So I've had this method for quite awhile where I like to make a photocopy of my black and white lineart onto thick paper to watercolor.

For awhile in the mid-00s I felt like I was getting some really awesome quality copies from Kinkos (aka FedEx Office... aka FedInkos) when I would hand them my 600 dpi files to copy off on one of their better color Xerox machines behind the counter. These were black and white lines but the color copier would give me not only a nice high resolution look but also a sort of glossy/waxy quality to the ink that would repel the watercolor from adhering to the lines and thus give a nice line/color separation.

All that has seemed to change in recent years now that FedEx Office has switched over entirely to Canon brand machines (can't find the slip I jotted the model number down on). Sure, the direct print from USB feature these machines provide is convenient... but both the quality of the ink and the quality of the lines themselves seem to have suffered from the switch.

Looking into this problem it seems maybe the machine that was being used before that got such great copies for me was one that used this Xerox "Solid Ink" technology? I'll put a photo here to show you what I mean... Just look at the textured thick and solid ink there on this damn thing! BEAUTIFUL... like the shining ass of a jet-black fuckin' beetle!



Now We have the copies I'm getting currently from the Canon machines... which are noticeably not as shiny... somewhat dull... not even entirely black looking to be honest (you'll be able to see that later when I compare scans). It's also prone to having parts of the line chip away to a small degree when watercolor is applied (usually requiring a bunch of post touch-up)...



At least it is better than those old laser-copier copies that I would rely on before which would pretty much always get chipped away by the watercolors (as you see here I touched up some of the large black areas by hand with a sharpie pen)...



So yeah... the resilience and sheen of the ink is one thing... I would be less bothered by the current Canon copiers if it was just a question of that... but the biggest problem I'm finding is in the resolution of the copies themselves! You can kinda' see it in that middle photograph... but to really see it up close I think I'll need to scan some lines here... Note the differences:



So these are all at 600 dpi here... On the top you have a rather nice looking copy made from the aforementioned Xerox color copier in the mid 00s (possibly one with "solid ink" technology... but I'm not totally sure). It's nice and black... very minimal if much noticeable at all in the way of line pixelation.

The second one is from the current Canon copiers that FedEx Office uses... ugh... look at those blocky ass pixelated fuggerings of the linework! Notice how the lines look kinda' grey and less boldly black compared to the top. They were scanned on the same scanner bed, in the same scan!! All I did was crop a little... but yeah!!

And the third there is the file that Canon copy was made from. See the difference there?

So all this blah blah blah.... and what am I getting at here? I guess for one I'm pointing out that Kinkos didn't just change it's name to FedEx Office but also seems to have taken a notably changed drop in the quality of the machines they use 'round that place. I'm totally going to be looking for other routes with printing the master line-work for my watercolors in the future.

That being said... It's a long shot chance but I guess I'm hoping that someone out there might be able to give me some insights into other people's experiences with copies and quality. Maybe some of you work in the copy and printing industry and could give me leads on what models and makes of machines to go with? Perhaps someone could confirm if the quality of that ink really was from that Xerox solid ink thing?

I did read one bit on that wiki page for the stuff that made me doubt... the part about ink durability saying that it could be scraped off easily with the finger... the copies I was getting never scraped off and seemed not only glossy and thick but also really resistant to any lift from the paper!

If nothing else... maybe some other folks could share thoughts on quality of copies these days. Any other pissed off customers of FedEx Office out there losing sleep over these new machines? Are they even using these new cannon machines at the branches in your area? I might try to snap photos and get model names/numbers in the future...

So this is a thing I finally got my shit together on and started posting up weekly.


http://abraxagarden.com

It's been going for four weeks now and I have more that are in cue for the weeks ahead. Trying to interject humor into most of them even if the humor sometimes will just boil down to brutal-assed absurdity. Expect lots of stuff informed by a variety of grim or bizarre fetishes like vore, crushing, inflation, etc... So far it's mostly been vore themed but the comic lined up for week 5 will kinda' break that pattern.



So there you are. Maybe I'll come back to this largely abandoned livejournal blog here to post some more of these as they pile up. Kinda' hard to find time though. Like I had mentioned before, I started a Tumblr and I've found it much easier to keep up on posting these (and other bits and baubles) up online with more frequency. Come by and follow me there, if you feel inclined to do so @: abraxa.tumblr.com

Haven't been on LJ in quite awhile but looking through archives of updates I found Robin Bougie has posted the drawing he sketched up for me in my ordered copy of his new Cinema Sewer Vol. 3 book! Totally sweet!



From what he's currently saying on his LJ blog, it looks like his fab offer on a free drawing in an order of his book still stands. The book is thick and worth the $20 price in the first place. I'd urge you to run over to his LJ here:

http://bougieman.livejournal.com/

and check to see if the offer still stands, and if it does... take him up on it! Bougie's shit rawks, yeh!

An image by "Machiko" (マチ子) titled "Itadakimasu" (いただきます). The text in the description on her pixiv page here: [http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=9256119] seems to indicate that it illustrates the artist eating her own self. It's a beautiful image, anyways! The derpy starry eyes, blue hearts on nipples, and cute little bow-wearing bunny rabbit are all nice touches too, don't you think?

So here is one of the rare prizes I picked up while living over in Japan, a little game book called "Kingdom of Darkness' Great King Mokumoku" (くらやみ王国のモクモｌク大王) which is like a choose your own adventure entirely drawn in a comic style. Most of the time you pick which path through the story you want to take and occasionally are presented with mazes or puzzles which lead to various outcomes. The book appears to be from a series drawn by Yousuke Tamori (田森庸介) centering around the main character Nekomaru (ねこ丸) and introducing his little sister Mikemaru (みけ丸).

I'll go ahead and post some of the death endings you can get in the book. Although it seems the tactic in this book is to have the character Hakuunsai Sensei (はくうんさいせんせい) lead one back to the page where they made the fatal mistake, instead of putting a "The End" type of outcome.

Clicking on the thumbnails here will lead to a full scan of the pages.


death by refrigerator!


death by trash incinerator!


distracted into failure via giant hotcakes!


falling through a pitfall!


Becoming a meal for Kumokumo the spider king!


Sinking into the goopy head of the muddy monster Hedoron!


Getting shoved into a trash bin!


Sent far into the past to fall prey to dinosaurs!

Blown away by Sumogguraa!


Overeating at Candy Mountain!
 

Crushed in hand by King Mokumoku!

I was reminded of these illustrators earlier today and how much I've enjoyed their work in illustrating fairy tales and the like. I figured I'd scan in some of their art from a particularly nice fairy tale book I have that they lavishly illustrated. I can't help but notice how much they often like to illustrate rather shapely young male asses... rawr! Jus' saying!

Someone directed me to this article on ComiXology via a link a little while ago talking about Wonder Woman in relation to the new show that's coming out soon. I have to admit I'm not really a fan of super hero comics and never really read them much as a kid either, still... I'm somewhat amused by an excerpt from an old Wonder Woman comic that was posted in that article. I'll re-post it here with a bit of levels correction (the one on the article seemed a little washed-out looking to me).

I was always a bit confused by this scene from Masamune Shirow's Orion comic book. Are they intending to eat her entirely or just eat the "filth" from her ass?



Either way, having the monster here licking her ass crack is pretty hawt! Yum yum, indeed.



Here's a full scan of the comic in question for y'all.

Back in the 80s we used to have an Apple IIc computer in the house that I would often play games on. I was especially fond of text-based adventures like Zork and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game. One of these Infocom games was called "Leather Goddesses of Phobos" which was a text adventure that leaned towards the racy side of things. There were three different levels of naughtiness in the game from "tame", to "suggestive", to "lewd".

I learned how to unlock the Lewd mode pretty quick when I was a kid, but I was never good enough at playing the game to ever get to any of the real "raunchy" bits of the game. Still, the idea that I was playing some kind of "forbidden game" was kinda' exciting to me at that age and I would frequently sneak it into the computer when my parents weren't around .

Anyways, it came packed with some extra gimmicky stuff. One of them was a scratch and sniff pad that corresponded to different points in the game (smells of pizza, mothballs, and the like). Another item was a 3-D "Lane Mastadon" comic book which included a scene that likely contributed to my growing interest in seeing pretty women getting eaten alive (click on the image for larger version):



As I recall, there's also a part I was able to get to in the game where you can be eaten and digested by a giant venus flytrap. I'll have to see if I can fish up the text from that some day and post it here.