Printed

So I finished drawing Chapter 1 of Collide a while ago, and sent the pages off to be printed into a neat little book. And it happened! It's done!





It turned out pretty good! So I ordered some more to sell at the next con I go to, which will hopefully be in September. I'll probably make them available to order through a website. Yeah.

All right, I'm off.

Dilemma

Seriously. Dilemma.

I've been doing Collide in the style I've been using for years. I've tweaked it a bit, and I do like it. It works for Collide. But for my future comics... I don't want to use that style. It doesn't suit them. Collide is the first comic I planned and it took a long time, so I've been staring at these character designs in that style for years. It belongs with this style.

So I spent the past few days nailing down what I want to do my other comics in. I knew I wanted it more detailed, realistic, and less manga-ish. But I still wanted large eyes, very expressive faces, and will probably use chibis.

Here's what I came up with.



You like it? I do. Very much. I've been drawing characters from my other comics all day. The biggest change is the nose. I really like it.

But I am concerned that I won't get truly used to this style unless I draw it all the time from now on. But Collide is in a different style.

I guess I could do both as best I can, and try not to let them affect each other?

Mehhhhhhh!

Go me!

I'm working on the last page of chapter 1 right now. This moment. I'm excited!

I've been working like a fiend on Collide. I'm amazed at how fast I'm tearing through this! I'm so excited to finish chapter 1 and to thumbnail chapter 2 and start that! XD

Once I finish the page, though, I'm going to wait about a week, review the pages, see if any changes are needed, and then submit them for printing. I'm going to print the chapter 1 copies as early as I can. I'll do the one test copy, and if it looks good, I'll probably print 20. I haven't decided if I'll start offering them online on my site yet, though. I might wait til a few more chapters are up for reading, then readers will know if they really want the chapter (I hope they will)!


I'm still blown away that I'm doing this. That I'm pushing myself to achieve. I sometimes consider myself really lazy, but this is making me wonder if that's true. I'm working so hard and refusing to give up. I'm impressed with myself, honestly.

Fanime 2010

And that's the end of another con.

Fanime was different than WonderCon, that's for sure. I didn't know what to expect, so I had to adjust my products throughout the weekend. I didn't do as well as I had at WonderCon either, but at least my friend (Megan "Dekay") did really well. It was her first con since she was 15 and I'm glad she cleaned up. ^__^

I did manage to find successful techniques, though. Things to use next year, if we decide to do it again. *shrug* Maybe.

Anyway, now we are prepping for APE in October and there is so much to do! I want to finish Collide chapter 1 by then and have printed copies, as well as bigger prints of my best illustrations, and we want to buy some PVC for an upright display. Gah, so much to do.

Whoa, hey, what's up?

WonderCon is over. Has been over for a month now, too. But I've been crazy busy with school. The Spring term is wrapping up, so I have 3 or 4 papers due every week. It's pretty brutal.

On top of that, I'm moving this weekend. I haven't been able to work on Collide, which is killing me. T__T Ugh. I miss the work!

In other news, my friend Megan 'Dekay' and I are going to get some booths together at a plethora of conventions, hopefully starting with Fanime (if they get their act together and give us more info soon) and leading up to APE. APE seems far more likely than Fanime at this point, but here's hoping.

I made a tiny between site to connect Dekay's links and mine so we could have a single link for APE to post. Check it out.

Peace out.

Collide and tiny illustrations

After careful contemplation I have concluded that there is little chance I will be finishing Chapter 1 of Collide in time for WonderCon. Which is all right, really. I hoped to have it done, but it's not the end of the world.

Between now and WC I'll work on illustrations. Today I drew two tiny illustrations I'll watercolor tomorrow. They're little fanarts of Totoro and Princess Mononoke.





I was planning on doing more little fanarts, but it doesn't really show off my art as much as I'd like. So I'll work on original stuff from now on.

Ahoy

Right, so, Collide is chugging along nicely. I got over my worries and started drawing it again. Art board was readily available at University art at a far less expensive price than online; online including shipping, which is 13 dollars--yuck.

As of today I have inked through page 5. Once I get a bigger scanner I'll be able to tone and letter them. I'm not sure how updating will work, though. I don't want to update one page at a time, so it'll be in groups of probably two or three, but I want to have a nice backlog before I do that. Although, I prefer to have chapter 1 up before WonderCon.

Sigh, there is much to do.

Bump-bump

The past few days I've been feeling discouraged about Collide. Sometimes I think I'll never be good enough at drawing to do the story justice. Other times I think the story isn't as good as I believe it is. And most of the time, I'm terrified of having nothing to bring to WonderCon.

So tomorrow I'll order the art boards. I've decided to buy the manga dimension ones. They'll arrive in some number of days. I assume.

But for the most part, I need to rewrite the beginning. Completely. Which means I need Jacqueline and Maria time, to bounce ideas around. Lucky me I get that tomorrow (today?) night. Unless something gets canceled. Which could happen, y'know?

It's making my stomach hurt, all this worry. I need to relax and not get so stressed.

An assist

Yesterday, exciting things happened. I heard back from a guy who writes comics, whose work I really love, and he had read my comic and was offering some advice to me. He provided me with a lot of frank opinions about what I should change, and I think I'll be taking a majority, if not all, of it to heart.

I need to rehash the beginning, and change it. I'm going to redraw chapter 1 anyway, but now I have to hold off on Chapter 2 until chapter 1 is revised.

Also, my dad has decided to invest in my art a bit and is going to buy me a bigger scanner soon. Why? So I can start drawing my comics on art board.

This will all be happening very soon. Of course, Chapter 2 won't be coming for a while, though. But I really want a good copy of chapter 1 to sell at WonderCon.

I'm really tired, so this entire post might make no sense. Oh man. I hope that is not the case.

Arg, dimensions

So having finished chapter 1 of Collide (yay!), I set about trying to find out the proper dimensions for comics published in the manga format. It took a few days of hard work and internet scouring, but I finally found out the truth.

And it burns.

My pages are not at all the right dimensions. *urg*

I guess it's good I found this out early. That means I only have to redraw 1 chapter, yeah? Ha... T.T

I'll worry about that later, though. I'll start drawing the rest in the right dimensions, now. Everything will be fine.

To do's

WonderCon to do:
-Collide work

• Design ch 1 cover
• Correct page tones
• Adjust dimensions?
• Extras?
• Try to get Chapter 2 done, too
  

-Illustrations

• Small, original illus
• Original Characters
• Fan work
• Get prints made of finished works
• Finish octo-horses

-Buy lock box
-Get seller's permit
-Plastic sleeves
-Records notebook
-Buy domain name for Collide
-Business cards
-Display portfolio
-Personal work portfolio, to show to publisher's

Goal: Have everything done by March 15th

Oh man!

It's official.

I got a table at WonderCon in the artist alley. I'll be selling some prints as well as the first chapter of Collide.

I'm kind of terrified of this, but also excited beyond all reason. I have a lot of work to do before then. Most of the illustrations are done, thank goodness, and the chapter is almost complete, too. But I have to figure out how to make these prints. So, yeah. Lots of work.

Christmas presents

I made a lot of Christmas presents this year for my family. Let's begin with Daddy's.

My Dad loves the ocean. He really loves it. So I trekked up to Half Moon Bay (Specifically, Pigeon point) and took some pictures in the early morning. It was a good day.

The pictures were fun to paint, as I haven't done acrylic in a while. They are 4x6, so pretty small. And I painted on vellum, so I had to keep the paint thin, and let it dry well. But it was easier than I had anticipated, so I was very happy with the result.


Then there was my sister. She's in the process of getting published, and I am one of her personal editors, using my perspective as the reader audience she is aiming at. So I've read the draft, and emailed her copious numbers of recommended changes. But the key here is that I have read it and been completely enthralled. So I picked a scene I liked and drew it.

I have to say, that I got really tired of the bricks by the end of the drawing. They turned out amazingly, once I had shaded them. Sorry the finished products isn't here--I didn't remember to take a picture before giving it to her. I'll get one later.

And for my brother, who is in medical school, I bought a bear and made it a little doctor's coat. I got it a little stethoscope too! Stu loved it, and got really excited.

Sewing is one of those things I love to do, can do rather well, but never have time for. I was worried this wouldn't turn out well, but it really did. There is a little tag in the back and the button has velcro, and it has a little tail coat!

And that was the extent of creative gifts. Well, except for my other sister, whom I made a book for. It's available here.
Happy Christmas, faces!

Writing

Half of the reason I want to be a graphic novelist is because I love to write. I always have a few stories I'm working on, and recently I've been so inspired, it's ridiculous!

As of today I have 15 stories sitting on the back burner, waiting for me to finish my current piece. I have them arranged by the format I wish to convey them: novel or graphic novel. Of the 16, 6 are GN ideas, 3 are novel ideas, and 6 could go either way.

I categorize them based on how descriptively detailed they are. If they have a lot of detail and description required, I go with Graphic Novel. If they are straightforward enough, I go with Novel. If they could be easily explained, but also make an appealing GN, then I decide later.

If I wasn't in school, I would work on more than one of each at a time. But as it stands, I work on one GN and one novel at a time. My current novel is finished in its first draft and needs revisiting. The GN is Collide, which is going online as I update. As you know.

And that's how it is.

Finals

School frustrates me sometimes, when I feel like it's in my way. Of course, it isn't, because it's a goal of mine to get at least 1 degree in life. But it requires a lot of attention sometimes, and that prevents me from doing other things. Like writing and drawing.

But it's cool. I can handle it. It's finals right now, and I won't be able to draw until they're over. Again, frustrating. I never wanted to be one of those artists who skips a few updates because they have too much on their plate, but it's part of choosing to be an artist. You don't pick up a pencil and become famous instantly. You work hard, and do other things to stay alive. Going to school is what I do now, so that I can work later and stay alive to keep drawing.

I can't wait for finals to be over next week so I can draw again.

I'll leave this here.

Kate Beckinsale

Practicing drawing realistically.

What I really need to do is take a life drawing class. I know it would help me by leaps and bounds.

Anyway, this is another attempt to change and improve my art style.

Another branch on the tree

I think of my journey towards becoming a published graphic novelist as the life of a tree.

This little nut fell off of something and buried itself into my brain, and then one day I looked in the mirror and saw a little tree growing. And since then it has weighed heavily on my mind.

Spending the next years learning how my own process works was frustrating and difficult. I had no one else's standard to look at. I didn't know how people went about drawing graphic novels at all. I started following the blog of a webcomic artist (who is no longer drawing the comic, but is writing it) and she would post shots of her work table. I tried to absorb as much of that as I could. As I absorbed, little branches began to grow.

I tried to come up with original ideas, but they felt super cheesy to me, so I couldn't work on them seriously. I have a lot of "first pages" and can't even remember where that story was going. My first attempt is in a sketch book from 7th grade and it spans 4 pages. It's super cheesy and bad. >_<

When Collide came into my mind and began to wrap its tendrils around my brain and dream tree, I knew something big had come into my life. And it scared me because I wasn't ready! I wasn't good enough at art, and had no idea how to make a GN yet.

So I spent another 4 years writing, rewriting, and completely editing the story. When the story was at a point I could feel satisfied drawing it, I began to working on background stories and developing cultures and histories. Those things changed the story, too.

And now I have finally begun to draw the story. I know how I work. My pattern is set. It'll probably change, but for the better. I also know that this is only the first draft of the story. I want my art to be SO much better and full of finite work. I don't think I want it in super manga style. I love all the comic styles from Marvel to big eyed shojo, so I don't feel biased. I want my comic to be in a detailed, smooth, expressive style.

It's not there yet, but I'll get there. I look at my hands and see the capabilities within the veins and layers of skin and muscle. I'm not afraid anymore.

Now begins the skill honing. The comic will continue and I will begin the intense training of my art. I expect it will lead to swift changes in the comic art, but that's why this is the first draft.

It's not perfect and it will change.

Site changes

I'm planning on tweaking the comic site up. I'm not sure what to do, or when I'll do it. It'll probably be a long process, spread over a few weeks, with changes going up as I finish them. Not so much a big sudden change.

[ ] Design background/color scheme
[ ] Collect sketches and drawings for gallery
[ ] HTML galley
[ ] HTML characters (Add Rhaina and pix)


There are things I want to add when the comic is more popular and I have lots of people to get involved with.

-Chat box
-Polls
-Forum
-Fan stuff (when I get some)

I'm enjoying the hard work this entire project entails, as it keeps me busy on the weekends and between school assignments.

Ever progressive

So, every day I work on pages for the coming updates. As long as I remain ahead, updates could be as many as 2 pages.

Like this:

Monday-2 pages

Friday-1 page

Monday-1 page


And then, if I finish another page before that Friday there, it changes to this!


Monday-2 pages

Friday-2 pages

Monday-1 page


Because then everyone is happy. :D I'll probably make it so I have to be even more ahead, though, so I'm not always pushing against the time. Maybe I'll make it so I have to have at least 4 pages extra done before I change a single update to a double... Yeah.

But I'll try to make my Fridays double updates, and leave Mondays as singles. That's a good idea! #^_^#

Yeep!

I have the domain!! It's there, the first few pages are up.

:D

http://collide.smackjeeves.com/

I'm proud of me!!