New "Deda draw us a a fan art of" poll :D

Very quick guys,
I put a new poll on the blog about the fan art theme for the next set of illustrations. Come and vote! :D

I'm exhausted but I will keep the comic going.
By the way thank you for voting the comic on a daily basis!

I will be back in the afternoon with a 9 Lio set.

Colored lineart

I'm always happy to see people having fun with linearts (even though mine aren't particularly easy to deal with (too many opened lines and not as clean as they could be).

jijikit has sent me a link to her colored version yesterday.
If you click on her nick you can follow her to Deviant Art and leave a nice message for her under her drawing.

I should be done with the illustrations for Cuore Nero by Amabile Giusti soon (it's a book, once the website is up you can go give a look at my poor attempt to render her characters in drawing form LOL)... so I should be able to go back on the comic full throttle soon.

Currently I am only 4 pages behind but I can catch up very easy. But I haven't produced any illustrations in ages and I need material to fill in our second artbook, right?

Updates and miniature paintings.

A few words today. Volume 3 can finally be found in the download section of the blog. (right column).
The pdf files hosted on issuu, contained in volume 3, will shortly be closed as reading only.

Also because you have the updated ones in the volume itself (the older files might contain mistakes).


The Original Character contest is still open.

So are the other games and you can hunt for pictures for Real Beauty contest 2, if you want to.

I'm a little behind on the comic so I need to catch up really fast and I am also planning two more specials for this chapter (a 1 page special for Pea and a 4 pages special for Kes).

I just switched to CS5 and I hope you won't notice any differences in the pages... I think I do but my friends say no.
I don't know.

See you soon! I have some clean up to do today! :D

Chapter 13 A - Curiosities

It was a barbaric tradition but it was in use, especially in small towns, like my own, almost up until the beginning of the 1900 (in fact the town I live in has also a famous play, in dialect, about this topic: the bridal bed sheet).

Traditionally the family would hang the bed sheet at the balcony, to show the whole world that the bride was pure and wedding was... consummated.



Clearly the concept of privacy was not in place yet. (no matter how much girls disliked the tradition, including Kes.)


There was a similar tradition for Jews as well but, thank God, did not include a balcony.

Rather the bride and groom had to spend seven days in the bridal chamber that the groom had prepared and only after seven days he would show the bed sheet to his friends.


Now we all know how girls lose their virtue, we don't have to go into that, we all know that anatomically girls are all different... some bleed a lot, some don't bleed at all, some bleed for days.
As to how much blood to find on the bed sheet, please consider that natural fibers were not bleached nor treated for colors and therefore the Schmerber level of the fabric is very different. Some are more permeable and a drop of anything would become a lake... and others were not.

Are these details relevant to the progression of the story? Not at all! XD

I'd just say let's not focus on useless details to the point of losing of sight the big picture, which is: the whole thing is a joke, yes, something to laugh about, but it is also a strong symbol that says how much more unconventional this union is becoming.

Cassandra closed her bed. She is tired, sleepy, panicking and it's Cassandra we're talking about. So yes, she closed her bed! XD

I think in the Italian version - I was soooo pooped when I wrote that part - it might have used proper language while in fact I was supposed to write "close" as well.
But a few pages went online wrong this week and I will have to spend the whole day tomorrow to fix the mistakes.

Unfortunately for me I am slowing down a lot. I need my time to draw and I don't have time to do that anymore. So, I am sorry, but from now on I will not be able to answer any question until the curiosity show up and I will refer you more and more to the FAQ page.

Do chameleon make any noise?

Not really... they make a nice humming sound, like a vibration, which is supposedly how they communicate with each other.
They hiss, like all good lizards should, and some of them whistle... which means when they are very upset, at the end of their hissing sound, they make this weird little noise that is called a whistle - although it doesn't really sound like a whistle to me.
To me it sounds like pciu' pciu' at least for the little fella I see in my Region.


So you know... Fickle, just like Castalia, hates being hungry and fsssssk and pciu' in protest.
Any other sound coming from a chameleon has to be monitored as they catch respiratory diseases very easily, if they are not treated the right way.

Lucky for us Fickle is a Sicilian chameleon, does not need the same amount of care an exotic one would. Unlucky for Fickle... we know what his duty on board is and, even though Kane likes him very much, the well being of the pet is directly in proportion with Kane's chance of survival.

The Ring - Special - Page 4

In English:














In Italiano:

The Ring - Special - Page 3

If anything could have gone wrong yesterday... it did.
I almost did not make it alive to the update.
In the end people should always know: you cannot hack a pirate!
And so here we are....

Another page for the special is up and I will be back later with the curiosities for chapter 13 A.

In English:














In Italian:

Il Pirata Baldassarre - Capitolo 13 A

Eccoci finalmente, con la nuova uscita.
Da qualche giorno Baldassarre e' disponibile anche su shockdown (ma al momento sto postando ancora il primo capitolo, un po' per volta).
Intanto accontentiamoci del caro Issuu!

E il volume 3 e' praticamente pronto per andare online!

Open publication - Free publishing - More commedia

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 13A

What a day, today!
First smackjeeves was attacked by a spambot, then blogger didn't work anymore.
Such a headache, on release day too.

But here we go! And as usual click on the title of the post to go and read on Smack Jeeves.

Open publication - Free publishing - More comedy

The Ring - Special - Page 2

In Italiano:













In English:

The Ring - Special - page 01

The promised special to complete volume 3! :D

In Italiano:












In English:












Where is Greenlemon, she was the one always noticing the ring! :D

Real Beauty 2?

I am glad you guys are having fun with the color scheme game.

So here's the thing: sorry I have to postpone the release of volume 3 to next weekend... I haven't finished the special that was supposed to go in it!

Some people have started collecting new pictures for a second Real Beauty contest... so are you ready for a second round?

Sorry for the touch and go message. I've got to run already! ;_;

Miniature paintings 2

As you can see my miniature museum has increased in size.

What? Deda!!! No more serious illustrations all you do is these miniature paintings now?

Sorry guys, I really have little time to draw these days so I'd rather spend my time on the comic... but while I am in class I can use some of the class time to create quick little canvases and they don't take me more than 10 minutes to produce. I find that rather relaxing.



I want to cover the whole cabinet with them!
I am sure you'll see some to your liking in here hahahaha. For example may I propose you....

I <3 side B.
For the Westley fans who wanted to create a "rear fan club"!










Rose chewing curtains...
(I was thinking about adding actual paper curtains and make this one in 3d) LOL.










This piece is dedicated to the Giovannino fans.
It's called: hello!


Ahahahaha.

Sorry, I feel sooo pop artists now! XDD




I will upload the close up to Callista's yay and Wes and Kes once I manage to take decent pictures of them.

The Color Scheme Interpretation (game)

Alirght guys I thought you ought to see what the winning costumes would look like with TPB actual color scheme. :D
So, these are our winners. I think Pea looks a bit top light and I am researching on the double color for Kes because putting a piece of clothing with two colors it meant you did not belong to real society (as I remember it, when I was studying the way clothes were dyed, it was one of the reasons why comedians, actors and jesters had clothes with two colors because they were merely considered humans). Unless I make her top into some sort of vest :D

Now I have a little quiz ready for you. When I was playing around with colors (because I start from shapes - what idiot would start from anything else but the overall shape of the character?XD) I thought I'd weaved a little psychological message in it.
Do you remember my post about Color Schemes?

In that post I stated that I chose colors with a purpose and that the characters' clothes will change of shape but not color.
Now, that was the beginning of the story... we are way past the mid point and right now we've entered the point of no return so the proximity has changed the characters' personality and something will show in their color scheme.

Here's the question: how do you interpret the relationship between the couples by looking at the picture below?






Have fun!

Miniature paintings

My miniature museum has expanded with two new pieces (actually I have a third one with rose but it's a work in progress - meaning I want to glue curtains on the canvas! LOL)

To the long canvases I add, as of today, my love for miniature square canvases.






Please admire the masterpieces in detail. (which doesn't work because they are meant to be looked at from afar!)


Shallalas n. 1











Fickle in his blue period!











Markers on canvas, size of the canvas 5x5 cm!

Guest Illustrator: Nopp KHEBCHAREON

My friend Noppy has sent me a present, yesterday.
I want to share it with you - my passion for pirates is very well known everywhere I go, I have always been "the pirate gal" for everyone - isn't she awesome?

Clearly, as I previously stated, she is Disney material! (she did matte paintings for Pirates of the Caribbean too). Currently I bug her constantly to learn more about markers and watercolors (I don't like to paint digitally, digital paint is not very vibrant it only shines like gold XDDD)... and am getting her addicted to my new passion: miniature canvases.


I love miniature canvases they force you to crop in the picture and look for a great composition.
I made some new miniature paintings of Fickle, Rose and the Shallalas, I'll show them to you tomorrow. On Rose's I want to glue some fabric! Like... curtains XDDDD

I hope you enjoyed the special! Seems like people has taken a liking to these specials so I am preparing more!

Giovannino Special!

As promised here's the Special dedicated to Giovannino!
Have fun!

English:

Open publication - Free publishing - More comedy

Italiano:

Open publication - Free publishing - More commedia

Da fashion game results!

Thank you all for participating in Da Fashion game. It was fun!

I know it closed pretty fast but I am already drawing the girls in their new clothes and I need to add splash panels in the pages :)

So here are the winners!

133 pirates voted for Pea and with 40 votes n.2 was the winner.

(Deda will only add her gloves and they will be brown, she will also be wearing pants) :D - this one was a tough race runners up lost by one vote! O_O Amazing! There were actually 2 runner up for her.

136 pirates voted for Kes and with 72 votes n. 4 is the winner.
(Deda will only simplify the design of the clothes a little bit and give her white socks) :D

139 pirates voted for Lio and the with 66 votes the winnder is n. 2.
(Deda will only make some colors brighter according to the time fashion and give her white socks) :D

141 pirates voted for Castalia and with 64 votes the winner is n. 4.
(Deda will modify this yellow to the original orange color Castalia was wearing and give her pants)

138 pirates voted for Callista and with 70 votes the winner is n. 4
(Deda might remove the yellow from the shirt because it takes attention away from the shoes and will add socks).

I'm adding socks (stockings) and pants because these are winter clothes.
None of the ones I voted for won! Proof yet again that what Calvino said about author and readers never meeting in their understanding of a story is a natural part of life! :D

Isn't this what makes every story unique?

I will clean up these soon and show what they will look like once they're adapted.

The Fashion Game closing.

alright people it's time to close Da Fashion Game so I will bring this up one more time and then I will close it tomorrow.

Again:

1) We're NOT picking a rendering... but a color scheme!

2) We're voting their creative ideas.

3) You can vote other and pick elements from different outfits.

So I hope we are clear, we are voting on: colors, creative ideas and/or a combination of them.

P.s. All the images are clickable and can be enlarged! :D

Callista

Castalia

Lio

Kes




Pea

9 Cassiopea

We continue with our 9 faces thingy - which I'll eventually turn into t-shirts!

I hope you enjoyed the special... tomorrow I will post the special in the blog so everybody can express their love for Giovannino and join the nuns in the Giovvannino fan club! LOL

I am packing the final pages into the volume and it will be up next week end for download.

(I also painted 2 more mini paintings, I will show them to you soon, I keep forgetting my camera at work!) XDDDD

9 Callista

There are no curiosities this week for the end of chapter 12.

I did not see any questions to answer to and some of the questions will be explained in chapter 13 so I don't want to spoil the fun.

I hope you like the cover of chapter 13... because we need to explore in depth the relationship between the Balthasar brothers.

So today I leave you with my 9 Callistas... and keep an eye ope because I will be posting the special "Giovannino" real soon.

Il pirata Baldassarre - Capitolo 12 D (fine)

E questo segna la fine del volume... a presto per lo speciale!!!!

Open publication - Free publishing - More comedy

the Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 12 D (end)

Hopefully this gets posted and we have an update.
Click on the link above to reach Smack Jeeves and continue reading from where you left the last time.

Open publication - Free publishing - More comedy

Chapter 13 cover!

Aliright mates!

We are back! (and with the cover for chapter 13!)

Those of you who use blogger might know already but blogger was in read only mode for more than 24 hours.

In fact I was supposed to post a second post in the afternoon yesterday, I was supposed to post the little shalallah special and stuff but I could not access.

Also, some of the comments posted got deleted or lost. Sorry. I tried to recover the ones I had in cache but many others, that were already posted, were lost and I don't know who and were they posted them. I only got a message that said that: sorry, some of your messages were lost! Sigh.

This is a conspiracy, let me tell you. I don't have internet at home, right now... I have to use the school one and the server is so messed up I cannot use Deviant Art properly.

I also have problems with other hosting sites (as I keep getting logged off while I upload things).

It's a nightmare.
Anyways this is the special I was supposed to post the other day in the afternoon.

Go shallalah, all night long!

God help me, I have to upload this to Deviant Art too! Hahahahahaha - I wanna cryyy - hahahahaha!

The update is coming up next and after that a full special of about 6 pages!

Fynn Frangrances? Why not!

Isolde
sent me an email yesterday with some changed to her previous entrance to the OC game (remember her? She is the one who submit the shy boy - and she changed him into a younger and chubbier one. Aaah, cute will kill me! *_*)

She also sent this other drawing which I found to be hilarious... and she writes:

"As for the sort of fan art, well, I was at work today and suddenly, this lady steps into my mind shouting "Fynn Fragrances for sale!!" :p

Cat and Foxy got hoodwinked, I'm sure the doctor would have given them a discount. hee ;)"

That's too funny!

I will participate with a little sketch of my own this afternoon. (eventually it will be a pin up in the comic XDDD) So stay tuned.

9 Cassandra and nick names.

And we continue with the 9 faces experiments (stay tuned for more) and I still have problems connecting to the internet from home.

I have few announcements to make.

1) I have set filters for the comments: recently I was receiving the wrong type of spam in it (porn and blue pills)... this was due to the fact that some content had swayed too much and Google had started indicizing the blog the wrong way. So some words are being filtered out and if your post does not show under my blog I have never received it and it was filtered out.
Sorry, it was getting tiring and I don't like to be listed with porn.

2) There was a bit of a situation on Smack Jeeves: although I believe I am the authority on this comic (because author and authority come from the same root XDD - simple pirate logic) I also realize that when an artwork is put out there interpretation cannot be avoided. And as much as sometimes things could be frustrating I try not to interfere and let the comic explain itself and unravel my thinking. I wish for you to enjoy the comic without picking fights over a fictional thing that is created - for me - as a form of exercise and - for you - for pure entertainment.
I will not answer to any other questions that are not related to the comic because I do not have time and also... I cannot answer to questions if I am trying to explain that very concept in the comic itself so please let me finish what I am saying first, alright. I can guarantee it's worth the wait, thank you for understanding.

3) Nicknames: the previous situation led to another situation. Some readers have created their own nicknames for the characters which led to much confusion (man, I already have 5 identical sisters, if we begin to mix names around then Hell breaks loose hahahaha). I will not refrain any of you from picking nicknames or term of endearment for any of the characters, it is how you show affection and I appreciate that, just as long as it does not create confusion in other readers.

Please do not be offended, though, if I don't participate nor share your love for these names you created, because I have picked mine already and am veeeery attached to them.

I think I explained once in the past why I picked the names, they had to go with the personality of the characters and how I developed them.

I did not mention how the nicknames came to be.

Nicknames in Southern European languages are derived in different ways and for different reasons than in English or German. Latin languages have to deal with accents and sounds. Greek has to deal with compound words too.

For example, in Italian, we don't have Lissie or Lizzie for Elizabeths.. we have Betta, Bettina, Elisa (I love Bettina) or Lisabe'. We might use more Bice for Beatrice than Bea (I call my niece Bice). Filippo can become Fili and Edoardo can become Dodi.

Although Italian youth is getting more and more Americanized, and now we also have some Jessicas and Samanthas, Jessica becomes Je' and Samanta becomes Sama'. Samuele is Samu or Sami not Sam.

Some languages also have grammatical forms that are called pejorative and diminutive (peggiorativo and vezzeggiativo - this last word is translated as term of endearment quite often).
They work by adding a suffix at the end of the word.

Let's take Deda, for example. If you call me Dedaccia I am being a bad bad Deda, if you call me Deduccia or Deduzza... I am your pet.

Also people with ancient names take a lot of pride in them.

One of my colleague has a Sanskrit name and you have to call her Subanthra not Subi or Banthra. It's long but she doesn't care: it's her name she doesn't want anybody to mess it up.

It's the same reason why I turned to Deda, to spare my name from being butchered (my British manager would call me Deb or Debbie - but my name is not English, it's Hebrew XD). That's what my sister calls me, Deda, at least it is a familiar name and that is what I allow everybody to use (and save my poor biblical name for the only two people who know how to say it: my nephew and niece - although they call me Bau more often, as many of my closest friend do.)

Other nicknames are born due to people's qualities/abilities (Cat) or defects (Foxy).

Let's see how our nicknames were born. Usually for nick names you take the first part of the name or the second one without mutating, only truncating.

Cassandra - Κεσάνδρα (Kesandra), shortened Kes the first part of the name was chosen.

Calliope - Καλλιόπη (Kalliopeh), shortened Lio because originally Feetsie was called Kalli and Liope was too long and got shortened into Lio (Leeo).

Cassiopea - Κασσιόπη (Kassiopeh), shortened as Pea the second part of the name was chosen.

Callista - Kαλλίστα (Kallista) she became Feetsie, eventually, but was originally Kalli.

Castalia- Κασταλία (Kastaleeah) she is the odd one and does not belong to the circle. If her name were to be shortened (and Italian was very much a Universal language back then) Casta would mean chastity, Taleea is an Hebrew name and would not bring her any good luck (as we've seen with the doctor) - so, sorry Bobo, I know you read it as Talia/Taglia e Cuci (I do too) but the accent fall on the i in Greek (I know, we all read it Castalia by now, but back home the pronunciation of the girls' name is very different)... her nickname could be Leea. But these are names the girls gave to each other, they never gave one to Castalia. It is very important.

Callimaco - Καλλίμαχος (Kallimahos), shortened Limi because Machos is an actual place and it is also a word used in compounds like stomach and would lead to confusion.

And now you know why I do prefer my choice for the nicknames, I feel them closer to the characters' personalities, but I also took some time to researched them. So I'll stick to mine, if you don't mind.

9 Castalia

I am having serious problems with the internet too.
So I don't know if this is a conspiracy but pirates shall go on.

Sorry for the late upload on Deviant Art (DA does not work on school's server, their php is not too cool and therefore too many cookies create conflict and stuff. Which does not happen on FB that is way better scripted anyway).


Here we continue with the 9 faces and these are the 9 I could come up with for Castalia.
All done with markers and black ball point pen.

Chapter 12 C - curiosities.

Sorry for the delayed posting. Life is busy busy busy these days.

Fennel soup. (yes, Quoque says fannel instead).
The knowledge of Fennel as an aphrodisiac comes from the Egyptian tradition... it was not as common in Europe though (if you consider Shakespeare he mentions potatoes as aphrodisiac - Flastaff does - but fennel is used as symbol of flattery, in Hamlet).
Is it really and aphrodisiac? It contains something similar to estrogen for sure but you'd have to eat a loooot of it to even feel something... is my guess.

That's how I feel about the thing... because I consume fennel in huge quantities and it never did anything to me, just like chocolate, but making me feel full and slightly happy because I love its taste and it helps me go n.2!

So what was this soup, and why is it making everybody feel weird?

One thing we know... according to the doctor: it's very spicy.

Food in the hot areas of the World is spicier than in the North. Let me tell you, in general (it's not a rule) people who comes from a Country where the food is not spicy, don't take spicy very well. I don't. You need to be raised with spicy food in order to feel it as "normal".

From Cat we know that it makes people run... probably to the bathroom (it does helps go n.2, after all).



From Callista we know that it makes you go all weird, then pass out.

One more clue will come from the pages I will release next.

What was Rose looking at?
I will send you hunting... you'll notice little hearts here and there behind the characters... can you figure out where they come from and who is producing them.

That's what Rose is looking at.

Where are the Shallalas? Somebody asked...
She is the shallalas.

Clearly this is no time to let them out and loose.
This is time to put them to use.

So like in those cartoons where the little robots form the big robot, here we have MegaShalaKes!

Happy Mother's Day

Before I go to post the curiosities, which are just about the fennel soup really, I wanted to wish all the moms out there a very happy mother's day.

So whether you are a mama or a child: Happy Mama Day!

Il pirata Baldassarre - Capitolo 12 C

Ci siamo, a soli dieci giorni dalla scorsa uscita e a sei dalla prossima... la terza parte del capitolo 12.
Ancora poche paginette e non solo finsce il capitolo ma addirittura il volume!

E non ho ancora pensato a organizzare il freetalk. LOL
Agh e la copertina del 13.

Va bene, va bene. basta cianciare. Buona lettura!

Open publication - Free publishing - More comedy

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 12 C

Here we go, the third part of chapter 12... only a few more pages left and not only the chapter but the volume too will be over!
How thrilling... which reminds me I have to get started on the cover of chapter 13.

As usual you can click on the post title to come and read the comic on Smack Jeeves or just enjoy the flash version here embedded.

Open publication - Free publishing - More comedy

9 kanes

The update is approaching, are you ready?

This I something I developed during Visual Development class (it's a fun class but very complicated, ask the students XDDD).

I hope I can make more of this, the scanner does not bring proper justice to the piece, therefore I'll try and scan again (or I shall be forced to make and Illustrator version of this).

Somebody suggested I made t-shirt with these. Maybe I should try! XDDD

Real Beauty Game - END

Today we end the Real Beauty Game.

I've received requests to enter new submission so I think it's about time we close the old game, let it rest a bit, discuss the results and see what happens.

174 people voted for Quoque and the Winner with 88 votes, is:

(deda's personal choice: I would pick him too.)

178 people voted for the Papadopulos girls and the winner, with 36 votes, is:

(deda's personal choice: was n. 1 instead)


130 people voted for Martin and the winner, with 93 votes, is:

(deda's personal choice: I would pick him too.)

184 people voted for Westley and the winner, with 100 votes, is:

(deda's personal choice: I would pick him too.)

176 people voted for Kane and the winner, with 70 votes, is:

(deda's personal choice: was n. 5 instead!)

183 people voted for Foxy and the winner, with 49 votes, is:

(deda's personal choice: was n. 8 instead!)

180 people voted for Cat and the winner, with 95 votes, is:

(deda's personal choice: I would pick him too.)

Thank you all for participating in the game. Hopefully we'll have enough pictures and new submission to start a new one soon. (I did not participate, btw, but I thought you might be interested to see how I perceive my characters! ^__^)