Forgot about this thing....

I forgot we had a blog for "The Eternal Day". I only remembered when I logged in so I could make a comment on my wife's blog. So since I'm here, what the heck, let me give you an update on the book:

* The artwork is done
* Mark is finishing up the writing
* Michelle will do the lettering
* Inside cover needs to be created
* Maybe some pin-ups and extras for the inside

...and BAM! It's done. Aren't you excited? Hello...? Hello? Drats.

Gee...8 months?

Wow, so 8 months have zipped by since the last post here. Eternal Day #2 is close to being finished...well, kind of. Okay...not really! There's still a butt load of work to be done on it: finishing up the artwork on 6 or 7 pages, scanning all the pages in, doing some Photoshop magic (adding greyscales, cleaning up stray/pencil lines, adding little effects, etc.), getting the lettering done (which hopefully will be done by someone other than me (probably the illustrious Michelle Parades)) and then preparing all the files to be sent to the printers (probably Comixpress again, although I've heard good things about some other companies out there, so who knows).

I'm hoping we'll see it printed by the end of the year. I'm also thinking it would be nice to see it all in color, which means a hell of a lot more work that I would never have time to do! *sigh* I just think that color is the way to go in the industry today. It's so much more attractive.

And I don't know what's going to happen with the NY Comic Con next year. Most likely we won't even bother going. I think our engine is running out of steam. Maybe we'll try to be at Wizard World Philly? Again, who knows.

But anyway, this is all falling on deaf ears since I'm the only one who reads this thing! Hah!

Oh How the Fates Define Us

Okay...so we're NOT going to be at the New York Comic Con next year. I decided it's just too soon. We don't even have a complete series finished. And I don't want to rush Chap. 2. So we're going to slow things down a bit. I want to have fun creating this book, not feeling like it's another job. Not having the Dec. deadline looming over us also means we can take our time with the book and do more collaborations. For instance, we may actually be getting someone to letter the book for us now, which would be a tremendous help and relief for me. We sent them a sample page to letter, so we'll see how that goes.

And speaking of Chap. 2, we've decided to try and go back to the more surreal, spontaneous, automatism style of the first book. I'm going to finish off the last 6 of 7 pages in a spontaneous style (no following a script) and Mark will then add his words after. The reason for this is that the pages were just feeling too stiff and forced. They were looking and feeling rather generic comic book style, which is definitely not where I wanted to go with it. I want to keep the book open and experimental. We'll still use the basic plot outline that we've established, but everything will be much more loose and open for interpretation. We won't be so literal or explaining all of the details of the story, like where did that bag come from, why is there a shell on her head, etc. etc. We want to create a surreal enigma.

Anyway, just wanted to blurt this stuff out there to anyone who may actually be reading this blog...which is probably just myself! I also just noticed that a lot of the images that were once posted on here are now gone. This is because I destroyed my website where they were being hosted. So yeah, there's a lot of missing images now.

Oh yeah, and here's the cover for Chap. 2, by Vigil and Fotos:

Quality Control

Eternal Day Chapter 2 Updates: I'm up to page 21 on the pencils and page 9 with the inking. Things are moving slow, but steady...okay, not even steady, just slowly and sporadically. But it's comforting to see some pages actually filled up with artwork and not just blank, white pages staring at me. I was thinking the book is only going to be 32 pages, so the fact that I was up to page 21 was exciting. Kind of like seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Of course this was until Mark dropped a bomb and said he wrote 4 more pages of story and added a couple more flashback scenes! Arrgh! I'll get you Martikus, if it's the last thing I do! So yeah, at this point I don't know how many pages this book is going to be. Either 32 or 36 pages of story and then 4 extra pages of filler.

Last night I realized we had a quality control issue with the book. I was using a Micron Pigma pen to line out the boxes on the pages. Problem is, when you scan them in, the lines are really light, because the ink in the pen isn't very dark. Now in Photoshop you can jack up the levels and contrast, but in doing that the ink washes and greyscales get botched up. What a dilemma. Then I had an epiphany the other day: why not just use the Rapidograph pens that I have to lay down the lines? The Ultradraw ink is much darker than the Pigma pens ink. So last night I had to trace over all of the boxes using the Rapidograph. It was a tedious task to say the least, but now I've learned my lesson: never use Pigma pens to line out the boxes! This means I have to re-scan the first 5 pages again and do all of the Photoshop greayscale over again. Pain in the butt. Live and learn, right?

Anyway, yeah, just wanted to blabber that out there for whoever is interested. Back to work!

Yeah, we're still alive

So umm, yeah...almost two months since we updated this thing! I guess with only 157 total hits on the Eternal Day website we really don't have to worry about people wondering where we are! As I sit here typing I wonder if anyone has even read this blog. Anyway, pessimism aside, we're working our way through Eternal Day Chapter Two. I've got 5 pages finished and am currently working on 4 more. The book'll be 32 pages of story, plus 4 pages of extras. We just got an awesome pin-up or possible back cover by this uber talented German graphic designer named Oliver (no joke). I don't want to reveal it just yet, though. The story is still developing, but at least the second chapter is pretty much ironed out.

Mark just got married this past weekend and I just finished a summer semester of school. August is the month for me to try and get some serious work done on the book. After all, the New York Comic Con is only 7 months away. I know 7 months seems like a long ass time, but not when you consider I get to work on the book a couple days a month! And there's a LOT left to do: penciling and inking pages, scanning, cleaning and sizing pages, lettering, exporting as tiff's, sending them to the printer, etc. I don't even remember how to letter anymore! But first things first: pencil and ink! Gotta keep crack'in. Laterz!

Things That Happen In The Silence

Wow...it's been about a month and a half since we last updated this thing! So much has been going on. Chapter Two of Eternal Day is underway, with the only thing remaining being some dialog for the last 6 pages or so.

I went to the Wizard World Philly convention. You can read all about it (and see the photos!) here:

http://rebelstudios.proboards24.com/index.cgi?board=opinions&action=display&thread=1149566202

Here's the cover for Chapter Two that Tim Vigil drew for us:

And here's a commission I did for a friend (which helped finance the Vigil sketch):

Anyway, it's getting late here. Just wanted to let everyone know we're still alive and Eternal Day, Chapter 2 is in the works. More updates to come soon!

Yeah, we're still alive...

Been awhile since the last post here. Mark's been busy with school and work and day-to-day hassles...hey, sounds like my life! Anyway, it's late and I should be sleeping, but I felt compelled to write something.

Everyone has been telling me that MySpace is the way to go for publicity and exposure for Eternal Day. So I finally caved into the pressure and set a page up:

http://myspace.com/theeternalday

Although, if you're reading this Blog, you've no doubt already seen us at MySpace. Actually I think we're getting more views over there than on this thing. My goal with MySpace is to keep building a "friends" list so that by the time we hit New York Comic Con next year we'll have a couple thousand "friends" and a little buzz behind what we're doing. I don't expect to become rich or famous from Eternal Day, but it's nice when at least some people show interest in what you're creating. I still can't believe that from the 50 or 60 books that went out at the Comic Con this past February that we haven't heard from ONE frigg'in person! Kind of dis-heartening. But oh well...the wheels keep turning.

So yeah, besides the MySpace thing growing and flowing we actually have been working on Chapter 2 of Eternal Day (shocking, I know!). I have almost all of the pages laid out (it's going to be 32 pages of story) and Mark is writing the last 10 pages, plus the narrative that's going to flow throughout the story. It's going to be sweet and delicious.

It's funny...on the Eternal Day website, when you click on the "characters" and "story" links it just says "in progress" or something like that. Why is that funny? Because it means no one has a frigg'in clue what's going on in this book, nor what the hell it's all about! I don't know...that seems funny to me, like in a ridiculous way. It's like we keep saying, "Trust us! It's an awesome story! We just...uh, can't tell you what it's about!" We're marketing geniuses...or just complete idiots.

I sent out a book today to some guy at The4thRail.com (Don MacPherson, I think is his name). Why is that significant? I don't know. Hopefully he reviews it online or at least gives us an e-mail review.

Okay, I really should go to bed now. I just wanted to give a little update to all of you who can't sleep at night wondering about the next chapter of Eternal Day!