Words and Pictures

I remember about five years ago, bashing out my first ever full length, original novel MS (that I look back on fondly, but with a certain amount of embarassment), I was about to engage somebody to paint a portrait of my main characters. Ultimately, I gave up on the idea, but was about to part with about $300 for a full-length portrait of two characters from a descriptive passage.

One of the unexpectedly great parts about this 'learning to draw' stint I've been on lately has been the ability to create my own concept and character art. This weekend I did some for a lark. Here's some concept paintings for my latest YA novel project, 'Mission'.

'Meph' - A character portrait. Meph is a Cyclops, having dug out his own eye at age 11.

The Titular Character, 'Mission' (left), sits in the room he will call home for the foreseeable future. It's lit only by a set of stolen traffic lights. Meph helps him acclimate.

Mood Lighting

Sometimes a good play around with lighting really pays off. Here's a full-size cell of Alak attacking a guard from one of the upcoming pages that I think turned out quite nicely.

I post it here for no other reason than I wasn't finished the page and wanted to feel more productive.

Down you go.

Quick Thoughts on a Long Process

It's been just over a month since I made the first post about Sovereigns, at which point I had 4 pages ready to upload. I was an utterly green amateur then and, now that I've reached the lofty heights of yellowish-green amateur, I figured I had enough perspective to comment on what the process is like.

First off, this isn't about the creative process or the technical process. That stuff is innate to me, and talking about it will only serve to bewilder people. Besides, if everyone knew about every little shortcut I take and every cheat move I use to get the finished page, they'd rightly declare me a hack. A little mystery is good for everyone.

Second off - some stats, hurled ungracefully:

In 35 days, I have published 17 pages of comic and 1 title page.

This represents approximately 2.5 pages of script.

The script is 26 pages long.

There are 8 completed scripts out of 24 outlined episodes.

With this information, I can infer the following:


Average time to finish an episode:

At 8 comic pages per single page of script, the first episode will be 208 pages long. At this rate, I'll be finished episode 1 in 330-odd days. This doesn't take into account a few different factors, including increased speed as I gain experience, delays from real life interference and delays from challenges as I encounter new technical hurdles. (There are riot scenes coming up. How the fuck do you do riot scenes? I don't know!).

Average time to finish the season:

330 days for one episode. Times 24 for the first season.


If nothing changes, I will be nearly 50 by the time the first season is finished.

Shit.

Estimated time to finish all 3 seasons:

65 years.

 The year 2077.

I will be 91.


Important things to remember:

- I'm getting faster. I can knock a page together in as little as 2 hours, depending on its complexity.
- Currently, I work 48 hours a week in an unrelated, labour-intensive job. If that changes, there will be more time.
- I generally work on the comic for 3 hours in the evening and 4 hours per day on the weekend. Obviously, if there were strong interest in it, I'd have some clear incentives to increase that time allocation. (Note: This sounds like a cop-out, but it's not as much of one as you might think. It's very difficult to turn people down for demands on your time when you have nothing concrete to show for it. One a schedule and an audience come in to play, however, people are more understanding).

And here endeth this post. I really, really want to keep at this comic and so I will. Finishing it sometime before I'm 90 will just be icing on the cake.

Sovereigns - Scene 2

Scene two begins! Same deal as last time - I'll update here as I go.

Rane and Alak have broken out of the holding cells - Now, to get some clothes on.

The Title

The Title Page.

I've finally stopped updating the old post. I'll add scenes as I go, but for now here's the title page.

A good old fashioned noir-ish cell-divided cover :D

See?? I'm doing it!

Draft pages. They're coming up all right!

We're going dark, gritty and storyboard-style up in here.

I have finally finished the opening sequence - it took a while but I quite like the result. If you're curious as to what happens next and you are even slightly inclined to leave a comment, keep in mind that I'll love you forever if you do!

Sovereigns

Exciting news!

I'm going to go ahead and announce that I'm officially taking a (short) break from bashing my head against the wall with agents and publishers and moving on to something completely different.

I'm a frustrated artist at heart, and so I've decided to channel that with writing to come up with a happy medium. Ladies and gentlement, announcing:

Sovereigns is a webcomic, arranged in the format of half-hour TV episodes, and it's 24 episodes long. It's set in the far future. Humans have colonised the galaxy and a war over drug control tore civilisation to shreds. Set in the aftermath of the war, we follow the crew of the Dimity Rane as they fight to survive in a solar system that seems to want them all dead at any cost.

Left to right in the picture:

Prince Alak Hsing na Sao Lak - His title translates to 'Prince Alak Hsing of the Sovereign Ship Sao Lak', but when we meet him he has become famously known as 'The Runaway Prince'. In his desperation, he joined the crew of the Dimity - a move that he almost instantly regretted.


Captain Benedict Rane - Standing cross-armed behind his son, Benedict Rane is an ex-soldier whose life revolves around one thing: the illegal drug, Gratin. He doesn't use it. He doesn't sell it. But he needs it, more than anything in the universe.

Jackson Rane - A 23 year old man that has known little else but crime for his entire life. Suffering from an extremely rare form of terminal illness that he inherited from his long-dead mother, there is nothing his father wouldn't do to keep his last remaining family alive.

Ellie Stillaway - One of the most powerful women in the galaxy and a politician to be reckoned with - or at least, she was until a few years ago. One power play too many saw her ousted and exiled from the Coalition, and more than one or two hitmen set on her trail. In exchange for safe harbour with the Dimity, she is an excellent information broker and intelligence gatherer.


I'm working on episode one and I'm not entirely sure where or when to start posting it, but I will do so as soon as I feel it's ready. The concept painting here isn't really representative of the finished art style and I'm still pretty green and sloppy with the tablet. It'll be a learning experience, but one that I think will be fun.

I'll post updates on my progress and link to any finished material.

If you want to know more/have questions/advice, my e-door is always open. Twitter is probably the best way to get hold of me, though.

See you soon, adventurers.