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Friday, May 20th, 2011
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1:15 pm - Just your friendly neighborhood book update
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Here we have the current page count:
Pages penciled: 77/90
Pages inked: 26/90
Pages finished: 2/90
[These totals are for story pages only, and do not include cover, chapter title pages, copyright page, etc.]
Not a whole lot of time for inking this week, as I spent quite awhile working on my Author Questionnaire and AP&M (which I think stands for Advance Promotion and Marketing, but I don't feel like looking it up just at the moment). Anyway, these are for Beacon Press to use for actual pimpage of the book, and to help craft things like back cover copy and all that jazz. Kind of fascinating, really, as I've never done this part of the process before, and it's the kind of behind-the-scenes stuff you don't usually hear about. Probably because it's mostly just paperwork and is therefore not terribly sexy, but it's at least exciting for me.
I have tried as much as possible NOT to spend too much time thinking about promotion, as it's distracting from my most important goal right now, which is finishing the damn book so there's actually something to promote. But it's helpful to remember at the end of all this there will be excitement and fun. My life has been all about work for the last three years, and it's energizing to remember that it won't always be about chaining myself to the drafting table.
current mood:  busy
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| Friday, April 15th, 2011
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2:49 pm - Big Bad Book Update
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I guess it's been awhile. But, to be fair, I haven't been posting because I've been working on the damn book. So here's the status of things:
Pencils are done on Intro, Adam, Blake, Avery, Henry, and Cal. A couple of those still need to be vetted by the guys and my editor and the production staff.
Storyboards are in process on Aaron/James. I have a meeting with my editor on Monday to discuss the current round and figure out what needs to be did to make it pencil-ready.
I've drawn everything I can draw for the moment, so I'm busy inking the stuff that's ready to be inked. I've also scanned Cal's pencils, but need to clean up the scans and do the lettering.
So that's about it. Approximately 75% of the pencils are finished, which is by far the most labor-intensive part of the process. If you're wondering when the whole thing will be 100% finished, I can tell you only that my current thinking is August. You will be able to purchase it about a year after that. This date subject to change, like all other dates thus far. Also, next time someone asks me how long it will take me to do a book from start to finish, instead of saying, "Oh, about a year, I guess," I will say, "Forever and ever."
(Despite my generic grumpiness, I'm actually pretty jazzed about where things stand. Inking is very satisfying, though it is kind of weird to ink pages I drew a year ago.)
If you are a huge nerd and want more info about the process in mind-numbing detail, may I refer you to my website, which I still mostly update once a week. http://www.studiondr.com/scoop.html will tell you all about the gross inefficiency with which I do this thing.
current mood:  creative
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| Thursday, March 10th, 2011
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3:25 pm - Dreamwidth?
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So, everyone's jumping ship to Dreamwidth, but I've never actually seen anyone specify why there is better than here. If anyone who has migrated is still reading this, what were your reasons for doing so?
I have this fantasy that I'll start blogging again once the book is done. Who knows, maybe it will actually come true!
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| Saturday, January 8th, 2011
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11:28 am - Book book book
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So, let's see. Three chapters plus the introduction are penciled, one chapter and the intro are officially ready for ink, a fourth chapter is in pencils even now, and the remaining three chapters are storyboarded (with one fast approaching pencil-ready and the other two still in the "needs work" category). My editor has all the storyboarded chapters right now, and I'm awaiting her commentary before proceeding further.
My current to-do list:
- finish pencils on Henry's chapter (hopefully by the end of the month)
- fix that one panel in Adam's chapter so the pencils can go to production for proofreading before inking
- ink the intro and Blake's pencils
- get final approval on Avery's pencils
I inked one page of the intro yesterday so I can get it ready for the STAPLE! anthology. It actually felt weird to ink at first, after doing nothing but storyboards and pencils for the last couple of years*. I had a "this is it" feeling - finalizing the page for reals, and oh no if you fuck it up you will RUIN EVERYTHING. So I started fairly gingerly, but then remembered pretty quickly that inking is my favorite part and got into the groove.
* I did ink several non-book things, including an untold number of feep drawings and a couple of one-pagers. But the build-up for those projects was far, far less, so it didn't register in quite the same way. So it's not that my inking skillz have gone rusty, but rather that the road to this stage has been a long and challenging one, and inking is a very significant destination.
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| Friday, December 3rd, 2010
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2:00 pm - Time for another book update, no?
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First off, here's page 1 of the pencils for the book's introduction:
Got a huge amount of work done on the last couple of chapters I had still needed to script and storyboard. I'm about two-thirds of the way through scribbling out the storyboard images, so probably in a week or so I'll have more or less the whole book storyboarded. This probably doesn't sound all that exciting to you, but trust me, it's a big deal.
For me, the writing is the part that requires the most mental gymnastics and the longest stretches of monastic solitude. It's been difficult to carve out time to write these last couple of chapters, because getting into the correct headspace takes time, and other obligations pull me out of it (things like, you know, earning money to pay bills and buy food and other trivialities). But revisions to a storyboarded chapter don't require nearly the same amount of gear-shifting, so it's easier to rework and refine once I've transformed the raw material into a script.
Also also, the penciled chapters have now been given the editorial eyeball and are a gnat's wing away from being ready to ink. Looks like Henry's chapter is next in the queue for penciling, so things do indeed proceed apace.
current mood:  productive
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| Thursday, October 14th, 2010
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12:52 pm - Madness? It still reigns supreme.
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I meant to post an update on the book, like, a week ago, but things have been ... what's the word ... MAD?
They've been mad in the sort of way where I didn't do any work last Saturday and I felt guilty about taking a whole entire day off.
Needless to say, taking a moment to post a journal entry has not really been super-feasible. But anyhow. Here's the deal:
Last Thursday I spoke with Outgoing Editor and Incoming Editor, and I.E. seems very nice and think we'll get along fine. We discussed an overall timeline for finishing the book, and decided having the whole mess turned in by May or June of 2011 was reasonable. That would put the publication date in the Spring/Summer of 2012. So I was only off by a couple of years! [Important lesson learned: never announce a publication date before you've even started the project. I would feel more guilty about this, except George R.R. Martin.]
Anyway. This schedule sounds fairly reasonable to me. Pencils would be done by March or April. Inking goes very fast, and shading is usually not more than a couple hours per page. (By contrast, penciling takes me anywhere from 2-4 days per page, working in increments of 1-3 hours.)
At this moment I have three chapters penciled, and am currently drawing away on the intro. I just drew myself getting kicked in the butt. It was a little surreal, honestly. I feel weird drawing myself. But hey, maybe this means I can update my damn user icon sometime soon.
Okay, time to go. More later, perhaps!
current mood: busy
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| Monday, September 20th, 2010
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3:36 pm - Armchair anthropologist
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Occasionally I discover things that real anthropologists already knew, and had I studied thus and such society in detail I'd have found this stuff out the old-fashioned book-larnin' way, but I have to say it's kinda fun to find oneself reinventing, say, tri-corner hats. (You don't have an umbrella, and it rains a lot or you're at sea or both, so you need headgear that will funnel the water off of you. This became apparent to me when I was out walking in the rain and my ratty old baseball cap was doing a shit job of keeping the water off my face. I thought to myself, "What I need is a hat with rain gutters, angled in such a way as to sluice the water behind me but not down my back ... oh, wait! This object already exists!")
Today I discovered that Roman numerals are all symbols that are easy to make with your hands. All of 'em. I, V, C, L, M, X ... D is probably the hardest, but even that one is doable. This becomes even more apparent when you know that old-skool IV is IIII. So V is the four fingers together with the thumb sticking out.
I am not necessarily right about these things. Sometimes the obvious answer turns out to be a red herring. But it just makes too much damn sense, ya know? I need to become best friends with a professional anthropologist so they can check me on my impulse hypotheses. Or I could just put them on the internet and my smart-ass friends can say, "Well, actually ...."
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| Sunday, September 19th, 2010
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1:22 pm - Oh, hey, a review
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| Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
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1:54 pm - ASG Art Show Closing party this Saturday, Sept. 4th
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The closing party for the ASG Art Show at the Hideout (617 Congress Ave. in Austin) is this Saturday, Sept. 4th, from 7:00 - 9:00 PM. It's downtown, right next to 6th Street, so it's a great pre-partytime stop for you.
We'll have some vino and some fromage out, and the Hideout also sells beer and food and coffee if you desire additional fare.
Come bask in the art!
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| Friday, August 6th, 2010
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2:15 pm - Transposes - Adam's Story page 16
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Several announcements today, but let's take care of the final page of Adam's story first:
( Transposes: Adam Page 16 Pencils )
The story so far
So there it is. One chapter of the book in its penciled form. And I have finally, at long last, put the preview books containing this chapter up for sale online:
 - Transposes Preview Book
As you can see upon clicking that link, you have two options: you can get just the book (which includes the 16 pages of Adam's story, bios of the other characters, page 1 of Blake's story, and a nifty full-color cover), or you can get the book plus a little piece of preliminary art. When I repeat panels in a story, rather than cutting and pasting with a computer like a sane person, I trace the panel onto vellum and then transfer it with blue carbon paper. So I wind up with all these pieces of vellum with art from the book traced onto them. The Deluxe Edition nets you one or two of these (depending on the size and complexity of the panels in question). Right now I have vellum panels from Adam's story and Blake's story available, and I'm sure other characters will pop up as I progress with the art for the book.
Speaking of which, I've finished penciling Blake's chapter and am currently working on Avery's. Concurrently, I'm storyboarding the introduction for the book, so there is much afoot here.
Also also, a couple of show announcements. I'm in an art show that is up now at the Hideout in downtown Austin, and have two Austin conventions coming up: ArmadilloCon (August 27-29), and Austin Comic Con (November 12-14). More deets on these shows are to be found on my events page.
I think that's it for now. Plenty enough, surely!
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| Friday, July 30th, 2010
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5:05 pm - Transposes - Adam's Story page 15 pencils
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I am back from San Diego, and am desperately trying to get a bunch of stuff framed for an art show that's going up tomorrow. Mayhap later I shall speak more of my California adventures. Until then, a new Adam page is here.
Cut due to image size and to avoid spoilerizing for folks who want to wait for the finished book to read the whole thing.
( Transposes: Adam Page 15 Pencils )
The story so far
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| Monday, July 19th, 2010
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2:09 pm - SDCC Schedule
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So! Tomorrow I get on a plane to sunny San Diego, and shortly thereafter I shall be immersed in masses of nerds. Here is how you shall find me amongst the nerds:
I will be at the PRISM Comics booth (#2049, 2146, 2148).
It should be a corner booth, and also very obviously the gayest thing for miles (besides the Batman costume contest).
I will be there at these times:
July 21 - Preview Night - 4:30-7:00PM
July 22 - Thursday - 2:00-7:00PM
July 23 - Friday - 2:00-7:00PM
July 24 - Saturday - 2:00-7:00PM
July 25 - Sunday - 1:00-5:00PM
I will have many fine itemries for sale. Please buy them all so I don't have to lug them back home.
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| Friday, July 16th, 2010
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4:13 pm - Transposes: Adam's Story - Page 14 Pencils
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Bleah. Please allow me to apologize for not getting a listing up for the Transposes preview book for those of you who want to buy it from me online. I came down with a cold this week and am very sick right now. Getting up long enough to post this update is a bit much. Since my top priority is NOT being sick for San Diego (because how much would THAT suck), I am pretty much jettisoning most tasks that do not involve getting better as quickly as possible. So, if you want to buy the preview comic and are not going to SDCC and want me to hold one for you, please just email me and I'll set one aside. They're $3.00 plus $1.00 shipping (for US addresses, for elsewhere please ask and I'll figure it out), and consist of the penciled pages for Adam's story, character bios, and page 1 pencils for Blake's story.
At any rate, here's the next page of said Adam pencils.
Cut due to image size and to avoid spoilerizing for folks who want to wait for the finished book to read the whole thing.
( Transposes: Adam Page 14 Pencils )
The story so far
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| Friday, July 9th, 2010
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3:18 pm - Transposes: Adam's Story - Page 13 pencils
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So! The preview comics did indeed arrive safe and sound. Soon I shall convey instructions for obtaining a copy, but I wanted to get this week's page up first.
Cut due to image size and to avoid spoilerizing for folks who want to wait for the finished book to read the whole thing.
( Transposes: Adam Page 12 Pencils )
The story so far
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| Friday, July 2nd, 2010
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1:35 pm - Transposes: Adam's Story - Page 12 pencils
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Apparently the Transposes preview books are printed and en route to me even at this very moment. If all goes well I will have them in hand next Tuesday. I shall then confirm their worthiness to be sold to the public at large, and shortly thereafter shall convey instructions for obtaining your very own copy.
I just want to make absolutely clear that this is NOT the finished Transposes book that will be coming out from Beacon Press. This is a 20-page PREVIEW book I put together on my own for promotional purposes. It features the PENCILED art for Adam's chapter, not the final art that will be in the final book. This is for process junkies and early adopters and collectors and that sort of thing. Okadoke?
And now, das page.
Cut due to image size and to avoid spoilerizing for folks who want to wait for the finished book to read the whole thing.
( Transposes: Adam Page 12 Pencils )
The story so far
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| Friday, June 25th, 2010
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3:24 pm - Transposes: Adam's Story - Page 11 Pencils
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In SDCC preview book news, I got my proofs of the print-ready comic and have paid my invoice, so in theory the books are being queued up to print as we ... well, whatever this is. As I type, as you later read. At any rate, once I have them in hand I shall let you know how you, yes YOU, can go about obtaining a copy.
I'm working my way through page 8 of Blake's story right now, which puts me at about 3.5 pages to go. So that chapter should be done soon. Blake has been slow going because I have to stop frequently to hunt up photo references, and there have been quite a few packed panels (nothing as extreme as the crowd scene on page 1, but still). Probably going to pencil Avery's story next.
But Adam! Let us see what happens next with Adam.
Cut due to image size and to avoid spoilerizing for folks who want to wait for the finished book to read the whole thing.
( Transposes: Adam Page 11 Pencils )
The story so far
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| Friday, June 18th, 2010
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3:54 pm - Transposes: Adam's Story - Page 10 Pencils
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| Thursday, June 17th, 2010
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12:51 pm - Bonus page: Blake's Story page 1
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| Saturday, June 12th, 2010
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10:10 am - Transposes: Adam's Story - Page 9 Pencils
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Took on some extra work recently so I can get some new glasses. Current spectacles are 7 years old, and the "anti-scratch" coating has cracked all to hell. In the end, the anti-scratch stuff made the glasses far worse than any incidental scratches would have. Not that I'm bitter.
Also, the other day I got a hit on my website from someone entering the search string "getting free from constrictor's coils." I'm just imagining some guy wrapped in a giant snake, anxiously googling, and trying not to exhale too much. (The answer, by the way, is that you start at the tail and peel the snake off. It doesn't have good leverage at the tail.)
At any rate, time enough, I think, for another page of Adam's Story.
Cut due to image size and to avoid spoilerizing for folks who want to wait for the finished book to read the whole thing.
( Transposes: Adam Page 9 Pencils )
The story so far
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| Saturday, June 5th, 2010
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11:25 am - Transposes: Adam's Story - Page 8 pencils
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The SDCC book is ready to go to print! Woo woo! I will get that ordered today and then hope there are no significant delays that cause me headaches later. Once it's ready I'll let you know how to order a copy, should you not be heading out to San Diego this July for Comic Con madness.
And now, apge 8. Cut due to image size and to avoid spoilerizing for folks who want to wait for the finished book to read the whole thing.
( Transposes: Adam Page 8 Pencils )
The story so far
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