Sneak Peek #25: Pencils DUUUUNNNN!

The Volume 3 pencils are done!

FINALLY.

...GRAPH.

Without further ado, let's see some samples:

...After working on V3 pencils for so long, it almost doesn't seem real that they're done. I started page one in... Checking planner... Damn. 2009. Rodmonsters. I feel a compulsion to launch into an explanation of why things have taken so long, but let's save that for when the book is actually finished. For now, I just want to savor actually hitting a concrete milestone, one that proves The End is Nigh, and show some more pencils.

...And I know I already tossed some of these on the Prelude off-week updates, but PSHOUGH. I wanna show 'em again.

A lot of the scenes required more than drawing- I frequently had to stop to put some design into the settings and props. Granted I'm no engineer, and my doodles wouldn't stand a hope of being feasible in reality. But I don't want to just thoughtlessly draw crap in in a fire-and-forget fashion as I blow through the book. I want to make things... Make... Sense. Like they look the way they do for a reason. I feel like the extra effort helps make the Dreamworld, within it's cartoony premise, feel more coherent and believable. For example, here are some of the doodles for the prop we gave Igrath in the above drawing:

The rear legs are longer to better absorb shock from firing recoil, so the thing doesn't risk tipping backwards after a heavy salvo. For hard-post sentry situations, there's a seat attachment. The flak shields on front are detachable, so if they can be replaced rapidly if battle damage renders them ineffective. There are also slotted retractable wheel mounts on the rear legs, and a front harness mount. Why would a weapons platform need a harness mount, you ask?

Ha heh, questions... Moving on.

Settings especially can require a lot more planning than meets the eye... This installation in particular required a complete top-down design before I even knew where to begin drawing. Also, I would like to point out that the staircase is collapsible and modular. Why build a staircase that can never go anywhere else?

The zig-zag outer wall design is reflective of military emplacements from the days of seige warfare. When the enemy is crowding against the base of a wall using it for cover, the angled wall system allows the defenders to continue pouring fire on them. I also tried to put some thought into a base setup that accomplished the main goals of the installation, one of them being storage... For example (This doesn't come up in the book, but I just thought it was cool) The springer cartridge storage area is flanked by water storage, so in the event of an accidental cartridge discharge, there's a natural barricade minimizing damage to the surrounding areas.

...I would like to imagine that our long production time on the pencils was due to all this fancy design development, but actually our production rate in past months is roughly double the average we had in years previous.

Switching Prelude from weekly to bi-weekly has, admittedly, been exceedingly helpful to V3 production. Additionally, notching the Joe Job from full to part time has helped incredibly. This ought to mean I can retain the fast pace on coloring, meaning the book will be done this year for certain!

Oh, also, I drew Grunn. Um, he took a lot of high-level design concept stuff too. In depth.

So the Volume 3 pencils are done. How close is the book to being actually, completely finished?

With pencils done, we just need to color the thing now.

The colors, both blocking and shading, are already finished on Chapter 7. The color blocking is nearly done on Chapter 8, there are only 4 or 5 pages which aren't fully blocked. Blocking is already started on many Chapter 9 scenes.

So, I need to do the shading on Chapters 8 and 9, and the blocking needs to happen on Chapter 9. After so long working in black and white, I'm thrilled to start making things dark, and shiny, and glittery, and chromatic, and-

But, alas, I have a few things to take care of first.

Before I jump into the shading blitz, I have to:

*Restock our Prelude que- don't wanna run out of updates.

*E-mails. I think there are about a zillion.

*Commissions. 7 and 8 are done, but it's time to get rolling on 9 and 10.

*Finances. Running a business requires keeping track of all sorts of businessy things - eSPECIALLY when it comes to taxes. What, you thought it was possible to draw some comics and sell them without paying off those people who didn’t contribute to any stage of the work- bureaucrats? Insert rant.

*New File Backups. I had an account with Megaupload where, after months of uploading, we carefully archived our DK files- until I took an arrow to the knee. And by arrow to the knee, I mean the federal government deleted my backups because... Hold on, there's a reason I'm sure. Because other people were sharing music files or something. I don't know. All I know for sure is that the people responsible for deleting Dreamkeepers have much, much more generous pensions than me- and their comfort is funded by taxes on my struggles for productivity. Regardless, I need to get our files backed up somewhere else, because I won't risk losing years of work to a hard drive crash. Let's just cross our fingers and pray nobody shares a Britney Spears song via the company I'm archiving with now, or all bets are off.

FIGHT THE MAN! Because women are scary.

Anyways, last task that needs wrapping up-

In the course of advertising on Youtube, I learned that one can promote a video of any length, it doesn't have to squeeze into a 15 or 30 second timeslot, the way traditional commercials do. So I'm tacking some extra content onto the end of our commercial before we fire it up again. Now, don't get your hopes up- more epic animation is not on the way. Do you want me to finish Volume 3 or not?! It's just a few extra minutes of persuasion, with some drawings added in to avoid a boredom-inducing blank rectangle. So nothing terribly fancy- because if it were terribly fancy, it would take too long, and I have a book to finish.

Thanks to everyone for keeping up with us for this long- we’re getting there!

Lost in Pencilvania

We're alive! Still.

Sorry for being virtually mute online lately. E-mails are stacking up, and from all outward appearances we may as well have dropped off the face of the earth.

I've been lost in a glorious swathe of scintillating Volume 3 production.

...Where are the pictures, you ask?

On pieces of paper all over our apartment. Not online. YET. I'm taking a quick break to toss an update in here, but I don't want to take the time for a full fledged Sneak Peek because I'm SO CLOSE to finishing the pencils.

SO CLOSE!

Today I completed the pencils for page 130. The last page of graphic novel story in Volume 3 is page 133. (The whole book will be 144 pages, but that includes bonus concept art sketches and production notes and such. And those are a pushover once the actual story pages are finished.)

THREE MORE PAGES OF PENCILS LEFT.

Once I finish the last of the pencils, I'll take a breather and have a nice, big, draw-tastically visual Sneak Peek for you guys.

Colors are going great too- all but 9 pages of Chapter 8 are ready for shading, so once the pencils are finished I can tear right into lighting, textures, and final art.

Hang in there, it's coming together!

Sneak Peek #24: Halfway

Alright... I got a full night of sleep last night, and it was awesome, and I think I'm coherent enough to write this. WORDS, DON'T FAIL ME NOW!

Chapter 9 pencils are halfway there! Page 112 was nailed yesterday, right on schedule. It was making it happen on my self-imposed schedule that turned out to be hell.

Not the drawing part- I love drawing. It was all the not-drawing that was tortuous. See, I have this kind of secret identity thing going... While by day I'm a mild mannered cartoonist, by... Other days, I don a spectacularly baggy uniform (Security guards were never imagined to eat fewer than 37 donuts a day) and enforce safety on the world. Duty turned out to be pretty clingy the last couple weeks, and was calling me quite a lot more than I prefer. There were parking lots- parking lots in dire need of security.

I answered the call, and let me tell you- those parking lots weren't going ANYWHERE while I was on the job. I watched the hell out of them.

Drawing, eating, sleeping, all collided into the remaining time in my schedule and fought for dominance. Drawing won, and here we are!

Because in Anduruna they have quality entertainment, we’re proud to present to you… Trio-de-Fortress! The fictional crime-fighting trio with their own prime-time franchise. They’re our spoof-equivalent of superhero / action television programming… So they’re fully intended to be the most bone-headedly clichéd, simple concept imaginable. It was SO fun designing them. I believe Gorse mentioned them once in Prelude, but we haven’t had a chance to show them anywhere yet. …Yet.

The wiggly pile of delightful malice is, in fact, that rhyming monstrosity some of you may be familiar with already... We did a sample comic a few years back called 'Tendril's Demise,' and, yup. Here's his introductory iteration.

Tendril isn't his official name by the way. In order for things to rhyme constantly, one has to be flexible about such trifling details as names.

In other news, we FINALLY got to promote our commercial somewhere! After half a dozen unresponsive sites or outright rejections, we finally settled on what in all likelihood is the best initial venue anyways- Youtube.

The first salvo went well. Better than my worst-case scenario, worse than my rosy hopes. We'll be priming for another round fairly soon- only it will be BETTER! I'll probably blog about the upgrades as we launch, so keep an eye out.

In the meanwhile, don't forget the reader-initiated Valentine's Fanart contest is underway! If you don't have time to create an entry, do feel free to swing by the gallery and see what's cooking. And have a great Valentine's day!

Talking! I does it good.

We got to be on a podcast! Check it out: http://furcast.xanacreations.com/archive/fc-70

The guys over at Furcast were nice enough to let me in from the cold when I came scratching on the door asking for an interview. And interview aside, the rest of the ‘cast is quite an entertaining listen as well. So for some Dreamkeepery chit-chat and more, swing on over and lend an ear.

…And on that note, I have discovered that giving interviews is easy and I like it. Does anyone know of other podcasts out there that might be good for me to invade? Toss ‘em in the comments down there, and I can guarantee they will be pestered by an e-mail from me.

…For a brief V3 update, pencils are going great! I’ve got the blues and layouts done through page 112, which is the official halfway mark of Chapter 9. Once I finish the pencils to that point, I’ll toss an official sneak peek up with some art tidbits. 8 ) Thanks to everyone for your patience with this book- we’re getting there!

Commission Last Chance

Last call for commissions!

They close on Wednesday, the 25th - FOREVER.

Or, at the very least, until our current batch of commissions is done. Which ought to be, I don’t know, 20 years from now…

So, only get in this huuuuge line if you really, really want to be there for awhile. If you’re low on cash, you’ll have to scrape together at least the $5.00 sketch price to reserve your place in line.

If you want ‘em, they‘re here: http://www.dreamkeeperscomic.com/commissions.htm

But don’t want them after Wednesday. Or your world will be constructed of sad kittens.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Sneak Peek #23: T-MINUS 33...

Egads, it's been awhile since I posted something in here. I'VE BEEN DRAWING! You can't possibly expect me to DRAW and TYPE simultaneously! What do you think I am, some kind of warbling, miraculous wonder-freak?

Time for that dream to die.

Anyways. Status report, sir!

Chapter 9 pencils 25% complete, sir!

Progress continues to go well sir, T-minus 33 pages remaining to eliminate, we expect to have more good news soon, sir!

And because a world without pictures is a cold nightmare hell from which there is no redemption, here are some sketches so far:

It's actually getting tricky finding drawings I can show without encroaching on spoiler territory. Especially towards the end of the book, showing off what certain characters are up to can start revealing more than I'd like.

I'll just start zooming in reeeaaal tight on the art we display - from now on, progress samples shall consist of close-up shots depicting the tips of various characters' ears.

This week I knocked out 2 month's worth of Prelude updates, and I'm now finishing off commissions 5 and 6. This ought to free me up for a nice, huge slew of Chapter 9 penciling during the rest of January and February. I realistically expect the pencils for this book to be entirely finished by late spring or before, and then colors will be the final focus. Pre-Orders are coming this summer.

If anyone would like to see Volume 4 happen faster than Volume 3, help us out and spread the word about Dreamkeepers! The better V3 Pre-Orders go, the more time I can work on Volume 4 without minor issues like the fear of starvation complicating things.

Anduruna in 2nd Life

What is 2nd life? Well, it's like... It's like a video game. I think. Where you can have a house and stuff. There are also ponies and you can make piles of coins, called 'McDucklings'.

...Okay, so I know virtually nothing about 2nd life. This distinction makes me uniquely unqualified to start a Dreamkeepers-oriented community in there.

Fortunately, there are some DK readers who actually know what they're doing- (this bails me out so often...)

So I'm pleased to announce that there is indeed a Dreamkeepers 2nd-life community in the works! If you're a DK fan on 2nd life, this ought to be just up your alley. The effort is being spearheaded by Viscount Gyaku Darkblood and Rennac, so contact either one of them in there to be guided to the Anduruna region, and have a good time!