Issue two is done and almost ready for print. Something is funky with my resize-and-stitch script but I'll fix it in the morning...

Drew the last panel tonight. It takes up like half the page.

Writing the last few pages of this issue was like pulling teeth. I was asking all the wrong questions, questions Kaleja didn't want to answer. Finally I shut up and let her tell it the way she wanted.

By the time she got the words out, I realized she's not entirely sane.

Funny. She's been in there twenty years and I never knew.

Another productive inking day.

The nights were difficult. The ache in my muscles would fill my world, keeping me from sleep, or I would think of father and mother and be consumed by the ache in my heart.

Two weeks into my three week vacation, I've been cranking on the comic. It's really a race against time, to try and get it completed and printed in time for APE (November 1-2). In hope of speeding up my inking process, I bought a Wacom Cintiq 12WX tablet/display. It's completely awesome; since it arrived on Friday I've been able to ink 6 pages.

I could tell you more of the voyage than you would wish. I could tell you of the days that seemed as endless as the sea itself. I could tell you of weeks that flashed away like kindling.

So I'm still working on the comic, slowly but surely. Today, though, I took a little time in the studio to scan James Oleson's latest 24-Hour Comic, Rare Earth.

James still blows me away with this stuff. He can do better work off the cuff and under ridiculous time constraints than most people can do under any circumstances. On a couple pages in the middle, I noticed some stray pencil lines, went to erase them before scanning, and thought "wow, he did such a good job erasing the pencil on the other pages, funny that he missed that" before realizing that, per his usual mode, most of the book was done directly with pen. Appropriate that a guy who did a comic about a tightrope walker would work without a net.

( Jonathan Frye from Rare Earth )

( Kaleja asleep with the ship's cat-thing. )

I really have been working on the second issue - I've done about 12 pages of pencils so far. Here are a few teasers for y'all!

"I could tell you of days that seemed as endless as the sea itself."

"You should be taking the bark."

"We played Freights, a more complex tile game."

"Looks like our new sailor's another bluew'm'n nun!"

Well, I'm not working fast on book 2, but I am working on it. I'm doing much looser penciling this time around, on the basis that I'm going to be completely anal-retentive during inking anyway, so why waste time on pencils? Also, hopefully, I'll draw with more "feeling" if I'm working a little looser. Also I'm lightly writing dialog into the page so the words might actually fit so I can avoid a repeat of the fiasco that is page 16.

Here's Kaleja's first supper with sailors.



The other crew members scarcely seemed aware of me, but a space appeared for me on a bench, and a bowl of stew landed in front of me. I fell on it like a starving beast. The sailors drank kanei and I accepted a half-mug; I did not partake of the wine ration. They grew raucous, shouting over one another, telling stories and joking.

The trouble with selling book 1 is that now I have to do book 2. Well, it's been a long time since I posted a teaser...

I had a couple of pages that were mostly done, today I finished those up and pencilled two more. From page 22, we have the crew chief lecturing Kaleja, who's feeling selfconscious because a bunch of sailors are staring at her. I've decided I don't need to do particularly tight penciling for backgrounds because I'm doing my own inks and will obsess like crazy at that stage anyway.

I read ursulav's LJ daily because she's hilarious and demented and talented, and today she mentions that her first novel, Black Dogs, is available. Hmm, let's see what that's about... (bolds mine)

Black Dogs: The House of Diamond is the first of two volumes chronicling the adventures of young Lyra, sole survivor of the massacre of her family’s estate. Along with a wandering dog-soldier, she is swept up on a mission for the elven nation of Anu'tintavel in its war against a powerful sorcerer. With the help of a pair of female elves, a scout and a warrior, the frightened, bookish girl discovers new talents and confidence that make her a key player in the elves’ conflict.

The second volume, planned for release by Sofawolf Press in 2008, relates the conclusion of Lyra’s adventure and the culmination of the war.

With wry wit and offbeat humor, Black Dogs: The House of Diamond builds a fully imagined world (both physical and metaphysical) that deftly sidesteps fantasy clichés. It is sure to appeal to longtime fantasy devotees as well as readers looking for a strong female adventure story.

Hm, yes, well.

The comic is off to the print service.

For your enjoyment, here's the whole thing in 12dpi glory:


Awesomely, the only thing you can really read is the ad for Tammy's book at the end.