#also having old stuff here was a lot of help when compiling my last portfolio so i'm kinda back to the This Is My Backup Archive™ approach

[willczek-art]

Sketches, reference and moodboards for a new school project!

This one was a random pull from my bank of unused ideas and I'm curious to see where it will go :³

[reblogs are discouraged, this is just for personal archival purposes :³]

[raywritesthings]

Mamihlapinatapei\Lauriver

Thanks for the prompt, and I hope you enjoy this!

Should Have Been Her

Summary: In light of an early breakup between Oliver and Felicity, Alex can’t help reflecting on his boss’ choices in regards to relationships... especially when he can see the obvious.*Can also be read on my AO3 or FFN, links are in bio*

This job was going to be the death of him, Alex thought tohimself. “What do you mean Felicity won’t do it?”

“We had a fight about, uh, an old boyfriend of hers… andalso about her mom, I guess, last week,” Oliver said, looking undeniably wornout. He had to wonder how many nights the man had been sleeping on the couch.

“It’s not going to look great if you show up to a lunch withprospective endorsers without your own plus one.”

“I’ll just take Thea with me.”

“Thea’s booked for an interview with Williams in the samehour block, can’t do it,” Alex reminded him. He held his hand out for his boss’phone. “Look, I’ll call Felicity if you want.”

“She’s really not going to want that.”

Oh, so this was a serious possible break-up type situation.Just great. He hadn’t exactly been impressed with the candidate’s girlfriend;her inability to show up for meetings and the casualness with which she seemedto throw the campaign money had always struck him as flighty and poorlymanaged. But people liked a pretty, smiling face, and not having one on his armmight make people sour on Oliver. At least they weren’t engaged; that wouldmake things easier to spin.

Alex’s thoughts were so preoccupied with the work he wasgoing to have to do that he nearly missed Oliver’s next suggestion.

“Laurel might be free.”

“Laurel?” Alex wasn’t quite able to keep the strain out ofhis voice.

Oliver fixed him with a look. “She’s a part of the team, andshe honestly knows the ins and outs of this kind of stuff better than I do.I’ll give her a call.”

Despite Alex hoping and praying that the DA’s office beincredibly swamped with work that afternoon, Laurel was able to give them herlunch hour. So she was coming to meet with the union bosses.

Although, if he’d given more than a thought to her familybackground, he might have realized that could prove a boon.

“Laurel, how are you?” Boomed Larry Carmine, the Presidentof Star City’s Police Guild. He went in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek,which Laurel accepted with a smile. “Quentin says things are running prettynicely between the offices.”

“We try to keep communication channels open. Best way tokeep the system running. How’s Abby?”

“She’s just fine. Finished pre-med last semester.” Carmineturned to Oliver and shook his hand next. “Oliver Queen. Full of surprises,aren’t you?”

“I suppose I am.” The group all sat down, Oliver pulling outLaurel’s chair for her. She smiled up at him, and he returned it before takinghis own seat.

Alex motioned to the waiter hovering at the edge of theirprivate room to bring out the pre-ordered food. These were busy people afterall, so they hadn’t wanted to keep them waiting.

“I have to say, I should have expected you two to getinvolved in politics,” President Raynes of the Local 27 said after they’d allmade significant progress on their meals. The former fire chief had onlyretired from active duty last spring and made the transition to union work.“You made a pretty good team figuring all that out with Garfield. Still a shamewhat happened to him, but I wouldn’t be here without you. Makes me prettyinclined to listen, Mr. Queen.”

Oliver nodded all the while Alex made a mental note to askjust when in the hell his boss had been planning to tell him he’d saved thefirefighter union chief’s life. “I’m hoping you like what you hear. My campaignis committed to supporting those who need it most, and that includes our firstresponders, our firefighters, all those out on the front lines. Alex here hassome of the numbers we’ve been talking about.”

“These are preliminary plans we’re hoping to have your inputon,” Alex said, taking his cue to pass out the portfolios he had compiled.Laurel looked off of the one Oliver had laid out in front of them, their headsbent closer together than Alex really thought they needed to be.

Raynes was nodding along as he read, but Alex was moreinterested in Carmine, who leaned to his right to ask Laurel, “So you reallybelieve in this one, huh?”

“I do.”

“But I still remember your old man cursing his name!”Carmine and his Vice President burst into laughter.

Alex winced and held his breath, but Laurel only laughedlightly herself and said, “And he would be the first to tell you just what achanged man Oliver is. Believe me, I used to think we’d never see the dayeither.”

“Laurel and her family have been good enough to give me asecond chance,” Oliver added right off her statement. It was almost startling.In these previous sessions with endorsers they’d been attempting to woo, Oliverhad seemed content to allow Felicity to ramble on about this or that and waitfor her signal to speak. But now he seemed to know instinctively when to comein.

“I’m hoping that the citizens of Star can be willing to takea second chance as well. Not just on me, but on our home,” Oliver continued.The others had all gone quiet as they listened, none more closely than Laurel,who seemed to be hanging on his every word. “I know that we’ve struggled a lotthe last few years and that a lot of people are giving up or asking why webother? But I think with patience and with determination in equal measure, wecan help turn this city into the best it can be. The same way Laurel’s alwaysseen the best I can be and stood by me.”

“Well, thank you for proving me a good judge of characterafter all,” Laurel said, and they shared a smirk that was so fond it wasinfuriating. Alex coughed, and they both blinked and looked away from theother.

“I consider myself a good judge, too,” Carmine said, “and Ican tell you right now, Mr. Queen, so long as you have this lovely lady’ssupport that goes a long way in my book.”

Oliver looked at Laurel rather than Carmine as he answered,“I’ll keep it under advisement.”

Laurel headed back to City Hall on her own while Alex andOliver rode to the campaign office. Once alone with him, his boss seemed toretreat back into his thoughts, frowning out the window. Alex wondered what wason his mind.

“This may be the one time you hear this, but I might havebeen wrong,” Alex finally admitted, if only to try and draw the other man backinto the present. “About Laurel.”

Oliver’s eyes drifted in his direction, a half-smilecrossing his face. “Only might?”

Alex grimaced. He wasn’t really good at the whole admitting faultthing. “She’s good with those guys from the Locals. Probably grew up surroundedby them, didn’t she?” Oliver nodded in confirmation, and he supposed it madesense that the other man would know. “And I have to say even I was surprised athow well she made you look when they asked about your history. I actuallybelieved her.”

“That’s because she believes it, too.”

“Yeah. Makes you wonder…”

“What?” Oliver shifted in his seat, sitting up straighter.

Alex paused. It wasn’t really his place, nor was he reallyhoping to get that deeply involved in the candidate’s personal life. So heshrugged. “Nothing. Chief Raynes was right, though, you two make a good team.”

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed after a moment. He went back tostaring out the window, though this time his expression was far more wistful.

The more Alex thought about it, the more maddening itbecame. They were too good, made only more obvious when Laurel stopped by thecampaign office to pick up Thea for dinner.

“You could join us,” Thea told her brother.

“Only if you’re not needed here,” Laurel added quickly witha slightly guilty glance in Alex’s direction. She refocused on Oliver whiletucking her hair back behind one ear.

Oliver held her gaze for a moment before dropping it to thedesk. “I should probably put in another hour. You two go ahead.”

“We’ll see you later,” Laurel promised, and Alex watchedOliver watch them leave with a smile. Like he was watching his family. Which hebasically was.

Except that wasn’t his girlfriend. At least, not the mostrecent one. Not the one Alex had spent the last few weeks building the campaignaround; their little office romance or whatever it had been. It all sounded soshallow in his head in retrospect.

Whatever it was Oliver and Laurel had was strong, strongenough to survive time and scandal and the metaphorical equivalent of agasoline fire. They were still working together and for a common good. It was apolitical power couple the likes of which someone like him could only hope towitness.

And yet, they couldn’t really be together. Not without itcausing a stir in the campaign. And they both seemed to know it.

He knew it was deeply ironic to be disappointednow when before he’d been begging Oliver to put some distance between himselfand Laurel. But that had been before he’d realized: it should have been her.

[orbyssarchives]

A Brief tl;dr

This is probably a lot to say for 20 unfinished webcomic pages and I know I can be fairly long-winded so if you just wanna skip ahead and click through the pictures I’ve put up, I understand.

The TL;DR is

Hello and welcome to Mage Punk Archives! My name is Tables and this is some of the work that I’ve done over the last few years and what I’ve been up to in my little corner of the world. This is the third and last of a series of posts, outlining a number of updates that I completed on the site.

Included are some of my inspirations and a little of what I’ve learned so far about myself as an ever growing artist up to this point.

After this, I want to keep the content more focused on the actual art and story.

  I’ll post to this site as often as I am able.

    Thanks for reading!

  ***

Long Ago, Before the miracle of handheld internet searches and Instagram

When I was but a young, internet webling, I was heavily into shitty online flash games and looking for anything even remotely related to my interests at the time. From Mario and Sonic to various comics, videos games, anime and things never to be said aloud (pornpornporn). My love of the likes of Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog (big fandoms for me at the time) would later lead me to sprite comics. Today, my feelings for the little hodge podge collage strips of old video game sprite sheets and backgrounds are a little mixed.

(They were beautiful and I’m gonna make one someday)

Then, in Highschool, I took a basic Web Design class. It was a VVoid World Web of Notepad and Internet Explorer where a kindly old crone passed on to those of us there, some knowledge of the ancient runic language which forms the foundations of the World Wide Web: HTML. Tables, frames, css, oh my! This knowledge would eventually prove invaluable.

Throughout our studies we were occasionally allowed to venture out into the Wider World Web. It was during these little adventures and travels across the Web that I happened upon the magical land of Webcomics. It was also during this time that I began break free of the enchantment of sprites. Even though I would probably never return to them, they would always hold a special place in my heart.

  The Internet is for [Comics]

    Webcomics – Synonymous with “Masochism”

At first, I had no idea just how grueling webcomics could be. Most webcomic artists pump out pages one to three times a week. At the time I got into them, MegaTokyo, then still partially a video game webcomic, was just releasing its third printed book; 2-3 updates a week with a loosely set schedule. Evan Dahm was wrapping up his surreal fantasy epic, Rice Boy; with updates consistently going up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The various sprite and drawn webcomics that I was following at the time were updating all the time. Seeing all the great work going up, I felt encouraged to try it myself.

I drew these closer to the end of my junior year of high school.

Desu

Taking major inspiration from a lot of the manga and anime that I was enjoying then, I used pen and ink to make my comic pages. I liked working in black and white because it felt direct and skipping on color made it easier to finish faster. I figured I could work faster if I didn’t have to worry about the extra step. When I did want to use color, as is typical for the early pages of a new manga, I used markers.

At the time, I had no idea that mangakas used assistants. That’s messed up.

Not to say that it was completely unrealistic, but back in the real world I could only average one black and white page a week. If even. The spider webs I was drawing all over were so that I wouldn’t have to use a ruler to draw my panel proper borders. I thought it gave the comic an “old archive”. In the end, I concluded that the spider webs should have their place and not be all over.

This time, I decided to work a little more carefully and deliberately.

  Moving Forward

It was going pretty well but by the time page 7 rolled around, it was time for midterms and I had become too self-conscious and uncomfortable with the way I was drawing my comic pages then. Then, it was time to take finishing high school seriously and before I knew it, I was a freshman at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. I did a lot of growing in the next four years that I attended there. Unfortunately, I never revisited those pages. Instead, near the end of my sophomore year, I took a Sequential Art class where the Final was a full-color, 5-page comic.

These are the ink-wash versions of the 7-page Final that I submitted. I’d originally colored them digitally to meet project requirements but I don’t want to post those just yet..

  In the End

I wasn’t satisfied. The truth was that I waited until the last minute, rushed it, and over-reached on a re-draw that wasn’t much fun for me to work on. During the course of that Sequential Art class my professor turned my attention to artists like Moebius and Mike Mignola. I also came across Katsuya Terada’s stuff around this time.

  And school went on…

    I worked on Mage Punk when I could between assignments.

    Between thinking I could possibly work on a for-print comic…

    …and a webcomic at the same time.

  The End was Near

Most of these were actually made towards the end of my four years at Ai. Those of us graduating were tasked with compiling our work from the years past in accordance with the requirements for obtaining our degrees. I believe that we were given two semesters to gather our pieces and do any revisions to previous works to get them up to date with the rest of the portfolio piece. Illustration Graduates at AiFL were typically required to gather a required selection of their work into an on-demand printed book. The year that I graduated, my department decided to change things around a little. Specifically, we were given the option to collect the requirement work into a plain black binder portfolio and make the printed book more geared towards our pursuits. I opted to make a Mage Punk/Orbyss Archives “Zine” as my main portfolio piece.

  And Then College was Over

I drew a few more pages of the comic until I became employed full-time. These days, there aren’t enough free hours in my days for me to keep up with any typical webcomic’s update schedule so for a long while I stopped working on the comic altogether. I’m squeezing as much work out of every second that I’m not there; with whatever energy I can muster. This includes planning, writing, sketching and drawing. Before I got back to work on the site, I was posting fairly regularly to my Twitter and Instagram; those posts took time to do as well.

  Most of this post was written in separate sessions on my commutes to work.

“Shortcuts”

Even though I always wanted to present Mage Punk as a webcomic, I always worked on it like it would go to print eventually. This created a confusing mindset for me when working on the comic, where I had to work on a whole book, but I have to rush to finish every page. If I wanted to put out pages more frequently I took shortcuts at any point I could to be done with them. Even if I created a good buffer of finished pages, I’d still run into that same pitfall eventually. I wasn’t enjoying my project because of a pressure I applied on myself to finish it in a way I wasn’t necessarily comfortable with. I didn’t even get that much done in the end.

It’s important that I work on it at a pace that lets me show the best of my ability. I would love it if I could be properly finished with the pages before I post them but if I wait before it’s all good and done I’ll just never get around to posting anything, forever floating, aimlessly, throughout creative internet limbo.

Instead, if I have to work on my comic in piecemeal, I’ll just post it up in piecemeal. Mage Punk will still be presented as a webcomic but, until the end of the book is done, certain changes are still a possibility. Editing is an important part of producing any book and I’m going to make its presentation reflect that.

  Cue Rhidiculous shouting “I told you so!” from some nearby bushes.

  A Webcomic in Presentation Only?

Those Two Images are the Same Page

Instead of trying to finish things at breakneck speeds, I’m going to work on the comics at a more reasonable pace. I’ll try to work on it mainly Chapter to chapter instead of page to page like how a webcomic normally is done (buffers aside) This gives me the opportunity to take a step back and get a broader look at the story while still putting out content in enjoyable chunks.

It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around drawing a comic on a start-to-finish, page-by-page basis. While I was working on the later pages in the chapter I kept finding myself jumping around and making changes to previous pages to make some things more consistent with later parts of the story. Instead of working page-by-page, I was editing the chapter as a whole to try to strengthen the narrative I’m trying to tell.

To that end, I still want to present it on this site as a webcomic; if only in name and archive.

The Process

At the VERY longtime behest of my editor, I’ll be presenting the comic as a work in progress at various points in the following production stages.

Writing

I’ll post dialog excerpts here and there. Nothing that can spoil the story too much.

This step will be kept largely behind the scenes.

Thumbnails

I do these on index cards in ballpoint pen to figure out the sequence of events that I most prefer.

This is the step where I’m prone to overloading a page with information.

First Drafts

Full size roughs of the earlier thumbnails. This step helps me get a better sense of how crowded or unbalanced a page might be early on.

This step also helps to prune out any strenuous scenes or dialog that could otherwise have their own pages.

If it isn’t working visually at this point, it’s not going to work in the next step.

Pencils

This is where the real drawing happens. Drawings in this step are made by either digital or traditional means depending on when or where I’m working.

Inking

This step is exactly like the drawing step but in pen and ink. Despite my affinity for real pen and ink, I’ll mainly be working this step digitally.

Color

This step is wrought with indecision but it also one of the faster, more fun steps to do.

Lettering

I’ve removed the dialog from all the pages currently up, opting to keep that out until a chapter is completed; it’s the thing I’m likeliest to change the most frequently until the end.

All lettering is currently done digitally but I’m considering the possibility of hand lettering.

Drawing dialog can be quite fulfilling but it takes a lot of practice.

Editing

This part will be happening all throughout. Page re-orders, panel redraws, changes in dialog.

Until the book is done.

  Here We Are

I’ve already made some revisions to a handful of the pages that are already up; if you browse through the comics you can see the revisions noted in the comic descriptions. I’ll make blog posts for any major revisions or series of revisions that I do. I have a few ideas for some smaller projects that I can work on while I work on Mage Punk. Whether they be illustrations, stories, or even mini-comics like this silly thing down here.

      Moving on

I might have also mentioned before that I have a few other drawings that I wanted to make for the site. In particular I have a neat idea for some social media icon illustrations. I wanna make something that takes advantage of what I’ve learned with using CSS. It’s nothing too fancy.

All that said, future posts will be a bit more brief than these last three were. I’d much rather write and post about the work itself, but I feel like I’ve hit a personal milestone and felt the need to ramble on about it a little.

    Until next time,

  Thanks for reading!

    The Big Site Update (Part 3) A Brief tl;dr This is probably a lot to say for 20 unfinished webcomic pages and 

[omgtalkingmuffin]

Olicity quotes from season 1

In anticipation of the planned trends for November 27 and 28, I thought it would be helpful to compile Olicity quotes to use in tweets (it’s important to mix things up to be able to trend and not get caught up in spam filter) What better way to celebrate trend the Olicity wedding than to quote their best moments? I suggest adding them to corresponding stills, pics, gifs or links to youtube clips in tweets. 

So without further ado, here’s season 1:

Felicity Smoak? Hi. I'm Oliver Queen. Of course. I know who you are, you're Mr. Queen. No, Mr. Queen was my father. Right, but he's dead. I mean, he drowned. But you didn't, which means you could come down to the I.T. department and listen to me babble. Which will end. In 3... 2... 1. I'm having some trouble with my computer and they told me that you were the person to come and see. I was at my coffee shop surfing the web and I spilt a latte on it. Really? Yeah. 'Cause these look like bullet holes. My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood. If there is anything that you can salvage from it, I would really appreciate it.

I should add "personal Internet researcher for Oliver Queen" to my job title. Happily, I mean.

Hey. [Gasps] Don't you knock? Felicity, this is the I.T. department. It's not the ladies room. Right. What can I do for you? My buddy Steve is really into archery. Apparently it's all the rage now. I don't know why. It's looks utterly ridiculous to me. Mm-hmm. Anyway, it's Steve's birthday next weekend, and I wanted to buy him some arrows. The thing is, he gets these special custom-made arrows, and I have no idea where he gets them. I was hoping you could find out where this came from. The shaft's composite is patented. And that patent is registered to a company called Sagittarius. That's Latin for the archer. Really? Could you find out where and when this was purchased? According to Sagittarius company records, that particular arrow was part of a bundle shipment. 200 units. Sent... to this address. Felicity... You're remarkable. Thank you for remarking on it. And Merry Christmas. I'm Jewish. Happy Hanukkah.

And here I was beginning to think my days of being Oliver Queen's personal computer geek were coming to an end. Is that your way of saying you miss me? No. But if it works for you, go with it. Heh. So a friend of mine is running a scavenger hunt, and there's a case of Lafite Rothschild 1982 waiting at the end. Oh...I love red wine. But in order to find it, I first need to get through this. Hmm. Security fob. It's pin protected. Challenge response goes back to a company called Blackhawk Squad Protection Group. Yeah, my friend had his bodyguard set it up for him. Personally, however, I think it's cheating. But whatever. This is a military-grade cryptographic security protocol. Your friend really went to all this trouble? The idle rich are hard to entertain. Listen... You get through it and one of those bottles of wine is yours.

Felicity. Hey, they said you'd be up here. You look like something the cat dragged in. Not that there are cats in this building. Well, once a cat did get in, but a guard tazed it. It smelled like fur and static in here for like a week. Would you mind stepping away from the window for a moment? I have a little bit of a hangover. Sounds like you need a bloody Mary and a pretzel, not the I.T. Department. Actually, my buddy Kevin is starting an energy drink company. He says it's fantastic for curing hangovers, but I am very particular about what it is I put in my body. I've noticed. I said, not noticed. Right? I'm trying to find a secret recipe. Could you please do a spectroanalysis of the sample and find out exactly where in the city it's made? If it's an energy drink, why is it in a syringe? I ran out of sports bottles.

Hi.  Hi. Thanks for meeting me. I was...nervous to come to your house.  Okay...  The thing is, I've been debating whether or not to share this with you for weeks. Can I trust you? [Scoffs] I'm not an idiot. You've dropped some fairly ridiculous lies on me, and...yet I still feel like I can trust you. [Chuckles] Why is that?  I have one of those faces. Sorry. Yes. You can trust me. 

I'm not going to hurt you, Felicity. How do you know my name? Because you know my name. Oliver, oh... Wow. Everything about you just became so unbelievably clear. You're bleeding. I don't need to be told that. You need a hospital. My--my father's old factory, in the Glades. No, you-- you need a doctor, not a steelworker. Felicity...You have to promise me that you are going to take me to my father's factory and nowhere else. Yeah, promise. [Breathing heavily] Something tells me blood stains are not covered under my lease.

The police collected a sample of your blood at Queen Consolidated. I just hacked the crime lab and ordered the sample destroyed. Oops. Heh. I hope it's all right. Your system looked like it was from the eighties, and not the good part of the eighties, like Madonna and, well, legwarmers. It's a lot of work. Does that mean you're in? You mean in as in I'm going to join your crusade? Well, you're practically an honorary member of the team already. Hmm. So Mr. Diggle said. No. Then why'd you upgrade my system? First, because seeing a network that poorly set up hurts me. In my soul. And second... I want to find Walter. My stepfather. He was nice to me. And Mr. Diggle told me that the notebook you use to fight crime is the same notebook that got Walter abducted. I'll help you rescue him, but that's it. Then I want to go back to my boring life of being an I.T. girl. That's my offer. Ok. So I've been meaning to ask... Is there a bathroom? 'Cause I've had to pee since I got here.  It's upstairs to the left. Great. Felicity, thank you.

Oliver, I know you don't want to hurt this girl and you didn't have any choice in telling her who you really were, but we're asking her to get involved in some pretty dangerous stuff.  We can protect her.

Felicity! Did you just... Computer override your lock. Maybe a little. What are you doing? I pulled up some information on Mr. Williams. Did you know he's a widowed father of a 10-year-old boy? I told you. I'm only in this to help Walter. Not to be an accessory to orphaning little kids. I'm just giving him a warning. Has it ever occurred to you you could do some real good in the city? Beyond just recovering people's stock portfolios and their saving accounts. You're not the only one who knows how to reboot my system. I made a mistake. Getting in my way? I don't disagree. No. Signing on with you. Even provisionally.

I had a bet going with myself on how quickly you two would visit. Tell me not to reveal your secret. Looks like I won. Actually, Felicity, I was hoping that I could get you to change your mind. I was worked up on adrenaline last night, and I didn't exactly put my best foot forward. I was hoping you'd give me the opportunity to do that now. How about you start with Ken Williams? Did he also get to enjoy your adrenaline last night? No, he returned the money that he stole just in time to put his son to bed. Like I said, Felicity, just a warning...

Why don't I work a couple of little tech, you distract her with a little flirty flirt, slip said tech onto her phone. It'll turn into a micro transmitter, and boom, we'll learn everything she knows. Hmm. It's not how I typically get my information. How do you typically do it? I find the person. And then I put the fear of God into them until they talk. But we can try your way.

Speaking of, have you given any thought to what might happen if this doesn't work and the Dodger absconds with your family jewels? I'm sorry, that came out very wrong. 

Talk to me, Felicity.

Psst. By the way. If you ever need to tell someone about your day... You can tell me.

Don't worry, Felicity, they don't send blondes there. I dye it, actually. I keep your secret...

I'll be with you the entire time. Thanks. [Sighs] It feels really good having you inside me. And by "you," I mean your voice. And by "me," I mean my ear. I'm gonna stop talking right now.

You're gonna be really upset when you meet my partner

Unless I can waltz up to Merlyn's mainframe and plug in my tablet directly, there's no way of getting that location. Then we waltz.

Hey, Felicity.  Hmm? Hold on to me tight. I imagined you saying that under different circumstances. Very platonic... circumstances.

I used to think the Vigilante was a criminal, too, but it seems to me, whoever he is, he's willing to sacrifice an awful lot to help the people of this city. Kind of makes him a hero... Doesn't it?

This whole area is ground zero. I want you out of here. If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving.