This year has been the balancing act of trying to get webcomics done and writing and editing done.
Yesterday I got validation, apparently the type of editing (structural) that I am doing is some of the most difficult to do. Which explains why things are going so slowly. I think it wouldn't be so bad if this wasn't the first novel of my Dad's that I am working on. It'll likely get easier as I go on, but this first one is brutal!
I am not happy with my production on the webcomic.
My biggest issue?
After the posts are going up, I'm finding problems with them. It's everything from wanting to change the greyscale of a character's shirt, to accidentally missing a page
What do my instincts tell me? That I would be better served to finish the whole story first, look it over for minor editing and then schedule the posts.
I've only got eight more pages to go and then I'm going to take a break from posting until I have the whole thing complete. It's going to suck because I won't be posting for an extended time but at least I can be working on the next book while the strip is running and it theoretically should take less time to write, pencil and ink the comic than 16-28 pages will take to post (based on a once a week posting schedule).
I didn't even want to focus on this comic right now! I *want* to be penciling and inking Grotto of Poppies. I *should* be working on that right now.
I'm definitely going to be counting down the pages until I'm done. I'm currently penciling page 11. In an ideal world I get all of the pages penciled this week and then all of the pages inked by the end of next week. Although with the novel editing I'm doing as well, I'll be just fine if I am able to get everything inked by the end of the month.
I want to try an experiment. I forgot that I actually had set up a wordpress.com site for Isaac & Lee. When I'm done my hiatus I think that I may want to play around that site for a bit and see if I can use it as a way to drive traffic to the actual site using the wordpress.com community.
It would take minimal effort as I would simply reuse old posts from the original site, or, even easier, use links to old posts on the original site. Just a thought.
If I do nothing else this month, I need to finish this comic. I have another first draft that I want to start next month (so that it times with the writer's conference that I'll be attending)
On the comics side, I have three other projects that I need to be working on plus a fourth that I need to do research for.
On the further writing side, I have some major rewriting to do after this last round of structural editing (copy editing is a far cry from where I am at the moment).
I've already done the comic that's due for Friday. All of them. Now I just need to get the rest of the story penciled and inked by the end of the month and I'm set!
Everything got finished on Friday. I spent the weekend relaxing. Now it's time to upload all of the pages and get them scheduled to post.
Then I'm taking some time off from Isaac & Lee for a few months while I work on other comics and writing/editing some novels.
WARNING: This post contains large amounts of tech language which may not be suitable for all audiences.
Updated a plugin which broke my site so I had a massive case of panic set it. But I overwrote the plugin using ftp and then had tech support deactivate the duplicated plugin on the back end so that I could access the site and delete the duplicate.
In the end? It got fixed, I can access my website and I managed to get all of the posts ready to go. I now have two comics to get ready and then I am ready for a week and a half vacation with lots of reading and writing (with a smattering of editing).
Yesterday I got both of the websites set to go. I don't have anything to worry about for the next two weeks. Which means that I can focus on editing Who Would Destroy the Gods.
If anyone wants an idea of where I'm at, imagine a mad scientist engineer in the middle of his shop with gears and gadgets strewn about everywhere. That is my current state of mind.
I'm in the editing groove. Marking up text right, left and centre.
I also have an Art Show in September that I need to get work ready for. Or I may just bring some work that I already have done. (It feels good to be able to say that!)
I'm waiting to hear back from some shows to see if I'll be attending them otherwise, I'll be off to Edmonton Expo at the end of September and then I'll be doing Canzine West in November.
This week has been me trying to regain the balance and to maintain the momentum that I gathered while I was away. Ideally, I need a good eight (mostly unbroken) hours of being able to sit in front of the screen and marking up the rest of the story. My goal for this is to have this story ready for revision by the end of the month at latest (and hopefully ready by the end of this week)
This weekend I have to get a bunch of comics ready to go, because as I feared, I get a huge response from people when I post the Drawing Lesson Awry comics. I also have to have the next Isaac's Run comic ready to post for Monday. I was hoping to do some painting as well this weekend, but I may have to put that off until next weekend.
Then next weekend I want to continue penciling Grotto of Poppies and begin scripting out the next story for Isaac & Lee.
I just finished up the next page for Isaac's Run, which also finishes up the issue. I also wrapped up issue #10 of Isaac and Lee. Which should the last post will go live on September 1st.
So my work list is as follows:
- Inking pages for Drawing Lesson Awry (the first page is due to go live on Wednesday)
- 3 Large paintings to get finished by September 6th (at the latest) for an art show
- Layout and cover for Isaac's Run (due by September 15th)
- Layout and cover for Isaac & Lee (due by September 15th)
- Editing Sam Hawke #4 (redrawing some pictures that I am not happy with and I'll probably not show it until October or November)
- Pencil Grotto of Poppies (whenever I can fit it in)
I finished inking/editing the first page for Drawing Lesson Awry I still have to do the other page and then get some more ideas jotted down.
I've got the first "wash" laid down for for the first painting and the second painting is sketched out.
This weekend is my best friend's bachelorette party, plus I have to witness her marriage certificate the next night so I'll have to see what, if any, work I'm going to be able to get done this weekend.
My recent lack of energy means that I've had to narrow my focus down to what is due first. Meaning that I am only focusing on the webcomic that's due tomorrow and the first painting (because I'd like to have one finished piece instead of three half finished pieces)
I'm also taking a break from the manuscript that I've been editing forever and I've switched to a different manuscript that's not only shorter, but it's also cleaner and, I've been promised, is much more polished than the last one.
I got the webcomic ready to go last night and tonight I'm going to be sketching out new pages.
When I get back from doing laundry, I am hoping that I'll be able to do some painting so that I can get this painting done by the weekend so that I can work on the second one.
@DinoCaruso I'm still trying to find the balance.
I want to get back to doing some writing. I have a vague outline for a first draft that I want to write, but it's a fairly involved story.
I've also found that I basically work best if I am able to focus on one task per month.
That means that I have to get my schedule set up so that I can change gears and get into that mindset for the month, be it editing, writing, scriptwriting or art.
I'm hoping that with enough practice, I'll be able to change gears faster and get it to the point where I can change each day.
Yesterday I did some painting which I video taped and then uploaded to Youtube. It was a great video set up and I was able to perfectly capture the canvas that I was painting on without showing myself. (Which was what I wanted)
Then I did my first Sixtember Challenge, it's a challenge for the month of September where you draw for six minutes and then post your results.
I was reading over the manuscript that I am going to be working on next week.
But out of all of this, no comics were worked on yesterday.
I am so angry and frustrated that I just want to sit down tonight and work on my baby.
The inspiration for my story? http://www.golden-dawn.com/eu/UserFiles/en/File/pdf/taverner.pdf
That's the whole book but basically, it's about a psychiatrist and his protogé who encounter all sorts of supernatural cases while they run a sanitorium somewhere in the British isles. It's very Holmesian but has the feeling of old ghost stories and throw in some Masonic ties.
So on Saturday I pencilled almost half of the book.
When I say penciled I mean that these pages can be scanned in inked with very little changes.
I feel good about the pages and I can see myself inking them (and the rest of the issue) in October or November.
I am impressed with myself.
- Digital editing Drawing Lesson Awry
- Cover and Layout for Isaac's Run #5
- Cover and Layout for Isaac & Lee #10
- Tweak slide presentation
- Confirm inventory
- Hopefully, am able to get some editing done on Sam Hawke #5 *fingers crossed*
- Editing new manuscript
- If I have time, finish penciling Grotto of Poppies
I *have* to work on those book covers!
If I get absolutely nothing else done this week it's, get those done!
I'm going to keep printing off my list as I mark things off so that I know what I got done.
- Cover and Layout for Isaac's Run #5
- Cover and Layout for Isaac & Lee #10
- Tweak slide presentation - play with design and images
- Confirm inventory
- Hopefully, am able to get some editing done on Sam Hawke #5 *fingers crossed*
- Editing new manuscript
- If I have time, finish penciling Grotto of Poppies
So I came back from Edmonton Expo with two big ideas knocking around in my brain that I can't stop thinking about. They are both awesome and terrible ideas at the same time.
The first one, is definitely achievable and that's offering to help super new comic creators by doing editing on their books at affordable prices for them. I specifically want to focus on new comic creators in Edmonton and Calgary.
When I was speaking on my panel about how to self-publish I got a lot of questions about editing and it was sad to have to tell people that what most editing that they are going to find online usually deals with the script and doesn't deal at all with the artwork. Or there are book editors who say that they can edit a comic book as well...as a sideline. I would want to offer them someone who specialises in comics, is relatively local, and who is willing to charge a fee that they can afford.
It sounds like I'm looking at a lot of work, but that all depends on how many people actually take me up on the offer. I'm going to talk to one of the LCS owners in Edmonton and see if he's willing to let me put up a poster in his shop. At this point, I just want to test the waters to see if this can actually be a thing or if there just isn't a market for it.
Comments
My biggest issue?
After the posts are going up, I'm finding problems with them. It's everything from wanting to change the greyscale of a character's shirt, to accidentally missing a page
What do my instincts tell me? That I would be better served to finish the whole story first, look it over for minor editing and then schedule the posts.
I've only got eight more pages to go and then I'm going to take a break from posting until I have the whole thing complete. It's going to suck because I won't be posting for an extended time but at least I can be working on the next book while the strip is running and it theoretically should take less time to write, pencil and ink the comic than 16-28 pages will take to post (based on a once a week posting schedule).
I didn't even want to focus on this comic right now! I *want* to be penciling and inking Grotto of Poppies. I *should* be working on that right now.
It would take minimal effort as I would simply reuse old posts from the original site, or, even easier, use links to old posts on the original site. Just a thought.
On the comics side, I have three other projects that I need to be working on plus a fourth that I need to do research for.
On the further writing side, I have some major rewriting to do after this last round of structural editing (copy editing is a far cry from where I am at the moment).
Then I am done. I can take a break, regroup and focus on other projects.
Then I'm taking some time off from Isaac & Lee for a few months while I work on other comics and writing/editing some novels.
Updated a plugin which broke my site so I had a massive case of panic set it. But I overwrote the plugin using ftp and then had tech support deactivate the duplicated plugin on the back end so that I could access the site and delete the duplicate.
In the end? It got fixed, I can access my website and I managed to get all of the posts ready to go. I now have two comics to get ready and then I am ready for a week and a half vacation with lots of reading and writing (with a smattering of editing).
If anyone wants an idea of where I'm at, imagine a mad scientist engineer in the middle of his shop with gears and gadgets strewn about everywhere. That is my current state of mind.
I also have an Art Show in September that I need to get work ready for. Or I may just bring some work that I already have done. (It feels good to be able to say that!)
I'm waiting to hear back from some shows to see if I'll be attending them otherwise, I'll be off to Edmonton Expo at the end of September and then I'll be doing Canzine West in November.
This weekend I have to get a bunch of comics ready to go, because as I feared, I get a huge response from people when I post the Drawing Lesson Awry comics. I also have to have the next Isaac's Run comic ready to post for Monday. I was hoping to do some painting as well this weekend, but I may have to put that off until next weekend.
Then next weekend I want to continue penciling Grotto of Poppies and begin scripting out the next story for Isaac & Lee.
So my work list is as follows:
- Inking pages for Drawing Lesson Awry (the first page is due to go live on Wednesday)
- 3 Large paintings to get finished by September 6th (at the latest) for an art show
- Layout and cover for Isaac's Run (due by September 15th)
- Layout and cover for Isaac & Lee (due by September 15th)
- Editing Sam Hawke #4 (redrawing some pictures that I am not happy with and I'll probably not show it until October or November)
- Pencil Grotto of Poppies (whenever I can fit it in)
This weekend is my best friend's bachelorette party, plus I have to witness her marriage certificate the next night so I'll have to see what, if any, work I'm going to be able to get done this weekend.
I'm also taking a break from the manuscript that I've been editing forever and I've switched to a different manuscript that's not only shorter, but it's also cleaner and, I've been promised, is much more polished than the last one.
When I get back from doing laundry, I am hoping that I'll be able to do some painting so that I can get this painting done by the weekend so that I can work on the second one.
I want to get back to doing some writing. I have a vague outline for a first draft that I want to write, but it's a fairly involved story.
I've also found that I basically work best if I am able to focus on one task per month.
That means that I have to get my schedule set up so that I can change gears and get into that mindset for the month, be it editing, writing, scriptwriting or art.
I'm hoping that with enough practice, I'll be able to change gears faster and get it to the point where I can change each day.
Then I did my first Sixtember Challenge, it's a challenge for the month of September where you draw for six minutes and then post your results.
I was reading over the manuscript that I am going to be working on next week.
But out of all of this, no comics were worked on yesterday.
The inspiration for my story?
http://www.golden-dawn.com/eu/UserFiles/en/File/pdf/taverner.pdf
That's the whole book but basically, it's about a psychiatrist and his protogé who encounter all sorts of supernatural cases while they run a sanitorium somewhere in the British isles. It's very Holmesian but has the feeling of old ghost stories and throw in some Masonic ties.
When I say penciled I mean that these pages can be scanned in inked with very little changes.
I feel good about the pages and I can see myself inking them (and the rest of the issue) in October or November.
I am impressed with myself.
- Digital editing Drawing Lesson Awry
- Cover and Layout for Isaac's Run #5
- Cover and Layout for Isaac & Lee #10
- Tweak slide presentation
- Confirm inventory
- Hopefully, am able to get some editing done on Sam Hawke #5 *fingers crossed*
- Editing new manuscript
- If I have time, finish penciling Grotto of Poppies
If I get absolutely nothing else done this week it's, get those done!
I'm going to keep printing off my list as I mark things off so that I know what I got done.
- Cover and Layout for Isaac's Run #5
- Cover and Layout for Isaac & Lee #10
- Tweak slide presentation - play with design and images
- Confirm inventory
- Hopefully, am able to get some editing done on Sam Hawke #5 *fingers crossed*
- Editing new manuscript
- If I have time, finish penciling Grotto of Poppies
The first one, is definitely achievable and that's offering to help super new comic creators by doing editing on their books at affordable prices for them. I specifically want to focus on new comic creators in Edmonton and Calgary.
When I was speaking on my panel about how to self-publish I got a lot of questions about editing and it was sad to have to tell people that what most editing that they are going to find online usually deals with the script and doesn't deal at all with the artwork. Or there are book editors who say that they can edit a comic book as well...as a sideline. I would want to offer them someone who specialises in comics, is relatively local, and who is willing to charge a fee that they can afford.
It sounds like I'm looking at a lot of work, but that all depends on how many people actually take me up on the offer. I'm going to talk to one of the LCS owners in Edmonton and see if he's willing to let me put up a poster in his shop. At this point, I just want to test the waters to see if this can actually be a thing or if there just isn't a market for it.