Working when I shouldn't

I should be asleep, I need to wake up early, but I hit a really good groove in my writing and decided to continue before it faded. As a result of my new found drive, I finished the second draft of the first issue of The Crew. My pirate comic which was originally conceived in eighth grade. Counting the first issue I drew I guess that would make it the third draft. But I'm not counting that issue. So I finished the second draft.

While I was in the comic groove I decided to begin work on the second draft of Bounty, just so I could make some progress. Bounty probably has the most action based first issue of the group, and I wrote enough that I could get to the action bits tomorrow night.

Past that, I'm going to draft up the first drafts for Organics, The untitled Space Job, and G.L.A.S.S. in that order. Then, after having let it ruminate in my subconscious for a few days, return to the first draft of Sadie, so I can write the second. I was texting with one of my friends tonight, And I figured out I want visit each script at least three times. That's three drafts each. Then if I'm happy, I will begin sketching pages. But I still have to do character renderings for a few characters in check, and render ALL of the characters from The Crew, and all the other comics minus Bounty. So some work, but I'm having fun finally making progress on these comics. So that's my report, when I accomplish anymore, I will update. Take care comic enthusiests.

Good news Nobody!

I scripted another comic issue number 1. I completed the first issue, second draft, of check! And I'm much happier with this version than the previous. It still deals with Rook and Bishop falling out of the sky, but I'm going to introduce them one at a time rather than simultaneously so I can draw out the story.

I'm also giving away less information in the initial story. In the original draft, you saw how and why Rook and Bishop fell to earth. This time, you only see Rook fall in the first issue, and it immediately deals with the relationship between Lula and Rook. Something that I didn't even get to in the original draft, but what I really wanted to get to.

I cut out a lot of initial supporting characters, because they felt to forced in the very first issue. Instead I'm going to introduce them more gradually. I'm also going to alternate focus between issues. This first issue introduced Rook, the second one will introduce Bishop and his fall to earth.

But I'm not going to get to the second issue for a while. Next I'm going to format the first issue of The Crew from screenplay format, to comic format. I say format, because after re-reading it, I actually didn't have much of a problem with it. There are a few tweaks I'm going to make as I draft, but not many. It's the same deal with Bounty, I was pretty happy with that first issue too, but it needs tweaks.

After those two issues are re-formatted and tweaked, I'm going to first draft the first issues of G.L.A.S.S and Organics, as well as the untitled space jobbie. And once THOSE three are done, I will return to the first issue of Sadie, either to write a second draft, or begin penciling pages, we shall see, but the comics are coming!!

Completion

I have completed the first draft of the first issue of sadie! I'm very happy with the story arc, but minor instances of timing may need adjusting. I'm going to let this script marinate for a while before I return to tweak it. One lesson I learned in screenwriting class, is that to effectively critique your work, you need to step away from it, and give it time, so I will.

Next on the agenda is to revisit Checkmate. I'm going to revisit the first draft to see if there's anything I still like from it, I have the feeling that it may just need a complete over-hall. But all that business is tomorrow night. For now I need to get some rest, for I must get up at 8 o'clock. We'll see what progress I make tomorrow.

Progress

I've almost scripted the entire first issue of Sadie. Well, redone first issue. I'm almost happy with the entirety of it. I think it has some pacing problems at the beginning I may have to revisit. And some of the ending still has to be worked out, but it's a good first draft. Once I finish the first draft of this issue, I'm going to rescript the first issue of checkmate. Checkmate is the origin story of three Sadie supporting characters, so I think it would be a good Idea to script them roughly around the same time.

I had scripted a draft of Checkmate about a year ago, but it has terrible pacing, and feels like it's trying to do to much. I also feel like too much information is given up front, and there isn't enough that feels real. So we will see what rises from the second wind on that. After checkmate, I'm going to revisit rodeo knights. I've already penciled a good portion of the first issue, and I like where it goes, but I want to see what comes after, what those characters do in the second issue. Those pages are back at home, so I have to wait for a break before I even consider work on them.

They are some of my favorite characters though, so I do want to see what happens to them.

The fourth story I want to jump on is one involving a crew of space marines who operate a space bus, whilst simultaneously using the cover to run something illegal, like runaways, I haven't worked it out yet. I have all the characters for that story, but they were originally developed as a dragon ball fan story. Now I want them to have their own story, but I don't know what that is yet. Which is why I want to work on it. That's the report so far, I'll check in when I have more progress.

The beginning... Sort of

Out of having nothing to do while simultaneously having a lot of work to accomplish, I have decided to create this blog as a way of tracking my own personal progress in the "comic" industry. The quotations simply denote that I actually don't even have my foot in the door in terms of getting a comic book published, hopefully I will at least have progress after this stunt.

I've actually been writing comics since I was around 10 years old, and actually developed a lovely repertoire of characters and stories. However, I have only finished maybe three comic books at an extremely amateur level. Now that I'm a little more aged in skill, I want to take a new stab at it, so here's the gist.

I have about seven plot lines for comics, Sadie, Rodeo Knights, Checkmate, Organics, The Crew, G.L.A.S.S, and Bounty, and only sadie was ever actually drawn. What I want to do is create issue one for all seven of these comics, starting with Sadie. A comic tends to have around 25 pages per issue, thats 175 pages for all seven comics. Here at college I have 50 sheets of paper, which I doubt I will even use.

I want to script at least one issue a week, and from there draw one page a week, then ink and color and so on. Once I do the math I will get a deadline, wish me luck world.