The comic’s finally been updated, and with only one more page to go, I just might be able to finish the chapter sometime this decade! After this I’ve got a couple simpler ones planned, about 1-2 pages each. For future chapters, I won’t start posting pages until the entire chapter is fully scripted and thumbnailed, to avoid the problems I had with the current chapter. Of course, even then it’s dependent on my work schedule.
Category Archives: News & Updates
Hiatus
The current comic chapter continues to live up with its name, and may for a little while longer. A number of things have robbed me of my motivation over the past several months, the most recent being a bout with depression.
Depending on my work schedule, my hope is to have the remaining two pages complete in January, and then I can finally move on. Afterwards there may be an intentional delay – I don’t want to start posting the next chapter, until a good portion of the pages are already done.
In the meantime, I’ll still be posting images on my DeviantArt, Patreon, and Tumblr pages.
“Late Again” status update
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The current comic is taking forever for me to finish, for a couple of reasons. For starters, I spent much of the past month out of town visiting family and friends. I took my gear with me so that I could work, but found it difficult to do anything more than finish pieces I’d started before I left. But that’s not the real reason the comic is running late.
The real reason the comic is late, is poor planning. I had a rough idea for this chapter – the second page would be mostly tightly-framed close-ups, so that the difference in height between Daisy & Rose on the third/final page might be a surprise. One problem with this idea, is that most of my audience already knows that Rose is roughly twice Daisy’s height. The other problem was that that plan for page 2 was uninteresting. To fix this, I’m basically rewriting everything after the first page.
At first I thought I would only be doing a visual rewrite, but the dialogue needed some punching-up as well. Where the original plan called for three, maybe four pages, now it may be at least six.
So when well the next page be finished? As soon as I have the remaining pages clearly mapped out.
Onesies
I’ve added a new chapter/feature this week – onesies. These will be simple, standalone images or single-page comics, usually non-canon, and focused more on gags than telling a story. These have been my primary method of exploring the characters personalities over the years, and will act as filler for when the real comics aren’t ready yet, prove difficult to finish, or if I don’t have enough free time to focus on them.
The one thing I’m concerned about is how navigating the comics will work, if I end up alternating between posting official pages and one-offs. Both would be posted to their respective chapters, but I worry that they would be read in the order they were posted, rather than as a continuous chapter…
Updates (and where to find them)
First things first, I’ve posted a rough preview of part of the next comic page over on Facebook.
It might be worth mentioning that not everything I draw or render gets posted here. Rough sketches and WIPs typically get posted on my Facebook page; finished images, pinups, and anything not related to the comic get posted on DeviantArt and Tumblr. I’m also getting used to Twitter, and might start using that to announce which sites have been updated.
Monday warm-up
The next comic is fully scripted, even broken down into estimated pages and panels. My mission this week is to get the entire thing thumbnailed out, to make sure that the page layouts will work. If so, then I’d also like to get the first page started, if not finished.
So far, I’m off to a rocky start – I’ve scribbled several ideas for pinups, but nothing for the comic. But until now I haven’t had any good ideas for pinups in some months, so maybe I’ll treat these as a warm-up. I might also use at least one of them for some painting practice, while I’m at it.
Over the weekend I’ve also started the process of transferring Rose’s skeleton and blendshapes to Mercy, in Maya. The brow shapes were the easiest, but the mouth will require a bit more effort.
Impending Holiday Madness
Now that ‘Discovering A Unicorn’ is finished, I need to decide what’s next. I’ll be taking a breather from the comic until after Christmas – mostly because I won’t have access to my Cintiq and so won’t be able to finish new pages during that time – so I’ll have some time to pick a story and prepare.
In terms of comics, right now I’m focused on introducing all of my central characters. Fortunately, I have stories plotted out for each of them – even some stories for characters that haven’t been designed yet – so the first task is prioritizing them. I keep telling myself that Mary-Anne should be next, but she presents a number of problems…
Mary doesn’t have an intro story… She has two. Two candidates, anyway – one is short and simple, while the other is longer, more epic, and quite simply the ‘right’ story. If I were to make a feature film centered around her, this story would be the opening 10 minutes. The problem with that story, is that I’m not currently capable of drawing it. I’m not comfortable with drawing environments in general, yet; I need to practice use of shading and thick shadows to enhance the mood of the scenes; and I especially need to practice motion-blurred action scenes. This story also features several incidental characters that I’d need to design, first.
For now, it’s looking more like I might just draw Rose and Violet’s intros first, and then draw the easier Mary intro.
Aside from comics, there are other projects I’m hoping to make some more progress on over the holidays – For the past two pages, I’ve gotten my 3D model of the interior of Daisy’s Diner to a point where it can be used as reference for the comic. I’d like to eventually get it and the exterior to a point where they can not only be used for 3D renders, but also toon-shaded for the comic to save me the trouble of tracing them (or, God forbid, have to draw them by hand).
Another project is my next 3D character – Daisy & Rose’s Aunt Mercy. I’ve already modeled her head as a morph target for Rose, so really all I need to do is model her habit and make sure all of Rose’s facial expressions can be re-used. The only real challenge with her will be the cloth simulation on the habit.
Commissions are another thing I’ve been thinking about. It would certainly be nice to make a little extra cash for Christmas, but again, I won’t have access to my Cintiq. I will have my Galaxy tablet with me, but there’s only so much I can accomplish on that. With the general madness of the holidays, it might be best if I just wait until I get home before opening up my commission list.
Working Smarter AND Harder?
This week’s page may be delayed, and not just because of Thanksgiving – overall the page is fairly simply, but it shows just a bit more of the diner than I’m comfortable with (or capable of) drawing by hand. Fortunately, I happen to have a model of its interior in-progress –
The model is far from being complete, but it’ll still make my life easier.
Oddly enough, the most difficult part of the model might be the appliances behind the bar. Schematics for many of them can easily be found online… but first I need to know what to look for.
It’s Alive!!
Welcome to my new comic site! There’s not much to see at the moment, and what little there is may be temporary, but it’s a start. 🙂