Meanwhile, on Facebook.....

[Steve Hubbell]

October 12 at 10:09pm.
Tonight's dinner is a variation of last night's ramen. Won ton, both fried and in soup. w Janice Chiang, Jeff Yang

That looks spectacular! All I can share is more breakfast gyoza: ham, eggs and cheese!

The Asian variation of the breakfast burrito?

That big white thing on the plate with the fried won ton is a shrimp chip. I figured as long as I had the oil out--

You got it!

Hmm...gotta try making an Asian version of the regular burrito too. Seasoned beef, cilantro, cheese, onions -- and sour cream and guacamole as dipping sauces!

="Nina Savino"]
because of you I looked for the baby bok choy today... but no luck, must make a trip to the city (Binghamton not NYC) to find some

Too bad you did not live in my area, Nina. I would have given you some. They are sold in these huge bags. I had to buy about 5 pounds of baby bok choy. I will be eating it for the whole week.

I used to live near you, but then I didn't know it... maybe I will try and grow it next year... the Asian market in Binghamton often carries it and other veggies/foods I can't get at the regular markets... but thank you!

[Steve Hubbell]

October 13 at 9:38pm
I did not eat all my pomegranate as a snack yesterday, so made pomegranate chicken for tonight's dinner. I also made banana/walnut/chocolate chip bread for dessert. Janice Chiang Jeff Yang Nina Savino

Dear Stan, can I have the recipes for these?

There is no recipe for the pomegranate chicken since I just winged it. However, this is a great banana bread recipe: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtokStgEQKM

I made two banana bread and stuck one in the freezer just to see how it will keep. We used to do that with mango bread and it kept fine.

[Steve Hubbell]

Yesterday at 1:41pm ·
I have a piece on eBay, the proceeds of which will help Wendi Iserman with medical bills. As you may know, I am well acquainted with the problem.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CBFU-Charity-Ar ... ltDomain_0

[Steve Hubbell]

October 18
Inking pages, munching animal crackers, and wondering what kind of animal this is.

[Gaffey]

Love it!


October 18
Inking pages, munching animal crackers, and wondering what kind of animal this is.



It's Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street! Looks like an elephant to me.

[Steve Hubbell]

15 hours ago

For dinner tonight I made hoisin pork chops with fresh pineapple relish. Janice Chiang, Nina Savino

3 hours ago

Sometimes a page just does not work out as originally planned. This was the case with Senso #3 page 11. I first penciled the page as I had thumb nailed it, with the third panel horizontal but turned on its side. I thought this would be a neat camera trick and Chizu in the foreground and the trees in the background would orient the reader as to what I was doing. However, it just did not work out, so I redrew it. I changed the top two panel tier from a third page to a quarter page, giving me more ceiling in the third panel to emphasize the height of the tripod walker. I was also able to gain height in the fourth panel, so now Chizu seems to be jumping even higher than she did in the original.

It is not uncommon to redo pages. This was was redrawn after the pencil stage. Sometimes they are completely inked before I decide to redo them, as was the case with splash panels in issues 2 and 5 that I had posted awhile back.

[estee]

Damn you, Stan Sakai...damn you to hell! Why her? Of all the characters why Chizu?

[Steve Hubbell]

October 22 at 6:50am

Here is the cover for the Usagi Yojimbo: Senso collection. It is scheduled for release in May, 2015 in a hardcover format similar to Yokai and Nilson and Hermy, though in black and white. I do want to redo a few pages for the collection.
Since this story is outside of the ongoing Usagi continuity, we thought we should do a different look to the cover.

[Steve Hubbell]

October 22 at 11:46am

The Sakai Project is in Spain!

October 22
The Sakai Project has hit Spain - from Planeta DeAgostini!

[Steve Hubbell]

October 22 at 10:10pm

I made a spice rub chicken tonight. I did not know whether to pan fry it or broil it, so did both. I like the char of pan frying (on the left), but, because I used foil, the clean up for the broiler was so much easier. I also made lup cheong fried rice.





I used Portuguese sausage spice that I got from Hawaii. It turned out pretty good. I got the lup cheong from the Chinese market last week.

[Steve Hubbell]

October 23 at 6:22pm

Staging a fight scene for the Usagi stage play in London.

October 23

Stan Sakai's USAGI YOJIMBO comes to life on the stage of Southwark Theatre. Here's a photo from today's first staging for a fight scene!

http://www.paulgravett.com/index.php/si ... _yojimbo_i

October 23 at 5:31pm
Wow! It's very exciting to have an Usagi stage play!

[Steve Hubbell]

Yesterday at 1:49pm

I ordered some jelly from Mrs G's. They arrived very promptly, and they are delicious. You bet I will be ordering more.

Here is her website:
www.mrsgsjellies.com

Huckleberries are great. I discovered them when camping in Wyoming. We had wild huckleberries and homemade huckleberry ice cream every day. We also saw a lot of bears.

18 hours ago

A little sketch I sent in to Mrs. G's with my order for jellies.

Place an order. You'll thank me later.
www.mrsgsjellies.com

23 hours ago

A very special "thank you" for the jellies from Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo! (I got his permission to post).

[Steve Hubbell]

2 hours ago

I finished Usagi Yojimbo #146 and sent it took it to FedEx this morning, so watch for the delivery tomorrow, Brendan H. Wright. Meanwhile, here is a step-by-step look at a detail of the cover. Drawn on 2-ply 500 series Strathmore bristol, cold press. The image area is 10x 15.5 inches on 11x17 inch board.



I start with very loose shapes drawn with a 2H mechanical pencil. I am just looking at flow and composition here.

Working this loosely makes it easier to play with elements of the composition. You can see that I tried a couple of placements for the dead ninja's head.



I tightened it a bit more with the 2H pencil. I considered adding another figure on the left, but that would cover much of the background so took it out. I also made Usagi a little smaller as he looked too tall compared to the other figures.



I further tighter the lines with an HB mechanical pencils. I also determined the perspective. I have been a thesis advisor and have seen a lot of portfolios. Don't skim on the perspective, folks. You can't fake it.

I also decided to raise the bottom border as it seemed there was a lot of open space down there. It also gave me a bit more room for the logo. That will make Cary, the designer, happy.



I inked the foreground figures with an older Koh-i-noor Art Pen. It has a really flexible nib that can make nice variations in line weight. The background was inked with a newer, stiffer pen nib.

I also shifted the border an eighth of an inch to the right. That gave more breathing room for the dead ninja, and centered the drawing a bit more.

I also lowered the base of the background building. It looked too high in the previous step for the ninja to be leaning on.



Lines are erased with a Magic Rub eraser.



Blacks are spotted in with a Pentel Brush Pen filled with Badger Black Opaque ink, old formula. They changed the formula and it is not as good.



Details are added, including all those dots on Usagi's clothes.



The finished cover.



These are the art tools I used for this cover. L-R: .3mm 2H mechanical pencil; .5 HB mechanical pencil; eraser; 3.5 technical pen to rule the borders; Rotring Sketch Pens for details; Pentel Brush Pen to spot blacks; older Koh-i-noor Art Pen; newer Art Pen (I can tell them apart because this one has a yellow top on the cap).

[Steve Hubbell]

6 hours ago

Heritage Auctions will be selling a few of my pieces in November. Albedo #2, the first appearance of Usagi Yojimbo is the first item to be posted. There will also be the original wraparound covers for UY Senso for the first three issues and the watercolor cover for UY Book 28: Red Scorpion. Here is the link to Heritage Auctions. Just search for Albedo #2. You may have to register to see it, though.



http://www.comics.ha.com

2 hours ago

Working on signature plates and watching Ivanhoe. Elizabeth Taylor never looked lovelier and George Sanders once again plays the aristocratic villain.



The signed tip-in sheets will be in the limited edition hard cover edition.

[Gaffey]

Nice! I wonder how many Albedo #2's were sent in to get a 9.8?

I see they increased the print run by 600. Does anyone know how many copies of the Fantagraphics slipcase were printed?