City of Cards C3.31: HERE!

Okay, so it's basically December (not quite, but darn close). The next big convention I have on my plate is Emerald City Comic Con, where I will in fact be tabling with the awesome Jamie Fahlgren.

This means I have basically three months to prepare (though I barely count February because that month is going to be dedicated purely to printing and prepping).

Here's a quick run-down of my goals:

December - Complete all the pencils for my mini-comic, finish all edits for Chapter One (at least until the final book print), and complete one limited edition print that will also be the cover for the ECCC copy of Chapter One.

January - Complete all art for the mini-comic, finish all edits for Chapter Two (there aren't as many big edits for Chapter Two as there are Chapter One), and finish the limited edition print/cover for Chapter Two

February - PRINT EVERYTHING, order my banner, get all table supplies, make buttons, maybe make some bonus postcards, update the CoC site's about and character pages

I'm really psyched about the mini-comic. I still have a few details to figure out about how I plan to print it, but it's a twelve page story about Plato's success and failure as a wrestler. I couldn't think of a better way to work this story into the main narrative, but I think it's worth sharing.

It's also visually going to be done a bit differently from how I normally work.

So anyway, here's the first two pencils for this comic:

 

City of Cards C3.30: HERE!

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the States. I tend to try to remind myself throughout the year of why I'm so lucky and fortunate to have the people in my life that I do, the family and friends that have been supportive through this crazy journey, but it's good to take any moment to reflect.

I'm grateful that during this time I got to work with the great people at Boom! Studios. They're an amazingly hardworking crew and I hope 2013 is a great year for them.

I'd like to thank all my CCS colleagues for keeping in touch and continuing to inspire and encourage me.

In this past year, I've made and reconnected with some amazing people. I'm excited for next year, with a lot planned and lots of traveling ahead.

I've also signed up for a class to help develop my comic illustration and coloring skills (especially to get myself more comfortable drawing in photoshop since I still pencil by hand). I'll probably end up posting some of that stuff in the coming weeks.

For those of you getting a break, enjoy the holidays and take care.

City of Cards C3.28-29: HERE!

I assume at some point I'm allowed to say that these two are ridiculously cute, right? I know I'm biased, and I try very hard to keep my comments fairly low-key, but if you're finding your winter weather to be tough this year I'm pretty sure the next few months of updates will warm your weary heart.

I'm also still amazed Ace bothers to attempt to share the mattress considering how much space Plato takes up, but I figure the floor is uncomfortable and it's probably freezing out on the couch.

I posted it a few weeks back, but once again I recommend that before you read this part you read this three page interlude from Plato's perspective.

QUICK NOTE: ASHAYTA has started updating again so go check it out!

I also completed a quick animation of my panel drawing process: HERE.

It goes from thumbnail, rough sketch that I use to make my perspective grid in Manga Studio, that I use to do my pencils (often in multiple layers), that I use to do my inks and then grey tone. I've actually stream-lined the process pretty well at this point so even if it still takes me awhile I'm not having to figure everything out again each time.

I've tried not to over-address story elements on this blog, partly due to the fact that I don't want to spoil the reading experience, partly because when you're working on a project that has such a long development and execution you tend to be mentally consumed by events that are in the far future and you need to remember that your audience is about a 1,000 pages behind you.

At this point, though, I've hopefully established that Ace and Plato's relationship, how it develops and how that effects their personal judgements, is going to play a major role in the story. I've definitely fought to make sure that I maintain a strong focus on the narrative, the world that these characters are involved in and not to overwhelm the story with romance.

But it's there, and it's important, and it's something I've come back around on after originally considering trying to write the story with as little detail on the personal lives of the characters as possible. Plot can be fun and interesting, but what keeps people reading is the characters interpersonal and internal conflicts and how those develop along with the narrative.

I bring this up because even though there is going to be a lot of plot and a lot more to the mystery of the city and Ace's past in the upcoming story, this is also the start of Ace and Plato starting to explore their feelings towards each other. I'll write more about this in the future, especially what this means when your emotions are challenged by the cultural system you've grown up in and what is the value of another human being.

City of Cards C3.27: HERE!

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with this page.

And with this we'll be returning back to The Cave next week to dig deeper into what Ace was looking for.

I've been feeling a little bit under the weather so I haven't really prepared much for the blog this week, but if you haven't seen it I finished a piece of Missing Monday fanart:

Foyle and Monday

And also a quick shout out to two of my favorite fellow cartoonists who are celebrating their birthdays today.

Micah - Djinnborn

Kari - Bird Seed

City of Cards: C3.26: HERE!

So, there's technically no Halloween image this week because, well, I already did four creepy images this month I did a new Ace and Plato Q&A comic that you can see by voting here.


I also actually wanted to do something for November 1st (Ace's birthday/All Saints Day).

So, I present the scariest thing of all: young stupid love:

Those are Maple leaves

I'm working on some more blog posts about the comic making process so hopefully throughout this month I'll have those up.

*EDIT*

The bulk of this post had been composed before all the events of the hurricane and I just wanted to add an additional note of well-wishing to all those out there on the East Coast (and any area affected by the storm in general). I have a lot of friends living all the way up from Connecticut, to New York, and throughout New England. One of my friends living in New York, the amazing Lena Chandhok, was fortunate to not lose power and even updated her blog during the events and you can see what she's written so far here.

Again, there are a lot of you out there and many I still haven't gotten updates from so I'm hoping you're all well and that we'll all be able to get in touch over the next several days.