Inking complete!!!

Finished inking NOS #5. Work's been getting in the way of my comic work, so I hopefully can have Issue 5 finished before 2011.

The next step is to redo the other issues. I hate to say it, but I feel like Issue 3 may get a slight overhaul as well. Not sure if I'll ever be able to put the brush down. I'm also not sure if I should preserve the original sketch pages for the issues I'm redoing. I think there's no point in being sentimental about them and frankly the inked versions of those are useless to me now, so I guess they'll be enough for the "Century Museum". The more I look at them though, the more I feel like every single panel is going to be drastically redrawn. It's becoming very clear that I won't have the trade paperback ready before 2011.

This is the end

The sketches for the final issue of Night of the Silhouette have been completed. It's the beginning of the end. There's still along road ahead. Inking and coloring will take a while and I have to figure out my printing situation, but completing the illustrations is a big personal milestone for me. My new years resolution was to finish this volume and it looks like I'm on track to do just that. I'd love to up the ante and get Volumes 2 & 3 done in 2011, but that'd be a lot of work to fit in around the crappy job I must do for money.

Procrastination: The Adventure Continues

The end of September and most of October was pretty rough, so I unfortunately did not complete sketching Night of the Silhouette #5. I am down to 5 1/2 pages to go on it, then ink and color and blabbity bloo blah. Fortunately this productivity breakdown lasted much shorter than the one in the middle of issue 3 and I've been cranking through pages at a slow, but steady pace. With any luck the sketches will be done by the end of the week. Then probably another two weeks until it's completely finished. As much as I'd like to feel good that the first volume is complete, I still have my overhaul of 1 & 2 to do. I believe I could get that wrapped up before the year is over though. One thing I'm considering is actually adding in 4 pages of content to Issue 1 and giving the story a little breathing room. There are a few rushed scenes. Not sure if I'll add anything to 2. At 20 pages, it's the shortest issue. Still a while before I get to that phase, so I don't have to make up my mind tonight.

MORE MORE MORE!!!

I haven't sent the files for Issue #4 to Comixpress yet and I'm starting to consider adding in a new scene. I have a scene break between pages 14 and 15 where I could seamlessly insert it. The point of the scene in question is to get a "good enough" answer to a big unresolved scene that gets played out properly in Volume 2. Furthermore it would be a "Nemeses meet" moment and would kind of bridge where a character is left off on page 14 and where we meet them again on page 22 better. It just feels like if I don't go on to Volume 2, this will make it feel more complete. I don't know, I'll mull this over a little while longer.

COVER!!!

I don't want to post just the raw sketch, but I just completed the sketch of the cover for the trade paperback of Volume 1. For the most part, the layout is very inspired by Drew Struzan style movie posters but there's a centerpiece to it that's very original and perfectly captures the major character arc in a really unique way. Unlike the other covers however, this one will be painted. I'm planning on taking step by step pictures of the painting as it progresses. It's not going to be much in the way of a tutorial, but it will be a pretty cool look as the image evolves. I really hope the painting comes out as good as the sketch.

Backwards thinking

I got anxious to draw the final page again for Issue #5 and while on a roll, just kept going backwards. Kind of a weird way to draw and not necessarily the smartest. Some establishing shots had to be redrawn because I didn't know "oh, this is the first time we see that." It would help a lot of I scripted it properly, but really I just did a bare bones "so and so holds a knife" type descriptions, because being the the writer and illustrator, there's no miscommunication. Anyway, halfway through Issue 5. Perhaps the final comic I make? We'll see, kiddies. We'll see.

So cometh Issue #5

I completed the script to Issue #5. It will come to 32 pages, so I don't have to break it in half and make Issue #6. For financial reasons however I decided I'm not going to do issues for the next volumes. They will be made only as trade paperbacks. This however could change if I get a job. I will say one thing though, as action packed as Issue #4 was, it's got nothing on #5. Of 32 pages, there's action on about 28 of those. Big damn ending!