. Special thanks to Y.N. who gave me the germ of the idea when she complained to me about the beauty (or lack thereof) of models in art class. That was May 19, so it pretty much took 2 months from idea germ to completed update. That's a big change from way back when I had to come up with an idea and update it within a week!

Anyways, I do have that ARPA strip somewhere down the pipe and another update will come. Thanks for reading!

(I just noticed that I forgot to put the FAP sound effects in. Oh well. It's nigh time to retire the sound effect anyways)