CAUGHT UP
Tuesday, 21 December

Well, I almost got everything out on Monday, but what didn't leave ship then, shipped today. As mentioned, everything's going out Priority Mail.

And, lest we forget, even though Child's Play officially ended a couple of days ago, my contribution is still running through the end of the month. So, buy those prints!

CATCHING UP
Saturday, 18 December

Just so everyone knows, due to the response (and subsequent technical difficulties) fullfilling orders got a bit behind last week. But, I am catching up and my target is to have every current order in the mail by Monday, 20 December. On the plus side, everything is going out Priority Mail, with a 2-day average delivery time. So everything in the mail by Monday should arrive by Christmas - woo hoo!

CONVERSATIONS FROM THE UNIVERSE
Tuesday, 14 December

Melissa emailed me last night.

I had to re-read the letter several times to make sure I was reading what I thought I was. Not only was I stunned that I had gotten the email, but what she had to say (apparently lots of people had emailed her about the artwork) just left me at a complete loss. Such nice things, and so appreciative.

But, honestly, it's her I have to thank. I could not have imagined the character as I did if she hadn't been made so real.

WANGOVER
Tuesday, 14 December

If no one has invented the word "wangover"yet, I'm claiming authorship. It's the feeling of headache and nausea you get when your site crashes from the traffic overwhelm due to a link from Penny Arcade. It's the aftermath of too much of a good thing. Thanks guys. :-)

On the plus side, since Paypal tracks all of the transactions, none of the sales data was lost during the crash in spite of the fact that I couldn't get to my e-mail for about a day.

Since I was getting SO many visits, I knew immediately my current server simply wouldn't handle it - so I got smart started checking the hosts the webcomics use - I ended up calling Speakeasy.net (they host PVP - perhaps the world's SECOND most popular webcomic) and in a very friendly and efficient manner they had me all signed up and hosted in a matter of minutes. Within a few hours the DNS system was updating to the new server coordinates and I was up and running within 24 hours.

Whew.

YOU'D THINK I WOULD LEARN
Wednesday, 8 December

Okay, see, the first time, back in September, Penny Arcade linked me (thanks, Mike) I racked up about 12 gigs of bandwidth over the whole month. Traffic spiked dramatically, of course, but nothing my host couldn't handle by a good margin. So, that was the yardstick I used to guage the potential reaction to today's link.

Big damn mistake.

Jerry even warned me, over the phone, yesterday. And still I thought I had it covered.

You guys wanged me to the tune of over 15 gigs IN ONE DAY. That I was not prepared for, as you might have seen.

Swift measures were taken (well, my measures were swift - the Internet's measures took their own damn time) and here we are, all in one piece again. And this time, to stay.

So, a very big welcome to all of the new (and returning) PA visitors. Make yourselves at home, have a brownie. Take two, they're small. Grab a banner while you're at it :-)

Thanks for your patience, and for taking to the time to stop by. You are very much appreciated.

NEW MELISSA PRINT AVAILABLE
Saturday. 4 December

Just in time for the holidays: Melissa - the Operator is now available as a print in the Art Store. Buy one for the kids!

CHILD'S PLAY
Wednesday, 1 December

Hey, kids - I've decided to become a Child's Play Partner this year, meaning that I have pledged to donate a full 50% of all proceeds from print sales through the month of December to the charity. Of course, this won't mean much if I don't sell any, so tell your friends, grab some banners, link me, whatever. Thanks!

KEEPING BUZZY
Monday, 22 November

Okay, lots of news, kiddies. This past week has been a very good one, getting-back-in-the-saddle-wise.Several weeks ago, Gabriel (of Penny Arcade renown) invited me to participate in an auction in conjunction with their Child's Play project. A video game related work of original art donated to a silent auction, to be held, if I recall correctly, December 9th. And I had plenty of time – until November 7th or so. No problem.

Of course, this being an art project, November 7th approached with surprising speed. And I hadn't done much more than sketch out in my own head more or less what I wanted. I say "more or less" because I just wasn't that thrilled by my ideas. They just weren't "big" enough for a project like this. I figured Gabe deserved something special, you see, so when he sent me a note saying he really only needed the piece by the middle of the month, I was elated. Work and life (and Halo 2) were conspiring to distract me from this project and the added time was a Godsend.

So, of course I didn't even really start on the damn thing until the 15th or so. Oof. But I cleared my schedule and went full throttle. It's really all I've worked on in the last week or so. But it's done.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, to Gabe and to the world, Melissa, the Operator.

Melissa was the central character in a massively interactive online puzzle game that played itself out over the several months leading up to November, all as a sort of underground marketing campaign for the release of Halo 2 on November 9th. Space here simply does not permit me to go into a detailed explanation,so just know that she's an artificial intelligence construct from the Halo universe (about 500 years in the future), the communications AI from a military spy vessel. Something happened in her time which caused her to be sent back in time to crash, badly damaged, onto a modern-day Web server (ilovebees.com - an innocuous page about honey and bees). So, by degrees, she enlisted the aid of thousands of real people (we called ourselves beekeepers) to help her put herself back together again so she could recover and return home.

It dawned on me that, unlike other AI characters in the actual game Halo, Melissa was never shown, so she could look like anything. And she has a massive following already, and she's tied in with the release of Halo 2. She was perfect.

Wanna see her? Here she is:

FIVE. AY. EM.
Tuesday, 9 November

I haven't stood in line for a midnight release of ANYTHING since Pink Floyd tickets in about 1987. I mention this so that the casual observer may begin to grasp the rabidity with which I (and a few million close friends and fellow beekeepers) have been looking forward to the release of Halo 2. I know it's just a video game. I know it'll still be there tomorrow. But there was just some wicked part of me that was looking forward to playing the game a full three hours before my friends in California.

Booyah.

One thing that amazed me was the handful of people (out of a couple hundred at least) who were complaining about the time it was taking. You would have thought someone had tricked them into being in that line at midnight, like it had somehow come as a shock to them that here they were in a slow moving line at 12:something in the morning and that they hadn't already gotten in there and been on their way.

One guy actually bitched about it being late and being tired and wanting to go home and PLAY. Here he is, VOLUNTARILY in line, complaining about the hour, complaining about how tired he was, and how he wanted to play the damn game. Complete assignment of responsibility for his condition to outside forces. My hat's off to the guys at EBGames, but he's giving them too much credit. I got the impression that he has made a pasttime out of playing victim in his life - he had a distinct "defeated but indignant" quality about him. Distasteful.

Regardless, I got my Limited Collector's Edition Halo 2, and headed almost straight home (had to, HAD TO, stop at Krystal's on the way home - can't kill Covenant on an empty stomach) and plaaaaaaaayed.

As it was, I finally got to bed at about 5:30am. Was it all worth it?

Booyah.

I LEFT MY PILLOW IN AMARILLO
Saturday, 9 October

It has been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for the update delay, but the last month has been unusually rife with life-changing events. Moving accross the bleedin' country (from Los Angeles - where I've been for seven years - to Atlanta - my hometown) is no mean feat - at least it isn't if you want to bring stuff with you. And in spite of the fact that I sold or gave away most of my worldly possessions it still turned out to be a royal pain. A 5x4x8 trailer doesn't seem like much, and it isn't really, but you fill it to capacity with books and a bed and some shelves and stuff and attach it to a car that simply wasn't designed to haul such a load, and then drive the bloody thing across 2300 miles or so (this country is a lot hillier than most people give it credit for) and it really takes it out of you.

And yes, I really did leave my pillow in Amarillo, Texas. Both of them, actually, but the rhyme works better in the singular. Ah, well.

I have managed to get more or less back to full productivity. With my trusty new PowerBook, the invaluable help of my good friend Chris and the availability of his own personal home office, as well as a liberal sprinkling of wireless Internet points across the city, I've managed to work it out. There is something fundamentally gratifying about earning a living in a Starbucks or other local restaurant, servicing clients across an entire country in real time.

I expect I'll have my own place here in the next few weeks, but until then I'm having fun.

And yes, getting my ass back to the art for which this site was created is fully on the list. Thanks for your patience, watch this space. Art updates soon, I promise!

HERO IS ASTONISHING
Saturday,4 September

What do you make of a spectacular Hong-Kong kung fu movie whose ultimate message is that the height of combat is not to fight? That the ultimate in freedom is not being a slave even to your own purposes? Hollywood will not understand this movie. But I hope you do.

IT'S OFFICIAL
Friday, 3 September

Well, here we go. Just yesterday I reserved a U-Haul trailer (and hitch) for 26 September (and the following week or so). It's a Sunday, so I expect some friends to be available to help me pack and load. Yes, friends, I am moving. Due mostly to family considerations (which I am not going to detail for various reasons) I am re-locating back to my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. In the end, this may or may not be a permanent move. It will be for at least six months to a year, though, so it's permanent enough.

I'm excited but a little ambivalent about it. There's a wealth of opportunity and potential in both places (I'm in Los Angeles currently), so it's a matter of forcing my own hand one way or another. It's not a decision I have made lightly, which is partly why I've waited to do any sort of public announcing on the subject. It's a remarkable phenomenon that, just when you're trying to leave someplace (or make any major change in you life, for that matter), the universe seems determined to convince you that it's the wrong thing to do, and throws up impediments — problems that make it more difficult, reasons to stay, that sort of thing.

Fortunately, the solution for such things in persistence. Pursue your course in spite of everything and eventually the universe capitulates to you.

Los Angeles has had its moments, to be sure, especially the last year or so, but there are definitely things I'm looking forward to in the ATL. Seasons, for one. I cannot wait to wear a coat and a hat again. And good old Southern rain, with giant drops that patter down through the old oak trees that fill the interstitial spaces of the neighborhoods intown. The smell of it, and the sound of it.

Plus, the neighborhood I'm moving into has the city's oldest Irish pub. Slàinte!

FAILURE AND SUCCESS
Tuesday, 24 August

I guess I'm officially a beekeeper now. Or maybe just a big geek. Either is fine by me. When I arrived at the designated location this afternoon, there were already people waiting for the call (the coordinates indiate GPS locations, where there are pay phones). At about ten minutes to go, some mall kids actually started using the damn pay phone, and we all got a little nervous about it as the minutes ticked by. But how do you kick children off of a public phone because you're waiting for a call? With about three minutes to spare, they left of their own accord, precluding desperate action on our parts.

So, we waited for 4:03 pm. It came. And went. And we waited. For about another ten minutes, just in case. Nothing. Hmm. So, I came back to the office and checked the site - turns out the code corresponding to our pay phone had already been unlocked. Hence, no call.

But wait, there's another one at 5:15 about a block from the first one. So, I wiled the hour away with work, and headed out again at 5:00. Again, I found a group of about twenty beekeepers huddled suspiciously around a pay phone (many of the same guys from the first phone). This time, it rang.

One of the guys answered, gave the appropriate responses, and got the appropriate message. Our call unlocked the code, freeing one more piece of the widening puzzle. We dispersed, feeling like we were somehow participating in some small but significant piece of history.

Or maybe that was just me. At any rate, this is pretty damn fun.

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE AXONS WENT HOT?
Tuesday, 24 August

www.ilovebees.com
ilovebees.blogspot.com

Turns out I work less than one block away from the coordinates in Burbank, California. My axon is set to go hot at 16:03 PST.

We shall see, we shall see.

AFTERMATH
Monday, 2 August

Well, that was interesting. Want to see something really funny? Click here. It's a graph of my site hits for the last week, including Saturday and Sunday. Go ahead, click. I'll wait right here.

Back? Yes, that's one-hundred-seventy-six-THOUSAND hits in one day, and a hundred-thirty-six-thousand the next. Yeesh.

Heady stuff. Addictive, even. I've gotten some very nice comments from visiting PA readers, and thanks everyone for your kind words. Honestly, if anything, it makes me want to redouble my efforts to create something that will keep bringing you back. Don't worry, though: No PA/PVP/VGCats knockoffs in the making here. As soon as I have something to share, I'll tell everyone who will put up with me.

Thanks again, visit anytime. Come back soon.

-Allen

GETTING WANGED
Saturday, 31 July

It has JUST a few minutes ago come to my attention that Gabe over at Penny Arcade has very graciously linked me, which is always a nice thing to do, of course. Enjoy the site, drop me a line if you like. If you really like what you see, sign up for the list (at right) and if you really, really, like it, buy something for God's sake.

A thought on Gabe (as long as we're on the subject): I've been following PA for a couple of years now, and of course, I've rooted through the archives like everyone else. I'm most impressed by how far Gabe has come as a cartoonist (not just a Webcomic artist, please grasp the distinction here) and how much attention he pays to other artists, how much of a student of the art form he still is. As far as he's come in the last four years, it's kind of scary to think about where he could be four years from now.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoy your stay!

-Allen

KAAAAAHHHHHNNNN!
Wednesday, 28 July

Alright, I am back from San Diego, and have just about made up my sleep deficit by now.

As absurdly hectic as the week leading up to the convention was, the con itself was much more exhausting. This was the first con that I attended with any aspiration of representing myself as a professional and I have to say that it changes the experience remarkably.

Artistically, the convention was a howling success for me. I distributed 2000 postcards (even was asked to sign a bunch of them by people who liked them so much), met dozens of industry professionals and made some contacts that might just pan out – one never knows with these things, but it’s out there. Became a fan of many artists, and even discovered that some of them were fans of mine, which, let me tell you, is the sort of thing that will make your day in a way that I highly recommend.

I even made it into the art show, which was full when I applied several weeks ago. Turns out the administrators were having difficulties with some of the applicants not showing up and such, and so, when I asked them nicely what the status of the waiting list was, they said, you know what, you’re in. So, I hastily hung some artwork on a panel, filled out my paperwork, etc. AS I WAS HANGING THE FIRST PIECE, a gentleman stepped OVER ME to place a bid on it. So I thought that this might be off to an auspicious start after all. Turns out EVERY PIECE WAS SOLD BY SATURDAY.

So, yeah. Not bad.

Saturday night was the massive sketching session. Each year a bunch of artists get together in the lounge of the Marriott and trade sketchbooks all night. It’s usually rather intimidating, taking into account the considerable skills of the people who show up (even a few cartoon and comic celebrities, like Mike Mignola and Stephen Silver). Highlight of the night, though, was the conversation I had with Jason and Heather (of Artplaymix) and Gabe (of Penny Arcade) about art, cartoons, industry stuff, commerce, webcomics, and just about everything else.

Sunday was kind of the Get Out of Town Alive day. It’s wind-down day for the convention, but it’s also Kids Day, and apparently Cheapskate Day as well. The floors are crowded with people looking for the free stuff, grabbing things off tables, sniffing out handouts, etc. Reminds me of the gulls in Finding Nemo (Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine?) – rats with wings, or in this case, rats with con badges.

But I made it. The very long drive home (through three hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic) was made palatable by the fact that I was the only person in the car, alone at last for the first time in days.

So, now, here we are. I’m already working on new projects, which look very good indeed. Onward.

-Allen

ps: Don't forget to check out the new Art Store here, and sign up for the mailing list for future updates. Thanks!

SANDY AYGO KOMMIKAHN
Wednesday, 21 July through Sunday, 25 July

Last time I was at San Diego Comic-Con (last year, in fact) I resolved to really do something with it next time. Have a booth, have items to sell, something. There seems to be a moment in many artists' early career when they have that flash of, "I can do that." The epiphany that adds that essential element of hubris, of ego, that seems necessary for someone to stand up in a crowd (figuratively or literally) and announce, out loud, that they have something to say.

My whole life I have always dimly suspected this might be the case with me, that I could have something to say, something worth contributing, if only I could figure out what that was. Well, for me, that little epiphany snapped into place one year ago this week, while walking amongst the working artists, rubbing elbows with professionals who really were doing something. That dim suspicion became a lightbulb that I haven't bothered to turn off since. And far from wondering when it might burn out, I intend to add more and more bulbs as long as I have something to illuminate, some darkened future to discover.

My, how quickly I get poetic. The short of it is is that I will be in San Diego this week (with practically every other geek in the Western World) seeing what kind of trouble I can get myself into, art-wise (and perhaps otherwise, if there's another sketching session in the hotel bar like last year).

Anyway, hopefully this will be the beginning of a fairly grand adventure, the start of something new and worthy. Or maybe just a hell of a lot of fun. Hopefully both!

-Allen

ps. NEW SITE DESIGN! The basics are all still here, but I've trimmed a lot of Web-fat off and just generally made her leaner and faster. One major new addition is the ART STORE. People have been pestering me for a while to put in a way to buy things, so here you go. You could do me a big favor by letting me know how things work, what other features you'd like to see, that sort of thing. Thanks, and see you next week for a Con Report.

pps. NEW! MAILING LIST! I just added the ability to sign up for updates and news (and perhaps the occasional piece of art, screensaver, etc., hint hint). So, sign up now!

BACK ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH
Wednesday, 21 April 2004

Well, I don't think I will ever complain about the irregular update schedules of my favorite webcomics again. It's been, what, seven weeks?

But, I do have some major updates to share. So, bear with me, yeh?

First off, in the Freelance section: Something! I have been going through a whole evolution to update my portfolio pages and write up a new resume as part of a project to find new work, submitting to agencies, answering ads, etc. So, much is it is now posted in this section. Wish me luck!

Secondly, in Words, a new article about how I do some of the things I do. It's kind of a breakdown of one of my art techniques, so if you're curious about the gears and knobs behind what I do, check it out.

And thirdly, NEW ART! My good friend Amelinda had a birthday recently, and I was snapping pictures as usual. It's funny, but it's damn near impossible to take a bad picture of this girl. It's partly because she actually is a beautiful as the portrait suggests, but also because her mutant ability is apparently to find any camera in the room JUST as it's taking a picture and pose. Works for me.

THIS ONE GOES TO ELEVEN
Monday, 1 March 2004

We truly live in an age of miracles when I can watch the four hour telecast of the Oscars in about an hour and a half, zipping handily through all of the non-Lord of the Rings awards (not that there were many) and pausing for minutes at a time on Catherine Zeta Jones and Charlize Theron. All with the touch of a button.

Congratulations to all the proud (and probably still hungover) Kiwis and their amazing, beautiful country for helping to bring this epic to life.

MORE NEW ART!
Friday, 20 February 2004

Well, this one is semi-new, actually. I worked it up a few months ago, but it was kind of a Christmas present for a very good friend (as it is her very own portrait), so I held off posting it here to keep from spoiling the surprise. So, by the time I got it to her, I had already posted the last update, I held on to it until just right this very minute!

Anyway, here she is. I present to you, Rebecca!

Linkwise, here's two new links to heroes of mine. Great guys, fantastic artists. Click through and give them a shout.

NEW ART!
Thursday, 29 January 2004

Aside from the new new kissing drawing on the front cover of this site, I've just posted a reworking of the Ronin with Two Swords, as well as two finished versions of the Devil Nikki sketch that graced (damned?) the cover here for the last few weeks.

All of which you can now find in the Gallery!

LOOK AT ME GETTING MUSHY
Wednesday, 28 January 2004

Now on this I may be a bit ahead of myself (although, judging by the racks of pink and red piling up on well-placed store shelf space, I'm officially behind on this one as well), but February will shortly be hurling Valentine's Day toward us with all the velocity the retail establishment can muster as these sleeping sharks have begun to wake to the smell of blood in these recovering economic waters.

Alright, that's a bit harsh a metaphor for what's supposed to be a romantic occassion. I mean, I have a girlfriend now, and all, so I should be in a better mood about all of it. Probably just previous years of singleness-inspired bitterness bubbling to the surface, old habits dying hard and all that.

Truth is I just can't muster the kind of cynicism this year that has been so popular in recent years. 'Cause, y'know, I have a girlfriend now.

Anyway, the "cover" art here at Living Lightning is probably the most romantic thing I've drawn in a very long time.

And, dammit, that's a good thing.

TWO DECADES FOR THE REST OF US
Monday, 26 January 2004

I may be a few days late in posting this, but owing to the impact Apple has had on my life, I felt it needed acknowledging anyway. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the fact that I'm pretty sure the original 1984 ad didn't have an iPod in it...

Regardless, Here's a whole host of links for the Mac geeks out there:

Macworld - The gold standard of Mac publications, they've been publishing since the first Macs started to appear in 1984. The Productfinder search tool is a particular gem.

MacReviewZone - Sort of a portal for all things reviewy for the Mac. Valuable and useful for those of us who like to comparison shop before dropping a couple grand on a new doodad.

AppleHistory - Really, only for the true Mac dorks out there (like myself). Item by item release history of Apple.

Transintl.com - Maximize Your Mac, indeed. Best user interface for finding exactly what upgrades are available for your exact model Macintosh. Need to pump some new life into your old Quicksilver867? Drop a dual 1.4 Ghz G4 card into that bitch. Oh, I feel faint..

Barefeats - It's like this guy just tests Mac configurations in his basement or something. Very real-world, sans Jobs' infamous distortion field.

Unsanity - If you're running OS X and you don't know about Unsanity, well, I just don't see how. Extend and customize your Mac with their tight, efficient, and terribly affordable "haxies."

Panic - Another classic favorite. If you do any FTP at all on the Mac, you need to know about Panic's Transmit, hands down the best FTP client for OS X.

MacSoft Games - Halo for Macintosh. Period.