Hi Xyliacs!
A new page! FINALLY. Good grief, it would be impossible to make up all the junk that keeps happening to me…Friday night I had a nice evening, and then got home and became really ill. I suspect food poisoning from some mystery chicken from a place that shall go nameless here. Anyway, I was up til 3AM with that, wiped out on Saturday and then shuttling kids all day Sunday. Finally able to focus on Xylia at 10PM on Sunday night. Uh. No. I worked until 5AM, and just couldnt make it happen. So…here we are. A day in the life of a psycho mom/artist.
Today’s page shows those crazy faerie girls getting in trouble and freaking out our hero.
NOTICE: I am going to have to reschedule Xylia chat- I was going to do one this coming Saturday the 26th, but I was invited to a wedding, and spaced it off. I’M SORRY HANNAH! I LOVE YOU. So, check here:Xylia Chat for updates. I may do it on Sunday- the next day. I will let you know by this Thursday.
Thanks for sharing your favorite games last week! Very cool. My fave would have to be the one the only the original- Pong. Seriously, though, Q-Bert was always my favorite. And Tetrus. Makes me feel smart. Whatever.
Question for today: what is your favorite kind of sky? ^_^
Click the button to go to donation land! Let’s get that pot up to $800.00 so we can continue our eight update months! Also, as always: if you do not receive your donation gift, please email me. We have had trouble with the auto feature for some reason, and some of you aren’t getting your gifts.
Xylia belongs to some groovy collectives: Tomgeeks, Palace in the Sky Publishing, andTall Tale Features. I have a blog up on Tall Tales features today, about my ‘art lesson’ with the immortal Chuck Jones. If you’ve never heard this tale from me, it’s a true story, and one I will never forget. Here.
Pretty please go here to vote TWC!
You can visitThe Xyliacs Club here!
That’s all for now! See you all Thursday! (Barring car accidents, court hearings, food poisoning, whiplash, or general insanity…)
~B
July 21st, 2008 at 5:02 pm
My favorite kind of sky? Hmm. I would have to say that my favorite sky is when it is dark, cloudy, ominous, and looks like it is about to rain, but not raining quite yet. Love the page!
July 21st, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Is it just me or does the faerie with the curly, black hair look like Cher ca. the 1990s?
July 21st, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Weird my browsers still showing the “will update later today” page. :/
July 21st, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Hope you feel better!
Definitely a green sky, the calm before the storm, when tornadoes are on the horizon.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Reynard, it’s not just you. I thought the EXACT same thing when I saw her.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:59 pm
clear with clouds floating about so that i can see all of the cool shapes roaming about and transforming. It’s best for me when the sky is either a nice clear blue toward the middle of the day or pinkish as the sun sets, but there is still light.
I love to watch the sky on roadtrips to Ohio with my family. Especially when we drive past large lakes with the clouds and hills reflecting in them. Absolutely beautiful and endless! Picture it all while listening to David Bowie (Deram Anthology for the right tone, especially When I Live My Dream). mmm… happiness.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Jace,
Try clearing your cache and refreshing the page!
I love sunset with the giant fluffy clouds. The reds and the pinks that underlight the bottoms of the clouds.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I don’t know about sky, but the weather situation would be high sixties to low seventies with medium humidity, partly cloudy, and a soft but strong breeze blowing. What can I say — I’m a romantic.
An, uh….is it just me or is the comic not up? I know barb said late, but she also mentions todays page, so is that as a preview or something?
July 21st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I love stormy skies. Crackling thunder, flashes of lightning, and intermittently-heavy rain. Makes me feel….alive.
Also, if you guys can’t see the new comic page, do a hard refresh! Control+R if you’re in Firefox!
July 21st, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Yes, as Kez said- please refresh!
I thought the same thing about Adora- definately has a Cher vibe going on! I didnt’ realize until she was in color. ^_^ “If I could turn back ti-ime… if I could find a way!”
~B
July 21st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
My favorite sky? This one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scascot/2047126169/
July 21st, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Definitely a clear, starry night-sky…
I wonder, why are you hiding the old lady’s face so carefully? Preparing for some dramatic revelation scene?
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:51 am
Hi, love the comic so far, I’ve just started reading & caught up to the current page.
My favourite sky? Hmm… I have a strange affinity for the sky in any of it’s ‘moods’, (might be because I’m lucky enough to have lived in Australia and N.Z., we get absolutely beautiful skies here), but best by far is a clear evening, just before sunset, deep blue and filled with stars.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:13 am
I wasn’t really thinking Cher…I was thinking more the woman who plays Ziva(?) *if that’s how it’s spelled* on the show NCIS…But I can remember her real name. (and can’t spell her fictional one!) XD
I like all sorts of skies! Each one means something else to me, brings up different memories…different inspirations and ideas! ^,^
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 am
Ah, there we go….
Here’s the script:
Katharos: *superglomp*
Claudius: *dies*
Andora: *icy cold stare*
Continuing with the who plays them game, I vote Reese Witherspoon for Katharos and….well, I got nothing for Andora. Need age info!
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:07 am
Favorite sky: clear, at night in the summer. I live at 52 deg North, so for a few weeks in June / July you can see a glow coming from below the horizon moving west to east as the summer night goes by…
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 am
Reese Witherspoon- that’s good. I still think Cher is good. If we could time travel and get her from 30 years ago or so.
Why am I hiding the old lady’s face? Gosh, I didn’t realiize I had done that. ^_^ She hasn’t a face. That’s it.
Skies are fun to think about, I think- that’s why I posted that question. I like the big cumulonimbus clouds like here: http://www.linesandcolors.com/images/2006-03/deas_400.jpg
Any sky that looks like Maxfield Parrish painted it. ^_^
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:32 am
I love this comic. Great art, great characters, great story, great ball of fire!
But yes, I also love jigsaw puzzles…and I saw a wall paper….so….
http://www.jigzone.com/puzzles/5513A7BB6B4?z=1&m=3A25096FEF.7469A62“><img src=”http://www.jigzone.com/im/pCut/1.png” alt=”Click to Mix and Solve” style=”width:400px;height:300px;margin:4px;padding:0;border:1px solid #999;background:transparent url(http://www.jigzone.com/puz/zemThumb?p.up.P.EK.L0.2a5di:jpg)
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 am
I love the page.
Favorite sky, hmm? Well, it’s a combination of sky and conditions, really – its either right before or right after a major storm. The sky is completely overcast and leaden – not a single stray bit of sunlight can come through. However, for some reason, the entire world is drenched in colour that you cannot ordinarily see – the grass is greener, tree bark is browner, etc. It doesn’t happen with every storm, obviously – it’s been several years since I’ve seen a sky like this – but it is truly amazing when it happens.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Poor Claudius… XD To suddenly have unknown young women trowing themselves at you and know that they’re supposedly family. *giggles* Every young man’s dream and worst nightmare all rolled into one!
As for the sky, well it’s a matter of sky and location for me.
Sunset or sunrise (though preferable the former unless it’s sunrise before going to bed. 
) from the middle of the ocean. Nothing like an endless horizion and a tinted sky for me. *happy sigh*
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
What do the colored, starry speech bubbles mean? When the brown one throws herself at Claudius, she seems to switch to a normal speech bubble, like Claudius’ own.
My favorite sky is either a night sky with a big, full moon and many stars, or a day sky just overcast enough to block the sun well. I have sensitive eyes and skin, so I prefer not to be in the sun too much.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Yeah, that’s true Barb — if we could turn back time….if we could find a way….
*sighs dreamily*
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Oh, for Melvar — the tinted speech bubbles are like telepathic speech bubbles for the characters using them. Blue is Andora, yellow-orange is Katharos, and light-green is their mom/grandma/aunt/whatever. That’s the REAL reason Xylia’s bubbles were always purple, you know?
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I got that the color is speaker-specific, I just didn’t get it was telepathy.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
The other thing Barb does to show whether it’s speech or telepathic is what points the speech bubble. Spoken speech bubbles will have the classic “v” like pointer leading to the speaker. Telepathic will have those little static like bubbles.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 am
Amazing as usual. We need to get you on the next TTF Radio, Barb. I’m sure everyone would love to hear about your technique.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:51 am
My favourite kind of sky? I adore the early, early morning, when the sun is just about to rise, and there are fingers of fluffy pink and orange and gold creeping above the horizon and breaking through all the dark greys and blues of the previous night. You must have a cup of tea though, to make everything complete.
The comic is, as always, fantastic. I’m always left wanting more!
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:00 am
Hey Barb, what’s with the random Pink Sprite in the middle of the page? I know you had her as the incentive to vote but are we supposed to assume that she is family (Oh My!) or just a random house guest of mom? Also hope Livy got off those stairs before Katharos stampeded to Claudius.
Sky? Colorado Sunrise with overcast sky, amazing pinks, yellows, and oranges with the mountains just lit up on their snow capped peaks. -OR- Nebraska afternoon sky with monster Thunderheads going up for miles where you can actually see them grow and build themselves up before they start having lightning dancing between them and the ground.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
sorry to bother, but my browser isn’t updating to the new page
any idea how to fix this?
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
You have to ask a hard question. For favorite sky I would have say I have two, cloudy cool days and clear country nights where the stars are shining. I like both of them for the same reasons though. At night and during a cloudy day things just seem to slow down and be a bit more peaceful. Sunlight seems to make everyone think they should be doing something or going somewhere. It is one of the things I love about Iowa. Cloudy six months out the year.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Nara: you’ll need to clear your cache. If you use Internet Explorer, go to tools–>internet options–>general–>delete browsing history. Erase your temporary internet files.
If you’re using Firefox, press control+shift+delete.
Then, refresh the page again, and it should show up.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Thank you Kez! yay! pretty new page!
July 24th, 2008 at 6:41 am
New Reader, Absolutely Adore it,
I want more!! ha ha!! <3 Much love!
July 24th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Favorite type of sky? Like, right before a big storm when the clouds are deep blue on the horizon? I love those dark blue clouds. ^_^ (although my dad keeps saying they’re gray or black. >_>” He must be color-blind. It’s the same color blue as the names and dates on these comments.) I love how the blue sky causes the grass and trees to look yellow-green. It especially does that when the sun is shining in the opposite direction of the clouds. Lots of contrast there.
Hmm… One of those girls look a lot like Claudius.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Hi there! Lovely seeing the new characters. The apology page is still showing between the newest page and the page from (Monday?). I cleared cache, etc. Just wondering if you had noticed or if the problem is on my side. Great work! I can’t wait to see more.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I might be silly, or suspicious, but I think we did just see her.
http://xyliatales.com/07212008/
Just speculation, but that could very well be grey hair… hmmmmm.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
My ancient computer won’t open the file. I’ll never know what happens!