Crimson North

A bit of a Reboot

2013-02-23T18:18:00.001+09:00

Over the past few days, as my vacation finally dies, I have been redesigning many of my websites. It had been quite some time since I touched them up, and some in particular needed a design makeover.

The Geek Roundup features the most drastic change. The design is somewhat similar to what I had originally, combined with what was on the site up until yesterday. We’ll see how long that slider stays up. Last time I got tired of creating new images for it.

Scroozle’s Sanctuary has been given a facelift, too. It’s a simple, blogging look, and that’s what I’m aiming for. I also rearranged some of the widgets to avoid too much clutter in particular areas.

I also made a new banner for the Crimson North Facebook page:

And I churned one out for my personal FB page:

I made a few changes in here, too. Must be a spring cleaning thing.

CRIMSON NORTH COMICS

2012-03-31T23:31:00.001+09:00

Crimson North began with comics, and the original webcomics are finally being ushered into the “new” decade in style. I am in the process of uploading the volumes I have to Graphicly. Right now the releases are just the series themselves without any new content. That being the case, they’re being offered for the good ol’ price of $0.00.

In the future, I will take the original scans, and convert them to vector art. Then, I will release a huge one-volume edition chock-full of retouched art. When that day comes, I will pay the $150 fee and upload the sucker to the various online marketplaces.

Before I do that, though, I want to create some new content. I have two ideas cooking in my head. One is the sci-fi story that’s been brewing in my mind since 2009 (which I have already tried to start twice). The problem is that it’s on such a huge scale, I’m fairly certain I don’t have time to do it in its current state. I really want to do a comic of it, but if I can’t, I might try writing it into a novel. My writing is at the point where I can critically identify weaknesses, but it’s not as fine-tuned as it needs to be with the amount of detail novels require.

The second idea is actually a “superhero” one, but this character has been with me since I was ten or eleven. Back in my teens, I created a fully fleshed out superhero universe with over a hundred unique characters (no lie). The character in question has always been one of my favourites and I developed her more thoroughly than most of the others. The problem is that she is tightly entwined with the rest of the universe I created. The rest of the universe is pretty standard superhero fare, and I am bored with standard superhero fare. Over the last week I have changed her abilities and tried to map out a possible introductory storyline.

If I do create new content, I’m thinking I might go with the superhero option. I spent over ten years drawing pictures and comics with this character, so all the designs are in my memory. I won’t need to continuously think of new designs as I would have to with the sci-fi one. A part of me is also wants me to actually use the characters I created in my youth.

I already know how I can draw it, so that doesn’t pose any difficulties. I just need to make sure the story-angle and origin story is up to snuff.

UPDATES GALORE

2012-03-01T15:13:00.001+09:00

Lots of various updates to go through. Up first is the Geek Roundup. The website now has its full cast of writers pumping out stories. So far, the writers are living in Korea, Canada, Finland and Singapore. Quite a diverse mix. The stories have reflected just as much diversity with films, gaming, YouTube, TV shows and books being entry subjects.

After someone writes an entry for the site, I try to update the slider with an appropriate pic with Photoshop. Sometimes I’m a little slow, though.

On the Facebook side of things, the CN fanpage has been updated to reflect the new Timeline functionality. Shout-out to Michael for bringing it to my attention when I woke up this morning. He had updated his page and I got to work on mine. I had access to my personal profile’s timeline back in September and have been waiting for the pages to join the fun. The Crimson North Facebook page is now up to speed. If you go down the timeline you can see important dates in CN history. The earliest ones have to do with my webcomic endeavours.

Once I finished with the CN fanpage, I got to work on the YouTube page. When YT rolled out the new channel design, they stripped a lot of the customization out. They finally put it back in, and now you can fool around with your background as before. I decided I would crank out a new design for the channel and make use of the real estate on widescreen monitors. I don’t know what it looks like on lowres screens, but here’s what it looks like on mine:

It’s snazzy enough for now.

I haven’t updated the Sanctuary yet, but I don’t think it really needs anything. The current design is simple and clean, and I fear I would only make it cluttered.

On the Future Front

I have several short webcomic ideas I wouldn’t mind rolling out in the near future. I have recently decided it would probably work best if I mix traditional methods with digital, rather than restrict myself to just one. My traditional drawing looks too stiff, and my digital drawing lacks control. Therefore I will employ both methods to create the finished product. I have already begun experimenting.

I have recently thought of a new video series to do, and I can’t believe no one else thought of it yet. The problem is that I might rack up too many hits, and I don’t really want to become a YouTube sensation. It would sort of fit in with the Sanctuary blog, but I could also see it become a hotbed for endless arguments. We’ll have to see.

The Weekend

2012-02-10T18:48:00.001+09:00

This weekend’s main objective is to put together a video of my time in Singapore. I’ve held off doing it because I’m still burned out from all those videos I put together for the winter camp. In ten days, I created ten videos. Which was a crazy amount.

Never again?

While I’ve written about Singapore and uploaded my photos, much the story lies locked in the video content I took. I took a lot, so it will be a bit of challenge to edit it into a narrative.

I’ve also started plotting out a potential comic. It shouldn’t be overly-ambitious, so I hope I can create it in its entirety.

BEWARE THE COMING OF THE GEEKS

2012-02-05T00:38:00.001+09:00

The first major update to pass along is the birthing of a new site. A site that revels in our inner GEEK.

C’mon, we’re all geeks with at least one of our personal interests. One hobby, or past time, we devote a great deal of passion and interest towards.

Some of us are bookworms. Others are into gaming. Some salivate at the annual offering electronics shows prepare. Others make sure to catch all the films at the local art cinema.

Together, we are geeks. Together, we are legion.

Back when I was producing Up a Creek (my first webcomic), I’d e-mail the strips out three times a week. While composing the e-mails, I’d throw in a section appropriately named “Other Stuff/Geek News”. I would bring stuff to people’s attention.

What kind of stuff?

Upcoming movies. Comicbook storyarcs. Video game release dates. TV series worth checking out. Etc etc.

A lot of the readers actually appreciated that section and it would spark discussions. When you’re a pretty big geek, like moi, it’s easy to burst out with a million tidbits of possible discussion fodder. In my first two years with Scroozle’s Sanctuary, I would blog about whatever geeky things I felt like (in fact, I pretty much blogged about whatever I felt like). In the 3rd and 4th years, I decided to be more focussed, so I excised the geeky stuff.

And felt dead inside.

So here we are. With a new website, all ready to go.

This time around, I’m not alone. That’s right. We’re a team of geeks. A geek ARMY.

Some of my good friends will contribute to the site. Whenever we see, or think of anything worth sharing, we’ll write a piece for it. It might be deep and insightful. It may be short and irreverent. There should be something for every geek, and if there isn’t, why don’t you submit your services as a writer?

The site?

It’s called The Geek Roundup. So, make like Sonic and get over there. Pronto.

2012-02-03T18:20:00.002+09:00

Welcome to Crimson North!

I'm just getting started with this site, so it may look a bit sparse in the coming days.

Have a look around though, if ya wanna.

Cheers!