Black Magic

To me, the hardest part about running a web comic properly is having the time to edit and post your new work. The thing is... I have to do this while working on a tarot card deck, a KH2 doujinshi, my cosplay, KK2008 merchandise, school work, and 2 jobs. I'm also working on redrawing the entire series so that I can get it printed out to be sold at Kawaii-Kon 2008. I have a year to do all of this. Mind you, the next chapter was drawn out already. It's just a matter of when I get the time to actually work on that sucker. It might take a while since I no longer have a laptop to work on and the rest of my family steals the desktop. I tend to only have time to use this thing in the early morning for about an hour. Which reminds me... my time is up and I have to leave for the day already. *sigh* I promise I'll update asap. Hopefully sometime this month, yeah?

~Nao

Argh, this is so frustrating.

There have been a few events in my life recently which have greatly contributed to BM having not updated in half-past forever. Mind you, they are annoying and I wish I never had to go through them but I really have no choice.

Problem #1
The first and greatest factor is that I have lost my thumbdrive. Now I store EVERYTHING on that lil' thumb drive of mine. It has all of my art, homework, and some music & videos on it. Yes, that includes the raw scans of chapter 8. Without these raw scans, I cannot do jack-squatt! Furthur more, without my thumbdrive, I HAVE jack-squatt. *sigh* So before I can even get started on working on chapter 8, I need to buy a new thumbdrive so that I may transfer the raw scans to my personal laptop (it's the only computer I have 100% access to anytime I want for usually as long as I want. Very convienient) and edit them properly on photoshop and stuff. Lovely.

Problem #2
I can't exactly afford a new thumbdrive at this immediate point in time. I have to pay $3,000 to fix my car and according to my parents, THAT is my first priority with my money. Not my education. Not putting food into my belly. Not my art. My car. The thing is that my car still RUNS for heavens sake. I wish I could just put off fixing my car for a few months...you know, when I actually HAVE $3,000 to PAY for the thing?

Problem #3
Kawaii-Kon is right around the corner (end of April) and I've still got a ton of projects to finish before then. I've got prints to print, bookmarks to mark, keychains to chain, etc. It's a lot of work but I love it. I've been prioritizing Kawaii-Kon all year, I know. But it's a very important event to me, ok?

Problem #4
School is back in session and I've got loads of homework to do as well. If that isn't obvious enough as to why it's a reason, then I don't know what is.

With all of this going on... sometimes I wonder when I even have time to sleep. *sweat*

Yes, I know. It's been a while since I last updated Black Magic. The site is NOT dead, believe me. The problem is just... I've been busy, you know? I've found myself stuck in a Kingdom Hearts 2 high. So, those of you who watch my DA already know that most of my art lately has been on KH2 instead of BM. Honestly it's a huge artistic relief for me. I haven't drawn so much fan art in my life before and it's really refreshing. ^^

Chapter 8 IS drawn out though. It's just a matter of digitally cleaning it up and adding in the text and what not. Mmm the hassle work. *sweat* I've been looking for easier ways of drawing out BM. Usually I just sketch it out in pencil then transfer it onto the computer and shade it in Open Canvas and add text through Photoshop but... I've been looking back at the previous pages and I'm really not happy with the look of it. I'm trying to get BM to have a more professional, more manga-feeling ... feel to it. O_o; If that makes any sense. Yeah... but that is another reason why I haven't posted the next chapter yet. ._.; Ah well. Just know that it will be up soon.... and I hope it will be an exciting chapter. I thought it was pretty exciting as I drew it out. ^^; We'll see.

Until next time!

~Nao

Well... I THOUGHT I'd be able to get chapter 8 out there by the begining of December... but I forgot that the begining of december is when finals start! So instead of working on the lovely comic I've been working on finals instead! T_T I'll be getting the next chapter up as soon as possible though, alright you guys?

Kden~! I'm out for more finals!

~Nao

I actually managed to draw out most of Chapter 8 is past weekend. o_o My god it's a miracle! I was seriously on a ROLE! I have just about 2 pages before I can close the chapter then I just have to tone the pages and then they will be up! I'm guessing they should be up and online sometime around early December. =3 So much earlier than I expected. ^^ hee hee. Maybe it's all thanks to my current Axel high. *sweat* I've become a AkuxRoku fangirl... i NEVER fangirl! WTH?! Ahh... but I can't seem to help it with this one. Thanks to my AkuxRoku inspiration, the comic is actually almost done. Ha! Who knew a fandom would inspire me so much? ^^;

Right. So I haven't exactly finished the next chapter just yet, but wasn't it nice to have updates posting on schedule for once?! Yes, it really was nice. I'd have liked to have continued posting on time and all but I haven't finished even drawing out the next chapter just yet. I've been busy with a lot of things, namely preparing for Kawaii-Kon 2007 and working 2 jobs as well as attending school now. Woo~ busy busy.

So the point of this entry? Just letting you guys know that the chapter has officially ended and that the next chapter will be delayed. So updates... yeah. Just keep an eye on the site for a while. You'll see an update or two eventually. ^w^

~Nao

So the updates have been on a ROLE, haven't they? See what happens when I prepare an entire chapter ahead of schedule? I can actuall stick to the schedule that way. A ha ha ha... that's where the trouble come in...

I haven't prepared the next chapter yet because I've been busy creating the Halloween Special for 2006. It will be up before Halloween. Maybe if I can get my friend to draw the Christmas special for me, I might have time to draw out the next chapter and post it quickly. I hope... ><; I also have a few other projects for Kawaii-Kon 2007 that I need to work on, including a volume of Black Magic. I wonder if anyone would even buy it though... hmm.

Well, I bought My Chemical Romance's new cd, The Black Parade. That is an AWESOME album. Every song is great. Very inspirational music. I recommend you listen to it sometime. ^^

~Nao

Alright... so I've been on a break for almost 4 months now... I probably lost a lot of readers as a result but that's ok. ^^; I feel that with all the work I put into the site, I deserved a super long break... which is not yet over. Believe it or not, I have NOT being doing nothing this entire break. I've been working on commissions, drawing out the next chapter, makes small updates to parts of the site, etc. I've also been working on another big project which I will not announce just yet...but it IS taking up a lot of my time. Anyhow, I guess for those of you who still check this thing, I will go over a few things I've been working on for Black Magic.

I decided that I am not going to post up ANY pages for chapter 7 until I finish drawing at LEAST 20 pages of the chapter, excluding the opening and closing pages. I'm almost done, actually. I believe I have only four more pages to go before I can close the chapter. Please be patient. I'm just trying to get ahead of schedual so that my postings can actually be ON schedual. Sadly, since it's summer, I find that I have less time to draw than during school. How sad is that? ^^; I tend to draw the pages out in class so.. yeah. Since I'm not wasting my time in a class room, it's a little harder for me to get the pages done. Ah well. I'm working on it! So I'm roughly 85% done with this...

I'm also preparing to open up a store for the site as well. I'm still trying to figure out a form of payment that is quick and easy to use. I'm about 90% sure I'm going to use paypal for this. I just have to get all the details and junk figured out first. I think that part is about.. hmm.. 70% done.

I have also been meaning to fix up the links page. I swear, that thing is just a MESS. ^^; Lots of broken links and it takes a little while to load. I think I'm going to get rid of the banners and just make the entire page text based. Progress on this... 0% ^^; I'll be getting around to it soon though.

So as you can see... I'm slowly preparing to post things up again soon, so just keep an eye out for the updates. =D

~Nao

So I'm sure many of you have noticed the HUGE lack of updates lately. I have to admit, they are kind of on purpose.... Kind of. I haven't been updating Black Magic because I have been preping for Kawaii-Kon which is flying at me so fast. Don't worry though, the chapter is pretty much over. I am missing a page and the ending picture but it is generally the end of the chapter. I appologise for my break being so sudden... and so close to Black Magic's 2 year anniversary too. ^^; I don't know if I will be able to make a proper 2-year-anniversary comic for the site on time. You see... I've been working on a Black Magic special that I plan to sell at Kawaii-Kon. This will NOT be posted on-line. It is something that you must purchace to read. Also... it is a hentai. =D I've always wanted to draw a decent hentai manga. Yay! *ahem* A-anyway... ^^;

More news... another reason why my updates have been irregular is not only because of te above mentioned... but because Naohiro is no longer unemployed! Yay! Money! I can EAT~!! Naohiro now works at her neighborhood Car Wash. ^^; Don't laugh. I make decent money in tips, ok? So my job has also been eating away at my time. *sigh* I wish sleep were not a necessity. Imagine the progress I could make if I didn't have to sleep? T_T Ah well...

Which reminds me...I should go to bed. Tomorrow I start work first thing in the morning. T_T Thanks for reading! Keep an eye out for more updates later, k?

BTW: for those of you who read this far...
COME SEE ME AT KAWAII-KON! =D

Happy Valentines everyone!

Do you all have a special person to share the day with? =D

I was considering creating another special for Valentines day this year but I really didn't have the time to do that. I've been far too busy working on prints to sell at Kawaii-Kon that I even started to fall a bit behind with the regular updates. ^^U Yeah... that's not too good. I must hurry and draw more again. *sweat*

For those of you who have noticed, I have posted the comic strip a day in advance so that I won't have to worry about rushing to post on Valentines Day, you know? =D I'm so smart. Bwahahahahahahaha. ~_~U Anyway, enjoy the early comic post! I know it's just one of those "explain the history of what is going on so that you get what is happening" deals but... yeah. It took a lot of time to figure out how to put that page together... o_oU So... uh.. .be thankful! =) Indeed...

Oh yeah... I also forgot to mention that I have turned 19 on the 6th of this month. I completely forgot to post something here as a reminder, so to say. Bwahahaha! Fun.

Nothing more to really report on. =D Until next time, people!

Jya!

~Nao

Just a heads up to everyone who reads Black Magic...er...and actually cares to check the blog. ^^U In case you don't know or haven't noticed, Keenspace under went a name change. They are now known as Comic Genesis. Because of this switch, I will be going through every page of the Black Magic site and changing all the links from "keenspace" to "comicgen". If you find that something doesn't work, chances are that I already know about it and that I am working on it at the moment. This shouldn't cause too much trouble but in case it does, well... now you know. ^^

A random picture of Nephylys that I drew. ^^U I just felt like posting it. *ahem* Anyway, due to the lack of responces I've been getting on the subject of coloring the pages or not, I have decided, on my own, to start coloring the pages of Black Magic in black and white again. It is taking me far too long to continue coloring each page properly in full CG. If this bums you out...well, it's your fault for not giving me your opinion. Tough cookies....Mmm I want cookies now. O_oU

In case you can't tell, I've been practicing on improving my art. I'll be trying to get some Black Magic merchandise out there eventually, but until then, I will just continue practicing my art and whatever.

Yeah... this entry is kind of random. Whatever.

The comic will continue to update as usual sometime in January. I think the next page may be the last colored page for a while. Hell, I may just turn that one black and white too. ^^U Anyway, expect updates in January. Thanks to everyone who reads this... which is probably no one.

Indeed, Christmas is just around the corner, people! I have posted the Christmas Special for 2005 as well. ^^ Yay! It was actually posted earlier but... it wasn't completed and it wasn't supposed to update when it did. O_OU Yeah.. *ahem* anyway, it is now up and ready for your viewing pleasures! ^^ Please take the time to read through it. ^^
Thanks everyone!

...and so, life seems to be getting a tad rocky for me. Many ups and downs. Sadly, the downs are a bit larger than the ups, but nothing I can't handle. It's currently as if there was a tiny little mosquito buzzing around my head and every time I try to slap it I end up slapping my self. Funny...yet seriously annoying. ^^U Indeed...

I've been (slowly) working on the Chrsitmas special so if anyone is wondering why there have been no updates recently, well... now you know why. Between the special, finals (which just ended), christmas shopping, commissions, and more, I just can't seem to complete the next page on a decent time schedual. T_T I have been considering taking a break for a while... so I guess I could say that I'll be able to start posting the regular comic again after I finish the christmas special. ^^U So sorry about that. Really. And then people wonder why I hate the holidays? Bah... hamburger I say! er... Hambug I mean. If you guys really can't wait to see something new though, please feel free to visit the gallery and/or the fanart section. Apparently, they are the only parts of the site recieveing much updates. ^^U I guess cause I don't have to do much prep work for those. For those of you who want to preview some of the character sketches for the christmas comic, feel free to click on the following image. ^^



I've been thinking... since I have been lacking in time to work on the comic recently... I have narrowed it down to two options... either:

Option 1) decrease the amount of pages updated to once a week

or

Option 2) stop CGing every page and stick to the current schedual

I'd really like to know what people think on this subject and I'll probably end up asking around and what not anyway so please, e-mail me or leave a comment or something here. Just let me know so that I know what everyone thinks on this matter, ok? If no one says anything, I may end up doing something most people will not like. Get it? Yeah.... that was kinda... rambled out. =p Fun.

Well, I'll be sure to keep everyone up to date again as to what is going on. Keep an eye out for updates and all in the comic. ^^ Jya peeps!

Don't you hate it when you were in the middle of typing out a nice long detailed entry and your computer does something stupid that deletes the entire thing before you can submit it? -_- Well, that happened to me just now. Let's see if I can remember what I typed...

For those of you who actually read the text box on the front page of the comic, you already know that I will be unable to update the comic at all next week. For those of you who haven't read that... shame on you. You can find out why here anyway. I will be leaving the country for a funeral next week. I will be gone all week as well. "Ooh! Another country! How fun!" you might say. I don't think so. -_-U I'm not headed over to one of those fun countries like Japan or Europe... I'm just heading on down to an even smaller rock in the ocean than the one I'm on now. One that reeks of dead tuna, pigs, and salt water....combined. Can't picture the smell? Trust me, you don't want to. *gags*

For those of you who actually take teh time to check out the journal though... I have a nice little treat for you. You won't be left with no comic updates at ALL... I give you the pretty much raw form of the comic instead, for your viewing pleasures. It's not CGed... but it was cleaned up on photoshop. That was about as far as I could get before I had to do more stuff for the funeral. Check it out below.



Wasn't that fun? Heh. Yeah... Well, at least while I'm up there, I can (hopefully) work on the Christmas Special and what not. Oh... remember how I said there was going to be a Thanks Givings Special this year drawn by a guest artist? Well... I got my hopes up and it's been hard for her to get the comic to me on time. It's a week til Thanks Givings and I still have not recieved the pages from her. She left her scanner here when she moved and her internet hasn't been working for just about forever now, meaning that she can't just e-mail it to me, and her jack-ass parents refuse to take her to a post office so that she can snail mail the pages to me... meaning... yeah. No Thanks Giving Special this year. If/When I do finally recieve them, I'll either post it up late or just hold them for next year. Which option I choose will depend on when I get the pages. *sigh*

Other news... other news... Oh, I may not be able to update as quickly when I return. This darn funeral just might cost me my Math grade... and I'll have to push three times as hard in order to pass that class now. -_- Thanks. Just... Thanks. Like I really need to take this damn class AGAIN! -_-*

Hurrr... on the bright side... i have finished the new layout for the comic and there is now a blog and fan art section... which I'm sure you've noticed already since you are here AT the blog. It's a little larger than the last one but I still like it. It features most of the important characters in the comic thus far. Trust me... there are WAY more than that... but I have to take it slowly else the comic will stop making any sense....again. Hell, I'm not even sure if it makes sense at the moment. Does it? O_oU Ah well. I'm concidering getting a forum for the site but I really have no idea what I'd need a forum for. In all seriousness... why would I need a forum? Just for the fact that I have one? I mean, sure, maybe people would use it to say hi or to just talk about the comic... but... they can always e-mail me that stuff, right? Feh. I dunno. Maybe if I can think of a reason for having a forum, then I'll actually take the time to get/make one. ~_~U Yeah... But if I'm going to be the only one using it the I'm not going to get it.

Yeah... well that's all for now. I'll keep you guys all updated when I get internet access again. ^^ Jya.

Alrighty, let's get this show on the road! XD Lately, I've been working on collecting some fan art for the new Fan Art section that I am working on. As of now, I currently have 14 pieces of art, 2 of which were commissioned and came out very beautifully. I'm still looking to get my hands on more art of any of the characters in any style so feel free to send in some art work, ok? Most of the art I have received came from people on GaiaOnline. ^^ Thanks guys, you're all so awesome! Man, I'm kind of hyper tonight. ^^U

So what else is new? Well, I've been working on a new layout for the site. Erm... for those of you who have been keeping up with the comic for a while, by layout you already know that i mean a new menu bar. ^^U As much as I like the current one, it lacks room to include the new features that I'm adding to the site. Yeah... Fan Art and a Blog count as new features. =P Because I said so.

I'm sure many of you have noticed that the latest postings have been late, if at all. ^^U I appologise for that. The holiday season and school have decided to gang up on me lately. Sadly, they are kicking my ass. ^^U There aren't enough hours in a day to do the things I need and want to do. Ah well... I'll figure something out. I'll have to start putting more priority to the comic than to my personal free time. ^^U

Other news... there is a freaky guy wandering around my school at night and sexually harassing the girls. He seems to come by once a month, exposing and touching himself in front of them. Sadly, he has not been caught yet. Another sad thing being that these events usually take place at the area I have MY night class in. ~_~U That doesn't comfort me at all. So how does this relate to the comic? Heh. It doesn't, but I just thought it would be interesting to share.

Ok, that random real life news aside... on with more comic news. ^^ The Halloween Special was completed AHEAD of schedual! yay! Well, that is old news already, but in case you were wondering, yes, I actually posted it a couple of days before Halloween this year. ^^ Whoo whoo!

I'm tired of updating this. =P More next time.
~Nao

Yes, you heard right. Black Magic now has a LiveJournal where you can find details on upcoming plans to the site, story, and more! How fun. It may take a little while for me to get used to writing in here all the time but I'll manage somehow.

So far... as of the date this is being posted on the site...pretty much no one will be reading it... since it won't be available for a while. Ha ha oh well. I will be posting the link to here on OnlineComic.net as news though so maybe some people might see it. Ha ha ha.

If you're lucky enough to discover this thing before it actually gets posted, then congrats to you, you get to learn a new thing or two about the plans for Black magic and whatever.

So anyway, I've been working on the Black Magic Halloween Special for 2005. It's almost done but I'm still worried that I may not make the deadline of posting it on Halloween. I have currently finished a little more than half of the pages but that isn't including the title page and back cover. T_T I'm so behind schedual. Curse you mid-terms! Curse you!Here is a sneak preview of the Halloween Special. It's a personal favorite clip of mine....cause Tyler is awesome like that. XD

I am also working on the Christmas Special for 2005 now. I have just completed the storyline for it and I will now be working on drawing it out... as soon as I complete the Halloween Special that is. ^^U

I have a guest artist making a Thanks Giving Special for 2005 for me. Yay~! As for now, the guest artist shall rename nameless. Muaha, cause I'm secretive like that. Hee hee. Not quite. *ahem* Anyhow, she has currently moved and might have a small problem with getting the pages to me since she can't find her scanner. It shouldn't be too big of a deal though since she can always mail to to me via snail mail if anything. Indeed... let's hope for the best.

Well, I've also been a bit busy with commissions lately. I am currently accepting commission. You can find all the details on that at this site.
http://holydemon.deviantart.com/journal/6566633/
All money recieved from commissions go towards my college tuition since I am paying my own way through college. T_T Kinda hard to do especially since I am currently still unemployed. I need to find a job quickly! T_T Maybe I'll work at the Starbucks down the road or something. So... um... PLEASE BUY A COMMISSION! Support me and Black Magic!

On another note, I am also looking for some fan art. I have a couple of pieces but I'd really love to get some more in. I know I had discouraged fanart for about a year but that's because I was planning on creating a fanart page...which... never really came around due to being busy and sheer laziness. O_oU So sorry about that but in all seriousness, I'd LOVE to get some fan art. In fact, I highly encourage it. If you have fan art to give me, just send it via e-mail and I'll hold onto it until I get my fan art page up...which is really only not there due to the lack of fan art I've recieved. ^^U I wonder if that made any sense?

I think that should do it for now. I'll be sure to keep this thing updated as regularly as I can. ^^
Jya-peeps!

Nao