Unforseen Bump in the Road

With all the end of term stuff and a couple of snafus with panels not turning out right and needing fixing, Akari kinda got pushed back and now is on the back burner. So I guess I'll be spending my break working on pages...UGH I want to be done so I can relax a bit! It's not fun to have something hanging over you all the time...

Some new pages

Thought I'd post a couple of pages from Chapter 1 I scanned and used for the book proposal.










That's all for now. A new illustration is almost done, so I hope to be able to put that on Deviantart sometime soon, but I'm starting to get swamped with end of term papers and projects, in addition to trying to finish everything on Akari before next term starts. I can't wait to just be done with everything.
~6H

SEA Report

So the past two days I was at the Self Employment in the Arts Conference, an annual conference hosted by my school every year. It's always been a really good time in that I learn lots of things and get lots on insights, but this year has been the best, hands down, so far.

First off, I presented Akari in a book proposal to Jennifer McCord, a really big name in the publishing business. She gave me lots of great critique, but it was most unexpected when she told me that the book proposal itself was "excellent", that it really made her intrigued and made her want to read more, and that I had an excellent story idea that is very appealing. I'm on the right track.
But there's still a long way to go. She gave some good suggestions I'm considering, but it will require a lot of work to change them.

Next, I met with Micah Farritor, an illustrator and graphic novel artist who is an alumni from my school. He looked over my pages and gave more good suggestions and said that it looked really cool! I'm pretty happy, because I thought my work really sucked. I've been working hard, but...I still have lots to learn about art and drawing, even writing (though I think my writing is light years away from my art in terms of quality).

I'm excited, because it feels like I'm finally in a position to get up and go (if I take the opportunities and work hard rather than being a forgetful lazy bum) but it is a bit daunting. Other people my age are already selling their manuscripts. My friends on deviantart have way more hits on their pages and are selling commissions while I can't even get comments on most of my work. Hell, I don't even have any comments on this blog. But...I'll keep going. I'll find a way to become a graphic novel artist and get my books out there. If nothing else, at least I'll be a really bitchin art history professor.

I also can't wait to write another book proposal, particularly for my next serious work, Dresden 1945
~6H

A Promising Future?!

Hello all!

I'm presenting a book proposal this Friday at the Self Employment in the Arts conference! I'll be meeting with two people from the publishing industry. I'm very excited and nervous! Ack!

Also, I'm happy to have found out I have strep throat, instead of a cold. This means that I have drugs to cure me rather than suffering with a cold for weeks on end! HUZZAH!
~6H

A Book Proposal!

So the Self Employment in the Arts Conference, or the SEA is coming up rapidly and this year they have a mock Book Propsal. I thought I might be adventurous and put myself out there with a book proposal for Akari so we'll see how it goes. (They might not accept it cause it's two weeks late, but considering that the head lady told me about it the week after the deadline...?) I'm not sure I wrote the propisal totally right, but I think the graphic novel pages will think for themselves. They look pretty good, and with the Wildwords font...that really pulls it all together.

The only thing that makes me a bit sad is that the original pages have a bit of a warmer or neutral gray tone to them while the scanned in versions look a little more blue or cooler in tint...hmmm....
~6H

The End is In Sight!

97 pages down, 63 to go! It;s such a great feeling to know that only 63 pages stand between me and a finished book!

And for some reason, 63 seems a like a small amount...

I also have finished the Chapter 3 pencils! But chapter 3 was pretty short (only 15 pages). Some of the panels turned out absolutely gorgeous! In fact, the entirety of Sc. I is amazing and I can't wait to have it complete. I can't stop looking through it and absorbing it...it's such a melancholy scene...but so telling of both Akari and Takaharu, of the sexual and emotional tension between them, and especially insightful of Akari's feelings. And I hadn't gotten to do much with Akari since The beginning of Chapter 2, so it was refreshing to put the action back on her. I had run out of manuscript paper, but luckily some more arrived today (YAY!) so I can pencil Chapter 4 right away...

But that probably won't happen. I got to do some inking and painting, I have a paper due on Friday and my nephew's birthday party is on Saturday. Grrr.... :( I don't like going to these, but now that I drive myself, I can peace out whenever I guess. Just have to stay for cake because my sister makes THE most bitchin cake known to man. She made my birthday cake. Delicious.
~6H

Weekend Challenge 1 defeated! What's Next?

CHAPTER 2: DONE
PAGE COUNT: 97

I feel really....really....exhausted! It's very mentally exhausting! But they all look really cool, especially some of the effects I tried out. I love doing visual effects...

Chapter 3 is a pretty short chapter (only two short scenes!) But it's also my birthday next Saturday...so I'll at least finish the pencils this coming week for sure...but I may need a little breather before I attempt another intense weekend like this. But it's very reassuring to know that I can, in fact, finish 30 pages in 3 days.

The Weekend Challenge 1:3 days/30 pages

Chapter 1: COMPLETELY DONE
Chapter 2 Inks: DONE

Okay so late new year's resolution--update this blog at least once a week. Because now I am cruisin!!

So a couple nights ago I finished all the chapter 2 pencils. Whilst basking in my glory, I began to wonder: "What if I had all of chapter 2 completely finished by Monday? Wouldn't be surprised?!" And then, I decided that was indeed, what I would do.

3 days

30 pages

Lots of Red bull. (Which I'm finding leaves you feeling quite out of sorts if you drink 2 in one night...)

I've already finished all the inks--I can't believe I inked 20 pages in one day! And I didn't even skip class! I went and did everything I needed to do! The first 10 I need to get done were inked previously, so I had a little boost, but now...ugh, I have to paint everything. I'm glad I'm suddenly able to get all this done really quickly. See, I need to get this done in the next 6 weeks...AHHH! That seems terrifying to think of! But I already have a whopping 67 PAGES complete. And by complete, I mean everything that needs to be done by hand is done. I'm not even thinking of putting in the text and final editing. That's all computer stuff. Besides, to get to the fancy dinner at the end of term for early thesis finishers, I just need to have a "Substantial draft", and I figure since you can physically read the story off the raw pages, then that is a substantial draft. And I think I can do it.

If I can finish chapter 2 in just two weeks, and chapter 3 is barely 20 pages....I am on my way. Luckily, chapter 1 was the only monster. 50 some pages! I can hardly believe it.

It's come to the point where I don't even really care about my other classes. I've been blowing off all my reading just to work on my graphic novel. And it a way, that's great, because it means I really love what I'm doing and am working intensely on it. But on the other hand, it's bad cause I'm not doing my homework, which is mostly reading for English classes, and as all good English majors know, you can make most shit up and it will serve your purposes quite nicely.

Also, I'm thinking I need a new DeviantArt ID...another project for another day.