And Now We're Walking Out of the Forest

You know, for a book that I announced I was taking an "operational pause" on to work on a couple other projects, I seem to be doing a fair amount of pages. Really, I just needed a week off and then poof there were two more pages.

Today's comes from page twelve, a scene in Leandia with Mark and Abby, Amazonia, one of Amazonia's sisters, Oriana, and the Queen Leandia. I figured that the dimension, the city and the ruler's name are all interchangable. Hey, it's my world, I get to build it the way I want.

I had to design another set piece for this one, the royal chambers in the castle. It's open enough that I can reuse it a few times over this issue. And I think the giant Kirby Krackle energy pillars are kind of cool.

And, to show you how much I love this book, and the craziness it brings, here's what happened. Yesterday, I had a busy day, but I managed to pencil page twelve. Then, after fulfilling my duties as a Timberlake Councilman at one of our longer Council meetings, I inked it. After that, I colored and "built" the royal chambers set. By the time it was all done, it was 1:00 am.

My alarm went of at 6:00, as it often does. I'm a freelancer, and my morning workout class doesn't start until 9:00. I could have gon back to sleep, as I've done so many other times. But I couldn't. I had to get up and start working on the page, managing to color and almost finish lettering the page before I left to go Kick the Boxes.

There are other times and other projects that Ive had to get up early for. It's never pleasant, and I don't always roll a save against sleep. But for LNC, it's actually kind of easy.

Twelve pages down. Twelve to go. Do the math.

Page Ten

There's other stuff I should have been working on other than page ten, which you'll probably notice is done by the panel I'm posting. Sometimes time management is a tricky beast. I'm at a break point in the Love and Capes #11 story here. I know what happens next, but I don't have the exact how yet. So, I decided to pound out this last page that I had figured out.

Then, I can work on some other projects while the page 11 percolates in the back of my mind. I won't have to fight against my urge to do more Love and Capes and will be more productive on the other project.

And that's the way my mind works.

And, Lo, There Shall Come a Ninth Page

Here's an oddity. I usually have the jokes written when I start drawing. Here, I didn't. The panel eight beat was essentially "Abby accepts the situation. And make it funny." What had to happen was dictated by plot. I just had to bring a smile, which isn't always easy.

So I did what I usually do in these situations, I talked it out. I played both characters and it just kind of happened. On top of that, I kept cutting words until just minimum was there, which made the last beat funnier.

Of course, you'll have to wait until July to see if I'm right.

Easter Eight!

Happy Easter everyone!

I've been oddly productive this Triduum weekend. I got a bonus page of Love and Capes done today. I started it yesterday, having some extra time since I didn't go out until the Easter Vigil Mass, and managed to hammer this page together before then. It's doubly remarkable since it features a new set, the Flapjack Flophouse. I designed more of the place than appears in these scenes, too. There's a table and booth set up for both straight on shots and angle shots. Most of the angle elements weren't necessary for this page, but maybe they will in the future.

This is also one of my favorite pages so far, and for an odd reason. You can't tell from the snippet I'm showing, but this whole page isn't superhero related. Oh, there are some plot points mentioned, but with a quick edit, this could be a scene about any two people having a discussion in a Waffle House, er, Flapjack Flophouse.

When I first started Love and Capes, I wanted to make sure that the characters could be funny without the superhero trappings. Sure, the hero stuff would be the major source of funny, but for a situation comedy, the characters had to be in and of themselves funny. Issue #2 was the first issue that had a scene without a superhero-heavy joke. Now, I've lost track of the number of times that these scenes have happened, but I'm always glad when they do.

I Believe the French Call It...

So what's Amazonia offering that Mark needs to check with Abby? You'll have to read the book to find out.

I was stuck on how to handle page eight, but I think I've broken that, too. This book seems to be coming a little faster than I would have thought, which is great because I just signed a contract to do some children's book illustrations that will take up a bunch of time. Can't complain, of course, but things are looking kind of tight, and could always get tighter.

Hmmm, perhaps I've said too much.

Page Six

It's a little early in the run to be blocking out dialogue, but I'm doing it now. There's a plot twist early in the book, and I want to keep it secret. So, we have faded lettering here.

And, with this page, I am one-quarter of the way done with #11. It's fun to watch that number count down (or up, I suppose) and see completion come so fast. Of course, #12 will be extra sized, so things will go slower the next time.

I like the coloring and staging in this sequence. It's fun doing the night scenes in Chronopolis, and the cathedral may be the most visually interesting set I have there. And I like the body language, Darkblade working his iPhone while holding a cup of coffee. Apparently, a futuristic iPhone that allows you to swipe while wearing gloves. Or maybe Darkblade has special electrostatic gloves. You never know with him.

Nothing to See Here

I'm suffering from some writer's block on the new Love and Capes. I hate when this happens. I know what has to happen, I just need to make it happen, and preferably make it happen funny-style. Especially when this kind of block happens early in the process, I just feel like I'm burning days I'll miss when deadline crunch time happens.

Until then, and so I don't go too long without posting, here's a panel from a comic strip I've done for a client. They're presenting it next week, so I'm not revealing the name or what it's for. But I wanted to share some artwork, just to show I'm still alive and drawing.

And playing World of Goo. I got that with the MacHeist bundle, and man, it's addictive.

Play Ball!

Today's Opening Day of baseball season, so no gloomy face here. Well, maybe just a little. The Cleveland Indians are playing the Texas Rangers in Texas today. As regular blog readers now, I've got a good friend down there, and I've gone down there to do some work for his company and managed to schedule it around Rangers Opening Day. I've actually been to more Rangers Opening Days than Indians. (Well, I haven't been to any Indians ones.) Jesse and I always joked about "what if the Rangers opened against the Indians?" Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, we couldn't make it happen this year.

This year, too, it's supposed to snow here in Cleveland. And, as much fun as Rangers baseball is, it's even more fun to call up my friends in Ohio when I'm sitting in shorts and a t-shirt in the Arlington son and ask "Hey, how's the weather?" It's only going to be 58 degrees in Arlington today, but that's still much warmer than here.

Oh, well, there's always next year. Besides, as an Indians fan, I'm used to having to say that anyway. Now, if we could just get Major League Baseball to re-balance the schedule so that we played Texas and other warm weather teams more…

And hey! I drew page five of Love and Capes #11. The Quest for the Dress continues. I wasn't thrilled with the jokes in this sequence, although I think they work okay. This is one of those plot-heavy pages where the jokes come second. Interestingly, the joke in page four was originally supposed to be delivered by Abby, but I realized it was funnier if Charlotte said it.

I swear, Charlotte's becoming funnier. Paris has been good for her.

One-Sixth of the Way Home

The wind was understandably knocked out of my sails last night, so I didn't finish working on page four until today. Still, it's good news for my schedule, because it means I only have twenty pages left. That's one every three days, and that's a very manageable speed to maintain. Assuming I don't hit the dreaded writer's block.

In other news, the balance of my Love and Capes #10 order came in. For my next trip, I'm bringing them up to the attic.

And a word about tomorrow, April Fool's Day. I don't do any sort of April Fool's joke, at least not here on the blog, and definitely on Twitter. There will be too much of that tomorrow anyway. No promises, though, if you see me in person.

Page the Third!

I went ahead and got page three done, which follows The Quest for the Dress a little more. The Dress will be a huge part of issue #11, and it should go in unexpected ways.

I'd like to get page four done by Wednesday, too, so that I'll only have twenty pages to go before my self-imposed end of June deadline. Especially with the traveling I'll be doing for FCBD and a trip or two afterward, it's best to get as much banked as I can.

I'm especially happy with the outfits Abby and Charlotte are wearing. I think they look nice, and are very much in character for both people.

I also like the line about "Presidents' Corner." It's six words, but it serves to create an entire desirable neighborhood for Deco City. Naming it was the hardest thing, since it had to sound like a portion of a city. In Cleveland, we've got Old Brooklyn, but if I'd used anything like that, it would have read as a separate city, not part of Deco itself.