ONE SHOT PRODUCTIONS
July-December 2007

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DECEMBER 31, 2007
For production tonight, I finished the new version of the Torpedo logo. I zoomed in close to do more detailed cleanup, then I added the New York skyline inside the letters of the logo. I added a deep blue cloud layer behind the cityscape, partly to show night time and partly because blue ties in with Torpedo's costume. The black outline of the city scape was blending in with the black outline of the letters, so I added a white stroke inside the letters to make the logo more readable. Finally, I snuck in a tiny figure flying over the city, and a simple grey line behind him to show a vapor trail (and to tie in the logo with the 2001 version which had a light horizontal line across it as well). I uploaded this version under the pics on the Torpedo myspace page. This logo turned out exactly how I wanted. What a great way to finish up a great year for One Shot :)

DECEMBER 30, 2007
Tonight I scanned in the old "Torpedo" logo from the 2001 publication. I cleaned up the logo, and digitally deleted the gradient fill inside the block letters. I also downloaded over a dozen photos of the New York City skyline, which will serve a purpose in a redesign of the logo. I browsed over 750 images as I picked these few for the right reference. I'll likely finish this new logo tomorrow.

DECEMBER 29, 2007
The artist I've been talking to about the Falter projects is chomping at the bit to get started. I love it when someone is this eager to work on a project. That's the kind of energy I put into what I do, and I'm so lucky to meet artists who share such motivation! Tonight I pulled up the first short story involving Falter and his new supporting character. Well, really I guess the new character is actually the focus of these short stories since Falter doesn't talk. I converted the short story into a webcomic script, and also did a little editing to keep it in line with the later short stories I've written. I then emailed it to the artist. I'm pretty eager to see what this new artist can do.

DECEMBER 28, 2007
So I redrew another portion of Shadowlord, page six panel 1. I didn't like how that part turned out so I erased it and tried again. The second time turned out much better. It's view of Shadowlord from behind, which is tricky because our hero doesn't have pants on (that rascal). I also drew a different panel, but that didn't turn out well either and I scrapped it. What DID turn out good tonight was progress on the treescape. I finally have a process in place to give me the texture I want on the background leaf clusters. Like the dirt texture, it's actually a two-step process to get the desired effect.

DECEMBER 27, 2007
I took a break from doing digital stuff today. Instead, I started drawing the new version of Shadowlord, page six panel 1. This is the first time we see Shadowlord's rival. In the 2001 drawing, we only see the rival from his knees up. This doesn't do much to show that he's actually hovering slightly above the ground. In the new version, we see him from head to toe, and we can also see a shadow below him to help show he's not touching the ground. I penciled the rival, and inked him. I barely sketched the background.

DECEMBER 26, 2007
Today, I worked on the wide treescape, adding shadows to every tree (inlcuding all the numerous background layer trees). I experimented with some textures on the background leaf layers too, but I didn't find one I liked.

DECEMBER 25, 2007
Merry Christmas! Today I wanted to duplicate the successful dirt texture from yesterday. This time, I wanted to add the texture to the wide panel treescape I worked on earlier this month. Yesterday, I wrote down the steps that produced the right texture, but I forgot to write down what the starting color was! Oh well. I tried a few (slightly) different base colors until I found one that gave me the same texture. And I DID remember to right down the color formula this time. I even added a similar light effect as the panel from yesterday. That really helps the scene look more realistic!

DECEMBER 24, 2007
I've been a bit nervous about coloring the dirt on page one of the Shadowlord webcomic. It's an overhead shot, looking down at the ground so the dirt is a prominent part of the overall panel. It took some experimenting today to add a grainy texture to the flat brown area, then adding another effect to get the look I wanted. After that, readjusting the brightness and adding shaded areas was a snap. I also added more colors and a texture to the brown trees in the panel. Oh yeah, and I added shading to all the leaves on the ground. I wasn't happy with the harsh black outline on the leaves, so I changed all the black leaf outlines to a dark green. The leaves look much better now and don't distract as much from the page. I thought I had finished for the day, but then I realized I had accidentally deleted a layer about an hour earlier. The layer was only two large leaves, which would later be blurred to appear part of the extreme foreground. I kept this layer out of view while coloring the rest of the page, so I'm not sure when it got flushed. I pulled up a black & white version of the image, slapped the appropriate colors on it, cut it, and pasted it again on the color version. I also added the blur. Then for fun I added a lighting effect, and LOVED the way it changed the page. Earlier today, I thought I MIGHT add such an effect, so I shaded the trees with a certain directional light source in mind. Once I saw how good this light source made the page look, I had to "undo" the effect so I could add shadows to the last remaining part of the page... Shadowlord himself. I shaded his skin and hair, and reapplied the lighting effect. And I think that just about does it for that page! I'll take a look tomorrow, but I think it's in the bag. I'm so proud of how it turned out!! Even better than I had hoped! I can't wait to see it as part of a completed webcomic soon.

DECEMBER 23, 2007
Since I was staying in a rural home surrounded by woods, I was able to take some good photographs for reference. This time of year, all the leaves are gone (making good reference for winter scenes or frames to add leaves to later). When I got home later tonight, I pulled up the Shadowlord page one image and put a flat color on all the fallen leaves bunched up on the ground. Applying the color along these jagged lines was very time consuming, but now I can highlight them all at once (since they are now all the same color)..

DECEMBER 22, 2007
I traveled out of town today, so I spent a lot of time "brain storming" while on the road. Most of it was pinning down details for future Shadowlord projects. Once at my destination, I wrote down notes for the stuff I thought of today. I also added some more to those notes as I was writing.

DECEMBER 21, 2007
I colored the remaining trees on page one of the Shadowlord webcomic project. In this overhead shot, there are a couple of leaves in the extreme foreground that will later be blurred. I did a rough color job on these two leaves and then digitally cut them out so they could be on a separate floating layer. I also put flat grey colors on Shadowlord's body and hair.

DECEMBER 20, 2007
Back to the woods. Tonight I re-scanned the first page of the Shadowlord webcomic. I had previously scanned it at a lower quality just to put it up on the Shadowlord myspace page. After scanning this page at a higher resolution, I carefully put down some flat brown color on three of the large trees. This was more time consuming than it may sound because there are dead leaves bunched up against the base of the trunks. That gave me plenty of jagged lines to avoid.

DECEMBER 19, 2007
After having enough of coloring trees for the past few days, I instead did some writing tonight. I wrote a new outline for Stoic's past, particularly about how his parents met and a life-altering meeting with his grandfather. I've had these ideas floating around my head for a while now, but I haven't been ready to pin these points down until now. Afterward, I read my earlier note which bear some similarities to what I wrote tonight. The outline I wrote tonight ties up certain events better, and adds nuances to a couple of the important events in his timeline. With a clear vision of where Stoic has come from, I'll be ready soon to write something new for Stoic. I've been wanting to for some time now!

DECEMBER 18, 2007
Guess what. More trees. Today I took the middle ground layer of trees, copied them, pasted them, shrunk them, and flipped some to create a background layer of trees. I also experimented with adding individual leaves to some of the foreground trees, although I need more practice at it.

DECEMBER 17, 2007
More tree work today. I scanned and added the background layer of trees to the file I've been working on. I put flat colors on the background layer, and added some temporary dirt and leaf canopy colors to the bottom layer (to give me an idea of what the end product would look like).

DECEMBER 16, 2007
More color on the foreground layer of the tree picture. Today I added shadows to both types of trees, and then I added some green lines on top of the brown trees. In most of my reference pictures of Tennessee trees, almost all the trees are green or grey. I tried replacing the brown trees with green, but it just didn't look right. Even taking a green tone directly from the photographs did help, as my drawn trees looked sickly or unrealistic with this real life green. By adding green vertical lines along the brown bark, I was able to get something in between that I'm happy with. The trees still look healthy without be completely (and unrealistically) brown.

DECEMBER 15, 2007
I finished the flat colors on the tree picture from two days ago. There are two different kinds of trees, and so two different bark colors. I touched up the brown trees today (which I started last time), and I added grey to the other kind of tree. I also jotted down some more notes about the primitive human colony concept from yesterday.

DECEMBER 14, 2007
Today I came up with a concept for some characters that will exist in the world of "Mark of the Jinn." It's hard to say much about it on here while the idea is still in its infancy, but what I can say is that it has to do with a primitive human colony and their bizarre religious practices. I drew some concept art / design sketches and filled the rest of the sheet with notes.

DECEMBER 13, 2007
A while back, I drew a big tree study. Tonight, I scanned it (in pieces) and reassembled it digitally. I also put a base coat of color on most of the main trees in the shot. It didn't feel like much progress, but it took nearly an hour. The most time consuming part was putting the four-piece scan together. I had to cut some tree parts, paste them, then rotate to get the bark detail to line up correctly.

DECEMBER 12, 2007
It's days like this that make it hard to stick to my decision! After a long day at my day job, I then attended a company dinner where I was honored with an award (for the second time this year). I still made time when I got home for some comic book work though. I penciled a disappointing version of Shadowlord page five, panel 3. I then did another version of just the foreground and background trees (and not the figure of Shadowlord). I penciled and inked these pieces and will probably reuse the original art and add these new trees over the old ones.

DECEMBER 11, 2007
First thing this morning, I inked those two figure drawings of Shadowlord from yesterday. This evening, I did some white ink corrections to them. I also downloaded some new pictures of Tennessee woodland areas for visual reference.

DECEMBER 10, 2007
This three panel sequence is almost done. Today I penciled the Shadowlord figure designs for panels 1 and 2 of it. I drew them as large as the figure in panel 3, and I'll resize them later digitally to show that he's approaching the foreground throughout the sequence.

DECEMBER 9, 2007
Still working on that three panel sequence from Shadowlord. Now I've inked the close version of Shadowlord (for the third panel). I also penciled and inked a top layer which includes some strategically-placed foliage (to give our nude hero some cover) as well as some close-up branches high up in the foreground. I'm not sure how much I like the foreground foliage, and this may get another version somewhere along the line. I did add a little praying mantis to one of the foregroud branches for fun.

DECEMBER 8, 2007
This afternoon I started the pencils for the background art for the three page sequence from yesterday. I did these on a separate page so I can add them in digitally (though not anytime soon). I also got to go to the Memphis News Channel 5 Christmas party tonight at our beautiful Memphis Zoo. It was awesome! The party was in the room with the Polar Bear exhibit on one side, and the sea lion tank on the other side. I've never been to anything like it! After the party, I finished the inks on the 13-tree background piece. I held the foreground and background art up to a light, and it works very well together!

DECEMBER 7, 2007
In the original Shadowlord "Daybreak" comic, there was a three-panel sequence where the "camera" was in a fixed spot, and Shadowlord went from background to midground to foreground. To keep it consistent, I drew trees on each side which formed a frame for the panel, and just digitally duplicated these frames. Then I digitally added a different Shadowlord drawing to each. As I am redrawing this sequence, I started tonight with the trees on each side. I penciled and inked both of these trees in the style that I've been using lately (with more bark detail than the original). I also penciled a version of Shadowlord for the third panel. I keep an open copy of the original nearby as I redraw these panels. The significant difference between the art is so encouraging! Oh, and in non-comic related news... I got a promotion at my day job today :)

DECEMBER 6, 2007
I added the inks to the Shadowlord panel that I drew yesterday. I really enjoyed experimenting with a brush on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove," but I'm now enjoying a return to ultra fine point markers! I feel a much higher level of control with the markers, and the panel turned out really well!

DECEMBER 5, 2007
Tonight I penciled a panel of "Shadowlord." In this panel, Shadowlord is frantically calling out (for Calico). In the Shadowlord comic "Daybreak," this was shown on page five, panel 5.

DECEMBER 4, 2007
"Fall in the Bamboo Grove" is in the mail now!! I shipped a disc to the print shop today. Later, I practiced drawing an important location for future Shadowlord scenes. It's a large natural rock formation that he and Calico use for shelter. First I did a nice smal sketch of the location, and then drew a larger, more detailed sketch. I also drew Shadowlord and Calico into the scene. It wasn't easy to make the second drawing of the rock look like the first one. I've got an idea though on how to keep a more consistent look. I also updated the "home & news" page of the website today.

DECEMBER 3, 2007
Today I reviewed a self-printed copy of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" for errors. Five pages had to be corrected, reprinted and reviewed again. This can actually be tough, because the brain naturally fills in the gaps and glazes over some errors. Especially since I know what it's supposed to say. After a careful review, I got online and put in an order for the books. I'll be mailing the files soon!

DECEMBER 2, 2007
I drew a scene of a lake surrounded by woods. There was a small two-person fishing boat out on the lake. Shadowlord was in the foreground looking out at it. I threw it out. It was good practice, but I didn't like the lake. It was too big. I'm trying to establish some common areas to use in future Shadowlord projects, including where he bathes. A lake isn't going to work for me. People would be around, fishing from a boat or from land. I need a more secluded area. So in my second drawing, Shadowlord is standing thigh deep in a shallow stream. This is much better. I only inked Shadowlord, leaving everything else pencil. This may not be the final design of this spot, as I'd really like to work in a small, rocky waterfall.

DECEMBER 1, 2007
Five whole months, and I haven't missed a single day! Today I wrote a lengthy section for the inside cover of "Fall of the Bamboo Grove." This section is called "notes from the author." I've thought about adding a section like this in previous books, but it never made it in. This time though, on book number ten, I had a few things I wanted to say. Since this is unofficially the last thing I had to work on for "Bamboo Grove" you could say the book is finished! I printed out a copy of each page which I will be reviewing for errors. It won't be "officially" finished until any last minute changes or corrections are made.

NOVEMBER 30, 2007
Where the heck did this month go? Tonight I finished the second and third ads in "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." That leaves only the one ad to work on (which is the first ad, the inside cover of the book). The second ad only needed descriptions typed for each of the four top comics featured on the page. The third ad needed a description for a "Midnight Train" advertisement on the bottom half of the page. The top half of that page needed sample panels of three webcomics, as well as a general re-working of the layout design of the ad.

NOVEMBER 29, 2007
More ad work in "Bamboo Grove" today. On the second ad page, eight of my previous comics are advertised. I toyed with the layout a bit, and ended up with the same format as some of my comic ads. I set most of the images in place, and added text labels on top of the books as well as tags underneath that list which artist drew the book.

NOVEMBER 28, 2007
Artist Curtis Rhodes (Stoic, Vertex) emailed me sketches of the first five pages of the robot project today. They look great! I used some of the panels from these pages to make an advertisement, which will appear in the front of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." This was good timing, since I was wanting to include an ad for the upcoming book, but I didn't have any actual art from the book other than preliminary sketch work.

NOVEMBER 27, 2007
Tonight I penciled a new panel of the upcoming "SHADOWLORD" project. In this panel, Shadowlord leans against a tree as he holds his aching head. I also inked about half of this panel, including a lot of bark detail on the tree he's touching.

NOVEMBER 26, 2007
The SHADOWLORD page I've been working on is finished now. Today I added a few little sprouts near the smaller trees, and I added some leave bunched up around the base of the larger trees. I also finished a large tree in the upper left which I had only drawn most of until now. Since I inked just about all of the trees before adding the fallen leaves, I had to paint over some lines with white ink to make the leaves look like they were overlapping the tree roots. It's exciting for me to see the old version of this scene that I drew in early '01 for the original "Shadowlord" comic compared to this new late '07 version. I plan to upload both versions on the Shadowlord myspace page.

NOVEMBER 25, 2007
Artist Mike Jenkins now has the script and reference pictures to get started on chapter six of "Mark of the Jinn." What I did today was work on page one of a future "Shadowlord" webcomic. I did most of the pencil and ink work already, but I'd like to add more detail to the scene before it's finished. I'm glad I practiced drawing trees not long ago, as there are at least ten trees of various widths, and it's an overhead shot!

NOVEMBER 24, 2007
More maintence on "Bamboo Grove." I adjusted the last panel of page four, because it just looked a little off to me. I also did some work on the second and third ad pages. The second ad page will show most of my previous books, with a description of some of them. The third page will mostly be about the free webcomics on this site, and the rest of the page will be promoting our previous book "MIDNIGHT TRAIN."

NOVEMBER 23, 2007
I spent some time on the internet tonight, looking for interesting new fonts. I found about eight new fonts that caught my eye. That's actually a lot, as I'm quite picky when it comes to fonts (there's a lot of crappy ones out there!). After downloading the new fonts, I added background images to the three ad pages of "Bamboo Grove." I also wrote a quick draft for a "notes from the author" section I wanted to include in the book, but I don't think I'll use it.

NOVEMBER 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving! I finished the cover of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" today. I decided to go with the green-colored version of my logo on this book, and I'm excited about this change. It's fun to think about alternately-colored logo designs for other comics currently in the works! After finalizing the placement of the title and logo on the cover, I loaded the image into my publishing software and checked that all the words and logo were safely in the "live" area of the book (so they won't get chopped off at the printers). Since the number of pages in a comic are a multiple of four, there will be a couple of leftover pages which will serve as ad space for my other titles. I penciled a rough version of one of these ad pages today.

NOVEMBER 21, 2007
Out of all nine titles I've published so far, every one of them bears my black & purple One Shot Productions logo. Although the shades of purple differ some from book to book, they are all in the same color group. This has been important to me, and I've kept it this way since I started publishing in 2001. Tonight, as I worked on the cover of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove," my stance on that topic is changing. I've had the cover art done ages ago (even digitally colored before most of the interior pages were even penciled). However, I have not pieced the other cover elements together yet (like the title or corner logo). As I started putting these elements together tonight, I realized how out of place the purple color was among the very earthy greens and browns of the cover. I'm not finished with this part of the cover work (maybe halfway done), but before I stopped for the evening, I saved the file with an alternate-colored version of the One Shot logo. So far, I'm liking it. I'll have to sleep on it, and make a decision as I finish the cover tomorrow. The stark black title lettering, however, is fine just as it is.

NOVEMBER 20, 2007
I wrote a plot synopsis for a new webcomic featuring our ninja hero from "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I also designed a pretty cool-looking anime-influenced character for our ninja to fight. I fleshed out some of the dialogue, but I plan to add some introspective narration as well.

NOVEMBER 19, 2007
Whew! I finished the lettering for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." That's pages twenty through twenty-three of the main story, and all twelve pages of the bonus story. Okay, so only half of the bonus story has any words on it, but it's an action piece. There's still plenty to do before this book is ready to go to print, but we're getting awfully close!

NOVEMBER 18, 2007
Busy day today! I lettered pages thirteen through nineteen on "Bamboo Grove," not that there were a lot of panels with dialogue. This part is mostly a fight scene, but when the non-human character speaks, I'm using a different font from the human characters. But that wasn't enough. I didn't like the non-human having the same perfect oval shaped word balloons. So after lettering the page one way, I went back and gave him choppy hand-drawn word balloons. I'm very happy with how it turned out. In other news, I printed off a copy of chapter six of "Mark of the Jinn" for Mike Jenkins, and I made him a CD full of the necessary reference pictures. Now I just have to arrange to hand them over. One other thing I did today was to record some voice audio for a promotional project for "Midnight Train." This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, but never remembered to get around to it.

NOVEMBER 17, 2007
The lettering continues for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." Tonight I lettered pages nine, ten, eleven, and twelve. This includes the appearance of our hero's love interest, for whom I forgot to select a font. So I also took time out to pick a font for her before completing these pages.

NOVEMBER 16, 2007
Tonight I lettered pages six, seven and eight of "Bamboo Grove." Page eight was particularly tricky, as there is a flashback / collage as one of the characters speaks. The rest of the lettering on these pages was rather routine.

NOVEMBER 15, 2007
I chose one page of "Bamboo Grove" and lettered it using one of the fonts I'm considering. After printing it out, I lettered the same page again using the other font. Comparing these printed pages side by side, I think I may keep the rougher looking font for our young ninja and his father, and use the more refined font for the wise grandfather.

NOVEMBER 14, 2007
I scrolled through fonts for "Bamboo Grove." I need two distinct fonts, one for our human characters and one for a... not-so-human character. At first I picked out ten interesting fonts, and then narrowed it down to just four (two choices for each). I'll make my final decision later (maybe tomorrow) after it "soaks" in a bit. I also scanned in the newer version of the logo, and did some digital work on it. Although I'm avoiding digital work on the interior pages, the cover is fair game for digital alteration. I'm happy with the changes to the logo, and I should be able to add it to the cover soon.

NOVEMBER 13, 2007
I opened the "Bamboo Grove" logo to get it ready for the cover, and I realized I just wasn't happy enough with the logo to proceed. I got out my brush and ink and did two more versions of the logo. I also added to the tree drawing I started yesterday, by drawing some skinny little trees on a separate sheet. I'll digitally recombine these images in layers. I'd rather do these trees in layers because I'll be able to adjust the darkness on separate layers to give the scene more of a three dimensional feel.

NOVEMBER 12, 2007
This morning I searched the net for "tennessee trees" and downloaded over 30 pictures for reference. Then I started sketching a wide 11x14 inch forest scene. I inked the main six tree with marker. This forest scene isn't just practice though. I intend to use it as background for an upcoming Shadowlord story.

NOVEMBER 11, 2007
First thing this morning, I went to the local copy place to make copies of Jason Negen's pencil work for "Mark of the Jinn." I'll be giving these copies to Mike Jenkins, so he can ink and do backgrounds over Negen's work. The artists I work with normally ink their own work, but Negen said a long time ago that he'd like to see his work inked in Mike's fantastic style. I agree, and I'm looking forward to their joint venture on chapter six of "MotJ."
Also today, I inked the title of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" for use on the front cover of the book. I have always done the same layout with each of my previous nine books. That is, the One Shot logo in the upper left and the title in the remaining upper portion. With this book, I'm considering a change and may put the title and logo on the bottom part of the cover.

NOVEMBER 10, 2007
Tonight, I took some time to add some notes about STOIC, his childhood, his young adult life, his very important grandfather, and a couple of love interests. It's really fun to imagine stories about Stoic that begin almost 400 years ago. I'm pretty good about torturing my characters to make them stronger, and there's a heap of hardships in Stoic's past to help him become the quiet & powerful hero he is today.
I also spoke with Mike Jenkins this afternoon about his role in the multi-artist "Mark of the Jinn" story. His chapter is co-illustrated with artist Jason Negen, and I've yet to get Jason's art to Mike. I'll have to do that soon!

NOVEMBER 9, 2007
I loaded the rest of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove into the publishing software. Once I load a page, I have to carefully resize it to fit the "live area" of the comic, and tweak the position to best use that area. This is one of those simple yet time consuming tasks, particularly on a book that contains 35 pages of art. The only pages that presented a challenge were pages two and three of the bonus story, which must fit together to show one double-page-sized panel. Other than that it was smooth sailing.

NOVEMBER 8, 2007
Tonight I opened my publishing software and set up 40 blank pages that will become "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I also loaded about a third of the pages into this file, tweaking their positions on each page. I did a test of text bubbles on one page, but I haven't decided on a font yet. "Comic Sans MS" is a great standby most of the time, but just doesn't match up with this art style. I've got a ton of fonts, so I'm sure I'll test some others soon.

NOVEMBER 7, 2007
So I practiced drawing trees. One of the trees that stands out most in my memories of hunting is the American Beech Tree. With a mostly smooth greyish trunk with horizontal lines, it looks a bit like a sleeve not pulled tight. I've got the trunk down pretty good, but I haven't got the leaves quite right yet. I'll need more practice.

NOVEMBER 6, 2007
Tonight was another night of online research. This time I turned my attentions to a specific forest area in Tennessee. This is where I hunted as a kid with my father, and the setting for the story of SHADOWLORD. I've been wanting to do work on more Shadowlord stories, but I haven't felt ready to start. I don't want to draw fictitious, generic trees. I researched the kinds of trees specific to Tenessee and to this forest. I found a great list, as well as pictures of leaves and bark patterns for many of them. I also found a list of all kinds of wildlife found in these woods. Now that I'm armed with all the right information (and visual references), I can start getting an idea of what Shadowlord's woods will look like on paper.

NOVEMBER 5, 2007
I took a break from "Bamboo Grove" today, and researched names online for the backstory involving "STOIC." This got to be pretty time consuming since I needed names with origins from Africa, a couple from Greece, and one Egyptian name. I found everything I was looking for. The names are for Stoic's mother, father, and maternal grandparents. I always like the character's real names to have a meaning that relates to that character's personality. Sometimes this make it hard to find the right name, but it's definitely the way I prefer to name my characters.

NOVEMBER 4, 2007
I worked on assembling pages of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" off and on all day. And I am happy to report that I finished this part of the process! I assembled all the remaining pages from page thirteen to twenty-three. I'm so excited to see how it turned out! It seemed like it was taking forever to draw all the individual panels so big, but now that I've put it all together... I'm thinking I may have to do more books the same way. There's less and less to do before this project is complete!

NOVEMBER 3, 2007
Whew! Busy day outside of comics today. All I had time for was assembling page ten of "Bamboo Grove." This is an important page though, as it is the first appearance of our hero's love interest. I hope to have more time for comics tomorrow!
(Later, after I posted this entry, I assembled all of page eleven also).

NOVEMBER 2, 2007
Another productive night of digital assembly. I finished pages five, six, seven, eight, and nine of the main story of "Bamboo Grove." By drawing everything separately, I have so much more control over the "camera" in each panel. For instance, in page seven panels 2 & 3, Both panels originally contained our ninja hero and his grandfather. But when assembling the page in the computer, I decided to make the camera "zoom in," showing a closer view of the grandfather in each panel and removing our hero from the shot completely. After drawing these 110 separate panels for the main story, I thought this method was too time consuming. At this stage however, I'm beginning to think that this greater level of control may trump the extra time spent drawing.

NOVEMBER 1, 2007
Wow! Four full months of documenting my progress in this blog, and I still haven't missed a day! And really, I've been doing my once-a-day work on comics since mid-may so that's actually five and half months that I've maintained my commitment to comics. Tonight was a particularly productive night. After studying yesterday's test page, I determined what I liked and didn't like. The only thing I DIDN'T like was a version of the test page where I changed the bamboo-style borders from solid black to a 50% grey. The grey version looked like crap. Before seeing it on paper, I thought that grey borders might be a nice medium between the stark black and white values in the panels (and blend well with the grey tones in the panels too). I was so wrong! The solid black borders stay. Today I reassembled page one from scratch (rather than move things around on the test version from yesterday). I continued to assemble pages two, three, and four... that's the first complete scene of the comic! I'm so pleased with how this book is shaping up! I can't wait to get more of it finished!

OCTOBER 31, 2007
I put together a test for page one of the main story of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" (seven panels). Since I drew every panel on a separate sheet of paper, I've got a GREAT deal more control of how close the "camera" pushes in. Since I have to digitally reassemble each page anyway, I'll also have to decide how much of each panel to use. I'll use this first test page to see how I like the positioning of each panel, as well as whether or not to turn the outside panel borders grey (instead of the original black). I don't want to rush into the main story without weighing these options first.

OCTOBER 30, 2007
I did the digital reassembly and clean-up for pages eleven and twelve of the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. That's the end of the bonus story, and means I'll have to move on to the more difficult main story!

OCTOBER 29, 2007
Pages nine and ten of the bonus story got the treatment today. As the story gets bloody, there seems to be more mess in the gutters between panels. Still, the clean-up work here is probably going quicker than on the main story.

OCTOBER 28, 2007
I started doing digital cleanup on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" today. I decided to piece the bonus story together first. I've done pages one through eight already today. From the beginning of this project, I knew I didn't want to use digital tricks to enhance my art. So during this process, I'm being careful with the digital clean up. I have to reassemble the pieces in the computer, that's a given. I'm also taking away lines that were added by the scanner (like where one scanned section and the next begins). I'm also cleaning up the gutters (between panels) where there are a few stray lines and dots. That's pretty much it. Although I'm not a fan of my own art, I feel it is important to leave the art unaltered on this project (mostly because I inked the book in a pseudo-Sumi E style rather than with modern methods). So far it's coming together nicely, and this part of the process is WAY more enjoyable than all that scanning last week!

OCTOBER 27, 2007
I figured out the pacing for that third "Falter" short story, and finished the script for it. It ended up being just three pages long, but it acts as something of an epilogue to the earlier stories. It also shows some important growth in Falter's new supporting character, who is central to all three of these short pieces.

OCTOBER 26, 2007
Finished scanning the bonus story for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I'm glad I'm through with this part of the process. The next steps are more difficult, but certainly not so boring.

OCTOBER 25, 2007
I scanned "Bamboo Grove" pages one, four, five, six, and seven today. Most of them had to be scaned in three separate sections. Page seven had to be scanned in five parts, because two of the panels were actually redrawn on separate sheets.

OCTOBER 24, 2007
I scanned pages two and three of the "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" bonus story today. These are each full-page size panels, and had to be scanned in sections and reassembled in the computer. These were the two tough panels to deal with in the bonus story. Everything should be pretty routine for the remaining pages.

OCTOBER 23, 2007
Tonight, I started scripting the newest "Falter" short story. I'm not quite finished yet, but I have a pretty good idea of what I want out of the this piece. And it's pretty short, so it shouldn't take much more work.

OCTOBER 22, 2007
I figured out how to make better "tails" on the speech bubbles with this photo editing software. It's still easier to make tails with the publishing software though. I finished the last page of the five-page webcomic, and I built the html pages for the webcomic as well. So without further ado... check it out "Torpedo v. Gator-Face" on the webcomic page!

OCTOBER 21, 2007
I started and nearly finished the lettering for the five page "Torpedo" webcomic. Normally, lettering doesn't take me that long, but I'm trying a different method this time. I always use my publishing software to add the lettering for comics, which works great for having something printed. But when you use that software to generate internet-friendly images, it loses quality (and clarity) of the lettering. So this time, I decided to use my photo editing software to add the lettering. It took a lot of practice to try to get the text bubbles right. The publishing software is so much easier because you can just draw the pointy "tails" on the bubbles free-hand and it intuitively smooths them out. If I did this with the photo editing software, I get choppy, blocky tails. The keystrokes and commands are completely different in each program. Still, the text is super clear in the images, and I hope to have the webcomic ready very soon.

OCTOBER 20, 2007
I did digital clean up for the "Torpedo" scans from yesterday. I decided to make the webcomic just five pages long (down from the original eight page scene). Since these originals were done in a style without gray tones, I was able to do most of the prep work by tweaking the contrast adjustments. After that, I had to just do touch ups to the white flecks in the black parts and the black flecks in the white (from scanning). All in all, this part took about an hour.

OCTOBER 19, 2007
And for something completely different... more scanning! Okay, so I've been scanning the last few days too. The difference tonight is WHAT I'm scanning. Instead of tackling the 12-page bonus story to "Bamboo Grove," I scanned some of the original art from my first ever One Shot Productions comic, "Torpedo." I scanned about eight pages of a fight scene between Torpedo and a supervillain. I intend show off part of this fight scene on our webcomic page soon, so our newer readers can get an idea of what this character is about. I hope to do a little digital cleanup & text and have this scene up within a few days.

OCTOBER 18, 2007
I scanned the remaining FORTY-ONE images of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" today. That's everything from page fifteen to twenty-three. I still haven't tackled the bonus story, but it will get scanned soon too. I'm getting closer and closer to the end of the "Bamboo Grove" project!

OCTOBER 17, 2007
Only had time today to scan about seventeen images today. A couple of them kept scanning in crooked and had to be rescanned a few times. Now I'm finished scanning up through page fourteen. Maybe this process with speed up when I get some off time from my day job.

OCTOBER 16, 2007
More scanning today. I've scanned through page eleven so far. I script an average of 5 or 6 panels per page, so it takes some time to scan these individual panels. Even so, having separate panels like this will give me greater control over each page layout since I can "zoom in" for a closer view of any panel later when I assemble everything.

OCTOBER 15, 2007
Scan Scan Scan. Oh boy! Position the paper on the scanner! Listen to it hum while it generates a preview! Block out the section you want to keep... and press the "enter" button! Experience boredom for an hour while you tediously scan twenty one images into the computer! This is definitely not my favorite part of publishing, but it's not going to scan itself.

OCTOBER 14, 2007
Today I began the long, arduous task of scanning in each panel of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." This is about the most boring work that goes into making a comic book. It will be particularly time consuming with "Bamboo Grove" because of how I drew each panel. That is, since I drew all 110 panels (of the main story) on separate sheets. Instead of scanning in 23 ready-to-go pages, I'll have to scan in 110 separate items. The bonus story was done in a more traditional way but will still be scanned in sections because the pages (11x17 inches) are too big for my home scanner.

OCTOBER 13, 2007
I wrote another short FALTER story today. This one is basically a focus on Falter's new supporting character, who is dealing with the after effects of witnessing some rather gruesome acts (from the second short story). It needs revision, and I think I have some other elements to it, but it's a decent rough draft and definitely fits in with the other two short stories.

OCTOBER 12, 2007
The main 23-page story of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" has a unique panel design. Instead of the usual black lines or white "gutters" between panels, I used a layout design that looks something like bamboo. When I started the project, I penciled layouts for all 23 pages and then inked those layouts. Tonight's work was scanning in all 23 pages of bamboo panel layouts. This turned out to be pretty time consuming, as I wanted to scan these layouts as evenly as possible. I prefer this over scanning first and digitally spinning the image later (which seems to lose image quality.

OCTOBER 11, 2007
Tonight I pulled up a finished script that I still haven't done anything with. The current version of the script is twenty pages, and introduces a strong new FEMALE character into the One Shot universe. I've been close to handing this project over to an artist, but I just haven't been quite ready yet. I know I'd like to make this character an ongoing webcomic, but I haven't been sure how to fit this twenty page in with the webcomic. Should it be a jumping off point? But if so, then readers of the webcomic would miss out on a lot of the origin & setup. So tonight I looked through the script and divided the scenes up, which turned one full length comic into five separate webcomic shorts. Now I can still use this script, but online readers will get the chance to see the whole story from the beginning. I also wrote a synopsis for a new story that takes place before the current twenty pages. This is an exciting step for me since I feel like I've been holding this character back for so long.
I also emailed a chapter of "Mark of the Jinn" to a new artist, and emailed another artist about working on one of the new "Falter" shorts!

OCTOBER 10, 2007
In preparation for illustrating chapter four of my "MARK of the JINN" story, I practiced drawing the main character, GOJINN. I used blue pencil to sketch him out, and inked him with an "ultra fine point" permanent marker. It felt so different to have the control of the marker as opposed to the brush and ink technique I've done for so long on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I also emailed a couple of new artists about working on some short projects.

OCTOBER 9, 2007
I'm finished with this new second short story for FALTER. I finished scripting it, and I added a lot of narrative to the last two pages (it's only four pages total). In this new story, we get some insight into the motivation for FALTER's new supporting character (which ties into Falter's motivation as well).

OCTOBER 8, 2007
Tonight I wrote a first draft to another FALTER story. This one is a little more action oriented, and takes place directly after the events in the last FALTER short I wrote a few days ago. Although this is just a first draft, I've already finished most of it, and even broken most of it up into panels.

OCTOBER 7, 2007
That does it! This morning I finished the last of the principle art work on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." In the bonus story, I added scars to our hero's arm (from a wound he got in the main story). And in the main story I added grey tones to page twenty two panel 2 and the very last panel of the main story (23.2). I am particularly proud of how this last panel turned out. I'd love to describe it here, but I don't want to give away the ending to the main story of the book! It shows the fate of our hero's beloved beneath a full moon. I'm a harsh critic of my own art, but this panel is beautiful! Now that all the art for the book is finished, I'll be able to move on to the digital part of publishing this comic!

OCTOBER 6, 2007
I finished the primary black ink work on page twenty two, panel 2 on "Bamboo Grove." I finally worked up the courage to ink the mouth of one character (the angle was really giving me trouble!) and the rest was pretty routine. I had to finish both torsos, an arm, a hand, and some of the bamboo in the background.

OCTOBER 5, 2007
The new FALTER short story is officially finished and in scripted form as of tonight. I also took a few baby steps on page twenty two panel 2. Tonight I added all the details to one face, half the details on another face, chest and arm of one character, and a cut across the chest of the other character. The woman's face in this panel is giving me some difficulty, but it really is helping to do just a little ink at a time on this panel.

OCTOBER 4, 2007
Panel 2 on page twenty two is proving to be one of those tough panels for me. I must have redrawn it three times tonight. Or rather, I balled up the first two redraws before they were finished. The third one is looking really good, but I haven't penciled in all the details yet. Instead, I inked the hair and outlines of the heads of the two characters, and the arm of one character. For this particular panel, I'm finding it useful to set the good parts in ink first so I'll be able to tweak the details in pencil without wrecking what I like.

OCTOBER 3, 2007
Back to the last little bit of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." There are only two panels left that need my attention. One is page twenty two, panel 2 which is inked but I'm not happy with. The other is the final panel of the book (panel 2 on page twenty three). While looking through the final few pages, I noticed that panel 23.2 was missing. When I found it... it hadn't been inked at all !! This is one of my favorite (and most challenging) panels in the entire book, and it wasn't yet finished!! Tonight, I took care of that. I did the primary black ink work on the panel. It still needs greys.

OCTOBER 2, 2007
I figured out the length and pacing for the new FALTER short story. It's going to be just four pages long. Like other scenes I've written lately, there will be a narrative that tells one story while visuals will reveal unrelated (but telling) information. In this newest story, a priest is talking about a local criminal that was on the news, but the visual clues reveal much about the old priest himself. I don't use this technique all the time, but it's very useful in something short like this future webcomic.

OCTOBER 1, 2007
Ahh... productivity! Tonight I did touch ups for the next bunch of panels for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." No major redrawn panels like some of the other scenes, just a few lines here and there to complete the panels. Pretty much all of these touch ups involved putting Japanese writing on a war banner (since the enemy in this scene is a towering samurai with said war banner on his back). I at least had the blank banner in most of the panels, but still had to draw it in a couple panels where I had forgotton (oops). The panels that I added writing to are 15.1 (that is, page fifteen panel 1), 15.4, 15.5, 15.6, 15.7, 16.1, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 17.4, 17.5, 18.1, 18,3, 18.4, 18.5, 18.6, 19.3, 19.4, and 20.3 (whew!). I also added a little more blood to 18.4 and I added the banner in a very far shot in panel 21.1. I also messed up something in panel 18.6. Since the samurai takes some of his armor off in this panel, I mistakenly drew the banner (and back armor) on the ground... before seeing later panels where I drew the banner as if it were still fixed to the samurai at his waist. Some clever white ink work took care of this problem without being as obvious as I thought it would be. Only about three more pages to go before the next step!
One other thing I did today was to mail that packet out to a new artist this morning. Oh yeah, and today marks three months of doing this web journal. Having a place where I have to stop and account for my contribution to my comics everyday really keeps me on track with my commitment to these stories. Let's see how long it lasts!

SEPTEMBER 30, 2007
I took a break from "Bamboo Grove" tonight to do some writing for an new story involving my most controversial character, "Falter." I've been wanting to do something more with this character, following the events of the comic "Falter: SINS" (2006). One of the challenges with this character is that he really has no internal thoughts or voice. He's not a exactly a person. Though I could show him doing some cool (and probably violent) stuff, that just isn't good enough. I want there to be STORY as well. Today I realized how I can do both. It's as simple as adding a supporting character that has already been mentioned (but not seen) in the previous Falter comic. Tonight I wrote the monologue/narration for this new short story. Also, I had a good long talk with my friend (writer & artists) Jason Negen. I've asked him previously about writing a short story involving "Shadowlord" and we hit on that subject again tonight. Negen's writing has a great blend of action and humor, which is one of the things I like best in comics (as a reader). I'm looking forward to seeing this short story come alive soon! Oh, and one more thing I did today was prepare a package for a new artists I haven't worked with yet. I'd like him to handle the art on that "Impasse" short story, and I'm sending him visual reference & the script by mail tomorrow.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2007
As I took another look at those panels from yesterday & the day before, I thought "gee, I should add some leaves to the bamboo in the background." Well, I started to do that exact thing in page ten, panel 4. After a few leaves, I realized it was just fine without the added detail. I then went back to using some black ink on the panel, adding some darker tones around the top and sides of the panel. I completely blackened one bamboo shaft on the upper right, which brings it to the foreground now. I think this panel would have been fine without any of this extra tweaking, but oh well. The important part of this shot is the two figures, and I'm very happy with how they look (I didn't do anything else to them today). After that, I looked through the next section of panels (which were all from page fourteen). Most of them were fine. I added some very minor black detail to the close-up bamboo shaft of panel 5 (on page fourteen). The only other panel that caught my eye from this page was panel 3. It's a close up shot of fallen log that has just been sliced at by a sword. This isn't meant to be a spectacular panel, but it was extremely plain as the log was just a grey tube. I decided to add some quick lines to the trunk to simulate the texture of the bark. Wow. All of the sudden, it looked like a whole new panel! It's still just a transitional shot of a log, but it's much more apparent now that it is indeed a log!

SEPTEMBER 28, 2007
I added greys to those panels from yesterday. These shots (as difficult as they were for me to draw) are not altogether complicated. Adding greys didn't take too long. I added shadows to the two figures in each panels and I also did some loose backgrounds of bamboo. I still have about half of the book (10 or so pages) to go before I'm finished with all these touch-ups and redrawn panels. Still, it's moving along nicely, and I'm definitely still ahead of schedule for a spring release of this book.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
The three latest redrawn panels got preliminary ink work tonight (panels 3, 4 & 5 from page ten). I haven't added grey tones or backgrounds yet, but that will likely be done tomorrow!

SEPTEMBER 26, 2007
After about SEVEN different drawings, I finally settled on a redrawn version of page ten panel 4. It shouldn't have been such a difficult and frustrating panel, but I just couldn't get it to click for me. After watching some TV, I got up to work on redrawing this panel. I thought I'd just draw it once tonight and be fine with it. An hour and 42 minutes later, I finally settled on what the last one. It's not like it's a mind blowing shot or something either. It's just a closer version of the previous panel, and will only contain two short lines of dialogue. Thankfully, the other panels I've worked on lately haven't been this difficult. I'm sure I'll find other panels to redraw before I finish "Bamboo Grove"... but I sure hope I don't run into another roadblock like this one was.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2007
I redrew panel 3 from page ten. I liked the original panel, except the pretty face of the girl wasn't so pretty. Plus, our main ninja's body language didn't convey enough of a message. In the redrawn panel, her face is fixed and his arm adds a gesture.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2007
Now that I'm satisfied with those redrawn panels, I've moved on to the next scene. I've found three MORE panels that aren't quite what I wanted. Tonight, I redrew page ten panel 5 which shows a tender embrace between our butt-kicking ninja and the girl from the other side of the bamboo grove. The earlier panel just looked a bit awkward since their bodies aren't quite touching. In the redrawn panel, the embrace looks much more natural and realistic.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2007
I inked the three panels I recently redrew. These panels aren't just regular size panels either. For "Fall in the Bamboo Grove," I drew each panel on a separate sheet. So each panel has at least one side that is 11 inches long. For instance, panel 3 on page nine is actually 3.25"H x 11"W. Panel 1 on page eight is actually 7"H x 11"W! The bonus story was all done a page at a time on 11x17 sheets, but the main 23 pages of story were all done on individually!

SEPTEMBER 22, 2007
I finished inking panel 7.6 from yesterday, and fully inked panel 8.1. I haven't added any grey tones yet. I've had a really busy couple of weeks at my day job, and it doesn't look like it's letting up any time soon. That makes it hard to stick to this "something every day" thing, but so far so good. Even if it's something little, like some quick inkwork. What's hard to measure is the amount of time I spend thinking about the "Shadowlord" project I'm working on. Although I know where this character is headed (even long term), I want to visit specific points in his path. I don't want to rush in and paint myself into a corner. I make a note (mental or digital) each time I realize another highlight I'd like to add to Shadoword's story. SL is one of my oldest and favorite characters. I've made Shadowlord comics long before there was a "One Shot Productions" and I'm still excited to think about the possibilities to explore with this character!

SEPTEMBER 21, 2007
I inked the redrawn version of page nine, panel 3 (9.3) and I redrew panel 7.6 as well. I also did most of the inks on 7.6 too. I redrew another panel, but I wasn't happy with how it turned out so I'll have to do another version tomorrow. (After adding this entry, I started and finished that other one, page eight panel 1).

SEPTEMBER 20, 2007
As I was checking the next few pages of "Bamboo Grove," I noticed three more panels that I wasn't quite happy enough with. I drew one of them over from scratch tonight (Page nine, panel 3). I also added a link of that sample panel to under yesterday's entry.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2007
Today I inked the Japanese kanji symbols on all the "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" panels that needed it (both in the main and bonus stories). A soon as the ink is dry, I'll add an example panel to check out here.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2007
In "Fall in the Bamboo Grove", there are four wall scrolls in the main interior room. I have left them blank in each panel, because I had not decided what to put on them. I knew I wanted Japanese kanji / words on the scrolls, but I wanted the message to have meaning and not be random stuff I saw on a piece of commercial art at your local mega department store. I settled on "Strength, Honor, Family & Tradition." I used a Japanese translation program to look up the words, and tonight I penciled the kanji symbols onto each scroll in both the main story and the 12 page bonus.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2007
I added the grey tones to the nefarious page 1 panel 6 today. You can check out all four versions here. I also added some trees to page four panel 4, including grey tones.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2007
I got back to the longterm outline / plans for SHADOWLORD. I have a general idea of where the character will be headed, but I want to be sure I've written down specific stops on his journey as he grows. I'd love to just dive in an start writing more Shadowlord stuff right now, but that's not how I do things! As a reader, there's probably nothing that loses my attention like writing that's haphazard or seems poorly planned. Today I also added grey tones to that third drawing of page one panel 6 from "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." You can see it by clicking the link on yesterday's entry.
After I uploaded this entry, I sat down and drew yet another version of this contemptable page 1 panel 6. Finally, I'm happy with it and can stop drawing this same thing over and over! This new panel has the same pose I liked from the third version, but is a little better proportioned!

SEPTEMBER 15, 2007
So I'm STILL not happy with the redraw of page 1 panel 6. It just seems too stiff. At first, I wanted it to be like that because it shows off the main character's tattoo (in "Fall of the Bamboo Grove" main story). I actually like the first drawing a lot, but the character's body is a little too bulky here compared to the rest of the book (and I don't like the face). In the redrawn panel, Everything looks a lot better, including our main character's sour-puss expression. However, the redrawn panel still has the same oversized trunk as the first one and still looks too stiff (no doubt because I drew the pencils while having the original inkwork underneath). So today, I redrew the panel AGAIN. Not many panels in this book have gotten this amount of my attention, but I haven't been this uncomfortable with a particular panel like this one. In the redraw, I drew an entirely new pose. This one feels way more natural and nowhere near as stiff as the other two. I also added more of the bamboo-fishing pole which now shows the tension on the rod. And thankfully, his over-inflated body has returned to its rightful size.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
Added greys to panels 1.6 and 3.3 today. I'm particularly happy with the redraw of 3.3

SEPTEMBER 13, 2007
Okay, so I thought I was finished with all the art for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." Tonight, I decided to take all 110 panels of the main "Bamboo Grove" story and look over them for any touch-ups I may want to make. Once I got everything in order, I realized that there were panels that weren't quite what I wanted. Page one panel 6 and page three panel 3 are two such panels. So I put a blank piece of paper over the old version, and used the old ones as templates. These panels pretty much show the same thing (and from the same angle), but the art is just a bit different. In these two panels, the main character's face just wasn't good enough. I redrew both panels, and put black ink on both. I'll have to add greys to these panels another day.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2007
Tonight I finished scripting the "Impasse" webcomic story. It ended up being four pages long. It basically shows what happens to the oversized villain right after the events of the "Pride's Fall" story. I also emailed the "Pride & Harmony v Robots" script to the artist today (along with a sketch & description of how the robots should look).

SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
I drew another Shadowlord piece today, this one is an overhead view. I also did some more work on the "Impasse" short story, turning it into a webcomic script.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
First, I drew and inked an illustration of Shadowlord, which I intend to use to promote the upcoming Shadowlord project. I also added some additional blood spray in to the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story (page five panel 2 & 3, page six panel 2, and page seven panel 5). I also started scripting a short story / webcomic featuring "Impasse" (a story that takes place just after the events of the "Pride's Fall" comic.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2007
Tonight, I outlined plans for a lenghty upcoming project involving one of my favorite characters, SHADOWLORD. There's so much I want to do with this new project, it must have taken a half hour just to get as far as I did on the outline. I'm looking forward to announcing more about this project as it develops!

SEPTEMBER 8, 2007
I finished scripted the "Pride & Harmony v. Robots" story today. It's six pages long, including the last page which is a full page panel. It's short and to the point, but still conveys some story between the 'power couple' of Slade and Madison. I already have an artist in mind for this project. I also added some grey shadows to the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story too. The art for that project is nearly complete! Oh, and I wrote a brief synopsis of a story involving a love interest for STOIC!

SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
"Bamboo Grove" grey tones: Round Two! I mixed a darker grey than last night, and used it on every ninja in every panel of the bonus story. I didn't add any shadows, since the ink made the figures all wet. If I tried to add shadow at this point, it would just make a mess. These pages all look so different from when they were all still blue lines on white paper! I wasn't sure if adding these greys to the ninjas would smear the blood sprays, but lucky they were unchanged.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2007
"Fall in the Bamboo Grove" bonus story grey tones: Round One! Tonight I mixed one batch of grey and painted in the grey tones for the three main characters on EVERY page of the bonus story. I also hit door frames, table edges, shelf edges, and some weapon handles with this particular grey. This was a LOT of work tonight! This is really the best way for me to keep the grey tones consistent among these twelve pages. The grey I used tonight was somewhat light, and I intend to use a darker tone when I put greys on all the enemy ninjas in the bonus story.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
I took a break from inking today, and instead worked scripting the "Pride & Harmony v. robots" story. I got quite a bit of the conversion done, and now just have to figure out how I want to pace the story and break up the pages. And I bumped the number of robots up from three to four.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2007
Touch up work on pages ten, eleven and twelve of the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. Mostly added minor details I had overlooked, and in a few cases I had to use white ink for some cover-up.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2007
Mega progress today. I think I'm finished with the preliminary black inkwork on the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. Today I finished the detail work on page eleven, panel 1. Page twelve, panel 6 needed one last figure inked and I got to it today. I also added some complicated blood spray that I had forgotten to add to page ten, panel 1 and a couple of dead ninjas in page eight, panel 1. I used some white india ink to blot out a few stray lines on various pages. I did various white ink or black ink touch-ups on pages one through nine. The next step will be adding grey tones.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2007
Page eleven is almost done except for a few minor details in panel 1, and I haven't decided whether or not to add blood to panel 4. I did a bunch of work on page twelve today, and it's nearly finished as well. I inked everything but one of the figures in panel 6, and I'm very happy with the blood spray in panel 1.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2007
Inked borders for page twelve, and did some black ink on page eleven. Panel 1 on page eleven is pretty complicated compared to the other panels in this project, so I just inked a little to there to get started. I skipped panel 2 and did almost all of panel 3 (except for a minor background detail). I also finished the right half of panel 4.

AUGUST 31, 2007
Page ten of the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story is almost finished. All that's left is some blood in panel 1. Only two pages of black ink left before I can start added greys to it!

AUGUST 30, 2007
Finished page seven today including some messy blood to panel 6. I finished the rest of page eight except for some dead ninjas in the background of panel 1. There's a lot of sweet blood spray on page eight if that's what you're into. In fact, 4 out of 5 panels on page eight agree that they should contain blood spray. I inked the borders of page ten and started inking the main parts in each panel also. It won't be long before I can start adding greys to these pages!

AUGUST 29, 2007
Another good stretch of work today. I added another good blood spatter on page seven (panel 3). I finished all of the blacks on page nine, panel 1. I added a lot of detail to page nine, panel 3 (and this is one of my favorite panels of the book so far). Page eight also got a lot of work including some really messy blood in panel 1. There's not much left on page eight now except some of the ninjas in the background. I also inked the borders of page ten to get it ready.

AUGUST 28, 2007
Lets see... what did I NOT ink tonight. At least that what it seems like anyway. I applied the last couple of lines (literally) to a table on page six (panel 5) which completed the primary blacks for that page. On page seven I finished blacks on panels 1, 2, 4, 5 & 7. This includes some blood spatter in panels 4 & 5 that turned out GREAT. There's not much left to do on page seven but some more blood spatter in other panels. I turned my attentions to page eight long enough to do the some random inkwork in each of its 5 panels. Then I worked on page nine for a while including some of the mid-ground action in panel 1, some more really good blood in panel 2 and a very close up shot of the old ninja in the story in panel 3. I am extremely happy with how well page nine, panel 3 is going. It's a crucial set-up panel for action on the following page, and it's looking good! Oh, and I started scripting the webcomic of "Pride & Harmony" versus the robots.

AUGUST 27, 2007
Great progress on the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. I've nearly completed the inks on page seven today. There are eight panels on that page, and there's a lot of action. I started by inking the foreground elements in most of these panels, then letting the ink dry. Later, I inked more including mid-ground parts and main characters. Then I let it dry again and returned later for a third inking session. Panel 4 is done, and most of the other panels on this page just need a few connecting lines and blood sprays. Of course I haven't added greytones to any of the bonus story yet. I also worked a little on random parts of page nine.

AUGUST 26, 2007
I inked more on page six of the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. I added some motion lines to panels 1 & 2. I pretty much finished panel 4, and I nearly finished panel 5. I also did the borders for pages seven and eight. Oh yeah, and I inked most of panels 4 & 8 from page seven.

AUGUST 25, 2007
Ugh. I was so busy today that the only time I had for comics was first thing this morning. I inked the rest of panel 2 and 3 on page six. I also added some foreground elements to panels 4 and 5.

AUGUST 24, 2007
Finished the primary blacks on page five today (I still haven't started adding greys yet). I inked panels 1 and 3 of page six, and some of panel 2. I drew a picture of Shadowlord that may make it to the pin-up page. I inked the Shadowlord picture with a black marker, as opposed to a brush and india ink like the "Bamboo Grove" project.

AUGUST 23, 2007
More bloody ninjas today. I did more with page four of the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. Some minor background in panel one, most of panel 3, and some of the main parts of panel 7 (which is a fairly large panel). I also inked the borders of page six.

AUGUST 22, 2007
I finished the primary blacks on page four today, including some awesome blood work in panel two. The way I'm applying the blood spatter is a bit hard to control, but panel two is exactly how I wanted it. Panel three turned out pretty good too. I also did a bit more inking on page five (panels one and two). The inks for the bonus story are moving along a bit slower because each page was done as a whole (all of its panels on one sheet of paper). The main story of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" was made by drawing each panel on a separate sheet. This means that I have to stop inking more often so my hand won't sit in the ink of a previously inked panel. You figure I could just move from top to bottom and not worry about it, but I often turn the paper if I need to ink certain lines & curves. Later tonight I did some more work on the rough draft of a future webcomic featuring "Pride & Harmony" against some robots!

AUGUST 21, 2007
Ninja time! I inked most of the ninjas on page four of the bonus story tonight. There's a lot going on in this page, so I'm still not quite finished. Although I added the first blood spatter of the bonus story, and it was a bit excessive (panel four). There is blood in panels two and three, but I haven't added them yet. I also did some random inking on page five. It really feels like a relief to know that my daily work for a while will consist of inking these pages. Some of the technical tasks really end up feeling like chores. Inking isn't like that at all. And since my penciling style is mostly loose, there's still room for changes in the inks. That can be challenging too, but I still enjoy it!

AUGUST 20, 2007
I did a lot of the main ink on page four tonight, mostly just the main characters. I'll ink the ninjas tomorrow. Tonight I also inked the borders to page five so I can go back and forth a little as I let some panels dry. So far, it's looking good!

AUGUST 19, 2007
I finished the primary black ink on the first page of the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. It still needs grey tones. I also updated the pin-up page with art from two new artists.

AUGUST 18, 2007
Ahhh! Tonight I started inking the 12 page bonus story for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." It felt good to do something that involved some ink! I've been staring at the blue pencils of these pages on my desk for ages. It's great to see the first page with some black on it for a change. I also added some shadowy figures to the first panel, which weren't there in my original pencils. I didn't finish the first page, but I got a good deal of ink on it. I also inked the panel borders of page four. Pages 2 and 3 already have ink on them from a couple months ago (since it's a big 2-page spread and I wanted to see how it would look).

AUGUST 17, 2007
Whew! It's been a tiring couple of weeks, and I'm feeling it today. I took time this evening to get online and reconnect with some artists I haven't talk to in a while, and to stay connected with some artists I have some plans with. With the addition of the webcomics page, I'll definitely be looking to test some of these new artists to see what they got.

AUGUST 16, 2007
I continued to work on the One Shot store today. It took all night, but I finally got the html fixed how I wanted. Now visitors to the site can purchase comics directly from One Shot Productions and pay online. This will allow us to process orders much more quickly, and with a variety of payment methods. Visit the store link on the left to check it out!

AUGUST 15, 2007
Today I added a hidden special offer on the website. This offer is not available through the One Shot store. The offer is for a package deal containing our newest comic MIDNIGHT TRAIN, a bonus comic, and an IRON ON transfer of our Midnight Train bloody hand logo (I wore one on a shirt at the cons this year). If you seriously can't find it, email me to ask directions. I also continued working on some new html for the One Shot store. Pretty soon, the store will be getting this full update.

AUGUST 14, 2007
I finally got around to starting a short story featuring "Pride & Harmony." One Shot's original power couple will be appearing in a short webcomic showing off their battle against some bank-busting robots (as mentioned in the comic "PRIDE'S FALL.") I've already talked with a solid artist who's interested in illustrating the story.

AUGUST 13, 2007
Today, I prepped elements of my website (offline). I've got a couple areas that are undergoing some changes. I'm still tweaking the webcomic pages, and I'm trying to streamline the ordering process on the store page. I also scanned, prepped, and added the "Stoic & Abbi" art to the pinup page. Plus, this morning I sketched out a new logo concept for "Torpedo."

AUGUST 12, 2007
Sunday is typically the slow day at these shows, but we had a great surge of buyers first thing this morning. Good thing too, as things really did slow back down toward the end of the day. We got on the road about 5:15pm just after the show, and drove and drove and drove. We got back to Memphis just after 2am. I'm absolutely beat. But it's definitely worth it. We got our comics into the hands of a bunch of new readers, and we met some new creators as well. This is the last comic convention I've scheduled this year, but we're already putting thoughts on paper for how to continue to reach more readers next year.

AUGUST 11, 2007
9am-7pm today. Met a couple of cool artists today at the show. Also had some more returning readers to tell us how much they enjoyed the books they bought yesterday. There's so much going on at this show - it's huge! So when someone takes the time out to come back to artist's alley just to compliment our work, it's a really big deal to me. That kind of thing really helps to keep me going. I also found time tonight to write a webcomic of "Shadowlord."

AUGUST 10, 2007
The convention lasted from 9am-6pm today. "MIDNIGHT TRAIN" out sold our other books today. We also got some great feedback already from someone who bought VERTEX last night. Oh, and I penciled a picture of "Stoic & Abbi," and Mike Jenkins inked it. That will be going on the pin-up page soon. I also wrote a short story for an upcoming webcomic featuring "Impasse" from "PRIDE'S FALL."

AUGUST 9, 2007
Drove all morning from Memphis to Chicago today (5am-1:30pm). Made it in plenty of time to get to the "premiere night" at Wizard World which was 4pm-7pm. Tonight, our most popular book was "VERTEX."

AUGUST 8, 2007
Getting ready for the big show in Chicago! I spent a few minutes this afternoon on making sure the updates to the website were working, including our newest feature : WEBCOMICS!! Yes, that's the three pages of art that Mike Jenkins brought the other day. I've been preparing it to be our first ever One Shot Productions Webcomic. It's brief, gives a good idea of what the core of the "Danny Ogburn" character is like. Tonight will be packing up comics and other convention related stuff, as well as making a new T-shirt to wear to the con. I had a blast in Philly this year, and I can't wait for the show this weekend!!

AUGUST 7, 2007
Nothing but "Midnight Departure" all night. I tested some fonts for the lettering this morning, and made my decision after work this afternoon. Then it was a lot of trial & error as I found just the right balance of file size and quality. Then it was on to actually setting up the story for publication for tomorrow! There will be a big announcement on the home & news page tomorrow that has to do with "Midnight Departure."

AUGUST 6, 2007
I finished the last of the digital prep on the short piece I've decided to call "Midnight Departure." I had forgotten to color a little girl's doll that appears on page three, so I knocked that out tonight. I also roughed out the narrative for this story on paper. There's not much room for a deep character study in three pages, so I intend to just "get in and out" pretty quick with the text here.

AUGUST 5, 2007
Another good amount of work done today. I finished all the digital prep on page two of the three-page Midnight Train prologue piece. I haven't added (or written) the narrative yet, but I've got an idea of how it will be.

AUGUST 4, 2007
One month after I began writing the robot story, I'm finally finished with the script. I had a lot of converting to finish tonight, and I also had some tough editing due to the lenght of the book. I wanted the main story to be about 22 to 24 pages, but it ran a bit long. After a lot of chopping and squeezing, the page count ended at 28. That doesn't count the two short epilogues, which will take the place of a bonus story for this issue.

AUGUST 3, 2007
Jumped back to the robot story this morning. I made some progress in the final stage of converting the short story into a script. The first scene has a slow pace as we introduce the hero character, then it's full steam ahead. There's so much going on in this book, it's a good thing the pace is so quick.

AUGUST 2, 2007
This morning I began some digital clean-up work on the Mike's MIDNIGHT TRAIN prologue. Originally, this short piece didn't contain any dialogue. As I review it now, I think it could use some internal monologue / narration.

AUGUST 1, 2007
Glad to see I've been able to keep up with this daily blog since starting it one month ago. It's hard enough to keep working on something EVERY day, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to remember to log my work daily too. Today, artists Mike Jenkins dropped off 3 pages worth of great art. It's a short story that takes place just before the events in my newest book, MIDNIGHT TRAIN. I started doing digital prep work on this story tonight, as I have plans for this three-pager in the near future.

JULY 31, 2007
I worked a few kinks out of the order form today. I also began work on a brand new addition to this website, which I hope to unveil in the very near future. Like this blog, the new addition is something I've been thinking of adding to the site for a long time. I hope to have this new addition in place BEFORE I go to Chicago for the Wizard World show.

JULY 30, 2007
I converted the bonus fight scene story today. I still don't think it's going to be a part of this book, but I do have a place for it in mind. This bonus fight scene is just that... there isn't a lot of clever dialogue in there, though I may add some narrative from the villain. The conversion of this scene was pretty cut & dry, and didn't take nearly as long as scenes from the main story.

JULY 29, 2007
Took some time away from the robot project today to do something else. I spent a lot of time this morning developing a new order form for the website. I'm still moving around parts of the form, but I've got the general idea down. I've created the form as an ".htm" file so it will go with the rest of the site. I hope to get the One Shot store renovated before I leave for Chicago in a couple of weeks. This afternoon and evening, I digitally colored a "Shadowlord" design I drew while at the Philly show last month. The design has a cartoon style to it, and features the character name made out of burning wood, as Shadowlord walks forward. I'll be making this design into a T-shirt which I plan to wear one day during the upcoming Chicago show.

JULY 28, 2007
Finally finished with converting the readable draft of the robot story into panels. I still have a lot of work at this stage, like making sure I've set the right pace for each scene. But the bulk of the conversion process is at an end.

JULY 27, 2007
Wow, I thought I was almost done yesterday! I worked for a long time on the fight scene tonight, and I'm still not finished. I knew this robot story had a complicated character-driven story, but I didn't realize how complicated the choreography of the fight scene had become. That is definitely a good thing though, as we still see character development here among the action.

JULY 26, 2007
Almost finished with the conversion process. Today I focused on the lengthy fight scene. In this draft, I've got all the action laid out already, but the narration hasn't been written yet. Once I get all the details of the fight scene pinned down, I'll add some internal thoughts from our hero via a narrative.

JULY 25, 2007
Coverted another scene today. This time, it was a simple transitional scene with some expositional narration. Rather than keep it simple, I mixed in some interesting visuals of the hero arriving to the fight.

JULY 24, 2007
I skipped to the end and converted one of the two epilogues. I'm still not sure if the villain's epiloge is going to be one page or two. The way I've got the panels could go either way. I'll decide this later after I see how what length the rest of the book becomes.

JULY 23, 2007
More story conversion today. I often leave some gaps in the early drafts for comedic stuff or transitonal scenes, but I didn't realize how much I was going to add during the process for this one. Plus, we're jumping between two settings in one scene, which I hadn't really fleshed out in the earlier draft. This is causing the conversion of this book to move slower than usual, but thankfully its still smooth.

JULY 22, 2007
I started breaking down another scene from the short story version. Also, I've added a touch of comedy to a transitional scene. Oh, and I added some quick digital colors to one of the main character sketches (from what Curtis sent via email). It's looking good!

JULY 21, 2007
More converting of the robot short story into a script. I'm taking this part a little more slowly than usual, as I've intentionally left some room in the story for additional dialogue / narration or action. I'm filling these spots in as I go, so the process is a bit slower for me this time. I also got some design sketches back via email from the artist on this project (Curtis Rhodes). They look great! There's nothing like seeing characters from my sketches re-drawn by someone else's hand. I still get so excited about a new project when I get those initial sketches back from an artist. I was already pleased with my versions of these characters, but Curtis always takes it to another level.

JULY 20, 2007
Today I began the preliminary steps of scripting the robot story. Right now I'm converting the text of the short story into script-form complete with panels and dialogue notes.

JULY 19, 2007
Finished the pencils for the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. I worked on panels 3, 4 and 5 this morning, and finished the sixth panel of page 12 this evening. That wraps up the pencil work for both stories in "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." Once I get this robot story scripted and handed over to an artist, I'll probably be devoting most of my comic production time to inking this "Bamboo Grove" comic.

JULY 18, 2007
Two more panels on the "Bamboo" bonus story this morning. I finished panels 1 and 2 from page 12. Most of my bonus stories only last about 4 or 5 pages. "Shadowlord" has a 7 page bonus in it. This 12-pager is a new record for me. The main story is a normal 23 page length. And now the bonus story is going to seriously bulk this book up. Only four more panels to go on this page, and I'll be finished will the pencils.

JULY 17, 2007
This morning I penciled page 11, panel 4 from the bonus story for "Bamboo Grove." This is an important point in the bonus story, and the panel turned out just how I wanted. I also talked with one of the artists I work with about coming to the Chicago Wizard World convention. After our converstation, he called back to say he just made hotel reservations.

JULY 16, 2007
I delivered the readable draft and character sketches of the robot story today. I'm eager to hear what he has to say once he has a chance to read the story. He was interested when I pitched him the concept, and I hope this draft continues to hold that interest. Tonight, I took time to pencil two more panels on my "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. These are panels 2 and 3 from page 11. I haven't worked on this project in recent days becuase I've been mostly working on the robot story. But I also wasn't sure how I wanted to end the bonus story. I always SCRIPT my stories before it's time to illustrate, whether I'm the artist or not. I tried this art-on-the-fly technique with the Mortem Brand short (the one in back of Midnight Train). It's easy for me to make the action flow, but hard to create dialogue AFTER the panels have been drawn. I've finally decided how I want to end this bonus story, and I hope to be start inking it once I get the robot story scripted and handed over to the artist.

JULY 15, 2007
Today I prepared all the sketches for the main characters in the robot story. I also polished the first draft of the story. At this stage in the book, I refer to the polished short story form as my 'second draft' or the 'readable draft'. Now that this is out of the way, I'll drop this packet off to the artist tomorrow so he can begin sketching the main characters and getting an idea of how the story will play out.

JULY 14, 2007
Reworked the villain sketch from yesterday. I ended up going with a design more similar to what the character looked like over a decade ago in my unpublished work. It's still tweaked a bit, but it just looks right to me this way rather than the more modern costume I drew yesterady. Besides, this character isn't exactly a social butterfly, so it makes sense that his villain costume is more in line with costumes from so long ago. I did create a logo just for this villain, and he now displays that logo on his chest (the original did not). I also made one pass through a printout of the rough draft, but I wouldn't really call it an 'edit' just yet. I expect to do that tomorrow so I can have a readable 2nd draft in the artist's hands on Monday.

JULY 13, 2007
Worked on a sketch of the villain from the robot story. This character dates back to comics I made when I was a kid, so the basic signature look of the character hasn't changed much from back then. There are some minor changes, but this character has something like an eyepatch that I plan to always incorporate into his design (and his history). I've still got to work out the costume design to make it fit with the character's personality though.

JULY 12, 2007
With the first draft of the robot story finished, I took time today to work on the design for the hero. I already have a previous drawing I did of this character from 01-09-04, but I want to make some changes. I re-sketched the character, scanned it, and printed out three copies that lack inner detail. Then I used those three 'hollow' sketches to figure out exactly how I want the costume details to look. So far so good!

JULY 11, 2007
Ah... Finished with the first draft! Tonight I just had finish up the second epilogue sequence, which was a lot tougher than I expected. It's a short scene, but it tried a few different dialogues to find the one that I felt worked best. I would have been easy to have the final scene play out like a punchline to a joke, but I want something more mature out of this book. Now that I've got this last scene in place, I can print it out and begin editing. I already have an artist in mind for this project, and I spoke with him tonight about when he can expect a 'readable' draft (short story form). I'll also have some sketches ready of the main characters for him.

JULY 10, 2007
Whew! Lots of progress on the robot story today. I wrote the entire climatic battle scene, as well as one (of two) epilogues. I'm VERY excited about how it's turning out so far, and I don't expect to do much polishing on this draft before it's ready for an artist. As I wrote the fight scene, I quickly typed a short version of the points of interest I wanted to see in the scene. Then I could weave these ideas into the scene as I went so nothing felt 'forced' as I put the scene together. If this scene lives up to what I envision, it should be an entertaining dose of action without being a simple plot-driven sequence. I can't wait to finish the short story version so I can start getting some feedback from the other comic creators I work with!

JULY 9, 2007
I wasn't happy with the transition scene that leads to the hero's arrival, so I rewrote it. I remembered an earlier idea that I hadn't written down. Now the hero's arrival makes much more of an impact than the previous version. I also sketched a couple of designs for the robot villain. I know what I want out of the general look for this robot, but I haven't got it nailed down just yet. Certain design elements are present in both sketches, like distinct shapes of the torso and forearms as well as placement of the head. I expect these things to stay through to the final draft of the design, but it doesn't look destructive enough yet.

JULY 8, 2007
I fleshed out the fight scene featuring the wanna-be heroes. I still think this scene won't make it into the actual book for pacing purposes. Still, I needed to know what happened in this scene so I know what's going on leading into the fight scene with the actual hero of the book. Besides, I think I have a place for this brief scene elsewhere.

JULY 7, 2007
Things are really coming along in the robot story. Now that the hero and villain have both been introduced, it's about time for them to meet. I've included a scene where the hero will get to give a peek into his origin via narration, similar to how I approached that type of exposition in the original Torpedo comic (although in Torpedo, there were visual flashbacks to accompany the narration). I've also included a trio of wanna-be heroes to go up against the villain (to show some dominance from the villain). However, I don't want the show a fight scene between these characters and then again with the main hero (not that I mind multiple fight scenes). Maybe I can flesh that first fight scene out as a bonus story or show it elsewhere later.

JULY 6, 2007
On to writing the next scene for the sci-fi / robot story. This is the first time the villain makes his appearance in the book, but there isn't much of an introduction. I believe audiences will figure out what he's about pretty quickly from the context of his first scene. Once the action gets rolling in the next couple of pages, I'm sure the villain will let some of his motivation slip out as he rants (a little old-school villain exposition). I already knew the overall arc of the story, but now things are starting to take shape as I actually move through the book scene by scene. It's always such a relief when a story actually begins to emerge on its own so naturally.

JULY 5, 2007
More work on the sci-fi / robot story. I've split the opening scene into two short parts, showing two separate (but related) dialogues. I'll probably polish this scene a bit before moving on to the next part, but it's very close to what I want to get out of this scene. The main protagonist is introduced, as well as two of his supporting characters. The dialogues are a bit combative, which I find very interesting. As I write this kind of back-and-forth between the characters, I try not to steer the conversation towards a particular subject. I write one character's remark, and then I have the other character reply with an equally agressive argument. Then I let the first character get in another point. Once I have the basic 'he says / she says' stuff down, I can tweak it.

JULY 4, 2007
I've been waiting for a while to start writing the new sci-fi / robot story. I've been collecting my thoughts about the story for some time, but I haven't been ready until today. I did find the beginnings of an earlier draft from months ago, but the I didn't know the characters as well then. I have a clear idea of who the main characters are now. Today I worked out a very brief history for the four main personalities in the story. It's important for me to know where these characters came from to be able to write them well. Once that was finalized, I was able to begin writing the opening scene to the book. The setting for this scene remains the same as my earlier draft, which is a dialogue outdoors on a hill. The entire rest of the book will depart greatly from my original notes.

JULY 3, 2007
I penciled a fairly big panel tonight. This is another panel from the FALL in the BAMBOO GROVE bonus story. Page 11, panel 1. The panel shows the aftermath of the mutliple-ninja attack. It's been over a week or so since my daily task was working on this particular project. I think page 11 will bring the bonus story to a close (This is the story that will appear AFTER the regular twenty-three page story). So apparently this book will be just a bit thicker than usual. It's hard for me to figure out where to go with the next couple of panels. I'm so used to working everything out in a script first, even for projects I intend to illustrate. So this go-with-the-flow story is tricky. It took me a while to figure out how to wrap the story up after the last panel on page 10 without leaving the story with a hokey punchline.

JULY 2, 2007
Tonight I fleshed out the sci-fi robot story in a pretty rough first draft. I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted out of the hero and villain characters in the story. But tonight I added an angle to the two supporting characters. This also lead me to a convenient point to end the story in which you can see where these characters are all headed after the events of this story. That's something I try to do in just about all of my One Shot comics. There's a balance between giving a solid one-issue dose of story, yet laying the path out so we have a general idea of what is to come next. This robot / sci-fi deal is going to be a challenge because I want the book to be approriate for all ages (since some of my books are not), yet I want mature audiences to still get something out of the book. So in addition to some bot-on-bot booty kickin', I'd also like to see some deeper dialogues and introspective narration. So far, it's shaping up just how I want.

JULY 1, 2007
It seems like I spent all morning writing the introduction to this page, and I'm still not sure if I'm happy with it. I've been ready to add this update to the site for a couple of weeks now, but I haven't done anything to prepare for it until today. I liked the idea of starting it on the first day of a new month rather than begin on the twenty-something of May. I was going to use some blog software from my web hosting service, but I couldn't get it to work right. So I decided to just use a normal html page, since I can add and update it just as easily.
I also began typing notes for a comedic piece about a team of three wanna-be heroes. I haven't decided yet whether I want this comedy story to be a full-length book, or a few bonus stories. I may want to split writing duties on this project with another writer who's a bit more practiced in action comedy.

THE LOST MONTH AND A HALF
Okay, so this is like the bonus features you get on a DVD. Just a little something extra. I can't remember everything I did that was comic related between May 16 and June 1st, but I'll add what I can. Most of it was working on the bonus story that will go in the back of "FALL IN THE BAMBOO GROVE". Since the principle art for the main story was finished, I wanted to do something else to put in the back of the book (like I usually do). I normally prefer to script everything out in industry-standard form, but used a go-with-the-flow creative style on this bonus story (I've done this once before with the Mortem Brand short story in most recent book). The second week of June I flew up to Philadelphia for the Wizard World show. As in my example in my rule book, flying Wednesday the 13th counted as my SOMETHING for the day. Thursday, I took about 120 copies of Mortem Brand and flooded a few local stores with the book. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (June 15,16,17) were the WW convention. Monday, we went to New York and took another batch of MB books there as well. Tuesday was a tiring trip home, with a long layover - that definitely counts. Other than that, I've been working a lot of hours at my day job, and moving for a week (June 22-30) so my work has been in short spurts. I've penciled some new panels for the BAMBOO GROVE book, and written some notes about a new robot story. Oh, and MOVING my art desk and supplies did NOT count as a comic related thing! I actually did something each day.

This website as well as all characters and comics listed therein, copyright 2008 Jay W. Davis / One Shot Productions.