E. J. Barnes, Illustrator @ejbarnescomix@mastodon.art

Final versions of the Nightshade Seed Company series, Part Deux. Despite the same top and bottom banner color for the entire series, there were differences in how these came out in the scans, even before I added the color profile and made any adjustments. And the way these look as JPEGs make them redder than they look in Photoshop, let alone on the originals.

Final versions of the Nightshade Seed Company series, in this toot and the next. Despite the same top and bottom banner color painted across the entire series -- that is, I painted them all at once -- there were differences in how the colors came out in the scans, even before I added the color profile and made any adjustments. And the way these violets look as JPEGs make them redder than they look in Photoshop, let alone on the originals.

Making progress on the Nightshade Seed Co. paintings, including lettering. I swear that using frisket makes me feel as though I've been given permission to cheat. Let me know if the text is hard to make out! #mastoart

More painting over frisket. Since it's liable to ruin a good paintbrush, I've been using crappy ones, but the problem is that they lose their points quickly. That means masking with a blunt instrument.

First time using frisket (masking fluid) before applying a background wash. Guess I needed to practice before doing this on a "final" piece. #mastoart #triffid
#Nightshade Seeds

The fifth and last of the color studies I posted pencils of last week. This is the closest I usually come to fan art. #mastoart

The color studies I posted pencils of last week (Baobab to follow -- Mastodon won't let me post a 5th image here). #mastoart

Pencils for color study of the fifth in the Nightshade Seed Co. series. #mastoart

Pencils for the color studies of a new series I'm painting for entering a science-fiction convention art show. Hoping that when I apply watercolor it'll give a better idea of what's going on, but for now these are just the compositions. (There's a fifth, which will be coming soon.) #mastoart

My decade-old Mustek large-format scanner refused to work yesterday. Don't know if it was the heat, as it was OK this morning.

However, I think I should be prepared in case it's giving signs it's about to croak for good. Any recommendations? The current platen size is 11.75"x17", although the actual maximum scanning dimensions are more like 11.5"x16.75".

I just posted on my Tumblr my review of _Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic_ (2011) by Alison Butler: http://ejbarnes.tumblr.com/post/175578802110/review-victorian-occultism-and-the-making-of

I admit to not yet looking deeply into what I, as a small-volume online vendor, would have to do to conform to this standard of interstate sales tax collection.

So far only about half the states in the US have joined this agreement. The question is, do small online vendors still need to be concerned, or can we simply expect, once our own businesses follow these principles, that we'll be covered?

Thanks to a tax-lawyer friend, I have been made aware that the SCOTUS decision would only apply to states whose sales tax laws followed principles espoused by this group: http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/

I was concerned that, even though South Dakota (the state bringing the suit) had passed laws making this only applicable to businesses that did thousands of dollars' worth of business in South Dakota, not all states that passed laws levying sales tax on out-of-state vendors would apply such limitations.