Webcomic Secret Summer 2008

Creators of comics, may I have your attention? The Webcomic Secret Summer is now accepting participants!

"What is the Webcomic Secret Summer?" you may ask. A Secret Santa is a type of exchange in which each participant gets one randomly assigned recipient and the gift-giver's identity remains secret until an assigned time when s/he presents the gift to the recipient. The Webcomic Secret Santa is an exchange of webcomic gifts using the same concept. Creators submit their comics to a list, and on a specific day, a random comic (not their own) is sent to them. That artist must then produce a guest comic or a piece of fan art for the assigned comic. Not wanting to wait until December for a Webcomic Secret Santa, I decided to run the exact same idea in the summer, hence the Webcomic Secret Summer!

There are some rules, of course, intended to make this as fun and straight-forward an activity as possible. For the timeline, sign-up rules, and other information, please visit the Webcomic Secret Summer site. Also, please pass the word, since the more, the merrier!

Speaking of comics, is anyone reading this planning to attend Emerald City ComiCon? If yes, then would you like to meet up there? If yes to that as well, then please let me know!

Finally, for everyone who likes a good laugh, go Watch The Guild. These videos about a local gamers guild are hilarious and might strike a cord with those of us who fear that we are spending too much time on the computer.

Character Meme - Some Intriguing Questions

I took this character meme from marbled_genet.

What is the name of your character?
Zeal Sharpclaw.

Where did the name of your character come from?
Zeal Dubois was a fan response to Feral Jackson of the 2000 AD comic series, Strontium Dogs: her "Zeal" to his "Feral". She migrated from Strontium Dogs fan concepts to Disney fan concepts, becoming a companion to Rose Red as they toured the various Disney films to get Snow White so Rose Red and Snow White could have their story. (You may laugh uproariously now.) That concept was wisely abandoned, though I kept Zeal Dubois and Rose Red traveling together. However, I was not excited by the pair. After I turned them into anthropomorphic animals, I changed their names: Rose Red to Lillian Lighthare and Zeal Dubois to Zeal Sharpclaw.

What species is your character and why did you choose that species?
Humanoid Canadian lynx.
As I mentioned in response to the previous question, I changed Rose Red and Zeal Dubois from humans to anthropomorphic animals. I wanted a natural predator-prey relationship, so ideas for Rose Red included deer, rabbit, and mouse. I opted for a rabbit named Lillian Lighthare. Zeal Dubois now had to be a rabbit predator. Despite my fondness of canines, I did not want to fall into the "foxy lady" concept and a wolf seemed wrong. My Differential Equations class offered the solution through the Lotka-Volterra predation model, which is based on the cycle of Canadian lynx and hares.

What color is your character and why? Hair/fur/eyes/etc.
Hair: Brown, like mine.
Fur: Mostly a warm grey with few markings. Canadian lynx coats are generally grey, brown, or a somewhat mottled blend of the two.
Eyes: Brown, like mine.
Markings: The tips of her ears and tail are black, normal for Canadian lynx ears and tail. In the interest of simplicity (or laziness, take your pick), she does not have the white and black stripes on her cheek tufts. Her torso is pale grey, though this is generally hidden by clothing.

What is your character's personality and how does this compare to your real personality?
Zeal shares my temper, my conflicting desires for solitude and to fit in socially, and some of my interests. However, she is bolder, better knows what she wants, and more dedicated to her pursuits.

What is one item your character owns that is significant to you in real life?
An infinity symbol that she wears on her person. I have not actually illustrated this yet, but I always mentally envision her with it. Concepts like zero and infinity fascinate me, for we can label them and mathematically work with them, but we cannot really illustrate or understand them.

What is one thing you thing you would say to your character if you could meet?
"Do retractable claws as fingernails hurt?"

What is one thing your character would say to you if you could meet?
"When are you going to finish writing my story and illustrate it?"

How has your character changed over the years?
She started as a human, then became a mutant with weak shape-shifting abilities, then became a human in a different universe, then became a humanoid Canadian lynx (or a human with Canadian lynx features, if you prefer), and finally started to resemble a Canadian lynx rather than a domestic cat with fluffy ears and cheeks when I started actually looking at references. She has made friends and enemies, had loves and losses, studied magic under a dragon, become a teacher, and had costume changes. One day, she might even have some of these things documented for others to read!

How long have you had this character?
She has existed in some form since 1992, but developed more into her current incarnation in 2000 or so.

Would you like to be more like your character?
Definitely, though everything I want to be more like (except the magic powers and her universe) is within my own abilities, if I am just willing to try.

Now tag three other people you would like to learn about!
Are there three people who read my journal, have characters, and have not done this meme? If you qualify, then I tag you!