Hello, Xyliacs!
———————-Today’s Page————————-
Nice to have some new characters and a new setting! Some of my family was originally from County Cork, and it’s a place I would love to see. 
One thing I wanted to mention is that if any of you readers are from Ireland either originally, or are still living there, I would love to visit with you via email to get the skinny on Irish lingo. I can research it all I want, but talking to someone who really speaks it would be terrific.
—————————TWC————————–
Today’s TWC incentive is a piece I was working on a while back and plan to complete- the Ambrosia Phanessa stained glass window. The incentive is the leadwork drawing (in progress) for the design.
———————–XYLIATALES NEWS!!————————
Excited to announce that two of my webcomic pals, Alan- creator of Rival Angels, and Sarah Ellerton, creator of Phoenix Requiem, have both been nominated in The Webcomic List awards!
Also want to remind you that Tall Tale Features is kicking off a new site design and content February 1! Don’t miss it! Irma Erikkson of Imy is cooking up a fantabulous site design!
Speaking of web designers, in case you missed her blog post, Kez has launched a new comic, What it Takes, that promises to be an exiting addition to her story listings.
And my other Team Xylia pal, Canterrain, has started a thoughtful blog on faith and scripture. Lifequill
Still working on setting up Xylia for print- currently working on the cover piece. I sometimes work on this while broadcasting. Having said that….
Xyliatales On Air will be broadcasting on Sundays, along with the occasional last minute broadcast! (Just had a fun one last Thursday night!). I’m going to try for a regular time- like 7PM CST. I know some of you will find that an inconvenient time in other parts of the world- hopefully it will work for some of you! XYLIATALES ON AIR TALK SHOW SITE
Remember, you can follow my announcements on Twitter
Or consider friending me on Facebook- just make sure to let me know that you are a Xyliac when you send the request.
Tall Tale Features, is getting set up for a reboot February 1! This collective of amazing artists that I am privileged to belong to will be featuring some yummy content- as always including Tall Tale Radio, hosted by the golden voiced Tom Racine, but also some hard hitting, thoughtful reviews of webcomics.
——————–XYLIA GOODY BAG——————
Please consider donating for the cause! I plan on adding new things in the coming weeks- first I will be creating a series of hi resolution downloadable character cards, with profile images and bio information! In the meantime, browse our existing wallpapers and other things. As always if you don’t receive your download, please email me directly at bji2001(at)mchsi.com.
Thank you all for visiting! Remember, that I love comments, and your feedback keeps me goin’ on this cold winter nights in Iowa!
Hugs,
~B
January 27th, 2010 at 4:35 am
WOOT! County Cork – a gorgeous place!
I love April and Decembers’ eyes!! Oustanding!
Kids these days. You’d almost think you had to feed ‘em every day. Sheesh. ^_^
Love the new picture, B! Radiant smile! ^_^
Great page, B – I love the latter three panels floating in the first. Off to see the vote incentive; keep up the great work!
January 27th, 2010 at 6:37 am
When a character has mismatched eyes, you know they’re going to be interesting. They always are! And you do the most beautiful landscapes.
Also: Like your hair! I can never get mine to do that swooshy-curly-girlything…
January 27th, 2010 at 7:07 am
Hi Barb! I love the look of this page. The cobble fences, the dirt road…just the general feel of the entry. I didn’t notice until I looked at this this second time that the younger of the siblings has mismatched eyes. Pretty cool. The elder’s amber eyes is an awesome color as well! I’m curious as to the significance of their names as well…
January 27th, 2010 at 7:24 am
Thanks for the Twitter reminder. lol! Gorgeous new page. I agree with Ian… love the mismatched eyes! Also love the vote incentive. It makes me want to get out my colored pencils and color it in.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Hi Barb! It’s good to be back! And eee! Cork! I pass through there all the time on the way to Kerry when I visit the rellies’. I can’t tell you straight away exactly how the lingo goes since it’s been a while since I was last there and to be honest I was paying more attention to what people were saying than their accents, but I can tell you ’tis is still in use and my family at least often start a sentence with a drawn out ‘oh’, such ‘oooooh, it’s good to see you’. My mum is visiting tomorrow, so I’ll pin her up against the wall and make her tell me more! And I love the classic Irish road you’ve got going there – althoug hCork now has a big motor way going through it. Alas for the bumpy mountain roads of childhood!
January 27th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Wow, Cork! I love Ireland…sigh. I also love the look of the two new characters. They are distinctly different from any other characters, especially the straight black hair and the eyes, which everyone else noticed. Wonder how long they’ve been on the road? December’s hands seem quite filthy
Can’t wait for next weeks update!!!
January 27th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Hi Barb! Love the new page and the new characters! The little girl is too cute!
As for the Irish lingo, what would you like to know? I used to live in England, and my best friend lives in Carlow, and is about as Irish as they come.
January 27th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Gorgeous background and interesting page layout, I do love this page. The natural child-like movements of a skipping girl are well-captured.
Hmm, it seems for now that my initial guessof them being modern vagabonds isn’t altogether wrong. Poor little April. It’s hard to explain rationing to a lively young one’s stomache!
I wonder where they are heading, or from what they are running away?
January 27th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Hmmm . . . December is clearly older than April so at least there isn’t an entire set of months running around.
Rationing food? Are these girls running away from something?
January 27th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
I see paired brown and green eyes and I immediately think of the line from Reading in the Dark: “If we ever met anyone with one green and one brown eye we were to cross ourselves, for that was a human child that had been taken over by the fairies. The brown eye was the sign it had been human.” =)
January 28th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Yay, accents!!!
I rilly love Rilly’s eyes and December’s hat. Now, the question — are they gypsies, nomads, runaways, or something else?
Also, props to Emili for catching that.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
(Glides out of the shadowed corner)
Barb, though my maternal grandfather came over from Ireland with his mother and brothers, I haven’t personal knowledge of the accent. However, the author David Weber has written three books with the main character, Bahzell Bahnaksson, having an Irish way of speaking. The books are “The Oath of Swords” and “The War God’s Own”.
I know you have very limited time to yourself, but I thought the mannerisms were very good.
Also, amazing artwork as always!
(Glides back into the shadows).
January 29th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Hey everyone! Thank you very much for reading and all the nice comments. Oh, and THANK YOU FOR VOTING! We have gone from 137 to the 70’s in just a week at TWC! Woot!
Okay, Let’s see….
Octo- I want to hear more about this trip of yours to Ireland…
And yes, feeding kids is one of those daily requirements…and three to four times a day to boot!
Strange Ian- yes, I always like to add something odd into the mix. Thank you for the compliments on my hair. The ‘girly swooshy’ thing never lasts long though, once I go out into the brutal Iowa elements…
Christine- you give me a GREAT idea for the February contest! I was going to do something else, but now I think I want to do a coloring contest!
Sweet!
Hi Sarah! So good to hear from you again. “The rellies’, eh?” Love that. Yes, this Irish road is what I think of when i think Ireland, I know they are probably growing scarce, but it’s really necessary to pull the vibe I’m looking for. There have to be a few left, right? ^_^
Karstel, glad you noticed Deci’s dirty hands. Just how long they’ve been wanderin’ about remains to be seen. I am glad that the girls have a different look from other characters!
Leona- thanks for the offer to help me out with Irish jabber! I’ve had some wonderful offers, and I really appreciate that.
Lana, thank you for the nice comments! I’m glad that April’s happy skipping came across well.
Tinkerwrks- ‘other set of months running around’ LOL! I actually did a spit take when I read that. TOO FUNNY!
Emili- great quote. ^_^
Brent- well, we shall have to see- shallen’t we? ^_^
Skewered- thank you for the reference recommendation- I will definately check that out. Thank you so much!
Thanks all for the kind and generous comments, they always make my day. And thanks SO MUCH for helping us climb the TWC ladder! New incentive coming on Monday!
<3! B
January 30th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I’m first generation Irish-American and my entire paternal family is from Co. Limerick, so I might be able to help you out.
The first thing you should know about the people of West Ireland is that they are generally very polite people. Their expression for describing something positively is ‘grand’ instead of ‘good’ (as in “Mom got my a puppy!”"Isn’t that grand!”), and they have a tendency to refer to something in more general terms, such as using the term ‘ware’ in place of the more specific words cutlery and dinnerware. Most other terms would borrowed from the English, at least those I can think of at the moment.
“Irish by birth and Munster by the grace of God!”
February 14th, 2010 at 1:07 am
Yay Ireland! I’ve never been there, but this page makes me want to go even more than I already did =)