Isn't She a Doll?

It's been awhile since I updated this. I debated posting another comic but decided that this will be the last comic preview before I launch the official site. It won't be the last preview on this blog, just the last full comic that I'll give away. This particular comic is actually the FIRST comic I tried to draw. It didn't go well. I tried to draw it again and it didn't go much better. This was the third time I drew this comic. YES I know that Tommy's pose is really weird in the last panel but otherwise I think this one went pretty well. I could have done more with the colouring but I'll probably add to it later. I hand lettered this one. Then I decided that that was a bad idea and switched back to digital lettering for the next one. I don't know why but for some reason I hand lettered the one I did after that. I'm experimenting.

On a side note: I know that it seems like it's taking me a really long time to get this site up. It is somewhat due to circumstances which are out of my control and unexpected events. I might elaborate a bit more about this later on the Lai Guys Comics blog...

-Tim

Steampunk Fantasy Concept Paintings

I did these paintings awhile ago. These were concept paintings for a steampunk fantasy story that I still hope to do one day. I can see a lot more flaws in them than I did when I originally painted them but the atmosphere is still cool.

Jackobar, originally uploaded by timlai.

Cardigan Blake, originally uploaded by timlai.

I actually have an altered version of the above painting where I've fixed the character's flat looking jaw which I will post if I can get it (it was on my laptop which has broken again).

Annabel, originally uploaded by timlai.

Goblin, originally uploaded by timlai.

Website Design

I know I haven't posted anything for awhile. I've been busy creating a proper home for Lemon Inc. You may recall that I mentioned that I was currently designing a website for Lemon Inc. I was doing so in Dreamweaver, a WYSIWYG, (what you see is what you get) editor. This website was alright but it was very limited in terms of both design and features. I realised that it simply isn't practical to be updating a simple HTML site every other week. I also became aware of what could be considered an industry standard of webcomics websites, Wordpress and Comicpress. I am now scraping the site I had previously designed and I'm endeavoring to design a Comicpress site. So far I've really liked using Wordpress and I've found that it's both more functionally and asthetically pleasing and has taken me less time to design thus far than my previous website design. I've included a screenshot of what the site looks like right now. This will probably change a bit but It'll give you a rough idea.

-Tim

Secret Ingredients

What the Hell I figured I'd post this strip too. It might be a bit hard to read in the blogger layout so you can click on it to see it at full size. I'm pretty happy with the first panel. I think the background looks pretty good. I also think that this joke is pretty funny. Please tell me what you think by leaving a comment or by sending me a tweet on Twitter.

Dude, It's Just a Tie...

Okay I know it's been awhile since I posted anything. Let's just say that it took me way longer to get around to this than perhaps it should have. That's all gonna change this year though. This year I'm gonna make time for comics every single day. I think this one's kinda funny. It's a great representation of Craig's character. I've got funnier ones planned that I'm hesitant to post here. I think the art is improving though! What do you think?

-Tim

Sample Strips!

I've been debating whether or not to post some sample strips. I still don't have a whole lot of strips that are completely done. I've basically got a bunch written, some drawn, and these ones inked and coloured. I realize that these aren't comedic gold or anything... That's partly why I'm posting them. Why would I give away my best material before I even get my site up? I found these funny when I wrote them but I'm not sure if I still do. I do have comics planned that I know are funny. If anyone does find these funny (or doesn't) then I'd like to know.

I might not even use these strips. I drew them cause right now I'm trying to just get some experience doing finished strips and these were some of my simpler ones. I'm still trying to decide on some artistic details (you may notice that the way I colour the windows changes from strip to strip) so I would appreciate any feedback on the overall look of the strips.

-Tim

Pumpkin Inc.

Happy Halloween! I realize I'm a little late with this post since it's the day after but I thought I'd post the pumpkin that I carved in the likeness of Andy:

I think this is the best pumpkin I've ever carved. Pretty good likeness if I say so myself.

hoping everyone had a fun and safe Halloween,

-Tim

Lemcorp Character Designs

In my last post I announced Lemcorp, the lemonade stand that's competing with Lemon Inc.. These are the employees of Lemcorp. From top left to bottom right they are: Rachel, Alison,
Jane, Becky, and Brenda. None of their names are final yet. Names are hard.

-Tim

Update: Note that I've already changed their names once since I first posted this. This just proves that names are hard.

The Concept of Lemon Inc. and a Full Colour Lemon Inc. Illustration

I have neglected to explain what this comic strip is actually about besides the brief description on the sidebar. I wanted to wait until we had the website ready to explain the concept in full detail but since I've got this blog going I think I should probably elaborate a little since these posts probably don't make a lot of sense to you. So, here it is: Lemon Inc. is (or will be) a comic about childhood innocence colliding with corporate coruption. Andy, a deadly serious seven-year-old opens up a Lemonade stand with his naive friend and business partner, Jeff, and runs it as if it was an office, thus creating the company, Lemon Inc. He hires other kids as employees including Tommy, a cynical kid who doesn't understand why he is working at the age of seven, Craig, who has severe anger management problems, and Derek, who thinks he's really smart but is a complete idiot and ends up ruining all the lemonade through botched experiments. Andy also employs his stuffed animals: Elephanté the elephant as a salesman, and Minsky the monkey as his secretary. However Andy didn't expect a bunch of girls to open up a competing lemonade stand: Lemcorp. Lemcorp is run by Rachel, a seven-year-old female rights activist. Her employees include Becky, a bubblely girl that is always irritatingly happy and sweet, Alison, a quirky and obsessive girl, Jane, an incredibly calm girl, and Brenda who is smarter than everyone else.

Below is the colour version of the image I inked in the previous post. It's the first full colour image I have drawn for Lemon Inc. that has all the characters (except Elephanté and Minsky, unfortunately who wouldn't fit) and a background in it. I feel that it captures many of the elements of the comic.

Lemon Inc Cast, originally uploaded by timlai.

I think it looks pretty good. The colouring is pretty clean looking. However I realized that the perspective in the background doesn't work very well. We intend to put this image into a sort of Flash application that would show several images relating to each of our comics. We would also put this text over it: Lemon Inc. Updates on (whenever I decide to update), and then we would add a witty slogan over it. Here's one that I came up with:

When life gives us lemons, we make lemonade.

Like always, you can tell me what you think of the image and the concept by leaving comments or sending me a tweet on Twitter.

-Tim

"Lemon Inking"

This is an image I drew for the flash image on the official site. Here's a video of me inking it:

This is the first time I've ever really inked something before with real ink, (as opposed to on the computer) with the exception of an experiment or two. Therefore let me make it very clear that this is NOT a tutorial and nor is anything you see on any of our blogs. We are far too inexperienced to be giving out any advice at this point. This is more just a look at how I'm Inking right now for anyone who's interested in that kind of thing or has any suggestions for me. Here are some pics of my workspace:

This is the image before I inked it.
This is the ink and pen I'm using. Both are Speedball.
I'm using bristol board. I usually just use flimsy printer paper that gets ripped and crinkled.

Here is the finished inked image. I kept accidentally smuging the ink with my hand as I inked and had to cover the smuges up with white paint but I think it looks pretty good.

Here are some closeups!
Andy!
Derek!
Craig!

Jeff!
...and Tommy!

-Tim