But, WAHOO MORRIS Book 2 is almost ready to go out the door.
I had a bit of trouble last week and this weekend as I coloured both the front cover and back cover in RGB figuring I'd be able to figure out how to convert for CMYK separations and properly trap the colours after the fact.
I did, but not without a lot of hair pulling and screaming at the computer.
I'm waiting on one name for the Thank You page, and then a final copy edit before sending out the digital versions to backers and sending the book to the printer.
And... here's the cover spread (unless I pull a last minute change)!
The Book is at the printer and I've been given a date of Feb 5 for completion.
I got a proof of the cover late yesterday afternoon only to find a couple of bone headed errors with the overprint settings on my name on the front cover anda weird 'seam' running vertically in a large block of flat colour on the back cover art that I can't believe I never noticed in all my reviews!
The pre-press folks also caught a few issues with the interior, mostly issues with my hand drawn page numbers shifting registration (nothing to be done about that) and one missing bleed.
I uploaded corrected PDFS to the printer.
The corrected proofs came in this morning and with my blurry eyes I gave my final approval.
If there are any mistakes left I just couldn't see them.
It's been a long time since I've posted here. I still check in often enough...
So, to catch up:
------
Shortly after finishing fulfilling the Wahoo Morris and getting the books into Diamonds hands for distribution, I started storyboarding again in June 0f 2018. I did a few episodes of XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM (based on Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopolous
kids book series) then moved onto GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE. That ran from September 2018 until June 2019.
The work schedule was complicated by
adopting two kittens in January 2019. My last cat Haley was "the easiest cat in the world TM" so we were not prepared for how these beasts would impact our lives! They are adorably cute and we love them to pieces but our lives are scheduled around their feeding times (one could be a grazer but her sister will eat until she pukes) and cleaning their boxes.
There was also medical drama in the first few weeks as one wasn't dewormed (which is a pretty big fuck up on the adoption agencies part as kittens get worms from their mom, so if one has them they both have them). Then they pulled over a massive plant pot resulting in one kitten losing half her tail. I spent January and February monitoring every box visit and giving meds 3 times a day. Then the one without a tail started developing little red growths that would move around her face before one got infected and she had to go back on antibiotics and wear the cone of shame again. We never quite diagnosed what was causing them when they went away. It was concurrent with switching them to an adult diet, so it might have been an allergy of some sort.
It's work related because I started missing deadlines for the first time in my career. I finished my last GMAC board two weeks late and wasn't offered another one. I'm not 100% sure there was another left on the schedule anyway, but it wasn't the warmest parting I've ever had.
Anyway, I walked into the bank the following Monday and paid off the mortgage a month early and with agreement from my wife (who doesn't want me to die at my desk storyboarding) decided that I was done with storyboarding for the foreseeable future.
The plan was/ is to work on my own comics and run kickstarters for the next year or so, see if I can't either build an audience or get some attention from WFH editors. I didn't get very far on that yet.
I also decided to try and catch up with friends I've been putting off all year and ended out for lunch with my old friend Tom Fowler. "What are you working on now?" turned into, "Wait! you're available?" and the next ting I knew I was doing some inking samples over Tom's pencils of Books Of Magic and a few weeks later got the official offer to ink Books Of Magic at Vertigo (now Black Label).
That's accounted for most of my time since labour day weekend with a few days off where I continued picking away at odds and ends. We had to cram the schedule to get issue 16 to the printers early before the holidays, then I was out of town, first in Calgary, then a month in Thailand, from Dec 15 to Feb 2nd.
I started inking BoM #18 a day after getting back and I've now had 6 days off and counting before starting #19 where I've pencilled a pin-up/cover of my Sword & Sorcery character Sian and have been working on finishing the lettering of the sci-fi 12 page short and getting it ready for inking.
Hope everyone is doing well if anyone is still reading here!
We are mostly all just poking our heads in here. Justin still posts his writing, and when I'm not working on editing novels I'm posting my comics progress. Basically, what @DinoCaruso said. Although, I'd love to post more here.
Finally made the choice to drop back in more fully tonight.
I've got a question re: Clip Studio Paint that I should probably post in the Toolbox section.
I continue checking in here every few days and keep meaning to post, but...
Frankly I haven't been dealing that well with the pandemic (more the "head in the sand" pretending it's over by the majority of the population) and have been retreating into myself more an more, both IRL and on my socials. I need to change that, at least in the virtual world.
I continue to get queries about storyboard work, mostly from my LinkedIn profile, but I've been able to say no so far. DC hasn't kept me fully booked, but I'm on my third series inking for them currently. I've also been picking away at some creator owned stuff that will get Kickstarted/self published eventually.
Though I keep getting distracted! March through May 2021 we did a major basement/rec room renovation which had us crammed into two rooms in the house with furniture packed around us and the rest in a storage locker. I spent the next few months following moving us back in and doing cleanup and finishing details. And, this summer I started building a 10x16 shed which became my full time job until I started inking Dead Boy Detectives three weeks ago. Now I'm picking away at the shed instead.
Once I have a break between issues (and the outdoor work is done or stopped for the winter) I'll be getting back to finishing the inking of a 28 page Sîan (my sword & sorcery thief girl) one-shot that I hope to Kickstart next year. I've got a 48 page anthology of Weird-ScienceFantasy themed short stories in the can and ready to go, but the motivation to publish it is low as I'm not doing conventions any time soon.
Anyhoo, I'm trying to post more art on Twitter/Mastodon/Facebook etc., though I don't have much new to post while I'm locked in inking, so we'll see how successful I am.
So cool that you're working on DC books. I hope that relationship continues to bear fruit for you.
And yeah, I keep checking in here every few days. I try to post once a month at least. I have this hope that people will come back here. I always liked this place. :-) Great topics and threads were created here, fer sher...
Comments
But, WAHOO MORRIS Book 2 is almost ready to go out the door.
I had a bit of trouble last week and this weekend as I coloured both the front cover and back cover in RGB figuring I'd be able to figure out how to convert for CMYK separations and properly trap the colours after the fact.
I did, but not without a lot of hair pulling and screaming at the computer.
I'm waiting on one name for the Thank You page, and then a final copy edit before sending out the digital versions to backers and sending the book to the printer.
And... here's the cover spread (unless I pull a last minute change)!
The Bookmarks arrived yesterday.
I just need to find a printer for the mini-poster and I'll have all the extras I need for the Kickstarter fulfillment.
I got a proof of the cover late yesterday afternoon only to find a couple of bone headed errors with the overprint settings on my name on the front cover anda weird 'seam' running vertically in a large block of flat colour on the back cover art that I can't believe I never noticed in all my reviews!
The pre-press folks also caught a few issues with the interior, mostly issues with my hand drawn page numbers shifting registration (nothing to be done about that) and one missing bleed.
I uploaded corrected PDFS to the printer.
The corrected proofs came in this morning and with my blurry eyes I gave my final approval.
If there are any mistakes left I just couldn't see them.
So, to catch up:
------
Shortly after finishing fulfilling the Wahoo Morris and getting the books into Diamonds hands for distribution, I started storyboarding again in June 0f 2018. I did a few episodes of XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM (based on Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopolous kids book series) then moved onto GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE. That ran from September 2018 until June 2019.
The work schedule was complicated by adopting two kittens in January 2019. My last cat Haley was "the easiest cat in the world TM" so we were not prepared for how these beasts would impact our lives! They are adorably cute and we love them to pieces but our lives are scheduled around their feeding times (one could be a grazer but her sister will eat until she pukes) and cleaning their boxes.
There was also medical drama in the first few weeks as one wasn't dewormed (which is a pretty big fuck up on the adoption agencies part as kittens get worms from their mom, so if one has them they both have them). Then they pulled over a massive plant pot resulting in one kitten losing half her tail. I spent January and February monitoring every box visit and giving meds 3 times a day. Then the one without a tail started developing little red growths that would move around her face before one got infected and she had to go back on antibiotics and wear the cone of shame again. We never quite diagnosed what was causing them when they went away. It was concurrent with switching them to an adult diet, so it might have been an allergy of some sort.
It's work related because I started missing deadlines for the first time in my career. I finished my last GMAC board two weeks late and wasn't offered another one. I'm not 100% sure there was another left on the schedule anyway, but it wasn't the warmest parting I've ever had.
Anyway, I walked into the bank the following Monday and paid off the mortgage a month early and with agreement from my wife (who doesn't want me to die at my desk storyboarding) decided that I was done with storyboarding for the foreseeable future.
The plan was/ is to work on my own comics and run kickstarters for the next year or so, see if I can't either build an audience or get some attention from WFH editors. I didn't get very far on that yet.
I also decided to try and catch up with friends I've been putting off all year and ended out for lunch with my old friend Tom Fowler. "What are you working on now?" turned into, "Wait! you're available?" and the next ting I knew I was doing some inking samples over Tom's pencils of Books Of Magic and a few weeks later got the official offer to ink Books Of Magic at Vertigo (now Black Label).
That's accounted for most of my time since labour day weekend with a few days off where I continued picking away at odds and ends. We had to cram the schedule to get issue 16 to the printers early before the holidays, then I was out of town, first in Calgary, then a month in Thailand, from Dec 15 to Feb 2nd.
I started inking BoM #18 a day after getting back and I've now had 6 days off and counting before starting #19 where I've pencilled a pin-up/cover of my Sword & Sorcery character Sian and have been working on finishing the lettering of the sci-fi 12 page short and getting it ready for inking.
Hope everyone is doing well if anyone is still reading here!
Frankly I haven't been dealing that well with the pandemic (more the "head in the sand" pretending it's over by the majority of the population) and have been retreating into myself more an more, both IRL and on my socials. I need to change that, at least in the virtual world.
I continue to get queries about storyboard work, mostly from my LinkedIn profile, but I've been able to say no so far. DC hasn't kept me fully booked, but I'm on my third series inking for them currently. I've also been picking away at some creator owned stuff that will get Kickstarted/self published eventually.
Though I keep getting distracted! March through May 2021 we did a major basement/rec room renovation which had us crammed into two rooms in the house with furniture packed around us and the rest in a storage locker. I spent the next few months following moving us back in and doing cleanup and finishing details. And, this summer I started building a 10x16 shed which became my full time job until I started inking Dead Boy Detectives three weeks ago. Now I'm picking away at the shed instead.
Once I have a break between issues (and the outdoor work is done or stopped for the winter) I'll be getting back to finishing the inking of a 28 page Sîan (my sword & sorcery thief girl) one-shot that I hope to Kickstart next year. I've got a 48 page anthology of Weird-ScienceFantasy themed short stories in the can and ready to go, but the motivation to publish it is low as I'm not doing conventions any time soon.
Anyhoo, I'm trying to post more art on Twitter/Mastodon/Facebook etc., though I don't have much new to post while I'm locked in inking, so we'll see how successful I am.
Hope everyone still checking in is well!