What’s both fun and frustrating about making comics is sometimes it feels like you’re soaring in the air or wrestling a 300 pound alligator. There is wisdom in both. It’s a process of finding and losing and you hope you find more than you lose.
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Progress on STEEL NOODLES Number 2 from last night. It was a good night of drawing….. The book is getting sketchier and hence, NICER.
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… well sort of. While the books are on a slow train to Los Angeles, my printer sent me a snaphot of the now finished STEEL NOODLES Number 1. This one is all clad in plastic, ready to be ripped open and enjoyed. I will be gnashing my teeth and gripping as I slowly track the boxes west but I will have copies in hand for Comic-Con. So near and yet, so far…..
During the writing and development stage for STEEL NOODLES I went back and forth as far as deciding how many books it would take to tell this story. When it was too large for it’s own good I thought it would be five books. Then I thought, “that’s a little ambitious” and cut it down to four. (like that was better)
Then like Doctor Emmet Brown in Back to the Future, I hit my head on the bathroom sink and had an epiphany: It should be told in two. (Actually I didn’t hit my head on the bathroom sink, it was more the a kick in the proverbial arse from the more logical part of my senses)
So I whittled the story down to it’s simplest form and that is what will be told in two acts. So in a few weeks you will see part one. As I type this post, I am literally reconfiguring my digital workflow and will begin book number two which I hope to release either late this year or early 2011. The intent of course is to not deprive my readers and deliver the conclusion in a timely manner.
And as far as workflow is concerned, the school of hard knocks came knocking really hard making book number 1. But as I have stated before, this is what I live for. The fun is in the tinkering and the discoveries that come out of it. Stuff that was dynamite on paper didn’t work out and the happy accidents ended up taking over. I predict a shift in the next book. As it always happens with artists, you learn your lessons, tweak your process and you make that next attempt just a little better than the previous.
The printer has informed me that things are on schedule but it will be a tight delivery. Nevertheless, the books will be ready come preview night at San Diego Comic-Con on July 21st.
I hope to see you all there.
Got my proofs today. Overall it is looking fantastic. Just have some simple tweaks and the print run can start. Comic-Con 2010 premiere is looking great. Now prepping for San Diego plus rolling right into book number two.
Who’s the girl with the green eyes? She looks kind of familiar….
(For a camera snapshot of the full cover spread, click HERE)
Okay i’ll throw you guys a little bone… one tiny panel from the now 80 page STEEL NOODLES Number 1.
Finally finished STEEL NOODLES Number 1 early this morning. 76 pages of delight. Now it goes through spotting color, assembly and all the fun pre-press stuff. Not to mention the frantic “fix it now or never” phase. Then it’s off to the printer. So now I can start teasing you a bit more… This isn’t the final cover. That you’ll have to wait a little longer for……