I took this week off from work, and instead of traveling to see my family or running off to some convention, I'm staying put in Chicago, and primarily working on a new minicomic, the Plot #1 (that name seems to be sticking, but could easily be replaced with a title that might actually make the comic sound interesting). Above is a photo from a few days ago when I took thirteen penciled pages that share the same setting, and made sure the environment looked the same across all the pages.
I am just past the half way point with penciling this first issue, below is page 36 of the 68-page comic. For the most part I've been really excited with the story (I am also spending hours writing issue #2), and really happy with my drawings. This isn't a normal situation for me. Usually I'm fairly unhappy or at the very least unimpressed with almost every aspect of the comics I work on. So either this means I've developed as an artist or I am oblivious of this new comic's flaws.
I've been listening to a lot of interviews with comics artists I highly respect, like Sarah Oleksyk and Noah Van Sciver, as well as the Plinkett reviews of the Star Wars prequels (which are pretty amazing). All of them talked about what they liked in story telling and what they hated in bad stories. It made me wonder if I was actually writing a terrible story that might someday be used as an example of a stupid comic, or that could receive such a destructive review as Plinkett's. It definitely helped bring that familiar sense of self-doubt back to my drawing and writing this week! So, thanks for the help, guys.
This photo includes the thumbnail for the page, which shows how I write the comic, and its translation into the final page.
Hopefully this'll be ready for SPX in September.
