IOF in the New Year
It's about 7a, two days before New Year 2021, and I'm thinking about how far I've come in my work as a comics creator. I am so excited about everything I have planned and the projects I'm working on, that I'm beside myself. The initial copies of The Night Is Our Victory #1 just came in from the printer (orders shipping out this week), and I'm about ankle-deep into the next serial project that just received a really good title and theme and putting together some concepts for Night's Name, my follow-up to TNIOV.
So let's start there.
Night's Name - The next act for TNIOV is Night's Name, a 12-part run that is still in the conception phase, and will likely be for the first few months of 2021. I don't see this getting out of pre-production until maybe summer at the earliest, and I don't want to rush it out. While working on all my other projects from 2020 that really went nowhere (mostly because I bit off more than I could chew), I learned to handle my pre-prod stuff a little better, and to really plan out the work in full before getting to work and giving myself time to work.
The pre-production phase will be all about page layouts and setting up a full production and publishing schedule. Since this is an actual series and is meant to be monthly, I need to hold tighter deadlines for it than I'm used to.
One Act - Kicking off with The Nightmare Tree, this is 2021's short-story project. It's a series of one-off stories told in one act (really, one scene, but that's not as catchy a name as one-act). I was writing up a short description of this first issue for the store page when the name clicked into place. I'm sold on it, and it will be a really great theme to carry throughout the next five books to follow in 2021.
During yesterday's stream, I did a re-design of the cover art. Looking at the cover to TNIOV as inspiration, I thought a better design choice for IOF books, especially one-shots or issue 1s, to have a wrap cover for the front and back. This lets me compose a more illustrated image, and keeps me from having to find something for the rear cover instead of a print ad.
The whole One Act series needs some pre-production love, too, because pushing myself to get TNT out in February is already looking like stress. Honestly, the only reason I'm pushing so hard for a February release of TNT is to contribute my own work to the stream of content for Black History Month. I want something in February to celebrate blackness (and queerness and mysticism), which is what IOF is really all about.
Streaming - I'm back on my stuff. Streaming has been a great way to show off the work before it's done, especially the whole process of creating, but it can be pretty stressful when I have a handful of hours and too much work to do to keep to any real schedule. For now, the schedule will float for a bit, but I should be able to devote two days a week for streaming in 2021. This accounts for work, school, and lets me share some production stuff. An extra floating day may happen when I have free time.
However, in June, I do still expect a daily stream to celebrate my birth month and black queer storytelling, so expect one of the One Act books to be related to this month, and for lots of streaming. I'll also be at the halfway mark of my final year at Franklin and looking to break loose in a big way.
Blog - Yes. There will be more. I promise.