The Road to Hope

More BlazBlue! Here we have Bang Shishigami and his two (not entirely voluntary) ninja disciples, Taokaka and Carl Clover. I love the idea of this unlikely trio fighting for truth and justice in Kagutsuchi!

Hollow Fields

Mad steampunk scientist Madeleine Rosca (who works as a part-time manga author when she's not vying for world domination) is celebrating her birthday today. She won't be getting any presents if her only companions are clockwork automatons and failed test subjects... Maybe a spunky drawing will cheer her up?

This is Lucy Snow, the protagonist of Mad's wonderful debut series Hollow Fields -- which you should totally read, if you haven't already!

OVA Cover

The cover illustration for the OVA Role-Playing Game, to be released by Wise Turtle Publishing. We're in the middle of preparing a Kickstarter campaign to ensure the 2012 release of this oft-delayed book. I'll keep you posted!

You and I and Months of Snow

Witness Sola and Lune, the celestial pair from By Moon Alone, my birthday present for Honoel. Usually Sola is the strong and protective one, but even the sun child needs to rest sometime. All right, I'll admit it: I also have a weakness for role reversals.

Somewhere Only HAI Knows

My partner in crime, Honoel A. Ibardolaza -- creator of By Moon Alone and illustrator of the Laddertop manga series -- has returned from hiding and opened up a blog where you will find artwork & writing excerpts, as well as all sorts of humorous ramblings.

What are you still doing here? Go visit his new blog, Of Drawn Things Great & Small and maybe drop him a note while you're there.

Fox Nouveau

Clay is a big fan of the Art Nouveau style and since today is his birthday it seemed fitting to present him with a Jugendstil makeover of Nazo, one of his characters (first introduced in this post).

And because I'm sure he's not the only person on this planet with a penchant for elegant fox spirits, you guys get a peek, too!

As an aside, I set up a Google+ profile for those of you who would prefer to get updates delivered to their stream (if you just want to add me so my buddy list won't look so pitiful, that's fine too). My Twitter and Facebook accounts could use some lovin' as well.

Clay's Nowhere Land

My buddy Clay Gardner, creator of the OVA Role-Playing Game and co-author of Fantasy Realms, started his own blog earlier this year. He's covering all the topics close to his heart, such as tabletop gaming & RPGs, anime, video games, typography...oh, and turtles.

If you're interested in turtle wisdom (or any of the other things listed above), definitely give Clay's Shell Games a look!

OVA: Creating a Character

What's this? An update?! Don't freak out, there might be more of these in the future -- this blog's been desolate for too long now.

You may remember that OVA Role-Playing Game I'm doing the artwork for? Progress has been slow, but we're getting there. The final book will have well over 60 full-color illustrations and I still have some work left to do before it can go to press.

Below you can see a sneak preview of the character creation chapter, featuring new and exclusive artwork.

The OVA Role-Playing Game is scheduled to be released as a PDF download in 2011 and a print version will follow later. I will definitely post more art excerpts when we are nearing completion!

Kitty Litter

Tao is Taokaka! I love the character designs of the Kaka Clan, especially the kittens. Only the Japanese could make a black ball with two dots for eyes and lots of teeth look so cute.

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Carl Clover and Kokonoe are easily my two favorite characters from the BlazBlue franchise. I figured even a mad catgirl scientist with a candy obsession can't deny such a polite boy a taste of her lollipop.

I'm so excited about the US release of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift!