So, I'm Engaged

For quite some time, I have been planning on popping the question to Darah, my girlfriend (now fiancee).  Actually it's been on my mind since last July when we discussed our future as a couple. So in December I took the first steps.  

Because Darah is from Maine, I didn't have many opportunities to talk to her dad about our plans.  But in December I went with her to Maine for a week before Christmas.  While I was there I figured it would be a good time to ask her dad.  (Gulp talk about nervous).  So with about a day and a half left I figured I had given her family enough time to get to know me, and it was time to ask him.

Everybody was down in her family's basement playing Rock Band, except for Steve (her dad).  So I decided to take a "bathroom break."  I headed up stairs and went to the bathroom.  I told myself, as soon as I'm done I am going to just go out there and ask him.  I never wanted a pee break to take so long.  (sorry if that is TMI).  When I finished I headed out into the living room where he was sitting.  I took a deep breath, and finally said, "Steve I'd like to talk to you about something when you have time."  I remember thinking, "please don't say now, please don't say now!"  And then he said, "Well now's a good time."

So I told him about how much I loved Darah, and that I was pretty certain that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.  I was hoping to ask her in the Spring and wanted to have his blessing if I asked her.  

He was very calm about it, and made me feel at ease.  He told me that Darah was his first baby, and meant a lot to him.  He also asked me about plans of timing of when we would get married. I told him probably the summer after we graduated.  He said that was probably good timing, and told me to take care of her, and then finally said yes, that I had his blessing.  Man I was on Cloud 9 (where that phrase came from I don't really know but...).  So ever since then I had been trying to find a way to propose.  

In January Darah and I had taken a comics as culture class for our J-term, and I started toying around with making comic panels.  So I decided I would write a love story comic book.  It would have 25 short stories all about love, and all ending in a proposal.  The last one would be our story, and would include the exact same setting as my intended proposal.  

I worked on this for about 3 weeks and only got a story and a half done.  I decided it would take way to long to get done in time for our anniversary, so I started looking for other options.  But nothing seemed to fit.  I wanted something that reflected on our year together, and that would be a good transition into the next stage.  I wanted something that took some time and effort, but was also realistic.  

Finally after sorting through a few ideas I decided on one idea about 4 days before our anniversary.  I remembered my family talking about going on an audio guided walking tour recently, and I thought.  "What a unique and great idea!"  So I began working on an audio walking tour of all significant places and events to us over the last year or so.  

It started at the location where we officially met for the first time, and then went through many important places for us.  At the end, the tour took us to a tree on campus.  We had called this tree the love tree because it is where we had first sat and talked until 4 A.M. and it is where we first held hands, and also where we had our first kiss.  Before we even started dating, Darah had made a joke, because we hit it off so well, that we should just carve our wedding date into this tree.

The audio tour (which was my recorded voice over some nice apple loops) told the story of the tree and its significants.  It ended by saying, this is kind of where the first step or our relationship began, and it now also where the next step begins.  Darah had tears streaming down her face.  (I was hoping tears of joy)  I took out my earphones from the tour and stumbled over some words.  I even said Lord like I was going to pray, but then I didn't pray.  I finally said, I'm just going to get down on my knee.  So I knelt down and said "Darah Lynn Morin will you marry me?"  And she said, "YES!"  

I pulled the ring (out of a ziplock bag, haha for good reasons) and then panicked because I wasn't sure which hand to put it on.  She helped me out, and then we hugged for like 3 minutes straight.  It was so awesome to pull off something special for someone that I love so much, and to end in such a memorable moment was probably the greatest feeling in my whole life.  

You can read a more detailed account of the proposal on Darah's Blog.  We also have a website now that is in progress.  www.JakeAndDarah.com we are going to do a joint blog on there, about our experiences and the wedding planning process.  Please check it all out.  Wow, it's so so so exciting.  Thanks for reading, until next time.

Peace,

Jake

Comics Comics Comics!!!

Ok, So for J-Term this year Darah and I took a course on comics called, Comics as Culture.  Basically for 2 and a half weeks we read tons of comics, and now I'm addicted.  I love them!  Sad thing is, they cost money :(  So after reading so many comics, and studying the art a little bit I decided I would try and make my own one-page comic.  I've tried making comics when I was a kid, but this time I actually followed most of the process, and I think it turned out pretty good.  I might start doing a weekly or biweekly one page paneled comic.  But, who knows?  I say I'll do a lot of things then something else comes up.  Anyway, I bet you're wondering how my comic turned out. Well, to add an element of suspense, I will show you the process before revealing the final outcome.

The first thing I did was make a rough draft on lined notebook paper.  I did it on notebook paper because we were running low on computer paper.  I had read Watchmen for our class, and one thing I really liked that Dave Gibbons did was make a solid image on one page, or a splash as it would be called in comics world, then he would panel it out and show a progression of people moving.  This was just a more creative way to do a conversation sequence.  It was much more effective than a head with a talking bubble.  So, I wanted to try it for myself.  I'm not exactly sure why I chose Arlington Cemetery, or why the subject matter, but I really liked how the rough draft came out.  

Here is the Rough Draft,  you can click on the image to make it larger.

After I had made a pleasing rough draft, I started working on the pencil version of the comic.  I outlined the size of the page, then I drew the whole splash image.  Then I sectioned it off into 3 equally sized panels, and erased anything in between.  

This is the Final Penciled Version.  Click to Enlarge

The Next Step in the Process is to take the penciled version, and ink it.  I liked the pencil version a lot, and I didn't want to ruin it by drawing over it with pen.  So I made a hodgepodge lightbox and traced it with a blue pencil.  Then I traced over that with various thicknesses of pen.  I also used some different shades of black and grey for the people.  

This is the final inked version of the picture.  Click to enlarge (of course)

Not a lot of difference between this and the penciled version other than the facial features in the closest people, and all lines are darker.

After this, the next step is to color it.  To do this, I just scanned the image into my computer, and worked on it in photoshop.  I'll spare you the details, and show you the final result.

You know the drill about making it bigger.

Ok so now on to the final result.  All I had to do was add the lettering.  I tried a few methods for this, but the best I found was a program called Comic Life.  It's made so you can add captions and word bubbles to your own pictures, but they are really good bubbles and captions, so I used them for my comic.  This is what I got.

Click and make it bigger, check it out, and let me know what you think please.  I hope you enjoy it.  It's short, but I think it's not bad and pretty powerful.  

Until next time

Peace,

Jake