2/12/2005
Hello again to my readers, which is probably zero currently, but if there should perhaps be even one of you out there, then I guess this update in the news is for you. As you may have already noticed, comic number three is up, even though it's not much of a comic. Just because it's text however, doesn't mean it is any less important than if it were an actual drawing. Just to give you a little insight, I will do comics composed of nothing but text in the future as well, but I'll try to keep them restricted to when they're really needed in the plot. This may occur when I am unable to finish a comic as well, should my proficiency increase to the point where I have a comic schedule to keep.
I am now in my fourth week of Photoshop CS at college, which has allowed me to upload some new buttons and graphics for the site, but doing a comic in said program is a little more difficult. Believe me, I'd love to give you guys a comic two or three times a week, but I have to learn the program first, right?
I'm also taking a Motion Graphics class which is teaching me Flash MX. I'm finding the program very intriguing and someday my site may be entirely flash oriented. Sure, it may mean downloading a plugin and perhaps having fewer viewers for said reason, but the site would probably look cooler and be more interactive. (*Shrugs*) We'll see.
I know this is a slow time and again I apologize, but I will update as often as I can around my 16 units of college which those of you in school know is more than a full load of 12 units. I don't estimate this funk to last more than four months, as I will be proficient in Photoshop and Flash by that time and should be able to crank out qualtiy material relatively fast.
On a side note, my van is now fixed, it runs like crap, but it runs. Unfortunately I have a bad cell or something in one of my batteries now. It seems to drain super quick, doesn't charge fully and the van has difficulty starting sometimes. I had to buy a portable jumper just in case. This severly limits my computer usage ability and thus further hampers the comic. Being homeless is a bitch. Anyway, that's that.
1/03/2005
I'm sad to say that this is going to be a rather slow time for Prototype. My van is dead in the water, so to speak. AKA: "Broken down". A friend of mine has offered to fix it pretty cheap, but what he says and what he does are two different things. Hopefully he'll come through soon.
How does this affect the comic? I have what's known as an inverter in my van which converts battery power into wall socket power to use my computer. If the van doesn't run, the battery doesn't stay charged and I can't use the computer to work on Prototype. Yes, I could take it to a stable power source somewhere, but California is currently in its rainy winter season and anything that goes outside usually gets soaked pretty darn quick. This is a risk I don't want to take even if I wrapped the equipment in plastic bags or whatnot. Transporting a tower and monitor isn't easy either.
In summary, the comic will remain in a "paused" status until the van is fixed or it stops raining in a couple weeks hopefully. Your guess is as good as mine. My apologies to my readers, but I assure you I'm doing everything in my power to continue work on Prototype.
12/21/2004
Well, my second comic is now up. I've also added the links page, even if it only has one site on it. (*Shrugs*) I made some rounded rectangle gradient buttons that I think will suit my site pretty well. It's a start, anyhow.
I'm also going to look into the possibility of frames or tables, but I need to browse the Keenspace forums first. I saw a posting about autokeen (all pages are modified by this program before being posted to the web) and frames conflicting or something. I'll look into that soon.
I'd like to do weekly comic updates, then move on to bi-weekly once I start actually doing them completely in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop rather than sketching, scanning, cleaning up, coloring and saving for the web. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll be able to do Mon., Wed., Fri. comics? That's what I would be ultimately shooting for.
12/14/2004
For those of you who are familiar with Keenspace sites, many of them have that wonderful little news box on their main page which lets their viewers know what's new, updated, whatever they want to rant about, etc. Well since I haven't investigated how to create one of these myself yet, I'll use this page until I do. Cool?
Well, my site is now active and my first comic is up. The site doesn't look like much, unfortunately, but I'll work on that as I go. I should be familiar enough with Adobe Illustrator to make my own buttons, but we'll see. I need to do a site top logo for Prototype as well. Those will be my two immediate concerns as well as making a few more pages. Links, Archives, etc. I'll need them all eventually, so why not do it now, ya know? Anyway, more as I get it done.
Prototype is copyright 2004 Michelle McKinnely
Prototype is hosted on Keenspace, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics.