Hail To November Productivity!
Hi Friends! What a productive week I’ve had (you know, despite the ongoing bout with exhaustion that seems to be my weekly normal) with all the projects I’ve given myself this month! So let’s start at the top with what’s on the calendar for November:
Lots of scripting, layouts, and covers this month! All the ways I love to start my projects. So the scripting and layout is an obvious thing, but I love that the first real drawing I do is on the covers because when I’ve been drafting a script, I’ll often get a sense of a really neat image for a cover and I want to get that down as quick as possible in a red-line sketch with the layouts.
After that, I want to work on the cover almost exclusively while the idea is fresh in my head. It’s a nice start that helps me get into a project. Sometimes it doesn’t always pan out that way (as you’ll have seen the different “Making A Cover” streams we have around here) and I’m doing a cover after the pages are sketched, and that’s because I didn’t get any ideas of what I want in the cover until after the pages get sketched. This happens more than I’d like but what can you do?
You’ll also notice that these workdays are all on stream days! You know I always want you to see what I’m working on, so I try to save these parts specifically for stream. Again, my end-of-day energy levels are always a factor, since I start in the early evening, but more often than not I save the good stuff for then.
On the subject of layouts, this past Tuesday was definitely a lesson in trusting my process! I got a decent way into the script (up to the last couple of scenes) for Black Crown #1, and it still needs some refining. Additionally, we've got a first look at some page layouts! There's a bunch that I like here, and a bunch that I don't, but that's really pacing stuff within the script.
I was trying to preserve some bits from the original issue 1 I wrote, they didn't really have a place anymore once my momentum got started, so either some parts need to be redeveloped, or I need to look at what's happening in issue 2. Which, if I can move some things to issue 2, that's not necessarily a bad thing, since that's a nice head start right there! Anyway, I'm going to spend the next couple of days finishing up the script and layouts for issue 1.
A big announcement is that I am officially halfway through the inking of the pages for One Act #1 and I am a little upset with how slow the progress has been on this!
So when I conceived of the remake for One Act #1, I envisioned a much faster turnaround (two weeks) since I was largely copying my panel layout from the original look. Even accounting for some story changes, my expectation was that this book would be available for you to read on Halloween. Instead, we're here in November where I've pushed the release back to the 15th (as you can see on the calendar). What I think did it is the art changing so dramatically that it didn't matter that the panel layouts stayed the same but all the other detail I put in. It IS coming along, though! Once these last 7 pages of inks are complete, it's onward to flats and colors, rearranging the speech bubbles, finalizing the cover, and then onto the web!
On Friday night, I was to start the scripting and layouts for Eyes Of Heaven #2. I do have some things down already that need development but I finished the script for Black Crown #1 first and then started up with Eyes Of Heaven #2. The EOH books are all 32 pages and I don’t want to fight through years worth of setbacks for the subsequent issues like I did for issue 1, so that’s why I’ve been very serious about, again, trusting my process. Starting with a script, then layouts, then a cover, then working scene by scene. But at least words are down on the pages, the ideas are flowing and I’m moving forward.
Speaking of moving forward, I hope everyone’s been enjoying the pages of Eyes Of Heaven #1 so far! From the comments I’ve received, it feels that way! This upcoming week I’ll spend some time finishing up the post-work and getting drafts scheduled for posting. I do still have to add dialogue to the final chapter but I’ve got time to do that.
Anyway, I promised myself some progress on more script and layouts this weekend, as well as a scene of inks in One Act #1 so let me go do that. Thanks so much for the love, everyone!!