Everything is going well.
Germany was wonderful. Now I am back on the comic. One more week left, I hope.
4 pages left.
Still 10 pages left.
Sad. Ah well, August I will finish this series of 10 issues.
Finally. This issue is heating up into a gun battle. Ahhhh, the control of not having to work for a milk toast corporation or timid editor. ...or a paycheck.
Tomorrow I drive to the east coast, then fly to Germany for my aunt's 80th birthday, as well as a visit to a very special friend.
I'll be back in early August. A couple weeks back I outlined the text for another book: not a comic or animation project. When back I will probably write the text, which isn't plentiful, and late next year I will illustrate it and self publish. Hopefully, late next year I should have three chunky books published before Christmas. All quite different with different subjects and purposes.
See ya!
Still 13 pages left to go.
That's half an issue.
The essence of education.
Discipline.
Brotherhood.
Embarrassment.
All of it slowly goes toward the end. 19 pages left.
So, the last issue is under way ...
Yes. It centers around urine. Poop jokes are passe. Urine is 'in' these days.
Just 22 pages left out of 255 or so.
The past two weeks had me learning how to be a home electrician as I rebuild part of my house. In between parts of the project I have taken time to compile all my book's art in ready-to-print file format. It's set to be printed as a 330 page "digest size" book.
Everything's getting done. A little more than a week and I should be back on inking.
Only 25 pages to left to ink. This week I will have to put aside comic book work as I remodel part of my house and learn how to string electricity. Yowza.
Don't cry. I'll be finishing the final pages between now and July. "Urinator" was always one of my favorite issues. I'm looking forward to completing it quickly.
Work skipped a beat, but it's going. 28 pages left to ink.
Closer.
This issue is going along quite swiftly.
Just 34 pages left to ink.
Like last year, my missing time was fruitful for other art ...
Between Books is a fiction literature store in Claymont, Delaware. I used to visit weekly in the mid-80's to buy comics. Now it is a nice sized store which offers just about everything dealing with fiction literature or culture.
For a 30 year anniversary publication, Greg Schauer (owner) asked me to do a small comic for him. It was fun to do something new. I've also been fiddling around with stray, fun art ideas to keep me active with penciling...
Just stuff done for my own fun, and for others to enjoy.
However, I'm back on this comic full time now. 3 more pages are a small skip from being done. It's great to be finishing up the last stretch of this behemoth.
It's been a while ...
No, I didn't quit. I've just been inking while doing a few other projects in comics, illustration, and screenwriting. During December I wrote a movie screenplay for the comic book as an exercise in screen writing. It's more intense than the comic in the way it portrays school.
There are still 37 pages left to ink--1 1/2 issues. I'm just doing the inking now, and I hope to have the 255 pages finished by July.
We'll see what comes. All other pages for the book are finished and ready to format for printing. Print date is uncertain: I still want to do the 35 page comic, funny animal animation pilot, Laptop & Mouse to publish in the same book. There is also another very important book in my life which I wrote but needs illustrations, and I have to finish that soon as well.
Shuffling along ...
Exciting.
Finally less than 60 pages left.
Sixty pages left ...
Seems like forever since I started this trip. All the covers, back covers, inside covers and other pages are done aside from the cover of the bound edition. Though the comic inking has taken a back seat to other things in my life, it's slowly getting done.
The past few weeks have been a side-step trip to the east coast for a wedding.
For the next few days I am finishing a movie screenplay I began in September in order to clear the way for school, inking, and editing my textbook. When done I'll send the screenplay to a couple studios and a few good friends. It's a romantic-comedy I had in mind for the past 9 years and have finally structured into a 3 act movie, so I wrote the outline and am currently filling out details and dialogue. Fun stuff. If it doesn't get utilized by an entertainment company in the next 3 or 4 years I'll illustrate it as a (roughy) 200 page graphic novel done in a more realistic style than this current comic book.
Still 65 pages to ink ...
There are only about 68 pages to ink ...
Then I have to start Laptop & Mouse.
More ...
A long week for me.
Still moving through Issue #10's inks.
Began the inks of issue #10.
Seventy five pages left to ink.
This issue is now completed end-to-end.
I am currently in the middle of a screenplay (R-rated, romantic comedy, movie - not related to the comic book), a text book I have written and am prepping for publication, and am starting part-time university on Wednesday, so inking will slow a little through year's end, or until I wrap up a lot of these other projects.
Been writing a screenplay, editing a book, and inking...
And that's just the beginning of much more work that will slow down this comic.
Gradually working through issue #7.
Two more weeks and it should be done. About time.
Still going... 2/3 done inking the series today.
Still going...
Long way to go...
For the past couple weeks I became disheartened with my old pencils on the comic. So I took time to draw whatever I wanted. This piece, Amos Moses (Jerry Reed 1972) is the last and tomorrow I return to the comic 100% ...
Somewhere down the week I fell in love with the tragic situations Ami Yumi never fell into in their cutesy Cartoon Network show...
Then I somehow slipped into .hack//G.U.ville, despite never playing the games. I liked the first 4 lengthy games, found the earthy anime writing of .hack//SIGN comforting, and 'Bracelet of the Twilight' was a cute wind down from a very serious set of games and anime. But, on first exposure the new Kite was quite hostile and over cyberpunk...
So I made him into a her. Azure Kittie. Figured it would be good to post some of my odd follies here on my comic's webite. Now I need to get back to business on The Lost Boys.
Discovered inking shiny, black clad figures isn't as fun as penciling them...
Been a tough week.
That sums up my day. Taxes and tones.
As I cleaned up stray stuff on the last half of issue 5, I noticed how much dialog has or would fit right into my life ...
Pretty much right on target ...
Figured I would post a load of stray panels from the issue, since my posts are now few and far between.
This pair is eerily apt in relation to my life:
Time for issue 7's inks tomorrow. Issues 4, 5 & 6 were generally silly, with ridiculous stories about childhood, but issue 7 gets brutal, bloody, and ominous. It's a story about Skitch's (the black kid in the panels above) phobias, and strengths... dammit.
One more day and I am done issue #5 (the 6th I inked). Took a 2 week break between months to travel, but have kept good pace. Now I can dedicate to inking the last 4 issue into early summer and wrap up the 10 issues.
Finished 5 1/2 issues as of tonight.
Going strong, going well.
Just working away in the winter cold.
Still inking.
During the weekend I began to visit old ideas, and work them up further. This was an old idea I always wanted to do something with. My intention was to do it as a comic and attach it to far future issues of The Lost (Boys), but after writing up the script I have decided to take a stab at putting it in the trade paperback for these first 10 issues ...
That will push back publication 4 months, and rev up page count well over 300. It's only 33 pages; originally the script for a small animated pilot. An inconvenience for anyone waiting, but I would like to clear out ideas. Later this year when done publishing this trade paperback I hope to finish the illustrations for that animation production primer I wrote 4 years ago, and publish that as well. Apologies to all those people waiting for all this stuff.
The holidays are gone, and I am back to inking again ...
This will be a very difficult year with either job juggling or the same old routine as usual.
Quick, final post for the year. Here is what artists give as Christmas presents when they are poor:
I have framing and matting hardware in my work room, so I did a few pages framed for friends and family.
Five Issues down. I wish I did more, but other things got in the way. Wish I had gotten this published monthly, but it didn't work that way. Instead, as soon as that avenue closed a few others opened up and I am back on a different track. But I still want to get this all inked in early 2008 and publish it as a trade paperback.
This year has been a constant rollercoast around this comic project. After 20 years I was going back to my pre-art school desire to self publish my own comic book series. Now it is very close, and the skills I have been, and still am, building through the comic writing, business and art are pretty cool.
As it appears at this time, I will have to juggle these last 125 inkless pages with a trip to Taiwan to supervise a movie I wrote, and with my own CGI film gaining financing at this time. And then I have to also get the illustrations into my Animation Production primer I have written, formatted and edited. Then I have to publish my two books. 2008 might be a very intense year for me. This is probably the last entry for the year since I won't be around my computer tower until January 3rd. Have a happy holiday season.
Today I recieved an email from the animation studio I am writing a DVD movie for, discussing the script I am outlining this week and finishing next week. In the letter they said they liked my ideas, were impressed with my creativity, and said they trusted me in my choices...
Wow. I realized at that point that NEVER in my career had anyone at any studio said that to me. Any that gave the pretense generally withdrew any such illusion as they began to see my work and would have temper tantrums, nervous emergency meetings, or would get second opinions from worthless outsiders who were unconnected to the project, then trust the opinion of anyone not involved in production and revise what I did.
It was a sad reflection on a sad reality of my life. I am very proud to be working with them on their project, because of their faith in me. Can't wait to see it mature through the next year into an actual product.
Just been working through pages at a steady clip this week.
It's been a slow week for everything else due to Thanksgiving getting in the way of routine.
Tomorrow I begin writing a script for a 3D animated film being made in Taiwan next year. That will hinder me from the comic book for a while, I think. 9 pages left to ink for the Sony submission.
There has also been investor interest in a 3D children's DVD movie I wrote, designed, and did a pilot for 3 years ago. It is possible that project will begin production anywhere between December and March, if it happens at all. Been preparing budgets, talking, thinking about how to structure time, crew, and resources. I really hope this comic still gets published in May.
Work offers poured out of the walls this week. Must have been from people knowing the comic book went south, perhaps?
Taiwan is doing contract negotiations at this moment for me to author, and I am interested in a possible film project in Iowa. Aside from that, it's all about this comic book. Been slowly going through Issue #6 with inks, and want to submit my issues via PDF to Sony Pictures by the end of the month.
In order to stay inside the house today, instead of in my art room, I decided to write all the data on the 10 inside covers. Front covers have me babbling about influences or anecdotes, etc. in a box called 'The Principal's Office.'
Back covers have impromptu interviews of the main characters by Mark Mywards (the Cooler), and then he gets interviewed by Animal Boy. They were so freeform that they were the most fun I had in a while.
These will be published in the trade paperback after each issue's art. The trade will read like 10 comics stuck together with some designs in front and out back, as well as some kind of introduction and who knows what as an outro.
Now I just have to finish all the art and I am set to publish.
Work. Work. Work.
Taiwan wants me to write a script for a CGI kids movie. That will take me away from the comic for a while, and I'll have to go to Taipei next year for a while.
Come November a few hundred people across the land might ask, "WHERE'S MY LOST COMIC BOOK?!??" The answer : It's not coming. Sales were so poor that it would cost me $1000/month to print the book for the few people ordering it. That's not good business.
Life is hard like that. Was it due to a lack of advertising? Maybe the product didn't conform to expectations of the current market? Direct market comics need pre-orders to survive, and if you don't have mega-groins and mega-tits across the cover your chances of selling decrease drastically. My contact at Diamond Distributors was encouraging; saying there is a dearth of material for younger people, but it might do very well as a trade paperback which tend to have a younger market. She also complimented the stories, humor, dialog and pace of storytelling. It gave me some hope.
May 2008 is my targeted date for releasing the book through B*FRIEND PRESS. Current plan is to make a 300 page trade paperback, B&W, 8.5" x 5.5" softcover for $10-$15. All this is speculative until I price up a printer and get formats acurate, as well as pricing for 1000 copies. It will be distributed through Diamond Comic Distributors. I would have released it NOW, but I am only 112 pages through inking these 258 pages. The upside of a trade paperback of the first 10 issues is that the start of issue #1 and the end of issue #10 bookend the stories between them.
The layout will include all pages of the comic book as planned, in order, end to end. So B&W covers with all the product info and logos, as well as complete back covers, will be in the trade paperback. I also will include inside covers, with notes from the publisher, and the back insides with interviews of the kids by Mark Mywards (The Cooler), and 'next issue' info. You won't miss a thing, except or the color on the outside covers. That will give me 285 pages, the other 15 will be filled with other designs, merchandise info, a forward by me, and an afterword for where I plan to go with the next stories. Quite a chunky trade paperback comic book, but quite a chunky wait for those who anticipated its release in November.
Stop into the website every 7 to 10 days; I will continue to post updates with artwork I am completing.
Sorry for the delay in posts.
These past couple weeks have been busy, and not with comic art.
Still inking Issue #6, of course ...
Next week I will have news.
For now, nothing to say.
Still inking Issue #6 ...
Not much to report or discuss this week. I'm waiting for the order forms to come in for my first issues and tally up my future.
Still inking Issue #6 ...
Hollywood ... you sure are fast.
And that's all I'm going to say about that.
Homage, or 'rip-off'? This is the first, and only, cover I did for the series that doesn't reveal or reference any elements inside the actual book. The idea was something that popped into my mind when thinking of covers, and so I did it for this issue because I had ideas for the other issues' covers. If you can't spot the basic influence, it is Gorge Perez' cover to DC's Crisis #7 way back in 1985. Superman holds a dead Supergirl, crying like a girl himself. Didn't quite ring true for ol' Supes, but THIS situation would similarly emote anybody with only enough money for one ice cream cone ...
If I like the color on the cover I will make it a print on Deviant Art, as large as my cover resolutions will allow. To me it sums up this series. Most covers in comics these days are made 'to be images on lunch boxes, towels, and other merchandise,' I read in an article interviewing a major editor from one of the big two comic companies. This would work well on a lunchbox, perhaps. Or a bib.
Diamond (my distributor, publisher of PREVIEWS magazine) is set to distribute Issue #4 as of today. Etc, etc, etc. All the art was finished yesterday, and I thought it would be good to get it out to them early. They wanted it early as well, from what I understood. And that is fine with me since I now have almost 2 months free to work on inking and not stress over changing gears into color and doing back covers. Everything is now complete for the first 4 issues except arranging the art in files for the printer and writing text on the inside covers and back cover.
Issue #4 marks a turning point in terms of future possibilities. Diamond said that if I do not reach a certain sales quota (roughly over 800 copies sold per issue) they will probably stop after Issue #4 unless they truly believe in the product and think it just needs more time to hit a market and take off. But, if I can't sell 1500 copies per issue it won't be economical to print, so my standards are a bit higher. Usually the top 300 comics per month sell well over that amount, so here's hoping.
There are 10 issues already penciled and lettered, 4 completely inked with covers colored. So the minimum series run will be 10 issues, however if sales keep it level so I don't lose money I plan to go higher, possibly over 20. Stories for issues 11-20 are already in premise format and I have all the major ideas in my head, or on paper, concerning the characters, the antagonists and the path of the stories, and conclusions. Those SHOULD begin production around February 2008. Only major life events could tear me away from doing them. After issue 20 I could continue (I have storylines for 40 issues) or I could begin doing something very different... that's too far ahead to predict, and it relies on sales, fan and critical reaction, life, and personal goals when I get there in time. Even without monthly release I will probably go to issue 20 and release a large bound edition in 2010 with all 20 issues that would have been published. The first 10 issues frame one large arc of story, but all 20 actually frame something even larger, so they would fit nicely in a 600 page bound edition. Time will tell.
Diamond is set to distribute Issue #3 as of today. The distribution date is January 2008, but it can be ordered in November onward.
All art is complete except for the color on the back cover, which is a fairly simple character drawing. By tomorrow night all art for issue #4 should be done as well, aside from the back cover. Inking for Issue #6 commences later this week.
Ever since I began doing comic art I have used nibs and brushes to ink. After a long hiatus i came back to inking and found the common implements were essentially the same, except some stuff disappeared, and others switched manufacture or formula.
My biggest pains were in inking. Pencils, rulers, templates, and all the implements for drawing are still here, and probably always will be. But inking is becoming a lost art. While the basic nibs are still made and sold in America, I decided to import tons of Japanese nibs and try them out...
I find the Japanese nibs (Nikko and Tachikawa) are far better then the Hunt American nibs. Those Japanese actually plate their nibs with chrome. So they don't wear out easily. At $1 a nib I can use one of each nib per issue instead of the 6 or so American nibs.
Granted; American nibs have a broader range of textures, but for the characters and major line work I recommend the Japanese quality nibs.
Diamond is set to distribute Issue #2. All text and graphic info is being put into Previews for October already.
Since I live far from a comic shop I haven't seen my September ad, which should be out in shops now.
Issue #4 is coming to a close tomorrow. Here are some panels.
Speedlines and expressions galore, as usual. I find the high impact panels have a greater graphic enjoyment when used as stand alone examples of the comic art.
About a week and a half back I stuffed and sent 101 envelopes to comic stores I found online. Each was stuffed with post card ads, cover letter, and stickers. Hopefully they will place out the cards and maybe stickers for customers to take. If you are here because you got an ad at a comic store, Welcome.
Took a long time to prep and send all that stuff. I also took time to correct the tutorial blog, and work on internet self promotion. Finally I ended up side tracked with home maintainence matters as I brace for the cold, northern winter this year.
Now I am back into issue #4 and nearing the end of the inking.
Back in May I made a tutorial blog with Apple's iWeb 1.0 application. The layout and code was totally awful but I put in so much effort that I couldn't wait for iWeb 2.0 to come out and hopefully correct those problems...
These panels sum up how I feel at the moment...
Took a while, but I figured out everything wrong with iWeb (and my ftp program). It's finally all together and completed.
Just working at it. Half way done Issue #4 ('Enter The Animal Boy') today. Here's a panel I liked from today's work.
Figured a weekly update is nice.
Today I sent out and paid for my full page ad in PREVIEWS magazine for the September 2007 issue. Scheduled to be in comic shops on August 29th. At that time the ordering can begin, and by mid-October I should have my print minimum sent back to me from the distributor. Printing begins in late October. Release of the comic in November some time (I have no specific idea about which day it will actually distribute, yet).
Look for it in next month's PREVIEWS at your local comic store.
Here's the panel collection that will sit grayed out behind my full page ad in PREVIEWS September 2007 catalog. Thought it looked emotive.
Click it to load a larger file, and get a better look.
The book is going well. 3 issues are inked as of last week before I started making the website. That means they could all go to press tomorrow. It's been a great learning curve as I have had to re-enliven old skills with the brushes, nibs, tones, color and pencils. 243 pages were penciled before Christmas 2006, all are lettered now, and it is about 1/3rd inked.
Although most issues are single stories, the first three issues form one arc. All 10 initial issues also complete an arc, but the story alters every issue in the last 6 of those 10.
Enjoy! It'll be a slight wait for the first issue to hit your hands.
It's official : Diamond Comic Distributors is going to handle my book. That means it will be accessible for purchase across the English speaking world, and most of Europe. A full page advert should be appearing in PREVIEWS in September. This was an exciting development, and a relief; people have been telling me it is very hard to get Diamond behind indie comics. My contact at Diamond started off the phone call with, 'Congratulations!' *phew*
The book is planned to go monthly starting with release in November. I'm hoping to have 15 issues publish monthly before schedule catches up to me and it begins going bi-monthly.
First issue is slated for a cover price of $2.50, with further issues going to $2.99 unless sales are very good in which case the $2.50 price will remain until a hike is necessary.
At long last I have completed the website and made it all work. 5 days ago I decided to make myself a site, since I wasn't able to conscript help in the past year. After a day reading a book on websites I began using my new Dreamweaver program and with a bit of reading and programming every day the site came together quickly. It is amazing how simple it all is at one level, and how complex it is at another level. Yet, here it is - easier then I ever could have guessed. Never thought that every aspect of this comic from writing to art to advertising and website would be completely my own.
Since this is just a test posting, I have very little to actually say or post... here's some panels!
And that's about all I have to say at this time. ...BUY MY COMIC! Thank you.
