January 2010 Zuda had concluded

And congratulation to Matthew Petz! We will be anxiously waiting for more War of the Woods.



Thanks to everyone who participated in Pavlov's Dream promotion Contest! Good news is that, all of you will get some swags from us! :D

Pavlov's Dream will definitely be continued here at machinegolem.com, likely will be once a week update till the conclusion. I hope to start as soon as possible but I have some other affairs to sort out first. Meanwhile, you can still read first 8 pages it at Zuda.

I have learned a lot from participating in this contest. It was fun, but on the other hand, I was practically a jumpy ball of nerves all month. I will probably try zuda a few more times. But not immediately, I need to recoup first XD

*Yeah, I just happened to have hugging otters plushie from seaworld lying around :D

Pavlov’s Dream; reviews roundsup

Zuda January 2010 is almost over. Although Pavlov's Dream hadn't done as good as we would have liked (we are noob when it comes to pimping). We are happy to get to be in the competition and to hear a lot of useful feedback that would help us improve in future project. Here's the reviews so far:

Mike Perridge (mpd57)
[...]It does worryingly shift slightly over the course of eight screens from a lush but subtle European illustrated children’s tale into something more noticeably Manga-ish and I hope the creatives can pull back from that just a little. Seems a shame to make it so obvious when there was a cool blend going on to begin with. Even if it does go the whole hog and develop into that manga style I still think it’ll look good and read well. I was happy to be rid of the picto-grams myself but it’s all a question of personal taste.

Despite my own tastes I think this is good work all round and deserves a lot better. The synopsis is solid too – not that it does anything more than any other synopsis is supposed to do, but just a great choice of words and plain language. Lots of people have a go at this kind of ‘junior’ reading thing and fail badly because they think the target audience will be easier on them, but quality is quality is quality and audience age doesn’t have a great deal to do with it. At some point these creatives will pull through with something somewhere. One wonders how long Zuda can keep showing talent in order for other publishers to cherry pick the best talent. I know it doesn’t really work like that, but that must be at least the perception among some viewers. This should be fighting for the win.

Pavlov's Dream: Podcast review

This is a podcast review of every comics in January 2010 Zuda competition by Digital Strips. Kelsie had transcribed the part where Pavlov's dream was mentioned:

20:04

Steve: Moving right along to something that definitely does not have a straight black background, "Pavlov's Dream" by Shari Chankhamma. What did you think of this one? Little more colorful.

Jason: Little more colorful. This is my art pick of the month, because it's... ah, it's just so gorgeous. It's lush, it's very... very kid friendly, it's very, just detailed. The colors have so many nuances to them. It's very... *laughs* I keep saying very a lot. And... but it is very. It's got that anime feel to it, definitely, but it's just a lot of fun to look at. It's just fun to read. And the panel layouts work well, I think, to the effect of the strip instead of the determents. To me it's basically "The Chronicles of Narnia" or at least "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" with a couple other beats thrown in. But, uh, I think it's well done. If you like the anime style then you're gonna love this. if not, then you should still love it for the colors alone. They just pop off the page. I think that made it fun to read. I would consider reading it just cuz the art is very... I always forgot how he pronounces it... is it Miyazaki, that did "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke". It's very that. And the fish on the last page definitely makes me think of that. I would read this one just for the art.

Steve: That's basically all I can say. The art is very good on this one. Story not very fitting of Zuda, just cuz it doesn't end on a "hook you" moment. But the whole thing is good.

Extra points to them for pronouncing my name right :D

Read and vote for Pavlov's Dream ♥

Contest Contest Contest! Win free stuff!

I called it contest but it's more like a sweepstakes XD

To thank everyone for participating in this month's Zuda I'm holding a contest, and everyone is eligible. The prize is the goodie package shown in the photo below which contains a set of five pinback buttons, four postcards, four bookmarks, and a copy of "Beleth's Library of Eclecticism".

To enter, send an email to shari.hes@gmail.com with the subject line: "Pavlov's Dream: January Zuda Contest". In the body include your name (real or screen) and email address where you can be reached.

On the last day of the January Zuda competition three names will be randomly drawn and email notifications sent. The prizes will be mailed out ASAP once the winners are contacted. If any winner cannot be reached within 2 days of the email notifications, another name will be drawn.

Please don't hesitate to enter, you might be the only one who do! Free goodies are nothing to sneeze at XD

Don't forget to read and vote for Pavlov's Dream!

Pavlov's Dream: early concept art

We came up with idea for Pavlov's dream in January 2009—which feels like a lifetime away. Started with idea of talking shadow and it went from there.





Originally, the colors and style were going to be dreamier, but while it worked as individual illustration, I feel that the entire comic through the blur filter is a little bit much.

Read and vote for Pavlov's Dream here. :D

Pavlov's Dream; Zuda's Jan 2010 competition

Finally, I can tell the world about this! XD

If you haven't heard of zuda before. it's a webcomic site run by DC where every month they select 10 comics to advance to the competition. The winning comic will then be serialized on the site. This month my comic (co-written with kayay) is in the competition!

Pavlov's Dream is about brothers, Micha and Sasha, who accidentally tumble into the land of the death. Not only they have to find a way back to the land of living, they also have to fix the mess that their brief adventure in the land of the death brings.

Read it, vote it, fav it, rate it, comment it, anything! (If you like it, that is :D) I'll be very happy to hear any feedback too!

Yeah, this is basically same post as on LJ, if you have read it there already, I apologize for the bombardment XD.