Well, Dang it's Been a While, but.... WE ARE BACK!

Hello all of you out there in interwebs land.  

So where have I been.   Well, its kinda a strange tale, and I wish I could say out slaying dragons or some cool thing like that.  I was not.  My wife and I bought a building to run our own martial arts school.  It was our plan to get it going and come back and beef up Strait Arrow Graphix.  Well I also took a job in management where I was working and the hours added up quickly.  So I neglected a huge part of my life.  God however had better plans for us.  He said go, and I went.  Linda and I now are doing our own two businesses, Strait Arrow Graphix, and the martial arts school full time. 

So we are back.  I have been cranking out some great art again too.  I will share them more and more as we go.  

We are also on the prowl for a better permanent internet home for SAG.  

Have a great day

and 

DRAW ON!

James

What is going on at Strait Arrow Graphix?

Well Good morning,

So this blog seems to have been quiet for a bit so I thought I would make a little noise.  Have we died, or fallen off the face of the earth.  No we are still around.  If you follow our links to my web comic or facebook you can catch up on what I did not post here.

The web comic is still going with regular updates.  I am having a blast with that.  Living out dreams with each pen stroke of that art.  If you have not seen our comic go check it out!  It is a fantasy adventure story, and it is family friendly, so you can let your kids read it.  ( Look at if first, some kids are even more sensitive in different areas than others.  It is Lord of the Rings type of fantasy.

I have had a few commission works I have been working on, and that has been going good.  I still have some to work on, but so far so good.

Strait Arrow Graphix will have a presence in our towns small festival "Watermelon Days" where I will set up a table and draw some sketch cards for people. That will be September 7th, so come on over to the Watermelon days and I will whip you out a base ball card sized piece of art!  I have already done a small illustration for a can drive flyer, and Linda has been really busy with watermelon days flyers and ads.

Oh our Comic was also spot lighted in a small press blog.  Highlight of the Month!  So we are starting to get some notice.

Remember if you like what we do get the work out!

James the Imaginator at Strait Arrow Graphix

Terrific Tuesday

Well Today is Web comic update day for Testimony of Palidos.  For me it is a good day.  I get to put up what I have worked hard get done.  Work on the comic was good this week. I got this comic ready for post, did the flat colors for the next two comic post, and even got some pencils and inks worked on.  Been a good week.

Well What are you waiting on go check out the comic!

Testimony of Palidos Web Comic...Go Go GO!

James the Imaginator

Whooo hoooo! Comic Posting Day! (Testimony of Palidos Web comic Update)

Tuesdays are the new official Post day for the web comic "Testimony of Palidos" and who produces that comic you may ask? Well Strait Arrow Graphix that's Who.  

I had fun working on this one.  I did use a new technique on this one.  Also I was working hard last night for the next batch of things for this comic.  

Let me know what you think.  

James At Strait Arrow Graphix 

Oh and Vote for our Comic! You can find The Top Web Comics button to the right on this page.  

Monday's Madness

Hello,

Well I see I have not updated since I got back from my trip.  I have been working let me tell you and so I have things to blog about.

First My anniversary trip was absolutely amazing.  I did not get as much art work done over that weekend, but I had such a good time with my wife, and visiting my old housemate from art school.  We had a babysitter for our four kids, but we went to an arcade, hung out at a comic shop, watched ninja turtle cartoons, and went out for ice cream.  Ok we did do some non kid things too, we did go out to a hibachi, the ladies went out for manicures and pedicures, and my friend and I did do some art together.  Over all though the weekend was great, and both Linda and I came home feeling so refreshed.

Second I have decided to move the day I post new "Testimony of Palidos" comics from Saturdays to Tuesdays.  This past Saturday I knew I needed to wait till Tuesday, but I so wanted to post the next part since it had been ready early.  I also have the Flat colors done already for next weeks comic, and part of the one for two weeks away.   I am now at the point I need to start pencils for the next batch.  Since I have bought Manga Studio 5 to work on my comics I plan on trying to use that for these.  So lets see how long it takes me to learn this LOL.

Also I have made a new facebook page just for the Testimony of Palidos Comic.  I wanted one spot just for news, art, and information on that would not have all my other random art stuff, and studio news.

Well, I busted out a ton of art this weekend and it was a blast.  I worked on "Testimony of Palidos," I worked on some commission work,  and watched a ton of tutorials on Manga Studio 5. So last week was a productive week.  Lets see how this week turns out

Also please Vote for my Web Comic it helps move it up the list and get some notice.

Always feel free to leave comments or contact me here on this blog site, on my Web comic site, my gallery, or on Facebook.  I love to hear your opinion of my art, and connect with those who enjoy my comic.

I will leave you with this teaser of art to come in my comic

Here are the flat colors for this weeks comic.
Just a little teaser! You will have to wait till tomorrow to see it in full color effects and the text

James the Imaginator!

Testimony of Palidos Web Comic updated!

Good Morning Everyone!

I know it is early in the week for my update, but It is done and Linda and I are going to celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary.  I am finding a new way to color this comic and it seems to be faster and easier for me to do.  Its still work, but I like it.

Go here to check out the Web comic

http://testofpalidos.thecomicseries.com/

Well I am going to get a packing.

Also what day of the week would you all like to see my comic updates?

James Tenney

Wednesday's Wabber Jaw

Well I got tired of typing Mid week update... SOoooo I called it Wednesday's Wabber Jaw this week.  What can I say us weird types do weird things.

Any ways Here is what is up at Strait Arrow.  I did get another a comic up for Testimony of Palidos.  I found a new way to color that i am experimenting with and it is way faster.  Right now it is done in Photoshop, but I have bought another program to do this, and hopefully streamline the process to help me keep this comic rolling out on the web.

I received some great feedback this week and will be looking into tweeking a few things.  Don't worry my comic is still getting done and going to be posted for you all to enjoy.  The art for this weekends comic is really close to being done.

I haven't gotten a lot of work done on commission work this week, but I have gotten some work done there too.

This has been a crazy go nuts week for me out side of art, so I am amazed I have gotten so much time to work on Strait Arrow Graphix projects.  Learning the new program is taking some time too,

below is a sneak peak of what is coming this week.

James the Imaginator

Saturday Update!

Hello and thanks for stopping by.

Well I am back in full swing of doing art, and I am loving it.  Strait Arrow Graphix is a side business for me, but I love it.  I have picked up quite a few more commisions and am excited about the new projects.  I can't talk about all of them yet, but I am excited all the same.

I finally am back to Testimony of Palidos and have worked hard to get some flat colors done, now to work on the full rendering.  I will give you a sneak peak though of what is coming since you have not gotten to see the art for it in a while.  These are just the flat colors, the cool shading and effects are yet to be finished.  I had a blast with the Minotaurs

Don't forget to vote for out comic.  The higher we are on the list the more exposure we get.


Well I have more work to do, so I gotta go

James the Imaginator

MId Week Update...give or take a day

So Yesterday was a great art day for me.  I got to crank out art.  Well work on it anyways.  It is sometimes a re learning period as I was working on my web comic.  I am progressing though.  I am not sure when I will have the next part of Testimony of Palidos up, but I did put up a small piece of art to just get something up on the web comic site.  I also worked on layouts for some other art projects I have brewing here too.  So I spent some time down in the studio, and some time on the computer. I finished up my evening with working on some Testimony of Palidos art cards.

So go check out my comic, and check out the changes I have made and other art I have done on Deviant art!

Testimony of Palidos Web Comic

James's Online Gallery

Also the Amazing Linda has been working on a Logo design.  We will share that when it is complete.  She has been doing some cool graphic design stuff for flyers, logos, and other things.  I hope to get here stuff up in our gallery soon too.

James at Strait Arrow Graphix

And Vote for our Comic.

Hello All

Well The computer is up and running.  I worked up a practice piece I will share below.  It is my plan to be back to full art art now.  Things will be slow for my comic but it will be coming.  I have other art that needs done too, so be patient and enjoy.

Feel free to leave comments or drop me an email

James the Imaginator

NEW HARD Drive and Other News!

Holy Cow it has been too long since I have posted.  So it is time for a little post here.

Well First I finally have a new hard drive.  I have it installed, but now have to put in all the software.  So soon I will be able to be back to doing some of the digital stuff I do.  Though we have kept up with some design work with the laptops.

So what have we been doing.  Well I did have to take a break from posting my comic.  On top of working another day job to pay the bills at home, I run a martial arts dojo, and for a season I had some other responsibilities at my church that I had to take care of.  Yet the art had to keep going.  I have done some small art cards, and designed some things for a couple church organizations.  Linda has done more than I with the design work, but that is where she excels where I excel at the illustration work.

So with things changing again I am back at the illustration work, and plan to work on my comic work again.  I am still working on the illustrations for VisionLand Comics.  I am also working out an agreement for a martial arts organization to do some classic comic style illustrations for them.  All this has me pretty excited.  Its a good time to be an illustrator, well this one anyways.

Well that is it for now.  Check back later.

James the Imaginator at Strait Arrow Graphix

Computer Problems...uuuuggghh

So I finished the inks on the next piece for Testimony of Palidos.  I scanned it in, and pieced it together.  Cleaned it up.  Then I ate dinner came back checked email, and tried to get back into photoshop to color the comic, and....my computer crashed....it crashed bad.  If I cannot get the data off my hard drive i may have lost a lot of work and files I need.  Sooooooo.  i need to get the graphix machine fixed. And that means I need to save up to get it.

This will not get me down though.  I still have all the inked art, and can continue to ink and work, I just cant color, letter, and get the old files if i can. ....

Thank you all for your continued support.  Gotta have a black belt attitude to keep a postive one.  Keep moving forward, and roll with the punches.

I have a lot of things going on at the Church today and I think we are going to Deck the Halls, or House tonight,

Maybe I will try to find a way to let you see the progress yet this weekend.

James the down but not out imaginator

Happy Thanks Giving, update

Hello all you cool people who have stopped by.

I had an amazing Thanks Giving Yesterday, and today was been good as well.  We sure have a lot to be thankful for.

So what have I been up too?  Well I have been a busy beaver.  I wish it all was art, but that is not the case.  As you all know I helped my Dad move, and with that move I took on some more responsibilities at my church.  I have been BUSY with those responsibilities.  They are worth it though.

I have still been working on Testimony of Palidos, though on a slower pace right now.  Having a day off let me get the inks finished for some more art to post, as soon as I get it colored.  Looking forward to moving along with this.  I have some fun stuff planned.  Action, adventure, dragons, magic, and did I mention dragons.  Anyone who really knows me knows I love dragons.

I have also slowly been working on some art for the Angeldreams comics for Visionland studios.  That also has been  fun as well.

Trying to balance this all out with all my other responsibilities can be a challenge  but so worth it.  For those who do not know, I am a husband, father of four, a Sensei ( Martial Arts Instructor) and super involved with my Church.... and I hold a full time job on top of that.  Just so you all know.   So the art is a passion that keeps me sane.

I hope to have some art up today or tomorrow  but we will just have to wait and see.

James the imaginator.

Dwarves

I wasn't able to get the next page done for "Testimony of Palidos" but I did get a page done and posted on Dwarves. Just so you can understand them a little better.

Testimony of Palidos

Hope you enjoy.

And don't forget to take a moment and vote for us. 

Vote Here

Thanks
James

TWEET TWEET

Hello,

So Strait Arrow Graphix has joined the dark side...yep we joined Twitter and can now tweet....Not sure why, but we can.

So you all can join us at twitter now.  If you tweet...

James.  https://twitter.com/StraitArrowGfx

Mid Week Update! and I am feeling sick

Goodmorning...ish

Well today I am feeling not so good, head cold allergies something.  I struggled through yesterday thinking I was better, but when I got up this morning I felt horrible.  So I called the boss and told him I was going to take some meds and go back to bed.  That is exactly what I did.  I still got up 3-4 hours later feeling like I stinking MAC Truck ran over my head.

Yet in the world of web comics I trudge on.  Monday through Wednesday I don't usually get much done on the web comic front as I generally teach martial arts.  I did get some done Monday though, and hope to trudge through some today.

We have had some cool comments on the web comic "The Testimony of Palidos".  Some that stick out in my mind is that there is some suspense as to what is coming next.  I even had a guy tell me he really wants to now what did this guy Palidos do to put him in this predicament   Well I wont give you guys too many spoilers, but I will tell you we do get out of this sanctuary / court room and see some action.  There will be all sorts of battles, all sorts of beasts and monsters ( yes for those who know of my love of dragons there will be a dragon or two. )  There will be magic, and dark magic, and there will be plots withing plots.

This adventure story is over 7 years in the making.  When I created the world for the "Disciples and Destroyers" ( which the Testimony of Palidos is only one adventure of) I took time to create a world.  Some of these races I have fleshed out cultures, scripts, and belief systems.  When I was thinking about doing a comic in this world I actually have three or four comic arc's I would love to do.  It was really hard to decide  which one I was going to choose. I did in the long run choose "The Testimony of Palidos" because it involved a party of Several different races.  So it was a good one to introduce this world.

One thing I will tell you is that we see a centaur in these pages already.  They were not a race I had fleshed out yet, but were in the world, so choosing one as the court bailiff was a new idea, but I was looking a the script and thought, a human up there just doesn't seem as intimidating. So I thought hey a centaur would be intimidating.  I sure wouldn't want to fight an armed centaur.  So we have one.   

Keep the letters coming, and hey even toss in some fan pics, and maybe I will post them.  You are all an encouragement to me.  I am having a blast, and am glad to be able to use my God given talent in a way I always wanted too.

James the down but not defeated Imaginator!

If you haven't looked at the comic this week, or haven't voted for it you can now vote right on the comic page and this link will take you there.

The Testimony of Palidos Web Comic

Just click the blue button on the left that says TWC  Thanks



 

Web Comic Site web design updates

Followers of Strait Arrow Graphix,

Well the last major change we made to the layout of the Web Comic Hosting Site ( ComicFury) was done so we could make the changes Linda and I made today.  One thing we wanted to do was Tie this blog to the  Web Comic Sites blog button.  Originally the Web Comic Site button would take you to their blog system.  Since we already had a blog set up we wanted this blog site to be the portal to all the other sites that Strait Arrow Graphix utilizes.  So With GREAT effort Linda was able to do that

We also wanted to put our Top Web Comics Vote button on the site. Again Linda came to the rescue with her super abilities to steal web code and insert it where we need it.  So now you can click the TWC button on the actual Web Comic site to Vote for it.

The other thing we changed were the buttons that navigated the comic book pages.  When we went with this layout the buttons for the previous, next, first and last buttons were nasty green arrows that made Linda want to scream.  So for the protection of ears everywhere I drew up some sword buttons to put in their place.  We had to locate the location in the code ( I actually helped this time) and I had to draw these little guys in photoshop at a ridiculously small scale.  My wacom tablet came to the rescue once again to let me do just that.

So with all that said why are you still here ready this stuff, go check it out. Go now quit reading this jumbled up stuff I am typing.

To get there quicker here is the link

The Web Comic you are supposed to go check out!!!!

Well I am going to stop typing now because some of you have not gone to look at the comic site and are determined to keep reading what I type.

James the IMAGINATOR and now web designing fool.

Testimony Of Palidos Full Page Pic

Here is the Full Page as it would look printed in a comic.   This is my goal eventually.  So this is just a teaser

You can see it bigger at my Deviant art gallery.  

http://straitarrowgraphix.deviantart.com/art/Testimony-of-Palidos-Full-Page-One-330097206

James

Web comic update and news

Hello Fans of Fantasy and Comics!

I managed to get up the next part of the comic "Testimony of Palidos" If was fun.  I had to learn to do speech bubbles in photoshop.  Now what I know how to do it is is not bad at all.  I have to get busy if I want to make next weeks update.  Still have to finish up some of the line art.   Well half of it anyways.  so it is not even scanned into the computer.

If you want to check it out.  you can follow this link
http://testofpalidos.thecomicseries.com

Well until next time

James Tenney the Main Comic Guy at Strait Arrow Graphix.

The work continues

Well I got a chunk of work done last night.  The flat colors are finished for the next post this weekend. I also worked on more pencils and inks for the next few segments.  Having fun working on minotaurs.  Also this week you get a closer look of the Centaur standing as bailiff at the front of the temple. 

If you didnt get a change to see the comic this week check it out,

http://testofpalidos.thecomicseries.com/

also I do keep art up at deviant art, you can find the link on the blog site,

http://straitarrowgraphix.deviantart.com/

Well hope your friday is awesome


James