Hello everyone~ <3
Been a while since I wrote a journal and the news keep piling so here I am…

Let’s start with things that I was unfortunate with in the past months;

Morning International Comic Competition:

After being selected as one of the 26 finalists; I made it through till the 9 finalists but wasn’t fortunate to win. It was disappointing but I looked forward to the judge’s comment instantly to see what kept me from winning. Here it is;

≪Judge’s Comment≫　A sad fate awaits this dove main character, and a boy grows from childhood to adolescence. Their remarks which overflowed with affection and their cruel conclusions were expressed in a very lyrical way. We wondered whether or not the world was beautiful from the eyes of the innocent flying in the sky. Next time, I would like to challenge the artist to create a more story-based comic, instead.
– Source

Now that wasn’t much of a help at first. I wanted reasons like they gave the others. They didn’t compliment the art  or criticize it but after some thought I said “Challenge accepted!” I took what I can from that comment; “they didn’t have much to say about the art or the story, they like it enough and just want a story-based comic.
I accepted the challenge and my next entry; whether this year or the next (if there are ones) will be just like they want.
In the end, I was happy enough that “Jordan” was there; a country from the forgotten middle east (besides being  remembered as a place of wars :/)

“In this edition, more than previous ones, we are able to see an increasing number of works from rarely seen locales such as Russia, Eastern Europe, South America, and the Middle East and that greatly influenced our initial judging. “
– Source

Now for those asking about a printed version of the story, I said that I’ll consider it if I didn’t win the contest.
I have stories for one-shots that I plan to write in May (since I decided that May is going to be the month of writing for me) so maybe I’ll put those with “What once was a dove” in one book. Or I might consider printing “What once was a dove” as a 40 page booklet with storyboards and bit of info on process, but that is on hold for a reason…..

I’m poor

Yeah, I’m in a rough place these days, financially. That explains the “Out of stock” Grey is… vol.01 at the store. I’m saving money for the reprint while trying to get better deals for printing. After many requests for a sketchbook, I decided to reopen my “Sketchbook” folder and try to come up with a way to print it at a low cost (probably 28 pages booklet at first as a try) but I’ll provide more info about that later~

I’m trying really hard to get the manga back in print during this month. I’m sorry for all those who are waiting .
Thank you for your patience!

Grey is…

In March, I finished the storyboards for Volume 02 (which has up to chapter 14) and I’m giving the majority of my time to lining & toning the chapters these days. I’m 6 pages away from finishing chapter 12. If all goes as scheduled I will have the 2nd volume ready for print in the 3rd quarter of 2012.

I also, have ideas for special chapters. 2 that are related to the story and one that is totally AU (it’s the one I’m writing right now) 2 out of those 3 feature Ameer as the main character (gotta give him more attention)
I’m writing in volume 3 too. I need to have the ideas for the new arc ready by the time I’m done working on volume 03.

On another note:

Grey is… is now a featured manga at Mangamagazine.net.

This is really important to me and I look forward to more in there. I’m enjoying my experience there and they have such great manga and many talented artists. I’m honored to be selected as a featured author so fast after joining only two weeks ago.
MM.net will be the only place that updates as fast as the official website. Also, chapter releases here on dA will be pushed later by 6 days to keep the fastest releases on MM.net and the website.
I will post a notice that there is a new full chapter on MM.net when it’s done as a reminder or you can just read it here after a week.

Any ongoing on-shots will be updated there as I finish them too, so I appreciate the support there as well.

MM.net April Illustration Competition

YES! I’ve won the first place. The prize will go directly into the savings for Vol02 print so that gives a bit of light at the end of the tunnel XD