Welcome to the future! It's now 2001! So now I guess I need to go sign up for my jet car, spend a night in an orbital hotel, or have my robot clean my house, then maybe I'll see how that manned mission to Jupiter is going. Oh well, predictions come and go. After all, we've beaten the odds ourselves! Most clubs that just start out with a few people in someone's house die out within the first few months. None of them last 4 years, and open 3 more branches :) That's one thing I kind of find magical about the Anime Heretics. When a member of any other club moves away, they look for a new club. Our members form a new branch of the Heretics. I guess we must be doing something right.

A bit of news:

For those who haven't heard already, the Anime Heretics now has a store! Go to http://www.balorn.net/ah/store/ and check it out. We have a deal with a printer which allows us to sell per item, rather than take a bunch of preorders, and then do a bunch at once. The couple of bucks over their cost that we have listed goes toward the club. If you buy general club stuff, it goes into a general convention fund, mostly to help pay for munchies for the whole group (that means all branches). If you buy something branch-specific, the funds will go to that particular branch, which I guess go toward any flyers that may get printed, or maybe toward expanding the club library. The graphics on the items are done completely by Heretics members. So go buy something! It beats charging membership dues :)

The Houston branch hasn't yet had their first meeting, but in my e-mail conversation, Clint seems pretty determined to do whatever it takes to get the club off the ground. I admire that perseverance, but my advice? Try not to assume it has to be big just to start. As far as I know, both the Austin and Arlington branches are still just a few people meeting at somebody's residence. Start with that, invite more people as you talk to them, and don't worry about being somewhere bigger until you've outgrown where you are now. We generally try to focus on camraderie over size. After all, would you see any other club having members with flyers stuck to their foreheads running through the halls at an anime convention?

The San Francisco branch has had its first couple of meetings. Their ranks are up to 4 members, and a website is in the works. Great work!

I know it's 5 months early, but it's time to start thinking about pre-regging for A-kon 12. Get those room reservations, and your registration in. Also, there's a 5-dollar discount on pre-regs if there are 10 or more sent in the same envelope. Get organized and registered now before the price for early pre-regs expires. Also, don't forget to include the Pre-Akon party in your plans! It's now tradition for at least the Austin branch to come up a day early, join the party at my place Thursday night, where we watch anime and goof around until the wee-hours of the morning, then get to the con early Friday morning. The Houston & San Francisco branches are welcome to join us....the more the merrier! Maybe this year, we will get around to going swimming! :)

Relatively short issue this month, since with the holidays, I didn't get around to writing much, but overall, still a good issue. Please get me some contributions to flesh this baby out! Enjoy the newsletter!

How to Draw Anime Style

by Fran
Currently listening to: Nine Inch Nails remixes and music from Child's Toy soundtrack

10 Steps to Becoming the Best Anime Artist on the Block

I've been drawing anime style for 3-4 years now. I'm a lot better than I used to be, but I still have a long way to go. I'm improving at a pretty fast rate, scorning pictures that I was so proud of just a few months ago. If you're interested in learning how to draw anime, people have many different styles and techniques, but here's how I do it:

	1. Draw the eyes first. Always. You can fill in the eyes now if you want. I usually do, but sometimes I don't.
	2. Draw the nose. Not necessarily in detail, just a sketch of where it is and how big it is.
	3. Do the outline of the face. Start with the lines beside the eyes, and end with the chin.
	4. Now the eyebrows and ears. The top of the ear is usually level with the center of the eye (or a little above). I just aim for somewhere between the top & bottom eyelids.
	5. If he/she has bangs, draw them now. Start with the middle, and then do the rest of one side and then the rest of the other. Tip: Thinner bangs make them look older. Longer bangs are usually used for bishoujo.
	6. Draw the neck and upper body.
	7. Draw the rest of the hair. I draw the top of the head last.
	8. If you haven't filled in the eyes yet, do it now.
	9. Draw the mouth. The mouth is usually close to the nose (except for certain facial expressions). Tip: If you want the mouth to stand out more, draw a small line under it, of it you're coloring, put a dark shading of skin color there. This gives it somewhat of a bottom lip and more depth.
Hey, it's Maniko! Who didn't see that one coming?
	10. If you're doing a full body drawing, then you can do the rest of the body now, and add any remaining detail.

If you are really serious about becoming an anime artist, trace a bunch of pictures. Make sure to do a wide variety of pictures. That's the mistake that I made, I only traced pretty poses, so now, years later, that's about all I can do. When you get tired of tracing, or think you've done enough, do some more, and then try drawing the pictures just by looking at them. Keep doing that for a long time while trying to develop your own style. Your originals are probably not going to be as good as your tracings and copies, but they will probably be better than your original drawings before you started. This is what you have to be most patient with. Just keep drawing, do a variety of characters and poses, and do more tracings and copies on the side, to help develop your style and keep up your skill. Remember to be patient. They say it takes at least 21 straight days doing something for it to become a habit. It took me a few years to get where I am today, and I still have a long way to go.

How the Anime Heretics Saved the World

A Slightly Fictionalized Version...Or Is It?
by Throkda Jones

December 31st, 1999

For weeks, a semi-skeptical populace had been stocking up on necessities, "just in case." People who really believe that Y2K would destroy society had been ready for months. In some parts of the world, programmers were still feverishly pounding at their keyboards to ensure their computers would still be working in a few hours. Still others laughed at all of them -- it was already January 1st, the dreaded 1/1/00, in half the world -- the non-Y2K compliant half, mind you -- and the Wester hemisphere hadn't yet been destroyed by all those "accidentally launched" nuclear missiles, so everything would likely be fine. So many opinions....they were all wrong.

Deep within the extradimensional bowels of the Universe, imprisoned for just a little longer, Satan watched the proceedings on Earth and laughed, his guffaws echoing off the steaming walls of Hell. Who would have believed that planting a tiny seed of laziness in a few programmers 50 years ago would have such tremendous consequences?

"Ha ha ha! My distraction was successful! Pitiful creatures...so easily turned away from repenting their sins! The world still has such a delectable scent of evil, and soon my reign can begin! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Meanwhile, somewhere in Texas, the Anime Heretics of Arlington were holding their Anime Heretics versus the Apocolypse party.....

"This sucks! Where's all the booze?"

"So what? We don't drink, and I don't wanna clean up after your mess. Besides, we have underage people here. Shutup and enjoy the show."

"Whoa! She's a dude!"

"Only at night. During the day, she's 100% girl."

"So this is like Ranma?"

"Not exactly. Ranma has a cursed body. Maze is two separate people."

"Man, I just realized something...this sucks!"

"Now what?"

"We should be out looking for an end of the world orgy!"

"Why? The world's not gonna end."

"Yeah, well you know that, and I know that, but who says all the hot women out there know that?"

"Whatever, dude."

And so it went...Satan had his bags packed, and was all ready to hit the button which would launch his specially created virus, one which would bring into reality every single fear of what the Y2K bug could do. Armageddon was at hand!

"I think I'll take one last look at these pitiful humans before I destroy them..."

Satan switched on the Hellavision, flipping channels and looking into every home in the world.

"Wait a second....what's this? Some kind of strange dance? The Junky Boy? And even though they look like complete idiots, they seem to be enjoying it?"

Satan took a moment to look up the records of those on his screen.

"These people are insane! No matter how dull or horrendous the situation, they find a way to enjoy it? On second thought, they would take all the fun out of ruling the world...Maybe I'll wait another thousand years or so."

Satan began unpacking, then glanced over at his computer.

"Now what am I going to do with that virus? Hm....minor modification....there. Now to send it to somebody. Pull down the mailing list here...perfect! America Online, enjoy my sentiments!"

"I love you."

Check Out Your Convention Footage!

by Throkda Jones

We've been taping stuff at Project A-kon for three years now, and while I know the Arlington branch has watched them a few times, I don't believe anyone else has, beyond the guys who did the taping. That's a real shame. Not only are you maybe missing some parts of the convention you may not have made it to, but you can find some real gems of comedy in all the "boring" parts. Here are some of my favorites:

Project A-kon 9

Now, obviously, there's the now infamous bestiality report, and the interview with Brad DeMoss for winning the music video contest, but there's a lot of good stuff on this single tape. During the Welcoming Ceremony, at a point when they're throwing out candy and stuff, watch carefully....one piece pegs the camera. Obviously, there's the Steve Bennet chugging thing, but when we're leaving after the Ippongi Bang concert, you get to see a shitfaced Steve try and figure out what we're asking him...this is where the whole "You Guys Rock" thing started.

Ippongi Bang in concert is great...gotta love that outfit, but did you see the auction at the cosplay when a school uniform she wore for a part once was auctioned off? The guy who won it not only turned out to be wearing the same outift as Katoman -- he was kissed by Ippongi Bang! One of my personal embarrasing stories was when we tried to interview people coming out of the music video contest, and got a flower put in my hair.

At the cosplay, you may not be able to hear many of the acts, but keep an eye out for "Coitus McCloud vs. the Immortal Fanboy", "Bootleg Copy of Mortal Combat 5", and of course "Parrapa the Rapper" I close the con with a statement on Saturday night, a tradition which was carried on at A-kon 11 by Brad DeMoss.

Lots of good stuff there, but let's move on.

Project A-kon 10

Tim Thomerson's Standup Routine, the Orion Slave Girl dance, Roxanne Spanking Steve, the Red Ryder "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" BB Gun, and the hijinks in Da Bar....and still people may fast forward past some good things. In Da Bar, don't just go looking for flesh....there's a lot of footage, and only a little bit of the dirty stuff. But watch Brad DeMoss doing his Wide World of Sports impression, or trying to explain to people through a locked door that they just have to go down one floor. We also have Steve Bennet officially saying "Anime Heretics Rock!" How about the drunken guys singing? Better yet, a great scene when Adol is holding up his drink and talking to Karsten..."Karsten, this...this is alcohol. And you need to have some."

The Taiko Drummers were cool, as was Ippongi Bang....but those who left the cosplay during the zilion skits may have missed Mari Ijima in concert. Did you see the swordfight in the dealer's room? How 'bout the guy getting thrown out of the slave auction? Seeing a guest artist skateboarding through the corridor between towers was kinda cool, and we did get around to doing a couple of interviews, with two of the voice actors from Star Blazers. We may not have stuck around to see Cthulu raised, but we were there for the sermon!

Good stuff in the cosplay...my favorite skits -- "Cheat Codes for Final Fantasy 8", "Darth Rocket, Pokemon Hunter", "Who Will Ever Pull This Sword from My Bosom?", "THE Anime Fighter", "The Bust a Groove Crew", and a lot of others....did you catch Pulse menacing the M.C.? What about the way he introduced Pink, from Dragon Pink?

You like music videos but find it too much of a pain to track them all down? We were there for the whole music video contest and got it on tape! I may not have watched it myself, but there were probably some good in-jokes at the fanfiction panel. A-kon 10 was a great year, and with 2 cameras, we caught a lot of it on tape, quite a few things exclusive.

Project A-kon 11

I'm still waiting for half the footage, with all the celebrity interviews, the fanclub summit, and a lot more, but here were some good things from what I did have.

Don't skip the Pre-Akon Bash, or you'll miss the chickenfights, the pyramid in the livingroom, and hassling Eric about what life in the Army would be like....not to mention the one-man pool party :) The PJ party was kinda dull, but believe me, it's worth watching Guido wander the halls drunk with the camera. I was in hysterics when he told Karsten he was off to find good-looking women, then the next thing the camera sees is a girl, with Guido's voice saying, "I have found a woman, and she is good-looking." He also wandered into the J-pop room dance, the people lounging in the lobby, and a bit of Karaoke....you have to see the dancing guy in the Karaoke room...he's great!

Watching the Pika-truck at the Welcoming Ceremony is kinda cool, even if the speaking itself was kinda dull. During the Taiko concert, did you stick around to see all the celebrities dancing? I confess to finding a lot of stuff mediocre at A-kon 11, or at least in the footage I have so far, but in the music video contest, I really like the Lee Thompson production of "Only the Beginning," set to the Final Fantasy 8 cinematics...

As for the Cosplay, hell, it's worth watching again just for Brad DeMoss! He did a great job. The kidnapping of Meri Hazelwood at the end was cool, too.

Well, reading over all that up there, it looks like I babbled, as I tend to do, but I really mean it...watch some of that convention footage. That's why we're taping it.