Starbucks That Don't Involve Coffee
I've been doing commissions as I knock out pages of Love and Capes #12. I've had a few pile up as I've been trying to get to a particular mile marker in the book.
One of them is this Starbuck illustration. The client wanted that hard drinking, gambling, smoking first season version of the character. I had a lot of fun doing it,and think I got the pose and the attitude down pretty well. Frak yeah!
Careless Whispers
I haven't posted one of these in a while: a realpanel from the new issue. Here's a scene from the wedding itself, where Charlotte and Quincy (Maid of Honor and Best Man, respectively) are coming down the aisle. You can see Doc Karma and Blurstreak out of their uniforms, as well as a nondescript extra sitting next to them. Blurstreak's real name is Michael, and he was named after Mike Wieringo. I didn't know Mike as well as I would have liked, but he was a great guy and we were friends. So when I had a super speedster character and he needed to have a first name, it had to be Ringo's.
Also in this scene is something that's driving me nuts: whispering. I don't think the dashed-line thing when I'm doing the transparent balloons. So I fade out the words themselves to a 75% gray so it gives the same effect, hopefully. Especially since, being at the wedding, there's a lot of whispering going on.
I'm at 13 pages to go, but two of those are a double-page spread, so that's like 12, right? And that means I'm at the halfway point… if this were a 24 page story.
This Scene Does NOT Appear in This (or any other) Issue
Yeah, I can guarantee that this scene won't be in issue #12. I mean, it's clear that Charlotte's pregnant with Mark's kid. Oh, wait, that's not going to happen either.
My gush of pages stops with this one. I know what happens on the next two, but I have to figure out how to tell that part of the story. I need to take a breather and figure those out.
Picture Alec Baldwin and Kevin Bacon
Page thirty! Whew, another milestone.
Seriously, if I could, I'd just punch through the rest of the issue. I think I've got one more page left in this burst of Speed Force, and after that I have to think about what happens on page 32 and 33. 34-35 should be a cakewalk though.
The Ref(erence)
I'm almost ready to hit another odometer-turning milestone on Love and Capes. This is page twenty-nine, so my next page will have a three in it. Yay!
Lots of referencing here, too. Amazonia is wearing an outfit based on a Rachel Pally design. (Yeah, that's right, I have to pay attention to those kinds of places while I'm working on this book.) It's way too daring for a 
wedding, of course, but that's the kind of thing Amazonia would pick thinking it was more appropriate. There's even a big reason why she picked that particular blue, but I'll leave that for the story itself, if I get to it. If it doesn't come up in the text, I'll reveal the reasoning later.
The Church pictured is very clearly based on my home parish of Immaculate Conception. It's a great classic-looking Church, so it was a no-brainer of a choice for the scene.
Lots of plot to get to in these next pages, too. Wish me luck.
At Least It's Not a Tycho IV Cloud Creature
Regular readers of the blog know that I'm pretty close to obsessed with The Process, both mine and other people's. From work flow to idea capture, I can't get enough of it. It's one of the things I think that attracts me to so much Aaron Sorkin stuff. SportsNight, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip were all behind-the-scenes stuff.
So, I'm curious to know how this issue of Love and Capes will go. Usually around page 20 or so I get so obsessed with the ending and the book being done, I start pumping out pages to the exclusion of all else. It really does become an Ahab-like obsession. And I can tell I'm at that point on Love and Capes now. I can usually tell when I can bust out a page in a day or less, rather than spread it over two.
The thing is, there's at least 14 pages or so left. If I'm at maximum now, what's going to happen next? Will I get faster? More obsessed? Will I burn up like the doomed singers in Once More Again With Feeling? I dunno.
It'll be kind of fun to find out, though, won't it?
Quick Like a Bunny
Wowzers! Here's another page of Love and Capes #12. Usually after traveling I lose a step and it takes some effort to get back into the swing of things. It almost seems like the back-to-back cons energized me. I've had three full workdays since I got home, and I've done almost as many pages. Heck, if I could do a page a day from here on out, I'd be done early.
However, I can assure you that such a thing will not be happening. I can already a twinge in my hand and the smell of burning wires coming from my brain indicating that I need to take a breath pretty soon.
Two For the Price of One
Despite my travel schedule, I managed to get two more pages of Love and Capes #12 done. I didn't post page 25 sooner because it tied directly with page 26. You really need to have the two of them together. Now, I haven't bothered to post enough for you to know why I think that, it was more of a "my own brainspace" kind of thing.
One of the panels I can't post is a big half-page dramatic scene. You'll know it when you read the finished issue, and I'm a little proud of it. It's rare that the finished piece matches the vision in your head, and this one certainly did. I can even hear the soundtrack playing everytime I see that panel.
It's Lifehouse, by the way. First Time
If I Lived Here, I'd Be Home Already
Sometimes, the little things are the things I enjoy most. For instance, I think this is a really well drawn dumpster. It's the right blend of real and cartooning, and is colored just right. I also like the image of the female character in silhouette, while her coat is in color. I think it works well.
For a short work week, I got two pages done, and I think I may even start the next one tonight, so I'm okay on schedule. There was some roughness on the page, dialogue-wise. Didn't really enjoy that hour of staring at the computer to write three balloons. And while everything I planned to happen in the book is happening, it's all happening differently than I thought. I hope it holds together.
By the way, this is page 24. In a regular book, I'd be done. But, since this one is double-sized, I think I've got about 20 pages left. I'm committed to a max of 48. I have it planned for 40-42 plus some cool back matter. I'll even sell an ad or two if anyone's interested. Hint hint.
Oh, yeah, and I'm heading to Baltimore Comicon tomorrow in the big SUV of Justice! A little more info will appear on the blog tomorrow. That's right, sparky, it's a tease.
Almost Coming Out of the Forest
Here's a panel from page twenty-three, which was the hardest page to structure yet. Of course, I can't tell you why right now, but all will be revealed soon.
Also, I'm two days away from leaving for Baltimore Comicon and the Harvey Awards. I'm just the tiniest bit nervous about it. It's my first time nominated for any sort of comics award. More importantly, I have to figure out how to set up a pool on how long into the ceremony will the first Kanye West joke happen. Personally, I'm guessing about ten minutes.