Wow... I haven't seen you guys in ages. It feels like its been about a month since I last saw you. Don't blame yourself... It's totally my fault. I actually had the script done the day I finished the last one but didn't get off my ass until earlier this week. Also part of the reason it took so long was because sometimes I find the visualisation of the strip difficult. I was having trouble with the emperor's buddies. I was trying to come up with characters for them and all the ones I came up with were too plain. Then finally I came up with the blade guy... the little guy I still don't like... not much thought or design went into him... but the blade guy I thought was good enough to make up for the crapness of the little guy...  so I went ahead and used them... In fact this blade guy got me thinking that the emperor is a bit plain... he has no ability to show any expressions because of the hat... It was cool having this cold mysterious character in the beginning but as the strip progresses... I find using him a little boring... he feels to much like a robot. I think that if the strip is cartoony, like this one, I think you need facial expressions which with the hat makes quite difficult... well you don't NEED them but they add a bit more the the strip. Its not much but as a result I think the 4th panel in this strip is my one of my favourites...

Hmmm... I think I might redesign the emperor when I get a chance...
 

I have been back in South Africa for the last week. I came back for Easter. I was not originally going to come back unless my visa expired.... but I ended up getting the highly skilled visa about a month ago. So this means I can stay in London for a bit longer should I wish to. The weird thing is the longer I heard nothing from the visa office the more nervous I became and the more I wanted it... but as soon as I heard I got the visa I thought that I don't really want it anymore.  That kind of irritated me because as far back as I can remember I always hated people who wanted things just because they wanted them... and somewhere along the line I became one of them... I don't think that is the case though. I think maybe my desire to move on just coincided with the exact same second I got my visa... but I am not going to move on just yet... I still have a lot to do here in London.

Anyways that is not why I am writing... like I said ... I am in South Africa... but not to fear... a repeat of "no comic for a month" like the last time will not happen again. I don't need a scanner this time. I brought my tablet with me. For some reason last time I was scared of doing the whole process digitally. I needed to sketch it out on paper first. This time it's all done digitally. I am actually quite impressed with the result and kind of want to just put up the sketch without any inking. I feel like I am gonna lose a lot of the detail when I ink it.

I am going to ink it. If it looks rubbish I will put up the sketch instead of the ink. Either way there is going to be a new comic soon.

Oh yeah... Sick as a dog... even though it's awesome weather here in Port Elizabeth, I am sick as a dog... and spending all my time inside... in front of the computer... comic-ing and programming.

Oh and another reason I am excited: I was working on a Space Panda logo. I have one that I am really happy with... but what do I know... I am not a designer nor a LogoMaker guy. Anyways... like I said I am very happy with it and It should be up on the next update!